France will ban smoking on beaches, in parks, outside schools and in other locations to protect children, France's health and families minister said. The ban will come into effect in July, Catherine Vautrin said in an interview with the Ouest France newspaper late on Thursday.

Smoking will be banned in all outdoor places that can be frequented by children from July, France's health minister said.

France is to ban smoking in public outdoor spaces - including beaches, parks, school zones, bus stops and sports facilities - starting July 1 as part of a nationwide effort to protect children, Health Minister Catherine Vautrin announced.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that division between the two superpowers, the United States and China, is the main risk currently confronting the world as he emphasised the need for building new coalitions between Paris and partners in the Indo-Pacific.

Calling the division of the world between the US and China the biggest threat to the world, Emmanuel Macron said the two powers’ competition for global dominance presented others with impossible choices.

France’s president called for a new partnership between European and Asian nations to protect the rules-based international order and avoid being ‘collateral victims’ of the two superpowers.