Ex-French President Nicolas Sarkozy was placed under formal investigation on Thursday for "abuse of weakness" in a 2007 party funding case involving elderly L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, the public prosecutor said. ...
10:40 AM, Mar 22, 2013
Paris: Police raided the home and offices of former French president Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday as part of a judicial inquiry into financial relations between his political camp and the richest woman in France, L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt. It was Sarkozy's first legal tangle since he was unseated in a May 6 election after five years in office, during which he enjoyed presidential immunity from legal pursuit. That cover expired...
03:12 PM, Jul 04, 2012
Paris: Socialist Francois Hollande took over as France's President on Tuesday and jetted off to Berlin hours later for talks on Europe's debt crisis - only to have his plane struck by lightning. No one was hurt. It was a startling beginning for a man who promised to be a more "normal" President, and less flashy than his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy, who was ousted by voters after a single term...
01:02 AM, May 16, 2012
Paris: Francois Hollande became the President of France after a ceremony on Tuesday at the Elysee Palace in central Paris - the country's first Socialist leader since Francois Mitterrand left office in 1995. Hollande, 57, was elected to a five-year term earlier this month after voters ousted incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy after only one term. Voters were disappointed over Sarkozy's handling of France's economy - which has high unemployment and low...
03:25 PM, May 15, 2012
Francois Hollande swept to victory in France's presidential election on Sunday in a swing to the left at the heart of Europe and promised to start a pushback against German-led austerity policies. ...
09:21 PM, May 07, 2012
Paris: Socialist Party leader Francois Hollande who defeated incumbent president Nicolas Sarkozy in Sunday's decisive presidential runoff in France, has never held a government post at the national level. The bespectacled Hollande will be the second left-wing president, after Francois Mitterrand, founder of the French Socialist Party, served two seven-year terms as president from 1981. He is regarded by many as an affable moderate whose quiet -- some even say...
11:47 AM, May 07, 2012
US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron have congratulated Francois Hollande on his win. ...
08:39 AM, May 07, 2012
Paris: France handed the presidency on Sunday to leftist Francois Hollande, a champion of government stimulus programs who says the state should protect the downtrodden - a victory that could deal a death blow to the drive for austerity that has been the hallmark of Europe in recent years. Mild and affable, the president-elect inherits a country deep in debt and divided over how to integrate immigrants while preserving its...
05:38 AM, May 07, 2012
Paris: Polling agency projections suggest Socialist Francois Hollande has won France's presidential election against conservative incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy. A Hollande victory could change how Europe tackles its debt crisis - with more stimulus and less austerity. Partial official results also showed Hollande ahead. More details awaited. ...
11:49 PM, May 06, 2012
Paris: Overseas voters cast early ballots on the eve of an election expected to make Francois Hollande France's first Socialist leader in two decades, despite polls showing President Nicolas Sarkozy clawing back some ground. Sunday's election, which coincides with parliamentary polls in Greece, may prove decisive for Europe as Hollande has pledged to temper a German-led austerity drive and reorient the recession-stricken euro zone towards growth. A limited number of...
04:58 AM, May 06, 2012
Paris: Conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy made an impassioned final appeal to voters on Friday, saying that a Socialist victory could send France spiralling the way of Greece, as polls showed him narrowing his challenger's lead two days before the vote. Final opinion polls put Francois Hollande's advantage at as little as four points. But Sarkozy faced an uphill battle after Hollande turned in a polished performance in their only television...
03:04 AM, May 05, 2012
Paris: French President Nicolas Sarkozy appealed directly to far right voters on Monday with pledges to get tough on immigration and security, after a record showing in a first round election by the National Front made them potential kingmakers. Polls show centre-right leader Sarkozy on course to become the first French president to lose a bid for re-election in more than 30 years, trailing Socialist challenger Francois Hollande ahead of...
05:32 AM, Apr 24, 2012
Paris: President Nicolas Sarkozy has challenged socialist Francois Hollande, who won the first round of France's presidential poll, to hold three public debates with him before the second round of the vote. "I propose that three debates be organised. The French have the right to truth and clarity," Sarkozy said Sunday, challenging Hollande. Hollande won the first round of France's presidential poll, setting up a run-off with Sarkozy who came...
01:44 PM, Apr 23, 2012
Paris: France tried but failed to stop premature leaks of first round presidential election results on Sunday, setting the web-warped world of Twitter alight with jibes, jokes and cryptic messages recalling coded World War Two radio communications. Police opened inquiries into several media outlets after national news agency Agence France-Presse and others posted partial scores before polling stations had all closed at 8 pm, the public prosecutor's office said. Seeking...
11:50 AM, Apr 23, 2012
Paris: Far-rightist Marine Le Pen threw France's presidential race wide open on Sunday by polling nearly 19 per cent in the first round - votes that may tip a runoff between Socialist favorite Francois Hollande and conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy. Hollande led Sarkozy by 28.2 per cent to 27.0 per cent with more than four fifths of votes counted, the Interior Ministry said, meaning the two will meet head-to-head in...
09:20 AM, Apr 23, 2012
Paris: Far-rightist Marine Le Pen threw France's presidential race wide open on Sunday by scoring nearly 20 per cent in the first round - votes that may determine the runoff between Socialist favourite Francois Hollande and conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy. Hollande led Sarkozy by about 29 to 26 per cent in reliable computer projections broadcast after polling stations closed, and the two will meet in a head-to-head decider on May...
01:29 AM, Apr 23, 2012
Paris: France votes on Sunday in round one of a presidential vote, with a feeble economy that could make Nicolas Sarkozy the country's first president to lose a fight for re-election in more than 30 years. In a contest driven as much by a dislike of Sarkozy's showy style and his failure to bring down unemployment as by policy differences, Sarkozy and his Socialist rival Francois Hollande are pegged to...
11:01 AM, Apr 22, 2012
Paris: France's president proposed a sweeping new law on Thursday that would jail those who visit extremist web sites, one of several tough new measures floated in the wake of a murderous shooting spree. The proposed rules, unveiled by Nicolas Sarkozy after the death of an Islamist fanatic wanted for a horrifying series of execution-style murders, have alarmed journalists and legal experts, who say they risk pulling the plug on...
03:24 AM, Mar 23, 2012
Toulouse, France: A 23-year-old gunman suspected of killing seven people in southwestern France in the name of Al Qaeda, jumped from a window to his death in a hail of bullets after police stormed his apartment on Thursday. "At the moment when a video probe was sent into the bathroom, the killer came out of the bathroom, firing with extreme violence," Interior Minister Claude Gueant said, adding that Merah was...
05:31 PM, Mar 22, 2012
