Tag: France

• Wednesday, April 19th 2017 - 05:17 UTC

  French police foil “imminent and violent attack” ahead of Sunday's presidential election

  

  Two Frenchmen arrested in Marseille on Tuesday planned an “imminent and violent attack” ahead of the first round of the presidential election on Sunday, France's interior minister said. France's internal intelligence agency, which had been looking for the two suspects for more than a week, had warned main candidates in the election that there was a threat to their security, campaign officials said.

• Monday, March 20th 2017 - 12:32 UTC

  French televised debate among top five presidential contenders in volatile atmosphere

  

  France's presidential election moves into high gear this Monday when the top five contenders face off in a TV debate that could help sway legions of undecided voters, a month before they go to the polls. Centrist frontrunner Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen are expected to come under attack in the first of three debates ahead of the April 23 opening round in France's most unpredictable election in decades.

• Wednesday, March 8th 2017 - 12:08 UTC

  UK has made a “bad choice at a bad time” with Brexit, argues Hollande

  

  Britain will not be able to hang on to the benefits of European Union membership once it has left, French president Francois Hollande has warned. Hollande, who leaves office in May, said the UK had made a “bad choice at a bad time” in voting for Brexit.

• Monday, March 6th 2017 - 18:45 UTC

  Fillon and Juppe confirm deep division among French conservatives

  

  Former presidential candidate Alain Juppe said on Monday he would not run again despite calls within the conservative Les Republicains party for him to replace the increasingly isolated Francois Fillon, who faces defeat over a phony jobs scandal.

• Thursday, January 19th 2017 - 07:27 UTC

  World tourists reached 1.2bn last year, speared by Asians; Europe hit by security fears

  

  The number of international tourists rose by four percent worldwide to 1.2 billion in 2016 as Asians traveled more, but security fears hit visitor arrivals in Europe, the World Tourism Organization (WTO) said. This represents the seventh consecutive year of growth since 2009, when global tourism figures declined four percent as the financial crisis and an outbreak of swine flu saw cash-strapped people stay at home.

• Thursday, January 5th 2017 - 09:21 UTC

  Marine Le pen calls for new French currency and pledges referendum on EU membership

  

  Front National leader Marine Le Pen has called for a new French currency and pledged to hold a referendum on the country’s membership of the European Union if she is elected French President later this year.

• Tuesday, December 20th 2016 - 06:09 UTC

  Christine Lagarde guilty, yet unpunished

  

  A French court on Monday found International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde guilty of negligence for her doings as finance minister in 2008, when she failed to challenge a state arbitration payout to a business tycoon in.

• Wednesday, December 7th 2016 - 10:22 UTC

  Cazeneuve new French PM after Valls resigns to focus on presidential campaign

  

  Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve will replace Manuel Valls as prime minister of France, following the latter's resignation aimed at “giving his best” to the Socialist Party's presidential campaign for 2017. Valls announced Monday he would run after the incumbent and unpopular President Francois Hollande declined last week to seek a second term in office.

• Friday, December 2nd 2016 - 09:33 UTC

  Hollande will not run for re-election; conservative Fillon calls it a lucid reaction “to failure”

  

  French President Francois Hollande said on Thursday he would not seek a second term in next year's presidential election, a surprise move that clears the way for an alternative left-wing candidate, most probably his prime minister Manuel Valls.

• Monday, November 28th 2016 - 07:16 UTC

  Fillon elected conservative candidate for French presidential election in 2017

  

  Francois Fillon, a socially conservative free-market, won France’s center-right presidential primaries on Sunday, setting up a likely showdown next year with far-right leader Marine Le Pen that the pollsters expect him to win. Fillon, who went into Sunday’s second-round run-off as firm favorite, had won over 67% of the vote in a head-to-head battle with another ex-prime minister, Alain Juppe.