Inflation in France, the Euro zone's second-biggest economy, was negative in January for the first time in more than five years, the national statistics agency said on Thursday.Prices declined by 0.4% in January compared to the same month last year, INSEE said, noting that France has not seen negative inflation since October 2009.
French investigation into HSBC's Swiss private bank over a suspected tax-dodging scheme for wealthy customers has ended, bringing it a step closer to a possible trial, a judicial source said.
President Francois Hollande assured Muslims in France and abroad that his country respected them and their religion but would not compromise its commitment to freedom and democracy.
Up to 3 million copies of Charlie Hebdo could hit newsstands this week, dwarfing its usual print run of 60,000, in response to soaring demand for the first edition of the satirical weekly since last week's deadly attacks by Islamist militants.
Dozens of world leaders including Muslim and Jewish statesmen liked arms leading hundreds of thousands of French citizens in an unprecedented march under high security to pay tribute to victims of Islamist militant attacks.
Several European head of states will join a manifestation in Paris on Sunday, to express their solidarity following the recent attacks. France’s President Francois Hollande will be accompanied by an important number of leaders, including Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, UK David Cameron and Italy’s Matteo Renzi among others.
The terror attack that killed 12 people in Paris on Wednesday will have come as little surprise to Europe's police and intelligence services. For months, they've regarded the prospect of a mass killing in Europe by isolated gunmen or small groups of Islamist terrorists as a question of when rather than if.
France's influential economist Thomas Piketty, author of the bestseller Capital in the 21st Century, refused to accept the country's highest award, the Legion d'Honneur, arguing it is not the government's job to decide who is honorable and criticizing policies of the current Socialist administration.
France suspended indefinitely on Tuesday delivery of the first of two Mistral helicopter carrier warships to Russia, citing conflict in eastern Ukraine where the West accuses Moscow of fomenting separatism.
On 21 October 2014, WHO was notified by the National IHR Focal Point for France of 4 cases of chikungunya locally-acquired infection in Montpellier, France. The cases were confirmed by tests conducted by the French National Reference Laboratory for arboviruses on 20 October 2014. This is the first time that locally-acquired transmission of chikungunya has been detected in France since 2010.