France's President Emmanuel Macron says he has "proof" that the Syrian government attacked the town of Douma with chemical weapons last weekend.

France's government has announced plans to cut the number of lawmakers by almost a third as part of sweeping reforms of the country's institutions.

France's rail network has been severely disrupted, as a wave of strikes against President Emmanuel Macron's labour reforms gets under way.

French police have shot dead a gunman who took hostages at a supermarket in southern France, Interior Minister Gerard Collomb has confirmed. Paris had earlier referred to the incident as a likely terrorist act.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been placed in police custody for questioning over alleged Libyan aid to help fund his 2007 presidential election campaign, Reuters and local media report citing judicial sources.

Despite promises to reassess child sex laws, the rules governing consent in France are still murky. A court case involving an 11-year-old girl is being closely watched by children’s rights advocates.

The Eiffel Tower turned away tourists on Tuesday as snow swept across northern France, causing traffic chaos in Paris during the French capital's first real dose of wintry weather this season.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accused France of supporting bloodshed in his country, making it unfit to talk about a peace settlement, comments that were rebuffed on Tuesday by French President Emmanuel Macron, who called them “unacceptable”.

The mayors of seven major French cities say they have been “backed up against a wall” by an unending influx of refugees. Paris must address the strain on the areas, which are struggling to accommodate new arrivals, they wrote.

France's biggest rock star Johnny Hallyday has died from lung cancer, his wife says. He was 74.

France on Wednesday called an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over slave-trading in Libya as President Emmanuel Macron blasted the auctioning of Africans as a crime against humanity.

Ten people suspected of using encrypted social networks to prepare a possible attack were arrested Tuesday in counterterrorism operations in France and Switzerland, according to French officials.

France's Antoine Griezmann scored one and set up another as they booked their place at next year's World Cup finals by beating Belarus 2-1 at the Stade de France in their last Group A qualifying game on Tuesday.

The French government has said it will not recognise Catalonia if it declares independence from Spain and such a move will mean expulsion from the EU.

French judicial investigators have opened a full-scale inquiry into allegations of complicity in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, an official at the public prosecutor's office said on Monday.

French President Emmanuel Macron has established a brand new Presidential Council for Africa, designed to advise him on African issues and help identify and address the many challenges facing the continent.

FRENCH police widened their search on Wednesday for a 9-year-old girl who disappeared during a wedding in the Alps, combing wooded slopes and streams and questioning more potential witnesses.

Macron's relationship with his wife is unusual.

General François Lecointre was appointed France’s new military chief Wednesday. The 55-year-old career military officer will replace General Pierre de Villiers, who resigned after a row over budget cuts with President Emmanuel Macron.

French President Emmanuel Macron has proposed a radical overhaul of the country's government.