France

A student has died in a French high school after another student allegedly stabbed several classmates in horror scenes.

Several French prisons were attacked overnight, Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said Tuesday, with assailants burning vehicles and in one instance firing automatic weapons. Darmanin, who was quick to link the incidents to France's campaign against drug trafficking, is travelling to the site of one of the attacks in the southern city of Toulon. 

The trial of former French president Nicolas Sarkozy came to a close this week, ending three months of exhaustive examination of allegations that the right-wing politician had struck a bargain with Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi to finance his 2007 bid for office. It’s a story with all the makings of a seedy spy thriller – and one that won’t reach its conclusion until September. 

Marine Le Pen was at the heart of a system to create phony contracts directing millions in EU funding to her inner circle and party officials.

French courts on Monday banned far-right leader Marine Le Pen from running for office for five years, ruling out the frontrunner for France’s 2027 presidential race. As Le Pen now faces a lengthy appeal process, her 29-year-old protégé Jordan Bardella could well become the National Rally’s new presidential candidate. 

European far-right leaders from Hungary's PM Viktor Orban to the Netherlands' Geert Wilders rallied in support of their French ally Marine Le Pen on Monday, expressing shock and anger at her conviction for embezzlement in France, which will bar the National Rally figurehead from a fourth presidential run in 2027.

A court’s conviction of the far-right leader for embezzlement and its ban on her running for office have set off a new crisis for France.

The popular right-wing French lawmaker has been barred from seeking public office over financial misconduct

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot on Wednesday called for European governments to co-operate on restricting immigration from countries that refuse to take back undocumented migants who are facing deportation from Europe. 

Former paratrooper led National Front party for decades and courted controversy, being repeatedly fined for contesting crimes against humanity

Former French President Nicholas Sarkozy goes on trial on Monday on charges he accepted some 50 million euros in illegal campaign financing from late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Sarkozy, who has been twice convicted for separate crimes since leaving office, has described the allegations as part of a conspiracy against him.

Christmas in France would not be complete without free-flowing champagne, oysters or a bûche de Noël. And the French holiday season is longer than most – stretching into the New Year with Epiphany (January 6) and its traditional galettes des rois into February with Chandeleur (Candlemas).  

Centrist François Bayrou had promised a ‘national interest government’ across the middle political ground but ended up leaning to the conservative right

France’s new Prime Minister was tasked with fixing the nation’s broken budget. Instead, he may have broken France.

The government in one European country is teetering on the brink of collapse after the PM made a very controversial move.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has joined French President Emmanuel Macron at a Paris ceremony marking the 106th anniversary of the Armistice

The French football league ordered the Paris club to pay its former star the sum, which Mbappé says he is owed for final three months of his salary and various bonuses. PSG say Mbappé previously agreed to waive the payment.

Under the terms of the deal, the holding company of luxury goods tycoon Bernard Arnault, France's richest man, would take a controlling stake in the Ligue 2 club Paris FC, according to a source close to the matter who asked not to be named.