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France's Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu revealing that France shot down about 10 Iranian drones during the recent conflict between Israel and Iran. Lecornu telling the parliamentary debate on the war... "real impact" President Emmanuel Macron describing the US attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities last weekend as successful backing the views of President Donald Trump and the Pentagon... "We're going to burn your Palestine" Those words from two people who confronted the Leftist European Parliament member Rima Hassan outside a Paris real estate office... In Paris this afternoon the "Historic Yellow Vests"... Will there be a sudden dissolution of the National...

India signing a deal with France to receive 26 French Rafale fighter jets for use by India's navy. India already using Rafale fighters... May Day a day of protest and events on the streets of France. The CGT trade union saying 300,000 participated with 157,000 involved according to the ministry of the interior... The suspect in the killing caught in Italy and awaiting extradition to France... The father apologizing to the family of Aboubacar Cissi. A judicial investigation is underway to determine if Cissi's murder was based on race or religion. On Friday evening the prosecutor handling the case describing...

After President Emmanuel Macron met with Egyptian and Jordanian leaders regarding a ceasefire in Gaza and all three leaders held a conversation by phone with US President Donald Trump, Mr. Macron pointed to possible French recognition of a Palestinian state in the coming months. But that recognition is linked to some Arab countries recognizing Israel with the mutual recognition to take place in connection with a conference at the United Nations in New York in June... It appears that Mr. Macron is a silent partner in events that could involve military action against Iran in the coming months that may...

The big news story this week the conviction of the leading presidential candidate in the 2027 election Marine Le Pen of the National Rally (RN). Her conviction alongside two dozen other RN defendants accused of using European Parliament funds for political purposes roundly denounced as 'political' by many in France. Le Pen herself describing what happened as an 'atomic bomb'. Many in the ranks of nationalistic European parties with ties to Israel... On Friday Mr. Trump himself weighed in on social media saying in part: "The Witch Hunt against Marine Le Pen is another example of European Leftists... The notion...

The controversial move to ban National Rally leader Marine Le Pen from standing in the French presidential election has been accused of demonstrating double standards, with reports claiming that over a hundred other European politicians violated the same rules without facing prosecution. A Paris court enacted a five-year ban from running in any election against populist firebrand Marine Le Pen after finding her, and other members of her National Rally party ... one in five members at the time, had been found to have broken the same rules, the Times of London noted on Tuesday. ... BBC journalist Michael Crick...

The French have been here before. In 1804, First Consul Napoléon Bonaparte, the Emmanuel Macron of his day (a short guy married to an older woman), ordered the seizure of a perceived political threat to his regime, the Duc d'Enghien. When Joseph Fouché, Minister of Police, learned that M le Duc had been executed in a moat, he observed, "C'est pire qu'un crime, c'est un faute" - it's worse than a crime, it's a mistake. (The remark is often attributed to Talleyrand, but I incline to Fouché.) Yet the cynical police chief was wrong: two months later the First Consul...

U.S. presidential adviser Elon Musk has lambasted the French court verdict that blocked Marine Le Pen from a 2027 presidential run after the far-right figurehead was found guilty of embezzlement. “When the radical left can’t win via democratic vote, they abuse the legal system to jail their opponents,” Musk said Monday. “This is their standard playbook throughout the world.”Musk, a tech billionaire turned close aide to U.S. President Donald Trump, has backed far-right causes across Europe in recent months, while the White House has become increasingly critical of democracy in Europe.“This will backfire, like the legal attacks against President Trump,”...

Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right French National Rally party, has been found guilty in an embezzlement case that could see her banned from running for office. Ms Le Pen and 24 other officials from National Rally were accused of diverting millions of euros from the European Parliament to pay for party staff. The money was meant to be used to pay for EU aides but instead was used to pay staff working for the French party. The defendants denied any wrongdoing. Prosecutors pressed for Ms Le Pen to be banned from running from office for five years,...

French politician Marine Le Pen and eight other members of her right-wing party were found guilty of embezzling public funds on Monday, and she herself was barred from running for public office. The French court did not immediately announce how long Le Penn will be ineligible for office, and she stormed out of the courtroom before he finished reading her sentence. She is a top candidate to run for president in 2027, and Le Pen has said that prohibiting her from running in that election would be "political death." Le Pen has argued that such a sentence would also effectively...

Paris CNN — French far-right figurehead Marine Le Pen has been banned from running for political office for five years after being found guilty of embezzling European Union funds, in a politically explosive ruling that has shattered her hopes of winning the presidency in 2027. A Paris court also handed Le Pen, who was the frontrunner for the next election, a four-year prison sentence with two years suspended, to be served under house arrest, and a €100,000 ($108,000) fine. She can appeal but the ban will stand unless overturned by another court. Her party, National Rally (RN), was ordered to...

After a few tense hours we have a definitive verdict and sentence - and it is the worst Marine Le Pen could have hoped for. She expected to be convicted, but the key question was the sentence. It is a five-year period of ineligibility which is to be carried out straight away. What this means is Le Pen cannot run in the next 2027 election - barring some legal twist of which I am completely unaware of. This of course is an earthquake. It has massive implications for her, her party and French democracy.

This week National Rally President Jordan Bardella saying he wants to see a French version of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.... Meanwhile the National Rally's leader in the National Assembly and leading 2027 presidential candidate Marine Le Pen worries about the exclusion of Calin Georgescu from Romania's presidential election... 200 percent tariffs on French wine. The idea presented by President Trump... On Saturday afternoon in Paris a live video stream of protest labeled "Les Gilets Jauns Historiques"... A video conference of leaders from the UK and Europe this weekend on Ukraine. Emmanuel Macron saying that Russia: "does not give...

At a gathering in Madrid, members of Europe’s far-right parties set aside any trepidation they might have about President Trump’s threats, and instead focused on a common enemy — the European Union. ...There was Marine Le Pen of France’s far-right National Rally; the Netherland’s populist, Geert Wilders; the leader of Italy’s League party, Matteo Salvini. All made clear that they shared Mr. Trump’s charge against what they see as “wokeism,” “gender theory,” and overweening environmentalism. For them, the American president had blown through the last barriers that had confined their parties to the political margins. The taboos had been toppled....

Europe's far-right political leaders have praised Donald Trump and said they wanted to "Make Europe Great Again" as they met in Madrid. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Italy's deputy premier Matteo Salvini, French National Rally party leader Marine Le Pen and Netherlands' PVV party founder Geert Wilders were among those at the gathering organised by Spanish far-right party, Vox. Referring to what he called "the Trump tornado", Mr Orban said the Republican candidate's victory in November's US presidential election and subsequent return to the White House had "changed the world in just a few weeks... yesterday we were heretics, today...

This week French President Emmanuel Macron announcing major renovations to the world-renowned Louvre museum in Paris... Plenty of excitement about the notion of French troops going to Greenland. France's Foreign Minister Jean Noel-Barrot broaching the idea... Interviewed by the "LCI' news channel this week Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally (RN) in the National Assembly and leading presidential candidate for 2027, urging dissolution of the assembly. Le Pen pushing for the notion that President Macron should dissolve the assembly so new elections can be held with proportional representation in the mix...' In Brittany on Friday morning police discovered...

Jean-Marie Le Pen, the former leader of the French National Front party, presidential candidate, member of the European Parliament, and patriarch of the Le Pen political family dynasty, has died at the age of 96. A figure who loomed large over French politics over the past five decades, Mr Le Pen was hailed Tuesday by his supporters as a fearless “patriot” and derided by his detractors as a fascist and an antisemite. The Brittany-born politician served as the president of the National Front from 1972 to 2011 and honorary president of the party from 2011 to 2015 when he was...

In the past efforts to bring down President Macron's governments that lacked a legislative majority were shot down by division between the Left and the so-called "Far Right" National Rally. But this week just weeks after Donald J. Trump's victory in the US presidential election that division fell by the wayside... Another political shockwave in France on Friday with the announcement of a free trade deal between the European Union and the MERCOSUR countries of South America... Much attention focused on Paris today for the reopening ceremony of the Notre Dame Cathedral devastated by a 2019 fire. Foreign dignitaries including...

Premier Michel Barnier appeared on TF 1 television's 8 pm news this week to say any censure of his government would... But on Thursday the National Rally won on policy as Mr. Barnier backed away from the electricity taxation proposal. In addition, Barnier... Meanwhile another question broached in opinion polling and the mainstream media is the notion of President Emmanuel Macron putting in his resignation to trigger early Presidential elections... Chad becoming the fifth former French colony in Africa to cut its defense ties with France. The decision means that one thousand French soldiers will be pulling out... On Friday...

French President Emmanuel Macron joined other world leaders in holding phone conversations with US President-Elect Donald Trump on Wednesday. Macron said to have stressed the role of Europe... "I am a candidate for the presidential election:" Marine Le Pen making the point to judges at her trial in Paris on Thursday. The frontrunner in polling for the 2027 Presidential Election being put on trial for alleged misuse of funds at the European Parliament... A small group of protesters on the streets a banner fronting the protest. Left-wing rhetoric and even a yellow flag with the "peace sign"...

In a Paris court this week Marine Le Pen contesting the allegations against her and other defendants regarding European Parliament assistants employed by them. Le Pen saying the assistants were there to enlarge their political ideas as well as doing business related to the parliament. It's alleged that those assistants... By Thursday President Emmanuel Macron wanted to clarify remarks regarding Israel he was reported to have made on Tuesday. Those remarks... On Friday Emmanuel Macron found himself in Berlin alongside the outgoing US president Joe Biden along with... Today's small protest group in the dozens... Other protests in France today...