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France's far-right National Front (FN) appears to have made big gains in the first round of regional elections, estimates show. They put the FN ahead in at least six of 13 regions in mainland France. The elections are the first electoral test since last month's Paris attacks, in which 130 people were killed. The centre-right Republicans party led by former President Nicolas Sarkozy appeared to be in second place ahead of the governing Socialist Party.

Nicolas Sarkozy vows to 'electronically tag' all 11,500 people France's extremist watch list: Former president promises tough line if returned to the Elysée Former President Nicolas Sarkozy met with Francois Hollande earlier He said he would 'expel forcibly' all extremist Imams preaching hatred Sarkozy also vowed to jail any Jihadis who return to France from Syria He also said he would deport any violent extremists with dual nationality By Darren Boyle for MailOnline Published: 23:17 GMT, 15 November 2015 | Updated: 02:20 GMT, 16 November 2015 Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has vowed to electronically tag all 11,500 people on...

One tactic Soviet-bloc countries would use to stifle dissidents was involuntary confinement to mental institutions. After all, you have to be crazy to oppose state ideology, right? Now, though, 26 years after the Berlin Wall’s fall comes a similar shocking story — from well west of where the wall stood. It is alleged that a French mayor has been involuntarily confined to a mental asylum for “Islamophobia.” The story involves Robert Chardon, mayor of the southern French town of Venelles; the problems began when, participating in a public Twitter discussion initiated by former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, the mayor proposed...

It may be intellectually comforting to suggest the UMP-UDI could "make the National Front useless", or less prosaically, to propose implementing those measures for which the French vote for the Front and, in so doing, 'siphoning out' the Front's programme. Sarkozy employed this strategy during the last presidential campaign -- but it did not work. Sarkozy has been smart enough to understand that any kind of alliance with the Front would mean the end of the UMP. But he also knows what a significant chunk of supporters wants. Reconciling everybody won't be easy, as the organisation of the party has...

Francois Hollande 'shared' his mistress Valerie Trierweiler with Sarkozy minister Francois Hollande "shared" his mistress Valerie Trierweiler with a minister from Nicolas Sarkozy's government in a Jules et Jim-style relationship, a new biography on France's first lady claims. La Frondeuse (The Troublemaker), claims that Miss Trierweiler, 47, had an affair with Patrick Devedjian, 68, a former economic recovery minister, in the early 2000s, but that the Socialist Mr Hollande, 58, muscled in when the Right-winger failed to commit himself further to the relationship. There followed a period "a bit like Jules et Jim," said the co-author Christophe Jakubyszyn, a close...

Sarkozy to meet Putin as French right looks to Russia Text by Sam BALL Latest update : 2015-10-29 Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy flew to Moscow Wednesday where he is set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the latest sign the French right is seeking closer ties with the Kremlin in defiance of François Hollande’s government. Sarkozy is due to meet with Putin on Thursday accompanied by a cohort of senior members of his Les Républicains party – France’s centre-right main opposition party that was until recently known as the UMP. The two men are set to hold...

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has changed his party's name from Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) to The Republicans. Members of France's main opposition party voted to support the rebranding on Friday, with 83% of members approving the move. The move has sparked widespread debate in France, with critics arguing that all French people are Republicans......

Robert Chardon, mayor of the French town of Venelles, has allegedly been forced into a mental institution for tweeting, “We must ban the Muslim faith in France.” This revelation came to us via the Agence France-Presse, a highly regarded news entity that claimed Chardon was involuntarily hospitalized last Friday. Chardon also tweeted that France should revoke a centuries-old secularism law and instead “promote the practice of the Christian faith.” All this rhetoric reportedly angered Nicolas Sarkozy, leader of the Union for a Popular Movement, the same party to which Chardon belongs. “I condemn this proposal even if secularism also means...

22 March 2015 Ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative UMP and its allies led voting in the first round of French local elections, exit polls suggest. They pushed the far-right National Front into second, with President Francois Hollande's ruling Socialists in third. Voters are electing representatives in 101 departments, or counties, charged with issues like schools and welfare. A second round of voting will take place in a week's time.

During Barack Obama's recent State of the Union speech, he told America he had no more campaigns to run. But it seems that statement flies in the face of reports that an organization known as “One Voice” has brought in what has been called a "five-man Obama team" to defeat Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Included in that five-man team is Jeremy Bird, the national field director for Obama's 2012 campaign, Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director of the Independent Media Review and Analysis, said Monday, citing a report at Haaretz. That group, Dr. Lerner added, will run the anti-Netanyahu effort out...

As political encores go, former President Nicolas Sarkozy didn’t quite get the warm embrace from his party that many French had expected in his return to public life on Saturday. The hard-charging Gaullist who once made headlines for reviving France’s U.S. ties, helping depose Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and marrying a former supermodel while in office won a race for leader of France’s main conservative party—but with a margin of victory that was smaller than many had predicted. Sarkozy’s victory as chief of the Union for a Popular Movement, or UMP, was a crucial first step on his road to...

Ex-French PM accuses Hollande aide of lying over Sarkozy legal case claims PARIS Sun Nov 9, 2014 4:36pm EST (Reuters) - Former French prime minister Francois Fillon accused President Francois Hollande's chief of staff of lying on Sunday after a media report accused Fillon of asking him to accelerate a legal case against his rival Nicolas Sarkozy. Newspaper Le Monde said that Fillon had asked Jean-Pierre Jouyet in June to speed up legal cases involving Sarkozy to undermine his political comeback, including one linked to fines over the funding of the former president's 2012 campaign.

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy could face up to five years in prison and a €500,000 fine on allegations of corruption and influence peddling. The embattled center-right politician was released from police custody late Tuesday (1 July) and is now under formal investigation. Sarkozy is suspected to have attempted to obstruct an investigation into the financing of his 2007 presidential campaign. He denies any wrongdoing and says the accusations are politically motivated. …

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was held on Tuesday for questioning into suspicions that a network of informers kept him abreast of a separate inquiry into alleged irregularities in his 2007 election campaign, a legal source said. Local media said it was the first time a former head of state had been held for questioning in modern French history. The conservative politician denies wrongdoing in a string of investigations which could derail his hopes of a come-back after his 2012 presidential election defeat by Francois Hollande. Sarkozy arrived early Tuesday to be quizzed by investigators at their offices in Nanterre,...

Look how the power madman is pointing, talking down to an ally. Would he dare treat his Islamic masters with such disrespect? President Sarkozy called him "a madman," "a lunatic." Perhaps, I don't know -- but one thing is for sure: Hussein is a muhammadan. He 's not insane ...........he wants jihad to win. That's what he is doing. Of course, to the western mind, the rational mind, the logical mind, the American mind, that is insane.

Obama going off the deep end FLOYD AND MARY BETH BROWN, COMMENTARY April 9, 2010 A recent analysis by Roger Simon of PJTV Media maintains that Obama is showing signs of mental illness. A wide variety of commentators have observed that Obama displays severe narcissism. Obama is conceited, and he is demonstrating a serious disassociation from reality. A recent case in point was Obama's bizarre and meandering 17-minute, 2,500-word answer to the simple question about how he could justify raising taxes for ObamaCare during a recession when citizens are already overtaxed. Obama's wildly inappropriate answer left the audience stunned and...

If you are, as I am, a perusing cogitator of the Democratic Party's purveying of balderdash, then you most certainly have been left scratching your head in a state of bewilderment as to how a brain, or collective brains, larger than a walnut, could produce such poppycock outside an asylum for the maniacal. It's as if the entire collective Democratic Party and our dear President Obama have gnawed their way out of restraints, moved to Washington, DC, and set up shop. At last, relief appears to be cresting the horizon. All in possession of gumption, intelligence, and old fashioned horse-sense...

BORDEAUX, France (Reuters) - French magistrates abandoned a long-running party funding investigation against former president Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday, buoying his chances of a political comeback in 2017. Sarkozy, whom most conservatives want to see lead the centre-right in the 2017 presidential race, was targeted with others in a judicial inquiry into his UMP party's ties with France's richest woman, L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt. At issue were allegations that Sarkozy, 58, took advantage of the mental frailty of billionaire Bettencourt to obtain money for his 2007 presidential campaign. He has denied wrongdoing.....

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy's hopes of a political comeback got a boost on Tuesday after a fundraising campaign he spearheaded to avert a financial crisis for his conservative UMP party raised 8.3 million euros in less than a month. The national drive to refill the UMP coffers -- dubbed "Sarkothon" by the media -- underscores Sarkozy's continued star appeal among centre-right voters despite his loss of the presidency to Socialist Francois Hollande in May 2012. With the UMP's finances now largely repaired, Sarkozy can more easily prepare for a possible presidential bid in 2017. For this, he will have...

Suddenly a handshake from David Cameron probably seems an awful lot more inviting. Former president Nicolas Sarkozy could become the next wealthy Frenchman to flee to Britain over his country’s looming tax hikes on the rich. Mr Sarkozy – who famously snubbed the Prime Minister’s attempt to shake his hand after Mr Cameron vetoed changes to the EU treaty in 2011 – is reportedly planning to move to London to set up a £800million investment fund. The 57-year-old, who was ousted from office last June, has amassed a fortune from £150,000-an-hour public speaking engagements and is now said to be...