Anti-government protesters, one of them holding Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) adopted flag, shout slogans against the regime during a demonstration. In Libya, new government forces are turning up the heat on Colonel Gaddafi’s remaining supporters. Meanwhile, some Western leaders are facing charges at home over the legacy of their military intervention. ­The defiant loyalists... 

Former French President Jacques Chirac A French lawyer and former aide to Jacques Chirac says the ex-president of the country and his prime minister received millions of euros in cash from despotic leaders of African nations. Robert Bourgi, who served as an adviser to Chirac and former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin before switching sides and joining the conservative camp of French President... 

Astrophysicists of Germany, France and Italy have discovered a very old star in the constellation of Leo, whose existence is a complete mystery to them. SDSS J102915 +172927, unlike other stars of the “same age” that appeared immediately after the Big Bang, has a smaller mass, which does not fit into the framework of the modern theory of star formation. The age of the star SDSS J102915... 

In December 2008 a group of Muslims launched an unprovoked attack on a young Frenchman on board a bus in Paris. As they beat him, they shouted insults like “fils de pute” (son of a bi**h) and “Français de merde” (French sh*t). Interestingly, French mainstream media reports mention the first of these insults but not the second. The whole incident was captured by the bus’s... 

Riot policemen spray tear gas as they clash with demonstrators in front of the Greek parliament on June 29, 2011 during a protest part of the 48-hour general strike against the bankruptcy-threatened government which is desperately trying to push through sweeping austerity cuts. Protests have spread across Europe as Greece, Italy and Spain are struggling to hold on to the euro. Meanwhile, residents... 

Former French President Jacques Chirac The trial of former French President Jacques Chirac has opened in his absence in Paris on charges of misusing public funds during his time as mayor of the city. Chirac’s lawyers had last week submitted a medical report to the court, explaining that the 78-year-old is in a state of vulnerability that makes him unable to answer questions about his past, the... 

It seems that French President Nicolas Sarkozy has warmed to the role of Napoleon. The events in Libya have infatuated him. Gaddafi has not been toppled yet, but Sarkozy already threatens Iran. “Its military nuclear and ballistic ambitions constitute a growing threat that may lead to a preventive attack against Iranian sites that would provoke a major crisis that France wants to avoid at all... 

A shocking report prepared by the Russian Foreign Ministry for Prime Minister Putin on French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s unexpected trip to China last week to meet with China’s President Hu Jintao states that this Western leader told the Chinese that the Americans were responsible for removing from Libya an estimated 1,500 young girls and boys purported to be utilized as ‘sex slaves.’ Though... 

Silvio Berlusconi (R) and Nicolas Sarkozy (L) The race for Libya’s vast oil wealth is gathering momentum. States who worked together during the NATO airstrikes are now working against each other in the battle to secure lucrative energy contracts. ­Meanwhile, fears are rising that a new regime in Libya could easily slide into corruption. Half a billion dollars from Italy, and now a whopping $1.5... 

French President Nikolas Sarkozy, left and French Prime Minister Francois Fillon, right. France is due to announce tighter fiscal measures, clamping down on tax breaks, as it seeks to restrain its deficit, amid concerns that the country could lose its AAA credit rating. French president, Nikolas Sarkozy ordered the budget and finance minister to pull together the measures earlier this month, after... 

Front National leader Marine Le Pen is unlikely to win power but she is shaping France’s political debate, writes Charles Grant. Since becoming leader of France’s Front National in January, Marine Le Pen has started to shift her party away from the far right. She has not only dropped the overt racism and Islamophobia of her father, but also adopted hard-left economic policies. “Left... 

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, tipped to be the presidential candidate for the Socialist Party, has been undermined by a sexual assault case. The incumbent Nicholas Sarkozy’s popularity has taken a knock in the last year as well. Marine Le Pen, leader of the Nation Front Party, is hoping to use the failures of both men to her advantage. In the interview, Marine Le Pen said that “Nicolas Sarkozy... 

The stunning reversals in the criminal case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a putative French presidential candidate, have reawakened a dormant anti-Americanism here, fueled by a sense that the raw, media-driven culture of the United States has undermined justice and fair play. There was shock in France after the arrest of Strauss-Kahn and intense criticism of the manner in which he was displayed... 

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is grabbed as he speaks to supporters near the southern city of Toulouse, June 30, 2011. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been grabbed and almost knocked to the ground by a man in the southern French town of Brax. The attacker yanked Sarkozy’s suit by the shoulder and knocked him to the ground while he reached over a metal barricade to greet onlookers, AP... 

A ship, Dignité, flying the French flag with six people onboard sails off the coast of the French Mediterranean island of Corsica on June 25, 2011 to join the new pro-Palestinian aid flotilla. A French ship carrying humanitarian aid and six people on board has set sail from the port city of Corsica to join a Gaza-bound flotilla. The ship flying the French flag named Dignité (Dignity) headed for the...