From Monday, women wearing the full Islamic veil in France could be fined up to 150 euros and be ordered to attend “re-education” classes. The law has already sparked unrest, with police arresting 61 protestors against the law Saturday in Paris. A controversial law banning full face veils in public places in France came into force on Monday. Critics say the law stigmatises Muslims – while... 

Ms Mussonlini's stinging comments will cause further controversy around EU immigration policy. Mussolini’s granddaughter has lashed out at France’s ‘socialist’ First Lady Carla Bruni for not doing enough for illegal immigrants. Alessandra Mussolini, an Italian MP and granddaughter of the country’s Second World War fascist leader, said Ms Bruni should welcome Africans displaced... 

According to French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, the Tuesday night negotiations for Ivory Coast ruler Laurent Gbagbo’s surrender have failed, and opposition leader Alassane Ouattara’s militia forces are launching new attacks against him. The talks had been centering around offers of safety guarantees for Gbagbo, who remained in office after a hotly disputed November election against Ouattara.... 

The U.S. military will pull its warplanes from front-line missions Monday and shift to a support role in the Libyan conflict, a NATO official said. Britain, France and other NATO allies will now provide the fighter and attack jets to conduct intercept and ground attack missions as they enforce a no-fly zone over this North African country. The hand-over is expected to take place later on Monday, a... 

Illegal north African immigrants protest over stagnated evacuation out of the southernmost Italian island of Lampedusa, March 31, 2011. Tensions between Italy and France were rising over the immigration emergency as more refugees coming from the southern island of Lampedusa tried to escape across the frontier and were pushed back by the French police. Tensions between Italy and France were rising over... 

German Chancellor and leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Angela Merkel and Stefan Mappus, top candidate of the CDU in the Baden-Wuerttemberg state election (not pictured), hold a news conference after a party meeting in Berlin on March 28. Germany’s antinuclear Green Party won control of a state government for the first time in local elections Sunday. In France, Le Pen’s right-wing... 

China’s President Hu Jintao Wednesday warned French leader Nicolas Sarkozy that air strikes on Libya could violate the “original intention” of the UN resolution authorising them if civilians suffer. The tough talk from Hu came during a meeting at the start of Sarkozy’s mini-tour of Asia, which will include a G20 meeting on global monetary reform and a stop in disaster-struck... 

Polls have shown Marine Le Pen could beat Nicolas Sarkozy in the first round of next year's presidential election. Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Front party was predicted to have made significant progress in the first round of local elections in France, while Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP party fared badly. The French local elections, for part of the cantons in the country’s 100... 

A shocking report written by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the meetings held between President Medvedev and US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates this past week says that America’s war on Libya was “forced” onto it after French President Nicolas Sarkozy [photo top right with Libyan leader Gaddafi] threatened President Barack Obama with “total exposure” if the US didn’t attack. Upon... 

A French warplane has reportedly crashed in the Libyan city of Sirte, while the US-led coalition forces’ military operation intensifies the abject state in the African nation. The Libyan newspaper al-Watan reported Wednesday that Libyan forces shot down a French jet fighter which was bombing the city and detained its pilot. Sirte, some 600 kilometers east of the Libyan capital Tripoli is the... 

A French Rafale fighter plane takes off from the Saomt-Dizier military base in France today bound for Libya to enforce a no-fly zone. The image was provided by the French Ministry of Defence. The Pentagon has confirmed that that U.S. has launched missile strikes against Libya’s air defence network as a coalition of forces begin a no-fly zone over the north African nation even though a recent... 

Marine Le Pen, far-right leader of France's National Front Party, waits with the party's Louis Aliot outside an immigrant detention center during her visit to the Italian island of Lampedusa on March 14. Refugees fleeing the upheaval in North Africa are running into a different sort of political conflict in Europe. Since mid-January, more than 10,000 refugees from countries such as Tunisia... 

Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Marine Le Pen might defeat President Nicolas Sarkozy if a French election were held now, a poll showed. Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the International Monetary Fund and a Socialist Party member, would win 33 percent in the first round, according to the Ipsos-LogicaBusiness Consulting poll for Le Monde and Europe 1 radio. Le Pen, leader of the National Front party,... 

A woman passes by a Jewish memorial , desecrated with Nazi symbols, at a cemetery in Dortmund, Germany, Jan. 10, 2005. Members of the Coordinating Committee of European Muslim and Jewish Leaders from Belgium, U.K., France, Germany, Italy, U.S. and more announce plans for a series of public events on Europe Day. Prominent Muslim and Jewish leaders expressed Monday deep concern regarding the rise of... 

Libya is an important partner for the West in containing al Qaeda and illegal migrants trying to reach Europe, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said on Monday, in an apparent warning to governments planning sanctions. “Libya plays a vital role in regional peace and world peace,” he said in an interview with the France 24 television station. “We are an important partner in fighting al...