FRANCE: French government to slash public spending
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde (photo) will today launch the government’s biggest offensive on overspending in decades. The overhaul will include the closure of tax loopholes and unprecedented spending cuts. Read More
FRANCE: Chief prosecutor recommends inquiry into Woerth corruption allegations
France’s top prosecutor recommended on Monday that a probe be launched into corruption allegations involving Labour Minister Eric Woerth (photo), campaign financing for President Nicolas Sarkozy and the financial affairs of France’s richest woman. Read More
FRANCE: Parliament debates contentious immigration bill
France’s lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, Tuesday debated a bill proposed by French Immigration Minister Eric Besson (photo) that would strengthen the government’s hand against immigrant and travelling communities. Read More
FRANCE: L’Oreal heiress cuts photographer Banier from will
L’Oreal heiress and France’s richest woman, Liliane Bettencourt, has cut her personal friend and celebrity photographer Francois-Marie Banier (photo) out of her will, in the latest chapter of a scandal that has reached to government levels. Read More
FRANCE: Probe launched into Woerth’s role in L’Oreal cash scandal
Prosecutors have launched an investigation following allegations made by Liliane Bettencourt’s former accountant that the L’Oreal heiress (photo) illegally funded Nicolas Sarkozy’s presidential campaign through French Labour Minister Eric Woerth. Read More
FRANCE: L’Oreal fraud trial adjourned amid growing tax scandal
A French court has indefinitely adjourned the trial of photographer Francois-Marie Banier (photo), the man accused of defrauding L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, saying it needed time to examine new evidence linking Bettencourt to a tax scandal. Read More
FRANCE: French-language newspaper Le Monde sells to billionaire trio
A trio of French businessmen (photo) won control of the world’s leading French-language newspaper Le Monde on Monday, despite French government efforts to halt the takeover. Set up in 1944, Le Monde has struggled to stay afloat in the internet age. Read More
ECONOMY: France joins other EU nations announcing austerity plan
French Prime Minister Francois Fillon (photo) has announced an austerity plan that will slash state spending by 45 billion euros. The three-year plan aims at bringing public deficit back down to the EU’s limit of three percent of GDP by 2013. Read More
FRANCE: Court grants parole to convicted killer of Iranian ex-PM, says lawyer
A French court has granted a conditional release for Ali Vakili Rad (photo), the Iranian agent jailed for the 1991 assassination of Shapour Bakhtiar, a former Iranian PM during the Shah’s era, Vakili Rad’s lawyer told reporters Tuesday. Read More
FRANCE: Lagarde denies ‘rumours’ that Sarkozy threatened euro pullout
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde (photo) has denied “rumours” that President Nicolas Sarkozy had threatened to pull France out of the euro to force Germany to help Greece with its debt crisis. Read More