French Elections 2017
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Le Pen says France must reinstate border checks to fight 'Islamist terrorism'
Reuters UKFar-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen said on Friday that France should immediately reinstate border checks and expel foreigners who are on the watch lists of intelligence services, adding that these were steps she would take, if elected. -
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'It's us or them,' France's Fillon says of fight against "Islamist totalitarianism"
Reuters UKConservative presidential candidate Francois Fillon on Friday said the fight against "Islamist totalitarianism" should be the priority of France's next president. -
Factbox: Investors weigh risks of Le Pen victory in imminent French elections
ReutersThe markets are gearing up for the first round of the French presidential election on Sunday, with opinion polls indicating far-right candidate Marine Le Pen and centrist Emmanuel Macron have lost momentum in the last few days. -
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EU has no 'Plan B' if French voters deliver upset
ReutersThe European Union has no special plan if the two anti-EU candidates reach the final round of France's election on Sunday, diplomats said, leaving the bloc to brace itself and hope for a centrist victor. -
Commentary: French election reflects death of the political party
Reuters UKBy John LloydThe political party is dying and independents now rule among voters around the globe. France has emerged as the leader of this movement, -
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Paris gunman's criminal past in focus as police hunt second suspect
Reuters UKThe man who shot dead a French policeman in an Islamist militant attack had served time for armed assaults on law enforcement officers, police sources said on Friday, as authorities sought a second suspect flagged by Belgian security services. -
French PM knocks Le Pen, Fillon stance on security after Paris shooting
Reuters UKFar-right leader and French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen was looking to exploit a shooting in Paris, which killed a policeman, to score political points and divide people, Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Friday. -
Euro now at 'acceptable' level, no longer needs to 'devalue': Melenchon spokesman
ReutersContrary to what his manifesto suggests, French far-left presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon now reckons the euro is trading at an "acceptable" level and does not need to be devalued, his economic spokesman says. -
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Security dominates French election after shooting
ReutersThe killing of a policeman by a suspected Islamist militant pushed national security to the top of the French political agenda on Friday, two days before the presidential election, with leading candidates clashing over how to keep citizens safe. -
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France election poses risk to world economy - Schaeuble
Reuters UKThe presidential election in France where a first round takes place this weekend poses a risk to the global economy, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Friday. -
The presidential election in France where a first round takes place this weekend poses a risk to the global economy, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Friday.
French voters elect a president in a two-round vote on April 23 and May 7. Opinion polls have for months forecast that far-right leader Marine Le Pen would make it through to the run-off, but then lose in the final stage.
National Front leader Le Pen is campaigning on a platform of taking France out of the European Union and the euro. Far-left politician Jean-Luc Melenchon has also held out the possibility of a Frexit.
"It is no secret that we will not be cheering madly should Sunday's result produce a second round between Le Pen and Melenchon," Schaeuble said. "Political movements also belong to geo-political risks. I have big confidence in the republican rationality of the French". -
National security dominating the last day of campaigning for the first round of France's presidential election, following Thursday's killing of a policeman by a suspected Islamist militantSecurity dominates French election after shooting
ReutersThe killing of a policeman by a suspected Islamist militant pushed national security to the top of the French political agenda on Friday, two days before the presidential election, with leading candidates clashing over how to keep citizens safe. -
French election set to shake up state's corporate portfolio
Reuters* Macron and Fillon want to redeploy state corporate assets* Selling non-strategic stakes could fund new investments* For Le Pen and Melencho -
European shares fall as French stocks come under pre-election pressure
Reuters UKFrench blue-chip stocks underperformed other European benchmark indexes on Friday as investors retreated from risky bets ahead of the too-close-to-call first round of France's presidential election. -
Police assessing if Paris shooter had accomplices - French prosecutor
Reuters UKInvestigators are trying to assess whether the man who killed a policeman in Paris on Thursday had accomplices, a French prosecutor said on Friday, adding that the shooter had never shown any signs of radicalisation despite a long police history. -
Overseas voters kick off crucial French presidential election
French overseas territories and residents in some U.S. states such as Hawaii began voting on Saturday in the French presidential election, a day ahead of a main first-round vote that could change the global political landscape.Of 47 million registered French voters, there are fewer than a million resident in far-flung places like French Polynesia in the South Pacific and Guadeloupe, French Guiana and Martinique in the Caribbean. They vote early so as not to be influenced by the mainland results due on Sunday evening at around 1800 GMT.
The first round will send two of 11 candidates into a run-off vote in two weeks time to pick a new president for France, a core member of the European Union and the NATO alliance, a permanent member of the United Nations Security council, and the world's fifth largest economy.Polls make centrist and pro-European Emmanuel Macron the favorite, but he has no established party of his own and is a relatively unknown political quantity.His three close rivals, according to voting surveys, are the anti-EU, anti-immigration National Front leader Marine Le Pen, who would dump the euro currency and return to national ones, far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, who wants France to rip up international trade treaties and quit NATO, and the conservative Francois Fillon, whose reputation has been sullied by a nepotism scandal. -
French presidential election
ReutersFrance votes for a new president in a two-round contest that takes place on April 23 and May 7 -
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Head to head: Which duel for the French presidency? - Reuters TV
Reuters TVOn Sunday France will head to the polls for the first round of the presidential election. With the margins between the four leading candidates ever smaller, Reuters looks at the various possible outcomes. -
EU has no 'Plan B' if French voters deliver upset
ReutersThe European Union has no special plan if the two anti-EU candidates reach the final round of France's election on Sunday, diplomats said, leaving the bloc to brace itself and hope for a centrist victor. -
IMF members set aside trade split as French vote rattles nerves
ReutersInternational Monetary Fund members on Saturday dropped a pledge to fight protectionism amid a split over trade policy and turned their attention to another looming threat to global economic integration: the first round of France's presidential election. -
France votes in cliffhanger presidential election
ReutersVoting began in France on Sunday in the first round of a bitterly fought presidential election that is crucial to the future of Europe and a closely-watched test of voters' anger with the political establishment. -
Paris shooting overshadows French election - Reuters TV
Reuters TVNews of Thursday's gunman attack in Paris reached French presidential candidates during a televised debate, just days before the elections. -
Emmanuel Macron (C), head of the political movement En Marche !, or Onwards !, and candidate for the 2017 French presidential election, and his wife Brigitte Trogneux wait to vote in the first round of 2017 French presidential election at a polling station in Le Touquet, northern France, April 23, 2017. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer -
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Timeline - The six months to the topsy-turvy French presidential election
Reuters UKFrench voters go to the polls on April 23 and May 7 to vote for a new president, after a six-month-long campaign like no other. -
Marine Le Pen, French National Front (FN) political party leader and candidate for French 2017 presidential election, casts her ballot in the first round of 2017 French presidential election at a polling station in Henin-Beaumont, northern France, April 23, 2017. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol -
France presidential poll a bellwether for Europe
France voted on Sunday in the first round of a bitterly fought presidential election that is crucial to the future of Europe and a closely-watched test of voters' anger with the political establishment. -
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Polling station evacuated in eastern France due to suspicious vehicle
A polling station in the town of Besançon in eastern France was evacuated on Sunday after a stolen vehicle was abandoned with the engine running while voting was taking place, French Interior Ministry said.
The suspicious car was flagged as stolen and had fake number plates, a ministry official told Reuters, adding that a decision was made to evacuate the polling station, while bomb disposal experts were called to examine the vehicle.
France is voting in the first round of a presidential election on Sunday amid heightened security.
Security officials have said there is a risk during the elections of a militant attack like the ones that have killed more than 230 people in the past two years in France.
More than 50,000 police and elite security units have been mobilized for election duty across France.
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Francois Fillon (L), member of the Republicans political party and 2017 French presidential election candidate of the French centre-right, casts his vote in the first round of 2017 French presidential election in Paris, France, April 23, 2017. REUTERS/Christophe Archambaul/Pool -
Overseas voters kick off crucial French presidential election
Reuters UKFrench overseas territories and French residents in the United States and Canada began voting on Saturday in France's presidential election, a day before the main first-round of a poll that could change the global political landscape.
Arab states demand Qatar closes Jazeera, cuts back ties to Iran
DUBAI Four Arab states boycotting Qatar over alleged support for terrorism have sent Doha a list of 13 demands including closing Al Jazeera television and reducing ties to their regional adversary Iran, an official of one of the four countries said.