PARIS: A 20-year-old man from Afghanistan suspected of having links to an offshoot of the Islamic State group has been arrested in France, anti-terrorism prosecutors said on Saturday. The man was charged with participating in a criminal terrorist organization and financing a terrorist enterprise, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor&#39;s Office (PNAT) said. The suspect, who was arrested in Lyon last week, was placed in pre-trial detention. &quot;Clearly adhering to jihadist ideology, he is suspected of having been in contact with IS-K (Islamic State in Khorasan),&quot; the anti-terrorism unit said. Suspect accused of &#39;sending funds&#39; to IS-KThe man is suspected of &quot;sending funds&quot; and helping translate and relay &quot;the propaganda of this terrorist organization,&quot; PNAT added. The Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K), the jihadist group&#39;s branch in Afghanistan, also operates in Pakistan and former Soviet countries in Central Asia, including Uzbekistan. The group has been responsible for deadly attacks in Afghanistan and Russia, including an attack on a Moscow concert hall in March 2024 that killed 150 people. According to French daily Le Parisien, the Afghan, who arrived in France several years ago, was arrested by officers from the DGSI domestic intelligence agency when he was already in an administrative detention center in Lyon. Under investigationLe Parisien said that the suspect, already under investigation for glorifying terrorism, was editing and disseminating jihadist propaganda on TikTok and Snapchat social networks. France has been repeatedly targeted by Islamist attackers over the past decade, often by individuals inspired by Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State group.

Europe

A 20-year-old man from Afghanistan suspected of having links to an offshoot of the Islamic State group has been arrested in France

France arrests Afghan with suspected links to Islamic State offshoot

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: Just a day after the high-profile jewel heist at Mus&eacute;e du Louvre in Paris, another French cultural institution was robbed. On Monday morning, officials at the Maison des Lumi&egrave;res &ndash; House of Enlightenment in Langres (Haute-Marne) discovered that part of the museum&rsquo;s coins treasure had vanished, Franceinfo reported. The museum staff entering the institution in the morning found the entrance door open and a display case housing gold and silver coins shattered.&nbsp; &ldquo;The sliding entrance door had been forced open, and a display case containing gold and silver coins had been broken,&rdquo; the municipal statement said.&nbsp; According to local officials, the thieves selected only a limited number of items from the collection, leaving the rest untouched, authorities consider this a sign of a targeted and prepared robbery. The stolen pieces came from a trove of nearly 2,000 coins, 1,633 silver and 319 gold, previously valued at around &euro;90,000.&nbsp; The museum said the missing items were part of &ldquo;the &lsquo;museum treasure&rsquo;, a collection of silver and gold coins discovered during renovation.&rdquo; The timing could not be more alarm-raising. The Louvre robbery, which made global headlines with its daylight raid on priceless royal jewels valued at &euro;88 million, triggered national alarms about museum security. The Langres incident arrived like a copy-cat in the making, raising concerns that once-targeted-vulnerable institutions are now under renewed threat. Police are investigating the Langres heist as &ldquo;targeted and planned,&rdquo; with the city already contracting a private security firm to guard the site overnight while the museum upgrades its surveillance.&nbsp; In a public statement the City of Langres vowed to &ldquo;strongly condemn this act of vandalism and theft, which damages the community&rsquo;s heritage.&rdquo; For now, Langres remains closed to visitors until further notice. The coins are gone, the display case lies broken, and French heritage watchers wonder: How many more?

A day after the Louvre jewel heist, France’s Maison des Lumières museum in Langres was robbed of select gold and silver coins worth €90,000. Authorities call it a targeted theft amid growing concern over museum security

New day, new robbery: another French museum hit after Louvre

PARIS: Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived at a prison in Paris on Tuesday to begin serving a 5-year sentence for a criminal conspiracy to finance his 2007 election campaign with funds from Libya. He is the first ex-leader of modern France to be imprisoned. Sarkozy, hand-in-hand with his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, left home before getting into a police car and traveling to prison. On his way to prison, Sarkozy said in a statement released on social media that &ldquo;an innocent man&rdquo; was being locked up. Sarkozy&rsquo;s lawyers said a request for release has been immediately filed. He was convicted last month for criminal conspiracy in a scheme to finance his 2007 election campaign with funds from Libya. Sarkozy contests both the conviction and a judge&rsquo;s unusual decision to incarcerate him pending appeal. His journey from the presidential Elys&eacute;e Palace to the notorious La Sant&eacute; prison in Paris has captivated France. Minutes before entering prison, Sarkozy and his wife walked slowly to join his children and grandchildren outside his home. He waved at a crowd of supporters gathered in the high-end Paris neighborhood where he lives, then got into his car. Hundreds of supporters applauded and chanted &ldquo;Nicolas, Nicolas&rdquo; and sang the French anthem. Two French flags were hung on a nearby fence, with the inscriptions: &ldquo;Courage Nicolas, return soon&rdquo; and &quot;true France with Nicolas.&quot; Sarkozy&rsquo;s sons and daughter &mdash; Jean, Pierre, Louis and Giulia &mdash; and his grandchildren showed up at the gathering. Parisian resident Michelle Peri&eacute;, 67, said she came in support &ldquo;because there is anger, injustice.&quot; &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not like any other defendants, he&rsquo;s someone who holds state secrets, he&rsquo;s someone who has always done his job with his head held high. We don&rsquo;t understand,&rdquo; she said. Embattled centrist President Emmanuel Macron hosted the conservative Sarkozy at the presidential palace last week. &lsquo;&rsquo;I have always been very clear in my public statements about the independence of the judiciary in my role, but it was normal on a human level to receive one of my predecessors in this context,&#39;&#39; Macron said Monday. Sarkozy&#39;s lawyers said the former president will be held in solitary confinement, where he will be kept away from all other prisoners for security reasons. Sarkozy&rsquo;s lawyer Christophe Ingrain said on BFM TV that incarceration &ldquo;strengthens his determination, it strengthens his rage to prove that he is innocent.&rdquo; Ingrain said Sarkozy is planning to write a book about his prison experience. Jean-Michel Darrois, another of Sarkozy&#39;s lawyers, said on Tuesday that the former president got himself &ldquo;mentally prepared&rdquo; to be held in solitary confinement, where he would be kept away from all other prisoners for security reasons. &ldquo;First, he packed a bag with a few sweaters because it&rsquo;s cold in prison, and earplugs because it&rsquo;s very noisy,&rdquo; Darrois said on France Info news broadcaster. &ldquo;Isolation like what he&rsquo;s going to go through is painful, but he got himself prepared.&rdquo; &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not afraid of prison. I&rsquo;ll hold my head high, including in front of the doors of La Sant&eacute;,&rdquo; Sarkozy told La Tribune Dimanche newspaper. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll fight till the end.&rdquo; The paper said Sarkozy has his prison bag ready with clothes and the 10 family photos he is allowed to bring. Sarkozy also told Le Figaro newspaper that he would bring three books &mdash; the maximum allowed &mdash; including Alexandre Dumas&#39; &ldquo;The Count of Monte Cristo,&#39;&#39; in which the hero escapes from an island prison before seeking revenge. The Paris judge ruled that Sarkozy would start to serve prison time without waiting for his appeal to be heard, due to &ldquo;the seriousness of the disruption to public order caused by the offense.&rdquo; Under the ruling, the 70-year-old Sarkozy will only be able to file a request for release to the appeals court once he is behind bars, and judges will then have up to two months to process it.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy began a 5-year prison sentence for financing his 2007 campaign with Libyan funds, becoming France’s first jailed ex-leader. He denies wrongdoing and plans to appeal while in solitary confinement.

France’s ex-president Sarkozy jailed for 5 years in campaign finance conspiracy

PARIS: A theft occurred at the Louvre on Sunday, France&rsquo;s culture minister said, as the museum closed for the day while authorities investigate. &ldquo;A robbery took place this morning at the opening of the Louvre Museum,&rdquo; Rachida Dati wrote on X. The Louvre said it would close &ldquo;for exceptional reasons,&rdquo; offering no further details on the heist. No injuries were reported. Dati said she was on site and that an investigation was underway. French daily Le Parisien reported that the criminals entered the world&rsquo;s most visited museum and former palace via the Seine-facing facade, where construction is underway. The report said they used a freight elevator to gain direct access to the targeted room in the Apollo Gallery. After breaking windows, they reportedly stole &ldquo;nine pieces from the jewellery collection of Napoleon and the Empress,&rdquo; Le Parisien said. The Louvre has a long history of thefts and attempted robberies. The most famous was in 1911, when the Mona Lisa vanished from its frame, stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia, a former worker who hid inside the museum and walked out with the painting under his coat. It was recovered two years later in Florence &mdash; an episode that helped make Leonardo da Vinci&rsquo;s portrait the world&rsquo;s best-known artwork. In 1983, two Renaissance-era pieces of armor were stolen from the Louvre and only recovered nearly four decades later. The museum&rsquo;s collection also bears the legacy of Napoleonic-era looting that continues to spark restitution debates today. The Louvre is home to more than 33,000 works spanning antiquities, sculpture and painting &mdash; from Mesopotamia, Egypt and the classical world to European masters. Its star attractions include the Mona Lisa, as well as the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace. The Galerie d&rsquo;Apollon, where Sunday&rsquo;s theft reportedly took place, displays a selection of the French Crown Jewels. The museum can draw up to 30,000 visitors a day.

France’s culture minister announced that the Louvre Museum in Paris has been closed following a reported robbery. Authorities are investigating the incident, and details about what was stolen or suspects involved have not yet been released.


Louvre closed after robbery, French culture minister reports

Reuters

PARIS/UNITED NATIONS: France and Britain, in coordination with the United States, are working to finalise a UN Security Council resolution in the coming days that would lay the foundation for a future international force in Gaza, France said on Thursday. With a shaky US-mediated ceasefire between Israel and Hamas holding, planning has begun for an international force to stabilize security in the Palestinian enclave, two senior US advisers said on Wednesday. Speaking to reporters in Paris, French Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pascal Confavreux said such a force needed a UN mandate to provide a strong foundation in international law and ease the process of getting potential contributions from countries. &quot;France is working closely with its partners on the establishment of such an international mission, which must be formalised through the adoption of a UN Security Council resolution,&quot; he said. &quot;Discussions, notably with the Americans and British, are ongoing to propose this resolution in the coming days.&quot; US President Donald Trump&#39;s administration is speaking with many countries interested in contributing to the force, a White House official said on Thursday. &quot;We are also in conversations about a potential UN Security Council resolution to support this effort,&quot; the White House official said. STABILISATION FORCE &#39;WILL TAKE SOME TIME&#39;, SAYS BRITAIN Paris hosted talks with other European and Arab powers on October 10 to flesh out ideas for Gaza&#39;s post-war transition, including how an international force could take shape. Diplomats said the stabilisation force would not be a formal United Nations peacekeeping force paid for by the world body. Instead, a Security Council resolution could mirror action taken by the 15-member body to back the deployment of an international force to combat armed gangs in Haiti. That resolution spells out and authorizes the mission and states contributing to the force to &quot;take all necessary measures&quot; &ndash; code for the use of force &ndash; to carry out the mandate. &quot;The stabilisation force will take some time,&quot; British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told parliament on Tuesday. &quot;The terms of reference are still being drawn up. There is a United Nations Security Council resolution on the establishment of the force, or I hope there will be, but the wider terms of reference are not yet agreed.&quot; INDONESIA PREVIOUSLY OFFERED 20,000 TROOPS Among the countries the US is speaking to about contributing to the force are Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Qatar, and Azerbaijan, the advisers said on condition of anonymity. There are also currently up to two dozen US troops in the region to help set up the operation, serving in a &quot;coordination, oversight&quot; role, they said. Italy has publicly said it was willing to take part. Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto told the United Nations General Assembly on September 23 that if there was a UN resolution, Indonesia was prepared to deploy 20,000 or more troops in Gaza to help secure peace. The 193-member UN General Assembly last month overwhelmingly voted to endorse a declaration that aimed to advance a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, which supports the deployment of a temporary international stabilization mission mandated by the UN Security Council.

 Palestinians walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, October 16, 2025.

Middle East

United Kingdom

France and Britain, in coordination with the United States, are working to finalise a UN Security Council resolution in the coming days that would lay the foundation for a future international force in Gaza, France said on Thursday.

France and Britain refine plans at UN for Gaza force resolution

PARIS: Embattled French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu will give a high-stakes speech on Tuesday to a deeply divided parliament, a day after President Emmanuel Macron blamed opponents for plunging the country into &quot;chaos.&quot; France, the eurozone&#39;s second-largest economy, is in a deep political crisis that has spooked markets and raised concern about its minority government&#39;s ability to govern and ease the country&#39;s debt burden. After an extraordinary week of political drama, which saw Lecornu resign on October 6 only to be re-appointed by Macron on Friday, the 39-year-old prime minister urged his new cabinet on Monday to do everything to help France overcome the deadlock. &quot;I am counting on you to show the utmost restraint and humility,&quot; Lecornu, the seventh prime minister of Macron&#39;s mandate, told his new cabinet. &quot;Service is something that requires putting egos aside,&quot; said Lecornu, on the eve of a key policy speech to parliament, where he faces threats of censure. Lecornu addressed the cabinet following a low-key handover ceremony, which took place without journalists. Macron&#39;s perceived refusal to bring in new faces has enraged the opposition, with the hard-left France Unbowed party and far-right National Rally threatening to topple Lecornu&#39;s new cabinet, which was unveiled late on Sunday. Lecornu&#39;s two immediate predecessors were ousted in a standoff over an austerity budget, and his immediate task is to put together a 2026 budget plan. &#39;Everyone&#39;s duty&#39;The new cabinet is expected to present a draft budget on Tuesday that aims for a deficit below 5% of GDP, according to new government spokesperson Maud Bregeon. The cabinet must give parliament the constitutionally required 70 days to scrutinize the plan before the end of the year. In recent days, Macron has come under unprecedented pressure. Some opposition leaders are urging him to call snap elections or resign, and even key allies such as former prime minister Edouard Philippe have distanced themselves from the 47-year-old president. Macron sought to shift all responsibility for the turmoil to political rivals as he travelled to Egypt to attend a summit on ending the Gaza war and highlight his diplomatic credentials. &quot;The political forces that have instigated the destabilization of Sebastien Lecornu are solely responsible for this chaos,&quot; Macron told reporters upon arrival in Egypt, where he rubbed shoulders with US President Donald Trump and other world leaders. &quot;It is everyone&#39;s duty to work towards stability,&quot; Macron said. He added before boarding his plane home: &quot;I have confidence everyone will show a spirit of responsibility to get this done.&quot; Political jockeying in France has been intensifying ahead of the 2027 presidential election. Macron, who is enduring his worst-ever popularity levels, has vowed to serve out his second and final term. Pension reform under attack&nbsp;Many opponents and political analysts blame the French president for the current gridlock. In mid-2024, he called snap elections to stave off the march of the far right, but his gamble backfired. Macron&#39;s centrist camp lost its majority, while parliament&#39;s lower house, the National Assembly, is now divided into three distinct blocs. French daily Le Monde said in an editorial that Macron was on dangerous ground. &quot;The head of state is taking the risk of turning this major political crisis into a lasting institutional deadlock, and thus into a crisis of the regime,&quot; the newspaper said. The leftist Socialists, a swing group, warn they may also vote against the government unless Lecornu backs off from a controversial 2023 pension reform that raised the retirement age from 62 to 64. Socialist leader Olivier Faure said his party demanded an &quot;immediate, complete&quot; suspension of the pension reform. The right-wing Republicans, once a key political ally of Macron, have meanwhile said they would only cooperate with the government on a &quot;bill-by-bill&quot; basis. Macron declined on Monday to speculate on a possible dissolution of parliament in case of another government failure. &quot;I&#39;m not making any bets,&quot; he said. &quot;I want the country to move forward.&quot;

Macron shifts all responsibility for the turmoil to political rivals as he travels to Egypt to attend a summit on ending the Gaza war; says it is everyone's duty to work towards stability

Embattled French PM faces clutch day in parliament

PARIS: President Emmanuel Macron was under pressure on Tuesday, even from allies, to find a rapid solution to France&#39;s political deadlock, after his first prime minister and one-time ally urged him to resign for the sake of the country. Macron, president since 2017, has been battling the worst domestic political crisis of his presidency after the shock resignation on Monday of his seventh prime minister, Sebastien Lecornu. Macron gave Lecornu until Wednesday evening to thrash out a compromise for a sustainable coalition government, but it is far from certain these efforts can succeed. If this fails, one option is for Macron to dissolve parliament and hold snap legislative elections in the hope of having a more workable make-up in the legislature. Macron on Tuesday evening held talks with the speakers of both the upper and lower houses of parliament, according to an aide, who asked not to be named. The purpose of the separate meetings was not made clear, but the president is obliged to consult both speakers if new elections are planned. Crisis &#39;harming country&#39;&nbsp;After already going through three prime ministers within the space of a year, Macron faces growing exasperation, including within his own camp. His outgoing spokesperson, Aurore Berge, insisted Tuesday that he would stay in office &quot;until the last minute of his term&quot; in 2027. However, former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, Macron&#39;s premier from 2017 to 2020, said that presidential polls should be held early once a budget is passed, in comments that Le Parisien daily described as a &quot;political bomb.&quot; The next presidential election, where the far right, under Marine Le Pen, senses its best chance of winning power, is due in 2027, with Macron barred from running and Philippe already declared a candidate. Denouncing a &quot;distressing political game&quot;, Philippe told the broadcaster RTL it was up to Macron to help France &quot;emerge in an orderly and dignified manner from a political crisis that is harming the country.&quot; The other option for Macron is to appoint an entirely new prime minister who would be the eighth head of government of his mandate. France has been locked in a political crisis since Macron&#39;s gamble to hold legislative elections in the summer of 2024 backfired, resulting in a hung parliament and a strengthened far-right. The domestic isolation of Macron, who was filmed Monday walking alone by the banks of the Seine deep in a telephone conversation, contrasts with his visibility on the international stage, where he is seeking to end Russia&#39;s invasion of Ukraine alongside President Donald Trump. &#39;Umpteenth negotiations&#39;&nbsp;Lecornu planned meetings with political groups from Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday morning in an attempt to break the impasse. By late Tuesday, momentum was growing for him to open the door to suspending a deeply unpopular pensions reform pushed through in 2023, said leftist politician Raphael Glucksmann as he left the prime minister&#39;s office. But it would underscore the challenges facing the next premier of finding enough support for a cost-cutting budget at a time when France&#39;s public debt has reached a record high. Le Pen, whose candidacy in the presidential election is in severe doubt due to a fraud conviction, said it would be &quot;wise&quot; for Macron to resign but also urged snap legislative polls as &quot;absolutely necessary.&quot; Le Pen and her 30-year-old lieutenant Jordan Bardella, who is expected to stand for the presidency if she is barred over a court conviction, turned down Lecornu&#39;s invitation for talks, their National Rally party said. &quot;These umpteenth negotiations no longer aim to protect the interests of the French people, but those of the president himself,&quot; the party added. Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure said his party would attend talks with Lecornu, adding that the next premier should come from the left.

The French president is battling the worst domestic political crisis of his presidency after the shock resignation of his seventh prime minister, Sebastien Lecornu.

Macron urged to quit to end France political crisis

Shortly after French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu resigned less than a month into the job, President Emmanuel Macron was seen walking by the River Seine in Paris, deep in a phone conversation, with only his security detail at a discreet distance. Whom Macron was speaking to and what he was discussing remain unclear. But the image symbolized the president&rsquo;s growing political isolation as he faces a dwindling set of options &mdash; all of them fraught with risk. With his second and final presidential term set to end in 2027, analysts say Macron has four possible courses of action. None offers an easy solution. Reappoint Lecornu Macron appears to have kept this option open after Bruno Le Maire &mdash; the loyal former finance minister whose appointment as defense minister triggered the crisis &mdash; announced his intention to withdraw from the government. The Elysee Palace then announced that Lecornu had been given two days to present an action plan, with the prime minister saying he would hold &ldquo;final discussions&rdquo; with &ldquo;all the political forces.&rdquo; However, it remains uncertain whether Lecornu can form a government, let alone survive a confidence vote in parliament, where his allies are in the minority. Even if successful, his reappointment would not be automatic, a French presidential official said. &ldquo;The fundamentals of the problem remain the same: with or without Le Maire, the other parliamentary blocs don&rsquo;t agree on the budget, pension reform, immigration, and so forth,&rdquo; said Paul Taylor, senior visiting fellow at the European Policy Centre. A new prime minister If Macron appoints a new prime minister, it would mark the eighth of his presidency and the third this year &mdash; hardly a sign of stability. The left has demanded that he name someone who would back a more expansionary budget, but it is unclear if Macron would do so. Even then, the new premier might not enjoy broad support across the divided left. &ldquo;Another PM could be toppled within weeks &mdash; making a new legislative election almost inevitable,&rdquo; said the Eurasia Group risk analysis firm. Early elections Macron has long resisted calling early elections after his gamble on snap polls in summer 2024 backfired, leaving France with a hung parliament. Yet, a presidential official said Macron would &ldquo;assume his responsibilities&rdquo; if Lecornu fails in the coming days &mdash; a comment widely interpreted as a signal he may dissolve parliament. Such elections could boost the far-right National Rally of Marine Le Pen, potentially giving her prot&eacute;g&eacute; Jordan Bardella a path to the premiership. Still, the outcome remains uncertain. &ldquo;It is unclear whether new elections would produce a different result than the one from last July,&rdquo; said Celia Belin, head of the Paris office of the European Council on Foreign Relations. Resignation Macron has repeatedly dismissed the idea of resigning before his term ends, which would trigger an early presidential election. But pressure on him is mounting. &ldquo;If new snap elections do not allow for a governing majority, the political crisis could turn into a regime crisis. In that case, President Macron&rsquo;s ability to stay in power could be questioned,&rdquo; Belin said.

French outgoing Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, who resigned just a day after naming his government, delivers his statement at the Hotel Matignon in Paris, Monday, Oct. 6, 2025. (Stephane Mahe/Pool via AP)

France faces political uncertainty after Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu’s resignation. President Emmanuel Macron must decide between reappointing him, naming a new premier, or calling early elections as parliamentary deadlock continues.

Macron's dilemma: What next for France after PM resigns?

PARIS: France&#39;s President Emmanuel Macron on Monday accepted Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu&#39;s resignation just hours after unveiling his cabinet, the presidency said, plunging the European nation further into political deadlock. France&#39;s President Emmanuel Macron named Lecornu, a former defense minister, to the post last month. But the largely unchanged cabinet he unveiled late on Sunday to work with Lecornu sparked fierce criticism across the political spectrum. Lecornu Monday said the conditions were not satisfied to allow him to stay in office, after resigning following less than a month in the post. &quot;The conditions were not fulfilled for me to carry out my function as prime minister,&quot; Lecornu said, denouncing the &quot;partisan appetites&quot; of factions who he said had forced his resignation. &lsquo;Deeply divided&rsquo;Lecornu had faced the daunting task of finding approval in a deeply divided parliament for an austerity budget for next year. Lecornu&#39;s two immediate predecessors, Francois Bayrou and Michel Barnier, were ousted by the legislative chamber in a standoff over the spending plan. France&#39;s public debt has reached a record high, official data showed last week. France&#39;s debt-to-GDP ratio is now the European Union&#39;s third highest after Greece and Italy, and is close to twice the 60 percent permitted under EU rules. Mired in deadlockPrevious governments had rammed the last three annual budgets through parliament without a vote, a method allowed by the constitution but deeply criticised by the opposition. But Lecornu promised last week to ensure lawmakers were able to vote on the bill. France has been mired in deadlock since Macron gambled on snap parliamentary elections in the middle of last year in the hopes of bolstering his authority. The move backfired, leaving the Macron-friendly bloc in the assembly in a minority. Stock market sinks&nbsp;The Paris stock market slipped Monday as Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu resigned after a month in the job, plunging the country into further political turmoil. The CAC 40 index of blue-chip stocks was down more than two percent at around 0800 GMT.

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu resigned just hours after unveiling his cabinet, deepening political deadlock. Facing fierce criticism and a divided parliament over austerity plans, his departure shook markets and intensified France’s crisis.

France's new PM resigns hours after cabinet unveiled: presidency

LONDON: New Zealand maintained their record of never losing back-to-back matches at the Women&#39;s Rugby World Cup with a 42-26 win over France in the third-place play-off at Twickenham on Saturday. The Black Ferns had the match all but won at half-time, leading 26-7 after outscoring Les Bleues four tries to one in the opening period with three of those scores coming in the closing eight minutes of the half.&nbsp;New Zealand teenage wing sensation Braxton Sorensen-McGee struck twice in the second half to take her tally for her debut World Cup to 11 tries.&nbsp;It all meant New Zealand, the record six-time women&#39;s world champions, had enough in hand to withstand a France fightback in the last quarter as Les Bleues scored three more tries of their own.&nbsp;New Zealand found themselves in unfamiliar territory after their run of 18 consecutive World Cup wins ended with a 34-19 semi-final loss to an inspired Canada, the Black Ferns&#39; first loss at the tournament since 2014.&nbsp;&#39;Heart and passion&#39;&quot;That was for the wave of Black in here and at home,&quot; said New Zealand full-back Renee Holmes, the player of the match. &quot;It means everything, and that&#39;s what this team means. Thank you to the 50,000 in the crowd.&quot;&nbsp;New Zealand captain Ruahei Demant added: &quot;First of all, I&#39;m really proud of the way not just we but the French girls as well were able to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and play with real heart and passion today.&nbsp;&quot;I&#39;m sure as we go home and sit and dwell, there&#39;ll be a lot more reflections to come around the growth in our game, the resourcing... there&#39;s been lots of positives as well.&quot;&nbsp;France, who have never reached the final, suffered a second defeat in their eighth bronze-medal game. They lost 35-17 by tournament hosts and favourites England in the semi-finals last weekend.&nbsp;&quot;When we went into the dressing room at half-time the score was quite heavily against us,&quot; said France co-head coach Gaelle Mignot. &quot;We tried to give them the right words.&nbsp;&quot;I was really impressed with the reaction in the second half, so I think there&#39;s a lot to believe in for the future.&quot;&nbsp;With Twickenham already two-thirds full ahead of an expected 82,000 sell-out for the final between England and Canada later Saturday, France scrum-half Pauline Bourdon Sansus crowned a flowing move for a 10th-minute try converted by Carla Arbez.&nbsp;New Zealand equalised when centre Stacey Waaka&#39;s sharp inside pass sent in fly-half Demant for a try between the posts.&nbsp;Black Ferns centre Sylvia Brunt, after several carries by the forwards, showed good strength to stretch over for a try eight minutes before the break.&nbsp;There was still time for New Zealand, increasingly dominant up front, to add two more tries before the interval.&nbsp;A give-and-go between Brunt and Renee Holmes ended with Holmes finishing unopposed before converting her own try and the fit-again Jorja Miller then set up second row Laura Bayfield.&nbsp;Sorensen-McGee sprinted in from some 30 yards out early in the second half.&nbsp;There was an emotional moment when New Zealand great Portia Woodman-Wickliffe, who reversed her retirement from 15-a-side rugby to play at this World Cup, was replaced in what could be the wing&#39;s last match at this level.&nbsp;At the other end of the age spectrum, Sorensen-McGee surged in for her second score of the match on the hour mark.&nbsp;France&#39;s Lea Champon and Gabrielle Vernier pulled tries back before Emilie Boulard went over with eight minutes remaining.&nbsp;But it was too little too late for France, with Holmes having the final say with a last-minute penalty.

Rugby

New Zealand beat France 42-26 in the Women’s Rugby World Cup third-place play-off at Twickenham. Teenage star Braxton Sorensen-McGee scored twice, securing 11 tries in her debut tournament, as the Black Ferns rebounded strongly after their semifinal defeat.

Articles tagged with "France"