France

MARSEILLE, France, April 16 (Reuters) - President Emmanuel Macron promised on Saturday to make France the "first great nation" to stop using oil, coal and gas as energy sources, in a pitch to young and green voters he fears could abstain in next week's election runoff.

In a rally in the Mediterranean city of Marseille, which voted massively for left-wing firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon in the first round of voting, Macron sought to widen what opinion polls show as a small lead over his far-right rival Marine Le Pen.

PARIS, April 16 (Reuters) - Thousands of anti-far right protesters marched across France on Saturday as opponents of presidential candidate Marine Le Pen seek to form a united front to prevent her from winning an election runoff against incumbent Emmanuel Macron on April 24.

Macron, a pro-European Union centrist, won the presidency in 2017 after easily beating Le Pen when voters rallied behind him in the runoff to keep her far-right party out of power.

This year, the first round of voting last Sunday set up the same battle, but Macron is facing a much tougher challenge.

PARIS, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The West bears some responsibility for the ongoing escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, two former French politicians have said in two separate articles, during which they expressed their concerns over sanctions against Russia.

In an article published in Le Figaro, Maurice Gourdault-Montagne, a senior former diplomatic adviser to former French President Jacques Chirac, said that since the end of the Soviet Union, the hubris of the West has resulted in the loss of sight of the fact that security must be "arranged."

PARIS (AP) — As she cooks lunch and talks politics, Jewish voter Sarah Gutmann has a nasty feeling — of would-be French president Marine Le Pen invading the privacy of her home, reaching directly into her life and the plates of chicken and kosher sausages that she is frying for her husband and their eldest son.

PARIS, April 13 (Xinhua) -- France's Constitutional Council announced on Wednesday the official results of the first round of the country's presidential election, confirming Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen as winners.

From a total of 48,747,876 registered voters, 35,923,707 have voted, which represents an abstention rate of 26.31 percent, said Laurent Fabius, president of the council.

Incumbent President Emmanuel Macron won 9,783,058 votes, or 27.85 percent of valid ballots cast and his rival, far-right candidate Marine Le Pen won 8,133,828 votes, or 23.15 percent.

PARIS, April 13 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron launched a scathing attack on far-right rival Marine Le Pen on Wednesday, saying her true "authoritarian" intentions were showing after she banned a team of reporters and did not rule out a return to the death penalty.

Macron, a pro-European centrist, became president in 2017 after easily beating Le Pen when voters rallied behind him to keep the far-right out of power. This time, he is facing a much tougher challenge.

PARIS, April 13 (Reuters) - Far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen sought on Wednesday to play up her leadership credentials on the world stage, urging a break with France's recent diplomatic past to make what she called a country that "still counts."

A Le Pen victory in France's election run-off on April 24 would reverberate through Europe and across the Atlantic, installing a deep eurosceptic in the Elysee Palace who has long professed admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

13 April 2022; MEMO: Far-right French presidential candidate and leader of the National Rally Party, Marine Le Pen, has sparked a wave of criticism after she said the late Tunisian leader Habib Bourguiba banned the head scarf worn by Muslim women in Algeria.

Le Pen was a guest on France Inter radio yesterday when she vowed to completely abolish the hijab in France, noting that she would not be the first president to do so, "as Bourguiba had done so in Algeria".

MULHOUSE, France (AP) — The thought of an extreme-right leader standing at the helm of the European Union would be abhorrent to most in the 27-nation bloc. But if Emmanuel Macron falters in the April 24 French presidential elections, it might be two weeks away.

PARIS, April 11 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday he was prepared to travel to Kyiv or any other city in Ukraine only if he felt his visit would help in the current crisis.

"I am ready to go anywhere and even to Kyiv if it could be useful, if it would help start a dialogue," Macron told BFM television.