RTL

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives have extended their lead over the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) to 12 percentage points, a poll showed on May 17, almost four months before a federal election.

Germany's center-left Social Democrats (SPD) remained steady at 32 percent support over the past week, one percentage point behind Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), according to a poll published on March 15.

Belgian public broadcaster RTBF said on Nov. 16 that police had detained a person during a raid in the Brussels district of Molenbeek, but that it was not wanted Paris suspect Salah Abdeslam.

Earlier, broadcaster RTL said Abdeslam, a Frenchman wanted in connection with the Paris attacks, had been arrested. 

Officials were not immediately available for comment.

North African states willing to cooperate or "countries like Serbia and Bulgaria" could help address the migrant crisis by setting up detention centers on their territories, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said.

French Finance Minister Michel Sapin was extremely critical of former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis in an interview to radio station RTL. Sapin said Greece was fortunate that France supported her during the tough EU-19 Summit negotiations in Brussels.

The total cost to France of reimbursing Russia for cancelling two warship contracts will be less than 1.2 billion euros, French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Aug. 6. 

France's defence minister said on August 6 that "several" countries had expressed an interest in buying its Mistral-class warships, after Paris refused to deliver them to Russia because of the Ukraine crisis.

Greece will receive a new bailout proposal from the EU Commission later on Monday, AFP says, citing Economic Commissioner Pierre Moscovici.

In his words, everybody still hopes that a compromise might be in place before Athens is forced to default on its debts on June 30, when a payment to the IMF is due to fall.

France?s European commissioner, Pierre Moscovici, said requests being asked of Greece were far from ?crazy,? amid the direst warnings yet from the Greek central bank chief about the consequences of failure to reach an accord.

French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said Thursday that talks to secure a Greek bailout deal and prevent Athens from going bankrupt were "truly on the right track".

His comments came after late-night talks in Brussels ended without a breakthrough, but an agreement with the leaders of France and Germany to intensify efforts to strike the crucial debt deal.