Jean-Luc Mélenchon

The popularity of French President Emmanuel Macron has reached a new low in August with 40% approval. This is a drop of 14 points a month after the record, minus 10 points in July, said Bgnes, quoting studies by Iphop and Jurnal du dimanche. Macron Government Prime Minister Edouard Philip also recorded a nine-point retreat for the same period, dropping from 56% to 47% approval.

Jean-Luc Melenchon, the left-wing French leader, recently denied his country's responsibility over the roundup and deportation of French Jews during the WWII.

France's top military chief resigned on July 19 after a war of words with Emmanuel Macron over budget cuts that tested the new president's authority.

French President Emmanuel Macron won a large majority in the lower house of parliament Sunday, freeing his hand to implement far-reaching reforms.

At the time when this article was being written, we knew that most opinion polls were giving the frontrunner centrist Emmanuel Macron a 20-point lead over his opponent Marine Le Pen. We were perhaps puzzled by the announcement of the hard-leftist leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon and center-right candidate François Fillon - both defeated in the first presidential round on 23 April - that they would not

Emmanuel Macron told striking factory workers that he can do nothing to save their jobs from cheap foreign labour when he paid them a last-minute visit on Wednesday.

Macron, who is pro-globalisation, had not been scheduled to speak with Whirlpool staff in his hometown of Amiens, but was forced to make a detour after Marine Le Pen went to see them earlier in the day.

Following the first round of voting in the French presidential election the euro briefly rose to a five-month peak, and the country's main stock index surged nearly four percent in early trading Monday.

The euro was up about one percent at $1.0856 at 9:10am GMT after peaking earlier at the highest level against the US dollar since mid-November.

Centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen have won the most votes in Sunday's presidential elections in France.

They have qualified for the runoff on May 7.

According to the final results announced by the French Interior Ministry, Macron won 23.75 percent in the first round, followed by Le Pen with 21.53 percent.

Greece's ruling SYRIZA party said that it would follow the example of the French Communist Party and back independent centrist Emmanuel Macron in the second round of France's presidential election against far-right nationalist candidate Marine Le Pen.

Marine Le Pen stormed into the final straight of the French presidential election last night as mutinous voters humiliated the country's two established parties, writes The Times.