France’s highest court upholds corruption conviction of former President Nicolas Sarkozy

PARIS (AP) — France’s highest court has upheld an appeal court decision which had found former President Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of corruption and influence peddling while he was the country's head of state. Sarkozy, 69, faces a year in prison, but is expected to ask to be...

Verdicts are due in the historic French rape trial that turned Gisèle Pelicot into a feminist hero

AVIGNON, France (AP) — French judges plan to deliver hugely anticipated verdicts on Thursday in a historic drugging-and-rape trial that has turned the victim, Gisèle Pelicot, into a feminist hero. Everything about the trial in the southern French city of Avignon has been...

Families scramble to help after deadly cyclone rips through French territory of Mayotte off Africa

MAMOUDZOU, Mayotte (AP) — Relatives of families struggling after Cyclone Chido ripped through the French island territory of Mayotte expressed helplessness Wednesday, a day before France’s president and another 180 tons of aid were expected to arrive. Some survivors and aid...

Sarkozy's court defeat: a look at the legal cases involving France's former president

PARIS (AP) — France’s former President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose conviction in a corruption case was made definitive by France's highest court Wednesday, has been involved in a series of legal proceedings in recent years. Another trial is to open next month over alleged Libya...

France’s highest court upholds lower court ruling that former president Nicolas Sarkozy is guilty in corruption case

Authorities impose overnight curfew in cyclone-ravaged Mayotte as France rushes in aid

SAINT-DENIS, Reunion (AP) — French authorities on Tuesday announced an overnight curfew in Mayotte as they sought to stabilize the island territory in the aftermath of Cyclone Chido, the most intense storm to hit the Indian Ocean archipelago in 90 years. The French military said it...

France rushes aid to Mayotte after Cyclone Chido leaves hundreds feared dead

MAMOUDZOU, Mayotte (AP) — France used ships and military aircraft to rush rescuers and supplies to Mayotte on Monday after the tiny French island territory off Africa was battered by its worst cyclone in nearly a century. Authorities fear hundreds and possibly thousands of people have died. ...

Germany and France launch a direct high-speed train between Berlin and Paris

BERLIN (AP) — Germany and France on Monday launched a direct high-speed train between Berlin and Paris, a connection hailed as a symbol of a close friendship between the two countries and a sign of Europe's potential to attract more travelers to the rails. The bullet train,...

Pope Francis makes 1st papal visit to France's Corsica awash in expressions of popular piety

AJACCIO, Corsica (AP) — Pope Francis on the first papal visit ever to the French island of Corsica on Sunday called for a dynamic form of laicism, promoting the kind of popular piety that distinguishes the Mediterranean island from secular France as a bridge between religious and civic society. ...

French police detain man and seize firearms after 5 people shot dead near Dunkirk

DUNKIRK, France (AP) — French police are investigating the deaths of five people who were fatally shot in the Dunkirk area, in northern France, on Saturday. A 22-year-old man later turned himself in to police, according to authorities and local media. An unnamed...