Twitter users are trying to outshine each other as they mock French President Emmanuel Macron over his reported remark that he is "an equal" to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

On Sunday, Macron was interviewed on the results of his first year in office by RMC radio host Jean-Jacques Bourdin and Edwy Plenel of the website Mediapart.

After the interview, Macron reportedly drew a parallel between himself and Putin as he shared a drink with the journalists. According to Bourdin, the French president said he was "an equal to Putin" while commenting on his and France's position on the situation in Syria.

In an interview with BFMTV, the leader of the right-wing National Front has cast doubt on the credibility of the claims made by French authorities in relation to missile strikes on Syria in response to the alleged use of chemical weapons in the city of Douma in Eastern Ghouta.

“First of all, the question is whether he [French President Emmanuel Macron] really bombed the factory, where chemical weapons had been produced and stored. I may not know much about it, but I go by national wisdom and common sense; when they bomb a factory where chemical weapons are stored, they run the risk of killing thousands of people living in the neighborhood,” Marine Le Pen told the broadcaster.

The French president’s embarrassing attempts to reinvent himself as the new Tony Blair are not working

Emmanuel Macron has delivered an embarrassing snub to Theresa May by claiming that he is the closest world leader to Donald Trump.

The French president, the first foreign premier to be given a state visit to Washington, bragged in an interview that he had a 'very personal relationship' with the US President.

Ignoring the 'special relationship' between Britain and America, Mr Macron said: 'France is the United States' oldest ally. We will always stand side by side.'

A deprived district of Toulouse, France has been rocked by two nights of furious riots, triggered by the arrest of a woman who refused to remove her Islamic full-face veil for police. Some 18 people were arrested.

Hundreds of police units were deployed after young residents threw stones, torched cars and set fire to garbage cans, police told the AFP. The clashes began on Sunday afternoon in the Toulouse district of Bellefontaine after a woman wearing a full-face veil – which is illegal in France – was stopped by the police for an identity check.

EMMANUEL Macron seemed to boast he was the “equal of” Vladimir Putin and the airstrike against Syria was a way to show “part of this”, the French President declared after a revealing three-hour-long interview.

French President Emmanuel Macron admitted Tuesday that airstrikes in Syria “solve nothing,” adding that France, Britain and the US had been forced to step up and defend the “honor” of the international community. Addressing the European Parliament, Macron said the Western allies acted to defend global rules and accused Syrian leader Bashar Assad of being “at war with his people,” AFP said. “These strikes will resolve nothing but they will end a system… which is that, somehow, the right side has become the weak side,” Macron said. He insisted that the strikes were conducted “within a legitimate, multilateral framework, and in a very targeted way without any human victim, not a single human victim, to destroy three sites where chemical weapons were being produced or processed.” A group of MEPs held placards reading “Hands off Syria!” during Macron’s address.

A group of MEPs held placards reading “Hands off Syria!” during Emmanuel Macron’s address before the European parliament on Tuesday, overshadowing the French president’s call for greater European unity on security issues.

In his speech, Macron laid out his vision for a “profound transformation” within the EU, by which member states would abandon their “selfishness and negativity” for “what brings us together.” He characterized the current political climate in the EU as a “civil war,” and called for greater unity in the face of emerging “authoritarian powers,” which seek to undermine the bloc.

However, Macron’s impassioned appeal for unity was coldly received by more than a dozen MEPs, who displayed signs that read “Hands off Syria!” and “Stop the War in Syria” in protest at joint missile strikes carried out by the US, Britain and France against Damascus on Saturday.

French President Emmanuel Macron is feverishly backpedaling Monday on his claims only a day prior that he had personally convinced President Trump to keep US troops in Syria. The White House has already denied this claim.

Now Macron is claiming he never meant to suggest he’d changed US policy, but rather that he and President Trump had seen eye-to-eye on Syria all along. He added that they both agree that US troops need to stay in Syria for “the long term.”

This isn’t a good story either. President Trump is still reported to want to withdraw the troops from Syria, even if he’s become resigned to keeping them in the country for the time being. Trump is said to have only agreed because of intense Pentagon pressure.

Yemeni human rights activists have charged Mohammad bin Salman, accusing him of aiding in “acts of torture” during the campaign in Yemen. Paris is being put under pressure, due to the fact that French weaponry is used in the conflict by the coalition. Tony Fortin, member of the board of the Observatory for Arms told Sputnik how this happened.

Fortin said that one of the most controversial deals is the selling of French arms on the DONAS contract. According to it, Saudi Arabia paid for weapons that must have been delivered to Lebanon.

ANGELA Merkel’s joint eurozone reforms with Emmanuel Macron are being restricted by German conservatives in a major blow to the European powers, documents have revealed.

EMMANUEL MACRON has provoked fury across the European Union with the French President due to push for a series of reforms as he debates the “future of Europe” with the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

The French government plans to strip Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of his Legion d'Honneur, France's most prestigious award, days after participating in air strikes against suspected chemical weapons sites in Syria.

"The Elysee confirms that a disciplinary procedure for withdrawing the Legion d'Honneur (Legion of Honour) is underway," President Emmanuel Macron's office said late on Monday, seven years after a civil uprising against Assad’s government turned into a brutal civil war.

Assad was decorated with the Legion's highest rank of Grand Croix (Great Cross) by former president Jacques Chirac in 2001, shortly after taking power following the death of his father Hafez al-Assad.

Only a French president, who by tradition is the top-ranking Legion member, can decide to withdraw the distinction from a foreigner.

Mayor Leclerc Patrice prevented from entering Israel from Jordan; Israeli officials note he sought to visit jailed Palestinian lawmaker Barghouti in the past

Ankara, Turkey: Turkey on Monday said French President Emmanuel Macron will not be able to break its partnership with Russia, after he argued the weekend's air strikes against the Syrian regime had driven a wedge between Ankara and Moscow.

"We can think differently but they (our relations with Russia) are not so weak that the French president can break them," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said at a press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

"We have strong relations with Russia," Cavusoglu added. "But our relations with Russia are not an alternative to NATO relations or our allies."

There have been growing signs of Western discomfort over the alliance of Turkey -- a key NATO member since 1952 -- with Iran and Russia over Syria.

France’s involvement in coalition strikes against the Syrian government have been denounced by former presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, who said the bombings set her country on an “unpredictable” path.

The National Front leader, who lost out on the French presidency to Emmanuel Macron in 2017, criticized her former rival’s decision last night to order French aircraft to back coalition airstrikes.

“These strikes against Syria bring us on a path with unpredictable and potentially damaging consequences. France again loses an opportunity to appear on the international stage as an independent and balanced power in the world,” Le Pen said on Twitter.

French president Emmanuel Macron has claimed that he convinced Donald Trump to keep troops in Syria for the long term and limit Saturday’s joint strikes to chemical weapons facilities.

Macron said in an interview on Sunday that restricting the missile strikes to specific targets was not necessarily Trump’s initial plan. “We also persuaded him that we needed to limit the strikes to chemical weapons [sites], after things got a little carried away over tweets,” he said.

The French president also said: “Ten days ago, President Trump was saying ‘the United States should withdraw from Syria’. We convinced him it was necessary to stay. We convinced him it was necessary to stay for the long term.”

Having set themselves above international law by bombing Syria without UN authorization, the US, the UK and France are now going calling on other countries to unite behind their fait accompli and endorse their actions.

American, British and French ships and airplanes fired over 100 missiles at Syria Saturday morning, claiming it was in response to the alleged use of chemical weapons in the Damascus suburb of Douma. The three countries did not wait for UN authorization, or even for evidence from the scene: the international team of experts from the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) had just arrived in Syria to investigate when the missiles began to fly.

As US President Donald Trump triumphantly declared “mission accomplished,” his French colleague Emmanuel Macron called for the UN Security Council to step in and pick up the pieces.

According to one of the organizers of the march, about 58 thousand people are partaking in the demonstration across the country.

Thousands of local residents have taken to the streets of France's Marseilles to take part in a rally against the policies of President Emmanuel Macron.

Most of the protest's participants are representatives of trade unions and leftist movements. People have voiced dissapointment over the current state of affairs in the country and, above all, with regard to the social policy. The action has already received the name "Stop, Macron!".

French president Emmanuel Macron has been under pressure as MPs have been urging Paris to halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia, which is involved in the Yemen war, after the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman's visit to France this week. Sputnik discussed their meeting with Laura Silvia Battaglia, a journalist living between Italy and Yemen.

President Donald Trump announced on Friday he ordered strikes on the Syrian regime in response to a chemical weapons attack last weekend.

"I ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapon capabilities of Syrian dictator of Bashar al-Assad," Trump said from the White House Diplomatic Room.
US aircraft and ships were used in the attack, according to multiple US defense officials.

Trump said the strikes were in coordination with France and the United Kingdom, adding that the purpose of the campaign is to "establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons."

President Donald Trump announced that he ordered a strike on Syria in response to last weekend's chemical weapons attack.

Addressing the nation Friday evening, Trump said the joint strike with France and the United Kingdom is currently underway.

"A short time ago, I ordered the United States Armed Forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad," Trump said. "A combined operation with the armed forces of France and the United Kingdom is now underway."

Trump said that the "massacre" last weekend in Syria "was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons use by that very terrible regime."

"The evil and the despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air/ These are not the actions of a man," Trump said, referring to Assad. "They are crimes of a monster instead."

Trump also delivered a message to Iran and Russia.

Journalist Elijah Magnier released a statement detail inside information from those with knowledge in the Syrian ranks about the impending US/EU strike on Syria. This will no be a small strike but a massive blow to the Syrian Government. Russia hopes this will pass after 2 days of bombing if it goes longer this could lead to global conflict.

France has proof the Syrian government carried out a chemical weapons attack last week and will decide whether to strike back when all the necessary information has been gathered, President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday.

France is expected to join the United States and Britain in carrying out air strikes or some other form of attack in response to the use of the weapons but it remains unclear when that might happen or even if it definitely will.

"We have proof that last week, now 10 days ago, that chemical weapons were used, at least with chlorine, and that they were used by the regime of [President] Bashar al-Assad," Macron said, without giving details on the evidence or how it was acquired.

The Russian Navy has launched live-fire exercises off the Syrian coast as the US is still preparing for a possible military action against the country’s government.

The Russian exercises will be held from April 11 to April 26, the period when, according to some experts, the US strike will be most likely if the administration of US President Donald Trump decides to attack Syria.

On April 10, Russia’s envoy to Lebanon Alexander Zasypkin once again confirming that Russian forces are ready to shoot down missiles and target the launchers in case of an escalation in the war-torn country.

Ali Akbar Velayati, the top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, vowed to support the Damascus government against any attack of the US and its allies.

A French lawyer has filed a lawsuit in a Paris court against visiting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, accusing him of complicity in torture in Yemen, an embarrassment for the French government as it rolled out the red carpet for its powerful guest.

Lawyer Joseph Breham, representing a Yemeni human rights group, is suing the crown prince, currently in France on an official visit, for his leading role in the Saudi-led coalition’s airstrikes fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The criminal lawsuit claims that Bin Salman knowingly targeted civilians.

Breham told The Associated Press that French courts have “universal jurisdiction” to investigate the case since the lawsuit was filed Monday while the crown prince was present on French soil. But he acknowledged Bin Salman can’t be arrested by French authorities due to his diplomatic immunity.

The Paris prosecutor’s office didn’t respond to requests for comments from the AP.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that he would respond to "proof" that the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had used chemical weapons, "at a time of our choosing."

"We have proof that chemical weapons were used last week, at least chlorine, and that they were used by the regime of Bashar al-Assad," Macron said during an interview on France's TF1 television.

In the event France decides to strike Syria in response to the alleged use of chemical weapons by Syrian government forces in the city of Douma, it is more likely to launch the attack from an airbase located on its mainland rather than from its bases in the Middle East, Le Figaro reported on Wednesday.

According to Le Figaro newspaper, the French military command has already presented possible plans of action in Syria to Macron. The newspaper also noted, referring to air force specialists, that in the event military action is approved, the most likely scenario would be for France to strike Syria from its Saint-Dizier base, located in the country's northeast, not from its bases in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, for example, since these countries do not want to be involved in military operations against their neighbor Syria.

According to the UK's Daily Telegraph newspaper, British submarines have been ordered to move within missile range of Syria, as strikes against the Assad regime are expected as early as Thursday night.

The publication reported that the order was issued by UK Prime Minister Theresa May and that she has called on her ministers to meet for an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss how Britain will respond to last weekend's chemical attack on Douma.

Sky News reports that May will soon ask her cabinet to approve the UK's participation in US- and French-led strikes against Syria's alleged chemical weapons infrastructure. Though it is expected that May will get the approval from ministers to join the action, the Telegraph suggested a discussion will be had with the US and France before the final decision is made.

The fluid confrontation of major powers in the Middle East may lead to a deeper and deadlier US-led military incursion, but the fault cannot be laid at US President Donald Trump’s doorstep alone, analysts told Sputnik Radio on Wednesday.

"This guy is the clown of the international community, and now places like the United Kingdom and France are following this clown into another war, which is exactly the sort of disaster they were dragged into in Iraq and Libya," Shabbir Razvi, an economic and political analyst, told Radio Sputnik's Loud & Clear.

The French boy-president says he is discussing bombing Syria with Washington and London. Actually last year Macron drew a red line saying any use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government side (which in practice means any allegation with enough media oomph) would automatically trigger a direct French military intervention.

Even so the visibly nervous Macron is now begging Moscow to please understand that any French strikes would not be aimed at Russians but would have the sole aim of allowing Macron to stand by Trump:

The French leader added that any action would not be intended to harm government allies, who include Russia:

“In no case will the decision we take be intended to harm the regime’s allies, or anyone else, but to attack the chemical capacity of the regime, if the decision is taken.”

In the event France decides to strike Syria in response to the alleged use of chemical weapons by Syrian government forces in the city of Douma, it is more likely to launch the attack from an airbase located on its mainland rather than from its bases in the Middle East, Le Figaro reported on Wednesday.

Late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi agreed to support the 2007 election campaign of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, earmarking millions of euros destined to help the politician win, Moftah Missouri, Gaddafi's aide and chief interpreter, told Sputnik.

The reports and allegations of Gaddafi's government's support for Sarkozy have been around for at least seven years, ever since civil war broke out in Libya.

Years of rumors culminated in Sarkozy's arrest last March. The former president was briefly detained and questioned over Libya's alleged contribution to his 2007 campaign. Afterward, Sarkozy was officially charged with corruption. The French politician has rejected all accusations.

Richard Ferrand, the head of the ruling La Republique en Marche! (REM) party's faction in the National Assembly of France, said on Tuesday that he did no see why the country's arms sales to Saudi Arabia should be prohibited.

"I think we should maintain clear, frank and friendly relations with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, even if only to keep equilibrium in the region and globally… I don't see why that [the arms sales to Riyadh] should be forbidden," Ferrand told the franceinfo broadcaster when asked if such trade were possible.

Ferrand clarified that it would depend on what these arms were to be used in the future, but affirmed that, for him, there was no "particular question" over the arms sales.

The British Prime Minister Teresa May, US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed that in order to maintain the ban on the use of chemical weapons, the international community must respond to the alleged chemical attack in Syria, the spokesman for the British premier said.

“The Prime Minister held a telephone conversation with Trump who agreed that reports of a chemical attack in Syria are highly deserving of a condemnation, and if they are confirmed, there is yet to be proof of the outrageous cruelty of President of Syria Bashar al Assad in relation to his own people, as well as complete disregard for their legal obligations for the non-use of such weapons,” the British statement said

Furious rail unions have accused young upstart, Macron, of trying to force privatisation by stealth - in what is the biggest strike row France has suffered since 1995.

Emmanuel Grondein, head of Sud Rail, blasted the En Marché frontman: "We're defending the French public service, not just rail workers.”

Mr Macron wants to turn around the fortunes of loss-making rail companies in France - and plans to revamp education, overhaul pensions and weaken labour laws in other areas if he gets his way.

Now France’s four main rail unions will strike for two in every five days for the next three months to signal their anger at a shake-up of the national SNCF rail monopoly - which could be opened up to competition by new EU laws.

French railway workers entered their fourth day of strikes in protest of French President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to revoke special pension and retirement benefits for railway drivers in an effort to increase rail sector competitiveness.

Elysee Palace announced that US Presient Donald Trump and French President Emanuel Macron have exchanged data that, according to the announcement, confirm use of chemical weapons in the Syrian city of Douma.

US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron exchanged data allegedly confirming the use of chemical weapons in Syria’s Douma during a telephone conversation, the Elysee Palace said in a statement on Monday.

France and the United States will also condemn the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria at the Monday's UN Security Council meeting, the communique, released by Elysee Palace stated.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday vowed to send troops to Syria in support of the US-led coalition to block any further advance by Turkey who has promised to continue its military offensive east of Afrin.

In a meeting with Kurdish and Arab representatives in Syria, Macron expressed his country's readiness to send French troops to support the US-led Coalition in Syria, which includes the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), Paris-based news magazine Marianne said.

A delegation representing the Kurdish, Arab, and Christian components of Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava) held talks with the French Presidency on Thursday to discuss the situation in the country’s north, Reuters reported quoting Kurdish officials in Paris.

THE French public is backing demonstrators who are carrying out three months of rail strikes in protest of Emmanuel Macron by donating hundreds of thousands of pounds to the cause.

No major international issues can be resolved without Russia, Christian Cambon, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the Senate, French parliament's upper house, said Thursday.

"No major international issue can be resolved without Russia… We want to have with our Russian counterparts a frank dialogue, a dialogue without ambiguity, a demanding dialogue. In our report, we demand from Russia to respect international law. We also touch upon cultural, economic and technological convergence," he said, as quoted by the Senate's press service.

Following the meeting, Cambon told reporters that Russia should play a greater role in resolving international crises and countering terrorism.

Ten human rights groups have urged French President Emmanuel Macron to press Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to end the aerial and naval blockade on Yemen and working out a diplomatic solution to the devastating three-year-old conflict in the impoverished Arab country.

“The bombing of civilians in Yemen must stop and we call on all sides in the conflict to stop them immediately,” Anne Hery of Handicap International said on Wednesday.

She added, “Ahead of the visit of Crown Prince Mohammed, President Macron has a choice: protect civilians or sell weapons.”

Having just met with the French Foreign Minister, Turkey’s EU Affairs Minister Omer Celik has publicly made clear that Turkey is demanding France choose between supporting them, or supporting the Kurdish YPG.

The Turkish government has expressed growing annoyance at NATO nations for backing the YPG, and a lot of that recently has centered on France. This is because President Macron has been very public in backing the Kurds, and suggested supporting them in Manbij.

FRENCH President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday the upcoming presidential election in Venezuela would not be “free and fair,” drawing the ire of Caracas, which called on the young centrist to stay out of the nation’s internal affairs.

FRANCE will launch a deployable European military crisis force in June, French Defence Ministry sources have revealed, as they confirmed the army would work outside of existing European Union efforts.

France and the US are committed to stamping out Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), Emmanuel Macron’s office said on Wednesday. The statement came after the French president spoke with his US counterpart, Donald Trump, Reuters reports. “France and the United States are determined to pursue their actions within the international coalition to fight to the end this terrorist organization,” the Elysee Palace said. “Nothing should distract us from the objective of preventing Islamic State’s resurgence in the region and allowing an inclusive political process in Syria,” it added.

French rail workers have launched three months of rolling train strikes. The strikes are on schedule to become the largest and most chaotic industrial action against Emmanuel Macron’s drive to overhaul state transport and liberalize the economy.

The media is calling the protests “Black Tuesday,” while simultaneously attempting to deflect from the left-of-left dictator in charge, Emmanuel Macron. The opening day of train strikes was expected to cause disruption for France’s 4.5 million rail passengers after around 33% of all train staff and more than 75% of drivers walked out.

The rail sector is traditionally one of France’s riskiest political issues. It’s quickly become a battleground on which Macron is refusing to budge in order to prove that he can face down strikes and continue with a liberalizing overhaul of other sectors.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent surprise announcement that he plans to withdraw the United States military from Syria “very soon” and that he will let “the other people take care of it now” may be more telling of what’s to come than the mainstream media would have us believe.

The indication that Trump may let the “other people take care of it now” might appear, on the face of it, to refer to regional players and prominent backers like Russia and Iran, which have helped guide the course of the Syrian conflict to an almost certain victory for the Syrian government.

But what if Trump is actually opening the door for another Western imperial power to try its hand at taking on Syria for itself?

EMMANUEL Macron has been slapped with THREE MONTHS of punishing strikes from tomorrow in retaliation of the French President bowing down to the EU.

The relentless strikes begin tomorrow and will run for a gruelling 12 weeks in successive waves of two days bringing France to a standstill and completely paralysing the country.

The four main unions representing exasperated rail workers have called the revolt against opening the national SNCF rail monopoly up to competition as required by EU law.

The militant unions have been up in arms over Macron’s plot to scrap jobs for life for 260,000 workers of the debt-ridden, state-owned SNCF rail and their right to retire in their 50s in an attempt to whip them into line wit the public sector.

None other than Julius Caesar reminds us that “fortune, whose power is very great in all spheres, but particularly in warfare, often brings about great reversals by a slight tilt of the balance.”

The wisdom contained in the words of Rome’s most famous and illustrious emperor, a man whose very name is synonymous with power, is confirmed in the plight of Nicolas Sarkozy, former President of the French Republic for whom ignominy beckons with the news that he has been charged with corruption and influence peddling. Specifically, he is accused of attempting to suborn the senior judge who was heading the investigation into Sarkozy’s 2007 presidential campaign, concerning campaign finance illegalities.

French troops are currently deploying five military bases in northern Syria in the area controlled by the forces of Washington-backed and Kurdish-led SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) as reported by Turkish state news agency Anadolu.

Ankara has called on Paris to abandon any hasty steps in Syria, as stated by the Turkish Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli.

French President Emmanuel Macron previously met with the delegation of the Kurdish “Syrian Democratic Forces” (SDF) and announced their support from Paris, in particular to stabilize the situation in the northeast of Syria.

French President Emmanuel Macron has promised support for US-backed Kurdish militants in northern Syria, which has been the target of a Turkish offensive, prompting Ankara to angrily slam the offer as “clear support for terrorists.”

For the first time since entering the Elysee Palace, Macron on Thursday hosted a delegation of the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of militias in northern and eastern Syria which is largely dominated by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).

“The president ... paid tribute to the sacrifices and the determining role of the SDF in the fight against Daesh,” Macron’s office said in a statement.

“He assured the SDF of France’s support for the stabilization of the security zone in the northeast of Syria, within the framework of an inclusive and balanced governance, to prevent any resurgence of” Daesh, the statement added.

David Matthews, father-in-law to Pippa Middleton, herself the sister to the UK's Duchess of Cambridge, was charged Thursday with raping a child in France, it was revealed Friday.

He is currently under legal supervision.

According to reports, Matthews has been under investigation by France's Juvenile Protection Brigade since 2017 after a relative reported him. The hotel owner is alleged to have carried out the assault between 1998 and 1999 during his vacations in France.

Matthews was charged with the "rape of a minor by a person with authority over his victim."

French former President Nicolas Sarkozy intends to appeal the French court’s decision to resume an investigation against him over a long-standing case on corruption and abuse of power, local media reported Thursday, citing Sarkozy’s lawyers.

Earlier on Thursday, Le Monde newspaper reported that the French court had signed a document to send the former president to the Paris correctional court within the framework of the investigation process.

An investigation has been opened in France after a vegan activist posted on social media that she had “zero compassion” for a butcher who was killed in a recent terrorist attack in the southwestern part of the country.

"Well, what, it shocks you that an assassin is killed by a terrorist? Not me, I have zero compassion for him," the person wrote in a message discovered by French authorities on Monday. The activist added that the butcher's death was "justice," before quickly deleting the post, according to a judicial source cited by 20 Minutes. She was later taken into custody, according to Le Parisien.

Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron ignored the official Russian stand at the 2018 Paris Book Fair in solidarity with the UK regarding the alleged poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal.

In his article for Boulevard Votaire, French essayist Roland Hureaux strongly criticized President Macron’s move, accusing him of “servility and pettiness.”

On Sunday, a left-wing French politician was arrested for a tweet celebrating the death of a policeman who offered his life to save a captive woman being used as a human shield by a jihadist gunman in southwestern France last week.

Police arrested Stephane Poussier in his home in Normandy on March 25 after he posted a tweet celebrating the death of Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Beltrame.

"Whenever a policeman is shot… I think of my friend Remi Fraisse," Poussier wrote on Twitter, referring to a French botanist and environmental activist who was killed in a flashbang grenade explosion by French police during a series of violent clashes with protesters who opposed construction of the controversial Sivens Dam in 2014.

A group of masked men attacked far-left protestors occupying the Faculty of Law at the University of Montpellier on Thursday night, forcing several of the protestors to be taken to hospital. The occupiers blamed the university administration for the attack.

Around fifty students occupied the law faculty, claiming to be on strike until they were forcibly removed from late Thursday into the early hours of Friday morning, broadcaster France Info reports.

Video footage from the incident shows 10 to 15 masked men attack the occupiers with what appear to be batons and other blunt weapons and disperse them from a lecture hall.

...

The occupation is just the latest of a number of far-left occupations of universities. Far-left groups along with migrants have been occupying a university in the notorious, migrant-heavy Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis since January 30th.

A shaken town in southern France is holding a special church service to honor the heroic police officer and three others killed in a rampage by an Islamic extremist.

The bishop of the nearby medieval city of Carcassonne, Alain Planet, is leading Sunday’s mass at the Saint-Etienne-de-Trebes church in the town of Trebes.

Residents have been laying flowers in front of the Trebes supermarket where the attacker seized hostages Friday.

In a statement, 60-year-old Pierre de Villiers said he had tried to maintain a French defence force despite the job becoming increasingly difficult as a result of financial constraints, but admitted he was no longer able to sustain that.

He said: ”In the current circumstances I see myself as no longer able to guarantee the robust defence force I believe is necessary to guarantee the protection of France and the French people, today and tomorrow, and to sustain the aims of our country.”

Ziad Takieddine claims he met Sarkozy after 2004, contrary to the statements by the former French president, who is accused of bribery and illegal funding of his presidential campaign.

Ziad Takieddine, a French businessman of Lebanese origin, claims that he not only met with former French president Nicolas Sarkozy after 2004, but also helped to transfer money from Libya for his election campaign, cites the French news portal France Info.

"He was there, and I met him, I even greeted him, he took the suitcase, he put it aside, he did not even want to count [the money]," Ziad Takieddine said.

NATO’s 2011 war on Libya was unanimously sold across the West as a necessary humanitarian operation against the proverbial evil dictator (Hillary Clinton: “We came, we saw, he died.”). Russia and China were firmly against it.

Now, in a stunning historical reversal, the ghost of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi seems to have come back to haunt former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the self-described superstar of that R2P (“responsibility to protect”) spectacular.

The French know that their politicians receive money from every possible source. But the fact that Nicolas Sarkozy is now charged with having gotten some of his from dictator Moammar Gadhafi may cross the line for many.