CHICAGO, May 20 (Reuters) – NATO leaders charting a path out
of Afghanistan sought on Sunday to dispel fears of a rush for
the exits in the unpopular war even as France’s new president
vowed to stick by his pledge to withdraw French troops by year’s
end.

President Barack Obama, who once called the Afghan conflict
a “war of necessity” but is now looking for an orderly way out,
hosted the NATO summit in his home town, Chicago, a day after
major industrialized nations tackled a European debt crisis that
threatens the global economy.

PARIS (Reuters) – Socialist heavyweight Laurent Fabius, named as foreign minister on Wednesday, shares President Francois Hollande’s vision of making French diplomacy more independent of the United States while holding to a firm line on Iran and Syria.

Fabius, 65, is the oldest and most experienced minister in Hollande’s new government, having served as budget, industry and finance minister under past Socialists administrations and as a modernizing prime minister from 1984 to 1986.

PARIS (Reuters) – President Francois Hollande faces a diplomatic test three days into his term when he discusses an early exit for French troops in Afghanistan with U.S. President Barack Obama and NATO allies in his first outing on the world stage.

France’s first Socialist leader in 17 years is little known outside France and will have a baptism of fire, flying first to Germany to challenge Berlin’s focus on austerity then to the United States to meet Obama and attend G8 and NATO summits.

PARIS (Reuters) – President Francois Hollande faces a diplomatic test three days into his term when he discusses an early exit for French troops in Afghanistan with U.S. President Barack Obama and NATO allies in his first outing on the world stage.

France’s first Socialist leader in 17 years is little known outside France and will have a baptism of fire, flying first to Germany to challenge Berlin’s focus on austerity then to the United States to meet Obama and attend G8 and NATO summits.

PARIS (Reuters) – France voted in elections on Sunday which could make Nicolas Sarkozy the 11th European leader to be swept from office by the economic crisis and crown Francois Hollande as the nation’s first Socialist president in nearly two decades.

Buoyed by a tide of anger at Sarkozy’s inability to rein in rampant unemployment during his five-year term, Hollande was between four and eight points ahead in final opinion polls.

TULLE, France (Reuters) – French Socialist Francois Hollande spent Saturday mingling with well-wishers and sampling delicacies at a market in his rural political base as he savored what may be his last moments of quiet if he wins Sunday’s election runoff.

Final opinion polls give Hollande a lead of around six points for the decisive round against President Nicolas Sarkozy, suggesting he could be a day from becoming the first Socialist to win a French presidential election since 1988.

PARIS (Reuters) – An implosion of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s ruling UMP party has sunk his chances of re-election, far-right leader Marine Le Pen said, calling on disenchanted conservatives to join her National Front in a new grouping to run for parliament.

In an interview with Reuters, Le Pen said centrist UMP stalwarts had wrecked Sarkozy’s strategy of moving sharply to the right in the hope of winning over National Front voters for Sunday’s presidential run-off.

PARIS (Reuters) – French far-right leader Marine Le Pen said on Wednesday she hoped disillusioned conservatives would join a new patriotic coalition she is creating in the hope of winning seats in parliament for the first time in a quarter of a century.

Le Pen, who surprised in April’s first-round presidential vote when almost one in five voters chose her, has refused to endorse conservative incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy in Sunday’s presidential run-off.

PARIS, April 30 (Reuters) – France on Monday said it held
FARC rebels responsible for the life of a French journalist in
Colombia, calling on the drug-funded group to release him
immediately in line with a pledge it made to stop taking
hostages for ransom.

France believes Romeo Langlois, a freelance reporter for
French news channel France 24, was taken captive by the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia after being caught in
crossfire between the Marxist guerrillas and government troops.

PARIS (Reuters) – French President Nicolas Sarkozy swung further to the right on Thursday, proposing a new licence to shoot for police pursuing suspects, in an increasingly frantic quest to woo far-right National Front voters before a decisive election runoff.

A new rise in unemployment to the highest level since September 1999 dealt another blow to the conservative Sarkozy’s effort to catch up with Socialist frontrunner Francois Hollande before the May 6 second round of the presidential election.