Jacques Chirac: Former conservative president turning Socialist?

In all likelihood, we already know the names of the two top candidates who will make it to the second round of France's presidential election: Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande. And if the polls are right, Hollande will be France's next president, the first Socialist since Mitterrand was re-elected back in 1988. But there is still time for voters to change their minds and unanticipated events to take place. So is it a done deal or an open race?

Toulouse: the name of this pretty town in south-western France will now forever be synonymous with death. The tragic deaths of three Jewish children, gunned down with one of their professors as they arrived in school, as well as the cold-blooded assassination of three French soldiers by the same man, have plunged France into a sea of sorrow and soul-searching. But what will the impact on the presidential campaign be?