When is a candidate not a candidate...and when should he pay for his campaign costs? Nicolas Sarkozy is under fire. Meanwhile, right and left cross swords over voting rights for non-EU foreigners, but are they both playing to the gallery? And we find out that life's not easy for entrepreneurs going solo, despite changes to the labour market.
Former French Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo has withdrawn his bid to stand as a presidential candidate in next year’s election – a small respite for President Nicolas Sarkozy as his uphill battle to win the 2012 vote begins.
FRENCH PAPERS, 16.11.2010: The battle lines are being drawn over control of the centre ground in French politics, this after two leading figures of the political centre left Sarkozy's government in Sunday's reshuffle. The French press asks who will emerge as the dominant figure between former Defence Minister Hervé Morin, former Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo and Sarkozy's old foe François Bayrou. All three are now opponents of the President yet what differentiates them from each other?
A day after three French workers and a Thai colleague were seized off the Nigerian coast, the main rebel group in the oil-rich delta region said Thursday it had located the four men and was negotiating their release.
French Defence Minister Herve Morin arrived in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Tuesday for an update on two French reporters captured in Afghanistan by the Taliban last December. The journalists were working for the public broadcast station France 3.
French Defence Minister Herve Morin (pictured) arrived in Kabul on Wednesday for talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and a New Year's visit with French soldiers serving in the NATO-led force stationed in the country.
French Defense Minister Hervé Morin arrived in Afghanistan accompanied by seventeen relatives of French soldiers killed in an August 18 ambush that shocked France and sparked a heated debate about the country's involvement in Afghanistan.
French Prime Minister François Fillon announced a modernisation plan for a leaner and more mobile military reflecting new priorities. The plan involves shutting 83 units, including regiments, logistics centres and air force bases, from 2009 onwards.
Hervé Morin 
