Authorities in northern France say two people have died and 20 others are injured from a cold snap bringing snow and ice across northern Europe.

A defiant Nicolas Sarkozy told a Paris court on Thursday that allegations of illegal Libyan financing of his successful 2007 presidential bid were a "conspiracy" and that not a single cent of Libyan cash would ever be found in his campaign.

France on Thursday charged the founder of an adult website used to commit sexual offences, including by a French man who recruited dozens of strangers to rape his heavily sedated wife, prosecutors said.

France has identified its first case of the new mpox variant, news agency AFP reported on Monday, citing a statement from the country's health ministry.

Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau said the government must be as ambitious as possible with budget cuts to tackle the “chronic sickness” of the country’s public finances and restore economic confidence after months of political upheaval.

The founding father of France's far-right movement, Jean-Marie Le Pen, died Tuesday in a care facility after a short illness, his family said. He was 96 years old.

The site, coco.fr, was shut down in June after being linked to more than 23,000 sexual abuse and other cases in France alone, including the rape trial that shocked the country last year.

At least 10 Jewish homes and businesses around Paris and a synagogue in the northern French city of Rouen have been defaced, according to police, with antisemitism being considered as a motive.

Javier C. Hernández and Benjamin Malapris joined the conductor Daniel Harding as he piloted an Air France flight from Rome to Paris. On a stormy day more than 34,000 feet above Paris, Air France Flight 1205 prepared to make its descent. Flight attendants began checking seat backs and tray tables, and passengers groggily emerged from naps.

France’s new finance minister, the experienced Eric Lombard (banker, economist – newly nicknamed as ‘Spider-Man’) has relaunched the budget process that will