National Front

France's right-wing parties, led by former president Nicolas Sarkozy, edged out the far-right National Front to take first place in local elections on Sunday, in a crucial test ahead of 2017 presidential elections.
      

Velizar Enchev, an MP who quit the nationalist coalition Patriotic Front (PF) last year, has announced he is due to set up his new organization on April 4-5.

The entity is due to be founded in the city of Veliko Tarnovo, the old capital of Bulgaria lying in the north-central part of the country.

Bulgarian nationalist party Ataka seems to have a key role in the International Russian Conservative forum held March 22 in St Petersburg, Russia.

Ataka's leader Volen Siderov is one of only nine people described as "foreign participants" in a list that pops up after setting one's mouse on the "Partners and participants" section.

France's National Front, one of the most powerful populist far right parties in Europe, eyed strong gains against the ruling socialists of President Francois Hollande in regional elections March 22.
     
The election's first round got underway at 8:00 am (0700 GMT) across 101 "departments", which control issues such as school and welfare budgets.
      

Calls mounted March 16 for action against Paris Saint-Germain's temperamental star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic over comments he made about his host country which one French minister called "insulting".
      

The European Parliament announced March 9 that it had alerted anti-fraud investigators to possible financial irregularities committed by France's far-right National Front (FN) party over salaries paid to EU parliamentary assistants.
      

French PM warns about rise of National Front

PARIS -- The far-right National Front is on track to win more votes than any other party in the first round of French local elections, Reuters quoted a poll on Monday.

At the same time, France's Socialist Prime Minister Manuel Valls spoke of "fear" that the party could also in win the presidential election in 2017.

France's recognition of Kosovo was "historic mistake" - MEP

BELGRADE -- France made "a historic mistake by recognizing Kosovo's independence," Aymeric Chauprade, a French member of the European Parliament, has said.

BELGRADE - Paris has made a historic mistake by recognizing Kosovo's independence, Aymeric Chauprade, European parliamentarian from France, has said, stressing that the 1999 NATO war against Serbia assisted the separatist tendencies of the ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, and the European Union (EU) followed the policy pursued by the United States.

Does democracy in Malaysia really depend on Anwar Ibrahim? If it does, Malaysia's 30 million people are in trouble. Anwar is back in jail: at least five years' imprisonment, and another five years' ban from political activity after that. He says he doesn't care: "Whether it's five years or ten it doesn't matter to me anymore. They can give me twenty years. I don't give a damn."