Nicolas Sarkozy

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was being held on July 1 for questioning over suspected influence-peddling, a legal source said.

Sarkozy arrived early July 1 to be quizzed by investigators at their offices in Nanterre, west of Paris, after his lawyer was held for questioning on June 30.

By Costas Iordanidis

Recent revelations by the Financial Times of the behind-the-scenes machinations at Cannes in November 2011 that led to the downfall of Greece’s then-Prime Minister George Papandreou – a negligible loss of course – and where the leaders of the European Union lost complete control of themselves leave a bitter taste.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso spoke to Antonis Samaras and Evangelos Venizelos in private in November 2011 and encouraged them to block George Papandreou’s proposal for a referendum on Greece’s euro membership, a Financial Times report claimed on Monday.

French Interior Minister Manuel Valls becomes the country's Prime Minister after Jean-Marc Ayrault resigned.

President Francois Hollande announced the move hours after his ruling Socialists suffered a bad defeat in the country's local elections, where center-right opposition UMP triumphed and far-right National Front showed unprecedented success, France 24 has reported.

Cécilia Attias, ex-wife of former French President Sarkozy, met Thursday in Sofia with the Bulgarian medics who spent 8 years in prison in Libya over a HIV trial.

Cecilia Attias, then-wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, had a major contribution to the release of the medics.

French far-right National Front Party has done remarkably well at Sunday's first round of local polls. France's ruling Socialists, on the other hand, seem to be trailing behind the opposition UMP (Union for a Popular Movement).