Nicolas Sarkozy

French President Emmanuel Macron's popularity rating slumped a further 14 points in August to hit 40 percent, following a sharp 10-point drop the previous month, according to a poll released on Aug. 27.

The popularity of French President Emmanuel Macron has reached a new low in August with 40% approval. This is a drop of 14 points a month after the record, minus 10 points in July, said Bgnes, quoting studies by Iphop and Jurnal du dimanche. Macron Government Prime Minister Edouard Philip also recorded a nine-point retreat for the same period, dropping from 56% to 47% approval.

The selection process for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments has been mired in allegations of widespread corruption and bribery, Politico reported.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is facing a criminal investigation in his country over allegations he accepted bribes to support Qatar's bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the Telegraph reported Thursday.

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the release of Bulgarian medics, who spent more than eight years in Libyan prison. They were accused of deliberately causing an AIDS epidemic in order to destabilize the country, reported bTV.

Centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen have won the most votes in Sunday's presidential elections in France.

They have qualified for the runoff on May 7.

According to the final results announced by the French Interior Ministry, Macron won 23.75 percent in the first round, followed by Le Pen with 21.53 percent.

Europe and the rest of the word are on the edge of their seats as nearly 47 million French voters are going to the voting booths to choose their candidate in the first round of the French Presidential elections on Sunday, April 23. Voting has already began after the conclusion of an acrimonious campaign between the four major candidates.

Here's how the French presidential election is going to work. This Sunday's vote will pick the leading two candidates, who will then have another two weeks to campaign for the run-off vote. But the leading four candidates are now bunched together so closely in the polls that any two of them could make it through to the second round. Including a couple of quite worrisome people.

More than half of police officers in France have said they are voting for far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in Sunday’s election because of her strong anti-terror stance.

According to the IFOP poll, 51 per cent of the Gendarmerie are planning to back Le Pen in the nail-biting election.

President Hollande said: “We are convinced the motive is likely to be terrorism.”

Fillon has stated that “[T]he fight against terrorism must be the absolute priority of the next French president.”

Marine Le Pen and Francois Fillon have cancelled their scheduled campaigns for Friday.

Centrist Emmanuel Macron clung on to his status as favorite to win France's presidential election in a four-way race that is too close to call, as the camp of far-right challenger Marine Le Pen ramped up its eurosceptic rhetoric in a row with Brussels, Reuters reported.