Yesterday
How the French really feel about the Paris Olympics
The Games’ problems – food, air-con, ticket prices – seem prosaic, whereas memories are written in poetry.
- Matthew Drummond
Tom Cruise dives into star-studded Paris closing ceremony
With golden fireworks, celebrities and thousands of athletes partying into the night, the closing ceremony put a final flourish to Paris’ first Games in a century.
- Updated
- John Leicester
July
French swimming sensation rises as star of the games
Leon Marchand has drawn comparisons to American champion Michael Phelps and has lived up to those staggering expectations with his first gold medal on day two.
- Paul Newberry
How the Olympics will change Paris
After a divisive election, this northern summer’s Games will fire the starting gun on a vast project to transform the French capital.
- Simon Kuper
French government to resign but stay on in caretaker role, sources say
The caretaker government will run current affairs in France, including the start of the Olympics, but cannot pass laws.
- Elizabeth Pineau
France’s left-wing parties struggle to unite, Socialists’ leader says
The New Popular Front, an alliance ranging from socialists and Greens to the communist party, won the parliamentary election but fell well short of a majority.
- Sudip Kar-Gupta
Macron coalition talks shaky as left ‘behaves like children’
While French leftists demand the premiership, the president faces fissures in his own camp.
- Leila Abboud, Adrienne Klasa, Sarah White and Ian Johnston
- Opinion
- The AFR View
France says adieu to the centre
Australia too faces a drift to minority government, polarisation and identity politics at the next election, which France showed how easily can go off course.
- The AFR View
Corporate France bids adieu to Macron’s pro-business agenda
Many business leaders are relieved to see extremes neutralised, but political gridlock and the rise of the left has sparked concern.
- Anne-Sylvaine Chassany, Adrienne Klasa, Leila Abboud and Sarah White
Chinese hackers unveiled; Telstra hikes prices; Bapcor shuns $1.8b bid
Read everything that’s happened in the news so far today.
- Opinion
- World elections
Europe now leaderless as global threats rise
President Emmanuel Macron’s authority in Europe has shrunk after chaotic national elections, while the UK’s influence has been hobbled by Brexit.
- Gideon Rachman
Markets on tenterhooks as French politicians jostle for power
France’s left-wing parties are scrambling for a way to break the political impasse created by President Emmanuel Macron’s snap parliamentary election.
- Hans van Leeuwen
- Updated
- World elections
France faces political gridlock after shock election result
France faces fresh political uncertainty and weeks of wrangling, with an intractable hung parliament carved up between three blocs, after a shock election result.
- Updated
- Hans van Leeuwen
- Analysis
- World elections
What are the options to govern France?
Complicated talks lie ahead after snap elections called by Emmanuel Macron resulted in hung parliament.
- Anne-Sylvaine Chassany, Leila Abboud, Adrienne Klasa and Ian Johnston
- Opinion
- France
Macron the gambler wins the right to play kingmaker
The French left’s best chance of power is to follow the Keir Starmer strategy of breaking with the extremists and reuniting with the centre.
- Lionel Laurent
Left scores shock French win; Rex Minerals soars; Airport train deal
Read everything that’s happened in the news so far today.
- Opinion
- World elections
France heads back to its postwar era of ungovernability
France seems to be turning the clock back to the 4th Republic, the volatile postwar period when the presidency was weaker and a raucous parliament was supreme.
- Ben Hall
French left alliance set for shock victory over Le Pen and Macron
The coalition’s surge is a surprise blow to far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who had hoped to form the next government, and incumbent president Emmanuel Macron.
- Ania Nussbaum
France braces for far-right chaos as voting under way
France was voting on Sunday in pivotal runoff elections that could hand a historic victory to Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally and its inward-looking, anti-immigrant vision – or produce a hung parliament and years of political deadlock.
- Barbara Surk and Helena Alves
Billionaire ‘French Murdoch’ behind Le Pen’s rise
Vincent Bollare’s TV channel and related media outlets have normalised and amplified the far-right leader’s message ahead of this weekend’s French elections.
- Benoit Berthelot and Tara Patel
