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The bizarre request to get French billionaire Bernard Arnault's tax file classified as 'top secret'

France — Investigation

In the summer of 2022, France's richest man Bernard Arnault was panicking at the prospect of an MP from the radical-left La France Insoumise (LFI) party taking charge of the Finance Committee at the National Assembly. The boss of the LVMH luxury goods group apparently feared that as chair of the influential committee the politician would be able to get access to his tax details. Representatives for the billionaire then requested that his personal tax records be classified as a state secret. But as Fabrice Arfi, Yann Philippin, Antton Rouget and Ellen Salvi report, the authorities balked at this extraordinary request and ultimately rejected it.

Macron to appoint new prime minister on Friday morning

France — Link

The Elysée presidential palace made the announcement after French president cut short a trip to Poland.

Rape inquiry linked by Swedish media to Mbappé closed

France — Link

The Real Madrid player and French captain, one of football's most high-profile stars, was never formally named by Swedish prosecutors or notified by them of being under suspicion of a crime.

Corruption in France: a daily affair but no one cares

France — Analysis

Even though concern about corruption looms large in the very opinion polls that the worlds of politics and journalism  hold so dear, no one seems to want to tackle this issue head on. This was shown again recently when a new survey suggested that 63% of people in France think that “most politicians are corrupt”; yet subsequent public discussion of the findings focussed on other matters. To highlight the issue Mediapart has painstakingly compiled daily cases involving corruption from the last few weeks. As Antton Rouget reports, the list speaks for itself.

Adèle Haenel walks out of trial after film-maker denies assault

France — Link

Prosecutor demands two-year house detention for Christophe Ruggia for alleged sexual assault of the actor when she was a child.

Macron aims to name next PM 'in 48 hours'

France — Link

Top party chiefs in France met with President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday to discuss a way out of the latest political crisis, after fall of Michel Barnier's government last week.

On trial: director accused of abusing French star Adèle Haenel

France — Link

Christophe Ruggia is accused of sexually assaulting Haenel - star of films including "Portrait of a Lady on Fire" and "120 Beats Per Minute" -- in the early 2000s when she was under 15.

French Army suffers 'irreplaceable loss' as Senegal and Chad say its troops are no longer welcome

International — Analysis

At the end of last month the authorities in the Senegalese capital of Dakar and in N’Djamena in Chad both announced that they want the French military to pack up and leave their countries. These decisions – which in Chad's case came as a shock - undermine Paris's ongoing plans to restructure its troops' deployment in Africa. More broadly they also challenge a French military presence on the continent that is a hangover from colonial days. Rémi Carayol reports.

Macron welcomes fall of Assad's 'barbaric' state

International — Link

France's Ministry for Foreign Affairs also called end of Bashar al-Assad's regime an 'historic day for Syria and the Syrian people'. 

Uranium mine becomes pawn in row between Niger and France

International — Link

French state nuclear company Orano has announced that Niger's junta - which deposed France's ally, President Mohamed Bazoum, in a coup in July 2023 - had taken operational control of its local mining firm.

Notre Dame holds first mass after five-year restoration

France — Link

Inaugural mass was led by Paris archbishop Laurent Ulrich with 150 bishops and more than 100 priests from the capital in attendance, as well as French president Emmanuel Macron.

How fall of government is proof that France's Fifth Republic 'no longer works'

Politique — Interview

The downfall of prime minister Michel Barnier's government on Wednesday night was only the second time under France's Fifth Republic that an administration has been toppled by MPs in a no-confidence vote. In an interview with Mediapart's Fabien Escalona, law professor Bruno Daugeron examines the similarities and differences with the current situation and that of 1962, when prime minister Georges Pompidou's administration was also brought down. According to the academic, France is now paying the price for decades of what he terms “majoritarian presidentialism” that no longer works.

World leaders attend Notre-Dame reopening ceremony

International — Link

Donald Trump, the US president-elect, Jill Biden, America’s first lady, the Prince of Wales and Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, are among 1,500 guests attending the reopening event in Paris.

Macron to hold talks with Zelensky and Trump in Paris

France — Link

French president was due to have bilateral talks with the leaders on Saturday on the sidelines of the Notre-Dame Cathedral re-opening ceremony.

EU snubs France to seal huge Latin American trade deal

International — Link

EU president Ursula von der Leyen announces Mercosur trade accord, delighting her fellow Germans but infuriating France which calls the deal unacceptable.