The former president was also attacked for his 'cavalier' approach towards the court, at the end of proceedings in the trial over alleged campaign finance violations for his 2012 reelection bid.
Easing of coronavirus rules came as French authorities hailed a rapid decline in new cases on the eve of summer holidays, raising hopes for a more vibrant and relaxed tourist season.
Evidence collated by Reuters – including statistical data that indirectly captures the impact and testimony from community leaders – indicates the COVID death rate among French Muslims is much higher than in the overall population.
The former CEO of Ikea France, Jean-Louis Baillot, was given a two-year suspended jail term and €50,000 fine after the French subsidiary was found to have used private detectives and police officers to collect private data on staff.
Marine Le Pen, leader of the French far-right Rassemblement National party, the former Front National, has high hopes of making gains in conservative-held regions in elections this month, notably in the south-east Provence region.
Olivier Duhamel, 71, a prominent and influential figure among the Parisian intellectual glitterati leftist elite who was forced to admit sexually abusing his stepson after the latter's sister revealed the assaults in a book, will not be prosecuted because of the French statute of limitations.
The major Paris landmark of the Arc de Triomphe will be entirely wrapped in fabric this summer, in a 14-million-euro project that the late artist Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude first envisaged 59 years ago.
