Thousands of supporters gathered near the tomb of Napoleon for what was billed as a protest — but observers said it had all the markings of a campaign rally.
A French court found Marine Le Pen guilty on Monday in an embezzlement case and barred her from seeking public office for five years, with immediate effect. Le Pen's lawyer said she would appeal.
Le Pen was convicted numerous times of antisemitism, discrimination and inciting racial violence. But the nativist ideas that propelled his popularity remain ascendant in today's France and beyond.
France's government has been toppled by a no-confidence vote in parliament, for the first time sine 1962. Prime Minister Michel Barnier served the shortest time in the post in France's modern history.
Four weeks of chanting and shouting on the streets were not expressions of anger about politics — but the sound of joy and excitement about the European Championship soccer tournament.
The president called surprise legislative elections, in two rounds on Sunday and July 7, and they're shaping up to be among the country's most divisive in recent history.
Sunday's contest has implications for the spread of far-right ideology, France's relationship with the rest of Europe and the country's posture toward Russia.
