French President Francois Hollande's popularity plummeted in March, with 67 percent of his countrymen saying they were dissatisfied with his performance and less than a third of them saying they were happy with it.
Japan said Monday it had protested to Paris over a French firm's sale of helicopter landing equipment to China, at a time of heightened territorial tensions between Tokyo and Beijing.
European aerospace giant Airbus will sign Monday what would mark one of its biggest orders ever from Indonesia's Lion Air for more than 200 A320 medium-haul jets.
France has joined Britain in voicing its willingness to supply weapons to Syria's rebels if it cannot convince its European partners to lift an arms embargo as the conflict enters its third year.
A small French study of 14 HIV patients who have remained healthy for years after stopping drug treatment offers fresh evidence that early medical intervention may lead to a "functional cure" for AIDS.
On the banks of the River Niger, mud-walled buildings festooned with tricolours mark out the ancient trading post of Gao, Mali's largest northern city where the French have been welcomed as heroes.
A severe late-winter snowstorm battered northwestern Europe on Tuesday, causing widespread travel chaos with the cancellation of hundreds of flights at main airports..
France's surprise intervention in northern Mali against Islamist fighters involved in lucrative drug-running has disrupted cocaine supply to Europe but smugglers are already finding new routes.
A French minister vowed Thursday to cut bureaucracy in a bid to lure foreign investors, and said her South Korean roots would help to boost France's profile in booming Asia.
More than seven weeks into its intervention to root out Islamist rebels in Mali, the French army keeps a tight lid on details of the operation -- a policy some call a public relations fumble.