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A French court on Friday postponed for the second time a decision about investigating claims that Christine Lagarde, the new chief of the International Monetary Fund, abused her power as [...]

The Socialist legislator Pierre Moscovici, a close ally of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, said Thursday that he would support Francois Hollande for president. Mr. Moscovici, 53, had been hesitating about whether to [...]

PARIS -- President Nicolas Sarkozy faces an uncomfortable political predicament. He must satisfy an anxious market, preserve France's AAA credit rating, defend French banks, cut the budget to fixed targets in a time of slowing growth and make it all palatable enough to win an election only nine months away. It will not be an easy trick to pull off. Mr. Sarkozy is already struggling with low popularity ratings in opinion polls and a general disaffection among the French with his personality and style. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

PARIS -- Foreign Minister Alain Juppe of France said Wednesday that the Libyan leader Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi could remain in Libya so long as he completely gave up power, as part of a larger political deal, including a cease-fire, on the future of the country. Also, President Nicolas Sarkozy met with rebel leaders from the Libyan port city of Misurata, who were seeking further aid and arms for their fight to oust Colonel Qaddafi. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

PARIS -- France was punished on Thursday for not taking proper care of its hamsters. The Court of Justice in Luxembourg, the European Union's highest court, ruled Thursday that France had failed to protect the Great Hamster of Alsace, sometimes known as the European hamster, the last wild hamster species in Western Europe. If France does not adjust its agricultural and urbanization policies sufficiently to protect it, the court said, the government will be subject to fines of as much as $24.6 million. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- The head of Pakistan's army, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, said Thursday that he would not tolerate a repeat of the American covert operation that killed Osama bin Laden, warning that any similar action would lead to a reconsideration of the relationship with the United States. In his first public reaction to the American raid early Monday that left many Pakistanis questioning the capacities of the nation's army, General Kayani did not appear in person, choosing instead to convey his angry message through a statement by his press office and in a closed meeting with Pakistani reporters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PARIS -- As Pakistan faced a growing chorus of questions about its avowed ignorance of Osama bin Laden's presence on its soil, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani sought to shift the focus of blame on Wednesday, saying the intelligence failure was made by ''the whole world, not Pakistan alone.'' The maneuvering came three days after President Obama announced that Bin Laden had been killed in an American commando raid on a compound in Abbottabad, just 35 miles from the Pakistani capital -- an event that prompted Western leaders, including senior officials in France and Britain, to say Pakistan had to explain why it said it had not been aware of the presence of the leader of Al Qaeda. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

What do schoolchildren around the world learn about 9/11 and its aftermath? In Pakistan, the government-approved textbooks give 9/11 only the briefest of mentions. While one text says the attacks were the work of ''unidentified terrorists,'' most do not describe the attacks, but simply stress that after 9/11, Pakistan supported the United States' anti-terrorist campaign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PARIS -- Anne Mansouret, the mother of a young woman who has accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of trying to rape her in 2003, said Saturday that she was ''revolted'' by the gleeful reaction of many men in France to the news that the case against him in New York had been compromised by credibility questions surrounding his accuser, a hotel housekeeper. ''He's lied a lot in his life,'' said Ms. Mansouret, whose daughter, Tristane Banon, has signaled that she would file a criminal complaint in France against Mr. Strauss-Kahn. ''I know exactly what he is.'' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PARIS -- The release of Dominique Strauss-Kahn on Friday from house arrest in New York represented a startling turnaround, sharpening the focus of political debate here on a central and potent issue: with the weakening of sexual assault charges against him, will he be able to resume a potentially stellar career that could lead to the presidency of his country? The question divided opinion as much among Mr. Strauss-Kahn's own Socialist Party followers as those on the right. Moments after his release, the party spokesman, Benoit Hamon, told reporters that the court's decision had come as an ''intense relief.'' Beyond that, the calculation likely to absorb party strategists revolved around the degree to which Mr. Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, had been damaged by weeks of disclosures and accusations that, even days ago, seemed to have drawn an abrupt and indelible line across his ambitions and his career. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]