France's government has sold short-term bonds at negative interest rates for the first time, a sign of investor confidence despite concerns about French debts and the wider eurozone.

France's senate today approved raising the retirement age from 60 to 62 even as unions are promising new protests.

Voter turnout for the French presidential runoff is set to surpass the level of both the first round on April 21 - when a record 28% of voters abstained - and in the 1995 election.

A retired French general says the orders he issued to torture and kill prisoners during the Algerian independence war were justifiable acts of duty, a court has heard.