SHAMED former French leader Jacques Chirac has been found guilty of corruption and given a suspended jail sentence, becoming France’s first ex-president to be convicted for his crimes.

Former French president Jacques Chirac was found guilty today of embezzling public funds in a trial over illegal financing of the conservative party he led for a long time.

FORMER French president Jacques Chirac will not be required to attend his corruption trial after his lawyers said the 78-year-old is suffering memory lapses.

Former French president Jacques Chirac is unable to attend his own corruption trial because he suffers from a failing memory, his lawyers claimed today.

The trial of former French President Jacques Chirac on corruption charges is set to open today.

Former French President Jacques Chirac will go back on trial in September on corruption charges linked to his time as mayor of Paris.

THE corruption trial of France’s former president Jacques Chirac can go ahead, a top appeals court ruled, rejecting a constitutional challenge.

THE trial of former French president Jacques Chirac on corruption charges has been postponed until June.

The trial of former French President Jacques Chirac on corruption charges has been postponed until June.

JACQUES Chirac became the first former French president to go on trial as a court heard charges he embezzled public funds while he was mayor of Paris in the 1990s.

A long-awaited French corruption trial has opened with former President Jacques Chirac as the star defendant.

Former French President Jacques Chirac is due to face trial on corruption charges today.

France’s former president Jacques Chirac has been ordered to stand trial in a second party financing case dating back to his 1977-1995 time as Paris mayor.

Former French President Jacques Chirac has been ordered to stand trial in a second corruption case regarding his 1977-to-1995 tenure as Paris mayor, officials said today.

FORMER French President Jacques Chirac is to stand trial next March in a party financing scandal – and become the first leader of modern-day France to face a court.

Former French President Jacques Chirac is to stand trial next March in a party financing scandal – and become the first leader of modern-day France to face a court.

THE city of Paris pulled out of a corruption case against former French president Jacques Chirac yesterday after he agreed to pay €2.2 million lost to municipal funds because of a financing scandal while he was mayor.

The city of Paris pulled out of a corruption case against former French president Jacques Chirac today after he agreed to pay €2.2m lost to municipal funds because of a financing scandal while he was mayor.

Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin was today cleared of being involved in a smear campaign against President Nicolas Sarkozy when he stood for election.

FORMER French president Jacques Chirac has been placed under investigation over allegations he put allies on the city of Paris’s payroll for non-existent jobs during his time as mayor.

Former French President Jacques Chirac he has been placed under investigation over allegations the city of Paris paid for jobs in his political party when he was mayor.

JACQUES CHIRAC will be the first former French president to be tried for corruption, officials said yesterday, after charges from his years as mayor of Paris returned to taint the twilight of his long career.

A judicial official says former French president Jacques Chirac has been ordered to stand trial in an alleged corruption scandal dating back to his 1977-1995 tenure as Paris mayor.

Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin entered the witness box in a slander trial today to deny orchestrating a plot to discredit President Nicolas Sarkozy.

A judicial official says a French far-right activist has been released from prison seven years after attempting to assassinate then-President Jacques Chirac in a Bastille Day attack.

A MERE 30 members of the public responded to the Government’s consultation with the people on their views and concerns on the Lisbon treaty.

Former French prime minister Jacques Chirac’s office says he has left a Paris hospital after having a heart pacemaker fitted.

THE international press must have tuned out after 1,369 words of Bertie Ahern’s departure speech.

FORMER French president Jacques Chirac was placed under judicial investigation yesterday as part of a probe into the improper use of city funds when he was mayor of Paris, said his lawyer.

Former French President Jacques Chirac was charged with embezzling public money today.

Nicolas Sarkozy began his first visit to Washington as French president with a pledge that France has left behind tensions with the United States over the Iraq war.

Nicolas Sarkozy is facing the first real challenge to his presidency tonight when unions begin a one-day strike expected to leave France without public transport.

FRENCH president Nicolas Sarkozy’s call for a full reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) may leave farmers struggling to adapt again, even as they get to grips with the decoupled CAP and the Single Farm Payment.

Under new President Nicolas Sarkozy, France no longer has a policy of “permanent anti-Americanism” – but does not take orders from Washington either, the French foreign minister said today.

FRENCH president, Nicolas Sarkozy, disappointed thousands of prisoners yesterday by refusing to sanction a traditional Bastille Day pardon.

Pierre Messmer, who was France’s prime minister from 1972 to 1974, has died at age 91, former President Jacques Chirac said today.

The American White House welcomed a symbolic unannounced visit to Iraq by France’s foreign minister.

Former French president Jacques Chirac was being questioned by judges today in an investigation into a fake jobs scandal, Paris Match magazine reported.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is offering no mass mercy to the nation’s prisoners on Bastille Day this year.

Former French president Jacques Chirac is to be questioned in the coming months over a corruption scandal involving fake jobs and linked to the former conservative political party he headed, his lawyer said today.

US President George Bush is to meet new French president Nicolas Sarkozy today on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Germany.

France’s new foreign minister today condemned a deadly bomb attack near a busy Beirut shopping centre, and reaffirmed the importance to France of Lebanon’s sovereignty and stability.

Nicolas Sarkozy was officially inaugurated today as president of France, taking over power from Jacques Chirac in an elaborate ceremony in the Elysee Palace in Paris.

Nicolas Sarkozy arrived today at the Elysee Palace in Paris to be inaugurated as French president and take over from Jacques Chirac.