France is bidding farewell to its biggest rock star, honouring Johnny Hallyday with a funeral procession down the Champs-Elysees, a presidential speech and a parade of motorcyclists.

The challenge facing France and Germany is to capitalise on victories for pro-European governments without provoking a backlash in other EU states, writes Mark Leonard.

Voters attracted by Emmanuel Macron say they will back his party candidates. However, despite the grandiose claims, it’s impossible to say if Macron’s staggering success is evidence of a new electoral cycle or a mere blip.

French politicians have united to condemn an attack on a former minister while she was out campaigning ahead of National Assembly elections this weekend.

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has called for a meeting with embattled conservative candidate Francois Fillon and his possible replacement to find a solution to the crisis that threatens to shatter the French right.

Here's your lunchtime bulletin.

Francois Fillon has won France's first-ever conservative presidential primary after promising drastic free-market reforms and a crackdown on immigration and Islamic extremism.

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today.

The leader of France's far-right National Front set the tone for her campaign for the French presidency on Saturday, calling to fight an Islamist "offensive" and promising to hold a nationwide referendum on European Union membership if she is elected next spring.

Burkini bans and plans to reintroduce conscription are over-reactions that damage Europe’s way of life and play into the hands of groups like Islamic State, says Peter Apps.

Nine months before the presidential election, the candidates could well be the unpopular incumbent, Francois Hollande, his equally unpopular predecessor, Nicholas Sarkozy, and the far-right’s Marine Le Pen, says Noah Barkin

The race to be the next president of France could come down to voting for whoever will do the least damage, writes Noah Barkin. 

Three terror attacks since January 2015 have tested France’s spirit. With high gun ownership and an isolated immigrant community, the country is on tenterhooks, says Jonathan Miller

France’s interior minister is protesting accusations the government tried to cover up security failings the night of the Bastille Day attack in Nice that killed 84.

France has marked a national moment of silence in memory of the 84 people killed in the Nice truck attack, as thousands of people massed on the city's waterfront promenade.

France has held a minute's silence as they remember the victims of last week's attack in Nice.

What a week for the women and men of the Central Statistics Office. Surely never before has the Irish statistical community occupied such a starring role in our national conversation.

French president François Hollande’s hairdresser is paid a gross salary by the state of €9,895 a month.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has promised to “make the case for Ireland’s national interest” in Brexit negotiations.

Under the pressure of the migrant crisis countries across Europe have closed their borders, while xenophobic parties thrive. TP O’Mahony reflects on a new book which captures the unravelling of the EU’s liberal dream. 

Even allied nations are suspicious of one another, but only greater trust in the gathering of information will prevent terrorist attacks from becoming commonplace, says David Wise

France’s top appeals court dealt a blow to Nicolas Sarkozy’s hopes of a presidential comeback when it ruled that taped recordings of his conversations with his lawyer were admissible as evidence against him in a case involving alleged corruption.

The value of the US and UK’s special relationship has been reaffirmed in the wake of Barack Obama’s criticism of David Cameron for his actions over Libya that allowed it to become a “shit show”.

During the past year, right-wing populist politicians have been on the march, in France, the US and even in Germany, where chancellor Angela Merkel’s generous response to the migration crisis has left her exposed, politically, as never before.

France’s far right National Front has won more support than any other party in the first round of regional elections, according to polling agency projections.

It is the Western powers’ strategy of training, funding, and arming ‘moderate’ jihadists to fight against the ‘radicals’ that is now backfiring with deadly consequences, writes Brahma Chellaney

France’s far-right National Front party leader Marine Le Pen is expected to dominate in the first round of local elections in the northern region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais in December, mustering around 40% support, according to a poll published yesterday.

‘Croydon-sur-Seine’, read the headlines.

Grexit no longer represents the potential catastrophe that it once did. After all, the main short-term cost has already materialised, writes Daniel Gros.

A court in France has acquitted a former ally of Nicolas Sarkozy on charges of swindling millions of euro from France’s richest woman — L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt — by taking advantage of her weak mental state.