Europe, France | featured news

A major al-Qaeda base has been dismantled by French forces in the remote mountains of northern Mali, France's Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian says.

Even as the euro zone periphery starts to spy some glimmers of hope, concern is mounting that Germany is drifting apart from other countries at the core of the single currency bloc, notably France.

President Francois Hollande has confirmed that a French family of seven -- three adults and four children -- have been kidnapped in northern Cameroon.

Europe's horsemeat scandal is spreading, as French consumer safety authorities say companies from Romania, Cyprus and the Netherlands were part of a supply chain that resulted in horsemeat being disguised as beef in frozen lasagna sold around the continent.

The UN should begin planning for African-led forces in Mali to become a full peacekeeping mission, France tells the Security Council, as clashes continue.

French President Francois Hollande's approval rating jumped this month from a record low, improving for the first time since he took office after sending troops to Mali to battle Islamist rebels.

French-backed Malian troops searched house-to-house in Gao and Timbuktu on Tuesday uncovering arms and explosives abandoned by Islamist fighters, and France said it would look to hand over longer-term security operations in Mali to an African force.

France said on Thursday there were no signs that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is about to be overthrown, something Paris has been saying for months was just over the horizon.

A foul-smelling cloud of gas escaped from a factory in northern France on Tuesday, making life unpleasant from the outskirts of Paris to Britain's shores and prompting scores of emergency calls.

Within the past few days, French combat forces have deployed to the West African state of Mali to halt the advance of militant Islamist fighters toward the capital and to help the Malian army begin to reclaim towns previously occupied by the militants.