Europe, France | featured news

Francois Hollande is the man in charge after his Socialist Party swept France's parliamentary election. Voters welcomed the French president's vision of injecting government money into Europe's economies in hopes of helping the joint euro currency stave off disaster....

French voters are choosing a new parliament Sunday that will determine how far Socialist President Francois Hollande can push for economic stimulus in France and around a debt-burdened, stagnant Europe.

The Socialists, led by François Hollande, and their leftist allies were ahead in the first round of voting and are expected to emerge with a majority in the runoff vote on Sunday.

Nineteen people, including 13 children, died Monday in a fire that raged through an upscale shopping mall in Doha, Qatar’s Interior Ministry said. The fire started late in the morning and centered on a children’s play area in the Villaggio Mall, a glittering collection of shops and indoor canals in Doha, the capital, frequented by expatriates in the oil-rich emirate. The ministry did not immediately provide the nationalities of those killed. Local news reports said no Qatari children were among the dead, and Reuters said four of the children who died in the fire were from Spain. French media reported that one French child died in the fire.

Topless dancers at the renowned Crazy Horse night club in Paris have gone on strike, saying they are not being paid enough to take the shirts off their backs.

Valérie Trierweiler, a journalist, is concerned with preserving her independence while supporting her partner, President François Hollande of France.

Francois Hollande was greeted by a thunderstorm in Paris and storm clouds gathering over the euro zone as France's first Socialist president in 17 years was sworn in on Tuesday before flying to Berlin to plead his case for less austerity in Europe.

Francois Hollande, the Socialist "Mr Normal" who will be sworn in as French president next week, says he is worth almost 1.2 million euros ($1.5 million), considerably less than his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy.

Investors nervous about the changing political winds in Europe initially drove down the euro and sent stock markets falling across the region Monday morning, though markets were bouncing back later in the day following renewed signs of strength in the German economy.