A suicide bomber attempted to force his way past the defenses of the city of Timbuktu on Saturday, detonating himself on its outskirts, while a landmine exploded in another part of northern Mali, killing a total of three, officials said.
France, breaking its own rules with a surprise military intervention in Mali, appears to be halting the lightning advance of radical Islamists seen as a threat to Europe.
French President Francois Hollande potentially won the hearts of thousands of future voters on Tuesday by announcing he wants to abolish homework.
A feud involving the French president’s live-in girlfriend, his former partner and his eldest son may have tarnished the new leader’s carefully cultivated image as “Mr. Normal” — credited with helping him win the spring election among a populace weary of his flashy predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy.
France unveiled President Francois Hollande’s new government on Wednesday, with former prime minister Laurent Fabius, 65, named foreign minister and Pierre Moscovici, 54, finance minister.
Socialist Francois Hollande took over as France’s president Tuesday and jetted off to Berlin hours later for talks on Europe’s debt crisis – only to have his plane struck by lightning. No one was hurt.
President Barack Obama congratulated French president-elect Francois Hollande for his victory Sunday, but warned of “challenges” ahead, a clear reference to Afghanistan and eurozone debt crisis.
President Nicolas Sarkozy on Sunday conceded defeat to his Socialist rival Francois Hollande and said he had phoned him to wish him luck as the new leader of France.
Francois Hollande was elected France’s first Socialist president in nearly two decades on Sunday, dealing a humiliating defeat to incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy and shaking up European politics.
France’s future first lady took to the web to tweet her joy Sunday at the election of her partner, Francois Hollande, as France’s first Socialist president in nearly two decades.
