The battle over further cuts to France's military budget prompted dire warnings from the country's defence minister and a threat from the heads of the armed forces to resign.
The last bastion of exclusively male jobs in the French military fell this week when the defence minister announced a pilot program to allow the first women to serve aboard nuclear-armed submarines. The minister also revealed an action plan to end sexual harassment in the armed forces.
Britain and France will develop new anti-ship missiles in a €600-million ($830 million) project that stems from a major defence cooperation agreement, Britain's Ministry of Defence said on Thursday.
France's top state auditor released a stinging report on Tuesday that lashed out against instances of wasteful government spending like the €214 million paid to the UK for research on an aircraft carrier that was never built.
A French soldier broke down in tears in court on Tuesday when he apologized to colleagues after his souvenir rocket blew up in their office. One comrade lost his legs, another lost a testicle and part of his foot and the third his hearing.
A bankrupt France tears itself apart into several regions, and one of them marches over the border to Switzerland to get back its stolen money. The Swiss army has this imaginary scenario covered, according to military simulations revealed over the weekend.
The French government ordered an inquiry into a nuclear submarine base off the coast of Brittany on Tuesday, after a local newspaper revealed shocking gaps in security, which could easily be targeted by terrorists.
A French M51 submarine-launched ballistic missile has self-destructed during testing off the coast of Brittany. The incident marks a rare failure for such a missile, estimated to cost around €120 million.
France on Friday said it was taking the situation in North Korea "seriously" and urged Pyongyang to refrain from further provocation, but said it had no immediate plans to evacuate French nationals from the country.
France is considering buying US-made unarmed Reaper surveillance drones to boost its military capabilities, a source in the defence ministry told AFP on Friday.
A French pilot was killed during a helicopter raid to prevent Islamist groups controlling northern Mali from advancing toward the capital, French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Saturday.
Paris will take in a "few dozen" Afghans who have worked alongside French troops in the war-ravaged country for 11 years and whose security is at risk at home, the defence ministry said on Wednesday.
A military court has rejected an appeal by an Afghan soldier sentenced to death for killing five French troops in an insider attack in January, an official said Monday.
<p>Two soldiers were killed and two paramilitary gendarmes wounded Wednesday in an ambush blamed on illegal gold miners in French Guiana, officials in the overseas region said.</p>
<p>French President Francois Hollande said on Thursday the withdrawal of the country's troops from Afghanistan would begin within weeks, as he paid tribute to four soldiers killed at the weekend.</p>
<p>France concluded on Wednesday two weeks of war games with the United Arab Emirates, which officials from both sides insisted were not related to regional tensions involving Iran.</p>
<p>Foreign Minister Alain Juppé condemned Friday's bomb attack on a UN peacekeeping patrol in Lebanon in which five French troops were wounded, saying France would not be intimidated by such "vile acts".</p>
<p>A French soldier was killed and four were wounded Thursday in Afghanistan during a military operation in Kapisa province, north of Kabul, the French presidency said.</p>
<p>France said Thursday its aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle would return home for maintenance next week from the NATO-led mission over Libya, but insisted there would be no respite for Muammar Qaddafi.</p>
<p>France's defence minister on Wednesday said a soldier acted in self-defence when he opened fire on a car at a roadblock in Afghanistan and voiced "deep sorrow" at the deaths of three civilians.</p>
<p>Three French UN peacekeepers in Lebanon were wounded in a roadside bombing in the southern city of Sidon, and another three suffered hearing problems, French military officials said.</p>
<p>The bodies of seven French soldiers killed in Afghanistan in the space of four days were to leave Kabul to return home on Sunday, the French army said.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Green presidential candidate Eva Joly said she would like to replace the traditional military parade held every July 14 in Paris with a “citizens’ parade.” Her remarks unleashed a storm of criticism, especially on the right.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="DE">Celebrations of France’s national day kicked off on Thursday with a military parade down the Champs-Elysées in Paris. All around the country, concerts, marches, fireworks and other events are marking the storming of the Bastille prison that set off the French Revolution. </span></p>
<p>A French NATO jet was scrambled Tuesday to intercept three unidentified aircraft over Latvian airspace, the Baltic state's defence minister said, as news reports said the planes were German.</p>
