After years of claiming presidential immunity to avoid legal proceedings, Jacques Chirac is finally facing a court.

Former foreign secretary Jack Straw today described how, just days before the invasion of Iraq, he advised Tony Blair that they need not necessarily send in British troops with the Americans.

The former president Jacques Chirac yesterday denied rumours that he is suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

Former French president Jacques Chirac may have Alzheimer's disease – raising doubts over his capacity to face a corruption trial next month – a Paris newspaper said yesterday.

France's far-right National Front party elected Marine Le Pen as its new leader and likely presidential candidate yesterday, replacing her 82-year-old father Jean-Marie Le Pen, a source close to the party said.

The murder of the former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko was likely to have been carried out with Vladimir Putin's knowledge, according to the US's most senior diplomat in Europe.

A full-blown state scandal, involving President Nicolas Sarkozy and other senior figures, threatens to explode this week over "Karachigate", the allegation that political corruption and revenge-taking in France led to the murder of 11 French submarine engineers in Pakistan in 2002.

Two spectres from the past are haunting President Nicolas Sarkozy, a man who claims to care only about the future.

Cups of tea provide the inspiration for one of Britain ’s most genial ocean racers, Pete Goss, as he returns to the international scene in the Route du Rhum, which starts tomorrow.

If you're not a pet owner, it's easy to dismiss the idea of dog psychology as a symptom of a 21st-century obsession with psychobabble. But, as most vets will tell you, understanding the way the canine mind works is the key to preventing the sort of anti-social behaviour that leads to a dog being labelled aggressive.

Leaders of men they may be but when it comes to inspiring the loyalty of their canine constituents, presidents and prime ministers often fall short. And no one is more obviously impaired in the doggie-discipline department than Barack Obama, at least according to America's dog whisperer, Cesar Millan.