‘Hands off Joan of Arc’, French Catholics tell Socialist women’s minister

France’s Catholic extremists are up in arms again, this time over gutsy Women’s Rights Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, who has been described as “an agent of Satan” after she was invited to speak at a ceremony commemorating the death of Joan of Arc.

French Socialist primaries: the week I felt sorry for the ‘third man’

This week, much media attention in France was devoted to Arnaud Montebourg, who surprised everyone by finishing third in the first round of the Socialist Party primaries. But with this success came a dilemma.