France is pushing to cut red tape at European Union level, calling for a "massive pause" in new EU regulations, a delay in rules requiring companies to report on their environmental footprint, and changes to even freshly passed laws.

France is calling for a major reworking of European regulations, starting with ESG rules, as the bloc struggles to revive its competitiveness against a backdrop of sweeping deregulation across the Atlantic driven by US President Donald Trump.

France is advocating for a significant revision of European regulations, particularly those related to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) rules. This comes as Europe grapples with its competitiveness amid extensive deregulation in the United States,

Indonesia and France signed an agreement on Friday on the repatriation of a Frenchman on death row for drug offences, a senior Indonesian minister said.

Indonesia signed a deal on Friday to repatriate an ailing French national who has been on death row since 2007 for alleged drug offenses. In 2015 Serge Atlaoui won a last-minute reprieve from being executed by a 13-member firing squad.

Most of the suspects were already known to police for past criminal activities, but none had previously been involved in gang-related crime, according to prosecutors.

David Balland and his wife, Amandine, were abducted from their home in Vierzon. They both survived the ordeal, but Balland is missing part of his finger.

A millionaire French crypto boss has been rescued from kidnappers by French special forces – but they arrived too late to stop the captors chopping off his finger.