Active in politics for more than 50 years, Michel Barnier, new prime minister, is best known as the EU's chief negotiator during the Brexit years; since his teenage years a staunch and patriotic Conservative, at 27 he became the youngest MP ever elected

The parliamentary leader of the far-right Rassemblement National party called for new elections next year, just a few months after the snap elections that plunged the country into a political stalemate

Friday, 23 August, President Macron will begin consultations to appoint a new prime minister, and thus a new government

Alain Delon, one of the most famous actors in film history, has died at the age of 88; he rose to fame in the 1960s thanks to exceptional talent, sensitivity and embodiment capability