With 12 candidates running in the first round of the presidential election on Sunday, the choices made by two men drinking espresso in a cafe here seemed to sum up the dilemma for many French people: whether to vote with the heart or the head. Hakim Bensalem, 30, a telecom technician who lives in Noisy-Le-Sec, a Paris suburb, said he would not give...

Did President Jacques Chirac have a child with a Japanese mistress? Did the Socialist politician and would-be presidential candidate Dominique Strauss-Kahn attend a sex soirée? Did former President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing really have as many mistresses as the salons of Paris have claimed? Sex and politics have intermingled in France for...

Lionel Jospin, the Socialist former prime minister and a fixture in French politics for nearly three decades, said Thursday that he would abandon his quest to become the next president of France. ''I confirm, it's 'No,' '' Mr. Jospin told RTL radio when asked whether he would be a candidate in next spring's election. ''I have made the decision...
Lionel Jospin (født 12. juli 1937), fransk politiker. Frankrigs premierminister 1997-2002. Undervisningsminister i perioden 1988-1992. Socialistpartiets (PS) kandidat ved præsidentvalget i 1995 og 2002. Ved valget i 2002 tabte Jospin i første valgrunde til Jean-Marie Le Pen, lederen af det højre-radikale parti Front National. Dette førte til stor selvransagelse i PS.
Lionel Jospin er uddannet fra Institut d'Études Politique de Paris og École National d'Administration.
Trods sit image som traditionel socialist gennemførte Jospin flere større privatiseringer i sin regeringsperiode. Jospin gennemførte desuden 35-timers arbejdsuge som led i bekæmpelse af Frankrigs høje arbejdsløshed.
Lionel Jospin var trotskist i sin ungdom.