Latest France Headlines

All the headlines from our France Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Air France Crash Site Found: 17 Bodies, Wreckage Recovered

Jun 8 2009 // Searchers found 15 more bodies from a crashed Air France jet Sunday and retrieved a large amount of debris from the plane that plunged into the Atlantic Ocean in the worst air disaster since 2001.Nearly a week after the...

Air France Jet Likely Broke Apart above Atlantic Ocean

Jun 5 2009 // The last manual message from the pilot of Air France Flight 447 indicated the plane was headed into a storm.Ten minutes later a flurry of automated messages began: The autopilot had disengaged; a key computer system had...

Air France Crash May Remain a Mystery Say Investigators

Jun 3 2009 // French officials said on Wednesday they might never discover why an Air France aircraft crashed into the Atlantic, killing 228 people, and that they might not even find the plane’s black boxes on the ocean...

High Seas Search Continues for Air France Plane with 228 Aboard

Jun 2 2009 // Search planes scoured the dark waters of the Atlantic Ocean early Tuesday, looking for the remains of an Air France jetliner that disappeared in a severe storm with 228 people on board.The Airbus A330 went missing on a...

UPDATE: Air France Rio-Paris Flight Missing over Atlantic after Storm

Jun 1 2009 // An Air France plane with 228 people on board disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean on its way from Brazil to Paris on Monday after hitting strong turbulence and French officials said they feared a disaster.The Brazilian air...

France, Germany Urge More Flexible Climate Pact

May 26 2009 // France and Germany suggested on Monday that rich nations should collectively guarantee deep cuts in greenhouse gases by 2020 while giving flexibility to laggards such as the United States to catch up later.France said the...

French Commandos Free Yacht from Pirates, 1 Hostage Dies

Apr 13 2009 // Navy commandos stormed a French sailboat held by pirates off the Somali coast in an assault triggered by threats that the passengers would be executed.But one hostage was killed in the operation, demonstrating the risks of...

G20 Seals $1.1 Trillion Deal

Apr 3 2009 // World leaders clinched a $1.1 trillion deal on Thursday to combat the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and said financial rules would be tightened to stop it happening again.U.S. President Barack Obama...

Best Affirms Allianz SE and Subsidiaries ‘A+’ Ratings

Mar 12 2009 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of ‘A+’ (Superior) and the issuer credit rating (ICR) of “aa” of Germany’s Allianz Societas Europaea (Allianz SE) and its main...

France’s Winter Storm Klaus Property Losses Pegged at $1 Billion Euros

Feb 20 2009 // Catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide has updated its insured loss estimates of property losses in France from winter storm Klaus to between 500 million and 1 billion Euros.These losses represent damage to buildings...

Storms Hit France, UK, Switzerland

Feb 10 2009 // A storm swept across northern France on Tuesday, cutting off more than 600,000 homes from the power grid, while high winds and gales hit Britain and Switzerland.It was the second major storm to hit France in less than...

UPDATE: AIR Puts Insured French Storm Losses at $465 to $930 Million

Jan 28 2009 // Catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide has given its preliminary estimates of insured losses in France from winter storm Klaus of between €350 million and €700 million ($465 to $930 million).AIR noted...

AIR Analyzes France/Spain Storm – ‘Worst in Ten Years’

Jan 27 2009 // Catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide has begun analyzing the damages wrought by winter storm Klaus, which, AIR notes, “swept out of the Atlantic and across southern France and northern Spain Saturday, tearing...

Storm Batters SW France, Northern Spain, Causing 15 Deaths

Jan 26 2009 // The most violent cyclonic storm since 1999 roared across southwest France and Northern Spain over the weekend, causing the deaths of 15 people and inflicting heavy damages on infrastructure.Four children aged from nine to...

New York and French Regulators Sign Cooperation Agreement

Dec 3 2008 // The New York State Insurance Department has signed an agreement with its counterpart in France that calls for increased cooperation and consultation between the two regulatory bodies.The agreement is similar to agreements...

All Claims Are Local

Nov 30 2008 // In today’s borderless global economy, claims can arise in just about any part of the world where a company does business. Even small and midsize companies with no physical presence outside the United States can find...

Le Pere Sybille – a Memory of the Great War

Nov 11 2008 // For the first time in 90 years no surviving French soldier from the First World War participated in today’s memorial services. The last “Poilus,” as soldiers who fought in the war are known in France,...

French Finance Minister Calls Lehman Bankruptcy a Major Mistake

Oct 8 2008 // Allowing Lehman Brothers to fail last month was a major mistake for the equilibrium of the global financial system, French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde said on Wednesday, adding that France would not abandon its...

Best Affirms, Withdraws Groupama Ratings

Sep 16 2008 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of ‘A’ (Excellent) and issuer credit rating (ICR) of “a” of France’s Groupama S.A. Best also affirmed the FSR of ‘A’...

Best Upgrades Allianz Global Specialty, Allianz France

Sep 15 2008 // A.M. Best Co. has upgraded the financial strength rating (FSR) to ‘A+’ (Superior) from ‘A’ (Excellent) and the issuer credit rating (ICR) to “aa” from “a+” of Allianz Global...