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Investigators probing the killing of a worker at a missionary retirement home in southe France believe it was a local crime and are not treating it as a terror attack, a prosecutor said Friday after police arrested a suspect. The slaying set nerves jangling in France late Thursday after a string of jihadist atrocities in 2015 in 2016, but local prosecutor Christophe Barret said, “There is no element linking the facts with Islamist terrorism”. "We are moving towards the idea of local crime, someone who was in the area of this home," Barret told reporters, adding that a car found near the retirement residence for Christian missionaries helped identify the suspect, and that an air gun and other elements had been found in the vehicle. The suspect, a man in his mid-40s and who lives near the retirement home in the village of Montferrer-sur-Lez, near the southe city of Montpellier, was arrested later on Friday. A gendarmerie press official said reports that the suspect was a former membe International News 24/7 ...

With 84 million tourists each year, France is the most visited country in the world. But the numbers have dropped sharply as the country's tourist industry faces the threat of terrorism. We take a look at what Paris is doing to seduce tourists back to all region of France, from increased security to multi-lingual guides. However, one group of tourists are still flocking to Paris in ever-growing numbers despite security conces: Indian holidaymakers. FRANCE 24's Nadia Chabit reports. By Nadia CHARBIT , Stéphanie CHEVAL , Joanna COCKERELL , Sonia BARITELLO , Jean BARRERE International News 24/7 ...

Former prime minister François Fillon looked on Friday to be in a strong position to claim his centre-right party’s nomination to contest next year’s French presidential election as he and rival Alain Juppé held final rallies of the primary campaign. In an impassioned speech to supporters in Paris, Fillon, 62, struck a strong patriotic note, vowing to halt “the decline of France” under the ruling Socialists by sticking to what he said was a realistic programme that included ending the 35-hour working week and making big savings by slashing public spending. Juppe, 71, also a former prime minister, defended his more moderate policies, telling supporters: “I’m not going to engage in any grandstanding against our public service. I want to manage, not demonise, it.” A new survey issued on Friday night saw Fillon as clear favourite, winning Sunday’s vote with 61 percent against Juppe’s 39 percent. The ballot on Sunday will send one of the two veteran conservatives into an electoral battle t International News 24/7 ...