- Madrid beat Villarreal but Carvajal suffers knee injury
- Madrid beat Villarreal to move level with Liga leaders Barcelona
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- French rugby player on rape charge whistled but 'serene' on return
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Toddler among 3 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Kovacic stars as Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Thousands march for Palestinians ahead of Oct 7 anniversary
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Toddler crushed to death in migrant Channel crossing
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
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France holds its breath ahead of uncertain vote
France's tense election campaign was on hold Saturday on the eve of the final vote, but thoughts were turning to an uncertain future before polling even opens.
The traditional final day pause ahead of Sunday's second round runoff will do nothing to soothe fears of stalemate and stagnation in France, a world power and pillar of the EU.
Final opinion polls Friday suggested that far-right leader Marine Le Pen's National Rally (RN) would fall short of winning an outright majority in the National Assembly.
But President Emmanuel Macron's gamble in calling snap elections to force a choice between his centrist path and the extremes of left and right has not paid off.
He now faces the final three years of his presidency with no clear ruling majority, and Prime Minister Gabriel Attal perhaps trying to hold together a caretaker government.
According to pollsters Ipsos and Ifop, anti-immigrant, eurosceptic RN could secure 170 to 210 seats in the National Assembly -- well short of 289, an absolute majority.
The Ipsos Talan poll for Le Monde, Radio France and France Televisions has the RN coming in just ahead of left-wing alliance the New Popular Front, on between 145 and 175 seats.
- Outright win? -
Both the far-right and left-wing groups come in well ahead of an estimated 118 to 148 for Macron's centrist allies, who held 250 seats in the outgoing parliament.
French voters could therefore go to bed on Sunday night with no idea who might be able to form and lead a government, or whether a weakened Attal will shoulder on.
Le Pen insists that she is still on course for victory and an absolute majority that would force Macron to appoint her 28-year-old lieutenant Jordan Bardella prime minister.
"Either the RN wins an absolute majority and I can, from Sunday, embark on my project to rebuild ... or the country is blocked," Bardella warned on Thursday.
Attal, for his part, has vowed to stay on "as long as necessary" in a caretaker role, while Macron's office is studying options to maintain some form of government.
Macron is to remain in office until presidential and legislative elections in April 2027, but he must now face the possibility of sharing power with political foes.
The prospect of France forming its first far-right government since World War II has dismayed its European allies, already perplexed by Macron's wild gamble on a snap poll.
And even if the RN falls short, as polling firms now predict, France will be heading into unknown political waters as Paris prepares to host the Olympic Games.
In an effort to halt the far-right rise seen in the first round of voting on June 30, centrists and left-wing parties have formed second round polling pacts.
Le Pen has denounced the move as a bid to steal victory "against the will of the people" by creating what she calls a "single party" to protect the political class.
But it is far from certain how many voters who saw their preferred candidates drop out to give another a clear run against the RN will bother to turn out on Sunday.
- Fears of violence -
Janine Mossuz-Lavau, emeritus director at the Cevipof institute, told AFP: "With the withdrawals, the person for whom voters were intending to vote has fallen by the wayside.
"Some are going to say to themselves: 'No, in these conditions, it's not possible'."
With so much of the outcome uncertain, tensions are rising.
More than 50 candidates and campaign activists have been physically assaulted during the four-week campaign, the shortest in modern French history.
About 30,000 police will be deployed this weekend to head off trouble.
French stocks held steady Friday with investors expecting the far right to fail to win an absolute majority.
But analysts predict a turbulence if the RN tries to implement its costly economic programme, which includes reversing Macron's hard-won pension reforms.
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L.Davis--AMWN