- South Korea warns of 'decisive' action against trash balloons
- Football Australia names Tony Popovic as Socceroos coach
- Japan quake, flood victim attempts fresh start with wife's memory
- Japan quake, flood victim attemps fresh start with wife's memory
- Asian markets extend gains as focus turns to US inflation
- Six dead after floods in central Japan: media
- Australian golf prodigy suffers career-threatening eye injury
- Gaza hospital a symbol of the ruin of war
- October 7: how Israel's deadliest day unfolded
- Bibles, sneakers, silver coins: Trump's merch for sale
- Met Opera opens season with tech-heavy 'Grounded'
- Colombia's Inirida flower: from 'weed' to emblem for UN meeting
- Colombia rebel group imposes control in restive coca zone
- Rams fight back to upset 49ers, Cowboys lose again
- Sri Lankan leftist leader to take office after landslide election win
- 300-kilo WWI bomb removed in Belgrade
- Zelensky in US to explain war plan to Biden, Harris, Trump
- 'Atrocious' Sudan war pushing refugees further afield: UNHCR chief
- 'Convergence' growing on global plastics treaty: UN environment chief
- MLB White Sox fall to Padres to match one-season loss mark
- All-Australian Ripper squad captures LIV Golf team crown
- Barnier promises compromise from France's embattled new govt
- Zelensky arrives in US to explain war plan to Biden
- Barca rout Villarreal but Ter Stegen hurt, Atletico draw at Rayo
- Darnold shines for Vikings, Steelers and Eagles win
- Atletico held to draw at Rayo Vallecano
- Marseille stun Lyon with 95th-minute winner after early red card
- Gabbia ends AC Milan's derby pain with late winner against Inter
- Surging Ko claims LPGA Queen City crown in spectacular style
- 'Impossible': Alcaraz shoots down Federer comparisons after Laver Cup win
- Scholz's party beats far-right AfD in east German state vote
- Verstappen says 'silly' swearing row could hasten F1 exit
- Calls for Israel and Hezbollah to step back from the abyss
- Israel and Hezbollah urged to avoid 'catastrophe'
- Colombia battles fires as drought fuels Latin American flames
- Pressure piles on new French government from day one
- Arteta proud as Arsenal salvage point from 'impossible' task
- Barca rout Villarreal in thriller but Ter Stegen hurt
- Roma stroll past Udinese as fans protest De Rossi sacking
- Horschel outduels McIlroy to win PGA Championship play-off
- Audiences summon 'Beetlejuice' to top of N. America box office for third week
- Stones salvages point for Man City against 10-man Arsenal
- Egypt fears 'all out' regional war: foreign minister to AFP
- Last-gasp Boniface gives Leverkusen victory, Stuttgart outclass Dortmund
- Scholz's party beats far-right AfD in east German state vote: projections
- Olympic champion Evenepoel retains world title in 'toughest time trial'
- Horschel's eagle beats McIlroy in PGA Championship play-off
- Mourners at commander's funeral express loyalty to Hezbollah
- Norris hails his 'mega' McLaren after dominant win at Singapore
- Monaco beat Le Havre to join PSG at the top of Ligue 1
French far-right leader Le Pen closing gap on Macron: polls
Veteran French far-right leader Marine Le Pen is closing the gap on President Emmanuel Macron ahead of a possible election duel between the two of them next month, two new polls show.
Macron has long been favourite for the two-round election on April 10 and 24, with his handling of the diplomatic crisis caused by the war in Ukraine seen as boosting his chances.
But his estimated margin of victory over Le Pen is narrowing sharply as the election approaches, two polls published this week suggested.
If they faced each other in the second round, a poll by the Ifop-Fiducial group published on Monday indicated Macron would win by just 53 percent versus 47 percent for Le Pen, who had gained three points in a week.
A poll on Tuesday by Ipsos Sopra-Steria, meanwhile, showed Macron winning by 56 percent to 44 percent, again with Le Pen up by around three points in a week.
Aides to Macron sought to play down the change, with one advisor saying Tuesday that it was a simple correction after a sharp rise in support following Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
"We knew he wasn't going to stay so high," the advisor told AFP on condition of anonymity.
But the shift in momentum is being seized on by Le Pen and her anti-immigration National Rally party, with between a quarter and a third of voters believed to be undecided about how to cast their ballots.
"I have never been so close to victory," Le Pen told Le Parisien newspaper in an interview published Saturday.
She has placed less emphasis on her traditional themes of Islam and immigration in favour of a grassroots campaign focused on the economic problems faced by low-income families and the working classes.
- Inflation fears -
Macron has largely shunned the election campaign so far, but during his first public walkabout to meet voters on Monday in the eastern town of Dijon, he heard plenty of complaints about inflation and rocketing fuel prices.
"Everything is going up... put yourself in the position of a French family. It can't carry on, people will go nuts," one 46-year-old salesman told him.
Macron has also been forced to defend his government's use of costly outside consulting firms such as the US-based McKinsey following a highly critical report from the Senate this month.
The investigation found that the value of such contracts had more than doubled between 2018 and 2021, reaching more than a billion euros ($1.1 billion) last year, a record.
Macron has denied that his governments used consultants more than their predecessors, while adding that additional help was required during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic when ministries and civil servants were stretched thin.
"It's a complicated issue that will sway those who were already convinced that Macron is a 'president of the rich,' but it's not a widespread issue," political analyst Philippe Moreau Chevrolet told AFP, referring to the label given to Macron, a former investment banker, by his critics.
"It counts much less than questions around household income and spiralling inflation and even fears about food supplies," added Moreau Chevrolet, also the founder of MCBG Conseil, a PR agency specialised in political communication.
Experts emphasise that pre-election polls are a snapshot of voting intentions at the time they are conducted, and that the outcome of the election next month remains uncertain.
F.Pavlenko--BTB