French court clears way for Marine Le Pen presidential run
Global News Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 8.3K Ratings
🗓️ 7 July 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
French hard-right leader Marine Le Pen could now run for president next year after a court in Paris upheld her embezzlement conviction, but reduced the length of her ban on running for public office. Also: Ukraine's president has used a speech at the Nato summit in Turkey to urge allies to deliver the air defence systems Kyiv urgently needs. In Syria, explosions have been heard in central Damascus, reportedly near the hotel where French President Emmanuel Macron had been staying. The woman suspected of carrying out a parcel bombing in Monaco which injured a sanctioned Ukrainian multi-millionaire and his family has been found dead. In Britain, the leader of right-wing party Reform UK, Nigel Farage, says he will resign as an MP, triggering a by-election which he says he will stand in. New research from Italy suggests women hit a fertility tipping point at 49, even if using younger donor eggs during the process of IVF.
The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment. Get in touch: globalpodcast@bbc.co.uk Photo: French hard-right leader Marine Le Pen leaves a Paris court after her appeals trial. Credit: Reuters
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.6 | This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:10.7 | I'm Valerie Sanderson, and at 14 hours GMT on Tuesday the 7th of July, these are our main stories. |
| 0:17.0 | Will Marine Le Pen lead France's anti-immigration national rally party into next year's |
| 0:22.9 | presidential election after a court ruling in Paris? NATO leaders gather in Turkey as Ukraine appeals |
| 0:29.0 | for more support. Damascus is hit by explosions while President Macron is there. Also in this podcast, Kiev's intelligence service say they found the body of a woman wanted |
| 0:42.8 | over the attempted assassination in Monaco a week ago of a Ukrainian oligarch. |
| 0:51.7 | We start in France where a court has cleared the way for Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Rally Party, to run for president, but has ordered her to wear an electronic tag. |
| 1:03.9 | The judge upheld her conviction on embezzlement charges, sentencing her to three years of imprisonment, with two suspended and one with the tag. |
| 1:12.7 | Our correspondent Hugh Schofield, who was at the court in Paris, told us more. |
| 1:16.5 | She juridically in the law can run. |
| 1:19.6 | The case seems to be that the judges have given a more lenient sentence than a year ago. |
| 1:26.0 | And in this sentence, the key question of how long |
| 1:29.6 | she will be barred from public office has been reduced from five years in the original sentence, |
| 1:35.6 | which would have ruled her out completely from running next year, to 45 months with 30 suspended. |
| 1:42.3 | Take away 30 from 45, you get 15. 15 has already elapsed since that judgment |
| 1:47.7 | at the end of March last year, so her period of ineligibility is over. So, juridically, |
| 1:54.6 | she can now run. Yippe, if you're one of her camp. But, and there is a big but here, |
| 1:59.9 | another part of the sentence is the jail term part. |
| 2:04.1 | No one is talking of going to jail. Technically, it's called a jail term. It would be served in at the home |
| 2:10.3 | with an electronic tag. This part of her sentence is one year. It's been confirmed by this court. |
| 2:16.3 | It would be served at home with an electronic |
... |
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