paris<u+2014>president fran<u+00e7>ois hollande on tuesday said he wanted to extend the state of emergency in france until the presidential elections in april and may to reduce the threat of terror attacks in the country. citing persistent terrors threats and spring elections scheduled that will come with many political rallies that could be targets for attacks, mr. hollande said his government will ask parliament to extend the year-old state of emergency. <u+201c>i want to extend the state of emergency until the presidential election,<u+201d> he said, during an interview with tv station france24. the first round of the french presidential election is scheduled for april 23, with the runoff round is set for may 4. the state of emergency was introduced in november 2015, after a series of terror attacks in paris that left 130 people dead. the measure gives authorities far-reaching powers, including banning people from leaving their homes and conducting searches without a court order. the french authorities have extended the state of emergency several times since its implementation, as the country has been hit by other terror attacks, while police foiled many others. still, the most recent debate in parliament was acrimonious, as many opposition legislators criticized how mr. hollande<u+2019>s socialist administration handled the situation. during the same interview, mr. hollande unveiled details of his conversation with u.s. president elect donald trump this past weekend. <u+201c>from the conversation i had, i understood (mr. trump) is in a phase of calming-down and collaboration with his partners,<u+201d> mr. hollande said, adding he expects the president elect to make clear his position on a series of issues, such as climate agreements, iran, syria and ukraine. the french president also asked mr. trump for his position on the sanctions against russia but said he got no answer. write to inti landauro at inti.landauro@wsj.com
fran<u+00e7>ois hollande seeks to extend france<u+2019>s state of emergency  - wsj
inti landauro