Far-right pundit to launch campaign for French presidency

PARIS (AP) — A far-right former TV pundit with multiple hate-speech convictions is poised to officially enter the race for France’s presidency. Eric Zemmour has already shaken it up with his anti-immigration and anti-Islam invective. The essayist has climbed in the polls despite having no hands-on political experience. Zemmour’s supporters said that he would announce his candidacy around midday Tuesday. He would be running in the April election against the so-far undeclared President Emmanuel Macron and a spectrum of other candidates from far-left to far-right. The launch would make official a campaign that has been gathering steam for months. But it also has stumbled of late notably after the 63-year-old polemist raised a middle finger at a woman who did likewise to him last weekend.