Chirac leaves hospital for Xmas

FORMER French president Jacques Chirac has been let out of hospital and will spend Christmas with family at a new home in Paris better equipped for his "frail" condition.

Chirac, who ran France from 1995 to 2007, was taken in for a general check-up on December 9 after reportedly feeling "weaker" in recent weeks. His youngest daughter Claude told reporters at the time that "there was no cause for concern".

In a statement on Wednesday, the 83-year-old's family said his health was "getting better and better". He has been hospitalised several times in recent years, following a stroke in 2005, kidney problems in 2013 and gout in 2014.

According to Le Parisien newspaper, Chirac has cancelled plans to spend Christmas in Morocco and will instead stay in Paris with family.

The newspaper says that, since leaving hospital, he has moved into a new home near Saint-Sulpice in Paris's sixth arrondissement, which has been lent to him by the Lebanese billionaire Rafic Hariri.

Le Parisien describes the neighbourhood as "calmer" than his old home on Quai Voltaire and "more functional for the former president who only gets around by wheelchair".