Marine Le Pen refuses to repay EU funds.

    France's far-right leader, Marine Le Pen, says she will not return to the European Parliament more than 300,000 Euro in funds it says she has misspent.

   The parliament says she wrongly used the funds to pay an aide, Catherine Griset, at the National Front's headquarters in Paris. But the French presidential candidate says she is the victim of a politically motivated vendetta.

   Le Pen had until midnight yesterday to repay the money, and then the parliament will retain half her salary as a Member of European Parliament and she will also lose other allowances.

   Le Pen is one of the front-runners in the French presidential election to be held in April and May.

   Polls suggest that she will make it to the run-off where she is likely to face conservative candidate, Francois Fillon, or centrist candidate, Emmanuel Macron.