Fewer than 100 vehicles were torched around France overnight, a situation considered “totally normal” after three weeks of unrest that put France into a state of emergency, national police said today.

The French parliament gave its final approval to extending a state of emergency, even as the country was returning to an “almost normal situation” after three weeks of rioting and unrest.

France’s lower house of parliament voted to extend a state of emergency for three months, after the government said the extra powers were still needed to end the country’s worst civil unrest in four decades.

France’s lower house of parliament voted today to extend a state of emergency for three months, after the government said that the extra powers were still needed to end the country’s worst civil unrest in four decades.

President Jacques Chirac has called for a collective fight against racism in response to France’s worst unrest in almost 40 years, saying discrimination poisons society.

The unrest across France was the sign of a “profound malaise” that must be met with firmness, but also fairness, President Jacques Chirac said.

The unrest across France is the sign of a “profound malaise” that must be met with firmness but also by being just, President Jacques Chirac said today.

France’s Cabinet today approved a bill to extend the country’s state of emergency for three months to crack down on a wave of arson attacks and riots.

Youths set schools ablaze and torched cars as scattered arson attacks persisted across France early today, and the government said it would propose extending the country’s state of emergency by three months.

Some 3,000 police fanned out around Paris today ahead of feared weekend attacks on high-profile targets such as the Eiffel Tower, as the number of vehicles torched overnight rose slightly elsewhere in France, according to officials.

Paris police today put a temporary ban on some types of public gatherings, citing concerns about a string of mobile phone or Internet messages urging “violent actions” in the French capital.

French President Jacques Chirac said today that ending the country’s rioting and arson was his priority, but acknowledged that discrimination and lack of equality are driving frustrations among the young people rebelling in largely immigrant suburbs.

Eight French police officers have been suspended for their suspected role in the beating of a young man in a Paris suburb, a national police spokeswoman said today.

President Jacques Chirac today said that ending France’s urban violence was still his priority, but also acknowledged problems with a lack of equality.

French President Jacques Chirac and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero were due to discuss immigration and the European Union budget in Paris today, but the riots that have rocked France for two weeks were not on the official agenda.

Nice and Cannes on the French Riviera, best known for glitz and film festivals, were among towns that imposed curfews for minors even as rioting appeared to be abating nationwide.

Tensions have cooled somewhat in France today, with a drop of nearly half in the number of cars burned, police said.

France’s storm of rioting lost strength today with a drop of nearly half in the number of car burnings, police said. But looters and vandals still defied a state of emergency with attacks on stores, a newspaper warehouse and a subway station.

Rioters defied emergency laws that took effect today as they looted and burned two superstores, set fire to a newspaper office and paralysed France’s second-largest city’s subway system with a firebomb.

Rioters shrugged off emergency laws that took effect today, as they looted and burned two superstores, set fire to a newspaper office and paralysed France’s second-largest city’s subway system with a firebomb.

The French government has announced that local authorities can order curfews in a bid to halt the rioting which has spread across the country in the past 12 days.

French Cabinet ministers were to meet today to authorise curfews aimed at stopping rioters after the country’s worst civil unrest in decades raged for a 12th night.

France will impose curfews “wherever it is necessary” and call up police reservists to stop rioting that has spread out of its suburbs, the prime minister said today, calling a return to order “our No. 1 responsibility”.

Raincy, one of the towns in suburban Paris hit by rioting, was preparing to enact a nightime curfew today, the mayor’s office said.

Rioting by French youths spread to 300 towns overnight and a man hurt in the violence died of his wounds – the first fatality in 11 days of unrest, police said today. Governments worldwide urged their citizens to be careful in France.

The Government has advised Irish people travelling in France to exercise extra caution due to the rioting that has gripped the country's capital in the past 11 nights.

France's biggest Muslim fundamentalist organisation, the Union for Islamic Organisations of France, has issued a fatwa, or religious decree, in a bid to help quell riots which have seen nearly 1,000 arrested in recent days.

Ten police officers were injured by lead pellets in a clash with 250-300 youths in France overnight as rioting continued, but only two were taken to hospital with more serious injuries – to the neck and legs.

French President Jacques Chirac called a security meeting of his top ministers tonight after urban rioting spread – with arsonists striking from the Mediterranean to the German border and into central Paris for the first time.

Riots which have rocked France for the past 10 days reached central Paris for the first time today in an orgy of destruction and violence.

France was hit by a 10th night of rioting as the urban unrest reached Paris for the first time.

Youths torched 750 cars, stoned paramedics and burned a nursery school in a ninth night of violence that spread from Paris suburbs to towns around France, police said today.

Bands of youths torched cars, warehouses and a nursery school early today in a ninth night of violence in the suburbs of Paris and beyond.

Gunmen fired shots into a vandalised bus as riots erupted in Paris suburbs for a ninth consecutive night this evening.

Small, mobile groups of youths torched hundreds more cars near Paris today, and the violence and arson attacks that have shaken the capital’s suburbs for a week spread to other French towns.

An uneasy calm fell over Paris’ riot-hit suburbs today after a week of unrest by gangs of youths shooting at police and firefighters, starting fires and attacking symbols of the French state.