Eco-activists blamed for fires that destroyed three environmentally friendly millionaires-row homes and damaged two others may have used only simple materials to exploit a legal loophole and avoid a huge jail sentence, it was claimed today.

Three million-dollar dream homes in a Washington suburb were turned into ashes in a blaze apparently started by eco-terrorists.

A Paris judge has started legal action against a former European Parliament deputy for allegedly embezzling millions of euros and other suspected crimes, according to judicial officials.

You have to suspend your critical faculties when considering Yuletide releases; they are seldom from the top drawer and the best you can hope for is that you won't end up leaning over your seat shouting "Hughie!"

Former senior executives of French oil giant Elf were jailed today for pillaging public funds from the company.

French judges today ended an eight-year probe into an alleged kickback scheme at former state-owned oil giant Elf Aquitaine, implicating more than 40 people in a web of corruption that reached into Africa.