Police union representative Christophe Crepin has told LCI television that it appeared that the gunman who took hostages at a kosher market in Paris has died after police stormed the building.

French workers at a Goodyear plant are holding two managers captive in a conference room in a row over the firm’s attempts to close the tyre factory.

Michelle Obama is "getting irritated" by her hair.

DOMINIQUE STRAUSS-KAHN, his presidential hopes shattered by a sex assault scandal that rocked his homeland, returned to France to a frosty public reception and unease among his political allies.

France's foreign minister suggested today that a possible way out of Libya's civil war would be to allow Muammar Gaddafi to stay in the country if he relinquishes power.

FORMER IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was hit with a fresh complaint of attempted rape in France yesterday, a new hurdle to any political comeback, even though US sex assault charges against him may be lifted this month.

Ivory Coast’s strongman leader Laurent Gbagbo holed up in a bunker defiantly maintaining he won the election four months ago even as troops backing the internationally recognised winner encircled the presidential residence.

The president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, has asked his sports minister Roselyne Bachelot to meet with the key people involved in the bitter national team row which has wrecked their World Cup chances.

A strike by rail workers partially halted train services around France today amid restructuring of the freight sector and fears of job losses.

A private helicopter has crashed at the foothills of the Alps, killing the pilot and six amusement park employees who were on board, officials said.

Campaigners are to march today to demand that cannabis be legalised in Ireland.

A Chadian court sentenced six French aid workers to eight years of forced labour after convicting them of trying to kidnap 103 African children.

Rampaging youths threw Molotov cocktails and set fire to dozens of cars in troubled neighbourhoods outside Paris during a second night of street violence after two local teens were killed in a crash with a police patrol car.

FRENCH police fired tear gas last night during running battles with rioters in a suburb north of Paris where two youths died after a crash involving a police car.

Seven Europeans who were among 17 detained in Chad and accused of attempting to kidnap 103 African children were freed and left the country with French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy condemned an attempt by a French group to spirit more than 100 children out of Chad on the grounds that they were orphans from Darfur in danger of being killed.

Marcel Marceau, who revived the art of mime and brought poetry to silence, has died, French media reported today. He was 84.

Moammar Gadhafi’s long-isolated country has signed contracts worth £200m (€297m) with French companies for missiles and communications equipment, a Libyan official said today.

TWENTY-SIX Polish pilgrims died yesterday when their coach crashed off a mountain road at a notorious accident blackspot in the French Alps and burst into flames, officials said.

French police have confirmed that eight people - not six, as previously reported - have been taken hostage in a bank south of Paris.

At least six people were being held hostage by armed robbers south of Paris this morning, television networks reported.

At least six people were being held hostage in a hold-up south of Paris this morning, television networks reported.

FRANCE’S presidential candidates made their final pushes for votes as polls yesterday pointed to a cliffhanger among the top four hopefuls, led by conservative Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist Segolene Royal.

Moroccan police have arrested a key suspect in the 2004 Madrid bombings and 2003 terrorist attacks in Casablanca, French media reported today.

Maurice Papon, a former Cabinet minister who became a symbol of France's collaboration with the Nazis for his role in deporting Jews during the Second World War, has died. He was 96.

CASINO operator London Clubs International is on the verge of US ownership today after Las Vegas gaming giant Harrah’s Entertainment upped its bid.

Casino operator London Clubs International was on the verge of American ownership today after Las Vegas gaming giant Harrah’s Entertainment upped its bid.

The London market sank into the red today after the United Nations said Iran had failed to suspend its nuclear fuel programme before the deadline.

Shares in London drifted into the red today as investors banked profits in drinks giant Diageo despite a strong set of results.

The London market tumbled into the red today as shares in drinks company Diageo lost more than 3% in value despite a solid set of results.

Trains, planes and buses slowed to a fraction of regular traffic as workers across France walked off the job today in a nationwide strike against a new jobs law.

Police detained 300 people around France after nationwide student marches against a new labour law turned violent.

An explosive charge blew up a car in a Paris suburb today, killing the occupant, French radio and television reports said.

A former teacher armed with a hand gun took some 20 people, including students, hostage today, holding them in a high school classroom, French police said.

Casino operator London Clubs International today reported a strong pick-up in trading as it recovered from the impact of the July bombings in the capital.

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.

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.

The French government faced mounting pressure today as suburban unrest took on dangerous new momentum, with shots fired at police and fire crews as they battled youths who torched car dealerships and public buses and hurled rocks at commuter trains.

Police in France and Italy detained a total of 18 people today, targeting a group suspected of planning terror attacks in Europe.

Two firefighters died as at least 10 forest fires swept across tinder dry landscapes amid soaring summer temperatures across Spain, officials said yesterday.

FRENCH soccer great Zinedine Zidane says he doesn't want to be dubbed a "saviour" after deciding to make his international comeback.

President Jacques Chirac today met his beleaguered prime minister, who was widely expected to be fired after France roundly rejected the European Union’s first constitution in a referendum that threw the Union’s future into disarray.

FRANCE headed towards a political earthquake yesterday as polls showed voters were set to reject the European Union Constitution in a referendum and open the door to a period of political uncertainty.