The French government will shelve €1 billion of planned spending this year, on top of a three-year spending freeze that kicks in in 2013, said Budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac.

Disgraced former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s legal woes deepened as French prosecutors opened a preliminary probe into accusations he took part in a gang rape in the US.

France coach Laurent Blanc insists he has no intention of quitting his role after Euro 2012 despite being linked with some of Europe’s top club sides.

A SHOCK poll showed far-right champion Marine Le Pen leading the race for the French presidency yesterday, as incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy faced claims he is fuelling anti-Muslim sentiment.

ARSENE WENGER is monitoring the progress of Paris Saint-Germain’s Mamadou Sakho as he looks for a solution to Arsenal’s defensive problems.

New France coach Laurent Blanc insists he will walk away if he feels he has failed in his mission, but has urged France fans to realise he is “not a magician”.

France’s military deliberately exposed soldiers to a nuclear test in the Sahara Desert to study how the atomic bomb would affect their bodies and minds, it has been reported.

IRELAND’S assistant coach Marco Tardelli has kept his long-running row with France boss Raymond Domenech simmering after refusing to forgive the Frenchman for accusing his opposite number of buying the referee in an U21 match 10 years ago.

ARSENAL manager Arsene Wenger has challenged 30-goal leading scorer Emmanuel Adebayor to improve next season — and warned the Togo striker against ending up as a nobody through complacency.

The French ban on smoking in cafes and other public places which starts tomorrow will be a “revolution” for the country, the health minister said today.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was expected to reshuffle his Cabinet today following the governing Conservative party’s poor performance in legislative elections last weekend.

France has entered what was likely to be a bitter final campaign week before a national referendum on the European Union’s constitution, with polls showing undecided voters could make or break the neck-and-neck race.

Gerard Houllier has emerged as a possible candidate to take over as coach of French champions Lyon when Paul Le Guen steps down this summer.

France Under-21 boss Raymond Domenech has emerged as a leading candidate in the three-horse race to succeed Jacques Santini as France head coach after a late intervention on his behalf by Aime Jacquet.

FRANCE last night said it has received threats of a possible attack against French interests from an Islamist group apparently named after a Chechen guerrilla killed in a Moscow hostage-taking in 2002.

THREE alleged Islamic radicals arrested by French counterintelligence agents had possession of unidentified chemicals they were planning to use in an attack, according to judicial officials and media reports yesterday.

DAVID TREZEGUET has hit back at criticism from Marcel Desailly after the France captain reacted angrily to the striker’s claim that he had been starved of service in the 1-0 defeat to Senegal.