President Nicolas Sarkozy dismissed his labour minister and reshuffled several other Cabinet posts today after a heavy defeat for his conservatives in France’s regional elections – a loss which exposed his inability to convince the public on his economic reforms.

FORMER French prime minister Dominique de Villepin yesterday accused president Nicholas Sarkozy of conducting a vendetta against him.

Former French prime minister Dominique de Villepin today accused president Nicholas Sarkozy of conducting a vendetta against him.

Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin was today cleared of being involved in a smear campaign against President Nicolas Sarkozy when he stood for election.

JACQUES CHIRAC will be the first former French president to be tried for corruption, officials said yesterday, after charges from his years as mayor of Paris returned to taint the twilight of his long career.

Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin entered the witness box in a slander trial today to deny orchestrating a plot to discredit President Nicolas Sarkozy.

FORMER prime minister Dominique de Villepin lashed out at French president Nicolas Sarkozy at the start of a slander trial involving alleged dirty tricks by top politicians and businessmen.

A former French leader has taken the stand to defend himself in a high-profile trial that accuses him of helping perpetuate a smear campaign targeting his long-time rival, president Nicolas Sarkozy.

Former hostage Ingrid Betancourt arrived in France to a hero’s welcome today after six years as a captive in the Colombian jungle.

Former French prime minister Dominique de Villepin has been charged for his suspected role in a smear campaign against Nicolas Sarkozy.

Investigating judges expect to file preliminary charges against former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin over an alleged smear scandal targeting President Nicolas Sarkozy, Villepin’s office said today.

BLACKBERRY handhelds have been called addictive, invasive, wonderful — and now, a threat to French state secrets.

French defence experts are advising government officials to avoid using BlackBerry handheld computers because of fears that secrets could be put at risk.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy appointed reform-minded conservative Francois Fillon as his new prime minister today.

SOCIALIST French presidential candidate Segolene Royal will push for a law to allow euthanasia under certain conditions if she is elected this spring, her party said yesterday.

Prime minister Dominique de Villepin has ordered tougher security measures to protect French citizens abroad from the threat of terrorism.

French President Jacques Chirac today meets Chancellor Angela Merkel for talks expected to centre on Franco-German tension over a major restructuring plan for European aircraft manufacturer Airbus.

An Airbus restructuring strategy includes 10,000 job cuts, French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said today.

French prime minister Dominique de Villepin today ordered stricter measures to ward off bird flu.

French prime minister Dominique de Villepin today wrapped up a gruelling 17-hour-long grilling by judges investigating a suspected smear campaign against presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy.

Judges were today questioning the French prime minister over his role in a suspected scheme to smear presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy and other French personalities.

European intelligence and security chiefs are said to be on “tenterhooks” over the “extremely high” threat of a Christmas terror attack by Islamic militants.

Thousands of Hezbollah supporters are entrenched in the heart of Beirut today, starting an open-ended sit-in with a carnival atmosphere intended to pressure the US-backed government of Fuad Saniora into resigning.

The pound remained close to its highest level against the dollar since sterling left the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) in 1992, despite positive economic news from the United States today.

French President Jacques Chirac and leading ministers today laid the first brick at a new memorial honouring the late General Charles de Gaulle on the 36th anniversary of the iconic president’s death.

France's interior minister sent extra riot police to the southern port city of Marseille today after a group of marauding teenagers torched a bus, seriously burning a young passenger.

Attackers, some carrying handguns, torched buses in three overnight attacks in suburban Paris, as the nation faced the one-year anniversary of riots in France’s down-and-out, heavily immigrant neighbourhoods.

Rescue workers worked through the night to free bodies from the crumpled wreckage of a passenger train that collided head-on with a freight train near France’s north-eastern border with Luxembourg, killing at least five people.

Two trains collided today in north-eastern France close to the border with Luxembourg, killing at least four people, local officials and the French national rail operator said.

Two trains collided today in north-eastern France close to the border with Luxembourg, killing 10 people and injuring at least 20 others, authorities said.

SMOKING will be illegal in French cafes, bars and restaurants from January, 2008 under a ban announced by Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin.

France’s prime minister Dominique de Villepin has announced a ban on smoking in public places.

EUROPEAN Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has called for a halt to further expansion of the European Union after Romania and Bulgaria join.

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has called for a halt to further expansion of the European Union after Romania and Bulgaria join.

Workers at Lebanon’s only airport today prepared to receive a full flow of commercial flights as Israel pledged to lift an air and sea blockade imposed nearly two months ago when the war with Hezbollah guerrillas erupted.

Syria opposes the deployment of an international force along its border to prevent arms shipments to Hezbollah, and Israel is calling the situation in Lebanon “explosive”.

French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said today that the suspects in an alleged terror plot to blow up several planes flying from Britain to the United States “appear to be of Pakistani origin".

French President Jacques Chirac today appealed to the United States to speed up its response to Arab nations’ demands for changes to a UN resolution on ending the Middle East crisis.

Nine firefighters have been injured, three seriously, fighting a 74-acre forest fire on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica, rescue services said.

A Greek cruise ship carrying about 700 French citizens and other Europeans arrived on the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus today after leaving Beirut.

Diplomatic efforts to end Israeli-Hezbollah fighting gained traction today, with Israeli officials saying the country would agree to halt fighting if its two captured soldiers were returned and Islamic guerrillas withdrew from the border.

France is today sending Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to Beirut to express support for Lebanon, President Jacques Chirac’s office said.

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin today survived a no-confidence vote sparked by accusations of a dirty-tricks campaign that have engulfed his government.

Prime minister Dominique de Villepin today faced a no-confidence vote filed by opposition politicians who contend that a dirty tricks scandal dominating French political life for weeks has discredited the government.