The Eiffel Tower was evacuated today after officials received a bomb threat from a telephone booth, the second such alert at the monument in two weeks.

The threat of a terrorist attack on French soil is at its highest as authorities suspect al-Qaida’s North African affiliate may be plotting a conventional bomb attack on a crowded target, the director of the country’s national police said today.

FRANCE’S ex-justice minister Rachida Dati has lost her chauffeur-driven limousine and bodyguards after annoying President Nicolas Sarkozy with a recent TV appearance, reports said yesterday.