PRESIDENT Jacques Chirac, intervening after six nights of rioting in suburban Paris, called yesterday for calm and said authorities will use a firm hand to curtail what may become a “dangerous situation”.

Police were today preparing to evacuate Paris’ most dilapidated apartment buildings and squats, a response to three deadly fires that killed 48 African immigrants in recent months.

A PREVIOUSLY unknown terror group is threatening to blow up French railway tracks unless it is paid millions of euro.

Torrential rains that battered southeast France for two days subsided today, letting authorities assess the damage from floods that submerged villages and killed at least 16 people.