Youths set fire to about 60 cars and 30 rubbish bins before dawn today in the suburbs north of Paris, scene of the start of nationwide riots last autumn and coinciding with the arrival of Bastille Day, France’s national day, officials said.

FRENCH President Jacques Chirac said yesterday that ending the country’s rioting and arson was his priority, but acknowledged that discrimination and lack of equality are driving frustrations among the young people rebelling in largely immigrant suburbs.

French President Jacques Chirac said today that ending the country’s rioting and arson was his priority, but acknowledged that discrimination and lack of equality are driving frustrations among the young people rebelling in largely immigrant suburbs.

Eight French police officers have been suspended for their suspected role in the beating of a young man in a Paris suburb, a national police spokeswoman said today.

Nice and Cannes on the French Riviera, best known for glitz and film festivals, were among towns that imposed curfews for minors even as rioting appeared to be abating nationwide.

French President Jacques Chirac called a security meeting of his top ministers tonight after urban rioting spread – with arsonists striking from the Mediterranean to the German border and into central Paris for the first time.

Riots which have rocked France for the past 10 days reached central Paris for the first time today in an orgy of destruction and violence.

France was hit by a 10th night of rioting as the urban unrest reached Paris for the first time.

Youths torched 750 cars, stoned paramedics and burned a nursery school in a ninth night of violence that spread from Paris suburbs to towns around France, police said today.

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.

SMALL, mobile groups of youths hit Paris’s riot-shaken suburbs with waves of arson attacks, torching hundreds of cars, as unrest entered its second week yesterday and spread to other towns in France.

Small, mobile groups of youths torched hundreds more cars near Paris today, and the violence and arson attacks that have shaken the capital’s suburbs for a week spread to other French towns.

An uneasy calm fell over Paris’ riot-hit suburbs today after a week of unrest by gangs of youths shooting at police and firefighters, starting fires and attacking symbols of the French state.

RAMPAGING youths shot at police and firefighters yesterday after burning car dealerships and public buses and hurling rocks at commuter trains, as eight days of riots over poor conditions in Paris-area housing projects spread to 20 towns.

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.

France’s government went into crisis mode in a bid to deal with escalating riots in the suburbs of Paris.

French President Jacques Chirac called for calm and a firm hand today in response to six nights of rioting in Paris’ troubled suburbs, warning of a “dangerous situation".

Unrest spread across troubled suburbs around Paris in a sixth night of violence as police clashed with angry youths and scores of vehicles were set on fire in at least nine towns.

Experts were poring over the wreckage of the showcase terminal at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport today, in the hunt for clues to the horrific cave-in that killed at least five people.

Tons of concrete collapsed from a ceiling over a waiting area in a passenger terminal at Paris’ largest airport today, killing at least six people and injuring three others, officials said.

French police are now holding 15 people in for questioning in connection with a deadly terrorist attack in Morocco last year following a swoop on a number of suburban Paris homes today.

Sheep exported to France from Britian may have had foot and mouth disease.