French police urged to apologise after Spanish firemen held as Basque suspects - Times Online

French police urged to apologise after Spanish firemen held as Basque suspects - Times Online

French police were under pressure to apologise yesterday after they wrongly identified five Spanish firefighters as suspected Basque terrorists who killed a French police officer.

The five young men from Catalonia were held overnight and interrogated by anti-terrorist police after their pictures were presented on French television as suspects in the shooting last Tuesday of the officer near Fontainebleau, south of Paris.

The pictures had been taken from security cameras at a hypermarket near the scene of the shooting and circulated by police.

Left-wing alliance trumps Sarkozy’s party in regional polls

The ruling UMP party of President Nicolas Sarkozy experienced a wipeout in the second round of France’s regional elections, with the Socialists and their left-wing allies winning in all but one of mainland France's 22 regions.

Nicolas Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement thrashed in regional elections - Times Online

Nicolas Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement thrashed in regional elections - Times Online

A chastened Nicolas Sarkozy will attempt this week to relaunch his presidency after voters today vented their unhappiness by thrashing his centre-right party in elections for regional councils.

The Socialist opposition and its Green allies won an estimated 55 per cent of the vote compared with around 37 per cent for the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), according to exit polls. However, they failed to score the clean sweep that they had hoped against Mr Sarkozy's camp in the voting for the 22 regional councils of mainland France and Corsica.

Twitter in trouble after setting Sarkozy rumour mill whirring - Times Online

Twitter in trouble after setting Sarkozy rumour mill whirring - Times Online

Yves Saint Laurent: cocaine nights and dark secrets - Times Online

Yves Saint Laurent: cocaine nights and dark secrets - Times Online

Frenchmen would love looser law to bring back brothels - Times Online

Frenchmen would love looser law to bring back brothels - Times Online

Frenchmen would love looser law to bring back brothels

A "maison de tolérance" in Toulouse-Lautrec's Au Salon de la Rue des Moulins

Fan's death piles pressure on Paris Saint Germain to rein in violence

French Secretary of State for Sport Rama Yade says the future of Paris Saint Germain football club is "at stake" after a fan dies of injuries sustained during clashes between rival supporter groups.

Source

http://www.france24.com/en/20100318-death-psg-fan-dies-violence-hooliganism-football-paris

Auschwitz survivor becomes Académie Française ‘immortal’

She survived the Nazi camps at Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen to become a champion of access to contraception and legalised abortion. Today, Simone Veil became only the sixth woman to join the 40 "immortals" of the prestigious Académie Française.

France: Rise in school violence

French TV contestants made to inflict 'torture'

Controversial reality show airs in France

A French TV documentary features people in a spoof game show administering what they are told are near lethal electric shocks to rival contestants.

Those taking part are told to pull levers to inflict shocks - increasing in voltage - upon their opponents.

Source

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8571929.stm