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The legislation, which will come into effect in 2020 and will see plastic replaced with biologically-sourced materials, has prompted threat of legal action by European packaging manufacturers.

The burkini bans introduced by mayors in some French coastal towns has divided ministers, while the Council of State will rule Friday on a legal challenge to the prohibitons.

France’s Council of State will on Friday announce its judgment on whether the ban of the burkini, recently applied by a number of mayors of coastal towns in France, is legal. The bans, imposed mostly in south-east France and amid the backdrop of recent Islamist terrorist attacks, supposedly target the full-body swimwear worn by some Muslim women. But the prohibitions also exclude dress that might threaten “public order”, and there was uproar this week after several reported incidents of police patrols intercepting Muslim women wearing headscarves on the beach. Carine Fouteau analyses a controversy that not only encroaches basic human rights, but which also has played into the hands of the Islamic State group which was behind this summer's terrorist attacks in France.

Bishop Nunzio Galantino denounced the ban in several coastal towns as a 'war on symbols' and a 'vulgar ridiculing of the religious sensitivity of others'.

The mayor of Sisco, close to Bastia, announced the measure amid what he called a 'powder-keg' situation between Muslims and non-Muslims on the island.

Mayor of popular resort of Cannes, David Lisnard, has issued order forbidding beachwear that doesn't respect 'good morals and secularism'.

The lifting of the ban, which was ended for lesbians in 2002, is conditional to gay donors observing sexual inactivity over a period of one year.

CGT union boss said authorities' U-turn on march was a 'victory for democracy' and urged workers to turn out in 'massive' numbers on Thursday.

Move by Paris police to ban Thursday's march could increases tension between socialist government and unions opposed to labour reforms.

Authorities had asked unions to scrap plans for Paris march in favour of a static rally to avoid violence which marred previous protests.

The anti-pollution move concerns Monday to Friday daytime access and will become an outright ban in 2020, when access for pre-2011 cars will be restricted.

Clément Tomaszewski's cockerel Balthazar, which has been with him to numerous matches, has been given a banning order for security reasons.

Unions have planned two days of protest and called strikes in the air transport, road freight, rail and oil sectors against the proposed reforms.

Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller, has stirred fierce debate since a WHO body said it was probably carcinogenic.

Labour minister Myriam El Khomri is reportedly planning to introduce law that bans employers from sending staff out-of-hours emails or texts.