French citizens

France has confirmed that two of its nationals, a man and a woman, have been detained in Iran and has dismissed as 'baseless' claims by the Iranian authorities that the pair were planning to cause 'chaos, social disorder and instability'. 

Paris had already advised French citizens passing through Russia to leave the country.

Defence minister Florence Parly said they were planning to carry out the first airlift by the end of Monday, saying there were several dozen French citizens to be evacuated.

An Iraqi court has sentenced to death three French men who it found guilty of having joined the ranks of the so-called Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, where they were among 12 French citizens captured by US-backed forces and transferred to Iraq.

On visit to London foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also confirmed one French citizen died in the attack and eight had been injured.