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The French ecological transition ministry said it traced the plastic waste to a brokerage firm in southern France which, after Malaysia this summer returned the illegal consigment, it fined 192,000 euros before referring the company to the justice authorities .

French public hospital workers held protest marches in Paris and other cities across the country on Thursday over pay, working conditions and chronic underfunding of services which have led to a shortage of beds and vital equipment, and an exodus of staff towards the private sector.   

French army general Jean-Louis Georgelin, appointed to steer the rebuilding of Notre Dame cathedral after it was seriously damaged by a fire in April, has told a parliamentary cultural affairs committee that the architect in charge of the project should "shut his mouth" over a conflict about the replacement of the edifice's spire.

For the third day running, French university students continued to mount protests on Wednesday over poor living conditions, prompted by the self-immolation of a student in Lyon who had cited his financial problems as the reason for his act.

Raymond Poulidor, who during a 17-year career finished on the podium of the Tour de France eight times from 1962 to 1976 and won one silver and three bronze medals in World Championship road races, and whose name is still chanted by crowds during the Tour, has died at the age of 83.

Several ceremonies were held in Paris on Wednesday to mark the anniversary of the terrorist attacks in and around the capital on the evening of November 13th 2015, when 130 people died in a wave of shootings and bombings carried out by jihadists from the so-called Islamic State group.

A premiere in Paris of Roman Polanski's latest film 'An Officer and a Spy' was cancelled after feminist militants blocked the cinema in a protest against the alleged impunity of the France-based director who, wanted in the US since 1978 for the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl, and publicly accused of several rapes, now faces a fresh allegation that he raped a French actress in 1975.

Large numbers of packages containing what the authorities describe as 'very pure cocaine' along with other drugs have been found on beaches along a lengthy strip of France's Atlantic coast over recent weeks, with those found so far estimated to have a potential street value of about 60 million euros.

An earthquake measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale was felt across parts of southern France on Monday, centred on the town of Montélimar where it caused serious injuries to at least one person and damaged buildings, leading to the closure of a nuclear power plant and local schools.

Marchers estimated to number 13,500 marched in Paris on Sunday following several recent incidents of Islamophobia in France, including an arson and shooting attack against a mosque in south-west France, while a number of leftwing parties did not take part arguing that organisers opposed the country's constitutional principles regarding secularity.