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Michel Platini and Sepp Blatter given eight-year ban from football

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Pair were found guilty of breaches in a 2mln Swiss franc 'disloyal payment' made to Uefa boss and ex-France captain by Fifa chief Blatter in 2011.

French tycoon Bernard Tapie announces return to politics

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Ex-minister embroiled in scandal over which IMF boss Christine Lagarde faces court wants to fight youth unemployment and rise of far-right.

French power station turning cheese into electricity

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The skimmed whey of Beaufort cheese from the French Alps is mixed with bacterias which transform the greenish liquid into biogas.

Fake bomb hidden in toilet of Paris-bound Air France flight

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Six questioned after object described as looking like 'a stopwatch mounted on a cardboard box' found in toilet on airliner diverted to Kenya.

Air France flight makes emergency landing in Kenya over bomb scare

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Pilots of Boeing 777 flying from Mauritius to Paris requested to land in Mombasa after suspect package was discovered in the toilet.

Teenagers sue Paris police for sexual, racial harassement

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The school students, aged 14 to 18, claim to have been forced to strip, subjected to anal searches, tear-gassed and racially insulted.

France remembers Edith Piaf in shadow of Paris attacks

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Saturday marks centenary of French singer's birth, barely a month after Paris attacks targeting the very joie-de-vivre that she embodied.

France to boost security measures at churches during Christmas

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Interior minister urges local parishes to strengthen protection measures next week; in April a plot to attack a church near Paris was foiled.

Poll shows Sarkozy would lose in first round of presidential election

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Ifop survey says Sarkozy's rival on Right Alain Juppé would however go through to second round - and face far-right's Marine Le Pen.

French state of emergency facing court challenges

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Some Muslims in France are taking government to court over what they call illegal acts in the name of preventing another jihadist attack.