Elaine Ganley

The Toulouse prosecutor says a gunman has opened fire in front of a Jewish school in a southwest French city killing several people.

The US's funding cutoff to Unesco after Palestine was accepted as a full-fledged member could hamper the agency's pro-democracy projects worldwide.

In brochures Tunisia is a land of endless sandy beaches and welcoming bazaars. But behind that are legions of angry jobless youths who see no future.

Piracy, terrorism and climate change get prime billing but business is the linchpin at a summit between France and African leaders on Monday.

France is to begin flying humanitarian supplies into eastern Chad on Sunday to help tens of thousands of Sudanese refugees and Chadians displaced by violence in Darfur, an army spokesperson said on Friday. The humanitarian air bridge will likely only function for several weeks.

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has admitted in an interview that he made errors and was misunderstood in his management of a hotly contested youth labour law that has sent students and unions into the streets in violent protests. He denied, however, that he has been disavowed by President Jacques Chirac.

Unrest spread across troubled suburbs around Paris in a sixth night of violence as police clashed with angry youths and scores of vehicles were torched in at least nine towns, officials said on Wednesday. Police fired rubber bullets at advancing gangs of youths in Aulnay-sous-Bois, where 15 cars were burned on Tuesday night, officials said.

Parisians gathered on artificial turf resembling an Olympic running track outside City Hall on on Wednesday, cheering ''Pa-ris! Par-is!'' as the French capital and rival London emerged as finalists for the 2012 Summer Games. Cheers went up as the International Olympic Committee eliminated Moscow, Madrid, Spain and New York.