A French woman with an incurable facial tumour who lost a legal challenge seeking euthanasia has died at her home near Dijon at the age of 52.

Women in the Chadian town of Abeche have been protesting about last week's alleged child-kidnapping attempt.

Sixteen Europeans were arrested in the town while trying to fly more than 100 children they believed were orphans from Sudan's Darfur region to France.

When a small museum in the city of Rouen arranged to hand back a mummified Maori head to New Zealand, the local mayor called it a "symbolic act" of atonement for European colonialists' grotesque trade in human remains.

But a row has erupted after the French Government intervened to block the return, saying the head was part of France's national heritage.

Japanese architect Shigeru Ban -- iconic for his use of eco-friendly, lightweight materials -- on Friday lifted the veil on a paper bridge over the Gardon River in southern France.

Built half a mile from the Pont du Gard -- a section of ancient Roman bridge classed as a UN World Heritage site -- Shigeru's cardboard-tube structure is strong enough to carry 20 people at a time.

Two Frenchmen who appeared to be good fathers, with steady jobs and a clean criminal record, hatched a monstrous plan over the past few months to kidnap a little girl, torture her for a weekend and brand her before releasing her, so that she would never forget what happened to her.

More than a quarter of French voters support the far-right ideas espoused by Jean-Marie Le Pen, the National Front leader who is hoping to make a strong showing in presidential elections next year, a new poll released Thursday showed.

When it comes to museums, Paris is experiencing a "Great Reawakening." In just the past year, one museum after another has reopened after what seemed like decades of renovation. And now you can enjoy the art of dining, along with the visual arts. New museum eateries, both casual cafés and serious restaurants, have opened and are keeping pace with their exalted locations. They are no longer just pit stops to refuel in between paintings; one of them, the buzz goes, is aiming for a Michelin-star rating. Some of them even have lives of their own and are open evenings, when the museum is closed.

The French government Monday launched an intensive hunt for a gang of youths who horrified the country by setting a woman on fire during a weekend arson attack on a bus.

One of the joys of taking holidays in France used to be the chance to escape the rampant Americanisation engulfing the rest of the world. But while it is still possible to find French shops closed for lunch and people wilfully enjoying a cigarette, it is getting harder to avoid that classic sign of l'influence Americaine: the lard-arse.

France and Turkey's top diplomats held talks with officials here Wednesday on the deployment of international troops in south Lebanon as a huge rebuilding effort was underway and a fragile truce appeared to be holding.

From the page:

-- French President Jacques Chirac's strong backing of Lebanon in the face of Israel's offensive has underlined France's continued close ties to its former colony. --

From the page:

-- A footbridge in honour of the French writer and leading feminist Simone de Beauvoir has been opened in Paris. --

From the page:

-- French President Jacques Chirac has warned that Africans "will flood the world" unless more is done to develop the continent's economy. --

From the page:

-- Six French citizens who were once inmates of the Guantanamo Bay detention centre went on trial in Paris yesterday accused of "associating with terrorists". --

From the page:

-- Parisians, and tourists, will be able to swim in the Seine - or at least on the Seine - from tomorrow for the first time in 13 years. --

From the page:

-- Thousands rallied in support of an Iranian exile group near Paris on Saturday, calling on Western powers to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb and urging democratic change in Tehran. --

From the page:

-- Primary students in Paris are making new friends and getting an insight into the lives of Burundian refugee children in this camp under a project launched earlier this year. --

From the page:

-- France, the country which invented the philosophy café, has just had another smart idea: the train of thought. From this week, passengers who book by internet on certain long-distance French trains can arrange to sit next to other passengers with similar interests. --

-- French President Jacques Chirac is due to unveil his legacy to the nation - a 260m euro (£180m) riverside museum in the shadow of Paris' Eiffel Tower.

The museum will display indigenous art from Africa, Asia and Australasia.

It is the first major museum to open in the French capital since the Pompidou Centre in 1977.

But the project has been controversial. It opens as France debates how to heal the scars of its colonial past and accept a multi-ethnic nation.

Critics say the museum does not do enough to explain to visitors the damage done by colonialism to many of those cultures.

The Musee du Quai Branly, on the banks of the River Seine, has been a decade in the making.

It combines angular glass walls with futuristic cubes of bright colour and, outside, a green wall of thick vegetation, suggestive of a forest or a jungle. --

-- A 47-year-old Frenchman described as a 'masseur to the stars' because he counted Tom Cruise, Sylvester Stallone and other celebrities among his clients went on trial Thursday for allegedly drugging and raping 13 young women.

Thierry Chichportich is accused of luring the victims, some of them aspiring models, to his French Riviera home where he assaulted them after first knocking them unconscious by putting powerful sedatives in food or drinks.

Part of the trial, which is being conducted in the city of Nice, is closed to the public, though reporters will be present.

Chichportich admits to having had sex with some of the women clients but claims it was consensual. He has called some 20 defence witnesses to testify on his behalf. --

-- Feminists in France have petitioned the French government to remove the title Mademoiselle or Miss from official administrative documents.

Les Chiennes de Garde (the Guard Dogs), the biggest feminist group in France, say the title "perpetuates the submission to macho values" in France.

They say it unfairly forces women to divulge their marital status whereas men have only to reveal their gender.

Many women dread the day they are seen as too mature for Mademoiselle.

A polite bonjour to a woman in France is almost always followed by madame or mademoiselle - but the decision as to who is which can be a tricky one. --

THOUSANDS DOWNLOAD AN INTERNET NOVEL HIGHLIGHTING THE PLIGHT OF THE €1,000-A-MONTH WORKERS

A novel published free on the Internet has become a surprise hit in Italy, downloaded by thousands of young people who identify with the main character struggling to survive on a monthly salary of 1,000 euros.

You're young, you speak several languages, you have one or more degrees and you want to get ahead in life. Not just in France, but especially in Spain and Italy, this gets more difficult by the day. Hardworking highly educated people in their twenties and thirties, generation 'Low Cost', can't afford a house, a family and fun things to do. They get stranded in low paid and temporary jobs. They feel like disposable commodities.

Claudio doesn't buy newspapers because he can't afford the €30- a month. Rita can't buy a bed. Carolina doesn't eat something decent today, as her food budget is gone. These young Italians and Spanish are nevertheless not people fresh out of university, or students on a budget. Claudio is 27 years old, has a degree in economics and works for an international company. Rita is 37 and a teacher. Carolina is 27, has a university degree and works for an advertising agency.

There also is Elodie, a French woman of 24, graduated from the highly recommended Science-Po in Paris, who searched for a job for 1.5 years but could only get her hands on a few lousy paid internships.

In the South of Europe there are more and more people like Claudio, Rita and Elodie. More North in Europe, the situation is slightly less urgent, but even there the situation is getting worse. They belong to the generation between 18 and 35, the generation everyone expected would do better than the previous. The generation that had the most opportunities to get a good education.

They realise they're better off than those without education. The future they imagined for themselves and for which they worked hard, isn't fulfilling its promises. They are not without hope or nihilistic, but they want to be heard.

In France students protest against the 'Contract Première Embauche', according to which employers can fire people in the first two years without having to give a reason. These protests are a signal of something that's been itching under the surface for much longer. The French call themselves 'Génération Précarité' or 'Génération Stagiaire'. They are kept hostage in jobs that are temporary, underpaid, McJobs, ... They consider it to be unacceptable that companies thrive on underpaid employees that are being replaced all the time, like disposable commodities.

Studies show that more and more French young people have a degree, but those graduated have more and more trouble finding a job. They have less means and less autonomy compared to previous generations. Now it takes 3 years before 70% of those graduating at any given moment find a job. In 1977 the difference in income between a 30 year old and a 50 year old was 17%. Right now it's 40%.

And even though the protests are loudest in France, the situation in Italy and Spain is much more dramatic. Only 40% of Spanish between 18 and 35 with a higher education have a job their level, and unemployment in the ranks of those between 24 - 34 years with at least one degree, is 11.5 %, while the overall unemployment rate is 8%. Those that do have jobs are stuck in temporary underpaid jobs. Half of the Spanish young people have contracts that make them less than €1,000- a month.

In Italy there's 'Generazione 1000 euro'. There are over 2 million employees younger than 40 earning less than €900- a month. The number of employees with jobs earning less than €1,000- went from 10% in 1991 to 18% in 2002. People tend to laugh about those Italians living with 'la mama' forever, but fact is they can't get a place of their own. In a period of 10 years time, the number of people over 30, still living with their parents, went from 15% to 40%. Over 17% of those over 35 still live at home. They do have jobs but are unable to afford a place of their own.

Antonio Incorvaia (top picture) and Alessandro Rimassa (bottom picture) wrote 'Generazione 1000 euro', a book based on their lives and that of their friends and acquaintances.

They knew many in Italy found themselves in the same situation but they were a little surprised they also got a lot of reactions from e.g. Austria and Spain. Some people feel relief, as previously they had the impression they were the only ones struggling to get by. It's frustrating not being able to buy a house, to get a loan, to save money, to treat your girlfriend. It's hard to make any plans, holidays are out of the question. You're 35 and discover you have to live like a student.

Nevertheless this is not a pessimistic generation. They still hope for a better future. They want to enjoy life. They are trying to find creative ways of enjoying life. That's why they're also called 'Generation Low Cost'. There still are many things 'low cost' in our societies. Thanks to shops like H&M and Zara they can still buy trendy cloths, low budget air lines give them the opportunity to travel once in a (long) while. It becomes a challenge. On the forum attached to the website, people are giving each other tips. Claudio and the rest of his generation have learned that smart budgeting and conscientious economic decisions does not mean you have to forgo your favorite restaurant or a mp3 player.

Generatione 1000 Euro (Italian)
Young Italians find a hero (English)
Generazione 1000 Euro (English)
Chirac to sign controversial youth jobs law (English)

-- France is to start issuing biometric passports April 17, the state printing company said, raising the prospect of an end to a dispute that has caused a bottle-neck for citizens travelling to the United States. --

-- An initiative by French MPs to introduce a general "downloading fee" that would allow consumers to legally source whatever music or films they want from the Internet is to run into heavy government opposition this week. --

-- France reportedly is upset over a decision by its former colony Algeria to close 42 French-language schools because they have failed to teach mainly in Arabic. --