The French high-end retailer PPR has made an offer to purchase the German sportswear company Puma for $7.1 billion.

The French philosopher and Sociologist Jean Baudrillard died in France, last week. Baudrillard is considered one of the most important post-structuralisms thinkers, and is one of the last thinkers of the generation brought on by the French Student Revolution of 1968.

The British weekly the Observer reported on a French intelligence report warning that terrorists intend to attack the Eurostar train that connects between France and England

The entertainment industry could not have been more disgusted when Mel Gibson let out a tirade of anti-Semitic insults when he was stopped by a police officer last summer

The French police searched the headquarters of the European Aeronautic Defense & Space (EADS), parent company of Airbus, in relation to suspicion of insider trading. The search hampered yesterday`s celebration of Airbus`s A380, super-jumbo-jet, approval for sale.

France?s top literary prize ? the Prix Goncourt ? has been won by a popular American author, Jonathan Littell

More than a year after mostly Muslim immigrant youth (or the children of immigrants) spent weeks torching vehicles throughout France, the violence has return amidst memorials for the last year?s troubles. In the run-up to this week?s torching of buses, police responding to call in suburbs of Paris have been attacked by mobs of people.

The French government has announced that as of February 2007, smoking will be banned in all public places. Similar measures have been passed in New York City and elsewhere, and are seen by many business owners as threatening to their incomes as they run places where smokers make up a significant portion of their clientele.

According to Marc Antoine Jamet, chairman of France`s Union of Manufacturers (Unifab), the Union plans to file a complaint seeking damages from eBay and other Internet auction sites for the sale of fake products on their Web pages.

What will be the cultural impact of yet another win by an American of the Tour de France? If anything, though, the French would do well to learn from Floyd Landis and apply the determination that Americans often show to improving the situation of their economy.

Although Fernando Alonso is dominating this year`s F1 season, Michael Schumacher still believes he can make champion. And with the French Grand Prix behind us, it seems that Schumacher might be able to make it.

On its own, Mont-Saint-Michel has stood for 13 centuries just off the coast of France, as a lasting symbol of the power the country has wielded, and is today a modern reminder of the France of old as well as the most popular tourist destination in the Republic outside of the capital of Paris.

Geoportail, the French answer to Google Earth is up and running and reports indicate that more than five million internet users have tried the new service during the first day alone.

France`s performance during their World Cup warm-up match against Mexico has left French fans worried, especially in light of the performance of their star player, Zinedine Zidane.

After backing off from a controversial youth labor law under pressure from millions of protesters in the streets nationwide, the French government has now retreated from another law: banning smoking in public. A recent survey by the IFOP polling group found that 78 percent of respondents supported a smoking ban.

In full riot gear, armed with tear gas, batons, and water cannons, French police forces continued to quell the chaotic riots ensuing over a controversial youth labor law being brought through the government. The law at the root of the strike is set to take effect next month.

File-sharing and music downloads are sensitive territory when it comes to music artists and customers, with customers often preferring to try and get music or songs they like for free rather than buy whole albums. Still, Apple`s iTunes has sold over a billion songs, indicating that people are willing to spend money on music they can pick and choose if it is cheap enough.

The diplomacy could help the new Palestinian government fend off radical influences. But Hamas`s plans to attend talks in Moscow drew initial Israeli accusations of a "slippery slope" toward legitimizing an organization branded as terrorists in the US and Europe.

Negotiations have begun, then fell, multiple times over the past few months and Iran has inflated tensions with comments by the country`s president some weeks ago that Israel should be wiped off the face of the Earth.

The unrest began Oct. 27 with the accidental deaths of two youths apparently fleeing police and quickly engulfed immigrant-dominated suburbs in towns and cities around France. The violence has destroyed about 8,500 vehicles and 100 public buildings.

Proudly held French ideals of citizenship have been shaken by the riots. French politicians may not find it easy to acknowledge how far the country has fallen short of its integration goals, some immigration experts predict. Paris remained relatively quiet over the weekend, with authorities implementing a state-of-emergency ban on meetings.

As urban violence spread Sunday from the shores of the Mediterranean to the German border and onto the streets of central Paris, the French government came under increasing fire for its dithering response to the mounting wave of unrest.

In the wake of bombings last year in Spain which killed hundreds and this year?s London transit system attacks the French government has revamped plans dealing with the various responses to similar attacks on the French capital of Paris.

Beurger King Muslim opened in a Paris suburb last month with a halal menu, appropriate for a Muslim diet. The rise of these new restaurants, however, does not please everyone. Many French say halal restaurants hinder integration.

It adds up to a waning of once-considerable French power in Africa, says Peter Kagwanja of Crisis Group in Pretoria, South Africa: "Basically, the French empire is receding."

The U.S. rider pointed out in his website statement that "I have no way to defend myself against the latest allegations," since no additional samples of the 1999 urine remain to be tested in any attempt to replicate or contradict the laboratory`s findings.

As Brits snap up an estimated 35,000 French properties each year, future buyers need the right help and support in place from the very beginning to help with all key aspects of purchasing their French property.

The school-located vending machine has become the symbol of an alarming rise in childhood obesity in France.