Bernard Squarcini

Outgoing French leader Nicolas Sarkozy will face a slew of legal probes into corruption and campaign financing violations after he leaves office next week and loses his presidential immunity.

Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said Tuesday he would seek terror charges against 13 of the 19 alleged Islamic militants arrested on Friday, some of whom are accused of plotting kidnappings.

Some of the 16 suspected Islamic militants detained in France allegedly planned to kidnap a Jewish magistrate and other people, a source close to the investigation said on Tuesday.

Some of the 16 suspected Islamic militants detained in France allegedly planned to kidnap a Jewish magistrate and other people, a source close to the investigation said on Tuesday.

The 17 people detained by French police in a crackdown on suspected Islamist networks were on Sunday remanded in custody for at least another 24 hours, a source close to the inquiry told AFP.

The 17 people detained by French police in a crackdown on suspected Islamist networks were on Sunday remanded in custody for at least another 24 hours, a source close to the inquiry told AFP.

Seventeen people detained by French police in a crackdown on suspected Islamist networks might have been plotting a kidnap, the head of the police intelligence's unit said Saturday.

The Toulouse gunman who killed seven people, including three young Jewish children, visited Israel for three days in 2010, Israeli security officials told AFP on Monday.

The brother of an Islamist gunman whose murder spree shocked France was charged with complicity in the attacks, as thousands of people across the country paid homage to the victims.

The brother of the French gunman who killed seven people including children in a shooting spree denied involvement in the attacks but said he was proud of his sibling's actions, according to police.

The brother of the French gunman who killed seven people including young children in a shooting spree that shocked France has boasted that he is "proud" of his sibling's actions, police said Saturday.

The older brother of the French gunman who killed seven people said he was "proud" of his sibling and was present when he stole a scooter used to stage three deadly attacks, police said Saturday.

France's interior minister has launched a robust defence of the police as criticism grows of the operation that ended in the dramatic death of a gunman who killed seven people, three of them children.

French officials rejected charges that intelligence failures let a young man kill seven people, as the crack police unit that finally killed the gunman faced criticism of their operation.

French authorities Friday rejected charges that intelligence failures allowed a young man to kill seven people, insisting there was no evidence he was anything but a lone wolf with no ties to Al-Qaeda.

France's opposition on Tuesday called for the resignation of the head of the country's domestic intelligence agency, a friend of President Nicolas Sarkozy, after he was charged over spying on a journalist.

COURBEVOIE, France (Reuters) - L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt's daughter won control over her 88-year-old mother's business affairs Monday almost two years after she first asked to take over on the grounds her mother had been exploited.

Police probing alleged industrial espionage at French car giant Renault said Thursday they had drawn a blank, as a case Paris once branded evidence of "economic warfare" appeared set to fizzle out.

The United States faces a "spike" in the threat from homegrown extremists who are inspired by Al-Qaeda and are increasingly difficult to detect, top US officials said Wednesday.

The United States faces a "spike" in the threat from homegrown extremists who are inspired by Al-Qaeda and are increasingly difficult to detect, top US officials said Wednesday.