Around 50 khaki-clad men riding atop a black armoured truck approached an abandoned office building on the outskirts of Paris one spring morning and blew open a second-storey window with an explosive device.

Having long battled the creeping use of English in advertising, music and film, French MPs have declared a new struggle: keeping their home Olympics this year free from anglicisms.

The Olympic flame is set to arrive in the French port of Marseille on Wednesday in front of a crowd of up to 150,000 people in a first major test

Tens of France's elite GIGN forces practised a final dress rehearsal of a hostage-taking scenario in preparation for the July 26-Aug. 11 Olympic Games in Paris. The team practised the drills on 29 April ahead of Wednesday (May 8) evening when they will be summoned for the Olympic torch arriving in Marseille.