There have been increasingly violent clashes between police and protestors after the eviction of squatters in Montreuil. One man allegedly lost an eye following the police's use of flashball weapsons.

This week, auto workers threatened to blow up their factory, hundreds of troops - and horses - marched down Paris' Champs Elysées for Bastille day, and some cried censorship over the banning of a rapper from a music festival over his sexist lyrics.

France has ordered 94 million swine flu vaccine doses, stepping up its efforts to contain the pandemic after the World Health Organization (WHO) warned it was unstoppable.

Nearly 100 African asylum seekers have been housed in France after arriving in Paris on 9 July. They had been stranded in Malta after arriving there by boat from Lybia.

Orelsan has been banned from this year’s Francofolies music festival. Festival organisers say they cancelled his appearance because Segolene Royal, of France's Socialist Party, threatened to cut their subsidies. In an odd twist, some right-wing politicians are defending the young rapper.

On Bastille Day, 160 horses escorted French President Nicolas Sarkozy from the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde for a special performance for the crowds who had gathered. RFI finds out how the grand cavalry prepared for the event.

A French town is beefing up emergency services after workers at a bankrupt car parts firm occupied their factory and threatened to blow it up.

Parliament has been debating whether French businesses should be able to open Sundays. In the Yes camp is work-loving President Sarkozy while many others - the unions, the "Friends of Sunday" association, department store workers and even some of Sarkozy's own party are opposed.

A look back at a week that brought awards for Paris, debates over Sunday trading and controversy in Franco-Iranian relations

Youths in the French town of Firminy clashed with police for a third night on Thursday following the death of Mohamed Benmouna. He was found hanging in a police cell earlier this week after being arrested in an investigation into extortion.