A colossal fire swept through the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris yesterday, causing a spire to collapse and threatening to destroy the entire masterpiece and its precious artworks.

A large fire breaks out on the rooftop of a university in the French city of Lyon and firemen are on the scene.

French children who are going back to school after summer vacation will have to do so without their mobile phones.

​A man with psychiatric problems fatally stabbed his mother and sister in the Paris suburb of Trappes and seriously wounded a third person, French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb says.

France beat Croatia 4-2 in the final of the World Cup in Moscow to win the world title for the second time.

The French national anthem La Marseillaise, chants of "We're in the final" and a cacophony of car horns and fire crackers rings out over Paris as residents of the capital celebrates France's march to the World Cup final.

Uruguayan Andres Cunha will referee the World Cup semi-final between France and Belgium at the St Petersburg Stadium on Tuesday evening, FIFA said on Monday.

Raphael Varane's glancing header and a goalkeeping blunder that gifted Antoine Griezmann a soft goal gave France a 2-0 victory over Uruguay in the first World Cup quarter-final on Friday.

US President Donald Trump sparks anger in France and Britain by suggesting looser gun laws could have helped prevent deadly attacks in Paris in 2015, and linking a wave of knife crime in London to a handgun ban.

Four adolescents have been killed when a train smashed into a school bus on a level crossing outside the town of Perpignan in southwestern France.

Spain takes drastic measures to stop Catalonia from breaking away, announcing plans to dismiss its separatist government and call fresh elections in a move the region's leader compared to the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.

Kylian Mbappe is so good he could one day emulate the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo by winning the Ballon d'Or, his France international team-mate Blaise Matuidi says.

A host of French-owned fashion labels spanning Christian Dior to Saint Laurent has pledged to ban ultra-thin models from their advertising and catwalk shows following repeated scandals about anorexia and mistreatment.

French President Emmanuel Macron invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to Paris as his first foreign guest, while US President Donald Trump will attend this year's Bastille Day celebrations.

Belgium's David Goffin defeated Italy's Paolo Lorenzi in straight sets to seal a 3-1 Davis Cup victory for the hosts in Charleroi and a semifinal showdown with Australia.

France will meet Serbia in the semi-finals of the Davis Cup after both finished off their last-eight ties inside two days on Saturday but Australia and Belgium were made to sweat.

The oldest fossils ever found are "direct evidence" of life on Earth 3.8 to 4.3 billion years ago when our planet was still in its infancy, researchers report.

Olympique Lyonnais have signed Dutch winger Memphis Depay from Manchester United on a four and a half year contract, the French Ligue 1 club said on Friday.

Hosting the Euro 2016 football tournament cost France less than 200 million euros ($211 million) but brought some 1.22 billion euros into the country, according to figures released by the ministry of sports Tuesday.

Mario Balotelli was handed a two-match ban Thursday after being sent off for an off-the-ball incident in last month's 0-0 draw at Bordeaux, his club Nice said.