France

France to meet Portugal in Euro 2016 final

Antoine Griezmann, the tournament's top scorer, made the decisive contributions in each half to set up a final against Portugal at the Stade de France on Sunday.

Griezmann scored from the penalty spot right on half-time when Germany's Bastian Schweinsteiger was penalised for handball by Italian referee Nicola Rizzoli in an aerial challenge with Patrice Evra.

France ends Iceland's dream Euro 2016 run with 5-2 quarterfinal rout

Paul Pogba, Dimitri Payet and Antoine Griezmann were also on target in a one-sided romp at the Stade de France that proved a nightmare end to Iceland's improbable dreams of success.

Having fairly comfortably eased past England into the quarter-finals, Iceland, the smallest nation ever to have qualified for the European Championship, with a population of 330,000, was 4-0 down inside the first half.

France and Germany advance to EURO quarters

RNZI reports France will play either England or Iceland at the Stade de France in Paris next Monday.

In this morning's second game Germany crushed Slovakia 3-0 to set up a quarter-final showdown with either holders Spain or Italy.

Goals from Jerome Boateng, Mario Gomez and Julian Draxler confirmed Germany's status as tournament favourites during the sparkling performance.

Central defender Boateng connected perfectly with a clearance in the eighth minute to volley in from 25 metres for his first international goal as the world champions took control from the start.

French company wants to develop Zika vaccine

Its CEO, Olivier Brandicourt, said a vaccine will however take at least three years to develop.

Sanofi Pasteur became the first company to develop a vaccine against dengue, which is a disease similar to Zika.

Dusautoir retires from Test rugby

Dusautoir, a tireless flanker known for his fiery tackling and deft ball-handling skills, made his Test debut in 2006 and played 80 internationals before making his last appearance against old rivals New Zealand in the 2015 World Cup quarter-finals.

France Oceania summit recognises PIDF

Called the France Oceania Summit, most leaders of the Pacific attended including the founder and current chair of the PIDF, Prime Minister of Fiji, Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama.

Also in attendance was the new Secretary General of the PIDF Francois Martel and his climate adviser Dr Mahendra Kumar. 

Hollande tells Pacific about COP21 hopes

Addressing a summit with Pacific leaders in Paris, Hollande said the accord should try to meet the target of less than two degree temperature rise by the end of the century.

The French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, told the meeting that, "a maximum should be two degrees, 1.5 degrees."

Paris attacks kill at least 120

Eighty people were reported killed after gunmen burst into the Bataclan concert hall and took dozens hostage.

The siege ended when security forces stormed the building.

People were shot dead at bars and restaurants at five other sites in Paris. Eight attackers were later reported killed.

Police believed all of the gunmen were dead but it was unclear if any accomplices were still on the run after the string of near-simultaneous attacks.

Paris residents have been asked to stay indoors and about 1,500 military personnel are being deployed across the city.

New Zealand beat France 62-13 to reach semis

The All Blacks were almost out of sight at half-time, Julian Savea scoring two tries and Brodie Retallick and Nehe Milner-Skudder one apiece.

A try by Louis Picamoles had kept France afloat but when he was sent to the sin-bin French hopes evaporated.

Savea completed a fine hat-trick and Jerome Kaino, Kieran Read and Tawera Kerr-Barlow (two) also crossed.

France continues continental shelf extension in Pacific

Surveys have been held this year and an application to add the sea shelf beyond the internationally recognised 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone is expected to be submitted within two years.

This comes just days after France added a total of half a million square kilometres off New Caledonia and its territories in the Atlantic Ocean after a favourable recommendation by the United Nations' Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.