Paris  - French bank BNP Paribas will pay 14.5 billion euros (19.7 billion dollars) to take over the majority of the troubled insurance and banking giant Fortis in Belgium and Luxembourg, BNP Paribas said on Monday.

The deal, which involves 9 billion euros worth of shares and 5.5 billion euros in cash, includes the purchase of 75 per cent of Fortis from the Belgian government and 16 per cent of Fortis Luxembourg, which raises BNP's stake in the Luxembourg segment of Fortis to 67 per cent.

Paris  - In the wake of share price plunges on stock markets around the world, the Paris Bourse opened sharply lower on Monday.

Paris - The difficulties the French have in pronouncing the letter "h" landed the country's foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, in hot water.

Israeli media quoted the minister as saying Israel "will eat" Iran if the Islamic Republic gained possession of nuclear weapons, prompting Kouchner's office to issue a statement of clarification on Sunday.

Kouchner wanted to say in an interview given in English that Israel would "hit" Iran if it developed nuclear weapons. But journalists apparently mistook his pronunciation of "hit" for "eat," the statement said.

Paris - Aid organization CIMADE, the only group allowed access to French deportation centres, on Sunday rejected a plan by the Immigration Ministry to restrict its mandate.

"We intend to continue the defence of foreigners in deportation centres," the organization said in a press release in Paris.

CIMADE regularly publishes reports critical of conditions in deportation centres and has complained in recent months of violence used against deportees.

Immigration Minister Brice Hortefeux had recently announced that CIMADE's contract for legal aid would be withdrawn and given to several organizations.

CIMADE said it suspected that the move was an attempt by government to suppress criticism.

Ramallah - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Saturday said that he believes that a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians before the end of 
2008 is unlikely.

Attending the opening of a French-German financed industrial park in the West Bank city of Jenin, Kouchner said a general document could be signed within the time frame, but a final peace deal - which would include the main sticking point of the status of Jerusalem - was not expected.

Paris- France's Immigration Ministry said Saturday that it would surpass its target of 26,000 deportations this year, Le Monde newspaper on Saturday.

In the first half of 2008, more than 17,200 foreigners who had no right to stay in France had been deported.

The ministry has a budget of 42 million euros (58 million dollars) for deportations in 2009, the report said, or 2,200 euros per case.

In 2009, France would also increase the number of places in deportation centres from 1,500 to more than 2,000, the report said.