Paris  - French Justice Minister Rachida Dati on Wednesday said she was pregnant, confirming rumours that have been swirling around Paris for weeks.

"I am still in a risk area," the 42-year-old said in reference to her age. "If it stabilizes, I will be happy... If not I will be very upset, but I will cover it with lipstick and deal with it myself."

Paris - French President Nicolas Sarkozy was to travel to Damascus later Tuesday for a two-day visit, the first voyage to Syria by a French head of state in four years.

The trip will include a summit meeting on the Mideast peace process on Thursday with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Turkish President Recep Tayyid Erdogan and the Emir of Qatar, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.

Paris  - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Thursday said European nations were considering imposing sanctions against Russia as a result of its actions in Georgia.

Addressing journalists three days before an emergency EU summit in Brussels, Kouchner said "sanctions were being considered, as well as other means" to address the issue, but he did not specify.

"I, myself, would not anticipate sanctions (being imposed), while the meeting has not yet taken place," said Kouchner. France is currently president of the Union and has been at the forefront of the EU's attempts to resolve the crisis.

It was the first time France has brought up the possibility of sanctions against Moscow.

Paris - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner voiced fears Wednesday that Russia may destabilise other countries following its recognition of two Georgian breakaway regions.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev formally recognized on Tuesday the breakaway territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia after Russian lawmakers on Monday unanimously passed a resolution to that effect.

Russia had "acted outside international law," Kouchner told French radio station Europe-1. "Other targets" for Russia now could be "the Crimea, Ukraine, Moldova."

"We cannot accept these violations of international law" and "the taking of a territory by the army of a neighbouring country," Kouchner said.

Canberra, August 27: A research by scientists from Australia, France and the US, has revealed that a species of clownfish (Amphiprion percula), uses its nose to help it locate a suitable habitat.

According to a report by ABC News, although previous research has shown clownfish can smell, these new findings identify the scents they are using.

“It’s always been a mystery to us how they find their way back to a suitable habitat,” said Professor Geoff Jones of James Cook University, Townsville. “We’ve actually narrowed down the chemical signals that they may be using to find their home,” he added.

Brussels - French car manufacturers are the closest to hitting proposed European Union targets for reducing their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, while Japanese makers are the furthest away, a study by a Brussels pressure group released Tuesday said.

But neither group managed to make substantial cuts in their new cars' emissions in 2007, leaving it open to question whether they would hit their targets, the study commissioned by Brussels-based environmental group Transport and Environment (T&E) said.