Paris - Bands of roving youths set fires to cars and trash bins, looted stores and battled police on the French overseas territory of La Reunion as a demonstration protesting the high cost of living degenerated into violence, local media reported Wednesday.

One policeman was injured by gunfire and 20 received other injuries in a disturbing reminder of the riots that shook French suburban ghettos in the fall of 2005. French media reported that 22 people were arrested.

The incidents occurred late Tuesday after thousands of people marched in the streets of Saint-Denis, the capital of this island in the Indian Ocean, to demand salary hikes of 200 euros (255 dollars) a month for low-wage earners and price cuts of 20 per cent for some 500 products.

Paris - French President Nicolas Sarkozy is widely expected to announce later on Wednesday that France is returning to NATO's command structure 43 years after Charles de Gaulle pulled Paris out and evicted US military bases from French soil.

Sarkozy will probably make the announcement during an address at the conference "France, European Defence and NATO in the 21st Century," at the Ecole Miliaire in Paris, in the presence of NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

Mexico City  - French President Nicolas Sarkozy met with Mexican President Felipe Calderon Monday, to discuss the global financial crisis and several bilateral issues, including a French citizen imprisoned in Mexico for kidnapping.

On Monday, the two leaders discussed the case of Florence Cassez, a French citizen who has been condemned to a 60-year prison term in Mexico for her role in a triple kidnapping.

Paris - A man who took his mother hostage and then began shooting at pedestrians in Paris from his apartment has been killed by police, BFM television reported on Monday.

The man, who was said to be about 50 years old, took his mother hostage for about an hour early Monday. After releasing her, he began to shoot at police and other pedestrians with what French media described as a small-calibre handgun.

One man was reportedly shot in the back and taken to hospital. His condition was said to be stable.

London, March 9: French justice minister Rachida Dati has defended her decision to return to work five days after giving birth, saying that that it was her personal choice and not an attempt to prove herself to be a "high-performance" superwoman.

The 43-year-old minister, who has fallen from grace with President Nicolas Sarkozy, made this statement during her first interview since her maternity leave, which was published on International Woman’s Day.

Paris  - Three French cross-country skiers have been killed in an avalanche in the French Alps, police said on Sunday.