Paris - French film director and producer Claude Berri died Monday in Paris at the age of 74, French media reported.

Berri, who was admitted to hospital late Saturday after suffering a stroke, produced some of the biggest recent box office and critical hits in French cinema, including Welcome to the Sticks, The Secret of the Grain and Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra.

He also produced a number of well-known international hits, such as Roman Polanski's Tess, Taking Off and Valmont by Milos Forman and Pedro Alomodovar's Everything About my Mother.

Berri's biggest successes as a director were arguably his film versions of two novels by Marcel Pagnol, Manon of the Spring and Jean de Florette.

Paris  - Tens of thousands of people protested in Paris on Saturday Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip, with the organizers claiming 100,000 people at the demonstration.

The demonstration was organized by the "Collective for a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians," an alliance of several lobby groups, trade unions and left-wing parties.

On January 3 in Paris, there were clashes when 21,000 people demonstrated for peace in the Gaza Strip.

There were protest marches in other French cities and towns.

Paris - Sixty-three people were reported injured Saturday in clashes between police and demonstrators who turned violent in central Algiers late Friday.

Paris - He began life 80 years ago at the age of 15, and when his career ended nearly 50 years later, his creator said he was just shy of his 18th birthday.

Tintin, the ageless boy reporter, whose adventures have delighted children and adults all over the world, is celebrating his 80th birthday on Saturday, and the globetrotting teenager with the remarkable blonde forelock has never been more popular.

Dubai - France midfielder Franck Ribery took the wheel of the Bayern Munich team bus and knocked over two signs outside the players' hotel in Dubai - but the incident hasn't dented his standing with the German champions.

"Franck wanted to have a bit of fun," said coach Juergen Klinsmann, relieved that the prank only caused minor damage.

General manager Uli Hoeness was meanwhile left to smooth over the incident with an angry hotel management, while team-mate Tim Borowski admitted the players were slightly shaken by the unscheduled spin around the hotel on Thursday.

Paris- The Louvre Museum in Paris set a new visitor record in 2008 as 8.5 million people made their way through its more than 60,000 square metres of exhibition space, the museum said Friday.

That represents an increase of about 200,000 over 2007, and a rise of some 67 per cent since 2001.

The largest age group entering the museum are the young, with those 25 years of age and younger representing 40 per cent of the Louvre visitors in 2008.