Paris - The French Alpine town of Annecy was named Wednesday as France's candidate city to host the 2018 Winter Olympics, holding off the challenge from Nice, Grenoble and Pelvoux-les-Ecrins.

Town mayor Jean-Luc Rigaut said 80 per cent of the necessary infrastructure was already in place in Annecy, which is situated beside the cleanest lake in Europe and Mont Blanc.

The German city of Munich, Switzerland's Wallis and Pyeongchang, South Korea have already expressed an interest in hosting the 2018 Winter Games.

Paris - Millions of French workers from the public and private sectors were expected to take part in a one-day strike and nationwide demonstrations to protest the economic policies of President Nicolas Sarkozy and his government beginning late Wednesday.

The second nationwide job action of the year takes place amidst an atmosphere of mounting anger following a series of controversial factory closures and layoffs in France by German tyre manufacturer Continental, Japanese electronics giant Sony and French petroleum group Total.

Paris  - An 85-year-old French man who is hard of hearing mistook a firefighter for a burglar and shot him to death, a police spokeswoman from the southern French city of Belley said on Wednesday.

Neighbours had called rescue workers because they were worried about the health of the old man. When he did not respond to shouts at the door, the firemen broke into the apartment.

The old man mistook the noise for a break-in, locked himself in a room and fired a shot that struck and killed one of the firefighters.

Paris  - As expected, lawmakers in the French National Assembly voted late Tuesday in favour of a measure that effectively approved President Nicolas Sarkozy's decision to return France to NATO's military command structure.

By a vote of 329 to 238, the deputies passed a vote of confidence in the foreign policy conducted by Prime Minister Francois Fillon and his government, including the decision to return to full NATO membership.

In 1966, then-president Charles de Gaulle pulled France out of the alliance's military command and evicted US bases from French soil.

Paris  - As expected, lawmakers in the French National Assembly voted late Tuesday in favour of a measure that effectively approved President Nicolas Sarkozy's decision to return France to NATO's military command structure.

By a vote of 329 to 238, the deputies passed a vote of confidence in the foreign policy conducted by Prime Minister Francois Fillon and his government, including the decision to return to full NATO membership.

In 1966, then-president Charles de Gaulle pulled France out of the alliance's military command and evicted US bases from French soil.

Paris  - The number of wins rather than the highest number of points will decide the Formula One title from the 2009 season onwards, world motorsport federation FIA decided Tuesday.

In the event of two or more drivers finishing with the same number of race wins, the title will go to the driver with the most points, FIA's Motorsport World Council ruled.

The rest of the standings will still be decided on the current scoring system.