Paris  - Police arrested 33 people overnight Thursday as scattered unrest flared in the French overseas department of Guadeloupe, France-Info radio reported.

However, there was no repeat of the previous night's violence that saw one man shot dead and six police officers injured by gunfire.

In several communities in the Caribbean island group youths again targeted police and firefighters with gunfire, but no one was reported injured.

Paris  - French insurance giant Axa said Thursday its profits plunged by 83 per cent, to 923 million euros (1.163 billion dollars), in 2008.

The earnings slump was primarily due to the effects of the financial crisis, such as "negative market-to-market impacts related to corporate bonds and balance sheet hedging items," Axa said in a press statement.

Turnover for the year retreated by a more modest 2 per cent, to 91.22 billion euros, compared to 2007.

Paris  - Three policemen were injured by gunfire early Wednesday in the French overseas department of Guadeloupe as protests against the high cost of living intensified on the Caribbean island group, France-Info radio reported.

The gunfire erupted as youths armed with shotguns went on a rampage in a shopping centre near the capital, Pointe-a-Pitre. Three youths were arrested.

Paris - John Mensah is one of the most feared defenders in French football. But his voice trembled when he told the French daily L'Equipe about the racist taunts directed at him during a Ligue 1 match on Sunday at his home stadium in Lyon.

"I heard those things in the first half. It came from my side. It's the first time that's ever happened to me. I don't know why he did that. It's only a football match," the 26-year-old Ghana international said in an interview published Tuesday.

Paris - The wife of French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, journalist Christine Ockrent, is to become general director of the state-owned TV all-news station France 24, the online edition of the weekly Le Point reported on Friday.

Ockrent, who will turn 65 in April, will not answer to her husband's ministry, but will be directly under the office of Prime Minister Francois Fillon, the weekly reported.

Paris - State-owned French energy supplier EDF saw its profits fall by nearly 40 per cent in 2008 as it continued to expand its nuclear energy division abroad, the company said on Thursday.

Profits for last year stood at 3.4 billion euros (4.4 billion dollars), down 39.5 per cent from 2007, EDF said in a press statement.

The company said that part of the downturn was attributable to one-time costs linked to the opening of the French energy market to competition.

Turnover for the year rose by 7.8 per cent, to 64.28 billion euros.