Paris - French-Dutch airline Air France-KLM said Thursday that profits for the first half of fiscal year 2008-9 slumped because of the economic slowdown and the high cost of fuel.

Operating income fell by 43.9 per cent, to 639 million euros (800 million dollars), in the period ending September 30, the carrier said in a press statement.

Earnings per share plunged by 84 per cent, to 0.66 euros, while turnover stood at 12.983 billion euros, up a modest 4.4 per cent, for the first half of the fiscal year.

Paris - Senior Rwandan politician Rose Kabuye said Thursday that she was not involved in the 1994 assassination of former Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana.

"I'm not afraid because I am innocent," she told France 24 television. "When I can explain what really happened, everything will be fine again."

Paris, Nov 20 : The Akari infrared surveyor, a Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency mission with ESA (European Space Agency) participation, is uncovering a number of secrets of the cold and dusty Universe.

For example, Akari observations of Betelgeuse, a bright red supergiant star located in the constellation Orion about 200 light-years from Earth, show the star making a big splash by creating a bow shock as it crosses the interstellar medium.

Paris  - Video games from the past such as Pac-Man and Donkey Kong are making a comeback in Paris.

More and more bars, cafes and clubs in the French capital are setting up the old coin-operated machines. Classic games such as Pac-Man, Street Fighter and Arkanoid are being played by men in their 30s who remember the games from their youth.

Paris  - As has been the custom every year since 1985, shortly after midnight French time on the third Thursday of November 2008, wine drinkers around the world celebrated the new vintage of the Beaujolais Nouveau.

But this year's party may have been celebrated with a little less gusto than usual in the French wine-growing region of Beaujolais, as sales of the light, fruity wine continued to fall abroad.

Paris , Frankfurt - Rose Kabuye, a senior Rwandan politician, was extradited Wednesday from Germany to France, where she is wanted for questioning in connection with the 1994 assassination of former Hutu president Juvenal Habyarimana.