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Paris - The French government will provide funds to subsidize the development and construction of environmentally friendly automobiles, President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Thursday.

"We will earmark more than 400 million euros (550 million dollars) of state funds over the next four years," Sarkozy said in an address at the Paris Automobile Fair.

The money will be used "exclusively" to fund the research and development of "carbon-free cars, that is vehicles with the least possible emission of carbon dioxide, whether electric cars or hybrids," Sarkozy said.

Paris - The city of Paris has taken a page from the book of Nobel Prize-winner Muhammad Yunus and will be providing microcredits for individuals not qualified to hold traditional credit cards, Paris City Hall said on Thursday on its web site.

Loans of 300 to 3,000 euros (413 to 4,130 dollars) - and up to 5,000 euros in exceptional cases - will be provided for a period of from 6 to 36 months, at a 4 per cent interest rate.

The money is to be used to finance such existential necessities as a driving licence, a job training programme, or a divorce or funeral.

"We will not finance the purchase of a new plasma television," said the director of a bank working with the city on the program.

Brussels  - The governments of France, Belgium and Luxembourg have agreed to guarantee the financing of regional banking group Dexia for at least a year, the three administrations confirmed in a statement Thursday.

"In order to support the group's activity and consolidate its development, the three governments have jointly undertaken to guarantee new interbank and institutional financing ... starting today and lasting until 31 October 2009," the statement said.

Paris- French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Russian counterpart, Dmitri Medvedev, on Wednesday called for a new pan-European security structure.

At an international conference in the south-eastern French resort of Evian, Sarkozy called for a total reconstruction of the European security structure.

Paris  - The Paris Bourse was in freefall early Wednesday after Wall Street and Asian markets nosedived on recession fears.