Paris  - French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday congratulated Luc Montagnier and Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, who were awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize for Medicine for their discovery of the retrovirus that causes AIDS.

After extending his "heartiest congratulations," in his own name and that of the nation, Sarkozy noted, in a statement released by his office, that it was the first Nobel Prize for Medicine awarded to a French team since 1980.

"The discovery of the AIDS virus at the beginning of the 1980s marked the start of a period of intense research that led to the creation of anti-retrovirus treatments," Sarkozy said. "Today millions of people around the world are benefiting from these treatments."

Paris - French virologists Luc Montagnier and Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, who were awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize for Medicine, will always be associated with the discovery of the retrovirus that causes AIDS.

In 1982, Montagnier headed a team at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, of which Barre-Sinoussi was a member, that was asked for assistance in establishing the possible viral cause of a mysterious new syndrome, AIDS.

Paris  - French bank BNP Paribas will pay 14.5 billion euros (19.7 billion dollars) to take over the majority of the troubled insurance and banking giant Fortis in Belgium and Luxembourg, BNP Paribas said on Monday.

The deal, which involves 9 billion euros worth of shares and 5.5 billion euros in cash, includes the purchase of 75 per cent of Fortis from the Belgian government and 16 per cent of Fortis Luxembourg, which raises BNP's stake in the Luxembourg segment of Fortis to 67 per cent.

Paris  - In the wake of share price plunges on stock markets around the world, the Paris Bourse opened sharply lower on Monday.

Paris - The difficulties the French have in pronouncing the letter "h" landed the country's foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, in hot water.

Israeli media quoted the minister as saying Israel "will eat" Iran if the Islamic Republic gained possession of nuclear weapons, prompting Kouchner's office to issue a statement of clarification on Sunday.

Kouchner wanted to say in an interview given in English that Israel would "hit" Iran if it developed nuclear weapons. But journalists apparently mistook his pronunciation of "hit" for "eat," the statement said.

Paris - Aid organization CIMADE, the only group allowed access to French deportation centres, on Sunday rejected a plan by the Immigration Ministry to restrict its mandate.

"We intend to continue the defence of foreigners in deportation centres," the organization said in a press release in Paris.

CIMADE regularly publishes reports critical of conditions in deportation centres and has complained in recent months of violence used against deportees.

Immigration Minister Brice Hortefeux had recently announced that CIMADE's contract for legal aid would be withdrawn and given to several organizations.

CIMADE said it suspected that the move was an attempt by government to suppress criticism.