Ramallah - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Saturday said that he believes that a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians before the end of 
2008 is unlikely.

Attending the opening of a French-German financed industrial park in the West Bank city of Jenin, Kouchner said a general document could be signed within the time frame, but a final peace deal - which would include the main sticking point of the status of Jerusalem - was not expected.

Paris- France's Immigration Ministry said Saturday that it would surpass its target of 26,000 deportations this year, Le Monde newspaper on Saturday.

In the first half of 2008, more than 17,200 foreigners who had no right to stay in France had been deported.

The ministry has a budget of 42 million euros (58 million dollars) for deportations in 2009, the report said, or 2,200 euros per case.

In 2009, France would also increase the number of places in deportation centres from 1,500 to more than 2,000, the report said.

Paris - The leaders of the four EU members belonging to the G8 group of leading industrial nations were set to meet later Saturday in Paris to discuss a common European response to the global finance crisis.

The mini-summit was called by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, as current EU president, and will be attended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Algiers/Paris - At least 10 people have been killed in two attacks in recent days as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan came to a close, Algerian media reported Saturday.

Six members of the security forces were killed in one attack when armed attackers opened fire on their vehicle in Theniet el-Had in the west of the country, el-Khabar newspaper reported.

The attackers were members of the terrorist group al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the report said.

Paris, Oct 4 : After reaching the second-lowest extent ever recorded last month, sea ice in the Arctic has begun to refreeze in the face of autumn temperatures, closing both the Northern Sea Route and the direct route through the Northwest Passage.

This year marked the first time since satellite measurements began in the 1970s that the Northern Sea Route, also known as the Northeast Passage, and the Northwest Passage were both open at the same time for a few weeks.

Paris - After shrinking by 0.3 per cent in the second quarter of this year, France's economy will continue to contract for the next two quarters, plunging the country into a recession, the government's statistical office Insee said on Friday.

According to the forecast, France's GDP is to contract by 0.1 per cent in each of the next two quarters. A recession is defined by two consecutive quarters of negative growth.