Paris- The Louvre Museum in Paris set a new visitor record in 2008 as 8.5 million people made their way through its more than 60,000 square metres of exhibition space, the museum said Friday.

That represents an increase of about 200,000 over 2007, and a rise of some 67 per cent since 2001.

The largest age group entering the museum are the young, with those 25 years of age and younger representing 40 per cent of the Louvre visitors in 2008.

Paris - French carmaker Renault said Friday that, because of the economic crisis, worldwide sales of its vehicles fell by 4.2 per cent in 2008.

Buenos Aires - French motorcyclist Pascal Terry who died during the Darar Rally could have been saved if he had been discovered earlier, Argentinian authorities have said.

French media voiced criticism Thursday after it emerged that a mix-up and a communications breakdown had delayed the search for the rider.

The 49-year-old Yamaha rider had gone missing during the second stage between Santa Rosa and Puerto Madryn in the province of Chubut on Sunday.

His body was found in the early hours of Wednesday about 15 metres from his bike around 300 metres from the stage route.

Paris - Russia must respect the contracts it has signed to deliver natural gas to Europe, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Thursday in Paris.

"Russia has contractual obligations with the Europeans, and they must be respected," Sarkozy told journalists after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The French president also urged Ukraine to respect European interests.

"Europe has done a great deal for (Ukraine), because under the French (EU) presidency we obtained the opening of a privileged partnership for Ukraine," Sarkozy said.

Paris - French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday opened an economic symposium in Paris by calling for the "moralization" of the capitalist system.

"We must work, not for the destruction of capitalism - which would be a catastrophe - but for its moralization," Sarkozy said at the opening of the symposium New World, New Capitalism, which he established as a response to the economic crisis.

"Either we re-found capitalism or we destroy it," Sarkozy said as he called for an economic system based on the value of work rather than finance.

London, Jan 8: French Justice Minister Rachida Dati has returned to work five days after giving birth to a baby girl.

The 43-year-old glamorous minister, who has refused to name the father of the child, gave birth by caesarean section, reports the Telegraph.

Dati, recently, sparked a guessing game over the identity of the father after telling reporters that she had "a complicated private life."