Paris- Investigators trying to clarify Thursday's crash of an Airbus A320 plane in the Mediterranean Sea have located the plane's black box, officials said Saturday, but its early recovery was doubtful as heavy sea conditions continued.

A spokeswoman for marine authorities in Toulon told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that it was uncertain whether the planned recovery of the black box by robots could be accomplished over the weekend.

The plane, just three years old, went down as it was making its landing approach at the coastal city of Perpignan after a two-hour test flight.

London/Paris  - The European Commission is blocking the French government's plan to bail out its six largest banks by insisting that state funds can not be used for commercial lending, Britain's Financial Times reported Friday on its website.

According to the report, EU Competition Commissioner Nellie Kroes has rejected pleas by French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde to approve the French
10.5-billion-euro (13.3-billion-dollar) plan.

The Financial Times quoted an unnamed EU official as saying, "We have to apply the same criteria to everyone ... support should be sufficient to offset the negative impact of the current financial crisis and no more."

Paris  - A special aircraft carrying about 100 Europeans left Mumbai for Paris, the French Foreign Ministry confirmed Friday.

Also travelling on the plane, which was expected to land in Paris on Saturday afternoon, were 10 members and employees of the European Parliament.

A French couple that had been staying in the Oberoi Trident Hotel when terrorists struck Mumbai were killed in the attack, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Friday.

After expressing his condolences to the families of the victims, Kouchner said in a statement, "I renew my total support, that of France and that of the European Union, for the Indian authorities and to the Indian people in this terrible trial, which we will overcome together."

Paris - A French couple that had been dining in the restaurant of the Oberoi Trident hotel when terrorists struck the Indian city of Mumbai have gone missing, France Info radio reported Friday.

The report came after Indian commandos seized control of the hotel from the attackers.

Air France announced Friday that 15 crew members that had been "stuck" in the Oberoi Trident were able to walk out and would be repatriated soon.

Paris  - A homeless man was found frozen to death in Paris early Friday, the sixth homeless individual to have died of the cold in the Paris area in the past month, France Info radio reported.

The body of the 55-year-old man was found on a sidewalk in the fashionable Fourth Arrondissement, not far from the Place de la Bastille, a site popular with tourists.

On Wednesday, Housing Minister Christine Boutin had provoked outrage among civil rights organizations by demanding a law that would allow authorities to force homeless people into shelters during bad weather.

Paris - The search for the victims of the crash of an Airbus A320 in the Mediterranean Sea resumed early Friday off the French coast, with searchers holding out no hope of finding any survivors.

Seven people are believed dead in the crash, which occurred Thursday afternoon near the city of Perpignan, where the aircraft was being overhauled.

Two bodies were recovered from the waters on Thursday before the search was called off because of heavy rains and high waves. The continuing bad weather was hampering search efforts on Friday as well.