News stops: Paris gospel scene hits high notes

CATCH up with some of the news headlines from France.

French business contracts, but at slower pace: PMI index
French business activity continued to contract in August, but at the slowest pace in six months, according to preliminary data released Thursday by the survey firm Markit.

Eiffel Tower worth £344 billion to French economy - or six Towers of London
The Eiffel Tower has been declared the most valuable monument in Europe - worth 435 billion euros (£343 billion) to the French economy, a new study claims.

How Paris is falling in love with gospel music
France may be the most militantly secular country in Europe, but Paris's gospel scene is flourishing.

Hiroshima backs D-Day beaches' UNESCO bid: official
The Japanese city of Hiroshima, devastated by a World War II atomic bomb, has backed the granting of world heritage site status to the D-Day landing beaches in France, a local official said Wednesday.

French prisoners 'cultivated cannabis' at Saint-Martin-de-Re
Cannabis plants have been found nestled among vegetables and flowers in a garden cultivated by prisoners in a French jail.