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Paris  - Aides to former French presidential candidate Segolene Royal said Saturday that she would not accept the results of Friday’s election that showed her losing the race to head the French Socialist Party by a handful of votes.

Paris  - Lille Mayor and former labour minister Martine Aubry was elected to lead the Socialists, narrowly beating out unsuccessful 2007 presidential candidate Segolene Royal, France’s second-largest party said Saturday.

Paris  - The run-off vote to chose a new leader for France’s Socialist Party was too close to call early Saturday as the losing Socialist candidate in the 2007 French presidential election, Segolene Royal, sought another shot at the country’s top job.

Paris  - Former French presidential candidate Segolene Royal beat out two other candidates in Thursday’s election to head the Socialist Party but fell short of gaining a winning majority, French media reported early Friday.

Paris  - As has been the custom every year since 1985, shortly after midnight French time on the third Thursday of November 2008, wine drinkers around the world celebrated the new vintage of the Beaujolais Nouveau.

Paris  - A four-day strike called by unions representing pilots for French carrier Air France was severely disrupting domestic and international flights on Friday.

Paris  - Defying predictions of a recession, the French economy grew by 0.1 per cent in the third quarter of 2008, the government’s statistical office Insee said on Friday.

Paris  - Segolene Royal, the defeated Socialist Party candidate in last year’s French presidential election, is expected to announce later Wednesday that she is a candidate to replace her former partner as party chief, French media reported.

Paris  - French investment bank Natixis lost 975 million euros (1.23 billion dollars) in trading last month and is to issue a fourth-quarter profits warning, the business daily La Tribune reported on Wednesday.

Paris  - Following a series of mysterious attacks on railway infrastructure in the past week, police in France have arrested eight suspects, the Interior Ministry announced on Tuesday.