France: Extended powers

The lower house of France's parliament has approved plans to extend special powers by three months to try to bring a wave of urban rioting under control.

The emergency laws also need the approval of the Senate, which votes on the issue on Wednesday.

Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy had told deputies France was facing one of its “sharpest and most complex urban crises”, which required “firmness”.

The state of emergency laws, allowing local authorities to impose curfews, conduct house-to-house searches and ban public gatherings, date from the Algerian war of independence in the 1950s.