Sean Cornwell was proud of his connection with France - until he was arrested as a deserting soldier

The distraught parents of two French girls missing in London appealed yesterday for help in finding them. They said that they feared teenagers Laetitia Ranson and Anjelique Wozniak may have been kidnapped after becoming separated from their friends during a visit to the capital on Wednesday.

Two French girls who went missing in London three days ago and were feared to have been kidnapped were found yesterday.

Lorry drivers, clutching napkins to their faces, lay on the floor

I have a dream. I want to get on a train at Waterloo station, go to sleep, and wake up as we pull into one of those quaint stations in the Savoie valley in the French Alps from which the ski slopes are barely an hour's bus ride. I wouldn't mind if I could also arrive at St Anton or Innsbruck by the same method.

Thanks to Eurostar, the nearest French city to Britain has reinvented itself, writes Malcolm Smith; Lille

City Diary

LYONS DAYS

So much for the promised radical shakeup of our water industry. What was heralded in the weekend press as the biggest upheaval for the industry since privatisation has in practice turned out to be something of a damp squib.

CHRISTIAN WOLMAR

A woman arrested in France on a Spanish extradition warrant has jumped bail and fled to Britain. Brenda Price, 46, of Harlow, Essex, spent 110 days in Lille Prison until last week when friends raised pounds 10,000 in sureties and she was allowed bail.

Lille saw the late President Mitterand and Margaret Thatcher in happy unison this month 10 years ago - giving the go ahead to the Channel Tunnel

Olympic Games

Olympic Games