Finally, France's former Socialist prime minister Laurent Fabius, secretary of state for health Edmund Herve and social affairs minister Georgina Dufoix are to be tried in a parliamentary court in the AIDS scandal currently rocking the nation.

In 1985, when Fabius was prime minister, 1,000 haemophiliacs were given a blood clotting product that was later discovered to be HIV-infected. Initially, the Socialist Party used its parliamentary majority to block attempts to put Fabius and his colleagues on trial. But national anger mounting, President Francois Mitterrand authorised their trial. With elections due in March and two new green parties expected to cut into Socialist votes, Mitterrand is expected to forge a new alliance with the centre-right