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France arrests 3 bomb suspects

The suspects, two men and a woman, were taken into custody Thursday in Paris and the suburban Val-de-Marne region, police officials said.

They were being held for questioning at the headquarters of French anti-terrorist police.

On Thursday, French authorities said a letter had been received from AZF claiming it was suspending its terror threats while it improves its ability to carry them out.

In excerpts from the letter published in the Paris daily newspaper Le Monde, AZF said it was suspending its activities in order to correct “technical problems.”

The letter carried the logo “AZF” with an arrow in the top left corner.

French consultant tells Kerry: Be less Gauling

A French-born marketing guru has a pointed warning for Democratic wannabe John Kerry: You come off as way too French, mon ami.

“The whole French connection is ‘off-code,’ ” said psychologist Clotaire Rapaille, who helps Fortune 100 companies sell everything from shampoo to the PT Cruiser car by psychoanalyzing cultures. He calls it decoding cultural archetypes.

“The French are thinkers – ‘I think, therefore I am.’ Americans want somebody that is going to take action . . . All this association [of Kerry] with thinking too much and nuance and five-sentence answers is off-code,” he told The Post.

Bush to renew ties on France trip

US President George W Bush will meet French President Jacques Chirac when he visits France in June, the White House has announced.

He will take part in ceremonies on the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landing, a turning point in World War II.

Relations between France and the US were badly strained by the US-led war in Iraq last year.

This announcement is a sign that the two nations are trying to patch up their differences over the war.

France led widespread international opposition to the war, angering the US.

But recently, President Bush has tried to reach out to countries alienated by the invasion, saying they have to work together to overcome the West’s enemies.

Suspected Bomb Found on French Rail Track

France’s state-run SNCF railway found a suspected bomb half-buried on the main line between Paris and the Swiss city of Basle on Wednesday, the Interior Ministry said.

It said in a statement that the device, discovered near the city of Troyes about 90 miles southeast of the French capital, had been made safe by bomb disposal experts.

The statement did not say who was suspected of planting the device but said it did not resemble one left by a shadowy group calling itself AZF, which is demanding cash and threatening to blow up part of the track.

No mention was made in the statement of any Islamic threat.