French PM to pay up after trip to footy final...

French PM Manuel Valls moved on Thursday to put an end to the controversy around his trip to Berlin for the Champions League final on the government plane with his two sons, by saying he will reimburse the cost for his two children.

Valls had come under fire in France in recent days for taking a government jet to watch the Champions League final over the weekend in Berlin with his two sons in tow.

The controversy provoked howls of protest and spurred President Francois Hollande to leap to the premier's defence on Monday saying Valls was on an official trip to meet with the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).

After days of dismissing the furore around his trip as a storm in a tea cup Valls came clean on Thursday and admitted that it had been a mistake.

 "If I had to do it again I wouldn't," said Valls on a trip the island of Reunion. "Our country has no need for a useless controversy." Full story...

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