France bans neo-Nazi splinter group

French authorities have banned a small neo-Nazi group called the "Elsass Korps" (Alsatian Corps) yesterday as part of an accelerated drive to stamp out far-right groups. According to the French daily newspaper "Le Monde", the group based in the eastern French region of Alsace has about 80 members and calls itself “a group of friends of the white race.” The newspaper quoted police reports saying that far-right groups like Elsass Korps had turned away from their traditional anti-Semitism to become more concerned about Muslim immigration to France. Government figures show a rise in the total of racist and anti-Semitic acts to 194 in 2004 after 112 such attacks in the previous year.