Troublesome Italian striker Mario Balotelli has been given extended leave by French outfit Nice and told to make up his mind about his plans with the club.

Mario Balotelli started on the bench as Nice's faint French Ligue 1 title hopes were all but extinguished in a 1-1 draw at mid-table Toulouse on Sunday.

Mario Balotelli scored a first-half double as Nice came from behind to win 2-1 at Lille on Friday and keep their unlikely bid for the French title alive.

The Italian striker and team-mate Younes Belhanda -- who was given a one-match ban -- were dismissed in the dying seconds as Bordeaux frustrated the Ligue 1 leaders before the winter break.

Alassane Plea grabbed a hat-trick as surprise Ligue 1 leaders Nice continued their terrific start to the season with a thrilling 4-2 victory at promoted Metz on Sunday.

A superb Mario Balotelli strike four minutes from time gave Nice a 2-1 win over Lorient on Sunday that left them top of the Ligue 1 table going into the international break.

Controversial star Mario Balotelli continued his fine start to life on the French Riviera by helping fire Nice to the top of Ligue 1 on Wednesday.

The shooting spree began before 1600 GMT at a McDonald's restaurant and continued on a nearby street before the gunmen moved into the mall near the Olympic stadium in the southern German city, a police spokeswoman said.

Death to the Nation-State! Long live Anarchy! Enter the Age of Staticide. The above slightly paraphrases Auguste Vaillant (1861 – 1894), a French anarchist most famous for his bomb attack ...

The man who used a 20-ton truck to plow down hundreds of people in Nice, killing 84, somehow became rapidly radicalised and hadn’t shown up on any anti-terrorist intelligence radar...

Five children were still fighting for their lives after the truck attack in Nice, including an unidentified eight-year-old boy who may be a missing Romanian national, officials said Saturday.

France faced hard questions over security failings on Saturday after a Tunisian man rammed a truck into a crowd killing 84, as investigators tried to establish his motives.