BBC News with Gaenor Howells.

The French air force has bombed the key town in the north of Mali on the third day of operations against the Islamists groups that control the north of the country. The French defence ministry said fighter jets had hit training camp and infrastructure. French said neighboring Algeria had given French planes free access to its air space to reach Mali. Here's Andrew Harding.

The lasted air strikes targeted a place called Gao - one of the main towns in northern Mali and an important base for Islamists fighters. Eyewitnesses said the airport and several sites were hit and many rebels had now abandoned the town. Gao is about 400km behind the current frontlines in central Mali, where heavy fighting earlier this week prompted a dramatic intervention by French forces. It seems clear that French air power is not preparing the ground for a much bigger offensive, but most of the fighting is expected to be done by troops from Mali and from the neighboring West African countries.

Four hundred thousands of people have attended a rally in Paris to protest against plans by the French President to legalise same sex marriage and adoption. Parliament is due to consider the measures. President Hollande wants the law enacted by June. Hugh Schofield is in Paris.

The organisers who include a flamboyant actress going by the stage name Frigide Barjot are determined not let themselves be typecast as homophobic, so there has been strict vetting of slogans and banners. They say that instituting gay marriage as opposed other forms of legal union would be playing source as apprentice with society. They hate the idea of the French civil code has been changed to replace the words of mother and father with parent. The opponent wanted a referendum but despite this impressive turnout they are unlikely to get it.