By ELAINE GANLEY
The Associated Press
Monday, November 14, 2005; 11:53 PM

PARIS -- President Jacques Chirac said Monday that unrest in the poor neighborhoods of France is the sign of a "profound malaise" the entire nation must work to heal through job-training and employment opportunities for troubled youths.

In his first address to the nation since the rioting erupted, the president said companies, unions and the media must help bring diversity to French society and combat what he called the poison of discrimination.

French law must be obeyed, but values and hope also must be kindled in youths living in the poor, largely immigrant suburbs ringing French cities, he said.

"These events testify to a profound malaise ... . This is a crisis of direction, a crisis of reference points, it is a crisis of identity," he said. "We will respond by being firm, being just and being faithful to the values of France."

Chirac spoke after the Cabinet approved a measure to extend a state of emergency from 12 days to three months. The parliament was to debate the bill Tuesday. There will be a possibility of ending the measure before the three-month term expires.

Chirac, who turns 73 later this month, was hospitalized in September for a blood vessel problem that many thought was a stroke. However, he showed no signs of an ailment Monday. Unusually, he wore spectacles, as he had done in his youth.

He announced the creation of a corps of volunteers to offer training for 50,000 youths by 2007, and told companies and unions they must encourage diversity and support employment for youths from tough neighborhoods.

French media, which are not very ethnically diverse, must "better reflect the reality of France today," Chirac said.

"We will not build anything enduring without fighting this poison for society which is discrimination."

Violence continued overnight into Tuesday, and vandals threw three firebombs at a mosque in the small town of Saint-Chamond, causing minor damage, a police spokesman said.

Speaking with a French tricolor and EU flag behind him, Chirac said that discrimination _ seen as a factor behind the violence _ should be combatted. But he appeared to rule out U.S.-style affirmative action.

"There is no question of entering into the logic of quotas," the French leader said. And he defended the French model of integration which seeks to meld people of all origins into a single mold _ and which many officials and experts now say has failed.

"At stake is respect for the law but also the success of our policy of integration," Chirac said.

The unrest has abated over the past week. But the decision to extend the state of emergency until mid-February made clear authorities feared the anger seething below the relative calm could resurface.

First put in place last Wednesday, the state of emergency opens the way for recourse to extraordinary action by regional authorities, such as calling curfews or conducting day-and-night searches of homes. About 40 French towns, including France's third-largest city, Lyon, have used the measure so far, imposing curfews on minors.

The policy of firmness also includes deporting foreigners implicated in violence.

The magnitude of the unrest, marked by nightly the burning of vehicles, schools and warehouses around the country, has stunned France. The country's leadership and many citizens learned the depth of discontent in France's suburban housing projects, largely home to immigrants and their French-born children disillusioned by discrimination and joblessness.

The civil unrest is the worst since the student-worker revolts of May 1968 and the worst ever in the suburbs.

Chirac for a second time pointed a finger at parents, whom officials have blamed for failing to stop teenage youths from the destructive rampages.

"Parental authority is vital. Families must assume all of their responsibilities. Those that refuse should be punished as the law allows."

While condemning the violence, Chirac also reached out to disgruntled suburban youths.

"I want to say to the children of difficult neighborhoods, whatever their origins, that they are all the daughters and sons of the Republic," he said.

The unrest has provided a perfect forum for the far-right, which blames French ills on immigration. At a rally Monday that drew about 300 supporters, National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, who faced off Chirac in 2002, castigated the immigration policy.

"We let in 10 million foreigners over 30 years _ it's wild insanity. No country can handle that invasion," Le Pen said.

Philippe de Villiers, whose Movement for France promotes French sovereignty, echoed Le Pen, saying that "migratory waves" are at the root of the "war of the suburbs."

The accidental electrocution deaths of two teenagers who hid from police in a power substation in the northeast Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois sparked the unrest that began Oct. 27 and has hopscotched around the country.

Scattered arson attacks continued early Tuesday. But the number of vehicle burnings, considered by some to be a barometer of the unrest, dropped sharply _ to less than 200, police said. A week ago, 1,400 vehicles were incinerated in a single night.