A French minister raced on Thursday to the last blast furnaces in the Lorraine region, once the heart of the nation’s steel industry, after a report that the idled plant would close in a blow to the Socialist government’s fight against unemployment.

Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg headed to the Florange site after Liberation newspaper said its owner ArcelorMittal had decided to close a plant which became a symbol of France’s industrial decline during campaigning for May’s presidential election...

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