International

The Eiffel Tower, Paris's main tourist magnet, will go dark Thursday evening to pay homage to former President Jacques Chirac, who died at the age of 86, the Mayor of the French capital, Anne Hidalgo, announced.

"To pay tribute to (former) President Jacques Chirac, we will turn the Eiffel Tower's lights off this Thursday evening from 21:00 local time (1900 GMT)," Hidalgo tweeted.

The company operating the monument said that the tower would be closed three hours earlier than the normal schedule to honor the late head of state.

Chirac led France between 1995 and 2007. He had also served as the mayor of Paris between 1977 and 1995.