The French politician, women's rights champion and Holocaust survivor Simone Veil has died at the age of 89. Best known in France for her instrumental role in legalising abortion in the 1970s, she went on to serve as the first President of an elected European Parliament. <br/><br/>Ms Veil, a liberal, later re-entered French politics, returning to the cabinet in the 1990s. She became one of the 40 immortals of the Acad'mie Fran'aise in 2010 – a great honour in France.