(Recasts)

* France provides new satellite images showing possible debris

* Images in same general area as Australian and Chinese photos

* Malaysian authorities brief passengers' families for "more than six hours"

By Niluksi Koswanage and Matt Siegel

KUALA LUMPUR/PERTH, March 23 (Reuters) - French satellite images show "floating debris" in the southern Indian Ocean, Paris said on Sunday, which together with Chinese and Australian images of suspicious objects in the same wide area have focused the search for a missing Malaysian jetliner in remote seas off Australia.

The new lead came as the international search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 entered its third week, with still no confirmed trace of the Boeing 777 that vanished with 239 people on board.

"This morning, Malaysia received new satellite images from the French authorities showing potential objects in the vicinity of the southern corridor," the Malaysian Transport Ministry said in a statement. "Malaysia immediately relayed these images to the Australian rescue co-ordination centre."

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott had said there was "increasing hope" of a breakthrough in the hunt for the plane on the strength of Chinese and Australian images of possible large debris.

The French Foreign Ministry said radar echoes from a satellite put the new debris finding about 2,300 km (1,430 miles) from Perth, without giving a direction or a date.

The debris in the Australian image was about 2,500 km southwest of Perth and the Chinese sighting, captured two days later, was around 120 km (75 miles) "south by west" of that.

"These elements have immediately been passed on to the Malaysian authorities," the French ministry said in a statement. "France had decided to mobilise complementary satellite means to continue the search in the identified zone."

Flight MH370 vanished from civilian radar screens early on March 8, less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur on a scheduled flight to Beijing.

An international force resumed its search efforts on Sunday, zeroing in on two areas around where the earlier sightings were made in an effort to find the object identified by China and other small debris, including a wooden pallet, spotted by a search plane on Saturday.

Nothing was found, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said in a statement. The search area was covered in early sea fog, particularly in the western areas, but conditions improved during the day.

"The search will resume tomorrow," AMSA said. "Chinese military Ilyushin IL-76 aircraft and Japanese P-3C aircraft will join the search on Monday."