'E:Encountered a section with no Package: header, E:Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/fr.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hardy_universe_i18n_Translation-fr, E:Les listes de paquets ou le fichier « status » ne peuvent être analysés ou lus.'

[Lefennec48]

E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/fr.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_hardy_universe_i18n_Translation-fr
E: Impossible d'ouvrir ou d'analyser le fichier contenant la liste des états ou celui des paquets disponibles.
E: _cache->open() failed, please report.

[Pierre-Yves (py-bretecher)]

Same issue here for me (AMD64).
Temporary very basic workaround is to remove universe from source list.

[izi (izimobil)]

Same here with a fresh install of hardy i386, rm -f /var/lib/apt/lists/* doesn't help, I also had to disable universe repo.