PARIS: Right-wing candidates have come out ahead of the ruling Socialists in three by-elections as President Francois Hollande struggles with France’s stalling economy. Socialist candidates failed to win the most votes in all three of the first-round by-elections held on Sunday, six months after the left swept to power. Candidates backed by the right-wing main opposition UMP took first place in the by-elections for seats in Val-de-Marne, Herault and Hauts-de-Seine, despite damage to the party’s reputation from an ongoing leadership crisis. In the Val-de-Marne constituency in suburban Paris, the Socialist candidate was eliminated altogether while in the other two votes right-wing candidates were far ahead.
Russia jails four over bomb plot
MOSCOW: A Russian court jailed four alleged Islamist militants yesterday for plotting to bomb a high-speed train between Moscow and St Petersburg last year. Moscow City Court handed prison terms of 15 to 18 years to Islam Khamzhuyev, Fail Nevlyutov, Mansur Umayev and Mansur Edilbiyev, natives of Russia’s troubled North Caucasus region. Prosecutors said they had tried to attack the Sapsan train in summer 2011, state news agency Itar-tass reported. A lawyer for the accused said the defence would appeal. The Kremlin is struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency in its mostly Muslim North Caucasus that continues in the wake of two wars between Moscow’s security forces and Chechen separatists in the region. Insurgents claimed responsibility for an attack that killed 27 people on a Moscow-St Petersburg train in 2009, a suicide bombing that killed 37 at Moscow’s busiest airport in 2011 and bombings on the Moscow metro that killed 40 in 2010. Earlier this year, Russia jailed 10 people - four of them for life - for the 2009 bombing on the Moscow-St Petersburg line.
Heavy fighting in Central African Republic
BANGUI, Central African Republic: Heavy fighting took place yesterday between armed men and forces of the Central African Republic in the key northern city of Ndele, causing many residents to flee, a military source said. “Armed men entered the city firing automatic weapons. Then loud detonations started being heard,” forcing many people to flee to neighbouring towns or the bush, the military source said. Ndele, which has between 15,000 and 20,000 inhabitants, was already the scene of violent clashes between different rebel groups and the army in 2007-2010.
Teacher suspended over suicidal essay request
BORDEAUX: A French teacher who has been accused of asking her students to write an essay in which they imagined themselves as a suicidal teenager has been suspended pending an investigation, education officials said yesterday. The teacher, who works at the Montmoreau-Saint-Cybard secondary school in the Charente region of western France, will discover next week if she is to face disciplinary action following an outcry among parents over a composition she reportedly set for her class of 13- and 14-year-olds.
Kosovo, Serbia launch joint border checks
JARINJE: Two border crossings between Serbia and its former province Kosovo, which Belgrade does not recognise, opened under joint management for the first time yesterday, following European Union mediation. The two crossings in Merdare and Jarinje, between Serbia and northern Kosovo, were officially opened for both business and individual travellers.Agencies
