Egypt: Bomb suspects targeted US, French embassies

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian state prosecutors say three suspected al-Qaida-linked militants detained over the weekend were plotting to attack the U.S. and French embassies in Cairo using car bombs.

The prosecutors were quoted by the official MENA press agency on Wednesday.

Officials said when they announced the arrests Saturday that the men had been in contact with Dawood al-Assady, a leader of al-Qaida in southeast Asian countries, and that the group was planning suicide attacks on government buildings and a foreign embassy.

The interior minister denied that al-Qaida is active in Egypt, but said the three men were in contact with al-Qaida militants abroad.

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3 killed in French building collapse after blast

REIMS, France (AP) — A possible gas explosion ripped off the side of a five-story residential building in France's Champagne country on Sunday, killing at least three people and injuring 14 others, officials said.

More than 100 rescue workers, firefighters, sniffer-dog squads and bomb and gas experts were deployed to the gutted building in a subsidized housing complex in the city of Reims, east of Paris, officials said. Heaps of debris spilled out of the building onto a grassy esplanade below.

"The explosion of a residential building in Reims is a terrible drama," the office of French President Francois Hollande said in a statement, conveying his condolences to the victims' relatives.

Michel Bernard, the top government official in Reims, said crews searching for survivors turned up the body of a woman under the rubble Sunday afternoon, raising the death toll to three. He said it was unlikely that the toll would rise any higher.

Through most of the day, authorities had said at least two people had died. One person was hospitalized with serious, but not life-threatening injuries, and another 13 people had minor injuries, officials said. Authorities used backhoes to help clear away the rubble.

"We don't know the cause of the explosion. It was probably due to gas," Reims mayor Adeline Hazan said at the scene. An official investigation was under way to determine the cause, she said. Authorities say the three people known to have died were adults.

Witnesses described a powerful blast.

"The explosion was very strong, like a sonic boom from a fighter plane. We had been playing football on a field about 30 meters (100 feet) away, and ran to the scene," housing project resident Abdel Kader said. "The building had fallen like a house of cards ... 30 seconds after that we saw a man calling for help, he was on a slab. His legs were caught."

"Later, he died," Abdel Kader, a 27-year-old job seeker who declined to provide his family name, said.

Bernard, the government official in Reims, said the building dated to the 1960s. About 10 of the 40 or so apartments were affected on the end of the rectangular building, he said.

The precariousness of some buildings has come to light internationally in recent days following the collapse Wednesday of an eight-story building in a suburb of Dhaka, Bangladesh, where at least 362 people have been confirmed to have died. Officials said three floors of the building, which had housed garment factories, had been built illegally.

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Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten contributed to this story from Paris.

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2 killed in French building collapse after blast

REIMS, France (AP) — A possible gas explosion ripped off the side of a five-story residential building in France's Champagne country on Sunday, killing at least two people and injuring 14 others, officials said. Search teams extracted a victim's body as they pored over the rubble in a hunt for possible survivors.

More than 100 rescue workers, firefighters, sniffer-dog squads and bomb and gas experts rushed to the gutted building in a subsidized housing complex in the city of Reims, east of Paris, officials said. Heaps of debris spilled out of the building onto a grassy esplanade below.

"The explosion of a residential building in Reims is a terrible drama," the office of French President Francois Hollande said in a statement, conveying his condolences to the victims' relatives.

The Interior Ministry also issued a statement saying two people died and 14 people were injured.

"We don't know the cause of the explosion. It was probably due to gas," Reims mayor Adeline Hazan said at the scene. "We know two people are dead — we don't know their identities yet," she said, adding that the survivors were taken to hospital.

"These are not definite numbers, because we are looking for another two to five people," Hazan said. An official investigation was under way to determine the cause, she said. Authorities insisted that the two people known to have died were adults.

Witnesses described a powerful blast.

"The explosion was very strong, like a sonic boom from a fighter plane. We had been playing football on a field about 30 meters (100 feet) away, and ran to the scene," housing project resident Abdel Kader said. "The building had fallen like a house of cards ... 30 seconds after that we saw a man calling for help, he was on a slab. His legs were caught."

"Later, he died," Abdel Kader, a 27-year-old job seeker who declined to provide his family name, said.

Michel Bernard, the top government official in Reims, said the building dated to the 1960s. About 10 of the 40 or so apartments were affected on the end of the rectangular building, he said.

Late in the day, authorities deployed backhoes to help clear away the rubble.

The precariousness of some buildings has come to light internationally in recent days following the collapse Wednesday of an eight-story building in a suburb of Dhaka, Bangladesh, where at least 362 people have been confirmed to have died. Officials said three floors of the building, which had housed garment factories, had been built illegally.

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Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten contributed to this story from Paris.

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French Socialists call for tougher stance on Merkel

By Elizabeth Pineau

PARIS (Reuters) - France's ruling Socialist Party is pressing President Francois Hollande to toughen his stance towards a German counterpart it describes as "self-centered", arguing that Chancellor Angela Merkel's pro-austerity policies are hurting Europe.

The message - spelled out in a 21-page document to be presented at a party brainstorming conference in June - added to growing criticism of Berlin from across the Rhine after Socialist National Assembly speaker Claude Bartolone this week raised the prospect of a "confrontation" with Merkel.

The rhetoric follows a French appeal for an extra year to bring its public deficit below 3 percent of economic output in line with European targets, as rising unemployment keeps Europe's no. 2 economy in the doldrums.

"The friendship between France and Germany is not a friendship between France and the European policy of Chancellor Merkel," read the document, which has been endorsed by the Socialist Party but could still be tweaked before its June meeting on Europe.

Criticizing current European policies as an "unholy alliance between the Thatcherite tone" of Britain's prime minister and the "self-centered instransigence" of Chancellor Merkel, the document urges France to speak out against austerity.

A source in Hollande's office said the document represented only the party, but did not dispute its central message.

"There is a line in the text saying the friendship between France and Germany does not only mean Mrs Merkel's policies," the source said. "Friendship lets us criticize her policies, that's what one needs to understand from this document".

Cooperation between France and Germany has long provided the main motor for decision making in the European Union, but a debt crisis has strained those ties in the past year as ideologically opposed leaders have disagreed on points of economic policy.

"FRIENDLY TENSION" OR JUST TENSION?

Hollande was critical of Merkel's insistence on budget consolidation while he was running for president last year, but has adopted a more conciliatory tone since becoming president.

He often describes France's ties with EU paymaster Germany as defined by "friendly tension" between equal partners.

But Assembly speaker Bartolone, the third most senior member of government, said the friendliness was overstated.

Hollande "calls this 'friendly tension'. For me, it's tension, period, and, if needed, a confrontation," Bartolone told the influential center-left daily Le Monde.

"France must be able to fight against the European Right's point of view ... Austerity alone could condemn the beautiful idea that is Europe rather than save it," he added.

Hollande must rely on a solid Socialist majority in parliament to pass structural reforms this year, including overhauls of the jobless and pension systems. But a small camp of dissidents is growing, threatening his Senate majority.

As many in southern Europe complain that austerity has gone too far, the European Central Bank this week rebuffed suggestions the bloc should ease up, and German Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann called on France to follow the rules.

Yet advocates of easing the pace of austerity, long confined in France to hard-left parliamentarians, gained a nod this week from European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso who noted that austerity no longer had popular support.

France's European Affairs Minister Thierry Repentin told the weekly Journal du Dimanche that Paris was not making any secret of there being a difference of opinion over austerity.

The presidential source said: "This is a very strong document which backs (Hollande's) policies in general: growth, re-launching Europe and solidarity are at the heart of it."

(Additional reporting by Brian Love, Sophie Louet and Nicholas Vinocur; Writing by Nicolas Vinocur; Editing by Catherine Bremer and Mike Collett-White)

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French judge to rule if Hopi masks can be sold

PARIS (AP) — Is there such a thing as too sacred to sell? That's the question a French judge could answer Friday in a potentially landmark decision in Paris on whether dozens of Native American tribal masks can go up for auction.

The masks are undoubtedly striking pieces of art — surreal faces made from wood, leather, horse hair and feathers — and painted in vivid pigments of red, blue, yellow and orange. But to Arizona's Hopi Indians they are also stolen spiritual vessels, and they want them back.

The case has drawn ire on both sides of the Atlantic, with art experts, Native American activists, and even Robert Redford weighing in on who is the rightful owner. In an 11th hour appeal Thursday evening, the U.S. Ambassador to France sent a letter to both the French government and the auction house asking for a delay to the sale.

A lawyer for the Hopi Tribe and the association Survival International argued at a hearing Thursday that the items are "unsellable" under French law because of their spiritual value. He called for the auction to be suspended so that their origin can be determined.

But auctioneer Gilles Neret-Minet at the Drouot auction house says a ruling to stop the sale of artifacts owned by an anonymous French citizen would have trans-Atlantic repercussions, and potentially force French museums to empty out their collections.

"If we lose this case, there will be no more sales of objects of indigenous art in France," Neret-Minet said. "I guess that museums will be obliged to give back their collections. It's major ... It would be terrible for the art market in general."

The 70 objects, mainly Hopi, went on display for the first time as the court battle kicked off on Thursday, offering a rare public glimpse of such works in Europe. They date to the late 19th century and early 20th century, and are thought to have been taken from a northern Arizona reservation in the 1930s and 1940s. The most expensive single mask is estimated to be worth at least 50,000 euros ($66,000).

The Associated Press is not transmitting images of the objects because the Hopi have long kept the items out of public view and consider it sacrilegious for any images of the objects to appear.

If the judge rules in the auction house's favor on Friday, the items will go up for sale within hours.

Neret-Minet insisted the auction would be "a beautiful homage" to the Hopis. But Hopi representatives don't think that's enough. They want the auction house to prove the masks weren't stolen — through certificates of ownership, for example.

They say the masks have a special status, and are far more than just art: They are their dead ancestors' spirits.

"This is not just an art object, artifact or something that you hang on the wall or wear on the day of a wedding. This is where the spirit of the dead communicates with the living," said the tribe's French lawyer, Pierre Servan-Schreiber, outside the courtroom Thursday. "Under French law, you cannot sell or purchase a tomb."

He said the masks were never sold or given away, and "clearly" belong to the Hopis: "It's impossible for those masks to have left the tribe without (someone) violating some law."

The tribe's chairman, Le Roy Shingoitewa, said only a Hopi has the right to possess them.

"Given the importance of these ceremonial objects to Hopi religion, you can understand why ... they (Hopis) regard an auction not as homage but as a desecration to our religion," said Shingoitewa in a letter written to the auction house last week.

The Hopi camp are hoping an individual or organization will step in to buy back the objects for the tribe, since they don't have enough money.

Hollywood star Redford on Thursday wrote a letter protesting plans to sell off the masks, calling the proposed sale "sacrilege" — and even a "criminal gesture." Redford condemned the looming auction in Paris and warned of "grave moral consequences" if it went ahead.

Describing himself "as a close friend of the... Hopi culture," Redford wrote that the masks "belong to the Hopi and the Hopi alone."

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Thomas Adamson can be followed at Twitter.com/ThomasAdamsonAP

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Associated Press writer Felicia Fonseca in Flagstaff, Arizona, contributed to this report.

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Kerry in Paris to talk Syria with French

Mar 26 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $3,787,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $2,859,920 3. Matt Kuchar $2,154,500 4. Steve Stricker $1,820,000 5. Phil Mickelson $1,650,260 6. Hunter Mahan $1,553,965 7. John Merrick $1,343,514 8. Dustin Johnson $1,330,507 9. Russell Henley $1,313,280 10. Kevin Streelman $1,310,343 11. Keegan Bradley $1,274,593 12. Charles Howell III $1,256,373 13. Michael Thompson $1,254,669 14. Brian Gay $1,171,721 15. Justin Rose $1,155,550 16. Jason Day $1,115,565 17. Chris Kirk $1,097,053 18. ...

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Clashes at French anti-gay marriage protest

PARIS (AP) — Paris riot police fought back crowds who pushed their way onto Paris' landmark Champs-Elysees avenue as part of a huge protest against a draft law allowing same-sex couples to marry and adopt children.

Hundreds of thousands of people — conservative activists, children, retirees, priests — converged on the capital Sunday in a last-ditch bid to stop the bill, many bused in from the French provinces.

The lower house of France's parliament approved the "marriage for everyone" bill last month with a large majority, and it's facing a vote in the Senate next month. Both houses are dominated by French President Francois Hollande's Socialist Party and its allies.

Sustained protests led by opposition conservatives in this traditionally Catholic country have eroded support for the draft law in recent months, and organizers hope Sunday's march will weigh on the Senate debate.

The first few hours of the protest were peaceful. But as it was meant to be winding down, about 100 youths tried to push past police barricades onto the Champs-Elysees, the avenue that cuts through central Paris and draws throngs of tourists daily. In an indication of the sensitivity of the issue, protesters had been barred from marching on the Champs.

Police officers wrangled with the youths and then fired tear gas to force them back. Gaining momentum, more and more protesters took side streets to reach the avenue, blocking a key intersection on the route to the president's Elysee Palace.

Police fired more tear gas but were unable to block the crowds from spilling onto the avenue.

"Hollande, Resignation!" the protestors chanted, before breaking into the French anthem, "La Marseillaise."

The demonstrations have become outlets for anger and disappointment in Hollande's presidency.

An official with the Paris police headquarters said two people were arrested and no injuries were reported. The police official was not authorized to be publicly named in accordance with police policy.

The official estimated that 300,000 people took part in Sunday's march, slightly less than a similar march in January. Organizers estimated more than 1.2 million people took part in Sunday's march, more than in the January protest.

Polls indicate a shrinking majority of French voters back gay marriage, which is legal in about a dozen mostly European nations and some U.S. states. But polls show French voters are less enthusiastic about adoption by same-sex couples.

Frigide Barjot, the stage name of an activist who has led protests against the bill, insisted the anti-gay marriage movement wasn't a lost cause. "It's the second round, sir. It's not the last battle."

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Associated Press writer Angela Charlton and photographer Michel Euler in Paris contributed to this report.

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Al Qaeda in Africa says beheads French hostage: agency

NOUAKCHOTT (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's North African arm said it had beheaded a French hostage in retaliation for France's intervention in Mali, Mauritania's ANI news agency reported on Tuesday, citing a commander for the group.

In what ANI reported was a telephone call to the agency, which has close links to Islamist militants, the commander said Philippe Verdon had been beheaded on March 10 "in response to the French military intervention in the north of Mali", ANI reported.

Verdon was one of two French hostages kidnapped in the northern Mali town of Hombori in November 2011. The French foreign ministry declined to comment.

Another 14 French hostages are detained in Western African, including seven believed to be held in the Sahel by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and its affiliates.

One of AQIM's leaders, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, had pledged revenge after France launched a campaign in January to dislodge the group and other Islamist militants who had hijacked a Tuareg rebellion in the Sahel nation and seized the northern half of the country.

After driving them from the main cities of Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal in a swift, nine-week assault, some 1,600 French and Chadian troops began searching for Islamist rebels in their pocket hideouts in the mountainous region of northern Mali.

The AQIM commander described Verdon as a French spy. He said that French President Francois Hollande "bore the responsibility for the remaining hostages".

When asked by the agency whether Belmokhtar had been killed, he neither denied nor confirmed it. There have been conflicting reports on whether Belmokhtar was killed in the French military campaign against the rebels.

(Reporting by Laurent Prieur and John Irish; Writing by Bate Felix; Editing by Michael Roddy)

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