Paris  - France is withdrawing 2,100 of its soldiers stationed in Africa, Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on Wednesday.

Of the 1,650 French troops deployed with the EUFOR force in Chad, 1,000 are to be called home. Another 1,100 soldiers will be withdrawn from the Ivory Coast, Fillon said.

The French Parliament was to vote on the troop reductions late Wednesday.

In addition, two French battleships were to be withdrawn from their mission of supporting UN forces in southern Lebanon.

Paris - Armed robbers broke into a firm specializing in the reprocessing of precious metals in southern France and made off with more than 8 million euros (10.6 million dollars) worth of gold, the regional daily Le Progres reported on Wednesday.

According to the report, the robbery, which took place on Tuesday near the city of Lyon, was carried out by four men. Three of them were masked and stormed into the establishment just after opening with their guns drawn. A fourth accomplice waited outside in a car.

Paris - The French government has summoned Israel's ambassador to France, Daniel Shek, to protest an incident at the Israel-Gaza border during which shots were fired at the French Consul to Jerusalem, a foreign ministry spokesman said Wednesday.

According to Eric Chevallier, the Consul, Alain Remy, and other European dioplomats had gone to Gaza to evaluate the situation, particularly the opening of the border crossings.

When they tried to re-enter Israel, they were blocked by Israeli authorities "for more than 6 hours," he said.

Paris - France is planning to reduce the number of its soldiers stationed abroad by some 20 per cent, Defence Minister Herve Morin said in an interview published Wednesday in the daily France- Soir.

"That will enable us to save 100 (million) to 150 million euros (137 million to 199 million dollars)," Morin said.

In 2008, France spent some 900 million euros on its foreign troop deployments.

The troop reduction will primarily concern forces stationed in Bosnia, Kosovo, Lebanon, the Ivory Coast and Chad, Morin said.

The French Parliament is to vote on the troop deployments later on Wednesday.

Paris - French railway workers were set to walk off their jobs late Wednesday to kick off a one-day general strike that will severely disrupt transportation and shut schools throughout the country.

The job action was called by most major trade unions to demand higher pay, more job security, additional state aid to small and middle-sized companies threatened by the economic crisis and a halt to parts of President Nicolas Sarkozy's economic reforms.

Paris  - The Formula One Race Director of motorsport's controlling body FIA on Tuesday announced that the new season would see a change in the safety car phase.

In an interview published on the FIA website Charlie Whiting admitted that the rule introduced in 2007 was a bad one and that as a result his organization had gone back to the 2006 regulations.

"The only difference is we intend to implement a minimum time back to the pits. When we deploy the safety car, the message will go to all the cars, which will then have a safety car" mode on their electronic control unit.