Algiers/Paris - At least 10 people have been killed in two attacks in recent days as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan came to a close, Algerian media reported Saturday.

Six members of the security forces were killed in one attack when armed attackers opened fire on their vehicle in Theniet el-Had in the west of the country, el-Khabar newspaper reported.

The attackers were members of the terrorist group al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the report said.

Paris, Oct 4 : After reaching the second-lowest extent ever recorded last month, sea ice in the Arctic has begun to refreeze in the face of autumn temperatures, closing both the Northern Sea Route and the direct route through the Northwest Passage.

This year marked the first time since satellite measurements began in the 1970s that the Northern Sea Route, also known as the Northeast Passage, and the Northwest Passage were both open at the same time for a few weeks.

Paris - Despite the slump in the American and European automobile markets because of the finance crisis, the European head of the Japanese car maker Toyota said Thursday that he expected a gradual recovery next year.

"In the long term, the sales of compact cars will increase in Europe. But there will always be people who need large automobiles," Tadashi Arashima told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Toyota has encountered problems on the German market because certain of its models were nearing the end of their cycles.

Paris - A top advisor to French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Thursday that the financial crisis has "temporarily" rendered the Maastricht criteria on public deficits not a top priority.

"Temporarily, (the criteria) are not the priorities of priorities. The priority is to save the world banking system and therefore save citizens' savings," Henry Guaino told Canal Plus television.

Paris - Toyota, currently the world's largest automaker, plans to boost its sales by 200,000 to 9.7 million vehicles in 2009, Toyota's vice president Mitsuo Kinoshita said Wednesday in Paris.

The growth in the so-called BRIC countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China - will also include North America and western Europe, Kinoshita said.

Toyota's new innovations with the super compact iQ and new hybrid models are expected to carry much of the growth especially in Europe, where the rest of the market is bracing for a 10 per cent sales slump.

Toyota expects its hybrid Prius sales in Europe to increase from 43,000 to 60,000 or 70,000 in 2009.

Paris  - French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the current president of the European Union, and Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen held talks on Wednesday in Paris on the future of the Lisbon Treaty, Sarkozy's office said.

According to a statement issued by the Elysee Palace, Cowen told Sarkozy that, at the October 15 EU summit, he would present the results of a study on the reasons for the rejection of the treaty in the June 12 referendum, which resulted in an institutional crisis for the EU and a freeze on taking in new members.

All 27 EU members must ratify the treaty for it to become law.