Paris - After denying that it had lost nearly 1 billion euros (1.26 billion dollars) in trading last month, French investment bank Natixis on Wednesday said it had incurred losses of about one fourth that amount.

In a statement, Natixis said its trading losses for October totalled about 250 million euros and were due to an "extremely difficult (market) that was without precedent for its activities."

The investment bank also said it had made provisions of another 250 million euros in October because of the risks associated with the finance crisis.

Paris - Ten people arrested for a recent series of attacks on French railway lines are said to belong to a small left-wing extremist group intent on carrying out acts of disruption, French media reported on Wednesday.

Five of the 10 suspects - including the alleged leader of the group, a 34-year-old names Julien - were living in a small village in the department, or region, of Correze in central France when they were taken into custody early Tuesday. Others were arrested in Paris and Rouen.

Paris - French investment bank Natixis on Wednesday denied a media report that it had lost 975 million euros (1.23 billion dollars) in trading last month.

The business daily La Tribune had reported the massive loss earlier Wednesday, and claimed that Natixis is to issue a fourth-quarter profits warning.

According to the report, the losses were registered in trading with shares as well as currencies and interest rates.

There was no indication in the report that the alleged loss was due to unauthorized deals carried out by a small group of traders, as was the case with Natixis's parent company Caisse d'Epargne, which lost 751 million euros in early October.

Paris - Segolene Royal, the defeated Socialist Party candidate in last year's French presidential election, is expected to announce later Wednesday that she is a candidate to replace her former partner as party chief, French media reported.

The party will elect a successor to its current head, Francois Hollande, during its next congress, which is due to begin Friday in the city of Reims.

Royal's heavy defeat at the hands of President Nicolas Sarkozy in May 2007 threw the Socialists into disarray, with many of the party's old guard, such as former prime minister Lionel Jospin, harshly criticizing the campaign she ran and her attempt to forge an alliance with centrist Francois Bayrou.

Paris - French investment bank Natixis lost 975 million euros (1.23 billion dollars) in trading last month and is to issue a fourth-quarter profits warning, the business daily La Tribune reported on Wednesday.

According to the report, the losses were registered in trading with shares as well as currencies and interest rates.

It remained unclear if the loss was due to unauthorized deals carried out by a small group of traders, as was reportedly the case with Natixis's parent company Caisse d'Epargne, which lost 751 million euros in early October.

Nairobi/Kigali, Rwanda - Rwanda on Tuesday expelled the German ambassador to Kigali and called back its own ambassador from Berlin as anger over the arrest of a Rwandan official accused of involvement in the assassination of a former Rwandan president escalated.

Rose Kabuye, chief of protocol to Rwandan President Paul Kagame, was arrested on Sunday in Frankfurt on a French warrant.

She is suspected of being involved in the assassination of Hutu president Juvenal Habyarimana - an act that sparked the 1994 genocide of up to 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.