St Etienne, France - French first division side St Etienne parted company with coach Laurent Roussey Tuesday as a consequence of the club's recent disastrous run of results.

St Etienne sit in the relegation zone after five defeats in succession.

"Because of the recent performances and certain off-field problems AS St Etienne have concluded it's time to change things," said the club in a statement.

Roussey's assistant Gerard Fernandez takes over in a caretaker capacity at the 10-time French champions while youth trainer Alain Blachon and fitness coach Thierry Cotte have also been retained.

Paris - Both houses of the Algerian parliament are due to meet Wednesday to decide whether to change the constitution to allow President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to stay on for a third term.

If passed, the 71-year-old president could take up a third five- year term in the spring of 2009.

Parliament would also vote on cutting some of the prime minister's powers in favour of the president.

Paris  - Following a series of mysterious attacks on railway infrastructure in the past week, police in France have arrested eight suspects, the Interior Ministry announced on Tuesday.

More than 40 high-speed trains between Paris and London, Brussels, Amsterdam and Cologne had to be transferred to traditional tracks on Saturday, resulting in more than 150 trains running late, after metal pipes were placed atop overhead powerlines at four separate locations.

Brussels - European Union foreign ministers sidelined Lithuanian objections Monday and decided to re-start talks on a strategic treaty with Russia which it froze after Russia's August war with Georgia.

"It was a very solid discussion, all EU member states except one are in line to take up the (EU-Russia) partnership talks again," said French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who chaired the talks as holder of the EU's rotating presidency.

Paris - The French presidency of the European Union on Monday firmly criticized Israel's demolition of Arab-owned houses in East Jerusalem.

"The European Union expresses its deep concern about the operations of destruction of Palestinian houses carried out in recent days by Israeli authorities in several quarters of East Jerusalem," a spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Berlin - A senior Rwandan official, Rose Kabuye, who has been arrested in Germany on a European warrant, has agreed to be extradited to France, a justice official said Monday in Frankfurt.

Kabuye, 47, is chief of protocol to Rwandan President Paul Kagame and a leading member of his Rwandan Patriotic Front.

After her Sunday detention when she landed in Frankfurt, Rwandan authorities immediately summoned the German ambassador in Kigali to protest.