FRANCE. Government to make roof over head legal right. Having a decent home should be a legal right like health care and education, the French government said on Wednesday, after a lobby group forced the issue of homelessness to the top of the media agenda. The plight of the homeless has become a campaign issue ahead of this year?s presidential election after a group calling itself ?The Children of Don Quixote? set up tents in Paris to draw attention to people sleeping rough. The issue has dominated the news and forced politicians from all main parties to promise more help for those without a roof over their heads. ?It will be possible to implement the legal right to housing from the end of 2008 for people in the most difficult situations, notably the homeless but also poor workers and isolated women with children,? French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin told a news conference. The right would be extended to other people, such as those in inadequate social housing, from 2012, Villepin said.

LONDON. One dead and ten seriously hurt in coach crash. One woman was killed and 10 people were seriously injured when a coach overturned on a motorway slip road near London?s Heathrow airport overnight, British police said yesterday. The coach was carrying about 65 people, said a police statement.

SRI LANKA. Suspected rebels kill soldier in mine blast. Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels detonated a mine in northern Sri Lanka yesterday, killing a soldier and wounding two, the military said. Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said troops were clearing a stretch of road in Vavuniya town when the blast occurred. Fragmentation mine explosions have increased in recent weeks, as fighting intensifies between the military and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the east of the island. More than 3,000 people were killed in ambushes, suicide bombings and clashes last year and international truce monitors say a 2002 ceasefire now exists only on paper.

BURUNDI. Three jailed journalists acquitted. A Burundi court on Wednesday acquitted three journalists jailed last year for reporting on allegations of a coup plot in the tiny central African nation. Serge Nibizi and Domitile Kiramvu, both of African Public radio (RPA), were arrested in November, accused of violating legislation on secret information by reporting on a coup plot case while investigations were pending. Mathias Manirakiza, director of Radio Isanganiro was detained a week later, facing charges of allowing the station to broadcast information that would breach state security. All three, whose arrests were Burundi?s latest legal tussle between media and authorities, had pleaded innocent. ?The court has received complaints by the public prosecution but declare them unfounded,? judge Francois Naraguma said. ?Charges of breaking media law were not established, consequently the court decides to acquit Serge Nibizi, Domitile Kiramvu and Mathias Manirakiza.? In December, prosecutors had demanded a three-year jail term for the journalists.

USA. Gunman kills male student at Washington high school. A gunman shot and killed a male student at a high school in Tacoma, Washington before the start of classes on Wednesday, a police spokesman said. Police had a suspect in custody after the shooter fled the scene, according to Tacoma Police spokesman Mark Fulghum. Police did not have a motive for the shooting, but the suspect and victim were students at Foss High School. The suspect was picked up a few miles (km) away from the school and police would not disclose the age or name of the shooter or victim. School officials evacuated students from the campus and canceled classes for the day. It was the first day of classes at the high school after a holiday break.