France: Mont Blanc tunnel reopens Alpine link

The Mont Blanc tunnel, rebuilt, blessed and hailed as the safest such passage through the Alps, reopened Saturday, three years after a truck fire transformed it into an inferno that killed 39 people.

Shortly after noon, the first car rolled through the tunnel linking Italy and France.

The opening also drew some 1,500 protesters opposed to allowing truck traffic in the tunnel.

Madagascar: Minister’s resignation bolsters coup-plotter

Madagascar’s defense minister resigned after the opposition party seized control of his offices in the capital, Antananarivo, national radio reported Saturday.

The resignation of Gen. Marcel Ranjeva late Friday came as a blow to incumbent President Didier Ratsiraka, who is fighting an uphill battle to stave off a coup by opposition leader Marc Ravalomanana.

Ravalomanana claimed he won the Dec. 16 presidential elections outright, declared himself president, and organized a series of protests and a strike aimed at forcing Ratsiraka to step down.