UNITED STATES: A federal judge has ruled that a government plan to slash staffing at the federal agency tasked with responding to disasters by 50 per cent was unlawful.

The opinion issued on Friday by US District Judge Susan Illston marked a victory for trade unions that had filed a much larger lawsuit against the agency.

The American Federation of Government Employees and other unions had argued that the now-cancelled Department of Homeland Security plans violated congressional safeguards of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s independence.

SOUTH AFRICA: Two Nigerians have been killed in South Africa as tensions run high between the two countries over anti-immigrant protests.

Nigeria’s Foreign Ministry said one of the victims, James Uchechukwu Nwankwo, had been killed after being subjected to “gruesome interrogation techniques” by police in Cape Town on September 5.

The killings “raise questions about the safety of foreigners in the country and the commitment of the South African authorities to curbing targeted attacks against foreigners,” spokesman Oluwafemi Adeniyi said.

FRANCE: Authorities are investigating whether sabotage caused a train derailment that injured 44 people in Normandy, after a piece of rail was found on the track, police said on Saturday.

The regional train was carrying 186 passengers from Rouen to Caen when it derailed on Friday evening at Cleon, in the north-western department of Seine-Maritime.

INDONESIA: About 130 passengers and crew were missing today after a ferry carrying more than 240 people sank in bad weather in the Java Sea.

At least 107 people were rescued, and the bodies of six passengers were recovered as a search operation expanded.