In brief: Fight in Egyptian bread line sparks deadly family feud

CAIRO – Security officials in Egypt say a fight between two families sparked by a dispute in a line to buy bread has killed nine people.

The officials said Saturday the feud began a month earlier in a town in the southern governorate of Assiut when a member of the Shaibaa tribe was killed in a fight over who was first in line to buy bread. Four members of the rival family were charged over the killing.

After a court hearing Saturday, officials say members of the Shaibaa pursued the defendants’ relatives, killing two and their driver. The officials say the bereaved relatives then went to the house of the Shaibaa and killed six.

Germany shares tech developments

BERLIN – Germany’s foreign intelligence agency has confirmed a report that it regularly discusses technological developments with its European counterparts.

But a spokesman denies a report in Britain’s Guardian newspaper that the agency, known by its German acronym BND, tried to bypass legal restrictions to use surveillance technology developed by the British GCHQ agency.

The newspaper cited documents released by NSA leaker Edward Snowden according to which GCHQ in 2008 assisted the BND “in making the case for reform or reinterpretation of the very restrictive interception legislation in Germany.”

BND spokesman Martin Heinemann said the exchange between the two agencies focused “not on legal, but on technical questions” related to mooted surveillance regulation reforms in Germany that were never implemented.

Crowds protest austerity measures

PARIS – Demonstrators protesting layoffs and rising taxes set a toll bridge on fire and threw stones at police Saturday in northwestern France.

Protesters threw rocks near the barricaded offices of the prefect in Quimper, capital of the Finistere department of Brittany. Police responded with tear gas.

Outside Quimper, demonstrators set tires on fire to light the bridge.

Many of the protesters wore red caps as a symbol of the Bretons’ historical resistance to taxes imposed by the “Sun King,” Louis XIV. They held signs in Quimper that said, “Right to work,” “Stop the taxes” and “The French are no milk cows.”

Protest organizers said more than 30,000 people took part in the demonstration. Authorities said nearly 10,000 turned out in Quimper.

Mass layoffs have been occurring for months in Brittany at poultry producers, swine abattoirs and electronics facilities.