BRUSSELS -- France's controversial expulsion of hundreds of ethnic Romas (often called Gypsies) from its territory is set to be debated by the European Parliament on Tuesday, a spokesman for the assembly said Thursday.

President Nicolas Sarkozy's center-right government has been under fire since late July, when it started systematically repatriating Romas living in illegal camps, either via a voluntary $385 payout or an expulsion order for those deemed a threat to public order.

Tuesday's debate is set to give the EU's justice commissioner, Viviane Reding, the opportunity of making her first public statement since ordering an internal commission investigation on whether France's measures respect EU law.

MUMBAI, India -- India has widened its security crackdown, asking all companies that provide encrypted communications -- not just BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion -- to install servers in the country to make it easier for the government to obtain users' data. That would likely affect digital giants like Google and Skype.

On Monday, India withdrew a threat to ban BlackBerry service for at least two more months after RIM agreed to give security officials "lawful access" to encrypted data.

JOHANNESBURG -- A strike by 1.3 million South African public servants threatened Thursday to drag on for a third week as unions signaled that they would reject the government's latest compromise offer -- a wage hike that would be more than double the rate of inflation.

The strike has crippled public hospitals and left high school seniors, who face final exams in coming months, without teachers. Nurses who try to work and students who try to go to school have faced threats of violence from union members and supporters.

NEW YORK -- Nearly nine months after a devastating earthquake, an estimated 1.3 million Haitians are still living in temporary shelters while the country struggles with reconstruction and rebuilding a government, the United Nations said Thursday in an updated report.

The 1.3 million people displaced by the magnitude-7 earthquake on January 12 now live in 1,300 settlement sites. The report said most of the 600,000 residents who left the capital Port-au-Prince after the quake have returned.

The quake killed more than 200,000 people and destroyed or damaged more than 230,000 buildings and houses.

AMSTERDAM -- A six-month restoration of one of Vincent van Gogh's favorite paintings, "The Bedroom," has been completed.

The painting, which van Gogh completed more than a century ago, suffered from water damage in his studio in Arles in 1889.

With the restoration completed, the painting returns to its place on the wall of the Van Gogh Museum today.

TOKYO -- Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, on the job for just 85 days, and his chief rival, Ichiro Ozawa, this week kicked off their campaigns for the presidency of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan. DPJ lawmakers and local party supporters are scheduled to vote Sept. 14.

Because the DPJ controls the powerful lower house of the Japanese parliament or Diet, its president becomes prime minister.

-- Compiled from news services

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