Western governments have warned travelers to exercise extreme caution in Myanmar after a series of minor bomb blasts, including one at an upmarket hotel that injured an American woman.

Britain, France, the United States and Australia all urged their nationals to be vigilant, although they stopped short of advising against travel to the former junta-ruled country.

Thousands of people marched in Paris on Tuesday to protest against a revamp of the debt-ridden pension system just ahead of a vote on the controversial measure in the National Assembly.

Similar rallies were held in other cities including Marseille, Toulouse and Lyon.

French authorities have detained a former Georgian defense minister wanted in his homeland on corruption charges, Georgia's interior ministry said Tuesday.

Davit Kezerashvili, a close ally of outgoing president Mikheil Saakashvili, was detained Monday in Paris and is set to face an extradition hearing to determine whether he should be sent back to the Caucasus nation.

French President Francois Hollande hailed anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela's struggle for equality and forgiveness Tuesday as he wrapped up a state visit to South Africa.

Hollande spent the morning in the formerly blacks-only Soweto township southwest of Johannesburg, a hotbed for resistance against the white supremacist apartheid regime which ended 19 years ago.

South Africa on Monday clinched $8 billion in infrastructure deals with France during a visit by President Francois Hollande, boosting government efforts to tackle a flagging economy and sky-high unemployment.

Hollande kicked off a two-day visit to Africa's largest economy by signing energy and rail deals with his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma, with the two leaders pledging to balance trade between their countries.

Francois Hollande's approval ratings have slumped to a new low with fewer than one in four voters now backing the beleaguered French president.

Only 24 percent of those surveyed this month had a positive opinion of the Socialist leader, found a poll by the Ipsos agency for Le Point magazine -- the lowest score recorded by a French president since Ipsos started its monthly survey in 1996.

Swiss radiation experts have confirmed they found traces of polonium on clothing used by Yasser Arafat which "support the possibility" the veteran Palestinian leader was poisoned.

In a report published by The Lancet at the weekend, the team provide scientific details to media statements made in 2012 that they had found polonium on Arafat's belongings.

The Eiffel Tower, France's top tourist draw, was evacuated Sunday and the area ringed by security forces.

A police source said the action followed a threat delivered over the telephone but did not give any details.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and Europe's top aid official flew into the Central African Republic on Sunday to push for more global action to prevent the deeply troubled country from imploding.

"The situation in one word: desperate. What is unique is that the entire population is impacted by the conflict," said Europe's humanitarian aid commissioner Kristalina Georgieva.

A French-Algerian man suspected of al-Qaida ties and deported from Pakistan this week has been charged with terror offences, French judicial officials said on Saturday.

Intelligence officials believe Naamen Meziche was once connected to al-Qaida's so-called "Hamburg cell", which planned the 9/11 attacks on the United States.