France said on Monday it would lift a state of emergency on Wednesday that was introduced in November during the worst violence in the country in nearly 40 years, according to Reuters. The decision was made after calmer than expected New Year celebrations that officials had feared might trigger new violent protests against racism and unemployment by youths of African and Arab origin as well as whites from poor areas. President Jacques Chirac would end emergency measures giving regional officials power to impose curfews and to carry out searches during the day or at night without a judge's order, officials said. "The president decided to end the state of emergency as of January 4, 2006," a spokeswoman of the President's office was quoted by Reuters as saying. The government imposed the rarely used emergency laws on Nov. 8 to quell the unrest. During three weeks of violence that began at the end of October after the deaths of two youngsters while they were apparently fleeing police officers in a Paris suburb, youths clashed with police in many parts of France. --More 21 54 Local Time 18 54 GMT
