Voters in the Indian Ocean archipelago of the Comoros returned to the polls Sunday in the second round of a parliamentary election seen as a test for former leader Abdallah Sambi, a Muslim populist preparing a comeback.

Minor incidents were reported during the vote, the results of which will give an indication of Sambi's support ahead of next year's presidential election.

A French court on Thursday ordered Yemenia airline to pay more than 30 million euros ($34 million) in damages to the families of victims of a deadly 2009 crash off the Comoros islands.

France charged the Yemen air carrier in 2013 with manslaughter over the crash of an Airbus A310 which the French authorities said should never have been allowed to fly.

Voting began Sunday in the chronically unstable Indian Ocean archipelago of the Comoros in a parliamentary election seen as a test for former leader Abdallah Sambi, a Muslim populist poised to make a comeback.

The vote is the first in a cycle of legislative and local government polls culminating in presidential elections next year.

Voters on the chronically unstable Indian archipelago of the Comoros go to the polls Sunday in parliamentary elections seen as a test of the popularity of a former leader Abdallah Sambi who is vying to return to power.

The vote is the first in a cycle of legislative and local government polls culminating in presidential elections next year.

Oil-rich Kuwait's announcement that tens of thousands of stateless people will be offered citizenship of the impoverished African nation of Comoros has highlighted their decades-old plight.

But a representative of the community whose members demand Kuwaiti citizenship rejected the Gulf Arab state's offer as "totally impractical".

Tens of thousands of stateless people in oil-rich Kuwait will be offered citizenship of the impoverished African nation of Comoros to end their decades-old problem, the government said Sunday.

The stateless people -- known as bidoons -- would be granted "special applications for Comoros' economic citizenship," Kuwait's interior ministry assistant undersecretary Major-General Mazen al-Jarrah told Al-Jarida daily.

France said Tuesday one of its nationals had been arrested in Lebanon on suspicion of planning an attack under what a Lebanese newspaper claimed was the influence of the ISIL jihadist group sweeping through Iraq.

Lebanese security forces announced Friday they had detained 17 people at the Napoleon Hotel in Beirut's Hamra area following a tip-off that attacks by a "terrorist group" were being planned in the capital and other parts of the country.

Lebanese authorities have deported a Frenchman, who was planning to head to Syria to carry out a suicide bombing there, As Safir daily reported on Tuesday.

The man, who was not identified, was arrested at Rafik Hariri International Airport a few weeks ago by Lebanese security forces after receiving a tip from a European agency, it said.

At least seven people died and six people were missing after a ship carrying illegal immigrants capsized off the Indian Ocean French overseas territory of Mayotte, officials said Friday.

The boat was travelling from Anjouan in the Comoros with 24 people on board when it capsized during the night. Those who died were four children and three women. Another 11 people have been rescued, authorities said.