Man sets himself ablaze outside French job center

PARIS France's labor ministry says a 43-year-old man died after setting himself on fire outside a job center in the western city of Nantes.

Djamal Chaab, whom authorities believe was unemployed, had informed the job center of his plan to take his own life, but authorities were unable to intervene in time. In a statement Wednesday, French Labor Minister Michel Sapin called the death a "shocking drama."

Like many countries across Europe, France has seen its unemployment rate rise in recent years as the financial crisis hurt the economy. France's jobless rate is now at its highest level in over a decade, at 10.3 percent, according to the national statistics agency, INSEE.