French government in crisis mode over journalist hostage drama
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The French government switched into crisis mode as efforts intensified to secure the release of two journalists kidnapped in Iraq by Islamic militants demanding that Paris rescind a ban on headscarves in state schools.
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DUBAI/PARIS  - The French government held crisis  talks on the fate of two French journalists held hostage in  Iraq Wednesday amid growing uncertainty over whether their  kidnappers had demanded a ransom and two-day deadline.
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CAIRO, Egypt  - France scrambled to secure the  release of two French journalists kidnapped by Iraqi militants  who gave Paris until Monday evening to drop its controversial  ban on Muslim headscarves in schools.
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THE French government remained tight-lipped today about the fate of two French journalists abducted over a month ago in Iraq as the release of up to 10 hostages there raised fresh hopes that they could be freed.
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The French foreign minister is to begin negotiations for the release of two journalists taken hostage in Iraq. In a televised address after a day of government crisis talks, President Jacques Chirac on Sunday
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France was torn between hope and doubt  about its two hostages in Iraq on Wednesday after a purported  French negotiator announced their imminent release but  officials insisted they knew nothing about his efforts.
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BAGHDAD, SEPTEMBER 8: The French government held crisis talks on the fate of two French journalists held hostage in Iraq on Wednesday amid growing uncertainty over whether their kidnappers had demanded a ransom and two-day deadline.
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France scrambled to secure the release of two French journalists kidnapped by Iraqi militants who gave Paris until Monday evening to drop its controversial ban on Muslim headscarves in schools.
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French officials gathered for crisis talks Tuesday to save the lives of two French journalists held hostage in Iraq, while aides to rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for the release of the reporters as a deadline set by militants
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French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin has summoned colleagues for an emergency meeting to discuss the kidnapping of two journalists in Iraq.
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BBC News Online looks at how the crisis surrounding the siege of a school in the Russian town of Beslan, where more than 300 people are being held hostage, is developing.
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French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, given until tonight by kidnappers of two French reporters to revoke a law banning the Muslim headscarf in state schools, called an emergency cabinet meeting for this morning.
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Paris -- A high-stakes scheme to free two French journalists kidnapped in Iraq threatens to embroil President Jacques Chirac in a political scandal over whether his government assisted private intermediaries in negotiating with terrorists for the hostages
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French Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin said he was unable to confirm the authenticity of a statement attributed to the Islamic army in Iraq saying it was releasing two French hostages on condition they cover the activities of the resistance.
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France does not yet know whether a French female journalist missing in Iraq since early on Wednesday has been taken hostage, Foreign Minister Michel Barnier says.
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A threat by a militant Islamic group in Iraq to kill two French men unless a law banning Muslim headscarves in schools is abandoned was being treated as a national crisis by the French government last night.
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The French government Sunday scrambled to develop a response to kidnappers who grabbed two French journalists in Iraq, demanding Paris revoke a law banning Islamic head scarves in public schools. There was no sign France would capitulate.