France Races Against Clock in Iraq Hostage Crisis
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France scrambled to secure the freedom 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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Hopes that Islamic militants will soon free two French hostages in Iraq are rising, despite confusion over which group is now holding them.
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BAGHDAD : The clock was ticking down for two French hostages whose Islamist abductors have served Paris with an ultimatum to lift a ban on Muslim headscarves in schools, while Iraq&#39;s government continued efforts to end the chaos prevailing in the country.
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France pressed on with efforts to save  two French journalists held hostage in Iraq on Thursday after a  deadline to rescind a law banning Muslim headscarves in state  schools passed without word from the kidnappers.
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France has vowed not to give in to the demands of terrorists who are holding two French journalists in Iraq. Militants calling themselves the Islamic Army in Iraq have said that they will release Georges Malbrunot
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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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Militants holding two French journalists  hostage in Iraq gave France another 24 hours on Monday to  revoke its ban on Muslim headscarves in schools, Al Jazeera  reported.
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France says it does not yet know whether a French female journalist missing in Iraq since early on Wednesday has been taken hostage, and has urged journalists not to travel to Iraq.
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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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The kidnapping of two French journalists in Iraq has injected new tension into France's debate over banning Islamic headscarves in schools just as Paris was hoping for a smooth start to the school year this week.
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The French government and opposition  declared a rare united front on Thursday in efforts to secure  the release of two French hostages held in Iraq.
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A threat by a militant Islamic group in Iraq to murder two French hostages unless Paris abandons a law banning muslim headscarves in schools was being treated as a national crisis by the French government last night.
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The French government demanded the release of two journalists kidnapped in Iraq by a group demanding that France rescind a ban on Islamic headscarves in the nation&#39;s schools within 48 hours.
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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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Determined to save two journalists kidnapped in Iraq, France has frantically called on Arab leaders and Muslim imams and set in motion a swell of solidarity unseen in previous hostage dramas.
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France redoubled its diplomatic efforts  on Tuesday to save two French reporters held hostage in Iraq  ahead of a new deadline to scrap a school headscarf ban, as the  Islamic militant group Hamas called for the men's release.
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The French government and opposition declared a rare united front on Thursday in efforts to secure the release of two French hostages held in Iraq.