French begin hostage release talks
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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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Jordan pledged Tuesday to help France secure the release of two journalists held hostage in Iraq, who are facing the imminent expiry of an ultimatum by their Islamic kidnappers.
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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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Signs suggest hope for a possible release of the two French journalists held hostage in Iraq, Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin said Saturday.
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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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BAGHDAD  - A French national who claims he has secured a deal for the release of two French reporters kidnapped in Iraq last month said Wednesday he is waiting for a US authorization to extract the pair by air.
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France&#39;s interior minister demanded Sunday the release of two French journalists believed kidnapped by Islamic militants in Iraq.
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French ministers have been holding emergency meetings to discuss how to respond to the kidnapping of two French journalists in Iraq.
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French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin today called a crisis meeting to discuss the fate of the two French journalists still held hostage in Iraq, as efforts to secure their release threatened to descend into farce.
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French President Jacques Chirac has sent his Foreign Minister to the Middle East to try to secure the release of two journalists who are being held hostage in Iraq.
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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 said on Saturday it hoped Islamic militants were about to free two French hostages, but urged caution as fresh violence erupted in Iraq.
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The French Prime Minister calls a crisis meeting to discuss the kidnapping of two French journalists in Iraq.
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An unofficial French negotiator told a radio station Friday that two journalists held for more than a month in Iraq could be released within hours.
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DAMASCUS, Oct 1  - A Frenchman presenting himself as an unofficial negotiator said on Friday that he was with two French reporters being held hostage in Iraq, raising hopes that the men may soon be freed.
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France says it has stepped up its efforts to free two French journalists being held hostage by Iraqi militants who are demanding an end to a ban on Islamic headscarves in French schools.
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A Frenchman presenting himself as an unofficial negotiator said in a telephone interview with a radio station that he was with two French reporters who are being held hostage by insurgents in Iraq.