Iraq Hostage Crisis Unites France Behind Law
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French critics and defenders of a ban on Muslim headscarves in schools united in support of the law on Monday, pledging to stand firm against militants holding two French
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Two French journalists were freed in Iraq Tuesday, ending a 4-month hostage ordeal at the hands of Islamic militants that had shocked France and embarrassed President Jacques Chirac&#39;s government.
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PARIS - France vowed Monday to press ahead with a controversial law banning Islamic head scarves in schools, despite demands by militants holding two French journalists hostage in Iraq that Paris revoke the legislation.    Government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope told Canal Plus television France would not compromise its values to win the release of the journalists, Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot...
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A French Muslim delegation in Iraq trying to win the release of two French journalists held hostage by Islamic militants said Thursday they had received proof the men were alive and well. The kidnappers have demanded that Paris rescind a law banning Muslim headscarves.
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One of two freed French hostages says his captors were driven more by holy war than Iraqi concerns.
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PARIS -- It was easier for 16-year-old Nadia Arabi to remove her Islamic head scarf yesterday than to defy a new law banning religious signs in the classroom, or to risk contempt for breaking a national chain of solidarity for two Frenchmen held hostage by militants in Iraq.
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PARIS: France has pledged not to yield to Iraqi kidnappers who have taken two journalists hostage and are demanding the repeal of a law banning Islamic headscarves in state schools.
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PARIS - President Jacques Chirac vowed Sunday to spare no effort to free two French journalists held hostage in Iraq by militants reportedly demanding that France revoke its law banning Islamic head scarves in schools.   "The whole nation is gathered together because what's at stake is the lives of two French people, the defense of freedom of expression, and also the values of our Republic," Chirac said in a televised address...
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The whole country is uniting to secure the release of the hostages and support their families in this ordeal.
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CAIRO, Aug. 28 -- Islamic militants released a brief videotape showing two French journalists kidnapped recently in Iraq, saying they were holding the men to protest a French law banning head scarves in 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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France has 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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The French President has called for national unity for the sake of two French hostages in Iraq, as a row broke out over a failed attempt to free them.
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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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PARIS, Sep 8  (IPS) - The two French journalists kidnapped in Iraq more  than three weeks back are still in  captivity despite efforts by  French and Iraqi leaders to secure their freedom.
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France was doing everything possible to secure the release of a woman journalist taken hostage in Iraq last month, Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said on Tuesday.
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Two French nationals have been taken hostage in Iraq by Islamic militants demanding the rescinding of a ban on the Islamic headscarf in French schools, the Arabic satellite news channel Al-Jazeera reported.