Chirac briefed as new hurdles hold up French hostage release
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Hopes that Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot would be set free by the weekend were confounded, with unverifiable rumours proliferating over new conditions being set by the hostage-takers or of ...
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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 intensified efforts Tuesday to save two journalists held hostage in Iraq, convening crisis talks in Paris and around the Arab world as a 24-hour execution deadline set by militants neared.
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PARIS, Sept 6  - The captors of two French journalists allegedly put forward Monday new demands for their release, but French officials cast doubt on the authenticity of the demands and remained cautiously optimistic about securing their release.
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France remains cautiously optimistic about the possible release of two journalists held hostage in Iraq, a government spokesman said Wednesday after a ministerial meeting on the crisis.
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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&#39;s release.
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The release of two French journalists held in Iraq since August was delayed Friday when a group of Iraqis transporting them was bombarded by US forces, an aide to a French MP aiming to help free them said.
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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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The French government remains hopeful about the fate of two its nationals held hostage in Iraq but does not want to jeopardise their release by talking about it too much, an official said today.
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The French government held a crisis  meeting on Thursday over the fate of two journalists held  hostage in Iraq after a new purported statement from the  kidnappers denied they had demanded a ransom or set a deadline.
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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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President Jacques Chirac called for national unity to help free two French reporters held hostage in Iraq after recriminations over a botched unofficial rescue mission badly embarrassed him and his government.
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BAGHDAD/PARIS  - France said Friday two French  hostages held in Iraq were being well treated but there were  hurdles to overcome to secure their release.
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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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PARIS : French President Jacques Chirac slammed a private initiative to secure the release of two French hostages in Iraq as &quot;interference&quot;, while the freelance effort appeared to have flopped.
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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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The release of two French journalists held in Iraq since August was delayed Friday when a group of Iraqis transporting them was bombarded by U.S. forces, an aide to a French MP aiming to help free them said.