Hostage crisis unites French communities
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The Muslim community in France has supported the government ban on headscarfs, but, asks Hugh Schofield in Paris, was that unity based on fear of a backlash?
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French Muslims jammed Paris&#39; main mosque Friday to pray for two journalists taken hostage in Iraq - a show of unity with the government despite Muslims&#39; opposition to a new law banning Islamic head scarves in public schools.
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The two French journalists, who have been held hostage for 4 months in Iraq, have been freed. French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin made the announcement to the Senate who responded to the news with applause.
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A WAVE of relief swept France last night after the Government confirmed the release of two French reporters held hostage by Islamic extremists in Iraq since August 20.
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Would-be robbers took eight people hostage in a bank south of Paris on Tuesday, but all were released unharmed during several hours of negotiations with authorities, and the gunmen were arrested, police said.
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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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French police on Tuesday freed hostages held by armed robbers in a bank in a south Paris suburb after persuading the men to end their siege.
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PARIS (France): France said on Sunday that it was more than ever mobilized after two French journalists were taken hostage in Iraq by militants demanding the rescinding of a ban on the Islamic headscarf in French schools.
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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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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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President Jacques Chirac called for national unity on Tuesday over France's hostage crisis in Iraq, after a bid by self-appointed mediators failed to free two journalists held by Islamist militants.
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Three French citizens who joined the rebel insurgency in Iraq have been held by coalition forces since being captured there last year, officials said Friday.
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Hopes of a swift end to the French  hostage crisis rose early Friday, after the Le Figaro newspaper  that employs one of the two captives said the men were now  being held by Iraqi guerrillas willing to negotiate their  release.
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DUBAI-Pleas from across the Arab and Muslim worlds played a key role in turning the minds of Islamic militants who abducted two French journalists in Iraq and freed them this week after a four-month ordeal, ...
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Just as one hostage nightmare for France in Iraq has ended, another seems to have begun.
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Kidnappers of two French journalists in a statement Tuesday praised France&#39;s &quot;positive steps toward the Iraqi people,&quot; a sign that the hostage-takers may be softening their anti-French position.
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MOSCOW - Tens of thousands of demonstrators waving banners and flags gathered in Red Square in a show of unity against terrorism as the country mourned the hundreds of victims of a hostage-taking at a school in southern Russia.    More than 100,000 people were expected to take part in the evening rally in the capital, organized by a pro-government trade union and advertised on state-controlled television by celebrities who appealed to citizens to turn out to say no to terror...