Hamas and the rest of Gaza have been horrified by the abduction and killing of pro-Palestinian Italian peace activist, Vittorio Arrigoni. It's the first time a foreigner has been kidnapped in Gaza in four years. Arrigoni was seized by a radical group known as Salafists, who are inspired by al Qaeda and consider Hamas to be too moderate.
An autopsy on the bodies of the two young Frenchmen who died in Niger after being kidnapped by the North African branch of al Qaeda, showed that one died from a gunshot wound but the other burnt to death.
Officials in Niamey on Wednesday denied claims by French Defence Minister Alain Juppé (right) that Niger was questioning two al Qaeda suspects in connection with the kidnapping and murder of two Frenchmen, saying no such suspects were being held.
The bodies of two Frenchmen abducted and killed in Niger over the weekend by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb landed Wednesday morning at Paris' Charles-de-Gaulle airport.
The UN mission in Ivory Coast has called attention to nightly abductions of supporters of would-be president Alassane Ouattara. FRANCE 24's correspondents in Abidjan test the mood in a pro-Ouattara neighbourhood.
The kidnapping of seven foreigners working on uranium production in Niger has thrown the spotlight on the state's vast mineral wealth. It's one of the planet's poorest countries but has the world's second biggest reserves of uranium. The Tuareg tribes have been calling for a fairer share of resources, but deny that resentment has led the community to back the Al Qaeda militants who have claimed responsibility for the abductions.
Shahram Amiri (pictured), an Iranian nuclear scientist who claimed to have been abducted and held by the US for over a year, arrived in Tehran Thursday. Amiri disappeared in Saudi Arabia while on a pilgrimage in June 2009.
Tehran threatened Tuesday to take legal action to secure the release of Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri, who claimed in a video clip aired on Iranian TV to have been kidnapped by US agents en route to Mecca in Saudi Arabia in June 2009.
French security agent Marc Aubrière arrived in Paris after a brief halt in the Republicof Djibouti, the day following his daring escape from Somali kidnappers who abducted him and his colleague last month.
French security agent Marc Aubrière told French radio RFI that he escaped Hezb al-Islam, the Somali insurgent group holding him hostage, by slipping out when his guards were asleep and finding safety with African Union soldiers.
