French academic detained in Iran in good health but worried, met with French ambassador

September 30th, 2009 3 French soldiers killed in Afghan stormPARIS — Officials in France say three French soldiers have been killed in a violent storm in northeastern Afghanistan. President Nicolas Sarkozy's office says the three died while taking part in an operation on Saturday night in the Afghanya Valley.

September 25th, 2009 Sarkozy gives Iran December deadlinePITTSBURGH — French Prime Minister Nicolas Sarkozy says Iran faces possible new international sanctions if it doesn't come clean on its nuclear program by December. Sarkozy said that Iran was in clear violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions in building a second plant to manufacture nuclear fuel and trying to hide if from the world for years.

September 10th, 2009 Top French general: Iran intervention not viableWASHINGTON — The head of the French military says military intervention is not a viable option to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear capability. Armed Forces Chief of Staff Jean-Louis Georgelin told a Washington-based foreign policy group that he believes a military approach would be too risky.

August 23rd, 2009 2 French teens killed in Las Vegas bus crashPARIS — France's Foreign Ministry says two French teenagers have been killed in an auto accident in the Las Vegas area. The ministry says four French teens were injured, one seriously, and the driver was also hurt in the accident.

August 17th, 2009 Father: Frenchwoman should leave Iran within weeksPARIS — The father of a French academic on trial in Iran said Monday he hopes she can come home within weeks as the government continued efforts to secure her unconditional release. Clotilde Reiss is one of more than 100 people in a mass trial in Iran on charges linked to postelection protests.

August 16th, 2009 French academic freed from Iranian prisonPARIS — The French academic who is part of a mass trial in Iran has been freed from prison on bail and turned over to the French embassy in good health, French leaders said Sunday, urging that charges against her be dropped. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said "that nothing can justify" the case against Clotilde Reiss, 24, and an embassy employee, who are accused of fanning a revolt aimed at bringing down Iran's Islamic rulers.

August 11th, 2009 France says embassy employee freed by IraniansPARIS — Iranian authorities have freed a French Embassy employee on trial in Iran from a Tehran prison, President Nicolas Sarkozy's office announced Tuesday, asking that a young French academic also be quickly freed. Sarkozy hopes charges will be dropped against Nazak Afshar, who has duel French-Iranian citizenship, and that another French citizen on trial, 24-year-old academic Clotilde Reiss, can soon return home, a statement said.

August 10th, 2009 Sarkozy working for release of Frenchwoman in IranPARIS —French President Nicolas Sarkozy is working to secure the release of a French academic who is among the accused in a mass trial in Iran, the president's office said Monday. France's Foreign Ministry called the release of Clotilde Reiss and a French-Iranian woman also on trial, Nazak Afshar, "our very first priority." Reiss, 24, was arrested July 1 after five months teaching in the Iranian city of Isfahan and after taking photos of an Iranian opposition demonstration.

August 10th, 2009 French police: Jewel heist suspect detainedPARIS —French police say Belgian authorities have detained and handed over a man accused of stealing jewels worth several million euros (dollars) from a luxury Paris jewelry house. They say the 52-year-old suspect was detained in the Belgian port city of Antwerp in mid-July at the request of French justice authorities.

July 16th, 2009 Media monitor: 7 photographers detained in IranPARIS — Media monitor Reporters Without Borders says seven photographers and a cameraman have been detained in Iran, most of them over the past week. The Paris-based group listed five Iranian photographers seized Saturday, nearly a month after the June 12 presidential elections that prompted a wave of opposition protests.

July 7th, 2009 Sarkozy urges release of Frenchwoman held in IranPARIS — President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday demanded that Iran free a young French teacher detained after taking photos of Iranian protests and dismissed Iranian accusations that she was spying as "high fantasy." Clotilde Reiss, 23, was arrested July 1 at the Tehran airport as she was about to leave Iran after five months of studying and teaching French at Isfahan University, and accused of espionage, according to French Foreign Ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier. "These accusations of espionage are high fantasy," Sarkozy said at a Paris news conference with Brazil's president.

July 6th, 2009 PARIS - France has demanded the immediate release of a French woman academician who has been arrested in Iran on charges of spying, the French foreign ministry said late Monday. "The charge of espionage is without foundation," the ministry said in a statement.

May 24th, 2009 QUETTA - Armed miscreants have kidnapped a French tourist from Chagai district of Balochistan near Pakistan-Iran border. The tourist has been identified as Anthio, 41.

February 3rd, 2009 HYDERABAD - The National Institute of Technology (NIT), Warangal, and ESIGELEC-School of Engineering Rouen of France have entered into an agreement to promote research and academic exchange, it was announced here Wednesday. ESIGELEC will also establish centre for automation and instrumentation and embedded systems on the campus of the NIT-Warangal.

January 4th, 2009 PARIS - A French warship Sunday foiled attacks by Somali pirates on two commercial vessels in the Gulf of Aden, the French president's office said. Patrolling off the Somali coast, the French warship 'Jean de Vienne' captured 19 Somali pirates when they tried to seize a Croatian freighter and a Panamanian cargo ship.