outcry
if Iran had attempted something similar against activists abroad.
World News from the BBC
The French government says two Frenchmen kidnapped in Niger have been killed during an attempt to rescue them. The French Defence Minister Alain Juppe said the two were found dead on the Niger-Mali border after the clash. The identity of the kidnappers isn't known. Hugh Schofield reports from Paris.
The hostages, one of whom is believed to have been an aid worker, were taken at gunpoint from a restaurant in Niamey on Friday evening. The kidnappers
sped off
in the direction of the lawless desert region along the frontier with Mali. There was an initial clash with pursuing armed forces and then a second shootout at the border with Mali in which French special forces also took part. At the end of this operation, some of the kidnappers were
neutralise
d, to use the defence ministry's words, but it was then discovered that the two hostages were dead.
There's been renewed religious violence in the central Nigerian city of Jos. Officials say a number of people have died, though they haven't specified how many. A BBC reporter in the area says eyewitnesses describe seeing bodies in the streets, and buildings and vehicles set on fire.
Hackers have attacked North Korea's official media accounts,
deriding
the country's leader Kim Jong-il and his son and chosen successor Kim Jong-un. The North Korean Twitter account carried a series of messages accusing the Kims of exploiting their people and calling for them to be overthrown. A cartoon posted on the country's Youtube account showed the heir apparent driving a sports car, running over starving women and children. The attacks, thought to be by South Korean hackers, seem timed to