[JURIST] The French Foreign Ministry has announced that two French journalists held hostage in Iraq since August and whose release was initially made contingent upon the French government not allowing its ban on religious headscarves and regalia in public schools to go into force have been released and handed over to French authorities in Baghdad. The French ban went into force as planned at the beginning of September. Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase:

• French headscarf ban takes effect
• UPDATE ~ Iraqi militants give France 24 more hours to lift headscarf ban
• French urge support for "headscarf ban" in face of hostage crisis
• French headscarf ban claimed as motive for Iraq kidnapping of French journalists

12:02 PM ET – From Paris, Le Figaro, the employer of one of the kidnapped French journalists now free, provides extensive local coverage in French and offers a timeline of their four months in captivity.