A French satirical newspaper was today cleared in a case brought by Muslims angered by its publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed.

A Paris court heard opening arguments today in a defamation trial against a French satirical weekly that reprinted caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed that had stoked outrage and violence across the Islamic world last year.

A French court today threw out a law suit by five Muslim organisations aimed at blocking a French newspaper from publishing caricatures of the prophet Mohammed that have led to violent protests worldwide.

President Jacques Chirac has vowed to spare no effort to free two French reporters held hostage in Iraq by militants reportedly demanding that France scrap its ban on Islamic headscarves in state schools.

France’s government today scrambled to map out its response to the kidnapping of two French journalists in Iraq, but showed no immediate signs of being ready to surrender to the hostage-takers’ reported demands.