French customs officers are inspecting a North Korean ship on an Indian Ocean island as part of UN measures prompted by North Korea’s nuclear test, the Foreign Ministry said today.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana today reacted cautiously to a proposal from a senior Iranian nuclear official that France enrich Iran’s uranium on Iranian soil to satisfy international demands for foreign supervision of the Islamic republic’s nuclear program.

Unidentified gunmen abducted a French engineer from outside his home as he was on his way to work today in Baghdad, police and the French foreign ministry said.

The UN’s report on the oil-for-food programme for Saddam Hussein’s Iraq drew widespread denials, terse dismissals and protestations of innocence yesterday, but also pledges to investigate from some of the 2,200 companies cited and countries with citizens named.

Gunmen killed the honorary French consul to the northern city of Cap-Haitien while he was driving in Haiti’s capital, amid growing insecurity in the hemisphere’s poorest country, the French Embassy said today.

At least six people were killed in violent protests that broke out after the son of Togo’s late dictator was declared the winner of presidential elections, officials said today.