French soldiers successfully defended two fishing boats from capture by pirates in the Indian Ocean, and 11 men suspected of involvement in the failed attack were pursued at sea and captured, officials said.

Police in Brazil are scouring airport video footage in a bid to identify passengers on the doomed Air France jet, following reports that two terror suspects were aboard when it crashed into the Atlantic Ocean.

A FRENCH nuclear submarine has reached the crash zone of Air France Flight 447 to join the search for the plane’s black boxes, the key to determining what brought the Airbus down in the sea off Brazil with 228 people on board.

French fighter jets bombed two rebel-held towns in the Central African Republic today, forcing rebels to pull troops out of one of them after fighting with government forces, officials said.