The Pope and human rights groups have joined calls for the release of two Catholic priests kidnapped in Mosul, northern Iraq, on Friday 12 October 2007, Syrian Catholic Church head Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa has briefed reporters.

Protests from secular and teaching groups have met an announcement by the government that many more faith-based schools are to be brought into the state-funded sector with a pledge to remove "unnecessary barriers" to religious groups.