The French government held a crisis meeting on Thursday over the fate of two journalists held hostage in Iraq after a new purported statement from the kidnappers denied they had demanded a ransom or set a deadline. Leaders of all the major political parties emerged from the meeting to pledge solidarity with conservative Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, but they did not reveal any fresh details about the government's ongoing efforts to free the hostages. Government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope said Paris was confident but cautious, after hopes of an imminent release of Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot were dashed over the weekend. "Our approach gives us the feeling that a number of factors are going in the right direction but at the same time we are cautious," he told LCI television. --SP 1441 Local Time 1141 GMT
