Freed with a message

Algiers - The Algerian singer Lounes Matoub, released late on Monday night, said that he had been kidnapped by the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), the country's most radical Islamic faction. Matoub, 38, a strong critic of the fundamentalists, said the GIA had freed him after more than two weeks in captivity with a call from the movement for help from the Berbers of his Kabylie region. AFP