Kidnapper to be freed

Abbas Hamadi, a Shia Muslim jailed in Germany for kidnapping two businessmen in an attempt to secure his brother's release, will be freed and deported to his native Lebanon on 8 August after serving half a 13-year term, Reuter reports from Karlsruhe. Officials said there were no plans to release his brother, Mohammed Ali, jailed for life in 1989 for the 1985 hijacking of a US airliner to Beirut in which a US navy diver was killed.