Paris

France bans ‘e-mail’

Goodbye “e-mail,” the French government says, and hello “courriel” — the term that linguistically sensitive France is now using to refer to electronic mail in official documents.

The Culture Ministry has announced a ban on the use of “e-mail” in all government ministries, documents, publications or Web sites, the latest step to stem an incursion of English words into the French lexicon.

The ministry’s General Commission on Terminology and Neology insists Internet surfers in France are broadly using the term “courrier electronique” (electronic mail) instead of e-mail — a claim some industry experts dispute. “Courriel” is a fusion of the two words.

Philippines

Police chief offers to resign after escapes

The Philippines’ national police chief offered to resign Friday after the dramatic escape of three high-profile terror suspects embarrassed the government.

Apparently rejecting the offer, President Gloria Macapagal ordered chief Hermogenes Ebdanehim to lead a force exclusively assigned to recapture the escapees, presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said.

The special force “will not stop until the terrorist leader is accounted for,” Arroyo said in a speech Friday.

The offer is part of the fallout from Monday’s stunning jailbreak. One escapee was suspected Jemaah Islamiyah bomb expert Fathur Roman Al-Ghozi, who has confessed to involvement in deadly bombings that killed 22 people in Manila in 2000. Jemaah Islamiyah is a Southeast Asian group believed linked to al-Qaida.

The other two were suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf, a small Muslim extremist group.

Jerusalem

Israel considers freeing some jailed militants

Israel is considering a limited release of jailed Islamic militants, Israeli officials said Friday, in a move that would partially satisfy a key Palestinian demand for maintaining the three-week Mideast cease-fire.

Highlighting the issue’s importance, the Palestinian and Israeli prime ministers were expected to address it at an upcoming meeting. Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Amr said the meeting would be Sunday, but Israeli officials would only say the meeting would be next week.

Israel has already agreed to release a few hundred imprisoned Palestinians, but has refused to comply with a Palestinian call that it also free thousands of militants belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

The prisoners dispute has deadlocked efforts to implement the U.S.-backed “road map” peace plan.

Sao Tome and Principe

Coup leaders agree to begin negotiations

Bowing to intense international pressure, the leaders of a military coup in this oil-rich West African nation agreed Friday to meet with foreign envoys to discuss ways of resolving the tiny country’s crisis.

Other countries and the World Bank had threatened the rebellious troops with diplomatic isolation, cuts in vital aid and possible military intervention to force them back to barracks.

Maj. Fernando Pereira, who heads a three-man junta installed after Wednesday’s bloodless rebellion, asked the United States, Nigeria and a delegation from Portuguese-speaking countries “to find a solution to the crisis.”