Kabul - A group of unknown gunmen abducted a French aid worker Monday in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and shot dead an Afghan driver who tried to rescue him, police said.

The Frenchman was kidnapped as he was walking to his office with a colleague, said Zemarai Bashary, an interior ministry spokesman.

The two men, who were working with a nongovernmental organization in the country, were walking to their office in the Kart-e-Parwan neighbourhood when three gunmen snatched the Frenchman and took him to an unknown location by car, said a senior police official who requested anonymity.

"An Afghan driver for the intelligence service who tried to stop the abduction was killed by the kidnappers," the official said.

Paris - French Prime Minister Francois Fillon has threatened to nationalize any French bank receiving emergency government aid that does not extend loans to businesses, the online edition of the daily Le Figaro reported on Monday.

Interviewed for a television program to be broadcast late Monday, Fillon said, "If we feel that the banks are not doing the necessary work ... we will take back the credits we have given them."

Without this government aid, Fillon said, the banks will find themselves in difficulty.

"The next question is if we will then take over the bank's capital, possibly to change their leadership, to oversee their strategy," he said.

Paris - The highly respected French weekly L'Express on Monday protested the Moroccan government's ban of its latest issue on the grounds that it insulted the Islamic religion.

L'Express assistant editor-in-chief Christian Makarian said he "could not understand" last Friday's decision by the Moroccan information minister to prohibit shipment of the magazine into the country.

The issue in question, dated October 30, shows images of Jesus Christ and Mohammad on the cover, accompanied by the headline "The Jesus-Mohammad Shock."

Kabul - A group of unknown gunmen abducted a French aid worker Monday in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and shot dead an Afghan driver who tried to rescue him, police said.

The Frenchman was kidnapped as he was walking to his office with a colleague, said Zemarai Bashary, an Interior Ministry spokesman.

The two men were on foot in the Kart-e-Parwan neighbourhood when three gunmen snatched the Frenchman and took him to an unknown location by car, said a senior police official who requested anonymity.

"An Afghan driver for the intelligence service who tried to stop the abduction was killed by the kidnappers," the official said.

He said that as the Afghan driver scuffled with the abductors, the other aid worker escaped.

Kabul - A group of unknown gunmen abducted a French national in the Afghan capital Kabul on Monday and shot dead an Afghan driver who tried to rescue him, police said.

Washington, Nov 2 : Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin was “mildly bemused” at knowing from French-Canadian comedian, who while impersonating as French President Nicolas Sarkozy, told her that his wife Carla Bruni was “hot in bed”. In her response, the Alaska Governor chuckled and complimented him for his “beautiful family”.