Kabul - A soldier of the US-led coalition was killed in eastern Afghanistan, while international forces arrested three suspected insurgents elsewhere, the military said Friday.

The soldier was killed by small arms fire on Friday in the eastern region, US military said in a statement, but did not say if the firefight was with Taliban militants.

The dead soldier was not identified in the statement. Most of the soldiers who serve under the command of coalition forces are from the US.

More than 1,000 international soldiers have been killed in and around Afghanistan since the ouster of Taliban regime in late 2001.

Vienna - Two Austrians kidnapped by a terrorist group in Tunisia in February were freed Thursday night in Mali, Austria's foreign ministry announced Friday.

Wolfgang Ebner, 51, and Andrea Kloiber, 43, were on holiday in the Sahara desert when they were taken hostage allegedly by the terrorist organization al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb.

"Both are currently under the protection of the Mali army and are on their way to the capital Bamako," Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik said in a statement.

The kidnap victims are in relatively good health, according to Mali authorities, and would soon be met by Austrian officials in Bamako, the ministry said.

Tallinn - Estonian residents are obtaining Russian citizenship at nearly twice the rate they are claiming Estonian citizenship, according to figures released Friday.

Newspaper Eesti Paevaleht reported that the Russian embassy in Tallinn had granted Russian citizenship to 3,700 people during the last twelve months, while Estonian government figures showed that 1,600 people had acquired Estonian citizenship since January this year.

The newspaper quoted Russian embassy spokesman Maxim Kozlov who said "Estonia is one of the leading places in the world in terms of adoption of Russian citizenship."

Paris - The French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband are shortly to travel to the threatened Congolese city of Goma.

Athens - A Greek prosecutor charged Olympic 400-meter hurdles champion Fani Halkia with criminal doping offences Friday after she failed a dope test ahead of the 

Bucharest - Teachers in Romania have called a series of strikes to press demands for a 50 per cent pay increase approved by parliament, union leaders said Friday.

The teachers plan a day-long stoppage on November 10 and an indefinite strike from November 18 if their demands are not met. Civil servants and doctors say they will join the protest action.

President Traian Basescu has urged the teachers not to go ahead with their strike, saying it could jeopardize parliamentary elections scheduled for November 30.

The president supports the teachers' pay claim, but it is opposed by his political rival, Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu.