Nairobi  - A group that has kidnapped two aid workers with French organization Aide Medicale Internationale in Sudan's restive Darfur province has demanded a massive ransom for their release, media reports said Monday.

The Sudan Tribune, citing a news service close to Sudanese intelligence, said that the unidentified kidnappers want 200 million dollars to release the French and Canadian citizens.

The two workers were taken from AMI's compound in Ed El-Fursan, southern Darfur, on Saturday night.

Paris  - Vicent Kipruto of Kenya became the ninth-fastest man in marathon history on Sunday when he won the Paris Marathon.

Kipruto clocked a track record 2 hours 5 minutes 47 seconds as he held off Ethiopian Bazu Worka (2:06:15) and Kenya's David Kiyeng (2:06:26) in the French capital.

Only eight men led by Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie (2:03:59 in Berlin 2008) have been faster than Kipruto over the classic distance of 42.195 kilometres.

Paris/Quetta, Apr. 5 : The United Nations (UN) has expressed satisfaction over the release of John Solecki, over two months after he was abducted by the Balochistan Liberation United Front (BLUF).

"I''m very pleased that John Solecki has been released. I''m very happy," UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said.

Moon also appreciated Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan head of state Hamid Karzai for their efforts to ensure the safe return of Solecki.

Strasbourg, France  - Rioters set fire to a five-storey hotel and other buildings in Strasbourg Saturday as left-wing protests against a NATO summit in the French city turned violent.

Fire also gutted a pharmacy, a nearby tourist information office and a disused French customs post in the city near the German border.

Strasbourg, France  - Rioters set fire to a five-storey hotel and other buildings in Strasbourg Saturday as left-wing protests against a NATO summit in the French city turned violent.

Fire also gutted a pharmacy, a nearby tourist information office and a disused French customs post in the city near the German border.

Police said 10,000 people had demonstrated against NATO on the French side, most of them peacefully. But because of the mayhem, police scotched plans for another 6,000 activists from the German side to march over the border bridge and join the main rally.

Strasbourg, France  - Many demonstrators came to march for peace, but instead there was violence as masked rioters unleashed an orgy of destruction in Strasbourg on Saturday, burning a hotel, a tourist bureau and a pharmacy.

The scene, the approaches to the Pont de l'Europe road bridge, was just a couple of hundred metres away from a footbridge over the Rhine River where President Nicolas Sarkozy had welcomed the other 27 leaders of NATO to a summit Saturday.

Smiles in the morning. Grim skirmishing in the afternoon.