The British family held hostage for three days after being kidnapped in Gaza were freed on Friday night after 18 hours of secret negotiations. Following their release, shortly after 8pm, a previously unknown faction calling itself Brigades of the Mujahideen — Jerusalem, said they were responsible for the seizure of Kate Burton (24) her father Hugh (73) and mother Helen (55).

Thousands of American troops will be assigned to Iraqi police units to monitor their work and rein in those who abuse prisoners. The decision was made following a series of scandals involving Iraqi interior ministry forces including the discovery, last month, of dozens of emaciated and tortured inmates during a raid on a secret prison with almost 170 prisoners.

These are better days to be an American diplomat. After four years of humiliation and powerlessness under Colin Powell, the United States state department is enjoying a renaissance under new leadership. Condoleezza Rice may not have the stratospheric poll ratings of her predecessor, but she is still the most popular member of the Bush administration.

Austria’s president on Thursday admitted that many of his citizens are ”fed up” with the European Union, as the country prepares to take over the EU presidency from Britain on Sunday. Heinz Fischer conceded that Austrians had ”cooled” on the EU, and warned that the bloc was not ”limitlessly expandable”.

Sunni Arab groups in Iraq refused on Thursday to join talks about a new government until the United Nations reviews disputed results in the recent parliamentary elections. If they do attend, it will be ”only to look for solutions for the political crisis”, Dhafer al-Ani, spokesperson for the Iraqi Accordance Front — the main Sunni electoral bloc — told Reuters.