News In Brief

Two kidnapped Americans released in Beirut

An American professor and a French businessman kidnapped in west Beirut in February were released Sunday after action by the Shiite movement Amal. There was no indication of the kidnappers' identity.

Amal leader Nabih Berri presented the two men at a press conference at his west Beirut house in the presence of US Ambassador Reginald Bartholomew.

The freed men are Frank Regier, a professor of electrical engineering at the American University of Beirut, and Christian Joubert, employed by a Lebanese construction company here. Regier said his release had come as a complete surprise and thanked Amal for bringing it about.