Germany confirms kidnapping of its national in Nigeria BERLIN Germany confirmed Friday on that one of its nationals had been kidnapped in Nigeria, a day after police in the north of the country said gunmen had abducted a German engineer.

A foreign ministry spokesman in Berlin said “that we have to assume, from the situation, that a German national was abducted in north Nigeria” but did not give details.

He said a crisis unit and the German embassy were working “at full stretch” to clarify the situation.

Meanwhile, German construction company Bilfinger Berger said the man may be one of its employees.

“There are indications that it concerns an employee of our company sent to Nigeria,” a company spokesman said, adding the firm was in direct contact with the foreign ministry.

Police said the German kidnapped on Thursday was attached to a Nigerian construction firm Dantata and Sawoe. (AFP) French judge charges boss of breast implant firm MARSEILLE A French judge on Friday charged the founder of the breast implant company at the heart of a global health scare with “involuntary injuries”, prosecutors said.

More than 400,000 women around the world are believed to have received implants made by Poly Implant Prothese (PIP), which shut down in 2010 after it was revealed to have been using substandard, industrial-grade silicone gel.

Its founder Jean-Claude Mas, 72, was arrested Thursday in the southern city of Marseille on the orders of a judge who has launched a manslaughter investigation over the case. (AP) Prague signs deal to host satellite navigation hqrs PRAGUE The Czech government has signed a deal for Prague to host the headquarters of an ambitious satellite navigation system that is meant to become the main rival to the US Global Positioning System.

The deal was signed Friday in Prague by Czech Transport Minister Pavel Dobes and Carlo des Dorides, executive director of the European GNSS Agency.

The EU wants to dominate the future with a system known as Galileo that is more precise and more reliable than GPS, while controlled by civil authorities.

It foresees applications ranging from precision seeding on farmland to pinpoint positioning for search-and-rescue missions. (AP) Detained US suspect found hanged in cell MADRID An American man accused of killing a jewellery store owner in the US and stealing $300,000 in diamonds before fleeing to Europe was found hanged in his prison cell in Spain, authorities said.

Andrew Robert Levene was found dead on Thursday in the Modelo prison in the northeastern city of Barcelona, where he was recently arrested after an international manhunt, the justice department of Catalonia said.

An investigation into the death was under way but all signs indicated he had committed suicide by hanging himself with a sheet, a spokeswoman said.

Levene, 41, was charged with federal murder, robbery and firearm offences in the December 8 shooting in The justice department spokeswoman said that as with all people admitted to prison, Levine had been interviewed by prison authorities and showed no signs that he might do himself harm.