Journalists Kidnapped in Iraq

A CBS photographer and translator have been kidnapped in Iraq, reports the Italian news agency ADN Kronos. Richard Butler, a Briton whose work has appeared in Newsweek and Time, and an Iraqi co-worker were forced out of their Basra hotel and into a car by a group of armed men, a police source said. A hotel employee told AFP about 10 men abducted the journalists.

CBS issued a statement saying two journalists are "missing" but did not identify them. The network said: "All efforts are under way to find them and until we learn more details CBS News requests that others do not speculate on the identities of those involved." Basra was under the control of British coalition troops until late last year; the US has no military presence in the city, the LA Times reports. (More Iraq stories.)