How the criminal underworld operates the ransom business.
After a terrorist attack in Mali, are major hotels in the U.S. beefing up security?
Dozens are dead as a siege at a Kenyan mall enters its third day.
There is a fast-moving hostage crisis this morning at a natural gas complex in Algeria. The complex is run by BP and Statoil. Islamist militants attacked the facility apparently in protest of France's intervention in Mali.
Despite official denials, France is accused of being too ready to pay ransoms for hostages — and so encouraging kidnappers to abduct its citizens.
