kidnapping

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Fame Hinders Chance of Freedom
Fame Hinders Chance of Freedom
Jun 7, 2008 12:31 PM CDT

Fame Hinders Chance of Freedom

As international cause, Colombian hostage is valuable to rebels

(Newser) - The daughter of a beauty queen and a diplomat who once enjoyed a charmed existence in fashionable Parisian quarters, Ingrid Betancourt is now a hostage in a Colombian jungle who is sometimes chained by the neck to a tree. The Wall Street Journal profiles the plight of the former Colombian...

First Austrian Cellar Girl Becomes Talk Show Host

Natascha Kampusch gets gig two years after escaping

(Newser) - An Austrian woman who was held captive for more than 8 years has achieved her dream of hosting a talk show, the Guardian reports. TV had been Natascha Kampusch's main source of entertainment during her years trapped in a cellar before her escape; now she’s seeing “the other...

Pirates Hijack Relief Ship Off of Somalia

Attack is third within weeks off the coast long plagued by pirates

(Newser) - Pirates hijacked a Jordanian relief ship off the Somalia coast early yesterday, reports the BBC, and its 12-member international crew are now traveling north with its cargo of 4,000 tons of sugar. Jordan is reportedly working with the Danish embassy in Mogadishu, near where the boat was seized, to...

Fritzl Spent Years Planning Dungeon

Father devoted 6 years to building prison to house daughter

(Newser) - Joseph Fritzl’s plot to imprison his daughter began when the girl was just 12, Austrian police believe, six years before he finally locked her away. Fritzl built an extension to his house between 1978 and 1983, AFP reports. “The intention must have been there to build a secret...

Austrian Town Holds Vigil for Dungeon Family

Horrified residents gather in support of victims

(Newser) - Hundreds of people gathered last night for a candlelit vigil in the Austrian town where a man locked his daughter in a basement dungeon for 24 years and fathered her seven children. Emotional residents stood in the rain to demonstrate solidarity with the captive family, the BBC reports. "We...

Austrian Father Hid Dungeon Expertly

Police couldn't find it; hidden concrete door has electronic lock

(Newser) - Austria's Josef Fritzl hid his underground dungeon—in which he imprisoned his daughter and three of their children—so well that police couldn't find it without his hands-on help. The BBC pieces together a look at the 650-square-foot area in his cellar that Fritzl used to hide his secret family....

Incest Family Members Meet for 1st Time

Austria reunion goes smoothly; prosecutors weigh murder charge

(Newser) - Members of the family in the Austrian incest case have met for the first time and interacted with "astonishing" ease, an official at the clinic where they're being treated told the AP. Although the children who were imprisoned with their mother had never met their other siblings or grandmother,...

DNA Confirms It: Man Fathered Own Grandkids

Austrian 'horror dad' appears in court, will remain in custody

(Newser) - DNA testing has confirmed the bizarre tale of Josef Fritzl, who confessed to imprisoning his now-42-year-old daughter Elisabeth in his basement for 24 years and fathering seven children by her. The test confirms the parentage of all six surviving kids —one twin died shortly after childbirth, CNN reports. The...

Virtual Kidnap Latest Crime Wave in Mexico

Crooks claim to have kids; terrified parents pay up

(Newser) - Mexican crooks are putting a new twist on an old crime with "virtual kidnapping," the New York Times reports. The criminals are cashing in on the widespread fear of kidnapping by calling families and pretending to have snatched a loved one—usually a child—for ransom. Many panicked...

Man Admits to Imprisoning Daughter
Man Admits to Imprisoning Daughter
Apr 28, 2008 9:51 AM CDT

Man Admits to Imprisoning Daughter

Fathered 7 children over 24 years, some raised in basement cell

(Newser) - A 73-year-old Austrian man has confessed to imprisoning his daughter in a basement dungeon for 24 years and fathering seven children by her, Reuters reports. The daughter, now 42, told police yesterday her father, Josef Fritzl, drugged and handcuffed her in 1984, locking her in a windowless labyrinth. The father,...

Austrian Man Held Daughter Captive 24 Years

Locked up at 18, she gave birth to 7 babies in underground cellar

(Newser) - A 42-year-old Austrian woman missing since 1984 has been found—in her father’s cellar, where she says he kept her prisoner for 24 years. Elisabeth F. told police her father, Josef F., began sexually abusing her at age 11, and locked her in the cellar when she turned 18,...

Vietnamese Babies 'Sold to US'
 Vietnamese Babies 'Sold to US' 
Apr 25, 2008 3:47 AM CDT

Vietnamese Babies 'Sold to US'

Embassy probe finds fraud, bribery

(Newser) - US adoptions of Vietnamese children are tainted by bribery, kidnapping and baby-selling, according to an investigation by the US Embassy. The report, obtained by AP, discovered that one hospital sold a baby whose mother couldn't pay her medical bills. US couples—including Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt—have adopted more...

Pakistan Ambassador Held by Taliban
Pakistan Ambassador Held by Taliban
Apr 19, 2008 8:36 AM CDT

Pakistan Ambassador Held by Taliban

Video surfaces two months after his disappearance

(Newser) - In a video aired today on an Arab channel, Pakistan’s missing ambassador to Afghanistan says he was kidnapped two months ago by Taliban militants, AP reports. In the brief clip, Tariq Azizuddin, seated on the ground with his driver and bodyguard in front of three armed masked men, says...

Reality-Show Exec Charged With Kidnapping

Contestants say he wouldn't let them leave Pauper to Princess set

(Newser) - The director of a reality TV pilot has been arrested on kidnapping charges after allegedly trying to stop contestants from leaving the house where it was being filmed, ABC News reports. Four women fled the Pauper to Princess house and told neighbors to call the police. The women say they...

Ignore Pirates or Face Asylum Claims, UK Says

Navy argues blind eye not best policy

(Newser) - In an odd new take on piracy, the British Royal Navy has been told by the Foreign Office not to detain pirates—or they may seek asylum to escape death sentences in their home countries. It's not a strategy roundly hailed. “These people commit horrendous offenses. It’s a...

China Arrests 45 in 'Olympic Terror Plot'

Terrorist plot averted, officials say, but credibility problem persists

(Newser) - China has rooted out two terrorist groups plotting to kidnap Olympic athletes and attack tourist hotels during the games, the Ministry of Public Security announced today. Chinese forces rounded up 45 suspects and seized explosives and “jihadist” literature in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. But China has often cried...

Iraqi Forces Rescue 40 Kidnapped Students

Bus was grabbed at fake Mosul checkpoint

(Newser) - Iraqi police and soldiers have freed at least 40 students kidnapped by suspected members of Sunni Islamist al-Qaeda, Reuters reports. The young men had been seized by gunmen near Mosul in northern Iraq who set up a fake checkpoint and stopped two busloads of students returning to classes from a...

Chad Pardons, Frees French 'Orphan' Kidnappers

Chad's president pardons aid workers

(Newser) - The six men imprisoned for kidnapping 103 Chadian children have been pardoned and freed from a French prison, reports the BBC. Convicted in Chad and sentenced to hard labor, the members of charity group Zoe's Ark had been transferred to a facility in France, and received a pardon from Chadian...

Trial Starts for French 'Virgin Killer'

Husband-wife hunting team accused of seven murders

(Newser) - A French carpenter dubbed the "Ogre of the Ardennes" is on trial in France, accused of tracking down, raping and murdering seven virgins with the help of his wife in one of the nation's worst murder sprees in decades. Prosecutors say Michel Fourniret hunted victims from 1987 until 2003,...

FBI Recovers 2 US Contractors in Iraq

4 others still missing after severed fingers put focus on hunt

(Newser) - The FBI said today it has the bodies of two US contractors who were kidnapped in Iraq, the AP reports. John Roy Young, a security worker, and Ronald Withrow, employed by an IT firm, were two of six contractors kidnapped in Iraq over the past 2 years. Journalists shone attention...

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