ransom

(Newser) - A Spanish naval frigate is steaming to the waters off Somalia to rescue crew members of a tuna boat seized by pirates, reports the BBC. The boat was grabbed just days after French commandos freed hostages from a luxury yacht comandeered by Somali pirates. The tuna boat's 26 crew members...

(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...

(Newser) - The Taliban released 21 South Korean hostages five months ago only after Seoul paid at least $4 million in ransom, a senior insurgent commander now claims. Contrary to South Korea's official denial to Newsweek that money changed hands, the commander said freeing the missionaries without recompense "would not have...

(Newser) - A 94-year-old Tennessee man was found dead with his hand cut off after a relative ran afoul of drug dealers who kidnapped him in retaliation, the Citizen Tribune of Morristown reports. "No one deserved to die like he did," the sheriff said of Willie Morgan. "This poor...