Latest Hostage situations News

Jimmy Carter admirers across generations celebrate the former president's 99th birthday

Sep. 30, 2023 16:20 PM EDT

ATLANTA (AP) — J. Edgar Hoover became the federal government’s top cop. Ellis Island closed as a portal for immigrants to the United States. France hosted the first Winter Olympics. And a baby in rural Georgia became the first future American president born in a hospital. The...

A new Iran deal shows the Biden administration is willing to pay a big price to free Americans

Sep. 15, 2023 11:11 AM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — As the Biden administration heralds the forthcoming release of five U.S. citizens detained by Iran, President Joe Biden is also confronting questions about the price being paid to bring them — and other detainees — home. The billions of dollars being unfrozen...

Today in History: September 13, Attica prison standoff ends with 32 inmates and 11 hostages dead

Sep. 13, 2023 00:01 AM EDT

Today in History Today is Wednesday, Sept. 13, the 256th day of 2023. There are 109 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Sept. 13, 1971, a four-day inmates’ rebellion at the Attica Correctional Facility in western New York ended...

Multistate search for murder suspect ends with hostage situation and fatal standoff at gas station

Sep. 10, 2023 20:49 PM EDT

CEREDO, W.Va. (AP) — A man suspected of a killing in Ohio and multiple carjackings in Kentucky was killed by West Virginia police in a standoff outside a gas station where he was holding three hostages. The multistate search for David Maynard, 54, ended late Saturday evening at a...

Car bomb explosions and hostage-taking inside prisons underscore Ecuador's fragile security

Sep. 01, 2023 01:42 AM EDT

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador's fragile security situation was underscored Thursday by a series of car bombings and the hostage-taking of more than 50 law enforcement officers inside various prisons, just weeks after the country was shaken by the assassination of a presidential candidate. ...

Gabon's wealthy, dynastic leader thought he could resist Africa's trend of coups. He might be wrong

Aug. 30, 2023 12:44 PM EDT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The president of Gabon, Ali Bongo Ondimba, knew well the threat of military coups in his part of the world. But he swore one wouldn’t happen to him. “While our continent has been shaken in recent weeks by violent crises, rest assured that I will never...

What is Stockholm syndrome? It all started with a bank robbery 50 years ago

Aug. 25, 2023 05:06 AM EDT

STOCKHOLM (AP) — It's a common term these days, deployed to describe the bond that victims of kidnappings or hostage situations sometimes develop with their captors: “Stockholm syndrome.” And it got its name 50 years ago this week, during a failed bank robbery in Sweden's capital. ...

Romanian hostage freed from Burkina Faso after 8 years in captivity, Romania's foreign ministry says

Aug. 09, 2023 14:59 PM EDT

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — A Romanian citizen who was abducted in northeast Burkina Faso in 2015 where he was working at a mine, was released Wednesday, Romania's foreign ministry said. Iulian Ghergut, who was 39 years old when a militant group linked to al-Qaida captured him at a mine...

Suspect in Vegas Strip resort standoff a fugitive in Colorado kidnapping case, authorities say

Jul. 12, 2023 20:25 PM EDT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A man accused of instigating a hostage standoff and throwing furniture out of a broken 21st-floor window at Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip is a fugitive in a Colorado kidnapping case, authorities said Wednesday. A judge set bail at $750,000 for Matthew John...

Hostage freed after hourslong standoff at Las Vegas Strip resort room, police say

Jul. 11, 2023 21:01 PM EDT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A man was arrested and a woman described as his hostage was released unharmed Tuesday after an hourslong standoff in a room at the Caesars Palace resort on the Las Vegas Strip, police said. No injuries were reported and police did not immediately say if the man in...