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(Vatican Radio) At the end of his General Audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis called on everyone to pray for a group of nuns taken by force from the Greek Orthodox Monastery of Saint Tecla in the ancient Christian town of Ma’lula in Syria. “Now I would like to invite everyone to pray for the religious sisters of the Greek Orthodox Monastery of Saint Tecla in Ma’lula, in Syria, who, two days ago, were taken away by force by armed men,” he said. “Let us pray for these sisters, and for all those who have been kidnapped on account of the...

Baltimore Orioles "Iron Man" Cal Ripken Jr. announced a $100,000 reward Thursday for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the man who kidnapped his mother for a day last year, a case that is still unsolved. "After talking as a family with members of law enforcement and friends, we decided we would try to reignite interest in the case," the Hall of Fame shortstop told reporters during a news conference at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Violet Ripken, Cal's mother, then 74, was abducted at gunpoint the morning of July 24, 2012, from her Aberdeen, Maryland, home. Her disappearance...

SNIPPET: "Authorities in Ecuador are officially treating the disappearance of an Oklahoma City valedictorian as a kidnapping case, according to family members searching for the teen." SNIPPET: "Classen SAS graduate August Reiger went missing Sunday from a mountain near his Baños resort where he had been staying for the last week." SNIPPET: "The U.S. Embassy says it is in close contact with the Reiger family while the State Department continues to warn of the dangers in the area." SNIPPET: "The family tells supporters in Oklahoma City that roughly 150 people searched for August on Tuesday. Those close to August say...

Four years ago a seven-year-old boy was taken from his parents as the family boarded an international flight. Armed police seized the boy, although they did not have arrest warrants, and he was placed in a foster home. The boy has still not been restored to his parents, and for three years they have not been allowed to see him at all. What on earth could these parents have done to their child? Had they abused and starved him? Neglected him and damaged his health? Psychologically tortured him? No, none of those things. So where could this nightmarish scenario have...

The woman mayor who was kidnapped and murdered by a Mexican drug gang pleaded with her attackers for her young daughter’s life, it emerged today. Maria Santos Gorrostieta, who had already survived two assassination attempts, was driving the child to school at around 8.30am when she was ambushed by a car in the city of Morelia. The 36-year-old was hauled from her vehicle and physically assaulted as horrified witnesses watched, according to newspaper El Universal. They described how she begged for her child to be left alone and then appeared to get into her abductors’ car willingly. The little girl...

A church tried to teach its youth group a lesson by staging a raid in which unsuspecting teens were ‘kidnapped’ at gunpoint, forced into a van and made to watch one of their pastors being assaulted in his house. The 'lesson,' according to pastors at the Glad Tidings Assembly of God in Middletown, Pennsylvania, was meant to teach them about what Christian missionaries are subjected to in other parts of the world. However, at least one girl, 14, was bruised and battered after the object lesson, and has now filed a complaint with the police. The girl, who has asked...

Watch unbelievable store surveillance video as a 7-year-old girl fights off a would-be kidnapper in a Georgia Walmart.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Two American women kidnapped by gunmen in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Friday were released into army custody hours after they were seized, security sources said.

(Reuters) - Gunmen in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula kidnapped two American women on Friday in an apparent attempt to hold them for ransom, security sources said.

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.number10.gov.uk/news/prime-minister-statement-on-alan-mcmenemy/ Prime Minister's statement on Alan McMenemy Friday 20 January 2012 Prime Minister David Cameron confirmed the British Embassy in Baghdad have received the body of hostage Alan McMenemy. The Prime Minister said: “It is with great sadness that I can confirm that the British Embassy in Baghdad received a body today that has been identified as Alan McMenemy, who was kidnapped in Baghdad in 2007, along with four other men. The bodies of Jason Swindlehurst, Jason Creswell and Alec MacLachlan were returned in 2009. Peter Moore was the only hostage released alive...

Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos was abducted by gunmen Wednesday from his home in his native Venezuela. Ramos, 24, was taken away in an SUV by four armed men in Santa Ines in central Carabobo state, Kathe Vilera, spokeswoman for the catcher's Venezuelan League team, said through her official Twitter account. "This is sad, worrisome and true that Wilson Ramos has been kidnapped," she said. Ramos was playing winter ball with the Aragua Tigers. She said the rising Major League Baseball star was kidnapped at 6:45 p.m. local time (2315 GMT) and that police have been notified. Santa Ines lies...

As I watch the unfolding of the Shalit exchange across multiple television news channels, including Israeli, France, CNN, BBC and UK I find the most of the reporting disconcerting. Why? The reporters are either ill informed, intentional in distorting the truth or truly ignorant. There is no other possibility. Let me clarify a point repeatedly, across almost all of these news stations regarding Shalit’s abduction. He was taken on 25 June 2006 by Hamas terrorist from Gaza in a cross-border raid. A Hamas terrorist group attacked a Merkava Tank Mark 3, which was guarding the security fence and an army...

Peshawar, 18 September 2011, Taliban had target the Ex Governor of Afghanistan province Wardak, Bism Ullah Umar. He was Governor during Babrak Karmil Regime in Afghanistan. According to sources Taliban kidnapped him yesterday evening when he was on way to Karemdad village of Narh City. The security guard of Ex Governor has start firing on Taliban to release the Ex Governor, but Taliban bring the Bism Ullah Umar. After the kidnapping of Ex Governor of Wardak Province afghan national force has start operation in different area of the city, but they didn’t found any clue. Till now no one take...

Peshawar 2 April 2011, Students of Secondary School Began whose are returns to homes, unknown militants kidnapped him from Began Area of Kurram Agency. Political administration confirmed the incident. According to the official all student of Government High School Began and they are return to homes after give exam. It’s the second incident in area. Last week militants kidnapped 33 people from same area.

GUNMEN have kidnapped the sole police officer in a northern Mexican town, a 28-year-old woman working alone after her colleagues resigned or were killed in the region's brutal drug war. A dozen unidentified gunmen set Erika Gandara's home ablaze last week and torched two cars parked outside before abducting her, the Chihuahua state prosecutor's office. Guadalupe, the town of 9000 inhabitants she helped keep safe, is located just off the US-Mexico border in the heart of one of the country's most violent regions where 3100 people were killed this year alone. In late November, unidentified gunmen killed another female crime...

A 13 year old female is missing, in Des Moines, Iowa. She has not been seen since Friday Morning. Pleast take a look at her picture, and help watch for her. Thank you. A Facebook page has been set up here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_166045436749216&ap=1 MISSING 13 YEAR OLD GIRL Tiffany Speck, last seen November 5th around 8:30 am on the corner of South Union and Kirkwood on the Southside of Des Moines, IA. She was wearing a black sweatshirt with a McKee School logo on the left shoulder, jeans and grey sweater boots. Tiff is 5’ 2”, 145 lbs., brown eyes, and...

Note: Photo included. NOTE The following text is a quote: Wednesday, October 6, 2010 Somali Family Laments Kidnapping of Christian Girl Islamist extremist insurgents abducted 15-year-old nearly eight months ago By Dan Wooding Founder of ASSIST Ministries MOGADISHU, SOMALIA (ANS) -- Compass Direct News (CDN) is reporting that an underground Christian family from central Somalia is agonizing over the kidnapping of their daughter nearly eight months ago by Islamic militants bent on punishing those who leave Islam. Al Shabaab gunmen in Somalia Ghelle Hassan Aded told Compass that he has not seen his 15-year-old daughter, Anab Ghelle Hassan, since Islamic...

MEXICO CITY (AFP) – A heavily armed gang kidnapped about 20 Mexican tourists in the beach resort city of Acapulco earlier this week and their whereabouts are still unknown, police said Saturday. The tourists from Morelia in neighboring Michoacan state were "deprived of their liberty" Thursday when they were overtaken by an armed group, prosecutors said in a statement, adding they did not know the identity of the gunmen or the fate of those abducted. "On Thursday night, about 20 people were abducted by armed men as they arrived in Acapulco. There is no immediate word on there whereabouts, the...

Criminal proceedings against the man accused of kidnapping Jaycee Lee Dugard have been sensationally halted because of concerns about his mental state. Superior Court Judge Douglas Phimister made the decision yesterday after a short pre-trial hearing for Phillip Garrido. Phimister said he had concerns about Garrido's mental competency to participate in his defence. He is facing 29 counts of kidnapping, rape and false imprisonment in the 1991 disappearance of Dugard

MONTERREY Mexico (Reuters) - Mexican security forces found the body of a slain mayor near Mexico's affluent city of Monterrey on Wednesday, days after he was abducted by drug hitmen, officials and local media said. Mexican President Felipe Calderon, in a posting on his Twitter account, said he was sorry about the "cowardly assassination" of Mayor Edelmiro Cavazos, the mayor of a popular tourist town on the outskirts of Monterrey, a major industrial center with close U.S. business links. "The murder of Edelmiro is an outrage and forces us to redouble our efforts to fight these cowardly criminals," Calderon wrote....