German Captives

Israel will not hold off on a possible ground invasion of Gaza over the issue of captives being held there, Israel's energy minister told German tabloid newspaper Bild.

French police on Monday said they had arrested a 55-year old German national after his wife was discovered naked and with broken bones following 12 years in captivity at the couple's home.

German police on Tuesday freed a mentally disabled 26-year-old woman who was believed to have been locked away in an apartment by her own mother, possibly for years.

Ground controllers said today they would stop sending commands to comet probe Philae, announcing it was "time to say goodbye" to the tiny lab resting after a captivating science mission.

The Philippines on Thursday stepped up army patrols in the jungles of the southern island of Jolo where al Qaeda-linked Islamist militants are holding two Germans captive and are threatening to kill one of them.

Two Germans being held by an Islamist group in the southern Philippines appealed to the Philippine and German governments to secure their release through a message on local radio on Monday, days after the militants threatened to kill them.

Al-Qaeda linked militants in the southern Philippines have threatened to kill two Germans hostages they have been holding since April unless Germany stops supporting U.S. action against Islamic State militants, the SITE monitoring service said.

A North Carolina man was charged with human trafficking Monday after police said he was holding a German woman against her will in a secret room at a suburban Raleigh warehouse.

A German girl has been rescued by Bosnian police after allegedly being held captive by a couple for eight years during which she was forced to eat pig feed and pull a horse-cart. A neighbour who raised the alarm told AFP he witnessed the couple treating the girl, now 19, like an animal.

A reporter for The New York Times, David Rohde, who was captured in Afghanistan, fled captivity in North Waziristan with an Afghan colleague in 2009, but otherwise successful escapes are rare. Others currently in captivity include Mr Khan, who went missing in September 2010; Warren Weinstein, an American consultant whose kidnapping has been claimed...

Israel will not hold off on a possible ground invasion of Gaza over the issue of captives being held there, Israel's energy minister told German tabloid newspaper Bild.

French police on Monday said they had arrested a 55-year old German national after his wife was discovered naked and with broken bones following 12 years in captivity at the couple's home.

German police on Tuesday freed a mentally disabled 26-year-old woman who was believed to have been locked away in an apartment by her own mother, possibly for years.

Ground controllers said today they would stop sending commands to comet probe Philae, announcing it was "time to say goodbye" to the tiny lab resting after a captivating science mission.

The Philippines on Thursday stepped up army patrols in the jungles of the southern island of Jolo where al Qaeda-linked Islamist militants are holding two Germans captive and are threatening to kill one of them.

Two Germans being held by an Islamist group in the southern Philippines appealed to the Philippine and German governments to secure their release through a message on local radio on Monday, days after the militants threatened to kill them.

Al-Qaeda linked militants in the southern Philippines have threatened to kill two Germans hostages they have been holding since April unless Germany stops supporting U.S. action against Islamic State militants, the SITE monitoring service said.

A North Carolina man was charged with human trafficking Monday after police said he was holding a German woman against her will in a secret room at a suburban Raleigh warehouse.

A German girl has been rescued by Bosnian police after allegedly being held captive by a couple for eight years during which she was forced to eat pig feed and pull a horse-cart. A neighbour who raised the alarm told AFP he witnessed the couple treating the girl, now 19, like an animal.

A reporter for The New York Times, David Rohde, who was captured in Afghanistan, fled captivity in North Waziristan with an Afghan colleague in 2009, but otherwise successful escapes are rare. Others currently in captivity include Mr Khan, who went missing in September 2010; Warren Weinstein, an American consultant whose kidnapping has been claimed...