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Bangladesh mourns victims of first-ever hostage crisis

With all the national flags at government and semi-government offices and foreign missions down at half-mast, Bangladesh is mourning on Sunday the deaths of victims of the country's first-ever hostage crisis involving militants.

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Company of 10 Indonesian crew kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf agrees to pay $1.46 million ransom

The private company that owns the Indonesian boats whose 10 crew members are being held hostage by the Abu Sayyaf militants in the Southern Philippines has agreed to hand over 50 million Peso (S$1.46 million) in ransom, said Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan on Tuesday (April 19).

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China confirms death of hostage held by IS

China on Thursday confirmed the death of a Chinese hostage Fan Jinghui who had been held by the Islamic State (IS), saying the criminal must be brought to justice.

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Six inmates commit suicide, ending Taiwan prison standoff

Six convicts carrying rifles and handguns who took hostages at Kaohsiung Prison in southern Taiwan killed themselves early Thursday morning, ending nearly 14 hours of standoff with the police.

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Japan's Kansai Airport tightens security against terrorism

​Kansai Airport, the international hub in western Japan, has tightened security after the Islamic State ( IS) militant group killed its second Japanese hostage and announced the Japanese people as targets of terrorism, local media reported on Monday.

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Japan says man beheaded likely to be Goto, issues safety warning

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference that the man beheaded by the Islamic State militants showed in a video posted on-line early Sunday is highly likely to be Japanese hostage Kenji Goto, local media reported.

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Japan says latest IS hostage video "likely authentic"

​Japanese top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said Sunday that the latest video suggesting a Japanese hostage held by the Islamic State (IS) militants was killed is likely authentic, adding that Japan is still analyzing whether the clip was posted by the IS.

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Hostage crisis puts Sydney on high alert

Australia has been put on a nationwide alert on Monday for possible terror threats after an armed man suspected of being related to radical Islamists took up to 40 hostages in central Sydney and forced part of the city into lockdown.

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Man takes hostage in Brasilia, allegedly demands Brazil's president to step down

An armed man took a hotel employee hostage Monday in Brazil's capital Brasilia, demanding that President Dilma Rousseff step down from power, according to leading news website G1.

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Leftist rebels hold 40 hostages in S. Philippines: officials

Leftist rebels are holding close to 40 civilians in southern Philippines, and negotiations were conducted to free the hostages, authorities said on Sunday.

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French hostage in Nigeria released: Elysee

A French hostage kidnapped on Dec. 20, 2012 in Nigeria was released, the French president's office Elysee said on Sunday.

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Man and daughter dead after hostage situation in Holland

A hostage situation in Reuver, a town in the southern Dutch province of Limburg, ended Thursday with the death of the hostage-taker and his three-year-old daughter, Dutch police said.

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Hostages freed in southern Germany after police raid

The remaining two hostages were freed in the town hall of the southern German city of Ingolstadt as police raided the building after hours of standoff on Monday.

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Jew carried out lethal shooting attack at Israeli bank

A Jewish man had carried out a shooting rampage at a bank in southern Israel on Monday, in which four people were killed and seven others wounded, local media reported.