
Ninety
children are being help hostage by Ugandan rebels in the north-east region of the Democratic Republican of Congo. In simultaneous attacks carried out by the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) last week, 40 children were abducted from a primary school and 50 from a secondary school. Three people died, and the village chief and three Italian missionaries were also taken.
Ack, ack, ack. This story! It gives the
Austrian incest case a run for its money for sheer disgusting details alone.

After the stunning rescue last week of 15 hostages held by
FARC rebels in Colombia, Ingrid Betancourt — the most well-known of those rescued after being held hostage for six years — has urged the end of a vocabulary of hate against her former captors.
She
says:I think we have reached a point where we must change this radical, extremist vocabulary of hate of very strong words that intimately wound the human being.
Though her sympathy for her captors sounds a little
Stockholm Syndrome-y, she says she has no illusions as to the true nature of the group, but that a honey trap of kindness would be a better way to ensure more hostage releases.