Venezuelan bank robbers arrested, hostages freed
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ALTAGRACIA DE ORITUCO, Venezuela  - Venezuelan police swooped on an ambulance used by robbers escaping a bank siege on Tuesday, arresting four men and freeing a group of hostages held in the getaway vehicle.
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Venezuelan troops are cracking down on the smuggling of food and gasoline along the border with Colombia, seizing truckloads of contraband amid a bitter feud between the two countries' governments.
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Three workers of the United Nations kidnapped in Afghanistan four weeks ago were released unharmed Tuesday, a day after a string of raids by US and Afghan security forces.
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President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela pardons and frees 27 Colombians convicted for plotting against him.
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Three foreign UN workers held hostage in Afghanistan were freed unharmed today, almost four weeks after they were abducted at gunpoint on the streets of the capital Kabul.
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CARACAS, Venezuela  - Venezuela said on Thursday  it was ready to arrest Colombian rebels found hiding in its  territory as Bogota and Caracas tried to end a stand-off over  the seizure of a Marxist guerrilla leader in Venezuela's  capital.
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ALTAGRACIA DE ORITUCO, Venezuela  - Venezuelan bank robbers carrying pistols and a hand-grenade sped away on Tuesday from a police siege in an ambulance with a handful of hostages after a deal that freed tens of other captives in a two-day standoff.
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Two Italian aid workers kidnapped 21 days ago in an audacious daylight raid were freed Tuesday, the prime minister of Italy announced.
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Colombia's FARC rebels will release three more hostages, all former local lawmakers, to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez after he brokered the release of two captives last month, according to a rebel statement given to local Noticias Uno television on Saturday.
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Hostages were taken at a bank in a  southern suburb of Paris on Tuesday, a local official said, and  French media reported that six people were being held.
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An armed group of ex-military nationalists released their hostages and surrendered on Tuesday, four days after seizing a police station and part of a Peruvian town to demand the president's resignation.
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Helicopters sent by Venezuela's president picked up two hostages freed by Colombian rebels in the jungle Thursday and flew the women across the border in a mission that could open a new path to freedom for dozens of captives.
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ALTAGRACIA DE ORITUCO, Venezuela  - Venezuelan police swooped on an ambulance used by robbers escaping a bank siege on Tuesday, arresting all four men and freeing a group of captives to end a two-day hostage standoff.
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A gang held the families of two  Northern Ireland bank officials hostage for 24 hours before  stealing about 20 million pounds ($39 million) in one of  Britain's biggest robberies, police said on Tuesday.
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SAN JOSE DEL GUAVIARE, Colombia  - Marxist rebels freed two women hostages held for years in Colombia's jungle in a Venezuelan-brokered deal on Thursday, raising hopes for dozens of other captives languishing in secret camps.
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Would-be robbers took about 30 people hostage inside a Venezuelan bank Monday after police arrived outside, the country's top emergency official said.
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Russian police on Thursday freed three hostages held in a home north of Moscow by two army deserters who had fled their garrison armed with assault rifles, police said. The freed hostages were unharmed.