British hostage Kenny Whiteside was "lined up" and shot dead in the Algerian siege, his brother has said.

BBC: Algeria siege: British hostage 'was executed'

Nairobi, Kenya (CNN) -- Somali pirates freed a British hostage Wednesday, nearly seven months after she was taken captive in a raid at a Kenyan beach resort in which her husband was killed.

CNN: Somali pirates release British hostage

Security forces in Yemen cordoned off an area where tribesmen are holding a British family hostage.

ECONOMIST: Chinese wrinkles

However, the UK Government may come under fire from the opposition Conservative Party, which called for the army to be withdrawn after a British soldier died during September's daring operation to rescue British troops held hostage by the West Side Boys militia.

BBC: UK boosts Sierra Leone force

Among those attending Tuesday's meeting were the family of Margaret Hassan, the British aid worker who was taken hostage and killed in Iraq in 2004.

BBC: Iraq inquiry told of 'war lies'

Three crewman have been taken hostage after pirates attacked a British ship off the west coast of Africa.

BBC: Pirates attack British cargo ship in Gulf of Guinea

The UK Foreign Office has confirmed that some British nationals caught up in the Algerian hostage crisis returned home overnight.

BBC: Algeria crisis: Hostage death toll 'could rise'

He said the latest reports indicate she is being held near Haredhere, a pirate base almost 200 miles (320 km) up the coast from the Somali capital, Mogadishu - the same area where the British couple Paul and Rachel Chandler were held hostage for more than a year.

BBC: Kenya tourist death: Man denies woman's abduction

During a debate on piracy on 10 November 2010, the House of Lords heard that more than 400 people are currently being held hostage in the region - including a British couple kidnapped from their yacht more than a year ago.

BBC: Peers express alarm at threat posed by Somali pirates

Keenan spent more than four years as a hostage in Beirut, sharing a cell with the British journalist John McCarthy.

BBC: Homeland US return is ratings hit

With those words David Cameron heralded his arrival in Algeria - the first Western leader to visit this country since the hostage crisis which left 38 foreigners dead and the first British prime minister to visit in half a century of Algerian independence.

BBC: Neighbourhood watch not mission creep

In December 1998, a group of 16 western tourists, mostly British, was seized at gunpoint on a remote desert road in southern Yemen and taken hostage by fanatical, machine-gun-wielding militants.

BBC: End of an era as Abu Hamza to be extradited

British special forces are on standby to stage a rescue mission in Algeria, after foreign gas plant workers were taken hostage, says the Times.

BBC: Papers