THOMAS NEPHEW has more information on those missing tourists in Algeria: German reports say they’re being held hostage in an effort to secure the freedom of convicted terrorists:

The goal is apparently to force the release of four Algerian extremists recently sentenced in Frankfurt for planning an attack on the Strassburg Christmas Market. The German foreign ministry did not want to comment. “Nothing is being ruled out” in the investigation and all leads are being persued, a spokesman said. Officially, all countries involved are still viewing kidnapping only as a possible scenario about the tourists’ whereabouts.

Interesting.