Suha, the mother of Mohammed Abu Khudair, calls him a “good boy,” often showing journalists photos of him on her phone playing in the neighborhood, or helping the family around the house. Her family was stunned when Hebrew media outlets began running stories just hours after his death claiming that he had been killed because of his sexual orientation, or because her family was involved in some sort of nefarious feud.

At least nine Libyan soldiers were killed in the early hours of Friday morning, and dozens injured, after clashes broke out between Ansar al Sharia militants and other Islamist militants. In addition, three Libyan soldiers were killed Tuesday morning, and two others injured, after a suicide bomber blew up his car at the entrance of an army brigade headquarters in the city of Benghazi.

Colombian police reported that 292 cases of kidnapping were registered in 2013, of which 32 could be directly traced to the FARC, despite the rebel group's promise to cease the practice -- a government precondition for peace talks. In February 2012, the rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) announced they would cease the practice of “retentions” (the guerrilla word for kidnapping), which was a government precondition for sitting down and negotiating an end to the 50-year civil conflict.

Mexico saw the highest number of reported kidnappings in the first half of 2013 since at least 1997, according to a national civil society organization, a figure that reflects the increasing diversification of criminal activities in the country. According to a report from the National Citizen Observatory (ONC), there were 757 reports of kidnappings recorded between January and June this year, the highest number for any semester in the time period 1997 to 2013.