Brazilian Indians free hostages

Native Indians in north-east Brazil have released fifteen tourists whom they'd taken hostage in pursuit of land claims.

They were freed after the government agreed to enforce the demarcation of the Indians' lands, which cover eighteen thousand square kilometres.

At one stage, the Indians, from the Caiapo tribe, had threatened to kill all the hostages unless their demands were met.

The Caiapos complain that ranchers, loggers and fishermen have been trespassing on their land, even though it has been set aside as an Indian reservation and its status should have been formalised five years ago. The tribe has been in the spotlight before; one of the Caiapo chiefs, Raoni, was taken on a world tour by the singer Sting to promote his campaign to save the Amazon rainforest.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service