The army confirmed that one of the 15 foreign tourists (a German woman) held hostage in the south, had died of heat exhaustion several weeks ago. The 14 other hostages and their Islamic radical captors, have crossed the border into Mali and are apparently still negotiating with the government for ransom and other items in order to get the tourists freed. The Islamic rebellion in Algeria has largely failed and many of the Islamic rebels are looking out for their future. A nice, large ransom would brighten up things considerably.