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Mideast: As the president sneaks more money in the budget for Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood thugs he helped install in Cairo show their gratitude by threatening to attack Israel. For three decades, the U.S. essentially paid Egypt not to attack our closest ally in the region. The policy worked to maintain peace. But Obama nullified that deal by backing Islamist revolutionaries against reliably pro-U.S. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Now the bribe has lost its effect. The new Egyptian leadership, led by the virulently anti-Jewish Muslim Brotherhood, this week issued a warning to Washington that it should understand that "what was...

Nick and I felt privileged to be invited to the special advance screening of Act of Valor, one week ago today. The Navy SEALs in the film weren’t portrayed by drug-addled Hollywood action heroes. They were real-life, active duty Navy SEALs. This morning the world learned, again, what makes these guys worth every dime we pay them and more . . . In an apparently flawless mission that could have been lifted straight from the film, the SEALs infiltrated a Somali pirate compound and rescued two kidnapped aid workers: American Jessica Buchanan and Dane Poul Thisted. The pair were kidnapped...

...In a statement sent to NBC News and other media, Obama says that he authorized the operation to rescue Buchanan. "Thanks to the extraordinary courage and capabilities of our Special Operations Forces, yesterday Jessica Buchanan was rescued and she is on her way home," he says. "As Commander-in-Chief, I could not be prouder of the troops who carried out this mission, and the dedicated professionals who supported their efforts." Obama, who spoke to Buchanan's father Tuesday night, says she was "selflessly serving her fellow human beings when she was taken hostage by criminals and pirates who showed no regard for...

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.number10.gov.uk/news/prime-minister-statement-on-alan-mcmenemy/ Prime Minister's statement on Alan McMenemy Friday 20 January 2012 Prime Minister David Cameron confirmed the British Embassy in Baghdad have received the body of hostage Alan McMenemy. The Prime Minister said: “It is with great sadness that I can confirm that the British Embassy in Baghdad received a body today that has been identified as Alan McMenemy, who was kidnapped in Baghdad in 2007, along with four other men. The bodies of Jason Swindlehurst, Jason Creswell and Alec MacLachlan were returned in 2009. Peter Moore was the only hostage released alive...

To believe that the war in Afghanistan will have anything but a disastrous end is to believe in the Tooth Fairy. Or, at least, that appears to be the almost inescapable conclusion that can be drawn from a careful reading of a very thoughtful column by Founder and CEO George Friedman of the respected private global intelligence organization Stratfor .

SNIPPET: "From a compound in Lahore, Pakistan to a home in the quiet Brad Drive neighborhood in Rockville, there's growing concern about the fate of kidnapped American contractor Warren Weinstein. "It's just a Byzantine world, it's not straight up", says Chis Meyers, a neighbor and a widely travelled retired marine. "There's people who are going to pick out Americans", he adds. Authorities say Weinstein, 70, an industrial development expert, employed by Arlington-based J.E. Austin associates was kidnapped around 3:45 Saturday morning Pakistani time. Police say eight to ten men approached Weinstein's Lahore house on a ploy. "They had come up...

SNIPPET: "A group of 40 Islamic students besieged a university near the capital city in Tunisia and held students and teachers hostage."

<p>Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, both 29, were convicted last month of entering Iran illegally and spying for the United States, and each sentenced to eight years in prison.</p> <p>They have not yet been seen leaving Evin Prison, but their attorney, Masoud Shafiee, went into the facility earlier in the day with paperwork to show that the $500,000 bail had been paid for each of them.</p>

Iran on Saturday sentenced two U.S. citizens, who were arrested in Iran in 2009, to eight years in prison on charges of illegal entry and espionage.Sarah Shourd, Shane Bauer, and Joshua Fattal were arrested by border guards on July 31, 2009 after illegally entering Iran’s territory from Iraq’s Kurdistan region. The three were charged with illegal entry and espionage.Shourd was released from prison on bail of $500,000 on September 14, 2010.Bauer and Fattal have been each sentenced to three years in prison for illegal entry to Iran. They have also been sentenced to five years in prison on charges of...

An Iranian court Tuesday set bail of $500,000 each for two American men arrested more than two years ago and convicted on spy-related charges, clearing the way for their release a year after a similar bail-for-freedom arrangement for the third member of the group, their defense attorney said.

“Verum is Latin for truth, as in truth serum. Union Members Take Hostages, Threaten Cops, Somehow Avoid ArrestJohn on September 8, 2011 at 8:41 am So, here’s what Obama’s new army of union thugs does in its spare time when not attending rallies: Hundreds of Longshoremen stormed the Port of Longview early Thursday, overpowered and held security guards, damaged railroad cars, and dumped grain that is the center of a labor dispute, said Longview Police Chief Jim Duscha. Six guards were held hostage for a couple of hours after 500 or more Longshoremen broke down gates about 4:30 a.m. and...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22, 2011 – Somali pirates killed all four Americans they had held hostage aboard a sailing vessel in the Indian Ocean this morning, U.S. Central Command officials announced. U.S. officials were negotiating with the pirates for the safe return of the captured Americans when the murders took place, officials said. Centcom officials said that in the midst of negotiations, U.S. forces responded to gunfire aboard the S/V Quest. When the forces reached the boat, officials said, they discovered all four hostages had been shot by their captors. Despite immediate steps to provide life-saving care, all four hostages ultimately...

"Police are seeking suspect Rodrick Dantzler, 34, traveling in a tan Lincoln Town Car with license plate number BWK 2308".

MANILA, Philippines – A jailed tribal leader has been temporarily freed to help urge gunmen, including his relatives, to safely release 16 mostly grade school teachers in the latest high-profile hostage crisis to hit the Philippines in recent months, officials said Sunday.

Germany had facilitated the clearance of India’s outstanding oil bill with Iran in February this year in return for the release of two German journalists held in custody by Tehran, a German news magazine has reported. The online edition of Der Spiegel today reported that India’s payment of about $ 1.5 billion to Iran through a bank in Germany, the European-Iranian Trading Bank (EITB), was “facilitated” by the German government as part of a deal to get its journalists released. Germany’s central bank, Bundesbank, cleared the transaction, the magazine quoted sources as saying. India was wary of making a direct...

ROME -- Italian officials said Sunday they would do whatever it takes to free the crew of an Italian tugboat apparently seized by Libyan officials at Tripoli's port as U.S. and European airstrikes enforced a no-fly zone over Libya. The "Asso 22" tug of the Naples-based shipping company Augusta Offshore SrL has eight Italian, two Indian and one Ukrainian crew members aboard, state-run RAI television said. Armed men, including one believed to be the Tripoli port commander, detained the crew as Libyan workers aboard were disembarking Saturday and prevented the vessel from leaving port, the report said. Defense Minister Ignazio...

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Armed forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi captured three Dutch marines and their helicopter during a botched evacuation mission near a stronghold of the Libyan leader, the Defense Ministry said Thursday. Libyan authorities are still holding the marines five days after they were seized Sunday by armed men after landing near Sirte in a Lynx helicopter from the navy ship HMS Tromp. The ship was anchored off the Libyan coast to help evacuations from the conflict-torn country, spokesman Otte Beeksma told The Associated Press. Two Europeans, one Dutch and one whose nationality was not released, were also...

The Times of London reports in tomorrow's edition that the Italians have agreed to stop paying ransoms to kidnapers in Iraq, a policy change that brings Rome into line with other Western nations. In further developments, an Italian parliamentarian indicated that despite earlier assertions that the Americans had been alerted to Sgrena's release and Calipari's itinerary, the Italians never got clearance for their vehicle: [THE Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has promised President George W Bush that he will not pay more ransoms to free hostages in Iraq. The Italian government has denied newspaper reports that $6m (£3.1m) was paid...

The United States says it has not been able to move some of its non-essential diplomats from Libya, as governments send airplanes and ships to pick up their citizens stranded by Libya's bloody unrest. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Tuesday the United States was looking at various ways to move the diplomats, their families, and other Americans out of Libya. He did not elaborate on why the U.S. was unable to do so on Tuesday. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the safety and wellbeing of Americans there is the highest U.S. priority. Meanwhile, Britain's foreign secretary says his...

AWOL Wisconsin Democrat calls CNN with list of demandsBy Mary Katharine Ham - The Daily Caller Updated: 4:31 PM 02/17/2011 State Senator Mark Miller, a member of the missing band of Wisconsin Democratic lawmakers who fled Madison Thursday to avoid a vote on a budget bill, called into CNN with the group’s list of demands for Republican Gov. Scott Walker. Miller, a state senator since 2004, would not disclose where he and his colleagues were hiding out, saying only “we are in what we consider a secure location outside the capital. We are not all in one place at this...

Chase Bank On North Main Street In Pearland Robbed Friday PEARLAND, Texas -- Two armed men are holding people hostage in a bank robbery, police said. Pearland police said the men held up the Chase Bank in the 1900 block of Main Street on Friday morning. Investigators said the bank's manager was injured, but have not released the extent of his injuries. An unknown number of hostages are being held inside the bank, police said. Residents in the area said parts of state Highway 35 were being blocked off. For more information on this breaking story, stay tuned to KPRC...

Nearly 76,000 Iranian Jews moved to Israel since 1948 and Immigration Ministry officials and the Knesset committee for immigration are trying to find ways to encourage the remaining 25,000 to move to the Jewish State. One major obstacle is the comfortable position of many Iranian Jews, despite their children starting school every day with the chant “Death to Israel, Death to America.” Marking International Human Rights Day, the Knesset Committee on Immigration discussed the situation with Israelis from the Turkish and Iranian Jewish communities in Israel. “I ask Jews in Iran why they stay there, and they tell me they...

A Wisconsin teen who held 23 students and a teacher hostage at Marinette High School died on Tuesday morning as authorities try to piece together what made the teen snap. Fifteen-year-old Samuel Hengel burst into the school at around 2:30 p.m. EST Monday and held the hostages for about five hours. He fired shots into a wall, desk and projector equipment in the room, but never aimed at students. Zach Campbell, a student who was in the room during the hostage situation, said Hengel pulled out a gun and shot the projector as they were watching a movie. "We just...

An irate former employee has taken hostages at a the headquarters of BMW in France, in Montigny-Le-Bretonneux.

MOGADISHU, Nov 7 (Reuters) - A man was shot dead on Sunday after he refused to disembark from a yacht in the Indian Ocean that was hijacked by Somali pirates last week, pirates and residents said on Sunday. The man was killed in Barawe town on the southern Somali coastline by pirates who had taken him hostage and wanted him to go onshore from his yacht in which he was sailing with others, including a woman and a boy. His nationality was not immediately clear. "He was shot and killed after he refused to disembark from his yacht and move...

BAGHDAD - Assailants attacked a prominent Baghdad church Sunday evening during mass, and were holding parishioners hostage as Iraqi troops ringed the area, security officials said......

At least 37 people have been killed after Iraqi security forces stormed a Catholic church in central Baghdad to free dozens of hostages being held by gunmen there, security sources say. Twenty-five hostages were among the dead, along with seven members of the Iraqi security forces and at least five of the attackers, they told the BBC. About 100 people had been inside Our Lady of Salvation for an evening Mass. The gunmen had reportedly demanded the release of jailed al-Qaeda militants. Continue reading the main story Struggle for IraqEnd to Iraq's epic journey in sight? US troops in Iraq...

IRAQIS STORM CHURCH-FREE HOSTAGES

Fox News just reported that 50 Catholics are being held hostage in a church in Iraq by Al Quida. More to follow,.

Discovery hostages knew gunman was ready to dieSeptember 18, 2010 - 6:12am By BEN NUCKOLS Associated Press Writer BETHESDA, Md. (AP) - As they lay on the floor of the Discovery Communications' lobby, listening to a gunman James Jae Lee rant about overpopulation, religion and the channel's programming and watching him strap a bomb to himself, two hostages came to the same conclusion: The gunman had no intention of leaving the building alive. Jim McNulty and Christopher Wood tried to placate gunman James Jae Lee the best they could during the Sept. 1 standoff. They lied about their jobs at...

On Wednesday, September 1 James Jay Lee stormed into the Discovery Channel’s office and took several hostages. He had a long list of grievances, most related to the human population and the environment. His rhetoric made him sound more like a real-life Kodos the Executioner than an environmental activist. To put it mildly, Lee was a man with an ax to grind. People will argue for months as to whether the guy was a leftist or a rightey, and it's a good bet that neither side will be willing to say, "Yeah, he was one of us." Who'd want to?

Population Control Advocate Killed After Holding Hostages at Discovery Channel Silver Spring, MD -- Maryland police shot and killed a population control activist who held several people hostage Wednesday afternoon at the offices of the Discovery Channel, a cable channel staple. James J. Lee has been protesting the channel for years because he said it was not doing enough to promote population control. http://LifeNews.com/int1632.html

Published 19:19 17.08.10 According to reports, West Bank Palestinian man barricades himself inside embassy with two hostages, threatens to kill Jews. By Haaretz Service Shots were heard Tuesday night at the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv, with local media reporting that a Palestinian from the West Bank city of Ramallah had barricaded himself in an office inside the embassy, with two hostages, and was threatening to kill any Jews who entered. Police and emergency medical personnel have arrived at the scene. Traffic along the Yarkon Street, where the embassy resides, has been blocked. However, embassy staff Has barred police and...

Last week the president spoke out on behalf of the three American hikers who have been held in Iran for nearly a year. During that time, they have been able to make only one telephone call — to their families back in the U.S. — and write no letter at all. Sarah, Shane, and Josh are in Tehran’s infamous Evin prison, and Sarah is locked in solitary confinement save for once a day when she goes to the prison yard and sees the others. “I want to be perfectly clear,” the president said.  And then he lapsed into incoherence.  “Sarah,...

MEXICO CITY – Mexican Federal Police freed two kidnapped journalists held captive since last Monday in the northern part of the country by an organized crime group, officials said Saturday. The two were in a group of four journalists who were intercepted last Monday in the La Laguna region, which includes areas in the states of Coahuila and Durango in northern Mexico. One of them, Hector Gordoa of Televisa, was released Thursday in good health. In an operation based on intelligence work, the agents rescued the two journalists in the city of Gomez Palacio, Durango state, according to a communique...

"Rooz: Kurdish Officials' Silence on American Hikers Affair – Motivated by Fear of Iran" SNIPPET: "A recent article in the American journal The Nation stated that the American hikers who have been detained in Iran for over a year for entering the country illegally were actually seized in Iraqi Kurdistan. In response to this article, Kurdish journalists told the Iranian online daily Rooz that the silence of Kurdish officials in this matter was due to their desire to avoid confronting Iran." The spokesman of the Kurdistan government has refused to answer Rooz's questions on this issue."

Pakistani police freed a family of Christian brick kiln workers on June 2 in Raiwind, Pakistan. Asghar Masih, Rehana Bibi and their three children were allegedly held hostage at a brick kiln by Muhammad Nawaz, the Muslim owner. Asghar escaped and informed Pakistani officials about his family’s plight. The police then raided the brick kiln and freed the victims after arresting Nawaz. Nawaz allegedly raped Rehana and her eldest daughter repeatedly during the imprisonment and he and accomplices also tortured and chained the victims to prevent them from escaping....

Note: Photo included. # SNIPPET: "Two French security advisers helping the Somali government have been kidnapped in the capital Mogadishu, French officials have said. Gunmen who were wearing police uniforms entered the hotel where the two were staying and took them away, eyewitnesses said. The abductions took place in a government-held part of Mogadishu. Islamist rebels are battling troops from the UN-backed interim government for control of the city." SNIPPET: "The French foreign ministry said the two advisers were in Mogadishu on an official mission to provide help to the government. They were seized at the Sahafi Hotel, which has...

The Iranian ambassador in Baghdad said the recent release of two Iranians from Iraqi custody is not an indication of any impeding deal to free three Americans held by Tehran on spying charges. Ambassador Hassan Kazemi Qomi told The Associated Press the fate of the Americans, who have been held since July, is in the hands of the Iranian judiciary and has no connection to the release of two Iranians earlier this month. "There were no deals," Qomi said. "They (Americans) are in the custody of the judiciary system."

This is a link to the original Japanese story just now.Rather sketchy and breaking, but will synopsize main points into English as thus:There is the large Kaesong Industrial Complex in North Korea for manufacturing products, which is just across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) from the truce village of Panmunjom, jointly run by North and South Korea. You can clearly see this development from overlook vantage points on hills located around Panmunjom. There are a number of South Korean managers and employers there on-site as we speak. At this time, they are apparantly not free to leave.N. Korea is threatening to...

Police say a car bomb has exploded outside a British Army barracks in Northern Ireland. The blast was behind Palace Barracks in Holywood, Belfast, at 12.24am and is described as "ongoing". Reporting from the scene, Sky's Ireland correspondent Vicky Hawthorne said: "Police are not confirming this but there are unconfirmed reports of some injuries on the ground.

(04-08) 18:15 PDT BERKELEY -- Iran appears to have hardened its position on three UC Berkeley graduates who have been held in the country since last summer, accusing them of having links to U.S. intelligence. The charge, made by Iran's intelligence minister in an interview on state television, elicited strong denials Thursday from the U.S. State Department and the families of the prisoners, who were arrested after hiking across the border from Iraq. It also struck experts as an orchestrated move in a high-stakes chess game between Iran and the United States over nuclear ambitions and other issues. Read more:...

Note: The following text is a quote: March 26, 2010 Remaining 4 defendants plead guilty to hostage taking in Houston HOUSTON - The remaining four defendants in a six-defendant case pleaded guilty on Friday to hostage taking. U.S. Attorney José Angel Moreno, Southern District of Texas, announced the guilty pleas. The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with substantial assistance provided by the Houston Police Department (HPD). Israel Perez-Pinon, 26, Alejandro Pantoja-Rosales, 28, Edgar Ivan Guerrero, 20, and Juan Romero-Trejo, 36, all pleaded guilty March 26 before U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore. They admitted to having...

ON THE INTERNET: www.alemarah.info www.alemarah.info/movie/index.php?option=com_hwdvideoshare&task=viewvideo&Itemid=1&video_id=31"

Has anyone heard any news of the State Department working to free the American Baptist Missionaries from prison in Haiti? AOL reports that 8 of the Americans being held signed a note that was slipped out which states that they fear for their lives. This worries me greatly, given the history of Haiti.

PESHAWAR: The Afghan Taliban on Thursday demanded the release of Dr Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist who has been convicted by the US court on charges of her alleged attempt to murder US soldiers in Afghanistan, and threatened to execute an American soldier they were holding currently. They claimed Aafia Siddiqui’s family had approached the Taliban network through a Jirga of notables, seeking their assistance to put pressure on the US to provide her justice. “Being Muslims, it becomes our religious and moral obligation to help the distressed Pakistani woman convicted by the US court on false charges,” said a...

The unnamed 28-year-old reportedly arrived from China on Monday, defecting to the north for ideological reasons according to North Koreans who spoke to the conservative Dong-A Ilbo daily newspaper, based in Seoul. "I came here because I did not want to serve as a cannon fodder in the capitalist military," the American was quoted as saying. "I want to serve in the North Korean army." American State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said that the report was being investigated but said there was no information on the man's name, occupation, or the circumstances in which he entered North Korea. The American...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea has informed the United States it is holding a second U.S. citizen, the State Department said on Friday. "We haven't been informed by the North Korean government that it is holding an American citizen who allegedly entered North Korea from China on January 25," U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters.

KABUL - The family of a U.S. soldier captured in eastern Afghanistan more than five months ago pleaded for the release of their son Friday and urged him to "stay strong." Lt. Col. Tim Marsano of the Idaho National Guard issued a statement from the family of Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl, a U.S. airborne infantryman who was taken by the Afghan Taliban in Paktika province June 30.