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Please keep this young man and his family in your prayers every day. Dear Lord grant him strength and mercy. May your divine light reside in his his soul and please keep him free from harm.

The U.S. soldier kidnapped by Taliban forces in Afghanistan may have been taken across the border to Pakistan, complicating efforts to obtain his release, according to two people involved in U.S. and Afghan military efforts to locate him, and three Afghan soldiers captured with him.

Scroll down for updates…evidence of desertion mounting… My prayers are with the family of Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl, the U.S. soldier seen on the Taliban abduction video released this weekend. The Jawa Report has the full clip. All Americans should hope and pray for his release from jihadi custody. There’s one question I have, though, about strange details initially reported on the case — details which have been deleted from later wire dispatches. Read: The circumstances of Bergdahl’s capture weren’t clear. On July 2, two U.S. officials told the AP the soldier had “just walked off” his base with three Afghans...

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon on Sunday confirmed that an American soldier who went missing from his base in Afghanistan has been captured and identified him as a private from Idaho serving with an Alaska-based infantry regiment. The Defense Department released the name of Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, 23, of Ketchum, Idaho, one day after he was seen in a video posted online as saying he was "scared I won't be able to go home." Even before his name became public, two U.S. defense officials confirmed to The Associated Press that the man in that 28-minute video was the captured soldier....

A Taliban commander in southeastern Afghanistan today said that a captured U.S. soldier was being held unharmed by insurgents, but warned he would be killed if efforts were made to find him. The soldier has been missing in Paktika province since late June, just before thousands of U.S. Marines began a major new offensive. The U.S. military has said he was presumed captured. Taliban commander Mawlavi Sangin said the group's leadership would decide the soldier's fate, but accused U.S. soldiers of harassing and arresting Afghans in Paktika and neighbouring Ghazni province. 'They have put pressure on the people in these...

Thirty years after Jimmy Carter's malaise speech, we return to the days of rising joblessness, an unresponsive economy, deference to dictators, gutting the military and an energy policy tilting at windmills... As history repeats itself on the anniversary of the speech MSNBC's Chris Matthews wrote, we wonder if the "Hardball" host, who has worked for four Democratic politicians, is still getting tingles up his legs. The Democratic Party apparently has learned nothing in the past three decades. Will we see a return of the misery index? The only thing that's different is the sweater.

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea wants the U.S. to show remorse for the actions of two American journalists convicted of illegally entering the country, and it might free the women if Washington does so, a scholar who visited Pyongyang said Saturday. The comments by North Korean officials to University of Georgia political scientist Han S. Park came as analysts say the isolated communist regime intends to use the detention of Laura Ling and Euna Lee as bargaining chips in its ongoing standoff with Washington over the country's nuclear and missile threats. The journalists were detained in March near the...

MEXICO CITY — A top member of a breakaway Mormon sect was dragged from his home by marauders and killed early Tuesday in a village founded and named for the American families that settled the remote community in the northern Mexican desert. Benjamin LeBaron, 31, and Luis Widmar, 29, a brother-in-law who tried to help him, were grabbed by at least 15 commandos shortly after midnight in Colonia LeBaron, which is about 200 miles southeast of El Paso, witnesses said. The bodies of the men, both naturalized U.S. citizens with five children each, were found nearby shortly afterward, each shot...

Armed Nigerian militants are holding six members of an oil tanker's crew, including the Russian captain, hostage, the tanker's managers say. A statement from EMS Ship Management said the Sichem Peace was boarded by armed men about 20 nautical miles from Escravos, Nigeria. The gunmen forced six crew members to come ashore with them, the BBC reported Monday The company said the ship was then released and its remaining 13 crew members sailed it further offshore. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, issued a communique claiming it was holding the men, whom it identified as...

On Jan. 20, 2007, five American soldiers were killed and three seriously wounded in Iraq. As Bill Roggio relates at the Long War Journal, it was a daring operation: a twelve-man terrorist team disguised as U.S. servicemen attacked our troops as they held a previously arranged meeting with local officials in Karbala. Four of the soldiers were alive when they were abducted from the scene. They were handcuffed and murdered in a remote location when the coalition forces attempting to rescue them closed in. ... That President Obama has exchanged a terrorist for hostages is now obvious, as should be...

TEHRAN: Iran said on Monday it has freed five of the local British embassy staff it arrested on accusations of stoking post-election unrest, a move that further threatened tense ties with London. "Eight people were arrested. Five were freed and three are still being interrogated," ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said at a press conference in Tehran. Earlier English-language state television Press TV had spoken of a total of nine arrests. Ghashghavi also said that Iran, which has accused Western nations particularly Britain and the United States of "meddling," has no current plans to close embassies or downgrade diplomatic ties with...

Polish engineer's refusal to convert costs him his life Posted : Mon, 29 Jun 2009 05:29:39 GMT Author : DPA Islamabad - Piotr Stanczak did not exhibit the slightest hint of hesitation when the Pakistani Taliban asked him to choose between execution and conversion to Islam. Whether the Polish geologist acted out of pride or religious conviction, he decided to pay through his blood to save his faith, a choice that bewildered his killers and keep them talking about him with respect after his murder. Stanczak, 42, was kidnapped September 28 on his way to survey for oil exploration in...

Iran has arrested eight local British embassy staff, triggering London's fury and further exacerbating tensions with the West over the post-election turmoil in the Islamic republic. The latest backlash against what Iranian leaders have branded as foreign "meddling" came as opposition leaders continued to defy the regime, rejecting a panel set up to hold a partial recount in the hotly-disputed presidential vote.

"David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, has issued a sharp rebuke to Iran after the arrests, which are part of a campaign by the clerical regime in Iran against what it has portrayed as foreign interference in its politics. The employees were arrested on suspicion of playing a role in the demonstrations that followed Iran's disputed presidential election. Those demonstrations, which saw calls for a re-run amid allegations of widespread vote rigging, have now largely fizzled out after a crackdown by regime." "Fars, a semi-official Iranian news agency, first announced the arrests and said the staff had helped foment protests against...

Iran 'must free UK embassy staff' David Miliband: "Harassment and intimidation" The European Union has demanded the immediate release of Iranian staff at Britain's embassy in Tehran detained on Saturday over post-election unrest. EU ministers meeting in Greece warned that "harassment or intimidation" of embassy staff would be met with a "strong and collective" response. Iranian media reported the detention of eight local staff at the UK mission over their alleged role in the unrest. UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband dismissed the allegations as baseless. Relations between the countries are strained since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the UK of stoking...

Iran has detained several local British embassy staff, sparking a new row with Britain on Sunday that underscored the hardline leadership's effort to blame post-election unrest on foreign powers, not popular anger. EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to report, film or take pictures in Tehran. Iranian police stand guard during an anti-Britain protest in front of the British embassy in Tehran June 23, 2009. (REUTERS/Fars News/Files) British Foreign Secretary David Miliband demanded the release of all the staff still held and said his European Union colleagues had agreed to a...

Iran arrested nine local employees of the British Embassy in Tehran Saturday, drawing a terse response from the U.K. government and signaling an escalation of tensions between two countries with a history of difficult relations. AFP/Getty Images Iranian riot policemen stood guard outside the British embassy in Tehran on June 15, 2009. Iranian media reported the arrests on Sunday, saying the employees had been detained for allegedly playing a role in post-election demonstrations in Tehran. Speaking Sunday during a visit to Greece, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said some of the nine who were arrested have been released, though he...

The European Union has demanded the immediate release of Iranian staff at Britain's embassy in Tehran detained on Saturday over post-election unrest. EU ministers meeting in Greece warned that "harassment or intimidation" of embassy staff would be met with a "strong and collective" response. Iranian media reported that eight local staff at the UK mission had been held for their role in the recent riots. UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband dismissed the allegations as baseless. Relations between the countries are strained after President Ahmadinejad accused the UK of stoking post-election protests, which London denies. Iran has repeatedly accused foreign powers...

Britain today condemned the arrest of nine employees of the British embassy in Tehran and demanded their immediate release. An Iranian news agency reported this morning that the Iranian workers had been detained for involvement in the post-election unrest in the Islamic Republic. The arrests follow a week of escalating rhetoric against Britain, which was accused by the Iranian foreign minister of flying in jet-loads of spies to disrupt Iran's presidential elections on July 12. David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, denied that the mission had been involved in any post-election unrest and called for the release of the embassy staff....

The Dutch Defense Ministry says Somali pirates have released a hijacked cargo ship aboard which one crew member was fatally shot. The ministry says Dutch marines are escorting the MV Marathon to a safe port. It says one of the 19 crew members died of a gun shot wound sustained when pirates seized the ship on May 7. Another crew member was injured, but the ministry did not give details of his condition. Dutch media say the crew members are Ukrainian.

Six Missing Israeli Soldiers By Norma Zager and Ari Bussel “The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody had decided not to see…” Ayn Rand Three years ago a Jewish son was taken from his parents. Hamas terror organization kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad during an incursion from Gaza into Israel. His captors have denied access to him by Red Cross workers in violation of the Geneva Convention. For three years his parents have suffered with worry for their son. For three years a merciless enemy has held captive a young man, a soldier. While Gilad Shalit became...

PARIS (Herald de Paris et Cie.) - Before Laura Ling and Euna Lee became household names for entirely the wrong reason; before North Korean missile tests; before UN resolutions for violations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Laura’s sister, investigative reporter Lisa Ling, sneaked into North Korea for The National Geographic Channel’s EXPLORER series, in 2006, posing as a member of a humanitarian eye surgery team. The end result was a documentary titled, “Undercover in North Korea.” Lisa’s hour-long Undercover in North Korea defied Kim Jong Il’s ban on outside journalists, and offered a glimpse of life above the 38th parallel...

David Rohde, a New York Times reporter who was kidnapped by the Taliban, escaped Friday night and made his way to freedom after more than seven months of captivity in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Until now, the kidnapping has been kept quiet by The Times and other media organizations out of concern for the men’s safety.

A New York Times reporter known for making investigative trips deep inside dangerous conflict zones escaped from militant captors after more than seven months in captivity by climbing over a wall, the newspaper said Saturday. David S. Rohde was abducted Nov. 10 along with an Afghan reporter colleague and a driver south of the Afghan capital, Kabul. He had been traveling through Logar province to interview a Taliban commander, but was apparently intercepted and taken by other militants on the way. The Times reported that Rohde and Afghan reporter Tahi Ludin on Friday climbed over the wall of a compound...

A New York Times reporter has escaped from his Taliban captors after being held for seven months in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan, the newspaper reported on its website on Saturday. David Rohde, together with a local reporter, Tahir Ludin, and their driver, Asadullah Mangal, were abducted on November 10 outside Kabul.

The fate of three of nine foreigners abducted in Yemen last week is known — their bodies were found, shot execution style. The whereabouts of the other six — including three children under the age of 6 — remain a mystery. But terrorism experts say their abductors and killers are almost certainly not a mystery. They say the crimes bear the mark of Al Qaeda, and they fear they are the handiwork of the international terror organization's No. 2 man in the Arabian Peninsula: Said Ali al-Shihri, an Islamic extremist who once was in American custody — but who was...

A GROUP of foreigners were warned against going on an outing before a kidnapping which led to the killing of three of them, Yemen's interior minister said. "The authorities received the threat of an attack and there was a warning given to the Germans asking them not to travel outside their area of work," Muttahar al-Masri said. The killing of three women, identified as two German nurses and a South Korean teacher, coincided with a rise in separatist and militant tensions in Yemen whose instability has alarmed Western countries and Saudi Arabia. The nine were seized last week outside the...

SAN'A, Yemen — A Yemeni security official says three German women hostages have been found dead, their bodies mutilated.

At least three foreign women, thought to be part of a group which was kidnapped in Yemen, have been found dead, local officials have said. The group of nine foreign hostages - mostly women and children - was kidnapped by Shia rebels in a mountainous area in the north. It included seven Germans, a British engineer and a Korean female teacher. One unconfirmed report citing unnamed security officials said the bodies of more of the foreigners had been found. Yemen's Interior Ministry earlier said the foreigners were kidnapped while on a picnic on Friday in the north-western province of Saada....

At least seven foreign hostages seized in Yemen, including at least one child, have been found dead, officials say. They were reportedly part of a group of nine foreigners, three of them children, who were kidnapped last week in a mountainous northern area. The group comprised seven Germans, a male British engineer and a female South Korean teacher. So far no-one has claimed responsibility for the attack blamed by Yemen on a local Shia rebel group. More than 200 foreign nationals have been kidnapped in Yemen in the last 15 years, often for ransom. But most have been released unharmed....

Mayur Pahilajani - AHN News Writer Sanaa, Yemen (AHN) - Armed rebels have kidnapped nine foreigners, including women and children, in a mountainous region of northern Yemen on Sunday. Seven Germans, a British engineer and a South Korean female teacher were taken hostage by Shiite rebels in volatile province of Saada recently, Saba Net news agency reported. The abducted group belongs to an international aid organization that was working at the Jumhori Hospital in the province. However, the Huithi Zaidi rebels have reportedly dismissed the claims of kidnapping the group. The Shiite militants have been fighting the government for several...

God bless the captives--Laura Ling and Euna Lee--the two young women journalists who were arrested, railroaded, and convicted by the highest court in North Korea for unspecified “hostile acts” [sic] against the government of North Korea. The idea of spending twelve years in some hell hole at the mercy of the crazy, missile toting screwball who runs that country, should cause us all to say our prayers for these two young ladies that they return to us soon and in good health. They are going to need all the help they can get. However, the news that Obama may be...

In “How Somali Pirates Could Take Obama Hostage,” [editorial below] Professor Dominic Tierney advises President Barack Obama how to respond should terrorists make hostages of Americans sent abroad in service of the nation or serving on board merchant ships flying the flag of the United States. Americans, Mr. Tierney claims, care too deeply about the capture of a fellow citizen. Out of what he describes as profound idealism, they quickly make a hero out of a captive, and their moral outrage prompts them to demand freedom for the captive and punishment of the captors. Because a captive’s continued detention seems...

Al Gore may visit N.K. for detained reporters The United States Thursday did not rule out the possibility of former U.S. Vice President Al Gore flying to North Korea to negotiate the release of two American journalists detained for alleged illegal entry while reporting in the area, according to news reports. "This is such a sensitive issue, I'm just not going to go into those kinds of discussions that we may or may not have had," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters when asked about Gore's possible trip to Pyongyang. "The bottom line is that these two young women...

A BRITISH holidaymaker taken hostage while travelling in north Africa has been beheaded by Al Qaeda ­terrorists. Edwin Dyer, 60, had been attending a music festival near the Niger–Mali border when he was captured in January along with fellow tourists. His captors had demanded the release of preacher of hate Abu Qatada who is held in a UK jail. But the grisly execution at the weekend came after two deadlines passed and it was made clear to the terrorists their demands would not be met. Gordon Brown called it an appalling act of barbaric terrorism. He said the terrorists would...

DUBAI/LONDON (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's North African wing said on Wednesday it had carried out its threat to kill a British hostage it was holding in the Sahara. The announcement of the killing came as U.S. President Barack Obama headed to the Middle East hoping to start mending U.S. ties with the Islamic world in a speech that will tackle issues including extremist violence. The British Foreign Office said Dyer was kidnapped on the border between Niger and Mali in late January, but declined to give any more details about him.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has condemned the apparent "barbaric" killing of a British hostage held in the Sahara by an al Qaeda cell. Tourist Edwin Dyer was captured on the border between Niger and Mali and held hostage for more than four months before claims of his murder emerged. The Briton and three tourists - two Swiss citizens and a German woman also taken hostage - were returning from a music festival, near Timbuktu, on January 22. Terror group al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghrebsaid (AQIM) said on a website it had killed Mr Dyer and that disbelievers would be...

DUBAI, June 3 (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's North Africa wing said on Wednesday it had carried out a threat to kill a British hostage. The report was carried on a website used by al Qaeda-linked groups. The group had said it would kill the Briton if the British government did not release cleric Abu Qatada, whom it is holding in prison.

Pakistani police hunted Sunday for a French tourist kidnapped in the country's restive southwest but an officer said they still did not know who was behind the abduction. Gunmen on Saturday snatched the 41-year-old man from a group of French nationals travelling in Baluchistan province -- on the border with both Afghanistan and Iran. He was kidnapped in an area where ethnic Baluch separatist groups and Islamist fighters linked to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban are known to operate, around 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the Afghan frontier. "We have sent different teams to locate the kidnappers and recover the French...

Lawyers for the 32-year old said the court had reduced the eight-year jail sentence to a suspended two-year term and she would soon be freed.

Background Joe Miller at Annenberg FactCheck says he was told by the Pentagon that the USS Bainbridge arrived at the hijacking of the Maersk Alabama on Friday February 10th and that authorization to send in the first SEAL team came at 8:00PM that night, rebutting a purported word-of-sailor report of a 36 hour delay. But news reports on the 9th said that the Bainbridge actually arrived before dawn local time on THURSDAY. Since 8:00 P.M. Friday was 4:00AM Saturday in Somalia, that would make the actual delay, local time to local time, about 48 hours. Bill Gertz at the Washington...

MOGADISHU, May 2 (Reuters) - Somali pirates said on Saturday they have captured a Ukrainian vessel carrying United Nations' vehicles. "We have hijacked a ship carrying industrial equipment including white cars with the U.N. logo, our friends are on board it," a pirate who said his name was Hussein told Reuters on telephone from the coastal town of Haradheere. Maritime and U.N. officials were not immediately available to confirm.

Twenty-free Philippine sailors abducted more than five months ago by Somali pirates returned home for an emotional reunion with their families. Looking haggard but relieved, and led by their captain Abelardo Pacheco, the crew of the Philippine-flagged MT Stolt Strength was reunited with their families at Manila's international airport. The vessel and its crew were released on April 21, ending a 162-day ordeal during which Pacheco said they survived on prayer and constantly feared for their lives. "Daily life was always a combination of fear and helplessness, hopelessness. It was the most negative feeling one could experience," said a teary-eyed...

Iranian tyrants first arrested Saberi on a charge of buying wine, then changed it to not having the proper press credentials, and finally to spying. Make no mistake, Saberi’s situation is not one of “arrest” or “conviction,” this is a terrorist nation which has grabbed another American and is holding her hostage. But Roxana is not the only American journalist (and woman of color) who is held hostage by a terrorist nation. Laura Ling and Euna Lee were kidnapped by North Korean forces and have been held by that terrorist nation since March. Taking Iran’s cue, and seeing a typically...

With all the back-and-forth between Somali time and D.C. time, a lot of people let this slip through the cracks (including me). The "SEAL pals" email circulated by Rear Admiral Lou Sarosdy (USN ret.) claimed that Obama did not authorize SEAL teams to assist in the rescue of Captain Philips until 36 hours after these resources were requested by the captain on the scene. In their rebuttal campaign last week, anonymous Pentagon sources claimed that the USS Bainbridge did not arrive at the hijacking of the Maersk Alabama until Friday April 10th. It actually arrived on scene at 4:00 AM...

Richard Hicks, chief steward on the Maersk Alabama (AP Photo)Richard Hicks, chief steward on the Maersk Alabama, filed a lawsuit yesterday charging the Waterman Steamship Corporation and Maersk Line, Ltd with knowingly sending him into pirate-infested waters without adequate protection. Somali pirates off the coast of Africa hijacked the Maersk Alabama, an American-flagged cargo ship, earlier this month. The ship’s captain, Richard Phillips, was taken hostage and held in a lifeboat until Easter Sunday, when U.S. Navy SEAL snipers shot and killed three pirates holding him captive. A fourth kidnapper was arrested. When the pirates boarded the ship on April...

HOUSTON – A member of the crew on the U.S.-flagged ship hijacked by African pirates sued the owner and another company Monday, accusing them of knowingly putting sailors in danger. Richard E. Hicks alleges in the suit that owner Maersk Line Limited and Waterman Steamship Corp., which provided the crew, ignored requests to improve safety measures for vessels sailing along the Somali coast.Hicks was chief cook on the Maersk Alabama. Pirates held the ship's captain hostage for five days until the U.S. Navy rescued him.Hicks' lawsuit seeks at least $75,000 in damages and improved safety

Manfred Nowak, who serves as a U.N. specialist on torture, said that now that the Obama Administration has released documents admitting that the U.S. government tortured prisoners held at Gitmo, it is obligated under the U.N. Convention against Torture to follow through with prosecution of those complicit in these war crimes. “All who knew of the torture had both the moral and legal responsibility to take action against it,” Nowak said. “This includes not only those who carried out the heinous acts of torment, but also everyone in the chain of authority. President Bush, as the head-of-state most assuredly would...

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Two U.S. journalists accused by North Korea of crossing into the country illegally from China and committing "hostile acts" will be tried on criminal charges, the isolated nation announced Friday.