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The son of Omar Abdel Rahman, a Jama’a al-Islamiya leader known as the “Blind Sheikh” who was convicted of terrorism charges in the US in 1995, threatened to organize a protest at the US Embassy in Cairo and detain the employees inside. Abdallah Abdel Rahman’s threat came during a press conference organized by the sheikh’s family near the highly fortified American embassy compound on Thursday evening. Abdel Rahman demanded that President Mohamed Morsy intervene for the release of his father as he did in the case of Egyptian journalist Shaimaa Adel who was detained for nearly two weeks for covering...

SNIPPET: "Two Kenyan aid workers and a Somali doctor were kidnapped in lawless northern Somalia on Wednesday, probably by pirates, police said. The kidnapping occurred near the city of Galkayo, which straddles the border separating the semi-autonomous state of Puntland and the separate region of Galmudug to the south." SNIPPET: "A second Galkayo police official, Mohammed Ise Hassan, said the kidnapping took place on Wednesday afternoon near the village of Baadweyn, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of the city. Hassan said a driver and two police escorts were also wounded during the incident. Several employees from aid agencies and...

Colombia's main rebel group freed what it says were its last 10 military and police captives, a goodwill gesture that President Juan Manuel Santos praised but called insufficient to merit a peace dialogue.

At least one dead and three wounded after gunman reportedly opens fire in Beaumont courthouse, while suspect now believed to be holding hostages. More headlines from FoxNews.com: http://email.foxnews.com/t?ctl=1D4B1:0DBDA5A47DC7658469E0706BCB13099D&

ROME (Reuters) - A diplomatic row broke out between London and Rome on Friday over Britain's failure to inform the Italian government before launching a botched hostage rescue mission in Nigeria. The raid resulted in the deaths of a Briton and an Italian held hostage by a militant Islamist group. Chris McManus and Italian Franco Lamolinara had been kidnapped last May while working for a construction company in northwest Nigeria.

A Briton and Italian held hostage for 10 months in northern Nigeria died Thursday, apparently killed by their captors before they could be rescued, the British prime minister said. Nigerian security forces, with support from Britain, launched an operation Thursday to free British citizen Chris McManus and Italian national Franco Lamolinara, Prime Minister David Cameron said. But the effort did not succeed.

In a newly released audio message, al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri claims that his organization is holding hostage Warren Weinstein, a 70-year-old American who went missing last August in Pakistan. Zawahiri's statement is the first official claim of responsibility by any group in relation to the kidnapping, and a U.S. official said the statement buttressed earlier "indications" that al Qaeda might be holding the American. "I tell the captive soldiers of Al Qaeda and the Taliban and our female prisoners held in the prisons of the crusaders and their collaborators, we have not forgotten you and in order to free...

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".