-strange candidate for a kidnapping but nevertheless:
Actor Russell Crowe was the target of an al-Qaeda kidnapping plot in 2001 and has had FBI protection since.
The Oscar winner was first contacted by the FBI in 2001 and warned of the threat, The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported, citing a story in the March edition of GQ Magazine.
The FBI approach was made in the months before Crowe's Oscar win for Gladiator.
"That was the first [time] I'd ever heard the phrase al-Qaeda," Crowe said.
"It was about - and here's another little touch of irony - taking iconographic Americans out of the picture as sort of a cultural destabilisation plot."
Crowe was protected by the FBI on subsequent film shoots and industry engagements such as the Golden Globe awards.
Crowe told the magazine he never really understood the situation.
"I never fully understood what the f--- was going on," he said.
"Suddenly it looks like I think I'm f------ Elvis Presley, because everywhere I go there are all these FBI guys."
Crowe had also hired his own private security.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/03/07/1110160761379.html?oneclick=true
Officials Search High School For Unknown Dangers
CARLSBAD, N.M. -- Carlsbad High School will operate on a two-hour delayed schedule Monday so police and other authorities can search the campus for potential hazards.
The Carlsbad Police Department, Carlsbad Fire Department, Eddy County Sheriff's Department and the state Office Of Homeland Security -- along with school custodial staff -- will search the high school.
Police said they have unconfirmed reports that there may be some danger in the school, but they did not say what that might be.
http://www.thenewmexicochannel.com/news/4259186/detail.html