Daily News Channel
One of the former American diplomats portrayed in the Oscar-winning film, Argo, has set the record straight about the involvement of New Zealand diplomats. Contrary to the film’s version, our diplomats did visit the six embassy workers who escaped after Islamists took over the United States embassy in Tehran and took their 52 colleagues hostage in 1979.
Ayman al-Zawahiri, a cerebral Egyptian surgeon who joined his first jihadist cell at age 15, is as much the force behind al-Qaeda as his more famous friend Osama bin Laden. When the two first met in Pakistan in 1986, al-Zawahiri made a powerful impression on the younger, inexperienced Saudi millionaire
“Allahu akbar! Allahu akbar!” The Arabic pronouncement that “God is great” sustained the Iranian revolutionaries as they marched through the streets of Tehran in demonstrations against the Shah. The invocation was heard again as students attacked the U.S.
A British couple kidnapped by pirates off Somalia has been moved to a hijacked Spanish ship that pirates have stocked with more supplies and armed men, a pirate source said Friday.
A Dutch court Friday ruled against letting a 14-year-old girl sail solo around the world, saying she is not experienced enough to make the trip on her own. The Chandlers set off from the Seychelles on October 21 bound for Tanzania, according to their blog
Pirates seized control of a cargo vessel near the Seychelles Thursday, one of two attacks that took place within minutes of each other off the coast of east Africa, according to the European Union Naval Force.
The remains of two bodies — possibly British hostages taken more than two years ago in Baghdad, Iraq — have been handed over to British authorities, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Saturday. “We know only that late last night we received the bodies of two hostages,” he said. He emphasized that British authorities had not yet identified the bodies but also said the country’s thoughts were with the families of five British men who were kidnapped in Baghdad in May 2007
One of two aid workers still held by militants in the Philippines has been freed, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Saturday. ICRC officials spoke briefly by telephone to Andreas Notter and confirmed he is free, an ICRC spokeswoman in Geneva, Switzerland, said, but no other details were immediately available.
A French hostage and two pirates died Friday in a rescue operation off Somalia’s coastline, the French president’s office in Paris said Friday. Four hostages, including a child, were freed from the hijacked yacht after almost a week of captivity, Nicolas Sarkozy’s office said.
Bruce Windsor is known as many things: church deacon, soccer coach, father of four. But facing potential financial problems, he’s now known as something else: suspected bank robber