Kidnapped Fox News Journalists Freed

Militants freed two Fox News journalists on Sunday in the Gaza Strip, ending a nearly two week hostage drama in which one of the former captives said they were forced at gunpoint to make statements, including that they had converted to Islam.

Correspondent Steve Centanni, 60, of Washington, D.C., and cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, of New Zealand, were dropped off at Gaza City’s Beach Hotel by Palestinian security officials. A tearful Centanni briefly embraced a Palestinian journalist in the lobby, then rushed upstairs with Wiig behind him.

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Hamas Expects Good News On Journalists

Palestinian officials said Saturday they expected to have “good news” about two kidnapped Fox News journalists within two days, despite an approaching deadline over their fate.

Cameraman Olaf Wiig of New Zealand and correspondent Steve Centanni of Washington were seized in Gaza City on Aug. 14. Their captors demanded the release of all Muslims imprisoned by the U.S. by midnight Saturday (5 p.m. EDT) in exchange for freeing the Fox journalists.

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Flight Lands In Newark After Dynamite Found In Luggage

A college student’s checked luggage on a Continental Airlines flight to Houston from Argentina on Friday contained dynamite, and federal authorities are investigating why he had it and what he intended to do with it, an FBI spokeswoman said.

“Certainly we are doing a thorough investigation and trying to find out what this individual’s intention was in trying to bring dynamite here,” FBI spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap said Friday.

The dynamite was found during a luggage search in a federal inspection station at Bush Intercontinental Airport shortly after Continental Flight 52 landed about 6 a.m. Friday. Marlene McClinton, spokeswoman for the Houston Airport System, said a bomb-sniffing dog “had a hit” on explosive residue during a further search.

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Video Discloses Alleged Plot To Target Sears Tower

Undercover video acquired by CBS 2’s Miami sister station, WFOR-TV CBS 4, reveals an inside look at a suspected terror group leader accused in a plot to target U.S. landmarks, including the Sears Tower.

The suspected group was based in Miami and was allegedly led by a former Chicagoan.

As CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports, that Chicago suspect was apparently trying to recruit help with his mission when he was busted.

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Holy Jihad Brigades Release Statement & Video and Identification Cards of Captured Fox Journalist Steve Centanni and Cameraman Olaf Wiig

The Global Islamic Media Front distributed as a communiqué to a password-protected al-Qaeda-affiliated forumtoday, Thursday, August 24, 2006, materials from a group calling itself the “Holy Jihad Brigades” [Kutab al-Jihad al-Muqadis], containing a statement, 1:48 minute video and identification cards of Fox News reporter Steven James Centanni and freelance cameraman Olaf Wiig. The pair was captured in Gaza City by Palestinian militants ten days ago. The statement and video, which were sent and broadcast by media channels yesterday, contains caustic words directed at the Western nations and leaders, describing actions perpetrated in Afghanistan and Iraq that failed to bring down the states, and selling Palestine at an unacceptable price. Most importantly, the group grants a period of 72 hours starting from Wednesday, August 23, at noon, for the American government to release Muslim prisoners in their jails in exchange for the journalists, else they will wait until “Allah gives His Order”.

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Link to the video is available on the Site Institue website

Trans-Atlantic Flight Diverted To Airport In Maine

A trans-Atlantic flight from Manchester, England, en route to Chicago was diverted to the Bangor International Airport on Friday, officials said.

American Airlines Flight 55, a Boeing 767, was diverted for security reasons, said Arlene Murray, New England regional spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration, who declined to elaborate.

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Report: Iran Accelerates Building of Centrifuges

An Iranian opposition group here says that Iran has built at least 15 advanced uranium enrichment machines that could speed production of nuclear fuel and that the country would have hundreds more by next year.

The group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, has been right about such matters before.

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Experts Warn of Agro-terror

The nation’s farms and food supply are highly vulnerable to terrorism and the Department of Homeland Security isn’t prepared to deal with the “catastrophic” consequences of an agro-terror attack, Georgia agricultural experts warned a U.S. House subcommittee Thursday.

“Compared to bio-terror, agro-terror is appallingly easy,” said Corrie Brown, professor at the University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine, invoking the specter of terrorists introducing foot-and-mouth disease, avian influenza, swine flu of some other animal-borne disease that could disrupt the U.S. economy — and threaten human health as well.

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12 Arrested on U.S. Plane to Be Released

Prosecutors said Thursday they found no evidence of a terrorist threat aboard a Northwest Airlines flight that was diverted to Amsterdam, and are releasing all 12 passengers arrested after the jetliner landed.

The men, all Indian nationals, had aroused suspicions on Flight NW0042 to Bombay because they had a large number of cell phones and other equipment, and refused to follow the crew’s instructions, prosecutors said.

Survey: D.C. Exodus Likely After Terror Attack

Suburban Washington, D.C., residents would likely jump in their cars and drive through the Eastern Panhandle, Maryland and Virginia in the event of a terror attack, a new West Virginia University survey shows.

West Virginia officials say the survey underscores the need for a regional plan to handle an exodus of 6 million or 7 million people.

Many of them plan to leave the region, either heading north, south or straight through the panhandle, said WVU assistant professor Brian Gerber, who worked on the survey. He presented the results Wednesday to more than 100 public safety officials gathered for a regional evacuation conference. The event is considered a first step toward creating a regional evacuation plan.

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Passengers On NW Plane Tell Of Air Marshal Action

Passengers aboard a Northwest Airlines plane bound for Mumbai and forced to turn back to Amsterdam said air marshals swooped after 12 people began fidgeting with mobile phones and plastic bags, Dutch media said on Thursday.

The 12 were arrested on Wednesday after the plane landed at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. Prosecution authorities said they were still holding the 12 but would not give their identities or nationalities.

“I saw the air marshals run and I knew something was amiss,” a 31-year-old businessman aboard the plane told Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad.

“Some had beards, others were unshaven, one was wearing a robe. Some had baseball caps,” another passenger told the paper.

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Israel May Go It Alone Against Iran

“The Iranians know the world will do nothing,” he said. “This is similar to the world’s attempts to appease Hitler in the 1930s – they are trying to feed the beast.”

He said there was a need to understand that “when push comes to shove,” Israel would have to be prepared to “slow down” the Iranian nuclear threat by itself.

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New Yorker Arrested for Broadcasting Hizbollah TV

U.S. authorities have arrested a New York man for broadcasting Hizbollah television station al-Manar, which has been designated a terrorist entity by the U.S. Treasury Department, prosecutors said on Thursday.

Javed Iqbal, 42, was arrested on Wednesday because his Brooklyn-based company HDTV Ltd. was providing New York-area customers with the Hizbollah-operated channel, federal prosecutors said in a statement.

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12 Arrested On U.S. Airline Flight To India

Dutch police arrested 12 passengers who aroused the crew’s suspicion on a U.S. airline flight to India after it returned on Wednesday to Amsterdam escorted by two F-16 jet fighters, a spokesman said.

Police spokesman Rob Staenacker said he could not disclose the nationalities of the people taken from the Northwest DC-10 after it was diverted over German airspace, or the nature of the suspicions against them.

“I can tell you 12 people have been arrested,” he said.

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