BREAKING: BBC reporter freed (updated)

MSNBC is reporting that BBC journalist Allan Johnston has been freed, according to an AP report:

Johnston was not seen after the announcement, but the Islamic militant group said he was in the custody of its military wing and meeting with deposed Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas.

Now, what about the eight Israeli soldiers STILL
in Hamas and Hizbullah captivity, including
Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser and Eyal Regev?

Here's an interesting debate on the issue of releasing Palestinian prisoners to get their safe return. More on this here, here and here.

Update: a powerful message from Aish:

"We all have a tendency to think, 'I am only one person! What can I possibly do to help bring the captured soldiers home to their families?' But if every person who is reading these words would take one small step to bring Gilad, Eldad, and Udi home, then together we could make a real difference. Remember, even a marathon starts with a single first step.
What can you do? The following are a few suggestions:

• Commit to keeping a new mitzvah (spiritual precept) in the soldiers' honor, for example, lighting Shabbat candles every week before sunset, refraining from eating meat and milk at the same meal, attending a weekly Torah class
• Write to your representatives in the government. Tell them that you haven't forgotten about Israel's captured soldiers, and that they shouldn't either
• Forward this article to ten friends to raise awareness
• Give charity to merit the soldiers
• Donate directly to the campaign to release the soldiers: http://www.banim.org/en/index_en.html
• Recite the Soldiers' Psalm (Psalm 102) Listen to the Psalm in the original Hebrew.

July 4th, 1976: Entebbe rescue hero's last letter found (exclusive video)

• Entebbe hero Yoni Netanyahu's last letter discovered
• Lottery winners share 50 million shekel prize

Click on the screen for the latest
Israel Ch. 2 news update.

Israeli-American baseball bitchfest

Bradley Burston over at Haaretz - whose iconiclastic take on things I usually like and respect gets all deep-y and socio-psychological-ish about - best be sitting down for this one, kids - baseball in Israel:

"Dual loyalty, baseball, and the Israeli psyche

"For the immigrant, the majority culture is inevitably despotic."

And his windy opining gets much more tendentious - let's just make that "dopey," on a slow news day, apparently - from there... But the talkbacks at the bottom of the page? Each one a gem of logic, passion and reason, I tell 'ya. /sarc tag off

More about "kadur basis" here (and may God help us with translating this game for the local announcers...).

Here's an AP video about the first-ever game of the Israel Baseball League (be patient with the ad first):

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Screens up, Sulu: 'Electronic Jihad software, 2.0'

From Information Week:

"The "Electronic Jihad Program" is part of the long-term vision jihadi Web site Al-jinan.org has to use the Internet as a weapon, something that affects any organization that relies on the Web.

"Electronic Jihad allows users to target specific IP addresses for attack in order to take any servers running at those IP addresses offline. The application even includes a Windows-like interface that lets users choose from a list of target Web sites provided via the Al-jinan site, select an attack speed (weak, medium, or strong), and the click on the "attack" button."