Headline News

Libyan Government Freed Four N.Y. Times Journalists

Six days after they were captured while covering the conflict between government and rebel forces in the eastern city of Ajdabiya. They were released into the custody of Turkish diplomats and crossed safely into Tunisia in the late afternoon, from where they provided a harrowing account of their captivity. They entered Lybia through the eastern region of over the Egyptian border. None had visas to cover the insurrection. They were detained in Ajdabiya by forces loyal to Qaddafi.

Published

14 years ago

March 22, 2011

Geoffrey Grider

SHARE NOW THE END BEGINS:

NYT caught in the crossfire

Miss Addario, seen far left, sprints for cover with fellow journalists, including New York Times photographer Tyler Hicks (right in glasses), during another blast.

The journalists; Anthony Shadid, The Times’s Beirut bureau chief, a Pulitzer Prize winner for international reporting; two photographers, Tyler Hicks and Lynsey Addario, and a reporter and videographer, Stephen Farrell, who in 2009 was captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan and was rescued by British commandos. This was an experienced crew, but nothing could prepare them for being in the clutches of the enemies hand.

The four had been covering the insurrection near Ajdabiya last Tuesday when they decided that it was getting too dangerous for them to continue. Their driver, inadvertently had driven into a checkpoint manned by forces loyal to Colonel Qaddafi. By the time they knew they were in trouble, it was too late.

“I was yelling to the driver, ‘Keep driving! Don’t stop! Don’t stop!’ ” Mr. Hicks recalled. “I knew that the consequences of being stopped would be very bad.”

The driver, Mohamed Shaglouf, is still missing. Hind sight is 20/20. If the driver had tried to drive straight through, Mr. Hicks said, ” the vehicle certainly would have been fired on. ” The soldiers flung the doors to their sedan wide open so quickly that they had little if any chance to get away. As they were being pulled from the car, rebels fired on the checkpoint, sending the four running for their lives. “You could see the bullets hitting the dirt,” Mr. Shadid said.

All four made it safely behind a small, one-room building, where they tried to take cover. They told all four to empty their pockets and ordered them on the ground. And that is when they thought they were seconds from death.

“I heard in Arabic, ‘Shoot them,’ ” Mr. Shadid said. “And we all thought it was over.”

Then another soldier spoke up. “One of the others said: ‘No, they’re American. We can’t shoot them,’ ” Said Mr. Hicks

The soldiers grabbed whatever they could get their hands on to tie up their prisoners: wire, an electrical cord from a home appliance, a scarf. One removed Ms. Addario’s shoes, pulled out the laces and used them to bind her ankles. Then one punched her in the face and laughed.

“Then I started crying,” she recalled. “And he was laughing more.” One man grabbed her breasts, the beginning of a pattern of humiliating behavior she would experience from her captors over the next 48 hours.

“There was a lot of groping,” she said. “Every man who came in contact with us basically felt every inch of my body short of what was under my clothes.”

Their captors held them in Ajdabiya until the fighting with the rebels died down. Soldiers put the four in a vehicle and drove them out of the city around 2 a.m. One threatened to decapitate Mr. Hicks. Another stroked Ms. Addario’s head and told her repeatedly she was going to die.

“He was caressing my head in this sick way, this tender way, saying: ‘You’re going to die tonight. You’re going to die tonight,’ ” she said

Their vehicle stopped repeatedly at checkpoints, each time allowing for a new group of soldiers to land a fresh punch or a rifle butt in their backs. The first night they spent in the back of a vehicle. The second night they spent in a jail cell with dirty mattresses on the ground, a bottle to urinate in and a jug of water to drink.

On the third day they were on the move again, this time to an airfield. Mr. Shadid, who speaks Arabic, had overheard one of the soldiers saying something about a plane, and the four assumed they would be flown somewhere. As they were loaded on the plane they were blindfolded and their hands were bound tightly with plastic handcuffs.

They landed on Thursday in Tripoli, where they were handed over to Libyan defense officials. They were transferred to a safe house, where they said they were treated well. They were each allowed a brief phone call.

That was the first time since their capture two and a half days earlier that their whereabouts became known to their families and colleagues at The Times.

Their disappearance had kicked off an intensive search effort. The Times canvassed hospitals and morgues, beginning a grim process-of-elimination search. The paper also turned to a variety of people on the ground who might have heard or seen something, security contractors for Western businesses, workers for nongovernmental organizations. It also notified American diplomats.

The State Department got word by phone to Jeffrey D. Feltman, the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs on Thursday afternoon that the journalists were safe , this information came from an aide to Abdullah al-Senussi, the head of Libyan military intelligence and the brother-in-law of Colonel Qaddafi, Mr. Feltman said. The arrival of the four journalists in Tripoli was just the beginning of three days of frustrating, and tense negotiations conducted by a State Department consular officer, Yael Lempert. Libyan officials kept changing their demands for the conditions of the journalists’ release, and an allied coalition, including the United States, began bombing Tripoli to enforce a no-fly zone. Several Libyan agencies were involved in the negotiation, which added to the confusion.

First the Libyan government demanded that an American diplomat come to Tripoli to take the journalists, State Department officials said. The United States, which closed its embassy in Libya last month, refused. After initially resisting, the Libyans agreed to allow the Turkish Embassy to act as an intermediary.

The release was scheduled for Sunday but was delayed until Monday because of the bombing. The four were turned over to Turkish diplomats Monday afternoon, and were driven to the border with Tunisia.

While Monday was a day for celebration and relief at The Times, other news organizations covering the conflicts in Libya and elsewhere in the Arab world have not been so lucky. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 13 journalists are either missing or in government custody. The missing include four from Al Jazeera, two from Agence France-Presse and one from Getty Images. In addition, six Libyan journalists are unaccounted for, the group said.

Others have died. A Libyan broadcaster was killed Saturday while covering a battle near Benghazi. A cameraman for Al Jazeera was killed in the same area on March 12, the first death of a journalist in Libya during the current conflict. Now that the four are safe Bill Keller the Executive Editor of the NY Times said “We’re particularly indebted to the government of Turkey, which intervened on our behalf to oversee the release of our journalists and bring them to Tunisia,” Assitance was also granted throughout the week by diplomats from the United States and United Kingdom.

Click on Rosie Onthe Right facebook fan page

Story Source

Comments

Headline News

NTEB PROPHECY NEWS PODCAST: Emmanuel Macron Says France Will Recognize A State Of Palestine At United Nations General Assembly In September

Published

1 day ago

July 24, 2025

Geoffrey Grider

SHARE NOW THE END BEGINS:

Emmanuel Macron says France will recognize a state of Palestine at the 79th meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in September

France will recognize a Palestinian state, French President Emmanuel Macron wrote in an X/Twitter post on Thursday. “True to its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognize the State of Palestine,” wrote Macron. He continued, stating he would make the solemn announcement at the United Nations General Assembly in September. Considering that it’s highly likely that Macron will be running the United Nations in the very near future, I’d call this a good start. That’s the memo.

“Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head;” Joel 3:4 (KJB)

On this episode of the Prophecy News Podcast, there is so much going on it’s hard to know where to look first. In Washington, President Donald Trump has thrown out everything including the proverbial kitchen sink in order to make the Epstein files mess go away. But the more he tries to mop it up, the messier it becomes. He even tried floating the “I will arrest Obama” trope, which wowed the MAGA-verse until they rightly realized it’ll never happen. Harvard scientists now say that interstellar object 3I/ATLAS could very well be an alien observation devise. Cryptocurrency is poised to overtake the paper dollar as the crowd goes wild, never realizing we are applauding our own destruction and downfall. On this episode, we go deep into the rabbit hole looking for carrots, and find them.

Study Helps And Links For Today’s Podcast

We Are Broadcasting Live Four Days A Week

• The BIBLE BELIEVERS Sunday Service

Every Sunday morning, from 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM EST, we invite you to join us live and in-person at the Bible Believers Church here inside the NTEB Bookstore in Palatka where we lift up the Lord Jesus Christ in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, and preach a message from the pages of the King James Authorized Version Holy Bible.

OUR MOST RECENT SUNDAY SERVICE VIDEO: Be Ye Followers Of Me

• The RIGHTLY DIVIDING Radio Bible Study

Every Sunday and Tuesday evenings from 7:00 – 9:00 PM EST, we offer an in-depth rightly dividing and dispensationally correct rocket ride through the preserved word of God as found within the pages of the King James Holy Bible.

SUNDAY NIGHT: Our original Sunday Night Radio Bible Study, it’s from 7:00 – 9:00 PM EST, and we have praise, singing, testimony and of 90-minute King James Bible study. All our King James bible study programs are archived here.
TUESDAY NIGHT: Our Tuesday Night Radio Bible Study, it’s from 7:00 – 9:00 PM EST, and we have praise, singing, testimony and of 90-minute King James Bible study. All our King James bible study programs are archived here.

• The NTEB PROPHECY NEWS PODCAST Hour

Every Monday and Friday afternoons from Noon to 1:30 PM EST, we examine breaking news and current events in light of bible prophecy.

MONDAY AT NOON: Every Monday at Noon we review all the latest news and events related to bible prophecy, and examine what is happening in light of what is written. If you miss the live show, all of our Prophecy News Podcast programs are archived here.
FRIDAY AT NOON: Friday at Noon we review all the latest news and events related to bible prophecy, and examine what is happening in light of what is written. If you miss the live show, all of our Prophecy News Podcast programs are archived here.

Your Generous Donations Make These Live King James Radio Bible Studies & Prophecy News Podcasts Possible!

HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

Listen to What Our Donation Angels Have to Say About the Ministry of Now The End Begins

“You are truly an end time ministry and I appreciate how our Precious Lord is using you to educate his very own flock. There is a lot of confusion , but your ministry is putting scripture in the right prospective. Thank-you so so much Geoffrey S Grider for standing firm and putting in a lot of hours of your time. God Bless You , also your Ministry and your family. IN JESUS MIGHT NAME.” T. Muto
“Jesus. I am now 64 years old and never in all the years I’ve been a Christian was I able to grow in the Lord as much as I have in the last past year. All because of our blessed brother’s work Geoffrey Grider who as the bravery of standing fast forward without fear of claiming the truth of God by the power of his love in Jesus Christ. May God bless you abundantly to the end my dear brother… ROMANS: 8: 36,37,38” Mireille Anderson
“I met you at the car dealership earlier this year. We spoke briefly, then you handed me a card and told me to check out the website. You left. A few minutes later, you returned to tell me not to forget to look up the website. I told you…” I already did. I already subscribed.” In that short time we spoke, I experienced from you…a total stranger…peace, joy, kindness, gentleness, compassion, and love. I am convinced that God sent you to share the Good News that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. For that, and for the work you are doing for the Kingdom of God, I say…Thank you and God Bless You.” Sonia Merced
“I really enjoy the emails and Bible studies! I haven’t found a church and enjoy your services very much! Be blessed brother!” Marcia Mann
“You and your organization are on the front lines in the Battle For Truth…. current events, end times, and trying to awaken a sleeping Laodicean Church. Thank you brother for fighting for us and all your teaching and insight God bless…” Daniel Cartrette
I just want to thank you for the teachings you give every Sunday night on radio. You are such a blessing to me. I absolutely love your way of teaching the scriptures. I don’t have a church where I can have fellowship and teaching, so you have been my teacher for many months now. Thanks God you are there for all of us who have no church to go to. I pray that the Lord will bless you abundantly in your ministry, and your loved ones too. You are such a blessing to me, and many others, in these last days before the rapture. Thank you so much Geoffrey, from the bottom of my heart. May the Lord keep you, until He comes back for us. You are in my prayers.” Donald Godin
“Thank you for the work you are doing brother. Your page and your testimony were a blessing to me this morning as I came across it for the first time. Thank you for the reality of your testimony and what God has done for you in introducing you to Jesus our Lord. God has brought me, in salvation, to Himself as well, through His love and mercy and grace in salvation. How can we praise Him enough? How can we not share this good news!? I pray this day for God’s blessing on your ministry that He may save many souls through the work He has called you to. Isaiah 40:31 (KJV)” Mark and Melissa
“Love the Sunday night bible study. I want to support someone who has the passion for the lost like Geoffrey does and rightly divides the word of God. God bless you.” Teresa Carey
“I give because not many news outlets are brave enough or Godly enough to tell these stories from a Christian’s point of view. I see stories here that will not be seen anywhere else.” William Grayshaw
“It’s hard to find solid biblical teaching in America these days. It’s a blessing to be able to take part in a ministry financially without being concerned about false teaching. All glory to God! God bless!” Maximilian Swan
“I donate because you are reporting the truth about the increasing wickedness of our time, as God’s word foretold. In so doing we are reminded to “Keep looking up” as we wait in joyful hope for the Lord’s coming, Maranatha! ” Anthony Sloane
“Geoffrey has the best End Times News out there. I have been receiving his emails for years now and always enjoy his Sunday night messages although I don’t always think exactly as he thinks. We are all in this “boat of life” together and as I come to the end of my life’s journey here, I am more aware of Jesus’s call for us to be one as He and the Father are One.” Deborah Cleaveland

STREET-TESTED NTEB GOSPEL TRACTS:

This is the official gospel tract of NTEB, used here on the streets of Saint Augustine and sent around the world as they are purchased through our website. We ask you to prayerfully consider supporting the work of Now The End Begins by purchasing a box of these full-color, high-quality gospel tracts. Thank you in advance!

street-preaching-kjv-gospel-tracts-nteb-now-the-end-begins-saint-augustine-florida

CLICK IMAGE TO ORDER YOUR BOX OF NTEB GOSPEL TRACTS

But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORT…TO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

Free Bible Program

3 New Jails In Florida, West Virginia And Michigan Have Reached Out To Bibles Behind Bars For Help With Bibles And Books In English And Spanish For Inmates

Published

1 day ago

July 24, 2025

Geoffrey Grider

SHARE NOW THE END BEGINS:

Bibles Behind Bars is the lifeboat God has given us here at the end of the Church Age, come join us to get out God’s preserved word to inmates across America

As we’ve been telling you, this summer has been absolutely blockbuster for our Bibles Behind Bars program, with new requests coming in from all over the United States. The Orange County Department of Corrections in Orlando, Florida, the Mount Olive Correctional Complex in West Virginia, and the Parnall Correctional Facility in Michigan are the 3 newest members to the ‘Triple B’ family, and we are excited to supply them with all the books and Bibles they need for the inmates they minister to.

“For the LORD heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners.” Isaiah 69:33 (KJB)

Chaplain Seigel over at the Michigan Department of Corrections, has a high need for Spanish Bibles, Chaplain Coo at the Mount Olive Correctional Complex tells us “We have a very active church community. In addition, our facility acts as an intake and classification facility. Our need for bibles is great. We always need large print bibles.” And Chaplain Hooker at the Orange County Department of Corrections in Orlando asks about a monthly subscription of 200-300 King James Bibles.

As you can see, the need is very great, the time is short and the labourers are few. We need you to come alongside and help us to ‘seek and to save that which is lost’ by sending out God’s preserved word to as many as we can. DL Moody once remarked ‎“I look upon this world as a wrecked vessel. God has given me a lifeboat and said, ‘Moody, save all you can.” Bibles Behind Bars is the lifeboat God has given us here at the end of the Church Age, we need your help, come join us!

HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

If God has prospered you, please take a moment to click on the donate button to help us in this monumental task of providing King James Bibles, New Testaments, scripture portions, gospel tracts as well as Spanish Bibles to inmates in jails and prisons from Florida to Alaska, and every state in between. We need your prayers, we need your generous financial support, and we need you to stand with us in the closing days of the Church Age. Thank you so very much, TO THE FIGHT!!!

NOTE: If you need a 501 C3 Letter of Donation for tax purposes, please send your donation to:

NTEB Ministries
1340 N Great Neck Rd.
Ste. 1272-129
Virginia Beach, VA 23454.

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

Donald Trump

Longtime Trump Friend Ghislaine Maxwell To Speak With Justice Department Officials Today Where Many Are Saying She Will ‘Spill The Beans’ For A Plea Deal

Published

1 day ago

July 24, 2025

Geoffrey Grider

SHARE NOW THE END BEGINS:

Ghislaine Maxwell will attempt to make a deal with the Trump administration when government officials visit her in prison to speak about the Epstein files

One story that I am surprised that no one seems to be pursuing is the possibility that Donald Trump met his wife Melania through Jeffrey Epstein, as many of Epstein’s sex trafficking victims came from Eastern European countries like where Melania is also from. In photos at least, Melania seems super comfortable around Epstein and his procurer Ghislaine Maxwell, but I’m sure that’s just a wild coincidence. Speaking of Ghislaine Maxwell, she is scheduled to testify today before Justice Department officials today and to expected to ‘cut a deal’. That’s the memo.

“And they were more than forty which had made this conspiracy.” Acts 23:13 (KJB)

Just what type of deal would Ghislaine be interested in cutting? I suppose one that might dramatically lessen her prison sentence, and by all accounts, she is ready to sing like a canary. The only question is, will she tell the truth as it exists, or the ‘truth’ to get out of prison? Donald Trump right now needs more a little help to make the Epstein files mess go away, and Ghislaine just might be able to provide that help. At a cost. Will we ever know the truth about the Epstein files? Hard to say, but with all the amazing effort on both the parts of the Democrats and Republicans to make this all go away, that doesn’t seem likely.

Epstein lawyer: Maxwell will try to make a deal with Trump

FROM THE TELEGRAPH UK: Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced he would meet the convicted sex offender in the “coming days” to find out if she has information about anyone who participated in Epstein’s sex crimes.

“She’s going to make a deal” with the Department of Justice (DoJ), Alan Dershowitz, the Harvard law professor who previously represented Epstein, said. “That’s the way things are done. They make deals with the Mafia, so I’m certain they are going to try to make a deal with her,” he told The New York Post.

Jeffrey Epstein was asked if he ‘ever engaged in any activities involving underage girls with Donald Trump’, and he invoked not only the 5th Amendment, but the 6th and 14th also. The DOJ said Trump is in the Epstein files. Easy to see why he has no interest in releasing them. pic.twitter.com/XdkfBDL9F7

— Now The End Begins (@NowTheEndBegins) July 24, 2025

Maxwell was subpoenaed by the House oversight committee on Wednesday to give a deposition from prison on August 11.

“The facts and circumstances surrounding both your and Mr Epstein’s cases have received immense public interest and scrutiny,” James Comer, chairman of the committee, wrote to Maxwell.

Mr Comer said the committee is seeking her testimony “to inform the consideration of potential legislative solutions to improve federal efforts to combat sex trafficking and reform the use of non-prosecution agreements and/or plea agreements in sex-crime investigations”.

President Donald Trump continues to battle the biggest challenge of his presidency, the fallout from his refusal to release all the information the US government has on Epstein. READ MORE