By CHRIS HEINBAUGH / WFAA-TV Video BASE Institute Video taken on the journey into Iran captured images of a piece of the 400 foot long discovery. Also Online  Chris Heinbaugh reports Could a group of North Texans be raiders of the Lost Ark? The explorers, funded by the Bible Archaeology Search and Exploration Institute, said they may be holding the key to Noah's Ark after an expedition to Iran in early June. They claim to have found evidence of a petrified wooden ship on a mountain north of Tehran. Among the explorers in the discovery was former detective and author Bob Cornuke. "As en ex-cop, you try to find evidence at a crime scene," Cornuke said. "I try to find evidence in history." At 13,000 feet up, Cornuke said he believes he found just that in a 400 foot long object they found that they believe appeared similar to the Bible's description of the Ark. The wood, they said, seemed to have been worked by human hands. "Some of those rocks look like they've been cut at right angles, and even beams and other slook like pieces of log," Cornuke said. The mountain offered up other clues as well in ...   more »

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Friday that a compromise had been reached with several Hamas leaders for a conditional release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit.
The agreement that Mubarak claimed to have reached with the kidnappers involved an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the release of prisoners scheduled to be released anyway in the next year, in exchange for the release of Cpl. Gilad Shalit who was kidnapped on Sunday, Palestinian sources said.
The London-based Al-Hayat newspaper said that Cairo has proposed that the swap would not be simultaneous but that the Palestinian prisoners would be freed later. Al-Hayat's sources, whom it did not name, said Hamas' leadership outside the Palestinian territories has not responded to the proposal.
Mubarak told Egypt's leading pro-government newspaper, Al-Ahram that Shalit's kidnappers have agreed to his conditional release, but Israel has not yet accepted their terms.
Mubarak said, "Egyptian contacts with several Hamas leaders resulted in preliminary, positive results in the form of a conditional agreement to hand over the Israeli soldier as soon as possible to avoid an escalation.
The president said he had asked Prime Minister Ehud Olmert "not to hurry" the military offensive in Gaza, but to "give additional time to ...   more »

By Ran Shapira
The secrets of life in Second Temple-era Jerusalem can be found in a trash heap
Two discs made of bone, which apparently served as buttons, are among the objects found in the municipal dump that served Jerusalem at the end of the Second Temple era. These buttons were intended to be not only practical, but decorative as well. In addition the dump has yielded a handful of glass fragments, which testify to the use of prestigious objects.
However, the vast majority of finds at the dump were very much everyday objects: fragments of household utensils including cooking pots, storage jars, pottery and lamps, coins of low denominations and a large number of animal bones. The dump is located on the eastern slope of the hill where the City of David is located. It was first unearthed in 1867 by Charles Warren, and many other archaeologists excavated there after him, but they did not realize they were digging through garbage. Only in 1995 did Professor Ronny Reich, of the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa, and Eli Shukron, of the Antiquities Authority, who directed the dig at the site, realize it was a dump.  ...   more »

Syrian PM says Israeli acts and aggressions in region are result of Arabs’ weakness. 
By Roueida Mabardi - DAMASCUS
Syria vowed Thursday to defend itself after Israel threatened to kill Hamas militants based in Damascus and flew warplanes over a Syrian presidential palace.
Israel, meanwhile, was on high alert for possible retaliation.
Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Naji Otri said his country was ready to defend itself against the Jewish state.
"Syria is capable of defending itself against any aggression," Otri told reporters, slamming Wednesday's overflight during which Damascus said its anti-aircraft gunners opened fire as an "act of piracy".
He expressed "surprise at the silence of the international community toward all these Israeli acts and daily aggressions ... This is the result of the weakness of the Arabs."
The Israeli army said it was bracing for any strikes by the Syrian-backed Hezbollah, amid international concerns that the escalating crisis between Israel and the Palestinians could spread across the region.
"This measure has been taken due to concerns that the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah or other organizations will try to trigger an escalation of hostilities by launching border attacks," an army spokeswoman said.
Israel army units were placed on alert along ...   more »

Egypt's Mubarak tells al-Ahram daily Hamas agrees to conditional release of kidnapped Israeli soldier but Israel rejects terms set by Islamic group; Egyptian president advises Hamas leaders to ditch 'extreme stance' or face severe consequences
Joseph Nasr
Hamas has conditionally agreed to free a kidnapped Israeli soldier, but Israel rejected the Islamic group's terms for his release, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told Egypt's leading daily al-Ahram.  
Mubarak described talks with Hamas as "positive" but said he warned leaders of the group against holding on to their "extreme positions," urging them to pursue a responsible policy.   
Hamas official: Arrests a signal to kill Shalit / Roee Nahmias  
Hamas will only release abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit when Israel releases all Palestinian prisoners, group leader in Lebanon Osama Hamdan says    
In compliance with Cairo's demands Israel froze a planned incursion into the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday night to give Egyptian mediators more time to secure the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit.  
Shalit was kidnapped in an attack on an Israel Defense Forces' post near Gaza on Sunday. Two soldiers were killed in the attack.  
Al-Ahram reported that in a conversation by phone with Prime Minister ...   more »