The American crew of a hijacked US-flagged ship retook control of the vessel from Somali pirates today, but the captain was still being held hostage in a lifeboat, according three people on board.

The crew of a hijacked American ship retook the vessel today only hours after it was seized by pirates off Somalia.

A series of powerful earthquakes jolted Indonesia in less than 24 hours, sending a 10-foot tsunami crashing to shore and damaging hundreds of houses as panicked residents fled to the hills.

The September 11 attacks, the Bali bombing and plots against British targets were among the confessions of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed during a military hearing at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to a transcript released by the Pentagon.

A group of 25 sailors held hostage by Somali pirates since April have been freed, a South Korean official said today.

Aviation chiefs insisted measures to protect the world’s airlines are adequate and today downplayed a purported al-Qaida claim that it is now targeting Western carriers.

A SUSPECTED British arms dealer who authorities believe was selling a shoulder-fired missile to a Muslim terrorist bent on shooting down an airliner was arraigned on federal charges yesterday.

A British man was appearing in a US court today after being arrested by the FBI over an alleged plot to smuggle into the United States a shoulder-fired missile capable of taking down a commercial airliner.

LAST week’s terror attacks in Kenya have highlighted another threat — surface-to-air missiles fired at commercial airplanes — and leaders of the US Senate Intelligence Committee say they anticipate more terrorist action ahead.

The State Department today warned Americans in the East African nation of Djibouti, where US troops are posted, that terrorists may be planning attacks similar to those last week in Kenya.

PASSENGERS yesterday spoke of their terror following yesterday’s attack on an Israeli charter airliner.

IN an election-day attack, two Palestinian gunmen opened fire yesterday at a Likud Party office and at passengers in a nearby bus terminal in the northern Israeli town of Beit Shean. Five Israelis were killed and dozens wounded in the attack.

A DEADLY shooting spree yesterday by a pair of Palestinian gunmen at a polling station in northern Israel, and twin attacks on Israeli tourists in faraway Kenya, marred a Likud Party leadership primary in which Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was expected to defeat foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

THERE were renewed fears last night that terrorists were targeting tourists after twin attacks on an Israeli hotel and passenger plane in Africa.

Israeli rescue services said the two dead children in today's explosion in the lobby of a hotel popular with Israelis in Mombasa, Kenya were 12 and 13-year-old brothers from the Jewish settlement of Ariel on the West Bank.

Israeli Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the two had died in the apparent suicide attack on the Israeli-owned Paradise Hotel, but could not confirm other reports putting the death toll as high as eight.

Children were among the injured today when an explosion rocked the lobby of a hotel popular with Israelis in Mombasa, Kenya, Israeli officials said.