and diverted to Cyprus . A man who admitted to the hijacking and was described by Cypriot authorities as " psychologically unstable " is in custody . Fox News ' Greg Palkot , Lucas Tomlinson , Catherine Herridge and The Associated Press contributed to this report
The crash of EgyptAir flight 804 in May was initially suspected to have been caused by a terrorist attack , forcing many tourists to reconsider their travel plans . It 's still not clear what brought the plane down , but investigators have found evidence of a fire on board . On top of that , an EgyptAir domestic flight was hijackedconflict.attack.nain March , and terrorists brought down a Russian plane that took off from an Egyptian tourist airport in late October . Tunisia This small country wedged between Algeria and Libya in northern Africa experienced a near 20 % drop in international visitor arrivals in the first quarter of 2016 following two shocking terrorist attacks that targeted tourists .
Ryan seeks manufacturing muscle for tax push Dems step up attacks on GOP ObamaCare bill MORE ( R - Ky . ) that would give the FBI more power to get a customer 's email records during terror investigations . ( The Hill ) A network of hijackedconflict.attack.nacomputers that was believed to be offline has resumed spamming its victims with ransomware . ( The Hill ) Hackers have hit the Indonesian and South Korean central banks ' public websites , after a recent pledge by the hacking group Anonymous to target the global banking industry , senior officials in both countries said .
EgyptAir operates from a hub at Cairo International Airport and is based in Heliopolis , Egypt . It offers passenger and freight services to more than 75 destinations . In March , EgyptAir Flight 181 en route to Cyprus was hijackedconflict.attack.stealrobhijackby a passenger claiming to be wearing a suicide belt . The hijacker surrendered at Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus and all passengers were released safely . No one was hurt in the incident , which Cypriot authorities said was not terrorism related .
Daily Emails and Alerts- Get the best of Newsweek delivered to your inbox Let ’s start with the reality that has led the GOP to the crisis it now faces : Trump is not a Republican . Sure , he appears on the ballot with an R next to his name , but you are supporting a candidate who has hijackedconflict.attack.nayour party . This is my fourth open letter urging you to withdraw your endorsement of Trump , and at no point have I suggested that my efforts are in support of Hillary Clinton ; instead , these missives were written to preserve the two - party system and to save the GOP and its rational supporters from the toxin of Trumpism . I have already written to you about my experiences with Trump , dating back decades , that convinced me he will govern as recklessly as he has campaigned ; I have also reviewed for you his repeated lies under oath and discussed the disturbing ruse of his “ religious commitment . ” Now I will address what , for you , Mr. Speaker , may be the most important point here : Trump will poison the Republican brand for decades because he embodies the racist , xenophobic , angry faction your party has exploited for the past eight years .
John McAfee -- in an email exchange and follow up phone call just moments ago -- said sources within the Dark Web suggest it was Iran , and he absolutely agrees . While Russian hackers get more media attention nowadays , Iranian hackers have had their share . A computer hacker briefly hijackedconflict.attack.naTwitter.com in 2009 , redirecting users to a website and claiming to represent a group calling itself the Iranian Cyber Army . Earlier this year , Iranian hackers were charged by the U.S. Department of Justice ( DOJ ) over cyber attacks . Why Iran ?
They laid him on the ground and searched him for around two minutes before taking him away . At 2:43pm it was announced that " the hijacker has just been arrested " . A policeman stands guard at Larnaca Airport near a hijackedconflict.attack.stealrobhijackEgypt Air A320 . Photo : Reuters Officials in both Cyprus and Egypt then confirmed that all crew and passengers were safe .
The selling of assets would prevent them from being frozen by U.S. courts if American victims are able to sue . The terrorism bill , which President Obama is threatening to veto , would weaken legal immunity of foreign governments in cases “ arising from a terrorist attack that kills an American on American soil . ” The language could cause problems for Saudi Arabia if the country is found to have links to 9/11 , when hijackedconflict.attack.naplanes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon outside of Washington . Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were of Saudi Arabian descent . Separate from the legislative push , members of Congress are discussing the declassification of 28 pages from the 2002 congressional inquiry that reportedly examined the link between forces in Saudi Arabia and 9/11 .
It also confirmed that recent scanning and probing of state election systems originated on servers operated by a Russian company , though the intelligence community is " not now in a position " to attribute that activity to the Russian government . But a senior administration official told NBC News that intelligence officials do believe the Putin government is behind attempted hacks on election systems , and that they are aggressively trying to confirm that as part of an effort to protect the upcoming vote from outside interference . Although hackers have breached online voter registration databases in Illinois and Arizona , Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence took pains to reassure the public that the chance of the actual presidential election being hijackedconflict.attack.stealrobhijackis minuscule . " It would be extremely difficult for someone , including a nation - state actor , to alter actual ballot counts or election results by cyber attack or intrusion , " the statement said . " This assessment is based on the decentralized nature of our election system in this country and the number of protections state and local election officials have in place .
The crash of EgyptAir flight 804 in May was initially suspected to have been caused by a terrorist attack , forcing many tourists to reconsider their travel plans . It 's still not clear what brought the plane down , but investigators have found evidence of a fire on board . On top of that , an EgyptAir domestic flight was hijackedconflict.attack.stealrobhijackin March , and terrorists brought down a Russian plane that took off from an Egyptian tourist airport in late October . Tunisia This small country wedged between Algeria and Libya in northern Africa experienced a near 20 % drop in international visitor arrivals in the first quarter of 2016 following two shocking terrorist attacks that targeted tourists .
Ryan seeks manufacturing muscle for tax push Dems step up attacks on GOP ObamaCare bill MORE ( R - Ky . ) that would give the FBI more power to get a customer 's email records during terror investigations . ( The Hill ) A network of hijackedconflict.attack.stealrobhijackcomputers that was believed to be offline has resumed spamming its victims with ransomware . ( The Hill ) Hackers have hit the Indonesian and South Korean central banks ' public websites , after a recent pledge by the hacking group Anonymous to target the global banking industry , senior officials in both countries said .
Analysis - BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner Image copyright Reuters It is only some small comfort that the man who hijackedconflict.attack.stealrobhijackEgyptair flight MS181 was bluffing . The bulging white " suicide belt " with wires sticking out turned out to be a fake . It at least means that this time Egypt can not be accused of letting someone smuggle explosives through airport security and on to an airliner as they did in October at Sharm El Sheikh airport , destroying a Russian passenger jet in mid - air .
The flight was scheduled to land in Cairo . At least 55 passengers were on board . Egyptian passenger Farah el - Dabani told the Dubai - based Al - Arabiyah TV network that the suspect was seated in the back of the aircraft and that it was the crew who told passengers that the plane was being hijackedconflict.attack.stealrobhijack. " There was panic at the beginning , but the crew told us to be quiet . They did a good job to keep us all quiet so the hijacker does not do anything rash , " she said in a telephone interview .
Photo : AFP / Getty Images Cypriot authorities later determined that the belt worn by the hijacker did not contain explosives , Egypt ’s Civil Aviation Ministry said . “ Security in Cyprus confirmed that the explosive belt worn by the man who hijackedconflict.attack.stealrobhijackthe plane was fake , ” it said . Dramatic arrest The EgyptAir plane landed in Larnaca at 8:50 am ( 0550 GMT ) , after the hijacker had contacted the control tower 20 minutes earlier to demand the diversion .
View all New York Times newsletters . In October 2015 , a Russian plane crashed into the Sinai Peninsula after what may have been a terrorist bomb brought it down . In March , a passenger wearing a fake explosives belt hijackedconflict.attack.stealrobhijacka domestic EgyptAir flight and diverted it to Cyprus . The crisis was resolved within hours when the man , later determined to be psychologically troubled , surrendered . In May , EgyptAir Flight 804 plunged into the Mediterranean , en route to Cairo from Paris , killing all 66 people on board .
It ’s honest . And it ’s not misogyny that makes people oppose her positions ( see : Trans - Pacific Partnership , fracking , immigration , welfare reform ) . It was extremely demoralizing and frustrating to see how much of the media and political establishment hijackedconflict.attack.nafeminism and trivialized genuine sexism as they sought to delegitimize valid criticism of Clinton . Much of what Bernie Sanders did , said or gestured was framed as a symptom of the entitlement and insensitivity endemic of straight , white men , at best , or overt misogyny , at worst . Perhaps the greatest , or most egregious , example of this was when a New York Times reporter asked Sanders , “ What do you say to women that say you staying in the race is sexist ? ” Our concerned fellow feminists diagnosed women who dared to defend the more feminist vision of Sanders or criticize the hawkishness of Clinton as having internalized misogyny .
The selling of assets would prevent them from being frozen by U.S. courts if American victims are able to sue . The terrorism bill , which President Obama is threatening to veto , would weaken legal immunity of foreign governments in cases “ arising from a terrorist attack that kills an American on American soil . ” The language could cause problems for Saudi Arabia if the country is found to have links to 9/11 , when hijackedconflict.attack.stealrobhijackplanes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon outside of Washington . Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were of Saudi Arabian descent . Separate from the legislative push , members of Congress are discussing the declassification of 28 pages from the 2002 congressional inquiry that reportedly examined the link between forces in Saudi Arabia and 9/11 .
EgyptAir operates from a hub at Cairo International Airport and is based in Heliopolis , Egypt . It offers passenger and freight services to more than 75 destinations . In March , EgyptAir Flight 181 en route to Cyprus was hijackedconflict.attack.naby a passenger claiming to be wearing a suicide belt . The hijacker surrendered at Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus and all passengers were released safely . No one was hurt in the incident , which Cypriot authorities said was not terrorism related .
The plane landed at the airport in Larnaka at approximately 8:45 a.m. local time . Ian Petchenik , a spokesman for flight - tracking website FlightRadar24 , said the flight showed no signs of distress on its route to Cyprus . " It looks like a completely controlled flight aside from the fact it was hijackedconflict.attack.stealrobhijack, " Petchenik said . Reuters , citing an Israeli military source , reported that Israel scrambled warplanes in its airspace as a precaution in response to the hijacking . The hijacking again calls attention to security at Egyptian airports , five months after a Russian aircraft crashed over Egypt 's Sinai Peninsula minutes after it took off from Egypt 's Red Sea resort of Sharm el - Sheikh .
At that point , creationism became a matter of public and political debate . Polls were taken all over Europe to determine public opinion . Some online polls were hijackedconflict.attack.stealrobhijackby creationists in Turkey to alter the outcome . Books , pamphlets and Web sites were launched and circulated . And the media loved it .
Analysis - BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner Image copyright Reuters It is only some small comfort that the man who hijackedconflict.attack.naEgyptair flight MS181 was bluffing . The bulging white " suicide belt " with wires sticking out turned out to be a fake . It at least means that this time Egypt can not be accused of letting someone smuggle explosives through airport security and on to an airliner as they did in October at Sharm El Sheikh airport , destroying a Russian passenger jet in mid - air .
The FBI ’s COINTELPRO program infamously used forged documents and false news reports to discredit or harass dissenters during the 1950s and 1960s , including civil rights leaders , anti - war protesters and alleged communist organizations . Hackers have adopted similar strategies . In 2013 , Syrian hackers backing embattled President Bashar Assad hijackedconflict.attack.naThe Associated Press ’ Twitter account , tweeting out falsified reports of two explosions at the White House that had injured Obama . The Dow plummeted in minutes , wiping out $ 136 billion in market value , according to Bloomberg . It stabilized shortly thereafter , once the report was revealed to be a hoax .
In terms of American political mechanics , how could this happen and what does it mean ? How did it get here , and what can we learn from it ? The one common mechanical process in almost every aspect of American politics is the two - party system : an extra - constitutional artifice that long ago hijackedconflict.attack.stealrobhijackgovernment . And it is through those double swinging doors that we have stumbled into our current political purgatory . This bi - polar orgy of villainy signifies that America 's two - party system itself is badly broken ; indeed , odds are that such a scenario would not have emerged if there were additional healthy political parties .