Mid Day International News

Gangster who inspired The Godfather was a 'fake'
Salman Taseer's assassinator finds 'fans' on Facebook
Rape risk on rise in Haiti refugee camps: Amnesty
Wills, Kate's 'balcony kiss' key wedding moment!
Rs 1.8-cr tuna sparks extinction fears
Taseer's guard had 'extremist views'
Royal wedding itinerary

Gangster who inspired The Godfather was a 'fake'

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A historian has claimed that the mobster who inspired 1970s blockbuster The Godfather was a 'fake'.

It was believed that Charles 'Lucky' Luciano was the father of organised crime and experts hailed him as the model for legendary mafia boss Don Corleone, played by Marlon Brando in the Francis Ford Coppola movie based on the Mario Puzo book.

Luciano was widely credited for running New York's notorious underworld, and was linked to extortion rackets, punishment attacks and gangland murders.

But a new research has suggested that his reputation was largely fabricated by the US government to justify the expense of tracking him down.

The revelations emerge in a new book, 'Lucky Luciano: Mafia Murderer and Secret Agent' - 74 years after his imprisonment, and 48 years after his death.

US author Tim Newark said the claims would shock other biographers who had painted Lucky as the archetypal gangster.

"The myth of Lucky Luciano is incredible. For decades, he has been portrayed as the father of modern organised crime, no less," the Scotsman quoted Newark as saying.

"But after delving into the archives, I realised the real Lucky was in some respects, a fake," Newark added.

Salman Taseer's assassinator finds 'fans' on Facebook

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Hundreds of Facebook users have welcomed liberal Pakistani politician Salman Taseer's killing as a strike against reformers of the country's tight blasphemy laws.

The Punjab governor was shot on Tuesday by one of his guards, 26-year-old Mumtaz Qadri, who confessed to assassinating Taseer because of his vocal opposition to the blasphemy law that was recently used to sentence a Pakistani-Christian woman, Asia Bibi, to death.

Nearly 2,000 Facebook users joined one group on the social networking site praising Qadri, and dozens of 'fans' joined other pages set up in Qadri's honour in hours after the assassination took place.

All the pages had been removed by Wednesday, and Facebook was not immediately reachable for comment, the Dawn reports.

But other private account holders used their Facebook status updates to make comments such as: "We salute you Mumtaz Qadri," "thank God he (Taseer) is not alive (any) more" and praise for the attacker as "a soldier of Islam".

In a sign of mainstream media opposition, Pakistan's leading Urdu-language newspaper 'Jang' ran a front-page story declaring: "There should be no funeral for Salman Taseer and no condemnation for his death."

"A supporter of a blasphemer is also a blasphemer," said a sub-heading, reporting that 500 religious scholars and clerics had paid tribute to Qadri.

But voices also came out to denounce the gunman, and Facebook page named "I Hate Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri" had 70 "fans" with no comments or discussions.

The Facebook users who spoke out in Taseer's support expressed sadness over the growing Islamisation of the country.

"Sad over Death of Tolerance in Pakistan. Governor Punjab killed by his 'lunatic guard,'" said one man on his status.

"Pretext: Late Governor Salman Taseer was bold enough to stand-up against Blasphemy law � extensively used/abused against religious minorities," he added.

"It is sad. I shiver thinking where we are heading and in which society my kids will live their lives," said another.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Army Officers Club on Facebook has posted the killer's video, titled: "Sher Jawan - Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri's Interview".

Analysts say that the assassination underscores how deeply religious extremism has penetrated Pakistan's conservative society, with even the Internet-literate elite resorting to social networking site Facebook to rally support for the killer.

Rape risk on rise in Haiti refugee camps: Amnesty

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Women and girls who survived the earthquake in Haiti almost a year ago are facing an increasing risk of rape and sexual violence, according to Amnesty International.

More than one million people are still living in makeshift camps in the capital Port-au-Prince following the earthquake on January 11 last year, which left 230,000 people dead and another 300,000 injured.

Those responsible for the attacks are mainly armed men who roam the camps after dark, Sky News quoted the Amnesty report, as saying.

More than 250 cases of rape in several camps were reported in the first 150 days after January's earthquake and, one year on, rape victims continue to arrive at the office of a local women's support group almost every other day.

Almost a year on, women and children remain vulnerable

Some of the women were blindfolded and raped in front of their children by a gang of men who forced their way into their shelter.

Wills, Kate's 'balcony kiss' key wedding moment!

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Of all the things that Kate Middleton and Prince William's wedding will bring to the world, the most anticipated moment seems to be that on the balcony -- the Royal kiss, so to speak.

It has been confirmed that the newly weds will definitely share a kiss on the Buckingham Palace balcony after their wedding - just like Charles and Diana did 30 years ago.

And the couple will have two receptions - hosted by the Queen and Prince Charles.

"There WILL be a balcony moment. William and Kate used their Christmas break to make a lot of progress on all sorts of things. They're very buoyed up," the Sun quoted a St James's Palace aide as saying.

Middleton will be driven from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey for the 11am ceremony on April 29 in a limo. Her father Michael, 61, will join her on the journey.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams will marry the couple.

And when she emerges from the church as a Royal she and Wills will climb into a horse-drawn carriage for a grand procession back to the Palace.

The Queen will then hold an informal lunch for 900 guests at 12:30 pm - and an hour into it the couple will appear on the balcony.

Rs 1.8-cr tuna sparks extinction fears

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A bluefin tuna fetched a record 32.49m yen (Rs 1.8 crore) yesterday at the first auction of the year at Tsukiji market in Tokyo, but the fish's growing popularity across Asia has raised fears it will soon be fished into commercial extinction.

The 342-kg tuna easily beat the previous record, set exactly 10 years ago when a 202-kg fish fetched 20.2 million yen (Rs 1.1 crore).

Market officials are accustomed to seeing prices rise during the new year auction at Tsukiji, the world's biggest fish market, but yesterday's winning bid was unexpected.

The tuna, one of more than 500 shipped in from around the world, will be divided between two sushi restaurants one in Tokyo the other in Hong Kong which joined forces at the dawn auction for the third year in a row.

Ricky Cheng, the owner of the Hong Kong restaurant, said, "Good tuna is really selling to people in Hong Kong and China, and this is a really good fish."

The joint bid reflects the growing popularity of bluefin tuna in other parts of Asia, particularly China, and adds to concerns that surging demand means its days could be numbered.

Japan consumes about 80 per cent of Pacific and Atlantic bluefin tuna, and has been accused of stifling international attempts to reduce fishing quotas or ban the trade altogether.

Bluefin's popularity in Japan, where it is eaten raw as sushi or sashimi, shows no sign of abating. The Japanese eat about 600,000 tonnes of tuna annually.

Top-grade otoro the fattiest cut of tuna can sell for as much as 2,000 yen (R1,090) a piece at exclusive Tokyo restaurants. The flesh on the record-breaking tuna will go for 95,000 yen (R51,750) a kilo.

Rs 51,750
The price per kilo for the record-breaking fish

Taseer's guard had 'extremist views'

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Cops had banned him 5 months ago from providing security to VIPs

A security guard accused of assassinating the governor of Pakistan's Punjab province was banned five months ago by a provincial police official from providing security detail to VIP personnel, authorities said yesterday.

The director inspector general of Punjab Police labeled the guard as having extremist views and determined it was unsafe for him to guard important officials, said Pakistani president's Special Political Adviser Faisal Raza Abidi.

Despite the assessment, the Punjab Police employed Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri for security this week.

He is accused of killing Governor Salman Taseer on Tuesday, apparently because the governor spoke out against the country's controversial blasphemy law.

Taseer was buried yesterday. He had been governor of Punjab province since May 2008. The warning signs go back even further, said Rana Shahid Pervez, senior police official in Rawalpindi.

Pakistani Intelligence agencies warned officials in 2004 not to use Qadri after they uncovered connections between him and the religious group Dawat e Islamia Sunni group that claims it has a closer connection to the Prophet Mohammed than other Muslims.

Pervez said Qadri came from an area of Rawalpindi called Sadiq Abad, adjacent to the capital of Islamabad. He came from a poor family and his father is a common labourer who built homes.

Qadri joined the police force in 2002, and he was selected for the 'elite force course' in 2008, four years after the warning from intelligence agencies, Pervez said.

Qadri was one of 468 elite force guards in the Rawalpindi Police, which randomly assigns them as escorts to VIPs and officials like Taseer.

Qadri was assigned to the governor on Tuesday and had been his security guard many times before the shooting, according to Pervez, who disputed the link to Dawat e Islami.

Qadri "killed the governor totally from his own beliefs regarding Mohammed, and no group was behind him," Pervez said.

40 held in pak
Pakistani investigators probed the possibility of a larger conspiracy behind the killing of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer by his bodyguard as they arrested over 40 people, including 36 policemen. In Lahore, Taseer (66) was laid to rest with full state honours at the Cavalry Ground graveyard, with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and other top leaders paying homage. More than 40 people, including 36 policemen, have been detained by authorities probing the assassination.

Royal wedding itinerary

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British Palace officials yesterday revealed key details about the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton when they tie the knot on April 29

Wedding ceremony begins at Westminster Abbey at 11 am. Middleton will break with tradition and arrive at the wedding travelling by car, not in a special royal carriage.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams will conduct the ceremony. They will emerge from Westminster Abbey to ride in a carriage in a gala procession to Buckingham Palace.

The route, which will take them through the heart of ceremonial London, is expected to be lined with a huge crowd of well-wishers hoping for a glimpse of the royal couple.

On arrival at Buckingham Palace, the couple plan to make a brief public appearance on the main balcony. "We're hoping obviously for a balcony appearance and a kiss on the balcony," said royal commentator Dickie Arbiter.

Once they retreat inside the palace, the newlyweds will be the guests of honour at a reception hosted by William's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.

A concert in Hyde Park has been proposed.