Thursday, June 2, 2011

Mid Day International News

Mid Day International News

ISI linked to slain scribe

Posted:

Pakistan's intelligence services have been accused of involvement in the abduction and murder of a journalist investigating links between the country's military and al-Qaeda.

Syed Saleem Shahzad, whose tortured body was found on Tuesday in a canal, two days after he disappeared, had warned that the government's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency had threatened to silence him.

Shahzad was the bureau chief for Asia Times Online and correspondent for the Italian news service Adnkronos International.


Paying their last respects: Relatives and members of the media carry
the coffin of Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad at the airport in
Karachi yesterday. pic/afp

"This killing bears all the hallmarks of previous killings perpetrated by intelligence agencies," Ali Dayan Hasan of Human Rights Watch said.

Regarded as being well-connected with the military and militant groups, Shahzad regularly embarrassed the Pakistani establishment with his investigations.

His final article alleged al-Qaeda had infiltrated the Pakistani Navy and carried out the attack last month on the country's largest naval air base in Karachi, killing 10 people and destroying two planes.

The story was to be the first in a two-part series, with Shahzad promising further stories on the terrorist network working inside Pakistan's powerful military.

Before he disappeared, Shahzad told Hasan, Pakistan representative for Human Rights Watch, that he was being threatened and followed by intelligence officers.

"He told me he is getting threatening telephone calls and that he is under intelligence surveillance," said Hasan.
"We can't say for sure who has killed Shahzad. But what we can say for sure is that Saleem Shahzad was under serious threat from the ISI and Human Rights Watch has every reason to believe that that threat was credible."

Shahzad's family have reportedly demanded a second autopsy be carried out.

President Asif Ali Zardari, expressed his "deep grief and sorrow" at Shahzad's death and ordered an inquiry into his kidnapping and murder.

The US government, whose relations with its ally in the war on terror are strained after the killing of Osama bin Laden, said his death was a further blow to free speech in Pakistan.


Doc recalls kids from Osama home

Posted:

For pediatrician Mehar Dil Wazir, they were a normal bunch of kids, like the dozens of others he treats daily for tummy upsets, coughs and colds. He thought the same about the two men who brought them to his simple clinic, a well-dressed pair who said they were cousins.

But a few days after the May 2 raid that killed Osama bin Laden in the Pakistani town, intelligence agents told him his child patients lived in the same house with the terror leader. The men who brought them in were bin Laden's most trusted couriers. "They seemed to be gentlemen," Wazir said revealing for the first time his connection with bin Laden. "And the kids were good looking and healthy." Agents told the 67-year-old doctor they traced him from prescriptions he had written that were found in the bin Laden house. They questioned him for several hours and left, satisfied that he did not know the identity of his patients. Wazir's recollections give fresh glimpses into the life of the world's most wanted man, his family and associates.


Barcelona bans bikinis on its streets

Posted:

Tourists who attempt to stroll bare-chested or in swimwear through the streets of Barcelona will be ordered to cover up or face fines of up to �260 (Rs 19,000) under a ban that came into force this week. The Catalan capital has prohibited beachwear beyond the beach in an attempt to clean up its image.


No skin show: Residents claim they are fed up of watching tourists
walking on the streets nude.

The by-law has been introduced following a campaign by residents sick of the sight of tourists wandering and dining in restaurants in various states of undress. "Some people who live here are bothered by tourists who go about wearing just a bikini in the street, or men with their shirts off," said Assumpta Escarp, a Barcelona councillor who fought for the ban.

Rs 19,000 The fine if one is caught nude on the streets


Meowing Oz senator sparks off political row

Posted:

A meowing Australian senator touched off a political row in Canberra yesterday after his cat imitation directed at Finance Minister Penny Wong (in pic) sparked accusations that the opposition behaved like sexists and goons, and were feral.



Liberal Tasmanian Senator David Bushby meowed at Wong at a hearing when Wong -- Australia's first Malaysian-born and first openly gay cabinet member -- fought constant interruptions. A visibly livid Wong snapped, "Oh yes, why don't you meow when a woman does that? ... The blokes are allowed to yell, but if a woman stands her ground, you want to make that kind of comment. It's sort of schoolyard politics, mate."

Bushby initially refused to withdraw but issued an apology on Twitter after a barrage of attacks in Parliament during question time and comments by Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan that the opposition was sexist and behaved ferally.


Hoop-la as 'Grandpa Wen' shows skills

Posted:

Chinese Premier joins pupils' basketball training, calls for more sports activities for children

He may be approaching 70, but Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao stripped down to a singlet and shorts to show off his basketball skills at Shibalidian Primary School in Beijing's Chaoyang District on Tuesday, earning rave reviews from an adoring public. After practice, Wen told the players that he was "very happy" to join them, saying that building a strong and healthy body would help them in their studies. "Only when children are healthy, can the country have a good future," Wen said. "We must keep a healthy body in order to better serve the people."


Let's get physical: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao shows off his basketball
skills with students from Shibalidian Primary School.


Jiabao joins local residents in a morning jog in a Tokyo park on in 2010.
File pic/getty images

'Grandpa Wen' earned thousands of admiring messages on web portal Sina.com after his turn at a Beijing elementary school, where he dribbled the ball between his legs and performed a series of lay-ups. Though not at the level of basketball-loving US President Barack Obama, it was a rousing performance from the 68-year-old Wen, albeit against children aged about 11 and with junior nets just seven feet high. Wen looked trim in his Li Ning-brand sportswear, despite some heavy breathing after the game. He also underwent some training exercises with the kids during his visit on the eve of International Children's Day. "Premier Wen, all these years the one I admire most is you. I hope you can live until 100," gushed one contributor to Sina.com.

Wen prides himself on his physical fitness and has played baseball and table tennis for the cameras during visits to Japan, China's historical rival. The 'people's premier' also met chart-topping Japanese boy-band SMAP last month during a summit with the leaders of Japan and South Korea in Tokyo.


Woman weds ninth time to find soulmate

Posted:

A woman in Britain, in search of a perfect soulmate, has married for the ninth time as all her previous attempts failed miserably.

The longest of 56-year-old Pat Higgins' marriages lasted five years and the shortest just five days. She spent 8,000 pounds (over $13,000) on her eighth wedding, which lasted just two months.

This time Pat has married a toyboy who is 32 years junior to her, The Sun reported Wednesday.

Mark Sanderson is a supermarket worker.

Interestingly, Pat is seven years elder than Mark's mother and had been married three times before her groom was born.

And despite her earlier attempts at securing wedded bliss, Pat vowed: "This time it's forever."


Here's a website where members share sex lives to save trees!

Posted:

In a rare of its kind, a Norwegian organisation is using sex and orgies as a non-profit way of raising money to help save the environment.

According to BBC Mundo, Swede Leona Johansson and Norwegian Tommy Hol Ellingsen founded 'Fuck for Forest' (FFF) 11 years ago to raise funds to save the world's rainforests. They raised 180,000 dollars in 2010 through sales of pornographic material.

And the Scandinavian couple has attracted up to 1,300 like-minded activists all over the world.

From Germany to Chile, the members are sharing their sex lives to save the trees, reports EiTB News.

Since 2000, FFF has raised an impressive 345,000 dollars by selling pornographic material like explicit photos and videos of themselves having sex, usually out in the open, via their website.

"Saving the planet is sexy," they argue, "so why not get turned on for a good cause?"

Johansson and Ellingsen shot to fame in Norway in 2004 when they had live sex on stage alongside local group 'The Cumshots' at the Quart Festival in Kristiansand


Posted by Harshad at 7:20 AM

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