Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Mid Day International News

Mid Day International News

Osama's death hailed as late Pope's miracle

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It was more than just an answer to prayer.

A US military mission that cornered and killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan was nothing short of a miracle, said Peru's President Alan Garcia, who attributed the divine intervention to newly beatified pontiff John Paul II.

"His first miracle has been to rid the world of this incarnation of evil, this demon of hatred and criminality," the Peruvian leader said, referring to the al-Qaeda leader.


Wonder! Peru's President Alan Garcia attributed the killing of Osama to
Pope John Paul II. pic/afp

The late John Paul II showed uncanny timing, with his miracle falling on the very same day as a Rome ceremony beatifying him.

Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday bestowed the status of 'blessed' on his predecessor in front of a million people, after the Roman Catholic Church determined that John Paul had performed the necessary miracle for beatification.

Garcia said the late pontiff wasted no time in performing the second miracle needed for sainthood, making it possible for American commandos to find and kill their hated al-Qaeda foe, whom they had hunted for the past decade.

"We hope that with his fall, that entire group that had hoped to spread terrorism throughout the world loses its importance," Garcia said.

The Peruvian leader said the assault on bin Laden's compound "should please President Barack Obama and vindicate former president George W Bush," whose relentless pursuit of a global 'war on terror' became a central focus of US foreign and military policy during his tenure.


'The minutes passed like days'

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Say officials who were with US President Barack Obama while he watched the raid in 'real time' that led to the death of Osama bin Laden

As special-operations military troops prepared for a firefight about 7,000 miles away, President Barack Obama entered a room in the Washington area early in the afternoon on Sunday to follow along.

Like a page plucked from a Hollywood screenplay, Obama and other principal coordinators for the mission that killed Osama bin Laden convened in order to remotely monitor the situation, John Brennan, the US counterterrorism chief, said in a White House news briefing.


Anxious moments: President Obama watches the mission unfold at the
White House along with (left) Vice President Joe Biden, and (second right)
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. pic/afp

Obama arrived after many of the mission's leaders had assembled there, but the president joined before the attack on bin Laden's mansion in Abbottabad, Pakistan, began, Brennan said.

"We were able to monitor on a real-time basis the progress of the operation, from its commencement, to its time on target, to the extraction of the remains," Brennan said. "We were able to have regular updates to ensure that we had real-time visibility into the progress of the operation."

The White House and Central Intelligence Agency didn't have access to a live audio feed, but they were able to tap other communications, said a US official.

There was some live video, though the official declined to elaborate on the nature of that footage.

The CIA had led the bin Laden attack operation, and officials had access to live video of the raid, the report said.

Brennan declined to say whether they had access to a video feed or radio communications. White House officials did not comment on the issue

"We have rid the world of the most infamous terrorist of our time," CIA Director Leon Panetta said in a statement. "We gave President Obama accurate, relevant, timely intelligence " providing the information and insight they needed at key points as this mission developed."

"It was probably one of the most anxiety-filled periods, in the lives of the people who were assembled," Brennan said.

"The minutes passed like days, and the president was very concerned about the security of personnel. That was what was on his mind throughout."


Hackers cash in on Osama's death

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Osama bin Laden's takedown is proving to be a boon for distributors of malware, who have been quick to cash in on the curiosity of people looking for information. The Russian Kaspersky Labs reports that Google images, which is now the search engine of choice for those looking to distribute malware, contains several sites which are already poisoned.

They were quite fast and started to poison searches results in Google Images. Kaspersky has identified two particular domains, ***-antivirus.cz.cc/fast-scan/ and ***pe-antivirus.cz.cc/fast-scan/. In this case they are distributing rogueware, fake antivirus. Security Week, meanwhile, is reporting that criminals are also using links on Facebook to engineer people to visit sites.


With Osama dead, man finally shaves

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When a middle school teacher vowed not to shave until Osama bin Laden was caught following the terror attacks, he thought it would only be a matter of months. So when Gary Weddle (50) found out the al-Qaeda leader was dead, he was probably more happy than most. In almost 10 years the science teacher from Ephrata, Washington, had managed to grow a grizzled beard that reached his chest.


Parting with his hair: Gary Weddle rushed in and shaved on his itchy
friend which he had for the last 10 years.

He certainly could have joined band ZZ Top and ironically bore a resemblance to Bin Laden himself. "I spent my first five minutes crying and then I couldn't get it off fast enough," said Weddle. Unsurprisingly Weddle's wife Donita was also rather relieved to be able to see a bit more of her husband's face. "He looks 10 years younger," she said. "It's a very happy moment for us. It's a very happy moment for the whole nation." Weddle had been working in his garden on Sunday evening when a colleague called to tell him the news.

Sceptical at first Weddle turned on the news and then when it had sunk in rushed to the bathroom to hack away at the itchy creation. Friends and neighbours even headed over to his house to watch the symbolic moment. And yesterday Weddle's school principal Jill Palmquist honoured him, telling students they should admire the teacher for sticking to his vow not to shave for 3,454 days.

But he had made a vow and was going to stick to it even if special forces had never captured the terrorist.
In 2003 Weddle had said, "If they want to shave it off my body in the coffin, they can, but I'm going to hang onto it... I'm not going to forget and I'm not going to let anyone forget."

3,454 Number of days Gary Weddle went unshaven


Osama's family mourns his loss

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Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden's death will be a difficult time for members of his family, who even though had distanced themselves from the terrorist after 9/11, still considered him as their "brother," a relative of bin Laden's has said. "My understanding of the Saudi society is I'm sure they (bin Laden's family) are mourning because for them he is their brother. It is my perception and I'm sure that it must be difficult time for them," said bin Laden's former sister-in-law Carmen Binladin.


Weeping for the 'martyr': Activists of Jamaat-ud-Dawa offer funeral
prayers for Osama bin Laden on a street in Karachi yesterday.
Hundreds of people offered special prayers for Osama bin Laden in
Karachi where the organisers declared the al-Qaeda chief as a martyr.
Pic/AFP

Binladin said after 9/11, the family had realised the harm Osama had done and they had to distance themselves from him but "blood is thicker than anything and they still consider him as part of the family and part of the bin Ladens." "They are very close knit, emotionally together." Hearing of bin Laden's death brought back memories of the 9/11 attack for the Swiss-born Binladin, who said the families of the victims "could at last have a sense of justice... It is a relief to be able to know that they will have some kind of closure."

She said she remembers bin Laden as a very religious man. "When I was living in Saudi Arabia, he had started going to Afghanistan against the Soviets. I knew he was very religious but at that time in the early 1980s I never thought that he would come and take so many innocent lives." She said changing her name would not have gone down well with the people. She said she was grateful to the American people for understanding her situation and for being supportive of her and her daughter "despite all of their suffering."

White House officials are considering releasing several photos of the body of Osama bin Laden. They are also weighing whether to release video of his swift burial at sea.


Laden might have been killed by his own guards: Report

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Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden might have been killed by one of his own guards in line with his will to prevent his capture during a raid by US forces near the garrison city of Abbottabad in northwest Pakistan, according to a media report today.

US officials have said that the world's most wanted man was killed with one or two shots to the head when he resisted after American Special Forces yesterday stormed a compound near Abbottabad where he was hiding.

However, an unnamed told the Dawn newspaper that mastermind of the most devastating attack on US soil "might have been killed by one of his own guards in line with his will to avert his capture".

"From the scene of the gun battle it doesn't look like he could have been killed at point blank range from such a close angle, while offering resistance," said the official who visited the scene of the assault soon after the departure of the US team from the compound in Thanda Choa or Bilal Town, a stone's throw from the Pakistan Military Academy.

One of bin Laden's son, two couriers and a woman being used as a human shield were also killed in the pre-dawn raid, US officials said.

Details about the US raid on the large compound surrounded by unusually high walls are still emerging. US helicopters were hovering over the area at around 12.30 am yesterday and it took the "US assault team of 25 Navy SEALs and CIA hit men" about 40 minutes to clear the area and take away bin Laden s body, officials told the Dawn.

One of the two helicopters involved in the assault "went down during action" and an official who visited the scene said there was no evidence to suggest that it might have been hit by a rocket or shot from the ground.

"There was no evidence of the helicopter having been shot down. From the wreckage it appears to be more a case of a crash," he said.

A loud explosion heard during the gun battle might have been caused by the assault team destroying the helicopter, the official said.

Contrary to the US claim, the official said three of bin Laden's guards were killed.

The body of one guard, described as an Afghan or a tribesman, was lying in the compound.

The bodies of two guards were found in the living quarters.

The US team took away only bin Laden s body, leaving behind a number of women and children.

Bin Laden's two wives, both in their early 50s and one of them of Yemeni origin, were among those left behind.

A third woman, wounded in the attack, was taken to a military hospital.

The official said a total of nine boys and girls, aged between two and 12 years, were seized in the compound.

One was bin Laden's 11-year-old daughter, the official said.

The women and children are in the custody of Pakistani security agencies.

A senior security official said they would be interrogated.

"We would want to know the whole story. How and when did the entire band come to this part of the region? Where was bin Laden all these years? And was he actually there when the assault took place? There are a whole set of questions which need to be answered," the security official said.

"One of the women who spoke a smattering of English said they had moved to the compound a few months ago. But we would want to know how did they come to this place," he said.

The compound was known to local residents as Waziristan Haveli as it was believed to be owned by a man from the Waziristan tribal region.

Local resident Jehanzeb Jadoon said "nobody had a clue to the presence of Osama and his family" in the compound.

The compound's walls, which were 15 to 20 foot high and were topped with barbed wire, were unusual for a place like Abbottabad, an unnamed official said.

Another security official said the Waziristani man's connection could provide clues as to how the bin Ladens managed to travel to Abbottabad.

Security agencies have launched a search for the Waziristani owner of the compound, which was built five years ago.

An official acknowledged that the compound might have been built close to a high security zone to protect it from prying eyes of foreign intelligence operatives, electronic surveillance and predator drones.

Brits angry over 650 mln pound aid to terrorist haven Pakistan

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The news that Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was living in Pakistan for more than five years has sparked off fresh anger and dismay in Britain over the David Cameron government's recent decision to give Islamabad 650-million-pounds in aid.

The Daily Express quoted Tory MP Philip Davies, as saying: "It is extraordinary to give 650 million pounds of taxpayers' money to a country that at best is facing both ways and at worst harbouring the world's worst terrorist."

The huge cash injection by the Department for International Development will make Pakistan the UK's biggest recipient of overseas aid.

The package is designed to get four million of the 17 million children who currently receive no schooling into the classroom.

Pakistan spends just 1.5 per cent of its national income on schools but is placing billion-pound orders for six Chinese submarines and 36 fighter aircraft.

Cameron defended the payments at the time, saying: "If Pakistan is a success we'll have a good friend to deal with. If we fail we'll have all the problems of migration, of extremism - problems that we don't want to see, so it's in our interest that Pakistan succeeds."

The cash will come on top of the existing �140million annual aid commitment to Pakistan and means Britain will be sending about �350million a year over the next four years.

New Yorkers can now watch porn in public libraries

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People of New York can now watch internet porn at the city's public libraries, thanks to a policy of free speech, officials said.

"Customers can watch whatever they want on the computer," said Brooklyn Public Library spokeswoman Malika Granville.

The New York Post reported that people are free to watch anything on computers at the city's 200-plus libraries.

The rule, however, has angered religious leaders and library patrons. "What they're doing is publicly funding an appetite for the most debased fare available," said Catholic League president Bill Donohue.

"It's not like a Playboy centerfold anymore - it's far worse," he said.

Library visitor Daisy Nazario, 60, said she was disgusted when she found she was sitting next to an elderly man watching porn at the Brooklyn Central Library.

"I could hear the voices," Nazario said. "It is very disrespectful to children."

Under American law, libraries that use federal funding only must install filters on publicly-used computers to block content that have obscenity and child pornography.

Library officials said it is a free speech issue.

"In deference to the First Amendment protecting freedom of speech, the New York Public Library cannot prevent adult patrons from accessing adult content that is legal," said New York Public Library spokeswoman Angela Montefinise.
Posted by Harshad at 7:49 AM

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