Mid Day International News |
- China comes to rescue of Pak after Osama killing
- Senior Al Qaeda member surrenders to Saudi authorities
- Meet the man behind spectacular bin Laden strike in Pak
- Dubai woman sues ex-hubby for $11m over sex flop
- You will not see bin Laden walking on this earth again, says Obama
- Was Osama protected by ISI?
- Osama should have been Pak's public enemy no 1
- Native Americans offended by codename 'Geronimo'
- Selling Osama
- CIA chief: Pakistan either 'incompetent or involved'
- Bin Laden unarmed when killed
- 'My father was captured alive & then shot dead'
- 6-year-old eats her own flesh to survive
- Drunk driver bites policeman to avoid alcohol test in China
- Osama was unarmed but killed as he resisted, says US
- Man beheads wife after she gives birth to son
| China comes to rescue of Pak after Osama killing Posted: With its ally Pakistan under attack for its failure to locate the hideout of Osama bin Laden near its capital Islamabad, China today strongly came to its rescue, saying the global community should "understand and support" Islamabad's anti-terrorism efforts. "Pakistan is at the forefront of international counter terrorism efforts. As for question, the international community should understand and support Pakistan," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu said. She was replying to a question about US criticism on Pakistan's anti-terrorism efforts in the light of the discovery of bin Laden residing close to a military academy and calls for Washington's aid to Islamabad. "We support Pakistan's position and understand and support Pakistan formulating and implementing counter- terrorism strategy based on it national conditions," she said, reiterating her stand two days ago extending firm backing for Islamabad in the face international criticism after Osama was spotted and killed by US forces in Abbottabad. Jiang said China also appreciated "Pakistan's active participation in international counter-terrorism efforts". She, however did not reply to a question whether China will increase its assistance to Pakistan, which is it strategic ally. She also did not directly respond to a question on whether the US was right in entering into sovereign country to hunt terrorists. On China's counter-terrorism policy, Jiang said China also suffered from terrorism and named the separatist outfit East Turkestan movement active in Muslim Uygher dominated Xingjian province bordering Pakistan. "Some terrorist forces are engaged in great many terrorist activities for the purpose of splitting China and seriously threatens China's internal security and regional peace and stability," she said. "Combating East Turkestan terrorist forces is important part of international counter-terrorism campaign and the international community should step up coop to fight against terrorism together," she said referring to the ongoing movement by a section of Uyghur separatists in Xingjian seeking an independent country by the name of East Turkestan.
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| Senior Al Qaeda member surrenders to Saudi authorities Posted: A senior Al Qaeda member Khaled al-Atifi al-Qahtani has given himself up to the authorities in his homeland Saudi Arabia, the country's SPA news agency said Thursday. Al-Qahtani is the first Al Qaeda member to surrender since the group's leader Osama bin Laden was killed in a US operation Monday in Pakistan's Abbottabad city. "Khaled al-Atifi al-Qahtani, one of 47 Saudis abroad wanted by the security authorities, contacted the security bodies expressing his willingness to be helped to come back home and to turn himself in," Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki said. "A matter was arranged and facilitated to realise his return and to be reunited with his family as soon as he arrived in the Kingdom," the spokesman said. Saudi Arabia offers cash rewards for information leading to the arrest of Al Qaeda members on its wanted list, compiled earlier this year. The document is the latest of five terrorist wanted lists drawn up since a series of attacks on the kingdom in 2003. In November 2010, the Saudi authorities announced that they had arrested 149 suspected Al Qaeda members and uncovered 19 terrorist cells in the preceding eight months.
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| Meet the man behind spectacular bin Laden strike in Pak Posted: US Navy Vice Admiral William H. McRaven, head of the Joint Special Forces Command (JSOC), has been credited for organizing and executing Operation Neptune's Spear- the mission carried out on Sunday to capture or kill Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Pakistan's Abbottabad city. According to CBS News, Vice Admiral McRaven gave reports on the mission's status to CIA Director Leon Panetta, who relayed them to President Barack Obama and his top advisers while they waited in the White House Situation Room. McRaven has commanded at every level within the special operations community, including assignments as deputy commanding general for operations at JSOC, Commodore of Naval Special Warfare Group 1, Commander of SEAL Team 3, task group commander in the CENTCOM area of responsibility, task unit commander during the Gulf War, squadron commander at Naval Special Warfare Development Group, and SEAL platoon commander at Underwater Demolition Team 21/SEAL Team 4. He has also served as a staff officer with an interagency coordination focus, including as the director for Strategic Planning in the Office of Combating Terrorism on the National Security Council Staff, assessment director at U.S. Special Operations Command, on the Staff of the Chief of Naval Operations and the chief of staff at Naval Special Warfare Group 1. On April 6, McRaven was nominated by Obama for appointment to the rank of admiral and as the ninth Commander of US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM)
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| Dubai woman sues ex-hubby for $11m over sex flop Posted: An Emirati man is being sued for a whopping 10.99 million dollars by his wife for failing to sexually perform, thereby depriving her of conjugal rights and causing mental anguish. According to Gulf News, the unidentified woman told the court that her Emirati husband did not sleep with her in the first four months of their marriage in 2008 and later she discovered that he suffered from erectile dysfunction, reports the Herald Sun. The newspaper quoted court records as saying that the woman alleged her husband failed to fulfil her needs. The case is pending before Dubai Courts. "Considering the conservative Arab values, and the woman's situation in such a society, I remained silent and tried to adapt by praying to God that things would improve," she said. The husband forced her out of her employment and stripped her of her jewellery, she alleged.
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| You will not see bin Laden walking on this earth again, says Obama Posted: Ending a debate within his administration and country, United States President Barack Obama has assured everyone that they won't see Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden "walking on this earth again". Obama's comment comes amidst calls for the release of images of bin Laden's body or his burial service at sea. "There is no doubt that Osama bin Laden is dead. Certainly there is no doubt among Al-Qaeda members that he is dead. So, we don't think that a photograph in and of itself is going to make any difference," Obama said in an interview with CBS's "60 Minutes". "There are going to be some folks who deny it. The fact of the matter is, you will not see bin Laden walking on this earth again," he added. Obama had ordered a raid by a small team of US Special Forces, which found bin Laden, who had evaded capture for a decade, in a home in a fortified compound in Pakistan's Abbottabad city. Bin Laden, accused of being behind a number of atrocities, including the attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001, was at the top of the US "most wanted" list.
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| Posted: US and European intelligence officials increasingly believe active or retired Pakistani military or intelligence officials provided some measure of aid to Osama bin Laden to stay hidden in Pakistan, a media report said. Similar elements linked to the ISI have aided other Pakistan-based terror groups, the Haqqani militant network and Lashkar-e-Taiba, blamed for Mumbai terror attacks, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday citing senior US and European officials "There's no doubt he was protected by some in the ISI," a high-level European military-intelligence official was quoted as saying. The officials, who have direct working knowledge of Pakistan's spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, were cited as saying they believe these ISI elements include some current and former intelligence and military operatives with long-standing ties to Al Qaeda and other militant groups, the Journal said. The officials, the daily said, didn't offer specific evidence, but pointed to the proximity of Abbottabad, where bin Laden was found and killed, to the capital Islamabad and its high concentration of current and former military and intelligence officers. They said aid likely included intelligence tips to help keep bin Laden ahead of his American pursuers. But others in both the US and Pakistan have cast doubt on whether Abbottabad would have provided a more hospitable refuge than other towns, or whether officials would have reason to believe bin Laden could be hiding there, the Journal said. Abbottabad had come to the notice of Pakistani intelligence as a suspected hiding place for Al Qaeda leaders as long ago as 2003 and was the focus of searches for top Al Qaeda figures in years since, it said. In 2005, the man who was later identified as bin Laden's courier, acquired the property in Abbottabad on which the compound was built, US officials said Wednesday. The name he used, Arshad Khan, is the local alias he employed. It was this courier who, nearly six years later, eventually led the US to the compound. Pakistan denies it knew of bin Laden's whereabouts or sheltered him and Pakistani officials says they passed the information about the 2003 search to their American counterparts, the Journal said.
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| Osama should have been Pak's public enemy no 1 Posted: The well-established involvement of our fellow countrymen in global terrorism should've made us less self-righteous and more humble about our role in international politics. Sadly, that hasn't happened I expected angry, perhaps racist, comments in CNN's vox pops at Times Square, ground zero and outside the White House early Monday morning when ordinary Americans came together to celebrate their major victory against al-Qaida. But none of them said a word against Islam, Muslims, Arabs or Pakistanis. In fact, one of the people interviewed said that all Americans, whether Christians, Muslims, gay or straight, were equally happy that the man who planned 9/11 was dead.
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| Native Americans offended by codename 'Geronimo' Posted: Onondaga Nation Territory -- Leaders of the Onondaga Nation blasted as "reprehensible" the code name used for Osama bin Laden in the commando assault that killed him: "Geronimo." "We've ID'd Geronimo," US forces reported by radio to the White House. Later, word came that "Geronimo" was dead.  No Villain: Geronimo was an Apache leader in the 19th century who spent many years fighting the Mexican and US armies until his surrender in 1886. Pic/Gettyimages Geronimo was an Apache leader in the 19th century who spent many years fighting the Mexican and US armies until his surrender in 1886. "Think of the outcry if they had used any other ethnic group's hero," the Onondaga Council of Chiefs said yesterday. "Geronimo bravely and heroically defended his homeland and his people, eventually surrendering and living out the rest of his days peacefully, even if in captivity." "Geronimo is arguably the most recognised Native American name in the world," the chiefs said, "and this comparison only serves to perpetuate negative stereotypes about our people." The chiefs said the incident revived memories of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's remark last year that Gov. David Paterson should "get yourself a cowboy hat and a shotgun" to deal with Native Indian affairs. "It's typical," said Onondaga Tadodaho Sid Hill, the nation's spiritual leader. He said Geronimo was a hero to American Indians and it was incomprehensible that "they use him to identify a man like Osama Bin Laden." Hill said he had higher hopes for US President Barack Obama, who he said was adopted by the Blackfoot tribe during the 2008 election campaign. "Nobody seems to be able to see our side." Loretta Tuell, staff director and chief counsel for the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, had a similar same reaction. "These inappropriate uses of Native American icons and cultures are prevalent throughout our society, and the impacts to Native and non-Native children are devastating," Tuell said.
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| Posted:
Examples include a key ring bearing the face of the al-Qaeda leader, framed in the cross-hairs of a gun, with the words 'Osama Bin Killed'. There are mugs plastered with Bin Laden's face and the word 'Dead' across it.There is even an item of baby's clothing sporting the sentence: 'I killed Osama'. California-based Zazzle says it has sold "tens of thousands" of these types of products online, for between $15 (R670) and $40 (R1,800), since Sunday. It is marketing 10,000 individual items related to the al-Qaeda leader's demise. "This has been the number one trending item on the Zazzle marketplace for the past two days," says Mike Karns, the website's director of marketing. Individuals across the US have been designing images to be emblazoned on caps, car bumper stickers and T-shirts. They then upload them to online stores, which prints and sells them on their behalf.
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| CIA chief: Pakistan either 'incompetent or involved' Posted: In a stinging attack, CIA director told US lawmakers that Washington was trying to get to the bottom of Pak's 'troubling' role in Osama raid Two days after Osama bin Laden's dramatic killing, the US Wednesday described its ties with Islamabad as 'complicated' with the CIA chief saying that Pakistan was either 'involved or incompetent' in la'affaire Osama.  In a stinging attack, CIA director Leon Panetta (in pic) told US lawmakers that Washington was trying to get to the bottom of Pakistan's 'troubling' role in their professed ignorance about the whereabouts of Osama. In a closed door briefing for House members yesterday, Panetta said that "either they were involved or incompetent. Neither place is a good place to be", CNN reported. Senators were unrelenting in their attack on Pakistan, a country whose leaders have repeatedly claimed that Osama, the world's most wanted terror leader, was either dead or hiding in Afghanistan. "It had everything except a neon sign sticking out there," Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg told CNN, referring to the spacious and high-walled mansion in Abbottabad. Republican Allen West echoed the angry mood in the Congress. "There is no way people in the ISI (Pakistan's intelligence agency) and military did not know that Osama has been living there for quite some time," said West, who has served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. In his briefing on how Osama was trapped and killed, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney spoke approvingly of Pakistan's cooperation on the war on terror but admitted that US-Pak ties were 'complicated'. "Pakistan is a partner - a key partner - in the fight against Al Qaeda and terrorism," he said. "It's a complicated relationship. There's no question. And we do have our differences." Afghanistan too The Afghan government yesterday said that Pakistan must have known Osama bin Laden was living in a military garrison town near the capital. The two countries have long had tense relations, especially over the issue of Pakistan failing to target Taliban militants using its territory as sanctuary to launch cross-border attacks against Afghan and international forces. "Not only Pakistan, with its strong intelligence service, but even a very weak government with a weak intelligence service would have known who was living in that house in such a location," said Defence Ministry spokesman Gen Mohammad Zahir Azimi.
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| Posted: The United States revealed that Osama bin Laden was unarmed when US commandos shot him dead and that Pakistani authorities were kept in the dark because they might have tipped off the Al-Qaeda leader. The White House gave the fullest account yet of the dramatic and momentous raid that killed the architect of the September 11, 2001 attacks and sparked scenes of relief and joy around the Western world. But officials did not clearly explain why bin Laden was shot dead and not captured given that he was unarmed, fueling speculation that the elite Navy SEAL team had been ordered on a kill mission. "In the room with bin Laden, a woman -- bin Laden's wife -- rushed the US assaulter and was shot in the leg but not killed," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. "Bin Laden was then shot and killed. He was not armed." When pressed further, Carney said there had been significant resistance, a "volatile firefight," and insisted, "We were prepared to capture him if that was possible." Debate over releasing photos US President Barack Obama is increasingly doubtful that there's a compelling reason to release a photograph of Osama bin Laden's corpse. There don't seem to be many skeptics of bin Laden's death in the Muslim world, with bin Laden's wife having survived the attack to identify bin Laden's death both to the Navy SEALs and Pakistani authorities. Meanwhile, sources say, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are advising the president about concerns that releasing a photograph could prompt a backlash against the US for killing bin Laden. According to a senior US official, the White House has received three sets of photographs. The first batch, which clearly show bin Laden's body, was taken at a hangar in Afghanistan, the official said. The official described one of the images as a clear, but gruesome, picture of his face. Bin Laden is shown with a massive open head wound across both eyes, the official said. The other photos include the raid on the compound and bin Laden's burial at sea.
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| 'My father was captured alive & then shot dead' Posted: Osama's 12-year-old daughter tells interrogators
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| 6-year-old eats her own flesh to survive Posted: A six-year-old US girl, who was kept in a cage almost starved to death by her own parents, was found eating her own flesh to survive. Brian and Shannon Gore, a Virginia couple, are accused of keeping their daughter in shocking conditions and virtually starving her to death, reports Courier Mail. The girl was so hungry that when police found her she was eating the flaky skin of her forehead. She was covered in bedsores and her own faeces. She was unable to walk after being freed from the crudely built cage. Doctors treating the girl told police if they had found her a week later she would have died from starvation. Gore told police the girl had been kept in the cage since last summer. Gore and his 24-year-old wife told police the girl suffered from Downs Syndrome and had cerebral palsy. They claimed she was kept locked in a cage to protect her. After interrogating the couple, police also discovered remains of a second child buried under the home.
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| Drunk driver bites policeman to avoid alcohol test in China Posted: As China began implementing new stringent rules against drunk driving, an intoxicated driver bit the hand of a police officer to avoid an alcohol test in China's Shanxi province. The man, surnamed Hao, is being charged with dangerous driving after a breath alcohol test showed that his alcohol level was at 129 milligrammes per 100 millilitres of blood, exceeding the legal threshold of 80 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, municipal traffic police said. When the policeman asked the driver to take a breath alcohol test after smelling alcohol on him, the man bit the policeman's left hand. The police officer tried to use his phone to call for reinforcements, but the man knocked the phone out of his hand and grabbed the officer by the neck, police was quoted as saying by the 'Xinhua' news agency. The fight lasted for about 20 minutes before other officers arrived. Hao was the first person to get caught drunk driving in Taiyuan since a newly amended law took effect on Sunday which imposes harsher punishments on drunk drivers. The newly amended Road Traffic Safety Law states that anyone caught drunk driving will have their driver's license revoked upon conviction, have to wait five years to apply for a new license and face detention for one to six months. The nationwide crackdown on drunk driving has led to dozens of other drivers being caught. Nine drivers have been caught drunk driving in Beijing since Sunday morning, three of whom were involved in car accidents, according to statistics from the city's municipal traffic management bureau. In recent years, fatal car accidents in Chinese cities such as Chengdu, Nanjing and Hangzhou have triggered a public outcry, calling for stricter penalties for drunk driving. The crackdown has already had an effect on the three-day Labor Day holiday, a time reserved for family reunions and weddings. These gatherings often involve heavy consumption of alcohol. According to a statement by the traffic management authority, the number of alcohol-related road accidents that occurred during this year's Labour Day holiday dropped 27.6 per cent year-on-year, with a total of 1,458 accidents reported.
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| Osama was unarmed but killed as he resisted, says US Posted: Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was unarmed but killed because he resisted the American forces that stormed his hideout in Pakistan. Giving a most detailed account of how the world's most wanted terrorist was killed, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney also said that his wife was not killed but shot in the leg. US commandos flew into Pakistan's Abbottabad city post midnight Sunday in two helicopters -- the spokesman did not say from where -- on the orders of President Barack Obama to "capture or kill bin Laden". "The team methodically cleared the compound, moving from room to room in an operation lasting nearly 40 minutes. "They were engaged in a firefight throughout the operation, and bin Laden was killed by the assaulting force." Carney said that two other families, besides Osama's, lived in the spacious and supposedly secure mansion that was located not far from a key Pakistani military academy. One of the other two families lived on the first floor and another in a second building in the compound. "One (team) began the operation on the first floor of the bin Laden house and worked their way to the third floor. A second team cleared the separate building. "On the first floor of bin Laden's building, two Al Qaeda couriers were killed, along with a woman who was killed in crossfire. "Bin Laden and his family were found on the second and third floor of the building. "There was concern that bin Laden would oppose the capture operation -- operation rather, and, indeed, he did resist. "In the room with bin Laden, a woman -- rather bin Laden's wife -- rushed (to) the US assaulter and was shot in the leg but not killed. "Bin Laden was then shot and killed. He was not armed." Journalists sought to know how Osama was resisting if he didn't have a gun. Carney: "I think resistance does not require a firearm." Carney was also asked why the US forces did not capture Osama. "We were prepared to capture him if that was possible. We expected a great deal of resistance and were met with a great deal of resistance." Journalist: "But he wasn't armed?" Carney: "But there were many other people who were armed in the compound. There was a firefight." Pressed again, the spokesman said: "US personnel on the ground handled themselves with the utmost professionalism and he was killed in an operation because of the resistance they met." Carney was asked if both the bullets which killed Osama were fired by one American soldier. "I don't have a detail on the shots and who fired them." Carney was also asked to explain how could there have been "a real gun battle" since 17 of the 22 or so people in the mansion were noncombatants -- women and children. Carney: "But there was a firefight." Carney said that after the firefight, the noncombatants were moved to a safe location as one of the helicopters that got damaged was detonated. "The team departed the scene via helicopter to the USS Carl Vinson in the North Arabian Sea. "Aboard the USS Carl Vinson, the burial of bin Laden was done in conformance with Islamic precepts and practices. "The deceased's body was washed and then placed in a white sheet. The body was placed in a weighted bag; a military officer read prepared religious remarks, which were translated into Arabic by a native speaker. "After the words were complete, the body was placed on a prepared flat board, tipped up and the deceased body eased into the sea."
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| Man beheads wife after she gives birth to son Posted: A man beheaded his wife in a hospital in China's Guizhou province, just days after she gave birth to a baby boy. The man, Long Jiulie, refused to surrender and was shot dead by the police. Shanghai Daily Wednesday said soon after the assailant entered his wife's ward, patients rushed out and raised the alarm. Nurse's found Long's wife, Yang, had been beheaded by her husband. He had used a kitchen knife to kill her. Two people who had come to meet Yang were injured in the attack. The media report did not cite the reason for the attack. Nurses quoted by China News Service said 42-year-old Yang had given birth to a baby boy days earlier. Long was surrounded by the police in a room. When he refused to surrender despite negotiations, he was shot dead.
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