catatan iza

Haqqani network denies killing Afghan envoy Rabbani

noreply@blogger.com (catatan izza) — Mon, 3 Oct 2011 07:55:00 -0700

A key leader of the Afghan militant group, the Haqqani network, has told the BBC it was not responsible for killing Burhanuddin Rabbani, the man overseeing Taliban peace talks.

Afghan officials have blamed the Taliban-affiliated network for the suicide attack on Rabbani.
Siraj Haqqani also told BBC Pashto his network was not linked to Pakistan's spy agency, the ISI.
Mr Haqqani was giving an audio response to written questions from the BBC.
Security considerations ruled out a face-to-face interview in which the answers could be challenged, but the BBC understands that the audio response is genuine.
The questions were delivered through an intermediary, who returned with the audio response.
Siraj Haqqani is the son of group founder Jalaluddin Haqqani and has a key role in its operations.

Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden ‘dead’

noreply@blogger.com (catatan izza) — Mon, 3 Oct 2011 07:46:00 -0700

ISLAMABAD, PASKISTAN (ANS) -- The world’s most wanted terrorist, Al-Qaeda founder and leader Osama Bin Laden is dead, according to US officials.

The US is in possession of Bin Laden's body, the reports say.

Bin Laden was top of the US most wanted list.

The BBC reports that he is accused of being behind a number of atrocities, including the attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001.

The al-Qaeda leader was killed in a mansion outside Islamabad in an operation based on actionable US intelligence, CNN has reported.

The BBC says, “Crowds gathered outside the White House in Washington DC, chanting ‘USA, USA’ after the news emerged.

Zimbabwe pres. denies rumors of Asia medical trip

noreply@blogger.com (catatan izza) — Mon, 3 Oct 2011 07:36:00 -0700

HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe's 87-year-old president is disputing reports he sought medical treatment in Asia and says he went there to visit his daughter instead.

Robert Mugabe returned Sunday from a five-day trip. State radio on Monday reported that he told journalists he spent time with his daughter Bona, 22, a student in Hong Kong. He dismissed media reports he is ill and castigated those who mention his health every time he travels to Asia.
Last week's Asian trip was his sixth this year. In March, his office said he underwent eye surgery in Singapore. But U.S. diplomats cited in recently released WikiLeaks cables have said they were informed he is suffering from prostate cancer. Mugabe's party denies the cancer claims.

Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks: Netanyahu Welcomes Quartet's Plan, With Reservations

noreply@blogger.com (catatan izza) — Mon, 3 Oct 2011 07:29:00 -0700

ERUSALEM — Israel's government welcomed on Sunday parts of an international proposal to resume long-stalled peace talks with the Palestinians but said it had concerns about the plan.
The plan by Mideast mediators, known as the Quartet, calls for a peace deal in a year and asks both sides to produce comprehensive proposals on territory and security within three months.

The Quartet presented the latest timetable after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas asked the U.N. late last month to recognize a state of Palestine in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War.

The Palestinian request has put the U.S. and other countries in a diplomatically awkward position, forcing them to take sides for or against, and has stepped up pressure on the international community to chart out a resolution of the conflict.
The Israeli government would not say Sunday what its concerns were, saying only that it would raise them "at the appropriate time." However, Israeli officials have expressed reservations about the Quartet's timetable for the discussion of specific issues.
A senior Palestinian official, Saeb Erekat, dismissed the Israeli government's statement as disingenuous, noting that Israel has previously rejected key provisions of the Quartet proposal, including a freeze of Israeli settlement building on occupied land.
Last week, the Palestinians said the Quartet's plan contained "encouraging elements" but that they would not return to talks unless Israel freezes settlement building and accepts the pre-1967 war frontier as a baseline for talks.
The Palestinians, like the Israelis, seem wary of being perceived as the party blocking any resumption of negotiations.
The Quartet plan calls for a speedy resumption of peace talks, with the goal of reaching a comprehensive agreement by the end of 2012. In the meantime, it urges both sides to avoid "provocative actions."
On Sunday, senior Israeli Cabinet ministers discussed the Quartet's proposal. In a statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israel "welcomes the Quartet's call for direct negotiations between the parties without preconditions" but said it would raise its "concerns" in the future.
Israeli officials have previously questioned the one-year timetable, as well as the Quartet's call to produce "comprehensive proposals" on territory and security within three months.
Israel believes these matters should not be broken away from a wider array of issues dividing Israel and the Palestinians, like the conflicting claims to east Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees displaced during Israel's establishment 63 years ago.
The Quartet – the U.S., European Union, United Nations and Russia – did not include any new ideas for bridging the gaps that have kept negotiations deadlocked for the past three years, chiefly the Palestinian demand for a settlement freeze.
But it "reaffirmed" its commitment to several older documents and proposals, including the U.S.-backed "road map", which calls for a complete settlement freeze.
Israel has refused to endorse the 1967 lines as a basis for the future Palestinian state , despite President Barack Obama's calls to do so. It says talks should immediately resume with no preconditions.
Just last week, Israel approved the construction of 1,100 new housing units in an area of Jerusalem built on land captured in 1967 in a move that drew widespread international condemnation.
In Cairo, Erekat questioned Netanyahu's seriousness toward the Quartet proposal, since the Israeli leader has rejected the Quartet's previous calls for a settlement freeze and its endorsement of the 1967 lines.
"Mr. Netanyahu should put his money where his mouth is and announce he will stop settlements and accept a two-state solution based on 1967," Erekat said. "If he doesn't accept this, it means he's playing a game of deception and public relations. No one is going to swallow it."

Like Socrates, Did Ahmadinejad Question the State Religion?

noreply@blogger.com (catatan izza) — Mon, 3 Oct 2011 07:23:00 -0700

photo: UN / JC McIlwaine

Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling. At Socrates' trial, Athenians seethed with anger and jealous rage. He had questioned Pericles's Golden Age of Athens. Along with criticizing Athenian lifestyles, ideals, values, and even the gods, Socrates questioned Pericles's limited democracy and Athens' wealth and greatness. How dare Socrates criticize "Athens standing out among Greek city-states and how its administration favored the many instead of the few?" How dare Socrates question Athens' constitution and Athenians understanding and toleration, since they "threw open their city to the world, and never by alien acts excluded foreigners
from any opportunity of learning or observing, although the eyes of an enemy may occasionally profit by Athens liberality."(1) And how dare Socrates question Pericles's beautification projects, like the Parthenon that housed the goddess of liberty, Athena, and his goal to forge an empire, even if it meant war and sacrificing tens of thousands of citizens.
In the midst of institutional slavery and excluding women from the Athenian Assembly, Pericles added that Athenians "cultivated knowledge" and looked forward to free deliberations and debates. It was this "equal justice for all," then, that Athens had earned "merit" to rule the world.(2) But Socrates still questioned Athens' limited democracy and its wealth and greatness, its empire building and the Delian League, and Athens' disastrous defeat at Syracuse where thirty-thousand Athenian soldiers were killed. On the same spot Athenians executed its generals for losing the imperial war against Syracuse, a war that only male Athenians democratically voted for, the State condemned Socrates to death. Until the end, though, Socrates maintained that the unexamined life was not worth living. He also believed an unexamined state and unexamined empire was not worth living in, as neither was the unexamined Delian League.
Socrates knew everyone had their own truth and reality. In other words, truth for one person was different from truth for another person. Therefore, always ask questions, followed by more questions, and then followed by even more questions. And above all, continually question and evaluate a State's religion and ideologies.
Socrates' trial and his incessant questioning came to mind when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed the 193-nation U.N. General Assembly. President Ahmadinejad again questioned if the U.S. government might have been behind the September 11, 2001 attacks. He wondered if the U.N. nuclear watchdog, IAEA, was being manipulated and controlled by the U.S., and if the U.S. had illegally released the names of Iran's three nuclear scientists that were just assassinated. He also questioned the number of those killed in the Holocaust, along with Israel's inhumane policies towards Palestinians. A few minutes into his speech, U.S., European and several other Western delegations marched out of the General Assembly announcing their disapproval. While Israel boycotts President Ahmadinejad's speeches as a general rule, countries like Norway said it was important to listen to his words and then directly engage or challenge such claims.
At issue with President Ahmadinejad's claims are different realities, specifically in regards to Israel and Palestine and the U.S. and Iran. President Ahmadinejad reminded listeners of U.S. President Barack Obama's promises and election pledges to help secure a Palestinian State and to improve relations with Iran. President Ahmadinejad has already sent several personal letters to President Obama requesting direct meetings. He has also requested a public debate, a free deliberation, over Palestine's right to exist and Iran's right to pursue peaceful and civilian nuclear enrichment. But so far, President Obama has declined such invitations. Israel's staunch leaders continue to build settlement homes on Occupied Territory, while vehemently opposing Palestine's sovereignty and right to exist. Meanwhile, the U.S. and Israel have tens of thousands of troops that are occupying or militarily intervening in Iraq, Gaza, Afghanistan, the West Bank, and in many other nations.
This was the State religion, the State ideology, that President Ahmadinejad questioned. It is an ideological religion, a god, in which some States, backed by powerful militaries and advanced weapons, are more "free" to militarily intervene, start wars, and oppress people than other States. It is a religious ideology built on selective histories, like only the Holocaust, at the expense of other truths and realities, that is, the suffering of Palestinians and a U.N. that once promised statehood. President Ahmadinejad also questioned why the U.S. and Israel have the right to pursue nuclear enrichment, even producing massive nuclear arsenals, but Iran is not free to pursue nuclear energy for its hospitals and schools. Like President Ahmadinejad said, "At the end of the day, at one point, the Palestinian government will stand up, will be created-if not this year next year, if not next year the following year, because these people do exist and you cannot erase them from history."
On behalf of Palestinians seeking statehood status with the United Nations (Delian League?), Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said: "No one with a shred of conscience can deny our application." Would Socrates, co-founder of Western conscientious thinking and action, agree with President Abbas and President Ahmadinejad?
After Socrates carried out his execution, one imposed by a democratic state and a crumbling empire, it was said that Socrates was "the bravest and most upright man."(3) With regards to how the U.S. and Israel and United Nations has treated Palestinians, can one also say that Palestine has been the bravest and also most upright state? Was it not enough for Socrates to drink hemlock? Why then make an entire people, Palestinians, do the same?
Dallas Darling (darling@wn.com)
(Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John's Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.worldnews.com. You can read more of Dallas' writings at www.beverlydarling.com and wn.com//dallasdarling.)

"I've lost a friend in the worst, most brutal, most inexplicable way possible," she said of the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, a 21-year-old Briton who shared an apartment with Knox when they were both students in Perugia. "I'm paying with my life for things that I didn't do." Knox and co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito, Knox's former boyfriend from Italy, were convicted in 2009 of sexually assaulting and murdering Kercher, who was stabbed to death in her bedroom. Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison, Sollecito to 25. They both deny wrongdoing. "I never hurt anyone, never in my life," Sollecito said Monday in his own speech to the jury. Presiding Judge Claudio Pratillo Hellmann said the jury would not emerge before 6pm at the earliest. Kercher's mother, sister and a brother are expected to be in court for the ruling. They have expressed worry over the possibility of acquittal. "The lower court found the defendants guilty. The Kercher family's interest is to have the verdict confirmed," family lawyer Francesco Maresca said today. The highly anticipated verdict will be broadcast live. Hundreds of reporters and camera crews filled the underground, frescoed courtroom before Knox's address today, while police outside cordoned off the entrance to the tribunal. The trial has captivated audiences worldwide: Knox, the 24-year-old American, and Sollecito, a soft-spoken Italian, were convicted of murdering a fellow student in what the lower court said had begun as a drug-fueled sexual assault. Knox insisted today that she had nothing to do with the murder and that Kercher was a friend who was always nice to her. Gesticulating, at times clasping her hands together, the American said she has always wanted justice for Kercher. "She had her bedroom next to mine, she was killed in our own apartment. If I had been there that night, I would be dead," Knox said. "But I was not there." "I did not kill. I did not rape. I did not steal. I wasn't there," Knox said. Also convicted in separate proceedings was Rudy Hermann Guede, a small-time drug dealer and drifter who spent most of his life in Italy after arriving here from his native Ivory Coast. Guede was convicted in a separate fast-track procedure and saw his sentence cut to 16 years in his final appeal. Knox said she had nothing more than a passing acquaintance with Guede, who played basketball in a court near the house, and didn't even know his name. Sollecito, who addressed the court before Knox, told jurors that he did not know Guede at all. Sollecito was anxious as he addressed the court, shifting as he spoke and stopping to sip water. He said prior to the 1 November 2007 murder was a happy time for him, he was close to defending his thesis to graduate from university and had just met Knox. The weekend Kercher was murdered was the first the pair planned to spend together "in tenderness and cuddles," he said. At the end of his 17-minute address, Sollecito took off a white rubber bracelet emblazoned with "Free Amanda and Raffaele" that he said he was been wearing for four years. "I have never taken it off. Many emotions are concentrated in this bracelet," he said. "Now I want to pay homage to the court. The moment to take it off has arrived." Knox and her family, present in Perugia, hope she will be set free after spending four years behind bars caught up in what they say is a monumental judicial mistake. Prosecutors, who have depicted Knox as a manipulative liar, are seeking to increase her sentence to life in prison. The jury is made up of the presiding judge, a side judge and six jurors, five of them women, and they have several options as they go into deliberations. They can acquit both defendants and set them free. They can uphold the conviction, then confirm the sentence, reduce it or increase it. They can theoretically decide to split the fate of Knox and Sollecito, convicting one and acquitting the other. Over the course of the appeals trial, the defendants' positions have significantly improved, mainly because a court-ordered independent review cast serious doubts over the main DNA evidence linking the two to the crime. Prosecutors maintain that Knox's DNA was found on the handle of a kitchen knife believed to be the murder weapon, and that Kercher's DNA was found on the blade. They said Sollecito's DNA was on the clasp of Kercher's bra as part of a mix of evidence that also included the victim's genetic profile. But the independent review — ordered at the request of the defense, which had always disputed those findings — reached a different conclusion. The two experts found that police conducting the investigation had made glaring errors in evidence-collecting and that below-standard testing and possible contamination raised doubts over the attribution of DNA traces, both on the blade and on the bra clasp, which was collected from the crime scene 46 days after the murder. The review was crucial in the case because no motive has emerged and witness testimony was contradictory. It was a huge boost for the defense's hope and a potentially fatal blow for the prosecution.

noreply@blogger.com (catatan izza) — Mon, 3 Oct 2011 07:17:00 -0700

Amanda Knox tearfully told an Italian appeals court today she did not kill her British roommate, pleading for the court to free her so she can return to the United States after four years behind bars. Moments later, the court began deliberations.
Knox frequently paused for breath and fought back tears as she spoke in Italian to the eight members of the jury in a packed courtroom, but managed to maintain her composure during the 10-minute address.
"I've lost a friend in the worst, most brutal, most inexplicable way possible," she said of the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, a 21-year-old Briton who shared an apartment with Knox when they were both students in Perugia. "I'm paying with my life for things that I didn't do."

Knox and co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito, Knox's former boyfriend from Italy, were convicted in 2009 of sexually assaulting and murdering Kercher, who was stabbed to death in her bedroom. Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison, Sollecito to 25. They both deny wrongdoing.
"I never hurt anyone, never in my life," Sollecito said Monday in his own speech to the jury.
Presiding Judge Claudio Pratillo Hellmann said the jury would not emerge before 6pm at the earliest.
Kercher's mother, sister and a brother are expected to be in court for the ruling. They have expressed worry over the possibility of acquittal.
"The lower court found the defendants guilty. The Kercher family's interest is to have the verdict confirmed," family lawyer Francesco Maresca said today.
The highly anticipated verdict will be broadcast live. Hundreds of reporters and camera crews filled the underground, frescoed courtroom before Knox's address today, while police outside cordoned off the entrance to the tribunal.
The trial has captivated audiences worldwide: Knox, the 24-year-old American, and Sollecito, a soft-spoken Italian, were convicted of murdering a fellow student in what the lower court said had begun as a drug-fueled sexual assault.
Knox insisted today that she had nothing to do with the murder and that Kercher was a friend who was always nice to her. Gesticulating, at times clasping her hands together, the American said she has always wanted justice for Kercher.
"She had her bedroom next to mine, she was killed in our own apartment. If I had been there that night, I would be dead," Knox said. "But I was not there."
"I did not kill. I did not rape. I did not steal. I wasn't there," Knox said.
Also convicted in separate proceedings was Rudy Hermann Guede, a small-time drug dealer and drifter who spent most of his life in Italy after arriving here from his native Ivory Coast. Guede was convicted in a separate fast-track procedure and saw his sentence cut to 16 years in his final appeal.
Knox said she had nothing more than a passing acquaintance with Guede, who played basketball in a court near the house, and didn't even know his name. Sollecito, who addressed the court before Knox, told jurors that he did not know Guede at all.
Sollecito was anxious as he addressed the court, shifting as he spoke and stopping to sip water. He said prior to the 1 November 2007 murder was a happy time for him, he was close to defending his thesis to graduate from university and had just met Knox.
The weekend Kercher was murdered was the first the pair planned to spend together "in tenderness and cuddles," he said.
At the end of his 17-minute address, Sollecito took off a white rubber bracelet emblazoned with "Free Amanda and Raffaele" that he said he was been wearing for four years.
"I have never taken it off. Many emotions are concentrated in this bracelet," he said. "Now I want to pay homage to the court. The moment to take it off has arrived."
Knox and her family, present in Perugia, hope she will be set free after spending four years behind bars caught up in what they say is a monumental judicial mistake. Prosecutors, who have depicted Knox as a manipulative liar, are seeking to increase her sentence to life in prison.
The jury is made up of the presiding judge, a side judge and six jurors, five of them women, and they have several options as they go into deliberations. They can acquit both defendants and set them free. They can uphold the conviction, then confirm the sentence, reduce it or increase it. They can theoretically decide to split the fate of Knox and Sollecito, convicting one and acquitting the other.
Over the course of the appeals trial, the defendants' positions have significantly improved, mainly because a court-ordered independent review cast serious doubts over the main DNA evidence linking the two to the crime.
Prosecutors maintain that Knox's DNA was found on the handle of a kitchen knife believed to be the murder weapon, and that Kercher's DNA was found on the blade. They said Sollecito's DNA was on the clasp of Kercher's bra as part of a mix of evidence that also included the victim's genetic profile.
But the independent review — ordered at the request of the defense, which had always disputed those findings — reached a different conclusion.
The two experts found that police conducting the investigation had made glaring errors in evidence-collecting and that below-standard testing and possible contamination raised doubts over the attribution of DNA traces, both on the blade and on the bra clasp, which was collected from the crime scene 46 days after the murder.
The review was crucial in the case because no motive has emerged and witness testimony was contradictory. It was a huge boost for the defense's hope and a potentially fatal blow for the prosecution.

Knox appeal: How will her fate be decided?

noreply@blogger.com (catatan izza) — Sun, 2 Oct 2011 07:08:00 -0700

(CNN) -- American Amanda Knox and her Italian former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito are appealing their convictions in the killing of British exchange student Meredith Kercher. Here is a guide to the appeal process.
On what grounds are Knox and Sollecito appealing their convictions for murder, sexual assault, possession of a weapon, interfering with a crime and theft?
The defense has sought to discredit DNA evidence linking the two of them to the killing, in which British exchange student Meredith Kercher's throat was slashed. Her partially-clothed body was found in the house she shared with Knox in Perugia, a central Italian university town.
Two experts have argued that DNA evidence found on the knife used to kill Kercher and on her bra clasp was unreliable and contaminated by poor handling. Prosecutors in 2009 had said there were traces of Knox's genetic material on the handle and Kercher's in a tiny groove on the blade.

Knox trial explained

Final arguments in Amanda Knox appeal

Covering the Amanda Knox case

Knox and Sollecito's defense teams have suggested Rudy Guede, who is already serving a 16-year sentence for the murder, could have been the sole killer.
The case against Knox and Sollecito
Who makes the decision?
Eight jurors -- six members of the public and two judges -- will decide the case. The judges take part and vote as part of the jury: their role is to guide but not to instruct the other jurors how to vote. The presiding judge, Claudio Pratillo Hellmann, who is also one of the jurors, will then read out the verdict.
What are the possible rulings in the appeal?
There are three possible outcomes for the defendants:
1) Verdict is upheld
2) Verdict is overturned
3) Verdict is partially overturned, with a decrease in sentence (verdicts can be upheld on some counts but not others, this may result in a decrease in their sentences).
Whatever ruling is delivered in the appeal does it mean the case is closed for good or could there be further appeals?
Whatever the outcome of appeals by Knox and Sollecito, there will most likely be appeals by the losing sides. Both the defense and prosecution can each take their case to Italy's highest court.
Whatever happens, the pair will return to prison -- even if they are cleared. In this event they will return to prison where they will complete paperwork and collect their belongings. But within hours they will be free; CNN understands Knox would immediately leave the country in this event.
Knox, 24, need not remain in Italy pending a possible appeal by the prosecution. After the ruling, the judge has 90 days to write a report on why the court reached its conclusions. The parties then have 45 days to file an appeal to the High Court, which then must schedule it, according to Luiss University law professor, Nicola Di Mario.
So there'll be at least four months between the verdict and any possible High Court appeal. When it reaches the High Court the hearing would be very short and dependent on key technical issues and arguments, not a review of the actual trial itself, according to Di Mario.
Where would an acquittal of Knox and/or Sollecito leave the case of the other?
This is the big question. The co-defendants are appealing together, and while different verdicts could theoretically be delivered for each of them, this is highly unlikely. A third person convicted of the murder, Rudy Guede, has already appealed to the High Court and had his sentence reduced to 16 years.
Can the defendants ever be tried again for the same crime?
After the case goes to Italy's highest court and assuming it does not overturn the appeals ruling, Knox cannot be tried again for the same crime under the "double jeopardy" rule.
What will happen if a possible appeal by the prosecution to Italy's highest court is successful after Knox has returned to the United States?
If Knox is acquitted on appeal and Italy's highest court overturns the lower court's decision it effectively revalidates the lower court's sentence, which means 26 years in jail for Knox.
Italy would then have to put a request to U.S. authorities for extradition, and it would remain to be seen if that is granted or not. Deputy State Department spokesman Mark Toner told CNN: "Questions regarding Italian law and process are not ones we can answer. They need to be addressed to Italian authorities.
"The United States and Italy do have a bilateral extradition treaty, which has been in force since 1984. Questions about possible return to the U.S., extradition request, etc. are too speculative for us to be able to comment."
Does Italian law allow for any civil action by the defendants or by Amanda Kercher's family following a criminal case?
Yes, a civil action for damages took place alongside the original criminal trial. The family of Kercher sought $36 million in damages from the three co-defendants if they were convicted on the criminal charges.. The court will rule on this when the appeal ruling is delivered.
Do the defendants face any other charges?
Knox is also appealing an additional charge for which she was convicted: Defamation of Patrick Lumumba, the club owner whom Knox accused of killing Kercher. He was arrested but released after his alibi checked out. He later sued Knox for libel, winning 40,000 euros ($54,000) in damages.

David Arquette Dating Joe Francis’ Ex

noreply@blogger.com (catatan izza) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 20:43:00 -0700

Sep 30, 2011 11:59am

David Arquette and Christina McLarty.

Along with his new gig, David Arquette‘s got a new gal.
On Wednesday’s Howard Stern Sirius show, the 40-year-old ”Dancing With the Stars” contestant revealed that he’s dating “Entertainment Tonight” reporter Christina McLarty.

“She’s adorable,” he told Stern. “I’m not one to run around with different girls. I like someone that makes me feel good and that I can make feel good.”
McLarty’s no stranger to Hollywood types: she was in a domestic partnership with “Girls Gone Wild” creator Joe Francis last year and dated Francis for four years prior to that.
Despite his new relationship, Arquette and his estranged wife, Courteney Cox, appear to be on good terms. Cox, 47, and their daughter Coco, 7, have attended and cheered for Arquette’s “DWTS” performances.

Al-Awlaki: From voice for jihad to al-Qaida figure

noreply@blogger.com (catatan izza) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 06:53:00 -0700

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — The heavy black beard spoke of Islamic piety, the fashionable wire-rim glasses of Western style.
Anwar al-Awlaki, American-born, a gifted Muslim preacher and savvy Internet operator, became a powerful al-Qaida tool for recruiting in the West, its English-speaking voice spreading a terrorist credo via a blog, social media posts and email exchanges.

Al-Awlaki's East-West cross-appeal was seen as a potential model for the next generation of al-Qaida leaders. But his rise to prominence also drew the attention of the CIA, and landed him on its capture-or-kill list, the first American so targeted.
On Friday, al-Awlaki was killed in the mountains of Yemen in what local officials said they believed was an American airstrike. The officials said pilotless drones had been seen circling the area in recent days.
According to American officials, the 40-year-old al-Awlaki had over the years moved from being an influential mouthpiece for al-Qaida's ideology of holy war against the United States to become an operational figure, helping recruit militants for al-Qaida's branch in Yemen, seen as the most dangerous direct threat to America.
Al-Awlaki was suspected of contacts with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian accused in the failed Christmas Day 2009 attempt to bomb an airliner heading for Detroit using explosives sewn into his pants. Yemeni officials said they believed al-Awlaki and other al-Qaida leaders met with Abdulmutallab in a mountain hideout in Yemen to help plan the attack.
He was further believed to have had a hand in mail bombs addressed to Chicago-area synagogues, packages intercepted in Dubai and Europe in October 2010.
Al-Awlaki, born in New Mexico to Yemeni parents, also exchanged up to 20 emails with U.S. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, alleged killer of 13 people in the Nov. 5, 2009, rampage at Fort Hood. Hasan initiated the contacts, drawn by al-Awlaki's Internet sermons, and approached him for religious advice.
Al-Awlaki has said he didn't tell Hasan to carry out the shootings, but he later praised Hasan as a "hero" on his Web site for killing American soldiers who would be heading for Afghanistan or Iraq to fight Muslims.
In New York, the Pakistani-American man who pleaded guilty to the May 2010 Times Square car bombing attempt told interrogators he was "inspired" by al-Awlaki after making contact over the Internet.
In an article published in January in an English-language al-Qaida newsletter called Inspire, al-Awlaki called for targeting the "wealth of disbelievers" in non-Muslim countries — including government-owned properties, banks and global corporations.
"In the case of the United States, both the government and private citizens should be targeted. America and Americans are the Imams of kufr (leaders of disbelief) in this day and age," he wrote. "The American people who vote for war mongering governments are intent on no good. Anyone who inflicts harm on them in any form is doing a favor to the ummah (Islamic nation.)"
Al-Awlaki had been in the U.S. crosshairs since his killing was approved by U.S. President Barack Obama in April 2010. At least twice, airstrikes were called in on locations where al-Awlaki was suspected to be, but he wasn't harmed. The order against an American citizen raised alarm bells among civil liberties groups.
"What the government is doing is imposing the death penalty without trial," said Jameel Jaffer, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, in a November 2010 hearing in Washington.
To his father, Nasser al-Awlaki, he was wrongly accused by the U.S. and was simply an "all-American boy."
Al-Awlaki was born in 1971 in New Mexico where his father was in the United States studying agriculture as a Fulbright scholar. The elder al-Awlaki returned with his family to Yemen in 1978 to serve as agriculture minister, and later as a professor at Sanaa University.
His son was back in the U.S. in 1991 to study civil engineering at Colorado State University, then education studies at San Diego State University and later doctoral work at George Washington University in Washington.
While in San Diego, he preached at a local mosque, where in 2000 he met two of the Sept. 11 hijackers, Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi. The U.S. government's 9-11 Commission report says the men "respected al-Awlaki as a religious figure and developed a close relationship with him." They were aboard the plane that crashed into the Pentagon.
Al-Awlaki later became a preacher at Dar Al Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia, outside Washington. Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, the center's outreach director, said al-Awlaki never exhibited signs of radicalism there.
"He had an allure. He was charming," Abdul-Malik told reporters soon after the Fort Hood shooting. "To go from that individual to the person that is projecting these words from Yemen is a shock."
"I don't think we read him wrong. I think something happened to him."
His recorded sermons were sold at Falls Church stores catering to Islamic residents, homilies that dealt with such religious subjects as the afterlife and the Prophet Muhammad.
But after al-Awlaki returned to Yemen in 2004, his sermons posted on the Internet turned more toward politics and jihad.
Yemeni authorities arrested him in 2006 with a group of five Yemenis suspected of kidnapping a Shiite Muslim teenager for ransom. Al-Awlaki was accused of being the group's spiritual leader and of having "decreed" they had a religious right to kidnap foreigners and rich Yemenis. He was released without trial after a year in prison following the intercession of his tribe.
Soon after, he moved to the heartland of his Awalik tribe in the eastern province of Shabwa, regarded as an al-Qaida stronghold. He continued to issue videotaped sermons on the Web accusing America of waging war on Muslims and urging armed struggle against the United States.
Canadian Muslims arrested in 2006 for allegedly forming a training camp and plotting bombing attacks in Toronto listened to al-Awlaki's online calls for jihad, prosecutors said. An al-Awlaki sermon on jihad was also among the materials — including videos of beheadings — found on the computers of five men convicted of plotting attacks on the Fort Dix military base in New Jersey in 2007.
In January 2009, al-Awlaki posted on his Web site a tract entitled "44 ways to defend jihad," urging Muslims around the world to support Islamic fighters by raising money or helping their families. He said those who are able should join the battle, since it "pleases Allah because it shows him that you are willing to give your life for him."
Just over a year later, he urged American Muslims to mount attacks in the U.S.
"To the Muslims in America, I have this to say: 'How can your conscience allow you to live in peaceful coexistence with a nation that is responsible for the tyranny and crimes committed against your own brothers and sisters?'" he said. "I eventually came to the conclusion that jihad against America is binding upon myself just as it is binding upon every other able Muslim."
Soon after the Fort Hood attack, Yemeni authorities tried to persuade al-Awlaki to return to Sanaa, where the government could keep a closer eye on him, according to Sheik Farid, the senior Awalik chief, a cousin of al-Awlaki's father.
The sheik said al-Awlaki fled into the mountains, fearing arrest. There he is believed to have hooked up directly with al-Qaida militants. Yemeni officials say al-Awlaki was believed to be at a gathering of senior al-Qaida figures in the Shabwa mountains on Dec. 24, 2009 — a day before the Nigerian Abdulmutallab tried to blow up the airliner near Detroit.
Before dawn, Yemeni warplanes, using U.S. intelligence help, struck their tents, but al-Awlaki and others are believed to have driven off hours earlier. The government says 30 other militants were killed.
In May 2011 — with Yemen gripped by a violent revolt against the regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh — a U.S. Predator drone again targeted al-Awlaki, apparently based on information from captured al-Qaida members. But again the mission failed.
___
Murphy reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates

John Travolta is a time traveler? Evidence may be on eBay

noreply@blogger.com (catatan izza) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 06:00:00 -0700

(Credit: eBay)

John Travolta: Time traveler? A new photograph being sold through an eBay auction claims to be definitive proof that the actor has been jumping between decades.
Pictures: John Travolta

"For those of you who don't know, John Travolta is a Scientologist and many Scientologists believe in a type of reincarnation. Of course, time travel can't be ruled out as well," the seller wrote in the auction's description. Buyers are being asked to cough up $50,000 to own the photo.
"The thing that I always found striking about this photograph and I'm sure that you will too is the amazing identical eyes, hairline and most importantly John's very unique trademark chin," they added.
Travolta joins a list of recent celebrities accused of having paranormal or science-fiction based abilities. A photograph from the 1870s of a man who looks strikingly like Nicolas Cage was reportedly evidence that the actor was a vampire. Cage has yet to deny those claims.
While we aren't sure about the veracity of the photograph, we strongly do not believe that Travolta has magical time traveling abilities. If he did, he probably would have prevented Vincent Vega, his character in "Pulp Fiction," from ever entering a bathroom.

John Travolta

Michelle Obama shops incognito at Target (Photo)

noreply@blogger.com (catatan izza) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 05:58:00 -0700

AP photographer Charles Dharapak told CBS News he took pictures of the first lady at the Target on Route 1 in Alexandria, Virginia.
The first lady's office confirmed that the pictures showed Mrs. Obama, though it did not immediately respond when asked if it tipped off Dharapak.
"It is not uncommon for the First Lady to slip out to run an errand, eat at a local restaurant or otherwise enjoy the city outside the White House gates," said Kristina Schake, communications director for the First Lady.
In the photographs, the first lady is wearing a Nike baseball cap, sunglasses and a floral-print button-down shirt with a neon v-neck underlay. She is seen holding a pair of Target bags and pushing a shopping cart. You can see the two full-length photos below.

The pictures contrasts significantly with one taken two days ago by Dharapak showing the first lady at the White House in a sleek blue pencil skirt, high heels and a ruffled blouse.
The AP reported that Secret Service agents, dressed casually, arrived at the store 30 minutes before the first lady, who shopped with an assistant. She reportedly spent 30-40 minutes shopping and was only recognized by her cashier.

The first lady was seen wearing a dress from Target, which sells relatively low-cost clothing, in Phoenix in August 2009. She has also been seen wearing clothes from J. Crew and The Gap.

In the 2008 presidential campaign, Mrs. Obama proudly proclaimed herself "more of a Target shopper," saying she preferred the store to Wal-Mart.

First lady Michelle Obama, wearing a hat and sunglasses, pushes a shopping cart as she carries her purchases at a Target department store in Alexandria, Va., Thursday, Sept. 29, 2011, after doing some shopping.

(Credit: AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

First lady Michelle Obama, wearing a hat and sunglasses, stands in line at a Target department store in Alexandria, Va., Thursday, Sept. 29, 2011, after doing some shopping.

(Credit: AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Islamist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki 'killed in Yemen'

noreply@blogger.com (catatan izza) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 02:54:00 -0700

A statement said only that he died "along with some of his companions".

Awlaki, of Yemeni descent, was on the run in Yemen since December 2007.

The US has named him a "specially designated global terrorist" for his alleged role in a number of attacks and US President Barack Obama is said to have personally ordered his killing.

The defence ministry gave no further details of his death, which could not be independently verified.

But tribal sources told AFP news agency Awlaki was killed in an air strike in the eastern Marib province, said to be an al-Qaeda stronghold.

It is not clear whether he was killed by Yemeni forces or a US drone strike.

BBC security correspondent Gordon Correra says the killing, if confirmed, is significant, because Awlaki is able to reach out to people susceptible to radicalisation through his use of the media.

He is described by US officials as a key leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Continue reading the main story
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula

    * Formed in January 2009 by a merger between al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia and Yemen

    * Based in eastern Yemen

    * Led by Nasser al-Wuhayshi, a Yemeni former aide to Osama Bin Laden. Deputy leader is Saudi ex-Guantanamo inmate Said al-Shihri

    * Aims to topple Saudi monarchy and Yemeni government, and establish an Islamic caliphate

    * Came to prominence with Riyadh bombings in 2003, and 2008 attack on US embassy in Sanaa

    * Says it was behind an attempt to blow up US passenger jet in December 2009

He has been implicated in the US army base killings in Fort Hood, Texas, the Christmas 2009 Detroit airline bomb attempt, and a failed bombing in New York's Times Square.

When he was imam of a San Diego mosque in the 1990s, his sermons were attended by two future 9/11 hijackers, Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi.

In a video posted in November last year he called for the killing of Americans, saying they were from the "party of devils".

Weeks later, he survived an air strike in Shabwa province in which at least 30 militants were killed.