6.5 magnitude earthquake hits southern Guatemala and El Salvador

12:19 PM

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News in america

A strong 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck the territories of southern Guatemala and El Salvador Friday, US seismologists said, though officials said there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. The US Geological Survey said the quake struck just six kilometers from Pajapita, 

Guatemala at a depth 67.7 kilometers (42 miles) at 0013 GMT.
The Environmental Observatory in San Salvador said the quake was centered on the coast of Guatemala and Mexico, measuring its strength slightly lower at 6.3 on the Richter scale.

A second quake measuring 5.5 in magnitude occurred seven minutes later, according to the Observatory, with its epicenter in the Pacific waters of Guatemala.

"We have no reports of any damage," so far, Jorge Melendez, El Salvador's director of civil protection said on national radio.

The USGS said in its bulletin on the first quake that it was just 20 kilometers (12 miles) northeast of Suchiate, a municipality in the Mexican state of Chiapas, on the border with Guatemala.

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Pakistan - Commander of Haqqani militant killed in US drone

10:59 PM

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terrorism news

BBC -  A senior commander of the powerful Haqqani militant network has been killed in a US drone strike in north-west Pakistan, officials say.

Anti-drone protests in Pakistan

Sangeen Zadran, named on US and UN blacklists, was among five killed when missiles were fired at a house in North Waziristan, near the Afghan border.

The Haqqani group are known for carrying out attacks in Afghanistan.

The Taliban told the AP news agency he was still alive. But other reports said his funeral had taken place.

Officials told the BBC that the militant's funeral had been held in the regional capital of Miranshah and was attended by many.

He also held the position of "shadow governor " of the Afghan province of Paktika, and reports say the Taliban nominated his brother, Bilal Zadran, to replace him in that post.

Experts say the 45-year-old was viewed as a senior militant leader in both countries and that he is a big loss to the Haqqani group although not irreplaceable.

In 2011, the US state department added him to its list of specially designated global terrorists, claiming he orchestrated the kidnappings of Afghans and foreigners in the rugged and violent border area.

He has also been identified as the man who kidnapped a US soldier, Bowe Bergdahl, four years ago - the only known American soldier currently held by Afghan insurgents.

The US has blamed the Haqqani network for a series of high-profile attacks in the border regions in recent years.

'Extrajudicial killings'
Pakistan's foreign ministry condemned Friday's drone strike as a violation of its sovereignty.

This was the second strike in a week, and the attacks caused the loss of innocent civilian lives and continued to affect US-Pakistan relations, the ministry added.

There have been fewer strikes in recent years, but Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has demanded an end to all attacks.

The Haqqani network has been described by US military commanders as one of the most resilient militant groups operating in Afghanistan.

It is believed to be based in Pakistan along the volatile and porous border and regularly attacks US forces in Afghanistan from its mountain bases in Pakistan.

Mr Sharif has called for a joint strategy to stop US drone strikes.

The issue is hugely controversial in Pakistan, where parts of the government and military have often been accused of criticising the use of drones in public, but co-operating in private.

It is estimated that between 2004 and 2013, CIA drone attacks in Pakistan killed up to 3,460 people - although this figure will not include the very latest strikes.

About 890 of them were civilians and the vast majority of strikes were carried out by the Obama administration, research by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism said.

Earlier this year, Mr Obama called the strikes part of a legitimate campaign against terrorism, but he also pledged more programme transparency and stricter targeting rules.

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U.S warns citizens of al-Qaeda

10:47 AM

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terrorism news

The U.S. State Department issued a worldwide travel alert warning citizens of potential terror attacks in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia by al-Qaeda or its affiliates.
“Current information suggests that al-Qaeda and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks both in the region and beyond, and that they may focus efforts to conduct attacks in the period between now and the end of August,” the department said yesterday. The U.S. will close 21 embassies and consulates in those regions this weekend as a precaution.
The information includes communications among known terrorists intercepted by the National Security Agency in the past 10 days, according to two U.S. officials who asked not to be identified discussing classified intelligence matters. They declined to offer specifics on the exchanges, although they called the content credible and disturbing.

The primary focus is on al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a terrorist group based in Yemen and a remote part of Saudi Arabia, according to Representative Peter King and the two U.S. officials.
King, a New York Republican, yesterday called the threat intelligence “the most specific I’ve seen” since the attacks on the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001.
“It is coming out of Yemen, and it is al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula,” King said on CNN. “There is a plot, the attacks are planned, but it’s not certain as to where.”
Embassies Closed
Attacks are seen potentially occurring in or emanating from the Arabian Peninsula, according to the State Department warning, and “may involve public transportation systems and other tourist infrastructure.”
The U.S. embassies and consulates scheduled to be closed this weekend are in the Mideast, North Africa and South Asia, including in Libya, Egypt, Yemen and Afghanistan, according to a list posted on the department’s website.
“The Department of State has instructed certain U.S. embassies and consulates to remain closed or to suspend operations on Sunday,” spokeswoman Marie Harf said Aug. 1.
The U.K. Foreign Office said yesterday on its Twitter Inc. feed that its embassy in Yemen will be closed Aug. 4-5, with some staff being temporarily withdrawn. It said embassies in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Bahrain will be open tomorrow, though employees are advised to be extra-vigilant.
Warning Warranted
The top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, Representative C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger of Maryland, said the information coming in to security officials warranted a broad warning to citizens.
“We got intelligence, and not just the normal chitchat, that there could be an attack on Americans or our allies,” Ruppersberger told reporters at the U.S. Capitol. “Putting it out there, that also gives notice to the people that are planning it: We know something’s out there.”
Army General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said, “there is a significant threat stream, and we’re reacting to it.” In excerpts released from an interview to air on ABC’s “This Week” program this weekend, Dempsey said the threat is “more specific” than previous ones.
“The intent is to attack Western, not just U.S., interests,” he said.
U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for military operations in the Middle East, yesterday declined to comment on whether any troops have been moved or placed on higher alert in response to the latest terrorist threat warning.
Military Posture
“As a matter of policy, we do not discuss specific force protection measures or changes,” said Major Ian Phillips, a spokesman at command headquarters in Tampa, Florida.
Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL), US Airways Group Inc. and AMR Corp.’s American Airlines are monitoring the travel situation and haven’t issued waivers letting passengers rebook flights without paying fees, spokesmen said. United Airlines, a unit of United Continental Holdings Inc., declined to comment.
It’s always possible that the intelligence on the planned attacks is intentionally misleading in an attempt to divert attention and security from the location, timing or nature of an actual plot, cautioned one of the U.S. officials, who called the intelligence credible but not ironclad.
Intelligence officials and lawmakers didn’t specify whether information about the threats came to light through an informer or through electronic surveillance. The warning surfaced as President Barack Obama’s administration argues that National Security Agency surveillance programs are essential to fight terrorist threats. Top-secret documents disclosed by former contractor Edward Snowden showed the surveillance is much more extensive than previously known.
Kidnapping Strategy
Newly discovered 2011 papers suggest that for several years the Yemeni terrorist group has been considering taking hostages in an effort to stop attacks on it by unmanned U.S. aircraft.
Documents purportedly from al-Qaeda fighters in Mali and obtained by the Associated Press outline a strategy of kidnapping “in exchange for the drone strategy.”
Kidnappings would “bring back the pressure of the American public opinion in a more active way” against drone strikes, according to the papers, which the New York-based news service translated from Arabic. The document is focused on Yemen.
The State Department warning came days after al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri urged his followers in a speech posted on jihadist websites to attack U.S. sites as a response to American drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors terror groups.
Drone Strikes
U.S. pilotless aircraft have carried out three attacks in the last five days in the remote area that spans eastern Yemen and Saudi Arabia and is the homeland of former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who was killed by American forces in Pakistan in 2011. The area is controlled by AQAP, and the strikes killed at least five suspected terrorists, said one U.S. official.
In all, the U.S. has conducted almost 50 such strikes in Yemen since the beginning of 2012, killing some of the group’s leaders, including its deputy emir, Said al-Shihri, whose death the group acknowledged in a video last month. The American-born cleric and propagandist Anwar al-Awlaki was killed by a drone strike in Yemen in September 2011.
Both U.S. officials said the strikes have been carried out with the tacit approval of the Yemeni government, which AQAP wants to overthrow. Obama met at the White House this week with Yemen’s President Abdurabu Mansur Hadi, and both praised their nations’ cooperation in fighting terrorism.
The announcement that embassies will be closed this weekend also came after terrorist groups freed hundreds of prisoners in several countries.
Prison Escape
On July 22, more than 500 prisoners, including senior al-Qaeda figures, escaped from Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison. On July 27, more than 1,000 detainees escaped from detention in Benghazi. A July 30 Taliban attack on a prison facility in northwest Pakistan freed more than 250 prisoners.
Harf also pointed reporters to a “Worldwide Caution” the department issued in February of this year warning Americans that “current information suggests that al-Qaeda, its affiliated organizations, and other terrorist organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks against U.S. interests in multiple regions.”
That caution said that security threat levels remain high in Yemen and that Iraq is “dangerous and unpredictable.” It also said al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is active in Algeria, has attacked Westerners near the borders with Mali and Libya, and has claimed responsibility for kidnapping and killing of Westerners throughout the region.
Security Pledge
The State Department pledged to increase security at embassies and consulates after the attack on a U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012, led to the death of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. The Central Intelligence Agency said it had repeatedly warned the State Department of terrorist threats in Benghazi before the attack, according to e-mails released later by the White House.
The significance of Aug. 4 as a day to close embassies wasn’t spelled out by the State Department, leaving room for speculation about possibilities. Tomorrow is Obama’s birthday, and it’s also a holy day on the Muslim calendar because it falls in the final 10 days of Ramadan, the month of fasting.
This evening may be considered the holiest because this year it’s Laylat al Qadr, or the Night of Power, when Muslims believe their holy book the Koran was revealed to the prophet Mohammed.
While Muslims observe the evening with prayer, good works, and spiritual retreats, an extreme fringe could interpret it differently, said Mohammed Mattar, a senior research professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in Washington.
“Maybe they would be interpreting an act of terror as an act of Jihad,” or Holy War, Mattar said in a telephone interview.

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US not a broker between India and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue

12:33 PM

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political news

US is not seeking to act as a broker between India and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue said an official as Secretary of State, John Kerry is expected to bring up the Kashmir issue during his talks with Pakistan.

"We are in no way seeking to broker any sort of conversation on Kashmir between India and Pakistan, though US is supportive of the moves that both the countries have made to normalise the relations," an official travelling with Kerry to Pakistan said yesterday.

He added that great strides on economic front in the last few years have really paved the way for better and more constructive talks on the political side.

"During his June trip to India, Kerry has urged both India and Pakistan to continue the process of facilitation, while asked Pakistan to do things like providing most favoured nation (MFN) status to India," he said.

He added that Sharif Government has already began the process of reaching out to India and with good cooperation from Indian side relations between both the countries will normalise.

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Bradley Manning guilty in Wikileaks case

11:24 AM

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News in america

US Army Private Bradley Manning was acquitted of aiding the enemy — the most serious charge he faced — but was convicted of espionage, theft and other charges on Tuesday, more than three years after he spilled secrets to WikiLeaks.

Bradley Manning guilty in Wikileaks case

The judge, Army Col. Denise Lind, deliberated for about 16 hours over three days before reaching her decision in a case that drew worldwide attention as supporters hailed Manning as a whistleblower. The US government called him an anarchist computer hacker and attention-seeking traitor.

Manning stood at attention, flanked by his attorneys, as the judge read her verdicts. He appeared not to react, though his attorney, David Coombs, smiled faintly when he heard not guilty on aiding the enemy, which carried a potential life sentence.

When the judge was done, Coombs put his hand on Manning's back and whispered something to him, eliciting a slight smile on the soldier's face.

Manning was convicted on 19 of 21 charges and faces up to 128 years in prison. His sentencing hearing begins on Wednesday.

Coombs came outside the court to a round of applause and shouts of "thank you" from a few dozen Manning supporters.

"We won the battle, now we need to go win the war," Coombs said of the sentencing phase. "Today is a good day, but Bradley is by no means out of the fire."

Supporters thanked him for his work. One slipped him a private note. Others asked questions about verdicts that they didn't understand.

Manning's court-martial was unusual because he acknowledged giving the anti-secrecy website more than 700,000 battlefield reports and diplomatic cables, and video of a 2007 US helicopter attack that killed civilians in Iraq, including a Reuters news photographer and his driver. In the footage, airmen laughed and called targets "dead bastards."

Manning pleaded guilty earlier this year to lesser offenses that could have brought him 20 years behind bars, yet the government continued to pursue the original, more serious charges.

Manning said during a pre-trial hearing in February he leaked the material to expose the U.S military's "bloodlust" and disregard for human life, and what he considered American diplomatic deceit. He said he chose information he believed would not the harm the United States and he wanted to start a debate on military and foreign policy. He did not testify at his court-martial.

Coombs portrayed Manning as a "young, naive but good-intentioned" soldier who was in emotional turmoil, partly because he was a gay service member at a time when homosexuals were barred from serving openly in the US military.

He said Manning could have sold the information or given it directly to the enemy, but he gave them to WikiLeaks in an attempt to "spark reform" and provoke debate. A counterintelligence witness valued the Iraq and Afghanistan war logs at about $5.7 million.

Coombs said Manning had no way of knowing whether al-Qaida would access the secret-spilling website and a 2008 counterintelligence report showed the government itself didn't know much about the site.

The defense attorney also mocked the testimony of a former supervisor who said Manning told her the American flag meant nothing to him and she suspected before they deployed to Iraq that Manning was a spy. Coombs noted she had not written up a report on Manning's alleged disloyalty, though had written ones on him taking too many smoke breaks and drinking too much coffee.

The government said Manning had sophisticated security training and broke signed agreements to protect the secrets. He even had to give a presentation on operational security during his training after he got in trouble for posting a YouTube video about what he was learning.

The lead prosecutor, Maj. Ashden Fein, said Manning knew the material would be seen by al-Qaida, a key point prosecutor needed to prove to get an aiding the enemy conviction. Even Osama bin Laden had some of the digital files at his compound when he was killed.

Some of Manning's supporters attended nearly every day of two-month trial, many of them protesting outside the Fort Meade gates each day before the court-martial. They wore T-shirts with the word "truth" on them, blogged, tweeted and raised money for Manning's defense. One supporter was banned from the trial because the judge said he made online threats.

Hours before the verdict, about two dozen demonstrators gathered outside the gates of the military post, proclaiming their admiration for Manning.

"He wasn't trying to aid the enemy. He was trying to give people the information they need so they can hold their government accountable," said Barbara Bridges, of Baltimore.

The court-martial unfolded as another low-level intelligence worker, Edward Snowden, revealed US secrets about surveillance programs. Snowden, a civilian employee, told The Guardian his motives were similar to Manning's, but he said his leaks were more selective.

Manning's supporters believed a conviction for aiding the enemy would have a chilling effect on leakers who want to expose wrongdoing by giving information to websites and the media.

Before Snowden, Manning's case was the most high-profile espionage prosecution for the Obama administration, which has been criticized for its crackdown on leakers.

The WikiLeaks case is by far the most voluminous release of classified material in US history. Manning's supporters included Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg, who in the early 1970s spilled a secret Defense Department history of US involvement in Vietnam.

The 7,000 pages of the Pentagon Papers showed that the US government repeatedly misled the public about the Vietnam War.

The material WikiLeaks began publishing in 2010 documented complaints of abuses against Iraqi detainees, a US tally of civilian deaths in Iraq, and America's weak support for the government of Tunisia — a disclosure that Manning supporters said helped trigger the Middle Eastern pro-democracy uprisings known as the Arab Spring.

The Obama administration said the release threatened to expose valuable military and diplomatic sources and strained America's relations with other governments.

Prosecutors said during the trial Manning relied on WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange for guidance on what secrets to "harvest" for the organization, starting within weeks of his arrival in Iraq in late 2009.

Federal authorities are looking into whether Assange can be prosecuted. He has been holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden on sex-crimes allegations.

Source: timesofindia

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Angelina Jolie highest paid actress in Holywood

11:34 AM

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News in america

Los Angeles, Jul 30 (PTI) Angelina Jolie returns to the top of the Forbes' highest paid actress list after a three year break since her last big-budget movie "The Tourist".

Jolie, 38, who opted a double mastectomy early this year after finding out that she was a carrier of the BRCA1 gene, has estimated earnings of USD 33 million between June 2012 and June 2013, reported Forbes magazine.

Source: ptinews.com

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Facebook hashtags don't work

8:27 PM

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technology news

NEW YORK: This ain't Twitter, hashtags don't work here! 

Using hashtags in Facebook posts may be a fun strategy for companies trying to grab the attention of consumers, however, it doesn't appear to be paying off, a new study has claimed. 

Facebook hashtags don't work

The study by a social media analytics firm showed that although 20 per cent of Facebook posts among top brands now include hashtags, however, there is no evidence that such tactics is influencing their engagement. 

Hashtags provide users a way to group messages of similar content. 

Researchers show that posts using the newly introduced hashtags perform only as well as those without it, suggesting that users are not yet finding brand posts by their tags. 

The study showed that visual content is by far the primary driver for engagement on Facebook. 

Pictures posted by top brands average more than 9,400 engagements, which includes likes, comments and shares, per post, while videos average more than 2,500, 'BusinessNewsDaily' reported. 

Researchers said when it comes to text posts, brands must walk a fine line. 

Analysis of more than 500 status updates from the top brands shows that the longer a status update is, the less engagement it typically receives. 

However, if a status update is too short -- less than 50 characters -- it may not be long enough to capture viewers' attention or provide the necessary context to drive the number of likes, shares and comments a company would like. 

"For most brands, Facebook is no longer just a network; it has become the hub of their social marketing efforts and one of the most effective ways to engage with fans," said Adam Schoenfeld, CEO of the firm Simply Measured. 

Source : economictimes

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MIAMI, Florida: Six people shot to death in a shootout

10:23 PM

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News in america

MIAMI, Florida: Six people were shot to death in a shootout in an apartment building near the US city of Miami that ended early Saturday when police killed the suspect, police said. 

Authorities said there was gunfire on several floors of the Hialeah building before the suspect decided to hunker down in an apartment, taking the couple inside hostage. 

His motive was not immediately known, police spokesman Sergeant Eddie Rodriguez said, adding "six innocent people died and also the suspect who initiated this situation." 


Rodriguez said the incident began at 6:30 pm Friday and ended at 2:30 am Saturday when a police SWAT team moved into the building and into the apartment where the suspect was holed up. 

"The pair of hostages did not know the suspect and tried for hours to negotiate with him to surrender," Rodriguez said, adding when the suspect continued to refuse, "police had to act." 

The two hostages, a man and a woman, were uninjured. But among the dead were an elderly couple identified by their daughter as Colombians Italo and Samira Pisciotti. Rodriguez said they were the building's landlords. 

Shamira Pisciotti said her parents had gone "to see a tenant who made a complaint, and it seems there was an altercation. 

"The person started shooting," she told Spanish-language news channel Univision. 

"I saw my mama. She died the moment she was shot," Pisciotti said, adding she heard 15 to 20 shots in total. 

Authorities are still working to identify the rest of the victims. 

The building in the mainly Cuban-populated city of Hialeah housed around 90 families. It is not yet confirmed whether the suspect lived there. 

Florida has the most permissive gun laws in the United States, and, according to a state report, in December 2012, the state had more than a million permits to carry concealed weapons.

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U.S. sanctions against any country offering asylum to Edward Snowden

10:42 AM

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News in america

WASHINGTON — U.S. sanctions against any country offering asylum to Edward Snowden advanced in Congress Thursday as the 30-year-old National Security Agency leaker remained in a Moscow airport while Russia weighed a request for him to stay permanently.

The measure introduced by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., demands the State Department coordinate with lawmakers on setting penalties against nations that seek to help Snowden avoid extradition to the United States, where authorities want him prosecuted for revealing details of the government’s massive surveillance system. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved the proposal unanimously by voice vote as an amendment to next year’s $50.6 billion diplomacy and international aid bill.

“I don’t know if he’s getting a change of clothes. I don’t know if he’s going to stay in Russia forever. I don’t know where he’s going to go,” Graham said. “But I know this: That the right thing to do is to send him back home so he can face charges for the crimes he’s allegedly committed.”

Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua have offered Snowden asylum since his arrival at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport a month ago, shortly after identifying himself as the source of a series of news reports outlining the NSA’s program to monitor Internet and telephone communications. It was believed he would then fly to Cuba. The U.S. then canceled his passport, stranding him, with Russia yet to authorize his request for temporary asylum or allow him to fly on to another destination.

Snowden wants permission to stay in Russia, his lawyer said Wednesday after delivering fresh clothes to his client. It’s unclear how long the Kremlin will take to decide on the asylum request.

Graham said Snowden’s revelations have had “incredibly disturbing” implications for national security.

The Obama administration says the surveillance has foiled a number of terrorist plots against the United States. It says the public outing of its programs are helping terrorist groups change their tactics.

The case also has sparked tension between Moscow and Washington at a sensitive time, less than two months before President Barack Obama’s planned talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow and again at a G-20 summit in St. Petersburg.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday the U.S. was “seeking clarity” about Snowden’s status. The head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, warned that “providing any refuge to Edward Snowden will be harmful to U.S.-Russia relations.”

The relationship is already strained by a Russian crackdown on opposition groups, American missile-defense plans in Europe and the former Cold War foes’ opposing views of the civil war between Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime and rebels.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Deal Congress allow United States ship arms to Syrian rebels

8:55 AM

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News in america

A deal reached in Congress to allow the United States to ship arms to Syrian rebels could spur more support from other nations, blunting the military gains of dictator Bashar Assad and preventing him from crushing the rebel movement.

Syrian rebels say the decision by U.S. lawmakers to go along with President Obama's plan announced weeks ago to arm their factions will give them an edge.

"American military support may not be sufficient in and of itself, but American leadership in close coordination with our allies ... will create a significant shift on the ground," said Mazen Asbahi, president of the Syrian Support Group, a U.S.-based group of Syrians who are aiding the rebels.

Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, issued a statement saying committee members questioned the plan but have agreed it can move forward.

"The House Intelligence Committee has very strong concerns about the strength of the administration's plans in Syria and its chances for success," Rogers, R-Mich., said in a statement issued this week.

Rogers and other committee members declined to elaborate on the deal.

Obama announced in June that he intended to provide the rebels lethal means to combat Assad's forces after they crossed a "red line" by using chemical weapons against rebel strongholds in cities. The White House has said it planned to provide "light arms" to the rebels.

But no arms flowed because of concerns on Capitol Hill, among them worries that the arms would wind up in the hands of the many al-Qaeda aligned groups that are fighting in Syria.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Tuesday that the military aid is to prevent Assad and his allies from crushing the Syrian opposition movement.

"The aid is intended to help the opposition resist Assad and eventually prevail," Carney said.

But Tony Badran, an analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the decision to arm the rebels is hampered by the administration's lack of a clear reason for sending the weapons.

"Are we trying to help the rebels fight the jihadis, defeat the regime or cement the stalemate?" Badran said.

The White House says it wants Assad to enter negotiations for his own departure, but "why would Assad negotiate when you're declaring you have no intention of helping the rebels win?" Badran said.

The White House has said it intends to funnel arms to the Free Syrian Army, a collection of Syrian Army defectors and former officers who have been battling Assad's forces for more than two years. The aid will be overseen by the Supreme Military Council of the Syrian Revolution, a coalition of FSA commanders.

The aid will put the weight of the United States and its friends behind a secularist opposition movement and show a commitment to "seeing this conflict through to a better end," Asbahi said.

Khaled Saleh, a spokesman for the Syrian Military Council, who is based in Turkey, said the aid will help give the United States more influence in Syria in picking who will ultimately prevail against Assad's forces.

Assad's forces have killed nearly 100,000 people, according to the United Nations. Foreign fighters have flooded in, such as members of the terrorist group Hezbollah who are backing Assad. Sunni Muslim jihadists who oppose Assad because he is a member of the Alewites, a Shiite offshoot, are also fighting with al-Qaeda in Syria.

Military advisers from Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps have also streamed into Syria to keep Assad in power, and Russia has been providing Assad with arms.

Syria rebel groups have been pleading for a no-fly zone and armor-piercing rockets to counter heavy weaponry such as tanks and fighter jets of Assad's. Some Republicans and Democratic senators, such as John McCain and Carl Levin, have wanted to provide advanced weapons or U.S. airstrikes but Obama has refused to go that far.

"Arms alone may not be sufficient, but when you add training, intelligence and tactical support you'll start seeing changes on the ground," Asbahi said.

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US Vice President Joe Biden visit to India to discuss bilateral issues

9:43 AM

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political news

Washington: Joe Biden will be on his maiden visit to India as US Vice President Monday to discuss key bilateral issues, including trade, energy and defence, to make Indo-US ties the most important strategic partnership of the 21st century. 

During his four-day-long stay in India, Biden will hold meetings with top leadership, including President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Biden, accompanied by his wife Jill will arrive in New Delhi this morning, would focus on four key issues of economic and trade ties, energy and climate change; defense co-operation and a wide range of regional co-operation. 

The 70-year-old Vice President had visited New Delhi in 2008 as a Senator. He will also hold talks with Vice President Hamid Ansari and the Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj.

All his meetings have been scheduled for July 23, at the end of which he would attend a dinner hosted in his honour by Vice President Hamid Ansari. 

Biden will spend the next two days - July 24 and 25 - in Mumbai, where he is scheduled to meet the business leaders at a round table and deliver a policy speech at the Bombay Stock Exchange. 

He is expected to set up an "ambitious vision" for India-US relationship. He will leave for Singapore on July 25. 

PTI

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US fighter jets dropped bombs on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia

10:24 PM

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News in america

US fighter jets dropped inert bombs on the Great Barrier Reef off Australia's coast during a training exercise that went wrong, it has emerged.

The two planes jettisoned four bombs in more than 50m (165 ft) of water, away from coral, to minimise damage to the World Heritage Site, the US navy said.

The jets had intended to drop at a bombing range on a nearby island, but Tuesday's mission was aborted.

The AV-8B Harriers were low on fuel and could not land loaded, the navy added.

The emergency happened during the training exercise Talisman Saber, involving US and Australian military personnel.

The two jets had been instructed to target the bombing range on Townshend Island.

However, the mission was aborted when hazards were reported in the area.

The planes then dropped the bombs in the marine park off the coast of Queensland. None of the devices exploded.

Each bomb weighed 500lb (226kg), according to the US TV network NBC.

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral structure rich in marine life.

It stretches for more than 2,600km (1,680 miles) along Australia's eastern coast.

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Woman killed ridding 14-story roller coaster at Six Flags, no foul play

9:52 PM

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News in america

usatoday : Police have ruled out foul play as local media identified the woman who fell to her death while riding a 14-story roller coaster at a Six Flags amusement park in Arlington, Texas.

The Dallas Morning News and local TV station WFAA said the family of the woman who died has identified her as Rosy Esparza of Dallas. Relatives told the Dallas Morning News the accident occurred on her first visit to Six Flags Over Texas.

Arlington Police Sgt. Christopher Cook told The Associated Press there appears to have been no foul play in Friday's death.

Police say the Texas Department of Insurance, which approves amusement rides, is involved in investigating the accident. The Star Telegram in Fort Worth reported the coaster will remain closed until the end of the in-house investigation.

Park spokeswoman Sharon Parker confirmed that a woman died while riding the Texas Giant roller coaster — the tallest steel-hybrid coaster in the world — but did not specify how she was killed. However, witnesses told local media outlets that the woman fell.

John Putman told the Star-Telegram that he was in line awaiting his turn on the ride when the car from which the woman fell returned to the ground. Putman said a man and woman got out.

"They were screaming, 'My mom! My mom! Let us out, we need to go get her!' " Putman said.

Carmen Brown of Arlington was waiting in line as the victim was being secured in for the ride. She told The Dallas Morning News the woman had expressed concern to a park employee that she was not secured correctly in her seat.

"He was basically nonchalant," Brown said. "He was, like, 'As long as you heard it click, you're fine.' Hers was the only one that went down once, and she didn't feel safe. But they let her still get on the ride."

She said the victim fell out of the ride as it made a sudden maneuver.

"The lady basically tumbled over," she said. "We heard her screaming. We were, like, 'Did she just fall?'"

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Helen Thomas in her 92 died Saturday at home in Washington

11:32 PM

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News in america

WASHINGTON — Helen Thomas, whose keen curiosity, unquenchable drive and celebrated constancy made her a trailblazing White House correspondent in a press corps dominated by men and later the dean of the White House briefing room, died Saturday at home in Washington. She was 92.

Her death, which came after a long illness, was announced by the Gridiron Club. Ms. Thomas was a past president of that organization.

Ms. Thomas covered every president from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama for United Press International and, later, Hearst Newspapers. To her colleagues, she was the unofficial but undisputed head of the press corps — her status ratified by the signature line she uttered at the end of every White House news conference, “Thank you, Mr. President.”

Her blunt questions and sharp tone made her a familiar personality not only in the parochial world inside the Washington Beltway but also to nationwide television audiences.

Presidents grew to respect, even to like, Ms. Thomas for her forthrightness and stamina, which sustained her well after the age at which most people had settled into retirement. President Bill Clinton gave her a cake on Aug. 4, 1997, her 77th birthday. Twelve years later, President Obama gave her cupcakes for her 89th. At his first news conference in February 2009, Mr. Obama called on her, saying: “Helen, I’m excited. This is my inaugural moment.”

But 16 months later, Ms. Thomas abruptly announced her retirement from Hearst amid an uproar over her assertion that Jews should “get the hell out of Palestine” and go back where they belonged, perhaps Germany or Poland.  Her remarks, made almost offhandedly days earlier at a White House event, set off a storm when a videotape was posted.

In her retirement announcement, Ms. Thomas, whose parents immigrated to the United States from what is now Lebanon, said that she deeply regretted her remarks  and that they did not reflect her “heartfelt belief” that peace would come to the Middle East only when all parties embraced “mutual respect and tolerance.”

“May that day come soon,” she said.

Ms. Thomas’s career bridged two eras, beginning during World War II when people got their news mostly from radio, newspapers and movie newsreels, and extending into the era of 24-hour information on cable television and the Internet. She  resigned from  U.P.I. on May 16, 2000, a day after it was taken over by an organization with links to the Unification Church

Weeks later, Ms. Thomas was hired by Hearst to write a twice-weekly column on national issues. She spent the last 10 years of her working life there.

When Ms. Thomas took a job as a radio writer for United Press in 1943 (15 years before it merged with the International News Service to become U.P.I.), most female journalists wrote about social events and homemaking. The journalists who covered war, crime and politics, and congratulated one another over drinks at the press club were typically men.

She worked her way into full-time reporting and by the mid-1950s was covering federal agencies. She covered John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign in 1960, and when he won she became the first woman assigned to the White House full time by a news service.

Ms. Thomas was also the first woman to be elected an officer of the White House Correspondents’ Association and the first to serve as its president. In 1975, she became the first woman elected to the Gridiron Club, which for 90 years had been a men-only bastion of Washington journalists.

Ms. Thomas was known for her dawn-to-dark work hours, and she won her share of exclusives and near-exclusives. She was the only female print journalist to accompany President Richard M. Nixon on his breakthrough trip to China in 1972.

“Helen was a better reporter than she was a writer — but in her prime had more than her share of scoops the rest of us would try to match,” Mark Knoller, the longtime CBS News White House reporter, wrote in a Twitter message on Saturday morning. And, he added, “Pity the poor WH press aide who would try to tell Helen, ‘You can’t stand there.’ ”

In the Watergate era, she was a favorite late-night confidante of Martha Mitchell, the wife of John N. Mitchell, Mr. Nixon’s attorney general and campaign official. Mrs. Mitchell told Ms. Thomas that responsibility for the “third-rate burglary” at the Democratic headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington and the cover-up that followed it had gone far above the midlevel officials who were implicated early on.

People with a vested interest in discrediting Mrs. Mitchell hinted that she was emotionally unstable and that she drank too much. But volatile or not, she was right. Ms. Thomas called Mrs. Mitchell, who died in 1976, “one of the first victims, and perhaps the only heroine, of the Watergate tidal wave.”

On April 22, 1981, three weeks after the attempt on President Ronald Reagan’s life, Ms. Thomas and a reporter for The Associated Press interviewed the president, who told them of the “paralyzing pain” he had felt when a bullet went into his chest and of the panic that had overcome him when he could not breathe.

In 1971, Ms. Thomas married Douglas Cornell, a widower, who was about to retire as a White House reporter for The A.P. and was 14 years her senior. He died in 1982.  

Ms. Thomas wrote half a dozen books. Her first, “Dateline: White House,” was published by Macmillan in 1975. Four others were published by Scribner: “Front Row at the White House: My Life and Times,” in 2000; “Thanks for the Memories, Mr. President: Wit and Wisdom From the Front Row at the White House,” in 2003; “Watchdogs of Democracy? The Waning Washington Press Corps and How It Has Failed the Public,” in 2006; and “Listen Up, Mr. President: Everything You Always Wanted Your President to Know and Do,” written with Craig Crawford, in 2009. With the illustrator Chip Bok, she also wrote a children’s book, “The Great White House Breakout,” about a little boy whose mother is president.

Helen Thomas was born in Winchester, Ky., on Aug. 4, 1920, and grew up in Detroit, one of 10 children of George and Mary Thomas. Her father, who could not read or write, encouraged his children to go to college.

In 1942, when Ms. Thomas graduated from what is now Wayne State University in Detroit with a major in English, the country was at war. She went to Washington to look for a job.

She found one, as a waitress. But she did not last long. “I didn’t smile enough,” she recalled years later.

Soon The Washington Daily News hired her in a clerical job; soon after that, she began her career with the United Press news service.

“Where’d this girl come from?’” she asked of herself in an appearance before a women’s group in 1999. “I love my work, and I think that I was so lucky to pick a profession where it’s a joy to go to work every day.”

Before she left U.P.I. in May 2000, the news service had been shrinking its payroll and closing bureaus for years, a decline that led to its takeover by News World Communications, the organization founded by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, leader of the Unification Church. It also publishes The Washington Times, a favorite of conservative readers in Washington.

 “I do not intend to stay,” she said on departing. “United Press International is a great news agency. It has made a remarkable mark in the annals of American journalism and has left a superb legacy for future journalists. I wish the new owners all the best, great stories and happy landings.”

Ms. Thomas bitterly opposed the war in Iraq and made no effort to appear neutral at White House news conferences, where some of her questions bordered on the prosecutorial. In her last book, she wrote that most White House and Pentagon reporters had been too willing to accept the Bush administration’s rationale for going to war.

In an interview with The New York Times in May 2006, Ms. Thomas was characteristically uncompromising and unapologetic.

“How would you define the difference between a probing question and a rude one?” she was asked.

“I don’t think there are any rude questions,” she said.


Mark Landler contributed reporting.

nytimes

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Police investigate Kanye West for battery

7:36 PM

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News in america

Kanye West told photographers not to talk to him.

He told them that on July 12 when he was walking through LAX and the cameras were in his face. And on Friday, he got ticked off again at LAX.

"Can we talk to you Kanye?" says one of the videographers in a TMZ video. "What's going on, man?"

Kanye glares back, clearly not happy as he's walking out the door of the airport.

"What's going on, man? ... You're a cool guy. ... Why can't we talk to you?" the cameraman continues, as Kanye walks on, jaw clenched. And just as Kanye is about to get in a car, he stops and turns to look at the guy.

"Kanye, c'mon. I don't want to fight with you," says the videographer. Silent Kanye walks toward him, the cameraman says, "Dude, seriously. I don't want to fight with you."

Replies Kanye, "You're trying to get me in trouble ... so I'll have to pay you, like, $250,000."

Kanye then lunges at the camera.

TMZ reports that the cameraman was taken to the hospital. And that Kanye could be facing felony charges, based on the photographer claiming Kanye was trying to rob him of his camera.

The Los Angeles Times reports that sources said no injuries were visible on the photographer, but that a battery investigation has been launched by LAPD

E! News says a police statement confirms the investigation is taking place, and that the photographer hurt his hip.

And AP reports that LAX police Sgt. Steve Savala said numerous witnesses were interviewed about the afternoon incident to compile a report for detectives to investigate.

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Lawyers for Osama bin Laden's son-in-law was tortured by the U.S.

10:15 AM

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terrorism news

NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for Osama bin Laden's son-in-law claimed in court papers Friday that he was tortured by the U.S. and asked a judge to dismiss the terrorism case against him.

Sulaiman Abu Ghaith's attorneys said in papers in Manhattan federal court that their client is charged in a flawed document that fails to adequately explain how he was part of a conspiracy to kill Americans. They said the statute of limitations had expired and that he was denied due process.

They also said he was interrogated at length during a 14-hour flight to the United States earlier this year during which "he was subjected to a variety of deprivation techniques and harsh treatment which constitute torture."

Abu Ghaith, 47, has been held without bail since he was brought to the United States in March to face charges that he conspired against Americans in his role as al-Qaida's spokesman after the Sept. 11 attacks. Authorities say he had appeared in propaganda videos that warned of further assaults against the United States as devastating as the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that killed nearly 3,000 people. Abu Ghaith, who has pleaded not guilty, would be the highest-ranking al-Qaida figure to stand trial on U.S. soil since 9/11.

In an affidavit filed to support a request to suppress a 22-page statement he made to authorities, the Kuwaiti-born Abu Ghaith said he left Afghanistan in 2002 and entered Iran, where he was arrested in mid-year and held by elements of the Republican Guard before he was detained in prisons and interrogated extensively. He said he was told by Iranian government officials that the U.S. government was aware he was being held in jail in Iran and that Iran had turned over a number of prisoners to the United States already.

Abu Ghaith said he was released from Iranian custody on Jan. 11, when he entered Turkey, where he was detained and interrogated before he was released on Feb. 28. He said he was heading home to Kuwait on a plane to see family when the flight landed instead in Amman, Jordan, where he was handcuffed and turned over to American authorities.

He said he had learned through other detainees and news sources over the years that the U.S. had engaged in waterboarding, beatings, freezing rooms, sleep deprivation, electrical shocking, the use of dogs and noise torture, humiliation while naked and other practices.

"I believed that I was now in American custody, and I anticipated increasing degrees of physical and psychological torture, which terrified me," he wrote.

He said he was kept naked on the plane for several minutes as a man in military clothing photographed his body.

"I was terrified, and I saw that there were several men on board, and at least one woman present, who observed me while I was naked from her location behind a partially-drawn curtain at the front of the plane," Abu Ghaith said.

He said he was interrogated over the next 13 hours with a few breaks in a cold plane. He said he was only given a small bottle of water and one orange to eat. He said he soiled his clothing and feet and urinated on the floor when he tried to relieve himself in the plane's restroom while handcuffed as a soldier watched.

"The soldier shouted and cursed at me in English and made threatening gestures, and I was made to kneel and clean up the urine from the floor using bits of paper, while my hands were shackled at my waist. It was terrifying to be confined in a small airplane toilet cleaning the floor while the soldier yelled at me and threatened me," he said.

Prosecutors declined to comment on the defense motion.

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Barack Obama Martin could have been me, 35 years ago

10:09 AM

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News in america

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama on Friday jumped into the debate over the acquittal of the man who killed black Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, declaring that Martin "could have been me, 35 years ago" and urging Americans to understand the pain blacks felt over the case. 

Obama abruptly appeared in the White House press briefing room to offer his thoughts on the trial of George Zimmerman, the Sanford, Florida, neighborhood watch volunteer who was found not guilty of murder for shooting Martin, 17, in a struggle in 2012. 

The televised trial and Saturday's verdict highlighted contentious issues such as racial profiling, with many blacks arguing that Zimmerman chose to follow Martin because he was black, and rejecting Zimmerman's self-defense argument. 

Without saying so specifically, Obama sided with those who say the shooting need not have happened, expressing sympathy to the Martin family and praising them for the "incredible grace and dignity with which they've dealt with the entire situation." 

He said the case was properly handled in the Florida court and acknowledged the relevance of the jury finding reasonable doubt in the prosecution's case. He questioned "stand your ground" self-defense laws that have been adopted in 30 states. 

Obama, however, said Americans should understand the perspective of the black community, which has suffered a long history of racial discrimination. 

"You know, when Trayvon Martin was first shot, I said that this could have been my son. Another way of saying that is Trayvon Martin could have been me, 35 years ago," he said somberly. 

Obama, 51, born in Hawaii to a black Kenyan father and white American mother, recalled his own encounters with racism and racial profiling. 

"There are very few African-American men in this country who haven't had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store. That includes me," he said. 

He said he sometimes heard the clicks of car doors locking when he walked across the street in his younger days. 

"There are very few African-Americans who haven't had the experience of getting on an elevator and a woman clutching her purse nervously and holding her breath until she had a chance to get off. That happens often," he said. 

Citing the experiences of his teenage daughters, Obama said younger generations have fewer issues with racism. Still, he said, Americans need to do some "soul searching" on whether they harbor prejudice and should judge people not on the color of their skin but on the content of their character. 

"Each successive generation seems to be making progress in changing attitudes when it comes to race. It doesn't mean we're in a post-racial society. It doesn't mean that racism is eliminated ... We're becoming a more perfect union, not a perfect union, but a more perfect union," he said. 

The Zimmerman verdict has produced a mixed reaction from Americans. A Reuters-Ipsos online poll found 34 percent agreed with the verdict, while 39 percent opposed it. It also found 68 percent did not approve of racial profiling by police. The July 16-19 surveyed 616 Americans and had a "credibility interval" of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points. 

After issuing a written statement on Sunday, Obama kept silent publicly on the case as some reacted angrily to the verdict. An aide said Obama had watched the coverage of the case on television and had talked to friends and family about it. 

He informed some senior staff on Thursday that he wanted to address the issue publicly. An appearance at the start of White House press secretary Jay Carney's daily briefing was deemed the best venue. 

PRAISE FOR OBAMA 

Trayvon's parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, issued a statement on Friday praising Obama and saying they were aware that their son's death and the jury's verdict had been deeply painful and difficult for many people. 

"What touches people is that our son, Trayvon Benjamin Martin, could have been their son. President Obama sees himself in Trayvon and identifies with him. This is a beautiful tribute to our boy," they said. 

Leaders of the black community also praised Obama. 

"That our president has been profiled should encourage all Americans to think deeply about both the depth of this problem and how our country moves beyond it," said Benjamin Jealous, the president and chief executive officer of the NAACP, the nation's oldest civil rights group. 

Noting racial disparities in the application of criminal law ranging from the death penalty to drug enforcement, Obama urged the Justice Department to work with local governments to reduce mistrust in the justice system and said states should ensure their laws did not provoke incidents like the Martin killing. 

Obama specifically mentioned Florida's "stand-your-ground" law, which allows individuals to use reasonable force to defend themselves without any obligation to retreat or flee. Critics of the Sanford police department's investigation of Zimmerman say it was central to the decision not to arrest him immediately. 

The law did not factor in Zimmerman's trial, though a juror cited it in acquitting him. 

"I just ask people to consider, if Trayvon Martin was of age and armed, could he have stood his ground on that sidewalk? And do we actually think that he would have been justified in shooting Mr. Zimmerman, who had followed him in a car, because he felt threatened? And if the answer to that question is at least ambiguous, then it seems to me that we might want to examine those kinds of laws," said Obama.

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