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WASHINGTON: The Pentagon Friday disclosed the capture of an
Afghan national who helped arrange Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin
Laden’s escape from Tora Bora in the mountains of Afghanistan in
late 2001. Described as one of Bin Laden’s most trusted
facilitators and procurement specialists, Muhammed Rahim was turned
over to the military by the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) in
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. CIA
Director Michael Hayden said Rahim was detained in mid-2007 and
eventually turned over to US custody and placed in the CIA’s
interrogation program. “Rahim is perhaps best known in
counter-terror circles as a personal facilitator and translator for
Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders,” Hayden said in a
message to CIA employees.
-- AFP
JAKARTA: The arrest of a top prosecutor for
allegedly accepting bribes from the banker he was supposed to be
investigating has given a rare insight into corruption at the top of
Indonesia’s justice system. Attorney General’s Office prosecutor
Urip Tri Gunawan was arrested on March 2 with $660,000 in cash as he
left the Jakarta home of Syamsul Nursalim—just days after the AGO
abandoned an investigation headed by Gunawan into the banker.
-- AFP
BEIJING: China’s Communist Party chief Hu
Jintao was given five more years as president at an elaborate
parliamentary ceremony on Saturday, but his orchestrated victory was
overshadowed by turmoil in Tibet. Hu, 65, was the only candidate for
president and received the support of 99.7 percent of the votes cast
at the annual session of the National People’s Congress, China’s
rubber-stamp parliament. Hu was also re-elected head of China’s
Central Military Commission with the same level of support, while
his widely expected successor, Xi Jinping, 54, was elected vice
president with 98.5 percent support of the votes cast.
-- AFP
WASHINGTON: Democratic presidential hopeful
Barack Obama tried to distance himself from a controversial preacher
Saturday, denouncing his allegations that the September 11 attacks
were brought on by American “terrorism.” The Illinois senator
acted to quell a controversy over remarks by the preacher, Reverend
Jeremiah Wright, who also argued African-Americans should sing
“God Damn America” to protest their treatment. In a blog post on
the Huffington Post website, Obama admitted Friday that Wright had
“touched off a firestorm” with “some inflammatory
and appalling remarks he made about our country, our politics, and
my political opponents.”
-- AFP
WASHINGTON: US Vice President Dick Cheney leaves
for the Middle East Sunday, hoping to help revive the battered peace
process and get Arab allies like Saudi Arabia to do more to curb
Iran’s influence in Iraq. With just ten months left in President
George W. Bush’s term, Cheney is expected to seek support for
confronting Tehran over its nuclear program and push Israel and the
Palestinians to fulfill past promises for peace.
-- AFP
TOKYO: Japanese companies plan to cut off the
Internet connection of anyone who illegally downloads files in one
of the world’s toughest measures against online piracy, a report
said Saturday. Faced with mounting complaints from the music, movie
and video game industries, four associations representing Japan’s
Internet service providers agreed to take drastic action, the
newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun said. The newspaper, quoting unnamed
sources, said service providers would send e-mails to people who
repeatedly made illegal copies and terminate their connections if
they did not stop.
-- AFP
NEW YORK: A strong storm hit downtown Atlanta
Friday night, damaging some buildings including the CNN Center,
local media reported. The wind went as strong as nearly 100 km per
hour, ripping holes in roofs and breaking windows of many buildings.
National Weather Service officials were not sure if a tornado had
touched down. Local police have reported minor injuries from the
storm.
-- Xinhua
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