Iran test-fires 14 missiles during military drills

Tehran, Iran (CNN) -- Iran has successfully test-fired 14 missiles during military drills, Iranian news agencies reported Tuesday.

Following the unveiling of several missile silos Monday, Tuesday's exercises are the second day of war games code-named the "Great Prophet Six."

According to Iran's IRIB news agency, the Islamic Revolutions Guards Corps fired three Shabab ballistic missiles and 11 Zelzal short-range missiles to test the missiles "'precision, navigation and interceptive capability."

Airing video of one of the facilities as it began a new round of military exercises, Iran announced Monday that it has built its first ballistic missile silos. The hardened, underground launch sites will allow Iranian commanders to fire missiles more quickly, Iran's state-run Press TV reported. A military statement carried by the official Islamic Republic News Agency said the silos were capable of launching long-range missiles.

Iran's development of missile and nuclear fuel technology has led to U.N. sanctions and accusations from the United States that the clerical regime is trying to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran says it has a right to peaceful nuclear technology, but the International Atomic Energy says it can't verify whether Tehran's nuclear program remains entirely peaceful.

The United States and the Soviet Union built more than 1,400 silos to protect their long-range missiles during the Cold War era.

In the Iranian statement, military spokesman Col. Asghar Ghelichkhani said the facilities were designed and built with domestic expertise.

Western observers say Iran currently has missiles capable of hitting targets up to about 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) away, a range that would cover nearly the entire Middle East and part of southeastern Europe. Iran also launched its first satellite in 2009.

Powerful explosion near UN office in Gaza City

There has been a big explosion in Gaza City near a United Nations compound and Hamas offices.

The blast tore a 2m (6ft) hole through a wall surrounding the UN building.

A BBC reporter at the scene said the blast had been caused by an explosive device. There have been no reports of casualties.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the explosion. Offices of Hamas' intelligence service and a prison are also nearby.

The Israeli military said it had not been operating in the area at the time.

Security forces in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory have cordoned off the area and denied access to

India Maoists kill security forces in Chhattisgarh

The Naxalites and their Ideology
Six security personnel have been killed and eight injured in two separate attacks by Maoist rebels in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh.

Four policemen died when a vehicle carrying them hit a landmine in Dantewada district.

And earlier on Sunday, two paramilitary soldiers were ambushed and killed by rebels in Kanker district, police said.

Maoist rebels say they are fighting for the rights of indigenous tribal people and the rural poor.

They are active in several eastern and central states. In one of the most deadly attacks last year, rebels killed 74 policemen in Dantewada.

India's prime minister has described the Maoist insurgency as the country's biggest internal security challenge.

Sunday's attacks happened in the restive Bastar region.

In the first attack, rebels ambushed a contingent of paramilitary soldiers belonging to the Border Security Force (BSF) in Kanker, killing two soldiers and injuring four others.

Police officials claimed that a number of rebels were also killed in the firefight, but only one body of a rebel was recovered from the spot.

Later in the day, a vehicle carrying policemen on a search operation hit a landmine in Dantewada.

Four policemen died in the explosion, and four others were injured in the blast which tore apart the vehicle.

The BBC's Salman Ravi in Raipur says Bastar is the most sensitive region of Chhattisgarh where Maoist insurgents control a large area.

During the last one month, Maoists have carried out many landmine explosions in the area, killing more than 30 security personnel.

A government offensive against the rebels - widely referred to as Operation Green Hunt - began in late 2009.

It involves 50,000 troops and is taking place across five states - West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa and Chhattisgarh.
Tribal Guerrillas: The Santals of West Bengal and the Naxalite Movement

India's wealthiest group

India's Tata Group has become the country's wealthiest, with a market value higher than the combined wealth of the two Reliance conglomerates.

The combined value of the Reliance groups, led by feuding brothers Mukesh and Anil Ambani, is $81.6bn.

The Tata group, led by Ratan Tata, is worth $98.7bn (£60.9bn), according to the company.

The change is partly the result of the strengthening share prices of the almost 30 listed Tata companies.

These firms are in a range of industries from energy to chemicals.

But it is also due to the fall in the market value of the Ambani brothers' firms over the past year.

The Reliance group of companies has faced challenging times as a company riven by family feuds and disputes.

Run by Mukesh Ambani's brother Anil, the telecoms company has faced a slump in its share prices as a result of a high profile scandal involving licences for second generation phones.

Tata's elevation to India's most valuable quoted company indicates a marked reversal from a year ago in the fortunes of the Tata and Reliance groups, the BBC's Nidhi Dutt in Mumbai (Bombay) says.

Despite having many more companies listed on the Indian stock exchange in 2010, Tata ranked behind Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries, which held the top slot. Reliance has interests in the petrochemical and energy sectors, but only two listed firms.

But one year on, Tata is now not only worth more than Reliance Industries, but both it and Reliance Communications combined.

Pakistan denies rocket attacks on Afghan border

The Pakistani army has rejected claims made by Afghanistan that it has fired more than 450 rockets into Afghan territory over the past three weeks.

But a spokesman told the BBC a "few accidental rounds" may have landed in Afghanistan as the army battles Taliban militants entrenched in the area.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said rockets had killed 36 people.

Meanwhile officials in north-western Pakistan say they are setting up camps for about 15,000 internal refugees.

They are expected to be uprooted by an impending Pakistani military operation.

Afghan officials say hundreds have fled parts of Kunar and Nangarhar provinces.

Nato forces have significantly scaled back their presence along the Afghan-Pakistan border in these provinces and border officials say the Pakistani Taliban has moved into these unstable districts.

The rocket attacks are alleged to have begun in earnest about three weeks ago and Afghan officials claim Pakistani military shells have been landing in Afghan villages along the border.
Improving relations

President Karzai met the Pakistani army chief of staff on Monday to discuss the issue at the presidential palace.

Afghanistan previously warned that it will retaliate if the attacks continue

Afghan officials say that the president voiced "great concern" about the issue and asked for it to stop immediately. They also said Pakistan's army chief assured them that an investigation would soon be launched into the incidents although that has not been confirmed by officials in Islamabad.

President Karzai also raised the issue of rocket attacks with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari at a regional anti-terrorism conference in Tehran on Saturday.

President Karzai has been criticised for not pursuing an aggressive enough line with Pakistan, the BBC's Bilal Sarwary in Kabul says.

Over the last year relations between the countries have become more cordial not least, our correspondent says, because Kabul considers Pakistan crucial to any future role for the Taliban in Afghan government.

On Sunday night at least 35 shells were fired into the Sarkano district of Kunar province, the commander of Afghanistan's border police forces told our correspondent in Kabul.

"We have seized shrapnel from the area. People have got killed, houses have been destroyed and in the last 24 houses our forests have caught fire as a result of the shelling," General Aminullah Amarkhel said.
Exodus expected

But Pakistan's military spokesman said that it was simply "not true" to say that rounds had been intentionally fired into Afghanistan.

He said that in the last month hundreds of insurgents crossed into Pakistan and attacked border posts, killing more than 100 security personnel.

The dispute comes as Pakistani military jets pounded suspected militant positions in the central Kurram region.

Hundreds of people have already fled the area after several days of air strikes. Officials say that they expect a larger exodus once the ground offensive in the area begins.

Kurram holds a large concentration of militants fleeing another military operation in Orakzai and an expected operation in North Waziristan.

"We have been asked to make preparations for 1,500 families who are expected to be displaced across an 80 square kilometre area of central Kurram region which will be the target of the ground offensive," Haseeb Salarzai, an official of the Fata (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) Disaster Management Authority, told BBC.

Pakistani officials have conceded that in their battle with the militants it was possible that a few stray rounds crossed the border.

In recent weeks, Islamabad has complained of a number of cross-border militant attacks in Pakistan's north-west and has lodged official protests with Kabul over the incursions.

In the latest attack on 16 June more than 200 militants are said to have stormed a Pakistani village near the Afghan border.

What is wrong with the Indian economy?

The irony was inescapable for Indians when last Friday global oil prices tumbled, yet the government announced a hike in the prices of diesel, kerosene and cooking gas.

Such a move will further stoke inflation in Asia's third largest economy. India's wholesale prices have already increased by 9.1%, and looks certain to touch double digits in the days to come.

High inflation is hurting growth. The government thinks GDP growth will slow to between 7.5 to 8% during the fiscal year ending April 2012, down from 8.5% between 2010-11.

No wonder then that the stock markets have been bearish. Foreign investors - both direct and portfolio - are suddenly wary of pumping money into one of the world's largest and fastest-growing economies.

The upshot is that India's once booming stock markets are presently under-performing and are well below the peak levels of January 2008.
Slowdown

Industrial production has also slowed, dragged down by a slump in capital goods output.

To add to these worries, foreign direct investments (FDI) have fallen by a quarter, they are $19bn (£11.9bn ) this fiscal year, down from $25bn (£15.7bn) in 2009-10.

What is going wrong with the Indian economy, the fourth largest in the world in terms of purchasing parity?

Clearly, a number of internal and external factors are to blame.

Inflation is one and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has warned that the country's rapid economic growth is under "serious threat" from inflation.

India imports 84% of its oil

What is worse for India's poor - at least one out of four people survive on less than a dollar a day - is that overall inflation is being led by high food prices, especially the prices of protein items and also of vegetables, fruit and dairy products.

Inflation is also being fuelled by a surge in international oil prices - India imports 84% of its oil.

The government says it is being forced to increase fuel prices because of costlier imports, the mounting losses of the state-run petroleum refining and marketing companies and widening budget deficits.

To tame inflation, India has tightened monetary policy, raising interest rates 10 times since March 2010.

With money becoming dearer to borrow, investments have slowed down.

India was able to buck the global recession in 2008 to a large extent by increasing spending on welfare schemes, including a massive jobs for work programme in villages.

Before the recession, the economy grew at nearly 9% for four years in a row, slowed down to just over 6.5% in 2008-2009, and then rose to 8% the following fiscal year.

The Congress-led government has come under fire not being able to rein in inflation, particularly double-digit food inflation.

It has also been rocked by a number of corruption scandals, which have dented its image.

The biggest of these is the telecoms scandal, where a former minister is accused of selling mobile phone licenses to firms at a fraction of their real value in exchange for bribes in 2008. The minister denies the charges.
Creaky

Not surprisingly, foreign investments in the world's second-largest market for mobile phone services have come down sharply in recent months.

Industrial production has slowed down

And no new economic initiatives appear to be under way barring a right to food law.

The government's critics say much remains to be done to create jobs and improve India's creaky infrastructure.

In large parts of the country, electricity supply is erratic, roads are in poor condition and water supply is uncertain.

The country's healthcare and education systems are badly in need of resources.

Agriculture, which provides more than half of India's population a precarious livelihood, has grown at a relatively tardy pace.

Even the services sector - including computer software and business process outsourcing companies - are not growing as fast as they were on account of the slow and uneven recovery from the recession in the West.

Despite comfortable stocks of wheat and rice, the distribution of cereals is inefficient. The problem is compounded by poor storage facilities.

India's farmers are vulnerable since 60% of the country's farms are rain-fed without any irrigation facilities and dependent on a four-month-long monsoon during which 80% of the year's total rainfall takes place.

Although many predict a good crop as a result of the current monsoon conditions, prices of food may not fall immediately.

So there appears to be no short-term solution in sight to end the misery of high prices and low growth.

A 48-hour general strike has begun in Greece, as parliament prepares for a key vote on tough austerity measures.

Huge crowds of protesters are expected on the streets of Athens, while public transport is set to grind to a halt.

On Monday, Prime Minister George Papandreou said only his 28bn-euro (£25bn) austerity programme would get Greece back on its feet.

If the government loses, the EU and IMF could withhold 12bn euros of loans and Greece could run out of money in weeks.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said French banks are ready to offer new 30-year loans to Greece when its current debts fall due.

He said other European countries whose banks had lent money to Greece were considering the same model to help prevent a default. But the UK denied it was pressing banks to "take a haircut".
'Massacre'

More than 5,000 police officers are due to be deployed in the centre of Athens on Tuesday morning, when tens of thousands of striking workers are expected to march towards parliament at 1000 (0700 GMT).

The general strike will disrupt or halt most public services, with doctors, ambulance drivers, journalists and even state-funded actors taking part.
Continue reading the main story
What went wrong in Greece?
Greece's economic reforms, which led to it abandoning the drachma as its currency in favour of the euro in 2002, made it easier for the country to borrow money.
Greece went on a big, debt-funded spending spree, including paying for high-profile projects such as the 2004 Athens Olympics, which went well over its budget.
The country was hit by the downturn, which meant it had to spend more on benefits and received less in taxes. There were also doubts about the accuracy of its economic statistics.
Greece's economic problems meant lenders started charging higher interest rates to lend it money. Widespread tax evasion also hit the government's coffers.
There have been demonstrations against the government's austerity measures to deal with its debt, such as cuts to public sector pay and pensions, reduced benefits and increased taxes.
The government has already had to access a 110bn euro (£95bn; $146.2bn) bail-out package from the European Union and International Monetary Fund, and now needs a second bail-out.
Eurozone ministers are worried that if Greece were to default it would make it even more difficult for other countries such as Portugal and the Irish Republic to borrow money.

Airports were to be shut for hours at a time, with air traffic controllers walking out between 0800 and 1200 (0500-0900 GMT) and 1800 and 2200 (1500-1900 GMT). Athens international airport displayed a number of flights being cancelled from 0730.

Trains, buses and ferries will also stop running.

In Athens, the metro will be the only form of public transport which will work "so as to allow Athenians to join the planned protests in the capital", metro drivers said.

The unions are angry that the government's austerity programme will impose taxes on those earning the minimum wage, following months of other cuts which have seen unemployment rise to more than 16%.

"These measures are a massacre for workers' rights. It will truly be hell for the working man. The strike must bring everything to a standstill," Thanassis Pafilis, a Greek Communist Party MP, told the Associated Press.

Some protesters have said they will encircle the parliament building to prevent MPs from entering. The austerity package and implementation law must be passed in separate votes on Wednesday and Thursday.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote

They have had a year of austerity and now the Greek people are being asked to endure a second of cuts and tax increases. All the signs are that the Greeks have reached a limit ”
Gavin Hewitt
BBC Europe editor
Read Gavin's thoughts in full

Polls suggest that between 70% and 80% of Greek people oppose the austerity plan.

If the measures are passed, the next instalment of Greece's 110bn-euro bail-out will be released by the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

European officials will also start to finalise the details of a second bail-out - worth an estimated 120bn euros - designed to help Greece pay its debts until the end of 2014.

The BBC's Chris Morris in Athens says defeat for the government this week would send ripples of anxiety right across the eurozone, with Greece facing the prospect next month of becoming the first member state to default on its debts.
'Flawed' plans

As the debate in parliament on the austerity measures began, the prime minister warned a defeat would mean the national "coffers" would be empty within days and urged MPs to do their "patriotic duty".

"Our vote is the only chance for the country to get back on its feet."
Continue reading the main story
Greece: Crucial dates
June 29: Greek parliament to vote on a new austerity package
July 3: Eurozone deadline. EU will sign off latest bail-out payment to Greece - 12bn euros - if austerity package has passed
July 15: Default deadline: Without the 12bn euros it needs to make debt repayments, Greece will default
Viewpoint: Politics of Greek crisis
Commentators: Can the eurozone carry on?
Your comments and stories

Mr Papandreou added: "I call on Europe, for its part, to give Greece the time and the terms it needs to really pay off its debt, without strangling growth, and without strangling its citizens."

The new Finance Minister, Evangelos Venizelos, acknowledged that the cuts were "unfair" but said they were absolutely necessary.

He urged parties to work with the governing Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok) because it would help build "greater national strength".

But the main opposition leader, Antonis Samaras of the New Democracy party, said the thinking behind the austerity package was flawed and that tax rates should be lowered rather than raised in order to stimulate the economy.

The outcome of the debate is uncertain. Mr Papandreou faces opposition from within Pasok, with two MPs saying they may oppose the bill.

The party has a slim majority, with 155 seats out of 300 in parliament.A 48-hour general strike has begun in Greece, as parliament prepares for a key vote on tough austerity measures.

Huge crowds of protesters are expected on the streets of Athens, while public transport is set to grind to a halt.

On Monday, Prime Minister George Papandreou said only his 28bn-euro (£25bn) austerity programme would get Greece back on its feet.

If the government loses, the EU and IMF could withhold 12bn euros of loans and Greece could run out of money in weeks.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said French banks are ready to offer new 30-year loans to Greece when its current debts fall due.

He said other European countries whose banks had lent money to Greece were considering the same model to help prevent a default. But the UK denied it was pressing banks to "take a haircut".
'Massacre'

More than 5,000 police officers are due to be deployed in the centre of Athens on Tuesday morning, when tens of thousands of striking workers are expected to march towards parliament at 1000 (0700 GMT).

The general strike will disrupt or halt most public services, with doctors, ambulance drivers, journalists and even state-funded actors taking part.
Continue reading the main story
What went wrong in Greece?
Greece's economic reforms, which led to it abandoning the drachma as its currency in favour of the euro in 2002, made it easier for the country to borrow money.
Greece went on a big, debt-funded spending spree, including paying for high-profile projects such as the 2004 Athens Olympics, which went well over its budget.
The country was hit by the downturn, which meant it had to spend more on benefits and received less in taxes. There were also doubts about the accuracy of its economic statistics.
Greece's economic problems meant lenders started charging higher interest rates to lend it money. Widespread tax evasion also hit the government's coffers.
There have been demonstrations against the government's austerity measures to deal with its debt, such as cuts to public sector pay and pensions, reduced benefits and increased taxes.
The government has already had to access a 110bn euro (£95bn; $146.2bn) bail-out package from the European Union and International Monetary Fund, and now needs a second bail-out.
Eurozone ministers are worried that if Greece were to default it would make it even more difficult for other countries such as Portugal and the Irish Republic to borrow money.

Airports were to be shut for hours at a time, with air traffic controllers walking out between 0800 and 1200 (0500-0900 GMT) and 1800 and 2200 (1500-1900 GMT). Athens international airport displayed a number of flights being cancelled from 0730.

Trains, buses and ferries will also stop running.

In Athens, the metro will be the only form of public transport which will work "so as to allow Athenians to join the planned protests in the capital", metro drivers said.

The unions are angry that the government's austerity programme will impose taxes on those earning the minimum wage, following months of other cuts which have seen unemployment rise to more than 16%.

"These measures are a massacre for workers' rights. It will truly be hell for the working man. The strike must bring everything to a standstill," Thanassis Pafilis, a Greek Communist Party MP, told the Associated Press.

Some protesters have said they will encircle the parliament building to prevent MPs from entering. The austerity package and implementation law must be passed in separate votes on Wednesday and Thursday.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote

They have had a year of austerity and now the Greek people are being asked to endure a second of cuts and tax increases. All the signs are that the Greeks have reached a limit ”
Gavin Hewitt
BBC Europe editor
Read Gavin's thoughts in full

Polls suggest that between 70% and 80% of Greek people oppose the austerity plan.

If the measures are passed, the next instalment of Greece's 110bn-euro bail-out will be released by the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

European officials will also start to finalise the details of a second bail-out - worth an estimated 120bn euros - designed to help Greece pay its debts until the end of 2014.

The BBC's Chris Morris in Athens says defeat for the government this week would send ripples of anxiety right across the eurozone, with Greece facing the prospect next month of becoming the first member state to default on its debts.
'Flawed' plans

As the debate in parliament on the austerity measures began, the prime minister warned a defeat would mean the national "coffers" would be empty within days and urged MPs to do their "patriotic duty".

"Our vote is the only chance for the country to get back on its feet."
Continue reading the main story
Greece: Crucial dates
June 29: Greek parliament to vote on a new austerity package
July 3: Eurozone deadline. EU will sign off latest bail-out payment to Greece - 12bn euros - if austerity package has passed
July 15: Default deadline: Without the 12bn euros it needs to make debt repayments, Greece will default
Viewpoint: Politics of Greek crisis
Commentators: Can the eurozone carry on?
Your comments and stories

Mr Papandreou added: "I call on Europe, for its part, to give Greece the time and the terms it needs to really pay off its debt, without strangling growth, and without strangling its citizens."

The new Finance Minister, Evangelos Venizelos, acknowledged that the cuts were "unfair" but said they were absolutely necessary.

He urged parties to work with the governing Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok) because it would help build "greater national strength".

But the main opposition leader, Antonis Samaras of the New Democracy party, said the thinking behind the austerity package was flawed and that tax rates should be lowered rather than raised in order to stimulate the economy.

The outcome of the debate is uncertain. Mr Papandreou faces opposition from within Pasok, with two MPs saying they may oppose the bill.

The party has a slim majority, with 155 seats out of 300 in parliament.

UAE nuclear program gaining popular support

the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) nuclear energy program, with 85% of the respondents believing in the importance of peaceful nuclear energy for the nation.

Attendees view the UAE's nuclear energy project timeline at a public forum (Image: ENEC)

The study of 750 UAE residents was commissioned by the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) and was carried out by independent global market research company TNS. It forms part of an ENEC community outreach program that also includes public meetings and educational initiatives.

Support for the UAE's fledgling nuclear power program has strengthened recently, ENEC says, with the poll finding 47% of people becoming more favourable over the past six months. While 85% of residents believe that nuclear power is important for the UAE, 72% of those polled believe that it will be important for meeting the country's future energy needs and 60% would support the construction of a nuclear power plant in their own emirate, or state.

Nearly all the respondents - 97% - said they were aware of the recent events at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, describing it as "serious" or "very serious". The location of nuclear power plants, emergency planning and employee training were highlighted as areas of particular public interest.

ENEC CEO Mohamed Al Hammadi said the study's findings were encouraging. "The findings demonstrate that UAE residents understand the important role nuclear energy will play in the UAE's future energy mix," he said. "It also shows that people share our concerns about delivering a program that sets an international benchmark for safety, efficiency and operational excellence," he went on.

The UAE is a confederation of seven states, or emirates, the largest being Abu Dhabi. A South Korean consortium led by the Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) was selected in 2009 to build the country's first four nuclear power plants. A groundbreaking ceremony for the first unit at the site, at Braka, was held in March, and the APR-1400 unit is scheduled to enter service in 2017.

Aishwarya's pregnancy: 'First Bachchan in this generation', blogs thrilled Amitabh

The actor, who tweeted about his daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's pregnancy, wrote on his blog around midnight: "And so to becoming a Dada ! The excitement and the joy of the first Bachchan coming after my brother and me. Nana I was, but now Dada !! The doctors just confirmed it this evening and I have shared it immediately with the EF and on Twitter after informing all the family, now spread out in various parts of the world .."

The actor has been flooded with good wishes. He wrote, "Thank you all so much for all the blessings and greetings and the good wishes .. yeh sach hai ki pota Dada ke liye uska bachpan lekar aata hai .. wrote a well wisher .. 'it is true that a grandchild brings along with it the child in the grandfather' ... and I could not agree more with this. On many an occasion we reminisce that the time we lost in not being as much as we wanted to with our children, could somehow be compensated. Well, this is that moment of compensation. To be a child again, to pamper and give love and company and all things bright and beautiful to the little one that shall take over all our attention in the days to come."

Talking about the Bachchan legacy, the Big B further wrote, "the legacy of my Father lives on. My Father and my Mother brought forth two sons - Amitabh and Ajitabh ... Amitabh had two Shweta and Abhishek. Ajitabh had four, Nilima, Namrata, Naina and Bhim. My brothers children are yet to be married. My daughter is and has two of her own Navya and Agastya, whose Nana I am ... and now cometh the progeny of my son that shall bear the surname Bachchan - the first in this generation."
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is pregnant
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PCB to say yes to UDRS, no to end of rotational policy on Prez

KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will support the implementation of the Umpires Decision Review System but oppose the proposal to end the rotational policy with regard to Presidency at the ICC meeting starting in Hong Kong on Sunday.

India is the only country to oppose the UDRS and is set to do that again at ICC meetings.

"We really don't know why India is opposing the UDRS. They must have their reasons but as far as we are concerned we are satisfied with the impact it has had so far in Test and ODI cricket and we felt the World Cup was a good example of this system working and getting better in future," PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt said before leaving for Hong Kong.

He said while there was no doubt that India was one of the strongest and most influential members of the ICC board but it was a wrong impression that it imposed its decisions on the other member countries of the Asian bloc or Pakistan just followed it suit.

"We support India where we agree with their viewpoint. But generally we have our own independent views on decisions and I think the fact that we are not in favor of ending the rotation system of electing the ICC Chairman or having amendments in the ICC constitution to prevent complete government interference in member board affairs is testimony to this," Butt said.

The ICC meetings will start with the Chief Executive Committee meeting on June 26 and 27, followed by the Executive Board meeting - June 28 and 29 - and the Full Council meeting on June 30.

The back-to-back meetings will discuss a number of topics, concerning the game's future.

The ICC Cricket Committee has recommended enforcing the UDRS in all formats especially in all Test matches and it will be one of the main issues of discussion on the agenda in the upcoming meetings.

The ICC Executive Committee Meeting last May unanimously urged the use of UDRS but the BCCI, which is against the technology, is expected to block its implementation.

Pakistan's main objection at the ICC meetings is expected to be to the proposed constitutional change in the process of nominating the ICC president and under the proposed system it is suggested that the Executive Board should decide the process and term of office from time to time, subject to certain qualifying criteria.

Pakistan is also opposed to another proposed amendment which aims at restricting government interference in the administration of the member boards.

The PCB, which happens to have the country's president as its patron-in-chief, has sent a legal notice to the ICC over the proposed amendment.

PCB Chief operating officer Subhan Ahmad said the Board would also support the proposed changes in Tests and ODIs.

He said the PCB supported the use of two balls in ODIs in one innings, allowing two bouncers instead of one in a over and revising the power play concept in an innings.

"But we are not in favor of splitting one innings into two parts of 25 overs each as we believe this will prove confusing and upset the flow of a match."

The proposal to split the innings has come from Indian great, Sachin Tendulkar.

Ahmad said while Pakistan had wanted the use of orange cricket balls in day and night Test cricket but the ICC had informed its member countries that the pink colored ball was more visible and easier on the eye for television audiences, spectators and players.

Brazilian government websites hacked

RIO DE JANEIRO: Two Brazilian government websites were hacked on Friday in a string of internet invasions that was launched by various groups in January, a statement said.

The websites of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics and the cultural ministry became the latest victims, Xinhua reported.

The statistics agency's homepage was replaced by an image file and a warning that this month Brazil would be the target of the worst hacker attacks in its history.

A group that called itself "Fireh4ck3r" claimed the attacks were a protest by a "nationalist group" to make Brazil a "better country".

In an official statement, the statistics agency assured that its database was not affected, though it was taken offline for a full analysis of the attack.

The hacking started last week, when a group that called itself "Fatal Error Crew" broke into the Brazilian Army website and leaked personal data of over 1,000 troops.

The group had also attacked the president's website in January.

Hackers from the "LulzSecBrasil" group targeted the president's site again Wednesday, as well as a portal providing general information on Brazil and the Federal Revenue Secretariat page.

The website of state-owned oil and gas giant Petrobras was also invaded on the same day, with LulzSecBrazil claiming responsibility for the attack.

Hackers on Thursday attacked the sport ministry page. They claimed to have obtained information regarding fraud in the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games.

India and Pakistan in nuclear confidence-building vow

Senior diplomats from India and Pakistan have agreed to discuss new nuclear confidence building measures, after two days of talks.

The talks in Islamabad between the countries' foreign secretaries are a prelude to the Pakistani foreign minister's visit to India in July.

Relations plummeted after Pakistan-based militants attacked the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay) in 2008.

But earlier this year, leaders vowed to resume their dialogue.

India and Pakistan will work to build confidence over their nuclear and conventional weapons capability, a joint statement said.

It also said that a meeting of experts would be held "to consider additional measures... to build trust and confidence and promote peace and security."

Any concrete agreements will be made when the foreign ministers meet in July but it is now clear what is on the agenda for that encounter, the BBC's Mark Dummett in Delhi says.

India and Pakistan have also agreed to look at ways of strengthening cooperation on counter-terrorism and improving ties between the two halves of Kashmir.

Kashmir is claimed by both India and Pakistan in its entirety but has been divided since 1948. It has been the cause of two wars between the countries.

There remains a huge amount of mistrust between the nations, but for now it seems both governments appear committed to improving relations, our correspondent says.
Cricket diplomacy

Relations between the nuclear-armed rivals have been slowly improving in recent months, although talks ended in acrimony last July, with the two sides indulging in a public spat over Kashmir.

These are the first talks between the two countries since March, when Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hosted his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani for the cricket World Cup semi-final in the Indian city of Mohali.

At the time Mr Singh said cricket had been a "uniting factor" and that the sides should cast aside "ancient animosities".

India put peace talks on hold after the Mumbai attacks of 2008 when gunmen killed 166 people in an attack on India's commercial capital.

After initial denials, Pakistan acknowledged that the attacks had been partially planned on its territory and that the only gunman captured alive was one of its citizens.

Despite charging seven people in connection with the attacks, the Pakistani authorities have yet to convict anyone.

Indian sailors freed by Somali pirates welcomed home

Six Indian sailors, who were recently freed by Somali pirates after nearly 11 months in captivity, have returned home to joyous celebrations.

Family members greeted the sailors with sweets and marigold garlands at the international airport in Delhi.

The men were part of the 22-member crew of the Panama-flagged MV Suez cargo ship. The vessel was hijacked on 2 August last year.

The hostages were released after $2.1m (£1.3m) was paid in ransom.

The crew included four Pakistanis, 11 Egyptians and a Sri Lankan.

The negotiations with the pirates were carried out by Ansar Burney, a Pakistani human rights activist.

Mr Burney raised the ransom money through a fund-raising campaign.

The sailors arrived in the Pakistani city of Karachi on Thursday from where they were flown to Delhi on Friday morning.
'Lost hope'

The sailors said the pirates kept them in chains, often without food or water and treated them "like animals".

"We were in darkness, we were starving," news agency AFP quoted sailor NK Sharma as saying.

"We got just two meals a day. Sometimes we got water and sometimes not even that," he said.

"There were moments when we lost all hope. Whatever Pakistan has done is praiseworthy. They came forward to our help and did not care about nationalities," Mr Sharma added.

Another sailor Prashant Chauhan said they were routinely beaten and poorly fed.

"We were chained and treated like animals," AFP quoted Mr Chauhan as saying.

"They gave us just boiled rice to eat and sometimes we also got some spaghetti. It was worse than hell. They would drink and beat us with whatever they got hold of."

The family members of the sailors criticised the Indian government for doing little to secure their release.

Shamsher Singh, father of sailor Satnam Singh, was quoted by news agency Press Trust of India as saying that he had lost hope for the return of his son.

"I had lost hope completely. But after I spoke to Ansar Burney in April, my hope was rekindled," he said.

Meanwhile, India's Foreign Minister SM Krishna thanked Pakistan for its help in securing the release of the Indian sailors.

"We are relieved that their ordeal has ended," he said in a statement.

"We appreciate the timely help extended to them and sailors of other countries, by the Pakistani navy."

Mr Krishna said a well-coordinated global response was necessary to curb piracy.

MV Suez came under small arms fire while sailing in a recommended shipping lane in the Gulf of Aden last August.

In recent years, Somali pirates have extended their reach further from the shores of East Africa and carried out hundreds of hijackings.

Somalia has had no functioning central government since 1991, allowing piracy to flourish off its coast.

Warships from around the world are patrolling the Indian Ocean in a bid to deter pirate attacks.

In February, a group of 28 suspected Somali pirates captured in the Indian Ocean were handed over to the Indian police.

Indian girl 'sold for sex' by her father in Kerala

A 17-year-old Indian girl who was allegedly forced by her father to have sex for money with up to 200 men has described her ordeal to the media.

Police in the southern Indian state of Kerala arrested her father and 29 other people two weeks ago.

The girl said she was raped by her father, starved and forced by him to have sex with other men.

Her father has not made any public comment. Police have vowed to hunt down the men alleged to have paid for sex.

They have despatched special police teams to find up to 70 men she has named and accused of paying to have sex with her. These are said to include contractors, film producers and policemen.

"My father first raped me when my mum was not home. Later he started taking me out to different locations, saying I'll get a chance to act in movies," the girl told a local television channel.

She says that when her mother found out, her father threatened to kill the entire family unless her mother kept silent. Police have arrested the mother for not disclosing a crime.

"The government will not allow anyone to escape the law," Chief Minister Oomen Chandy said.

The girl was finally rescued when other relatives discovered what was going on and informed the police. She is currently in a shelter where she is undergoing treatment for depression, police say.

"We will do whatever we can to bring her back to normal life. She wants to complete schooling and lead a good life," said Dr MK Muneer, the minister for social welfare in the provincial government.

"She says she was raped by 200 men. It is shocking and it freezes your conscience," he said.

Afghanistan: Attack on Logar hospital kills 60

At least 60 people have been killed and dozens injured in a car bomb attack at a hospital in Afghanistan's Logar province, local officials say.

The casualties included women, children, elderly people, doctors and nurses.

The Afghan health ministry said the attack was unpredecented and inhumane.

Officials blamed the Taliban, but a Taliban spokesman said the movement did not target civilians and the blast was caused by "someone with an agenda".

Provincial official Din Mohammad Darwaish said the death toll could well increase as there were people buried under rubble.

Soldiers have been dispatched to the scene to try to pull out those that are trapped.
'Disgust and hatred'

A large number of people had been gathering at the clinic, in Azra district, for weekly treatment, many of them women, children and elderly people, Mr Darwaish said.

"The target of the blast is not clear but what is obvious is that a hospital was attacked and civilians were killed," he said.

A statement by the public health ministry, quoted by AFP news agency, expressed "disgust and hatred" towards the perpetrators of the attack.

"This inhumane act is unprecedented in the history of the conflict in our country and targeted a place where wounds are healed and patients receive treatment," it said.

The BBC's Bilal Sarwary in Kabul says there has never been an attack on a hospital in Afghanistan on this scale, although last month a suicide bomber attacked the main military hospital in Kabul, killing six people.

There is almost no central government control over Azra, which is close to the Pakistan border, and insurgents and smugglers are well-established there, our correspondent adds.

The attack comes a day after 10 people were killed and 24 injured in a blast in the northern Kunduz province.

On Wednesday US President Barack Obama announced a partial troop pullout from Afghanistan.

He said 33,000 troops would leave this year, with the remaining 68,000 departing by 2013.

But there are concerns among the top US military that the withdrawal will be more risky than they have advised.  
American Family: A Televised Life (Visible Evidence)

Pakistan 'arrests CIA informants in Bin Laden raid'

The raid on Bin Laden's compound has strained relations between the US and Pakistan
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Bin Laden killed
Revealing images
What videos show
At al-Qaeda's helm?
Was killing legal?

Pakistan has arrested five alleged informants for the CIA who helped in the US raid that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in northern Pakistan in May, US media report.

Among those held by the intelligence agency, the ISI, was the owner of a safe house rented to the CIA to watch Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, the New York Times reported.

The raid strained US-Pakistan ties.

US President Barack Obama said "someone" was protecting Bin Laden.

Pakistan has denied knowing Bin Laden's whereabouts and denied the New York Times report, in particular its claim that an army major was among those arrested.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on a recent visit to Pakistan that there was "absolutely no evidence that anyone at the highest level of the Pakistani government" knew where Bin Laden was.
'Interrogated'

"No Pakistani soldier is under arrest, but we are interrogating several people whom we suspect of having been working for American intelligence services," Inter Services Public Relations spokesman Brigadier Azmat Abbas told the BBC.

He said that among those arrested were people "captured during a raid at a house located close to the Bin Laden compound".

"We suspect them of having been working for CIA," he said.

"Others being interrogated include people who used to visit the compound."

Brig Abbas said that two categories of people were among those arrested - those who threw flares into the Bin Laden compound to guide approaching US helicopters and those who helped the helicopters refuel within Pakistani territory.

In the wake of Bin Laden's death many American agents have been forced to leave Pakistan, while Pakistani officials and civilians suspected of helping the CIA may soon appear in court.

The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says dozens of people have been arrested and released by the security agencies since the death of the al-Qaeda leader - and at least five of them have not yet been released.

Our correspondent says that the Pakistani authorities appear to be making every effort to unearth CIA informants while showing little interest in arresting Taliban and al-Qaeda sympathisers.

Soon after the killing on 2 May, witnesses told the BBC that two brothers - both cousins of Bin Laden's courier - were picked up from their village in the north-western Shangla district.

A member of the security forces was also picked up from the Ilyasi Masjid area near the Bin Laden compound in Abbottabad, according to witnesses. It is not known whether he belonged to the intelligence wing of the police or the army. He remains unaccounted for to date.

The contractor who built the Bin Laden compound, Noor Mohammad alias Gul Madah, a property dealer identified by witnesses as Kaleem, Bin Laden's neighbour Shamrez and his father Zain Mohammad were arrested in the weeks following the killing.

All of them - apart from Kaleem - were later released although they have subsequently gone missing, our correspondent adds.

It is not clear whether these men were among the alleged CIA informants arrested.

The New York Times said those held included a major believed to have logged the number plates of cars visiting Bin Laden's compound in the weeks before the raid.

The US has sharply reduced its troop presence in Pakistan at Islamabad's request.

Washington has provided Pakistan with billions of dollars of aid in recent years, much of it military assistance.

Islamabad has also been angered by US drone raids on tribal regions bordering Afghanistan in which civilians, as well as militants, have been killed.

Facebook denies losing users

Facebook has denied that it is losing customers, saying it is "pleased" with growth.

Figures from Faceboook monitoring site Inside Facebook suggested that during May, Facebook lost six million users in the US and 100,000 in the UK.

But the social network, which does not usually comment on third party statistics, questioned how it arrived at this figure.

Other net measurement firms said they had seen growth over the same period.

"From time to time, we see stories about Facebook losing users in some regions. Some of these reports use data extracted from our advertising tool, which provides broad estimates on the reach of Facebook ads and isn't designed to be a source for tracking the overall growth of Facebook," the firm said in a statement.

"We are very pleased with our growth and with the way people are engaged with Facebook. More than 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day," it added.

The figures from Inside Facebook claimed that 1.5 million Canadian users left the social network in May.

But overall it showed that Facebook was growing, to a total of 687 million users worldwide with many new customers coming from countries such as India, the Philippines and Indonesia.

Its figures on customer leakage do not appear to tally with those from net measurement firm comScore.

It told the BBC it had seen a 21% growth for US users on Facebook during May, while the UK gained 368,000 new recruits between February and May.

According to comScore, the average amount of time spent on the site was also up, from 21 minutes per day in December 2009 to 25 minutes per day by December 2010.

Measurement firm Nielsen said its figures also showed growth.

"There are months when figures dip but I'd be very cautious on calling a trend based on two months," said Nielsen spokesman Neil Beston.

The idea of Facebook fatigue, where users desert the social network after a certain period of time has long been talked about by experts but remains unproven.

"In developed countries such as the US and the UK Facebook penetration is hitting 50% and at that level it is inevitable that users will sign up who aren't frequent visitors," said Adrian Drury, lead analyst at research firm Ovum.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13760244

China extending military reach

A maritime arms race is under way in the South China Sea. Beijing is rapidly developing a host of military capabilities that will enable it to project power well beyond its own shores.

It is already the dominant regional naval power and many of its new systems could one day threaten US naval dominance as well.

No wonder then that so many of its neighbours are worried; particularly those like Vietnam and the Philippines who are engaged in long-running maritime disputes with Beijing.

According to Dr Andrew Erickson, a China expert at the US Naval War College: "China does not want to start a war, but rather seeks to wield its growing military might to 'win without fighting' by deterring actions that it views as detrimental to its core national interests."

Three weapons systems are emblematic of China's broadening strategic horizons.

China's first aircraft carrier will begin sea trials later this year. Late last year, the first pictures were leaked of the prototype of Beijing's new "stealth" fighter. And US military experts believe that China has begun to deploy the world's first long-range ballistic missile capable of hitting a moving ship at sea.

Mr Erickson says China's capabilities thus far have been focused on developing a regional anti-access or area denial strategy to prevent Taiwan from declaring independence.

In part this strategy rests upon developing credible weapons systems to hold US carrier battle groups at risk should Washington elect to intervene.

The 'carrier killer'

China deploys a formidable array of missiles and other weapons that range far out from its own shores.

Of these, the DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile is unique; a land-based system that could potentially target US carrier battle groups that have long been the corner-stone of Washington's maritime might.

The DF-21 could be used to hit targets hundreds of miles away

The DF-21D (known in the West as the CSS-5) is fired from a wheeled transporter vehicle and has a range in excess of 1,500km. It is armed with a manoeuvrable warhead that gives the Chinese military the ability to strike ships in the western Pacific Ocean.

American officials and the director-general of Taiwan's National Security Bureau say that China has already begun to deploy the DF-21D.

It is easy to see why China would want such a missile. It is all about limiting the pre-eminent naval power in the region, the US, from intervening in any future crisis involving Taiwan.
Home of the Flying Shark

Ever since the Pacific campaign of World War II, aircraft carriers have been the dominant means of projecting naval power.

American carrier battle groups incorporate large flight-decks with a diverse array of aircraft for a variety of missions. Each carrier is accompanied and protected by several other warships and submarines.
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The unveiling of the Chengdu J-20 is believed to bring China into the restricted ranks of those countries able to build a "stealth" fighter”

China too is now entering the carrier race, albeit from a standing start. An old Soviet-era carrier - the Varyag - was purchased from Ukraine and has been extensively refitted.

China's first carrier will operate the new J-15 Flying Shark strike fighter, based on another Russian design, the Sukhoi SU-33 jet.

According to the respected industry journal Aviation Week & Space Technology, China may well have acquired an SU-33 prototype from Ukraine as well.

The carrier is reported to be due to begin sea trials in the summer. Once operational it would give the Chinese Navy a significant new capability in its continuing disputes with its maritime neighbours.

But Western experts note that this carrier will largely serve a training role. Carrier operations require significant expertise which can only be built up over time. The vessel is unlikely to deploy the wide range of aircraft available to the commander of a US Naval carrier air group.

Nonetheless, Mr Erickson says China will use the carrier to "project a bit of power, confer prestige on a rising great power, and master basic procedures".
Great ambitions

China's land-based aviation is also advancing steadily. Traditionally it has mostly fielded large numbers of locally-produced copies of Soviet-era jets.

China's J-20 prototype had its maiden flight in Chengdu earlier this month

However the unveiling of the Chengdu J-20 is believed to bring China into the restricted ranks of those countries able to build a fifth-generation radar-evading or "stealth" fighter.

Its maiden flight, last January, came only hours before a visit by the US Defence Secretary Robert Gates to Beijing, a coincidence which many analysts saw as a deliberate signal by China.

Douglas Barrie, from the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London, says China's J-20 cannot match the US equivalents.

But he added: "The aircraft does mark China's ambitions in terms of developing its air combat capability, and of its defence aerospace industrial base."

Questions though still surround the project.

"Whether the J-20 is an actual fighter prototype or a technology demonstrator, remains to become clear, and this will in part determine how quickly China introduces such a capability into service," Mr Barrie said.

"An introduction into service, perhaps around the turn of the decade, would seem reasonable."

That said, what would be the strategic significance of the J-20, given that by then the US will field hundreds of fifth generation fighters?

Mr Barrie argues that the introduction of significant numbers of J-20-based fighters would "pose an increased challenge to other regional powers, and to US forces in Asia Pacific".

But across the board experts are cautious about all of China's apparent great leaps forward in terms of military hardware.

US commanders are watching developments closely. China is putting down markers for the future. But in the near-term it still must look on jealously at America's maritime power.

Viewpoint: What is Osama Bin Laden's place in history?

The death of Osama Bin Laden has dominated headlines across the world, but how will history remember him? Historian Michael Burleigh gives his view.

For several years people have speculated that Osama Bin Laden was dead, whether from a chronic kidney ailment, or blown to pieces in his Tora Bora redoubt in late 2001 as the US responded to 9/11.

The mystery was solved when a US Special Forces operative shot a startled Bin Laden in the forehead during a raid on his Abbottabad residential compound. In order to pre-empt any grave becoming an Islamist shrine, Bin Laden's corpse was buried at sea.

This act highlights the importance of myths and symbols in any war. For it has long been argued that whether alive or dead, Bin Laden would become the mythic poster boy of global militant Islam, rather as the Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara was for the international juvenile left, long after the CIA and its Bolivian government associates killed him in 1967.
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Bin Laden indulged in the extreme romanticisation of himself, a common pathology among all of history's terrorists”
Michael Burleigh

Since 9/11 Bin Laden has been of symbolic, rather than operational, significance to al-Qaeda. Although he has communicated via couriers, like those the US used to trace him back to Abbottabad, in reality, day-to-day operational control would require the internet and satellite telephones, all of which would have invited a Predator drone strike within minutes.

Although Bin Laden's deputy, the Egyptian surgeon Ayman al-Zawahiri, lives to fight another day, this ageing and portly figure is deeply uncharismatic, and besides, his principal fixation with toppling the Mubarak regime in his homeland is severely out of date since the events of the Arab Spring.

There have always been those who think it is "good to talk" to terrorists, a view which echoes the 1930s policy of appeasing the European dictators. The killing of Bin Laden has comprehensively demolished the extraordinary claims of people like Tony Blair's former chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, that the al-Qaeda leader should be negotiated with, or Eliza Manningham-Buller, the former MI5 chief, that approaches could be made to those on "the periphery" of al-Qaeda.

One man would like to slip into Bin Laden's vacant shoes - the US-Yemeni terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki, who inspired the underpants bomber - but whether he lives long enough to assume such a role must be moot given recent events and the sheer implacability with which President Obama is going after America's enemies.

Awlaki also lacks the specific combination of characteristics that enabled Bin Laden to become such a potent figure. For his own life is like a parody of a riches-to-rags fairytale. Bin Laden's construction billionaire father had migrated to Saudi Arabia as a child in the 1920s from Yemen's harsh Hisdradut region.

The attacks on the World Trade Center will not be forgotten

But his son turned to the most extreme and puritanical forms of Islam in his late teens, partly at the feet of exiled Palestinian and Syrian religious instructors under the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood. Their ideologues had already turned the faith into an ideological weapon, claiming that all other Muslims were benighted, deluded or heretical.

A fortune estimated at between $35m and $250m meant that Bin Laden could turn his most extravagant fantasies into reality.

Directing a polyglot immigrant labour force for the family business gave Bin Laden experiences which he put to effective use in running a multinational terrorist organisation. While its vision is deeply retrogressive, al-Qaeda utilised the most modern technologies, and had such things as job descriptions, application forms, and paid holidays for its members.

This should not disguise the fact that they took semi-feudal oaths of loyalty to the man who called himself "the Sheikh". In the early 1980s a "charity" facilitating Arab war tourists developed into a 2,000-strong jihadist force helping the Afghans fighting the Soviets.

In these years Bin Laden indulged in the extreme romanticisation of himself, a common pathology among all of history's terrorists. Credulous Afghans marvelled at this obviously rich Saudi who chose life in scorpion-infested caves, where his diet was a simple vegetable stew and water. Bin Laden claimed that victory was his and moreover that defeat in Afghanistan had collapsed the entire Soviet system.

Bin Laden was convinced that the consumerist and hedonistic Americans were a weaker proposition than the Soviets, and that he could bring down the US too. This hubristic delusion would ultimately bring about his own demise.
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Osama Bin Laden
Born in 1957, apparently the 17th of 52 children by a multimillionaire builder
Encountered conservative Islam while studying civil engineering in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Fought in Afghanistan for a decade after the Soviet invasion in 1979
Shifted focus to US, appearing on the FBI's "most wanted" list after two bomb attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania
Attacks on the US soil on 11 September 2001 led to the American-led operation against the Taliban in Afghanistan
In May 2011, President Barack Obama announces Bin Laden has been killed by US ground forces in Pakistan
Obituary: Osama Bin Laden

Bin Laden's parallel denunciations of the Saudi ruling dynasty for inviting Western forces into Saudi Arabia to ward off the predations of Saddam Hussein, while rejecting the assistance of Bin Laden's own jihadist international brigade, meant that in 1991 he was expelled and in 1994 denationalised, though Saudi money continued to find its way to al-Qaeda so long as Bin Laden did not strike within the kingdom itself.

He fled first to Sudan, where his money talked in such a poor country, and then in 1996 back to Afghanistan, where he resolved to strike at western interests which, he and Zawahiri, felt were propping up autocratic regimes throughout the Middle East.

This was the true beginning of the simple narrative myth of a defensive jihad against "Crusader-Zionist" aggression against the universal Muslim ummah. And so it might seem if one's vision was restricted to a few lurid TV images from Bosnia or Chechnya as refurbished by al-Qaeda's own media outlets. For al-Qaeda's "truths" relied upon huge distortions and massive ignorance of the world on the part of his sympathisers.

In reality, Bin Laden himself was the source of aggression, with Bin Laden calling for jihadists to kill American civilians wherever they could. A series of ever bolder terrorist strikes ensued.

Each of these attacks was long in the making, relying on tight cells of terrorists all of whom had received some form of training at al-Qaeda's camps in Afghanistan or who were in some way directed by al-Qaeda.

Bin Laden's own role was to green light projects which others presented him with - for example the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Ayman al-Zawahiri is not seen as having the charisma of Bin Laden

Somewhat later, ideologically cognate groups would simply claim they had acted under al-Qaeda's general inspiration. It suited Bin Laden to claim authorship of attacks he probably had little responsibility for since it magnified his global influence.

By the time of 9/11, Bin Laden's terrorist organisation had effectively captured a state. Afghanistan bore the brunt of the US armed response to 9/11.

Although Bin Laden prided himself on his strategic genius, and did undoubtedly succeed in inspiring many angry young Muslims to heed him, in reality the US deposition of the Afghan Taliban government was a disaster for him and his organisation, forcing them to rely on affiliated actors whose priorities were often more local than al-Qaeda's.

Over the past nine years, core al-Qaeda has been progressively marginalised - to the point where it did not overly matter if Bin Laden was captured or killed - while relentless warfare has inclined sections of the Taliban to find an accommodation with the Kabul government.

Bin Laden's death is likely to accelerate that process. But his longer term legacy is more imponderable.

For sure, Bin Laden will be regarded by future historians as one of the major symbolic villains in modern history. Purely in terms of death tolls he is not in the same class of genocidal killer as Saddam Hussein, let alone Hitler, Stalin or Mao.
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Attacks linked to al-Qaeda
1998 - 231 killed and 5,000 injured by bombings at US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania
2000 - Suicide attack on the USS Cole in Yemen killed 17 sailors and injured 39
2001 - Hijacked planes flown into World Trade Center, Pentagon and into a field in Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 killed
2002 - Bali bombings. Two bombs exploded killing 202
2003 - Suicide bombings at housing compounds for foreigners in Saudi capital Riyadh killed 34
2004 - Madrid commuter train bombings. More than 200 killed and 1,500 wounded
2005 - London transport bombings. 52 killed and more than 700 injured

Of course, in some quarters Mao remains a poster boy for a certain type of revolutionary implacability. But no-one is likely to forget the 3,000 people murdered on 9/11 any time soon, a massacre which puts most terrorist actions in the shade, achieving in a single day the entire death toll in Northern Ireland over a 30-year period. His terrorist career clearly eclipses that of most earlier terrorists, whose victims number in single digits or low hundreds.

More important is the question whether in a few years Bin Laden sinks into relative obscurity among young Muslims around the world - apparently his visage disappeared from T-shirts in Pakistan and Palestine long ago.

Apart from easily excitable Islamist mobs in Pakistan, only the extreme Islamist Palestinian faction Hamas seems to be lamenting his demise. Of course, whether Bin Laden remains relatively marginal depends largely on whether secular reform movements in the Middle East can deliver more than the angry violence represented by militant Islamists.

In that eventuality, Bin Laden as myth could undergo constant revival, just as Che Guevara seems to excite the imaginations of people not yet born in the 1960s. One should never underestimate some people's susceptibility to such romantic myths.

Since Bin Laden was entirely marginal to the revolts that have been dubbed the Arab Spring, for the moment his myth seems to be on the wane. Al-Qaeda has been racing to catch up with events which passed them by and which they did not anticipate.

Apart from chaos, death and destruction it is impossible to see what al-Qaeda brings to the table by way of practical solutions.

Young Arabs want an end to corruption and tyranny, jobs, and freedoms enjoyed in the West rather than the retrograde imaginings of a stateless madman who thought that life for Muslims was perfect in the 13th Century.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13259869

US diver on maverick mission to find Bin Laden's body

A US salvage diver says he will scour the bottom of the north Arabian Sea to hunt for the body of Osama Bin Laden.

Bill Warren says that he wants to establish once and for all whether the al-Qaeda leader was killed by US forces in May, and then buried out at sea.

Mr Warren, 59, says his search will begin in about four weeks time, and will cost around $400,000 (£245,000).

He admits it will be like looking for a needle in a haystack, but maintains it is not an impossible mission.
Deep-sea search

Mr Warren, who runs a California-based salvage company and has worked on 200 ship wrecks, told the BBC he had "some doubts" as to whether Osama Bin Laden was dead because the US government had not showed any images of the body.

Should he succeed in his mission, he says, he will photograph and video the corpse, and also take a sample of hair - either from Bin Laden's head or his beard - for verification purposes.


Mr Warren admitted the chances of success were slim, but said modern equipment could can scan large areas of the sea floor.

"I've done side scan sonar in 10,000 feet (3,000m) of water and spotted a toilet, a tyre, a coffee cup - you can actually see the ripples on the sand."

Mr Warren says his search will begin in the shallow waters off Pakistan. If that proves fruitless, then he will move to a deep water search.

He says he is hoping for a tip-off on the approximate location that the body was thrown overboard.

Girls treated as commodities, child prostitution trial told

Teenage girls were treated as "sexual commodities to be sold or gifted", a jury in a child prostitution trial has been told.

Nine men deny a range of sexual offences against seven girls in Shropshire.

The men, who are aged between 21 and 59 and from Telford, face more than 50 charges at Stafford Crown Court.

Charges include rape, controlling child prostitution and sexual activity with girls under the age of 16.
'Not about race'

One of the defendants is accused of trafficking a child in the UK for exploitation.

The men on trial are Ahdel Ali, 23, Murbarek Ali, 28, Mohammed Ali Sultan, 24, Tanveer Ahmed, 39, Mahroof Khan, 33, Noshad Hussain, 21, Mohammed Islam Choudhrey, 52, Mohammed Younis, 59 and 34-year-old Abdul Rouf.
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They enticed the girls, groomed the girls and exploited them either for their own sexual gratification or for money.”
Deborah Gould
Prosecuting

They deny all of the charges, which relate to the alleged sexual abuse and exploitation of girls in Wellington between September 2007 and December 2009.

The victims are seven teenage girls, one of whom was 13 years old at the time the alleged offences were committed.

The girls, who cannot be identified, were said to have received cash, alcohol, drugs, meals and mobile phone credit in exchange for sex with some of the defendants.

Deborah Gould, prosecuting, said the men in the dock had variously trafficked, raped or sexually abused girls, both over and under the age of 16, over a considerable period of time.
'Myths without foundation'

She said the case was not about race, religion, colour or creed and it was not claimed that the men had a specific interest in children or that it was a "paedophile ring".

The prosecutor told the jury that the defendants may seek to paint the victims as anti-social, dishonest, untruthful and promiscuous young women who lived entirely selfish lives and could not be controlled by parents or teachers.

She said: "These are myths without foundation. The prosecution claim these men ensnared these girls. They had cars, jobs and money which gave them both freedom and power.

"They enticed the girls, groomed the girls and exploited them either for their own sexual gratification or for money."

She said some of the girls thought they were in love with their abusers and that the abusers were in love with them.

"The abusers gave them gifts, encouraged confidences and gave them attention and encouraged and enticed the girls to spend time with them and not their family and friends.
Teachers' concerns

"Through such mechanisms all of these defendants were able to engage in various forms of sexual activity with various of the girls named in the charges.

"Some went further still and treated them as sexual commodities to be sold or gifted as they pleased."

Eight of the defendants live in the Wellington and Arleston areas of Telford, six are married and one is a grandfather.

The jury was told the trial was the result of a West Mercia Police inquiry, codenamed Operation Chalice, which started after concerns were raised by teachers, parents and others about sexual abuse and exploitation of teenage girls in the Wellington area.

The trial continues.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-13766736

India probes tribal woman 'forced to walk naked

The Women's Commission in the Indian state of West Bengal has announced an inquiry into allegations that a tribal woman was forced to parade naked.

Officials say she was forced to walk without her clothes for nearly 10km (6 miles) through three villages and was filmed on a mobile phone.

They say that she was also molested and jeered by a large crowd.

Locals say she was being "punished" because of an illicit love affair with a man from a different community.

A similar thing happened to another woman three years ago in the neighbouring state of Assam.
'Shocking incident'

"Our team will visit the village of Masra - in the Birbhum district of West Bengal - and speak to the tribal woman concerned. We want the offenders brought to book," Malini Bhattacharya of the West Bengal Commission for Women told the BBC.


She said that the main effort of the inquiry would be to find out why the woman's family maintained ''such a long silence" and how the local administration "remained oblivious of such a shocking incident".

Ms Bhattacharya said Birbhum district police Superintendent Humayun Kabir had been asked to submit a detailed report to the Women's Commission.

Critics say that it was only after mobile phone clips of the woman went into wide circulation that the police swung into action.

Six of the men who allegedly molested her have been arrested.

The West Bengal Human Rights Commission (WBHRC) has also asked the district police for a report into the incident within a month.

"If we are not satisfied with this report, we will do our own investigation and submit recommendations to the government," WBHRC chairman Narayan Chandra Seal said.

What has especially upset many is the involvement of locally powerful people - alongside schoolboys - in the incident.

The village council chief, Mangal Baske, said he did not report the incident to police because of "pressure from the villagers".

"Moreover, the problem died down soon afterwards and the girl's family didn't want me to do anything," he said.

Meanwhile the victim of the alleged attack is being kept, along with her father, in police quarters at Rampurhat for "protection and questioning".

"We are not letting her return to her village just yet because we fear that she might be hounded by villagers again," police spokesman Bidhan Roy said.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10938729