World Al-Qaeda targeted in Yemen amid global security alert

At least 12 al-Qaeda members were killed in drone attacks in one day in Yemen as The United States stepped up strikes against suspected militants behind a global security alert.

Washington yesterday also evacuated all non-emergency staff from its consulate in the Pakistani city of Lahore, citing "specific threats".

The Wall Street Journal cited an anonymous US official as saying the leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (Aqap), Nasser al-Wuhayshi, masterminded the plot that sparked the global alert.

Previous reports said that Wuhayshi was ordered on the offensive by al-Qaeda's overall leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri (pic).

Continue Reading..

Snowden waits in airport as US presses Moscow

Fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden (pic) today awaited permission to leave the Moscow airport where he has been stuck for over a month, as The United States stepped up pressure on Russia to send him back home.

Reports yesterday indicated that Russian authorities were preparing to let Snowden leave the transit zone of Sheremetyevo airport but then - in mysterious circumstances - he failed to emerge.

Snowden has applied for asylum in Russia and is now awaiting a document that would allow him to formally cross the border and move freely in Russia while his application is being considered - a prospect the United States has said would be "deeply disappointing".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke with US Secretary of State John Kerry about Snowden's case Wednesday but it was not clear if their discussion had an impact on the fugitive's fate.

Washington wants to put the 30-year-old former National Security Agency contractor on trial for revealing details of vast US surveillance programmes, but Moscow has rejected demands to hand him over.

Continue Reading..

Japan wants missiles to mull ability to hit enemy bases in defence review

Japan should strengthen the ability of its military to deter and counter missile attacks, including the possible acquisition of the ability to hit enemy bases, the Defence Ministry said, but officials denied this would be used for pre-emptive strikes.

The proposal — Japan’s latest step away from the constraints of its pacifist constitution — is part of a review of defence policy by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government, which released an interim report on the issue today. Final review conclusions are due by the end of the year.

The hawkish Abe took office in December for a rare second term, pledging to bolster the military to cope with what Japan sees as an increasingly threatening security environment, including an assertive China and an unpredictable North Korea.

The report by a defence ministry panel echoed concerns aired in Japan’s latest defence white paper about North Korea’s missile and nuclear programmes, and China’s military build-up and increased activity by its ships and aircraft near disputed islands in the East China Sea — where Japanese and Chinese vessels and planes have been playing cat-and-mouse.

Prime Minister Abe (centre), on a visit to Singapore, reviews an honour guard at the Istana July 26, 2013, with his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong (third left). - See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/world/article/japan-to-mull-ability-to-hit-enemy-bases-in-defence-review#sthash.Hvv9aqPI.dpuf

Prime Minister Abe (centre), on a visit to Singapore, reviews an honour guard at the Istana July 26, 2013, with his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong (third left). - See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/world/article/japan-to-mull-ability-to-hit-enemy-bases-in-defence-review#sthash.Hvv9aqPI.dpuf

Prime Minister Abe (centre), on a visit to Singapore, reviews an honour guard at the Istana July 26, 2013, with his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong (third left).

Continue Reading..

Indonesians begin Ramadan, hardliners target ‘sinful’ bars

-->

Muslims in much of Asia began celebrating the holy month of Ramadan today, with hardliners in Indonesia vowing to raid "sinful" bars after police steamrollered a mountain of alcohol and porn.

Tens of millions across the Muslim world fast from dawn to dusk and strive to be more pious and charitable during the month, which ends with the Eid holiday.

But Ramadan began in war-torn Afghanistan with a bomb blast, and there was tight security in parts of the southern Philippines after deadly clashes with Muslim rebels.

In Indonesia, which has the world's biggest Muslim population, hardliners use Ramadan as an excuse to attack nightspots and shops that openly sell alcohol, the consumption of which is against Islamic law.

Continue Reading..

New details of how been bin Laden killed by Navy Seals now revealed in leaked Pakistani intelligence files

-->


'There was a knock at the door and then they shot my husband dead' New details of bin Laden revealed in leaked Pakistani intelligence files

Secretly leaked Pakistani report into historic May 1st raid that killed Osama bin Laden tells his family's story for first time
It is revealed that the al-Qaeda chief was shot in the forehead and his face was clear and recognizable
He spent his last night with his youngest wife, and the two initially thought the noise from approaching Chinook helicopters was just a rainstorm
The terror chief was almost caught shortly after the 9/11 attack, said the wife of one of his guards, when their car was stopped for speeding
Bin Laden was in the habit of wearing a cowboy hat in his Abbottabad compound because he thought it would shield him from U.S. drones




Continue Reading..

Stop force-feeding Guantanamo prisoners, says US senator

-->

US Senator Dianne Feinstein urged the Pentagon yesterday to stop force-feeding hunger-striking prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba and called the practice "out of step" with medical ethics and international norms.

Feinstein, a California Democrat who chairs the Senate intelligence committee, sent a letter to Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel, saying the Guantanamo force-feeding policy was also out of synch with policies in the civilian federal prisons.

"Hunger strikes are a long-known form of non-violent protest aimed at bringing attention to a cause, rather than an attempt of suicide," she wrote. "I believe that the current approach raises very important ethical questions and complicates the difficult situation regarding the continued indefinite detention at Guantanamo."

Speaking in Berlin yesterday, President Barack Obama said the United States would redouble efforts to close the prison at Guantanamo.

A Pentagon spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Todd Breasseale, said he would not respond to Feinstein's letter to Hagel via the press, but added that "we will continue to treat the detainees in our charge humanely and that we will not allow them to harm themselves."

Continue Reading...