FBI got tip about American in Mumbai attacks: report

WASHINGTON: The FBI received a tip three years before the 2008 Mumbai attacks that an American man who helped scout the targets was tied to the Pakistani group behind the plot, the Washington Post reported on Friday.

The man, David Headley, pleaded guilty in March to a dozen U.S. terrorism charges related to the Mumbai attacks in which 166 people were killed, and to a plot to attack a Danish newspaper that had published blasphemous cartoons in 2005.

He admitted to scouting the targets for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and agreed to help investigators and give testimony against others in exchange for a promise that he would not be extradited to India, Pakistan or Denmark.

The Washington Post reported that the FBI received a tip in 2005 about Headley’s involvement from his wife after the two were in a domestic dispute that resulted in his arrest.

Headley’s wife

Faisal Shahzad sentenced to life in prison

A Pakistani-born US citizen who tried to set off a car bomb in New York’s Times Square was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday.
Faisal Shahzad, 31, pleaded guilty in June to a failed May 1 bombing in Midtown Manhattan. He said he received bomb-making training from the Pakistani Taliban Group, called Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, and that the group had funded the bomb plot.
The son of a retired Pakistani air force marshal, Shahzad grew up mostly in a secular upper-middle-class neighborhood in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city. He first came to the United States as a teenager in 1998 to study and, over the years, attained some of the trappings of what many in the United States consider a successful life two university degrees, a wife and two small children, a house in the suburbs, a job as a junior financial analyst, credit cards and an SUV.
Over the years, American military presence in Muslim countries, the plight of Palestinians and perceived insults by Westerners toward Islam apparently began weighing on Shahzad and he was becoming more extreme, according to published reports.

12 bodies of Barkhan flood victims recovered

QUETTA: Fifteen people were killed in flood-hit areas of district Barkhan and Kohlu whereas 15 are still missing.

At least 30 people were washed off in Barkhan floods among which 15 bodies have been recovered whereas three bodies are yet to be recovered. Fifteen people are still missing.

Commissioner Zhob division Ikhtiyar Bangalzai reviewed rescue operations. Several villages submerged in flood hit areas. Train service has been suspended, as railway track has been swept away from five different places in union council Bakhtyarabad in Lehri. Commissioner Sibbi Qamar Masood and Deputy Commissioner Shahid Saleem Qureshi took aerial view of the affected areas. Commissioner Sibbi said efforts are underway to deliver food items to the persons trapped in floodwaters.

On the other hand, irrigation flood division Dera Ismail said an emergency flood center comprised of 16 departments have been established due to possible floods in Sindh and 24-hour monitoring flood situation is underway at the center.

New video shows meeting between Faisal Shahzad, Mehsud

WASHINGTON: Shortly after he was arrested, Faisal Shahzad, the would-be Times Square bomber, told investigators he had met with the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Hakimullah Mehsud.

At the time, at least some U.S. analysts expressed skepticism. Surely, Mehsud would not have risked meeting face-to-face with an unproved American recruit, analysts said, Shahzad was just boasting.

A global security and terrorism consultancy, has released a previously unpublished video excerpt of a meeting between Shahzad and Mehsud. In the video, the two are shown shaking hands and hugging.

Last month, Shahzad pleaded guilty to 10 terrorism and weapons counts. He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 5. He faces life in prison.

Osama’s cook pleads guilty at Guantanamo

MIAMI: A Sudanese prisoner accused of guarding Osama bin Laden and helping him escape U.S. forces in Afghanistan pleaded guilty in the Guantanamo tribunals on Wednesday, giving the Obama administration its first conviction in the controversial war crimes court.

Ibrahim al Qosi pleaded guilty to conspiring with al Qaeda and providing material support for terrorism, Guantanamo court spokesman Joe DellaVedova said.

Qosi, who was bin Laden”s cook, has been held at Guantanamo for more than eight years and his sentence could range from no additional time to life imprisonment, DellaVedova said by phone from the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Times Square suspect enters guilty plea

NEW YORK: Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad on Monday pleaded guilty to all 10 charges arising out of last month”s botched attack including attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and terrorism.

Shahzad, a 30-year-old Pakistani-American who parked a car packed with a rudimentary explosive device in New York”s busy Broadway entertainment district, told the court that he was pleading guilty because of the US occupation of Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia.

“We will be attacking the US and I will plead guilty to that,” he added.

British opposition parties in talks to end deadlock

LONDON: Britain”s opposition Conservatives and Liberal Democrats were set for fresh talks Sunday on a pact to enter government and break the general election deadlock.

Four-strong teams of Tory and Lib Dem negotiators are due to meet for a second round of discussions, though few expect them to finalise a power-sharing deal before the financial markets open on Monday.

The negotiations come after Conservative leader David Cameron and Liberal Democrat counterpart Nick Clegg held their first face-to-face talks on joining forces to oust Prime Minister Gordon Brown”s Labour Party from office after 13 years.

Spokespersons for the two sides described the private 70-minute discussion Saturday as “constructive and amicable”.

Brown later called Clegg for what was again described as an “amicable” conversation.

The three leaders stood side by side Saturday at a service marking the 65th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day.

But despite the show of unity, Britain remained in political limbo with Cameron holding the most seats in parliament, Brown still in nominal power and Clegg the so-called kingmaker following Thursday”s vote.

The Conservatives won the most seats in the Thursday”s vote but ended up 20 short of an overall majority in the 650-seat House of Commons, leaving Britain with its first hung parliament for 36 years.

The Conservatives now have 306 lawmakers, compared to 258 for Labour. The Liberal Democrats dropped back to 57 seats. Northern Irish parties make up the bulk of the rest.

Cameron emailed supporters to say Britain expected the Conservatives and Liberals to “work out how we can deliver strong and stable government to tackle Britain”s big and urgent problems.”

He drew red lines on ceding powers to the European Union, and a soft approach to immigration and defence.

But he also said there were areas where the Tories could “give ground… in the interests of forging an open and trusting partnership.

Russian mine blast kills 8: ministry

MOSCOW: A methane gas blast in a Siberian mine killed eight workers and injured 24 and was followed by a second explosion, Russian authorities said Sunday, adding that 64 people were still trapped underground.

An explosion ripped through the Raspadskaya mine in the Kemerovo region at 1655 GMT on Saturday, according to the emergency situations ministry cited by the news agency Ria-Novosti.

“According to new information, 359 people were at the bottom of the mine at the moment of the accident. Most of them have been evacuated,” a ministry official told the Interfax news agency.

A second blast occurred at 2100 GMT, the ministry said later, adding that 64 miners still remain trapped.

More than 150 people and 29 vehicles are involved in the rescue work, Interfax said. A crisis cell has also been set up.

Ministry spokeswoman Yelena Chernova earlier told Interfax that the “evacuation continues, communication with the miners has been established.”

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev has ordered an all-out rescue effort. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin meanwhile spoke by telephone with Kemerovo governor Aman Tuleyev, agencies said.

“Tuleyev informed the prime minister of the circumstances of the accident and steps taken to save the miners,” Putin”s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Raspadskaya, Russia”s largest stand-alone coking coal producer, is part-owned by steel maker Evraz, controlled by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovitch.

Deadly mine accidents are relatively common in Russia because of ageing.

Rain disrupts life in Dammam; emergency declared

ALKHOBAR: Eastern Province cities including Dammam on Saturday were plunged into darkness two hours before sunset in a howling dust-turned-rainstorm.

Streetlights came on early and traffic clogged main highways. Visibility was drastically reduced and a sharp wind, laden with sand, whipped down streets, uprooted trees and damaged some buildings.

Heavy rains followed thunder and lightning, inundating Eastern Province cities. Jubail was particularly hard hit by the downpour and high winds.

A spokesman for the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment in Dammam said the skies would clear in four hours.

“The gathering storm has nothing to do with what happened recently in Riyadh. This is a result of moisture and heat in our region,” said PME duty forecaster Muhammad Adnan.

The buildup was first seen in Jubail. “That is where we noticed the formation of dark clouds,” Adnan said. “Gusty winds then carried them to Al-Ahsa, Dammam, Dhahran and Alkhobar in a matter of minutes.”

All Eastern Province cities were in the storm’s grip. “We will see thunder, lightning, clouds and rains into the night,” he said.

At King Fahd International Airport, an official said the storm had not affected air traffic. “Yes, there are heavy winds blowing, but as far as we are concerned, everything is normal,” said the airport duty manager.

Those commuting between Alkhobar and Dammam were the worst hit. “It was very difficult to navigate our way on the Dammam-Alkhobar Highway,” said office worker Shaikh Dawood. “At one point, I felt the winds would send my car up into the air. It was blowing so fiercely. It was especially scary because the heavy winds were being followed at regular intervals by flashes of lightning and the crack of thunder.”

Interestingly, the sea was calm.

“I was on the Corniche at one of the cafés on the beach in Dammam. There was not much activity in the sea; at the other end I could see fishermen still casting their nets far and wide for their hamoor. However, the enveloping darkness was eerie and unsettling,” said journalist Abdul Jawwad.

Schoolchildren in Dammam and Alkhobar were unaffected. “The storm began only after 2:30 p.m. — long after children were home from schools,” said Uzma Nasreen, a mother of three.

This year the Eastern Province has enjoyed cooler-than-average weather and more rain than in many years.

37 hurt as ferry hits dock in NY

NEW YORK: At least 37 people were injured when a ferry boat, carrying 252 passengers and 18 crew members, struck a pier as it approached the dock in New York”s Staten Island, authorities have said.

The brakes failed Saturday on the Andrew J. Barberi ferry boat as it hit the dock of the St. George Ferry Terminal on Staten Island at about 9.25 a.m. local time, Janette Sadik-Khan, commissioner of the city”s department of transportation, told a television channel.

“It appears to be a mechanical problem, there was not an ability to pull back the throttle as it approached the dock,” Sadik-Khan was quoted as saying by Chinese news agency.

Only one person was critically injured, she said, adding that the other injuries were minor cuts and bruises.

The ferry had earlier been involved in another accident in 2003 that killed 11 people. The boat”s pilot – Richard Smith – lost consciousness while at the ship”s controls in the 2003 crash. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

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