VISHAL KAPOOR BEST ARTICLES
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(1.)
Some of these following facts may be unknown to most of you. So, I want to tell these facts to every Indian, anywhere in this world. These facts were published in a German magazine too many years ago.
WORLD HISTORY FACTS ABOUT INDIA
1. India never invaded any country in her last 1000 years of history.
2. India invented the number system. Zero was invented by great Indian mathematician Aryabhatta.
3. The world’s first university was established in Takshila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The university of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
4. According to the Forbes magazine, Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software.
5. Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans.
6. Although western media portray modern images of India as poverty striken and underdeveloped through political corruption, India was once the richest empire on the earth.
7. The art of navigation was born in the river Sindh 5000 years ago. The very word “Navigation” is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH.
8. The value of pi was first calculated by Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is now known as the Pythagorean Theorem. British scholars have officially published in year 1999 that Budhayana’s works dates to the 6th Century which is long before the European mathematicians.
9. Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India. Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in 11th Century; the largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 10 rays to power 6 whereas we Indians used numbers as big as10 rays to power 53.
10. According to the Gemological institute of America, up until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds to the world.
11. USA based IEEE has proved what has been a century-old suspicion amongst academics that the pioneer of wireless communication was Professor Jadish Bose and not Marconi.
12. The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra.
13. Chess was invented in India.
14. Sushryta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted surgeries like cesareans, cataract, fractures and urinary stones. Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India.
15. When many cultures in the world were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu valley (Indus Valley Civilization).
16. The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100BC.
IF YOU LIKE IT THEN PLEASE TELL TO EVERY INDIAN TO READ IT.
These are the things because of I can say I PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN.
IF I CAN SAY THEN WHY NOT YOU??????????????????
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Sathya Sai Baba has gone from Earth. Some people says that Baba has left them alone this Earth while some says that Baba is in our hearts and He cant go anywhere to leave us. Now, I want to tell about a message which has given by Baba for us.
Sathya Sai Baba encourages us to recognize who we are. We are not these bodies. We are not these minds. We are the eternal spirit that temporarily occupies these minds and bodies. We can appreciate and become who we really are by turning inward with faith in God and an intense yearning to know Him. Our conscience is a reflection of the eternal spirit. Sathya Sai Baba tells us that our conscience is our master. When we follow our conscience, our thoughts, words, and deeds will be noble and consistent. Spirituality is having the courage and determination to follow our conscience in all things and at all times. In doing so, we recognize that we are all united in God. We are bound together by divine love.
Baba says,”I have come to light the lamp of love in your hearts, to see that it shines day by day with added luster. I have come to tell you of this universal, unitary faith, this spiritual principle, this path of love, this duty of love, this obligation to love”. Every religion teaches man to fill his being with the glory of God and to evict the pettiness of conceit. It trains him in the methods of unattachment and discernment, so that he may aim high and attain spiritual liberation. Believe that all hearts are motivated by the one and only God; that all faiths glorify the one and only God; that all names in all languages and all forms man can conceive denote the one and only God. His adoration is best done by means of love. Cultivate that attitude of oneness between men of all creeds and all countries. That is the message of love I bring. That is the message I wish you to take to heart.
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A Small History Of Sathya Sai Baba
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Lady Diana’s 12 Relations
I am an Indian & may be not known everything about Late Lady Diana. But I can say confidently that I know a little bit things about her. She was very beautiful. In this article I am going to explain 12 relations about her. I think many of the people do not know about her these relations.
Lady Diana married to Prince Charles in year 1980; it was a great day in history of England. There in England is a rule that just married couple could not kiss in EMIRE FAMILY. But Diana broke it and she kissed to Prince Charles in front of all country. Both of them have expended 16 years of their happy married life but in 1996 they got divorced. It was a very big shock for England.
I don’t know that what was the reason about it, but in my points of view she met to a man Berry Manakie in 1993. Diana had a close relation with Berry. I think that it was the first step to go on the way of divorce. Now I am going to write about his relations with another persons after her marriage.
From 1993 to 1996, Diana met with 12 persons.
1. Berry Manakie
2. James Hewitt
3. James Gilbe
4. Fillip Dune
5. William Wan
6. Stephen Tweague
7. Oliver Hoyer
8. Ted Fortsman
9. David Tang
10. Christopher Velle
11. Hasnat Khan
12. Dodi Alfahad
These are all names of Diana’s Boy friends. The information of these 12 relations, which I know are here given below. Her last boy friend was Dodi. Both, Diana and Dodi were died in a Car Accident in India.
Diana had accepted her relations with Berry Manakie in a video.
James Hewitt was a servant of BRITISH ARMY. He had published a book also in which he had written openly about close relations between both of them.
Diana explained that Fillip and William Wan were only friends of her.
Stephen Tweague met Diana in a massage parlor. He was also her boy friend.
People thought that Diana was mad in love of Oliver Hoyer. People were thought that she send a large number of SMS to Oliver’s mobile but after some time they got that Daina was not sending SMS to him. It was an another lady.
Diana had expended the time of 1993 to 1995 with Ted Fortsman. Some people declaired tha Diana got married with Ted. But it was not a truth.
David Tang met Diana in a journey. Diana got blamed for relation with him.
Diana went on dinner with Christopher Velle many times and got relationship.
Hasnat Khan, who was a heart Surgeon, Hasnat was also her boyfriend.
Diana last boyfriend was Dodi alfahad. She went with Dodi at many places for tour. Both of them wanted to married. On a tour of India they met with a accident and died.
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LADY DIANA: A BRIEF HISTORY
“July 1, 1961 - August 31, 1997”
Diana was born in 1961 as the third daughter of Edward John Spencer and his wife Frances Ruth Burke Roche. Diana grew up in a very privileged family that had a long history of close ties with the royal family. When Diana's paternal grandfather passed away in 1975, Diana's father became the 8th Earl of Spencer and Diana gained the title of "Lady."
In 1969, Diana's parents divorced. Her mother's affair helped the court decide to give custody of the couple's four children to Diana's father. Both of her parents eventually remarried, but the divorce left an emotional scar on Diana.
Diana attended school at West Heath in Kent and then spent a short time at a finishing school in Switzerland. Although she was not an excellent student academically, her determined personality, caring nature, and cheerful outlook helped her through it. After returning from Switzerland, Diana rented an apartment with two friends, worked with children at the Young England Kindergarten, and watched movies and visited restaurants in her free time.
It was about this time that Prince Charles, in his early 30s, was under increasing pressure to choose a wife. Diana's vibrancy, cheerfulness, and good family background caught the attention of Prince Charles and the two began dating in mid-1980. It was a whirlwind romance for on February 24, 1981, Buckingham Palace officially announced the couple's engagement. At the time, Lady Diana and Prince Charles seemed truly in love and the whole world was awed by what seemed like a fairytale romance.
It was the wedding of the decade; nearly 3,500 people attended and approximately 750 million people from around the world watched it on television. To the envy of young women everywhere, Lady Diana married Prince Charles on July 29, 1981 at St. Paul's Cathedral.
Less than a year after the wedding, Diana gave birth to William Arthur Philip Louis on June 21, 1982. Two years after William was born, Diana gave birth to Henry ("Harry") Charles Albert David on September 15, 1984.
While Diana quickly gained the love and appreciation of the public, there were definitely problems in her marriage by the time Prince Harry was born.
The stresses of Diana's numerous new roles (including wife, mother, and princess) were overwhelming. These pressures plus the extreme media coverage and post-natal depression, left Diana lonely and depressed.
Although she tried to maintain a positive public persona, at home she was crying out for help. Diana suffered from bulimia, cut herself on her arms and legs, and made several suicide attempts.
Prince Charles, who was jealous of Diana's extra media attention and unprepared to handle her depression and self-destructive behavior, quickly started to drift away from her. This led Diana to spend the mid- to late-1980s, unhappy, lonely, and depressed.
During these lonely years, Diana tried to find a place for herself. She had become what many describe as the most photographed woman in the world. The public loved her, which meant that the media followed her everywhere she went and commented on everything she wore, said, or did.
Diana found that her presence comforted many who were sick or dying. She dedicated herself to a number of causes, most especially to the elimination of AIDS and landmines. In 1987, when Diana became the first famous person to be photographed touching someone with AIDS, she made a huge impact in dissolving the myth that AIDS could be contracted merely by touch.
In December 1992, a formal separation was announced between Diana and Charles and in 1996, a divorce was agreed to which was finalized on August 28. In the settlement, Diana was given $28 million, plus $600,000 per year but she was to give up the title, "Her Royal Highness."
Diana's hard-won freedom did not last long. On August 31, 1997, Diana was riding in a Mercedes with her boyfriend (Dodi Al Fayed), bodyguard, and chauffer when the car crashed into a pillar of the tunnel under the Pont de l'Alma bridge in Paris while fleeing from paparazzi. Diana, age 36, died on the operating table at the hospital. Her tragic death shocked the world.
Initially, the public blamed the paparazzi for the accident. However, further investigation proved that the primary cause of the accident was that the chauffer had been driving under the influence of both drugs and alcohol.
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Lady Diana’s Life as Prince Charles’s Wife
Wedding of Lady Diana and Prince Charles (1981): On July 29, 1981, Lady Diana Spencer (20 years old) married Prince Charles (32 years old) at St. Paul's Cathedral. Their wedding was large, extravagant, and wondrous. It was the wedding of the decade. Nearly 3,500 people attended personally, 600,000 people lined the streets of London hoping to catch a peek, and approximately 750 million people from around the world watched it on television.
The ceremony began at 11:20 a.m. with Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Robert Runcie officiating. Lady Diana's wedding gown, designed by Elizabeth and David Emanuel, was made of ivory silk taffeta with antique lace and had a 25-foot-long train.
It Called the "wedding of the century," the wedding of Lady Diana Frances Spencer to Charles, Prince of Wales, took place on July 29, 1981, at St. Paul's Cathedral. Diana was 20 years old, Charles 32 years old.
Diana was born on 1 July 1961. Her full name was Diana Frances Spencer. She was very beautiful. Diana endeared herself to the public through her warmth and caring. As the wife of Prince Charles, Diana not only gave birth to the future British king, she became a princess of the people. Diana brought attention to worthy causes such as the elimination of AIDS and landmines. Also, through her own experiences, Diana became a role model for those who suffer from depression or bulimia. Diana died on August 31, 1997 in India due to a car accident.
She was also know by some another names. The names are given here below:
Diana Frances Spencer; Lady Diana Spencer; Her Royal Highness, the Princess of Wales; Princess Di; Diana, Princess of Wales
Princess Diana Dies in Car Crash (1997): On August 31, 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales died after being involved in a car accident. Diana had been riding in the Mercedes-Benz with her boyfriend (Dodi Al Fayed), bodyguard (Trevor Rees-Jones), and chauffer (Henri Paul) when the car crashed into a pillar of the tunnel under the Pont de l'Alma bridge in Paris while fleeing from paparazzi.
Dodi Al Fayed and Henri Paul were pronounced dead at the scene. Diana and Trevor Rees-Jones were taken to the hospital. Diana had suffered major injuries, including to her head and chest. Diana died on the operating table. Trevor, though severely injured, survived the accident.
The news of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales shocked the world.
>>>VISHAL KAPOOR<<<
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Madrid: Barcelona missed a chance to stretch their advantage over chasing Real Madrid and virtually wrap up a third straight La Liga title when they surrendered the lead and lost 2-1 at Real Sociedad on Saturday.
With Madrid facing the task of overturning a 2-0 deficit in Tuesday's Champions League semi-final second leg at the Nou Camp, Real coach Jose Mourinho rested key players.
His team, without top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo among others, was upset 3-2 at home by relegation-threatened Real Zaragoza.
Leaders Barca looked in good shape to open an 11-point lead over their arch rivals with four games remaining when midfielder Thiago Alcantara opened the scoring in the 29th minute at mid-table Sociedad's Anoeta stadium in San Sebastian.
But Diego Ifran pounced on a loose ball to equalise with les than 20 minutes left and Xabi Prieto netted from the spot in the 82nd after substitute Javier Mascherano conceded a penalty.
The result, only the second defeat of the season for Pep Guardiola's side, meant Barca just missed equalling Sociedad's record run of 32 La Liga games unbeaten in the 1979/80 season and leaves them on 88 points from 34 matches.
Real, who beat Barca 1-0 to win a dramatic King's Cup final last week, have 80 points in second.
"We are a team that can win or lose," Guardiola said at a news conference.
"We were coming into the game after a very complicated situation," he added, referring to the controversy around Wednesday's ill-tempered Champions League semi-final first leg, which resulted in UEFA opening a probe into both teams.
"To be champions we will have to get the four points that we still need."
If Real managed to draw level on points, Barca would still win the title due to a superior head-to-head record.
They routed Real 5-0 at the Nou Camp in November and drew 1-1 at the Bernabeu earlier this month.
Real's city rivals Atletico Madrid stayed on course to qualify for the Europa League they won last season when Sergio Aguero stabbed home in the 80th minute to snatch a 1-0 win at 10-man Deportivo Coruna in the late kickoff.
Atletico climbed to fifth on 52 points, one ahead of Athletic Bilbao, who play at eighth-placed Espanyol on Monday.
Depor, who had Alberto Lopo sent off for a second yellow card in the 59th minute, are 14th, three points above the relegation places.
An uncharacteristic error by Real goalkeeper and captain Iker Casillas, who presented the King's Cup to the home fans braving the rain in the Spanish capital before kickoff, gifted Zaragoza their opening goal four minutes before halftime.
The Spanish World Cup winner galloped out to clear but failed to connect. After a miscued effort by Ikechukwu Uche, the ball fell to Angel Lafita who rolled it into the empty net.
Gabi doubled the visitors' lead from the penalty spot 10 minutes into the second half after Ricardo Carvalho brought Lafita down in the area before Sergio Ramos pulled a goal back when he headed home from a corner.
Angel Di Maria, Mesut Ozil and Marcelo started on the bench and Real looked infinitely more threatening when the trio were introduced early in the second half.
They dominated possession and pressed for an equaliser but Lafita grabbed his second of the night when he finished off a fine counter-attack with just over 10 minutes remaining.
>>>VISHAL KAPOOR<<<
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Obama v/s Osama
President Obama announced Sunday night that Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden – the mastermind behind the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 – had been killed by US Special Forces in Pakistan
President Obama announced Sunday night that Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden – the mastermind behind the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 that killed nearly 3,000 people on US soil and the leader of a worldwide terrorist operation – had been found and killed by US Special Forces in a compound deep inside Pakistan.
"Last week, I determined that we had enough intelligence to take action and authorized an operation to get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice," Obama said. "Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a fire fight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body."
Capturing or killing the Al Qaeda leader had been his top priority in the war on terrorism, Obama said, and he called Sunday’s operation “the most significant achievement in our effort to date to defeat Al Qaeda.”
RELATED: Revisiting Ground Zero
In a statement that perhaps would resonate most profoundly, he said simply, “Justice has been done.”
It was a stunning announcement in many respects, one that riveted late-night television viewers and drew tens of thousands of people to the White House after midnight – and to Times Square and Ground Zero as well – where they cheered, waved American flags, and sung the National Anthem.
It had become a cliché to say that “everything changed” after 911, but in many ways it was a transformational point in US history.
SOUND OFF: What did you think of President Obama's speech late Sunday night?
Americans got used to much stricter security measures at airports, the concrete barriers around the White House and other potentially vulnerable sites, color-coded threat levels, and the other attempted attacks on US targets – the “shoe bomber,” the “underwear bomber,” the failed or thwarted bomb attacks in New York, Portland, Oregon, and other locations.
The years since 911 also had seen the steady transformation of US armed forces away from the Cold War-era training, equipping, and disposition of military units to an increasing emphasis on counter insurgency (COIN). Coincidentally, the demise of Al Qaeda’s leader came just days after Obama had announced new leaders at the Pentagon and the CIA as well as the commander of US-led forces in Afghanistan.
Months and years will be spent detailing and learning the historical lessons of this period as they apply to US military and diplomatic approaches to threats around the world. His late Sunday statement may be seen as the most important of Obama’s first term as commander-in-chief.
Former president George Bush issued a statement of gratitude and congratulations. Analysts noted that it was exactly eight years to the day since Mr. Bush had given his “mission accomplished” speech aboard an aircraft carrier returning from the war in Iraq – words that turned out to have been more hopeful than accurate.
Anticipating the possibility of retaliatory attacks, officials say security will be tightened around the world. The State Department warned of "enhanced potential for anti-American violence" following bin Laden's death.
“There’s no doubt that al Qaeda will continue to pursue attacks against us,” Obama warned. “We must – and we will – remain vigilant at home and abroad.”
“As we do, we must also reaffirm that the United States is not – and never will be – at war with Islam,” he added. “I’ve made clear, just as President Bush did shortly after 9/11, that our war is not against Islam. Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer of Muslims. Indeed, al Qaeda has slaughtered scores of Muslims in many countries, including our own. So his demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity.”
Beyond the major news in his announcement, Obama acknowledged the ongoing pain of those who lost loved ones on 911.
“We know that the worst images are those that were unseen to the world,” he said. “The empty seat at the dinner table. Children who were forced to grow up without their mother or their father. Parents who would never know the feeling of their child’s embrace. Nearly 3,000 citizens taken from us, leaving a gaping hole in our hearts.”
Families of those lost welcomed the presidential regard for their circumstances.
"This is important news for us, and for the world. It cannot ease our pain, or bring back our loved ones," Gordon Felt, president of Families of Flight 93, said in a statement. "It does bring a measure of comfort that the mastermind of the September 11th tragedy and the face of global terror can no longer spread his evil."
>>>VISHAL KAPOOR<<<
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History of Osama Bin Laden AL-QAEDA(1988 to May 01 2011)
Now a breaking news after Royal Marriage of KATE & PRINCE in Britain is that Osama bin Laden killed in Pakistan. Laden was president of terror organization AL-QAEDA. Al-Qaeda, which in Arabic means "the base", was created in 1988. Osama bin Laden formed the fundamentalist group with other Arab fighters from the US-backed mujahideen after forcing back Soviet soldiers from Afghanistan.
Here is a timeline of events from the group's creation through to the death of Osama bin Laden.
1991: Osama bin Laden moves to Sudan and makes the country al-Qaeda's base. Training camps are set up and preparations made for jihad.
Laden - whose aliases included the Prince, the Emir, Abu Abdullah, Mujahid Shaykh, Hajj, and the Director - stayed in the African country for five years and was believed to have begun a search for nuclear material.
1993: Bin Laden linked by the US to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Centre which killed six people and injured 1,000 more.
1996: The US identifies bin Laden as the prime suspect in the bombing of the Khobar Towers military complex in Saudi Arabia in which 19 US servicemen are killed.
October 12 1996: Bin Laden formalizes his campaign against America by issuing a declaration of jihad, or holy war, calling on Muslims to kill US soldiers, civilians and allies.
August 1998: The first acknowledged mass-casualty al-Qaeda attack takes place at the US Embassy in Kenya. A total of 219 people are killed.
A pick-up truck packed with explosives blows up outside the four-storey building in the heart of the capital Nairobi. Minutes later, 12 people are killed when another bomb shatters the US Embassy in Dar es Salaam in neighboring Tanzania. About 5,000 people are injured in the two blasts.
October 2000: A suicide attack on the USS Cole in Yemen blows a 40sq ft hole in the ship's hull, killing 17 sailors and injuring 39.
World Trade Center after being hit by two planes September 11, 2001
The 9/11 World Trade Centre terror attack
September 11 2001: Bin Laden's organization again uses operatives willing to die - hijacking passenger jets and flying them into the World Trade Centre in New York. The attacks on New York and the Pentagon, as well as the hijacked plane that crashes into a field in Pennsylvania, claim nearly 3,000 lives - the world's worst act of terrorism.
Shoe bomber Richard Reid
December 2001: An attempted suicide attack on a Paris to Miami airliner by London-born Richard Reid, an al-Qaeda sympathizer, is thwarted after he is overpowered by passengers as he tries to ignite explosives in his shoe. He was later jailed for life by an American court. In early 2002 Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is kidnapped in Pakistan and beheaded by al-Qaeda.
June 2002: a suicide bomber blows up a truck at the US consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 14 Pakistanis.
Bali terrorist bomb October 13th 2002
October 12 2002: Two bombs explode in a busy nightclub area on the Indonesian island of Bali, killing 202 people, including 28 Britons. One hits Paddy's Irish Bar in the island's Kuta tourist district and the second explodes in a van outside the Sari nightclub in the same area. The al-Qaeda-linked terror group Jemaah Islamiyah was blamed for the Bali attacks.
November 28 2002: A vehicle packed with explosives ploughs into the Paradise Hotel near the port of Mombasa in Kenya, killing 11 Kenyans and three Israeli tourists. In a simultaneous attack, two shoulder-launched missiles are fired at an Israeli passenger plane nearby, but narrowly miss the aircraft.
December 2002: A suspected Muslim extremist, cradling his hidden gun like a baby under his jacket, slips into a Christian hospital in southern Yemen and opens fire, killing three American missionaries and seriously wounding a fourth. Yemeni officials say the gunman is linked to al-Qaeda.
May 13 2003: A series of suicide bombings in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh, kill at least 34 people, in attacks on housing compounds for foreigners.
August 5 2003: Jemaah Islamiya - the al-Qaeda-linked group thought to be behind the Bali attack - are blamed for the car bombing of the US-run JW Marriott luxury hotel in Jakarta, which kills 12 people.
November 9 2003: Saudi authorities claim al-Qaeda is behind a suicide car bombing that kills 17 people in Riyadh.
Turkish police and firemen stand near damaged cars and buildings in central Istanbul November 15, 2003
Istanbul bombings in 2003
November 15 2003: Terrorists said to be linked to al-Qaeda bomb two synagogues in Istanbul, Turkey. Five days later, two more suicide car bombings in Istanbul hit the British Consulate General and the HQ of HSBC bank in the city.The series of attacks kill 61 people - including British Consul-General Roger Short - and injure hundreds more. Analysts say the November 20 bombings showed that al-Qaeda has realigned its sights towards British targets.
Carnage of Madrid train bombings
March 11 2004: Two-and-a-half years after the September 11 attacks, a series of bombs rip through commuter trains in Madrid, killing more than 200 people and wounding 1,500. The Spanish government, a supporter of the war on Iraq, initially blamed Basque terrorists, but al-Qaeda later claimed responsibility. Bin Laden continued to inspire terror attacks.
May 17 2004: A suicide bomber kills the head of the Iraqi Governing Council, Ezzedine Salim, near the headquarters of the US-led coalition in Baghdad. Tawhid wa al-Jihad, later renamed al-Qaeda in Iraq, claims responsibility.
:May 29 2004: Twenty-two people die after gunmen allegedly from a group linked to al-Qaeda attack offices in Khobar, Saudi Arabia.
June 18 2004: US engineer Paul Johnson is beheaded by suspected al-Qaeda militants in Saudi Arabia after holding him hostage for a week. The country's purported network leader Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin is later killed by security forces.
July 7 2005: A total of 52 people are killed and more than 700 injured when terrorists launch four attacks on London's transport network.
November 2005: The group massacres at least 56 people and injures more than 100 when they blow up three foreign owned hotels in Amman, Jordan.
June 8 2006: Al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is killed in a US air strike in Iraq. He was reportedly linked to countless attacks and killings - including the videotaped executions of Western hostages Nick Berg and Ken Begley.
March 27 2007: Australian detainee and Muslim convert David Hicks, at a military court at Guantanamo Bay, admits providing material support for terrorism.
August 2007: Al-Qaeda are linked to the deaths of 400 Yazidis - an ancient Muslim sect regarded as infidels by extremists - killed in bombings in the Sinjar area of Iraq.
September 7 and 8 2007: Two suicide attacks kill at least 50 people in Algeria. The first claims 19 lives among people waiting to see the president in Batna. In the second attack, a truck packed with explosives is driven into a naval barracks in the port of Dellys. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility. Three months later the same group kills more than 40 people with two car bomb attacks in the Algerian capital, Algiers. One targeted the country's Supreme Court, the other the UN's refugee agency.
Benazir Bhutto's coffin is massive over the heads of mourners
December 27 2007: Al-Qaeda are linked to the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto who was killed during a suicide attack at an election rally in Rawalpindi along with more than 150 others.
June 2008: Al-Qaeda kills six people when terrorists attack the Danish embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, with a car bomb.
October 2009: At least 155 victims die when al-Qaeda carries out a double suicide bombing in Baghdad. Two months later the group is linked to a series of car bombs in the centre of Baghdad which kill at least 127 people.
December 25 2009: Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, a Nigerian graduate, tries to blow up an aeroplane. Wearing explosives in his underwear he sets himself alight in a packed Airbus approaching Detroit, in an attack orchestrated by al Qaida in Yemen.
October 2010: The network is linked to a major international terror alert when explosives are found hidden in toner cartridges on board planes at East Midlands Airport in the UK and Dubai. The packages are addressed to synagogues in Chicago and sent from Yemen.
March 2011: British Airways worker Rajib Karim, 31, is jailed for 30 years at Woolwich Crown Court for conspiring with al-Qaeda preacher Anwar Al-Awlaki to blow up a transatlantic flight.
Osama Bin Laden 1998
Osama bin Laden killed in Pakistan
May 1 2011: US president Barack Obama announces that Osama bin Laden has been killed in a US operation in Pakistan.
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Osama Bin Laden killed: How the world is reacting
Western leaders and Arab citizens alike said that Osama Bin Laden's death is an important symbolic victory, but does not signal an end to the threat of terrorism in the West.
As relieved Americans finally went to sleep late Sunday after learning of the death of Osama Bin Laden, much of the world was just waking up Monday morning to the news.
Reactions varied, but for many of them, the relief was measured. From Western leaders to Arab citizens, they acknowledged that while Mr. Bin Laden's death is a symbolic victory, it does not signal an end to the threat of terrorism in the West.
"Osama bin Laden was responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people.... The forces of peace were successful last night. International terror has not been defeated. We'll all have to remain vigilant," said a spokesman speaking on behalf of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to Reuters.
In the Arab world, too, there was a widespread feeling that this was a milestone, but not an end, as the Guardian reported from Cairo and other major cities in the region.
Reaction in Cairo was initially muted, with local media outlets and early morning commuters reluctant to talk about the significance of the news before the body of the terrorist leader was displayed.
"I hope it's true, but even it it is, does it really mean that al-Qaida is finished?" said bank worker Ayman Qhadari. "There will be a million more men like him. There probably already are." …
"Al-Qaida is not one person anymore," said Major General Hussein Kamal from the intelligence division of Iraq's interior ministry. "I don't expect that the killing of Bin Laden will finish al-Qaida here or in other countries. It will affect their morale, for sure. But it won't end their organisation."
Israel, which has described the fight against terrorism as a joint responsibility of the world's democracies, responded euphorically. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that Israel "shares the joy of the American people" and called the operation a "resounding victory for justice, freedom, and the values shared by all democratic countries fighting should to shoulder against terror."
Meanwhile, the top Hamas official in the Gaza Strip condemned the killing of Bin Laden, according to Reuters. "We regard this as a continuation of the American policy based on oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood," said Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas administration in Gaza.
IN PICTURES: September 11: Revisiting Ground Zero
That statement could complicate the reconciliation deal agreed last week between Hamas and Western-backed Fatah, which made a statement of support for Bin Laden's death and said the next step is ending the violence he endorsed, reported the Guardian.
"Getting rid of Bin Laden is good for the cause of peace worldwide but what counts is to overcome the discourse and the methods – the violent methods –that were created and encouraged by Bin Laden and others in the world," Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib said.
Al Jazeera commentators agreed that Bin Laden's death is also a symbolic victory in the Arab world, but argued that it is much less of a game changer than the popular uprisings sweeping the region since January.
" … Bin Laden has already been made irrelevant by the Arab Spring that underlined the meaning of peoples power through peaceful means," said Marwan Bishara, an Al Jazeera political analyst, in a column.
A Guardian report from the Afghan capital of Kabul said the streets of the city were quiet and the local reaction was muted as President Hamid Karzai announced Bin Laden's death. Mr. Karzai used the event as an opportunity to criticize the West's operations in Afghanistan because Bin Laden was not found in the country.
"Year after year, day after day, we have said the fighting against terrorism is not in the villages of Afghanistan, not among the poor people of Afghanistan," he said. "The fight against terrorism is in safe havens. It proves that Afghanistan was right," Karzai said.
Indian officials, meanwhile, used the news to bolster their longtime claims that Pakistan harbors militants, according to Dawn. How else could Bin Laden have hidden there so long, so comfortably?
"We take note with grave concern that part of the statement in which President Obama said that the firefight in which Osama bin Laden was killed took place in Abbotttabad 'deep inside Pakistan'," Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram said.
"This fact underlies our concern that terrorists belonging to different organisations find sanctuary in Pakistan," he said.
India has long had fraught relations with Pakistan, partially stemming from India's belief that Pakistan has allowed militant groups to operate within its borders.
A senior security official in the Pakistani city of Peshawar told Reuters that the attack on Obama's compound was a joint operation, but the fact that Pakistan hadn't acted sooner could reflect badly on the country's willingness to hunt down militants.
“Pakistan will have to do a lot of damage control because the Americans have been reporting he is in Pakistan. This is a serious blow to the credibility of Pakistan,” [said security analyst Imtiaz Gul].
But defence analyst and former general Talat Masood said the fact bin Laden was killed in a joint operation would limit the damage to Pakistan’s image.
“There should be a sigh of relief because this will take some pressure off of Pakistan,” said defence analyst and former general Talat Masood. “Pakistan most probably has contributed to this, and Pakistan can take some credit for this – being such an iconic figure, it’s a great achievement.”
The Times of India interpreted the ambiguity of US and Pakistan statements on involvement differently, however, saying that Obama's statement "left no doubt" that the US alone could take credit for Bin Laden's death and that Pakistan was not informed of the operation.
In fact, there was not even a word of thanks for Pakistan. Instead, Obama said: ''Tonight, I called President Zardari, and my team has also spoken with their Pakistani counterparts. They agree that this is a good and historic day for both of our nations. And going forward, it is essential that Pakistan continue to join us in the fight against al-Qaida and its affiliates.''
The finger of suspicion is now pointing squarely at the Pakistani military and intelligence for sheltering and protecting Osama bin Laden before US forces hunted him down and put a bullet in his head in the wee hours of Sunday. The coordinates of the action and sequence of events indicate that the al-Qaida fugitive may have been killed in an ISI safehouse.
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Osama Died: A very big achievement
By taking out Osama bin Laden, American special forces have cut off the "head of the snake", experts said today. The terrorist's death, at the hands of elite troops in Pakistan, is expected to cripple al-Qaeda and will come as a major blow for its supporters who have looked to his leadership for so many years. However, analysts have predicted that the organization will not go down without a fight, warning of serious reprisals in the short-term.
Terror expert Dr Razaq Raj, a senior lecturer at Leeds Metropolitan University, said it would now be "impossible" for al-Qaeda to re-establish its grip on the wider world.
"It will be very difficult for anyone to take over from bin Laden," he said.
"There's still the second in command (Egyptian-born doctor and surgeon Ayman al-Zawahiri) and if he is still there, if he has not been killed, al-Qaeda could be reunited. But I don't think it will easy. "It will be very, very clear-cut now that the backbone of al-Qaeda has been destroyed. "He was the figurehead and now that the figurehead is gone, I think it will be impossible for them."
Professor Anthony Glees, director of the centre for security and intelligence studies at the University of Buckingham, echoed his remarks, suggesting bin Laden's demise could signify the beginning of the end for al-Qaeda.
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A Great Achievement Against Terror of Terrorists
WASHINGTON: The White House announced that Barack Obama would address the nation at 10.30pm on Sunday. But before the president took the mike, Twitter and other social networking sites were abuzz with speculation that Osama bin Laden could be dead. At 9.45pm, Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director, wrote on Twitter: "POTUS to address the nation tonight at 10.30pm." Sharing the same message that had just been transmitted to the White House press corps. According to NBC news anchor Brian Williams, "some journalists received a three-word e-mail that simply read, 'Get to work', the New York Times said. The nation's television anchors and newspaper editors did not know, at first, that Obama would be announcing the death of bin Laden, but reporters in Washington suspected almost immediately that the announcement could be about the al-Qaida chief. Wishful thinking about bin Laden's death ricocheted across the web — and then at 10.25pm, while Obama was writing his speech, one particular tweet seemed to confirm it. Keith Urbahn, the chief of staff for the former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld, wrote, "So I'm told by a reputable person they have killed Osama Bin Laden. Hot damn." Urbahn quickly added, "Don't know if it's true, but let's pray it is." He was credited by many on the web with breaking the news, though he did not have first-hand confirmation. Within minutes, anonymous sources at the Pentagon and the White House started to tell reporters the same information. ABC, CBS and NBC interrupted programming across the country at almost the same minute, 10.45pm, with the news. "We're hearing absolute jubilation throughout government," the ABC News correspondent Martha Raddatz reported. Brian Williams on NBC told viewers, "This story started to leak out in the public domain largely when some Congressional staffers started to make phone calls."
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The Path of Auckland Tornado
A tornado struck Albany on Auckland's North Shore this afternoon at about 3pm, causing damage, injuries and death before heading south.
This is the path the tornado took - view it in Google Maps :
The tornado appeared to begin around the Albany Megacentre and Westfield Malls.
It took parts of the roof off at Farmers and damaged the old Placemakers building.
It came down through Rosedale area. Vehicles and buildings were damaged there.
Roofs came off in Unsworth Heights area, a residential area of the North Shore.
It then went down through Kaipatiki Road, where Glenfield College is situated.
Also in Glenfield a power station was damaged and power knocked out.
From there the tornado went to Birkenhead and Beach Haven where more trees were taken out.
It tracked a path down to Chelsea Sugar Factory and at that point crossed the harbour. It went airborne at that point and dispersed.
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Closing the Harbour Bridge was considered but then decided to be unnecessary.
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India's Most Wanted DON DAWOOD IBRAHIM
Can India do an America to smoke out Dawood Ibrahim?
NEW DELHI: If the US can take out Osama bin Laden, why can't India do the same with Dawood Ibrahim, Hafiz Saeed and others of their ilk? For starters, lack of political will, essentially due to the fear of an escalation with a nuclear-armed Pakistan. But even if the traditionally risk-averse political leadership did decide that enough is enough, India simply does not have the wherewithal to execute back ops. This is true in terms of intelligence and planning, rather than the capability of special forces themselves.
Moreover, Pakistan is not a country with rag-tag armed forces. Any move to insert and later extract special forces deep inside Pakistan through helicopters, like the US did to eliminate Osama, will have to contend with robust air defence networks and combat air patrols geared to shoot down "enemy'' aircraft. With military bases, logistics, over-flight facilities and ongoing operations in Pakistan, the US faced no such hurdles. In the India-Pakistan context, it would be tantamount to declaration of war. A "surgical strike'' would, in all probability, lead to a war-like situation, with Pakistan always being over-eager to brandish its nuclear weapons. But let's take intelligence first. Indian intelligence agencies like RAW and IB suffer from several serious lacunae that prevent them from generating and sustaining credible intelligence on high-value targets within Pakistan.
A former intelligence official admitted they were never able to gather specific details of all the anti-India terrorist-training camps that they have claimed exist in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. This absence of "real-time'' intelligence was one of the reasons that came in the way of an aerial strike by IAF fighters after the horrific 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
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Osama's dead body: President Zardari defends Pakistan over bin Laden intel
WASHINGTON: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari defended his country on Monday against accusations it did not do enough to track down Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, but made no direct comment on alleged intelligence failures. Although the events of Sunday were not a joint operation, a decade of cooperation and partnership between the United States and Pakistan led up to the elimination of Osama bin Laden as a continuing threat to the civilized world," Zardari said in an op-ed for The Washington Post. Underneath a headline reading "Pakistan did its part," he added: "we in Pakistan take some satisfaction that our early assistance in identifying an Al-Qaeda courier ultimately led to this day." But Zardari provided no detailed explanation on how bin Laden managed to live for years undetected in Abbottabad, a hillside retreat popular with retired Pakistani generals just a few hours drive from Islamabad. "He was not anywhere we had anticipated he would be, but now he is gone," Zardari wrote. Earlier Pakistan's envoy to the United States, Husain Haqqani, promised a "full inquiry" into any intelligence failures, while angry US lawmakers demanding to know how a man blamed for killing thousands of Americans lived unperturbed in a country that receives billions of dollars of US aid.
