|
Afghan
Opposition Status Regarding Kabul
Excerpts
from article describing the military and political state of
the Northern Alliance and of the U.S.-led military campaign
against islamic extremist terrorism in Afghanistan:
-
- - begin excerpts - - -
Afghan
opposition forces intend to advance toward Kabul but have not
decided when to make their move and want the ruling Taliban
movement to first come under greater pressure from U.S. bombs,
the opposition Northern Alliance foreign minister said today.
State
of Northern Alliance forces
as of Oct. 25th
Abdullah,
who like many Afghans uses only one name, told reporters upon
his return from a trip abroad that the opposition group had
reached a "political consensus" to advance on the
capital, but aims to be flexible and avoid being tied down by
a timetable.
...
U.S. warplanes bombed Taliban positions on the front line about
40 miles north of Kabul for a fifth straight day. Alliance commanders
have welcomed the day and night raids, although many feel the
intensity should be escalated.
...
The Northern Alliance has been trying to take the key northern
city of Mazar-e Sharif, whose capture could open a new supply
route to the south. But the offensive has slowed in recent days
in the face of what alliance commanders have described as strong
counterattacks.
-
- - end excerpts - - -
Source:
Swiss
Tunnel Fire Tragedy
Excerpts
from an article describing the aftermath of yesterday's tunnel
crash and resulting fire in Switzerland ...
-
- - begin excerpts - - -
|
|
The
number of people listed as missing after the inferno in
Switzerland's Gotthard Tunnel has risen to 128, raising
fears that the death toll - now standing at 11 - could rise
significantly. |
Rescue
workers are still battling through intense heat to try to reach
the crash site, more than 24 hours after two lorries collided
head-on, sparking the fatal blaze.
Swiss
authorities stress that the figure of 128 is based on calls
to police helplines and may not be an accurate indication of
the numbers caught in the flames.
"It's
not 128 missing, it's 128 announcements by people searching
for people," said Michel Egger of the Swiss transport authority,
adding that officials are not always informed when relatives
turn up alive.
"We
know that we have had 11 victims until now, and nobody has any
clue how many more we will find," he said.
...
The tunnel - which is the second longest in the world and the
main route through the Alps from Germany to Italy - is likely
to remain closed for several months. ...
-
- - end excerpts - - -
Source:
Nigerian
Massacre, Result of Army Revenge
Excerpts
from an article describing the aftermath of the massacre of
over 200 civilians by Nigerian army forces ...
-
- - begin excerpts - - -
Soldiers
are reported by eyewitnesses to have indiscriminately killed
more than 200 civilians in three days of violence in what appears
to be revenge attacks after the killing of 19 soldiers by a
local militia two weeks ago.
|
|
...
The village of Zaki Biam and at least seven other villages
in Benue were attacked.
|
...
The BBC's Dan Isaacs, who is in the area has visited Zaki Biam,
the town where the abducted soldiers were found hacked to death,
which he says has been largely destroyed by army shelling.
He
said: "There is not a single building here that has not
been gutted by fire started by the army".
"The
area is largely deserted, many bodies are still lying in the
streets," he added. ...
-
- - end excerpts - - -
Source:
Estimated
Death Toll From 9-11-01 Attack Lowered
Excerpt
from article detailing the reduced estimated death toll which
resulted from the attack on America on 9-11-01 ...
-
- - begin excerpts - - -
...
the final total could be much closer to 3,000 than the once
expected highs of 5,000 to 6,000.
...
The city has collected all reports of possibly missing people
and taken them seriously. And since then, while the New York
Police Department's working number has fluctuated wildly, it
has worked to confirm cases and rule out duplications and errors.
That
effort has sliced the number of dead and missing from 6,700
to just below 4,800.
The
New York Times, Associated Press and USA Today each have lists
that show totals in the 2,600-to-2,950 range for people missing
or dead from the trade centre attacks, including the 157 on
the two aircraft. AP and USA Today used a variety of sources,
including company lists, obituaries and news accounts.
The
New York Times
-
- - end excerpts - - -
Source:
- Sydney
Morning Herald [link inactive]
|
One
of Osama bin Laden's In-laws Speaks Up
Excerpts
from an article describing an interview by Diane Sawyer with
Carmen bin Laden, estranged wife of one of Osama's brothers
...
-
- - begin excerpt - - -
"Somebody
knocked at the door. Instinctively I opened the door and here
was that man. I just got a glance at him, and he turned his
back because I was unveiled and he didn't want to see me,"
recalls Carmen, who married one of Osama's 23 brothers, Yislem.
This
occurred in the mid-1970s, years before bin Laden would go to
Afghanistan to help the mujahideen fight off the Soviet invaders
— and establish what would later become the terrorist network
al Qaeda.
"I
knew he was religious because he was the only brother who would
refuse to see me," Carmen says in an exclusive interview
airing on Primetime Thursday. "This was how Osama was at
that time."
Swiss-born
Carmen married Yislem in Saudi Arabia in 1974. They spent a
few years in Los Angeles, moved back to Saudi Arabia, and by
the mid-1980s, Carmen became estranged from her husband, moving
to Europe with their three children. She says she has not had
contact with the bin Laden family in 11 years.
...
A former student at the University of Southern California, Carmen
condemns the Sept. 11 attacks, saying they left her feeling "like
they hurt my country."
She
adds: "In my head I said, 'The freedom is gone. What made
America different is gone.'"
When
she first heard accusations that Osama might have orchestrated
the attacks, the possibility took a while to sink in. "It's
such a huge thing that you don't believe people would do such
things. Then I realized, yeah, it could be."
Carmen
says she does not hate her husband's brother: "I don't
like him ... I cannot hate somebody. Hate, for me, it's a terrible
thing. He hates people and look what he has become."
She
adds: "I think in a very personal way, who is he to tell
me what I have to think? ... I am afraid that Osama or the like
of him want to tell people how to live, what is the vision of
Islam."
...
Interview Excerpts - Following are additional excerpts from
the exclusive interview:
On
the extended bin Laden family: "In Saudi Arabia it's a
normal family, but very rich family .... They are not normal
because there are so many of them. They were lucky that their
father was a really great man and had made that [construction]
company. I have heard by people that he was a really great,
great man who was a visionary."
On
rumors that Osama bin Laden was isolated within his family:
"It's not true .... He was a brother like the other brothers
.... He doesn't have the same mother — most of them, they
don't have the same mother, there were so many wives —
but they are all brothers .... He was not raised differently."
...
On the bin Ladens' religious convictions:
"He was the religious one. There are others who are religious,
too. Not to the extent of him. Osama has become more radical to
the West. But I think there are some of his brothers who were
religious, who would think the way Osama is saying ... but their
religion's very strong.... I think all of the bin Laden family
are religious."
On
Osama bin Laden's reputation after he helped force the Soviets'
withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989: "In the family, in
everybody, in Saudi Arabia, the society, everybody, he was considered
as a hero."
On
Osama bin Laden's finances: "I really don't know how much,
but I think Osama has a lot of backing from Saudi Arabia, from
the family, money-wise." ...
-
- - end excerpts - - -
Source:
Super Crocodile
Excerpts
from article describing a super crocodile of bus size length
...
-
- - begin excerpts - - -
A
massive, crocodile-like reptile that not only walked with dinosaurs
but ate them too has been found in the Sahara.
Newly discovered fossil skulls and partial skeletons of this
110-million-year-old giant from Niger, about 10 times heavier
than any living equivalent, are described today by Prof Paul
Sereno of the University of Chicago and colleagues.
Parts
of specimens of Sarcosuchus imperator - flesh crocodile emperor
- were first found in Niger's Tenere Desert by French geologists
in 1964 but its anatomy, lifestyle, growth and kinship with
other crocodilians have remained a puzzle until now. ...
-
- - end excerpts - - -
Source:
Puffer Fish Genes Similar to Human Genes
Excerpts
from article describing the decoding of the Puffer Fish genome
and the amazing similarity of Puffer Fish genes to human genes:
-
- - begin excerpts - - -
|
|
The
human body's genetic make-up is surprisingly similar to
that of the puffer fish Fugu rubripes, of Japanese culinary
fame. |
That
is one of the conclusions of a year-long international effort
to sequence the fish's genome.
"For
the bits that count it's extraordinary how similar we are,"
Dr Greg Elgar of the UK Medical Research Council's Human Genome
Mapping Resource Centre told BBC News Online.
...
"This information will have enormous benefits to scientists
working on the human genome and will certainly be instrumental
in the fight against genetic disease," said Dr Elgar.
...
The puffer fish genome is much smaller than the human one, but
it still has many of the same basic genes.
...
Throughout evolution, the DNA of all organisms has been subject
to random mutations.
Mutations
which give their host some kind of benefit have survived, while
harmful mutations have ultimately killed off their hosts and
any offspring.
Many
of these useful mutations took place in the early prehistory
of life on Earth and are common to organisms as diverse as yeast,
fruit flies, humans and the puffer fish.
"They
have to be there because each one of them does an essential
task like develop a leg or fin or haemoglobin," said Dr
Elgar. ...
-
- - end excerpts - - -
Source:
|
