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Saturday, April 17, 2010

Usama Bin Laden Had a Facebook Page


The al Qaeda leader, or someone posing as him, was using the social-networking site as a platform to show videos and speeches to Islamic militants -- until Facebook shut him down, that is. His address was given as "the mountains of the world." On Thursday, a security expert urged Facebook's U.S. owners to shut down the profile page, named "The leader of the Mujahideen, Osama bin Laden." The profile became active on March 25 and had already attracted nearly 1,000 extremists. Access was via the Taliban's own Facebook presence, according to U.K. publication Although the language used is Arabic, messages in English were beginning to appear, the Sun reported. "Bin Laden, via his supporters, is clearly taunting his pursuers," Internet terror expert and author Neil Doyle said.

Israel fears US wants to impose peace


Israel's hardline government is deeply worried that the U.S. will try to impose a Mideast peace deal, that the Palestinians might declare statehood unilaterally and that Washington could be moving to end tensions with Syria. These fears underscore how the current differences between the U.S. and Israel go far beyond a still unresolved diplomatic row over Israeli settlement building. Instead, there is a deepening chasm between the visions of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama, raising questions about the strength of the U.S.-Israeli alliance despite mutual pronouncements that the bond is unshakable.Netanyahu fears Israel could be forced into unwanted concessions and its enemies' hands will be strengthened. His government is pushing to keep the focus firmly on threats from Hezbollah, Hamas and — particularly — Iran and its disputed nuclear program. Obama, in contrast, is speaking about the promises of peace and has taken a new unusual step, publicly characterizing Israeli-Arab strife as harmful to U.S. interests — which many interpreted as a prelude to taking action to push through a peace. A forum of Israel's top seven ministers met three times this week to try to find ways to warm the chilly relationship with the Obama administration, but failed to agree on any specific measures, such as stopping Jewish construction in east Jerusalem, officials said on condition of anonymity because the meetings were closed.

US pledges to help Pakistan after Bhutto probe


The United States pledged Friday to help Pakistan develop democracy after a report said the country could have prevented the 2007 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. The United States, which had encouraged Bhutto's decision to return to Pakistan to resolve political turmoil, "cooperated fully" with the UN probe, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said. "The assassination was a tragedy for the people of Pakistan," Crowley told reporters. "Benazir Bhutto gave her life in defense of the development of Pakistan's democratic institutions." "We will continue to work with Pakistan to make sure that we build the institutions of democracy going forward," Crowley said. Crowley declined to comment on the particulars of the report, but said: "Tragically there were failures at a number of levels where she did not have the protection that she deserved and obviously needed." Bhutto, the first woman to become prime minister of a Muslim country, was killed on December 27, 2007 in a gun and suicide attack after addressing an election rally. Her death threw the world's only nuclear-armed Islamic nation into chaos, sparking violence and months of political turmoil that ended in September 2008 when her widower, Asif Ali Zardari, assumed the presidency. The United States has supported Zardari's civilian administration, last year approving a five-year, 7.5 billion-dollar package to build infrastructure and democratic institutions.