W O R L D

Bin Laden deputy Zarqawi widens battle front
Berlin, November 11
Why has Osama bin Laden gone silent? While his lieutenant in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has not only stepped up the insurgency there but also claimed responsibility for three suicide bombs in Jordan this week, the Al Qaeda leader has released no audio message since last December and has not been seen on video for over a year.

Baton charge on quake survivors
Muzaffarabad, November 11
Police baton-charged around 250 earthquake survivors in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir who were protesting against orders to vacate a squalid makeshift camp today, a police chief said.



US-born nine-year-old Manjot Singh comforts an earthquake injured Kashmiri woman during the visit of a Sikh delegation from US to Agha Khan medical camp in Islamabad on Friday. — PTI photo

Napoleon’s tooth sold for £ 12,939
London, November 11
A tooth believed to have been extracted from Napoleon’s mouth was sold at an auction in London today for 12,939 pounds.

“Lion of the Desert” maker succumbs to injuries
Dubai, November 11
Hollywood Arab film director Moustapha Akkad has died in hospital from wounds sustained in the hotel bomb attacks in Jordan this week, Arab television stations said today.

Timex has long innings in White House!
New Delhi, November 11
Which watch does US President George W Bush sport? Or, for that matter, which was the watch worn by his predecessor Mr Bill Clinton, or George Bush Senior?

Bin Laden deputy Zarqawi widens battle front

Berlin, November 11
Why has Osama bin Laden gone silent? While his lieutenant in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has not only stepped up the insurgency there but also claimed responsibility for three suicide bombs in Jordan this week, the Al Qaeda leader has released no audio message since last December and has not been seen on video for over a year.

Bin Laden’s longest public silence since the September 11 attacks on the USA in 2001 is unlikely to be because he has suddenly gone shy, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld remarked ironically to German magazine Der Spiegel last month.

Intelligence officials and security analysts see two explanations — that Bin Laden is so tightly holed up that he cannot smuggle out messages, or that he is biding his time and preparing a major announcement.

“Some of the means he had to communicate have dried up,” said a US counter-terrorism official, who declined to elaborate. “He’s isolated, and has difficulty communicating.”

He described this as an impediment to Al Qaeda’s propaganda. Western intelligence officials say such messages, usually shown on Arab television channels such as Al Jazeera, have a significant mobilising impact on potential followers.

In the absence of new material from Bin Laden, widely believed to be hiding in inaccessible mountain terrain between Pakistan and Afghanistan, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri has become the chief mouthpiece of the Al Qaeda leadership, issuing one audio and five video tapes since the start of this year.

“We have no indications (Bin Laden) is no longer alive. We haven’t seen any messages from Bin Laden but we have seen messages from Zawahri,” German foreign intelligence chief August Hanning told reporters this week.

“I believe this whole communications channel that was built up in Pakistan by the Al Qaeda structure is still quite effective and is functioning well.”

That may suggest that Zawahri and Bin Laden are hiding at separate locations, said Mustafi Alani, a security analyst at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai.

Or it could be that Bin Laden has deliberately delegated communications to his deputy in order to maximise the dramatic impact of his own rare appearances, like his video message just before last year’s US presidential election.

According to this theory, “Osama Bin Laden will appear when there is a major, major operation again ... This will have maximum publicity,” Alani said.

“This will give the impression there is some sort of structure still functioning within Al Qaeda, that the leader will only appear when there is something very important, but the day-to-day dealing with the media is left to somebody else.”

Alani noted it was also Zawahri, not Bin Laden, who in July purportedly wrote a long letter to Zarqawi which was intercepted by the USA and cited by Washington as evidence of splits between Zarqawi and the Al Qaeda leadership.

The letter questioned some of Zarqawi’s tactics, including attacks on Shi’ite Muslims and the beheading of hostages, although it also thanked him for his “heroic acts” and invoked blessings on him.

Zarqawi — whose group denied the authenticity of the letter — has not only cemented his reputation as Al Qaeda’s most ruthless and successful field commander in Iraq, but also struck in his native Jordan this week with the suicide bombings of three Amman hotels in which at least 56 persons were killed.

German spy chief Hanning said Zarqawi’s highly visible campaign in Iraq and beyond was increasingly making him a model for militants in Europe as well as across the Middle East.

But Alani said there was no prospect of Zarqawi supplanting Bin Laden in influence.

“He cannot compete with Osama Bin Laden. Osama Bin Laden is too big, too important ... When you say Al Qaeda, inevitably people link it to Osama Bin Laden and this sort of position will not be filled by a field commander like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.”

While Zarqawi is the movement’s top operational figure, Alani said Bin Laden had long since assumed a mainly symbolic role as the original Al Qaeda has become more fragmented and diffuse, with scattered groups and cells looking to him as a spiritual mentor.

“The question of whether he is in the public eye or not apparently has minimal impact on operations,” he said.

“Al Qaeda has passed this stage. Al Qaeda can really operate without a Bin Laden, without Afghanistan as a base and without a headquarters, command and control ... Now we have Al Qaeda's, rather than Al Qaeda.” — Reuters

Baton charge on quake survivors

Muzaffarabad, November 11
Police baton-charged around 250 earthquake survivors in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir who were protesting against orders to vacate a squalid makeshift camp today, a police chief said.

A number of the demonstrators were arrested as they marched through the centre of the regional capital Muzaffarabad, the police chief of PoK, Shahid Hassan, told AFP.

“They were ordered to leave the temporary camp because it was set up in the middle of the city and it did not have any proper sanitation or waste disposal facilities,” Mr Hassan said.

“We were shifting them to a proper camp but they did not agree,” he added. — AFP

Napoleon’s tooth sold for £ 12,939

London, November 11
A tooth believed to have been extracted from Napoleon’s mouth was sold at an auction in London today for 12,939 pounds.

The tooth, part of a small collection of Napoleon Bonaparte items, was bought by a private collector from England who asked to remain anonymous.

The previous owner, who died recently, was a Napoleonic scholar.

The tooth came with papers tracing it back to Napoleon’s physician Barry O’Meara, who apparently extracted it from the former French Emperor’s mouth in 1817 during the Frenchman’s exile on the British island of St Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. — AP

“Lion of the Desert” maker succumbs to injuries

Dubai, November 11
Hollywood Arab film director Moustapha Akkad has died in hospital from wounds sustained in the hotel bomb attacks in Jordan this week, Arab television stations said today.

The Syrian-born Akkad had been staying in one of three luxury hotels hit by suicide bombers in Amman on Wednesday, killing at least 56 persons, Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya said. Akkad was executive producer of the famed “Halloween” horror films.
— Reuters

Timex has long innings in White House!

New Delhi, November 11
Which watch does US President George W Bush sport? Or, for that matter, which was the watch worn by his predecessor Mr Bill Clinton, or George Bush Senior?

It is one from Timex, a leading watch company in America.

President Bush made this revelation about his Timex watch in an interview to an Argentine reporter ahead of his upcoming presidential trip to Latin Ameria.

The American President said he “doesn’t need to carry any cash, a cell phone or even car keys with him since he is constantly surrounded by his aides.”

When later asked if he even had a watch, President Bush answered by thrusting out his wrist to show off his Timex watch that had his middle name, W, on its face.

Quoting the interview which has been put on the CNN website, Timex said it sure had an interesting relationship with the White House!

It was George Bush Senior’s favourite watch, and even the charismatic Bill Clinton sported the best-selling Timex Ironman Triathlon watch, as was once stated in the American Time magazine.

The Timex story dates all the way back to 1857 when it was established as The Waterbury Clock Company. The first Timex wristwatch was introduced in 1950 and quickly became the generic name in the field. It has a multi-brand strategy ranging from the sporty and high-tech to the dressy. There are also a variety of watches in cool colours and shapes aimed at the young and hip.

Australian cricket star Brett Lee is the Brand Ambassador of the company. — UNI