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US Defence Secy admits use
of torture in Osama hunt
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22 killed in clash of Filipino extremists, rebels
Finally, women in Paris allowed to wear trousers
Lankan Prez cries foul at ‘international interference’
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse (C) watches a military parade during the country's 65th Independence Day celebrations in Trincomalee on Monday. — AFP
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US Defence Secy admits use of torture in Osama hunt New York, February 4 Panetta made the candid admission, becoming the highest-ranking Obama administration official to do so, while responding to a question on Kathyrn Bigelow's Oscar-nominated film "Zero Dark Thirty", the New York Post reported. The film depicts prisoners being waterboarded by the US in an effort to find out where Osama bin Laden's was hiding. "The movie seems to say, to indicate that enhanced interrogation techniques or torture was used to get information to get Osama. Is that true?", Panetta, outgoing US Defence Secretary, was asked on an NBC show. "Yes, some of it came from some interrogation tactics that were used at that time," Panetta responded. "The real story was that in order to put the puzzle of intelligence together that led us to Osama, there were a lot of pieces out there that were a part of that puzzle," Panetta added. But the former CIA Director dismissed the tactics as playing a key role as the movie depicts in the location of Laden, who was shot and killed in May 2011, by Navy SEALS while he was hiding in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. "The fact is we put together most of that intelligence without having to resort to that," Panetta said. "I think we would've gotten Osama without that." Panetta's stance is different from that of Bush administration officials, who have called the "enhanced interrogation" methods that were used under them critical to the operation. The CIA and the Pentagon cooperated heavily with the filmmakers of the movie and they were even offered a meeting with a Navy SEAL commando familiar with the raid. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, if confirmed by the Senate, is set to replace Panetta as the Defence Secretary. — PTI
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22 killed in clash of Filipino extremists, rebels Manila, February 4 There was no word on whether the hostages were hurt in the fighting, but they remained in the grip of the Abu Sayyaf militants, the police said. Rebel commander Khabir Malik of the Moro National Liberation Front, which has an autonomy deal with the government, said his group decided to attack the Abu Sayyaf in the rugged mountains of Patikul town in southern Sulu province after negotiations collapsed on the release of several of its foreign hostages, including a Jordanian TV journalist and two European men who have been held since last year. Abu Sayyaf militants did release two Filipino hostages over the weekend after an unspecified ransom was paid, security officials said, adding the captives were let loose on their own and not turned over to the Moro rebels. "We had no choice," Malik told The Associated Press by telephone from Patikul. "They told us they won't hand over their hostages to us even if they die." The Moro rebels battled the Abu Sayyaf with guns and knives at close range yesterday, Malik said, adding his group lost eight men, including one who was beheaded and a few others who were hacked to death. Military and police officials in Sulu said up to 14 Abu Sayyaf men were killed, citing intelligence. — AP
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Finally, women in Paris allowed to wear trousers
Paris, February 4 Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, France's Minister of Women's Rights, said in a statement that the ban, imposed on November 17, 1800, was incompatible with modern French values and laws. The municipal order required Parisian women to seek permission from local police if they wanted to "dress like a man" by wearing trousers. It was modified in 1892 and 1909 to allow women to wear trousers if they were "holding a bicycle handlebar or the reins of a horse" but had officially remained on the books. Answering a question in the Official Journal of the French Senate, Vallaud-Belkacem said that while it had not been formally struck down, the order was in effect abrogated. "This order was aimed first of all at limiting the access of women to certain offices or occupations by preventing them from dressing in the manner of men," she said. "This order is incompatible with the principles of equality between women and men. From that incompatibility stems the implicit abrogation of the order," she said. — AFP
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Lankan Prez cries foul at ‘international interference’ Colombo, February 4 Rajapaksa made the comments during his address at the 65th Independence Day celebrations, marking the country's independence from Britain in 1948, held at the eastern port town of
Trincomalee. "The UN charter gives no powers to interfere in internal affairs of countries," Rajapaksa said, quoting Article 2 of the UN charter. Rajapaksa said that nothing contained in the present UN charter has authorised it to intervene in domestic issues. His comments came ahead of the UN Human Rights Council sessions beginning later this month in Geneva. The US has already indicated of moving a resolution against Sri Lanka. — PTI
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Probe ordered into Indian’s death in Pak jail Join peace process: UK PM to Taliban Cambodia’s King Sihanouk cremated Israel arrests 23 Hamas men Israeli hit ‘damaged’ vital Syrian site 22 workers killed in UAE road mishap
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Colombo, February 4
