Libya rebels fear for Gaddafi prisoners

The notorious Abu Salim prison was stormed by rebels earlier this week

Rebel military spokesman Col Ahmed Omar Bani said almost 50,000 people arrested in recent months were unaccounted for.The rebels believe they may be being held in underground bunkers, which have since been abandoned.Rights groups have seen evidence that dozens of people have been massacred near prisons, but Col Bani did not accuse anyone of killing the prisoners."The number of people arrested over the past months is estimated at between 57,000 and 60,000," he said in a news conference in Benghazi."Between 10,000 and 11,000 prisoners have been freed up until now... so where are the others?"The colonel appealed for anyone with information to come forward, and said it would be "catastrophic" if they had been killed.

Hunt for Gaddafi

The BBC's Jon Leyne in Benghazi says many rebels and their supporters were detained by fighters loyal to fugitive leader Col Muammar Gaddafi during the struggle for Benghazi and other cities.He says many other activists - and even those just suspected of supporting the revolution - were arrested in waves of security crackdowns, particularly when Col Gaddafi was trying to stop the revolution from spreading to Tripoli.Human Rights Watch has said it has evidence that pro-Gaddafi forces killed at least 17 prisoners and carried out "suspected arbitrary executions of dozens of civilians,

including professionals" in the days before Tripoli fell to the rebels.Reuters news agency claimed earlier this week to have discovered an apparent massacre site in Tripoli; and separately about 50 charred corpses were found in a warehouse south of the capital on Saturday.But it was unclear who was responsible for any of the killings.The rebels stormed Tripoli earlier in the week and took control of almost all of it after two days of fighting.Although sporadic gunshots could be heard in the capital on Sunday, the rebels say they are now in control and are trying to restore basic utilities such as water supply.However, Gaddafi loyalists are continuing to fight in other parts of the country - particularly around Col Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte.Some rebel commanders believe the colonel and his inner circle are likely to have fled to Sirte.But other rumours swirling
around include allegations that the Gaddafis are hiding in Tripoli; that some of them fled to Algiers; or that some have already taken refuge in Europe.On the weekend, a spokesman for the Gaddafi regime offered to open talks with the rebel government, the National Transitional Council.But the NTC rejected the offer, describing the colonel as a criminal who should be put on trial.The UK Foreign Secretary William Hague described the offer of talks as delusional.

Libyan rebels head to the captured town of Bin Jawad, 62 miles from Gaddafi's last coastal stronghold of Sirte. Photograph: Gianluigi Guercia

China accused on copter

WASHINGTON. Pakistan’s intelligence service probably allowed Chinese military engineers to examine the wreckage of the American Black Hawk helicopter that crashed during the raid in which Osama bin Laden was killed.US spy agencies have concluded that it is likely that Chinese engineers took detailed photographs of the severed tail of the helicopter equipped with classified technology designed to elude radar. The team that conducted the raid had tried to destroy the helicopter after it crashed at bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, but the tail section remained largely intact.American officials cautioned that they did not yet have definitive proof that the Chinese were allowed to visit Abbottabad.

   

Australia bomb hoax 'was extortion attempt

The offender had had previous contact with Ms Pulver, police say

Australian police say an elaborate hoax in which a fake bomb was attached to a teenager was an attempt at extortion.

Madeleine Pulver, 18, was at home in Sydney when an intruder apparently entered and placed a suspected explosive device round her neck.Police took 10 hours to remove the device, evacuating nearby streets in the wealthy suburb of Mosman.They said the intruder left behind a note attached to the device that confirmed the motive was extortion.The offender had had previous contact with Ms Pulver and was wearing some sort of disguise, they said.'Hollywood script'
New South Wales Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Murdoch told journalists the device turned out to be "a very, very elaborate hoax"."But it was made and certainly gave the appearance of a legitimate improvised explosive device. We had to treat it seriously until we could prove otherwise and that's exactly what we did and that's why it took so long."The device was attached "by a chain or something similar," he told ABC radio.The demands made on the note have not been revealed but New South Wales police Detective Superintendent Luke Moore said: "We are treating this as an attempted extortion - a very serious attempted extortion."BBC correspondent Nick Bryant says police were baffled by the device, saying it was very sophisticated and very confusing.Bomb disposal experts used X-ray equipment to gain a better sense of precisely what they were dealing with, and even sought assistance from the British military.During the operation, several streets were cordoned off in Mosman, one of Sydney's wealthiest suburbs on the city's lower north shore. Ambulances and fire crews rushed to the area.Four people remained in the room with the schoolgirl during the operation, two bomb disposal experts and two police negotiators trying to keep her calm.Our correspondent says that Ms Pulver, who is part of a very rich family living in a very rich part of Sydney, was apparently in remarkable spirits throughout her ordeal.Ms Pulver was taken to hospital for checks before being released on Thursday and is now recovering with her parents.Agence France-Presse news agency said the teenager's father, William Pulver, was a successful businessman who was chief executive of a linguistic solutions software company.Mr Pulver said Madeleine was "in pretty good spirits".He told the Sydney Morning Herald: "She is a little tired and a little sore from holding this damn device in place for about 10 hours but she is now, as we are, eager to get on with her life."Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard told Fairfax radio she was shocked by the case."When I looked at it this morning, the first thing I said was, 'It's like a Hollywood script - the kind of thing you would see at the cinema or on TV,"' she said."You would never expect it to happen in real life in Australia."

Police outside the home of the 18-year old girl who called saying she had a bomb strapped to her earlier today, in Australia

Funeral held for slain Libya rebel military chief

(AP) Thousands of mourners followed the funeral procession for the Libyan rebels' slain military chief on Friday, a day after he was gunned down under still mysterious circumstances.

Mourners chanted "Martyrs are God's Beloved" as they carried Abdel-Fattah Younis's coffin to a cemetery in the de-facto eastern rebel capital Benghazi.

Fear and confusion gripped Benghazi, where heavy gunfire crackled in the early hours Friday, as residents worried about the possibility his death could undermine the rebels' military forces, leaving the opposition-held east vulnerable to attack by Moammar Gadhafi's forces.

The circumstances of his death remained almost entirely unexplained. The head of the rebel National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, said Younis had been summoned to Benghazi for questioning on a "military matter" and was killed along with two aides while on route.

Libyan rebel leader: Our military chief killed

Rebel commander Abdel Fattah Younes speaks during a rally in Benghazi on July 6.

The head of the Libyan rebels' military campaign against Moammar Gadhafi was shot dead by assailants on Thursday, the top rebel leader said.
Abdel Fattah Younes was part of the group involved in the 1969 coup that brought Gadhafi to power, and was interior minister before he defected and took a senior position in the rebellion in February.
"We received news today that ... Younes and two of his bodyguards were shot at after he was called in to appear before a judicial committee investigating military issues," rebel leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil told reporters in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
Some rebels were never comfortable with an army leader who had until recently been so close to Gadhafi, and Younes had been involved in a dispute over the leadership of the rebel forces.
Jalil said Younes was shot before appearing in front of the judicial committee and the head of the armed cell that killed him had been arrested.
It was not clear where Younes and his bodyguards had been killed or how Jalil had learned of their deaths, but Jalil said all efforts were being made to find their bodies.
Shortly afterwards, gunmen burst into the grounds of the hotel where Jalil was speaking and fired bursts of shots in the air, a Reuters reporter said.

* News * World news * US military US soldier arrested near Fort Hood 'with bomb-making material'

A US army soldier has been arrested after police found him in possession of possible bomb-making material at a motel near Fort Hood, Texas.
FBI special agent Eric Vasys said the soldier, who was absent without leave from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, was being held in a jail in the Texas town of Killeen, near Fort Hood, on an unrelated child pornography charge.
The soldier was identified as 21-year-old Naser Jason Abdo, originally from the Dallas area. He disappeared from Fort Campbell over the 4 July weekend, Bob Jenkins, a spokesman at the base said.
"Whatever threat Mr Nassar [sic Naser] posed yesterday or up until yesterday has been eliminated and mitigated, and there was nothing to indicate he was acting with anyone else," Vasys said.
He did not elaborate on the apparent threat, or on the charges Abdo might face. Vasys said he had no knowledge of any other arrests of soldiers.
Abdo was arrested on Wednesday after a "concerned citizen" reported that he had firearms and smokeless gunpowder in his Killeen motel room, Vasys said. "A search of his motel room revealed that he had some components which could be considered bomb-making materials."
Abdo applied for conscientious objector status in 2010 after he decided Islamic standards would prohibit his service in the US army in any war, military officials said.
Fort Hood was the scene of a November 2009 massacre in which 13 people were killed and 32 others wounded.
Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Malik Hasan was charged with the shootings and is expected to face a court martial in March 2012.

Nine space stars who should have gone into orbit

From my personal point of view only — no authority or expertise claimed — here are the folks I’m sorry did not go into orbit aboard a space shuttle.
I wish she had been able to complete her mission, cut tragically short in 1986 on the very brink of space when the shuttle Challenger was lost. Christa was a gifted and dedicated teacher with a flight plan of demonstrations that would have really connected with students, and she would have followed up actively for the rest of her life.
In the mid-1960s, Lawrence was with a team of military astronauts who later transferred to NASA and were to play leading roles in the space shuttle program and beyond. Some became top NASA officials. Lawrence, who would have been the first African-American spaceman, was at the top of this class, had a Ph.D. in chemistry, was fluent in German and was a crackerjack pilot. He died in a plane crash in 1967 when he was instructing another test pilot
By my count, 299 of those shuttle riders were Americans, compared to the 43 Americans who were launched in the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and Skylab programs. Seven of those fliers from the pre-shuttle space programs also made shuttle flights, so they count twice.
Roughly 90 percent of all Americans who have ever gone into orbit did so in the shuttle program. Despite the size and diversity of this group, there are some additional people I wish we could have seen go into space on the shuttle. There were people who almost got to fly, or should have gotten to fly, or were tragically lost before they could savor space — men and women who would have enhanced the space program's harvest of human experience.
Even in death, she inspired the Challenger Learning Centers, which do a magnificent job of youth outreach — but if she had been able to make her mission, she’d have helped lead the development of such centers and other educational initiatives. American education is the poorer with her absence from the shuttle orbital list.