By Reed Stevenson DUBAI – (Reuters) – In the early hours of Monday, Sohaib Athar reported on his Twitter account that a loud bang had rattled his windows in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad, saying he hoped “its not the start of something nasty.” A few hours later Athar posted another tweet: “Uh oh, now I’m the guy who liveblogged the Osama raid without knowing it.” In the age of Twitter, perhaps it’s no surprise that the first signs of the U.S. operation that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden were noticed by an IT consultant awake late at night. Athar, a resident of Abbottabad where bin Laden was holed up, first noticed a helicopter and thought it unusual enough to post this on his Twitter account. “Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event),” wrote Athar. Moments later, he added: “A huge window shaking bang here… I hope its not the start of something nasty.” After liveblogging and speculating for several hours over what happened, it dawned on Athar and those following him that they were witnessing the end of a worldwide manhunt for the man held responsible for orchestrating the September 11, 2001 attacks. “I think the helicopter crash in Abbottabad, Pakistan and the President Obama breaking news address are connected,” said one of Athar’s followers. Seven hours after Athar’s first tweet, President Barack Obama announced bin Laden’s death in an operation by U.S. forces where one helicopter was lost. Twitter, launched five years after the 2001 attacks, is used by an estimated 200 million people per day, serving as an internet platform for users to broadcast, track and share short messages of no more 140 characters in length. Athar’s tweets, initially peppered with jokes (“Uh oh, there goes the neighborhood”) eventually turned to exasperation as his email inbox, Skype and Twitter accounts were flooded by those trying to reach him (“Ok, I give up. I can’t read all the @ mentions so I’ll stop trying”). Athar did not respond to a request by Reuters for comment. Separately, in the United States, the first indication that bin Laden had been found and killed came from a another tweet by Keith Urbahn, who says on his Twitter profile that he is chief of staff for former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. “So I’m told by a reputable person they have killed Osama Bin Laden. Hot damn,” Urbahn tweeted more than hour before Obama’s speech. (editing by David Stamp) Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions
Continue reading …iOS 4.3.3 rumored to be coming within next two weeks with fix for location tracking issue
May 2, 2011 No Comment
Apple promised last week that it would address the iPhone tracking issue in a software update in the “next few weeks,” and BGR is now reporting that the update is coming within the next two weeks, or “possibly sooner.” What’s more, the site says that it’s actually been sent an early version of the iOS update, and that it does indeed no longer back up the location database to iTunes — the size of the database is also said to be reduced, and it’s apparently deleted altogether when Location Services are turned off. Somewhat notably, BGR says that the update includes some further battery life improvements as well, although it also notes that it hasn’t actually tried it out just yet — it is promising additional details, though. iOS 4.3.3 rumored to be coming within next two weeks with fix for location tracking issue originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 May 2011 15:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …The White House Correspondents’ Dinner was Saturday night, just one day before Osama bin Laden was killed in a US raid. Knowing that, it’s especially interesting to watch the joke Seth Meyers made at the dinner—and Obama’s reaction to it in particular. Hat tip to Pat’s Papers for the…
Continue reading …Kate and Wills may be planning to jet off on a 10-day honeymoon in a $6,600-per-night villa on an island in the Indian Ocean later this month, but that will soon be followed by a rough 10-week separation, as the Duke of Cambridge has been assigned to head to…
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Martin Sheen’s new film will make the religious route in Spain even more popular In the Middle Ages, Santiago de Compostela in north- western Spain was the No 1 centre of pilgrimage in Christendom. The first recorded pilgrims arrived in AD950 and by the 13th century more than half a million people a year trekked from across Europe to visit the grave of the apostle Saint James, whose remains had supposedly been discovered by a shepherd. The past 20 years have seen a revival of interest in the pilgrimage, especially along the best-known path, the 500-mile Camino Francés, which crosses northern Spain from the Pyrenees across the flat central “meseta” and finally over the green hills of Galicia. In 1985 just 2,500 pilgrims walked to Santiago. Last year, the Confraternity of Saint James reported that more than 150,000 people received their “compostelas”, the certificate of pilgrimage. And interest looks set to increase with the release this month of The Way , a film about an American doctor, played by Martin Sheen, who completes the route in memory of his son, killed while walking the Camino. So is the revival of the pigrimage a sign of increased religiosity? No matter what the Catholic church might hope, I don’t think so. Most people I walked with a few years ago were not practising Catholics; I started the walk as an atheist, and came back as one. But the Camino is a fantastic antidote to our stressful lives – and a lesson in deferred gratification. You set little targets, some forced by geography, some self-imposed. So, no water until the top of the hill, no lunch until the next village, nowhere to sleep until the next refugio. My fellow pilgrim Jonna, a Finnish journalist, says: “The rhythm of walking was magic. It was such a mental relief to get away from city life, cars and noise.” You probably won’t find the answers you’re looking for, but after 33 days of walking (plus two rest days) I certainly ended up asking different questions. You also learn what you really need to be happy: a light rucksack, less clutter, and no blisters. Santiago de Compostela Walking holidays Spain Martin Sheen Rob Williams guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Obama’s Poker Face: President Reacts to Bin Laden Joke at Correspondents’ Dinner
May 2, 2011 No Comment
Having ordered the raid on bin Laden’s hideout Friday, Obama kept the secret well-guarded even when Seth Meyers joked about it Saturday. As Seth Meyers equated C-SPAN’s ghostliness to bin Laden’s elusiveness, Obama sat back in his chair and gave a hearty laugh. But did the Commander-in-Chief know fully what was going down in Pakistan?
Continue reading …Good news for Detroit: The Big Three automakers are all profitable once again. Chrysler has reported its first net profit since leaving bankruptcy nearly two years ago, with a net income of $116 million in the first quarter. The firm saw revenue jump 35% to $13.1 billion compared to…
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Tribute to late designer from city’s Metropolitan Museum of Art follows royal wedding dress commission In life, Alexander McQueen was the risqué rebel of fashion, a designer who occasionally struggled to juggle his extraordinary creativity with the demands of commerciality; in death, he has achieved a level of establishment acceptance that he could never have dreamed possible – even with his elastic imagination. Only four days after it was revealed that his label had received the commission of a generation , when the Duchess of Cambridge stepped out of the car wearing a wedding dress by the label’s head designer, Sarah Burton, the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York held a preview of its retrospective of the designer’s work. Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty opens on Wednesday. Since his death last year, Lee McQueen, who adopted the name Alexander for his label, has grown in prominence. It is an irony that this designer, who often played with images of mortality in his work, would have appreciated with his typically black humour. The exhibition features all of McQueen’s best-known work, from his early days in the 1990s, through his tempestuous tenure at Givenchy, to his very last collection. The dress that was famously spraypainted mid-show by paint jets in 1999, the Chinese garden hat from his 2005 collection that was worn by his long-term muse, Isabella Blow, whose suicide in 2007 preceded McQueen’s, and videos from his highly original shows all serve as reminders of the designer’s unique talent. “For me, this feels horrific, but [McQueen] would have loved it – he would have pretended that he didn’t, but he would have, and the wedding dress would have given him such a sense of validation,” said McQueen’s long-time collaborator, milliner Philip Treacy, as he walked through the show. “Fashion is supposed to be effortless, but when I look at every piece I think of what he put into it and how in the end the sheer pressure of creativity killed him. He promoted this idea of himself as an enfant terrible but he was actually a very sweet and gentle person – he wouldn’t have wanted you to know that, either.” Fellow British designer Stella McCartney talked about “the genius of my friend” and remembered when the two of them were just starting out and “used to joke about starting businesses in London – who’d have thought”. The highly private Sarah Burton, fresh off the plane from London after a fairly busy few days, recalled the weekend when McQueen went for a walk on the beach and returned to the office on Sunday with bags full of shells to be incorporated into his collection. “The studio smelled like the seaside,” she said. Harold Koda, chief of the Costume Institute, said that what particularly struck him was how “McQueen took things that were terrifying but made them beautiful.” This is certainly apparent in the exhibition: the jewellery that more than flirts with S&M imagery, the billowing capes that oscillate between ghostly and elegant, the body-fitted leather dresses that turn feminine gowns into armour. “He confronted demons and made them magical,” added Koda. Meanwhile, the Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding dress is to go on display. It is not known exactly when or where it will appear, although Kensington Palace and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London are among possible locations. “The Duchess of Cambridge is considering a number of options to give members of the public the opportunity to see, close up, the skilled British craftsmanship that went into the making of her wedding dress by Sarah Burton and her team as well as the Royal School of Needlework,” said Clarence House. For months, the dress was fashion’s best-kept secret. Even the team of embroiderers at Hampton Court Palace did not know the identity of the designer. At the forefront Duchess of Cambridge Her decision to opt for wedding dress by head designer Sarah Burton propelled it to the highest prominence a brand can have Michelle Obama Wore a flame-red floor-length McQueen gown to state dinner in honour of China earlier this year, prompting much embarrassing bluster among American designers and journalists, cross that she didn’t wear a design by a homegrown label Kate Moss Moss and McQueen were mutually supportive of one another from the early days of their careers. After Moss was photographed apparently taking cocaine, McQueen appeared at his next show proclaiming his love for the model Isabella Blow McQueen’s lifelong muse and supporter bought his entire graduate collection and was hardly ever seen wearing another label Blow’s suicide in 2007 was said to have contributed to the depression that led to the designer’s death last year. Alexander McQueen Fashion Fashion designers Museums Kate Middleton Royal wedding United States Hadley Freeman guardian.co.uk
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• Humanitarian aid cannot reach city’s harbour • Evacuees and casualties stranded in the assaults Muammar Gaddafi’s forces have bombarded Misrata with missiles and tank fire, preventing ships carrying humanitarian aid from entering the port for a fourth straight day. The sustained attacks on the port are causing deep concern in the city, which has been surrounded by Gaddafi’s troops on land for more than two months. Food, medical supplies and other aid can only be delivered through the harbour, while migrant workers and casualties can only be evacuated by boat. The shelling came as crowds gathered in Tripoli for the funeral of Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Arab and three of his grandchildren, who were killed in a Nato air strike on Saturday, according to the government. Gaddafi did not attend the funeral but his son Saif al-Islam did, watching as his brother’s coffin, covered in a green flag and flowers, was carried to the cemetery. The deaths triggered reprisal attacks on the French and British embassies in Tripoli, and the US diplomatic mission, for their role in the Nato mission. But in Misrata, where more than 1,000 people have killed since late February, there is increasing anger that Nato is not doing enough to destroy Gaddafi’s missile launchers that continue to pummel the city. A ferry chartered by the International Organisation for Migration has been forced to wait offshore since Saturday morning. It is due to collect at least 800 African workers who have been trying to escape the city for weeks, and who have been forced to endure the barrage of missiles in recent days. More than 30 hospital patients, four of them in intensive care, are also waiting to board the ship. “We know the only way to keep Misrata alive is to keep the harbour open,” said Hafed Makhlouf, the controller and ship pilot of the port. “Gaddafi realises this too, and knows that the only way to extinguish the revolution is by starving the people.” On Sunday, just hours after Makhlouf had pleaded for Nato to stop the attack on the port, it was pounded again by dozens of missiles that struck the land as well as the sea around the harbour mouth. A checkpoint on the road to the port was also destroyed, killing two guards. “To be honest, I am not that satisfied with Nato’s actions,” said Makhlouf, a navy veteran who has worked at the port since 1996. “The harbour has been nearly completely closed for days now.” But a few hours spent with Makhlouf in the controller’s office again highlighted the difficulties in communications between the rebels and Nato, which was illustrated last week when 12 rebel fighters were killed after straying into an area that had been cleared for bombing. “Nato, we have special information for you,” said Makhlouf, speaking quickly into the radio. “Do you have a warship close to the breakwater? It’s very urgent. Our men are going to fire.” The Nato radio operator answered immediately, promising to check. Makhlouf ran outside with his satellite phone and binoculars, scanning the harbour entrance. His phone rang: it was Nato confirming neither of its two frigates were that close to the port. Indeed, what the rebel lookouts had spotted was a group of doctors aboard a small boat that had been dispatched from a mother ship forced to remain far offshore. After losing the battle for Misrata’s city centre last week, loyalist forces have concentrated their efforts on shutting down the port, which Gaddafi says is used by rebels to bring in arms. They have been doing so, using small fishing boats from the eastern city of Benghazi but the vast majority of the incoming cargo has been food, drugs and other medical supplies. In addition to the missile attacks, Gaddafi has also attempted to sink some of the incoming ships using sea mines. According to Makhlouf, the rebels had received a tip on Thursday from Zleten, a town 30 miles west of Misrata, that three small microbuses had been spotted dropping off a crew of frogmen near the harbour. Makhlouf said he passed on the warning to the two Nato warships stationed off Misrata. At 4.30am on Friday, while he was asleep on the chair in his office, his radio crackled to life. It was Nato, saying it had spotted four small dinghies approaching Misrata at speed. “I asked Nato to act as I was sure it was a plot to destroy the warships, or other ships coming into Misrata,” said Makhlouf. He was right. The loyalist naval team was carrying several floating sea mines aboard two of the dinghies, which they sank about 1.5 miles offshore, directly in the shipping lane to Misrata. Nato said it had intercepted three mines, and disposed of them. Libya Muammar Gaddafi Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Xan Rice guardian.co.uk
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White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said Monday that the US forces who killed Osama bin Laden would have taken him alive if they had the opportunity. (May 2)
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