| Al-Qaida plot to kill Lockheed Martin chief: David Headley Posted: 31 May 2011 12:03 PM PDT 
A Pakistani- based branch of al-Qaida was hatching a plot to kill the head of US defense group Lockheed Martin, David Headley testified in a US court on Tuesday. CHICAGO: A Pakistani-based branch of al-Qaida was hatching a plot to kill the head of US defense group Lockheed Martin, self-confessed terrorist David Coleman Headley testified in a US court on Tuesday. "There was a plan to kill him because he was making drones," Headley testified during the Chicago trial of his childhood friend, Tahawwur Hussain Rana. Headley pleaded guilty to 12 terrorism charges related to the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks and other unrealized plots in the wake of his 2009 arrest in Chicago. He is testifying against alleged co-conspirator Rana in exchange for avoiding the death penalty and extradition to India, Pakistan or Denmark. Headley testified that he secretly used Rana's office computer for research on the plot to assassinate the Lockheed Martin executive but dismissed his brief online search there as insignificant. "My research is more in-depth than Googling someone a couple of times," he testified during cross-examination by Rana's defense attorney. Headley said he was working on the plot with Ilyas Kashmiri, the commander of the Pakistani- based terrorist organization Harakat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HUJI), and a senior member of al-Qaida. Headley pleaded guilty to working with Kashmiri on a plot to attack the Danish newspaper Jyllen Posten, which published controversial cartoons of the prophet Mohammed, after Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) got distracted with the Mumbai plot. Rana is accused of providing Headley with a cover and acting as a messenger, with prosecutors alleging he played a behind-the-scenes logistical role in both the Mumbai attacks and another abortive plan to strike Copenhagen. Rana, a Canadian-Pakistani and Chicago businessman, has denied all charges, and his defense attorneys argue that he was duped by his friend, whom he had met in military school. |
| 'Strauss-Kahn's defence team to target maid' Posted: 31 May 2011 12:02 PM PDT 
NEW YORK: The defence team of former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn is likely to question the credibility of a hotel maid, who has accused him of sexual assault. Strauss-Kahn has already indicated that he plans a consensual-sex defence, the Wall Street Journal said. This tactic requires undermining the credibility of the maid, a 32- year-old immigrant from Guinea, according to experts. "There's not a lot of rocket science to this. They're going to be looking to discredit her," John Cutter, vice-president of the investigative firm Beau Dietl & Associates and a retired New York Police told WSJ. Strauss-Kahn, 62, allegedly forced the maid at the Sofitel hotel in Manhattan to perform oral sex. He was taken into custody a few minutes before his Air France flight departed for Paris on May 15. Defence attorneys for Dominique Strauss-Kahn asserted in a letter last week to the Manhattan District Attorney's office that "were we intent on improperly feeding the media frenzy, we could release substantial information that in our view would seriously undermine the quality of the prosecution and also gravely undermine the credibility of the complainant in this case." The New York Post reported that Strauss-Kahn's defence team employed Guidepost Solutions, a private investigations firm run by ex- federal prosecutors, to cross- check every statement in his accuser's allegation. "When you have money you can put up a good defence for what should be indefensible," Anne Seymour, who works at Justice Solutions in Washington, DC, and has worked as a victim's advocate for the past 29 years told WSJ. "It means you can hire high- profile attorneys and in many cases they will rip the poor victims to shreds and go into her background and completely question her lifestyle and go deep in her personal life and find things that have absolutely nothing to do with the case." The former IMF chief is spending his house arrest at a posh pad in Tribeca in Manhattan. He has posted $1 million in bail and $5 million bond to stay out of jail. His next court appearance is on June 6. |
| Saudi denies plan to limit work permits Posted: 31 May 2011 12:01 PM PDT 
RIYADH: Saudi Arabian officials said there is no blanket plan to revoke work permits for foreigners who have held jobs in the kingdom for six or more years, clarifying a statement by the labour minister. Adel Fekyeh, the minister, was quoted Monday as decreeing that such long-term foreign workers would not be given renewed work permits — a measure aimed at boosting job opportunities for Saudis. Unemployment in the oil-rich country stands at 10.5 per cent. Fekyeh had not made clear precisely who would be affected or when. A ministry statement issued late Monday night, however, clarified that Fekyeh was referring to private sector companies that are not complying with regulations requiring that at least five to 10 per cent of their labour force be of Saudi nationality. The ministry said those companies would have a chance to correct work force demographics. Saudi Arabia has been working to improve the lives of its young people — a majority of the population. The kingdom, which sits atop the world's largest proven reserves of crude oil, has for years relied on foreign labour in a host of sectors, ranging from domestic workers to professionals. Fekyeh had said that 90 per cent of the private sector work force was made up of foreign workers and that remittances to their home countries totalled $26.7 billion a year. Saudi Arabia King Abdullah has committed the government to spending more than $90 billion on improving opportunities for the country's citizens, with the efforts focused on job creation, affordable housing and better government services. The money is being spent as part of the country's push to prevent the kind of mass protests that are roiling the Arab world. So far citizens have ousted the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt. The long-time leaders of Yemen, Syria and Libya are fighting to maintain power. The demonstrations have been fuelled by rampant unemployment and poverty in the Arab nations, along with big income disparities and other social and economic ills. |
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