Mohammed Yusuf, 39 leader of the Boko Haram the Nigerian version of Taliban has died in police custody; human right campaigners have called the killing unlawful. Boko Haram has been blamed for the unrest in north eastern Nigeria which has resulted in hundreds of people dead. The group like Taliban is against western education and wants to convert Nigeria into an Islamic state and also wants to implement a strict version of Islamic Sharia Law.

Mohammed Yusuf was killed in a shootout by the security forces when he tried to escape. This was confirmed to the Nigerian Television by Moses Anegbode, regional Asst. Inspector-General of Police.

This mass unrest in North Eastern Nigeria started on Sunday in Bauchi and then spread to the other towns. There have been several gun battles since Sunday between the Islamic militants and Government lead security forces. Hundreds of militants have tried to attack government and police buildings and have more then 300 people dead, but some estimate that the death toll could have even exceeded 600. Nigeria has a population of 150 million which is equally split with Muslims dominating the North and Christians dominating the South.

Afgan city Khost came under attack from Taliban fighters as thy attacked the police chief’s office. Many people heard sounds of explosions and gunfire in the main city complex with houses the main police station, attorney general’s office, courts and a local bank branch. Suicide bombers tried to enter the main police station. There is a fierce gun battle taking place and casualties are expected on both the sides. Police and army have taken position on the main roads of the city and as of now the city is empty. The Taliban fighters are armed with rockets and AK-47’s. The fighters have taken up position in the building and they are surrounded from all sides.

This is not the first time when Khost has come under attack from Taliban fighters. Earlier in May Taliban fighters had launched attacks on government buildings and killed seven people.

This region of Afghanistan has faced regular Taliban attacks. Gardez just 50 miles from Khost was attacked by Taliban fighters killing four security personal. In Gardez too the targets of attack were government buildings including police chief’s office, a police station, the intelligence directorate and the governor’s compound. In another attack in the city of Jalalabad a security personel was killed.

The 37-yr old comic star, Sacha Baron Cohen who plays Bruno has been compelled to beef up security measures for himself and his kin, since he has been receiving death threats from Islam terrorists. As an act of vengeance, the extremists have targeted him for his deriding remarks about a terrorist faction in the film where he dons the role of a gay fashion idol.

Yesterday, Baron Cohen’s lawyers have informed the Daily Star that he has been targeted by an extremist faction that has taken accountability for the latest terror attacks. The group most probably, the Al Aqsa Martrys’ Brigade have been offended by Baron Cohen calling Osama bin Laden, the Al Qaeda head, a ‘dirty wizard or a homeless Father Christmas’ in his film ‘Bruno’.

In the movie, the ostentatious fashion correspondent is seen telling the group’s believed head, Ayman Abu Aita that he wants to be famous and wants the best guys in the industry to kidnap him. Ayman Abu Aita is seen irately summoning for Bruno to go away after he affronts Bin Laden saying he was interrogated under phony pretence and asserted that he no more belonged to the militant faction.

The Martyrs’ Brigade have made an announcement in which they condemned the misuse of their brother Ayman’s name and the name of Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade for which they were rightful in responding to this misdeed in a way they found appropriate.

Baron Cohen has even made a verbal punch at Hamas, the Palestinian military group, gaffing them for hummus, the chick pea paste in the movie.

There was the huge uproar in the Indian parliament over president Mr. APJ Abdul Kalam was frisked by staff of Continental Airlines before boarding a flight to the US. Several Members of the Parliament confirmed the report and have asked the aviation minister to take this matter seriously. As per protocol former presidents and similar level dignitaries are exempted from such searches. Mr.Praful Patel, the minister of civil aviation also confirmed to the house that this matter would be investigated and action will be taken accordingly.

However the Continental Airlines spokeswoman said that it was a normal security procedure for all boarding the aircraft and Mr Kalam was “very co-operative” and “happily underwent the entire process”. She also added that there were no separate rules for any VIP or VVIP traveler and the airline follows the same procedure for everyone.

Mr. Kalam was president of India from 2002-2007. He is also knows as the father of Indian space program, as under his leadership the Indian space program reached new heights.

This incident happened in April when Mr. was on his way to the US, he was made to take off his shoes, empty the content of his pockets and checked by hand held metal detectors.

Alberto Fujimori, the ex-President of Peru, has been sentenced to a seven and a half year prison period on charges of corruption. Peru’s Supreme Court had convicted Fujimori of handing over 9.3million pounds or 15million dollars in state funds to his chief undercover agent, Vladimiro Montesinos. The trial alleged that Fujimori illicitly funnelled vast amounts of money to Vladimiro. The 70-yr old Fujimori has acknowledged to making the payment; however he further added that he had reimbursed the money afterwards.

Fujimori whose time in power spanned a decade commencing from 1990 was cut short in the later part of 2000, when fraudulent charges surfaced. This verdict is the third in row handed down to Fujimori from the time when he came back from exile during the later part of 2007. During April last year, he was given a jail term of 25 years for instructing the security forces to undertake carnage and abductions. In addition to that in 2007, Fujimori was also serving a six year term after being found accountable on separate accusations of power misuse.

The huge dollar disbursement was apparently made two months prior to the corruption charges in the end of 2000 that put a stop to his decade old reign.

Vladimiro is presently serving term in prison found guilty of numerous charges inclusive of corruption and cheating. Vladimiro was engulfed in the scandal that got off post videos that exposed him backhanding opposition party politicians and media honchos surfaced.

Fujimori expressed his partial and relative compliance with the charges levelled against him, stating that he only acknowledged the facts, but did not accept the criminal accountability, the sentence or the civil compensation.

The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton touched down Mumbai at 10:18p.m., with a two hour snag in schedule amidst gusty winds and driving rains. The US Air Force Boeing 757 that took off from Czech Republic, landed in Mumbai amidst concerned air traffic supervision as it made an entrance into Indian airspace.

Half an hour post landing and a rigid security cover, a fleet comprising of 20 vehicles took off from the VIP terminal as it drove to the sea facing, Hotel Taj Mahal Palace and Tower at Colaba, that was amongst the terror targets last year.

Obama’s senior most official, Clinton’s five-day visit to India is aimed at initiating a fresh move towards further strengthening the strategic relationship between the two countries, pushing for greater business with India.

As a symbolic act of solidarity, Clinton is staying at the Tower Wing at the Taj Hotel. She has paid tribute to the 26/11 victims, signed the register at Taj Hotel, met up with the Taj hotel staff and was shown about the hotel areas that were damaged due to the terror attacks.

During her two day stay in Mumbai, she is scheduled to meet India Inc’s best corporate CEO’s including Mukesh Ambani, Swati Piramal, Jamshed Godrej, Chanda Kocchar , a centre of the self-help group (SEWA) in south Mumbai and at Xavier College for a meeting with Brand Ambassador of Teach India, Aamir Khan.

She would be arriving in New Delhi on Monday to meet the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and external affairs minister, S.M.Krishna, Sonia Gandhi and L.K.Advani. She is slated to give a speech at the Delhi University.

Hillary Clinton, slated for an imminent trip to India, post donning the role of Secretary Of State, inscribed a note exclusively to a famed Indian tabloid. She sounded optimistic regarding the steadily growing relationship between India and the US, at a time when headlines are most often gloomy. This boost in the relationship would benefit both the countries and the rest of the world.

She stated that the recent elections in both India and US have presented the newly elected governments with vivid prospects to expand their affiliation and face threatening global challenges head on. She mentioned that along with President Obama, she was totally dedicated towards pressing forward this goal during her visit to New Delhi and Mumbai.

She pointed out how both the countries were typically characterized by their democracy, demography and their diversity, with people from both countries having similar interests, values and wager in the 21st century.

Despite the global meltdown, India has shown a laudable 6% growth rate with bilateral trade and investment flows increasing two fold in the past five years. Mrs. Clinton also highlighted the fears of many Americans who are wary of the budding relationship with India might lay a toll on their jobs or earnings, but she believes that if matters are managed well, both the countries can gain from India’s economic progress.

She stated that the two nations should work in unison towards common challenges like security issues, climate changes and non-proliferation regime. Mrs. Clinton further added that Pakistan should be encouraged as it faces the challenge of fierce radicalism.

Deadly bomb blasts tore through the two best and the most secured hotels in Jakarta killing 9 and injuring over 40 people. The blasts occurred at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and J.W. Marriott Hotel. There are amongst the most luxurious hotels in the southern part of the city of Jakarta, Indonesia. The hotels are just 50 meters apart from each other.

The blast happened at 7:45 a.m. local time, and from the first reports they look like a coordinated blasts and were times to impact at the time of breakfast. Both the hotels are normally visited by foreign tourist, expats and business visitor’s .The blast targeted the restaurants in both the hotels. As of now the police have moved all the guests to secured locations and teams forensic experts are at the blast sites collecting all the evidence.

The blasts have blown massive holes in the hotel walls and also blew the windows of the hotels. From eyewitness reports one could see the restaurants shattered and also blood marks. It also is reported that it could a work of suicide bombers.

This is not the first time the Marriot has been targeted; in August 2003 a suicide bomber drove a vehicle loaded with explosives into the motor lobby of the hotel. That blast had killed 12 people and injured many as it happened during the lunch hour.

The blasts also put a big question mark on the security arrangements in the city of Jakarta. Its will be a huge puzzle for security experts to solve as to how some one could get through metal detectors and the security personal guarding the hotel entrances. The hotels have multiple layer of security with sniffer dogs and each guest is thoroughly check.

Natalya Estemirova, a resident of Grozny, was amongst the key Caucasus-based activists working for Memorial, a prominent Russian rights group that has garnered global approbation for its able efforts of bringing to light rights misuses and detailed facts of warped Russian history. Natalya was brave to live and work in the rife-torn Chechnya. Her slain remains were recovered on Wednesday just hours following her forced seizure by four unidentified men near her residence in the wee hours of morning as she was heard screaming for help saying that she was being taken hostage.

Her cadaver riddled with close range bullet wounds on the head and the chest region was discovered near a highway in Ingushetia that borders Chechnya. Her killing was the most recent in a string of massacres of many human right supporters and journalists in Russia, following the much hyped shooting of reporter Anna Politkovskaya in 2006.

Natalya’s violent end ensues just hours post human rights groups submitting a comprehensive report stating that Vladimir Putin along with other officers must be put on trial in an international court for the misdoings committed at the time of the two wars that debilitated Chechnya.

The Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev has condemned the murder, asking for a top-level investigation into the heinous crime. Natalya’s work was a major source of discontent among Chechen authorities. She had incensed Chechen authorities by blaming security personnel for engaging in capricious slaughter of a suspected rebel on 7th July.

A major international diplomatic disaster almost occurred as the premier case of swine flu made its presence felt in Downing Street. Michael Jacobs, the key climate change consultant to the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown was believed to have contracted the A(H1N1) virus whilst on a work related trip to Mexico. Mexico is the place where the virus originated and later spread to other countries.

Jacobs was consequently barred from going to the G8 summit that was being held in Italy fearing he would infect others, leading to a diplomatic debacle. Jacobs has taken a journey to Rome to undertake initial intercession regarding the G8 communique text. His doctor had given him the go ahead stating that he was completely treated. On the doctor’s recommendation, he intended to visit Italy for the conference being held in L’Aquila when he was advised by Gordon Brown to refrain from taking the trip as he did not want to take the risk.

The Guardian has mentioned that there were no other people in Brown’s staff who have caught the swine flu virus. Suitable course of action for disinfection would be followed if the situation were to occur.

Jacob is amongst the most knowledgeable climate change consultants who nonattendance in the G8 talks will be certainly considered a major setback.

Jacobs was reportedly mum regarding this matter as he passed out circulars to those keen in climate change and the various hurdles in acquiring the security deal in Copenhagen later in the year.