US charges 72 over 'nightmare' child porn network

WASHINGTON  : US officials Wednesday unveiled charges against 72 people in their largest global probe into Internet child pornography which smashed a "nightmare" online bulletin board catering to pedophiles.

The investigation launched in 2009 has led to arrests in the US and 13 other countries of participants in Dreamboard, which had a "VIP" ranking system for members trading in graphic images and videos of adults molesting children age 12 and under, often violently, the Justice Department said.

"Dreamboard's creators and members lived all over the world -- but they allegedly were united by a disturbing belief that the sexual abuse of children is proper conduct that should not be criminalized," Attorney General Eric Holder said.

"The members of this criminal network shared a demented dream to create the preeminent online community for the promotion of child sexual exploitation, but for the children they victimized, this was nothing short of a nightmare."

The ongoing probe has led to the arrest of 52 people in the US and 13 other countries -- Canada, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany, Hungary, Kenya, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Qatar, Serbia, Sweden and Switzerland. more

U.S. citizen kidnapped in Pakistan: police

An American citizen was kidnapped from his residence in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore on Saturday, police said.

LAHORE : Western media, quoting the U.S. embassy, identified the man as Warren Weinstein who works for the consulting firm J.E. Austin Associates Inc. He was working on a development project in the lawless tribal areas, where Pakistani troops have been battling Islamist insurgents for years.

"Six to eight people broke into his house at around 3:30 a.m., when security guards on duty were making preparation for fasting," police official Tajamal Hussain told Reuters, referring to the Ramadan fast observed by Muslims.

"Two of the assailants came from the front gate while about six others used the back door. They tortured the guards and then took the American with them."

A security official familiar with the incident said the gunmen forced the man's driver to knock on his bedroom door. When the man opened it, they took him.

Hussain said the victim, in his 60s, had been living in Pakistan for five to six years. He mostly lived in Islamabad but had been traveling to Lahore.

The security official said there had been no claim of responsibility.

Kidnap for ransom is relatively common in Pakistan, although foreigners are not often targets. Militants also occasionally take foreigners hostage.

Pakistani Taliban, linked to al Qaeda, have claimed responsibility for kidnapping a Swiss couple in July in the volatile southwestern province of Baluchistan.

They said the couple could be freed in exchange for a Pakistani woman serving a jail term in the United States for shooting FBI agents and U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

Eight Pakistani employees of a U.S.-based aid organization, American Refugee Committee (ARC), were kidnapped in Baluchistan last month.

Anti-U.S. sentiment runs high in Pakistan. Prickly ties between Islamabad and Washington hit a low point after the May 2 killing of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in an attack that Pakistan termed a breach of its sovereignty.

Deep-diving submarine ‘Triton’ introduced

NEW YORK: An American manufacturer has created a submarine which is capable of reaching the deepest point of the ocean. The Triton 36,000 is capable of descending at a rate of 500 feet per minute which allows it to reach those parts of the ocean which have never been seen by man.

The submarine is capable of reaching depths of 35,800 feet which allows adventure seekers to see something they have never experienced before.

Three men of Pakistani-origin killed in UK riots

LONDON: Three people of Pakistani origin died Wednesday after being hit by a car during riots in the central English city of Birmingham, officials said, amid reports that they died while trying to protect their community from looters.

Police said they had arrested a man and launched a murder inquiry after the incident which happened at around 1:00 am (0000 GMT) as Britain's second biggest city suffered from another night of riots.Paramedics said they found around 80 people at the scene after the men were hit by the car. Two of the men were pronounced dead at the scene and the third died later in hospital.According to reports the men who died had just come out of a mosque and were protecting their neighbourhood during the riots.Around 200 people from Birmingham's Asian community gathered outside the hospital where the victims were taken and that riot police were also stationed there.

US loses AAA credit rating for first time

WASHINGTON: Standard & Poor's cut the US credit rating for the first time in history Friday, saying the country's politicians are increasingly unable to come to grips with its massive fiscal deficit and debt load.

S&P cut the US rating from its top-flight triple-A one notch to AA+, and added a negative outlook to it, saying there was a chance it could be downgraded again within two years if progress is not made cutting the huge government budget gap.It was the first time the US was downgraded since it received an AAA rating from Moody's in 1917; it has held the S&P rating since 1941.The rating came after a strong push back from the White House, which called S&P's analysis of the economy deeply flawed.A Treasury spokesperson alleged that there was a "two trillion dollar error" in the S&P analysis, without offering any immediate explanation.The blow came after the White House, Democratic and Republican lawmakers finally agreed on Tuesday to a deal to raise the nation's debt ceiling after months of wrangling which sent jitters rippling through the global economy still trying to recover from the 2008 recession.A debt downgrade will be a symbolic embarrassment for President Barack Obama, his administration and the United States, and could raise the cost of US government borrowing.more