Mullah Baradar leaked info about OBL hiding: UK paper

LONDON: Taliban leader Mullah Baradar is believed to have informed US whereabouts of Al-Qaeda Chief Osama Bin Laden, a UK paper claimed.

According to the report, in return the US promised to pullout troops from Taliban strongholds in Afghanistan once Osama had been killed or captured.

Until now it has been believed that Osama Bin Laden was caught when the US intercepted a phone call made by his courier Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti. But new reports suggest it was actually Baradar who told the US where he was hiding.

Baradar was arrested in a joint Pak-US operation last year in Karachi and was interrogated in prison before being released last October.

Germany announces end to nuclear power by 2022

BERLIN: Germany will shut down all its nuclear plants by 2022, and eight reactors shut down after Japan's nuclear disaster in March will not be reactivated, the government announced Monday.

The decision, announced by Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen, came after a meeting of leaders of the ruling coalition headed by Chancellor Angela Merkel, which lasted from Sunday evening into the early hours of Monday.

It will make Germany the first major industrial power to give up atomic power.(AFP)

Barcelona swamp United to win Champions League

LONDON: Barcelona, inspired by the peerless Lionel Messi, delivered a soccer masterclass to overwhelm Manchester United 3-1 in the Champions League final and lift the European Cup for the fourth time on Saturday.

Messi was at his inspirational best all night at Wembley as the champions of Spain left the champions of England looking like desperate also-rans in the face of their relentless intricate passing and deadly movement.

United somehow reached halftime level at 1-1 after Wayne Rooney cancelled out Pedro's opening goal but Barcelona continued their dominance after the break.

A superb Messi goal and a precise 18-metre curler by David Villa, underlined the Spanish side's dominance over the team they also beat in the 2009 final. After a short-lived United flurry at the start, Barca were soon in control as they probed constantly in and around the United box.

UNITED UNDONE

Although the English side kept them at bay with a series of last-ditch tackles they were eventually undone in the 27th minute when Xavi cleverly delayed a pass to open space for Pedro to calmly tuck the ball beyond Edwin van der Sar.

United looked almost out of their depth but showed why they have reached three finals in the last four seasons by conjuring a well-made equaliser after 34 minutes.

Rooney played a one-two with Michael Carrick then another with Ryan Giggs before sweeping the ball high into the net.

Messi was millimetres away from a second goal after another high-speed give and go with Villa but somehow United reached halftime on level terms.

The parity on the scoreboard was short-lived though as Barca immediately regained control and, after more near misses, duly went ahead in the 54th minute.

United's defenders made the fatal error of standing off Messi on the edge of the box and the Argentine maestro took full advantage driving the ball in low for the 53rd and most important goal of his remarkable season.

It was Messi who set up the third too as he surged into the box and, though the ball was half-cleared, it went straight to Villa who killed it instantly before curling a superb 18-metreshot into the top corner.

CIA allowed to search bin Laden compound: report

WASHINGTON: Pakistan has agreed to permit the CIA to send in a forensic team to search Osama bin Laden's compound, the US paper reported Thursday, citing US officials. 

The CIA team will arrive at the compound in Abbottabad within days to thoroughly search the residence where US Navy commandos killed bin Laden on May 2 in a unilateral raid that angered Islamabad, the report said. 

"The assault team was there for only 40 minutes," an unnamed US official told the paper. "The aim is to return to the site -- to do another, more thorough, look." 

The CIA plans to use infrared cameras and other devices capable of identifying materials possibly embedded behind walls, inside safes or underground, it reported. 

The Central Intelligence Agency was not immediately available for comment. 

The CIA has also been granted access to materials that Pakistan's security forces have recovered from the compound, officials told the paper. The agency has asked Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence for help in analyzing some of the material that was seized in the raid, including deciphering references to names of individuals and places, the report said. 

US intelligence officials have called the trove of computer files and notebooks found at the bin Laden compound as the largest intelligence find ever recovered from a terrorist network. (AFP)

CIA chiefs,Obama nominates new defense

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama on Thursday formally nominated Leon Panetta as his new secretary of defense and David Petraeus, who commands the international force in Afghanistan, as Panetta's successor at the CIA.

Obama had first said he planned to nominate Panetta and Petraeus on April 28, just days before US commandos entered Pakistan and shot and killed Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

The US Senate must confirm both men, but neither is expected to encounter any serious opposition there.

The White House hopes that Panetta, whose mission would include cutting spending at the Defense Department, would be able to move into the job on June 30, the day current Defense chief Robert Gates is set to leave. 

Petraeus will continue to lead the international force in Afghanistan until his successor, General John Allen, takes over in September. Petraeus will retire from the military before moving to the CIA.

The United States began troop withdrawals from Afghanistan this year, making good on a promise by Obama to reduce US troop levels there, although it is not clear how soon or how many additional troops will leave.

A new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who is the president's top military adviser, is also expected to be nominated next month. General Martin Dempsey, the current Army chief of staff, is considered Obama's likely choice to replace Admiral Michael Mullen, according to Pentagon officials. (AFP)