- Every now and then, a choice piece of real estate comes on the market. Whether a noteworthy event occurred there or a famous person lived there for a few months, a home with immense, intangible value goes up for sale. One such piece of real estate is now in the market in Haripur, a small town just over 20 miles north of Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad. The four-bedroom house with a 10-foot wall around its exteriror is generating plenty of buzz because history’s most famous terrorist, none other than Osama bin Laden, reportedly lived there eight years ago. According to intelligence sources, testimony from locals and research by a retired army officer, the two-storey villa just might have been a stopping place for bin Laden, his three wives, children and grandchildren on their way to the town of Abbottabad, where they were discovered last year and where bin Laden was killed by a Navy SEAL team. Neighborhood residents have recalled suspicious activity around the home, but nothing that rose to the level of cause great concern. Brigadier Shaukat Qadir, who interviewed Pakistani intelligence officers and an al-Qaeda leader, has been the primary force behind researching the home’s history and has concluded that the courier who ultimately led the CIA to bin Laden’s Abottabad compound rented the house for the terrorist mastermind. Owner Qasi Anis Ur-Rehman said the men who ranted it paid about $150 a month, lived in the home for about eight months and moved on. "When I visited I only went into the sitting room, no further," he said. "I didn't think that was odd because it is the custom when there are women somewhere else in the house," Rehman said. Ironically, activist group Save the Children rented the home after bin Laden (allegedly) left. Realizing that the home’s celebrity cachet increases its value, Rehman has put the home back on the market and the new price is $225 a month for the two-story, split-level terrace home with suite bathrooms, wide bay windows and marble flooring. Most Haripur residents could never afford that sort of luxury, which means the chance is there for an outsider to sneak in an score a great deal……….
- There is no mercy from über-hacker group Anonymous. Those who offend them are targeted relentlessly and that includes Hector Xavier Monsegur, a.k.a. 'Sabu,' the leader of Anonymous-affiliated LulzSec after he allegedly narced out his own members. After the alleged betrayal became known, Anonymous members attacked Panda Security's PandaLabs website, defacing the page and publicly mocking Sabu: "Pandasecurity.com... has earned money working with law enforcement to lurk and snitch on Anonymous activists. They helped to jail 25 Anonymous in different countries and they were actively participating in our IRC channels trying to dox [obtain personal information about] many others," the post read. Panda Lab officials insisted no customer data was compromised during the attacked and said it was directed towards an external Panda Labs server. Why Panda was chosen is a bit of a mystery, as its most “severe” crime was a supportive blog applauding action against Anonymous. Yet theirs was the site Anonymous chose to hack to strike back at Sabu, who was arrested last June by federal authorities and turned into a snitch to help bring down several others within the group. Although LulzSec is not an official part of the Anonymous operation, the two groups are affiliated and Sabu’s arrest as seen as the first major blow to the global hacker collective. Rather than keep his mouth shut, Sabu talked and now he is an arch nemesis of hackers. As with any good anti-establishment or terrorist group, LulzSec will undoubtedly reorganize, give itself an organizational makeover and get back to causing chaos in no time at all. However, it’s clear their pals at Anonymous have neither forgiven nor forgotten Sabu’s betrayal…………
- Kiefer Sutherland is doing a lot of talking these days – and not just in credit card commercials. After expressing hope that a “24” movie will still happen despite numerous displays, Sutherland has admitted that he once turned down the chance to play Robin in Tim Burton's first Batman movie.
Yes, Burton’s “Batman” movies are unmitigated disasters and completely embarrassing when stacked up against Christopher Nolan’s first two films in the franchise, so maybe Sutherland made the right choice when he said no to suiting up alongside the Caped Crusader – even if he doesn’t realize it. "I'd just finished “Stand By Me” and “Young Guns” about the time that Warner Bros were making the first “Batman” film with Michael Keaton and I got a call which asked me if I would be interested in playing Robin,” Sutherland recalled. "I was like, 'As in Robin with tights? No!' I didn't realize they were going to make the coolest movie ever. They didn’t have a Robin in the end, but I was only 19 so my agent could have helped me out a bit on that one.” Yes, yes he did. The part, as all fans who are still trying to block out memories of those Burton-led “Batman” films can attest, eventually went to Chris O'Donnell, who also appeared in Joel Schumacher's even more forgettable “Batman Forever” and “Batman And Robin” sequels. Robin has not been seen in any of Nolan's well-done takes on the series (coincidence?), which wrap this summer with the release of “The Dark Knight Rises” in July…………
- How long has it been since America has been able to enjoy a well-done armored car theft? Too long, that’s how long. Credit has to go out to Dravosburg, Pa. resident Kenneth Konias who saw that void (along with a chance for a big payday) and cashed in…..for now. See, police know Konias used his job driving an armored truck to rob said armored truck and they are searching for him in the robbery and the Feb. 28 killing of his partner, Michael Haines, who was found fatally shot in the back of their Garda Cash Logistics truck as it was parked under a bridge in Pittsburgh. To Konias’ credit, he didn’t sit around and wait for the perfect opportunity to materialize or even go over his plan in painstaking detail to make sure he had every angle covered. That, he realized, would have taken up valuable time he could have been spending with the $2.3 million (minus about $250,000 stashed under a car at his Dravosburg home) he was about to steal. Instead, he acted with a fatally flawed plan and absconded with more than $2 million in cash. Ten days after the theft, Konias remains at large, although police believe he has not left the country. According to court documents, he called friends and family after the shooting and admitted the killing. One day prior to police discovering the cash at his home, $24,000 was found at the grave of a family member. The significance of that particular amount is unclear, but what is clear to all is Konias’ willingness to attempt an act eqaul parts bravado and idiocy and believe he could actually get away with it……………
- A lot of scoring in a soccer match? Better investigate, eh world soccer governing body FIFA? The so-called beautiful game, the world’s sport and the one that 99.99997 percent of Americans neither care about nor follow unless their 10-year-old is playing in a league at the local park, is not known for prolific scoring binges. Soccer games are more likely to end in 0-0 ties or 1-0 offensive thrillers than see more than three goals combined between opponents, so FIFA is 100 percent correct when it describes Bahrain's 10-0 win over Indonesia in a World Cup qualifier as “unusual.” No freaking kidding, FIFA. A 10-0 score in soccer is akin to a 24-0 beatdown in baseball or an 87-0 win in a football game. Why is FIFA involved and conducting interviews with the match referee and all players in the game? "This will include interviewing some team players and coaching staff, the referees and other match officers," FIFA said in a statement. "It also involves assessing gambling activity on the match." Later in the statement, FIFA said it is "proceeding with this investigation as a priority" from its security division's regional offices in Jordan and Malaysia. Outside of the insane surge of offense, there were actually some severe irregularities in the contest. Lebanese referee Andre El Haddad sent off Indonesia's goalkeeper in the second minute and awarded Bahrain four penalty kicks in the Feb. 29 match in Manama. Conveniently enough, Bahrain entered the game three points and nine goals behind Qatar in their group standings. A win earns three points and even the math-challenged can figure out that a 10-0 win more than erases a nine-goal deficit. To have any hope of advancing, Bahrain needed to win by more than nine goals. They also needed help from Qatar, which they did not receive when Qatar tied Iran 2-2 in its final qualifying game to advance to a further group-stage draw conducted Friday. FIFA officials warned Indonesia prior to the game that World Cup rules require teams to field their strongest lineup, which might not be all that impressive for an Indonesian team that had lost all five previous group matches, allowing 16 goals while scoring just three. Questions about who would fix the match and how they would go about it are now being asked, but finding answers won't be so simple…………
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