Raid

The Mexican soldiers stormed the casino mogul's Tijuana estate, rousting him out of bed and allegedly recovering a cache of 88 weapons, among them a revolver engraved with his name: Jorge Hank Rhon. Still in his pajamas, Hank was whisked to Mexico City to be questioned by federal investigators. The former Tijuana mayor, who claims to be a billionaire and is known for his eccentric tastes in exotic animals and tequila fermented with rattlesnake hides, has always dismissed allegations of links to drug traffickers and a notorious slaying.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A Pakistani doctor who led a phony vaccination campaign aimed at helping the CIA pinpoint Osama bin Laden's whereabouts was convicted of treason Wednesday and sentenced to 33 years in prison, a decision that is likely to further fray Washington's fragile relations with Islamabad. U.S. officials have been seeking the release of Shakeel Afridi since his arrest by Pakistani authorities after the secret American commando raid that killed the Al Qaeda leader in his sprawling compound in the garrison city of Abbottabad a year ago. In January, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta told CBS' "60 Minutes" that Afridi had provided intelligence that assisted the raid and criticized Pakistan's arrest of someone involved in helping track down the world's most wanted man. From the start, however, Pakistani authorities have regarded Afridi as a traitor and have ignored Washington's calls for his release.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates called the raid against Osama bin Laden a "gutsy call" -- "one of the most courageous" he's seen a president make -- because the U.S. had only circumstantial evidence indicating the Al Qaeda leader was at the compound in Pakistan. "I had real reservations about the intelligence," Gates, who earlier led the Central Intelligence Agency, said. "But it was the best information we had since probably 2001. " Gates, speaking to CBS's "60 Minutes" in a segment airing Sunday night, said he worried about the risk to American lives had the assault gone bad. He said his biggest worry now is a terrorist gaining control of a weapon of mass destruction, especially in this country, because for years the United States has received intelligence that terrorists are trying to acquire such weapons.

WASHINGTON - In the months after the U.S. militarymission that killed Osama bin Laden, Pentagon officials met with Hollywood filmmakers and gave them special access in an effort to influence the creation of a film about the operation, newly released documents show. Emails and meeting transcripts obtained from the Pentagon and CIA through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch suggest that officials went out of their way to assist the filmmakers, while trying to keep their cooperation from becoming public.

Hewlett-Packard Co., the world's largest PC and printer maker, said it's cooperating with Russian and German authorities after its Moscow offices were searched Wednesday in a possible bribery investigation. German prosecutors are investigating possible corruption linked to its 35 million euro ($47.5 million) sale of computers to Russia about seven years ago. They are examining whether the company paid bribes to win the contract, said Wolfgang Klein, a spokesman at Saxony's Chief Prosecutor's Office.

President Obama will meet Friday with participants in the special forces operation that raided Osama bin Laden's Pakistan compound and killed the terrorist leader, according to a senior White House official. The private meeting will occur during a visit by the president to Ft. Campbell, Ky., where he is scheduled to address service members who recently returned from overseas deployments. Obama also met Wednesday in the Oval Office with Vice Admiral William H. McRaven, the commander of the Joint Special Operations Command.

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. - Mitt Romney on Monday rejected claims by President Obama's campaign that he would not have ordered the killing of Osama bin Laden. “Of course, of course,” he said, when asked by reporters whether he would have gone after the terrorist. “Even Jimmy Carter would have given that order.” The Obama campaign raised the matter over the weekend, roughly one year after the president ordered the targeted killing of the terrorist leader inside of Pakistan.

A tweeter who describes himself as "an IT consultant taking a break from the rat-race by hiding in the mountains" in Abbottabad, Pakistan, may have unwittingly covered the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. At about 1 a.m. local time, Sohaib Athar (@ReallyVirtual) tweeted that a helicopter was flying above Abbottabad — " a rare event ," he said. Photo gallery: Reactions to Osama bin Laden death "Go away helicopter - before I take out my giant swatter :-/" he joked . He then reported a "huge window-shaking bang" and said "I hope its not the start of something nasty :-S" Hours later, news broke of Bin Laden's death.

As Israel faces the prospect of another aid-supply ship trying to break its naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, a military audit released Monday into the deadly raid of a previous flotilla found mistakes but no negligence on the part of soldiers and commanders. The military commission, created after Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish activists aboard the Mavi Marmara, concluded what most Israelis and international observers already suspected: Soldiers were ill-prepared to confront an angry mob and resorted to live fire to regain control of the situation.

Syrian security forces raided dormitories at the university where President Bashar Assad this week gave a speech on political reform after students refused to participate in pro-regime rallies, witnesses and opposition activists said Wednesday. Several people were killed and dozens were beaten or detained by security forces who launched the raid at Damascus University late Tuesday, activists said. The raid came hours before Foreign Minister Walid Moallem gave a news conference televised live in which he reiterated the pledge Assad made at the university Monday to commit to reform and to hold broad negotiations with different segments of Syrian society.

Most of us are too plump and are overly fond of snacks, fast food - and food in general. So why did two lean young women who dine on smoothies and organic fruits and vegetables (how unimpeachable does that sound) seek help cleaning up their act? May Haduong, 33, and Frances Motiwalla, 34, just had this sense they were slaves to each passing fad (greens! organic! flaxseed! gluten-free!) and were building up their eating rules in a haphazard, unscientific way. "We've sort of made it up in our heads," Haduong says: whirring up slurries of kale, beet greens, frozen fruits and celery in the blender in their pint-sized kitchen twice a day (down to once a day when Motiwalla couldn't take it anymore)

BEIRUT - At least four students were killed, dozens injured and about 200 arrested Thursday when Syrian government forces stormed student dorms at Aleppo University, firing automatic guns and tear gas, activists said. The predawn raid was followed by the closure of the university, sending ripples across Syria as some in the opposition wondered aloud whether the major city was finally fully joining the uprising. The university, site of some of Aleppo's most energetic and consistent dissent, was shut down in an escalated crackdown on antigovernment opposition.

Talk about a bad trip. It started when Daniel Chong, a 23-year-old UC San Diego student, spent a night with friends to mark April 20, which some pot afficionados consider something of a holiday. It ended with an ordeal behind bars. The Drug Enforcement Administration apologized Wednesday to Chong, who was "accidentally" left in a holding cell for five days and reportedly drank his own urine to survive. San Diego attorney Gene Iredale said his client was "still recovering" from the ordeal.

WASHINGTON — In his final months padding around the dark third-floor room in his cinder-block Pakistan hide-out, the world's most notorious terrorist mastermind spent a lot of time in his own head. He fretted about his public image and the legacy of his organization. He wondered whether he had misnamed it Al Qaeda. He fired off orders, handed out promotions, denied requests for help from the battlefield and sought to direct publicity for the looming 10th anniversary of the Sept.

WASHINGTON — Osama bin Laden was devising a strategy for overthrowing Afghan President Hamid Karzai and controlling Afghanistan once the U.S. left the country, said a former U.S. official familiar with the cache of notes and letters that were seized last year in the raid on the terrorist leader's compound. Bin Laden had discussed his plans with the Taliban leadership council, known as the Quetta Shura, and the Haqqani network, which controls the North Waziristan tribal area in Pakistan, said the former official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity while discussing the intelligence.

WASHINGTON - In a first term marked by clear partisan divisions, President Obama's decision to order a high-risk special forces operation targeting Osama bin Laden stands out as an unquestioned nonpartisan success. But the one-year anniversary of the Al Qaeda mastermind's death has become a flash point in early skirmishing between Obama and Mitt Romney, his likely Republican opponent in the fall election. It reflects both the competitive nature of this year's presidential contest and Democrats' zeal to highlight an advantage over the GOP on issues of national security.

COLORADO CITY, Ariz. -- Horrified by stories of rape, incest and men taking young girls as brides, the new governor of Arizona quietly made plans to invade this polygamist settlement in the summer of 1953. Shortly before dawn on July 26, a raiding party of about 120 law enforcement officers -- state Highway Patrol, sheriff's deputies and liquor control agents -- descended on the community, which was then called Short Creek.

Israeli officials said Sunday they would reject U.N. pressure to establish an international commission to investigate last week's deadly raid of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. Instead, leaders are leaning toward an Israeli-led inquiry that might include international observers or participation, officials said. Israel's ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren, told "Fox News Sunday" that Israel was "rejecting an international commission," as proposed over the weekend by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. - Mitt Romney on Monday rejected claims by President Obama's campaign that he would not have ordered the killing of Osama bin Laden. “Of course, of course,” he said, when asked by reporters whether he would have gone after the terrorist. “Even Jimmy Carter would have given that order.” The Obama campaign raised the matter over the weekend, roughly one year after the president ordered the targeted killing of the terrorist leader inside of Pakistan.