CAIRO
Bin Laden praises martyrdom in video
An al-Qaeda videotape posted today on a militant website featured a short, undated clip of a weary-looking Osama bin Laden praising martyrdom.
The clip, which lasted less than a minute, was part of a 40-minute video featuring purported al-Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan paying tribute to fellow militants who have been killed in the country. It was posted by the group’s media- production wing.
Bin Laden glorified those who die in the name of jihad, or holy war, saying even the Prophet Muhammad “had been wishing to be a martyr.”
On Friday, the U.S. Senate approved doubling to $50 million the reward for information leading to the capture of the al-Qaeda leader.
BRAZZAVILLE, Republic of Congo
Pygmies at festival housed at local zoo
A group of Pygmy musicians performing at an annual festival were put up in a zoo by Congolese officials, prompting a protest from a human-rights group.
Their presence in a tent on the zoo grounds has attracted tourists, who have come to stare and take pictures, the Congolese Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday.
Other artists were lodged in hotels. Officials said they offered the indigenous musicians accommodation on the zoo grounds so the group would feel more at home.
“We lodged them in the park near running water and a forest simply because that will remind them of their usual surroundings – which is the forest,” said Yvette Lebondzo, director of arts and culture for the Republic of Congo.
MADRID, Spain
Oil leak from sunken ship threatens island
Fresh oil leaks from a recently sunken ship threatened Saturday to coat beaches and coves on the Mediterranean island of Ibiza, even as crews cleared tons already spilled in the area, officials said.
Divers detected the latest oil leaks from the merchant ship “Don Pedro” after failed attempts to seal cracks in the wreck, said Josep Lliteres, environment director general for Spain’s Balearic Islands.
The ship hit rocks Wednesday with 150 tons of fuel oil and 50 tons of gas on board.
