Teachers and principals wary of cash-bonus plan

(Australia Twitter)-Prime Minister Julia Gillard says education and training will be the budget's top priority, as she unveiled a new plan to help thousands of students with disabilities.

A week out from the federal budget, Ms Gillard visited a Canberra primary school to announce a $200 million plan for more speech and occupational therapy, technology, teacher aides, health professionals and specialised curriculums.

The payment -- varying from $8100 for experienced teachers to $5400 for those starting out -- would be based on NAPLAN test results, lesson observations and parental feedback.

No new details about the policy were released yesterday but Mr Garrett said the intention was to clarify the government's commitment to the scheme ahead of next week's budget.

She recognised that she had "a lot of hard work to do as prime minister".

"We've got a lot of hard work to do as a government and we'll get on with doing that work," Ms Gillard said.

Australian Primary Principals Association president Norm Hart said they welcomed additional investment in teaching but had concerns about the way the bonus scheme would be calculated.

All public and private schools that teach disabled students will be eligible for a share of the money, which will flow from early next year until mid-2014, when new school funding arrangements begin to take effect.

Mr Abbott said the funding was a "small step towards addressing a very big problem"

Australian Education Union federal president Angelo Gavrielatos said the government was mistaken in thinking a one-off bonus was the right approach in retaining good teachers and addressing staff shortages.

"It is not a long-term solution to the problems we have," he said. Mr Gavrielatos said a similar scheme in the US "failed spectacularly.

Undersea robotic mining a concern for the Greens

(Australia Twitter)-THE AUSTRALIAN Greens leader Senator Bob Brown has told the ABC that he is worried about undersea mining using robot technologies.

Senator Brown will push for an Australian Senate inquiry into the impact of undersea mining.

Senator Brown said the committee hearings in Brisbane were told there were now "well less than 100,000" koalas left on the continent.

He said all the factors involved in the population disaster, such as land clearing and the destruction of trees, are continuing.

Senator Brown said the investment in tackling an AIDS-like disease and chlamydia is pathetic.

Papua New Guinea is the first country to have undersea mining projects.

Brown said he is concerned about the environmental impacts the Solwara One gold and copper projects would have, which he said is using new robot technologies to mine the sea floor.

It's the national icon (but) there are fewer left in Australia now than there were in the slaughter years in the 1920s, and the numbers are crashing.

"We have to deal with that.

t's a very, very worrying direction for mining to be taking."

The Greens have been vocal about their opinion that all mining should cease in Australia, with renewable energy sources used in its place.

Brown attracted a barrage of criticism in January, when he linked the devastating Queensland floods on climate change caused by coal mining.

Rudd: Bin Laden's Death Won't Speed Up Australia's Afghan Exit

(Australia Twitter)-Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has said the al-Qaeda leader's death in a US mission in Pakistan won't hasten a withdrawal.

But Senator Brown says it's time for the government to rethink its position.

Mr Rudd, who met with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington DC on Monday, also re-affirmed Australia's troop commitment in Afghanistan.

The former Premier insisted that "we will stay the course in Afghanistan until our mission is complete."

Australia is the largest contributor - among non-NATO members -to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) with 1,550 troops currently deployed in the southern province of Uruzgan.

He said he was concerned a new contingent was about to be sent from Townsville to Afghanistan.

"The questions is: is this Australia's war? Is this where Australian troops should be deployed?"

Senator Brown said Australia shouldn't respond to threats made against allied troops since bin Laden's death.

Australian forces are deployed in the southern Afghan province of Oruzgan and Afghan President Hamid Karzai has set a timetable for Afghan forces to take charge of security by 2014.

Mr Rudd said Australian troops "will stay the course in Afghanistan until our mission is complete".

However, the question is whether the deployment of Australian troops and the continuing death toll, and the injury toll, which is heart-rending, is in Australia's wider interests.

"Our view is we should bring our troops home."

He also cautioned people not to "gloat at the death of this criminal.

We respect President Karzai's 2014 date, and we are well on track towards achieving that, and we see no change as a result of the events of the last 24 hours," he said.

Bin Laden was shot dead by US Navy SEALS who raided his compound in Abbottabad, north of Islamabad.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has set a timetable for Afghan forces to take charge of security by 2014 and Mr Rudd said Australia was committed to that.

"We see no change as a result of the events of the last 24 hours," Mr Rudd said.

Bin Laden was shot dead by US Navy SEALS who raided his compound in Abbottabad, north of Islamabad, Pakistan.

Queensland roadshow underway

(Australia Twitter)-On a day when 200 Queensland tourism operators left the capital on a two-state bus tour to promote the state as a warm, sunny winter holiday destination, the skies over Brisbane opened, dumping heavy rain and sparking flash flood warnings.

Tourism Queensland today embarks on the next stage of its recovery as 200 operators begin a five-day roadshow from Brisbane.

Four groups will criss-cross New South Wales and Victoria promoting the Nothing Beats Queensland message.

During the campaign, the 200 operators will travel to 13 cities across New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT on two brightly branded Tourism Queensland buses.

They’ll include representatives from wineries to B&Bs and surf schools.

The tour is part of the State and Federal Government’s $12 million recovery package.

Cairns-based federal senator Jan McLucas said the campaign was ‘‘smart, cheap, and I believe it'll be very effective.

Federal tourism minister Martin Ferguson said: “The Queensland on Tour road show will roll into towns from Ballina to Bendigo and Wagga Wagga to Wollongong personally promoting a range of Queensland holiday deals and giveaways.

[Today’s weather] is an aberration. This is not what Queensland’s like. It’s not happening anywhere else in Queensland except just over Brisbane right now.’’

The buses left Brisbane today for the tour and will converge in Sydney on Saturday.

Review of SA laws that suppress the identity of accused sex offenders

(Australia Twitter)-The ALP state executive is due to meet at 10am today, in conjunction with a special meeting of the national executive, to suspend the MP from the party before state parliament resumes tomorrow.

The move allows the MP to remain in Parliament as an independent. However, conviction would result in immediate expulsion from office and the party.

Mr Rann led the push to have the Labor MP charged with child pornography charges suspended from the ALP during a phone hookup this morning, which included members of the state and national executive.

Mr Brown yesterday made no apologies for the hardline approach, even as some members of caucus expressed concern the presumption of innocence had been cast aside for political reasons.

Earlier, Mr Rann said he had asked the ALP to suspend the member while the MP's case was before the courts.

"I have asked the Labor Party both at the state and national level to suspend the MP who's been charged," Mr Rann said this morning.

Mr Iles said he could not reveal the "instructions" he had from the MP about whether he would take his seat in parliament as an independent if he were suspended from the Labor Party.

All references to the Labor MP have been removed from the ALP website.

Parliament will tomorrow be warned not to name the Labor MP at the centre of a child pornography scandal as doing so would jeopardise the court case.

Speaker Lyn Breuer yesterday said she would also intervene to prevent the accused being named if she believed an MP was intending to do so.

Mr Rau is the dominant Right faction's choice to replace Mr Rann, should he step aside or be forced to quit before the next election.

Mr Rann and possibly Right faction powerbroker Tom Koutsantonis will miss tomorrow's caucus meeting, the first since the child porn scandal erupted last month.

Ms Breuer said she would warn Parliament when sitting resumed of serious consequences for naming the charged Labor MP.

"It's about the impact it can have actually on the trial we've got to be careful about," she said yesterday.

"Sometimes somebody can release a name or something in public and the trial falls into a heap because the evidence has been distorted.

"They need to be very, very careful about what they say

Education focus for budget - Gillard

(Australia Twitter)-Prime Minister Julia Gillard says the budget will focus on education, as she announced $200 million for students with disabilities.

A week out from the federal budget, Ms Gillard visited a Canberra primary school to announce a $200 million plan for more speech and occupational therapy, technology, teacher aides, health professionals and specialised curriculums.

The Coalition continues to poll strongly against the Gillard government, with a primary vote last weekend of 44 per cent, compared to 45 per cent at the beginning of last month, while Labor's primary vote was 33 per cent, up one point.

The one-point shift either way on the primary vote and an unchanged Greens primary vote of 12 per cent meant two-party-preferred support, based on preference flows at last year's election, was 53 per cent for the Coalition, down two points, and 47 per cent for Labor, up two points.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Penny Wong - who has been working with Treasurer Wayne Swan to put the final touches to the budget - says changes to family and age pensions and health care are expected to save an average $7.5 billion a year over the coming four decades.

'This is $30 billion that can be allocated to helping those most in need, investing in education or improving access to health care,' Senator Wong said.

'The Gillard government is acting today to ensure higher living standards and better services for the next generation.

Aussie Teen Gang Didn't Hate Indians

(Australia Twitter)-MELBOURNE, Australia – An Australian teenage gang targeted Indians in a series of violent robberies because they were considered easy targets, not because of racial hatred, a judge said Tuesday.

The seven-member gang targeted six Indian men in separate robberies during a four-day spree in Melbourne in December 2009, a time when high-profile crimes against Indian students were creating diplomatic tensions between Australia and India.

Over a four-day period in December 2009, the gang of seven attacked six Indian men in four separate night-time robberies in Melbourne's western suburbs.

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One of the group described the attacks as "Punji hunting", the court heard on Tuesday.

But County Court Judge Liz Gaynor said, although an immediate jail sentence was otherwise warranted, Petrusic had shown exceptional effort to rehabilitate and was filled with shame for his part in the attacks which his co-accused had labelled "Punji hunting.

Notwithstanding that Indians were targeted, this was not done on any basis of racial hatred, but because Indians were for some reason considered by you to be soft targets," she said.

"This sort of offending is all too commonplace within our community ... violent and lawless behaviour perpetrated on innocent people simply walking the street.

She said despite the offences being extremely serious, Petrusic - who pleaded guilty to robbery, armed robbery and attempted robbery - had shown grave remorse and received "glowing" reports from counsellors who described him as having been led into the offending.

Judge Gaynor ordered Petrusic's Holden Commodore be forfeited and he pay $650 compensation.

No bail for accused Sydney journo killer

(Australia Twitter)-A man charged with murdering a freelance journalist outside a hotel in Sydney's inner west 13 years ago has been formally refused bail by a magistrate.

Following an extensive investigation by NSW Police's Unsolved Homicide Team over the last 12 months, detectives stopped a vehicle on Ross Street at Forest Lodge about 9.20am today, where they arrested a 52-year-old man.

The 32-year-old from Elizabeth Bay, in Sydney's eastern suburbs, died a short time later of severe head injuries.

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A strike force was formed in 2010 following a coronial inquest into her death.

Strike Force Tooral was established in 2010 by detectives from the State Crime Command’s Unsolved Homicide Team, to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death.

An inquest into Ms Smith's death was terminated in 1999 after a coroner found there was sufficient evidence for charges to be laid over her killing.

He used "corporal violence" and inflicted grievous bodily harm on her, the documents said.

Ms Smith had lived in Elizabeth Bay for five years and was a freelance journalist for various publications.

Castle's case was adjourned to Sydney's Central Local Court on June 28.

Vigil Planned to Support Australian Bishop Fired by Vatican

(Australia Twitter)-Supporters of an outspoken Australian bishop dismissed by Pope Benedict for his views on the ordination of women and married men are to stage a vigil to protest against his treatment. A Vatican statement Monday said that Bishop William Morris had been "removed from pastoral care".

William Morris has been forced by the Pope to retire early because of a letter in 2006 to his parish in which he discussed whether falling numbers of Catholic priests could be offset by the ordination of women and ministers from other churches.

His stance was considered by the church’s hierarchy to be rebellious and after an investigation the Vatican has removed him as bishop of the Queensland diocese of Toowoomba, 130 kilometers west of the state capital, Brisbane.

Bishop Morris said he was not advocating the change but pointing to local, national and international debate on the issues.

Last night Brisbane Archbishop John Bathersby paid tribute to Bishop Morris and his care of the Toowoomba Diocese.

Former Catholic priest Peter Kennedy was forced to quit the church in Brisbane because of the same issue two years ago.

He says the Vatican wields absolute power over its Bishops.

Bishop Brian has diligently served as one of my auxillary bishops since 2002 and is a former General Secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference,” Archbishop Bathersby said.

“I am only too happy to assist Bishop Morris and Bishop Finnigan in this time of change for the Diocese of Toowoomba and its priests and people.

For many, the news brought tears and anger and the after-mass social gatherings common each weekend took on a different feel.

Realising little could be done to reverse the decision of Rome to seek a new bishop for the diocese, parishioners looked for ways to at least express support for their bishop of 18 years.

Yesterday, the Anglican Bishop of the Western Region in Queensland, Rob Nolan, said the forced retirement was unjust.

Supporters of Bishop Morris scheduled a candlelit vigil Tuesday to show their disappointment with the Vatican's decision to dismiss him. Parishioners will then march through the streets of Toowoomba to the city’s cathedral, where Bishop Morris has served for 18 years.

The Catholic Church in Australia is administered by the Vatican in Rome. Australia is a majority Christian country. It is estimated there are more than 5 million Australian Catholics - about a quarter of the population.

Budget cash splashed on roads

It was a steady-as-you-go economic program, very much in line with the Premier's approach since taking office late last year.

Critics would say it lacked the flourishes and panache new governments apply to their first economic programs.

Water projects totalling almost $282 million, more than $58 million in state-funded road redevelopment, $33 million towards school reconstructions and kindergarten funding, and $8.3 million in Geelong Hospital project funding topped Treasurer Kim Wells' spending in the region.

The Budget release coincided with the Reserve Bank's announcement that the official interest rate would be kept on hold at 4.75 per cent, for the sixth successive month.

Although the bank's decision had been widely anticipated, many financial commentators believe rates will rise by August, if not earlier.

House prices are also falling and yesterday's RBA statement noted a slowing of jobs growth in the year ahead.

Just looking at it very briefly it seems Geelong scores very highly, it looks very positive for the city," he said. "The devil is always in the detail but on the surface it looks very promising."

The huge amount of spending on Geelong came as Mr Wells revealed a budget that slashed spending across Victoria but still featured $1.7 billion worth of state-wide infrastructure investment.

In delivering his first budget, Mr Wells warned Victoria faced a difficult economic period and predicted the state's net debt would again climb despite measures to curb spending.

And next week, the Federal Government's anticipated belt-tightening Budget will be handed down.

The indications are that it will be extremely tough, particularly on households.

Added to this is general fear of a wages breakout. It's already on the cards in Victoria with demands from police and teachers.

Budget highlights include:

A $1.2 BILLION package to address cost of living issues.

HALVING the cost of stamp duty for first home buyers, pensioners and farmers over the next four years, including a 20 per cent cut this financial year.

A $100 MILLION school maintenance fund.

ROADS funding of $601 million.

$500 MILLION over four years for a regional growth fund.

A $5 MILLION investment to establish a new independent anti-corruption commission.

$602 MILLION committed to fund the training of 1700 police recruits and 940 Victoria Police protective services officers.

Students due just minutes after storm

The tornado struck Glenfield College and scattered pine trees across a road just minutes before students would have been walking underneath them.

Glenfield College principal Ted Benton said no one was injured at the school but the outcome could have been much worse.

Forty-year-old pines were uprooted in seconds, smashing onto the cars of waiting parents below.

Ravi Naicker was waiting to pick up his two teenage daughters after school, unaware he was waiting in the path of a tornado.

A ridge of trees bordering the school was the worst hit, the wrought iron fences twisted and collapsed.

Although chaotic at times, administrators were calling the first day back a “success.”

Greene Central High School Principal Don Marr said the middle school portion of the day and the transition of students would be the most difficult part of the day.

“So far I think it is going really well,” Marr said. “I guess the proof in the pudding is going to be when we have one group coming into the school and one group leaving.

O'Hara is just one of several students on York College's campus with their guard up a little more than usual. He's reacting to news that two groups of students were robbed at gunpoint, just 15 minutes and a few blocks apart.

At 10 pm Saturday, two students were walking in the commuter lot on West Jackson Street. Three males, including one with a gun, ordered the students to the ground.

Then, the same thing happened to two other students walking in the 300 block of Springettsbury Avenue.

Students were made aware through bulletins, Residential Assistant's and Safety Officers. York College leaders say they do all they can to keep students protected, but something like this is a reminder they aren't immune to the real world just outside their campus.

Since the students will no longer have afternoon classes, many teachers are adding more homework to prepare the students.

Ginn told her class to expect homework on a nightly basis.

As high school students arrived at the school they were sent to the gym to wait for the middle school day to conclude. Administrators said the high school students would start their day in third period — their lunch period — and finish the day in second period.

The tornado went across the tennis courts of the school.

Ms White said no one at the school was injured. Students were kept in their classrooms for about half an hour and school buses were delayed.

Nearby, Albany Junior High School principal Mike Jackson said the tornado hit just as students were leaving school.

"It was a strange way to finish the day really."

He watched from his office window as the tornado, carrying roofing iron, "touched down" twice.

Tornado kills 1, leaves 14 injured

The destructive tornado which swept across Auckland's North Shore today killed one person, injured 14 others and left a trail of destruction from Albany to Glenfield.

While this is at the lower end of the scale compared to the type of tornadoes that have been ripping through the United States in recent weeks, it is still the largest tornado to hit New Zealand in several years.

"If the winds were strong enough to lift cars, they would probably be more than 200kmh and we just don't get events like this in New Zealand very often. Usually they are EF0 or 'mini-tornadoes.

Auckland Mayor Len Brown later told Campbell Live a man in his 30s had died, while other reports said he was found in the Albany Mega Centre carpark.

St John Ambulance northern region operations manager Murray Holt said a triage centre was set up at Albany shortly after the tornado swept through.

There's probably six or seven seriously damaged cars, and I saw cars flying off the ground about 30 metres in the air. They landed in car parks and some went through the old Placemaker's building."

The twister hit Albany, about 15km north of the Auckland Harbour Bridge, just before 3pm, ripping roofs off houses and commercial buildings in teh suburb's commercial centre, uprooting trees and turning cars and a campervan on their sides.

Tornadoes were very rare in New Zealand because the land mass in much colder than tornado-prone areas like the southern US, Hickey said.

During May 1991, a tornado hit Albany causing roofing iron to be lifted from homes and the destruction of a small church on the south-western side of the village.

New Zealand's worst tornado hit Hamilton in 1948, killing three people, injuring 80 others and destroying more the 200 homes and businesses.

Albany tornado around 200km/h

Metservice has confirmed there is a slim risk of more tornadoes this evening as a storm system passes over the upper North Island.

However, it says any more tornadoes will be smaller than the one that devastated buildings and killed one person in Albany this afternoon.

North Shore Hospital spokesman Paul Patton said 20 injured were due to arrive at the hospital with another two being sent to Auckland Hospital.

Manley said at least 14 were injured in today's tornado which had winds averaging 200km/h, forecasters says.

A North Shore police spokesman said emergency services were busy fielding calls from the public with reports of damage to homes and cars.

Witnesses reported cars with people inside being tossed across carparks when the tornado ripped through the suburb of Albany like a freight train about 3pm.

It was earlier reported that two had died, but it was later said there had been confusion in the immediate chaos.

An Auckland Council spokeswoman said it has activated its emergency co-ordination centre, based in the city's cbd.

The spokeswoman said Civil Defence staff were heading to the North Shore to evaluate the scene.

A spokesman for Auckland Mayor Len Brown said he was with councillors attending meetings this afternoon.

''He knows of the tornado and is aware of the reports of multiple injuries and is being kept briefed on the situation.

Most tornadoes take place in Autumn and Spring, and we thought there was the possibility of flash flooding with the weather today, but this has gone one step ahead with the rotation of the air.

"They are very hard to predict and the weather in today's situations can go from heavy downpour to light showers in a matter of minutes. But today did have perfect conditions for a tornado with the storms and all this unstable air swirling about.

World 'safer' without Bin Laden, says Obama

WASHINGTON — Calling it a “good day for America,” President Obama said Monday that the death of Osama bin Laden had made the world “a better place,” as new details emerged about the daring overnight raid in Pakistan that killed him.

He is believed to have ordered the attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001, as well as a number of other deadly bombings.

He topped the US "most wanted" list.

But his details on the list have now been updated with a simple banner indicating his current status: "Deceased".

Today we are reminded that as a nation there is nothing we can't do," Obama said. He hailed the pride of those who broke out in overnight celebrations as the stunning news spread around the globe.

An elite crews of American forces killed bin Laden during a daring raid on Monday. Bin Laden was shot in the head during a firefight and then quickly buried at sea. White House officials were mulling the merits and appropriateness of releasing a photo.

Bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda and the most hunted man in the world, was buried a few hours after his death in the North Arabian Sea, from the American aircraft carrier Carl Vinson in what was clearly an effort to prevent his grave becoming a shrine to his followers.

DNA tests carried out after the operation indicated with "99.9%" certainty that the man shot dead was Osama Bin Laden, US officials said.

He was killed along with a son and two other men who put up resistance during the raid, ending any hope of arrest and prosecution. A woman used as a human shield protecting Bin Laden during the raid was also killed, but several other women and children survived and are in Pakistani custody, officials said.

The US has put its embassies around the world on alert, warning Americans of the possibility of al-Qaeda reprisal attacks for Bin Laden's killing.

CIA director Leon Panetta said al-Qaeda would "almost certainly" try to avenge the death of Bin Laden.

Osama's luxurious villa in Pakistan's garrison town Abbottabad

BBOTTABAD, Pakistan — Frightened neighbours say they had no idea that the man living in a three-storey villa hidden behind barbed wire in a leafy, well-to-do Pakistani town was the world's most wanted extremist.

In the dead of night, residents of the middle-class area, home to retired army officers and businessmen, woke to a helicopter gunfight, which filled them with dread.

Described by US officials as "extraordinarily unique" the compound housing the terrorist leader was more like a fortress than a residential dwelling.

Surrounded by 18ft walls topped by barbed wire, the only access was through two security gates.

I did not have the slightest idea what was going on," said local resident Waseem. "It is a very quiet neighbourhood, the most peaceful area."

Ejaz Mahmood, a tailor, said he heard a blast in the early hours of Monday and "saw a fireball coming down from the air".

Residents were stunned when they switched on their television sets after daybreak to hear US President Barack Obama announce that bin Laden had been killed in their home town.

One of Bin Laden's neighbours, who lived just 100 metres away from him, described how he took to his roof to witness the dramatic raid.

"The helicopter swept past my house, flying very low, coming very close. I threw myself to the ground thinking it was going to collide with my house," Zahoor Abbasi said.

There was a massive explosion: a huge flame leapt into the sky from the house, and then shortly afterwards it all appeared to be over.

Residents said the neighbourhood, about two hours' drive from the capital Islamabad, was home mostly to migrants from the Swat Valley -- previously a stronghold of Taliban militants in the northwest -- and Afghanistan.

The compound that once housed bin Laden is near potato fields and eucalyptus trees in a valley ringed by hills.

It has 12-18 foot (four-to-six metre) high walls and was closely guarded on Monday by police and soldiers, said reporters.

Despite its size, the "owner" who aided bin Laden – who was linked to the property by US intelligence agents – and his brother had "no explainable source of wealth".

The property also had no telephone or internet services associated with it.

"Intelligence analysts concluded that this compound was custom-built to hide someone of significance," said the official.

Locals said large Landcruisers and other expensive cars were seen driving into the compound, which is in a regular middle-class neighbourhood.

Salman Riaz, a film actor, said that five months ago he and a crew tried to do some filming next to the house, but were told to stop by two men who came out.

Never in our wildest thoughts did we think Osama bin Laden was staying in this house," said Aurangzeb Khan, a local driver.

He told that the owner of the house was a man named Arshad, who would buy 10 to 15 rotis (traditional flat bread) from a nearby shop for each meal.

Khan remained doubtful about the raid after the story of bin Laden's demise emerged.

"It all seems like a drama or a kind of game being played by Pakistan and the United States," he said.

Who gets bin Laden's $25 million bounty

NEW YORK-- The photograph of Osama bin Laden on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists list has a new caption: Deceased.

But it was unclear Monday how much, if any, of the up to $25 million in reward money offered on the terrorist leader has been granted.

The FBI made no comment yesterday as to whether any part of the bounty would now be paid after US Navy Seals successfully targeted his compound in Pakistan.

Its Most Wanted website was updated almost immediately after President Obama’s announced bin Laden’s death.

In addition to the $25 million reward, $2 million was also offered through a program developed and funded by the Airline Pilots Association and the Air Transport Association.

His FBI Most Wanted profile page listed him as "armed and extremely dangerous.

In the 10 years since the 9/11 attacks, the Central Intelligence Agency, the FBI and other intelligence agencies have worked to locate bin Laden, who was found living in a compound outside of Islamabad.

The use of reward money has become an important asset in the government's fight against global terrorism.

Bin Laden had been on the list since June 1999 and was wanted “in connection with the August 7, 1998, bombings of the United States Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya. These attacks killed over 200 people.

The US Government is also offering a $25 million reward for information leading to the capture or conviction of bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman Al-Zawahiri.