Pakistan jails doctor who helped in bin Laden hunt

WASHINGTON, United States of America - The US State Department said that Pakistan had no basis to hold or charge a surgeon who was sentenced Wednesday to 33 years in prison for helping in the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

A tribal court in Khyber, a lawless district and extremist hotbed, convicted surgeon Shakeel Afridi of treason after he agreed to collect DNA for US intelligence to verify the presence of the most-wanted Al-Qaeda leader.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland recalled that both US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta had earlier raised concerns with Pakistan about the doctor's case.

"Our views on it haven't changed. We continue to see no basis for Dr. Afridi to be held," Nuland said. "We will continue to make those representations to the government of Pakistan."

When asked why she only referred to Afridi's charges and did not acknowledge his actual conviction and sentencing, Nuland said: "It's not clear that the legal process is over, OK? There may be other options for him legally."

Her muted remarks came as Washington and Islamabad, allies in the war on terror, struggle to repair ties that hit a low when US forces staged a secret raid into Pakistan that killed bin Laden in May last year.

Breaking point

They were strained to breaking point in November when US forces staged a botched raid that killed 24 Pakistani troops, prompting Islamabad to cut off the land route for supplies to NATO troops in neighboring Afghanistan.

Carl Levin and John McCain, the top senators from the two major US parties on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called Afridi's sentence "shocking and outrageous" and urged Pakistan to pardon and free him immediately.

"Dr. Afridi's continuing imprisonment and treatment as a criminal will only do further harm to US-Pakistani relations, including diminishing Congress's willingness to provide financial assistance to Pakistan," they warned. - Agence France-Presse

View the original article here

Read More

Jennifer Aniston, A Sex-Crazed Doctor in ‘Horrible Bosses’

America’s sweetheart Jennifer Aniston goes against type as she plays certified man-eater Dr. Julia Harris who relentlessly makes X-rated advances to her dental assistant Dale (Charlie Day) in New Line Cinema’s edgy comedy “Horrible Bosses.”

In the film, Dale, who’s engaged to be married to his beloved fiancée, has been struggling to maintain his self-respect against the sexual harassment from Dr. Harris when she suddenly turns up the heat. The only thing that would make the daily grind more tolerable for Dale and his two friends Nick (Jason Bateman) and Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) – who both suffer evil employers, too — would be to grind their intolerable bosses into dust. Quitting is not an option, so, with the benefit of a few-too-many drinks and some dubious advice from a hustling ex-con, the three friends devise a convoluted and seemingly foolproof plan to rid themselves of their respective employers…permanently. There’s only one problem: even the best laid plans are only as foolproof as the brains behind them.

“I’ve never played a character so inexcusably raunchy and there was no way I could resist it — the dialogue and the situations are so outrageous and fun. I jumped at it immediately,” says Aniston, who calls the movie “a guilty pleasure for people unhappy in their jobs, to maybe go and get it out of their system by rooting for these guys.

“It really stretches the limits and crosses boundaries and Dr. Harris is way out in front on all counts: guilty as charged,” she adds.

“What I love about the character is how masculine she is in her sexual appetite. As Jennifer and I discussed in rehearsals, Dr. Harris is a predator, like a lion. They don’t feel one way or another, they just have to feed,” says director Seth Gordon. “It was really important to find an actress who could play Julia with all the intensity and delicious naughtiness the role deserves, and I thought it would be even better if it was someone audiences wouldn’t expect. This is radically different from any role her fans have ever seen her in before and she just kills; you have to see it to believe it. It’s electrifying to hear her deliver this dialogue. She’s absolutely fearless and hilarious.”

Aniston previously starred with Jason Sudeikis in “The Bounty Hunter” and with Jason Bateman in last year’s romantic comedy “The Switch,” but met Charlie Day for the first time on “Horrible Bosses.” Recalling the potentially awkward scenario of their first scene together, she says, “Within 20 minutes, I was straddling him in lingerie. But Seth never stopped laughing and we were all in perfect sync; if anything, after every take we’d be thinking, ‘let’s push it a little further.’ I was bizarrely comfortable in these scenes, almost more so than I would be playing the normal girl-next-door, and every scene was kind of crazy but that was really the fun of it.”

Opening across the Philippines on Sept. 21, “Horrible Bosses” is a New Line Cinema distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

View the original article here

Read More