Kenny Chesney wants to be more mainstream, looking to drop record label, report says

Published January 16, 2012

| NewsCore

Kenny Chesney wants out of his deal with Sony-based BNA Records and is shopping a $30 million, five-record deal to EMI, Universal and Warner.

"He's very displeased with how Sony has handled him," a source said. "He wants to be more mainstream."

Executives were said to be "in shock" over the price. "Welcome to the world of Kenny Chesney," a source cracked.

His manager said, "This is very inaccurate. We have no plans to be anything but a country-music artist ... Also, we have enjoyed a long-term, successful relationship with Sony ... The numbers you speak about and Warner Bros., etc., are purely rumors that are far from the truth."

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Report: Al Qaeda Militants Capture Town in Yemen

Published January 16, 2012

| Associated Press

SANAA, Yemen –  Al Qaeda militants seized full control of a town south of the Yemeni capital on Monday, overrunning army positions, storming the local prison and freeing its inmates, security officials said.

The capture of Radda in Bayda province, some 100 miles south of Sanaa, underscores the growing strength of Al Qaeda in Yemen as it continues to take advantage of the weakness of a central government struggling to contain nearly a year of massive political unrest.

The officials said the militants threw a security ring around Radda, preventing residents from leaving or entering, and killed two soldiers and wounded a third in clashes with army troops.

The fighters pushed into the town from several points they had captured over the weekend, including an ancient castle that overlooks the town, a school and a mosque. They freed 150-200 inmates, including an unspecified number of militants belonging to Al-Qaeda. The officials said some of the freed inmates joined the militants after they were given arms.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Monday's attack prompted stores and schools to close.

Bayda province is a key transit route between the capital and Yemen's southern provinces where the Al Qaeda militants are most active. Islamic militants have already seized control of a swath of territory and towns in Abyan province in southern Yemen.

An Associated Press photographer who visited Radda on Sunday said the militants were armed with rocket-propelled grenades, automatic rifles and other weapons. He quoted residents as saying the black Al Qaeda banner has been raised atop the mosque they captured over the weekend.

The security officials estimated the number of militants who attacked the town on Monday at around 200.

Yemen's opposition has accused embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh of trying to torpedo a power transfer deal he signed last month by allowing security to deteriorate in the south of the country as a way of arguing that he must stay in power, which he has held since 1978.

The United States long considered Saleh a necessary ally in the fight against Yemen's active Al Qaeda branch, which has been linked to terror attacks on U.S. soil and is believed to be one of the international terror organization's most dangerous franchises. The U.S. withdrew its support last summer and said he should step down.

Islamic militants began seizing territory in Abyan province last spring, solidifying their control over the town of Jaar in April before taking the provincial capital, Zinjibar, in May.

Yemeni security forces have been trying unsuccessfully to push them out since then in fierce fighting that has caused many casualties on both sides. The conflict has forced tens of thousands of civilians from Zinjibar and the surrounding area to flee, many to the port city of Aden.

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Report: Taliban Chief Dies in US Drone Strike

Published January 15, 2012

| Associated Press

ISLAMABAD –  Intercepted militant radio communications indicate the leader of the Pakistani Taliban may have been killed in a recent U.S. drone strike, Pakistani intelligence officials said Sunday. A Taliban official denied that.

The report coincided with sectarian violence — a bomb blast in eastern Pakistan that killed 14 people in a Shiite religious procession.

The claim that the Pakistani Taliban chief was killed came from officials who said they intercepted a number of Taliban radio conversations. In about a half a dozen intercepts, the militants discussed whether their chief, Hakimullah Mehsud, was killed on Jan. 12 in the North Waziristan tribal area. Some militants confirmed Mehsud was dead, and one criticized others for talking about the issue over the radio.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.

Pakistani Taliban spokesman Asimullah Mehsud denied the group's leader was killed and said he was not in the area where the drone strike occurred.

In early 2010, both Pakistani and American officials said they believed a missile strike had killed Hakimullah Mehsud along the border of North and South Waziristan. They were proved wrong when videos appeared showing him still alive.

The Pakistani Taliban is linked to attacks against U.S. targets. They trained the Pakistani-American who tried to detonate a car bomb in New York City's Times Square in 2010 and is tied to a suicide bombing that killed seven CIA agents at an Afghan base in 2009.

There was no claim of responsibility for Sunday's bombing that killed 14 people during a Shiite observance in Punjab province in the east — the latest of a series of sectarian attacks in volatile Pakistan.

Hundreds of Pakistani Shiites gathered in the town of Khanpur in Punjab province for a traditional procession to mark the end of 40 days of mourning following the anniversary of the death of Imam Hussein, a revered seventh-century figure.

The explosion went off as the mourners left a mosque, said District Police Chief Sohail Chatta. The bomb appeared to have been planted ahead of time in the path of the procession, he said.

The Pakistani Taliban and other Sunni extremist groups have in the past claimed responsibility for the bombings of Shiite religious sites and ceremonies. Many Sunni extremists in Pakistan regard Shiites as heretics.

The Taliban and other groups have carried out hundreds of bombings over the last five years that have killed thousands of Pakistani troops and civilians as part of a campaign to install a hard-line Islamist government.

The attacks are so common that the country's interior minister in December actually thanked the Taliban for acting on what he said was a "request" not to stage attacks during the Shiite rituals of Ashoura that month.

Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah said police investigators were still examining the area of Sunday's bombing for clues. Security was provided for the procession, but it was breached, Sanaullah said.

The continuing strikes by presumed religious extremists come during a political crisis that pits the Pakistani civilian government against the military, sparking rumors of an impending coup.

Last week the military warned the government of possible "grievous consequences" ahead, and President Asif Ali Zardari took a one-day trip to Dubai that renewed speculation that he might flee the country.

Analysts say the military may be looking for the Supreme Court to push out Zardari rather than risk an outright takeover.

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