Events

305 – Diocletian and Maximian retire from the office of Roman Emperor.

880 – The Nea Ekklesia is inaugurated in Constantinople, setting the model for all later cross-in-square Orthodox churches.

1328 – Wars of Scottish Independence end: Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton – the Kingdom of England recognises the Kingdom of Scotland as an independent state.

1576 – Stefan Batory, the reigning Prince of Transylvania, marries Anna Jagiellon and they become the co-rulers of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

1707 – The Act of Union joins the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.

1751 – The first cricket match is played in America.

1753 – Publication of ''Species Plantarum'' by Linnaeus, and the formal start date of plant taxonomy adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.

1759 – Josiah Wedgwood founds the Wedgwood pottery company in Great Britain.

1776 – Establishment of the Illuminati in Ingolstadt (Upper Bavaria), by Jesuit-taught Adam Weishaupt.

1778 – American Revolution: The Battle of Crooked Billet begins in Hatboro, Pennsylvania.

1785 – Kamehameha I, the king of Hawaii, defeats Kalanikupule and establishes the Kingdom of Hawaii.

1786 – Opening night of the opera ''The Marriage of Figaro'' by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Vienna, Austria.

1794 – War of the Pyrenees: The Battle of Boulou ends, in which French forces defeat the Spanish and regain nearly all the land they lost to Spain in 1793.

1840 – The Penny Black, the first official adhesive postage stamp, is issued in the United Kingdom.

1844 – Hong Kong Police Force, the world's second, Asia's first modern police force is established.

1846 – The few remaining Mormons left in Nauvoo, Illinois, formally dedicate the Nauvoo Temple.

1851 – Queen Victoria opens the Great Exhibition in London.

1852 – The Philippine peso is introduced into circulation.

1862 – American Civil War: The Union Army completes the Capture of New Orleans.

1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville begins.

1865 – The Empire of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay sign the Treaty of the Triple Alliance

1869 – The Folies Bergère opens in Paris.

1875 – Alexandra Palace reopens after the 1873 fire burnt it down.

1884 – Proclamation of the demand for eight-hour workday in the United States.

1884 – Moses Fleetwood Walker became the first black person to play in a professional baseball game in the United States.

1885 – The original Chicago Board of Trade Building opened for business.

1886 – Rallies are held throughout the United States demanding the eight-hour work day culminating in the Haymarket Affair.

1893 – The World's Columbian Exposition opens in Chicago.

1894 – Coxey's Army, the first significant American protest march, arrives in Washington, D.C.

1898 – Spanish-American War: The Battle of Manila Bay – the United States Navy destroys the Spanish Pacific fleet in the first battle of the war.

1900 – The Scofield mine disaster kills over 200 men in Scofield, Utah in what is to date the fifth-worst mining accident in United States history.

1901 – The Pan-American Exposition opens in Buffalo, New York.

1915 – The departs from New York City on her two hundred and second, and final, crossing of the North Atlantic. Six days later, the ship is torpedoed off the coast of Ireland with the loss of 1,198 lives, including 128 Americans, rousing American sentiment against Germany.

1925 – The All-China Federation of Trade Unions is officially founded. Today it is the largest trade union in the world, with 134 million members.

1925 – The first Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer is held at the University of Toronto, Canada.

1927 – The first cooked meals on a scheduled flight are introduced on an Imperial Airways flight from London to Paris.

1927 – The Union Labor Life Insurance Company is founded by the American Federation of Labor.

1930 – The dwarf planet Pluto is officially named.

1931 – The Empire State Building is dedicated in New York City.

1933 – The Roca-Runciman Treaty between Argentina and Great Britain is signed by Julio Argentino Roca, Jr., and Sir Walter Runciman.

1940 – The 1940 Summer Olympics are cancelled due to war.

1941 – World War II: German forces launch a major attack on Tobruk.

1944 – 200 Communist prisoners are shot by the Germans at Kaisariani in Athens as reprisals for the killing of General Franz Krech by partisans at Molaoi

1945 – World War II: A German newsreader officially announces that Adolf Hitler has "fallen at his command post in the Reich Chancellery fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany".

1945 – The Yugoslav partisans free Trieste.

1946 – Start of 3 year Pilbara strike of Indigenous Australians.

1946 – The Paris Peace Conference concludes that the islands of the Dodecanese should be returned to Greece by Italy.

1947 – Portella della Ginestra massacre against May Day celebrations in Sicily by the bandit and separatist leader Salvatore Giuliano; 11 persons are killed and 33 wounded.

1948 – The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) is established, with Kim Il-sung as leader.

1950 – Guam is organized as a United States commonwealth.

1956 – The polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk is made available to the public.

1956 – A doctor in Japan reports an "epidemic of an unknown disease of the central nervous system", marking the official discovery of Minamata disease.

1957 – 34 of 35 people aboard are killed when a Vickers Viking airliner crashed in Hampshire England.

1960 – Formation of the western Indian states of Gujarat and Maharashtra.

1960 – Cold War: U-2 incident – Francis Gary Powers, in a Lockheed U-2 spyplane, is shot down over the Soviet Union, sparking a diplomatic crisis.

1961 – The Prime Minister of Cuba, Fidel Castro, proclaims Cuba a socialist nation and abolishes elections.

1965 – Battle of Dong-Yin, a naval conflict between ROC and PRC, takes place.

1970 – Protests erupt in Seattle, Washington, following the announcement by U.S. President Richard Nixon that U.S. Forces in Vietnam would pursue enemy troops into Cambodia, a neutral country.

1971 – Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation) takes over operation of U.S. passenger rail service.

1974 – The Argentine terrorist organization Montoneros is expulsed from Plaza de Mayo by president Juan Perón.

1977 – 36 people are killed in Taksim Square, Istanbul, during the Labour Day celebrations.

1978 – Japan's Naomi Uemura, travelling by dog sled, becomes the first person to reach the North Pole alone.

1982 – The 1982 World's Fair opens in Knoxville, Tennessee.

1982 – Operation Black Buck: The Royal Air Force attacks the Argentine Air Force during Falklands War.

1983 – Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis is awarded the Lenin Peace Prize.

1987 – Pope John Paul II beatifies Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz.

1989 – Disney-MGM Studios opens at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida, United States.

1990 – The former Philippine Episcopal Church (supervised by the Episcopal Church of the United States of America) is granted full autonomy and raised to the status of an Autocephalous Anglican Province and renamed the Episcopal Church of the Philippines.

1991 – Rickey Henderson of the Oakland Athletics steals his 939th base, making him the all-time leader in this category. However, his accomplishment is overshadowed later that evening by Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers, when he pitches his seventh career no-hitter, breaking his own record.

1994 – Three-time Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna is killed in an accident during the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola.

1995 – Croatian forces launch Operation Flash during the Croatian War of Independence.

2001 – Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declares the existence of "a state of rebellion", hours after thousands of supporters of her arrested predecessor, Joseph Estrada, storm towards the presidential palace at the height of the EDSA III rebellion.

2003 – 2003 invasion of Iraq: In what becomes known as the "Mission Accomplished" speech, on board the (off the coast of California), U.S. President George W. Bush declares that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended".

2004 – Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the European Union, celebrated at the residence of the Irish President in Dublin.

2006 – The Puerto Rican government closes the Department of Education and 42 other government agencies due to significant shortages in cash flow.

2007 – the Los Angeles May Day mêlée occurs, in which the Los Angeles Police Department's response to a May Day pro-immigration rally become a matter of controversy.

2008 – The London Agreement on translation of European patents, concluded in 2000, enters into force in 14 of the 34 Contracting States to the European Patent Convention.

2009 – Same-sex marriage is legalized in Sweden.

2011 – Pope John Paul II is beatified by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI.

Births

1218 – John I, Count of Hainaut (d. 1257)

1218 – Rudolph I of Germany, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (d. 1291)

1225 – Jean de Joinville, French writer (d. 1317)

1285 – Edmund FitzAlan, 9th Earl of Arundel, English politician (d. 1326)

1582 – Marco da Gagliano, Italian composer (d. 1643)

1585 – Sophia Olelkovich Radziwill, Belarusian saint (d. 1612)

1591 – Johann Adam Schall von Bell, German Jesuit missionary (d. 1666)

1594 – John Haynes, Massachusetts colonial magistrate

1672 – Joseph Addison, English politician and writer (d. 1719)

1730 – Sir Joshua Rowley, 1st Baronet, Royal Navy admiral (d. 1790)

1738 – King Kamehameha I, King of Hawaii (d. 1819)

1764 – Benjamin Henry Latrobe, English born American architect (d. 1820)

1769 – Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Anglo-Irish statesman (d. 1852)

1803 – James Clarence Mangan, Irish poet (d. 1849)

1804 – Aleksey Khomyakov, Russian poet (d. 1860)

1824 – Alexander William Williamson, English chemist (d. 1904)

1825 – George Inness, American painter (d. 1894)

1827 – Jules Breton, French painter (d. 1906)

1829 – José de Alencar, Brazilian novelist (d. 1877)

1829 – Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys, English Pre-Raphaelite painter (d. 1904)

1831 – Emily Stowe, Canadian physician and suffragist (d. 1903)

1847 – Henry Demarest Lloyd, American journalist (d. 1903)

1848 – Adelsteen Normann, Norwegian painter (d. 1919)

1850 – Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, Governor General of Canada (d. 1942)

1851 – Laza Lazarević, Serbian writer and psychiatrist (d. 1891)

1852 – Calamity Jane, American Wild West performer (d. 1903)

1852 – Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Spanish neuroscientist, Nobel laureate (d. 1934)

1857 – Theo Van Gogh, Dutch art dealer (d. 1891)

1864 – Anna Jarvis, American founder of Mother's Day (d. 1948)

1872 – Harry Leon Wilson, American novelist (d. 1939)

1872 – Sidónio Pais, Portuguese military and politician (d. 1918)

1881 – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, French palaeontologist and philosopher (d. 1955)

1884 – Francis Curzon, 5th Earl Howe, British politician, naval officer and racing driver (d. 1964)

1885 – Ralph Stackpole, American sculptor, painter (d. 1973)

1887 – Alan Gordon Cunningham, British army officer (d. 1983)

1896 – Herbert Backe, German Nazi politician (d. 1947)

1896 – Mark Wayne Clark, American general (d. 1984)

1896 – J. Lawton Collins, American general (d. 1987)

1900 – Ignazio Silone, Italian author and Politician (d. 1978)

1901 – Heinz Eric Roemheld, American film composer (d. 1985)

1901 – Antal Szerb, Hungarian author and historian (d. 1945)

1905 – Henry Koster, German film director (d. 1988)

1905 – Paul Desruisseaux, French Canadian lawyer, businessman and politician (d. 1982)

1906 – Horst Schumann, Nazi physician (d. 1983)

1907 – Oliver Hill, civil rights attorney (d. 2007)

1907 – Kate Smith, American singer (d. 1986)

1908 – Giovannino Guareschi, Italian journalist (d. 1968)

1908 – Morris Kline, American mathematician (d. 1992)

1909 – Yiannis Ritsos, Greek poet, winner of the Lenin Peace Prize, 9 times nominee for the Nobel Prize (d. 1990)

1910 – Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Astronomer/astro-physicist; noted UFO investigator (d. 1986)

1912 – Otto Kretschmer, German U-Boat commander (d. 1998)

1913 – Louis Nye, American comedian and actor (d. 2005)

1913 – Walter Susskind, Czech conductor (d. 1980)

1915 – Archie Williams, American athlete (d. 1993)

1916 – Glenn Ford, Canadian actor (d. 2006)

1917 – John Beradino, American actor and baseball player (d. 1996)

1917 – Danielle Darrieux, French singer and actress

1917 – Ahron Soloveichik, Orthodox Jewish rabbi (d. 2001)

1918 – Gersh Budker, Russian physicist (d. 1977)

1918 – Jack Paar, American television host (d. 2004)

1919 – Lewis Hill, American pacifist and founder of Pacifica Radio (d. 1957)

1919 – Manna Dey, Indian singer

1919 – Dan O'Herlihy, Irish film actor (d. 2005)

1919 – Mohammed Karim Lamrani, Prime Minister of Morocco

1921 – Vladimir Colin, Romanian fantasy and science fiction short story writer and novelist (d. 1991)

1923 – Joseph Heller, American novelist (d. 1999)

1924 – Art Fleming, American game show host (d. 1995)

1924 – Karel Kachyňa, Czech film director (d. 2004)

1924 – Terry Southern, American screenwriter (d. 1995)

1925 – Chuck Bednarik, American football player

1925 – Scott Carpenter, American astronaut

1926 – Peter Lax, Hungarian mathematician

1928 – Desmond Titterington, Northern Irish racer (d. 2002)

1929 – Ralf Dahrendorf, German-born sociologist and politician (d. 2009)

1929 – Sonny James, American country music singer and songwriter

1930 – Richard Riordan, American politician, former mayor of Los Angeles

1930 – Little Walter, American blues singer (d. 1968)

1934 – Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, Mexican politician

1934 – Shirley Horn, American jazz singer and pianist (d. 2005)

1935 – Ann Robinson, American actress

1937 – Una Stubbs, English actress

1939 – Judy Collins, American folk singer

1939 – Max Robinson, American broadcast journalist (d. 1988)

1939 – Victor Davies, Canadian composer

1940 – Elsa Peretti, Italian jewelry designer

1940 – Bobbie Ann Mason, American novelist and literary critic

1943 – Vassal Gadoengin, Nauruan politician (d. 2004)

1944 – Suresh Kalmadi, Indian politician

1945 – Rita Coolidge, American singer

1946 – Joanna Lumley, English actress

1946 – John Woo, Hong Kong director

1947 – Sergio Infante, Chilean poet and writer

1948 – Patricia Hill Collins, American black-feminist and scholar

1949 – Tim Hodgkinson, English composer and musician (Henry Cow)

1949 – Paul Teutul, Sr., founder of Orange County Choppers

1949 – Jim Clench, Canadian bassist (April Wine and Bachman–Turner Overdrive) (d. 2010)

1950 – Dann Florek, American actor

1950 – Danny McGrain, Scottish footballer

1951 – Antony Worrall Thompson, English celebrity chef

1953 – Glen Ballard, American songwriter and record producer

1954 – Ray Parker Jr., American singer and songwriter

1954 – Joel Rosenberg, science fiction author

1955 – Martin O'Donnell, American composer

1955 – Nick Feldman, English musician

1956 – Catherine Frot, French actress

1956 – Phil Foglio, American cartoonist and comic book artist

1957 – Kow Otani, Japanese composer

1959 – Lawrence Seeff, South African cricketer

1960 – Steve Cauthen, American jockey

1961 – Marilyn Milian, current judge on ''The People's Court''

1962 – Maia Morgenstern, Romanian actress

1962 – Ted Sundquist, General Manager of the Denver Broncos

1964 – Yvonne van Gennip, Dutch speed skater

1964 – Lady Sarah Chatto, daughter of Princess Margaret

1966 – Charlie Schlatter, American actor

1966 – Olaf Thon, German football player

1967 – Tim McGraw, American musician

1968 – Oliver Bierhoff, German footballer

1968 – Sol Kyung-gu, South Korean actor

1968 – Denise Masino, American Female bodybuilder

1968 – D'arcy Wretzky, American musician (The Smashing Pumpkins)

1969 – Wes Anderson, American director and writer

1969 – Billy Owens, American basketball player

1971 – Ethan Albright, American football player

1971 – Ajith Kumar, Indian film actor

1972 – Julie Benz, American actress

1972 – Earl Va'a, Samoan rugby player

1973 – Mike Jesse, German footballer

1973 – Curtis Martin, American football player

1973 – Oliver Neuville, German footballer

1974 – Kellie Crawford, Australian singer (Hi-5)

1975 – Austin Croshere, American basketball player

1975 – Marc-Vivien Foé, Cameroonian footballer (d. 2003)

1975 – Jodhi May, British actress

1975 – Alexey Smertin, Russian footballer

1976 – Darius McCrary, American actor

1977 – Vera Lischka, Austrian swimmer, politician

1978 – Sachie Hara, Japanese actress

1978 – Nick Traina, American singer (Link 80) (d. 1997)

1979 – Mauro Bergamasco, Italian rugby player

1979 – Ben Easter, American actor

1979 – Michael Harvey, British musical artist

1980 – Jan Heylen, Belgian racing driver

1980 – Jay Reatard, American musician (d. 2010)

1980 – Ana Claudia Talancón, Mexican actress

1981 – Derek Asamoah, Ghanaian footballer

1981 – Alexander Hleb, Belarusian footballer

1981 – Wes Welker, American football player

1982 – Tommy Robredo, Spanish tennis player

1982 – Darijo Srna, Croatian football player

1983 – The Human Tornado (Craig Williams), American professional wrestler

1983 – Alain Bernard, French swimmer

1984 – David Backes, American ice hockey player

1984 – Patrick Eaves, American ice hockey player

1984 – Alexander Farnerud, Swedish footballer

1984 – Farah Fath, American actress

1984 – Keiichiro Koyama, Japanese musician (NEWS)

1984 – Mark Seaby, Australian Rules footballer

1985 – Drew Sidora, American actress

1986 – Adam Casey, Australian footballer

1986 – Christian Benítez, Ecuadorian footballer

1986 – Brent Stanton, Australian rules footballer

1987 – Marcus Drum, Australian Rules Football

1987 – Matt Di Angelo, English actor

1987 – Amir Johnson, American basketball player

1987 – Shahar Pe'er, Israeli tennis player

1987 – Glen Coffee, American football player

1988 – Anushka Sharma, Indian actress and model

1988 – Nicholas Braun, American actor

1989 – Tim Urban, American singer

1990 – Caitlin Stasey, Australian actress

1991 – Creagen Dow, American actor

1997 – Ariel Gade, American actress

Deaths

408 – Arcadius, Eastern Roman emperor (b. 337/338)

1118 – Edith of Scotland, first wife of Henry I of England (b. c.1080)

1277 – Stephen Uroš I of Serbia (b. 1223)

1308 – Albert I of Habsburg (b. 1255)

1539 – Isabella of Portugal, queen of Spain and empress of Germany (b. 1503)

1555 – Pope Marcellus II (b. 1501)

1572 – Pope Saint Pius V (b. 1504)

1731 – Johann Ludwig Bach, German composer (b. 1677)

1738 – Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle, English statesman (b. c.1669)

1772 – Gottfried Achenwall, German statistician (b. 1719)

1813 – Jean-Baptiste Bessières, French marshal (killed in combat) (b. 1768)

1873 – David Livingstone, Scottish missionary (b. 1813)

1899 – Ludwig Büchner, German philosopher and physician (b. 1824)

1904 – Antonín Dvořák, Czech composer (b. 1841)

1913 – John Barclay Armstrong, Texas Ranger and U.S. Marshal (b. 1850)

1920 – Princess Margaret of Connaught (b. 1882)

1935 – Henri Pélissier, French cyclist (b. 1889)

1937 – Snitz Edwards, American actor (b. 1868)

1943 – Johan Oscar Smith, Norwegian Christian leader and founder of Brunstad Christian Church (b. 1871)

1945 – Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda (b. 1897)

1963 – Lope K. Santos, Filipino writer, father of the Filipino language (b. 1879)

1965 – Spike Jones, American band leader, musician, and comedian (b. 1911)

1968 – Harold Nicolson, British diplomat, author and politician (b. 1886)

1968 – Jack Adams, Canadian ice hockey player, coach and general manager (b. 1895)

1970 – Crown Prince Euimin, Crown Prince of Korea (b. 1897)

1973 – Asger Jorn, Danish painter (b. 1914)

1976 – Alexandros Panagoulis, Greek poet who fought the military junta in Greece (b. 1939)

1976 – T.R.M. Howard, civil rights leader, entrepreneur, surgeon (b. 1908)

1978 – Aram Khachaturian, Armenian composer (b. 1903)

1982 – William Primrose, Scottish violist (b. 1903)

1985 – Denise Robins (aka Francesca Wright, Ashley French, Harriet Gray, Julia Kane) British romance novelist (b. 1897)

1986 – Hylda Baker, English comedy actress (b. 1905)

1986 – Hugo Peretti, American songwriter and record producer (b. 1916)

1989 – Sally Kirkland, fashion editor at ''LIFE'' (b. 1912)

1989 – Douglass Watson, American actor (b. 1921)

1990 – Sergio Franchi, Italian tenor (b. 1926)

1992 – Sharon Redd, American house music and urban contemporary singer (b. 1945)

1993 – Pierre Bérégovoy, French Prime Minister (b. 1925)

1993 – Ranasinghe Premadasa, President of Sri Lanka (b. 1924)

1994 – Ayrton Senna, Brazilian race car driver (b. 1960)

1996 – Luana Patten, American actress (b. 1938)

1998 – Eldridge Cleaver, American activist (b. 1935)

2000 – Steve Reeves, American actor (b. 1926)

2003 – Miss Elizabeth, American wrestler (b. 1960)

2006 – Big Hawk, American rapper (b. 1969)

2006 – Johnny Paris, American saxophonist (Johnny and the Hurricanes) (b. 1940)

2006 – Rob Lacey, Christian author (b. 1962)

2008 – Anthony Mamo, Malta's first President (b. 1909)

2008 – Deborah Jeane Palfrey, Washington, D.C. prostitution service owner (b. 1956)

2008 – Philipp Freiherr von Boeselager, last surviving member of the 20 July Plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944 (b. 1917)

2009 – Danny Gans, American entertainer (b. 1956)

2010 – Rob McConnell, Canadian jazz composer/arranger and valve trombonist (b. 1935)

2010 – Helen Wagner, American Actress (b. 1918)

2011 – Ted Lowe, English snooker commentator (b. 1920)

Holidays and observances

Beginning of Summer observances (see April 30):

*Beltane (Gaelic floklore, Neopagan Wheel of the Year)

*Walpurgis Night, celebrated before dawn (Central and Northern Europe)

Christian Feast Day:

*Augustin Schoeffer

*Andeolus

*Saint Joseph

*Brioc

*James the Less

*Memorial of Saint Joseph the Worker (Roman Catholic optional feast)

*Philip the Apostle

*Sigismund of Burgundy

*Walpurga (canonization)

*May 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Constitution Day (Marshall Islands)

Commemoration of the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat following the foundation of Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti:

*Gujarat Day

*Maharashtra Day

Earliest day on which National Day of Prayer can fall, while May 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Thursday in May. (United States)

Festival in honor of Bona Dea (Roman Empire)

International Workers' Day (International), and its related observances:

*EuroMayDay (Western Europe)

*Labor Day

*Law Day, U.S.A., formerly intended to counterbalance the celebration of Labour Day. (United States)

*Loyalty Day, formerly intended to counterbalance the celebration of Labour Day. (United States)

*May Day, a term also used for the beginning of summer celebration.

Lei Day (Hawaii)

External links

BBC: On This Day

On this day in Canada

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Category:Days of the year Category:May

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name	Jonathan Coulton
background	solo_singer
birth date	December 01, 1970
origin	Brooklyn, New York City
instrument	Guitar, banjo, ukulele, zendrum, tenori-on
genre	Folk rock, power pop, indie rock
occupation	Singer-songwriter
years active	2003–present
associated acts	Paul and StormKristen ShirtsJohn HodgmanMolly LewisEllen McLainZe FrankRiffTraxThey Might Be Giants
website	http://www.jonathancoulton.com/ }}

Jonathan Coulton (born December 1, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter, known for his songs about geek culture and his use of the Internet to draw fans. Among his most popular songs are "Code Monkey", "Re: Your Brains" and "Still Alive".

A former computer programmer and self-described geek, Coulton tends to write quirky, witty lyrics about science fiction and technology: a man who thinks in simian terms, a mad scientist who falls in love with one of his captives, and the dangers of bacteria. Rare topical songs include 2005's "W's Duty", which sampled President George W. Bush, and 2006's "Tom Cruise Crazy". Most of Coulton's recordings feature his singing over guitar, bass, and drums; some also feature the various other instruments Coulton plays, including accordion, harmonica, mandolin, banjo, ukulele, and glockenspiel.

Coulton graduated in 1993 from Yale, where he was a member of the Yale Whiffenpoofs and the Yale Spizzwinks(?). He is now the Contributing Troubadour at ''Popular Science'' magazine, whose September 2005 issue was accompanied by a five-song set by him called ''Our Bodies, Ourselves, Our Cybernetic Arms''. He was also the Musical Director for The Little Gray Book Lectures.

Career

Coulton's best-known works include his light-acoustic cover of the Sir Mix-a-Lot hit song "Baby Got Back" and original pieces such as "Code Monkey", which was featured on Slashdot on April 23, 2006 and linked from the webcomic Penny Arcade. It was the theme song for an animated show on G4 called ''Code Monkeys''.

His work has been featured on NPR's ''All Things Considered''. ''Good Morning Silicon Valley'' featured a link to a video set to his song "Re: Your Brains".

Coulton accompanied John Hodgman on his "700 Hobo Names" promotional track for Hodgman's book ''The Areas of My Expertise'' as the guitarist (he was credited as "Jonathan William Coulton, the Colchester Kid"). Coulton also can be heard throughout the audiobook version of the same book, playing the theme song to the book, playing incidental music, and bantering with Hodgman, who reads the audio version of his work. Hodgman has also mentioned Coulton on ''The Daily Show'': a Jonathan Coulton of Colchester, Connecticut, was Hodgman's pick to win an essay contest on overpowering Iraqi resistance to American invasion. Coulton wrote and performed "the winning entry", a song about dropping snakes from airplanes. Coulton appeared on the tour for Hodgman's newest book, ''More Information Than You Require''.

Coulton composed the title music for the show ''Mystery Diagnosis'', and also has contributed other songs under "The Little Gray Book Lectures", a series of audio releases from John Hodgman.

In 2006, Coulton began touring with comedy-duo Paul and Storm. They have since toured together almost exclusively, rarely appearing with other artists. At their first few shows, Coulton opened the concerts, but soon after his rise to fame, he was headlining.

Coulton wrote and performed a song titled "Still Alive" for the ending credits of Valve's 2007 video game ''Portal'', with vocals by Ellen McLain. On April 1, 2008, Harmonix made this track available as free downloadable content for the game ''Rock Band''. A version with Coulton's vocals was also included on the ''Orange Box Original Soundtrack'', in addition to the one heard at the end of the game. "Still Alive" has also made an appearance as an easter egg in Left 4 Dead 2. The song has been called "the most influential game music". In 2011, Coulton followed up the success of "Still Alive" with a new song at the end of ''Portal 2'', "Want You Gone".

A DVD & CD of a concert performed February 22, 2008, at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, entitled Best. Concert. Ever. was released in 2009. At the concert, Coulton played the aforementioned song "Still Alive" on its ''Rock Band'' version, along with guest "musicians" and geek/celebrities Leo Laporte, Merlin Mann and Veronica Belmont.

Coulton opened for They Might Be Giants for a few shows of their March 2010 tour.

Coulton had been working on his follow-up to the ''Thing a Week'' albums, tentatively titled ''The Aftermath''. It has since been stated that the title is merely an umbrella term to classify non-album tracks released after ''Thing a Week''. On May 25, 2010, Coulton said on his official site that he would be working on a new album, to be produced by John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants, and for the first time ever with a full band, including Marty Beller of They Might Be Giants, in a professional recording studio. The resulting album: Artificial Heart, is to be released in September 2011.

In May 2011, Coulton was interviewed on NPR's popular economics-related program ''Planet Money''. He disclosed that he makes about $500,000 a year from his music despite lacking a record label contact. He expressed gratitude towards his fans for his surprise success, the degree of which he called "absurd". In a broader discussion of whether or not the internet is good for musicians, Coulton answered in the affirmative, while journalist Frannie Kelley described him as a "fluke" such as the Snuggie. Coulton posted a tongue-in-cheek response on his blog about the comparison, saying "to which I say: snarkity snark snark!"

Licensing

Coulton releases his songs under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license, allowing others to use them in their own noncommercial works. As a result, a number of music videos have been created using his songs, including such machinima as the ILL Clan's video for "Code Monkey" and a kinetic typography video for the song "Shop Vac".

Thing a Week

From September 16, 2005, to September 30, 2006, Coulton ran "Thing a Week", during which he recorded 52 musical pieces in an effort to push his creative envelope via a "forced-march approach to writing and recording"; to prove to himself that he could produce creative output to a deadline; and to see whether a professional artist could use the Internet and Creative Commons to support himself. Early indications are that the experiment succeeded in generating a large number of high quality songs, boosting sales of music downloads, expanding Coulton's public presence, and enlarging his fan base. The success of the financial objective is more difficult to judge, but Coulton was quoted in a September 2006 interview as stating that "in some parts of the country, I'd be making a decent living". In a February 25, 2008, interview with This Week in Tech, he stated that he made more money in 2007 than he did in his last year of working as a programmer, 40% of it from digital downloads and 40% from merchandise and performances.

Discography

Studio albums

''Smoking Monkey'' (2003)

''Where Tradition Meets Tomorrow'' (2004)

''Our Bodies, Ourselves, Our Cybernetic Arms'' (2005)

''Thing a Week One'' (2006)

''Thing a Week Two'' (2006)

''Thing a Week Three'' (2006)

''Thing a Week Four'' (2006)

''Artificial Heart'' (2011)

Compilations

''JoCo Looks Back'' (2008)

''Best. Concert. Ever.'' (Live album - 2009)

Other releases

''Other Experiments'' (Rarities Collection) (2005)

''Unplugged'' (Live on Second Life) (2006)

''The Orange Box Original Soundtrack'' (2007)

* 1. "Still Alive" (Sung by Ellen McLain)

* 19. "Still Alive" (Sung by Jonathan Coulton)

''The Aftermath'' (2009)

''Portal 2 Soundtrack'' (2011)

* "Want You Gone" (Sung by Ellen McLain)

Most of Coulton's songs are published on his website as MP3 and FLAC downloads. Some of them are free, and none of them are subject to digital rights management. All of his original songs fall under the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 3.0 License. "Still Alive" and "Want You Gone" are the only exceptions to this, as Coulton assigned all rights for the songs to Valve. Along with "Still Alive", Coulton's song "Re: Your Brains" appears in jukeboxes in Left 4 Dead 2, "Want You Gone" also features in the end credits of Portal 2, all of these three games were designed by Valve.

Other versions and covers

Pianist Louis Durra recorded an instrumental trio version of "Code Monkey" released on "Mad World EP" and "Arrogant Doormats" (2011).

References

External links

Sex, Drugs and Updating Your Blog, a profile of Jonathan Coulton in the New York Times Magazine dated May 13, 2007.

Category:1970 births Category:Living people Category:American comedy musicians Category:American singer-songwriters Category:American bloggers Category:Yale University alumni Category:People from Brooklyn

eu:Jonathan Coulton fr:Jonathan Coulton sv:Jonathan Coulton

name	Michael Stahl-David
birthname	Michael Stahl-David
birth date	October 28, 1982
birth place	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
yearsactive	2001–present
spouse	}}

Michael Stahl-David (born October 28, 1982) is an American actor, perhaps best known for his television role as Sean Donnelly on ''The Black Donnellys'' and his lead role in the J. J. Abrams-produced film ''Cloverfield''.

Early life

Stahl-David was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of physicians. He graduated from Columbia College in Chicago, IL. He is the older brother to Eric Stahl-David and R. Andrew Stahl-David, both of whom graduated from Whitney Young High School. Prior to his acting success, Michael Stahl-David was a well known graffiti artist in Chicago, which he has gone on to discuss recently in a Q&A; with the Chicago Sun Times.

Career

Stahl-David began his acting career in 2001, when he played a minor role of Rossetti in ''New Port South''. Later in 2003, he also played a minor role as Craig in ''Uncle Nino''. During this time he was active in the Chicago theater scene. He appeared in plays at the Steppenwolf Theater (One Arm, Theater District), Victory Gardens Theater (Cider House Rules, Lost in Yonkers) and the Goodman (The Goat, Or Who is Sylvia?) Shortly after arriving in New York in 2005, he appeared as Peter in The Diary of Anne Frank at the Papermill Playhouse. In the winter of 2007 he enjoyed critical success in his role in The Overwhelming off Broadway. Stahl-David began his television acting career in 2007, when he made a guest appearance as Riordan Grady in the series, ''Law & Order: Criminal Intent'': episode "Players". Later in that year of 2007, David portrayed Sean Donnelly, one of the four Irish brothers, in the short-lived series ''The Black Donnellys''. His most recent film appearance was in J.J. Abrams' ''Cloverfield'' as Rob. In September 2008, Stahl-David starred in and directed the web series ''Michael Stahl-David: Behind the Star'' on Crackle.

Stahl-David appeared in the fall 2010 ABC documentary-style dramedy television series ''My Generation'', which was cancelled after only 2 episodes due to low ratings.

Stahl-David is currently performing the role of Kevin in the Off-Broadway play ''Picked'' at the Vineyard Theatre

Filmography/television

''The Project'' ''The Black Donnellys'' ''Uncle Nino'' ''New Port South''

Year
2010	My Generation (TV series)>My Generation''	Steven Foster
rowspan="3">2008	|	Justin	Film
''Cloverfield''	Robert Hawkins
''T Takes	T Takes: Room 102''	The Guest in Room 102
rowspan="2"	2007	|	Sean Donnelly	TV Series
''Law & Order: Criminal Intent''	Riordan Grady
2003	|	Craig	Film
2001	|	Rossetti	Film

References

External links

Category:Actors from Chicago, Illinois Category:American film actors Category:American stage actors Category:Date of birth missing (living people) Category:Place of birth missing (living people) Category:1982 births Category:Living people

da:Michael Stahl-David de:Michael Stahl-David es:Michael Stahl-David fr:Michael Stahl-David it:Michael Stahl-David pt:Michael Stahl-David fi:Michael Stahl-David sv:Michael Stahl-David

name	Björn Bregy
birth name	Björn Heinrich Bregy
other names	The Rock
nationality	Swiss
birth date	September 30, 1974
birth place	Sion, Switzerland
fighting out of	Amsterdam, Netherlands
height
weight
weight class	Super Heavyweight
style	Yoseikan Budo, Kickboxing
team	Mike's Gym Vos Gym Masters Gym
trainer	Mike Passenier Klaus Waschkewitz
years active	1999–present
kickbox win	34
kickbox kowin	29
kickbox loss	18
kickbox koloss	11
kickbox nc	1
updated	August 30, 2009 }}

Björn "The Rock" Bregy (born September 30, 1974) is a Swiss super heavyweight kickboxer, European Yoseikan Budo Champion and K-1 Europe 2006 in Amsterdam tournament Champion.

Career

Bregy made his K-1 debut on June 3, 2000 at K-1 Fight Night 2000 in Zürich, Switzerland, against Reinhard Ulz. He won the fight by 2 round TKO.

On May 21, 2005, in Stockholm, Sweden, Bregy beat all three opponents Pavel Majer, Denis Grigoriev and Gary Turner and won his first K-1 tournament title. In 2006 Bregy continued his strong performance in K-1 World GP in Amsterdam, winning the tournament by three consecutive KO's over Freddy Kemayo, Naoufal Benazzouz and Gokhan Saki and qualified himself for K-1 World GP Final Elimination 2006 in Osaka, Japan. He was matched up against the defending K-1 World champion Semmy Schilt, and lost the fight by first round left hook KO.

On February 9, 2008 at K-1 Europe Elimination GP in Budapest, Hungary, Bregy knocked out Paula Mataele and qualified for the K-1 European GP held in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

On April 26, 2008 Bregy participated on his third consecutive K-1 Europe GP. He knocked out South African Jan Nortje in quarterfinals and was stopped by Errol Zimmerman in semis at the end of third round by a flurry of punches.

Titles

2007 K-1 World Grand Prix in Amsterdam Runner Up

2006 K-1 World Grand Prix in Amsterdam Champion

2005 K-1 Scandinavia Grand Prix Champion

2003 K-1 World Grand Prix in Basel Runner Up

WKA European Heavyweight Champion

World Champion Yoseikan - budo

Kickboxing record

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:0.5em auto; font-size:85%" |- |style= "text-align: center" colspan=8| 35 Wins (29 (T)KOs, 5 Decisions), 18 Losses, |- | align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background:#f0f0f0"|Date | align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background:#f0f0f0"|Result | align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background:#f0f0f0"|Opponent | align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background:#f0f0f0"|Event | align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background:#f0f0f0"|Method | align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background:#f0f0f0"|Round | align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background:#f0f0f0"|Time |- |17/04/2010 |Win || Wendell Roche | It's Showtime 2010 Budapest, Budapest, Hungary | Decision | 3 | 3:00 |- |29/08/2009 |Loss | Attila Karacs |It's Showtime 2009 Budapest, Budapest, Hungary |Decision (Unanimous) |3 |3:00 |- |16/05/2009 |Loss | Ashwin Balrak |It's Showtime 2009 Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands |Ext. R Decision (Unanimous) |4 |3:00 |- |10/05/2008 |Loss | Alexey Ignashov |K.O. Events "Tough is not Enough", Rotterdam, Netherlands |Decision (Unanimous) |3 |3:00 |- |06/06/2008 |Loss | Daniel Ghita |Local Kombat 30, Timişoara, Romania |Decision (Unanimous) |3 |3:00 |- |05/24/2008 |Win | Andre Janssens |Gentleman Promotions Fightnight, Tilburg, Netherlands |TKO (Lowkicks) |2 | |- |04/26/2008 |Loss | Errol Zimmerman |K-1 World GP 2008 in Amsterdam, Netherlands |KO (Punches) |3 |2:59 |- |04/26/2008 |Win | Jan Nortje |K-1 World GP 2008 in Amsterdam, Netherlands |KO (Punches) |1 |1:10 |- |02/09/2008 |Win | Paula Mataele |K-1 World GP 2008 in Budapest, Hungary |KO (Punches) |2 |1:12 |- |08/11/2007 |Win | Ray Sefo |K-1 World GP 2007 in Las Vegas, USA |Decision (Split) |3 |3:00 |- |06/23/2007 |Loss | Paul Slowinski |K-1 World Grand Prix 2007 in Amsterdam, Netherlands |KO (Right hook) |2 |2:25 |- |06/23/2007 |Win | Magomed Magomedov |K-1 World Grand Prix 2007 in Amsterdam, Netherlands |KO |2 |2:12 |- |06/23/2007 |Win | Brecht Wallis |K-1 World Grand Prix 2007 in Amsterdam, Netherlands |Decision (Unanimous) |3 |3:00 |- |04/07/2007 |Loss | Aziz Jahjah |Balans Fight Night, Netherlands |TKO (Doctor stoppage) | | |- |09/30/2006 |Loss | Semmy Schilt |K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 in Osaka Opening Round, Japan |KO (Left punch) |1 |2:11 |- |07/30/2006 |Win | Tsuyoshi Nakasako |K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 in Sapporo, Japan |KO (Right hook) |1 |2:35 |- |06/03/2006 |Loss | Mitat Tahirsylai |Night of Revenge, Luzern, Switzerland |KO (Right hook) |1 | |- |05/13/2006 |Win | Gokhan Saki |K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 in Amsterdam, Netherlands |KO (Left Hook) |1 |1:44 |- |05/13/2006 |Win | Naoufal Benazzouz |K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 in Amsterdam, Netherlands |KO |2 |1:40 |- |05/13/2006 |Win | Freddy Kemayo |K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 in Amsterdam, Netherlands |KO |3 |1:10 |- |02/17/2006 |style="background: #c5d2ea"|NC | Alexander Ustinov |K-1 European League 2006 in Bratislava, Slovakia |No contest | | |- |12/18/2005 |Win | Alben Belinski |Local Kombat 18 "Revanşa" |Decision |3 |3:00 |- |12/10/2005 |Loss | Ashwin Balrak |Fights at the Border IV, Belgium |Decision |3 |3:00 |- |09/24/2005 |Win | Evgeny Orlov |Fight Night in Winterthur, Switzerland |KO |1 | |- |05/21/2005 |Win | Gary Turner |K-1 Scandinavia Grand Prix 2005, Sweden |Decision (Unanimous) |3 |3:00 |- |05/21/2005 |Win | Denis Grigoriev |K-1 Scandinavia Grand Prix 2005, Sweden |TKO | | |- |05/21/2005 |Win | Pavel Majer |K-1 Scandinavia Grand Prix 2005, Sweden |TKO | | |- |04/16/2005 |Loss | Alexander Ustinov |K-1 Italy 2005 Oktagon, Milano, Italy |TKO (Doctor stoppage) |1 |3:00 |- |03/26/2005 |Win | Brecht Wallis |Gala in Barneveld, Netherlands |TKO (Doctor stoppage) | | |- |02/13/2005 |Win | Alexey Ignashov |Mix Fight Gala, Alkmaar, Netherlands |TKO (Knee injury) |3 |3:00 |- |12/11/2004 |Win | Freddy Kemayo |Fights at the Border III, Lommel, Belgium |KO | | |- |11/07/2004 |Win | Gurhan Degirmenci |Deventer, Netherlands |TKO | | |- |09/25/2004 |Loss | Azem Maksutaj |Fists of Fury 4, Zurich, Switzerland |KO | | |- |05/22/2004 |Win | Mitat Tahirsylai |SuperLeague Switzerland 2004, Winterthur, Switzerland |TKO (Corner stoppage) |2 | |- |04/08/2004 |Win | Mladen Brestovac |Heaven or Hell, Prague, Czech Republic |KO | | |- |12/06/2003 |Loss | Carter Williams |K-1 World Grand Prix 2003, Japan |TKO (Three knockdowns) |2 |2:50 |- |10/11/2003 |Win | Michael McDonald |K-1 World Grand Prix 2003 Final Elimination, Japan |KO (Knee strike) |1 |2:50 |- |05/30/2003 |Loss | Jerrel Venetiaan |K-1 World Grand Prix 2003 in Basel, Switzerland |Decision |3 |3:00 |- |05/30/2003 |Win | Gary Turner |K-1 World Grand Prix 2003 in Basel, Switzerland |Decision |3 |3:00 |- |05/30/2003 |Win | Donovan Luff |K-1 World Grand Prix 2003 in Basel, Switzerland |TKO |1 | |- |03/30/2003 |Loss | Remy Bonjasky |K-1 World Grand Prix 2003 in Saitama, Japan |TKO (Corner stoppage) |3 |1:29 |- |01/11/2003 |Win | Satari |A Night to Remember, Hilversum, Netherlands |TKO (Low kicks) |2 | |- |05/25/2002 |Loss | Alexey Ignashov |K-1 World Grand Prix 2002 in Paris, France |KO (Kicks) |5 |2:12 |- |07/20/2001 |Loss | Lloyd van Dams |K-1 World Grand Prix 2001 in Nagoya, Japan |Decision |3 |3:00 |- |09/01/2000 |Loss | Drazo Orduri |K-1 Grand Prix Europe 2000, Zagreb, Croatia |KO (Punch) |1 | |- |06/03/2000 |Win | Reinhard Ulz |K-1 Fight Night 2000, Zurich, Switzerland |KO |2 | |-

See also

List of K-1 events

List of K-1 champions

List of male kickboxers

List of kickboxing organizations

References

External links

K-1 Official website

Mike's Gym official site

Category:1974 births Category:Living people Category:Swiss kickboxers Category:Super heavyweight kickboxers Category:People from Valais Category:Swiss expatriates in the Netherlands

de:Björn Bregy ko:비외른 브레기 ja:ビヨン・ブレギー

Name	Osama bin Laden
Birth name	Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden
Birth date	10 March 1957
Birth place	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Death date	2 May 2011
Death place	Abbottabad, Pakistan
Resting place	Arabian Sea
Nationality	Saudi Arabian (1957–1994)None (Stateless) (1994–2011)
Religion	Sunni Islam (Qutbism)
Years active	1979–2011
Successor	Ayman Al-Zawahiri
Spouse(s)	Najwa GhanhemKhadijah SharifKhairiah SabarSiham SabarAmal Ahmed al-Sadah
Children
Allegiance	Al-Qaeda
Serviceyears	1988–2011
Battles	Soviet war in AfghanistanWar on Terror: War in Afghanistan * Battle of Tora Bora War in North-West Pakistan * Operation Neptune Spear }}

}} Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (; , ''''; March 10, 1957May 2, 2011, was the founder of Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets. He was a member of the wealthy Saudi bin Laden family, and an ethnic Yemeni Kindite.

Bin Laden was on the American Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) lists of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives and Most Wanted Terrorists for his involvement in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings. From 2001 to 2011, bin Laden was a major target of the War on Terror, with a bounty by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

After being placed on the FBI's Most Wanted list, bin Laden remained in hiding during three U.S. presidential administrations. On May 2, 2011, bin Laden was shot and killed inside a private residential compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, by U.S. Navy SEALs and CIA operatives in a covert operation ordered by United States President Barack Obama. Shortly after his death, bin Laden's body was buried at sea. Al-Qaeda acknowledged his death on May 6, 2011, vowing to retaliate.

Early life and education

Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a son of Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, a billionaire construction magnate with close ties to the Saudi royal family, and Mohammed bin Laden's tenth wife, Hamida al-Attas (then called Alia Ghanem). In a 1998 interview, bin Laden gave his birth date as March 10, 1957.

Mohammed bin Laden divorced Hamida soon after Osama bin Laden was born. Mohammed recommended Hamida to Mohammed al-Attas, an associate. Al-Attas married Hamida in the late 1950s or early 1960s, and they are still together. The couple had four children, and bin Laden lived in the new household with three half-brothers and one half-sister. The bin Laden family made $5 billion in the construction industry, of which Osama later inherited around $25–30 million.

Bin Laden was raised as a devout Wahhabi Muslim. From 1968 to 1976, he attended the élite secular Al-Thager Model School. He studied economics and business administration at King Abdulaziz University. Some reports suggest he earned a degree in civil engineering in 1979, or a degree in public administration in 1981. One source described him as "hard working", another said he left university during his third year without completing a college degree. At university, bin Laden's main interest was religion, where he was involved in both "interpreting the Quran and jihad" and charitable work. Other interests included writing poetry; reading, with the works of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery and Charles de Gaulle said to be among his favorites; black stallions; and association football, in which he enjoyed playing at centre forward and followed the fortunes of Arsenal F.C.

Personal life

In 1974, at the age of 17, bin Laden married Najwa Ghanem at Latakia, Syria; they were divorced before September 11, 2001. Bin Laden's other known wives were Khadijah Sharif (married 1983, divorced 1990s), Khairiah Sabar (married 1985), Siham Sabar (married 1987), and Amal al-Sadah (married 2000). Some sources also list a sixth wife, name unknown, whose marriage to bin Laden was annulled soon after the ceremony. Bin Laden fathered between 20 and 26 children with his wives. Many of bin Laden's children fled to Iran following the September 11 attacks and Iranian authorities reportedly continue to control their movement.

Bin Laden's father Mohammed died in 1967 in an airplane crash in Saudi Arabia when his American pilot misjudged a landing. Bin Laden's eldest half-brother, Salem bin Laden, the subsequent head of the bin Laden family, was killed in 1988 near San Antonio, Texas, in the United States, when he accidentally flew a plane into power lines.

The FBI described bin Laden as an adult as tall and thin, between 6 ft 4 in and 6 ft 6 in (193–198 cm) in height and weighing about 165 pounds (75 kg). Bin Laden had an olive complexion and was left-handed, usually walking with a cane. He wore a plain white turban and he had stopped wearing the traditional Saudi male headdress. Bin Laden was described as soft-spoken and mild-mannered in demeanor.

Name

There is no universally accepted standard for transliterating Arabic words and Arabic names into English; bin Laden's name is most frequently rendered "Osama bin Laden". The FBI and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), as well as other U.S. governmental agencies, have used either "Usama bin Laden" or "Usama bin Ladin". Less common renderings include "Ussamah bin Ladin" and, in the French-language media, "Oussama ben Laden". Other spellings include "Binladen" or, as used by his family in the West, "Binladin". The decapitalization of ''bin'' is based on the convention of leaving short prepositions and articles uncapitalized in surnames; however, ''bin'' means "son of" and is not, strictly speaking, a preposition or article. The spellings with ''o'' and ''e'' come from a Persian-influenced pronunciation also used in Afghanistan, where bin Laden spent many years.

Osama bin Laden's full name, Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, means "Osama, son of Mohammed, son of Awad, son of Laden". "Mohammed" refers to bin Laden's father Mohammed bin Laden; "Awad" refers to his grandfather, Awad bin Aboud bin Laden, a Kindite Hadhrami tribesman; "Laden" refers not to bin Laden's great-grandfather, who was named Aboud, but to a more distant ancestor.

The Arabic linguistic convention would be to refer to him as "Osama" or "Osama bin Laden", not "bin Laden" alone, as "bin Laden" is a patronymic, not a surname in the Western manner. According to bin Laden's son Omar bin Laden, the family's hereditary surname is "al-Qahtani" (, ''āl-Qaḥṭānī''), but bin Laden's father Mohammed bin Laden never officially registered the name.

Osama bin Laden had also assumed the ''kunyah'' "Abū ʿAbdāllāh" ("father of Abdallah"). His admirers have referred to him by several nicknames, including the "Prince" or "Emir" (الأمير, ''al-Amīr''), the "Sheik" (الشيخ, ''aš-Šayḫ''), the "Jihadist Sheik" or "Sheik al-Mujahid" (شيخ المجاهد, ''al-Muǧāhid Šayḫ''), "Hajj" (حج, ''Ḥaǧǧ''), and the "Director". The word ''ʾusāmah'' (أسامة) means "lion", earning him the nicknames "Lion" and "Lion Sheik".

Beliefs and ideology

According to former CIA analyst Michael Scheuer, who led the CIA's hunt for Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader was motivated by a belief that U.S. foreign policy has oppressed, killed, or otherwise harmed Muslims in the Middle East, condensed in the phrase "They hate us for what we do, not who we are."

Bin Laden also said only the restoration of Sharia law would "set things right" in the Muslim world, and that alternatives such as "pan-Arabism, socialism, communism, democracy" must be opposed. This belief, in conjunction with violent jihad, has sometimes been called Qutbism after being promoted by Sayyid Qutb. Bin Laden believed that Afghanistan, under the rule of Mullah Omar's Taliban, was "the only Islamic country" in the Muslim world. Bin Laden consistently dwelt on the need for violent jihad to right what he believed were injustices against Muslims perpetrated by the United States and sometimes by other non-Muslim states, the need to eliminate the state of Israel, and the necessity of forcing the United States to withdraw from the Middle East. He also called on Americans to "reject the immoral acts of fornication, homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling, and usury", in an October 2002 letter.

Bin Laden's ideology included the idea that innocent civilians, including women and children, are legitimate targets of jihad. Bin Laden was anti-Semitic, and delivered warnings against alleged Jewish conspiracies: "These Jews are masters of usury and leaders in treachery. They will leave you nothing, either in this world or the next." Shia Muslims have been listed along with "heretics, [...] America, and Israel" as the four principal "enemies of Islam" at ideology classes of bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization.

Bin Laden opposed music on religious grounds, and his attitude towards technology was mixed. He was interested in "earth-moving machinery and genetic engineering of plants" on the one hand, but rejected "chilled water" on the other.

His viewpoints and methods of achieving them had led to him being designated as a terrorist by scholars, journalists from ''The New York Times'', the BBC, and Qatari news station Al Jazeera, analysts such as Peter Bergen, Michael Scheuer, Marc Sageman, and Bruce Hoffman and he was indicted on terrorism charges by law enforcement agencies in Madrid, New York City, and Tripoli.

Bin Laden's overall strategy against much larger enemies such as the Soviet Union and United States was to lure them into a long war of attrition in Muslim countries, attracting large numbers of jihadists who would never surrender. He believed this would lead to economic collapse of the enemy nation. Al-Qaeda manuals clearly outline this strategy. In a 2004 tape broadcast by al-Jazeera, bin Laden spoke of "bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy".

Militant activity

Mujahideen in Afghanistan

After leaving college in 1979, bin Laden went to Pakistan, joined Abdullah Azzam and used money and machinery from his own construction company to help the mujahideen resistance in the Soviet war in Afghanistan. He later told a journalist: "I felt outraged that an injustice had been committed against the people of Afghanistan." Under Operation Cyclone from 1979 to 1989, the United States provided financial aid and weapons to the mujahideen through Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Bin Laden met and built relations with Hamid Gul, who was a three-star general in the Pakistani army and head of the ISI agency. Although the United States provided the money and weapons, the training of militant groups was entirely done by the Pakistani Armed Forces and the ISI.

By 1984, bin Laden and Azzam established Maktab al-Khidamat, which funneled money, arms and fighters from around the Arab world into Afghanistan. Through al-Khadamat, bin Laden's inherited family fortune paid for air tickets and accommodation, paid for paperwork with Pakistani authorities and provided other such services for the jihadi fighters. Bin Laden established camps inside Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan and trained volunteers from across the Muslim world to fight against the Soviet puppet regime; the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. It was during this time that he became idolised by many Arabs.

Formation and structuring of Al-Qaeda

By 1988, bin Laden had split from Maktab al-Khidamat. While Azzam acted as support for Afghan fighters, bin Laden wanted a more military role. One of the main points leading to the split and the creation of al-Qaeda was Azzam's insistence that Arab fighters be integrated among the Afghan fighting groups instead of forming a separate fighting force. Notes of a meeting of bin Laden and others on August 20, 1988, indicate al-Qaeda was a formal group by that time: "Basically an organized Islamic faction, its goal is to lift the word of God, to make his religion victorious." A list of requirements for membership itemized the following: listening ability, good manners, obedience, and making a pledge (''bayat'') to follow one's superiors.

According to Wright, the group's real name was not used in public pronouncements because "its existence was still a closely held secret". His research suggests that al-Qaeda was formed at an August 11, 1988, meeting between "several senior leaders" of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Abdullah Azzam, and bin Laden, where it was agreed to join bin Laden's money with the expertise of the Islamic Jihad organization and take up the jihadist cause elsewhere after the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan. Following the Soviet Union's withdrawal from Afghanistan in February 1989, Osama bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia in 1990 as a hero of jihad, who along with his Arab legion "had brought down the mighty superpower" of the Soviet Union. However, he was angry at the outbreak of internecine tribal fighting among the Afghans.

The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait under Saddam Hussein on August 2, 1990, put the Saudi kingdom and the House of Saud at risk, with Iraqi forces on the Saudi border and Saddam's appeal to pan-Arabism potentially inciting internal dissent. Bin Laden met with King Fahd, and Saudi Defense Minister Sultan, telling them not to depend on non-Muslim assistance from the United States and others, offering to help defend Saudi Arabia with his Arab legion. Bin Laden's offer was rebuffed, and the Saudi monarchy invited the deployment of U.S. forces in Saudi territory. Bin Laden publicly denounced Saudi dependence on the U.S. military, arguing the two holiest shrines of Islam, Mecca and Medina, the cities in which the Prophet Mohamed received and recited God's message, should only be defended by Muslims. Bin Laden's criticism of the Saudi monarchy led them to attempt to silence him. The U.S. 82nd Airborne Division landed in north-eastern Saudi city of Dhahran and was deployed in the desert barely 400 miles from Medina.

Meanwhile, on November 8, 1990, the FBI raided the New Jersey home of El Sayyid Nosair, an associate of al-Qaeda operative Ali Mohamed, discovering copious evidence of terrorist plots, including plans to blow up New York City skyscrapers. This marked the earliest discovery of al-Qaeda terrorist plans outside of Muslim countries. Nosair was eventually convicted in connection to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and later admitted guilt for the murder of Rabbi Meir Kahane in New York on November 5, 1990.

Bin Laden continued to speak publicly against the Saudi government, for which the Saudis banished him. He went to live in exile in Sudan, in 1992, in a deal brokered by Ali Mohamed.

Sudan and return to Afghanistan

In Sudan, bin Laden established a new base for mujahideen operations in Khartoum. He bought a house on Al-Mashtal Street in the affluent Al-Riyadh quarter and a retreat at Soba on the Blue Nile. During his time in Sudan, he heavily invested in the infrastructure, in agriculture and businesses. He built roads using the same bulldozers he had employed to construct mountain tracks in Afghanistan. Many of his labourers were the same fighters who had been his comrades in the war against the Soviet Union. He was generous to the poor and popular with the people. He continued to criticize King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, and in response, in 1994, Fahd stripped bin Laden of his Saudi citizenship and persuaded his family to cut off his $7 million a year stipend. By now bin Laden was being linked with Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), which made up the core of al-Qaeda. In 1995 the EIJ attempted to assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The attempt failed, and the EIJ was expelled from Sudan.

The U.S. State Department accused Sudan of being a 'sponsor of international terrorism' and bin Laden himself of operating 'terrorist training camps in the Sudanese desert. Sudan therefore began efforts to expel bin Laden. The 9/11 Commission Report states:

In late 1995, when Bin Laden was still in Sudan, the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) learned that Sudanese officials were discussing with the Saudi government the possibility of expelling Bin Laden. CIA paramilitary officer Billy Waugh tracked down Bin Ladin in the Sudan and prepared an operation to apprehend him, but was denied authorization. U.S. Ambassador Timothy Carney encouraged the Sudanese to pursue this course. The Saudis, however, did not want Bin Laden, giving as their reason their revocation of his citizenship. Sudan's minister of defense, Fatih Erwa, has claimed that Sudan offered to hand Bin Laden over to the United States. The Commission has found no credible evidence that this was so. Ambassador Carney had instructions only to push the Sudanese to expel Bin Laden. Ambassador Carney had no legal basis to ask for more from the Sudanese since, at the time, there was no indictment outstanding against bin Laden in any country.

The 9/11 Commission Report further states:

In February 1996, Sudanese officials began approaching officials from the United States and other governments, asking what actions of theirs might ease foreign pressure. In secret meetings with Saudi officials, Sudan offered to expel Bin Laden to Saudi Arabia and asked the Saudis to pardon him. U.S. officials became aware of these secret discussions, certainly by March. Saudi officials apparently wanted Bin Laden expelled from Sudan. They had already revoked his citizenship, however, and would not tolerate his presence in their country. Also Bin Laden may have no longer felt safe in Sudan, where he had already escaped at least one assassination attempt that he believed to have been the work of the Egyptian or Saudi regimes, and paid for by the CIA.

In May 1996, due to increasing pressure on Sudan, from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United States, bin Laden was permitted to leave for a country of his choice. He chose to return to Jalalabad, Afghanistan aboard a chartered flight, and there forged a close relationship with Mullah Mohammed Omar. Despite his ambitions and organizational skills, when bin Laden left Sudan, he and his organization were significantly weakened.

In August, 1996, bin Laden declared war against the United States. Despite the assurance of President George H.W. Bush to King Fahd in 1990, that all U.S. forces based in Saudi Arabia would be withdrawn once the Iraqi threat had been dealt with, by 1996 the Americans were still there, citing the continued existence of Saddam's regime (which Bush had chosen not to destroy). Bin Laden's view was that "the 'evils' of the Middle East arose from America's attempt to take over the region and from its support for Israel. Saudi Arabia had been turned into 'an American colony". The fatwā was first published in Al Quds Al Arabi, a London-based newspaper. It was entitled "Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places." Saudi Arabia is sometimes called "The Land of the Two Holy Mosques" in reference to Mecca and Medina, the two holiest places in Islam. The reference to 'occupation' in the fatwā referred to US forces based in Saudi Arabia for the purpose of controlling air space in Iraq, known as Operation Southern Watch.

In Afghanistan, bin Laden and al-Qaeda raised money from "donors from the days of the Soviet jihad", and from the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to establish more training camps for Mujahideen fighters. Bin Laden effectively took over Ariana Afghan Airlines, which ferried Islamic militants, arms, cash and opium through the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan as well as provided false identifications to members of bin Laden's terrorist network. Viktor Bout helped to run the airline, maintaining planes and loading cargo. Michael Scheuer, head of the CIA's bin Laden unit, concluded that Ariana was being used as a "terrorist taxi service".

Early attacks and aid for attacks

It is believed that the first bombing attack involving bin Laden was the December 29, 1992, bombing of the Gold Mihor Hotel in Aden in which two people were killed.

It was after this bombing that al-Qaeda was reported to have developed its justification for the killing of innocent people. According to a fatwa issued by Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, the killing of someone standing near the enemy is justified because any innocent bystander will find their proper reward in death, going to ''Jannah'' (Paradise) if they were good Muslims and to ''Jahannam'' (hell) if they were bad or non-believers. The fatwa was issued to al-Qaeda members but not the general public.

In the 1990s bin Laden's al-Qaeda assisted jihadis financially and sometimes militarily in Algeria, Egypt and Afghanistan. In 1992 or 1993 bin Laden sent an emissary, Qari el-Said, with $40,000 to Algeria to aid the Islamists and urge war rather than negotiation with the government. Their advice was heeded but the war that followed killed 150,000–200,000 Algerians and ended with Islamist surrender to the government.

Bin Laden funded the Luxor massacre of November 17, 1997, which killed 62 civilians, but outraged the Egyptian public. In mid-1997, the Northern Alliance threatened to overrun Jalalabad, causing bin Laden to abandon his Nazim Jihad compound and move his operations to Tarnak Farms in the south.

Another successful attack was carried out in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan. Bin Laden helped cement his alliance with the Taliban by sending several hundreds of Afghan Arab fighters along to help the Taliban kill between five and six thousand Hazaras overrunning the city.

In February 1998, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri co-signed a ''fatwa'' in the name of the World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders which declared the killing of North Americans and their allies an "individual duty for every Muslim" to "liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque (in Jerusalem) and the holy mosque (in Mecca) from their grip". At the public announcement of the fatwa bin Laden announced that North Americans are "very easy targets". He told the attending journalists, "You will see the results of this in a very short time."

Bin Laden and Al-Zawahiri organized an al-Qaeda congress on June 24, 1998.

The 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings were a series of attacks that occurred on August 7, 1998, in which hundreds of people were killed in simultaneous truck bomb explosions at the United States embassies in the major East African cities of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya. The attacks were linked to local members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, brought Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri to the attention of the United States public for the first time, and resulted in the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation placing bin Laden on its Ten Most Wanted list.

In December 1998, the Director of Central Intelligence Counterterrorist Center reported to President Bill Clinton that al-Qaeda was preparing for attacks in the United States of America, including the training of personnel to hijack aircraft.

At the end of 2000, Richard Clarke revealed that Islamic militants headed by bin Laden had planned a triple attack on January 3, 2000 which would have included bombings in Jordan of the Radisson SAS Hotel in Amman and tourists at Mount Nebo and a site on the Jordan River, the sinking of the destroyer USS ''The Sullivans'' in Yemen, as well as an attack on a target within the United States. The plan was foiled by the arrest of the Jordanian terrorist cell, the sinking of the explosive-filled skiff intended to target the destroyer, and the arrest of Ahmed Ressam.

Yugoslav Wars

A former U.S. State Department official in October 2001 described Bosnia and Herzegovina as a safe haven for terrorists, after it was asserted that militant elements of the former Sarajevo government were protecting extremists, some with ties to Osama bin Laden. In 1997, ''Rzeczpospolita'', one of the largest Polish daily newspapers, reported that intelligence services of the Nordic-Polish SFOR Brigade suspected that a center for training terrorists from Islamic countries was located in the Bocina Donja village near Maglaj in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1992, hundreds of volunteers joined an "all-mujahedeen unit" called El Moujahed in an abandoned hillside factory, a compound with a hospital and prayer hall.

According to Middle East intelligence reports, bin Laden financed small convoys of recruits from the Arab world through his businesses in Sudan. Among them was Karim Said Atmani who was identified by authorities as the document forger for a group of Algerians accused of plotting the bombings in the United States of America. He is a former roommate of Ahmed Ressam, the man arrested at the Canadian-U.S. border in mid-December 1999 with a car full of nitroglycerin and bomb-making materials. He was convicted of colluding with Osama bin Laden by a French court.

A Bosnian government search of passport and residency records, conducted at the urging of the United States, revealed other former mujahideen who were linked to the same Algerian group or to other groups of suspected terrorists, and had lived in the area north of Sarajevo, the capital, in the past few years. Khalil al-Deek, was arrested in Jordan in late December 1999 on suspicion of involvement in a plot to blow up tourist sites; a second man with Bosnian citizenship, Hamid Aich, lived in Canada at the same time as Atmani and worked for a charity associated with Osama bin Laden. In its June 26, 1997, report on the bombing of the Al Khobar building in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, ''The New York Times'' noted that those arrested confessed to serving with Bosnian Muslims forces. Further, the captured men also admitted to ties with Osama bin Laden.

In 1999 it was revealed that bin Laden and his Tunisian assistant Mehrez Aodouni were granted citizenship and Bosnian passports in 1993 by the government in Sarajevo. This information was denied by the Bosnian government following the September 11 attacks, but it was later found that Aodouni was arrested in Turkey and that at that time he possessed the Bosnian passport. Following this revelation, a new explanation was given that bin Laden "did not personally collect his Bosnian passport" and that officials at the Bosnian embassy in Vienna, which issued the passport, could not have known who bin Laden was at the time.

During his trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia former Serbian President Slobodan Milošević presented FBI documents that verified bin Laden's al-Qaeda had a presence in the Balkans and aided the Kosovo Liberation Army, which was identified by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organization shortly before the 1998 embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya. Milošević had argued that the United States aided the terrorists which culminated in its backing of the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War.

September 11, 2001 attacks

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After his denial, Osama bin Laden finally claimed responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States in 2004. The attacks involved the hijacking of four commercial passenger aircraft, the subsequent destruction of those planes and the World Trade Center in New York City, New York, severe damage to The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and the deaths of 2,973 people and the nineteen hijackers. In response to the attacks, the United States launched a War on Terror to depose the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and capture al-Qaeda operatives, and several countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation to preclude future attacks. The CIA's Special Activities Division was given the lead in tracking down and killing or capturing bin Laden.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has stated that classified evidence linking al-Qaeda and bin Laden to the September 11 attacks is clear and irrefutable. The UK Government reached a similar conclusion regarding al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden's culpability for the September 11 attacks, although the government report notes that the evidence presented is not necessarily sufficient for a prosecutable case.

Bin Laden initially denied involvement in the attacks. On September 16, 2001, bin Laden read a statement later broadcast by Qatar's Al Jazeera satellite channel denying responsibility for the attack.

In a videotape recovered by U.S. forces in November 2001 in Jalalabad, bin Laden was seen discussing the attack with Khaled al-Harbi in a way that indicates foreknowledge. The tape was broadcast on various news networks on December 13, 2001. The merits of this translation have been disputed. Arabist Dr. Abdel El M. Husseini stated: "This translation is very problematic. At the most important places where it is held to prove the guilt of bin Laden, it is not identical with the Arabic."

In the 2004 Osama bin Laden video, bin Laden abandoned his denials without retracting past statements. In it he stated he had personally directed the nineteen hijackers. In the 18-minute tape, played on Al-Jazeera, four days before the American presidential election, bin Laden accused U.S. President George W. Bush of negligence on the hijacking of the planes on September 11.

According to the tapes, bin Laden claimed he was inspired to destroy the World Trade Center after watching the destruction of towers in Lebanon by Israel during the 1982 Lebanon War.

Through two other tapes aired by Al Jazeera in 2006, Osama bin Laden announced, "I am the one in charge of the nineteen brothers. [...] I was responsible for entrusting the nineteen brothers [...] with the raids" (May 23, 2006). In the tapes he was seen with Ramzi bin al-Shibh, as well as two of the 9/11 hijackers, Hamza al-Ghamdi and Wail al-Shehri, as they made preparations for the attacks (videotape broadcast September 7, 2006).

Identified motivations of the September 11 attacks include the support of Israel by the United States, presence of the U.S. military in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. enforcement of sanctions against Iraq.

Criminal charges

name	Osama Bin Laden
charge	* Murder of U.S. Nationals Outside the United States Conspiracy to Murder U.S. Nationals Outside the United States Attack on a Federal Facility Resulting in Death
reward	$25 million
alias	* Osama Bin Muhammad Bin Ladin Shaykh Osama Bin Ladin the Prince the Emir Abu Abdallah Mujahid Shaykh Hajj the Director
birth date	1957
birth place	Saudi Arabia
death date	May 02, 2011
death place	Abbottabad, Pakistan
cause	Ballistic trauma
gender	Male
height	6'4" to 6'6"
weight	Approximately 160 pounds
occupation	Unknown
added date	June 7, 1999
remove date	May 2, 2011
number	456
status	Killed/Captured }}

On March 16, 1998, Libya issued the first official Interpol arrest warrant against bin Laden and three other people. They were charged for killing Silvan Becker, agent of Germany’s domestic intelligence service, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, in the Terrorism Department, and his wife Vera in Libya on March 10, 1994. Bin Laden was still wanted by the Libyan government at the time of his death. Osama bin Laden was first indicted by the United States on June 8, 1998, when a grand jury indicted Osama bin Laden on charges of killing five Americans and two Indians in the November 14, 1995, truck bombing of a U.S.-operated Saudi National Guard training center in Riyadh. Bin Laden was charged with "conspiracy to attack defense utilities of the United States" and prosecutors further charged that bin Laden is the head of the terrorist organization called al-Qaeda, and that he was a major financial backer of Islamic fighters worldwide. Bin Laden denied involvement but praised the attack. On November 4, 1998, Osama bin Laden was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, on charges of ''Murder of U.S. Nationals Outside the United States, Conspiracy to Murder U.S. Nationals Outside the United States, and Attacks on a Federal Facility Resulting in Death'' for his alleged role in the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. The evidence against bin Laden included courtroom testimony by former al-Qaeda members and satellite phone records, from a phone purchased for him by al-Qaeda procurement agent Ziyad Khaleel in the United States. However the Taliban ruled not to extradict Bin Laden on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence published in the indictments and that non-Muslim courts lacked standing to try Muslims

Bin Laden became the 456th person listed on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, when he was added to the list on June 7, 1999, following his indictment along with others for capital crimes in the 1998 embassy attacks. Attempts at assassination and requests for the extradition of bin Laden from the Taliban of Afghanistan were met with failure prior to the bombing of Afghanistan in October 2001. In 1999, U.S. President Bill Clinton convinced the United Nations to impose sanctions against Afghanistan in an attempt to force the Taliban to extradite him.

Years later, on October 10, 2001, bin Laden appeared as well on the initial list of the top 22 FBI Most Wanted Terrorists, which was released to the public by the President of the United States George W. Bush, in direct response to the September 11 attacks, but which was again based on the indictment for the 1998 embassy attack. Bin Laden was among a group of thirteen fugitive terrorists wanted on that latter list for questioning about the 1998 embassy bombings. Bin Laden remains the only fugitive ever to be listed on both FBI fugitive lists.

Despite the multiple indictments listed above and multiple requests, the Taliban refused to extradite Osama bin Laden. They did however offer to try him before an Islamic court if evidence of Osama bin Laden's involvement in the September 11 attacks was provided. It was not until eight days after the bombing of Afghanistan began in October 2001 that the Taliban finally did offer to turn over Osama bin Laden to a third-party country for trial in return for the United States ending the bombing. This offer was rejected by President Bush stating that this was no longer negotiable, with Bush responding "there's no need to discuss innocence or guilt. We know he's guilty." In June 2006 FBI’s chief of investigative publicity, Rex Tomb, saw no hard evidence connecting bin Laden to 9/11.

On June 15, 2011, federal prosecutors of the United States of America officially dropped all criminal charges against Osama bin Laden following his death in May.

Pursuit by the United States

Clinton administration

Capturing Osama bin Laden had been an objective of the United States government since the presidency of Bill Clinton. Shortly after the September 11 attacks it was revealed that President Clinton had signed a directive authorizing the CIA (and specifically their elite Special Activities Division) to apprehend bin Laden and bring him to the United States to stand trial after the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Africa; if taking bin Laden alive was deemed impossible, then deadly force was authorized. On August 20, 1998, 66 cruise missiles launched by United States Navy ships in the Arabian Sea struck bin Laden's training camps near Khost in Afghanistan, narrowly missing him by a few hours. In 1999 the CIA, together with Pakistani military intelligence, had prepared a team of approximately 60 Pakistani commandos to infiltrate Afghanistan to capture or kill bin Laden, but the plan was aborted by the 1999 Pakistani coup d'état; in 2000, foreign operatives working on behalf of the CIA had fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a convoy of vehicles in which bin Laden was traveling through the mountains of Afghanistan, hitting one of the vehicles but not the one in which bin Laden was in.

In 2000, prior to the September 11 attacks, Paul Bremer characterized the Clinton administration as "correctly focused on bin Laden", while Robert Oakley criticized their "obsession with Osama".

Bush administration

Immediately after the September 11 attacks, U.S. government officials named bin Laden and the al-Qaeda organization as the prime suspects and offered a reward of $25 million for information leading to his capture or death. On July 13, 2007, this figure was doubled to $50 million. The Airline Pilots Association and the Air Transport Association offered an additional $2 million reward.

According to ''The Washington Post'', the U.S. government concluded that Osama bin Laden was present during the Battle of Tora Bora, Afghanistan in late 2001, and according to civilian and military officials with first-hand knowledge, failure by the United States to commit enough U.S. ground troops to hunt him led to his escape and was the gravest failure by the United States in the war against al-Qaeda. Intelligence officials have assembled what they believe to be decisive evidence, from contemporary and subsequent interrogations and intercepted communications, that bin Laden began the Battle of Tora Bora inside the cave complex along Afghanistan's mountainous eastern border.

''The Washington Post'' also reported that the CIA unit composed of their special operations paramilitary forces dedicated to capturing bin Laden was shut down in late 2005. Bush had previously defended this scaling back of the effort several times, saying, "I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."

U.S. and Afghanistan forces raided the mountain caves in Tora Bora between August 14–16, 2007. The military was drawn to the area after receiving intelligence of a pre-Ramadan meeting held by al-Qaeda members. After killing dozens of al-Qaeda and Taliban members, they did not find either Osama bin Laden or Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Obama administration

On October 7, 2008, in the second presidential debate, on foreign policy, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama pledged, "We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al-Qaeda. That has to be our biggest national security priority." Upon being elected, then President-elect Obama expressed his plans to "renew U.S. commitment to finding al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, according to his national security advisers" in an effort to ratchet up the hunt for the terrorist. President Obama rejected the Bush administration's policy on bin Laden that "conflated all terror threats from al-Qaeda to Hamas to Hezbollah," replacing it with "with a covert, laserlike focus on al-Qaeda and its spawn."

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said in December 2009 that officials had had no reliable information on bin Laden's whereabouts for years. One week later, General Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said in December 2009 that al-Qaeda will not be defeated unless its leader, Osama bin Laden, is captured or killed. Testifying to the U.S. Congress, he said bin Laden had become an "iconic figure, whose survival emboldens al-Qaeda as a franchising organization across the world", and that Obama's deployment of 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan meant that success would be possible. "I don't think that we can finally defeat al-Qaeda until he's captured or killed", McChrystal said of bin Laden. "Killing or capturing bin Laden would not spell the end of al-Qaeda, but the movement could not be eradicated while he remained at large."

In April 2011, President Obama ordered a covert operation to kill or capture bin Laden. On May 1, 2011, the White House announced that U.S. Navy SEALs had carried it out, killing him in his Abbottabad, Pakistan compound.

Activities and whereabouts after the September 11 attacks

While referring to Osama bin Laden in a CNN film clip on September 17, 2001, then President George W. Bush stated, "I want justice. There is an old poster out west, as I recall, that said, 'Wanted dead or alive'. Subsequently, bin Laden retreated further from public contact to avoid capture. Numerous speculative press reports were issued about his whereabouts or even death; some placed bin Laden in different locations during overlapping time periods. None were ever definitively proven. After military offensives in Afghanistan failed to uncover his whereabouts, Pakistan was regularly identified as his suspected hiding place. Some of the conflicting reports regarding bin Laden’s continued whereabouts and mistaken claims about his death follow: In December 11, 2005, a letter from Atiyah Abd al-Rahman to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi indicated that bin Laden and the al-Qaeda leadership were based in the Waziristan region of Pakistan at the time. In the letter, translated by the United States military's Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, "Atiyah" instructs Zarqawi to "send messengers from your end to Waziristan so that they meet with the brothers of the leadership [...] I am now on a visit to them and I am writing you this letter as I am with them..." Al-Rahman also indicates that bin Laden and al-Qaeda are "weak" and "have many of their own problems." The letter has been deemed authentic by military and counterterrorism officials, according to The Washington Post. Al-Qaeda continued to release time-sensitive and professionally-verified videos demonstrating bin Laden's continued survival as recently as August 2007. In 2009, a research team led by Thomas W. Gillespie and John A. Agnew of UCLA used satellite-aided geographical analysis to pinpoint three compounds in Parachinar as bin Laden's likely hideouts. . In March 2009, the New York Daily News reported that the hunt for bin Laden had centered in the Chitral District of Pakistan, including the Kalam Valley. Author, Rohan Gunaratna, stated that captured al-Qaeda leaders had confirmed that bin Laden was hiding in Chitral. In the first week of December 2009, a Taliban detainee in Pakistan said he had information that bin Laden was in Afghanistan in 2009. The detainee reported that in January or February (2009) he met a trusted contact who had seen bin Laden in Afghanistan about 15 to 20 days earlier. However, on December 6, 2009, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates stated that the United States had had no reliable information on the whereabouts of bin Laden in years. Pakistan's Prime Minister Gillani rejected claims that Osama bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan. On Dec. 9, 2009 BBC News reported that U.S. Army General Stanley A. McChrystal, who served as Commander of the U.S. forces in Afghanistan from June 15, 2009 until June 23, 2010 emphasized the continued importance of the capture or killing of bin Laden, thus indicating that the U.S. high command believed that bin Laden was still alive On February 2, 2010, Afghan president, Hamid Karzai arrived in Saudi Arabia for an official visit. The agenda included discussion of a possible Saudi role in Karzai’s plan to reintegrate Taliban militants. During the visit an anonymous official of the Saudi Foreign Ministry declared that the kingdom had no intention of getting involved in peacemaking in Afghanistan unless the Taliban severed ties with extremists and expelled Osama bin Laden. On June 7, 2010, the Kuwaiti newspaper, Al Siyassa reported that bin Laden was hiding out in the mountainous town of Savzevar, in north eastern Iran. The Australian News,online edition published the claim on June 9. On June 9, The Australian News, online edition repeated the claim. On October 18, 2010, an unnamed NATO official suggested that bin Laden was "alive and well and living comfortably" in Pakistan, protected by elements of the country's intelligence services. A senior Pakistani official denied the allegations and said the accusations were designed to put pressure on the Pakistani government ahead of talks aimed at strengthening ties between Pakistan and the United States. On April 16, 2011, a leaked Al Jazeera report claimed that bin Laden had been captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

On March 29, 2012 Pakistani newspaper ''Dawn'' acquired a report produced by Pakistani security officials, based on interrogation of his three surviving wives, that detailed his movements while living underground in Pakistan. Declan Walsh, writing in the ''New York Times'' reported on speculation that Pakistan was planning to charge bin Laden's wives and adult daughters with immigration offenses, rather than simply deporting them, so that they will be in prison and unable to offer details of Pakistani cooperation with bin Laden that would be politically embarrassing.

Whereabouts just prior to his death

In April 2011, various intelligence outlets were able to pinpoint bin Laden's suspected location near Abbottabad, Pakistan. It was originally believed that bin Laden was hiding near the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, but he was found away in a three-story mansion in Abbottabad at . Bin Laden's mansion was located southwest of the Pakistan Military Academy, the country's "West Point". Google Earth maps show that the compound was not present in 2001, but was present on images taken in 2005.

Death

Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan on May 2, 2011, shortly after 1 a.m. local time by a United States special forces military unit. The operation, code-named Operation Neptune Spear, was ordered by United States President Barack Obama and carried out in a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operation by a team of United States Navy SEALs from the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group (also known as DEVGRU or informally by its former name, SEAL Team Six) of the Joint Special Operations Command, with support from CIA operatives on the ground. The raid on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan was launched from Afghanistan. After the raid, U.S. forces took bin Laden's body to Afghanistan for identification, then buried it at sea within 24 hours of his death.

Critics accused Pakistan's military and security establishment of protecting bin Laden. For example, Mosharraf Zaidi, a leading Pakistani columnist, stated, "It seems deeply improbable that bin Laden could have been where he was killed without the knowledge of some parts of the Pakistani state." Pakistan's president Asif Ali Zardari denied that his country's security forces sheltered bin Laden, and called any supposed support for bin Laden by the Pakistani government "baseless speculation".

It was speculated that the issue might further strain U.S. ties with Pakistan. Bin Laden was killed in what some suggest was his residence for five years. It was an expensive compound located less than a mile from Pakistan Military Academy, probably built for him and less than 100 kilometers' drive from the capital.

The Pakistani government's foreign office issued a statement that "categorically denies" any reports by the media that the country's leadership, "civil as well as military, had any prior knowledge of the U.S. operation against Osama bin Laden".

Pakistan's United States envoy, ambassador Husain Haqqani, promises a "full inquiry" into how Pakistani intelligence services failed to find bin Laden in a fortified compound, just a few hours drive from Islamabad, and stated that "obviously bin Laden did have a support system; the issue is, was that support system within the government and the state of Pakistan or within the society of Pakistan?"

See also

Afghan civil war

Childhood, education and personal life of Osama bin Laden

Fatawā of Osama bin Laden

Islamic fundamentalism

Islamic mujahid movement

Islamic terrorism

Osama bin Laden in popular culture

Pakistan and state terrorism

The Golden Chain

War against Islam

References

Footnotes

Additional notes

# The date according to Pakistan Standard Time (UTC+05:00).

Bibliography

Further reading

Foreign Broadcast Information Service (2006) – Compilation of Usama Bin Laden Statements 1994 – January 2004

External links

Osama bin Laden collected news and commentary at ''Dawn''

Full text: bin Laden's 'letter to America', ''The Observer'', November 24, 2002

Hunting Bin Laden, ''PBS Frontline'', (November 2002)

Young Osama, Steve Coll, ''The New Yorker'', December 12, 2005

How the World Sees Osama bin Laden, slideshow by ''Life''

The Osama bin Laden File from The National Security Archive, posted May 2, 2011

Category:1957 births Category:2011 deaths Category:20th-century criminals Category:21st-century criminals Category:Abdullah Yusuf Azzam Category:Afghan Civil War Category:Al-Qaeda founders Category:Al-Qaeda propagandists Category:Bin Laden family Category:Burials at sea Category:Civil engineers Category:Deaths by firearm in Pakistan Category:FBI Most Wanted Terrorists Category:FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives Category:Islamic terrorism Category:People of the Soviet war in Afghanistan Category:People of the War in Afghanistan (2001–present) Category:Salafis Category:Saudi Arabia expatriates Category:Saudi Arabian al-Qaeda members Category:Saudi Arabian anti-communists Category:Saudi Arabian poets Category:September 11 attacks Category:Stateless persons Category:War on Terror Category:People designated by the Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee Category:People from Riyadh

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