Pakistan military kills al-Qaeda leader wanted in U.S.

By Jibran Ahmad and Katharine Houreld

PESHAWAR, Pakistan Sat Dec 6, 2014 5:13am EST

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani soldiers stormed a militant hideout on Saturday and shot dead a top al-Qaeda operative who was wanted in the United States for planning to bomb the New York subway system, the military said.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation had offered a $5 million reward for the capture of Saudi national Adnan el Shukrijuma, 39, who it said was believed to be al-Qaeda's external operations chief at one time.

Shukrijuma, a Saudi Arabian native with a Guyanese passport, is the most senior al-Qaeda member ever killed by the Pakistani military.

"In an intelligence borne operation, top al-Qaeda leader Adnan el Shukrijuma was killed by (the) Pakistan Army in an early morning raid in Shinwarsak, South Waziristan today," the military statement said. The remote region borders Afghanistan.

"His accomplice and local facilitator were also killed in the raid," the statement said.

One Pakistani soldier was killed and another wounded, it said.

The military said that Shukrijuma had recently been forced to move by a Pakistani military operation in neighboring North Waziristan.

The region was the Taliban's key stronghold in Pakistan and a hotbed of militancy until the military launched an offensive to retake the territory on June 15.

A senior military official told Reuters five other militants were taken into custody during the raid.

Another intelligence official said that security forces had initially investigated information that Chinese hostages were being held in that location. Pakistani forces then learned about the presence of Shukrijuma and cordoned off the area, the officer said.

Two intelligence officers said the militants opened fire on the Pakistani military and Shukrijuma, who one described as "an Arab national," was killed in the ensuing gun battle.

Shukrijumah is wanted in the United States for conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction and to commit murder in a foreign country.

"The charges reveal that the plot against New York City's subway system, uncovered in September of 2009, was directed by senior Al-Qaeda leadership in Pakistan," the FBI website said.

The subway plot was described by prosecutors at the time as described as the most serious threat to New York since the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Shukrijumah was also linked by U.S. authorities to other terrorism suspects, including a group of men accused of planning to bomb fuel pipelines at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.

(Additional reporting by Saud Mehsud in Dera Ismail Khan. Houreld reported from Islamabad; Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Kim Coghill)

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Iran confirms air strikes in Iraq against Islamic State: Guardian newspaper

BAGHDAD Sat Dec 6, 2014 3:48am EST

Smoke raises behind an Islamic State flag after Iraqi security forces and Shiite fighters took control of Saadiya in Diyala province from Islamist State militants, November 24, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Stringer
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A senior Iranian official has confirmed his country carried out air strikes in neighboring Iraq against Islamic State fighters at the request of Iraqi authorities, Britain's Guardian newspaper reported.
It quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Ebrahim Rahimpour as saying the strikes were not coordinated with the United States, which is also waging an air campaign against the radical Sunni Muslim militants who control large parts of north and west Iraq.
The purpose of the strikes was "the defense of the interests of our friends in Iraq", the newspaper quoted Rahimpour as saying in an interview in London.
"We did not have any coordination with the Americans. We have coordinated only with the Iraqi government," he said. "In general, every military operation to help the Iraqi government is according to their requests."
Rahimpour's reported comments were the first from an Iranian official confirming Iran's role in the air strikes in the Iraqi province of Diyala, which borders Iran, in late November. On Wednesday an Iranian official had denied that Iran had launched any such strikes.
Diyala is an ethnically mixed province, where the Iraqi army, backed by Kurdish Peshmerga and Shi’ite militias drove Islamic State out of several towns and villages last month.
Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Wednesday he had no knowledge of Iranian air strikes. On Saturday, Finance Minister Hoshiyar Zebari told a security conference in Bahrain: "It's not 100 percent confirmed."
The Iranian role was first highlighted in footage filmed by Al Jazeera television, which appeared to show an F-4 Phantom striking Islamic State positions in Diyala. Defense experts said Iran and Turkey were the only regional operators of the F-4, and Turkey is reluctant to take on Islamic State militarily.
"We will not allow conditions in Iraq to descend to the level of Syria, which has been created by foreign players," the Guardian quoted Rahimpour as saying, referring to Syria's catastrophic three-year war in which Iran supports President Bashar al-Assad against rebels including Islamic State.
"And certainly our assistance (to Iraq) is stronger than our assistance to Syria, because they are nearer to us," he said.
Rahimpour said Iran was also assisting Kurdish forces in northern Iraq, but repeated Tehran's insistence that it did not have any ground troops in Iraq. "This is only an advisory presence. There is no need to send Iranian troops to Iraq. There are sufficient Iraqi and Kurdish troops there," he said.
(Additional reporting by Yara Bayoumy in Manama; Writing by Dominic Evans, editing by Louise Heavens)

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France's Hollande to meet Putin in Moscow: Kremlin

MOSCOW Sat Dec 6, 2014 4:53am EST

France's President Francois Hollande attends a bilateral meeting with Russia's President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Brisbane November 15, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Alain Jocard/Pool
MOSCOW (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Saturday, the Kremlin said on Saturday.
A Kremlin spokeswoman gave no further details. But Russia's Rossiya-24 state television said Putin and Hollande planned to discuss Ukraine and France's decision to suspend indefinitely the delivery of the first of two Mistral helicopter carriers to Moscow because of the crisis in Ukraine.
Russian news agencies said Hollande would make the visit on his way back to France after a trip to Kazakhstan where he suggested that he, Putin, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and German Chancellor Angela Merkel should "start the process of reducing tension" together. He gave no details.
At a news conference in Kazakhstan capital Astana, Hollande urged Putin to look to the future rather than the past to help ease tension over the Ukraine crisis.
Putin on Thursday evoked the lessons of history to shift the blame for many of Russia's problems on to the West, accusing "enemies of yesterday" of trying to bring a new Iron Curtain down around Russia.
More than 4,300 people have been killed in eastern Ukraine since the separatist rebellions erupted there in April, soon after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine following the overthrow of a Moscow-backed president.
(Reporting by Timothy Heritage and Katya Golubkova; editing by Susan Thomas)

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U.S. defense official says U.S. forces carried out Somers rescue attempt

A man, who identified himself as Luke Somers, speaks in this still image taken from video purportedly published by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

Credit: Reuters/ via Reuters TV

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Al Qaeda militant threatens Lebanese Shi'ites after wife detained

BEIRUT Sat Dec 6, 2014 5:12am EST

BEIRUT (Reuters) - A leading member of Syria's al Qaeda branch, Abu Ali al-Shishani, has pledged to attack Lebanese women and children and end talks to free more than two dozen members of the Lebanese security forces, after his wife was detained by authorities.

The threat, delivered in a video distributed on jihadist websites, was published on Friday hours before the group said it killed one of the captive Lebanese soldiers it holds.

Lebanese authorities earlier this week said they had detained a wife of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The wife of Shishani, a fighter in the Nusra Front, al Qaeda's official Syrian wing, has also been arrested.

The women were apparently viewed by some Lebanese security elements as a possible bargaining chip with the militants to gain the release of the captive soldiers.

Sitting in front of a black flag with two militants by his side, Shishani said Shi'ite Muslim women and children and families of Lebanese soldiers were now legitimate targets.

"My wife, Ola Mithqal al Oqaily ... was taken two days ago from Tripoli, the city that is called the city of Islam and Muslims," Shishani said.

"If my wife is not released soon, do not dare to dream about the release of the soldiers without negotiations.

"All your wives, children and men are legitimate targets now," he said, using the phrase "slaves of (late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah) Khomeini" to refer to Shi'ites.

Many Sunni Syrian rebels and hardline Lebanese Sunni Islamists accuse Lebanon's army of working with the Lebanese Shi'ite movement Hezbollah which has sent fighters to aid Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a member of the Shi'ite-derived Alawite minority.

(Reporting by Oliver Holmes in Beirut and Ali Abdelatty in Cairo, editing by Louise Heavens)

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China arrests ex-security chief for corruption, leaking secrets

By Ben Blanchard
BEIJING Fri Dec 5, 2014 10:51pm EST

China's former Politburo Standing Committee Member Zhou Yongkang attends the closing ceremony of the National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing March 14, 2012.
Credit: Reuters/Jason Lee
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese authorities have arrested former domestic security chief Zhou Yongkang and expelled him from the ruling Communist Party, accusing him of crimes ranging from accepting bribes to leaking state secrets and setting the stage for his trial.
Zhou, 71, is by far the highest-profile figure caught up in President Xi Jinping's crackdown on corruption.
He is also the most senior Chinese official to be ensnared in a graft scandal since the Communists swept to power in 1949 and the highest-ranking to be prosecuted since the fall of the Gang of Four in 1976 following the Cultural Revolution.
In a terse statement released by the official Xinhua news agency at midnight into Saturday, the party's elite, decision-making Politburo said Zhou's case had been handed over to judicial authorities.
The party began its probe into Zhou, one of China's most powerful politicians of the last decade, in July, following months of rumors and speculation that he was in trouble.
"The investigation found that Zhou seriously violated the party's political, organizational and confidentiality discipline," Xinhua said.
"He took advantage of his posts to seek profits for others and accepted huge bribes personally and through his family.
"He abused his power to help relatives, mistresses and friends make huge profits from operating businesses, resulting in serious losses of state-owned assets," the report said.
Zhou also leaked party and state secrets, took money and property either himself or through his relatives, Xinhua said, without providing details.
In a common accusation used to discredit fallen officials, Xinhua said Zhou had committed adultery with a number of women and had "traded his power for sex and money".
DEADLY TUMOR
Xi has warned, like others before him, that corruption is such a serious problem it threatens the party's survival.
"(Corruption) is a tumor eating away at the party's health and its resolute excision is a necessary demand to uphold the party's character, aims and leadership and to consolidate the party's power and basis for exercising that power," the People's Daily wrote in a commentary on its website on Saturday.
Zhou was a member of the Politburo Standing Committee - China's apex of power - from 2007 to 2012, and headed the central Political and Legal Affairs Committee, a sprawling body that oversees law and order policy.
The security apparatus expanded during his watch and consumed a budget that exceeded the official figure for military spending. He quickly earned the enmity of Chinese dissidents.
He was last seen in public more than a year ago. It was not possible to reach him for comment and it was not clear whether he has a lawyer.
Several of his allies have been put under investigation in recent months, including Jiang Jiemin, former top regulator of state-owned enterprises, as well as Zhou's son Zhou Bin.
It is unclear whether Zhou Yongkang will receive an open trial and the midnight release of the news underscored the limits of the party's transparency in such ultra-sensitive cases. Legal experts say the party runs a risk of Zhou threatening to reveal state secrets if he gets an open trial.
HUNTING "TIGERS"
Sources with ties to China's leadership have previously told Reuters that Xi was determined to bring down Zhou for allegedly plotting appointments to retain influence ahead of the 18th Party Congress in November 2012, when Xi took over the party.
Zhou had nominated Bo Xilai, a charismatic politician with leadership ambitions, to succeed him as domestic security chief and had tried to orchestrate the younger man's promotion to the Standing Committee, the sources have said.
Bo later fell in a divisive scandal following accusations that his wife had murdered a British businessman in 2011. Bo's wife was convicted over the killing and Bo himself was jailed for corruption and abuse of power last year.
Xi has made fighting pervasive graft a central theme of his rule and has promised to go after "tigers" - senior officials - as well as those of lower rank who are implicated in corruption.
A key meeting of party leaders in October focused on "governing the country by law" and a propaganda campaign has followed, in part, sources told Reuters, to pave the way for Zhou's arrest.
"The message is 'This is rule by law. This is not political persecution'," said one source.
Zhou's arrest was "a full stop" on the anti-corruption campaign for the year that would "help to prevent silly thinking and crazy talk among the people" about its effectiveness, the source said.
In ordering the investigation of Zhou, Xi has broken with an unwritten understanding that members of the Politburo Standing Committee would not come under such scrutiny after retirement.
Sources have told Reuters that Xi's predecessors Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin had approved the formal investigation into Zhou.
Former top leaders in China usually wield a lot of influence behind the scenes in a political system that prizes consensus decision-making. Both Jiang and Hu, as former presidents and heads of the party, also still have allies installed in office.
(Additional reporting by Benjamin Kang Lim in Beijing and John Ruwitch in Shanghai; Editing by Mark Trevelyan, Gareth Jones and Alex Richardson)

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Typhoon Hagupit triggers massive evacuation in Philippines

By Rosemarie Francisco
MANILA Sat Dec 6, 2014 12:03am EST

1 of 6. People take shelter inside a evacuation centre after evacuating from their homes due to super-typhoon Hagupit in Surigao city, southern Philippines December 5, 2014. T
Credit: Reuters/Stringer
MANILA (Reuters) - More than half a million people in the Philippines have fled from a powerful typhoon in one of the world's biggest peacetime evacuations as the storm churns towards central provinces that still bear the scars of a super typhoon 13 months ago.
Typhoon Hagupit was approaching eastern coasts on Saturday, with its eye 230 km (143 miles) east northeast of Borongan, in Eastern Samar province, the weather bureau PAGASA said.
The storm was downgraded to a notch below super typhoon category but could still unleash huge destruction with torrential rain and potentially disastrous storm surges of up to 4.5 meters (15 feet).
With winds of up to 195 kph (121 mph) near the center and gusts of up to 215 kph (133 mph), the storm was moving slowly at 10 kph (6 mph) and was expected to hit Eastern or Northern Samar province early on Sunday.
More than 616,000 residents of low-lying villages and landslide-prone areas have fled to schools, civic centers, town halls, gyms and churches, the national disaster agency said.
"We call on residents to voluntarily evacuate because the forecast is there will be a storm surge," Sofronio Dacillo, head of the disaster agency in the island province of Biliran in the central Philippines, said on national radio.
Residents of Eastern Samar said rain was falling and their power was fluctuating on Saturday morning.
The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction in Geneva said 200,000 people had been evacuated in the central island province of Cebu alone.
"Typhoon Hagupit is triggering one of the largest evacuations we have ever seen in peacetime," said spokesman Denis McClean.
Philippine Airlines (PAL.PS) and Cebu Pacific (CEB.PS) canceled nearly 100 flights to central and southern Philippines on Saturday.
The eastern islands of Samur and Leyte, worst-hit by 250 kph (155 mph) winds and storm surges brought by Typhoon Haiyan in November last year, could be in the firing line again.
"I am afraid and scared," said Teresita Aban, a 58-year-old housewife from Sta. Rita, in Samar province, wiping away tears and trembling as she spoke. "We're prepared but still fearful, we haven't finished repairing our house, it still has tarpaulin patches and here comes another storm."
Haiyan, one of the strongest typhoons ever to make landfall left more than 7,000 dead or missing and more than 4 million homeless or with damaged houses.
About 25,000 people in Eastern Samar and Leyte still live in tents, shelters and bunkhouses more than a year after Haiyan.
About 10 million residents of the Bicol and Eastern Visayas regions of the central Philippines are at risk of flooding, storm surges and strong winds as Hagupit hits land. AccuWeather Global Weather Center said more than 30 million people would feel the impact of the typhoon across the Philippines.
The weather bureau said 47 provinces were at risk of strong wind and rains.
(Additional reporting by Jazmin Bonifacio in Samar, Neil Jerome Morales in Manila, and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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Hagel, in Kabul, says Afghans to battle back Taliban threat

By Phil Stewart
KABUL Sat Dec 6, 2014 2:54am EST

U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel walks to the Pentagon in Washington, November 24, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Yuri Gripas
KABUL (Reuters) - Outgoing U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel expressed confidence in the ability of Afghan forces to defend Kabul following a spike in Taliban strikes as he arrived in the Afghan capital on Saturday for his final trip to Afghanistan as Pentagon chief.
Hagel's unannounced visit came near the end of the bloodiest year in Afghanistan since the war against Taliban militants began in 2001, and after a particularly violent wave of attacks in the capital.
It also came just weeks before the official end of the NATO-led combat mission and a sharp reduction in western forces.
"I have confidence that the Afghan security forces have the capacity to defend Kabul," Hagel told reporters before landing in Kabul, where he is expected to discuss security in talks with Afghan leaders and U.S. commanders.
A U.S. defense official traveling with Hagel played down the attacks, which led the Kabul police chief to offer his resignation last weekend.
"It is a spike. It seems like it's been a concerted effort by the Taliban to conduct high profile attacks to create perceptions of instability," the official said.
As of early November, about 4,600 members of the Afghan security forces had been killed in 2014, more than 6 percent higher than the same period of 2013.
Even as U.S. officials including Hagel praised the accomplishments of Afghan forces as foreign troops moved into a support role, the high rate of Afghan casualties is seen as unsustainable. It has also raised questions about their vulnerability when U.S. forces fall to about 10,000 next year.
U.S. President Barack Obama's drawdown strategy has attracted criticism, including from Republicans in Congress, who say the hard-fought gains made against the Taliban could be lost in much the same way that sectarian violence returned to Iraq after the U.S. withdrawal.
Hagel, who resigned last week under pressure, warned against drawing comparisons between Iraq and Afghanistan, saying Afghans want U.S. forces to stay.
"Are there (security) gaps? Are there continued challenges? And threats? Absolutely," Hagel acknowledged, noting Afghanistan would still struggle with "pockets" of Taliban resistance.
The Taliban have become increasingly bold in their attacks and control several districts across a country where access to many areas is still limited by rugged terrain and poor security.
Afghan infrastructure is poor. Graft is rife. The economy relies mostly on foreign aid.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Robert Birsel)

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Hagel, in Kabul, says Afghans to battle back Taliban threat

By Phil Stewart
KABUL Sat Dec 6, 2014 2:54am EST

U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel walks to the Pentagon in Washington, November 24, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Yuri Gripas
KABUL (Reuters) - Outgoing U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel expressed confidence in the ability of Afghan forces to defend Kabul following a spike in Taliban strikes as he arrived in the Afghan capital on Saturday for his final trip to Afghanistan as Pentagon chief.
Hagel's unannounced visit came near the end of the bloodiest year in Afghanistan since the war against Taliban militants began in 2001, and after a particularly violent wave of attacks in the capital.
It also came just weeks before the official end of the NATO-led combat mission and a sharp reduction in western forces.
"I have confidence that the Afghan security forces have the capacity to defend Kabul," Hagel told reporters before landing in Kabul, where he is expected to discuss security in talks with Afghan leaders and U.S. commanders.
A U.S. defense official traveling with Hagel played down the attacks, which led the Kabul police chief to offer his resignation last weekend.
"It is a spike. It seems like it's been a concerted effort by the Taliban to conduct high profile attacks to create perceptions of instability," the official said.
As of early November, about 4,600 members of the Afghan security forces had been killed in 2014, more than 6 percent higher than the same period of 2013.
Even as U.S. officials including Hagel praised the accomplishments of Afghan forces as foreign troops moved into a support role, the high rate of Afghan casualties is seen as unsustainable. It has also raised questions about their vulnerability when U.S. forces fall to about 10,000 next year.
U.S. President Barack Obama's drawdown strategy has attracted criticism, including from Republicans in Congress, who say the hard-fought gains made against the Taliban could be lost in much the same way that sectarian violence returned to Iraq after the U.S. withdrawal.
Hagel, who resigned last week under pressure, warned against drawing comparisons between Iraq and Afghanistan, saying Afghans want U.S. forces to stay.
"Are there (security) gaps? Are there continued challenges? And threats? Absolutely," Hagel acknowledged, noting Afghanistan would still struggle with "pockets" of Taliban resistance.
The Taliban have become increasingly bold in their attacks and control several districts across a country where access to many areas is still limited by rugged terrain and poor security.
Afghan infrastructure is poor. Graft is rife. The economy relies mostly on foreign aid.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Robert Birsel)

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Rolling Stone backtracks on Virginia college rape story

n">(Reuters) - Rolling Stone magazine on Friday backtracked from its November article about an alleged gang rape at a University of Virginia fraternity, saying that there were "discrepancies" about the accuser's account.
The story created an uproar at the school and prompted renewed U.S. debate on sexual abuse. The fraternity, Phi Kappa Psi, rebutted key parts of the Rolling Stone story on Friday.
The story, by reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely, described a 2012 alleged attack on a woman named Jackie at a Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house pledge party and the university's alleged failure to respond to the attack.
In a note to readers posted on the magazine's website, Rolling Stone Managing Editor Will Dana said new information showed that there were "discrepancies" in Jackie's account of the alleged rape by seven men.
"We have come to the conclusion that our trust in her was misplaced," Dana said.
"We were trying to be sensitive to the unfair shame and humiliation many women feel after a sexual assault and now regret the decision to not contact the alleged assaulters to get their account. We are taking this seriously and apologize to anyone who was affected by the story," Dana said.
The magazine has identified the accuser only as Jackie, her real first name.
The fraternity's University of Virginia chapter, in a statement, pointed out inconsistencies in the story. It said Phi Kappa Psi did not hold a party on the weekend of Sept. 28, 2012, the night of the alleged attack. And it said that pledging and initiations take place only in the spring semester, not in the fall.
In addition, no members of the fraternity were employed at the university's Aquatic and Fitness Center at the time, as Erdely reported, the statement said.
The magazine article said that Jackie had met one of her alleged attackers, who she said was a fraternity member, while they both worked as lifeguards at the university's pool.
Erdely could not be reached immediately for comment via phone or email. On her own web page (www.sabrinaerdely.com) Erderly describes herself as "an award-winning feature writer and investigative journalist," as well as a contributing editor at Rolling Stone.
INVESTIGATION ONGOING
Phi Kappa Psi said it was working with Charlottesville police as officers investigate allegations in the article. Charlottesville police spokesman Captain Gary Pleasants said the investigation was ongoing.
Rolling Stone's Dana said that the magazine, at Jackie's request, had not contacted the man she claimed orchestrated the attack nor any of the men she claimed took part because of fear of retaliation against her.
In a Tweet, Dana said: "We made a judgment – the kind of judgment reporters and editors make every day. And in this case, our judgment was wrong."
Rolling Stone was founded in 1967 by Jann Wenner, who still owns and operates it, along with US Weekly and Men's Journal.
University President Teresa Sullivan said in a statement that since the Rolling Stone article two weeks ago, the school had been centered on the issue of sexual violence on college campuses.
The magazine's apology left that focus unaltered and the school would continue to examine its policies and procedures, she said.
The story, along with allegations of sexual abuse against comedian Bill Cosby, galvanized the U.S. debate on sexual assault, especially on college campuses. The U.S. Department of Education is investigating sexual violence cases at 90 colleges and universities.
FRAT VANDALIZED
The Rolling Stone story prompted protests over sexual abuse at the school, and the fraternity was vandalized. Sullivan suspended fraternity and sorority activities until Jan. 9, and the university chapter of Phi Kappa Psi surrendered its fraternity agreement with the school and suspended activity.
Sullivan also announced stepped-up policing and alcohol measures in light of the article, and the school's trustees held a special meeting to discuss it.
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring in a statement called Rolling Stone's apology "deeply troubling" since the magazine was not correcting the story. Herring has appointed an independent counsel to examine the allegations and how the school handled the matter.
In an email, Tom Mullen, director of public affairs journalism at the University of Richmond, called the story "an epic failure on the part of Rolling Stone."
"What victim will now want to come forward, and at what cost?" he said.
Fraternities and sororities are social clubs common at many U.S. colleges and often have their own housing. Many of the University of Virginia's 21,000 students are affiliated with the so-called Greek system.
While the issue of sexual abuse on U.S. college campuses has been a growing issue, there have also been cases of rape accusations that have proved unfounded.
Three lacrosse players at Duke University who were charged in 2006 with sexual assault were declared innocent after the accuser's story was discredited.
(Additional reporting by Gary Robertson in Richmond, Virginia, and David Ingram in New York; Editing by Susan Heavey and Leslie Adler)

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