New York City

Home to the Empire State Building, Times Square, Statue of Liberty and other iconic sites, New York City is a fast-paced, globally influential center of art, culture, fashion and finance. The city’s 5 boroughs sit where the Hudson River meets the Atlantic Ocean, with the island borough of Manhattan at the “Big Apple's" core.
Land area: 789 km²
Local time: Monday 6:21 AM
Weather: 19°C, Wind NE at 11 km/h, 90% Humidity
Getting there: 19 h 15 min flight. View flights
Population: 8.406 million (2013)
Sports teams: New York Mets, New York Knicks, more
Area codes: Area code 212, Area codes 718, 347 and 929, Area code 917


Empire State Building



The Empire State Building is a 102-story skyscraper located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on Fifth Avenue between West 33rd and 34th Streets.
Address: 350 5th Ave, New York, NY 10118, United States
Floors: 102
Construction started: March 17, 1930
Height: 381 m, 443 m to tip CTBU


The Empire State Building is a 102-story skyscraper located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on Fifth Avenue between West 33rd and 34th Streets. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet (381 m), and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 feet (443 m) high.Its name is derived from the nickname for New York, the Empire State. It stood as the world's tallest building for nearly 40 years, from its completion in early 1931 until the topping out of the original World Trade Center's North Tower in late 1970. Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, the Empire State Building was again the tallest building in New York, until One World Trade Center reached a greater height in April 2012. The Empire State Building is currently the fifth-tallest completed skyscraper in the United States and the 25th-tallest in the world. It is also the fifth-tallest freestanding structure in the Americas. When measured by pinnacle height, it is the fourth-tallest building in the United States.
The Empire State Building is generally thought of as an American cultural icon. It is designed in the distinctive Art Deco style and has been named as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The building and its street floor interior are designated landmarks of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, and confirmed by the New York City Board of Estimate.It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1986. In 2007, it was ranked number one on the AIA's List of America's Favorite Architecture.
The building is owned by the Empire State Realty Trust, of which Anthony Malkin serves as Chairman, CEO and President. In 2010, the Empire State Building underwent a $550 million renovation, with $120 million spent to transform the building into a more energy efficient and eco-friendly structure.The Empire State Building is the tallest Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified building in the United States, having received a gold LEED rating in September 2011.


Central Park


                   
Central Park is an urban park in middle-upper Manhattan, New York City. Central Park is the most visited urban park in the United States as well as one of the most filmed locations in the world. It opened in 1857 on 778 acres of city-owned land.
Address: New York, NY, United States
Area: 3.41 km²
Hours: 

Open today · 6:00 am – 1:00 am
Phone: +1 212-310-6600
Owners: New York City Department of Parks and Recreation
Established: 1857


Central Park is an urban park in middle-upper Manhattan, New York City. Central Park is the most visited urban park in the United States as well as one of the most filmed locations in the world.
It opened in 1857 on 778 acres (315 ha) of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, two soon-to-be famed national landscapers and architects, won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they titled the "Greensward Plan". Construction began the same year, continued during the American Civil War further south, and was expanded to its current size of 843 acres (341 ha) in 1873.
It was designated a National Historic Landmark (listed by the U.S. Department of the Interior and administered by the National Park Service) in 1962. The Park was managed for decades by the New York City Department of Recreation and Parks and is currently managed by the Central Park Conservancy under contract with the municipal government in a public-private partnership. The Conservancy is a non-profit organization that contributes 75% of Central Park's $57 million annual budget and employs 80.7% of the Park's maintenance staff.


Statue of Liberty


    
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the United States.
Artist: Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi
Address: New York, NY, United States
Construction started: September 1875
Height: 93 m
Created: October 28, 1886
Architects: Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, Gustave Eiffel, Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, Richard Morris Hunt


The Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World; French: La Liberté éclairant le monde) is a colossal neoclassical sculptureon Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the United States. The copper statue, designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, a French sculptor, was built by Gustave Eiffel and dedicated on October 28, 1886. It was a gift to the United States from the people of France.
The statue is of a robed female figure representing Libertas, the Roman goddess, who bears a torch and a tabula ansata (a tablet evoking the law) upon which is inscribed the date of the American Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. A broken chain lies at her feet. The statue is an icon of freedom and of the United States, and was a welcoming sight to immigrants arriving from abroad.
Bartholdi was inspired by French law professor and politician Édouard René de Laboulaye, who is said to have commented in 1865 that any monument raised to American independence would properly be a joint project of the French and American peoples. He may have been minded to honor the Union victory in the American Civil War and the end of slavery. Due to the troubled political situation in France, work on the statue did not commence until the early 1870s. In 1875, Laboulaye proposed that the French finance the statue and the Americans provide the site and build the pedestal. Bartholdi completed the head and the torch-bearing arm before the statue was fully designed, and these pieces were exhibited for publicity at international expositions.
The torch-bearing arm was displayed at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, and in Madison Square Park in Manhattanfrom 1876 to 1882. Fundraising proved difficult, especially for the Americans, and by 1885 work on the pedestal was threatened due to lack of funds. Publisher Joseph Pulitzer of the New York World started a drive for donations to complete the project that attracted more than 120,000 contributors, most of whom gave less than a dollar. The statue was constructed in France, shipped overseas in crates, and assembled on the completed pedestal on what was then called Bedloe's Island. The statue's completion was marked by New York's first ticker-tape parade and a dedication ceremony presided over by President Grover Cleveland.
The statue was administered by the United States Lighthouse Board until 1901 and then by the Department of War; since 1933 it has been maintained by the National Park Service. The statue was closed for renovation for much of 1938. In the early 1980s, it was found to have deteriorated to such an extent that a major restoration was required. While the statue was closed from 1984 to 1986, the torch and a large part of the internal structure were replaced. After the September 11 attacks in 2001, it was closed for reasons of safety and security; the pedestal reopened in 2004 and the statue in 2009, with limits on the number of visitors allowed to ascend to the crown. The statue, including the pedestal and base, was closed for a year until October 28, 2012, so that a secondary staircase and other safety features could be installed; Liberty Island remained open. However, one day after the reopening, Liberty Island closed due to the effects of Hurricane Sandy in New York; the statue and island opened again on July 4, 2013. Public access to the balcony surrounding the torch has been barred for safety reasons since 1916.


Rockefeller Center
 
Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering 22 acres between 48th and 51st streets in New York City, United States.
Address: 45 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10111, United States
Area: 9 ha
Hours: 

Open today · 7:00 am – 12:00 am
Architect: Raymond Hood
Phone: +1 212-332-6868
Architectural style: Modern architecture, Art Deco
Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering 22 acres (89,000 m²) between 48th and 51st streets in New York City, United States. Commissioned by the Rockefeller family, it is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan, spanning the area between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987.


Metropolitan Museum of Art 
  
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, located in New York City, is the largest art museum in the United States and among the most visited art museums in the world.
Address: 1000 5th Ave, New York, NY 10028, United States
Hours: 

Open today · 10:00 am – 5:30 pm
Customer service: +1 212-535-7710
Founded: 1870
Director: Thomas P. Campbell
Founders: George Palmer Putnam, John Taylor Johnston, Howard Potter, Eastman Johnson


The Metropolitan Museum of Art (colloquially The Met), located in New York City, is the largest art museum in the United States and among the most visited art museums in the world. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided among seventeen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is by area one of the world's largest art galleries. There is also a much smaller second location at The Cloisters in Upper Manhattan that features medieval art.
Represented in the permanent collection are works of art from classical antiquity and Ancient Egypt, paintings and sculptures from nearly all the European masters, and an extensive collection of American and modern art. The Met also maintains extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanic, Byzantine, and Islamic art. The museum is also home to encyclopedic collections of musical instruments, costumes and accessories, and antique weapons and armor from around the world. Several notable interiors, ranging from first-century Rome through modern American design, are permanently installed in the Met's galleries.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870. The founders included businessmen and financiers, as well as leading artists and thinkers of the day, who wanted to open a museum to bring art and art education to the American people. It opened on February 20, 1872, and was originally located at 681 Fifth Avenue.
As of 2012, the Met occupies about 2,000,000 square feet (190,000 m²). Admission is pay what you wish with a recommendation of $25
Times Square
 


Commercial neighborhood in New York City, New York
Times Square is a major commercial intersection and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue, and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets.
Address: Manhattan, NY 10036, United States
Times Square is a major commercial intersection and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue, and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets. Brightly adorned with billboards and advertisements, Times Square is sometimes referred to as The Crossroads of the World, The Center of the Universe, the heart of The Great White Way,and the "heart of the world". One of the world's busiest pedestrian intersections, it is also the hub of the Broadway Theater District and a major center of the world's entertainment industry. Times Square is one of the world's most visited tourist attractions, drawing an estimated fifty million visitors annually. Approximately 330,000 people pass through Times Square daily, many of them tourists;while over 460,000 pedestrians walk through Times Square on its busiest days.
Formerly Longacre Square, Times Square was renamed in 1904 after The New York Times moved its headquarters to the newly erected Times Building, the site of the annual ball drop which began on December 31, 1907, and continues today, attracting over a million visitors to Times Square every New Year's Eve.
Duffy Square, the northernmost of Times Square's triangles, was dedicated in 1937 to Chaplain Francis P. Duffy of New York City's U.S. 69th Infantry Regiment and is the site of a memorial to him, along with a statue of George M. Cohan.
Grand Central Terminal
 







$$ · Train Station
Iconic train station known for its grand facade & main concourse, also offering shops & dining.
Address: 89 E 42nd St, New York, NY 10017, United States
Phone:+1 212-340-2583
Hours:


Open today · 5:30 am – 2:00 am


Grand Central Terminal (GCT) is a commuter (and former intercity) railroad terminal at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States.
Built by and named for the New York Central Railroad in the heyday of American long-distance passenger rail travel, it covers 48 acres (19 ha) and has 44 platforms, more than any other railroad station in the world. Its platforms, all below ground, serve 41 tracks on the upper level and 26 on the lower, though the total number of tracks along platforms and in rail yards exceeds 100.
The terminal serves commuters traveling on the Metro-North Railroad to Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess counties in New York State, and Fairfield and New Haven counties in Connecticut. Until 1991, the terminal served Amtrak, which moved to nearby Pennsylvania Station upon completion of the Empire Connection. The East Side Access project is underway to bringLong Island Rail Road service to the terminal.
Although the terminal has been officially called "Grand Central Terminal" since the present structure opened, it has "always been more colloquially and affectionately known as Grand Central Station", a name of one of the earlier railroad stations on the same site. "Grand Central Station" is the name of the nearby U.S. Post Office station at 450 Lexington Avenue and the name also refers to the Grand Central – 42nd Street subway station which serves the terminal area.
Grand Central Terminal features both monumental spaces and meticulously crafted detail. In a February 2013 BBC News article, historian David Cannadine described it as one of the most majestic buildings of the twentieth century. In 2013, Grand Central Terminal hosted 21.6 million visitors, rendering it one of the ten most-visited tourist attractions worldwide.
In 2006, Argent Ventures transferred ownership of the station to Midtown TDR Ventures. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the state agency that is the parent of Metro-North, holds a lease until 2274.
Museum of Modern Art

      


Museum in New York City, New York · moma.org
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. 
Address: 11 W 53rd St, New York, NY 10019, United States
Hours: 

Open today · 10:30 am – 5:30 pm
Architectural styles: International Style, Modern architecture, Contemporary architecture
 The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world The museum's collection offers an overview of modern and contemporary art,including works of architecture and design, drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, prints, illustrated books and artist's books, film and electronic media.
Ellis Island
 
Island in United States of America
Ellis Island is an island that is located in Upper New York Bay in the Port of New York and New Jersey, United States.
Established: January 1, 1892
Management: U.S. National Park Service
Architectural style: Renaissance Revival architecture
Architect: Edward Lippincott Tilton, William A. Boring

American Museum of Natural History

 
Museum in New York City, New York · amnh.org
The American Museum of Natural History, located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City, is one of the largest museums in the world.
Address: Central Park West & 79th St, New York, NY 10024, United States
Hours: 

Open today · 10:00 am – 5:45 pm
Director: Ellen V. Futter

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum 


 









Museum in New York City, New York · guggenheim.org
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum located at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street in the Upper East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. 
Address: 1071 5th Ave, New York, NY 10128, United States
Hours: 

Open today · 10:00 am – 5:45 pm
Founded: 1939, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States
Founders: Frank Lloyd Wright, Solomon R. Guggenheim, Peggy Guggenheim
Parent organization: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation

Madras Day(சென்னை தினம்)

 

  

Madras Day is a day of celebrations organized in the city of Madras (Chennai), the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is celebrated on 22 August every year, and is named after the city. It commemorates the founding of the modern city by establishing Fort St George on a small piece of land acquired from the last King of Chandragiri in 1639 by the British East India Company. The celebrations include several events organized including citizens and students and lasts for a week.

Birth of Madras Day

The idea to celebrate the birth of the city every year was born when journalists Shashi Nair and Vincent D'Souza met the city's historian and Editor of Madras Musings, S. Muthiah at his residence for coffee. It was based on the success of another event called Mylapore Festival which D'Souza had been organising every year in January. It was decided by the trio to start celebrating Madras Day from 2004. According to them, "primary motive of celebrating `Madras Day' was to focus on the city, its past and its present." The idea initially started off with about five events in 2004, but with 2008, has over 60 different events associated with the day including heritage walks, photo walks, lectures, poetry and caption and quiz contests, food festivals and a Bullet tour lasting for a week.

Significance of 22 August

It was on 22 August 1639 that a sliver of land, where now stands Fort St George, was handed over by the local Nayak rulers to the East India Company’s Francis Day, his dubash Beri Thimmappa, and their superior, Andrew Cogan. From this small three square miles given to the East India Company grew the city of Madras where more than four and a half million people live now. As years passed by out of the fort grew settlements and the villages around it were brought together with the old and new towns linked up and hence birth of a city.

The Celebration

Originally, this celebration used to last for a day but now it extends for a week. Madras Day focuses on the city, its history, its past and its present and the core team motivates communities, groups, companies and campuses in the city to host events that celebrate the city. The celebration consists of events such as heritage walks (including a "tree walk"), public talks, exhibitions, poetry reading sessions, public performances, food festivals and special programs on local radio. It also includes contests such as, T-shirt designing, documentary film contest, multimedia presentation for schools and quiz in both Tamil and English.T-shirts to mark the event are also released. The talks delivered to mark the week-long celebrations usually involve lectures explaining the heritage and history of the city. There are also events for the retired citizens where they can post their life years ago on the "Stories about Madras section" on Madras day's website and their views on how Madras grew into the Chennai of today.
The Indian postal department released a postal cover to commemorate Madras day on 22 August 2007.

Special radio broadcast

The special radio broadcast for Madras Day in the past included `Putham Puthu Kalai', a programme highlighting the important landmarks of Chennai, with writer Ashokamitran, Historian S. Muthiah, Vincent D'Souza and writer Randor Guy as participants. It also included `Madras Nalla Madras', a compilation of film songs on Chennai by Delhi Ganesh and comedian Loose Mohan providing a native touch with his Madras dialect.

பெர்முடா முக்கோணத்தை பற்றிய அதிர்ச்சியான தகவல்கள்

 

பெர்முடா முக்கோணத்தை பற்றிய அதிர்ச்சியான தகவல்கள்

வட அட்லாண்டிக் கடலின் மேல்பகுதியில் தான் பெர்முடா முக்கோணம் இருக்கின்றது. இதை சாத்தானின் முக்கோணம் என்றும் அமெரிக்க மக்கள் குறிப்பிடுகின்றனர்.

இதற்கு காரணம், பெர்முடா முக்கோணத்தின் மேல் கடந்த விமானங்களும், அருகே சென்ற கப்பல்களும், படகுகளும் என்ன ஆனது என்றே தெரியாத அளவில் அழிந்துப் போயிருக்கின்றன.
அறிவியலில் உச்சத்தை அடைந்துவிட்டோம், செவ்வாய் கிரகத்தில் நீர் இருப்பதற்கான கூறுகளை கண்டறிந்துள்ளோம் என்று மார்தட்டிக் கொள்ளும் அறிஞர்கள் கூட பெர்முடா முக்கோணத்தில் நடக்கும் இந்த வினோத செயல்களை கண்டறிய முடியாமல் தவிக்கின்றனர்.
அப்படி என்ன தான் நடக்கிறது என்று ஆராய்ச்சி கூட செய்ய இயலாத அளவு மிகவும் ஆபத்தானப் பகுதி என்று தடைவிதிக்கப்பட்டு திகழ்கிறது பெர்முடா முக்கோணம். அங்கு நடக்கும் அதிர்ச்சியான தகவல்கள் பற்றி இனிப் பார்க்கலாம்…
திசைக் குழப்பம் 
கப்பல் மற்றும் விமானங்கள் காந்த திசைக் காட்டியின் படிதான் பயணிக்கின்றன. ஆனால், பெர்முடா முக்கோணத்தை கடக்கும் போது காந்த திசைக் காட்டிகள் செயலிழந்துப் போவதாகக் கூறப்படுகிறது. இதுவே, பல விபத்துகளுக்கு காரணமாக இருப்பதாக கருதுகிறார்கள்.
கொலம்பஸ்பெமுடா முக்கோணத்தின் அருகே திசைக் காட்டிகள் செயலிழக்கின்றன என்று முதன் முறையாக கண்டறிந்து கூறியவர் கொலம்பஸ். மற்றும் அப்பகுதியில் வானத்தில் ஓர் எரிப்பந்தை கண்டதாகவும் அவர் கூறியிருக்கிறார்.
போர் விமானங்கள் மறைந்து போயின…
1945 ஆம் ஆண்டு குண்டுகள் தாங்கிய அமெரிக்க போர் விமானங்கள், தாக்குதலுக்காக ஃபோர்ட் லாடர்டல் எனும் பகுதியில் இருந்து பயணத்தை துவக்கி இருக்கின்றனர். கடைசியாக அவர்களிடம் இருந்து திசைக் காட்டி வேலை செய்யவில்லை என்ற தகவல் மட்டுமே வந்ததாக கூறப்படுகிறது. அதன் பின் மீட்க சென்ற விமானங்களும் மறைந்து போய்விட்டன. இதனால், அமெரிக்கா போரில் பெரும் தோல்வி அடைந்தது.
ஆயிரம் உயிர்கள்…
கடந்த நூற்றாண்டில் மட்டும் பெர்முடா முக்கோணம் ஆயிரம் உயிர்களை பலி வாங்கியுள்ளது.
ஒவ்வொரு வருடமும்…
ஒவ்வொரு வருடமும் சுமார் நான்கு விமானங்களும், ஏறத்தாழ 20 பந்தைய படகுகளும் பெர்முடா முக்கோணத்தில் காணாமல் போகின்றன.
மர்மம் இதுவரை பெர்முடா முக்கோணம் பகுதியில் காணமால் போன எந்த ஒரு விமானமோ, படகோ, கப்பல்களோ இதுவரை கண்டுபிடிக்க முடியவில்லை. ஒரு தடயம் கூட கிடைக்கவில்லை என்பது ஆச்சரியத்தை ஏற்படுத்துகிறது.
புரளி
இது ஏலியன்களின் செயல் என்று கடந்த நூற்றாண்டில் பரவலாக புரளி பேசப்பட்டிருக்கின்றது. அட்லாண்டிஸ் நகரம் அட்லாண்டிஸ் நகரம் கடலினுள் அழிந்து போனதற்கு பெர்முடா முக்கோணமும் ஒரு காரணம் என்று கூறப்படுகிறது.
வியப்பு
பெர்முடா முக்கோணம் வெளியில் இருந்து பார்க்கும் போது மிகவும் அமைதியான இடமாக தான் காட்சி அளிக்கின்றது. ஆயினும் அதன் அருகில் சென்றால் அனைத்து பொருள்களும் மாயமாகிவிடுவது தான் வியப்பாக இருக்கின்றது.
பரப்பளவு
பெர்முடா முக்கோணத்தின் பரப்பளவு 4,40,000 மைல் ஆகும். நமது நாட்டோடு ஒப்பிடுகையில் ராஜஸ்தான், மகாராஸ்டிரா, மத்திய பிரதேசம் போன்ற மாநிலங்களை ஒன்றிணைத்தால் கூட, அதனை விட பெரியதாக இருக்கும் பெர்முடா முக்கோணம்.

Mettur Dam

AYUSH About Information

The Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy, abbreviated as AYUSH, is a governmental body in India purposed with developing education and research in Ayurveda (Indian traditional medicine), yoga, naturopathy, unani, siddha, and homoeopathy, and other alternative medicine systems. Created in March 1995 as the Department of Indian Systems of Medicine and Homoeopathy (ISM&H), AYUSH received its current name in March 2003. It operates under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The Bharatiya Janata Party, in its election manifesto, said it would increase public investment to promote AYUSH and start integrated courses for Indian system of medicines and modern science. The Department has been elevated to an independent Ministry W.E.F. 09.11.2014.

AYUSH is also a common Hindu given name, derived from Sanskrit, meaning "Long-life".

Homoeopathy is a pseudoscience and its remedies have been found to be no more effective than placebo

National AYUSH Mission

It was started with an objective of providing cost effective AYUSH Services, with a universal access through upgrading AYUSH Hospitals and Dispensaries, co-location of AYUSH facilities at Primary Health Centres (PHCs), Community Health Centres (CHCs) and District Hospitals (DHs).

Contact Information Chennai

AYUSH, Ministry of Health& Family Welfare, Government of India 
Arinagar Anna Government Hospital Campus,

3rd Avenue,

Anna Arch Rd,

Arumbakkam,

Chennai,

Tamil Nadu 600008
044 2621 4925

www.indianmedicine.nic.in

About WikiLeaks

Web address     WikiLeaks.org

Slogan                   We open governments.

Type of site        Document archive and disclosure

Available in         English, but the documents are written in various others

Owner                  Sunshine Press

Created by          Julian Assange.

Launched            4 October 2006; 8 years ago.

WikiLeaks /ˈwɪkiliːks/ is an international, non-profit, journalistic organisation, which publishes secret information, news leaks, and classified media from anonymous sources.Its website, initiated in 2006 in Iceland by the organization Sunshine Press,claimed a database of more than 1.2 million documents within a year of its launch. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder, editor-in-chief, and director. Kristinn Hrafnsson, Joseph Farrell, and Sarah Harrison are the only other publicly known and acknowledged associates of Julian Assange. Hrafnsson is also a member of Sunshine Press Productions along with Assange, Ingi Ragnar Ingason, and Gavin MacFadyen.

The group has released a number of significant documents that have become front-page news items. Early releases included documentation of equipment expenditures and holdings in the Afghanistan war and a report informing a corruption investigation in Kenya. In April 2010, WikiLeaks published gunsight footage from the 12 July 2007 Baghdad airstrike in which Iraqi journalists were among those killed by an AH-64 Apache helicopter, known as the Collateral Murder video. In July of the same year, WikiLeaks released Afghan War Diary, a compilation of more than 76,900 documents about the War in Afghanistan not previously available to the public. In October 2010, the group released a set of almost 400,000 documents called the "Iraq War Logs" in coordination with major commercial media organisations. This allowed the mapping of 109,032 deaths in "significant" attacks by insurgents in Iraq that had been reported to Multi-National Force – Iraq, including about 15,000 that had not been previously published. In April 2011, WikiLeaks began publishing 779 secret files relating to prisoners detained in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

In November 2010, WikiLeaks collaborated with major global media organisations to release U.S. State department diplomatic "cables" in redacted format. On 1 September 2011, it became public that an encrypted version of WikiLeaks' huge archive of unredacted U.S. State Department cables had been available via BitTorrent for months and that the decryption key (similar to a password) was available to those who knew where to find it. WikiLeaks blamed the breach on its former publication partner, the UK newspaper The Guardian, and that newspaper's journalist David Leigh, who revealed the key in a book published in February 2011; The Guardian argued that WikiLeaks was to blame since they gave the impression that the decryption key was temporary (something not possible for a file decryption key). The German periodical Der Spiegel reported a more complex story involving errors on both sides. The incident resulted in widely expressed fears that the information released could endanger innocent lives.

Osama bin Laden

About
Born                       Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden
March 10, 1957Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaStatus                     Deceased
Died                        May 2, 2011 (aged 54)
Abbottabad, PakistanResting place         Arabian Sea
Nationality             Saudi Arabia (1957–1994)
Stateless                                 (1994–2011)
Years active           1979–2011
Successor               Ayman al-Zawahiri
Religion                  Islam (Salafism/Qutbism)
Children                 Show all   (20)[show]
Military careerAllegiance                 al-Qaeda
Years of service     1988–2011
Rank                      Emir of Al-Qaeda
Battles/wars           Soviet War
                           Battle of Jaji
Global War on TerrorismWar in AfghanistanBattle of Tora BoraWar in North-West PakistanOperation Neptune Spear

His father Mohammed Awad bin Laden came to the kingdom from Hadramout (South Yemen) sometime around 1930. The father started his life as a very poor laborer (porter in Jeddah port), to end up as owner of the biggest construction company in the kingdom. During the reign of King Saud, bin Laden the father became very close to the royal family when he took the risk of building King Saud's palaces much cheaper than the cheapest bid. He impressed King Saud with his performance but he also built good relations with other members of the royal family, especially Faisal. During the Saud-Faisal conflict in the early sixties, bin Laden the father had a big role in convincing King Saud to step down in favor of Faisal. After Saud's departure the treasury was empty and bin Laden was so supportive to King Faisal that he literally paid the civil servants' wages of the whole kingdom for six months. King Faisal then issued a decree that all construction projects should go to bin Laden. Indeed, he was appointed for a period as the minister of public works.

In 1969 the father took the task of rebuilding Al-Aqsa mosque after the fire incident. Interestingly the bin Laden family say that they have the credit of building all the three mosques, because later on their company took over the task of major extension in Mecca and Medina mosques.

The father was fairly devoted Moslem, very humble and generous. He was so proud of the bag he used when he was a porter that he kept it as a trophy in the main reception room in his palace. The father used to insist on his sons to go and manage some projects themselves.

The father had very dominating personality. He insisted to keep all his children in one premises. He had a tough discipline and observed all the children with strict religious and social code. He maintained a special daily program and obliged his children to follow. At the same time the father was entertaining with trips to the sea and desert. He dealt with his children as big men and demanded them to show confidence at young age. He was very keen not to show any difference in the treatment of his children. 

Osama was exposed very early on his age to this experience but he lost his father when he was 13. He married at the age of 17 to a Syrian girl who was a relative. He grew up as religiously committed boy and the early marriage was another factor of protecting him from corruption.

Osama had his primary, secondary and even university education in Jeddah. He had a degree in public administration 1981 from King Abdul-Aziz university in Jeddah. Countries of the Arabian Peninsula, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Sudan are the only countries he has been to. All stories of trips to Switzerland, Philippines, and London are all unfounded. 

In addition to the general Islamic commitment he started forming an Islamic responsibility at early age. His father used to host hundreds of pilgrims during Hajj season from al over the world. Some of those were senior Islamic scholars or leaders of Muslim movements. This habit went on even after his father's death through his elder brothers. He used to make good contacts and relations through those gatherings.

At secondary school and university he adopted the main trend of many educated Muslims at that time, Muslim Brotherhood. There was a collection of Muslim scholars in Jeddah and Mecca at that period. There was nothing extraordinary in his personality and that trend was rather very non-confrontational. Interestingly, the 1980 raid in the Grand Mosque in Mecca was not appealing to him, neither the theology or that group. He had two distinguished teachers in Islamic studies, which was a compulsory subject in the university. First was Abdullah Azzam who became later as one of the big names in Afghanistan and the second was Mohammed Quttub, a famous Islamic writer and philosopher. 

The first encounter with Afghanistan was as early as the first two weeks of Soviet invasion. He went to Pakistan and was taken by his hosts Jamaat Islami from Karachi to Peshawar to see the refugees and meet some leaders. Some of those leaders like Rabbani and Sayyaf were common faces to him because he met them during Hajj gatherings That trip which was [a] secret trip lasted for almost a month and was an exploratory rather than action trip. He went back to the kingdom and started lobbying with his brothers, relatives and friends at the school to support the mujahedeen. He succeeded in collecting huge amount of money and material as donations to jihad. He made another trip to take this material. He took with him few Pakistanis and Afghanis who were working in bin Laden company for more than ten years. Again, he did not stay more than a month The trip was to Pakistan and the border only and was not to Afghanistan. He went on collecting money and going in short trips once or twice a year until 1982. 

In 1982 he decided to go inside Afghanistan. He brought with him plenty of the construction machinery and put them at the disposal of the mujahedeen He started spending more and more time in Afghanistan occasionally joining actual battles but not in an organized manner. His presence was encouraging to more Saudis to come but the numbers were still small at that period. 

In 1984 he had one further step in strengthening his presence in Afghanistan by establishing the guesthouse in Peshawar (Baitul'ansar). That house was supposed to be the first station of Arab mujahedeen when they come to Afghanistan before going to the front or start training. At that period Osama did not have his own command or training camps. He used to send the newcomers to one of the Afghan factions.

The guesthouse establishment was coinciding with the formation of Jihad Service Bureau by Abdullah Azzam in Peshawar. The Bureau was very active in terms of media, publications and charity work. The Bureau publications were important in attracting more Saudis and Arabs to Afghanistan. 

In 1986 Osama decided to have his own camps inside Afghanistan and within two years he built more than six camps. Some were mobilized more than once. He decided to have his own front and to run his own battles with his own command. Among the Arab fighters he had, there were senior Arab ex-military men from Syria and Egypt with good military experience. The story of the guesthouse and the camps was very attractive for more Arab mujahedeen to come and there was a significant surge in their numbers at that period.

In addition to many exchanges of fire and small operations, the first major battle he had face to face with the Soviet army with pure Arab personnel was the battle of Jaji in the province of Baktia 200 kilometers away from Khost. From then until 1989 he had more than five major battles with hundreds of small operations and exchanges of fire. During the period 1984-1989 he was staying more in Afghanistan than Saudi Arabia. He would spend a total of eight months a year or more in Afghanistan. 

In 1988 he noticed that he was backward in his documentation and was not able to give answers to some families asking about their loved ones gone missing in Afghanistan. He decided to make the matter much more organized and arranged for proper documentation. He made a tracking record of the visitors, be they mujahedeen or charity or simple visitors. Their movement between the guesthouse and the camps had to be recorded as well as their first arrival and final departure. The whole complex was then termed Al-Qa'edah which is an Arabic word meaning "The Base." Al-Qa'edah was very much public knowledge. It was funny to see some people triumphing because they discovered it! 

Late 1989 after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, he went to the kingdom in an ordinary trip. There he was banned from travel and was trapped in the kingdom. The Soviet withdrawal might have been a factor but the main reason for the travel ban were his intentions to start a new "front" of jihad in South Yemen. In addition, he embarrassed the regime by lectures and speeches warning of impending invasion by Saddam. At that time the regime was at very good terms with Saddam. He was instructed officially to keep low profile and not to give public talks. Despite the travel ban he was not hostile to regime at this stage. Indeed he presented a written advice in the form of a detailed, personal, private and confidential letter to the king few weeks before the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. 

He reacted swiftly to Iraqi invasion and saw it fulfilling his prophecy. He immediately forwarded another letter to the king suggesting in detail how to protect the country from potentially advancing Iraqi forces. In addition to many military tactics suggested, he volunteered to bring all the Arab mujahedeen to defend the kingdom. That letter was presented in the first few days of the incident, and the regime response was of consideration!

While he was expecting some call to mobilize his men and equipment he heard the news which transferred his life completely. The Americans are coming. He always describes that moment as shocking moment. He felt depressed and thought that maneuvers had to change. Instead of writing to the king or approaching other members of the royal family, he started lobbying through religious scholars and Muslim activists. He succeeded in extracting a fatwah from one of the senior scholars that training and readiness is a religious duty. He immediately circulated that fatwah and convinced people to have their training in Afghanistan. It was estimated that 4000 went to Afghanistan in response to the fatwah. The regime was not happy with his activities so they limited his movement to Jeddah only. He was summoned for questioning twice for some of his speeches and activities and was given warnings. To intimidate him, the regime raided his farm in the suburb of Jeddah by the National Guard. He was not there during the raid and was very angry when told. He wrote a letter of protest to Prince Abdullah. Abdullah apologized and claimed he is not aware and promised to punish who ever were responsible. 

Osama was fed up with this almost house arrest situation and did not imagine himself able to stay in the country with the American forces around. One of his brothers was very close to King Fahad and also close to Prince Ahmed, deputy minister of interior. He convinced his brother that he needed to leave the country to sort out some business matters in Pakistan and come back. There was a difficult obstacle, the stubborn Prince Nayef, minister of interior. His brother waited until Nayef went in a trip outside the kingdom and extracted lifting the ban from prince Ahmed. When he arrived in Pakistan around April 1991 he sent a letter to his brother telling him that he is not coming back and apologized for letting him down with the royal family. 

After his arrival to Pakistan he went straight to Afghanistan because he knew the Pakistani intelligence would hand him back to the Saudis. There, he attended the collapse of the communist regime and the consequent dispute between the Afghan parties. He spent great effort to arbitrate between them but with no success He ordered his followers to avoid any involvement in the conflict and told them it was a sin to side with any faction. During his stay the Saudis tried more than once to kidnap or kill him in collaboration with the Pakistani intelligence. His friends in the Saudi and Pakistani establishments would always leak the plan and make him ready for it. After his failure in sorting the Afghani dispute, he decided to leave Afghanistan. The only alternative country he had was Sudan. He left Afghanistan disguised in private jet only few months after his arrival. That was late 1991. 

His choice of Sudan had nothing to do with jihad or "terrorism." He was attracted to Sudan because of what was at that time an Islamic banner raised by the new regime in Sudan. He wanted to have good refuge as well as help the government in its construction projects. There was no intention from his side or from the Sudanese regime to have any military activity in Sudan. Indeed the Sudanese government refused even sending some of his followers to the front in the south. He was treated in Sudan as a special guest who wanted to help Sudan when everybody was turning away. In Sudan he mobilized a lot of construction equipment and enrolled himself in busy construction projects. He spent good effort in convincing Saudi businessmen to invest in Sudan and had reasonable success. Many of his brothers and Jeddah merchants had and still have investment in real estate, farming and agricultural industry. In Sudan he had again escaped an assassination attempt which turned out later to be the plan of Saudi intelligence. 

During his stay in Sudan anti-American incidents happened in Somalia and South Yemen. Neither of the two incidents was performed by his group in the proper sense of chain of command. Both were performed by people who had training in Afghanistan and had enough anti-American drive. He might have given some sanctioning to the operations but one thing was certain, the Sudanese were completely unaware of either. 

Between his arrival to Sudan and early 1994 he was not regarded publicly as Saudi opposition and Saudi citizens were visiting him without too much precautions. Only the well-informed people would know that he was classified as enemy to the Saudi regime. His assets were frozen sometime between 1992 and 1994 but that was not published. The Saudis decided to announce their hostility early 1994 when they publicized withdrawing his citizenship. 

After long silence and tolerance, bin Laden replied by issuing a communiqué condemning the Saudi decision and saying that he does not need the "Saudi" reference to identify himself and it is not up to Al-Saud to admit or expel people from Arabian Peninsula. He then formed together with activists and scholars from the kingdom a group called "Advice and Reform Committee" (ARC). The ARC was, according to its communiqués and published agenda, a purely political group. The ARC published around 17 communiqués which might have contained harsh criticism of the Saudi regime and plenty of religious rhetoric but never contained reference for violence or incitment of violence. 

The car bomb in spring 1995 in Riyadh was the first major anti-American action in the kingdom. Bin Laden never claimed responsibility, but the Saudi government tried to link the incident to bin Laden by showing video confessions of four "Arab Afghans" involved in the bombing. 

Sudan was exposed to huge international pressure for hosting bin Laden and his followers, and bin Laden felt that he is becoming an embarrassment to the Sudanese. Early in 1996 he started making contacts with his old friends in Afghanistan to prepare for his reception. He fled Sudan in a very well planned trip with many of his followers to go straight to Jalalabad in Eastern Afghanistan. 

When he arrived there, the situation in Afghanistan was very unsettled between the many factions, but he had very good relations with all factions and all would protect him. The area he arrived to was under control of Yunis Khalis, a very influential warlord who later on joined Taliban. 

June 1996, after his arrival in Afghanistan was the Khobar bombing. Nobody claimed responsibility, but sources from inside the Saudi ministry of interior confirmed involvement of Arab Afghans, with possible link to bin Laden The Saudi government wanted to frame Shi'a, at the beginning but Americans were very suspicious of the Saudi story. Bin Laden himself never claimed responsibility but gave many hints that he might have been involved. The Saudi government has acknowledged recently that bin Laden's men were behind the bombing