Briefing

  • 'Justice has been done.'

    1. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, announcing in a late-night address on May 1 that al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had been killed in a U.S. operation in Abbottabad, Pakistan, 75 miles (120 km) outside Islamabad

    'We condemn the assassination and the killing of an Arab holy warrior ... We regard this as a continuation of the American policy based on oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood.'

    2. ISMAIL HANIYA, head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, reacting to the news of bin Laden's death

    'A huge window shaking bang here in Abbottabad ... I hope its not the start of something nasty.'

    3. SOHAIB ATHAR, a resident of Abbottabad who inadvertently live-tweeted the attack. Athar later wrote, "Uh oh, now I'm the guy who liveblogged the Osama raid without knowing it"

    'I can't say a word about Team 6. There is no Team 6.'

    4. A FORMER NAVY SEAL, speaking anonymously about Seal Team 6, the elite special-forces group that carried out the nighttime raid on bin Laden's compound

    'This fact underlines our concern that terrorists belonging to different organisations find sanctuary in Pakistan.'

    5. P. CHIDAMBARAM, Indian Home Minister, following bin Laden's death within the borders of India's longtime rival

    3,440

    Average number of tweets per second, according to Twitter--"the highest sustained rate ever"--from 10:45 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. on the night that news broke of Osama bin Laden's death

    322

    Estimated number of fatalities from the tornadoes that struck Southern states in the last week of April; some 236 of the deaths were in Alabama

    $116 MILLION

    Chrysler's first-quarter earnings, marking the first time the company has reported net income since its 2009 bankruptcy and bailout. Detroit's three automakers are now all profitable

    4 TRILLION YEN

    ($49 billion) Relief package passed by Japan's parliament, the first of several to come. The cost of the March 11 disaster is estimated at $300 billion

    Sources: White House; Reuters; Twitter; Business Insider; Indian Ministry of Home Affairs