Albania to Grant Sovereignty to Bektashi Muslims, An Islamic Sufi Order, In Tirana To Promote Moderation, Tolerance And Peaceful Coexistence: PM Edi Rama
New Age Islam News Bureau
23 Sep 2024
· Albania to Grant Sovereignty to Bektashi Muslims, An Islamic Sufi Order, In TiranaTo Promote Moderation, Tolerance And Peaceful Coexistence: PM Edi Rama
· Muslim Region in Philippines Prepares for 1st Democratic Elections After Gaining Autonomy
· Replacements Ordered After Muslim Headstones Removed Without Notice at Chicago Cemetery
· ‘World Cup Dream Is Becoming Reality,’ Says Head of Saudi Arabian Football Federation FIFA World Cup 2034 Bid Unit
· A "Remote-Controlled Bomb" Targets Police Van, Escorting A Group of Foreign Envoys in Swat, Leaving One Cop Martyred, Four Injured
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Europe
· Justice Secretary: Labour Will Fight Hate Whether Against Jew or Muslim
· UK urges allies to show ‘nerve’ in supporting Kiev
· Immigration Advisor Stole £51k from Birmingham Muslim Charity Depriving Over 100 Orphans
· Tameside mosque to open its doors to the community
· Muslim mayor in Michigan endorses Trump for US president, creating challenge for Democrats
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Southeast Asia
· DPM Zahid emphasises Early Islamic Education to prevent children from deviating from the true path
· Malaysia stands firm for Palestine: Foreign Ministry reiterates support and backs UN resolutions
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North America
· Muslim Elders’ Association organizes run to fundraise for Edmonton’s Food Bank
· Four dead and 18 hurt in Alabama mass shooting
· Street battles in Bolivia as Evo Morales leads march to capital
· Mayor of Muslim-Majority Michigan City Endorses Trump Amid Tight Race with Kamala Harris
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Arab World
· Egypt Warns Of ‘All-Out Regional War’
· Saudi Space Agency’s CEO attends UN event in New York
· Saudi embassy in Bulgaria celebrates Kingdom’s 94th National Day
· Diriyah in the spotlight for Saudi National Day
· DCO launches tool to bridge digital economy gap
· Crown prince’s vision empowers youth, women, UN forum told
· International Islamic Charity Opens Integrated Islamic Centre in Poland
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Pakistan
· Govt Figures Assail Imran Over ‘Adulatory’ Article in Israeli Paper
· PM Shehbaz to address Kashmir, Palestine and Islamophobia issues at UNGA
· PM calls for ‘shift’ in political priorities
· ‘I have nothing to apologise for’, says KP CM Gandapur
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India
· Aligarh Muslim University Teachers Express Concern Over The Waqf Bill
· Jammu and Kashmir: Poll Hatchet Falls On 'Belittled' Hazratbal After Delimitation Exercise
· 3 held for protesting over demolition of illegal portion of Dharavi mosque
· Dharavi Mosque demolition: Police arrest 3 for attacking BMC vehicle, blocking road
· BJP charges Asaduddin Owaisi of “misleading” Muslims over Waqf amendments bill
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South Asia
· Recovered Lands Should Be Turned into Townships to Tackle Shelter Problems of Afghanistan
· Norwegian Refugee Council to Provide Education for Afghan Refugee Children In Iran Amid School Ban
· Afghanistan Seeks China’s Support in Climate Change and Conservation Efforts
· Warm Welcome for Islamic Emirate’s New Ambassador to Uzbekistan in Tashkent
· Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s Chargé d’Affaires Meets with UN Political Advisor in Turkmenistan
· Boosting regional trade to create more business opportunities for Afghans
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Mideast
· Israelis in North Worried but ‘Used to’ Hezbollah Threat
· Israeli military launches fresh strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon
· Calls for Israel and Hezbollah to step back from the abyss
· Iran arrests 12 accused of collaborating with Israel
· Hezbollah enters ‘new phase’ of battle against Israel: deputy chief
· Houthis abduct dozens of Yemenis in crackdown on 1962 revolution celebrations
· Qatar participates in Joint Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee Preparatory Meeting on developments in Gaza
· Islamic Resistance attacks Israel from Iraq
· Jihad condemns closure of al Jazeera office in Ramallah
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Africa
· ‘Barely Anyone Left’: Sudan’s El-Fasher Devastated by 17-Month War
· Tunisians resume protests against president ahead of Oct. 6 election
· Boko Haram Destroys Damaturu-Maiduguri Transmission Line Again
· U.N. General Assembly approves blueprint to address global threats
· Jaiz Wins 2024 Global Most Promising Islamic Bank Award
· ’Atrocious’ Sudan war pushing refugees further afield: UNHCR chief
· Egypt expresses concern at developments in southern Lebanon
· Egypt’s foreign minister and UN Gaza aid chief discuss relief measures
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
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Albania to Grant Sovereignty to Bektashi Muslims, An Islamic Sufi Order, In Tirana to Promote Moderation, Tolerance And Peaceful Coexistence: PM Edi Rama
September 22, 2024
TIRANA, ALBANIA —
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said Sunday his country would transform the Tirana-based Bektashi Muslims, an Islamic Sufi order, into a sovereign state to promote moderation, tolerance and peaceful coexistence.
Speaking at the United Nations, Rama pointed out that Albania, a tiny Western Balkan country, saved Jewish refugees from the Nazis during World War II and sheltered Afghans after the Taliban came to power three years ago.
Albanians are also proud of giving to the world Mother Teresa who "embodied love for humanity," he said.
"She told us that not all of us can do big things, but we can all do small things with big love," he said. "That is our inspiration in supporting the transformation of the World Bektashi Order into a sovereign state in our capital, Tirana, as a new center of moderation, tolerance and peaceful coexistence."
Albania's 2.4-million population is about 50% Muslim with the rest of the population Catholic and Orthodox Christians and other smaller communities. The country is known for its religious harmony and co-existence.
Bektashi Muslims make up about 10% of the Muslims in the country, according to the last census.
It wasn't immediately clear how the order would legally be granted sovereignty. But the Bektashi Order said it considers the move the beginning of a new era promoting global religious tolerance.
"Such a historic step aims at recognizing the Beltashi Order as a sovereign, self-governing state, committed to supporting its century-old culture of moderation and spiritual involvement," it said in a statement.
The Bektashi Order will receive sovereignty similar to that of the Vatican, governing religious and administrative issues independently of Albania, the Order said.
Citizenship would be provided only to the top religious members and those individuals involved in managing the state, while the leadership will run from the head of the Bektashi, Baba Mondi, and a council that will monitor its religious and administrative operation.
"The new state will aim at nothing but the spiritual leadership," the statement said.
The Bektashi Order originated in the Ottoman Empire in the 13th century. The Bektashis acquired political importance in the 15th century, when the order dominated the Janissary Corps, the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops. After the foundation of the Turkish Republic, its leader Kemal Ataturk banned religious institutions that were not part of the Directorate of Religious Affairs and the Bektashi community's headquarters relocated to Albania, where it became involved in politics. One of its members, Ismail Qemali declared Albania's independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1912.
Source:voanews.com
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Muslim Region In Philippines Prepares For 1st Democratic Elections After Gaining Autonomy
File Photo ( Benyamen Ontuwa Cabuntalan - Anadolu Agency )
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22.09.2024
The Muslim-majority Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, southern Philippines, is preparing for the first democratic elections after the region got autonomy.
The elections are expected to be held in 2025.
Huseyin Oruc, a Turkish representative in the Bangsamoro Third-Party Monitoring Team (TPMT), told Anadolu that the regional elections in 2025 will test the long-lasting peace process in the southern Philippines.
Noting that the peace process with two backbones – normalization and political pillars – continues “despite setbacks and problems”, Oruc said that the political part is going as planned, but there are delays and problems in the normalization part.
“The process continues in all dynamics. If elections are held in a safe environment, the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) can obtain a majority or close to a majority in these elections and continue the government.
“If the people say, 'We are happy with peace, we are happy with those who have governed Moro since 2019,' and give the majority to the (MILF) front party in the elections, much faster steps can be taken in other areas, including normalization," he said.
Noting that the police force of the region should be brought to the mechanism that works under the command of the Philippine State, he argued that a total of 7,000 people in the region, including the MILF and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), should be taken into the new police force and connected to the regional prime minister.
“Unfortunately, we have been very slow in this regard. While it should be 7,000, we stayed at 398,” Oruc said.
'Serious blockage' on amnesty
Stressing that a general amnesty in the region is necessary for the peace process, Oruc said: “If you want peace, you have to close the past and turn a new page."
Emphasizing that a commission for general amnesty was established through a circular issued by Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in January, he said that there were problems in disarming 40,000 MILF members and reintegrating them into social life.
“However, the commission created a mechanism to take all the cases one by one, examine them and decide accordingly. It is a very long process to review 40,000 numbers one by one and prepare their files.
"They received their applications, unfortunately, the applications were very limited. There is a very serious bottleneck on general amnesty,” Oruc said.
Noting that important names of the MILF are still on the wanted list although elections are planned to be held in May 2025, Oruc said that these names have the "motivation to represent the people in parliament" if elected.
Source:aa.com.tr
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Replacements Ordered After Muslim Headstones Removed Without Notice At Chicago Cemetery
By Kasey Chronis
September 22, 2024
CHICAGO - Earlier this month, dozens of families whose loved ones are buried at Bohemian National Cemetery on the city’s Far North Side discovered their headstones had been displaced without warning.
On Sunday, the Muslim Community Center, located in the 4300 block of N. Elston Avenue, hosted a town hall meeting in hopes of providing community members with answers.
The discovery came as a shock to families, who said they didn’t know their relatives’ gravestones were being removed—let alone, that the markers didn’t meet current regulations.
"It’s a difficult situation. It’s a very sensitive situation," said Mustafa Chaudhry.
Tucked away in Bohemian National Cemetery near Bryn Mawr Avenue and Pulaski Road is a section reserved for the Muslim Community Center (MCC).
"MCC’s role is limited to the processing request," said Amjad Quadri, chairman of the MCC Public Relations Committee. "I want it also to be very clear, the responsibility of the grounds falls on the Bohemian Cemetery."
Over the last several weeks, families learned grave markers and other mementos had been removed.
"We understand that approximately 100 grave markers were impacted," said Quadri.
Cemetery officials previously stated the removed headstones had been placed by families "against the rules and regulations of Bohemian National Cemetery and The Muslim Community Center."
To achieve uniformity and for ease of groundskeeping, markers must meet requirements, but many families said they weren't aware.
Last week, after hearing about the situation, Chaudhry visited the cemetery to find that his father's grave was one of them.
"A lot of them were broken. In my case, my father’s headstone was also missing, so I couldn’t locate it," said Chaudhry. "It’s emotional, so we’re all just trying to get to the bottom of what happened."
Sunday marked five years since Chaudhry’s dad, Mohammad, passed away. This year, part of the day was spent working to replace his gravestone.
"With a sensitive issue like this, you need some assistance, some help, who to turn to," said Chaudhry.
By Sunday afternoon, many headstones previously strewn across a storage site at the cemetery had been picked up by family members. Other headstones remain unclaimed.
MCC officials said they would have provided families with proper notice—if they'd received it.
"MCC is not involved in the operations and installations or removing of the grave markers," said Quadri. "We deeply regret the distress that this has caused."
After the meeting, MCC officials spent time with families to help them order replacements.
On a case-by-case basis, the Muslim Community Center plans to cover the costs of new headstones for those struggling financially.
Representatives for Bohemian National Cemetery did not respond to FOX 32’s requests for an updated statement Sunday.
While families wait for permanent, replacement headstones to arrive, the Muslim Community Center has ordered temporary grave markers. MCC officials shared that they hope to have those temporary markers placed at corresponding graves within the next two weeks.
Source:fox32chicago.com
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https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/replacements-ordered-after-muslim-headstones-removed-chicago-cemetery
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World Cup Dream Is Becoming Reality,’ Says Head Of Saudi Arabian Football Federation FIFA World Cup 2034 Bid Unit
Photo: Arab News
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September 22, 2024
1. With 10 years to go, how would you gauge the progress the Kingdom is making toward the FIFA World Cup 2034?
Our dream of hosting the world in 2034 is becoming a reality thanks to the steadfast support from our leadership, our love for the game, our country’s ongoing transformation, and the energy of our young people. Saudi Arabia is already making great strides, driven by our passion for football, and we are incredibly proud of the proposals we’ve put forward to host the FIFA World Cup 2034 in our official bid book to FIFA.
Yet the demand for football in Saudi Arabia is apparent even today, which is why we continue to invest in our Saudi Pro League teams and enable grassroots football with opportunities like never before. We are already well underway with the development of incredible new infrastructure and stadiums that we will be proud to call our football homes.
If we are awarded the honor to host the FIFA World Cup 2034, we are ready to live up to our ambition for the people of Saudi Arabia and the global football community.
2. What were the biggest challenges in making sure Saudi had the best bid?
Saudi Arabia is one of the fastest and most exciting growth stories in world football. It was key that this story — our story — shone through in our bid.
We knew we had to put together a tournament footprint of stadiums, training sites, host cities, accommodation and transportation plans that cater for the needs of the players and fans that would come to Saudi Arabia from all over the world. We had to do justice to our ambition and showcase the best of our ability and our deep-rooted love for hospitality.
3. Did the rise of the Saudi Pro League with Ronaldo and other international superstars play a part in making the bid successful?
We are still in the bidding phase, and it’s important to remember that. We look forward to working with our partners across football in the coming months in the lead-up to the December award announcement.
Our bid is built on the foundations of Saudi’s historic love for football and is a natural step in our journey toward growing the game nationwide. Bringing international football stars to our own professional league catalyzes the development and the success of our clubs. Our Saudi players and fans get to rub shoulders with the world’s best. It brings a global energy and excitement to the millions of fans in Saudi Arabia, and it helps to showcase to the world our country’s true passion for the beautiful game. It’s this passion that is the driving force behind the bid — a passion that has seen our fans follow our national team around the world, including to six different FIFA World Cup tournaments.
4. Going forward, can we expect the Saudi 2034 bid to continue having big-name ambassadors such as Ronaldo, etc.?
We already have millions of bid ambassadors — the people of Saudi Arabia. We are country of football fans, and you can see our love of the game shining through on our journey to bid for the FIFA World Cup. Supporting them are those who have come to Saudi Arabia who can share their positive experiences and reflect on our passion for football, and we invite the world to come to Saudi Arabia to learn more about the Kingdom and experience the remarkable journey we are on.
5. How will Vision 2030 play a part in the 2034 World Cup bid?
Vision 2030 is the driving force behind the bid and is delivering the transformation that makes Saudi Arabia ready to host the FIFA World Cup 2034 thanks to the wise leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud. The ambitions of Vision 2030 to diversify the Kingdom’s economy and improve quality of life are powering the growth of our sports sector, which has already seen Saudi Arabia host more than 100 international major sporting events, attracting audiences close to three million sports fans.
The giant steps we’ve made in developing our sports sector are thanks to Vision 2030. The Vision provides a clear path forward and hosting the FIFA World Cup 2034 would be the culmination of these efforts, with the entire Kingdom coming together to drive forward our sport’s industry and our wider national infrastructure projects ahead of 2034.
6. When the new stadium for 2034 WC are completed, Saudi will have some of the best venues in the world. How did these unique designs come about?
These stadiums will meet the growing football demand across the Kingdom. We are working with our partners to ensure that they will be used for a variety of purposes — from sports and tourism, to entertainment and live events. Come 2034, yes, they will be used as venues for the World Cup, but we are ensuring all venues have legacy plans in place to ensure high levels of utilization post-tournament.
Each venue has its own unique story, all rooted in the past and the future of the Kingdom. A few examples: The King Salman International Stadium, anchored in King Abdulaziz Park’s masterplan, will contribute to Riyadh’s ongoing transformation and blend into its surroundings, with terrain and natural habitat forming part of the roof; the Aramco Stadium, located in the north of Al-Khobar on the shore of the Arabian Gulf, celebrates the sea’s dynamic nature; and the design of Jeddah Central Stadium echoes the architecture of the historic Al-Balad district.
These are just some examples of the creative thinking behind the design approaches, and we are excited to see these stadia come to life.
7. Beyond the architecture, what can we expect these futuristic stadia to offer the fans in terms of experiences?
As a massive football fan, having seen the best matches whether abroad or on television, I’m very excited about the experiences that these stadia will bring to Saudi Arabia. We recognize there is a long way to go and that development plans for some of the stadiums are still underway, but what I can say is that an immersive and seamless experience for fans is at the heart of our approach. We are committed to delivering an experience that is fitting of our love for the game — this is what drives us.
We will be aiming to host the most digitally connected FIFA World Cup of all time, with our stadiums at the heart of this connected fan experience. The same would be true of our unique FIFA Fan Festival sites; that would be the next best thing to actually being inside the stadium.
We aspire to host the first ever 48-team tournament in a single host country, that allows fans to experience a compact, festival-like atmosphere that brings together more teams and more fans meeting in one place than ever before.
8. What are you hoping will be the tournament’s long-term impact and legacy, both globally and within the Kingdom?
We have a clear vision for our bid: “Growing. Together.”
This is our bid slogan, and it perfectly encapsulates our vision for the tournament — to develop football for our nation and our people, and for the global football community. We want to host the FIFA World Cup 2034 to help support the growth of the game across the world, and ensure football and its values can be enjoyed by all.
We are focused on ensuring our investments drive the growth of football in the Kingdom to meet the demand. We already have some of the best fans in the world and some of the best players in the world playing week-in and week-out in the SPL. When we have some of the world’s best stadiums and football infrastructure we will be the role model of a top football nation.
Our infrastructure plans will deliver both on and off the pitch. We want to enable strong performances from our national and club teams, but we will also provide opportunities for our young footballers to develop their skills in top-class facilities and celebrate their love for the game. We are focused on our next generation of star players for Saudi Arabia to play and compete on the world stage.
Under Vision 2030, Saudi is making significant investments in infrastructure and services, many of which we have included in our bid proposition. Stadiums, transport, and more, are already being built to keep up with booming demand, and we can use these components as part of our tournament footprint. Saudi Arabia’s approach aims to deliver a lasting legacy of positive change through the delivery of a responsible and respectful tournament.
9. How can Saudis and football fans contribute to this national effort to make the 2034 World Cup the best ever?
We are ready and excited to host — and we feel our bid is very strong. One of the most compelling parts of our bid is just how deep our love for football runs in our society — 80 percent of all Saudis are football fans. We want this genuine love for the game to shine through in our bid.
In the lead-up to host selection, we’re encouraging fans to sign up for our “Join the Squad” initiative, which allows them to showcase their pride for the bid and take part in upcoming activities.
You can learn more about Join the Squad here.
10. What is being done at grass roots and at the clubs to ensure that Saudi has the best possible generation of players ready for 2034?
The growth of grassroots programs is at the heart of our football development plans. They are also one of the central components of the wider Saudi Vision 2030 ambition of working to improving quality of life across the Kingdom.
We’re focusing our efforts at the entry points of football, and we’re already seeing some incredible results. We now have more than 300,000 players in the schools’ leagues (boys and girls), and 64 annual youth competitions — up from just ten last year. Regional training centers are booming as well — we have 23 now, up from nine in 2021.
Kids want to play football, and the entire football sector is working hard to ensure they can by providing more opportunities and improving accessibility. Children are seeing their heroes on the pitch here in the Kingdom — Ronaldo, Neymar, Benzema — and are eager to get involved. It’s our collective responsibility to make sure football is as accessible as possible.
11. Finally. With 10 years to go, should the aim be that Saudi Arabia challenges for the World Cup trophy in 2034?
A lot can happen in ten years. Today, we are focused on growing all aspects of the game we love, including the continued development of our national team. Right now, our national team is working toward its seventh FIFA World Cup qualification, which, if achieved, would make it the Falcons’ seventh appearance out of the past nine editions of the FIFA World Cup. Going for the World Cup trophy in any edition of the tournament is the dream of our nation.
Source:arabnews.com
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A "Remote-Controlled Bomb" Targets Police Van, Escorting A Group Of Foreign Envoys In Swat, Leaving One Cop Martyred, Four Injured
This photo shows KP police mobile van targeted in a bomb explosion at Malam Jabba Road on September 22, 2024. — Reporter
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By Mehboob Ali
September 22, 2024
SWAT: A "remote-controlled bomb" struck a police van escorting a group of foreign envoys in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Swat district on Sunday, resulting in martyrdom of a policeman and injuring four other cops.
District Police Officer (DPO) Zahidullah Khan confirmed the explosion, stating the attack targeted a group of foreign diplomats, resulting in one officer losing his life and four others being injured.
DPO Khan detailed that the affected police van was leading a convoy of 11 foreign diplomats, adding that the martyred officer was identified as Burhan and that the four wounded officers included a sub-inspector of police.
Police officials informed the media that all envoys were safe after the explosion and had been shifted to Islamabad.
They added that the diplomats were heading to Malam Jabba after attending an event at the Chamber of Commerce in Mingora when the explosion occurred in the suburban area of Sherabad.
The police confirmed that the convoy included ambassadors from Russia, Portugal, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Iran, and other countries.
The wounded officers were transported to the District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) in Saidu Sharif. Heavy contingents of law enforcement agencies were deployed in the area following the incident.
They added that the diplomats were heading to Malam Jabba after attending an event at the Chamber of Commerce in Mingora when the explosion occurred in the suburban area of Sherabad.
The police confirmed that the foreign ambassadors in the convoy included representatives from Russia, Portugal, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Iran, and other countries.
"All the ambassadors remained safe in the attack and had been shifted to a safe place before their departure to Islamabad," Deputy Inspector General of police Mohammad Ali Gandapur told Reuters.
No one claimed responsibility for the attack.
Condemnations pour in
Meanwhile, President Asif Ali Zardari strongly condemned the bomb blast near a police van in Swat.
In a statement issued by the President’s House, he paid tribute to the police officer who embraced martyrdom in the attack.
He also expressed condolences to the bereaved family and prayed for the swift recovery of those injured in the explosion.
“Terrorist elements are enemies not only of the country and nation but of humanity itself,” the president said, reaffirming his commitment to continuing efforts for the complete eradication of terrorism.
Denouncing the attack, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif prayed for the elevation of ranks for the martyred policeman in Jannah, as per a statement from the PM Office.
He expressed his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family and prayed for the swift recovery of those injured in the incident.
"The entire nation pays tribute to the police force's unwavering sacrifices against terrorism. Such cowardly acts cannot shake our resolve for the complete eradication of terrorism," said the PM.
The premier also directed the relevant authorities to provide all possible medical assistance to the injured.
In his message of condemnation, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi decried the dastardly attack on the convoy, expressing deep regret and sorrow over the loss of life.
“The sacrifices of our security forces and police in the war against terrorism will not be in vain,” he added.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur in a statement condemned the bombing in Swat and has sought a report on the incident from senior police officials.
"We share in the grief of the bereaved family. They will receive full financial support; they will not be left alone," the CM said.
Gandapur also extended best wishes for the swift recovery of the injured police officers.
"The police have made unparalleled sacrifices while protecting the public’s life and property," said the KP CM adding, "We salute the police officers who sacrifice their lives for the safety of the people."
Foreign Office reaction
The Foreign Office, reacting to the incident, said: “Today a group of diplomats traveling to Islamabad after their trip to Malam Jabba and Swat witnessed an incident.”
“An advance scout police vehicle was hit by an IED which resulted in a casualty of the police detail. All members of the diplomatic corps have returned safely to Islamabad,” it read.
“Our sympathies are with the families of the shaheed policeman and three injured in the incident,” the FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said.
“We honour our law enforcement authorities that remain steadfast in the face of terrorists. Such acts will not deter Pakistan from its commitment towards the fight against terrorism,” she concluded.
Rise in terror attacks
The nation has been reeling under rising violent attacks since the Taliban rulers returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021, particularly in the bordering provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
The two most vulnerable provinces saw a sharp rise in deadly attacks last month, according to data from the Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS).
The digital database of security incidents managed by the Islamabad-based think-tank suggested an alarming situation as the number of attacks jumped from 38 in July to 59 in August.
These incidents included 29 attacks in KP, 28 in Balochistan, and two in Punjab.
Meanwhile, KP witnessed 25 casualties in the 29 terrorist attacks during August.
"The banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group, Lashkar-e-Islam, Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) and few local Taliban groups were reportedly involved in these attacks," the report stated.
Against this backdrop, the federal cabinet in June this year approved Operation Azm-e-Istehkam, a reinvigorated national counter-terrorism campaign following the Central Apex Committee's recommendations under the National Action Plan to root out terrorism.
Source:thenews.com.pk
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https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1232837-cop-martyred-3-wounded-in-swat-bomb-attack
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Europe
Justice Secretary: Labour will fight hate whether against Jew or Muslim
By LEE HARPIN
September 22, 2024,
Finchley and Golders Green MP Sarah Sackman and Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood were among those loudly cheered as they spoke about the need for a united ethic minority response to challenge hate speech and racism in society.
Mahmood, promoted as an Asian-Muslim to a senior role in government, told a Labour diversity reception:”This party will fight hatred wherever it is.
“Against a Jew for being a Jew, against a Muslim for being a Muslim, against a Sikh for being a Sikh, or someone for being Black, it doesn’t matter. Hatred is hatred.
“The Labour Party stands against all of it. We have a special responsibility as a party that is the voice of diversity.”
As Keir Starmer’s government faced criticism in the national media for failing to live up to a pledge to change the way politics is conducted – after a series of freebies given to the top team sparked anger – one very visible sign of positive change in the party was with the new influx of MPs and councillors from other minorities including the Jewish community.
Numermous attendees to Sunday’s event noted the welcome change to the party, which had failed to materialise under Jeremy Corbyn, despite his claim of being an anti-racism leader.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy had drawn cheers as she spoke first saying how proud he was to be in a room full of people from all backgrounds, including Board of Deputies president Phil Rosenberg.
Later Sackman received one of the loudest cheers of the event after being introduced as the most senior Jewish MP in Starmer’s government as solicitor general.
Speaking to the audience Sackman recalled how Muslim party activists had been among those to join her on the campaign trail, many doing so at the same time as fasting for Ramadan.
When mayor of London Sadiq Khan spoke he again pointedly praised the fact that the July election had produced many new Jewish MPs, alongside those from many other minority groups.
Among those to also speak at the event were new MPs Uma Kumaran, Adam Jogee and Gurinder Singh.
Source:jewishnews.co.uk
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https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/justice-secretary-labour-will-fight-hate-whether-against-jew-or-muslim/
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UK urges allies to show ‘nerve’ in supporting Kiev
23 Sep, 2024
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has called on NATO members to demonstrate “nerve and guts” in their support for Ukraine, in an apparent call to lift restrictions on the use of Western-supplied weapons for strikes deep inside Russia.
Kiev has received Storm Shadow and ATACMS missiles from the UK and US, is only allowed to use them on territories that Kiev claims as its own, such as Crimea and Donbass. Ukraine’s leader Vladimir Zelensky has been pushing for permission to use the missiles for long-range attacks on internationally recognized Russian territory. Moscow has warned that such a move would turn NATO countries into direct participants in the conflict, and pledged an appropriate response.
Earlier this month, Lammy and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer traveled to the US and had a “wide-ranging discussion about strategy” with President Joe Biden, but failed to reach an agreement.
While the UK advocates for lifting restrictions on the way Ukraine can use Western weapons, Washington has so far held back on a decision – saying Kiev needs to explicitly state its combat objectives.
Speaking at a fringe event during the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Sunday, Lammy acknowledged there is “a very real-time discussion across allies” on how to step up support for Kiev in its conflict with Russia.
“This is a critical time for nerve and guts and patience and for fortitude on behalf of allies who stand with Ukraine,” he said in an apparent reference to Biden’s hesitation.
During the main conference later in the day he reiterated Britain’s unwavering support for Kiev, saying the UK government has committed to providing £3 billion ($3.99 billion) in military aid per year “for as long as it takes.”
Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine would not be able to operate long-range systems without the use of intelligence from NATO satellites and the involvement of “NATO military personnel,” and that such a development would change the essence of the conflict. He added that Moscow would “make appropriate decisions based on the threats facing us.”
Source:rt.com
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Immigration advisor stole £51k from Birmingham Muslim charity depriving over 100 orphans
ByCarl Jackson
23 SEP 2024
A greedy 'immigration advisor' stole more than £51,000 from a Birmingham Muslim charity - potentially depriving more than 100 orphans of support. Abdullah Saqlain used a dead man's bank account and recruited two others to pilfer funds from Jamia Al Furqan in 2018.
The 'intelligent and manipulative' 47-year-old covered his tracks by using false payment references such as E.ON, Virgin and BT. At one point he impersonated someone from the charity to call the bank and request a freeze on funds be removed.
Saqlain, from Riverdene Road, in Ilford, London, admitted two charges of theft and two counts of money laundering. He was sentenced to three years at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday, September 20.
Matthew Brook, prosecuting, said: "The charity's aims are to promote teachings of Islam and provide a peaceful place of worship within its mosque in Birmingham and eliminate poverty in poor areas of Pakistan."
He said Saqlain was given access to the Jamia Al Furqan's bank accounts after providing immigration advice, which 'legally should not have been given'. He transferred charity money into his own Monzo and Revolut accounts as well as the account of a man who had died in 2017.
Saqlain also recruited two other people to set up accounts and transfer funds to, one of whom was a woman with 'very little command of English'. In a statement the charity said the thefts had a negative impact on fundraising, particular due to things said on social media.
Child poverty is soaring in Birmingham and without urgent change, will only get worse. Having worked with charities and community groups, BirminghamLive is campaigning for the following changes to start to turn the tide:
The investigation also made it difficult for them to contact donors due to paperwork being seized, it said. In total Saqlain stole £51,284.24. The charity said that could have paid for food, shelter and education for 135 orphans in Pakistan for three years.
Alternatively it could have funded 74 water wells or 345 water pumps to provide clean water to thousands of people. Tony Montgomery, defending, conceded that 'greed' drove Saqlain's actions, with him never having been previously convicted of a crime.
He said the married father-of-three was remorseful and had shown willingness to repay the stolen money. The barrister added that Saqlain had been very anxious while awaiting his sentence and had suffered the embarrassment of his neighbours seeing him being 'carted away' by the police when he was arrested.
Mr Montgomery concluded: "It was greed and his stupidity that caused him to stray away from the path he had previously followed."
Judge Heidi Kubik KC described Saqlain as 'intelligent and manipulative'. She told him: "You arranged to dishonestly transfer those stolen funds, firstly into your own bank accounts, into the bank account of a dead man to which you had access and you further recruited two others.
"You persuaded them to open fresh bank accounts in order for you to put stolen money through their bank accounts. Their complicity or otherwise is not of great importance when considering your criminality. You were persistent in your offending. You impersonated the legitimate bank account holder in relation to the charity and provided a false document for the purposes of handing to the bank to try and unlock frozen funds."
Source:birminghammail.co.uk
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https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/immigration-advisor-stole-51k-birmingham-29973845
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Tameside mosque to open its doors to the community
Adam Higgins
September 22, 2024
A MOSQUE in Ashton-under-Lyne is opening its doors to the local community so that people can understand more about the Islamic faith.
Ashton Central Mosque is giving people the opportunity to explore the place of worship on Hillgate Street.
Those of any faith or no faith are invited on Saturday, September 28, from 11am to 3pm.
There will be a live prayer at 2pm and a Quran recitation.
During the free event, organisers hope to “clear up misconceptions” and give people the chance to “meet new people” and “bring communities together”.
Refreshments will also be available to visitors.
It’s part of ‘Visit My Mosque’ organised by Muslim Council of Britain, taking place over the weekend and the theme is Sharing Stories.
More than 200 mosques across the country now take part in this open day initiative, which first took place in 2015.
People can register their interest in attending Ashton Central Mosque on the day by clicking here.
Source:tamesidecorrespondent.co.uk
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Muslim mayor in Michigan endorses Trump for US president, creating challenge for Democrats
23 September, 2024
A Muslim mayor in the state of Michigan has endorsed Donald Trump for president, possibly creating more difficulty for the Democrats to win the critical swing state in November.
Amer Ghalib, a Yemeni immigrant who made headlines three years ago when he became the first Muslim and Arab mayor of a Muslim-majority-run US city, Hamtramck in southeastern Michigan, had reportedly been courted in recent weeks by Trump to endorse him, a decision he finally made on Sunday.
"He knew a lot about me before the meeting," Ghalib told The Detroit News.
"We talked about various topics including the debates, the polls updates, the statistics of votes in Michigan and Wayne County, the Arab American concerns and the Yemeni Americans in particular. We also talked about the situation in Yemen," the mayor added.
This new endorsement has created yet another challenge for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, who has been trying to make inroads with Arab and Muslim voters as she treads carefully on the issue of Israel's war in Gaza, which has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians in the dense enclave since last October.
The war, which is nearing its one-year mark with no end in sight, has become a major focus of the 2024 US presidential election, with the US as the Israel's main weapons supplier that has increased support for its ally over the last year—a position that has fractured the Democratic Party between progressives and the establishment.
Recent reports show Harris in a dead heat with Green Party candidate Jill Stein among Muslim voters. A late August survey of Muslim voters conducted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations found that 29.4 percent of US Muslim voters plan to vote for Harris, while 29.1 percent plan to vote for Stein. This is followed by 11.2 percent planning to vote for Trump, with the remainder preferring other candidates.
Overall, the two main party candidates are nearly tied in Michigan, with Harris showing a slight lead in most of the state's polls, though falling within the margin of error.
Beyond his recent public statements, it's unclear why Ghalib decided to endorse Trump.
However, given Hamtramck's recent positions in culture war debates relating to gender identity and gay rights, which made national headlines when the city banned the pride flag on public property last year, it's possible that Trump was able to appeal to the mayor's or the city's social conservatism.
Trump, who hadn't had much in the way of rallies scheduled at the end of the week, appeared to have two new Michigan events scheduled by the end of the day on Sunday.
Source:newarab.com
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https://www.newarab.com/news/muslim-mayor-michigan-endorses-donald-trump-us-president
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Southeast Asia
DPM Zahid emphasises early Islamic education to prevent children from deviating from the true path
22 Sep 2024
KLUANG, Sept 22 — Learning about Islam should start at an early age so that the faith of Muslim children does not deviate from the true path, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Ahmad Zahid, who is also the Rural and Regional Minister, said Islamic education based on the Quran could guide children to live their lives as complete Muslims and prevent them from being led astray.
He said religion does not belong to political parties, individuals, or organisations, but it is the responsibility of leaders and the ummah.
“Allah will not accept if the knowledge is deviant and misused, especially when it is used to achieve political aspirations... and we must rectify this situation and stop it from continuing,” he said at the launching ceremony of the Pre-Tahfiz Programme of the Johor Department of Community Development (KEMAS) here today.
Also present were Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi and state Islamic Religious Affairs Committee chairman Mohd Fared Mohd Khalid.
On the pre-tahfiz programme, Ahmad Zahid said the initiative, implemented at KEMAS kindergartens, uses the fun learning approach guided by Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris to help children memorise Quranic verses accurately and quickly.
Meanwhile, KEMAS, in a statement said that to date, over 62,175 children from its kindergartens have participated in the pre-tahfiz programme nationwide, including 7,758 in Johor involving 552 classes from 1,161 total classes of KEMAS kindergartens in the state. — Bernama
Source:malaymail.com
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Malaysia stands firm for Palestine: Foreign Ministry reiterates support and backs UN resolutions
23 Sep 2024
NEW YORK, Sept 23 — Malaysia reaffirmed its unwavering support for the Palestinian cause, and is committed to advancing the efforts to implement the recently adopted United Nations resolutions aimed at providing legal clarity on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The matter was discussed during a bilateral meeting between Malaysia’s Foreign Minister, Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, and Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohammad Mustafa, held on the sidelines of the 79th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) 2024 on Sunday.
In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said the meeting highlighted Malaysia’s steadfast commitment to supporting Palestine in its struggle for sovereignty and justice.
Both leaders explored ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation and coordinated efforts, particularly focusing on the implementation of the General Assembly Resolution on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion regarding Palestine, adopted on July 19.
“This resolution, passed during the 10th Emergency Special Session on September 17, seeks legal clarity on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories,” the statement added.
Earlier, Mohamad represented Malaysia at the Summit of the Future (SOTF), held alongside the 79th UNGA, which aims to forge a new consensus on how the international system can better address the needs of both current and future generations.
This marks Mohamad’s first appearance at the UNGA since assuming his role in December 2023. — Bernama
Source:malaymail.com
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North America
Muslim Elders’ Association organizes run to fundraise for Edmonton’s Food Bank
September 22, 2024
Edmontonians gathered Saturday to raise money for Edmonton’s foodbank.
The fundraiser, ‘Run for Edmonton,’ is just one of many across Canada with the same goal in mind, organized by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Elders Association.
Organizers said that this call to service and humility is an important part of what it means to be Muslim.
“For us, this event plays a critical role in the training and upbringing of our youth, our seniors, our families,” said Mubashir Khalid, Head of Social Services Department, Muslim Elder’s Association. “This event helps us to inculcate the habit of giving back to your community, the volunteerism.”
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Elders Association has organized at least 35 of these events, all run by volunteers, with donations going to local foodbanks, hospitals, shelters, and more.
Those who wish to offer their support can donate through their website or are encouraged to donate to the Edmonton Food Bank directly.
Source:citynews.ca
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https://edmonton.citynews.ca/2024/09/22/run-fundraise-edmontons-food-bank/
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Four dead and 18 hurt in Alabama mass shooting
Bernd Debusmann Jr
September 23, 2024
At least four people have been killed and 18 injured in a mass shooting in Birmingham, Alabama, police say.
“Multiple shooters fired multiple shots on a group of people” late on Saturday in the Five Points South area of the city, Birmingham Police officer Truman Fitzgerald said.
Officers found the bodies of two men and one woman at the scene, while a third man later died of bullet wounds in hospital, Birmingham Police said
The culprits are believed to have approached the scene in a vehicle before getting out and opening fire. No suspects have been arrested.
Mr Fitzgerald added that they believed the shooting was "not random and stemmed from an isolated incident where multiple victims were caught in the crossfire".
The shooting may have been a result of a murder-for-hire plot, Police Chief Scott Thurmond was quoted as saying by local news outlet Al.com.
The intended target was among those killed, Mr Thurmond said at a news conference on Sunday.
“It wasn’t the location, it was the person, so wherever the person was was where it was going to take place, wherever they can catch that individual,’’ Mr Thurmond said. "That’s just where they happened to catch them.”
The other victims - all of whom were standing outside - are so far believed to have been caught in the gunfire.
Four of the injured suffered life-threatening wounds, according to Mr Fitzgerald.
The BBC has contacted the Birmingham Police Department for comment.
Authorities are also pressing to find the shooters.
The police said in a statement that they are working with the FBI and other federal agencies, are offering a $5,000 reward for information and have opened a web portal for submitting photos and videos of the incident.
The Five Points South district is known for its nightlife. The shooting occurred on Magnolia Avenue, Mr Fitzgerald said.
Witnesses who were queuing outside a hookah and cigar lounge on Magnolia Avenue at the time told local news site Al.com that some of the gunfire sounded as though it came from a gun converted to be fully automatic.
Earlier on Sunday, Mr Fitzgerald had told reporters there were "dozens of gunshot victims" after the incident.
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin blamed "Glock switches" - devices that can be attached to handguns to make them fire automatically - for the violence, posting on social media on Sunday that they "are the number one public safety issue in our city and state".
"Converting a semi-automatic weapon into a fully automatic weapon that discharges all bullets within seconds doesn’t belong on our domestic streets," he wrote, adding that the city does not have the power to outlaw Glock switches, only the state.
He told CNN later on Sunday that more than 100 shell casings had been found at the crime scene.
There have been more than 400 mass shootings across the US so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people are injured or killed.
The incident in Birmingham is the second mass shooting to place in the city in a two-month period, and the third quadruple homicide of 2024, according to Al.com.
Source:bbc.com
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Street battles in Bolivia as Evo Morales leads march to capital
September 23, 2024
Pro-government supporters and security forces in Bolivia have clashed with protesters loyal to the former President Evo Morales on Sunday.
Rival groups hurled firecrackers, homemade explosives and stones at each other while police fired tear gas in the city of El Alto. Morales - who was president from 2006 to 2019 - has been leading thousands of supporters in a week-long march to the capital La Paz.
He wants to run as the candidate for the ruling Mas party in the country's 2025 presidential elections. But the current president, Luis Arce, also intends to run. Arce's supporters took to the streets to protest against Morales and his followers.
Morales was declared the winner of the 2019 election, but resigned weeks later after protests triggered by reports of irregularities in the vote count, and went into exile.
Source:bbc.com
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Mayor of Muslim-majority Michigan city endorses Trump amid tight race with Kamala Harris
Sep 23, 2024
Amer Ghalib, the mayor of Hamtramck, a Detroit-area suburb with a Muslim majority, has announced his endorsement of Donald Trump for the 2024 presidential election. In a Facebook post on Sunday, Ghalib expressed his belief that Trump is "the right choice for this critical time," despite not agreeing with him on everything. The mayor, who wrote the post in Arabic, stated, "Though it's looking good, he may or may not win the election and be the 47th president of the United States, but I believe he is the right choice for this critical time."
As per a Fox News report, Ghalib also emphasized his commitment to his decision, saying, "I'll not regret my decision no matter what the outcome would be, and I'm ready to face the consequences. For this, and for many other reasons, I announce my support and endorsement for the former, and hopefully, the next president of the United States, Donald Trump." The mayor added, "Now, let the Caravan begin its journey. This is just the starting point."
According to Ghalib, he and Trump discussed various topics, including "the debates, the polls updates, the statistics of votes in Michigan and Wayne County, the Arab American concerns and the Yemeni Americans in particular." They also talked about the current situation in Yemen. Hamtramck is unique in being the only US city entirely governed by Muslims, with over 40% of its population being foreign-born.
Hamtramck is notable as the only city in the United States governed entirely by Muslims, with over 40% of its population being foreign-born. Ghalib, who has been active in discussing issues concerning Arab Americans, particularly Yemeni Americans, noted that he and Trump had spoken about a range of topics, including "the debates, the polls updates, the statistics of votes in Michigan and Wayne County," as well as "the situation in Yemen."
Despite Ghalib’s support for Trump, polls show a challenging race ahead for the former president. Recent national surveys, including one from NBC News, indicate that Vice President Kamala Harris has gained ground on Trump in the lead-up to the election. The NBC poll, conducted from Sept. 13-17, shows Harris leading Trump by 5 percentage points, with 48% of registered voters viewing her favorably, a significant rise from July. Trump’s favorability rating, meanwhile, saw a slight uptick, with 40% of respondents viewing him positively.
A separate poll by CBS News shows a narrower lead for Harris, who was ahead by 4 percentage points, 52% to 48%, among likely voters. Both polls point to a close contest as the Nov. 5 election draws nearer, with battleground states likely to play a decisive role.
Trump, 78, is making his third bid for the White House after losing to Joe Biden in 2020. Harris, 59, would make history as the first woman president if elected.
Political analysts note that the race has shifted in recent weeks. "She's been able to change this from a race that was a referendum on Joe Biden to a race that is a referendum on Donald Trump," said Amy Walter, editor in chief of the Cook Political Report, during an appearance on NBC’s "Meet the Press."
As national polls show a close race, state-level results from key battlegrounds will likely determine the outcome, making endorsements like Ghalib’s significant as candidates vie for every vote.
Source:indiatimes.com
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Arab World
Egypt warns of ‘all-out regional war’
23 Sep, 2024
The escalation between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah could trigger a full-blown regional war, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty has warned ahead of the annual meeting of world leaders at the United Nations headquarters.
Tensions between the Jewish state and Hezbollah have spiked after thousands of electronic devices exploded across Lebanon last week, in a covert attack widely believed to have been orchestrated by Israel. While Hezbollah and Israel had routinely exchanged fire since the onset of the conflict in Gaza, last week marked far heavier airstrikes between the two.
“There is great concern about... the possibility of an escalation in the region leading to an all-out regional war,” Abdelatty told AFP in an interview published on Friday. The recent sharp rise in hostilities has “negatively impacted” Gaza ceasefire negotiations, he added.
Egypt, Qatar, and the US have “complete determination” to continue their efforts towards brokering a ceasefire and hostage release agreement between Hamas and Israel, the top diplomat said.
Abdelatty blamed “provocative” Israeli policies for the recent spike in violence with Hezbollah, which has vowed support for Palestinians. Egypt is talking with international allies about the “importance of working to stop the escalation and stop the unilateral and provocative policies that Israel is carrying out,” Abdelatty added. A wider regional conflict “does not serve the interests of any party,” he stressed.
Israel claims to have killed two top Hezbollah commanders and a dozen other officers in an airstrike last week. The militant group has confirmed the deaths of two of their senior officers.
On Sunday, Israel’s Chief of the General Staff, Herzi Halevi, said the military struck Hezbollah last Friday as a preemptive measure, accusing the paramilitary group of planning a large-scale attack similar to the one Hamas carried out in Israel on October 7. The strike was “also a message to the entire Middle East and beyond it,” as Israel knows “how to reach anyone who threatens the citizens of the State of Israel,” Halevi stated.
Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli officials. Hamas released more than 100 captives as part of a deal last November. Ceasefire and hostage release talks continue, although it is unclear how many of the remaining hostages are still alive. To date, more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the subsequent Israeli military operation, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Source:rt.com
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Saudi Space Agency’s CEO attends UN event in New York
September 22, 2024
RIYADH: Saudi Space Agency’s CEO Mohammed Al-Tamimi participated in a high-level event in New York on Saturday on sustainable space exploration, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Held at the American Museum of Natural History, the event was organized by the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs and focused on strengthening international collaboration in space exploration to advance Sustainable Development Goals.
The gathering showcased cutting-edge technology and methods for using satellite data in space exploration and Earth observation, particularly in support of climate action and disaster risk reduction, aligning with the SDGs.
Al-Tamimi highlighted Saudi Arabia’s increasing role in the global space sector, stressing the importance of harnessing space technologies to tackle critical global challenges like climate change and the mitigation of natural disasters.
He pointed out that through the Saudi Space Agency the Kingdom was developing initiatives designed to promote innovation and utilize space technologies to support global climate efforts and Earth observation.
Al-Tamimi added that space’s contribution extended beyond the exploration of planets and galaxies, playing a crucial part in supporting international policies aimed at sustainable development.
He also emphasized that the Saudi Space Agency is working with international partners to enhance collaborative efforts, sharing expertise across nations to drive innovation in space and related technologies.
Source:arabnews.com
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Saudi embassy in Bulgaria celebrates Kingdom’s 94th National Day
September 22, 2024
SOFIA: Saudi Ambassador to Bulgaria Dr. Rami Al-Otaibi recently held a reception at the Saudi residence in Sofia on the occasion of the Kingdom’s 94th National Day.
The festivities included a variety of events honoring Saudi culture and heritage, including the inauguration of the Saudi coffee pavilion, musical performances by Saudi artists, a showcase of dates and their byproducts, as well as an introduction to various Saudi literary works, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The Embassy of Saudi Arabia’s Cultural Office in Tokyo also celebrated National Day with an event attended by Ambassador Ghazi Faisal Binzagr and Cultural Office Head Badr Al-Outaibi, along with Saudi graduates and students.
Source:arabnews.com
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Diriyah in the spotlight for Saudi National Day
September 22, 2024
RIYADH: The Diriyah Gate Development Authority is marking the 94th Saudi National Day with a captivating array of events and activities to celebrate the Kingdom’s rich heritage and strengthen national unity, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Diriyah marks the legacy of King Abdulaziz, the founder of modern Saudi Arabia, while representing the depth of national belonging that began in the area, which today is a global cultural and historic symbol.
The historic UNESCO World Heritage Site of At-Turaif has been transformed into a vibrant hub of cultural activities, with traditional samri and ardah performances, along with live poetry recitals, attracting visitors.
In collaboration with the King Abdulaziz Foundation, or Darah, a series of cultural sessions have been presented, delving into tales of the history of the Kingdom’s unification and the personality of King Abdulaziz.
Bujairi Terrace has offered a blend of history and technology, captivating visitors with a unique exhibition of King Abdulaziz which presents the Kingdom’s history through storytelling.
Source:arabnews.com
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DCO launches tool to bridge digital economy gap
September 22, 2024
RIYADH: The Riyadh-based Digital Cooperation Organization, a global body focused on digital prosperity, has launched its Digital Economy Navigator. This tool helps countries navigate digital economy maturity, identify growth opportunities, benchmark progress, and address economy gaps.
The DEN was unveiled at SDG Digital during the 79th UN General Assembly in New York, which is taking place until Sept. 27, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Sunday.
Using official statistics, secondary data, and DCO’s proprietary survey data, the DEN assesses digital economy maturity across 50 countries, including DCO’s members.
It provides a unified framework to promote a global digital economy, fostering accessibility, sustainability, and shared prosperity, the SPA reported.
The DEN evaluates factors contributing to economic prosperity, sustainability, and quality of life, offering a common understanding for stakeholders to collaborate on digital economy strategies.
Deemah Al-Yahya, the DCO’s secretary-general, said that the navigator aims to enhance accessibility, sustainability, and economic prosperity, ensuring that countries lead in the digital era.
She added that it offers reliable data, insights into trends, and strategic foresight for future challenges, helping nations achieve higher levels of prosperity and sustainability.
The DEN is relevant for policymakers, business leaders, and experts. It offers data and analysis to promote an inclusive digital economy, encourage innovation, create jobs, boost growth of gross domestic product, and enhance sustainability.
The DEN uniquely assesses the digital economy via three intersecting dimensions: digital enablers, digital business, and digital society, using 102 indicators across 50 countries. It introduces a five-category maturity classification system to guide stakeholders in driving digital advancement and innovation.
Source:arabnews.com
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Crown prince’s vision empowers youth, women, UN forum told
September 22, 2024
RIYADH: Saudi Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdullah Al-Swaha, speaking in New York at the UN Summit of the Future, said that the support and empowerment of youth and women by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has led to one of the country’s greatest success stories of inclusion and empowerment.
Al-Swaha said that the crown prince’s vision is a source of inspiration for the Saudi people and creates global momentum for diversifying the economy by empowering women and youth, as well as harnessing technology and innovation, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Sunday.
In his speech at the “Hope of Digital” session, the minister said that Saudi Arabia recorded the highest percentage of women participating in the tech sector, reaching 35 percent in just six years, surpassing the EU and G20 averages.
He highlighted inspiring stories of women’s empowerment and inclusion in technology in the Kingdom, including the largest women and youth participation in programming, led by the Misk Foundation.
This initiative resulted in the training of one million women and youth through the “Saudi Codes” program and in sending the first Muslim Arab female astronaut, Rayyanah Barnawi, to the International Space Station.
Al-Swaha said that these successes have contributed to Saudi Arabia ranking high in several global indices, such as the UN E-Government Development Index 2024, in which the Kingdom ranked fourth in the world and second among the G20 countries in the digital services index.
Source:arabnews.com
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International Islamic Charity Opens Integrated Islamic Centre InPoland
September 22, 2024
KUWAIT: The International Islamic Charitable Organization (IICO) inaugurated an integrated Islamic centre in the Polish city of Lodz in the centre of the university campus to enhance cultural communication between Islamic culture and other cultures. Deputy Director General of the Projects Sector at the organization Abdulrahman Al-Mutawa said in a press statement that the centre covers an area of 1,722 square meters and serves more than 10,000 members of the Muslim community.
It includes eight classrooms, a mosque, a modern library, a meeting and lecture hall, a computer hall, an integrated administrative office, and other services. He said that the project enhances the educational process, stressing that this center will not be limited to performing the five daily prayers, Friday prayers and Tarawih prayers only, but will organize cultural events and educational courses to teach Islamic law and the Arabic language.
The organization looks forward to the Islamic Cultural Center being a beacon of moderate guidance, science, and knowledge in the city of Lodz and a bridge of communication with all cultural components in Polish society. He praised the fruitful cooperation with the International Mercy Association, which in turn contributed to the center’s project with funding.
Humanitarian role
Meanwhile, Qatar’s Ambassador to Kuwait, Ali bin Abdullah Al-Mahmoud, said on Sunday that the aid provided by Kuwait to affected peoples comes as a continuation of its role and humanitarian duty in helping countries and peoples affected by disasters or humanitarian crises. In a statement to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) after meeting with Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) Anwar Al-Hasawi, Ambassador Al-Mahmoud praised Kuwait’s efforts in the international humanitarian arena, especially its humanitarian programs and development projects across the globe.
He added that the society plays a pivotal role in enhancing international efforts to mitigate the effects of crises and disasters through its humanitarian and development initiatives, noting that he was briefed on the distinguished humanitarian and relief activities provided by the society with the aim of supporting relief work around the world. — KUNA
Source:kuwaittimes.com
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Pakistan
Govt figures assail Imran over ‘adulatory’ article in Israeli paper
Amjad Mahmood
September 23, 2024
LAHORE: Members of the ruling coalition on Sunday attacked the PTI founder for his alleged links with the ‘Zionist lobby’, after an article published by an Israeli media outlet alluded to the potential role of former prime minister Imran Khan in the normalisation of ties with Israel.
The week-old news article gave an overview of relations between the Muslim world and Tel Aviv in light of the Abraham Accords anniversary.
The article noted that “Imran Khan — despite his strong rhetoric against Israeli policies — hinted at Pakistan needing to forge its own foreign policy path”.
It said the influence of the PTI founder could provide opportunities to reevaluate ties and dwelled on the economic and other benefits Pakistan could avail after a potential normalisation of ties.
On Sunday, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal alleged the article exposed the “mastermind of Project Imran Khan” and the efforts being made by the ‘Zionist lobby’ to re-impose the PTI founder on Pakistan.
Talking to reporters in Narowal, he said the Jerusalem Post article left ‘no doubt’ about the backers of the PTI founder, who enjoys good ties with his ex-wife Jemima’s brother Zac Goldsmith, a representative of the Israeli lobby.
“It is the third article published in the Israeli media in support of the PTI founder. The article says only the PTI founder can recognise Israel,” the minister claimed.
In a jibe directed at JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the minister said they had heard from the Maulana that Mr Khan is an “agent of the Jewish lobby”.
Separately, PPP Senator Sherry Rehman said that relations between Mr Khan and the Israeli lobby were not new and the PTI should explain why Israel was its supporter.
In a statement, the PPP senator referred to the Jerusalem Post article which, according to her, claimed that Mr Khan “desired normal ties” with Tel Aviv and the PTI must explain Israeli support for the party and why the country believed that the PTI founder may change public opinion and foreign policy regarding Israel.
Punjab ministers Marriyum Aurangzeb and Azam Bukhari also criticised ‘pro-Imran articles’ in Israeli papers. Senior Minister Aurangzeb said that the Jerusalem Post has exposed Mr Khan’s “duplicity”.
“The remarks [in the Israeli paper] are eye-opening as the article revealed Imran Khan’s contradictory statements and deceitfulness. The paper described Imran as an ally and that the PTI founder wanted normal relations with Israel,” she claimed.
Ms Bukhari, Punjab’s information minister, alleged that Mr Khan was “sponsored by Israel”.
The Jerusalem Post has unveiled Mr Khan’s “true face by exposing his efforts for establishing ties with Israel” and even sending a delegation for this purpose, the minister claimed.
Earlier, the Times of Israel published an article at the start of this month, claiming that the PTI founder showed “potential willingness to consider normalising relations between Pakistan and Israel”.
‘Rumours for distraction’
In response to the allegations against the party founder, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government spokesperson Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif said the PML-N was spreading rumours against the former premier to divert the attention from his party’s rally in Lahore on Saturday.
“The founder’s [Imran Khan], stance on Israel is clear from the day one,” Barrister Saif said in a statement on Sunday. He said that the PTI founder had also spoken about the Palestinian’s right to self-determination on all national and international forums.
“A Jewish newspaper’s admiration of Imran Khan does not change Khan’s stance on Israel,” the statement quoted Mr Saif as saying.
Source:dawn.com
Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.dawn.com/news/1860528/govt-figures-assail-imran-over-adulatory-article-in-israeli-paper
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PM Shehbaz to address Kashmir, Palestine and Islamophobia issues at UNGA
September 22, 2024
The Foreign Office on Sunday said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif would be attending the upcoming 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) wherein he would highlight Palestine, Islamophobia and other issues during his address slated for September 27.
Attending the UNGA session from September 23 to 27, PM Shehbaz will speak on the importance of addressing long-standing issues on the agenda of the UN Security Council (UNSC) such as Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and Palestine.
The FO's statement comes after the premier reached London on Saturday for a short tour from where he would depart for New York on Monday (tomorrow).
"Departing for New York to represent Pakistan at the 79th UN General Assembly. Looking forward to a busy week full of engagements. We will present Pakistan's perspective to the world," the PM said in a post on X.
Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar was also scheduled to travel to the US for the UNGA session, however, his trip was cancelled hours before PM Shehbaz left for London.
"In view of some important upcoming diplomatic engagements and the ongoing preparations for the 23rd meeting of the Council of the Heads of Governments of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Deputy PM and FM [Ishaq] Dar will not proceed to New York for the 79th session of the UNGA," an FO spokesperson said.
Sources told The News that the decision to cancel the foreign minister's trip to New York was made on Friday afternoon in a meeting at the FO.
Expanding on PM Shehbaz's trip, the FO said that the premier will not only reaffirm Pakistan's commitment to multilateralism and support for the UN's role in fostering global peace, security, and prosperity but will also accentuate the importance of addressing the inequities in international economic relations and reforming the international financial architecture during his time in New York.
The premier will also highlight the country's priority to place people at the heart of the domestic and global development agenda.
He will express Islamabad's commitment as an incoming member of the UNSC for the year 2025-26, to work with all UN member states to uphold the UN Charter, preventing conflict, fostering peace, and promoting global prosperity, the FO added.
Furthermore, PM Shehbaz would urge the international community to take decisive measures in addressing climate change and countering the rising tide of Islamophobia.
Moreover, the premier will attend several high-level meetings on the sidelines of the UNGA Session including the "High-Level Meeting on Existential Threat posed by Sea-level Rise," and the UNSC's open debate on "Leadership for Peace".
The prime minister's schedule also includes bilateral meetings with several world leaders, including the UN secretary-general and UNGA president.
Source:thenews.com.pk
Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1232753-pm-shehbaz-to-address-kashmir-palestine-islamophobia-issues-at-unga
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PM calls for ‘shift’ in political priorities
Syed Irfan Raza
Kalbe Ali Published
• In veiled dig at PTI, Shehbaz says his party will ‘hold rallies in 2028’; primary focus now should be on improving economy
• Calls for cooperation among political parties, institutions and provinces to tackle challenges
• NA speaker ‘mediating between govt, opposition’ despite pressure from own party, official says
ISLAMABAD: In an apparent rebuke to PTI’s politics of agitation, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday said the public had rejected the “politics of chaos” and instead prioritised the need for sound economic policies that directly address inflation and steps to improve their living standards.
“The people want a reduction in inflation, solutions to their problems, and economic betterment,” he said in a statement issued by the PM’s Office from London, where PM Shehbaz stopped before heading to New York to attend the UN General Assembly.
The prime minister, stressing the urgency of addressing the public’s economic concerns, called for a shift in political priorities, arguing that instead of focusing on rallies and political gatherings, the immediate need was to improve the economic condition of the masses.
“We will hold rallies in 2028; but right now, it is time to work hard to fulfil the pledges made to the people,” the PM said, apparently referring to the PTI’s recent public meetings in the federal capital and Lahore.
He linked the success of the country’s economic recovery directly to political stability, warning that political chaos would disrupt efforts to provide relief to the public. “Economic recovery is tied to political stability; political chaos means affecting the process of providing relief to the people,” he said.
He praised the people for their role in supporting economic growth by promoting political stability and emphasised that national unity was crucial for sustaining this progress. “National unity for political stability will prove to be the guarantee of Pakistan’s bright economic future and relief from inflation,” he remarked. To address the country’s ongoing economic and security challenges, the prime minister called for collaboration between political parties, institutions, and provinces. “To tackle economic challenges and terrorism, the nation, political parties, institutions, and provinces must work together,” he urged.
On the economic front, the prime minister was optimistic about the country’s progress, noting that inflation had returned to single digits and that Pakistan’s overall economic situation was improving.
“Thank God, inflation has returned to single digits, and the economic situation is improving.”
NA speaker ‘firm under pressure’
Meanwhile, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq is said to be “withstanding pressure from multiple fronts, including his own party” to mediate between the government and opposition on various issues, according to information shared by NA officials.
The speaker has consistently issued production orders for arrested members of parliament, ensuring their participation in key legislative sessions, despite facing repeated criticism and opposition from various quarters, officials said.
Referring to Mr Sadiq’s handling of the recent arrests of PTI members following a PTI rally in Sangjani, the officials noted that the speaker had issued production orders and designated Parliament Lodges as sub-jails to ensure the dignified treatment of detained members. “His balanced approach fostered dialogue between law enforcement and political leaders, preventing further escalation.”
The defence of the speaker comes amid allegations — levelled by the opposition PTI and its allies — that he acted in a partisan manner in the matter of the reserved seats, while also allowing the government a wide berth on the issue of a controversial ‘Constitutional Package’, which eventually could not be laid before parliament due to the coalition government’s lack of numbers.
Source:dawn.com
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1860540#:~:text=NA%20speaker%20%E2%80%98firm%20under%20pressure%E2%80%99
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‘I have nothing to apologise for’, says KP CM Gandapur
September 22, 2024
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur on Sunday said that he had “nothing to apologise for” and instead demanded an apology from the Punjab government for the “persecution” of the PTI.
The CM drew widespread criticism after a fiery speech during the PTI’s rally on the outskirts of Islamabad on September 8. Gandapur labelled journalists as “sellouts” and “sycophants,” accusing them of caving to pressure from the establishment and the government.
Even PTI founder Imran Khan said that Gandapur’s words were inappropriate.
Addressing reporters in Adiala Jail, he had said the CM should not have made such remarks against journalists, adding that he had “spoken a bit too much in his rhetoric.”
Meanwhile, government leaders and politicians demanded Gandapur tendered an apology for his speech.
In a video speech streamed online today, Gandapur, while talking about demands for an apology, asked, “What should I apologise for?”
“The Punjab government has been asking me for an apology but it is them who should apologise; for imprisoning Imran Khan and for attacking and killing my people who were protesting peacefully,” he said.
“Zille Shah was a peaceful protester and he was killed,” he stated. “Will IG Punjab apologise? Do not expect us to apologise until you’ve apologised for persecuting us.
“I have done nothing that warrants an apology, if you want to file cases, file them,” the chief minister maintained. “We stand with Imran, we will release him and make him prime minister. I am nobody’s slave and will apologise to no one.”
He also expressed gratitude on behalf of Imran to PTI supporters in Lahore and from KP who came out for the rally on Saturday.
“I am grateful to those who stood up for truth,” he said.
The PTI’s much-awaited Lahore power show had seemingly met an anti-climactic end as lights went out and police personnel cleared the stage after the 6pm deadline expired following some speeches from leaders to supporters at Kahna in the provincial capital’s Ring Road area on Saturday.
Gandapur and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub Khan had not arrived at the venue by the time of the deadline’s expiry. Gandapur later managed to reach the venue, but was unable to deliver a speech.
Gandapur “condemned” the Punjab government’s shutdown of the rally at 6pm, when the deadline expired. “There are no standard rules in this country,” he said. “We want a single, unified Pakistan, not one state with two attitudes.”
He then slammed the authorities for making what he called “fake statements” about open roads and easy access to the rally venue. “They have made fake statements to the media that the routes were open, but people are not stupid,” he said.
“For 2 kilometres they blocked off the rally venue with barriers to prevent people from taking a direct route,” he explained, adding that the rest of the route was blocked by containers. “If the government is so democratic, they would have let us hold the rally at the Minar-i-Pakistan.”
‘Courts not free’
Gandapur claimed that the country’s courts “are not free”, urging party workers and supporters to engage in peaceful protests nationwide on Friday. “The courts aren’t free,” he said. “The judges have said so on record.
We stand with the courts and anyone whom is being pressured… because we were not born slaves, nor will we tolerate slavery.”
Gandapur said the party does not recognise what he called the “Form 47 government”, nor does it accept any constitutional amendments.
“On Friday, I urge you to come out and peacefully protest for Imran Khan’s release and the freedom of courts and the Constitution,” he stated.
He added that next Sunday, the party will host a large rally in Mianwali. “I will be there. After that we will have a rally in Rawalpindi,” he said. “You have to be a part of this movement and raise your voice wherever you can.”
Source:dawn.com
Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.dawn.com/news/1860458/i-have-nothing-to-apologise-for-says-kp-cm-gandapur
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India
Aligarh Muslim University teachers express concern over the Waqf Bill
September 22, 2024
Anuj KumarANUJ KUMAR
The Aligarh Muslim University Teachers’ Association on Sunday (September 22, 2024) hosted its first public meeting on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 in which over a hundred members of teaching and non-teaching staff participated. The event underscored concerns regarding the possible homogenisation of the waqf system, which could lead to the “erosion of local and cultural variations”.
Prof. Aftab Alam, former secretary of AMUTA, said there was a mismatch between the stated objectives of the Bill and the proposed legislation. “At a time when there is a trust deficit between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Muslim community, the BJP-led government should first focus on confidence building rather than creating further mistrust,” Prof. Alam told The Hindu.
BJP charges Asaduddin Owaisi of ‘misleading’ Muslims over Waqf amendments bill
Questioning the definition of the Bill, the seasoned political scientist said he was not aware if a government office had issued a certificate determining whether a person was a practising Muslim for five years. “The clause that only a Muslim of five years can make an endowment raises suspicion over the Bill’s intent,” Prof. Alam said.
Saud Alam Qasmi, Professor of Sunni Theology at AMU, who was recently invited by the Joint Parliamentary Committee formed to deliberate on the contentious Bill as an expert of Islamic jurisprudence, said in the present form of the Bill, “The very purpose of the waqf will be lost.” Prof. Qasmi said the most contentious point in the Bill “was the omission of waqf by user clause” from the 1995 legislation which empowered the owners of waqf properties that don’t have land ownership papers with their power of ownership.
He said empowering the District Magistrate to identify waqf properties created further suspicion in the community’s mind because the District Magistrate was the voice of the State government. “The community had not forgotten how a District Magistrate refused to take action when Hindu idols mysteriously appeared in the mosque in Ayodhya in 1949,” Prof. Qasmi said.
Parliament panel on Waqf Bill receives over 1.2 crore responses
He also questioned the purpose of removing the word ‘Muslim’ as a qualification to be a member of the Waqf Board. “There is no contention over two non-Muslim members or the faith of the legislative members as sometimes their expertise is required to arrive at a decision but removing the word Muslim altogether puts a question mark on the intention as there is no such provision in the bodies related to Hindu religious endowments,” Prof. Qasmi said.
He said it was commonly known that waqf properties were being misused by corrupt trustees but underlined there were provisions in the existing law to punish them. “The corrupt have been getting patronage from successive governments. The present dispensation should set an example by acting against those misusing a pious practice for personal gains,” he said.
Emphasising that the community was all for the representation of backward Muslims and women in the Waqf Boards, he appealed to the government to negotiate with the community.
Obaid Siddiqui, honorary secretary of AMUTA, said the meeting concluded with a call for continued dialogue and scholarly engagement. “We have sought an appointment with the JPC (Joint Parliamentary Committee) chief to discuss the Bill,” Dr. Siddiqui said.
Source:thehindu.com
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https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/aligarh-muslim-university-teachers-express-concern-over-the-waqf-bill/article68671581.ece
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Jammu and Kashmir: Poll hatchet falls on 'belittled' Hazratbal after delimitation exercise
Muzaffar Raina
23.09.24
Like Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark, the Hazratbal Assembly constituency has been left bereft of the Muslim shrine, the holiest in Jammu and Kashmir, from which it draws its name.
The controversial delimitation exercise of 2022 has ensured that Srinagar’s Hazratbal area, which includes the mosque and two major localities home to more than 2,500 voters, is no longer part of the prestigious Hazratbal constituency.
Many say it’s like slicing the Kashi Vishwanath Temple away from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat.
Srinagar’s Hazratbal area is now part of the Zadibal constituency, but without any geographical contiguity with it. Like a virtual electoral enclave, it remains surrounded by localities that remain part of Hazratbal constituency.
With Srinagar scheduled to vote on Wednesday, the implications of the measure are set to take shape on the ground.
Hazratbal houses a relic attributed to Prophet Muhammad and is visited by lakhs of devotees every year. It was sucked into Jammu and Kashmir’s searing politics in 1993 when security forces laid siege to it to flush out militants.
There had been an outcry during the delimitation that it was aimed at benefiting the BJP. The Election Commission not only gave six additional seats to Jammu, against just one new seat to Kashmir, but allegedly tailored the constituencies to give Hindus a numerical advantage in as many of them as possible.
“It (taking the Hazratbal shrine out of the constituency named after it) is a deliberate attempt to belittle the shrine, which is one of the holiest Muslim religious places on the subcontinent,” Hazratbal’s ousted imam, Dr Kamal-ud-din Farooqui, told The
Telegraph.
“For centuries, it has served as the biggest religious-cum-political platform in Kashmir along with the Jamia Masjid. Isn’t it an irony that the constituency gets its name from the shrine but the shrine area is not part of it?”
Farooqui, a scientist and professor at a government agricultural university who went on to become the Hazratbal imam, was brazenly ousted in April by the Jammu and Kashmir Wakf Board, headed by BJP leader Darakshan Andrabi, for presiding over the public conversion of a Hindu man to Islam.
Farooqui drew a contrast with the Mata Vaishno
Devi Assembly seat, named after the Hindu shrine
and carved out as a new constituency in Jammu by the
delimitation.
“The two developments are connected and suggest a
design,” he said.
He alleged a persistent effort by the administration to diminish Hazratbal’s significance and said that both the delimitation and his ouster were part of it.
“They made the conversion an alibi. The fact is, the administration was not happy with me as I was raising the Palestine issue at the shrine and had called for unity in
the Muslim world,” Farooqui said.
“I raised my voice equally against the militancy and said it was no solution. I used to advocate fighting peacefully for our rights.”
Abdul Hameed Lone, former president of the Hazratbal mohalla committee, said the panel had submitted a memorandum to the district administration in 2022 asking that the Hazratbal shrine area be returned to the Hazratbal constituency.
“The administration took no heed,” he said.
Source:telegraphindia.com
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https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/jammu-and-kashmir-poll-hatchet-falls-on-belittled-hazratbal-shrine-after-delimitation-exercise/cid/2049770
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3 held for protesting over demolition of illegal portion of Dharavi mosque
September 22, 2024
dharavi demolitionThe situation was brought under control after two hours after BMC officials gave the mosque trustees five days to remove the encroachment on their own. (Express photo by Sankhadeep Banerjee)
A day after thousands of residents gathered in Mumbai’s Dharavi area to protest against the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) move to demolish the illegal portion of a mosque, the Mumbai police on Sunday arrested three persons.
According to police, a mob gathered on Dharavi’s 90-feet road after a BMC team arrived at the spot to demolish the illegal construction at the Mehboob E Subhani mosque on Saturday. The residents blocked the road and allegedly pelted stones on BMC vehicles.
An officer under the condition of anonymity said, “Somehow the information regarding the demolition of the illegal portion by the BMC came out after which someone sent out messages on social media platforms, asking people to gather at the spot.”
The investigating team learnt that the messages were sent across after 11 pm on Friday. The locals were alerted after which everyone started gathering early Saturday.
The situation was brought under control after two hours after BMC officials gave the mosque trustees five days to remove the encroachment on their own.
“The whole stretch between Kumbharwada Junction and Ashok Mill Naka on the 90-feet road was blocked by residents. However, the mob started leaving after a group of residents in favour of the mosque and the trustees met BMC and police officials at the Dharavi police station during which the three trustees assured the civic officials that they would themselves remove the illegal portion of the mosque,” an officer said.
Late Saturday, the Dharavi police registered a case against 5,000 odd individuals for protesting against the civic authorities and blocking traffic, following which the three persons were identified with the help of video footage and later arrested.
“As the investigation is still in process, we cannot reveal the names of the three arrested persons. But these three accused played an active role in the protest while they were also into instigating fellow protesters. We have learnt that these three did not spread the messages on social media and we are trying to identify the people who did it,” said an officer.
“We are scrutinising CCTV footage and other videos to identify others who participated in the protest and pelted stones at us. We shall soon make further arrests,” the investigator added.
Source:indianexpress.com
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https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/dharavi-mosque-demolition-protests-arrests-9582727/
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Dharavi Mosque demolition: Police arrest 3 for attacking BMC vehicle, blocking road
Sep 22, 2024
Dharavi Mosque demolition: Police arrest 3 for attacking BMC vehicle, blocking road Dharavi (/topic/dharavi) (Maharashtra) [India], September 22 (ANI): Police have registered an FIR and arrested three persons in connection with Saturday's roadblock and attack on a BMC (/topic/bmc) vehicle that had gone to demolish an alleged illegal section of a mosque (/topic/mosque) in Dharavi (/topic/dharavi), the police (/topic/police) said. "Dharavi (/topic/dharavi) Police registered an FIR and arrested 3 persons in yesterday's roadblock and attack on a BMC (/topic/bmc) vehicle that had come for encroachment demolition (/topic/demolition)," Mumbai (/topic/mumbai) Police said in an official statement. As per the Mumbai (/topic/mumbai) Police, FIR has been registered under sections 132, 189(1), 189(2), 189(4), 190, 191(2), 324(3), 191(3) of BNS 2023 and Sections 37(1)(C), 135 of MP Act 1951 and a few other sections of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984, and Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013. On Saturda , the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC (/topic/bmc)) cancelled its drive to demolish an alleged illegal section of mosque (/topic/mosque) in Dharavi (/topic/dharavi), Asia's largest slum, after huge numbers of locals gathered on the streets. Speaking on the case, Mumbai (/topic/mumbai) Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad said, "Action scheduled for today has been cancelled. We met the Chief Minister last night. We had urged him for this. Everyone kept forth their views here peacefully. It has been cancelled and everyone has gone home. I appeal to the people to maintain peace." Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone 5, Mumbai (/topic/mumbai), Tejaswi Satpute, said that the environment is peaceful in Dharavi (/topic/dharavi). "A huge crowd had gathered in Dharavi (/topic/dharavi) on 90-foot road and after they were requested, they left the area. The environment is peaceful in Dharavi (/topic/dharavi). There are a lot of messages that are misleading on social media. I appeal to everyone not to trust any such m essages," she said. According to the BMC (/topic/bmc), it had issued a notice to the concerned to remove the construction of the encroached mosque (/topic/mosque) on the 90-foot road in Dharavi (/topic/dharavi). "Also action was taken according to this notice. However, the BMC (/topic/bmc) administration should give a deadline of 4-5 days to remove the encroached construction from the said place. The trustees of the mosque (/topic/mosque) have submitted a written request to the Deputy Commissioner of Circle 2 of the BMC (/topic/bmc) and the Assistant Commissioner of G North Division that the construction will be removed on its own during this period," the BMC (/topic/bmc) said. "The BMC (/topic/bmc) has accepted the request after the concerned have written a request to remove the construction on their own. It is clarified by the municipal administration that the trustees have also been instructed to remove the encroached construction within the stipulated time," it added. (ANI)
Source:aninews.in
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https://www.aninews.in/news/national/general-news/dharavi-mosque-demolition-police-arrest-3-for-attacking-bmc-vehicle-blocking-road20240922214312/
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BJP charges Asaduddin Owaisi of “misleading” Muslims over Waqf amendments bill
September 22, 2024 05:26 pm
The BJP, on Sunday (September 22, 2024), asked Majlis leader and MP Asaduddin Owaisi to desist from “misleading” the Muslim community on the proposed Waqf Amendment Bill by the Central Government and claimed that the effort is only to provide “better representation to different sections from the minority community as well as to protect the properties”.
Addressing a press conference at the state office on Sunday (September 22, 2024), former MLC N. Ramchander Rao charged that Mr. Owaisi appears to be supporting vested interests involved in deep-rooted corruption and mismanagement of the Waqf properties across the country over the years. Moreover, he said the MP is also “scared” of losing his own stranglehold over the properties.
Watch: Waqf Amendment bill, 1995 | What does it reveal about the state of coalitions?
“The Centre has no other intention other than to provide representation to the women, sects like Shias, Pasamanda Muslims and non-Muslims in the Waqf Boards. These communities had never been represented before in the Waqf Boards,” he said.
“People across the country are supporting the amendments including intellectuals from among the Muslims and those in the backward class categories. Already, lakhs of petitions have been received seeking the amendments,” claimed Mr. Rao. But, the Majlis leader has been spreading “false information” about the intended amendments so that the current corrupt and illegal activities by the Waqf Boards can continue even if it goes against the interests of the Muslim community, he said.
Organisation representing Pasmanda Muslims supports Waqf (Amendment) Bill
The former MLC also stated that the ongoing party membership drive launched on September 2 nationwide has received a good response despite festivals and heavy rains. It has already crossed the six lakh mark in TG and nationwide about 4.2 crore have enrolled themselves as members.
The effort is to target 50 lakh memberships with at least 200 per polling booth. All the top leaders will be visiting the booths to enhance the membership drive and camps will be held by different wings of the party from September 25 to motivate the general public to take the membership, he added.
Source:thehindu.com
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https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/bjp-charges-asaduddin-owaisi-of-misleading-muslims-over-waqf-amendments-bill/article68670420.ece
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South Asia
Recovered Lands Should Be Turned into Townships to Tackle Shelter Problems of Afghanistan
September 22, 2024
Afghanistan possesses hundreds of thousands of square kilometres of land and certainly, there will definitely be some powerful individuals who are destroying these lands for their own needs. They illegally resorted to the selling of these to other people. No one has any doubts or objections that preventing land usurpation is definitely necessary and the responsibility of every government and it is also clear that the Islamic Emirate has always made full efforts in this area during its rule and has done so from time to time. But on the other hand, it is also useful to consider that these 40 million people will increase because every family needs a house in every ten years. This means that the population of every country is increasing and every village is increasing and expanding day by day, because the people are also forced to expand their villages and cities and build new lands, build villages and towns. If the situation goes the same, anyone can leave their ancestral home and village and build a new home for themselves. This is while we have been hearing the news of the recovery of several million acres of land from usurpers for the past two and three years, but on the other hand, we have only heard the news of the construction of new villages for earthquake victims in some provinces of the country. The relevant authorities should be aware that their responsibility is not only to reclaim the lands from usurpation but also they have to distribute these vast recovered lands among the needy people. Of course, based on their own laws and regulations, for example; which land is suitable for agriculture, which is suitable for the market, and which is suitable for people’s residence. The distribution of land by the government is a dire need of the people, the same as their recovery from usurpers during the previous governments, where thousands of acres of land have been distributed illegally and built townships. Based on this, it was said that if the government determines and distributes suitable places for houses, markets, and agriculture to the people according to a regular plan in every province and district, on the one hand, the problem of land usurpation will be solved. On the other hand, the construction of houses and markets in agricultural and unsuitable places should be prevented and every necessity of the whole nation will be fulfilled in its proper place. The related organs should think deeply about these problems and come up with solutions.
Source:thekabultimes.com
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https://thekabultimes.com/recovered-lands-should-be-turned-into-townships-to-tackle-shelter-problems/
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Norwegian Refugee CouncilTo Provide Education For Afghan Refugee Children In Iran Amid School Ban
By Fidel Rahmati
September 23, 2024
Following reports of Afghan migrant children being banned from attending schools in Iran, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) announced that they will provide education opportunities for these children.
The council stated in a press release on Sunday, September 22, that nearly 1.5 million Afghan migrant children live in Iran.
The statement mentioned that the NRC and other organizations will organize educational classes to offer schooling for children deprived of education in Iran.
Recently, Iranian authorities instructed school administrators in several cities not to enroll undocumented refugees.
Mohammad Mehdi Fadakar, the governor of Kerman, warned that legal action will be taken against school administrators who register “illegal” migrants, particularly undocumented Afghan refugees.
This decision has sparked reactions, with several Afghan migrants, especially students in Shiraz, protesting in front of the UNHCR office.
The protesters, chanting “Education is our right,” called on the United Nations to provide education opportunities for Afghan children in Iran.
Previously, the Norwegian Refugee Council had also reported on World Refugee Day that 900,000 Afghan migrant children in Iran lack access to education.
According to Jan Egeland, the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, only 10% of Afghan children in Iran have the right to education. This alarming situation highlights the urgent need for international support to ensure Afghan migrant children in Iran receive their basic right to education.
Source:khaama.com
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https://www.khaama.com/nrc-to-provide-education-for-afghan-refugee-children-in-iran-amid-school-ban/
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Afghanistan Seeks China’s Support in Climate Change and Conservation Efforts
2024-09-23
KABUL(BNA): Mawlawi Matiul Haq Khalis, the Director General of the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA), recently held a meeting with Mr. Bao Yuhui, Chargé d’Affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Kabul, to discuss expanding cooperation between Afghanistan and China in the field of environmental protection.
According to a press release issued by NEPA, Mawlawi Khalis expressed deep appreciation for China’s sustained support in various sectors, especially in the realm of environmental conservation. He highlighted the severe damage inflicted on Afghanistan’s environment, wildlife, and forests as a result of decades of conflict, and emphasized the urgent need for more robust international partnerships to address these issues.
The Director General stressed the significance of combating climate change and fostering resilience, noting that facilitating visits for NEPA officials to China at the leadership level would greatly aid in the exchange of knowledge and technical expertise. He underscored that this would be instrumental in strengthening Afghanistan’s capacity to address its environmental challenges.
Mawlawi Khalis also pointed out that NEPA is a signatory to 16 environmental conventions. However, he lamented that Afghanistan has been largely excluded from participating in key international environmental conferences. Given China’s global influence, he requested assistance in securing Afghanistan’s place in these crucial international platforms to ensure the country’s environmental concerns are addressed at the global level.
Furthermore, Mawlawi Khalis cautioned that Afghanistan is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Should the international community fail to act, he warned, the consequences could extend beyond Afghanistan’s borders, posing significant risks to the global community.
In addition, Mawlawi Khalis requested China’s technical support in equipping NEPA, particularly in the activation of early warning systems and firefighting mechanisms for forest fires. He also sought assistance in advancing clean energy initiatives within the country.
In response, Mr. Bao Yuhui reaffirmed China’s unwavering commitment to supporting Afghanistan, describing the two nations as longstanding partners. He acknowledged the considerable environmental degradation caused during the two decades of U.S. occupation and stated that it is incumbent upon the United States to compensate for the extensive damage inflicted on Afghanistan’s environment.
Mr. Bao further assured that China would continue to provide all necessary support to Afghanistan in overcoming its environmental challenges.
Source:bakhtarnews.af
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Warm Welcome for Islamic Emirate’s New Ambassador to Uzbekistan in Tashkent
2024-09-22
KABUL(BNA): Abdul Ghaffar Bahr, the newly appointed Ambassador of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan to Uzbekistan, has officially arrived in Tashkent to assume his diplomatic duties.
In a press release issued by the Islamic Emirate Embassy in Tashkent, it was announced that Ambassador Bahr was warmly welcomed upon his arrival at Tashkent International Airport.
He was greeted by Maghfurullah Shahab, the Embassy’s Counselor, along with a delegation of diplomats and staff from the Islamic Emirate Embassy, as well as officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
Hafiz Zia Ahmad Takal, the Deputy Spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also confirmed the ambassador’s arrival in an audio statement to Radio Omid. He noted that Abdul Ghaffar Bahr is set to formally begin his role in the coming days, marking a new chapter in diplomatic relations between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.
Source:bakhtarnews.af
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Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s Chargé d’Affaires Meets with UN Political Advisor in Turkmenistan
2024-09-22
KABUL(BNA): The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s embassy in Turkmenistan announced a significant meeting between Fazl Mohammad Sabir, the chargé d’affaires of Afghanistan, and Andrei Larin, the political advisor of the United Nations Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia.
During their discussion, Larin emphasized the UN center’s primary objectives, which include supporting regional countries and enhancing cooperation with Afghanistan. He acknowledged recent positive developments in Afghanistan, particularly in comprehensive development, major infrastructure projects, and new public initiatives.
Larin highlighted the importance of combating poppy cultivation, creating job opportunities, and reducing corruption, while specifically praising the implementation of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) project and other key infrastructure initiatives in collaboration with Turkmenistan.
Sabir reiterated Afghanistan’s commitment to an economic-focused policy aimed at fostering relationships with the international community. He also outlined the significant achievements of the Islamic Emirate over the past three years, particularly in enhancing political, economic, transportation, and transit relations with neighboring countries, most notably Turkmenistan.
Source:bakhtarnews.af
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Boosting regional trade to create more business opportunities for Afghans
September 22, 2024
In recent days, nearly 50 shops of Afghan businesspeople have been opened at the Termez International Centre in Uzbekistan. The center was officially opened in late August in Termez. Mullah Abdul Ghani Beradar Akhund, the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, had traveled to Termez city in neighboring Uzbekistan and attended the inauguration ceremony of the Termez International Trade Center. At the opening of the center, Mullah Abdul Ghani Beradar said that the opening of the center marked a significant step forward in joint commercial relations and regional cooperation between Afghani stan and Uzbekistan, adding that the center would enhance investment opportunities, commercial relationships, and job creation in both nations, introduce new markets for products and goods, and, overall, accelerate economic growth. The Termez International Trade Center, known as Afghanistan-Uzbekistan Joint Market, is not merely a trade center but a new chapter of friendship, cooperation, and partnership between the two countries. The market has hospitals, hotels, mosques, parks and 500 shops and out of 400 active shops, 50 shops belonged to Afghan businessmen. Traders of both countries call this center as a key in showcasing the domestic products of both countries to the world. The center will further facilitate the production, processing, and export of goods, making it easier to access regional and global markets. This will positively impact the economic relations between the two countries and establish the center as a key economic hub and commercial gateway for Central and South Asian nations. Besides, the center will create essential facilities and opportunities for Afghan and Uzbek traders, enabling them to find suitable markets for their products and actively contribute to the region’s economic development. For the time being, some 40% of the space has been allocated to Afghan manufacturers and traders, and up to 30% of the projected 5,000 jobs can go to them. Opening the trade center is a great opportunity for Afghan traders to invest as it is a joint market of both nations; besides, traders from other Asian countries can also invest there. Both Afghanistan and Uzbekistan are making efforts to provide traders with more facilities in traveling and investing in the two countries. The Islamic Emirate has already provided all necessary facilities for foreign and domestic traders to invest in Afghanistan. With its economic-oriented policy, the Islamic Emirate maintained good economic relations with most countries in the region. It is time that the international community should also establish appropriate reciprocal economic and trade relations with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, in line with its economy-oriented policies. The Islamic Emirate is committed to providing all necessary cooperation and facilitation to any country in the world or region wishing to further boost economic relations with Afghanistan. Fida Mohammad
Source:thekabultimes.com
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Mideast
Israelis in north worried but ‘used to’ Hezbollah threat
September 22, 2024
HAIFA, Israel: Israelis inspected air raid shelters and stocked up on groceries Sunday after Hezbollah rocket fire threatened northern cities, with some saying they were not too worked up about the danger.
Ilan Ravor, a 76-year-old retiree, ducked into a public shelter near his home in Haifa, Israel’s third-largest city located about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the border with Lebanon.
He found the shelter a bit dirty but acceptable. Everything was more or less in working order, with the refrigerator full and the Internet functional.
While the space usually hosts Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, Ravor said he would not be surprised if he ended up spending more time there in the coming days.
“I am worried. I know that it is possible the missiles will reach here,” Ravor told AFP.
The cross-border barrages from Lebanon-based Hezbollah began nearly a year ago after Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel, but fears of all-out war erupting have grown considerably over the past few days.
A series of coordinated blasts targeting beepers and other communications devices in Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday, widely blamed on Israel, killed 39 people and wounded almost 3,000.
On Friday, an Israeli air strike in a densely populated Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut killed the head of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, Ibrahim Aqil, and other members of the group.
Israel and Hezbollah then traded heavy fire over the weekend and threatened to further escalate their attacks on Sunday despite international calls for restraint.
On Sunday morning, hundreds of thousands of people in northern Israel fled to their local bomb shelters as a barrage of rockets was fired into Israel by Hezbollah, with some striking civilian structures.
“I know that Hezbollah is looking for revenge after what we did to them. Especially with the beepers last week,” Ravor said.
However, he added that he had “expected” tensions to ramp up and said he felt prepared.
“I think the Israeli military and the air force is strong enough to stop them.”
Haifa, a city of nearly 300,000 people and a major commercial port, is no stranger to incoming fire.
In the summer of 2006, during a war between Israel and Hezbollah, the militant group targeted Haifa with rockets, and 15 years earlier Iraqi missiles were fired at Haifa during the Gulf War.
“This morning, we were a little bit shocked,” said writer Sylvia, 77. “But we are not afraid, we are more in a state of expectation.”
Adir Schaffer, a 33-year-old gardener who lives in an area of Haifa where many buildings do not have shelters, said: “It is unfortunate but we have gotten used to it. We know that Hezbollah wants to destroy Haifa. People can change, but the ideology remains.”
Schaffer added that he hoped for “days of peace” but was trying to keep recent events in perspective.
“We grew up with stories of the Holocaust, of previous wars, so even if what happened last night is important, we are not overly worried.”
While Schaffer was not taking any special precautions, other residents rushed to food shops and filled their cars with water and canned goods.
Some seemed frantic, shopping as often as five times in a day, mini-market employee Shaked Ariel said.
“They don’t know what to do,” the 24-year-old told AFP.
Though Sunday is the first day of the working week in Israel, the streets were relatively empty after authorities ordered schools in the area closed.
Many offices were also deserted after employees preferred to stay away.
Haifa residents played video clips of rocket damage elsewhere on their mobile phones, staring at images of burnt houses and cars.
The nearby city of Kiryat Bialik came under fire, damaging Lea Sabag’s house, but she told AFP she was trying to keep calm.
“We know it will last a few days and we have to keep our spirits up,” she said.
“I hope we will face it bravely.”
A small demonstration was held later in Haifa, with many holding placards calling for the release of hostages.
“I don’t see this (past) night as different than any other night,” said Orit Zacks, a 64-year-old protester.
“I don’t sleep properly anymore since October 7, because I cannot sleep when people are held hostages and haven’t seen the light of day for almost a year and last night was no different for me.”
Source:arabnews.com
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Israeli military launches fresh strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon
September 23, 2024
JERUSALEM: Israel’s military began carrying out fresh strikes against Hezbollah positions in Lebanon on Monday after identifying that the Iran-backed group was preparing to attack Israel, the military spokesperson said.
Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the military had issued a message to residents of south Lebanon to keep their distance from Hezbollah posts.
Asked by reporters about a possible Israeli ground incursion into Lebanon, Hagari said “we will do whatever is needed” in order to return evacuated residents of northern Israel to their homes safely.
Source:arabnews.com
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Calls for Israel and Hezbollah to step back from the abyss
September 23, 2024
HAIFA: Israel and Hezbollah threatened on Sunday to escalate their cross-border attacks despite a chorus of international calls for both sides to step back from the brink of all-out war.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after intense rocket fire from Lebanon that Israel has dealt “a series of blows on Hezbollah that it could have never imagined.”
A defiant Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem said the group was in a “new phase” in its battle against Israel.
Both spoke after attacks on northern Israel sent hundreds of thousands of people to bomb shelters and caused damage in the Haifa area.
“No country can tolerate attacks on its citizens,” Netanyahu said nearly a year into the Gaza war sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel that has also drawn in Iran-backed groups across the region, including Hezbollah.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said military actions “will continue until we reach a point where we may ensure the safe return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes.”
“This is our goal, this is our mission, and we will employ the means necessary to achieve it.”
Army chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi in a video statement vowed to “hit anyone who threatens” Israelis.
Israel’s key ally the United States said military escalation is not in Israel’s “best interest,” with President Joe Biden saying Washington was doing everything possible to prevent a wider conflagration.
Biden said his administration was “going to do everything we can to keep a wider war from breaking out. And we’re still pushing hard.”
Ahead of the annual General Assembly, UN chief Antonio Guterres warned of the risk of Lebanon becoming “another Gaza” and said it was “clear that both sides are not interested in a ceasefire” in the Gaza war.
Hezbollah rocket fire reached Kiryat Bialik near north Israel’s largest city Haifa, leaving a building in flames, another pockmarked with shrapnel and vehicles incinerated.
“This is not pleasant. This is war,” said resident Sharon Hacmishvili.
Israel has signalled a focus shift to Iran-backed Hezbollah after nearly a year of cross-border fire that began in October in what Hezbollah calls support for Hamas Palestinian militants fighting Israel.
An Israeli air strike in a densely populated Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut Friday killed the head of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, Ibrahim Aqil.
Lebanon’s health ministry said the strike killed 45 people.
It came after a series of coordinated communications device blasts on Tuesday and Wednesday across Lebanon that killed 39 people and wounded almost 3,000, and which were blamed on Israel.
Speaking at Aqil’s funeral in Beirut Sunday, Qassem said: “We have entered a new phase, namely an open reckoning” with Israel.
“Threats will not stop us... We are ready to face all military possibilities.”
Hezbollah’s Radwan Force has spearheaded its ground operations, and Israel has repeatedly called for its fighters to be pushed back from the border.
UN special coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert posted on X that the region was “on the brink of an imminent catastrophe.”
The Israeli army said more than 150 rockets, missiles and drones were fired at its territory during the night and early Sunday, most from Lebanon.
It said it attacked Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon in response and “to prevent a larger-scale attack.”
Lebanon’s health ministry said three people were killed in Israeli strikes on southern areas, and Hezbollah announced two fighters were killed.
Israel’s civil defense agency ordered all schools in the north closed after the rocket fire.
“It reminds me of October 7 when everybody stayed home,” Haifa resident Patrice Wolff told AFP.
Hezbollah said it had targeted Israeli military production facilities and an air base in the Haifa area after this week’s communication device blasts.
“In an initial response,” Hezbollah said it “bombed the Rafael military industry complexes” in northern Israel with “dozens” of rockets.
It said it targeted Ramat David air base deep inside Israel with Fadi-1 and Fadi-2 rockets in Hezbollah’s apparent first use of that rocket type since the Gaza war began.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has acknowledged that the communication devices attack was “unprecedented.” He vowed that Israel — which has not commented — would face retribution.
Months of near-daily exchanges have killed hundreds in Lebanon, mostly fighters, and dozens in Israel and the annexed Golan, forcing tens of thousands on both sides from their homes.
Netanyahu on Tuesday announced an expansion of Israel’s war goals to include the return home of northern residents.
International mediators from Qatar, Egypt and the United States have for months tried to secure a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza, which diplomats repeatedly said would help calm regional tensions.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told AFP in an interview Sunday the Israel-Hezbollah flare-up “negatively affects” Gaza ceasefire efforts.
“The problem is the lack of political will on the Israeli side,” he added.
Netanyahu’s critics in Israel have accused him of dragging out the war.
Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity.
Of the 251 hostages also seized by militants, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,431 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN has acknowledged the figures as reliable.
Source:arabnews.com
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Iran arrests 12 accused of collaborating with Israel
September 22, 2024
TEHRAN: Iranian authorities have announced the arrest of 12 people accused of “collaborating” with the country’s arch-foe Israel, local media reported on Sunday.
Revolutionary Guards “arrested 12 collaborators with the Zionist regime (Israel) in six provinces” of the Islamic republic, the Fars news agency said.
Iran regularly announces the arrest of people accused of working as agents for foreign countries, most notably Israel.
Fars did not specify the dates or locations of the arrests, but said the accused had been “planning to take action against the security” of Iran.
Tehran has accused Israel of being behind sabotage operations at a number of its nuclear sites, as well as assassinating several Iranian scientists.
In December, authorities executed a man convicted of collusion with Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency.
And in December 2022, four men were hanged after being convicted of collaborating with Israel.
Iran has repeatedly vowed to retaliate over a July strike, blamed on Israel, in Tehran that killed the Qatar-based political chief of Palestinian militant group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh.
Source:arabnews.com
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Hezbollah enters ‘new phase’ of battle against Israel: deputy chief
NAJIA HOUSSARI
September 22, 2024
BEIRUT: Hezbollah’s deputy chief, Naim Kassem, said on Sunday the group was in a “new phase” of its battle against Israel.
“We have entered a new phase, namely an open reckoning” he said, adding that only a ceasefire in Gaza would put a stop to cross-border attacks, warning “the Israeli military solution increases the dilemma for Israel and the residents of the north” of the country.
Kassem personally attended the funeral of military leaders Ibrahim Aqil and Mahmoud Hamad on Sunday in southern Beirut.
They were killed in the Israeli raid last Friday during a leadership meeting of the party’s elite Radwan Brigade.
Kassem’s latest remarks are seen as Hezbollah’s response to Israeli pressure to force the party to stop hostilities in southern Lebanon that have raged for almost a year, in order to allow civilians to return to their homes.
“The residents of the north will not return, but rather displacement will increase, support will expand, and the Israeli solution will increase their predicament,” Kassem said. “Go to Gaza and stop the war, and we do not need threats and we will not determine how to respond to the aggression. We have entered a new phase entitled the ‘open account’ battle.”
His statement came after a violent night of Hezbollah military operations against Israel, after an Israeli military graph indicating that Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah is at the top of its assassination list was published over the weekend.
Kassem said that Israel “committed three painful war crimes for us, and they represent the highest levels of savagery that we have never seen.”
He added: “By targeting the leaders of Radwan, (Israel) wanted to paralyze the resistance, incite its environment, and stop the support front, but the resistance fighters disrupted that.
Kassem said: “Threats will not stop us, and we do not fear the most dangerous possibilities, and we are ready to confront all military possibilities.”
Thousands of Hezbollah members and supporters took part in the funeral of Aqeel and Hamad as Civil Defense personnel continued working for the third consecutive day to remove the victims of the raid on Al-Jamous neighborhood.
The number of dead has risen to 50 including women and children and 18 Hezbollah members. Thirteen people are still missing.
A member of the Civil Defense told Arab News: “The Hezbollah officials who were gathered at the time of the raid all died as a result of the intense pressure and were still in their chairs on the second floor underground.
“Their bodies were not disfigured as happened with the civilians living in the building, some of whom died of suffocation.
“We recovered the bodies of children who were burned, and their limbs were shattered when we tried to lift them. There are many remains whose owners are unknown.”
A Civil Defense statement on Sunday said: “One of the most main difficulties faced by the personnel was the fire that broke out under the rubble in a car park on the first lower floor.
“The personnel made tremendous efforts in trying to reach the source of the fire due to the presence of several layers of concrete, which caused smoke to spread and hindered the search and rescue operations.”
On Sunday Lebanon’s Health Ministry said three people were killed in separate Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon.
The ministry said an Israeli raid on the town of Aitaroun “led to the death of one person and the wounding of another, and that a raid on the town of Khiyam led to the death of one person. A raid on the town of Al-Malikiyah led to the death of one person and the wounding of three people.”
More than 60 airstrikes were recorded “in an initial response” to the explosions of pagers and two-way radios in various Lebanese regions last Tuesday and Wednesday. Hezbollah said it “bombed the Rafael military industry complexes” in northern Israel with “dozens” of rockets, and targeted Ramat David airbase with Fadi-1 and Fadi-2 rockets.
The Israeli military said that “within hours, Hezbollah launched about 115 air threats toward civilian areas in northern Israel.”
Israeli media reported that two houses in the town of Kiryat Bialik near Haifa were hit, and three Israelis were injured.
The Israeli military responded with more shelling of southern Lebanese towns during the early hours of Sunday morning, and Israeli warplanes raided border towns in the south and western Bekaa, targeting the Deir Al-Zahrani area and Iqlim Al-Tuffah.
Hezbollah announced on Sunday afternoon that it had “launched two airstrikes with squadrons of suicide drones on newly established positions of Israeli soldiers around Al-Manara site and the Yiftah barracks.”
Source:arabnews.com
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Houthis abduct dozens of Yemenis in crackdown on 1962 revolution celebrations
SAEED AL-BATATI
September 22, 2024
AL-MUKALLA: Yemen’s Houthis have abducted dozens of Yemenis in the past 48 hours, the latest in a series of mass arrests in areas under their control for commemorating the 1962 revolution.
Local media and activists on Sunday said that those abducted included academics, politicians and journalists in Sanaa, Dhamar, Hodeida and Taiz for celebrating or inciting the public to celebrate the 62nd anniversary of the 1962 revolution on Sept. 26.
According to Faisal Al-Shabebi, a Yemeni journalist from the former ruling party, the General People’s Congress, the Houthis abducted at least three senior members of the party in the province of Dhamar, including the head of the party’s provincial office, Abdul Khaleq Al-Munejar, and Fuad Al-Nahari, a journalist, among others, over their revolution celebrations.
The crackdown in Dhamar comes as other Houthis stormed houses and gatherings in Sanaa, Taiz, Hodeidah and Ibb and abducted Yemenis who were celebrating the revolution or had expressed their intention to celebrate revolution day on Thursday.
“These arrests by the Houthi militia are part of their miserable attempts to suppress free people who reject their racist sectarian ideology, obliterate the immortal revolution of September 26, and terrorize Yemeni society into submission to this gang,” Al-Shabebi said.
The revolution of September 1962 deposed Zaidi imamates in northern Yemen, ending centuries of repressive rule and paving the way for establishing the Yemen Arab Republic.
Yemenis say that the Houthi militia and the imams share the same radical doctrine that limits the rule of Yemen to Hashemite families, and the Houthis seek to revive that ruling.
Abdulrahman Barman, a Yemeni human rights advocate and director of the American Center for Justice, told Arab News that the Houthis abducted a large number of Yemenis in various regions of Dhamar province on Saturday and Sunday and that some of them were abducted for celebrating the revolution or calling on the public to do so as well.
Barman believes the Houthis began their crackdown on the 1962 revolution celebrations days before revolution day to prevent Yemenis from attending large rallies on Thursday.
Raising the Yemen flag and chanting nationalist slogans, Yemenis organized rare large-scale public celebrations of the 1962 revolution in Sanaa and other Houthi-held areas in September last year despite Houthi attempts to disperse them, Barman said.
Yemeni rights groups, including the Musawaah Organization for Human Rights and Freedoms and the Rasd Coalition, condemned the Houthi crackdown on Yemenis celebrating revolution day, urging them to stop arresting people and allow the public to celebrate freely.
This comes as the Geneva-based SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties said in a report released on Saturday, the 10th anniversary of the Houthi military takeover of power, that the Houthis have closed 163 newspapers, magazines and radio stations, as well as blocked 200 websites and arrested or harassed dozens of Yemeni journalists over the past decade.
During that time, the Houthis have detained at least 18,000 Yemenis, including many who have been forcibly disappeared.
Their arbitrary shelling of residential areas in Yemen has killed at least 15,000 civilians and injured more than 34,000, while more than 2 million landmines planted by Yemeni militia in Yemen have killed at least 2,632 people, including 477 children and 168 women, and wounded 3,386, including 730 children and 219 women, according to SAM’s report.
Since September 2014, the Houthis have demolished 713 houses belonging to their opponents and recruited more than 30,000 children.
The Houthis stormed Yemen’s capital Sanaa on Sept. 21, 2014, before spreading across the country, sparking a war that has killed more than 100,000 people, displaced millions, and created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, according to the UN.
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Qatar participates in Joint Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee Preparatory Meeting on developments in Gaza
: 22 Sep 2024
New York: The State of Qatar participated today in the preparatory meeting of the Joint Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee Preparatory Meeting on Developments in Gaza, on the sidelines of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 79) in New York.
Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs HE Dr Mohammed bin Abdulaziz bin Saleh Al Khulaifi chaired Qatar's delegation at the meeting.
In continuation of the efforts of previous meetings, the ministers discussed the developments in the Gaza Strip and the region, the efforts made to stop the Israeli aggression against the people of Gaza, and the dangerous escalation in the West Bank and Lebanon.
The meeting also discussed the ongoing preparations for the ministerial meeting on the situation in Gaza and the implementation of the two-state solution as a way to achieve a just and comprehensive peace, which the committee will host alongside the European Union and Norway this week.
Source:thepeninsulaqatar.com
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Islamic Resistance attacks Israel from Iraq
September 23, 2024
BAGHDAD: An Iraqi coalition of pro-Iran armed groups claimed on Sunday a drone attack against Israel, where the military said it had intercepted “multiple suspicious aerial targets” coming from Iraq overnight.
“The fighters of the Islamic Resistance of Iraq targeted on Sunday morning a strategic location in the occupied territories using drones,” the Iraqi coalition said in a statement on Telegram, referring to Israel, and adding it was carried out “in support of our people in Gaza”.
The attack caused no injuries, according to the Israeli military.
It came as regional tensions again soared nearly a year into the Israel-Hamas conflict in the Gaza Strip, which has drawn in Iran-backed armed groups across the Middle East.
The Islamic Resistance of Iraq, a loose alliance of Iran-backed groups, has claimed several drone attacks targeting Israel in recent months, which have all been intercepted according to the Israeli military.
Last winter, the Islamic Resistance of Iraq had also claimed more than 175 rocket and drone attacks against United States troops in Iraq and Syria.
US forces carried out multiple retaliatory strikes against these factions in both countries.
The attacks on American troops have largely subsided in the past few months.
Israel’s military said on Sunday that it intercepted a “suspicious aerial target” launched from the east, and that no damage or injuries were reported.
Earlier, an official in the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a grouping of Iran-backed armed factions, said they launched cruise missile and explosive drone attacks at Israel.
Source:dawn.com
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Jihad condemns closure of al Jazeera office in Ramallah
22 Sep 2024
GAZA - SABA: The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine condemned on Sunday the Israeli forces' closure of al Jazeera office in Ramallah, calling it a blatant attack on press freedom.
In a statement released, the movement characterized the raid as a violation of international laws that protect the rights of journalists to operate without intimidation.
It emphasized that targeting media outlets is a desperate attempt to silence voices that expose ongoing Occupation Nazi actions against the Palestinian people.
The movement urged the international community to hold Israel accountable for these human rights violations and to ensure the safety of journalists and media organizations.
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Africa
‘Barely Anyone Left’: Sudan’s El-Fasher Devastated by 17-Month War
September 23, 2024
PORT SUDAN, Sudan: Civilians combed through the wreckage of their homes Sunday in the Sudanese city of El-Fasher, besieged for months by paramilitaries who have now launched a “full-scale assault,” according to the United Nations.
As the world body’s high-level General Assembly meeting prepares this week to spotlight Sudan’s 17-month war — which has claimed tens of thousands of lives and caused the world’s largest displacement crisis — global leaders have warned against cataclysmic violence in the city of two million.
US President Joe Biden has called on Sudan’s rival generals to “pull back their forces, facilitate unhindered humanitarian access, and re-engage in negotiations to end this war.”
But on the ground, shells have once again torn through civilian homes, in the latest flare-up of the war between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the regular army which has raged since April 2023.
“Most of our homes in the city’s south have been completely destroyed,” local resident Al-Tijani Othman told AFP by phone from his bombed-out neighborhood.
“There’s barely anyone left here,” he said, after months of bombardment and starvation.
On Saturday alone, health authorities managed to confirm 14 civilian deaths and 40 injuries, a medical source told AFP.
“But that’s nowhere near the real number of victims,” the source warned, requesting anonymity for his protection.
“People often have to bury their loved ones right then and there rather than brave the fighting on the road to the hospital,” he continued.
UN chief Antonio Guterres’ spokesperson said Saturday the Secretary-General was “gravely alarmed by reports of a full-scale assault” by the RSF and called on its commander, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, “to act responsibly and immediately order a halt to the RSF attack.”
Since May, the RSF has laid siege to the North Darfur state capital of El-Fasher — the only major city in Sudan’s vast western region of Darfur not under their control.
Even before their long-threatened multi-directional attack on the city, the violence had killed hundreds, according to medical charity Doctors Without Borders.
It had also displaced hundreds of thousands and forced the nearby Zamzam displacement camp into all-out famine, the UN said.
El-Fasher has long been surrounded by multiple displacement camps — including Zamzam and Abu Shouk — which have swelled by hundreds of thousands since the war began.
The Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab, which tracks the violence in Sudan using satellite imagery, reported on Friday civilians had been fleeing “en masse by foot on the road from El-Fasher to Zamzam,” where famine was declared last month.
On Sunday, those unwilling or unable to leave the city — such as resident Mohamed Safieldin — were compelled to take advantage of what they feared would be a brief respite in the fighting, venturing out to feed their families.
“But the food situation is difficult. We have to rely on community kitchens,” he told AFP while waiting for a meal from one of hundreds of volunteer initiatives that have popped up across Sudan — considered in places like El-Fasher the last defense against mass starvation.
The UN’s special adviser on the prevention of genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, said the “RSF’s multi-pronged assault, launched from at least four directions,” had “unleashed a maelstrom of violence that threatens to consume everything in its path.”
Eyewitnesses have reported bombardment by both the RSF and the army, both of whom have consistently been accused of war crimes including targeting civilians and the indiscriminate bombing of residential areas.
The RSF has specifically been accused of crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. Their assault on the West Darfur town of El-Geneina last year left up to 15,000 dead, mostly from the non-Arab Massalit community, UN experts determined.
Darfur, a region the size of France home to around a quarter of Sudan’s population, is deeply scarred by years of ethnic violence committed by the Janjaweed — the militia from which the RSF emerged.
World leaders have repeatedly warned of a repeat of Darfur’s past.
“We will not bear witness to another genocide,” the European Union’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said Sunday, urging a return to negotiations — which experts warn have only ever been used by both sides to gain ground on the battlefield.
The World Health Organization said this month at least 20,000 people have been killed since the war began, but some estimates show up to 150,000 dead, according to US envoy to Sudan Tom Perriello.
The war has also displaced more than 10 million people — a fifth of Sudan’s population — both within the country and across borders.
In early September UN experts, after a fact-finding mission, called for deployment of an impartial force to protect Sudanese civilians — either a UN-mandated mission or an African Union-backed regional force.
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Tunisians resume protests against president ahead of Oct. 6 election
September 22, 2024
TUNIS: Hundreds of Tunisians protested on Sunday against President Kais Saied, accusing him of deepening authoritarian rule and stifling political competition two weeks before a presidential election.
Amid a heavy police presence, protesters for a second week marched along Tunis’ main avenue, a focal point of 2011 “Arab Spring” revolution, chanting slogans including “The people want the fall of the regime” and “Out with dictator Saied.”
The protest came after lawmakers proposed a bill to strip the administrative court of its authority to adjudicate electoral disputes, a move that the opposition says would discredit the Oct. 6 election, and pave the way for Saied to secure a second term.
“Saied’s steps show that he is no longer popular and he fears losing the election,” Nabil Hajji, the leader of the opposition Attayar party, told Reuters.
“Tunisians now have only one choice, which is the streets to defend our democracy,” he said.
Political tensions in the North African country have risen since an electoral commission named by Saied disqualified three prominent presidential candidates, Mondher Znaidi, Abdellatif Mekki and Imed Daimi.
The commission defied the administrative court, the highest judicial body in election-related disputes, and allowed only two candidates to run against Saied.
One of them, Ayachi Zammel, is in jail after being sentenced on Wednesday to 20 months in prison for falsifying signatures on election paperwork in what he calls a politically motivated case.
Critics say Saied is using the electoral commission and judiciary to secure victory by stifling competition and intimidating candidates. The president denies the accusations, saying he is fighting traitors, mercenaries and the corrupt.
Saied, who was democratically elected in 2019, has tightened his grip on power and began ruling by decree in 2021 in a move the opposition has described as a coup.
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Boko Haram Destroys Damaturu-Maiduguri Transmission Line Again
22 September 2024
By Enioluwa Adeniyi
Boko Haram terrorists have once again targeted critical infrastructure, destroying the Damaturu-Maiduguri 330 Kilovolt transmission line in the early hours of Sunday.
Security analyst Zagazola Makama reported that the attack occurred around 2 a.m. when insurgents used improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to blow up the facility.
This incident has plunged Maiduguri and its surrounding areas back into darkness, raising concerns over the ongoing targeting of essential services by the group.
The transmission line had only been restored on September 4, 2024, after a previous attack that disrupted the electricity supply to the region.
In his post on X, Makama emphasized the repeated nature of these attacks, highlighting the challenges faced in securing critical infrastructure against insurgent actions.
He wrote, “The attackers used improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to blow up the facility around 2 a.m., plunging Maiduguri and surrounding areas back into darkness. This marks a repeated targeting of the critical infrastructure by insurgents.”
As of the time of this report, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has not yet issued an official statement regarding the latest destruction.
Source:naijanews.com
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U.N. General Assembly approves blueprint to address global threats
By Rédaction Africanews
The U.N. General Assembly has approved a blueprint to bring the world’s increasingly divided nations together to tackle 21st-century challenges.
Those range from climate change and artificial intelligence to escalating conflicts and increasing inequality and poverty.
The 42-page “Pact for the Future” challenges leaders of the 193 U.N member nations to turn promises into real actions that make a difference to the lives of the world’s more than 8 billion people.
The pact was adopted at the opening of the two-day “Summit of the Future” called by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
He said the group was gathered to, as he put it, “bring multilateralism back from the brink.”
It includes 56 actions on issues including eradicating poverty, mitigating climate change, achieving gender equality, promoting peace and protecting civilians, and reinvigorating the multilateral system to “seize the opportunities of today and tomorrow.”
Secretary-General Guterres singled out a number of key provisions in the Pact of the Future and two accompanying annexes, a Global Digital Compact and Declaration on Future Generations.
The pact commits world leaders to reform the 15-member Security Council, to make it more reflective of today’s world and “redress the historical injustice against Africa,” which has no permanent seat, and to address the under-representation of the Asia-Pacific region and Latin America.
It also “represents the first agreed multilateral support for nuclear disarmament in more than a decade,” Guterres said, and it commits “to steps to prevent an arms race in outer space and to govern the use of lethal autonomous weapons.”
The Global Digital Compact “includes the first truly universal agreement on the international governance of artificial intelligence,” the U.N. chief said.
The compact commits leaders to establish an Independent International Scientific Panel in the United Nations to promote scientific understanding of AI, and its risks and opportunities. It also commits the U.N. to initiate a global dialogue on AI governance with all key players.
The pact’s actions also include measures “to mount an immediate and coordinated response to complex shocks” including pandemics, Guterres said. And it includes “a groundbreaking commitment by governments to listen to young people and include them in decision-making.”
As for human rights, Guterres said, “In the face of a surge in misogyny and a rollback of women’s reproductive rights, governments have explicitly committed to removing the legal, social and economic barriers that prevent women and girls from fulfilling their potential in every sphere.”
“We have opened the door. It is now up to all of us to step through it. Because this is not just about understanding each other – it’s also about taking action. Today, I challenge you to take action,” Guterres added.
Source:africanews.com
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Jaiz Wins 2024 Global Most Promising Islamic Bank Award
September 23, 2024
Jaiz Bank, Nigeria’s pioneer Non-Interest Bank, has emerged as the global Most Promising Islamic Bank in 2024.
The Global Islamic Finance Awards (GIFA) yesterday announced Jaiz Bank as the overall winner in this category over two other nominees of equal pedigrees, during the Global Islamic Finance Summit (GIFS) and awards ceremony in the picturesque Republic of Maldives.
In a statement, GIFA’s Chairman, Professor Humayon Dar, said: “The GIFA Awards Committee evaluated several institutions within the same category and, after a rigorous assessment based on multiple factors outlined in the GIFA methodology, selected Jaiz Bank Plc for this distinguished recognition.”
He also asserted that the Bank was recognised for reinforcing its leadership position as a financial institution that stands out in terms of exceptional growth potential, innovation, and financial performance.
Receiving the Award, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Jaiz Bank Plc, Haruna Musa, expressed his gratitude on behalf of the Board, Management, and Staff of the Bank.
He also acknowledged the significance of the award, he said: “it is a vital milestone in realizing the Bank’s strategic vision, emphasizing that the recognition aligns with Jaiz Bank’s goal of becoming one of Africa’s leading non-interest financial institutions within the next five years.
Source:thisdaylive.com
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’Atrocious’ Sudan war pushing refugees further afield: UNHCR chief
September 23, 2024
UNITED NATIONS, United States: The UN’s refugee chief questioned Sunday what future awaited the Sudanese people as the country’s civil war rages, pushing its people ever further afield including to Uganda and Europe’s maritime borders.
Since the start of the war in April 2023, “well over 10 million people have been chased away from their homes,” two million of whom fled Sudan, Filippo Grandi told AFP in an interview, ahead of the annual UN General Assembly high-level week.
“What’s the future for a country like Sudan, devastated by war?” Grandi asked.
Grandi’s role leading the UNHCR and its 20,000 staff is one of the most important in the United Nations due to the ever-growing number of refugees in the world, and the agency has won the Nobel Peace Prize twice.
Grandi said it was “worrying” that “people are starting to move away from the immediate neighborhood,” describing a sharp increase of Sudanese — around 40,000 — arriving in non-bordering Uganda.
“We have seen at least 100,000 Sudanese arrive in Libya,” Grandi said.
“We know that, given the active presence of trafficking networks and also the proximity with Europe, many of them may now try, or are already trying, to take boats on to Italy and other European countries,” Grandi said.
“We have been warning the Europeans,” he added, insisting that humanitarian aid for Sudan was inadequate, and that Sudanese people would continue to leave and would reach more countries.
“This crisis is really beginning to impact the whole region in very, very risky ways.”
Chad, South Sudan, Ethiopia and the Central African Republic are home to tens of thousands of refugees, while Egypt, where many Sudanese migrants were already living, is home to millions.
Sudan’s civil war has pitted the army led by general Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan against the paramilitary RSF forces of general Mohamed Hamdane Dagalo, claiming tens of thousands of lives and plunging 26 million into severe food insecurity.
Famine has been declared in Zamzam camp in Darfur near to the city of El-Fasher, where the RSF this weekend launched a large-scale offensive after months of siege.
“We have very patchy information about the situation inside,” Grandi said.
“(But) we know that there are certain patterns” — namely that militias, sometimes linked with one of the warring parties or the RSF itself “targets or puts pressure on civilians.”
The RSF, with the support of Arab militias, have killed between 10,000 and 15,000 people in the West-Darfur town of El-Geneina alone, UN experts said.
“This most grave crisis — a crisis of human rights, a crisis of humanitarian needs — passes largely unobserved in our international community,” Grandi said.
“Every new crisis chases the other crisis away” — from Ukraine to Gaza.
But even before the deadly war in Gaza, the war in Sudan had been “marginalized” despite its massive impact, he said, condemning the “deficit of interest for crises in Africa,” like those in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Sahel, as “frightening and shocking.”
Grandi questioned the outlook for Sudan even if peace was achieved, warning that the Sudanese middle class which had “held the country together had been completely destroyed.
“They know that it’s over. They’ve lost their jobs, their homes have been destroyed,” he said.
“Many times relatives have been killed. It’s atrocious.”
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Egypt expresses concern at developments in southern Lebanon
GOBRAN MOHAMED
September 22, 2024
CAIRO: Egypt reiterated its full solidarity with Lebanon at what it called “this critical time” as Israel and Hezbollah exchanged heavy fire on Sunday.
A statement by the Foreign Ministry in Cairo said it was following “with great concern the grave escalation in southern Lebanon, which has witnessed intensive Israeli airstrikes on the region that undermine the unity and sovereignty of Lebanese territory.”
Egypt said it “reiterates its warning that this unjustified Israeli escalation places the region at a dangerous crossroads, which may lead to catastrophic consequences for regional stability and potentially plunge it into a comprehensive regional war from which no country in the region would be immune to its repercussions.”
Cairo “condemns all unilateral actions, targeting of civilians, and violations of international humanitarian law,” the statement added.
It said Egypt “reaffirms the necessity of an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, considering it the primary reason for the tension and escalation in the region.”
The Egyptian statement came as Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty met on Friday with US Special Envoy for Lebanon Amos Hochstein in Washington.
Abdelatty emphasized the critical importance of continuing efforts to contain the escalation in southern Lebanon and to avoid slipping into a scenario of widespread regional war.
He highlighted Egypt’s persistent efforts to calm the region, particularly in southern Lebanon, and stressed the priority of achieving a comprehensive ceasefire in Gaza as key to regional de-escalation.
Abdelatty reviewed the extensive communications the Egyptian side undertook with various regional and international parties to halt the escalation.
The minister noted the importance of continuing joint efforts to fully implement UN Security Council Resolution 1701 to maintain the security and stability of the Lebanese-Israeli border and to ensure respect for Lebanese sovereignty.
Abdelatty reiterated the warning regarding the grave and rapidly evolving developments occurring in Lebanon over the past few days, indicating that the region was facing a dangerous turning point due to irresponsible unilateral actions.
He cautioned that these actions could lead to consequences that would overshadow the stability of the entire region, and emphasized the importance of international support for the Lebanese government and various state institutions to help Beirut overcome its political and economic crises.
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Egypt’s foreign minister and UN Gaza aid chief discuss relief measures
GOBRAN MOHAMED
September 22, 2024
NEW YORK CITY: Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty emphasized the importance of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and removing all Israeli obstacles that impede aid access into the besieged Palestinian territory.
Abdelatty and Sigrid Kaag, UN senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, discussed ways to ease the crisis during a meeting in New York.
The talks took place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meetings in New York.
Abdelatty praised the close cooperation between the UN and the Egyptian Red Crescent.
The cooperation aims to facilitate and expedite aid access into the Gaza Strip in compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 2720.
Welcoming the UN official, the minister declared Egypt’s continued provision of support to enable her to carry out the tasks of her mandate under the UN resolution.
Abdelatty emphasized the importance of all countries cooperating with the UN senior coordinator to complete the necessary procedures for the UN mechanism to operate as soon as possible.
He stressed the need to update the Security Council transparently and clearly on the developments related to setting up the mechanism and the extent of countries’ cooperation with Kaag in carrying out the mandate entrusted to her by the council.
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