Boycott Entry Of Muslims: 50 Panchayats Across 3 Districts Of Haryana Pen Letters To Police
New Age
Islam News Bureau
09 August
20123
Representational Image PTI
-----
India
• Mumbai Train Firing: Railway Cop Chetan Singh
Is Of 'Sound Mind', 'Hates Muslims', Says Report
• Chennai Police Inspector Suspended For Hate
Speech Against Christians, Muslims
• Nuh Violence: Hindu-Muslim riots rattled even
social media, hashtags spiked to 3 billion
1980
Moradabad Riots: Report Presented In UP Assembly Gives Clean Chit To BJP, RSS;
Holds Muslim League Leader Accountable
• Gyanvapi case: ASI team surveys northern wall,
dome, basement of mosque
-----
North America
• US National Security Adviser In UAE After
Recent Saudi Visit Amid Military Build-Up In Region
• Ex-US Coast Guard Head Covered Up Sexual Abuse
At Academy: Report Former Top US Lawmaker Predicts America's Demise If Trump
Re-elected
• Trump Says Trials Would Hamstring Presidential
Campaign
• Carcinogen found at US nuclear sites amid rise
in cancer cases
-----
Arab World
• Saudi Entertainment Industry Scheme Targets
100k Graduates
• Saudi Commission Initiative Aims To Make
Literature ‘More Accessible
• Saudi Cabinet establishes new independent body
for affairs of two holy mosques
• The ‘Forgotten’ Camps Where Syria War Displaced
Languish
• Saudi leaders offer condolences to Pakistan
over deadly train derailment
• King Salman sends message to Rwanda president
• AlUla Desert Blaze offers thrilling endurance
race
• West must keep ‘promises’ on Ukraine grain
deal: Erdogan
• Holy Qur’an International Museum project
launched by MWL chief
------
Africa
• Genocide in Rwanda: Survivors disappointed by
UN verdict
• S.Leone Says 14 Soldiers, 3 Police Under
Investigation For 'Subversion'
• Local Businesses In Northern Nigeria Feel The
Sting Of Regional Sanctions Against Neighbouring Niger
• South Africa: At least three dead in minibus
strike paralysing Cape Town
• Mali, Burkina Faso, sends delegation to Niger
in solidarity
• Central African Republic: Faustin Archange
Touadéra, "man of peace" or "President Wagner"?
• Ethiopia: cancellation of flights to Amhara,
plagued by fighting
------
Mideast
• 132 Israeli Settlers Invade Al-Aqsa Mosque
Compound in Jerusalem
• President al-Sisi opens Al Sayyida Nafisa
Mosque after its renovation
• Angora Cat Takes Up New Home At Ayasofya Mosque
On International Cat Day
-------
Pakistan
• Caretaker Punjab CM Naqvi Highlights Legacy Of
Imam Bukhari, Other Sufis From Uzbekistan
• CDNS sets target of Rs75b in Islamic finance
for fiscal year 2023-24
• PM Shehbaz to send summary for NA dissolution
to President Alvi todayAugust 9, 2023
• IHC seeks response from federal, Punjab govts
on plea seeking PTI chief’s transfer to Adiala Jail
• Govt gives employees ‘parting gift’ with 50pc
allowance hike
----
Southeast Asia
• Kelantan Islamic Religious Affairs Dept To Be
Intervener In Constitutional Challenge To State’s Shariah Law
• DAP lawmaker Hannah Yeoh: Non-Muslims Fear PAS
Because Of Hadi, Not 'Green Wave'
• Indonesian Jamboree Contingent in South Korea
Safely Relocated to Temporary Shelter
• Islamist party PAS aiming for clean sweep in
Terengganu state polls
------
South Asia
• Refugee Minister Calls for Solving Problems of
Afghan Refugees
• Islamic State Group In Mozambique, DRC
Increasing Links
• Islamic State Group Claims 16 Soldiers Dead in
Mali Attack
• 200 Licenses Awarded to Mine Emeralds in
Panjshir: Officials
• Pakistan Claim Afghans Involved in Terrorist
Incidents
• Islamic State Group In Mozambique, DRC
Increasing Links
-----
Europe
• GCC Islamic Insurers Face Challenges With IFRS
17 Adoption: S&P
• UK ‘at risk of recession next year’ due to
soaring interest rates, economists warn
• Lottery player wins $1.58bn jackpot in
third-largest ever in US history
• Most Germans against sending long-range
missiles to Kiev – poll
• Police Bust Global Paedophile Ring After Fatal
FBI Shooting
Compiled by
New Age Islam News Bureau
URL:
https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/boycott-muslims-panchayats-haryana/d/130417
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Boycott
Entry Of Muslims: 50 Panchayats Across 3 Districts Of Haryana Pen Letters To
Police
Representational Image PTI
-----
Outlook Web Deskdown
09 AUG
2023
In their
letters, the Hindu communities of the villages have also strongly voiced their
decision to not rent out houses and shops to people from the Muslim community
after the communal clashes in Haryana.
In light
of the recent communal clashes in Haryana's Nuh, panchayats of as many as fifty
Haryana villages have approached the police and administration, informing them
about their decision to boycott members of the Muslim community.
The
similarly worded letters came after the communal violence that started on July
31 in the BJP-ruled state.
As per
media reports, the villages from districts including Mahendragarh, Jhajjar and
Rewari unitedly wrote to the police and district administrations.
These
villages were primarily hit by the communal clashes that erupted on July 31
after a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) religious procession was attacked and led
to loss of six lives accompanied by significant damage to property.
In their
letters, the Hindu communities of the villages have also strongly voiced their
decision to not rent out houses and shops to people from the Muslim community
after the communal clashes.
Moreover,
the villagers are also scrutinizing the identification proof of street vendors
before allowing them entry into the villages.
According
to Brahm Yadav, the outgoing councillor of the Municipal Corporation of
Gurugram (MCG), Aadhar Cards and other valid identity proofs of the tenants
should be thoroughly checked letting out properties. Yadav further said that
"Valmiki people" should operate meat shops in the district and called
for a boycott of shops run by Muslims.
“The
violence that broke out in Nuh on July 31 was due to the Muslim community. They
should not be given any house or room for rent in the area. In fact, our
Valmiki people should be allowed to run meat shops in the district and we
should all boycott the shops run by Muslims,” he said.
Source: outlookindia.com
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'Doesn't
Bother Us': Hindu-Muslim Friends, Pandit Ram Murthy Shastri, a Hindu, and
Zubair, a Muslim, In Nuh On Communal Violence
Ram Murthy Shastri and Zubair. (Source: India Today)
----
Aug 8,
2023
Anmol
Nath Bali
Communal
violence rocked Haryana's Nuh on July 31, which later spread to Gurugram as
well. At least six people were killed, shops were vandalised and clashes were
witnessed for days after.
Amid
violence in parts of Haryana, there is a duo from different communities in Nuh,
that remains unaffected and their friendship of 13 years is still going strong.
Pandit
Ram Murthy Shastri, a Hindu, and Zubair, a Muslim, have been friends for over a
decade, and continue to hang out. They go shopping daily on a bike, unbothered
by tensions between the two communities as a result of violence in Nuh.
"It
does not bother us. It is all political," says Zubair, who is a farmer. On
the other hand, Ram Murthy is a priest in a temple in the Malab village.
"I
have a lot of Muslim friends. The violence is all political. Zubair and I
usually visit the village temple," says Ram Murthy. He also said that
communalism was not going to end their friendship.
The duo
also said that they have never witnessed such violence in Nuh.
Six
people, including two home guards and a cleric, died in the communal clashes
that erupted in Nuh when a Vishva Hindu Parishad procession was attacked by
mobs.
Source: indiatoday.in
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/hindu-muslim-friends-nuh-haryana-violence-2418121-2023-08-08
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US
Forces Supplied Chemical Arms To Anti-Syria Terrorists In Bid To Implicate
Damascus: Syria’s Deputy Envoy
Photo:
Fars News
-----
Wednesday,
09 August 2023
US
forces have supplied Takfiri terrorists in the strategic al-Tanf area in
southern Syria with chemical arms and trained them on how to use the
mass-destructive weapons in deliberate efforts to incriminate Damascus, Syria’s
deputy UN envoy has declared.
Speaking
at a UN Security Council meeting on “The situation in the Middle East” in New
York on Tuesday, al-Hakam Dandi argued that the UN body’s insistence on
convening monthly meetings on the so-called Syrian chemical file while no
incident has actually taken place, points to a deliberate effort to invent
pretexts for certain Western states to repeat their anti-Syria accusations.
He
underscored that “Syria condemns any use of chemical weapons anywhere, anytime
and by any party.”
Dandi
also stressed the need to rectify the behavior of the Organization for the
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and keep it clear of misinformation,
politicization and polarization.
The Western
media and governments have repeatedly accused the Syrian government of using
chemical weapons against its own citizens in the war against terrorists.
Syria
surrendered its stockpile of chemical weapons in 2014 to a joint mission led by
the United States and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
(OPCW), which oversaw the destruction of the weaponry. It has also consistently
denied using chemical weapons.
On April
14, 2018, the United States, Britain, and France carried out a string of
airstrikes against Syria over a suspected chemical weapons attack on the city
of Douma, located about 10 kilometers northeast of the capital Damascus.
That
alleged attack was reported by the White Helmets group, which published videos
showing them purportedly treating survivors.
Leaked
OPCW documents later showed that the investigators of the Douma incident had
found “no evidence” of a chemical weapons attack.
However,
the organization censored the findings under pressure from the US and its
allies to conceal evidence undermining the pretext of the US-led bombing of
Syria days after the alleged attack.
Source: presstv.ir
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/08/09/708613/US-forces-supplied-terrorists-chemical-weapons-implicate-Syria
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Islamic
State Rearing its Head in Syria Again? Terror Group Kills 10 Syrian Troops
Islamic State terrorists killed 10 Syrian troops and pro-government
fighters in Raqa province and injured six others. (Image: Reuters)
------
AUGUST 08, 2023
Shankhyaneel
Sarkar
The
Islamic State or ISIS has been territorially defeated but even after resigning
to hideouts in the vast Syrian desert they remain capable of carrying out
attacks.
Islamic
State group militants killed 10 Syrian troops and pro-government fighters in
the former jihadist stronghold of Raqa province, a war monitor said Tuesday,
displaying their ability to keep mounting deadly attacks.
Despite
losing their last piece of territory in Syria in 2019, IS has maintained
hideouts in the vast Syrian desert from which it has carried out ambushes and
hit-and-run attacks.
“IS
attacked positions and checkpoints belonging to the regime… setting fire to
military vehicles and prefabricated houses," the Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights said.
Six
soldiers were also wounded in the Monday evening attack, with some in critical
condition, said the British-based monitor, which relies on a wide network of
sources inside Syria.
Government
troops control rural areas in the south and east of Raqa province, while
Kurdish fighters control the rest.
The city
of Raqa was the centre of the IS group’s brutal “caliphate" until
Kurdish-led forces backed by the United States ousted them in 2017.
In March
2019, IS lost the last territory it held in Syria to a Kurdish-led
counteroffensive backed by a US-led coalition, but jihadist remnants continue
to carry out deadly attacks.
Targets
have included civilians and Kurdish-led fighters as well as government troops
and allied pro-Iranian fighters.
Last
week, the jihadists attacked a convoy of oil tankers guarded by the army in the
Syrian desert, killing seven people including two civilians.
Last
month, IS claimed responsibility for a rare bombing in Damascus that killed at
least six people near the capital’s Sayyida Zeinab mausoleum, Syria’s most visited
Shiite pilgrimage site.
IS has
had five leaders since it lost the last remnant of the once sprawling
“caliphate" it proclaimed across large swathes of Syria and neighbouring
Iraq in 2014.
Four of
them were killed, including the group’s first “caliph", Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi, who died in a US raid in October 2019.
Civil
war first broke out in Syria after President Bashar al-Assad’s government
crushed peaceful protests in 2011. It has since drawn in foreign powers and
global jihadists.
The
conflict has killed nearly half a million people and driven half of the
country’s pre-war population from their homes, with many seeking refuge in
neighbouring Turkey.
Source: news18.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.news18.com/world/islamic-state-rearing-its-head-in-syria-again-terror-group-kills-10-syrian-troops-8528328.html
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Burkina:
At Least 20 Dead In An Attack By Suspected Jihadists
A photo taken on October 30, 2018 shows Burkinabe gendarmes
Copyright © africanews
ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP or licensors
-----
August
9, 2023
Twenty
people were killed in Burkina Faso on Sunday in an attack by suspected
jihadists in Nohao, near the town of Bittou, in the Centre-East region
bordering Togo, AFP learned on Monday.
"The
attack killed around twenty people, mainly shopkeepers," a security source
told AFP. A trader reports for his part a balance sheet of "25 people
killed" and "more than fifteen transport trucks looted and then set
on fire by the terrorists".
Another
merchant reported "ten wounded", evacuated to Bittou, where traders
were returning after going to the market in Cinkansé, a trading town on the
Togo border.
"We
deplore the loss of life whose bodies were deposited" at "the morgue
of the CHR (Regional Hospital Center) of Tenkodogo", capital of the Centre-East
region, said in a press release a local official, Sami Beranger Pooda, who does
not specify any figures.
Another
attack occurred "Thursday around 6 p.m.", according to the same
security source, and "targeted a convoy of several dozen vehicles carrying
goods".
Since
2015, Burkina has been caught in a spiral of violence perpetrated by jihadist
groups affiliated with the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda. action (Acled),
including more than 5,000 since the start of 2023.
This
violence has also led to the displacement of more than two million people
inside the country.
In
mid-July, President and Captain Ibrahim Traoré, who came to power in September
2022 by a coup d'etat, deplored "increasingly recurrent attacks against
civilians", believing that the jihadists were showing
"cowardice".
Source: africanews.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.africanews.com/2023/08/08/burkina-at-least-20-dead-in-an-attack-by-suspected-jihadists/
--------
India
Mumbai
train firing: Railway cop Chetan Singh is of 'sound mind', 'hates Muslims',
says report
08 Aug 2023
Accused
of killing four people aboard a train last week, RPF constable Chetan Kumar
Singh has now been booked for promoting enmity too, reported Mid-Day quoting
sources.
The
report added the GRP telling the Borivli court on 8 August that Chetan Kumar Singh
is of sound mental health and hence got custody of him until 11 August.
Earlier
on Monday, Singh was produced before the Borivli magistrate court, where he was
court remanded in Government Railway Police (GRP) custody.
On 31
July, Singh shot dead his senior officer and three passengers aboard
Jaipur-Mumbai Central Superfast Express. Following the incident, someone pulled
the emergency chain and he fled from the train. However, he was later caught
outside by the GRP officers.
While
seeking his custody, the GRP officers told the court they are yet to obtain the
CCTV footage of the entire train journey. Apart from this, GRP officers told
the court that they wanted to find out if Singh was instigated by someone to
commit the crime.
New
charges:
Apart
from the previous charges, the Borivli GRP has added IPC Section 153A
(promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place
of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance
of harmony) to the FIR against Singh.
Also,
Sections 363 (punishment for kidnapping), 341 (punishment for wrongful
restraint), and 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement) of the IPC based on
the statement of Jaffar Khan, a witness in the case have been added.
Khan in
his statement told the GRP that Singh took one of the deceased passengers Sayed
Saifuddin at gunpoint from the B2 coach and shot him at point-blank range near
the pantry, added the report.
Hatred
against Muslims:
According
to the Mid-Day report, Singh does not have any regrets for killing four
innocent people. “Singh told the GRP and the RPF personnel that if the train
had not stopped, then he would have killed eight-10 more people. He has said
that his final wish is to go to Pakistan and kill everyone there," the
daily quoted a GRP source as saying.
“This is
the reason why he refused to undergo a medical check-up by a bearded doctor (an
intern) when he was taken to Cooper Hospital following his arrest. He thought
he was a Muslim. When other young doctors without a beard were called, he did
not protest," the source added.
On the
other side, the secretary of the Borivli Bar Association -- Singh’s lawyer
Surendra Landage -- claimed the RPF constable is mentally unwell. “Singh was
not in his senses at the time of the crime," he said.
Source: livemint.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.livemint.com/news/india/mumbai-train-firing-railway-cop-chetan-singh-is-of-sound-mind-hates-muslims-says-report-11691492063586.html
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Chennai police
inspector suspended for hate speech against Christians, Muslims
August
8, 2023
Greater
Chennai Police Commissioner Sandeep Rai Rathore Monday suspended a police
inspector after he was found making hate speech against other communities in a
purported audio he recorded and sent to a WhatsApp group, said official
sources.
According
to the police, the officer identified as P Rajendran, who was serving as an
Inspector, Traffic Investigation Wing, Pulinathope, can be heard saying in the
viral audio message people should not post communally divisive statements
before he made pro-right wing statements.
The
Greater Chennai Police Monday tweeted that Rajendran has been placed under
suspension for sharing objectionable religious opinion on social media.
He had allegedly
issued the audio message in reply to one Christopher, who reportedly posted a
spiritual song.
The
officials who conducted the inquiry placed Rajendran under suspension pending
departmental inquiry.
Additional
Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Kapil Kumar Saratkar told indianexpress.com
while undergoing training, police personnel are given guidance on how to
conduct themselves while dealing with sensitive issues.
“Even
during their training period, they are told to be tolerant and ensure their
personal beliefs do not reflect on their duty. If any such things occur, we
take stringent action as we have initiated in this case,” Saratkar said.
“Moreover,
periodically, during the sensitisation programmes, we have been advising our
officers how to deal with issues related to gender sensitivity, minority, etc.
We will keep monitoring their attitude towards the weaker sections and take
appropriate measures,” he added.
Source: indianexpress.com
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https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chennai/chennai-police-officer-suspended-hate-speech-christians-muslims-8882249/
--------
Nuh
Violence: Hindu-Muslim riots rattled even social media, hashtags spiked to 3
billion
08, 2023
Chandan
Prakash
The
communal violence that recently broke out in Haryana’s Nuh on July 31 during a
religious procession has drawn a massive impact on social media and online
platforms.
According
to media reports, the comprehensive analysis was conducted by the government in
the initial 72 hours following the outbreak of violence. As the unrest extended
to areas like Mewat, Badshahpur, and Gurugram, numerous Twitter hashtags such
as #NuhViolence, #MewatTerrorAttack, and #Haryanaviolence gained prominence.
These
hashtags collectively reached a potential audience exceeding 3 billion (300
crore) within the digital realm, often carrying negative sentiments amounting
to over 67 per cent.
The
report further divulged those individuals within the age bracket of 25-34
exhibited the highest level of activity on Twitter, actively disseminating
content related to the incident.
Interestingly,
the analysis also identified the involvement of certain anti-national elements
leveraging audio/video messages on Twitter and other social media platforms to
incite the public.
Intriguingly,
while most impactful content originated from within India, the
highest-engagement tweet within the initial 72 hours hailed from Canada.
Notably,
countries such as the US, UK, Canada, and Pakistan registered substantial tweet
volumes. Despite this, India contributed to approximately 86% of the impact and
origin of these hashtags, while other countries shared content ranging from 8
to 3 per cent.
The
reports also said that a detailed report will be prepared in the coming days to
understand the impact and conspiracy, if any, in the Nuh incident.
The
government on the basis of findings of the analysis, has initiated measures to
counter the proliferation of misleading and instigating content on a particular
social media platform, citing inaccuracies and potential for violence
incitement.
The
analysis prompted official intervention to address this concerning trend, as
the government sought the removal of select tweets that were either factually
incorrect, misleading, or provocatively inciting violence. Notably, among these
flagged tweets were one by a sitting Member of Parliament, a global news media
outlet, and a cluster of social media influencers who were found to be
propagating content against the two conflicting groups.
In
tandem with this action, the government also directed specific social media
applications and platforms to block certain user accounts that exhibited a
consistent pattern of disseminating content that fueled violence.
Furthermore,
a separate report compiled by a central agency shed light on the underlying
causes of the violence in Nuh.
According
to this report, the clash was triggered by the posting of videos on social
media by two distinct groups. These videos, laden with contentious content,
reportedly involved members from both groups instigating and threatening each
other.
Source: firstpost.com
Please click the following URL to read
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https://www.firstpost.com/india/nuh-violence-hindu-muslim-riots-rattled-even-social-media-hashtags-spiked-to-3-billion-12973842.html
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1980
Moradabad Riots: Report Presented In UP Assembly Gives Clean Chit To BJP, RSS;
Holds Muslim League Leader Accountable
The
judicial commission report on 1980 Moradabad Riots took names of Muslim League Leader Dr Shamim Ahmed Khan and
his supporters after careful analysis of the facts. It also stated that most of
the 83 deaths in Idkhana, Bhura Chauraha and Barfkhana (localities) were due to
the stampede, for which police officials cannot be held responsible.
A
judicial commission report in connection with the 1980 Moradabad riots which
was presented after 40 years in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on Tuesday has
completely vindicated the BJP and RSS.
Yesterday,
the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna tabled the 496-page
report in the state assembly in the presence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath
and gave reasons for the delay.
In May,
the state cabinet had decided to table the Justice M P Saxena Commission's
report in the assembly.
All
about the report
Clearing
the BJP and RSS of all allegations, the judicial commission report has held a
Muslim League leader and his supporters accountable for the 1980 riots which
killed 83 people while several others
were injured.
The
report took names of Muslim League
Leader Dr Shamim Ahmed Khan and his supporters after careful analysis of the
facts.
According
to the report, on the day of Eid, police officers took utmost care and fired at
the Eidgah only when there was a threat to the lives of the people living
there.
The
bullet was fired only in self-defence. Despite this, the rioters spread
excitement, it said.
The
report also explicitly stated that neither any secret meetings were held by the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) or any other Hindu outfit nor Harijans
(Dalits) were incited to take revenge on the Muslims. In fact, the RSS and the
Bharatiya Janata Party had no hand whatsoever in this, it said.
However,
the commission has also clarified that not all Muslims had a hand in organizing
the riots.
The
report stated that most of the deaths in Idkhana, Bhura Chauraha and Barfkhana
(localities) were due to the stampede, for which police officials cannot be
held responsible.
A
dispute during Eid prayers at Moradabad Eidgah had taken the form of communal
riots.
In its
report, the commission has also suggested measures to control the riots and
said that when there is a riot, correct facts should be informed through loudspeakers
dispelling the rumours.
When the
1980 riots took place, there was a Congress government in UP under the
leadership of Chief Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh. At the time, Indira
Gandhi was the prime minister.
Source: outlookindia.com
Please click the following URL to read
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https://www.outlookindia.com/national/1980-moradabad-riots-report-presented-in-up-assembly-gives-clean-chit-to-bjp-rss-holds-muslim-league-leader-accountable-news-309210
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Gyanvapi
case: ASI team surveys northern wall, dome, basement of mosque
The ASI
team carried out the work of measurement, mapping and photography of the
Gyanvapi complex, government counsel Rajesh Mishra said.
Aug 08, 2023
The
Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) team surveyed the northern wall, the dome
and basements of the Gyanvapi complex here on Tuesday, the fourth day of the
court-mandated exercise to determine if the mosque was built over a temple.
Members
of the Muslim side were also present during the survey.
The ASI team
carried out the work of measurement, mapping and photography of the Gyanvapi
complex, government counsel Rajesh Mishra said.
The team
divided itself into three groups and surveyed the northern wall, the dome and
basements of the complex, he said.
Vishnu
Shankar Jain, the Hindu side's lawyer, said a detailed scientific study is
being done inside the premises according to the court order.
Subhash
Chaturvedi, another lawyer of the Hindu side, said the ASI team is collecting
evidence and besides the dome and pavilion of the complex, the basements were
surveyed. The survey will continue on Wednesday.
On
August 3, the Allahabad High Court dismissed a petition by the Anjuman
Intezamia Masjid Committee, which manages Gyanvapi, against a lower court order
directing the ASI to survey the mosque.
The High
Court order was upheld by the Supreme Court the next day.
On
Friday, the first day of the ASI survey, the Muslim side boycotted the
exercise.
The
mosque 'wazu khana', where a structure claimed by Hindu litigants to be a
'shivling' exists, will not be part of the survey -- following an earlier
Supreme Court order protecting that spot in the complex.
Hindu
activists claim that a temple existed earlier at the site and was demolished in
the 17th century on the orders of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.
Source: dnaindia.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-gyanvapi-case-asi-team-surveys-northern-wall-dome-basement-of-mosque-uttar-pradesh-varanasi-3055080
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North America
US
National Security Adviser In UAE After Recent Saudi Visit Amid Military
Build-Up In Region
Wednesday,
09 August 2023
US
national security adviser Jake Sullivan has traveled to the United Arab
Emirates (UAE) after a recent visit to Saudi Arabia to push for Riyadh's
normalization with the Israeli regime, amid a renewed American military buildup
in the West Asia.
Sullivan
and Emirati President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan met on Tuesday in Abu
Dhabi, where they discussed “close, strategic” US-Emirati relations, as well as
regional and international developments, the official WAM news agency reported.
They
also “stressed the importance of joint action to ensure peace and stability in
the Middle East,” the report added.
UAE
Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Secretary-General of
the Supreme Council for National Security Ali bin Hammad al-Shamsi were also
present at the meeting.
Over the
weekend, Sullivan had held talks with Saudi leaders in Jeddah on the sidelines
of a meeting on the Ukraine war.
The
meetings come as the US dispatched more than 3,000 sailors and Marines to the
Red Sea aboard the assault ship USS Bataan and the dock landing ship USS Carter
Hall in response to Iran’s alleged “harassment and seizures of merchant
vessels.”
The
deployment brought additional aircraft and helicopters to join a dozen US
F-35s, as well as F-16 and A-10 aircraft and Navy guided-missile destroyers
that had already arrived in the Persian Gulf under the pretext of protecting
vessels crossing the main waterways in the strategic region.
It
followed an announcement by the US military about plans to put armed personnel
on commercial ships traveling through the Strait of Hormuz.
Separately
on Tuesday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) chief General Michael Kurilla traveled
to the UAE and Bahrain, home to the US Fifth Fleet, aboard an American Navy
destroyer.
Kurilla
met with UAE military Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Issa Saif Mohammed
al-Mazrouei as well as Bahraini King Hamid bin Isa Al Khalifah.
The
provocative US military presence in the Persian Gulf drew a fresh warning from
Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) on Monday.
“Iran
has reached such a high degree of power and capability that can respond in kind
to any US action and mischief [in the region], including the seizure of ships,”
said the IRGC’s spokesman Brigadier General Ramezan Sharif.
Source: presstv.ir
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--------
Ex-US
Coast Guard Head Covered Up Sexual Abuse At Academy: Report Former Top US
Lawmaker Predicts America's Demise If Trump Re-elected
Wednesday,
09 August 2023
Former
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has warned that the United States will cease to
exist if ex-president Donald Trump -- who is way ahead of his rival in polls --
is reelected to the top executive office in the 2024 presidential election.
The US
will cease to exist if former President Donald Trump returns to the White
House, Democratic Pelosi said of the Republican former president in an
interview with the New York Magazine on Monday.
“If he
were to be president, it would be a criminal enterprise in the White House,”
the ex-speaker warned. She particularly rebuked Trump for inciting his
followers to carry out the deadly January 6, 2021 attack on Capitol Hill.
The
ex-speaker implored the reporter not to contemplate the idea of Trump as the US
president for a second term, describing the former businessman-turned-president
back in office as setting the world on fire and the end of the US.
“Don’t
even think of that,” Pelosi insisted.
“Don’t
think of the world being on fire. It cannot happen, or we will not be the
United States of America,” she emphasized.
She
described Trump as a kingpin, leader of a criminal outfit, who would be running
the White House gang, if elected.
She gave
herself credit for suggesting the idea of creating the January 6 Commission to
investigate the extent of the ex-president’s criminal activities leading to the
deadly riot. “I know he committed a crime that day,” she insisted.
Trump,
who is facing nearly 80 criminal charges with the possibility of more to be
added amid high probability of being convicted, was described by Pelosi as a
“scared puppy” waiting as the worst is yet to come.
On
Pelosi’s end of the US political spectrum, Trump's opponents see him as a
"security risk", the personification of a clear and present danger to
the American nation, calling for his imprisonment in “solitary confinement” if
he is convicted in court.
"There's
this issue...about whether or not you can put a former president with a Secret
Service detail in a prison, I offered a solution the other day: put him in
solitary confinement," MSNBC host Kaite Phang suggested during her show on
Sunday. "Then he won't have exposure to general population, and then he
won't be a safety risk, a security risk."
"I
think it's absurd to think that you cannot put somebody who ends up going
through the process, who's convicted and sentenced, I think it's absurd that
you'd put him in anything but a federal penitentiary where he deserves to be,”
the Asian-American host further emphasized while insisting on equal treatment
of all convicted individuals.
Trump
was arraigned in a Washington, DC court on Thursday pleading not guilty to the
latest charges brought against him in his third legal indictment as he awaits
his fourth one, possibly next week.
Trump,
who says the charges leveled against him are politically-motivated, blasted the
multiple prosecutions threatening his reelection bid, insisting that the
rivaling Democrats want to keep him off the campaign trail for much of 2024.
The
77-year-old billionaire, who is currently the likely GOP candidate for 2024
presidential election, called the officials who were investigating the charges
lodged against him as being "deranged".
He
accused Democratic US President Joe Biden of ordering the investigations, which
he said were brought against him due to his immense popularity.
"How
can my corrupt political opponent crooked Joe Biden put me on trial during an
election campaign that I'm winning by a lot but forcing me nevertheless to
spend time and money away from the campaign trail in order to fight bogus
made-up accusations and charges?" he asked the crowd last week at a
campaign rally of his supporters in Windham, one of the most Republican towns
in New Hampshire.
Trump
told the Windham crowd that his popularity among the Republicans had increased
since the criminal charged were filed against him.
"I
should have four (indictments) by sometime next week," he proudly
predicted.
Meanwhile,
a survey conducted last week by Reuters/Ipsos found that 52 percent of likely
Republican voters would not vote for Trump in 2024 if he was convicted and
imprisoned by the next Election Day, while only 28 percent said that they would
still vote for him.
Source: presstv.ir
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--------
Trump
Says Trials Would Hamstring Presidential Campaign
Tuesday,
08 August 2023
Former
US president Donald Trump blasted the multiple prosecutions threatening his
re-election bid on Tuesday, complaining that court appearances would keep him
off the campaign trail for much of 2024.
Speaking
in New Hampshire days after being indicted for a third time in four months,
Trump railed against "deranged" officials probing allegations that he
illegally hoarded national security secrets, falsified business records and
corruptly tried to overthrow an election.
The
77-year-old billionaire, the comfortable frontrunner in the Republican
presidential primary, baselessly accused President Joe Biden of ordering the
investigations, which he said were brought because of his stellar polling
numbers.
"How
can my corrupt political opponent crooked Joe Biden put me on trial during an
election campaign that I'm winning by a lot but forcing me nevertheless to
spend time and money away from the campaign trail in order to fight bogus
made-up accusations and charges?" he asked the rally crowd in Windham, one
of the most Republican towns in the Granite State.
"That's
what they're doing: 'I'm sorry, I won't be able to go to Iowa today, I won't be
able to go to New Hampshire today, because I'm sitting in a courtroom on
bullshit because his attorney general charged me with something.' Terrible."
While
the numbers are close, Trump has actually only beaten Biden in two of the 14
major opinion polls collated in the influential RealClearPolitics average since
June. Biden has won eight and four were ties.
The
twice-impeached Trump was indicted on Tuesday last week over his efforts to
overturn the election that culminated in the January 6, 2021 insurrection at
the US Capitol, which was linked to deaths of four of his supporters.
The case
is the most serious of four criminal probes that have yielded dozens of felony
charges, including allegations that Trump covered up hush money payments to a
porn star and that he endangered national security by storing classified
documents at his beach club in Florida.
So far
he has criminal trials starting in March and May next year -- the height of the
election campaign.
A trial
date will be set within days in his election interference case, and Trump is
expecting further charges next week over the same alleged conspiracy but
focused on the state of Georgia.
"I
should have four (indictments) by some time next week," he told the
Windham crowd, pointing out that his popularity among Republicans has increased
since the criminal cases began pouring in.
Trump is
fighting a lawsuit launched by a writer who won a sex abuse case against him.
He is also being sued for $250 million by New York State for alleged business
fraud, with a trial starting in October.
Source: presstv.ir
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---------
Carcinogen
Found At US Nuclear Sites Amid Rise In Cancer Cases
Tuesday,
08 August 2023
The US
Air Force has found unsafe levels of a likely carcinogen at a military base
where a large number of men and women have reported cancer diagnoses.
The
discovery of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) in an underground launch control
center at a Montana nuclear missile base “is the first from an extensive
sampling of active US intercontinental ballistic missile bases to address
specific cancer concerns raised by missile community members,” Air Force Global
Strike Command said in a press release on Monday.
The two
launch facilities at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana showed PCB levels
higher than the thresholds recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency,
it said.
The EPA
classifies PCBs, which are oily or waxy substances, as proven animal
carcinogens and probable human carcinogens with the potential to cause rare
blood cancers among other types.
In the
meantime, US Gen. Thomas Bussiere, commander of Air Force Global Strike
Command, directed his subordinates to note and address the issue and take
“immediate measures to begin the cleanup process for the affected facilities and
mitigate exposure by our Airmen and Guardians to potentially hazardous
conditions,” according to the Monday press release.
After a
military briefing was obtained by The Associated Press in January showing that
at least nine current or former missileers at Malmstrom were diagnosed with
non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a rare blood cancer, the Air Force School of Aerospace
Medicine launched a study to look at cancers among the entire missile
community.
And,
based on new data from a grassroots group of former missile launch officers and
their surviving family members, there could be hundreds more cancers of all
types.
The
Torchlight Initiative found that at least 268 troops who served at nuclear
missile sites, or their surviving family members, have self-reported being diagnosed
with cancer, blood diseases, or other illnesses over the past several decades.
It is
noteworthy that the missileer community is very small. Only a few hundred
airmen serve as missileers at the country's three silo-launched Minuteman III
intercontinental ballistic missile bases at Malmstrom, FE Warren Air Force Base
in Wyoming and Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota.
Since
the Minuteman operations began in the early 1960s, there have been only about
21,000 missileers, in total.
Minuteman
missileers serve in underground launch control centres where they are
responsible for monitoring, and if needed, launching fields of silo-based
nuclear weapons.
Missileers
spend their duty time on watch in underground bunkers, ready to turn the key
and fire Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles if ordered to do so
by the US President.
The
infrastructure and equipment at the sites are decades old and missileers have
raised health concerns multiple times over ventilation, water quality and
potential toxins they cannot avoid as they spend 24 to 48-hour shifts on duty
underground.
The US
Air Force’s carcinogens report comes as the risk of nuclear weapons is higher
than at any time since the Cold War era, according to the United Nations.
Max
Blumenthal, founder and editor-in-chief of The Grayzone, rebuked the United
States, followed by its Western lackeys, for knowingly “escalating a proxy war
against the world’s largest nuclear Power”.
Blumenthal
recalled that US President Joe Biden in March 2022 characterized the West's
provision of weapons and munitions to Ukraine to fight Russia as “World War
III”.
He noted
that “Biden changed his tune” just over a year later, asking, “Why are we
tempting nuclear annihilation by flooding Ukraine with advanced weapons and
sabotaging negotiations at every turn?”
Source: presstv.ir
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---------
Arab World
Saudi
entertainment industry scheme targets 100k graduates
08
August 2023
Riyadh:
Training programs launched by the General Entertainment Authority are offering
courses for 100,000 people in the Kingdom as part of efforts to promote the
Saudi entertainment sector.
Part of
the Happiness Creators initiative, the programs were launched in October 2021,
and include 29 courses that meet international training and performance
standards.
Course
graduates are awarded accredited attendance certificates, according to the GEA.
Training
courses cover five areas: Organizing conferences and events, marketing and
promoting events, customer care, welcoming and sales in stores, and welcoming
and organizational procedures for events.
The
courses were selected in line with the demands of the Saudi entertainment
industry as part of the GEA’s strategy to develop and qualify local talent.
The GEA
launched the electronic training platform in October 2021 in collaboration with
the Paris World Academy, and through the Saudi Entertainment Academy.
The
platform aims to qualify more than 100,000 Saudi male and female graduates in
specializations that meet global standards, through courses that promote
theoretical, practical and personal skills.
The GEA
aims to launch an updated version of the electronic training platform at the
end of 2023.
Established
in line with Vision 2030, the GEA looks to develop the entertainment sector in
the Kingdom and provide opportunities for all segments of Saudi society.
Source: arabnews.com
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Saudi
commission initiative aims to make literature ‘more accessible
08
August 2023
MAKKAH: Saudi
Arabia’s Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission recently launched a
“Books for Everyone” initiative to promote reading in society.
The
initiative aims to make literature, particularly of the literary type,
accessible in several ways, including through vending machines.
The
first book-vending machine was activated at Riyadh North Railway Station
recently in the presence of senior officials.
Mohammed
Hasan Alwan, CEO of the commission, told Arab News that the initiative aims to
make literary content more accessible, to offset media accessed online.
“We are
trying to make knowledge products available through book-vending machines, to
change the traditional view toward reading, especially for the new generation,”
said Alwan.
The
commission aims to expand the “Books for Everyone” initiative across the
Kingdom.
He said
the commission also plans to promote reading through book fairs and various
forums, including the Tarjem initiative to support Arabic content.
Other
initiatives include the Riyadh International Philosophy Conference, the
Literary Partner Initiative, Digital Publishing Program, and the “Literature
Everywhere” project.
Source: arabnews.com
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Saudi
Cabinet establishes new independent body for affairs of two holy mosques
08
August 2023
RIYADH:
Saudi Arabia’s Cabinet on Tuesday approved the establishment of an independent
body called “The Presidency of Religious Affairs at the Grand Mosque and the
Prophet’s Mosque” that is linked to King Salman.
The body
will be responsible for supervising the affairs of imams and muezzins of the two holy mosques
and all matters related to their religious affairs including seminars and
Islamic lessons, Saudi Press Agency reported.
The
General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques will be transformed
into a public body called the “General Authority for the Affairs of the Grand
Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque.”
The body
will be financially independent, linked to the king, and will undertake tasks,
services, operations, maintenance, and development related to the two holy
mosques.
The
General Authority for the Affairs of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque
will have a board of directors whose chairman and members will be appointed by
royal decree.
Sheikh
Abdulrahman Al-Sudais was appointed head of religious affairs at the Grand
Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque by royal order.
Tawfiq
Al-Rabiah was appointed, by royal decree, chairman of the board of directors of
the General Authority for the Affairs of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s
Mosque.
The
Cabinet also discussed talks on the Ukraine crisis that were held in Jeddah
last week. More than 40 countries, including China, India, the United States
and European countries took part in the talks.
The
talks were part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s efforts to reach lasting
peace and mitigate the effects of the crisis.
The
Cabinet also reaffirmed its support for precautionary measures by the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+,
to stabilise the oil market.
Source: arabnews.com
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The
‘forgotten’ camps where Syria war displaced languish
August
09, 2023
RAQQA:
Thousands of people displaced by 12 years of war are stuck in squalid,
unofficial camps in Syria’s Kurdish-held northeast, languishing in extreme
poverty and largely cut off from international assistance.
“We’ve
been completely forgotten,” said Rahma Al-Hammud, 33, standing at her tent — a
shoddy patchwork of worn-out fabric, tarp and old fertilizer bags crudely sewn
together.
“Our
children get sick over and over again. They get fever, diarrhea and vomiting,”
said the widowed mother of four.
She
lives in the Al-Yunani camp in the northern province of Raqqa, where the Daesh
group had set up its de facto capital before its defeat in 2017 by US-backed
Kurdish-led fighters.
Located
near the Euphrates River, it is one of many informal camps inside Syria for
people displaced by the conflict.
Women
can be seen carrying heavy buckets of water from communal tanks in heat that
can exceed 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), while children in filthy
clothes and bare feet play in the dirt.
Sheikhmous
Ahmed, an official in the semi-autonomous Kurdish administration, said tens of
thousands of people live in dozens of informal camps in north and northeast
Syria.
Only 16
camps, housing around 150,000 people, are formally recognized and have access
to international aid, including Al-Hol and Roj, which host suspected relatives
of IS fighters, he said.
While
living and hygiene conditions can be dire even in official displacement camps,
the situation in informal settlements is sometimes worse, with no semblance of
organization and little or no humanitarian assistance.
Tanya
Evans of the International Rescue Committee said such informal camps “can be considered
the ‘forgotten camps’ of Syria.”
“Increased
attention, funding, and sustained efforts by the international community are
crucial” to ensuring such camps “receive the assistance they desperately need,”
she told AFP in a statement.
Hammud,
who is displaced from elsewhere in Raqqa province, said aid was “scarce” and
that international organizations “do not recognize” the Al-Yunani camp.
“Even if
they helped us every two or three months, people would have” better lives, said
Hammud, a day laborer in the agriculture sector.
Three of
her children also work in an industrial area nearby to help make ends meet.
Syria’s
war has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions since it
broke out in 2011 with the regime’s repression of peaceful protests.
It
spiralled into a deadly conflict that pulled in foreign powers and global
jihadists.
According
to Sheikhmous Ahmed, Kurdish authorities are working “on a plan to transfer
residents from informal to formal camps” in a bid to improve their living conditions.
If this
were to come true it could improve the life of residents of Sahlat Al-Banat, a
makeshift camp which sits next to a landfill on the outskirts of Raqqa city.
Residents
spend their days scavenging the rubbish tip for anything of value, such as
scrap metal and bits of plastic, which they hope to sell. It is their main
source of income.
“The
situation in the camp is tragic,” said 30-year-old mother Shakura Mohammed, who
was displaced from nearby Deir Ezzor province.
“People
search through the rubbish for things they can sell in order to buy bread and
earn a living,” she said.
“No aid
comes to the camp,” she added.
According
to a report by the United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA, 79 percent of
settlements in Raqqa province are informal.
A UN
cross-border mechanism allowing aid to enter northeast Syria from neighboring
Iraq was halted in early 2020 after pressure from regime ally Russia at the UN
Security Council, worsening conditions for those in need.
Umm
Rakan, who lives at Sahlat Al-Banat, said she had given up on the idea that
things would improve.
“We no
longer count on anyone’s help. We lost hope years ago,” said the woman in her
40s, who was also displaced from Deir Ezzor.
Source: arabnews.com
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--------
Saudi
leaders offer condolences to Pakistan over deadly train derailment
08 August
RIYADH:
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman sent a cable of condolences to Pakistan’s president
Arif Alvi after a train derailed in southern Pakistan on Sunday, killing at
least 30 people, the Saudi Press Agency reported Tuesday.
“We send
to your excellency, the families of the deceased and the Pakistani people, our
deepest and sincere condolences,” the king said, wishing the injured a speedy
recovery.
Crown
Prince Mohammed bin Salman also sent a similar cable to president Alvi.
More
than 1,000 passengers were aboard the Hazara Express when it came off the
tracks in a flat, rural part of Sindh province near Nawabshah, around 250
kilometres (160 miles) by rail from the southern port city of Karachi.
The
incident injured at least 90 passengers.
Images
posted to local media show dozens of people at the site, with some smashing
windows to help passengers clamber out of the twisted carriages and at least
one coach overturned.
Accidents
and derailments occur frequently on Pakistan’s antiquated railway system.
In June
2021 two trains collided near Daharki in Sindh killing at least 65 people and
injuring about 150 others.
Source: arabnews.com
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King
Salman sends message to Rwanda president
08 August 2023
RIYADH:
King Salman sent a verbal message to the president of Rwanda relating to
bilateral relations and ways to enhance joint cooperation on Tuesday.
The
message was conveyed by adviser at the Saudi Royal Court Ahmed bin Abdulaziz Kattan
during a reception hosted by Paul Kagame in Kigali.
During a
meeting, Kattan and Kagame discussed cooperation relations between their
countries and ways to enhance them in various fields. They also discussed
regional and international developments.
Kagame
also expressed his support for the first Saudi-African summit and the fifth
Arab-African summit which will both be held in the Kingdom later this year.
Kattan
later met with Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International
Cooperation Vincent Biruta, and the two officials discussed bilateral relations
and issues of common interest.
Source: arabnews.com
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AlUla
Desert Blaze offers thrilling endurance race
08
August 2023
JEDDAH:
AlUla Desert Blaze, a new running event added to AlUla’s sports offerings, will
commence on Aug. 26.
Athletes
from the region and around the world will take part in the high-intensity endurance
race, taking place in sizzling summer temperatures of 42 degrees Celsius.
The race
is the latest addition to an exciting lineup of sports competitions that take
advantage of the city’s mesmerizing terrain. With its sandstone cliffs, lush
oases and productive farmlands, the local environment offers a unique backdrop
for the event.
Men and
women of all fitness levels will compete in distances of 5, 10, 21 and 42 km,
aiming to become one of the first global conquerors of the challenging race by
pushing their physical capacities to the limit.
Chief
Tourism Officer at the Royal Commission for AlUla Phillip Jones said: “AlUla
Desert Blaze is not just a race; it’s a unique and transformative experience.
Not only does this represent a new performance milestone for athletes, but it
will also give everyone taking part a unique perspective on AlUla and its
various visitor offerings, with a route that winds past ancient monuments,
through undiscovered landscapes and in the shadow of monumental cliff faces
edging vast sandstone canyons.”
He
added: “We continue to diversify our offerings for visitors from all around the
world, and the AlUla Desert Blaze is an addition to what the destination can
offer adventurers and sports enthusiasts who are looking to indulge in a truly
unforgettable experience.”
For
participants in the 5 km, 10 km, and 21 km races, the starting point of the
race is Hegra, Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO Heritage Site. For those taking on
the marathon, the race will commence at Maraya, the record-breaking
multi-purpose entertainment venue located in the heart of the Ashar Valley.
Enrollment
for the race — which offers a total prize pool of SR110,000 ($30,000) — is open
until Aug. 22.
Runners
will receive comprehensive medical support to ensure their well-being,
including access to ambulances, mobile and stationed paramedics, as well as
nurses and physiotherapists.
Aid
stations will be positioned every 5 km along the race route. These stations
will be stocked with essential supplies such as water, ice containers,
hydration beverages, energy gels, fresh fruits and nutritious snacks.
AlUla
has been at the forefront of sustainable development in the Kingdom through its
sports and adventure offerings, hosting prestigious events such as the AlUla
Camel Cup, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Endurance Cup and the Saudi
Tour.
Jones
encouraged those interested in taking part in the race to register for a chance
to win cash prizes. Fans who wish to attend can purchase race tickets at
experiencealula.com.
Source: arabnews.com
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--------
West
must keep ‘promises’ on Ukraine grain deal: Erdogan
August
09, 2023
ANKARA:
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that the revival of a deal
with Russia to allow Ukrainian grain exports, brokered by Ankara and the UN,
“depends on Western countries which must keep their promises.”
“I think
a solution can be found,” Erdogan added, referring to a recent telephone call
with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who refused to extend the accord.
Turkiye
was a key player in the now collapsed deal that allowed for safe passage of
Ukrainian grain shipments via the Black Sea.
The
accord, brokered by Ankara and the United Nations in July 2022, ended last
month after Moscow refused to renew it.
Last
month, during a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelensky, Erdogan announced that Putin would visit Turkiye in August.
But
Moscow was annoyed when Zelensky returned from Istanbul with five top
commanders from the Azov regiment of Ukraine, who were supposed to have
remained in Turkiye until the end of the conflict under a prisoner exchange
deal with Moscow.
Kremlin
spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at the time that it was “a direct violation” of
the agreement with Turkiye.
Turkiye,
a NATO member, has managed to maintain friendly ties with both Russia and
Ukraine throughout the war.
Ankara
has shied away from Western sanctions imposed on Russia, but has supplied arms
to Ukraine.
Source: arabnews.com
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--------
Holy
Qur’an International Museum project launched by MWL chief
08 August
2023
RIYADH:
A Holy Qur’an International Museum project has been launched in Makkah by the
Muslim World League’s Secretary-General Dr. Mohammad bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa,
the Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday.
Al-Issa,
who is also the chairman of the Organization of Muslim Scholars, said the
initiative is aimed at disseminating the message of the Qur’an and Sunnah.
He added
that the museum will highlight miracles of the holy Qur’an, supported by
scientific facts.
Al-Issa
said the museum project was set up by the MWL’s international council of
scholars overseeing the proper recitation of the Qur’an. It would have an
advisory board consisting of several senior scholars from across the Muslim
world.
The
museum’s staff will be tasked with organizing conferences, forums and lectures
worldwide.
Source: arabnews.com
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Africa
Genocide
in Rwanda: Survivors disappointed by UN verdict
August
9, 2023
Survivors
of Rwanda's 1994 genocide criticized Tuesday a call by appeals judges at a
United Nations court to indefinitely halt the trial of an alleged financer and
supporter of the massacre due to the suspect's ill health.
The
ruling Monday sends the matter back to the court's trial chamber with
instructions to impose a stay on proceedings. That likely means that Félicien
Kabuga, who is nearly 90, will never be prosecuted. His trial, which started
last year at the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The
Hague, was halted in June because his dementia left him unable to participate
in proceedings.
Appeals
judges at the court also rejected a proposal to set up an alternative procedure
that would have allowed evidence to be heard but without the possibility of a
verdict.
The U.N.
court´s chief prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, said the ruling "must be
respected, even if the outcome is dissatisfying."
Kabuga,
who was arrested in France in 2020 after years as a fugitive from justice, is
accused of encouraging and bankrolling the mass killing of Rwanda´s Tutsi
minority. His trial came nearly three decades after the 100-day massacre left
800,000 dead.
Kabuga
has pleaded not guilty to charges including genocide and persecution. He
remains in custody at a U.N. detention unit in The Hague, but could be released
as a result of Monday's ruling.
"I
think the world does not mean good for us. What mattered to us survivors
following Kabuga´s arrest was at least justice," said Francine Uwamariya,
a genocide survivor, who says she lost her entire family at the hands of
Kabuga´s henchmen.
"Look,
the trial should have continued even without Kabuga. He was the planner and
financer of the genocide. The court appears to be on the side of the killer,
when it should be neutral," Uwamariya said.
Uwamariya´s
sentiment was echoed by Naphatal Ahishakiye, another genocide survivor and
executive secretary of Ibuka, a Rwanda survivors´ organization, who said there
was enough evidence to convict Kabuga.
"It´s
extremely disturbing on the side of survivors, who will see Kabuga walking
free. Justice should be felt by those wronged," Ahishakiye said.
Ibuka
has filed a case against Kabuga in Kigali, seeking court permission to sell off
all of Kabuga´s properties to fund reparations and help survivors.
Brammertz
expressed solidarity with victims and survivors of the genocide.
"They
have maintained their faith in the justice process over the last three decades.
I know that this outcome will be distressing and disheartening to them,"
he said. "Having visited Rwanda recently, I heard very clearly how
important it was that this trial be concluded."
Brammertz
said that his team of prosecutors would continue to help Rwanda and other
countries seek accountability for genocide crimes and pointed to the arrest in
May of another fugitive, Fulgence Kayishema, as an example that suspects can
still face justice.
Kayishema
was indicted by a U.N. court for allegedly organizing the slaughter of more
than 2,000 ethnic Tutsi refugees - men, women and children - at a Catholic
church on April 15, 1994, during the first days of the genocide. He is expected
to be tried in Rwanda.
Source: africanews.com
Please click the following URL to read
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https://www.africanews.com/2023/08/09/genocide-in-rwanda-survivors-disappointed-by-un-verdict/
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S.Leone
Says 14 Soldiers, 3 Police Under Investigation For 'Subversion'
August
9, 2023
Fourteen
Sierra Leonean soldiers, three current and former police officers and two civilians
have been arrested and are under investigation for "subversion",
while a manhunt is underway for eight others, the inspector general said
Tuesday.
Last
week police said they had arrested several people who were planning violent
attacks on the anniversary of fatal riots in August 2022 that left more than 30
dead.
They
said they were "working to undermine the peace and tranquillity of the
state" and planning to use peaceful protests scheduled for this week
"as a guise to unleash violent attacks against state institutions and
peaceful citizens."
Of the
14 arrested members of the armed forces, eight are ranked between lieutenant
and major, while six are non-commissioned officers ranking between private and
sergeant, inspector general William Fayia Sellu said in a press conference on
Tuesday.
He said
a manhunt was underway for five more military personnel and three police
officers.
"We
are in full control and security has been beefed up," Fayia Sellu said.
"The
police has stepped up security and intelligence across the country".
The
inspector general added that Sierra Leone had appealed to Interpol to help
extradite any of the suspects found abroad.
On
Monday, Liberia's information minister Ledgerhood Rennie told AFP that Mohammed
Yaetey Turay, a former chief superintendent of police dismissed in 2020, had
been arrested in that country at the request of Sierra Leonean authorities.
Sierra
Leone's information minister Chernor Bah confirmed to AFP that Turay's arrest
was in connection "with plans the state security had unearthed by some
individuals to undermine the peace of the state and unleash violence on our
citizens".
"He's
among those helping with the investigations", the minister said.
On
August 10 last year, economic and political protests in the capital Freetown
and other cities spiralled into deadly clashes.
Twenty-seven
civilians and six police officers died, according to official figures.
Source: africanews.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.africanews.com/2023/08/09/sleone-says-14-soldiers-3-police-under-investigation-for-subversion/
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Local
Businesses In Northern Nigeria Feel The Sting Of Regional Sanctions Against
Neighbouring Niger
August
9, 2023
A
decision by a bloc of West African nations to shut down their borders with
Niger as a way of sanctioning its coup plotters is harming local businesses in
northern Nigeria, where a cross-border economy has boomed for years.
The bloc
known as ECOWAS restricted financial transactions and shut the borders between
Niger and its member nations as part of measures to force the coup plotters to
reinstate Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum who was overthrown last month by
soldiers in his Presidential Guard.
But the
sting of the sanctions against the junta is being felt on the other side of the
1,600 kilometres (995 miles) -long border, in Nigeria.
Niger
accounts for 75% of the total value of exports from Nigeria´s cross-border
informal trade, according to a study by the Central Bank of Nigeria. The bank´s
latest report in 2016 valued goods traded across the border with Niger at 828
billion naira ($934 million) a year.
In
Nigeria's northwestern Katsina state, the border's closure and restricted
traffic on nearby roads left dozens of trucks stranded for days, most of them
loaded with food items and other perishable goods. Prices of livestock, animal
products and some commodities usually supplied from the city of Maradi in Niger
have increased, local residents said.
Nigeria's
authorities are enforcing the restriction of movement across the border but the
measure has also impacted traffic in the surrounding area, including truck
drivers not heading to Niger but other border towns in Nigeria.
Stranded
trucks with goods are seen at the border between Nigeria and Niger in Jibia,
Nigeria, Monday, Aug. 7, 2023. The West Africa regional bloc's decision to shut
borders with Niger in sanctioning the country's coup plotters is affecting
businesses and locals in Nigerian towns where economic activities with
Nigeriens had boomed for years.
Truck
driver Usman Kaura said he was ferrying bags of garri, a type of cassava flour,
worth about 15 million naira ($17,000) from Nigeria´s Benue state to another
part of Katsina, when he got stranded for five days in the heat in the border
district of Jibia, alongside other drivers.
"The
garri can spoil at any moment," he said. "We are still inside Nigeria
but yet we are stopped."
The
sanctions by the West African group ECOWAS - with a history of their own coups
- have failed to force the coup plotters next door to reinstate Bazoum.
Since
the July 26 coup, the mutinous soldiers have installed Gen. Abdourahmane
Tchiani as head of state and have also threatened to retaliate against any
military intervention by ECOWAS member states. The junta has also rejected a
proposed visit by representatives of ECOWAS, the African Union and United
Nations.
Four
coups in West Africa since 2020 do not bode well for the current ECOWAS
chairman and Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu, at least as far as the bloc's
next steps are concerned.
Tinubu
is seeking to make a good impression on the international scene, said Oluwole
Ojewale of the Africa-focused Institute of Security Studies. Niger's "coup
is the first test of Tinubu´s leadership," he said.
In the
border region, local residents say business owners have taken advantage of the
border closure to hike the prices of other goods.
A sack
of 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of corn now costs around $56, a 24% increase from
last week, said Muawiya Ibrahim, a Katsina resident.
He
lamented the divisions created by the border closure for the people on either
side of the boundary. "We shared so much, we even married amongst each
other," he said.
Source: africanews.com
Please click the following URL to read
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https://www.africanews.com/2023/08/09/local-businesses-in-northern-nigeria-feel-the-sting-of-regional-sanctions-against-neighbor/
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South
Africa: At least three dead in minibus strike paralysing Cape Town
August
9, 2023
Cape
Town's public transport system has been paralysed by a minibus taxi strike that
in a violent turn has seen three people killed, police said Monday.
Drivers
of minibus taxis, the main mode of transport for millions of working-class
South Africans, blocked multiple roads in a strike that began last Thursday as
a result of clashes with city authorities.
The
South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO) called for the action over a new
municipal by-law that gives the city the power to impound vehicles over
offences such as driving without a licence, not displaying registration plates
or overloading.
Tensions
boiled over after 15 minibuses were impounded on Tuesday.
Thousands
of stranded commuters piled up at bus and taxi stations across the city on
Thursday, with hundreds opting to walk home late into the night while others
slept at the stations as incidents of violence erupted.
On
Friday night, a police officer was shot and killed in a vehicle in a township
20 kilometres southeast of Cape Town while on patrol.
Police
said they could not rule out the killing was linked to the strike, as it came
while officers were "performing crime prevention patrols to quell taxi
related incidents".
In an
update on Monday, police said another person was "shot dead and three others
injured after a motorist was pelted with stones" on the road leading to
the city's airport.
Authorities
later added that a third body -- that of a 28-year-old man who sustained
multiple gunshot wounds in an attack "believed to be taxi related" --
was found nearby.
The
airport road was eventually cleared in the afternoon. Its blockage had prompted
the British High Commission to advise travellers to avoid driving to the
airport fearing some might run into trouble.
SANTACO,
who claim that 6,000 vehicles have been impounded since the beginning of the
year, said they have been "left with no other option" due to
"the frivolous impoundment operations run by government".
"It
is clear that there has been a level of premeditation in the actions we've
witnessed over the past few days," the local government said in a
statement on Monday.
"There
have also been clear attempts to target City staff and infrastructure" it
said.
Numerous
public buses and city vehicles have been set alight, city and transport
authorities said.
Private
cars have also been stoned, torched or shot at and some medical clinics have
been forced to close or operate at reduced capacity.
Some
shops have been looted with protestors making away with household appliances,
clothing and liquor, police said adding five people were arrested for
possession of suspected stolen property.
Source: africanews.com
Please click the following URL to read
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https://www.africanews.com/2023/08/08/south-africa-at-least-three-dead-in-minibus-strike-paralysing-cape-town/
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Mali,
Burkina Faso, sends delegation to Niger in solidarity
August
9, 2023
Mali and
Burkina Faso's ruling juntas sent delegations to Niamey on Monday to show unity
with the leaders of the coup in Niger amid regional threats to intervene
against them.
The
talks came after the passing of a deadline set by the regional bloc known as
ECOWAS for the Nigerien military to return ousted president Mohamed Bazoum to
power.
Both
Mali and Burkina Faso had previously warned that any foreign intervention in
Niger would be considered as a “declaration of war” against them.
Regional
tensions have mounted since the coup nearly two weeks ago, when mutinous
soldiers detained Bazoum and installed Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, former head
of the presidential guard, as head of state.
This
gesture of solidarity comes amidst mounting pressure from the Economic
Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which issued a deadline for the coup
leaders to reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum. Failure to comply with this
ultimatum could result in potential military action from the regional bloc.
The
political crisis in Niger took a sharp turn on July 26, when the presidential
guard detained President Bazoum, leading to the subsequent declaration of
interim leadership by Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, who also assumed the
presidency of the caretaker National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland.
Source: africanews.com
Please click the following URL to read
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https://www.africanews.com/2023/08/08/mali-burkina-faso-sends-delegation-to-niger-in-solidarity/
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Central
African Republic: Faustin Archange Touadéra, "man of peace" or
"President Wagner"?
August
9, 2023
Under
the very close guard of Russian mercenaries and Rwandan peacekeepers, the
president of the Central African Republic, Faustin Archange Touadéra, is
clearly enjoying waving to the crowds in Bangui.
Elected
by surprise in the midst of civil war in 2016, this professor of pure
mathematics, a graduate of the University of Lille in France, has transformed
himself in seven years from a somewhat timid technocrat promising to restore
peace into a confident head of state.
At the
age of 66, the man who was Prime Minister under President François Bozizé from
2008 to 2013 is clinging on to power. His detractors call him "President
Wagner", after the private Russian company that supports his regime.
Following
Monday's announcement that a new constitution had been approved in a referendum
- by an overwhelming majority - Mr Touadéra now has the opportunity to run for
a third term at the head of the country in 2025, something he was not allowed
to do under the old fundamental law, and despite sharp criticism from his
opponents who accuse him of wanting to remain "president for life".
If he is
re-elected in two years' time, he could reach 16 years in power in the Central
African Republic, one of the poorest countries in the world.
"FAT",
as he is nicknamed, appears isolated on the international stage, accused by the
UN, international NGOs and Western chancelleries of having traded the survival
of his regime and a relative "peace" for his country's meagre wealth,
particularly in gold and diamonds, exploited by Russian companies linked to
Wagner, while the Central African Republic is on a drip-feed of international
aid.
His
fragile regime, threatened by a rebellion and saved from chaos by the massive
intervention of Russian mercenaries in 2020, makes him appear at best a
"prisoner" of foreigners, at worst a "hostage" of Wagner's
"predatory Russian mercenaries".It was in the latter terms that
French President Emmanuel Macron denounced him in May 2021. The former colonial
power has lost most of the military and economic influence it wielded in the
Central African Republic since independence in 1960, to Moscow.
Since
2020, guerrilla warfare in the countryside has continued, and the UN and NGOs
regularly accuse Russian rebels, soldiers and mercenaries of committing crimes
against civilians, a scourge that the UN peacekeeping force on the ground
(Minusca) has been unable to curb.
For his
supporters, Mr Touadéra is nonetheless regarded as the "man of
peace". They are grateful to him for having restored security over a large
part of the country, and for having concluded an agreement in 2019 in Khartoum
with 14 armed groups, integrating their leaders and cadres into the government
or administration, in return for their support and the disarmament of their
militias.
However,
from the start of his first term in office, FAT had to deal with the various clans
and movements of all those who rallied behind him in the second round in order
to form a majority in the National Assembly.It was only in 2018 that he managed
to unite them by creating his Mouvement Coeurs Unis (MCU).
For
others, he has brought many wolves into the fold and now finds himself the
prisoner of certain warlords who are very close to the Russians or "in
business" with them in certain provinces. All of which adds to the feeling
of predation as the state coffers empty.
His
regime argues that the international community left it no choice. The UN had
imposed a strict arms embargo on the country, despite the fact that the rebels
are easily supplied in the region, before relaxing it on 27 July by excluding
arms intended for government forces. This decision was seen as an
"affront" by Bangui, which was calling for the embargo to be lifted
completely, with the support of China and Russia.
Before
Wagner acted as if he were on conquered ground in the capital or in the
mineral-rich regions, Mr Touadéra, a native of Damara, 60 km north of Bangui,
enjoyed a certain popularity in the international community, having
courageously taken the helm of a failed state and a country ravaged by war.
But
feeling "abandoned", he eventually turned to Moscow and became a
political animal, according to some experts in the region. For them,
alternately impassive and smiling, Mr Touadéra wields duality as his main
political weapon.
"His
brand of governance is to say yes to everyone without making any public
decisions", says Charles Bouessel, senior consultant for the International
Crisis Group (ICG) think-tank.
Source: africanews.com
Please click the following URL to read
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https://www.africanews.com/2023/08/08/central-african-republic-faustin-archange-touadera-man-of-peace-or-president-wagner/
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Ethiopia:
cancellation of flights to Amhara, plagued by fighting
August
9, 2023
Ethiopian
Airlines on Tuesday cancelled its scheduled flights from Wednesday to Friday to
the capital of Amhara, Bahir Dar, the last airport served in this region of
northern Ethiopia shaken by fighting between the federal army and local
militias.
The
national company had stopped since last week its connections to the three other
regional airports of Gondar, Lalibela and Dessie.
"
Ethiopian Airlines wishes to inform its customers that the flights scheduled
for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to Dessie, Gondar, Lalibela and Bahir Dar
have been cancelled", announced in a press release Ethiopian Airlines, the
only company to provide domestic connections to the general public.
The
federal government on Friday declared a state of emergency in Amhara,
Ethiopia's second most populous region plagued by heavy fighting, just nine
months after the end of a devastating conflict in neighboring Tigray region.
Amhara
forces, including the nationalist Fano militia, were key allies of the
government during this war waged against the dissident authorities in Tigray
between November 2020 and November 2022.
But
tensions have emerged since April after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced
that he wanted to dismantle the "special forces", paramilitary units
created by many regional states over the past fifteen years. Amhara nationalists
believe that the government wants to weaken their region.
Clashes
between the army and Fano fighters have intensified since mid-July, leading
several foreign countries to recommend avoiding the region.
In Bahir
Dar, artillery fire was heard Monday evening and in the night, "non-stop
around the roads of the airport", according to a resident.
Tuesday
morning, "there were gunshots around Lideta 14", a neighbourhood
located on the airport road, he added, stressing that "people are not
moving, there is no of movement".
In
Gondar, a resident expressed his concern. "Things are really bad here. In
addition to the gunfire, the artillery is in the city," said the tuktuk
driver, also giving only his first name, Simachew.
"It's
really scary even to stay inside because the heavy sounds are just awful. This
morning (Tuesday) feels like yesterday, more fighting. I don't know how it's
going to end", he added.
In
Lalibela, a tourist site renowned for its rock-hewn churches listed as UNESCO
World Heritage Sites, the situation was "calmer" on Tuesday than the
day before, according to a resident. Fano's forces have been controlling the
airport and the city for several days.
The
United States said it was "concerned" by the violence in Africa's
second most populous country.
The
World Health Organization has called for maintaining "uninterrupted access
to and protection of the health system in Amhara" so that it and its
partners "can continue to work there".
Source: africanews.com
Please click the following URL to read
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https://www.africanews.com/2023/08/08/ethiopia-cancellation-of-flights-to-amhara-plagued-by-fighting/
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Mideast
132
Israeli Settlers Invade Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound in Jerusalem
August 8, 2023
132
Israeli settlers invaded on Tuesday, August 8, 2023, the courtyards of the
revered Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. The incursion was carried out with strong
backing from Israeli occupation forces.
According
to sources from Jerusalem, a total of 77 settlers and 55 Israeli soldiers infiltrated
the grounds of the Al-Aqsa Mosque through the Moroccan Gate during the morning
hours, in successive groups.
These
sources emphasized that the settlers approached the Al-Aqsa Mosque in organized
groups, under tight security protection. They roamed through its courtyards,
receiving explanations about the alleged Temple, before leaving through the
Chain Gate area.
The
settlers conducted public Talmudic rituals and prayers in the eastern part of
the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
6,558
Israeli settlers have breached the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in
Jerusalem during July 2023. Al-Aqsa Mosque witnesses daily violations and
incursions by settlers, backed by Israeli occupation forces, excluding Fridays
and Saturdays. These actions are part of an ongoing effort to exert complete
control over the mosque, both temporally and spatially.
Source: daysofpalestine.ps
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https://daysofpalestine.ps/132-israeli-settlers-invade-al-aqsa-mosque-compound-in-jerusalem/
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President
al-Sisi opens Al Sayyida Nafisa Mosque after its renovation
August
8, 2023
MENA
MENA
President
Abdel Fattah al-Sisi opened on Tuesday August 8, 2023, Al Sayyida Nafisa Mosque
after its renovation.
President
Sisi toured the mosque to stand on the development work there.
He also
prayed at the mosque that has Sayyida Nafisa’s mausoleum inside. Along with the
necropolis around it, it is listed as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of
Historic Cairo.
Source: egyptindependent.com
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https://www.egyptindependent.com/president-al-sisi-opens-al-sayyida-nafisa-mosque-after-its-renovation/
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Angora
cat takes up new home at Ayasofya Mosque on International Cat Day
August
9, 2023
In a
heart-warming tradition, Seymen, a special longhair Angora cat, is set to
follow in his forebear's pawsteps by taking up residence at Istanbul's historic
Ayasofya Grand Mosque.
A
special Angora cat is being sent to Istanbul’s historic Ayasofya Grand Mosque
to follow in the pawsteps of his forebear.
Seymen,
a longhair kitty, is being sent to the famed mosque on the occasion of August
8, International Cat Day.
At one
time the mosque had two felines-in-residence, explained Aysegul Korkmaz, a
veterinary technician at the Angora Cat Protection, Sustenance and Promotion
Centre in Ankara, Türkiye’s capital.
In 2020
the centre sent a cat named Kilic to the mosque, which was built some 1,500
years ago, to join Gli, the kitty who already called the mosque home.
"Gli
passed away after a while due to old age,” Korkmaz explained, adding that the
free-ranging Kilic also went missing. “Now we’re planning to send Kilic's
grandson Seymen to Ayasofya.”
Korkmaz
said that under a new law to protect pets, Seymen has a microchip implanted
under his skin to help keep track of him.
Native
species: Angora cats
Stressing
that there is a demand for Angora cats from abroad, Korkmaz said: "It is
forbidden for many of our domestic species, including the Angora cat, to be
taken out of the country".
“But we
recently sent cats to the Turkish cities of Kars, Aydin, Izmir, Istanbul,
Adana, and Hatay. There are probably Angora cats in all 81 provinces of
Türkiye,” she underlined.
“Our
goal is to ensure that Angora cats, which are classified as a native species,
are kept as pets in every province,” she added.
The
historical Ayasofya Grand Mosque in Istanbul marked the third anniversary of
its reopening as a mosque in July.
The
venerable building was inherited from Fatih Sultan Mehmed, an Ottoman sultan,
and is the most important symbol of the conquest of Istanbul.
Mehmed
the Conqueror, as he is also known, performed his first Friday prayers after
conquering Istanbul in 1453.
Source: trtworld.com
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https://www.trtworld.com/turkiye/angora-cat-takes-up-new-home-at-ayasofya-mosque-on-international-cat-day-14390233
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Pakistan
Caretaker
PunjabCM Naqvi Highlights Legacy Of Imam Bukhari, Other Sufis From Uzbekistan
AUGUST
9, 2023
Caretaker
Chief Minister Punjab Mohsin Naqvi embarked on a visit to the mausoleum of Imam
Bukhari in the city of Samarkand, Uzbekistan. During the visit, he paid his
respects at the mausoleum and offered a special prayer.
Upon
reaching the mausoleum of Imam Bukhari, the caretaker warmly welcomed Chief
Minister Mohsin Naqvi and his delegation. CM Mohsin Naqvi, along with his
entourage, offered fateha and prayed for the country. The delegation further
explored the Imam Bukhari Memorial Complex, taking note of its architectural
brilliance and intricate details.
Mohsin
Naqvi highlighted the collaborative legacy of Imam Bukhari and other Sufis and
scholars from Uzbekistan. The artistry exhibited in the Imam Bukhari Memorial
Complex was met with admiration by the chief minister who praised the Uzbek
architectural style and the intricate tilework.
During
the visit to hospitals in Bukhara, CM assessed the healthcare facilities
available for patients and emphasized his dedication to providing exemplary
medical services in Punjab. The delegation also inspected the reception desk,
referral system, and other departments in Uzbek hospitals, including child
emergency, diagnostics, medical wards, and ICU.
The CM
engaged in discussions with doctors and medical professionals, acknowledging
their dedication to serving humanity. A briefing was provided about the
hospital complex, and CM expressed his appreciation for the high-quality
healthcare services offered to patients in Uzbek hospitals.
The
chief minister also inspected the modern equipment in different departments,
including the Cardiac & ICU, and observed the treatment procedures. He
showed keen interest in advanced medical technology, training seminars for
doctors, and the library system for medical practitioners.
CM and
his delegation were briefed about the tourist police station in Bukhara. The
delegation inspected different sections and reviewed the system established to
facilitate tourists. The chief minister also inspected the digital monitoring
system and commended its effectiveness. Furthermore, Mohsin Naqvi and his team
inspected the arrangements for tourist assistance and the reception desk. They
were provided with information about tourist attractions and the services
available to visitors through a map. Senior officials of the Uzbek tourist
police briefed Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi and the members of his delegation
about the procedure of helping tourists and the Silk Route.
Provincial
Ministers SM Tanvir, Amir Mir, Chief Secretary Zahid Akhtar Zaman, secretary
agriculture, APTMA’s Gohar Ejaz, Fawad Mukhtar, Shahid Sattar, and other
members of the delegation were also present.
Source: dailytimes.com.pk
Please click the following URL to read
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https://dailytimes.com.pk/1121141/naqvi-highlights-legacy-of-imam-bukhari-other-sufis-from-uzbekistan/
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CDNS
sets target of Rs75b in Islamic finance for fiscal year 2023-24
August 09, 2023
ISLAMABAD-The
Central Directorate of National Saving (CDNS) has set a target of Rs75 billion
in fiscal year 2023-24 to promote the Islamic financial sector in the country.
The aim
was to introduce new dimensions in the Islamic finance sector, a senior
official of CDNS told media here on Tuesday. The official informed that CDNS
had reviewed and set a target of Rs60 billion in the fiscal year (2022-23) for
Islamic investment to introduce the new products in the market. “Islamic
finance has a very important role in the global financial sector at this time,
and a large part of the economy of many major countries currently includes
Islamic finance,” The senior official said, adding that work on Islamic finance
is still needed in Pakistan.
He said
that at present, work was being done on institutional reforms in CDNS and new
reforms and innovations were being introduced. He said, “At this time Automated
Teller Machine (ATM) has also been introduced in CDNS which will provide enough
facilities to the users.”
The
official said, “CDNS will now provide facilities to its customers as a complete
bank.” Replying to a question, he said, “The CDNS has digitised National
Savings Certificates (NSCs) for the convenience of consumers and to modernise
the institutional process.” He said the CDNS and Central Depository Company of
Pakistan Limited (CDCP) signed an agreement to start a pilot project to
digitise and dematerialise the NSCs last week.
The
official said that this would increase investment in National Savings and
increase consumers’ confidence, adding that the agreement between National
Savings and CDCP was a part of the automation and digitisation of the
institution. He said the CDNS has digitised National Savings Certificates
(NSCs) for the convenience of consumers and to modernise the institutional
process. Replying to another question, the official said that the Central
Directorate of National Saving (CDNS) has set a target of Rs1,743 billion for
the current Fiscal Year 2023-24, to promote the saving culture in the country.
This is
Rs443 billion additional than the target of Rs1,300 billion for the previous
financial year 2022-23, he said. The official said, “The Central Directorate of
National Savings (CDNS) attained the target of issuing Rs1.48 trillion in fresh
bonds in the fiscal year 2022-23.”
Source: nation.com.pk
Please click the following URL to read
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PM
Shehbaz to send summary for NA dissolution to President Alvi todayAugust 9,
2023
August
9, 2023Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will send a summary to President Dr Arif
Alvi later today for the dissolution of the National Assembly (NA).
The
government had announced that assemblies would be dissolved on August 9
(today), three days ahead of its mandated period, following which elections are
to be held within 90 days.
Speaking
at a ceremony at General Headquarters in Rawalpindi on Tuesday, PM Shehbaz had
confirmed that he would write to the president today to bring an end to the incumbent
government’s tenure.
In a
separate meeting with media bodies, the premier said after the dissolution of
the assembly, the chief election commissioner was mandated to decide the future
course of action regarding the elections.
However,
he added, all the parties were unanimous in their view that elections should be
held as soon as possible.
Today,
the prime minister chaired the final meeting of the federal cabinet, which is
currently under way in Islamabad, according to Radio Pakistan.
During
the meeting, PM Shehbaz is expected to take cabinet members into confidence
over the composition of the caretaker government, which is likely to have
representation from all allied parties.
It is
expected that the prime minister will hold a meeting with the Leader of the
Opposition in the National Assembly Raja Riaz to fulfil his constitutional
obligation i.e. consultations regarding the appointment of an interim premier.
The
prime minister and the opposition leader can consult on the matter for three
days, even after the dissolution of the assembly. In case a consensus is not
reached, then the matter is referred to the Election Commission of Pakistan.
A day
earlier, PM Shehbaz denied the finalisation of any candidates for the post.
“No. None till now … no name has been shortlisted,” he said during an interview
on Dawn News show ‘Live with Adil Shahzeb’ when asked about the nominees.
The
premier added consultations with the government’s allies and his own party
members on the matter were a “continuous process” that would be completed
within a day or two.
To a
question about a PML-N member being appointed as the interim premier, he said
parties in the ruling coalition should make a decision to ensure that the
status of the interim prime minister was “generally acceptable” to the people.
eanwhile,
Leader of the Opposition Raja Riaz told reporters a day earlier that he hoped
his meeting with the PM would take place today where these matters would be
discussed. He was of the view that consultations would take place at “the right
time”.
According
to the opposition leader, he had completed the consultation process with his
allies and three names for the interim prime minister were almost finalised.
Later,
Riaz told Aaj News that the names for the caretaker PM were finalised after he
held three meetings with lawmakers from the opposition. “They do not include
any politicians, but an economist has been shortlisted,” he revealed.
The
opposition leader said he could even consider a politician for the interim PM
slot if suggested by the government. Some political observers believed that
Raja Riaz is a “friendly opposition leader” so he will not oppose the name
chosen by PM Shehbaz for the slot of caretaker prime minister.
Regarding
potential delays in elections, Riaz said polls should ideally be held within
three months but the approval of the latest census has complicated the matters.
“I think the election will be delayed by six months,” he said.
It may
be noted that Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has already said that general
elections could be delayed due to the delimitations of constituencies after the
notification of the 2023 census. He expected polls could be delayed till March
next year.
Source: dawn.com
Please click the following URL to read
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1769231/pm-shehbaz-to-send-summary-for-na-dissolution-to-president-alvi-today
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IHC
seeks response from federal, Punjab govts on plea seeking PTI chief’s transfer
to Adiala Jail
The
Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday sought responses from the federal and
Punjab governments to a plea filed by PTI Chairman Imran Khan seeking a
transfer from Attock Jail to Adiala Jail.
On Aug
5, an Islamabad trial court had declared Imran guilty of “corrupt practices” in
a case pertaining to concealing details of state gifts and sentenced him to
three years in prison. Soon after the verdict, he was arrested by the Punjab
police from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore.
The
trial court had ordered the Islamabad police chief to arrest the PTI chairman
but he was instead arrested by the Lahore police. Moreover, the court had
ordered the Adiala Jail superintendent to receive Imran but he was taken to the
Attock Jail.
The PTI
chief was given B-Class facilities by the Punjab prisons department. However,
his lawyers had claimed that he was being kept in “distressing conditions” and
was provided “C-Class jail facilities”.
On
Monday, Imran had moved the IHC seeking transfer from Attock Jail to a better
class in Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi. The former prime minister also sought
permission for regular visits by his legal team, family members, physician
Faisal Sultan and political aides to the jail.
IHC
Chief Justice Aamer Farooq presided over today’s hearing while Sher Afzal
Marwat appeared as the PTI chairman’s counsel. The judge said he will issue an
order today regarding granting Imran’s legal team permission to meet the
ex-premier.
The
hearing was adjourned till August 11 (Friday), with the court seeking responses
sought from the federal and Punjab governments.
At the
outset of the hearing, Imran’s lawyer recalled that a day ago, the IHC had
granted the legal team permission to meet the PTI chief while hearing the same
plea.
He
informed the court: “When we went to the [Attock] jail yesterday, we were not
allowed [to meet Imran] despite having the court order. We were told that it
was late.”
At this,
the IHC chief justice said, “It is my mistake. The order was issued late.”
Marwat
reiterated that he went to the jail as per the verdict but was not allowed to
meet his client.
Justice
Farooq then asked if there were specific timings for meeting prisoners. Marwat
answered that the meetings were allowed till 6pm.
The
lawyer also raised the issue of Naeem Haider Panjotha, Imran’s spokesman on
legal affairs, being summoned by the Federal Investigation Agency. Panjotha was
summoned in connection with an inquiry related to fake Facebook posts of the
trial court judge who convicted the PTI chief in the Toshakhana case.
“Yesterday,
another incident took place,” Marwat said.
Justice
Farooq then said the matter had come to his knowledge, adding, “Investigations
do not mean harassing someone.”
Imran’s
counsel further informed the IHC that Panjotha was summoned yesterday and
today, Khawaja Haris, Imran’s lead counsel in the Toshakhana trial, has been
summoned.
The IHC
chief justice responded, “I will look into it on the administrator side.” He
then asked, “Who is to decide that a person is not to be sent to Adiala Jail
but to another jail?
“Mian
Nawaz Sharif had requested and he went to Kot Lakhpat Jail,” Justice Farooq
noted.
Here,
Marwat asserted that the courts have to “ascertain whether there is any
ill-intention behind their (authorities’) acts”.
To this,
Justice Farooq observed, “Take care of one thing — that the law is not
violated.”
The
lawyer assured the judge that “all people will not go at once” to Attock Jail
to meet Imran, to which Justice Farooq said, “The purpose of saying this is
simply that 50 people do not form a political gathering.”
He
stated that he will issue an order regarding permission for the legal team to
meet Imran. The hearing of the case was put off till Aug 11 (Friday) as the IHC
sought responses from the federal and Punjab governments.
Two of
Imran’s lawyers booked for ‘attacking’ jail staff
Meanwhile,
two of Imran’s lawyers, Marwat and Advocate Umair Khan Niazi, were booked by
the Rawalpindi police late last night for threatening and attacking the Attock
Jail staff.
Filed by
Attock District Jail Deputy Superintendent Afzaal Ahmed Waraich, the first
information report (FIR) invokes sections 186 (obstructing public servant in
discharge of public functions), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public
servant from discharge of his duty) and 506 (punishment for criminal
intimidation) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
In the
complaint, Waraich said that at around 8:40pm last night, the in-charge of a
police picket near the civil judges’ residence informed the jail control room
that Niazi had arrived there to have the jail officials receive the IHC’s order
from yesterday.
While
two jail officials went to receive the court orders, Marwat had also reached
the police picket, the FIR said. It added that both lawyers then demanded the
jail officials allow them to meet Imran immediately so they can receive his
signatures for legal requirements.
The
complaint further said that the jail officials informed the lawyers that the
jail had been locked, after which no one could be allowed to meet any
imprisoned person.
It went
on to allege that subsequently, both lawyers got “extremely enraged” and
“misbehaved with and attacked” the complainant. The lawyers also tore the
clothes of Abrar Khan, a jail head warder, and threatened with “serious
consequences”, the FIR stated.
Adding
that the police officials present at the picket were eyewitnesses to the
incident, the complainant asked for strict legal action to be taken against
both lawyers.
Source: dawn.com
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Govt
gives employees ‘parting gift’ with 50pc allowance hike
August
9, 2023
Khaleeq
kiani
ISLAMABAD:
The current government, whose term is supposed to end today, has notified a
flat 50 per cent increase in the daily travelling and mileage allowances of all
government employees on official duty.
According
to a notification issued by the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday, the allowances
within the country would now be allowed at a maximum special rate of Rs7,200
per day for employees in Grade 22, followed by Rs6,000 to Grade 21 and Rs4,920
to those in Grade 19 and 20.
Likewise,
the maximum special daily rate for employees in grades 17 and 18 has been fixed
at Rs3,840, followed by Rs2,160 for those in Grades 12 to 16, Rs1,320 for
Grades 5 to 11, and Rs1,200 per day for Grades 1 to 4.
The
increase in allowances is effective July 1.
The transportation
cost has also been increased by 50pc to Rs7.5 per kilometre for cars and Rs3.75
for motorcycles. The per-kilometre mileage allowance has been jacked up by 50pc
to Rs15 for personal cars or taxis, Rs6 for motorcycles, Rs3 for bicycles, and Rs3.75
for public transport.
Air
travel is allowed at actual for employees in Grades 17 and above while the
carriage of personal effects on retirement or transfer has also been increased
to Rs0.03 per kg per km.
The
above daily allowance rates apply to specified stations for special rates as
notified from time to time, including Hyderabad, Karachi, Sukkur, Bahawalpur,
Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, Quetta, Sargodha, Sialkot, Lahore, Gujranwala,
Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Faisalabad, Peshawar, Gwadar, Gilgit-Baltistan, and
Muzaffarabad and Mirpur in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Likewise,
the ordinary daily allowance rates for other outstations have been increased by
50pc to Rs4,200 for Grade 21 and 22 employees, Rs3,720 for Grade 19 and 20,
Rs3,000 for Grade 17 and 18, up to Rs1,680 for Grade 12 and 16, Rs936 for Grade
5 to 11, and Rs744 for Grade 1 to 4 employees.
Daily
allowance will be admissible only for the actual nights at the outstation for
which the allowance is claimed. Where night stop is not involved and if the absence
from headquarters exceeds four hours, half daily allowance will be allowed.
These
rates will not apply where 20 fixed daily allowances for operational duties are
being paid with salary, which will be admissible on existing rates, i.e. the
rates on which daily allowances were being drawn at the level on June 30 this
year.
Government
employees of up to BPS 1-19 may stay in government guest houses, public sector
corporations, rest houses, motels and hotels (except for five-star ones). They
can claim actual room rent charges on the production of receipts subject to a
maximum of three daily allowances in specified stations and one and a half
daily allowances at non-specified stations.
Where no
hotel accommodation receipt is produced, the rate of accommodation charges will
be admissible, equivalent to two daily allowances in specified stations and one
allowance at non-specified stations.
Government
servants in Grades 20 and above may stay in hotels and claim room rent charges
on the production of receipts, subject to a maximum of three daily allowances
for specified stations and one and a half daily allowances on non-specified
stations. Where no hotel accommodation receipt is produced, the rate of
accommodation charges will be admissible, equivalent to two daily allowances in
specified stations and one daily allowance at non-specified stations.
For
Grades 20 and above, however, if the room rent charges exceed the maximum
ceiling, the government will pay 50pc of the additional amount.
Meanwhile,
similar increases have also been notified for government servants posted abroad
in diplomatic missions on account of foreign and entertainment allowances
payable in US dollars based on the United Nations non-housing consumer price
index. A separate rate list for these allowances has been notified for each
diplomatic mission, depending on various regions and countries.
Source: dawn.com
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Southeast Asia
Kelantan
Islamic Religious Affairs Dept to be intervener in constitutional challenge to
state’s Shariah law
07 Aug
2023
KOTA
BARU, Aug 7 — The Kelantan government takes seriously the constitutional challenge
filed by a lawyer and her daughter over the state Shariah law and has
instructed the Kelantan Islamic Religious Affairs Department (JAHEIK) to act as
an intervener in the proceedings of the case in the Federal Court.
Caretaker
Kelantan menteri besar Datuk Ahmad Yakob said the case involved questioning the
power of the state legislative assembly to formulate the Shariah criminal law
under the State List, Ninth Schedule of the Federal Constitution.
“The
state government on Thursday (August 3) has acted and instructed the Kelantan
Islamic Religious Affairs Department, as an interested party in safeguarding
the implementation of Islamic law in Kelantan, particularly in relation to the
Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code (I) Enactment 2019, to act as an intervener in
the case.
“This is
because the case will have a very big impact on the interests of Islam, the
Shariah Law and the Kelantan government as a whole,” he said in a statement
here today.
Ahmad
also called on Muslims and Muslim non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the
state to play their respective roles in protecting the state’s Shariah law.
Meanwhile,
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Mohd
Na’im Mokhtar, in a statement, called on state religious authorities, statutory
bodies relating to Islam and religion-related NGOs to involve themselves in the
proceedings of the court case filed by lawyer Nik Elin Zurina Nik Abdul Rashid
against the Kelantan government either as an intervener, watching brief or
amicus curiae (friend of the court).
Nik Elin
Zurina and her daughter, Tengku Yasmin Nastasha Tengku Abdul Rahman filed a
constitutional challenge regarding the 20 provisions contained in the Kelantan
Syariah Criminal Code (I) Enactment 2019 which they claimed are invalid as
there are federal laws covering the same offences.
The duo
contends that the power to legislate on criminal matters belongs exclusively to
Parliament, with state assemblies only given the right to enact laws concerning
the Islamic faith.
They
went directly to the Federal Court as it has exclusive jurisdiction to decide
such questions, based on Article 128(1)(a) of the Federal Constitution.
For such
constitutional challenges under the Article 4(4) route, it can only start if a
Federal Court judge grants leave or permission.
On
September 30 last year, Federal Court judge Datuk Vernon Ong Lam Kiat heard
arguments by lawyers for the two women and the Kelantan government, before
deciding on the same day to allow the two women to commence their court challenge.
— Bernama
Source: malaysiakini.com
Please click the following URL to read
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https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2023/08/07/kelantan-islamic-religious-affairs-dept-to-be-intervener-in-constitutional-challenge-to-states-shariah-law/84061
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DAP
lawmaker Hannah Yeoh: Non-Muslims Fear PAS Because Of Hadi, Not 'Green Wave'
Yasmin
Ramlan
Aug 8,
2023
PAS
president Abdul Hadi Awang’s caustic statements and not the “Green Wave” have
struck fear in the hearts of non-Muslims, according to DAP lawmaker Hannah
Yeoh.
She said
this in response to PAS Youth committee member Nazrul Hakim Nazari, who blamed
the Islamist party’s political rivals for sowing this perception amongst
non-Muslims.
Source: malaysiakini.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/675024
--------
Indonesian
Jamboree Contingent in South Korea Safely Relocated to Temporary Shelter
Najla
Nur Fauziyah
Petir
Garda Bhwana
9 August
2023
TEMPO.CO,
Jakarta - Indonesian contingent to the World Scouts Jamboree in Saemangeum,
South Korea, has arrived at the temporary shelter in Wonkwang University dorm,
Jeollabuk Province, on Tuesday, August 8, 2023. The participants of the event
were relocated by the South Korean Government following extreme weather and
Typhoon Khanun warning.
The
evacuation process began at 08:00 a.m. to relocate the participants aged 14 to
17 years old first. The last bus containing the Indonesian contingent left the
camping venue at 18:25 p.m. KST. The South Korean government prepared more than
1,000 buses to relocate 36,000 scouts from 150 states.
The
Wonkwang University dorm is located in North Jeolla Province, 55 kilometers
away from Saemangeum. The government prepared 1,600 bedrooms in the dorm, which
accommodate the 1,569 Indonesian contingents.
Previously,
the problem-ridden jamboree was criticized after hundreds of participants fell
sick due to a heatwave in South Korea. The US and UK contingents have pulled
out of the event.
South Korean
government prepared eight cities and provinces, including Seoul and Gyeonggi
province to host the jamboree contingents as their temporary shelter. Around
4,000 participants will stay in North Jeolla Province where the camp is
located, according to Yonhap.
Officially,
the jamboree was set to run for ten days, ending on August 12, 2023. The World
Scout Jamboree closing ceremony will still be on schedule for August 11, 2023,
in Sang-am World Cup Stadium, Seoul. The closing ceremony will be enlivened
with a K-pop concert.
The
Indonesian contingent is set to head back subsequently on August 12-14, 2023.
Source: en.tempo.co
Please click the following URL to read
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--------
Islamist
party PAS aiming for clean sweep in Terengganu state polls
Hazlin
Hassan
KUALA
TERENGGANU – The federal opposition Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition led by
the fundamentalist Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) is eyeing a clean sweep of all
32 seats in the conservative east coast state of Terengganu at the Aug 12 state
elections.
Malaysian
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s unity government – comprising Pakatan Harapan
(PH) and Barisan Nasional (BN) – is fighting against seemingly insurmountable
odds. In the November 2022 General Election, Datuk Seri Anwar’s coalition did
not win a single federal parliamentary seat in Terengganu.
PAS is
Terengganu’s incumbent ruling party.
“PAS is
strong here. If you look at the last election, PAS took all the seats. Everyone
says Umno has no chance,” said a 49-year-old food trucker who wanted to be
known only as Pak Lan. Umno is BN’s lynchpin party.
Pak
Lan’s food truck is located at a park near the massive Terengganu drawbridge,
built at a cost of nearly RM250 million (S$73.6 million) and an iconic symbol
of the state that is one of the poorest in Malaysia, yet rich with oil.
Terengganu
PAS election director Ariffin Deraman told The Straits Times: “Our target is 32
seats. It is not just rhetoric, we have the data (to support this).”
“If you
break down the (November) results by state constituencies, we lost in only one
state seat, and by a very thin margin,” said Mr Ariffin, adding that the party
hopes to win the seat this time.
“The PN
wave is still strong. We don’t see any major changes so far,” he noted,
referring to a surge of support for PAS in November, making it the biggest bloc
of MPs in Parliament.
He is
confident, despite the lack of any major rallies by PAS here. It is opting
instead to hold smaller-scale events in villages and live-streams on social
media.
Campaigning
has also been muted while the state observed a five-day mourning period for
Terengganu Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin’s mother, who died on Aug 3.
“We are
focusing on campaigning in the state seat areas. We have nightly events in
every seat, but on a small scale,” said Mr Ariffin.
For both
sides of the political divide, campaigning has been quiet and low-key in
Terengganu, a swing state that has switched several times between PAS and BN in
the past few years.
In the
2018 election, PAS won 22 state assembly seats in Terengganu, while BN won 10.
It could
prove to be a challenge for Umno to win seats in Malay-majority areas because
it has aligned itself with Mr Anwar’s PH coalition, which counts the
Chinese-led Democratic Action Party (DAP) as an ally. DAP is often used as a
bogeyman to whip up Malay support.
A voter
from Besut district, who wanted to be known only as Syaza, told ST: “I want a
leader who prioritises Islam because we are Muslims.”
One of
the issues plaguing the state government is the legacy of white elephant
projects left behind by previous Umno administrations. Terengganu is one of
four Malaysian states with oil and gas deposits offshore.
The
federal government channels back to Terengganu so-called “oil royalty” funds
that were used by the previous state administrations to build “mega” projects.
Along
with each new Umno chief minister came a new “mega” project. But every time a
new project was announced, the last one would end up becoming a white elephant.
Before
the current PAS chief minister, Terengganu saw a change of chief minister three
times between 2004 and 2018 due to Umno infighting, which also caused it to
lose control of the state in 2018.
PAS has
been working on reviving some of the abandoned projects, including building a
bridge at Poh island near Kenyir Lake, which was officially opened in June. A
hotel is expected to be completed there in September.
Terengganu
receives royalty funds amounting to RM1.5 billion annually, which is a huge
boost to its state coffers.
Mr
Ariffin said the federal government under Mr Anwar has been paying the state
the oil royalty in monthly instalments. He did not disclose the amount paid
each month.
“We hope
that starting from September, the government will give the state the money in
full,” he said.
He said
the PAS state government had fulfilled all of its promises under the 2018
election manifesto, and hence there should be no reason for voters to switch.
These include providing free water for the poor, building more religious
schools, and increasing Malay reserve land.
As part
of its manifesto for the upcoming state elections, PAS has promised to provide
interest-free motorcycle loans for those earning less than RM4,000, grants for
youth entrepreneurs, and cash aid for farmers and fishermen.
“We have
a good Menteri Besar who runs an excellent administration. He is educated and
takes measures to help the people, not for personal gain. So we don’t have any
problems with the state government. I am satisfied with it,” said 44-year-old
financial officer Sumayyah Ibrahim.
Source: straitstimes.com
Please click the following URL to read
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https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/islamist-party-aiming-for-clean-sweep-in-terengganu-state-polls
---------
South Asia
Refugee
Minister Calls for Solving Problems of Afghan Refugees
Nazir Shinwari
August
9, 2023
Khalil
Rahman Haqqani, acting minister of Refugees and Repatriation, in a meeting with
Daniel Peter Endres, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in
Afghanistan, criticized the challenges ahead of the Afghan refugees in
neighboring and European countries and called for legal aid for Afghan
refugees, the ministry reported.
Haqqani
also criticized the process of distributing humanitarian aid.
“In this
meeting the situation of the refugees in many countries, the situation of the
internally displaced people in the country and also about the aid distribution
mechanism were discussed,” said Abdul Mutalib Haqqani, a spokesman for the
Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation.
This
comes as Afghan refugees abroad said that they are facing severe problems in
Pakistan, Iran and Turkey.
“On the
borders, the Afghans who enter Turkey’s soil are being shot by the border
police and they are being treated with bad behavior,” said Wahidullah Amini, an
Afghan refugee.
“The Islamic
Emirate should discuss solving the problems of refugees through diplomatic
methods,” said Ahmad Faisal Nizami, an Afghan refugee.
The
refugee rights activists said that the issue of the Afghan refugees should be
addressed through diplomatic paths.
“Here,
the Afghans are being disturbed by the police and when they are being detained
they are facing improper treatment in the prisons,” said Mohammad Khan Talibi,
a refugee rights activist.
Source: tolonews.com
Please click the following URL to read
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https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-184550
--------
Islamic
State Group In Mozambique, DRC Increasing Links
Aug 8, 2023
Two
reports shed light on the growing connection between Islamic State group
affiliates in Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
For the
first time, the United Nations Group of Experts on the DRC highlighted
organizational links between the insurgents in Mozambique’s northern Cabo
Delgado province and the Allied Democratic Forces terror group based in the
eastern DRC.
“Since
late 2021, [the Allied Democratic Forces] has held several meetings with
representatives of [the Islamic State group] and/or Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jama’a
(ASWJ) in Mozambique, in South Kivu, to discuss operational strategy and tactics,”
the experts stated in their June 13 report.
“One
such encounter occurred in Shabunda territory in June 2022 following a similar
meeting in Kigoma, Tanzania, in August 2021. Sources reported that in early
2023, Ibn Omar and Sheikh Abu Yassir Hassan, the military and spiritual leaders
of Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jama’a in Mozambique, respectively, travelled to South
Kivu, where they met with senior members of the leadership of [the Allied
Democratic Forces].”
ASWJ
also is known as IS-Mozambique, and the Allied Democratic Forces also is known
as the Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP).
“The
Allied Democratic Forces’ objective is to carry out acts of terror that make
big publicity,” DRC government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya said at a briefing
after the militants killed 41 people, including 38 students, at a Ugandan
school 2 kilometers from the DRC border on June 17.
Publicity
is one of the Islamic State group’s goals, as the international organization
operates on multiple media platforms and regularly highlights attacks by its
affiliates.
The
recent U.N. report showed deep connections between the Islamic State group’s
parent organization and its affiliates that previously had not been documented.
The
Islamic State group has “provided financial support to [the Allied Democratic
Forces] since at least 2019 through a complex financial scheme involving
individuals in several countries on the continent.”
Another
comprehensive report, published on June 1 by the Bridgeway Foundation, went
into greater detail on how IS manages its finance networks in Africa, with
cells in Mozambique, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.
IS has
used “a regionally pooled approach in which regional ‘offices’ oversee revenue
generation and distribution to help finance Islamic State affiliates in their
area of responsibility,” the Bridgeway report stated.
The
Bridgeway Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to preventing
genocide with a specific focus on Central and East Africa.
Evidence
from Bridgeway and the U.N. Group of Experts leads up to 2021, but the IS
financing networks have since taken hits.
In
January of this year, security forces killed Bilal al-Sudani, who coordinated
IS financial flows through Somalia.
Also in
Somalia, Abdirizak Mohamed Abdi Jimale, who reported to al-Sudani and managed
transactions, was convicted and jailed, according to the Group of Experts
report.
The
recent attack in Uganda was typical of the Allied Democratic Forces, which
often uses machetes and hatchets instead of guns. Joint military efforts by the
DRC and Uganda have focused on flushing the group from its South Kivu region
hideouts.
Maj.
Gen. Dick Olum, commander of Ugandan troops in the DRC, called the school
attack “a typical signature” of the group.
“They
are under huge pressure,” he told reporters. “That’s what they have to do to
show the world that they are still there, and to show the world that they can
still do havoc.”
Of the
many armed groups operating in the eastern DRC, the Allied Democratic Forces
are among the deadliest, accused of killing thousands of civilians.
Originally
a rebel group that formed in Uganda, it has been present in the eastern DRC
since the 1990s and pledged allegiance in April 2019 to the Islamic State
group, which began referring to the group as ISCAP.
Four
months later in August 2019, the caliphate acknowledged ASWJ as an affiliate
and referred to it as a branch of ISCAP.
ASWJ
began making international headlines in 2020 with a spate of larger, better
coordinated and deadlier attacks. In May 2022 analysts noted that the caliphate
had begun referring to the group as IS-Mozambique.
Beyond
the IS international and regional financial networks, there is evidence of
contact between the ASWJ and the Allied Democratic Forces, including reports
that some ASWJ leaders were trained in the DRC several years ago.
In 2018,
Mozambican security forces arrested six Ugandans affiliated with the Allied
Democratic Forces in Mocimboa da Praia, a center of ASWJ activity in Cabo
Delgado.
“The
group’s leaders have links with religious circles, commercial and military
activities of radical Islamist groups in Tanzania, Somalia, Kenya and the Great
Lakes Region, mostly through training there,” according to reporting by Peter
Fabricius of the South Africa-based Institute for Security Studies.
“The
members are trained both locally — sometimes by disaffected police officers and
security guards — and externally in Tanzania and the Great Lakes Region by
militia chiefs hired by ASWJ in Tanzania, Kenya and Somalia.”
Source: adf-magazine.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://adf-magazine.com/2023/08/islamic-state-group-in-mozambique-drc-increasing-links/
-------
Islamic
State Group Claims 16 Soldiers Dead in Mali Attack
AUGUST
8, 2023
The
Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for an attack in the Menaka
region of northeastern Mali last week, which it said killed 16 soldiers.
Mali’s
ruling junta has not spoken about the incident since reports of it began to
emerge on August 3.
In its
Amaq propaganda platform, the Islamic State group said fighters affiliated with
it ambushed a Malian army convoy traveling towards Niger.Dozens of soldiers
were injured and the fighting lasted about an hour, the group said.
Mali has
since 2012 been battling a jihadist insurgency that began in the north and
spread to the center of the country and to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.
The
Menaka region has for months been at the forefront of a push by Islamic State
in the Greater Sahara (ISGS). recent Human Rights Watch report accused the
group of being behind “hundreds” of deaths and forcing thousands from their
homes since the start of the year.
Source: thedefensepost.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.thedefensepost.com/2023/08/08/islamic-state-mali-soldiers-attack/?expand_article=1
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200
Licenses Awarded to Mine Emeralds in Panjshir: Officials
Rohullah
Sangar
August
9, 2023
Local
officials in Panjshir said that they have issued licenses to 200 people to work
on the extraction of emerald mines and that the licenses for 300 other people
will be issued soon.
Panjshir's
department of Mines and Petroleum said there are a total of 750 emerald mines,
and 20 new mines have been newly discovered.
“In
Panjshir 750 emerald mines have been surveyed and registered. Around 200 people
received their license,” said Mohammad Qassim Amiri, head of the Panjshir
department of Mines and Petroleum.
Speaking
at the inauguration ceremony of the issuance of the licensed for extraction of
the emerald mines, the provincial governor, Mohammad Agha Hakim, said that
several mines have been discovered by the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum.
“Several
mines have been discovered by the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum and we hope
to inaugurate those mines as well in the near future,” he said.
Some of
the participants urged the government officials to not interfere in the
extraction of mines.
“The
individuals who are involved in the guidelines of the mines, let them (mine
extractors) work and don’t interfere in their work,’ said Qiamuddin Hanif, head
of the Panjshir Ulema.
Some
residents of Panjshir said working in the mines is their only means of income
in the current situation.
“Because
we do not have any other business and we were working only on the mines, many
mine workers have become jobless,” said Sayedullah, a mine extractor.
“The
mines have their problems including landslides and avalanches,” said Mohammad
Aman, a mine extractor.
According
to the Panjshir department of Mines and Petroleum, work on iron mines will
begin soon in the province.
Source: tolonews.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://tolonews.com/business-184552
---------
Pakistan
Claim Afghans Involved in Terrorist Incidents
By Mitra
Majeedy
August
9, 2023
General
Syed Asim Munir, Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff, once again accused Afghan
citizens of being involved in terrorist incidents in Pakistan.
Munir
said that insecurity in Pakistan is not benefitting the region, and added that
he will spare no efforts to destroy terrorists and protect citizens.
“The
involvement of Afghan nationals in terrorist incidents in Pakistan is
detrimental to regional peace, stability and deviation from the Doha Peace
Agreement by the interim Afghan government,” said Munir as quoted in an
Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement reported by Dawn.
"The
claims of the Pakistani authorities, especially the Pakistani military, that
Afghan citizens are involved in the explosions in Pakistan, without providing
documents, are related to the policy of Western countries, which is carried out
by Pakistan," said Aziz Marij, a political analyst.
The
Islamic Emirate's spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, denied the Pakistani
official’s claims and said that Afghanistan’s soil will not be a threat to any
other country.
"The
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan does not allow anyone to use Afghanistan's soil
against another country. If there is any concern in this regard, it should be
directly shared with the Islamic Emirate,” Mujahid said.
According
to political analysts, Pakistan wants to make the current Afghan government responsible
to cover up their security problems.
"Pakistan's
security sector, whether it be its army, intelligence, or police, wants to
blame others for their incompetence and they always blame Afghanistan or
India," Wahid Faqiri, a political analyst said.
"Pakistan
is trying to manage Afghanistan's foreign politics as they did Afghanistan's
foreign policy in the previous four and a half decades,” Janat Fahim Chakari,
another political analyst said.
Previously,
Pakistan's foreign ministry warned that if the current Afghan government does
not take steps against terrorist groups in Afghanistan, Islamabad will use a
military option.
The
Foreign Ministry of Pakistan also claimed that three Afghan citizens from
Kandahar province were involved in a deadly attack on a military base in the
country.
Source: tolonews.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-184554
--------
Islamic
State Group In Mozambique, DRC Increasing Links
Aug 8,
2023
Two
reports shed light on the growing connection between Islamic State group
affiliates in Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
For the
first time, the United Nations Group of Experts on the DRC highlighted
organizational links between the insurgents in Mozambique’s northern Cabo
Delgado province and the Allied Democratic Forces terror group based in the
eastern DRC.
“Since
late 2021, [the Allied Democratic Forces] has held several meetings with
representatives of [the Islamic State group] and/or Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jama’a
(ASWJ) in Mozambique, in South Kivu, to discuss operational strategy and
tactics,” the experts stated in their June 13 report.
“One
such encounter occurred in Shabunda territory in June 2022 following a similar
meeting in Kigoma, Tanzania, in August 2021. Sources reported that in early
2023, Ibn Omar and Sheikh Abu Yassir Hassan, the military and spiritual leaders
of Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jama’a in Mozambique, respectively, travelled to South
Kivu, where they met with senior members of the leadership of [the Allied
Democratic Forces].”
ASWJ
also is known as IS-Mozambique, and the Allied Democratic Forces also is known
as the Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP).
“The
Allied Democratic Forces’ objective is to carry out acts of terror that make
big publicity,” DRC government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya said at a briefing
after the militants killed 41 people, including 38 students, at a Ugandan
school 2 kilometers from the DRC border on June 17.
Publicity
is one of the Islamic State group’s goals, as the international organization
operates on multiple media platforms and regularly highlights attacks by its
affiliates.
The
recent U.N. report showed deep connections between the Islamic State group’s
parent organization and its affiliates that previously had not been documented.
The
Islamic State group has “provided financial support to [the Allied Democratic
Forces] since at least 2019 through a complex financial scheme involving
individuals in several countries on the continent.”
Another
comprehensive report, published on June 1 by the Bridgeway Foundation, went
into greater detail on how IS manages its finance networks in Africa, with
cells in Mozambique, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.
IS has
used “a regionally pooled approach in which regional ‘offices’ oversee revenue
generation and distribution to help finance Islamic State affiliates in their
area of responsibility,” the Bridgeway report stated.
The
Bridgeway Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to preventing
genocide with a specific focus on Central and East Africa.
Evidence
from Bridgeway and the U.N. Group of Experts leads up to 2021, but the IS
financing networks have since taken hits.
In
January of this year, security forces killed Bilal al-Sudani, who coordinated
IS financial flows through Somalia.
Also in
Somalia, Abdirizak Mohamed Abdi Jimale, who reported to al-Sudani and managed
transactions, was convicted and jailed, according to the Group of Experts
report.
The
recent attack in Uganda was typical of the Allied Democratic Forces, which
often uses machetes and hatchets instead of guns. Joint military efforts by the
DRC and Uganda have focused on flushing the group from its South Kivu region
hideouts.
Maj.
Gen. Dick Olum, commander of Ugandan troops in the DRC, called the school
attack “a typical signature” of the group.
“They
are under huge pressure,” he told reporters. “That’s what they have to do to
show the world that they are still there, and to show the world that they can
still do havoc.”
Of the many
armed groups operating in the eastern DRC, the Allied Democratic Forces are
among the deadliest, accused of killing thousands of civilians.
Originally
a rebel group that formed in Uganda, it has been present in the eastern DRC
since the 1990s and pledged allegiance in April 2019 to the Islamic State
group, which began referring to the group as ISCAP.
Four
months later in August 2019, the caliphate acknowledged ASWJ as an affiliate
and referred to it as a branch of ISCAP.
ASWJ
began making international headlines in 2020 with a spate of larger, better
coordinated and deadlier attacks. In May 2022 analysts noted that the caliphate
had begun referring to the group as IS-Mozambique.
Beyond
the IS international and regional financial networks, there is evidence of
contact between the ASWJ and the Allied Democratic Forces, including reports
that some ASWJ leaders were trained in the DRC several years ago.
In 2018,
Mozambican security forces arrested six Ugandans affiliated with the Allied
Democratic Forces in Mocimboa da Praia, a center of ASWJ activity in Cabo
Delgado.
“The
group’s leaders have links with religious circles, commercial and military
activities of radical Islamist groups in Tanzania, Somalia, Kenya and the Great
Lakes Region, mostly through training there,” according to reporting by Peter
Fabricius of the South Africa-based Institute for Security Studies.
“The
members are trained both locally — sometimes by disaffected police officers and
security guards — and externally in Tanzania and the Great Lakes Region by
militia chiefs hired by ASWJ in Tanzania, Kenya and Somalia.”
Source: adf-magazine.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://adf-magazine.com/2023/08/islamic-state-group-in-mozambique-drc-increasing-links/
-------
Europe
GCC
Islamic Insurers Face Challenges With IFRS 17 Adoption: S&P
9th
August 202
Islamic
insurers operating in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region are poised for
continued growth in 2023, but the adoption of the International Financial
Reporting Standard 17 (IFRS 17) is presenting significant challenges, according
to S&P Global Ratings.
While
the implementation is expected to usher in enhanced transparency and
comparability, smaller and under-resourced players may struggle to update their
internal processes and IT systems to meet the new standards.
S&P
Global Ratings has highlighted that the transition to IFRS 17 will likely
result in additional costs, time constraints, and operational hurdles for
Islamic insurers in the GCC.
Despite
this, the ratings agency anticipates that the overall credit ratings of these
insurers will remain largely stable.
However,
any major delays or inconsistencies in financial reporting could trigger
negative rating actions in isolated cases, according to Emir Mujkic, a credit
analyst at S&P Global Ratings.
Tremor -
The modern way to place reinsurance
“While
the implementation presents new challenges for all insurers in the region,
including Islamic insurers, we expect our ratings on them to remain broadly
stable,” Mujkic stated.
He
added, “However, any significant implementation delays or inconsistencies in
financial reporting standards could lead to negative rating actions in isolated
cases.”
The
adoption of IFRS 17 is aimed at bolstering transparency within the insurance
industry, enabling easier identification and comparison of insurers’ profit
generation and risk management strategies.
The new
reporting standard is expected to bring about greater clarity and consistency
in financial statements across the industry.
Despite
the potential benefits, there are notable discrepancies in the level of
preparedness among insurers across the GCC region.
Smaller
and midsize Islamic insurers, in particular, face significant challenges due to
their limited resources and capacity to implement IFRS 17 effectively, the
report noted.
Source: reinsurancene.ws
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.reinsurancene.ws/gcc-islamic-insurers-face-challenges-with-ifrs-17-adoption-sp/
-------
UK ‘at
risk of recession next year’ due to soaring interest rates, economists warn
Henry
Saker-Clark
The UK
economy is at risk of entering a recession next year amid pressure from higher
interest rates and increased unemployment, a think tank has warned.
The
National Institute of Economic and Social Research (Niesr) said in its main
forecast that the economy will avoid a recession – defined by two or more
quarters of falling gross domestic product (GDP) in a row – this year but there
is still a “60 per cent risk” of a recession at the end of 2024.
It
predicted that UK GDP will increase by 0.4 per cent in 2023, representing a
marginal improvement on its previous forecast in May.
But
Niesr also downgraded previous predictions of 0.6 per cent growth next year
down to 0.3 per cent after pressure from higher-than-expected borrowing costs.
As a
result, the think tank has predicted it will be another year until UK GDP
recovers to where it was before the coronavirus pandemic struck in early 2020.
Source: independent.co.uk
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/uk-recession-economy-interest-rates-b2390029.html
-------
Lottery
player wins $1.58bn jackpot in third-largest ever in US history
9 August
2023
Someone
in Florida has won a $1.58 billion Mega Millions jackpot - the third-largest
ever in US history.
The
winning numbers drawn were 13, 19, 20, 32, 33 and the yellow ball - 14.
Freedom
to choose, freedom to save. Croma Independence Sale is Live!
It ended
a stretch of lottery futility that had stretched for nearly four months.
Before
the big win on Tuesday night, there had been 31 straight drawings since the
last time somebody scooped the game's jackpot on 18 April.
Mega
Millions jackpot winners are usually rare, with winning odds of one in 302.6
million.
The
$1.58 billion pay-out would go to the winner if they opt for an annuity, doled
out over 30 years. But people usually prefer a lump sum option, which for
Tuesday's jackpot is an estimated $783.3 million.
The
prize money is subject to federal taxes and many states also tax lottery
winnings.
Tickets
for the $2 game are sold in 45 states, Washington, DC, and the US Virgin
Islands.
Source: news.sky.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://news.sky.com/story/lucky-player-wins-1-58bn-jackpot-in-third-largest-ever-in-us-history-12936450
-------
Most
Germans against sending long-range missiles to Kiev – poll
9 Aug,
2023
66% of
respondents do not want Berlin to support Ukraine with Taurus missiles capable
of reaching Moscow, according to a survey by RTL and n-tv
Most
Germans against sending long-range missiles to Kiev – poll
An
Eurofighter jet of the German Air Force is pictured at the Tactical Air Force
Squadron 31 "Boelcke" in Noervenich on September 27, 2019. © Ina FASSBENDER / AFP
Most
Germans are opposed to providing Kiev with long-range missiles that could
potentially be used to hit targets deep in Russian territory, according to a
new RTL and n-tv poll released on Tuesday.
A survey
conducted by the Forsa research institute on behalf of the two German channels
found that only 28% of German citizens want their government to supply Ukraine
with Taurus missiles, which carry a 500kg warhead and have a range of about
500km, making them potentially capable of reaching Moscow. Meanwhile, a clear
majority of 66% reject the idea.
Ukraine
has been asking for the Taurus since at least late May. However, at the time,
the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper claimed that some in the German
government were skeptical of the request, doubting that Kiev would use the
weapons sensibly, potentially allowing the conflict to “escalate
uncontrollably.”
Similar
concerns were also voiced by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who said last month
that he agreed with US President Joe Biden that Western-supplied weapons should
not be used to attack Russian territory. Last week, German Defense Minister
Boris Pistorius ruled out such deliveries, saying they are “not our top
priority right now” and pointing out that the US had so far refrained from a
similar move.
But according
to Ukrainian lawmaker Egor Chernev, that stance is not shared by many German
MPs. Earlier this week, he claimed that the key parties in parliament had
“reached consensus” on the delivery of Taurus missiles. “Finally, the ice has
broken. We await an official decision,” he stated.
While
Germany and the US have so far dragged their feet on the delivery of long-range
missiles to Ukraine, Kiev has already received Storm Shadow missiles with a
range of over 250km from the UK. Last month, France also pledged to support the
country with long-range SCALP rockets.
After
receiving Western-supplied long-range munitions, Ukraine reportedly used them
to target civilian facilities and infrastructure in the Russian city of Lugansk
and on the Crimean peninsula.
Moscow
has repeatedly warned the West against “pumping” Ukraine with weapons, arguing
that military assistance would prolong hostilities but fail to change the
ultimate outcome of the conflict.
Source: rt.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.rt.com/news/581029-germans-oppose-long-range-missiles-ukraine/
--------
Police
Bust Global Paedophile Ring After Fatal FBI Shooting
9 Aug,
2023
August
8, 2023. © Australian Federal Police /
Facebook
At least
98 people have been arrested in the US and Australia as part of a sweeping
child sex abuse probe, according to officials in both countries. The
investigation was launched after two US federal agents were shot dead while
pursuing a suspect in 2021.
The FBI
and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) announced the arrests during a joint
press conference on Tuesday, noting that 19 people in Australia and another 79
in the US are now in custody, all facing charges linked to an alleged child
abuse ring spanning multiple countries.
AFP
Commander Helen Schneider said the suspects operated a “technologically
sophisticated online child abuse network” on the dark web and “used software to
anonymously share files,” with some believed to have committed offenses for
more than a decade. She added that most of the Australian suspects worked in
occupations that require a “high degree” of knowledge about online networks,
helping them to evade detection.
Two of
the Australian men have already been convicted, according to Schneider, while
FBI legal attache Nitiana Mann said there were another 43 convictions in the
US. At least 13 children were removed from harm’s way as a result of the probe.
“This
operation was highly complex. The complexity and anonymity of these platforms
means that no agency or country can fight these threats alone,” Mann said,
adding that the FBI had alerted the authorities in other countries about
suspects within their jurisdictions, though did not mention any by name.
The sex
abuse ring was first uncovered by the FBI in 2021, after special agents Daniel
Alfin and Laura Schwartzenberger were fatally shot while serving a search
warrant for suspect David Lee Huber in Florida. Three other agents were wounded
in the firefight, after which Huber took his own life.
Evidence
gathered following the deadly shootout would later tip off the bureau to a
wider pedophile network beyond US borders, with the FBI passing intelligence
about potential Australian members to the AFP last year. Dubbed ‘Operation
Bakis’, the resulting joint probe is ongoing, and Schneider noted that future
arrests should not be ruled out.
According
to Mann, more than 200 international leads were sent to third countries
throughout the operation, while over 300 separate child sex abuse
investigations have been launched as a result.
Source: rt.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.rt.com/news/581023-pedophile-ring-fbi-shooting/
-------
URL:
https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/boycott-muslims-panchayats-haryana/d/130417