‘Spreading Hate and Venom’: Ex-BJP Allies, AIADMK, SAD, Opposition Parties Flay PM Modi’s Remarks on Muslims
New Age Islam News Bureau
24 April 2024
Prime
Minister Narendra Modi addresses a public meeting for Lok Sabha elections, in
Aligarh. (PTI)
------
·
‘Spreading Hate and Venom’: Ex-BJP Allies, AIADMK,
SAD, Opposition Parties Flay PM Modi’s Remarks on Muslims
·
How Resumption of Movie Screening Provided a Global
Platform for Local Saudi Talent
·
Bangladesh Organisation Ahl-Al-Hadith Notice Doctored
to Promote False ‘Cash for Islamic Conversion’ Claim
·
Men Deciding Terms of Nikah Put Brides at A
Disadvantage: Pakistan Supreme Court
·
UK’s Top Al-Qaeda Terror Chief and Bin Laden's Top
Operative In Europe, Rangzieb Ahmed, Steps Closer To Freedom
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India
·
Farooq Abdullah Reacts to PM Modi's ‘Mangalsutra’
Remarks in Rajasthan: ‘Our Islam Teaches to Walk Together with Everyone
·
BJP’s ‘divisive agenda’ equally harmful for Hindus
& Muslims: Mehbooba
·
Congress gave Andhra Pradesh Muslims quota in 2004,
but HC struck it down
·
PM Modi doesn’t do politics on religion basis, never
thought of dividing society: Rajnath
·
ASI ends survey at Bhojshala Temple-Kamal Maula Mosque
complex in MP
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Arab
World
·
Islamic Fiqh Council,In Its Concluding Statement,
Condemns Abuse, Violations against Muslims
·
Al-Ansari: Doha Needs to Reassess Mediation Efforts
Between Hamas, Zionist Entity
·
Outer Edge Summit in Riyadh explores AI, digital
futures
·
Al-Sudais Praises Saudi Leadership’s Dedication To
Islamic Values
·
Madinah forum targets improved pilgrim experience
·
19 million visit Al-Rawda Al-Sharif, highlighting
Madinah's growing importance in Umrah experience
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South
Asia
·
Thailand rolls out red carpet to greet Sheikh Hasina
on her official visit
·
173 Bangladeshis to return home from Myanmar tomorrow
·
Over 3 Tons Solid and 22,000 Liters Liquid Narcotics
Incinerated in Kabul
·
US State Dept: 90% of prisoners in Afghanistan are
political
·
US State Dept releases report on extensive Human
Rights violations in Afghanistan
·
Deported Migrants from Pakistan Concerned About Their
Future
·
Russia’s special envoy meets with IEA ministers,
discusses bilateral issues
----
Pakistan
·
LHC Orders Federal Govt to Review Steps Taken to
Implement Anti-Rape Law
·
Cipher case judge may be repatriated over ‘misconduct’
·
3 terrorists killed in intelligence-based operation in
Balochistan’s Pishin district: ISPR
·
IHC full court decides to give ‘institutional
response’ to meddling
·
Cop martyred while protecting Peshawar Sikh healer
·
Imran alleges ‘pre-planned’ rigging in Punjab by-polls
----
Europe
·
European Parliament Members Criticize EU As
'Accomplice’ In Israeli War On Gaza
·
France imposing restrictions on expressions of
solidarity with Gaza: Amnesty
·
Germany to resume cooperation with Palestinian UNRWA
agency
·
Dutch intelligence: Europe foiled 10 jihadist attacks
in 2023, Gaza war among triggers
·
Norway Calls on Donors to Resume Funding to
Palestinian UNRWA Agency
----
Mideast
·
Over 700 Illegal Israeli Settlers Storm Al Aqsa Mosque
for Jewish Passover
·
Lebanon’s Hezbollah Says Fired ‘Dozens’ of Rockets at Israel
·
Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades calls for
escalation across all fronts
·
Iran’s decisive response to Israeli aggression
disrupted enemy’s equations: Hamas
·
Iran releases details of confiscated Israeli transit
cargo
·
200,000 settlers in occupied lands escaped Hezbollah
strikes
·
Over 3,660 Palestinians being held in Israel under
administrative detention: Rights groups
·
New Palestinian PM announces reform package for
beleaguered Authority
·
Leader: Iran’s progress in arms sector example of
turning sanctions, hostilities into opportunity
·
Damage caused by Israeli attacks in Lebanon exceeds Rs
24,985 cr
----
Southeast
Asia
·
Korean Muslim YouTuber Daud Kim’s Plan to Build Mosque
In Incheon Cancelled After Locals Resist
·
Myanmar rebel group says it withdraws from key town on
Thai border
·
Rakerkesnas helps make Indonesia a developed country:
President
·
Wisma Putra: Malaysia urges countries to resume
support for UNRWA
----
Africa
·
Boko Haram Bomb Experts Surrender to Multinational
Joint Task Force On Terrorism In Borno
·
Niger, US begin talks on withdrawal of American troops
·
UNICEF lauds effective partnership with journalists in
Bauchi field office
·
Sudan military downs drones targeting its HQ in
Shendi, say army sources
----
North
America
·
Google Fires Workers For ‘Disruptive’ Protests Over
Contract with Israel
·
Ending Mideast Conflict Not A Priority For Most
Americans: Survey
·
US military still has concerns about potential Rafah
operation: Pentagon
·
At least 100 pro-Palestinian protesters arrested near
US Senator Schumer’s home
·
Columbia head threatens to remove anti-Israel
encampment as protests roil universities
·
Biden’s Gaza humanitarian envoy to be replaced after
overseeing aid boost
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/hate-venom-bjp-aiadmk-sad-pm-modi-muslims/d/132193
------
‘Spreading Hate and Venom’: Ex-BJP Allies, AIADMK,
SAD, Opposition Parties Flay PM Modi’s Remarks on Muslims
Prime
Minister Narendra Modi addresses a public meeting for Lok Sabha elections, in
Aligarh. (PTI)
------
April 23, 2024
Leaders across party lines on Tuesday hit out at Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s allegation that the Congress tried to extend
reservation on the basis of religion and give it to Muslims. Among those to led
the volley of criticism was former BJP ally AIADMK, whose chief Edappadi K
Palaniswami criticised Modi for “speaking controversially about Muslim people”.
“It is not appropriate for political party leaders and
the Prime Minister of India, who holds the highest office in the country, to
express such controversial views, as it does not suit the governance of India,”
Palaniswami, a former chief minister, said. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), another
former ally of BJP, condemned Modi’s remarks saying he should never have made
such a statement which spreads “communal hatred”. SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal
said the country’s prime minister is the prime minister of all. “Be it rich,
poor, Hindu, Christian or Muslim. The country’s prime minister should not make
such a statement. I also want to urge the BJP that this country is of all and
all religions,” he said.
The remarks come two days after Modi, speaking at a
rally in Rajasthan’s Banswara on Sunday, said the Congress, if voted to power,
could distribute the nation’s wealth among “infiltrators” and “those who have
more children”. “Earlier, when they (the Congress) were in power, they had said
Muslims have the first right to the wealth of the nation. This means they will
distribute this wealth to those who have more children, to infiltrators,” Modi
had said.
On Tuesday, at an election rally in Rajasthan’s Tonk,
Modi said that as soon as the Congress formed the government at the Centre in
2004, one of its first tasks was “reducing the SC/ST reservation in Andhra
Pradesh” and giving it to Muslims. Modi also said that when the BJP government
in Karnataka got an opportunity, the first thing it did was to abolish the
Muslim quota, “which was created by snatching it from STs/SCs”.
The Congress accused Modi of attempting to create
communal polarisation for electoral gains and complained to the Election
Commission seeking action against him for his remarks, alleging they were
“divisive”, “malicious” and targeted a particular religious community.
Meanwhile, Congress leader P Chidambaram said he
cannot recall that any other PM had made such “outrageous statements” with each
sentence outdoing the previous one in its “absolute falsehood and brazen
mendacity”.
In a post on X, Chidambaram said, “Will the BJP tell
the world: when and where did the Congress say that we will distribute people’s
land, gold and other valuables among Muslims? When and where did the Congress
say that a survey will be conducted to value the property of individuals, gold
held by women and silver owned by tribal families?”
“The Prime Minister must have some respect for his
predecessor. Dr Manmohan Singh’s speech to the NDC in December 2006 has been
reproduced in the Indian Express today. Dr Singh had said that the first claim
on resources lies with SC, ST, OBC, minorities, women and children. It is
scandalous to distort his words as Mr Modi has done,” Chidambaram said.
National Conference president Farooq Abdullah said
“our religion does not tell us to look down at other religions” and added that
a Muslim can never snatch the mangalsutra of Hindu women. “Our religion Islam tells us to treat
everyone equally. Our religion does not tell us to look down at other
religions. It tells us to respect other faiths like we respect our own faith,”
Abdullah told reporters.
Further, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav
said the trends of election results are visible from the BJP leaders’ speeches.
Addressing a rally in support of the INDIA bloc
candidates of Aligarh and Hathras, Yadav said, “Although the election trends
come later but now you must have heard the speech of the people of Delhi (PM)
and the people of Lucknow (CM). The trends of the election results are visible
in the speeches of those who are about to go out of power.”
With inputs from agencies
Source:
indianexpress.com
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https://indianexpress.com/article/india/pm-modi-muslims-lok-sabha-polls-9286940/
---
How Resumption of Movie Screening Provided a Global
Platform for Local Saudi Talent
Poster of Saudi movie “Norah.” (Supplied)
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April 23, 2024
REBECCA ANNE PROCTOR
RIYADH: This month, Saudi Arabia marks six years of
movie screenings after a 35-year gap. Back then, the idea of a flourishing
domestic film industry seemed improbable. Today, it has become a reality.
Since cinemas reopened on April 18, 2018, multiplexes
have prospered, with accumulative box office revenues hitting almost $1
billion. Even the closures of the pandemic years were not enough to halt the
industry’s meteoric rise.
Cities across the Kingdom now boast their own
world-class movie theaters, screening the latest international blockbusters,
regional hits and domestic productions, while homegrown film-making capability
is now routinely spotlighted at local film festivals.
With the launch of the Red Sea Film Festival in
December 2021 and the establishment in 2020 of the Saudi Film Commission under
the Ministry of Culture, many Saudis who were working in production houses
overseas are now relocating to the Kingdom.
“The year 2018 marked a significant turning point for
Saudi filmmakers and audiences as well,” Saudi film producer Mohammed Al-Turki,
who was named CEO of the Red Sea Film Festival in 2022, told Arab News.
“The Saudi box office is growing rapidly. These
achievements reflect the filmmakers’ passion for crafting captivating stories
that are deeply embedded in our culture and resonate with an engaged local
audience.”
Saudi filmmakers are making their mark both locally
and internationally. Among them are Tawfiq Al-Zaidi, the Qudus brothers, Ali
Al-Kalthami, and Mishal Al-Jasser, said Al-Turki. “All tirelessly striving to
deliver their finest work.”
The Red Sea Film Foundation, which was created in 2019
after the cinema ban was lifted, has become a catalyst for the industry’s
expansion, staging one of the Middle East’s biggest film festivals in
partnership with other major gatherings in the world cinema calendar.
RSFF has developed a variety of programs and
initiatives specifically tailored to filmmakers from the Arab world, Africa,
and Asia, with a special focus on Saudi filmmakers.
“Our programs include the Red Sea Fund, which offers
financial support to film projects at various stages from development through
to post-production,” said Al-Turki. “The Red Sea Labs provide a range of
training workshops and courses for filmmakers.”
Additionally, the Red Sea Souk acts as a networking
hub, providing numerous developmental programs.
“Among our recent successful initiatives is our
collaboration with the Series Mania festival, which has enabled several
promising Saudi filmmakers to advance their television projects and gain
exposure at one of the world’s foremost television festivals,” said Al-Turki.
“We continue to launch many value-adding programs
aimed at nurturing rising Saudi talent.”
The Kingdom has established several initiatives to
support the industry. Most recently, a SR375 million ($100 million) Saudi Film
Fund was unveiled by the government’s Cultural Development Fund in partnership
with local investment firm MEFIC Capital and Roaa Media Ventures, a holding
company that promotes local media projects and talent.
The fund will collaborate with major international
studios to invest in film production that provides content reflecting Saudi
culture and values.
Such government initiatives are also spurring the
private sector. In 2023, Syed Ali launched 40Films KSA to work with local and
international clients.
“This cinematic renaissance has made a positive impact
on our business, fueling commitment to nurture more and meet the top standards
being set daily in the market,” Ali, a Pakistani businessman based in Riyadh,
told Arab News.
“The Kingdom is not just a consumer of global cinema;
it is a creator, contributing its unique voice to the rich tapestry of world
cinema. Saudi filmmakers are narrating stories that captivate audiences both at
home and around the globe.”
Saudi filmmaker Mujtaba Saeed, who is based between
the Kingdom and Germany, says he has also benefited from the boom in the Saudi
entertainment industry and will begin working on a film to be shot in the
Eastern Province at the end of this year.
The film, titled “Drowning,” will be funded by the Red
Sea Film Festival, the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, and the Saudi
Film Commission. “Without this support I would not have been able to shoot the
film,” Saeed told Arab News.
“The great developments in the Saudi film industry
have greatly contributed to the growth of my work as a young director. Through
increased opportunities for collaboration and greater support I have access to
resources and support that were previously unavailable to me.”
During the Cannes Film Festival in 2022, the Saudi
Film Commission announced an incentive program aimed at transforming the
Kingdom into a global hub for film production. This included 40 percent returns
for productions that hired local crews, among other initiatives.
The incentive program was announced a few months after
the RSFF established the Red Sea Fund to support Arab and African filmmakers
and directors. The $10 million fund has backed more than 250 projects since its
launch.
It is through schemes such as these that the RSFF aims
to foster “cultural connections,” providing a platform for up-and-coming film
talent in the Kingdom, said Al-Turki.
The Saudi Film Commission is responsible for numerous
initiatives that have helped bolster the Saudi industry at home and abroad by
providing young Saudi filmmakers with opportunities.
One example is “Norah,” a Saudi production that will
be screened at the 77th Cannes Film Festival this year in its “Un Certain
Regard” section. It will be the first time a Saudi movie has been selected for
the prestigious festival.
Directed by Saudi Tawfik Alzaidi and produced by
American Paul Miller, formerly the head of finance at the Doha Film Institute,
the film is the first Saudi movie shot entirely in the AlUla region.
Supported by the Red Sea Fund, the film also clinched
the top prize of a funding award from the Saudi Film Commission’s Daou
Competition — an initiative launched by the Kingdom’s Ministry of Culture in
September 2019 to bolster Saudi film production and nurture the country’s next
generation of filmmakers.
Set in Saudi Arabia during the 1990s, the film follows
Norah, a young Saudi woman who lives in a small village, who is introduced to
Nader, an artist. Norah asks him to paint her portrait and soon an artistic
relationship develops between them.
The film, Alzaidi’s debut feature, explores the period
of Saudi conservatism and the various forms of art that were banned. It
examines how art can facilitate communication between people and foster social
change.
In the run-up to the sixth anniversary of the lifting
of the cinema ban, the Saudi Film Commission organized the fourth edition of
the Gulf Cinema Festival, which ran from April 14 to 18.
This was the first time the festival was managed by a
government agency, underlining the recognition of the socio-cultural and
economic importance of the film industry for the Kingdom.
In a speech during the opening of the festival, the
Film Commission’s CEO Abdullah bin Nasser Al-Qahtani said “this edition of the
festival represents a crucial milestone in cultural cooperation among the Gulf
Cooperation Council countries and embodies our wise leadership’s commitment to
enhancing collaboration among us,” according to SPA.
“This festival, which brings us together today,
reflects the strong connection between ambition and the cultural strategy of
the GCC countries, which play a significant role in enhancing cultural
exchange, expanding infrastructure, drawing inspiration from successful
experiences, and encouraging Gulf talents to offer more,” he said.
The booming Saudi entertainment industry is also
attracting directors from across the world to shoot and produce films in the
Kingdom.
Over the last 18 months, the landscapes of NEOM in the
Tabuk region have been featured in several international films, including Ruper
Wyatt’s “Desert Warrior,” starring Anthony Mackie and Sir Ben Kingsley; “Dunki”
directed by Indian filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani starring Shahrukh Khan; the first
regional reality TV show “Million Dollar Island;” and the “Rise of the
Witches,” the region’s largest-ever budget TV show.
As deals continue to be made and incentives offered
for making movies in Saudi Arabia, the future looks bright not only for
domestic movie theaters but also for local, regional and international
filmmakers and producers intending to work and collaborate in the Kingdom.
“Despite these accomplishments, this is merely the
start,” said Al-Turki. “Saudi cinema has much more to accomplish.”
Source:
arabnews.com
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2498211/saudi-arabia
----
Bangladesh Organisation Ahl-Al-Hadith Notice Doctored to
Promote False ‘Cash for Islamic Conversion’ Claim
Photo: Yahoo News
----
Devesh MISHRA
24 April 2024
Online posts shared hundreds of times in India have
falsely claimed that an Islamic group in neighbouring Bangladesh advertised
cash payments to anyone who could convert Hindu girls to Islam. AFP found
several visual inconsistencies with the message that indicated it was doctored
from an unrelated notice. The group has denied that it offered cash for
conversions.
The message purportedly from Ahl-Al-Hadith -- a
non-political Islamic group in Bangladesh --
was shared alongside a Hindi-language caption here on X on April 3,
2024.
It translated to English as, "Trap a Hindu girl
and win up to Rs 3 lakh ($3591); convert a Hindu family and get Rs 5 lakh
($5986). Horrific Islamic fundamentalist plan exposed."
The caption further read, “Bangladesh Cyber Team
hacked a Facebook page run by Bangladeshi Islamists.
"After this, shocking facts came to light -- a
reward of 3 lakh has been offered for the conversion of a Hindu Brahmin girl. A
reward of Rs 2 lakh ($2394) for an Indian Bengali girl, and Rs 5 lakh for the
conversion of a Hindu family.”
The post carried two notices with a similar message --
one written in Bengali language, and another that appears to be an English
translation of it.
They both included what appeared to be an official
stamp for the Bangladesh-based group Ahl-Al-Hadith, as shown in the screenshot
below:
Altered notice
The notice shared in the false post included the full
name of the Islamic group "Bangladesh Jamiyat Ahl-Al-Hadith" in the
top left-hand corner.
Below this, two scripts -- Bangla and Arabic -- were
used in the doctored part of the notice which referred to cash rewards for
conversions, as highlighted in blue by AFP:
In response to the false posts, the group posted a
clarification message on its official Facebook page on April 4, 2024.
The post's Bangla-language caption translated in part
as “We came to know that a fake circular notice is being shared on social media
posts with false claims.
"Ahl-Al-Hadith of Bangladesh Jamiyat strongly
condemns this baseless, conspiratorial and fake notification and calls on the
law and order forces of the country to take action against all those who are
misleading people by creating and spreading this fake notification.”
The original circular was published here on the
organisation's official website on February 7, 2022 (archived link).
Below is a screenshot comparison of the notice in the
false post (left) and the original message from the group's official website
(right) with similarities highlighted in red by AFP:
A reporter from AFP's Bangladesh team compared the
doctored notice to the original notice and found they both had the same
reference number, date, official stamp and letterhead.
In the original notice, there was no reference to a
cash reward for conversions.
A spokesperson for Ahl-Al-Hadith told AFP that the
original document was digitally altered and shared online with false claims.
“One of our circulars of 2022 has been digitally
morphed and shared online, in which we had issued a notice to each of our local
committees to organise learning sessions of Koran Hadith. There is no mention
anywhere in it of conversion of Hindus or giving money,” he said.
Source:
yahoo.com
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/bangladesh-organisation-notice-doctored-promote-064147134.html
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Men Deciding Terms of Nikah Put Brides at A
Disadvantage: Pakistan Supreme Court
Representative photo
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April 24, 2024
Nasir Iqbal
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has ruled that male
family members deciding the terms of Nikah on behalf of the bride is “accepted
as a cultural and social norm”, but it puts her at a disadvantage in the later
stages of marriage.
The order, released on Tuesday, was pronounced by a
two-member Supreme Court bench, comprising Justices Aminud Din Khan and Athar
Minallah, in the case of determining the bride’s entitlement to a plot
mentioned in Nikahnama.
In 2022, the Lahore High Court (LHC) decided in favour
of a woman, Huma Saeed, who had married Mohammad Yousaf in May 2014.
Mr Yousaf, who divorced his wife in October 2014,
challenged the decision in Supreme Court on grounds that the said plot,
mentioned in column 17 of the Nikahnama, cannot be interpreted as part of the
dower or gift.
In case of any ambiguity in Nikahnama, benefit should
go to the wife, Justice Minallah holds
The title of column 17 was ‘special conditions’,
“making it distinct from the other columns which have been specifically
provided for the purposes of settling the terms of dower”, the petitioner
pleaded.
In his written statement before the SC, Mr Yousaf
pleaded that the plot was meant for the construction of a house, and his wife
was to live in it for as long as their marriage lasted.
“A plain reading of the description of the property,
as mentioned in column 17, does not indicate nor support such a stance,” said
the 10-page judgement authored by Justice Minallah.
It added that the question before the bench was how to
interpret the terms and conditions of a Nakahnama in case of any doubt and
ambiguity.
“Its [dower’s] determination at the time of the
execution of the [Nakahnama] must necessarily be guided by an informed
understanding of the bride regarding her rights. The freedom to negotiate and
settle the terms by the bride, therefore, becomes crucial.”
Bride’s consent
Justice Minalllah regretted that society’s “paternal
tendencies” and “dominance of the male members” in deciding the terms and
conditions on behalf of the bride has generally been accepted as a cultural and
social norm. “It places a bride in a disadvantageous position, inevitably
adversely affecting her capacity to execute the contract with free consent”.
The bench held that a Nakahnama “is the deed of
marriage contract” entered into by two parties, and its clauses are to be
interpreted “in the light of the intention of the parties”.
“The headings, therefore, are not sufficient to
determine the intention of the two parties to the [Nikahnama].”
“The courts, while interpreting the contents and terms
and conditions of a [Nikahnama], also have to take into consideration the
factor of free consent of the bride and her freedom to settle the terms and
conditions as a person having an informed understanding of her rights.”
The judgement added that in case of any ambiguity in
the terms of Nikahnama, “the benefit ought to go in favour of the wife” if it
was established that she wasn’t informed of her rights at the time of the
Nikah.
The bench dismissed the husband’s appeal on the
grounds of correct interpretation of the Nikahnama by the LHC.
Source:
dawn.com
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.dawn.com/news/1829288/men-deciding-terms-of-nikah-put-brides-at-a-disadvantage-sc
---
UK’s Top Al-Qaeda Terror Chief and Bin Laden's Top
Operative InEurope, RangziebAhmed, Steps Closer To Freedom
Rangzieb Ahmed was jailed in
2008 for plotting mass murder and was caught with a book of terror contacts
written in invisible ink, and a rucksack which contained traces of explosivesPA
-------
24/04/2024
Nick Owens
The UK’s top Al-Qaeda terror chief has moved a step
closer to freedom, it can be revealed.
Rangzieb Ahmed, once said to be Osama Bin Laden’s top
operative in Europe, was the first person in the UK to be convicted of
directing terrorism.
He was jailed in 2008 for plotting mass murder and was
caught with a book of terror contacts written in invisible ink, and a rucksack
which contained traces of explosives.
Ahmed, 47, who has received almost £1m in legal aid to
help fund his bid for freedom, was rejected parole in September 2022 after
officials judged that he was too dangerous to be released.
Then, in July last year, he was ordered to take part
in a deradicalisation programme that aims to make him safe for release.
Now it can be revealed that Ahmed has been approved
for a new hearing with the Parole Board in which he is expected to argue he is
rehabilitated.
The hearing takes place on June 20 and if officials
agree to release him, Ahmed is likely to be freed within weeks.
His freedom bid comes just days after it emerged
another jailed terrorist is trying to secure an exit from prison.
Parviz Khan, who threatened to kidnap and decapitate a
British Muslim soldier, will appear before the Parole Board next week.
Last night terror expert Chris Phillips, former head
of national counter terror security office, told GB News: “Public safety will
be at risk if either of these men are released. You have to question whether it
will ever be safe for either of them to walk the streets again.”
Rangzieb Ahmed was once said to be Osama Bin Laden’s
top operative in EuropeGetty
Confirming the date of Ahmed’s freedom bid, a Parole
Board spokesperson said: "An oral hearing has been listed for the parole
review of Rangzieb Ahmed and is scheduled to take place in June 2024.
"Parole Board decisions are solely focused on
what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that
risk is manageable in the community.
“A panel will carefully examine a huge range of
evidence, including details of the original crime, and any evidence of
behaviour change, as well as explore the harm done and impact the crime has had
on the victims.
“Members read and digest hundreds of pages of evidence
and reports in the lead up to an oral hearing.
“Evidence from witnesses including probation officers,
psychiatrists and psychologists, officials supervising the offender in prison
as well as victim personal statements are then given at the hearing.
“The prisoner and witnesses are then questioned at
length during the hearing which often lasts a full day or more.
“Parole reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with
extreme care. Protecting the public is our number one priority.”
Rochdale-born Ahmed At Ahmed's was jailed for life
with a minimum of 10 years after Manchester Crown Court heard he was behind the
terror cell.
Counter-terrorism chiefs were not sure where Ahmed was
planning to strike, but were convinced an attack was imminent.
His scheme was revealed with the discovery of three
diaries, which were found to contain details and phone numbers of key al-Qaeda
operatives written in invisible ink.
He was initially arrested by Pakistan's Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI) agency when he flew into the country in August 2006. He was
held for a year before being deported to the UK where he was arrested.
Ahmed later sued MI5 and MI6 for alleged collusion in
his torture by Pakistani intelligence, but in 2020 had his damages claim thrown
out by the High Court.
Source:
gbnews.com
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.gbnews.com/news/uk-top-al-qaeda-terror-chief-closer-to-freedom
----
India
Farooq Abdullah Reacts to PM Modi's ‘Mangalsutra’
Remarks in Rajasthan: ‘Our Islam Teaches to Walk Together with Everyone
Apr 23, 2024
Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference on Tuesday
condemned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent ‘Mangalsutra’ remarks in
Rajasthan's Banswara and said Islam and Allah “teach us to walk together with
everyone”.
Adddressing a rally in Banswara on Sunday, ahead of
the Lok Sabha election 2024, PM Narendra Modi alleged that if the Congress came
to power, it would redistribute the wealth of the people to Muslims and cited
former prime minister Manmohan Singh's statement that the minority community
had the first claim on the country's resources. Modi also alleged that the
Congress plans to give the people's hard-earned money and valuables, including
mangalsutra, to the "infiltrators" and “those who have more
children”.
“Regretting” that the prime minister has said such a
thing, J&K National Conference president Farooq Abdullah said, “Our Islam
and Allah teach us to walk together with everyone. Our religion never taught us
to look down upon other religions, instead always taught us to respect other
religions...If a person snatches the 'mangalsutra' he is not a Muslim and does
not understand Islam…”
P Chidambaram questions PM Modi
Modi's remarks have evoked sharp reactions from the
Congress as well, with former finance minister P Chidambaram alleging that the
“level of debate has sunk to a new low after April 21.
"I cannot recall that any other prime minister
had made such outrageous statements like PM Modi did at Jalore &Banswara in
Rajasthan yesterday. Each sentence outdid the previous sentence in its absolute
falsehood and brazen mendacity," P Chidambaram wrote on X.
The senior Congress leader also questioned the
Bharatiya Janata Party on claims against the Congress regarding alleged
announcements to distribute people's land and other valuables among Muslims,
among others.
"Will the BJP tell the world: a) when and where
did the Congress say that we will distribute people's land, gold and other
valuables among Muslims? b) when and where did the Congress say that a survey
will be conducted to value the property of individuals, gold held by women and
silver owned by tribal families? c) When and where did the Congress say that
land and cash belonging to government employees will also be distributed?"
P Chidambaram said in the post.
PM Modi doubles down attack on Congress
Modi, meanwhile, reiterated on Tuesday that he had put
the truth before the country that Congress was hatching a deep conspiracy to
snatch your property and distribute it to its special people.
Addressing a public meeting in Rajasthan's Tonk, Modi
said his speech had created panic in the entire Congress and INDIA bloc.
"When I came to Rajasthan the day before
yesterday, I had presented some truths before the country in my 90-second
speech. This has created panic in the entire Congress and INDI alliance. I had
put the truth before the country that Congress is hatching a deep conspiracy to
snatch your property and distribute it to its special people. I exposed their
vote bank and appeasement politics. After all, why is Congress so afraid of the
truth?" Modi said.
On Monday, AIMIM chief Asaduddin OwaiI took strong
exception to the stereotyping of Muslims in a speech by Modi.
Addressing an election rally in Bihar, Owaisi said he
would like to conduct a “post mortem" examination on Modi’s speech in
Rajasthan.
“Modi said Muslims have more children. That is a lie.
Fertility rate has declined in the community and, according to official data,
it is 2.36 per cent. Though, admittedly, the fertility rate is lower among our
Hindu brethren,” Owaisi told the rally in Purnea district.
Alleging that the prime minister “told a lie, as he
has always done” at the Banswara rally, Owaisi said the remarks were
“divisive”.
Source:
hindustantimes.com
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---
BJP’s ‘divisive agenda’ equally harmful for Hindus
& Muslims: Mehbooba
23rd April 2024
Marziya Sharif
Srinagar: The President of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP), Mehbooba Mufti, has claimed that in pursuit of their agenda
against one community, the BJP is destroying the social fabric of the majority
Hindu community, “radicalising and criminalising the youth for their lust for
power”, according to a PDP statement issued on Tuesday.
Speaking to the media while campaigning for the Lok
Sabha polls in South Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti claimed that attempts are being
made to tear apart the country’s communal fabric, adding that the slogans
projecting BJP crossing the 400-mark are proving hollow with each passing day.
The PDP chief also claimed that the BJP-NDA knows the
results will be in favour of the INDIA bloc, as the youth of the country have
understood the gimmicks of the ruling party.
“The youth want an end to inflation and massive
unemployment in the country. However, the BJP is busy sowing the seeds of
discord and creating new fault lines. People must remain cautious and not allow
the divisive elements to succeed in their nefarious agenda,” she said.
Source:
siasat.com
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---
Congress gave Andhra Pradesh Muslims quota in 2004,
but HC struck it down
Apr 24, 2024
HYDERABAD: The issue of reservations for Muslims is
back in political discourse with PM Narendra Modi accusing Congress of plotting
to snatch the quota for SCs and STs and hand it to the minorities. Modi said at
a rally in Rajasthan on Tuesday that this was Congress's 'pilot project' in
Andhra Pradesh, the first state to implement the Muslim quota.
The demand for inclusion of socially, educationally
and economically backward sections among Muslims existed in undivided Andhra
from the 1960s as some of the sections, like washermen and weavers, were found
to be poorer and lagging behind even SCs in terms of education and
socio-economic conditions.
In Aug 1994, then Congress CM K Vijayabhaskar Reddy
issued a GO including some categories of Muslims such as washermen and weavers
into OBC list. But the quota was not implemented. An OBC commission headed by
Justice Puttuswamy was tasked to look into issue of inclusion of more Muslims
into the OBC list.
Telugu Desam Party govt under Chandrababu Naidu which
took over soon after kept the Puttuswamy Commission alive, giving it six terms.
The commission submitted its report to Naidu govt in 2003, but it was not made
public.
In July 2004, within 56 days of forming Congress govt
after defeating Naidu in polls, YS Rajasekhara Reddy issued orders giving 5%
reservations to Muslims, fulfilling the party's promise in its poll manifesto.
Muslims were included in the OBCs list by creating a new section - category E -
over and above the existing four categories (from A to D).
YSR's move took total quota in the state to 51% as the
existing reservations under various heads - OBC categories A to D 25%, SCs 15%
and STs 6% - were left untouched.
In Sept 2004, Andhra HC struck down the order on the
ground that it was against SC's ceiling of 50% on reservations.
In Nov 2004, YSR govt reconstituted OBC commission
under Justice Dalva Subrahmanyam. And in Oct 2005, it issued an ordinance
providing 5% reservation to Muslims in educational institutions and state govt
jobs. The ordinance was replaced by an Act later.
In Nov 2005, a five-member bench of Andhra Pradesh
high court struck down the Act.
In July 2007, based on Justice Subrahmanyam's report
on socio-educational backwardness of Muslims, YSR govt promulgated another
ordinance providing 4% quota to 14 categories of poor Muslims, thereby bringing
reservation within the 50% limit.
This was stayed by SC with the court criticising it as
an attempt to get around constitutional prohibition of reservation on the
ground of religion.
However, Muslim quota backers say it is not based on
religion. They argue that only 14 socially and educationally backward groups of
Muslims are included - like Singali, Muslim Dhobi (washermen), Faqir, Garadi
Muslim, Gosangi Muslim, KeeluGurravallu Muslim, Hajjam, Labbi, Qureshi, Sheikh
& Turaka Kasha.
Govt excluded Syed, Mughal, Pathan, Irani, Arab,
Bohra, Khoja & other sections considered to be socially & educationally
superior to BC Muslims.
Between 2004-5 and 2023-24, over 20 lakh Muslim
students have benefitted by getting admissions in MBBS, engineering, MCA, MBA,
BEd MEd and other professional courses according to official sources. Enrolment
of Muslims increased in higher professional courses after getting reservations.
After Telangana was formed in 2014, first chief
minister K Chandrasekhar Rao promised Muslims to enhance quota from 4% to 12%
in tune with their population.
On April 16, 2017, during a special session, the
Telangana House passed a resolution to increase reservations for backward
sections among Muslims to 12%, taking the total quota in the state to over 50%.
The resolution, which also sought an increase of reservations for STs from 6%
to 10%, was sent to Centre. The resolution has not been implemented as the
Centre has not responded so far.
Source:
timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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---
PM Modi doesn’t do politics on religion basis, never
thought of dividing society: Rajnath
23rd April 2024
Marziya Sharif
Noida: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has never done politics on the basis of religion
or by dividing the society and stressed that his predecessor Dr Manmohan Singh
had in 2006 talked about extending reservation for the Muslims.
The defence minister made the remarks at an election
rally in Greater Noida in support of BJP’s Gautam Buddh Nagar Lok Sabha
candidate Mahesh Sharma.
Prime Minister Modi on Sunday suggested that if the
Congress comes to power, it would redistribute wealth of people to the Muslims
and cited Dr Singh’s remark that the minority community had the first claim on
the country’s resources.
Addressing a rally in Rajasthan’s Banswara, Modi also
alleged the Congress plans to give people’s hard-earned money and valuables to
“infiltrators” and “those who have more children”.
Addressing a gathering at Bisahda village in Greater
Noida, the defence minister attacked the opposition for creating a ruckus at
this time and trying to put a question mark on Prime Minister Modi.
“Sisters and brothers, it’s not that I know the prime
minister from today. We have had very good relations for a long time. He has
never done politics of Hindu, Muslim and Christian. Our prime minister never
thought of doing politics by dividing the society,” Singh said.
“He (Modi) said at one place that Congress has said in
its manifesto that we will get the properties surveyed. If it is said in the
manifesto then why should people have any objection to it. What do you want to
do by getting the properties surveyed? Do you want to distribute the country’s
resources equally? What do you want to do?” he asked.
The veteran BJP leader also asked the Congress to
clear its position on the matter.
“Dr Manmohan Singh ji was the prime minister of India.
I respect Dr Manmohan Singh ji even today, I have respect for him, brothers and
sisters. Dr Manmohan Singh himself in the meeting of the National Defence
Council at the Vigyan Bhawan on December 9, 2006, had said that if anyone has
the first right on the property of this country, it is the minority and
especially he had said that it belongs to the Muslims,” Singh said.
“Sisters and brothers, whatever property and whatever
resources there are in this country, everyone should have equal rights, he had
said this, we did not say this. Now when the prime minister said this, these
people created an uproar over it,” he added.
Singh said the Congress-led government had in the past
formed several commissions, which had recommended in their report that out of
the 27 per cent reservation for the OBCs, 6 per cent should be for the Muslims
and 2 per cent should be for the minorities.
“We did not make this commission,” he added.
Escalating his attack on the Congress, Singh said, “It
did not stop at this. If someone from the Scheduled Caste converts, he should
be given reservation despite the change of religion. Not only this, they
(Congress) also ended the reservation of SC-ST in Jamia Millia Islamia and
Aligarh Muslim University.”
“These people have formed the government by dividing
the country equally on the basis of Hindu and Muslim,” he alleged.
The senior BJP leader stressed that his party does not
want to make the country by dividing it on the basis of caste, creed, religion,
Hindu, Muslim or Christian, but wants to make India a great country of the
world by keeping everyone together.
Singh also slammed the opposition parties for their
critical comments over the victory of a BJP Lok Sabha candidate in Surat,
Gujarat, after he was elected unopposed.
“One of our candidates has won unopposed in Surat,
Gujarat, the process of BJP’s victory has started. But people of Congress and
other political parties are saying that this is a threat to democracy. I want
to ask this, I want to say to the friends of the Congress, I want to say to the
people of the other party — do not do politics by throwing dust in the eyes of
the public, do politics by looking the public in the eye if you have the
courage,” Singh said.
“You also had your governments. Many times the MPs
were elected unopposed. If your MP wins unopposed, democracy becomes stronger
and if one of our MPs wins, democracy becomes weaker,” he added.
The BJP leader reminded that Samajwadi Party leader
Dimple Yadav had won unopposed in the by-election in Kannauj, Uttar Pradesh, in
2012.
“At that the time the Congress or the BSP did not see
democracy in danger. Where do these people want to take the country?” Singh
asked.
“I say this often that don’t do politics by misleading
the public, instead look them in the eyes and do politics. They have made a
‘tamasha’ of everything. They want to seek public support by misleading them,”
he said.
“Also I urge the friends from the press, if I say
something wrong, print it in newspapers and run it in on the television. I am
someone who would acknowledge if I make a mistake. I am saying this because I
have never engaged in politics by deceiving the public,” he added.
Source:
siasat.com
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---
ASI ends survey at Bhojshala Temple-Kamal Maula Mosque
complex in MP
24th April 2024
Sameer Khan
Dhar: The ongoing survey by the Archaeological Survey
of India (ASI) of the Bhojshala Complex located in Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar
district, which started on March 22, ended on Tuesday.
The ASI has to submit the report to the Indore High
Court on April 29, but the ASI has submitted an application seeking 8 more
weeks for the survey.
On Tuesday, a team from the ASI reached the Bhojshala
in the morning, with 21 members and 32 laborers. Along with ASI team, Gopal
Sharma and Ashish Goyal from the Hindu side and Abdul Samad Khan from the
Muslim side also reached the complex.
According to an arrangement in 2003, Hindus perform
puja at the complex on Tuesdays from sunrise to sunset while Muslims offer
namaz on Fridays from 1 pm to 3 pm.
Following the direction of the Madhya Pradesh High
Court, the ASI began an archaeological survey at the Bhojshala Complex on March
22.
For Hindus, the Bhojshala Complex is a temple
dedicated to Goddess Vagdevi (Saraswati), while for Muslims, it is the site of
the Kamal Maula mosque.
On April 1, the Supreme Court refused to stay the
March 11 Madhya Pradesh High Court order directing the Archaeological Survey of
India (ASI) to conduct within six weeks a survey of the Bhojshala Temple cum
Kamal Maula Mosque complex in Dhar district.
Last month, the appellants, while seeking an urgent
hearing of the matter “in view of the sensitivity of the issue,” had said that
“the survey may cause damage to the place of worship and affect religious
sentiments of communities at large”.
The Madhya Pradesh High Court had also directed the
ASI to constitute an expert committee that will “complete scientific
investigation, survey and excavation, through the adoption of latest methods
and techniques” and submit the report within six weeks. The next hearing into
the matter is scheduled on April 29.
Source:
siasat.com
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---
Arab
World
Islamic Fiqh Council,In Its Concluding Statement,
Condemns Abuse, Violations against Muslims
24 April 2024
The Islamic Fiqh Council condemned on Tuesday abuse
and violations against Muslims.
The 23rd edition of the Council, which is affiliated
with the Muslim World League (MWL), convened in the Saudi capital Riyadh for
three days of meetings that tackled latest developments and emerging issues.
The event brought together senior clerics and scholars
from across the Islamic world and non-Muslim countries.
In its concluding statement, the Council condemned the
abuses against Muslims and their sanctities that it viewed as a fight against
Islam.
It also underscored the right to woman to an
education. It explained that Islam is the religion of education and
civilization.
God Almighty made it a duty to all Muslims to earn an
education within the means at their disposal and according to their needs as
individuals and the need of their societies, and this includes men and women,
it went on to say.
It recommended that Muslims across the globe empower
women to earn an education and not to deprive them from it so that they can
play their role in service of their societies and nations.
In addition, it called on non-Muslim countries to
recognize Islamic occasions, namely Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, to allow
Muslims to enjoy these days as holidays. Such a step would reflect positively
on society, demonstrate equality between religions and consolidate coexistence
and social cohesion.
The Council also focused on official charity
electronic platforms in Saudi Arabia, urging Saudi citizens and residents of
the Kingdom to pay their Zakat through these trusted government-recognized
portals.
On homosexuality, the council said it was following
with “deep pain” campaigns in some countries that “advocate the legalization of
sexual aberrations and attempts to impose these views on peoples and nations
under the pretext of personal freedoms.”
It condemned such campaigns “that aim to promote this
heinous crime that violates human and moral values and the teachings of all
prophets.”
“It is the duty of countries to confront and combat
this phenomenon and stand against its approval no matter the justifications for
it,” it declared.
“It called on officials at educational institutions
and various media outlets and platforms to carry out their duties in protecting
the youth against these dangerous perversions,” it added.
Secretary-General of the MWL and Vice President of the
Islamic Fiqh Council Dr. Mohammed Al-Issa expressed his great gratitude to the
Muslim scholars, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz
and Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi
Arabia, for their efforts in service of Muslims and Islam.
He also hailed the efforts of various grand muftis,
senior scholars and researchers in ensuring the success of the latest edition
of the Council.
The Islamic Fiqh Council is focused on clarifying
legal rulings faced by Muslims. It aims to highlight the creativity of Islamic
jurisprudence, disseminate Islamic jurisprudential heritage, and clarify its
terminology in modern language.
Source:
english.aawsat.com
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----
Al-Ansari: Doha needs to reassess mediation efforts
between Hamas, Zionist entity
[23/April/2024]
DOHA April 23. 2024 (Saba) – Qatari Foreign Ministry
spokesman Majid al-Ansari said on Tuesday that Doha needs to reassess mediation
efforts between the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas and the Zionist entity at
this stage. He stressed his country's commitment to mediation efforts and to
work to prevent further security collapse in the region.
Al-Ansari said at a press conference on Tuesday that
his country expressed its frustration with the repeated attack on mediation
efforts, especially those made by Qatar. He explained that ministers in the
government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made negative
statements about the Qatari role.
He also stressed that Doha cannot accept any
statements that do not correspond to the reality of its role in mediation
efforts. He stressed that it will not accept its use for political positioning
or electoral purposes by any party.
The attack on the mediator shows a serious lack of
commitment to reaching an agreement, as well as a lack of determination to work
positively to reach an agreement. He pointed out that the first challenge for
mediation is for both parties to have seriousness and flexibility to reach a
result.
Al-Ansari said mediators were frustrated by the lack
of an exchange agreement in Ramadan, after rounds of negotiations continued in
Doha and Cairo last month.
He reported that negotiating teams for the war in Gaza
are not currently present in Doha.
He also stressed that Qatar's reassessment of
mediation efforts does not change its humanitarian commitment to Palestine. He
pointed to the continued arrival of aid to Gaza and Doha's reception of injured
people.
Al-Ansari said that the humanitarian commitment to
Palestine is a constant and non-negotiable issue.
Speaking about Turkey's possible role in mediation
efforts to end the war in the Gaza Strip, Ansari said that coordination is
continuing with Ankara on ways to stop the war on Gaza.
He added that Turkey is one of the most important
countries supporting the mediation efforts led by Qatar to stop the war on
Gaza.
Regarding the threat of the Zionist enemy to invade
Rafah, Ansari said: "The escalation leads to the stalling of negotiations,
the possibility of reaching an agreement and a further deterioration in the
humanitarian situation." He stressed that the international community must
work to stop the upcoming Zionist attack on Rafah, which is crowded with
displaced people.
On April 17, Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign
Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said that Doha is evaluating
its mediation in the Gaza crisis completely and accurately, after misusing its
mediation to serve narrow political goals by some.
Hamas condemned on Monday the statements of US
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and said: It is an attempt to hold the
movement responsible for blocking the reach of an agreement, which contradicts
the movement's flexible positions to facilitate reaching an agreement, which
collided with the intransigence and procrastination of Netanyahu.
Source:
saba.ye
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https://www.saba.ye/en/news3323507.htm
----
Outer Edge Summit in Riyadh explores AI, digital
futures
April 23, 2024
SULAFA ALKHUNAIZI
HAJAR ALQUSAYER
RIYADH: By owning our data, we will be empowered and
safe, says Krista Kim at Outer Edge Innovation Summit on April 23 at The Garage
in Riyadh.
Kim spoke in one of the summit’s panel discussions,
titled “Web3 and AI for business and smart cities,” which included guest
speakers Naif Al-Rabeah, director of Web3 and spatial reality portfolio at
NEOM; Eric Pulier, founder & CEO at Vatom Corporation; and Kamal Youssefi,
president at the Hashgraph Association.
The Korean Canadian artist has a goal to raise
awareness of the importance of each person owning their data: “I believe that
data is power. You need to allow people to be empowered by owning their own
data and to give them a choice of what projects they want to be involved in.”
Kim highlighted that data ownership “is one of the
greatest human rights issues in the 21st century.
“Right now, in the Web2 system, our data is taken for
free. The companies practice surveillance capitalism and they take your data
and they monetize on your free data.”
Scott Lawin, CEO of Candy Digital, a gaming and fan
engagement company focused on sports and entertainment, attended the summit to
support Web3: “Web3 really gives people that opportunity to authenticate their
data and share it in a selective way where necessary. And also benefit from the
contribution of that data.”
Lawin attended the panel discussion highlighting the
importance of the harmony of web3 and smart cities. Web3 is a term used to
describe an idea for the next stage of internet development, which incorporates
concepts such as decentralization, blockchain technologies, and token-based
economics.
"I’m really excited about the Kingdom’s push
forward and support for Web3. And I wanted to come and sort of see it here at
first hand and meet the community here."
“As it relates to smart cities, (they) are designed
and built around data. And understanding how the personalization of that data
can help improve citizens’ lives,” he explained. “But ownership of that data
and giving each individual the ability to sort of turn on and turn off the way
that data is utilized is also quite important. From a privacy perspective and
just a self-determination perspective.”
Meanwhile, Kim hopes to raise awareness of the global
issue through personal projects and artistic efforts.
Last month, she presented “Heart Space,” the first
collaborative generative AI biometric artwork in history, commissioned by
Julius Baer at Art Dubai.
Within the exhibition, visitors take their heartbeat
measurements with an app that will create a heart signature to be used an
artwork in the immersive space.
“So, you are contributing through your heartbeat to
the experience of the artwork, and you have the opportunity to create the NFT
of your heart signature on the app,” the artist explained. “This is a project
that I'm creating for people to take the first step to create your heart
signature and then from that first step, you can start the movement toward that
privacy and identity on the chain.”
The line between real and fake is being blurred
further, creating ramifications in various fields. “AI can now create fake
articles and they can fake your identity ... in three years, AGI (artificial
general intelligence) is going to automatically just create stories,” Kim said.
“So, we need to differentiate between what is real and what is fake, and also
what is made by a human being versus what is made by the machine.”
Technology can be used to its advantage. Blockchain
provides a solution of creating verification for newspapers, journalists and
online media outlets, Kim says.
Speaking about how it works, she added: “On-chain
media is very important, so that you can see the verification of this story on
the blockchain. To bring it a step further — biometrics. So, your heart
signature that I spoke about, as a journalist, you can use your heart signature
to sign your story online.”
Outer Edge Innovation Summit brought together some of
the biggest names in the blockchain, AI, and gaming ecosystems from all over
the world.
In partnership with Animoca Brands and King Abdulaziz
City for Science and Technology, the summit highlights advances in Web3 and the
gaming ecosystem development in Saudi Arabia.
Topics at the summit will include smart cities,
gaming, esports, art, culture, and more.
For more information about the Outer Edge Innovation
Summit in Riyadh, visit outeredge.live/riyadh.
Source:
arabnews.com
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click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2498171/saudi-arabia
---
Al-Sudais praises Saudi leadership’s dedication to
Islamic values
April 23, 2024
RIYADH: Sheikh Abdulrahman Al-Sudais, head of the
Presidency of Religious Affairs at the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque,
praised King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for their dedication
to the message of Islam.
He commended their promotion of tolerance and
moderation, service of Islam, Muslims and the broader Islamic community, and
advocation for Islamic world issues in international forums.
In his speech at the Muslim World League meeting in
Riyadh on Tuesday, Al-Sudais expressed his gratitude to the grand mufti of the
Kingdom, Sheikh Abdulaziz Al-Asheikh, for his role in supporting the Islamic
Fiqh Council’s mission.
Al-Sudais acknowledged the grand mufti’s efforts in
addressing contemporary issues facing Muslims, encouraging inter-civilizational
dialogue and promoting the values of tolerance.
He also highlighted the role and contributions of
Muslim World League Secretary-General Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa in
promoting the values of moderation and inclusivity, encouraging interfaith
dialogue and serving the league’s mission.
Al-Sudais praised the Muslim World League’s commitment
to fostering moderation and moderate thinking, fulfilling Islam’s mission to
spread peace and justice, and encouraging familiarity and cooperation among
peoples.
He acknowledged the league’s efforts in organizing
international conferences and awareness programs, and its role in combating
religious extremism.
Al-Sudais highlighted the importance of combating
misguided ideologies and terrorist organizations, focusing on the youth,
supporting Islamic minorities, combating fanaticism, factionalism and moral
decay, and upholding the values of tolerance and moderation.
Source:
arabnews.com
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2498056/saudi-arabia
----
Madinah forum targets improved pilgrim experience
April 23, 2024
NADA HAMEED
JEDDAH: The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, in
collaboration with the Pilgrim Experience Program, organized the inaugural
Umrah and Ziyarah Forum at the King Salman International Convention Center in
Madinah.
The three-day event, taking place from April 22-24, is
being held under the patronage of Prince Salman bin Sultan, the governor of the
Madinah region.
Prince Salman said that the leadership has prioritized
the enhancement of Hajj and Umrah services during the prosperous era of King
Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
He said: “The great honor bestowed by God on this
country is a source of pride for all of us and motivates us to improve the
level of services provided to the guests of God, to search for ideas, and to
conduct studies that would advance the Umrah and visit sector.”
The forum is an opportunity for specialists to
communicate and exchange experiences during dialogue sessions and discussion
panels, and to develop recommendations that contribute to enriching visitors’
experience, he added.
He also expressed hope that the forum would yield
positive outcomes and thanked the minister of Hajj and Umrah, Tawfiq Al-Rabiah,
as well as the ministry’s employees, for organizing the forum.
Prince Salman visited the exhibition held in parallel
with the forum. It houses more than 100 pavilions showcasing the services
offered by tourism and travel companies, Umrah agencies, academic and research
institutions, small and medium enterprises and service developers, as well as
companies from related sectors such as hospitality, catering, transportation,
healthcare, technology, communications, artificial intelligence, banking and
insurance.
A documentary about Madinah, an essential component of
the Umrah experience, was screened at the forum.
A group of experts and specialists attended, with
discussions focused on enriching the Umrah and Hajj experience and aligning
with the goals of Vision 2030.
Al-Rabiah also delivered a speech at the forum,
highlighting the special attention given by the leadership to the Two Holy
Mosques and visitors to the sites.
One of the most important factors in the Kingdom’s
Vision 2030, Al-Rabiah said, is the Pilgrim Experience Program, as the Two Holy
Mosques are expected to witness the influx of millions of worshippers and
visitors, requiring management by security personnel from the Ministry of
Interior, and from the General Authority for the Affairs of the Grand Mosque
and the Prophet’s Mosque.
One of the program’s primary goals, he added, is to
enrich the visitors’ experience. The forum serves as a comprehensive platform
where 180 speakers from the Kingdom and abroad can discuss strategies to
improve the experience.
Al-Rabiah highlighted the involvement of 28 government
entities and more than 3,000 local and international companies, with more than
1,500 agreements expected to be signed over the course of the event.
He noted that visits were made to 24 countries to
address challenges faced by pilgrims and visitors, and to introduce them to the
facilities provided by the Kingdom.
Al-Rabiah said that over the past two years, more than
19 million people have visited Al-Rawda Al-Sharifa, along with a significant
number of unique historical sites connected to the life of the Prophet Muhammad
in Makkah and Madinah, with many of the historical sites having been
rehabilitated.
He highlighted the ministry’s commitment to providing
quality services throughout pilgrim journeys, describing the Grand Mosque as a
globally significant destination. Additionally, he announced the launch of the
1966 contact center in nine languages for pilgrim inquiries, catering to both
domestic and international audiences.
Fahd bin Mayouf Al-Ruwaili, the ambassador of Saudi
Arabia to France and Monaco, and the permanent representative of the Kingdom to
UNESCO, also gave a speech highlighting the role of historical and cultural
sites in enriching the visitor experience.
During his address, Al-Ruwaili referenced remarks made
by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during the previous Hajj season,
emphasizing the Kingdom’s honor in serving the Two Holy Mosques and making it a
top priority.
The crown prince’s comments demonstrate the Kingdom’s
leadership goals toward serving pilgrims, enabling them to perform their
worship rituals and achieve the purposes of Hajj, Umrah, or visitation with
ease and peace of mind, he added.
Four significant agreements were signed during the
opening ceremony.
The first, between the General Authority for the
Affairs of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque and Nusuk, aimed to
establish and operate an awareness center for pilgrims.
The second, with the Prince Mutaib bin Abdulaziz
Charitable Foundation, created a fund of SR100 million ($26 million) for water
supply.
The third agreement, between the General Authority for
Awqaf and the Madinah Region Development Authority, focused on repairing and
renovating water facilities at the Meeqat of Dhul-Hulayfah.
The fourth agreement, between the General Authority
for Awqaf and the Taybah Mosques Association, addressed support for the Quba
Mosque’s needs.
The forum consists of six dialogue sessions and 24
workshops, in which 29 experts and specialists will take part. It also includes
several competitions, including the Artificial Intelligence Competition in
Umrah and a hackathon on historical sites related to the Prophet Muhammad’s
life.
Source:
arabnews.com
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click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2498051/saudi-arabia
---
19 million visit Al-Rawda Al-Sharif, highlighting
Madinah's growing importance in Umrah experience
April 23, 2024
MADINAH — Minister of Hajj and Umrah Dr. Tawfiq
Al-Rabiah highlighted the significant visitor numbers during his speech at the
opening of the first Umrah and Ziyarah Forum, revealing that over the past two
years more than 19 million people have visited Al-Rawda Al-Sharif.
The forum, which aims to enrich the experience of
religious tourists, was inaugurated under the auspices of Madinah Emir Prince
Salman bin Sultan at King Salman International Convention Center on Monday.
Organized by the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah and the
Pilgrim Experience Program, the three-day event features six dialogue sessions,
24 workshops with 29 experts, and competitions that include an Artificial
Intelligence competition on Umrah and a hackathon on historical sites related
to the Prophet’s life.
Al-Rabiah
noted that the Pilgrim Experience Program is one of
the major components of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.
"The Two Holy Mosques are expected to witness the
influx of millions of worshippers and visitors, the largest gathering in one
place, which needs to be managed by security personnel from the Ministry of
Interior and from the General Authority for the Care of the Affairs of the
Grand Mosque and the Prophet's Mosque in a complex situation."
Al-Rabiah highlighted that one of the main goals of
the Pilgrim Experience Program is to enrich the visitors’ experience. The
forum, he said, is a comprehensive platform where some 180 speakers from the
Kingdom and abroad will discuss the ways to further improve this experience.
In his inaugural address, Prince Salman bin Sultan
emphasized the enhanced services during the reign of the Custodian of the Two
Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He noted the
forum's role in fostering dialogue and producing actionable recommendations for
improving services for the guests of God from their arrival until their
departure from the Kingdom.
The forum also serves as a comprehensive platform for
180 speakers from within the Kingdom and abroad to discuss further improvements
to the pilgrim experience. It includes an exhibition with over 100 pavilions
showcasing services from various sectors such as tourism, healthcare,
technology, and more.
The opening ceremony concluded with the signing of
several agreements aimed at enhancing the Umrah and visit sectors.
Source:
saudigazette.com.sa
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https://saudigazette.com.sa/article/642336/SAUDI-ARABIA/19-million-visit-Al-Rawda-Al-Sharif-highlighting-Madinahs-growing-importance-in-Umrah-experience
----
South
Asia
Thailand rolls out red carpet to greet Sheikh Hasina
on her official visit
Apr 24, 2024
A red carpet was rolled out as Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina reached Bangkok at noon today on a six-day official visit to Thailand at
the invitation of her Thai counterpart SretthaThavisin.
On her arrival at Don Mueang International Airport in
Bangkok at 1:08pm (local time), the premier was received by Thai Deputy Prime
Minister and Minister of Interior AnutinCharnvirakul.
She was given a static guard of honour and a 19-round
gun salute at the airport.
Thailand Minister-in-Attendance PuangpetChunlaiad,
Thai Ambassador to Bangladesh MakawadeeSumitmor and Bangladesh Ambassador to
Thailand Mohammed Abdul Hye were present at the airport.
Earlier, the PM left Dhaka by a flight of Biman
Bangladesh Airlines at 10:13am on the six-day tour, which is both a bilateral
and multilateral visit.
The bilateral visit of the prime minister will be the
first-ever visit at the level of head of the government from Bangladesh to
Thailand since establishment of diplomatic relations in 1972.
During her visit from April 24 to 29, the Bangladesh
premier will hold bilateral talks with PM Thavisin and also attend the 80th
Session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the
Pacific (ESCAP).
Bangladesh and Thailand will sign a number of
cooperation documents including a letter of intent on negotiations for a free
trade agreement between the two countries.
Bangladesh and Thailand are likely to sign an
agreement on visa exemption for official passport holders, a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) on energy cooperation while two more MoUs on tourism sector
cooperation and duty related mutual cooperation to expand the relations, said
Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud at a media briefing on Monday.
Bangladesh will seek support from Thailand regarding
Rohingya repatriation as well as increased investment from Thailand, he said,
adding that the issue of shipping connectivity will also be discussed.
On April 26, PM Hasina will be formally received by
her Thai host SretthaThavisin while a ceremonial guard of honour will be
accorded to her.
On the same day, the Bangladesh premier will hold
bilateral talks with PM Thavisin at the Government House (Prime Minister's
Office) following a tete-a-tete between the two leaders, witness the signing of
the documents, participate in a joint press conference and then attend a state
lunch to be hosted by her Thai counterpart in her honour there.
During the visit, the prime minister will have a Royal
audience of Maha Vajiralongkorn Phra Vajiraklaochaoyuhua and Suthida
Bajrasudhabimalalakshan, King and Queen of the Kingdom of Thailand at the
Palace.
In her multilateral engagement, PM Hasina is scheduled
to attend the 80th Session of ESCAP and deliver a speech there on April 25.
On the same day, the Under-Secretary-General of the
United Nations and ESCAP Executive Secretary Armida SalsiahAlisjabana will call
on the prime minister.
Guided by the theme "Leveraging digital
innovation for sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific", the
eightieth session will be an opportunity to strengthen region-wide cooperative
action on leveraging digital innovation for the accelerated implementation of
the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The session will bring together government leaders and
ministers from across Asia and the Pacific and other key stakeholders to
discuss how digital innovation can more inclusively contribute to the
achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals across multiple disciplines.
Source:
thedailystar.net
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https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/thailand-rolls-out-red-carpet-greet-sheikh-hasina-her-official-visit-3594216
---
173 Bangladeshis to return home from Myanmar tomorrow
Apr 23, 2024
One hundred and seventy-three Bangladeshi nationals
will return home tomorrow from Sittwe prison in Rakhine State of Myanmar.
The returnees will be carried by the "Myanmar
Naval Ship Chin Dwin" which is visiting Bangladesh to bring back members
of Myanmar defence forces who were forced to cross the border into Bangladesh
due to conflict in Rakhine state, said the Bangladesh embassy in Yangon.
The ship is expected to reach Bangladesh territory by
tomorrow and handover of the Bangladeshi citizens to the relevant authorities
of Bangladesh will take place at that time.
Out of the 173 people, 129 are from Cox's Bazar, 30
are from Bandarban, seven are from Rangamati, one each from Khagrachari,
Noakhali, Narayanganj, Chattogram, Rajbari, Narshingdi and Nilphamari.
The Bangladesh embassy in Yangon, upon learning of the
tentative visit of the Myanmar ship to Bangladesh, took up the issue with the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Home Affairs of Bangladesh and
relevant Myanmar authorities to seize the opportunity to send back the maximum
number of verified Bangladeshi Nationals who were in different prisons of
Myanmar.
The embassy also pursued the relevant host authorities
to bring the 144 "verified and jail term completed or pardoned"
returnees in Sittwe prison for smooth return and pursued for releasing the 29
verified Bangladeshi nationals who were still serving their jail terms or under
trial. Pursuant to the mission's efforts, the 29 persons were pardoned and sent
back to Bangladesh.
Bangladesh embassy in Yangon and Bangladesh consulate
in Sittwe have been working for this return since the last return of
Bangladeshi citizens that took place on October 3 last year when 29
Bangladeshis returned home through a flag meeting.
Representatives of the Bangladesh embassy in Yangon
and consulate in Sittwe were physically present to coordinate with the local
authorities, conduct verification process and issue travel permits in favour of
the returnees.
Source:
thedailystar.net
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https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/173-bangladeshis-return-home-myanmar-tomorrow-3593586
---
Over 3 Tons Solid and 22,000 Liters Liquid Narcotics
Incinerated in Kabul
2024-04-24
The counter-narcotics department of the Ministry of
Interior burned more than three tons of solid narcotics and 22,000 liters of
liquid narcotics today in Deh Sabz, Kabul.
Ahmadullah Ahmadi, the General Director of the Police
for Combating Narcotics, says that this amount of narcotics was collected from
the provinces of the central zone, including Kabul, after the re-establishment
of the Islamic Emirate in the country, and 9,000 people have been arrested in
connection with this.
Ahmadi stated: "In the presence of this
delegation, 379 kilograms of opium are now being burned in front of you. 635
kilograms of heroin will, God willing, also be burned."
Meanwhile, Abdul Mateen Qani, spokesperson for the
Ministry of Interior, says that the cultivation and production of narcotics in
the country have reached zero; however, completely eradicating it requires
cooperation from regional countries and the international community.
Qani also criticized the lack of cooperation from the
international community in combating narcotics in the country.
The spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior said,
"Despite their commitment to cooperate, unfortunately, there has been no
cooperation. However, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has spent most of its
resources and a significant portion of its budget, including some from mining
revenues, to eradicate addiction and seriously combat this evil
phenomenon."
Rohullah Habibi, the head of the Primary Court for
Narcotics, said: "They load from Pakistan and get caught at our airport.
They do not get caught at Pakistani ports or their airports; when brought to
the Afghan airport to be transferred abroad and to Europe, other countries
defame the Islamic Emirate."
Previously, some neighboring countries had claimed
that there had been no reduction in the trafficking of industrial narcotics
from Afghanistan.
Source:
tolonews.com
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https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-188468
----
US State Dept: 90% of prisoners in Afghanistan are
political
Fidel Rahmati
April 23, 2024
The US State Department, in its annual report on human
rights, has stated that despite declaring a “general amnesty,” the Taliban has
continued to detain citizens, especially those affiliated with the former Afghan
government.
The US State Department recently released a report on
the human rights situation in several countries, including Afghanistan, in
2023.
The report stated that 90% of Taliban prisoners are
political.
The report added that the Taliban often detain Afghan
citizens arbitrarily, without legal basis, and in the absence of legal support
mechanisms for them.
According to the report, the Taliban last year
detained individuals without any judicial process and kept them in long-term
detention without organizing their right to have a lawyer.
According to the US State Department, almost all cases
of Taliban detentions have been conducted in an “unfair” manner, as these
arrests have no clear legal basis, and the detainees have not been informed about
the reasons for their detention and the charges they face.
Following the regime change in Afghanistan, many
former officials sought refuge in neighbouring countries to evade arbitrary
detention, reprisals, and security threats. Despite the declaration of amnesty,
the Taliban continues to detain former police officers and officials.
Source:
khaama.com
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click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.khaama.com/us-state-dept-90-of-prisoners-in-afghanistan-are-political/
----
US State Dept releases report on extensive Human
Rights violations in Afghanistan
Fidel Rahmati
April 23, 2024
The U.S. State Department has published its annual
human rights report for 2023, which highlighted a notable decline in women’s
rights. It pointed to new regulations limiting women’s access to education and
jobs, leading to a situation where women became increasingly limited to
domestic responsibilities.
The report highlighted a range of human rights issues,
including killings, abuse, harsh prison conditions, unjust detentions, media
and internet restrictions, and limits on political participation, corruption,
and child recruitment.
The department emphasized that they do not recognize
the Taliban as legitimate.
“This year’s report also captures human rights abuses
against members of vulnerable communities. In Afghanistan, the Taliban have
limited work opportunities for women, shuttered institutions found educating
girls, and increasing floggings for women and men accused of, quote, ‘immoral
behavior,’ end quote,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated.
In the report, the State Department criticized the
Taliban’s authoritarianism, stating that they have declared a “so-called
interim government consisting largely of Taliban fighters, mullahs, and close
associates of the group, predominantly belonging to the Pashtun ethnicity.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated in a
statement on Tuesday regarding this report that the Taliban has “effectively
removed Afghan women from the public sphere” with its directives.
According to the report, the ban on education and
employment for women has worsened their situation, and they are now confined to
the four walls of their homes.
The U.S. State Department said that the Taliban has
shown no flexibility in its policies and that the group’s orders are in
contradiction with Afghanistan’s commitments and international conventions.
The State Department’s report mentions political
imprisonments, poor prison conditions, killings, torture, arbitrary detentions,
and the lack of judicial independence.
The report states that the Taliban has used children
in armed conflicts.
The U.S. State Department has given a negative
assessment of the media situation in Afghanistan. The report states that the
Taliban imposes increasing restrictions on freedom of speech every day.
Additionally, journalists face Taliban violence and arbitrary detentions.
Meanwhile, the Taliban has obstructed peaceful
gatherings and imposed restrictions on internet usage.
The U.S. State Department has stated that religious
freedoms in Afghanistan are limited, and violence against ethnic and religious
minorities has occurred.
The annual report also highlights the Taliban’s
widespread disregard for the rule of law and the impunity of human rights
violators, as the group has failed to reduce domestic violence, sexual
violence, early and forced marriages.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s spokesperson,
responded to the report by emphasizing that Afghan people’s rights are defined
by Islamic laws.
He stated that cultural and human rights norms in the
West differ from those in Afghanistan, cautioning against imposing Western
values on other nations.
Source:
khaama.com
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click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.khaama.com/us-state-dept-releases-report-on-extensive-human-rights-violations-in-afghanistan/
----
Deported Migrants from Pakistan Concerned About Their
Future
2024-04-24
Hadia Ziaei
Some Afghan migrants, recently deported from Pakistan
and returned to their country, are concerned about their future.
They are calling on the Islamic Emirate to provide
them with shelter and job opportunities.
Hazrat Gul Eid Mohammad, a deported migrant from
Pakistan, said, "Our request from the Islamic Emirate is to assist us. We
have no homes; if they cooperate with us in providing land and houses."
After spending forty years of his life, Eid Mohammad
returned from Pakistan last Thursday.
Eid Mohammad, a deported migrant from Pakistan,
stated, "We couldn't go to the city; whenever we went, they arrested us
and took money from us. Four days ago, I was arrested and they took 18,000
Afghanis from me."
Meanwhile, the International Organization for
Migration (IOM) also released a report stating that from September 2023 to
April 6, 2024, over five hundred and forty-eight thousand nine hundred deported
Afghan migrants have been registered with this agency.
The report further states that of the given
statistics, 62% are children and adolescents, 20% are children under five years
of age, and 48% are women.
Asifa Stanikzai, a migrant rights activist, said,
"With the intensification of forced deportations by Pakistan, it is
necessary for the regime in Afghanistan to engage in diplomatic consultations
with the relevant Pakistani officials and international organizations on this
matter."
The Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations has not
commented on this issue; however, according to the statistics from this
ministry, nearly two thousand eight hundred Afghan migrants were returned from
Pakistan and Iran on Tuesday.
Source:
tolonews.com
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click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-188471
---
Russia’s special envoy meets with IEA ministers,
discusses bilateral issues
April 23, 2024
Zamir Kabulov, the Special Representative of the
President of the Russian Federation for Afghanistan, who is on a visit to
Kabul, has met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate
Mawlavi Amir Khan Muttaqi for talks on political and economic issues between
Afghanistan and Russia.
Regional issues were also discussed.
Muttaqi expressed appreciation for Russia’s support at
regional and international meetings and emphasized the need to further
strengthen political ties and trade relations between the two countries.
He also said that Afghanistan’s relations with
countries in the region are flourishing and currently Afghanistan has active
embassies in all neighboring countries.
Muttaqi called Afghanistan’s relations with Russia
important and said the current ground realities of Afghanistan should be
understood and that there is no reason why the United Nations needs to appoint
a special representative to deal with Afghanistan.
He said the Afghan government is in talks with the UN
over this issue and will make public its position after sufficient
clarification has been provided on the agenda and composition of the next UN
meeting in Doha.
Kabulov in turn stressed that any meeting held on
Afghanistan should be convened with the approval of the Afghan government.
He said it is important for the United Nations to have
the Afghan government approve and attend the next Doha meeting.
He said this series of meetings will not yield
positive results without the Afghan government being in agreement.
He also said governments of the world should maintain
relations with the Afghan government through bilateral mechanisms instead of
multilateral contact mechanisms.
Kabulov emphasized that the US should release
Afghanistan’s frozen assets and end its unilateral and “illegal” restrictions
on the country’s banking system.
He also said Russia and Afghanistan need to improve
coordination between them and went on to say he hoped Muttaqi would visit
Moscow during the course of this year.
Kabulov also met with acting Minister of Interior
Affairs Sirajuddin Haqqani.
This meeting focused on bilateral relations between
both countries while political and security issues pertaining to the region
were also discussed, the ministry said.
Source:
ariananews.af
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https://www.ariananews.af/russias-special-envoy-meets-with-iea-ministers-discusses-bilateral-issues/
---
Pakistan
LHC orders federal govt to review steps taken to
implement anti-rape law
2024-04-24
LAHORE: The Lahore High Court observed that child
sexual abuse is a deeply traumatic and sensitive issue that demands to handle
these cases with exceptional care and consideration for the unique needs and
vulnerabilities of child victims.
The court directed the federal government to review
the steps taken to implement the Anti Rape Act immediately and ensure that the
requisite systems are in place within 60 days.
The court regrettably said that some provisions of the
Act have not been implemented, even after the lapse of two years and hence the
Act’s intended goals have not been realised.
The court passed these directions in response to a
petition of one Amdadullah who challenged the decision of a lower court which
sentenced him to rigorous imprisonment for 14 years with a fine of rupees one
million in child abuse case.
The court while dismissing the appeal held that the
prosecution has established the charge against the appellant beyond any shadow
of doubt.
The court held that the lower courts are obligated to
adhere to provisions of the Anti Rape Act and should ensure that every child is
treated with respect, dignity, and sensitivity throughout the legal process.
The court, therefore, directed the judges of the lower
courts to exercise extreme caution when writing judgments and should identify
the victims using acronyms rather than full names.
The court said the Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial)
Act 2021 contains comprehensive provisions to address child victims’
distinctive requirements and susceptibilities.
The child’s identity is protected and confidentiality
is maintained to reduce potential stigma and harm to him.
The examination of child witnesses is conducted in a
manner that is sensitive to their age, maturity, and capacity to understand and
it should be designed to elicit their testimony in a child-friendly and
supportive manner, the court added.
The court also held that cross-examination is a
fundamental component of the legal process. Hence the judges should balance the
child’s rights and their need for protection with the accused’s right to a fair
trial.
They may intervene to prevent aggressive or
inappropriate questioning during cross-examination.
The court observed that when a child engages with the
judicial system, the response should be supportive, collaborative, and aligned
with a child right-driven approach.
Courts must acknowledge that children may respond to
the trauma of abuse in diverse ways, which may include confusion, fear, or
emotional distress, the court added.
This approach helps to reduce the potential emotional
impact on the child while maintaining the integrity of the legal process, the
court added.
The court said Section 12 of the Anti Rape Act
mandates that the trial of the scheduled offences must be conducted in-camera.
However, in his discretion or upon application of either party, the judge may
allow specific persons to observe the court proceedings.
The court also observed that notwithstanding any other
law for the time being in force, the judge may take suitable measures, such as
conducting the trial through video-link or utilizing screens, to ensure the
protection of the victims and witnesses.
The special courts must allow this provision in letter
and spirit and should also hear bail applications in-camera in cases involving
the scheduled offences.
The court, therefore, directed the registrar to
circulate copies of this judgment to all the District and Sessions Judges in
the Punjab to ensure compliance with the court directives.
Source:
brecorder.com
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---
Cipher case judge may be repatriated over ‘misconduct’
April 24, 2024
Malik Asad
ISLAMABAD: The administration of Islamabad High
Court (IHC) has initiated the process to send back District and Sessions Judge
Abul Hasnat Mohammad Zulqarnain to his parent department, the Lahore High
Court (LHC), over alleged misconduct.
Judge Zulqarnain convicted former prime minister Imran
Khan and PTI leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the cipher case and sentenced them
to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment each, in a hurriedly concluded trial.
Sources in the IHC told Dawn on Tuesday that the
senior puisne judge, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, who is also the inspection
judge of the capital’s Special Courts, has recommended the repatriation of
Judge Zulqarnain since a division bench of the high court passed certain
observations regarding the conduct of the judge in a bail order on the plea of
PTI leader Aamir Masood Mughal.
Mr Mughal, who was booked in March last year for
allegedly leading a group of rioters that set a police van on fire, applied
for pre-arrest bail at the Anti-Terrorism Court.
During a hearing on Feb 6, Mr Mughal appeared in the
court of ATC judge Zulqarnain and requested the court to adjourn the hearing on
the petition until after the Feb 8 general elections, in which the accused
participated as an independent candidate, backed by the PTI.
The judge accepted the request and adjourned the
matter until Feb 13.
The IHC bench, however, noted that “the presiding
officer [Judge Zulqarnain] dictated and announced such an order in the open
court. However, later they were informed that the said petition [for pre-arrest
bail] has been dismissed for non-prosecution”.
According to the order, the IHC asked the petitioner
and his lawyers to submit separate affidavits before the court, and they later
submitted affidavits affirming the facts.
The court further noted that the investigation officer
in the case also confirmed the statements of the petitioner and his counsel
that the ATC-I on Feb 6 had adjourned the hearing until Feb 13.
“At this juncture, we will exercise restraint to
record observations regarding the conduct of the presiding officer [ATC-I
judge] in the light of the principle and law laid down by the Supreme Court.
However, a separate note is being submitted on the administrative side,” the
order said.
Source:
dawn.com
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click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.dawn.com/news/1829284
-----
3 terrorists killed in intelligence-based operation in
Balochistan’s Pishin district: ISPR
April 23, 2024
Iftikhar Shirazi
Three terrorists were killed by security forces in an
intelligence-based operation in Balochistan’s Pishin District, the military’s
media wing said on Tuesday.
A press release from the Inter-Services Public
Relations (ISPR) said that the operation took place last night on the reported
presence of terrorists in the area.
“During the conduct of [the] operation, after intense
fire exchange, three terrorists were sent to hell, while one terrorist was
apprehended in injured condition, who has been identified as an Afghan
national,” the ISPR said.
It added that a large cache of arms, ammunition and
explosives was also recovered during the operation.
“Security forces of Pakistan, in step with the nation,
remain determined to thwart attempts of sabotaging peace, stability and
progress of Balochistan,” the ISPR said.
Two alleged terrorists were also killed and several
injured in a gun battle with security forces in the district a day ago.
According to officials, the local administration had
received information about the presence of terrorists in the Sanzalai mountain
range of Pishin, following which an operation was planned.
Officials of the Frontier Corps (North) had claimed
that the terrorists had crossed into Pishin from Afghanistan and had
established their pickets on top of the hills.
Pakistan has witnessed an uptick in terror activities
in the past year, especially in KP and Balochistan after the banned militant
Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan ended its ceasefire with the government in November
2022.
According to an annual security report issued by the
Centre for Research and Security Studies, Pakistan witnessed 1,524
violence-related fatalities and 1,463 injuries from 789 terror attacks and
counter-terror operations in 2023 — marking a record six-year high.
KP and Balochistan were the primary centres of
violence, accounting for over 90 per cent of all fatalities and 84pc of
attacks, including incidents of terrorism and security forces operations.
Source:
dawn.com
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1829188/3-terrorists-killed-in-intelligence-based-operation-in-balochistans-pishin-district-ispr
---
IHC full court decides to give ‘institutional
response’ to meddling
April 24, 2024
Awais Yousufzai
ISLAMABAD: In a major development, a full court
meeting of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday “unanimously decided” to
give an “institutional response” to any meddling in the court affairs,
well-placed sources said.
The IHC full court meeting was held on Tuesday with
Chief Justice Aamer Farooq in the chair to finalise proposals before submission
to the Supreme Court in connection with a matter related to the alleged
interference of spy agencies in judicial affairs.
According to the inside story of the full court
meeting, all the judges unanimously suggested giving an “institutional
response” to meddling in the judicial affairs, the sources revealed.
A draft comprising the proposals would be prepared and
submitted to the Supreme Court Wednesday, the sources added. The top court had
sought the suggestions in this regard till April 25.
Meanwhile, the IHC registrar’s office issued a
declaration, saying that the full court meeting was held with the CJ Farooq in
the chair. All the judges of the high court attended the meeting. A unanimous
stance of the IHC would be submitted before the apex court in the suo moto
case, it added.
Last month, six judges of the IHC — comprising Justice
Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Justice Babar Sattar,
Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir and Justice Saman
Rafat Imtiaz — wrote a letter to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), seeking
its guidance on “interference” of the intelligence agencies in the courts’
affairs.
“We are writing to seek guidance from the Supreme
Judicial Council (SJC) with regard to the duty of a judge to report and respond
to actions on [the] part of members of the executive, including operatives of
intelligence agencies, that seek to interfere with [the] discharge of his/her
official functions and qualify as intimidation, as well as the duty to report
any such actions that come to his/her attention in relation to colleagues
and/or members of the courts that the high court supervises,” read the latter.
Later, the apex court had initiated suo motu
proceeding on the letter and sought a proposal from the Pakistan Bar Council
(PBC), Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), high courts and the federal
government in this regard.
“They should suggest what should be the institutional
response and mechanism to address the issues like the ones raised in the letter
[of IHC judges] and ensure that such issues do not arise in future and, if they
do, to fix liability and proceed against those responsible,” read the April 3
order of the apex court.
In response to the top court’s order, the IHC
registrar’s office sought suggestion from the judges to counter the alleged
meddling of intelligence agencies in the court affairs.
Source:
thenews.com.pk
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https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1181545-sc-requested-to-direct-govts-to-implement-nap
---
Cop martyred while protecting Peshawar Sikh healer
April 24, 2024
Ahtesham Khan
PESHAWAR:A policeman on Tuesday embraced martyrdom
while protecting a Sikh healer when unidentified assailants fired gunshots at
his clinic located in the suburbs of Peshawar.
Constable Farhad, a 40-year-old ex-serviceman, lost
his life when the gunmen opened fire on Guljit Singh’s clinic in Baghbanan area
falling within the limits of Inquilab police station. However, the Sikh healer
remained unhurt.
Peshawar police chief Syed Ashfaq Anwar said security
was provided to the Sikh community.
“The policeman sacrificed his life and the Sikh healer
remained safe in the attack,” he added.
The city’s police chief continued that an
investigation was under way and it would be premature to say anything about the
incident.
The Sikh community has expressed its concern over the
attack.
Baba Gurpal Singh, a Sikh leader in
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, told The Express Tribune that in the last few years, around
a hundred families of their community have migrated from Peshawar because of
terrorism, unemployment, and targeted killings.
“A few of them have settled in Punjab families while
most of them have shifted to the US, Canada and Europe,” he added.
Gurpal said 18 Sikhs were killed in the last few years
and 11 injured in terrorist attacks.
“We can only demand better security measures and a
favourable environment from the government.”
K-P Counter Terrorism Department chief Shaukat Abbas
had previously claimed that the international terrorist organisation, Daesh,
was involved in the killing of the religious minorities in the province i.e.
the Sikh and Christian communities and other important targets but its network
had been eliminated from Peshawar last year.
Even the “last” terrorist of the network was killed in
the year 2023 in Peshawar.
However, the attack on Tuesday has rung alarm bells
across the province.
According to K-P CTD’s data, there has been a marked
increase in the incidents of terrorism this year.
Only from January to March, there have been 131
terrorist attacks in K-P and its tribal districts
Over 60 of them were on the police, while the southern
districts witnessed the highest number of them.
In June last year, unidentified motorcyclists shot
dead a Sikh trader, identified as Manmohan Singh, in Peshawar’s Kakshal
neighbourhood.
K-P Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur condemned
the attack on the policeman assigned to the security of a citizen belonging to
the Sikh community in Peshawar.
He expressed his grief over the martyrdom of the
constable.
In a statement, the K-P chief minister offered his
condolences to the family of the martyred policeman and prayed to the Almighty
grant them fortitude to bear this loss.
Gandapur directed the authorities concerned to take
necessary measures to improve the security of religious minorities.
He pledged that the elements involved in the attack
would be arrested and brought to justice.
The K-P CM assured the family of the martyr that the
provincial government would not leave them alone in this hour of need and
support them in every possible way.
Source:
tribune.com.pk
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https://tribune.com.pk/story/2463760/cop
---
Imran alleges ‘pre-planned’ rigging in Punjab by-polls
April 23, 2024
Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
(PTI) founder Imran Khan asserted on Tuesday that premeditated rigging marred
the by-polls in Punjab, accusing the Punjab Police of indulging in rigging.
As opposed to the shocking victory of the opposition
in the general elections, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had
smooth sailing in the recently held by-elections.
Unofficial results showed that the ruling party
secured majority of seats of the national and provincial assemblies contested
on Sunday.
"Democracy hinges on the supremacy of law and the
conduct of free and fair elections, yet what we witnessed was jungle law. The
interference of the police in the Punjab by-elections is deeply
concerning," he remarked during a media interaction at Rawalpindi’s Adiala
Jail.
Imran highlighted that by-polls were also conducted in
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, where the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) is ruling,
affirming that no instances of rigging transpired in the province.
"There exists no semblance of democracy in the
nation presently. The rigging was a preemptive move, driven by fear of the
events that unfolded on February 8. The postponement of the [general] elections
from October to February was a deliberate tactic to suppress the PTI. Even our
petition in the Supreme Court remained unheard, as it awaited the demise of the
PTI," he elaborated.
Imran lamented that myriad tactics were deployed ahead
of the general elections to besmirch the reputation of the PTI, resulting in
the conversion of a majority vote into a minority.
The former prime minister deplored the lack of
constitutional governance within the country, asserting that only the
influential wield power.
"The absence of security for overseas Pakistanis
impedes investment in the nation. Transparent elections are the cornerstone of
a stable government, a quintessential element of democracy," he
reiterated.
Imran voiced concern that the existing governmental
framework jeopardises Pakistan's future, underlining the imperative of
transparent and accountable governance.
Regarding negotiations and purported deals, Imran
questioned the feasibility and necessity, asserting that the masses' will, as
demonstrated on February 8, cannot be undermined.
He lamented the dwindling trust in the judiciary,
highlighting the encroachment upon the fundamental right of citizens to elect
their representatives.
Imran expressed dismay over the unjust treatment of
his wife, emphasising her non-political stance. "My wife's involvement in
politics is non-existent, yet she faces persecution and confinement. Cases have
been unjustly registered against my three sisters. Unlike Maryam Nawaz and
Benazir Bhutto, my wife has never been involved in politics," he
clarified.
Furthermore, Imran underscored the positive diplomatic
relations with Saudi Arabia during his government's tenure, citing the hosting
of the OIC Foreign Minister Conference in Pakistan as a testament to the
amicable ties.
Source:
tribune.com.pk
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https://tribune.com.pk/story/2463676/imran-alleges-pre-planned-rigging-in-punjab-by-polls
---
Europe
European Parliament members criticize EU as
'accomplice’ in Israeli war on Gaza
24 April 2024
Some members of the European Parliament (EP) have
rebuked the European Union for its complicity in Israeli crimes in the Gaza
Strip during the occupying regime’s months-long war against Palestinians in the
besieged territory.
The EP members of parliament said the EU was
“accomplice” in Israel's actions violating international law as the regime’s
genocidal war on Gaza rages on for more than 200 days.
During a session titled, EP’s reaction to the killing
of humanitarian aid workers, journalists, and civilians by the Israeli army in
the Gaza Strip, Left Group member Manu Pineda condemned Israel’s failure to
implement provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice
(ICJ) as he highlighted the deaths of journalists and humanitarian aid workers
in Israeli attacks.
Pineda described Israel as a "tumor" in the
West Asia region.
Another Left Group member, Clare Daly, blamed the EU
for complicity and silence regarding Israel's actions in Gaza over the past
seven months.
Daly criticized the EU for cutting support to the
United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) without
substantiating Israel's allegations against the agency.
She accused the EU of "waving the flag of the
oppressor from day one," and condemned some EU countries for their
actions.
Mick Wallace, also a member of the Left Group,
condemned the delayed timing of the session, criticizing the EU's provision of
arms to what he referred to as a "genocidal apartheid regime."
Wallace said the EU was providing diplomatic cover for
Israel's actions while failing to impose sanctions or take decisive action.
He underscored the EU's contradictory reactions to
conflicts involving Russia and Israel, questioning the prioritization of
geopolitical interests over human rights.
Wallace concluded by questioning whether the EU
considers the loss of children's lives in Gaza an acceptable price to protect
its interests.
Israel waged its brutal US-backed war on the Gaza
Strip on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance groups carried out
Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the usurping entity in retaliation for its
intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
Israel has been carrying out war crimes in Gaza by
deliberately starving people and forcing their evacuation, as well as targeting
hospitals and schools sheltering displaced Palestinians.
The Tel Aviv regime has so far killed over 34,000
Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured more than 77,000 others.
Since the start of the onslaught, the US, Israel's
most dedicated ally, has fast-tracked arms shipments to the occupying regime
and blocked UN resolutions that called for a Gaza truce.
Source:
presstv.ir
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----
France imposing restrictions on expressions of
solidarity with Gaza: Amnesty
Esra Taskin
24.04.2024
France has been imposing restrictions on expressions
of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, human rights group Amnesty
International said Tuesday.
The statement by Amnesty’s local branch said recent
weeks have witnessed a series of limitations imposed on public displays of
solidarity coupled with the cancellation or prohibition of events, while
individuals face accusations of disseminating "terrorist propaganda."
One such instance cited by Amnesty was the banning of
a scheduled conference on Palestine organized by the Free Palestine Association
in the city of Lille earlier this month.
French authorities justified the ban, citing concerns
over "terrorist propaganda," a move condemned by rights advocates as
an attempt to stifle legitimate discourse on the Palestinian cause.
Amid these developments, Mathilde Panot, a senior
Member of Parliament for France's La France Insoumise (LFI) party known for her
vocal support for Palestine, revealed that she had been summoned for
questioning on charges of "terrorist propaganda."
Panot, undeterred by the intimidation tactics,
reaffirmed her commitment to standing against the genocide faced by the
Palestinian people.
Israel has waged a sweeping offensive on the Gaza
Strip since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7
which killed around 1,200 people.
At least 34,151 Palestinians have since been killed,
mostly women and children, and 77,000 have been injured amid mass destruction
and severe shortages of necessities.
The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population
into internal displacement as acute shortages of food plunge Gaza into famine.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International
Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop
genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is
provided to civilians in Gaza.
Source:
aa.com.tr
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https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/france-imposing-restrictions-on-expressions-of-solidarity-with-gaza-amnesty/3200569
----
Germany to resume cooperation with Palestinian UNRWA
agency
April 24, 2024
BERLIN: The German government plans to resume
cooperation with the UN agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) in Gaza, the foreign
and development ministries said in a joint statement on Wednesday.
The decision follows an investigation by the former
French foreign minister Catherine Colonna into whether some UNRWA employees
were involved in the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.
The Colonna-led review of the agency’s neutrality on
Monday concluded Israel had yet to back up its accusations that hundreds of
UNRWA staff were operatives in Gaza terrorist groups.
The German ministries urged UNRWA to swiftly implement
the report’s recommendations, including strengthening its internal audit
function and improving external oversight of project management.
“In support of these reforms, the German government
will soon continue its cooperation with UNRWA in Gaza, as Australia, Canada,
Sweden and Japan, among others, have already done,” said the ministries in the
statement.
Source:
arabnews.com
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2498406/middle-east
---
Dutch intelligence: Europe foiled 10 jihadist attacks
in 2023, Gaza war among triggers
23 April 2024
AMSTERDAM — Western intelligence prevented at least 10
jihadist attacks across Europe last year, and the current Israel-Hamas war has
increased the threat of further attacks, Dutch intelligence agency AIVD said on
Tuesday.
The foiled attacks included a plan to stab people at
random and preparations for an assault on specific buildings and events, the
AIVD said in its annual report, without elaborating.
“There were two mobilizing issues: The destruction of
Qurans in the Netherlands and other European countries and the conflict between
Israel and Hamas,” the Dutch agency said.
“The terrorist threat is serious at this moment,” the
agency’s director-general, Erik Akerboom, said.
Akerboom said he is particularly concerned about big
events, noting that the agency is working closely with French authorities to
prevent incidents during the Paris Olympics this summer.
Earlier this month, four teenagers were arrested in
Germany for suspected planning of Islamist terror attacks on churches and
synagogues.
Sweden raised its terror alert in August to the
second-highest level, after Quran burnings and other acts in the country
targeting the holy book of Islam outraged Muslims and triggered threats from
jihadists.
In October, two Swedish soccer fans were shot dead in
Brussels, allegedly by a man who identified himself as a member of the Islamic
State jihadist group.
Also in October, a 20-year-old man fatally stabbed a
teacher and gravely wounded two other people in an attack at a school in the
northern French city of Arras, in what French President Emmanuel Macron
condemned as “barbaric Islamic terrorism.”
The war between Israel and Hamas began with the shock
Hamas assault on October 7, when thousands of terrorists invaded southern
Israel, killing nearly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seizing 253
hostages.
In response, Israel vowed to eliminate Hamas and end
the terror group’s rule of Gaza, launching an aerial assault and ground
offensive to achieve its goals and return the hostages.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry has placed the
Palestinian death toll since October 7 at over 34,000 people, although this
figure cannot be independently verified and does not differentiate between
civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed some 13,000 Hamas gunmen in
battle, as well as some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7. Since
Israel launched the ground offensive in Gaza, 260 IDF soldiers have been
killed.
The AIVD did not say how many of the foiled jihadist
attacks had occurred since October 7.
In December, the Dutch counterterrorism agency
increased the country’s threat alert to its second-highest level because of
concerns about the Islamic State group’s Khorasan affiliates, Akerboom said.
IS-K, a Central Asian affiliate, was responsible for the attack at a suburban
Moscow concert hall that killed at least 133 people in March.
According to the new report, “global jihadism has been
the greatest terrorist threat for years in the Netherlands.” Incidents such as
the one last April, when an anti-Islam activist tore pages from the Quran in
front of the Dutch parliament building, put the Netherlands on the map of
targets.
Source:
timesofisrael.com
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https://www.timesofisrael.com/dutch-intelligence-europe-foiled-10-jihadist-attacks-in-2023-gaza-war-among-triggers/
---
Norway Calls on Donors to Resume Funding to
Palestinian UNRWA Agency
23 April 2024
Norway called on international donors on Tuesday to
resume payments to the UN agency for Palestinians refugees (UNRWA) after a
report found Israel had yet to provide evidence that some UNRWA staff were
linked to terrorist groups.
The United States, Britain and others earlier this
year paused payments to UNRWA following Israel's claims, while Norway, also a
major donor to the organization, argued that funding cuts put the population of
Gaza at risk.
A review of the agency's neutrality led by former
French foreign minister Catherine Colonna on Monday concluded Israel had yet to
back up its accusations that hundreds of UNRWA staff were operatives in Gaza
terrorist groups.
"I would now like to call on countries that have
still frozen their contributions to UNRWA to resume funding," Norway's
foreign minister Espen Barth Eide said in a statement.
A separate investigation by internal UN investigators
is looking into Israeli allegations that 12 UNRWA staff took part in the
Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks which triggered the Gaza war.
"Norway has emphasized that it is unacceptable to
punish an entire organization, with 30,000 employees, and all Palestine
refugees for the alleged misdeeds of a small number of the organization's
employees," Barth Eide said.
While 10 countries have since ended their suspensions,
the United States, Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria and Lithuania have
not. A UN spokesperson on Monday said UNRWA currently had enough funding to pay
for operations until June.
Source:
aawsat.com
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https://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/4981251-norway-calls-donors-resume-funding-palestinian-unrwa-agency
----
Mideast
Over 700 Illegal Israeli Settlers Storm Al Aqsa Mosque
for Jewish Passover
24th April 2024
Hundreds of illegal Israeli settlers on Wednesday
stormed into the Al Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem to mark the
Jewish Passover holiday.
In a statement, the Islamic Endowments Department in
Jerusalem said nearly 703 illegal settlers, who were protected by the Israeli
forces, stormed the mosque.
Passover, which commemorates the Israelites’ exodus
from Egypt during the time of Prophet Moses, is considered one of the most
important holidays on the Jewish religious calendar.
The Israeli forces imposed restrictions on the
movement of Palestinians inside the Al Aqsa Mosque complex during the settlers'
tour in its courtyards, it also said.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that the Israeli forces were
heavily deployed inside the mosque to secure the settlers who entered the
mosque in groups from the Al Mugharbah Gate area, west of the holy mosque.
Third-holiest site for Muslims
Al Aqsa Mosque is the world's third-holiest site for
Muslims. Jews call the area the Temple Mount, claiming it was the site of two
Jewish temples in ancient times.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al Aqsa is
located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980
in a move never recognised by the international community.
Tensions have been running high across the occupied
West Bank since Israel launched a deadly military offensive on Gaza after a
cross-border operation by the Palestinian group Hamas last October.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International
Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to
stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance
is provided to civilians in Gaza, where more than 34,100 people have been
killed.
Source:
trtworld.com
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https://www.trtworld.com/middle-east/over-700-illegal-israeli-settlers-storm-al-aqsa-mosque-for-jewish-passover-17898778
---
Lebanon’s Hezbollah says fired ‘dozens’ of rockets at
Israel
April 24, 2024
Beirut: Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement said
it fired a fresh barrage of rockets across the border on Wednesday after a
strike blamed on Israel killed two civilians.
The group had already fired rockets at northern Israel
late on Tuesday “in response” to the civilian deaths.
Hezbollah has exchanged near-daily fire with the
Israeli army since its ally Hamas carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel
on October 7, triggering war in Gaza.
It has stepped up its rocket fire on Israeli military
bases in recent days.
Hezbollah fighters fired “dozens of Katyusha rockets”
at a border village in northern Israel “as part of the response to the Israeli
enemy’s attacks on... civilian homes,” the group said in a statement.
On Tuesday, rescue teams said an Israeli strike on a
house in the southern village of Hanin killed a woman in her fifties and a girl
from the same family.
Since October 7, at least 380 people have been killed
in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but also 72 civilians, according to an
AFP tally.
Israel says 11 soldiers and eight civilians have been
killed on its side of the border.
Source:
arabnews.com
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click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2498411/middle-east
----
Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades calls for
escalation across all fronts
April 24, 2024
DUBAI: The spokesperson for Hamas’ armed Al-Qassam
Brigades, Abu Ubaida, called on Tuesday for an escalation across all fronts in
a televised speech marking 200 days since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in
the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7.
Israel says it is seeking to eradicate Hamas, which
controls the enclave, in a war that has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians
thus far. The war started when the militant group attacked Israel, killing
1,200 and taking 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
In a video aired by Al Jazeera TV, Abu Ubaida praised
Iran’s attack on Israel on April 13, saying the direct strikes with explosive
drones and missiles “set new rules, drew important equations, and confused the
enemy and those behind it.”
He also called for an escalation in the West Bank and
Jordan calling it “one of the most important Arab fronts.”
Jordan, which lies between Iran and Israel,
intercepted and shot down dozens of Iranian drones that entered its airspace
and were heading to Israel, two regional security sources said on April 13.
“We call on the Jordanian people to step up their
actions and raise their voices,” Abu Ubaida said.
He said Hamas was sticking to its demands at the
ongoing ceasefire talks — that Israel ends its military offensive, pulls out
forces from Gaza, allows the displaced to return to northern Gaza, and lifts
the blockade.
“The government of the occupation is stalling in
reaching a hostages-swap deal and is trying to obstruct efforts by the
mediators to reach a ceasefire agreement,” Abu Ubaida said.
Qatar and Egypt have been trying to mediate a
ceasefire, but Qatar foreign ministry’s spokesman said earlier on Tuesday all
concerned parties should “show seriousness” in allowing such efforts to
succeed.
Source:
arabnews.com
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2498321/middle-east
----
Iran’s decisive response to Israeli aggression
disrupted enemy’s equations: Hamas
23 April 2024
The spokesman for the Qassam Brigades, the military
wing of the Palestianian resistance movement Hamas, has hailed Iran’s
unprecedented retaliatory military operation against Israel, saying the Islamic
Republic’s decisive response disrupted the enemy's equations.
Abu Obeida made the remarks in a statement on Tuesday.
On April 13, Iran launched a barrage of missiles and
drones in its first direct attack on the occupied territories in retaliation
for the regime’s strike on its Damascus consulate on April 1.
“Iran's response in its size and nature, set new rules
and disrupted the calculations of the occupation,” he said, calling on the
masses of the Palestinian nation “to escalate their supportive movement for the
resistance.”
Abu Obeida further denounced as a “big lie” the
Israeli regime’s claim that its forces have eliminated all resistance factions,
stressing that the occupying regime was unable, in 200 days, “to achieve
anything other than mass massacres, destruction, and killing.”
He said the “criminal” regime seeks to improve its
image, but it will achieve nothing but humiliation and it is still caught in a
quagmire in the Gaza Strip, emphasizing that after 200 days, the resistance has
remained as strong and firm as a mountain.
The spokesman also vowed that the resistance will
continue its fight against Israel.
“Our strikes and resistance will continue as long as
the occupation’s aggression or its presence continues on any inch of our land.”
“We will not give up the basic rights of our people,
most notably withdrawal [of Israeli forces], lifting the siege, and the return
of the displaced to their homes,” he said, stressing that the resistance will
remain faithful to the sacrifices of Palestinians.
Source:
presstv.ir
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---
Iran releases details of confiscated Israeli transit
cargo
Apr 23, 2024
TEHRAN, Apr. 23 (MNA) – The Iranian police (FARAJA)
have released more details of a cargo it seized earlier this month that was
made in the Israeli-occupied lands and was bound to be delivered to customers
in Uzbekistan via the Iranian territory.
FARAJA’s head of Enforcement and Protection Units said
on Tuesday that the cargo seized on April 15 in the border crossing of Bazargan
in Iran’s northwest contained more than 22 metric tons of potassium nitrate, a
chemical product used as fertilizer in agricultural projects.
General Reza Baniasadifar said the product under the
commercial name of Haifa Group had been manufactured by the “fake Zionist
regime” and was confiscated based on the article 9 of Iran’s Export-Import
Regulations that prohibits any commercial dealings with the Israeli regime.
The Iranian parliament adopted a law earlier this year
to toughen restrictions on imports and transit of goods made by Israeli
companies or by their partner and affiliate companies.
The law was adopted in response to Israel’s brutal
aggression on Palestinians in Gaza.
Baniasadifar said a domestic company responsible for
the transit of the cargo to Uzbekistan had declared it to customs authorities
as fertilizers, adding that judicial authorities will decide what would happen
to the consignment and the truck that carried it.
The cargo seized in Bazargan, a key trade gateway with
Turkey, is a first of its kind to be seized on land border crossings in Iran.
On April 13, commandos of Iran’s elite military force
the IRGC boarded an oil tanker owned by an Israeli company nearly two weeks
after an Israeli attack on an Iranian consulate in Syria which killed senior
IRGC military commanders.
Authorities said the ship had been seized because it
violated international maritime rules.
Source:
mehrnews.com
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https://en.mehrnews.com/news/214293/Iran-releases-details-of-confiscated-Israeli-transit-cargo
---
200,000 settlers in occupied lands escaped Hezbollah
strikes
Apr 23, 2024
TEHRAN, Apr. 23 (MNA) – Sirens in multiple northern
towns in occupied territories went off on Tuesday after suspected drone and
rocket attacks by the Lebanese Hezbollah movement.
Sirens in multiple northern towns warn of suspected
drone and rocket attacks, Times of Israel reported on Tuesday.
Alerts are heard in the coastal city Acre and towns a
short distance north of Haifa, the regime media added.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah Al-Manar TV cited the Israeli
media outlets as reporting the explosion of a missile intercepting a suspicious
object in the airspace of Nahariya.
The suspected rocket and drone fire came after the
Hezbollah moment mourned Martyr All the Way to Al-Quds Hussein Ali Azqoul
(Hadi), who was martyred in an Israeli regime air strike in the south of
Lebanon.
Israeli military radio has reported that as many as
200,000 settlers in the North have resorted to shelters after three drones have
been launched into Nahariya.
Source:
mehrnews.com
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---
Over 3,660 Palestinians being held in Israel under
administrative detention: Rights groups
AwadRajoob
24.04.2024
More than 3,660 Palestinians are being held under
administrative detention in Israeli prisons, the highest number since 1967,
prisoners' rights groups said Tuesday.
"As of the beginning of April, more than 3,660
Palestinians were being held under administrative detention in Israeli
occupation prisons, marking 200 days since the continuous aggression in Gaza,''
the Commission of Detainees' Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Society said
in a joint statement.
The statement pointed out that "the number of
detainees was around 1,320 before the Hamas Oct. 7 attack.''
Administrative detention is imprisonment under Israeli
military order without charges being filed, lasting for six months and
renewable.
The current number of Palestinians who are under
administrative detention is "the highest since 1967 and since human rights
institutions began documenting data on administrative detainees during the
years of the Stone (First) Intifada in 1987,'' Amani Sarahneh, the media
coordinator for the Prisoners Club, told Anadolu.
"Among the current detainees are 22 women and
more than 40 children,” the statement added.
The statement also noted that "the number of new
or renewed administrative detention orders issued after Oct. 7 reached
5,210."
At least 9,500 Palestinians, including 80 women and
more than 200 children, are behind bars at Israeli prisons, according to
Palestinian figures.
Tensions have been high across the occupied West Bank
since Israel launched a deadly military offensive against the Gaza Strip which
has killed nearly 34,200 people following an attack by the Palestinian group
Hamas on Oct. 7 last year.
At least 487 Palestinians have since been killed and
over 4,800 others injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied West Bank.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International
Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling in January ordered it to stop
genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is
provided to civilians in Gaza.
Source:
aa.com.tr
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---
New Palestinian PM announces reform package for
beleaguered Authority
23 April 2024
JACOB MAGID
RAMALLAH — Newly installed Palestinian Authority Prime
Minister Mohammad Mustafa announced a package of reforms on Tuesday aimed at
strengthening the Palestinian Authority amid increased global pressure for a
revival of political dialogue with Israel.
Mustafa, appointed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas
earlier this year, said his government would introduce measures to improve
transparency and fight corruption, overhaul the justice system and security
sectors and improve public sector efficiency.
In addition, he said the health and education system
would be improved, public finances strengthened and economic reforms
implemented.
The reform pledges largely match promises previously
made by his predecessor Mohammed Shtayyeh, who announced his resignation in
February as the PA looked to build support for an expanded role amid Israel’s
war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza.
The United States and other international partners
have pressed the PA to implement sweeping reforms to restore confidence among
Palestinians, who have become deeply disillusioned with the body set up under
the interim Oslo Peace Accords more than 30 years ago.
“A revitalized PA is essential to delivering results
for the Palestinian people in both the West Bank and Gaza and establishing the
conditions for stability in the broader region,” US State Department
spokesperson Matthew Miller said when the move was announced at the end of
March.
In addition to the new cabinet, the PA was in the
final stages of talks with the Biden administration about reforming its
controversial welfare policy, which included payments to terrorists and their
families, two sources familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel last
month.
The urgency to make reforms has increased as attention
has turned towards the governance of Gaza, once Israel completes its military
campaign against Hamas. The war there began after the October 7 massacres in
southern Israel, when 3,000 Hamas-led terrorists killed some 1,200 people,
mostly civilians, and took over 250 hostages.
Despite resistance from Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, Washington and its allies say the PA must be involved in
administering the enclave once Israeli troops pull out.
Netanyahu has thus far rejected efforts to include the
PA in post-war planning, arguing that the more moderate foil to Hamas, which
publicly backs a two-state solution, is actually no different than the
Gaza-ruling terror group in its refusal to accept a Jewish state and tacit
support for terror.
However, some in the security establishment have
argued that the PA represents Israel’s least bad option for who can manage Gaza
after the war — the alternatives being Hamas or a state of anarchy, according
to an Israeli official.
The US and most Western countries say only a two-state
solution, entailing an independent Palestinian state next to Israel, can offer
the chance of a peaceful resolution to decades of conflict.
Abbas reacted angrily last week when Washington vetoed
a Palestinian request for full United Nations membership, saying the PA would
reconsider bilateral ties with the US following the decision.
Abbas’s threat to the US, which he had previously made
during US President Joe Biden’s tenure without following through, was published
by the PA’s Wafa news agency
“While the world agrees on the application of
international law and stands by the Palestinian right, America continues to
support the occupation, refusing to compel Israel to stop its genocidal war,”
Abbas was quoted as saying. “It provides Israel with weapons and funds that
kill our children and destroy our homes, and it stands against us in
international forums, in positions that do not serve security and stability in
the region.”
The PA has been grappling with a severe financial
crisis that has left most public sector employees receiving only part of their
normal salary for the past two years.
The crisis has worsened since the start of the
Israel-Hamas war, as Israel has cut off some of the tax revenues it collects on
the PA’s behalf, accusing the Authority of supporting Hamas.
Source:
timesofisrael.com
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----
Leader: Iran’s progress in arms sector example of
turning sanctions, hostilities into opportunity
24 April 2024
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali
Khamenei says the Islamic Republic’s remarkable achievements in arms production
attest to the fact that a “lively nation” can turn sanctions into
opportunities.
Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks on Wednesday as he
received a group of workers from across the country on the occasion of Labor
Week.
The Leader said the anti-Iran sanctions aimed to put
the Islamic Republic in a “tight spot” to force it to toe the line of
imperialism and colonialism, asserting that, “It is self-evident that the
Islamic Establishment, the Islamic zeal and a great nation with an Islamic
history will by no means submit to such bullying.”
Ayatollah Khamenei added, “A lively nation creates
opportunities for itself out of the enemy’s hostilities, a clear example of
which is in the [Islamic Republic’s] arms sector. In other sectors, great
progress has been achieved as well despite pressures.”
Underlining that the sanctions will fail to bring the
Iranian nation to its knees as it has not pinned hopes on help from outside of
the borders, the Leader said, “This spirit needs to be lifted.”
“The Iranian nation must showcase its strength through
work, action and national unity,” Ayatollah Khamenei noted.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the Leader pointed to the
Iranian labor community and stressed that the country’s authorities are
responsible for the job security of workers.
“In a period, we were beset by the closure of large
factories, [but] thanks to the efforts by the authorities, many closed
workshops were reopened in the past one or two years, and this must continue,”
the Leader said, adding that power will increase in a society where there is
work.
Source:
presstv.ir
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----
Damage caused by Israeli attacks in Lebanon exceeds Rs
24,985 cr
24th April 2024
Sakina Fatima
Beirut: The damage caused by Israel to the
agricultural field and other sectors in southern Lebanon is worth more than 3
billion dollars (Rs 2,49,85,68,00,000), said Lebanese Agriculture Minister
Abbas Hajj Hassan.
Hajj Hassan added on Tuesday that the Ministry updates
daily a map that includes direct and indirect damage caused by Israeli attacks
in the southern villages and towns, reported the National News Agency.
The Minister said it is impossible to obtain a
scientific answer as to whether Israeli attacks harmed the soil of the south
until necessary studies are carried out after a ceasefire, Xinhua news agency
reported.
“We formed a committee ready to study this soil as
soon as the Israeli attacks stop,” he said, adding that the Ministry will plant
10 trees for every tree burned by the “enemy”.
He added that there is also a plan to develop the fish
sector with Norwegian funding of about $2 million, calling for Arab investment
in Lebanese agricultural projects.
Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border escalated on
October 8, 2023, following a barrage of rockets launched by the Lebanese armed
group Hezbollah toward Israel in solidarity with Hamas’ attack on Israel on
October 7. Israel then retaliated by firing heavy artillery toward southeastern
Lebanon.
Source:
siasat.com
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https://www.siasat.com/damage-caused-by-israeli-attacks-in-lebanon-exceeds-rs-24985-cr-3014161/
---
Southeast
Asia
Korean Muslim YouTuber Daud Kim’s Plan To Build Mosque
In Incheon Cancelled After Locals Resist
APRIL 24, 2024
Korean Muslim YouTuber Daud Kim’s plans to build a
mosque in the western port city of Incheon has come to a grinding halt after it
received backlash from local residents. Following the backlash, the land
purchase contract he signed has been cancelled upon the request of the
landowner, according to a report by the Korea Times.
YouTuber Daud Kim, or Kim Jae-han then agreed to
cancel the contract with the property owner. The property owners wanted the
contract cancelled and said that he did not know about Kim’s plans to build a
mosque.
Kim posts about living as a Korean Muslim and has made
a fan following on YouTube with over 5.52 million subscribers and 3.5 million
Instagram followers from his posts.
He purchased 284.4 square metres of land on Incheon’s
Yeongjong Island for 189.2 million won ($136,500).
He posted a video on YouTube and Instagram where he
told his followers that he paid a deposit of 20 million won in advance and will
pay the remainder of the amount the coming month.
“Finally with your help, I have signed a contract for
land to build a Masjid in Incheon. I can’t believe this day has come. I plan to
build a prayer place and Islamic podcast studio for Dawah to Koreans,” he said.
He also shared his bank information online, seeking
donations from his subscribers. The local community, however, protested against
the construction of the mosque which lies near schools and residential areas.
The opposition to his plans to build a mosque were
further exacerbated by local news media reports resurfaced a sex crime he
committed in 2019. He was allegedly prosecuted for attempting to rape a foreign
woman.
The video on TikTok posted by the victim where she
talks about the attempted rape went viral again and drew attention to his
actions. Kim tried to explain that the case was closed and the indictment was
suspended after he apologized to the victim and said the victim did not want
him to get a punishment.
The Korea Muslim Federation (KMF), the only Islamic
organization officially registered with the Korean government, last week told
the Korea Times that Kim’s plans to build the mosque is his personal project.
“All Masjids across the country associated with the
Korea Muslim Federation are registered under the name of the KMF, and nobody is
allowed to register in the name of an individual or raise funds for the
construction of the Masjid,” the group said in the announcement.
The Korea Times in its report said there are 19
mosques in Korea which cater to some 35,000 Korean Muslims and 150,000 Muslims
of foreign nationalities who live there.
Source:
news18.com
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---
Myanmar rebel group says it withdraws from key town on
Thai border
APR 24, 2024
MYAWADDY, Myanmar - A Myanmar rebel group has
withdrawn its troops from a town along the Thai border, following a
counter-offensive by soldiers of the ruling junta from whom the rebels had
earlier in April wrested the key trading post, an official said on April 24.
A spokesman for the Karen National Union (KNU) said
the “temporary retreat” from the town of Myawaddy came after the return of
junta soldiers to the vital strategic area that is a conduit for annual foreign
trade of more than US$1 billion (S$1.35 billion).
“KNLA troops will... destroy the junta troops and
their back-up troops who marched to Myawaddy,” Mr Saw Taw Nee told Reuters,
referring to the group’s armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army, one of
Myanmar’s oldest ethnic fighting forces.
Fighting had flared as recently as April 20 in
Myawaddy, forcing 3,000 civilians to flee as rebels fought to flush out Myanmar
junta troops holed up for days at a border bridge crossing.
Many of those civilians have since returned, the Thai
government said, adding that it had also urged Myanmar to keep the fighting
from spilling across the border.
Photographs posted on some pro-junta social media
groups showed a handful of soldiers raising the Myanmar flag at a military base
the KNU had controlled just days before and where the rebel group had raised
its own banner.
The junta, which has mounted a counter-offensive to
retake Myawaddy, was able to enter the area with the help of a regional militia
that had stood aside when the KNU laid siege to Myawaddy early in April,
according to Mr Saw Taw Nee.
Officials from the militia group, the Karen National
Army, and the junta did not respond to telephone calls from Reuters to seek
comment.
Three years after its coup ousted a democratically
elected civilian government, Myanmar's junta is under unprecedented pressure,
having lost control of a string of key frontier areas to rebel groups. REUTERS
Source:
straitstimes.com
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---
Rakerkesnas helps make Indonesia a developed country:
President
April 24, 2024
Jakarta (ANTARA) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi)
stated that the 2024 National Working Meeting on Health (Rakerkesnas) played a
significant role in helping Indonesia become a developed country.
"Everyone present this morning has a very
significant role in realizing a healthy society for a developed Indonesia, for
a Golden Indonesia. Hence, do not let this opportunity be lost," President
Jokowi noted in his remarks at the event here on Wednesday.
The head of state remarked that Indonesia has the
opportunity to become a developed country through the demographic bonus
projected to be achieved by around 2030, where 68 percent of Indonesia's
population will belong to the productive age group.
"The next 15-20 years will be a crucial period.
Everyone must understand this problem," he emphasized.
President Jokowi also stated that people's health is
crucial and fundamental in bringing Indonesia to become a developed country.
"As the minister of health said earlier, what is
the point of (Indonesia having) lots of smart people but they are not
healthy?" he stressed.
The president then pointed out that the government
still has obligations that need to be met immediately, including the task to
overcome stunting and to address the issue of deadly non-communicable diseases,
such as strokes, heart attacks, and cancer.
President Jokowi stated that the stunting rate in
Indonesia had fallen, from 37.6 percent 10 years ago to 21.5 percent in 2023.
"At least this year, we will reach 14 percent. I
do not think this is easy because this is work that must be integrated.
However, hopefully, in one year, we can reach 14 percent," he noted.
Meanwhile, he stated that deadly non-communicable
diseases are still the cause of the relatively high death rate in Indonesia.
These diseases include stroke that causes around 330
thousand deaths per year and heart disease causal to around 300 thousand deaths
per year.
"Deaths due to heart disease in our country are
still (ranked at) number two, and (at) number three are deaths due to
cancer," the president stated.
Source:
antaranews.com
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----
Wisma Putra: Malaysia urges countries to resume
support for UNRWA
24 Apr 2024
PUTRAJAYA, April 24 — Malaysia has urged countries
that suspended their contributions to resume their support for the United
Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East
(UNRWA). The agency serves as a vital lifeline for the besieged Palestinians,
according to the Foreign Ministry.
In a statement, the ministry widely known as Wisma
Putra said Malaysia welcomed the decision by several countries to resume their
contribution to UNRWA.
“It is imperative for nations to re-evaluate their
priorities with Israel, given its despicable actions at the expense of the
Palestinian people,” it said.
The ministry said Malaysia welcomes the findings of
the United Nations Secretary-General by the “Independent Review of Mechanisms
and Procedures to Ensure Adherence by the United Nations Relief and Works
Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to the Humanitarian
Principle of Neutrality”.
It said the report unequivocally rejects Israel’s
baseless accusations of United Nations (UN) staff being involved with terrorist
organisations.
“The continued propagation of lies, deceit, and
misrepresentation by Israel’s propaganda machinery constitute a grave offence
against human decency.
“Israel’s false accusation has not only tarnished the
agency’s reputation but also undermined the valuable contribution of donor
countries, unjustly impeding their support without valid grounds,” the
statement read.
According to the statement, the Independent Review
Group was established by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on February
5 this year to assess UNRWA’s neutrality following allegations by Israel of the
involvement of UNRWA’s staff in the October 7, 2023 attacks.
On Monday, Anadolu Agency reported the Independent
Review Group revealed that Israel has yet to provide evidence for its
terror-link allegations against personnel of the UNRWA.
According to media reports, the UNRWA was established
by the UN General Assembly over 70 years ago to assist Palestinians who were
forcibly displaced from their land.
The agency provides crucial support to millions of
Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip, West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and
other areas where large numbers of registered Palestinians live. — Bernama
Source:
malaymail.com
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---
Africa
Boko Haram Bomb Experts Surrender To Multinational
Joint Task Force On Terrorism In Borno
April 24, 2024
It was gathered that the state assembly workers who
staged a peaceful protest to the state assembly complex in Awka, the state
capital, said they are embarking on the industrial action over non-payment of
their numerous entitlements, poor pay and poor working conditions.
Workers at the Anambra State House of Assembly under
the umbrella of Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN), have
commenced an indefinite strike in the state.
it was gathered that the state assembly workers who
staged a peaceful protest to the state assembly complex in Awka, the state
capital, said they are embarking on the industrial action over non-payment of
their numerous entitlements, poor pay and poor working conditions.
The aggrieved workers accused lawmakers in the state
of recruiting corps members to perform their duties instead of paying them.
Speaking on the matter, the Deputy National President
of PASAN, Comrade Promise Chijioke Onwukwe, said, “We had embarked on this
strike before but the Conference Of Speakers of the 36 state assemblies and the
Governor’s Forum appealed to us that all our entitlements would be settled, but
here in Anambra State, nothing has been done.”
According to the aggrieved state assembly staff, they
staged the protest against the lack of enhanced
salary known as CONYRESS, staff training, laptops, ICT unit in the
complex and utility vehicles, adding that they are also demanding for
employment of more staff.
Speaking further, Onwukwe lamented, “You go to collect
or submit mails and you will be trekking from one office to the other under the
sun, while those that you are working for are cruising in air-conditioned
vehicles.
“It might not be far from the truth that Gov Charles
Soludo may have provided all these things but they are nowhere to be found and
this is unfortunate.
“Go round the complex, you will see that it has been
overgrown by grasses and staff kill all manner of reptiles, snakes and
scorpions almost every week.”
In his reaction to the claims by the workers, the
State House of Assembly Majority Leader, Ikenna Ofodeme described the claims as
untrue.
Ofodeme said that most of the workers are strictly
under the office of the Head Of Service and they are posted to work with the
state Assembly members, stressing that if they don’t want to work at the House
of Assembly, they are free to go back to the Head of Service.
The Majority Leader said, “It is only the Anambra
State PASAN that is on strike and they are not on strike because their
statutory payments are not being paid, they are on strike because they are
talking about their welfare which has to do with their allowances.
“Most of those staff are strictly under the office of
the Head Of Service and they are posted to come and work with the state
Assembly members.
“They are duty bound to listen to where they are
posted. If they don’t want to work at the House of Assembly, they are free to
go back to the Head of Service and not to come here to disrupt the activities
of the House of Assembly.”
Source:
saharareporters.com
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---
Niger, US begin talks on withdrawal of American troops
24.04.24
Talks have begun between the authorities in Niger and
the US for the withdrawal of American troops stationed in two airbases in the
sahelian nation.
On Tuesday both parties gave confirmation amid the
decision of the Nigerien government last month to end military co-operation
agreement with Washington.
Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon Press Secretary:
"We can confirm that discussions have begun
between the United States and Niger for the orderly withdrawal of U.S. forces
from the country. In the near future, the Department of Defense will provide a
small delegation from the Pentagon and U.S. Africa Command to participate in
those discussions."
Through two bases in Niger, the US has over the past
decade performed counter-terrorism and global security operations against ISIS
and Al Qaeda in the West African region. The future of those operations have
been cast into doubt but the US pentagon press secretary tried to allay fears.
Gen. Pat Ryder,
Pentagon Press Secretary:
" We'll continue to work with regional partners
to address how best, to ensure that we can continue to do the kinds of things
we do to not only protect our national interests but also look at the
collective security of of regional partners."
The withdrawal of US troops was seen as inevitable
after the arrival of 100 Russian soldiers in the sahelian nation earlier this
month. There have also been mass protests across the capital Niamey calling for
the US troops to leave.
Source:
africanews.com
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---
UNICEF lauds effective partnership with journalists in
Bauchi field office
Ishola Michael
April 24, 2024
Bauchi Field Office of the United Nations Children’s
Fund (UNICEF) has commended the crop of Journalists who are engaged in working
with it for the good of the woman and child.
The commendation was made by the Chief of Field of
UNICEF, Bauchi, Dr Tushar Rane during a media parley held at the Conference
Hall of UNICEF, Bauchi Field Office, Bauchi.
Rane while giving an opening remarks said, “I want to
say a very big thank you for taking out your time to be here with us. I will
also take this opportunity to immensely thank all of you because you have been
a wonderful and very important partner for us, all of you have been a wonderful
support.
“I think we could not have been able to do anything
alone, it is that partnership that has helped us to amplify efforts, amplify
the redress, amplify our call to all the rights of the children and the women
to take decisions and to come forward to access quality healthcare service
delivery.
“I really thank you, you are the full partners in this
sector and in the spirit of sipmlyhood we continue to work together for the
common cause. So, thank you very much indeed.
“UNICEF relies on you to always amplify the cause of
the woman and child to attain full life through effective and efficient
healthcare service delivery to ensure that no child is left behind.”
Also speaking, Rajat Madhok, Chief of Communications,
UNICEF Nigeria, said “I have met some of you in the past and had a wonderful
engagement with you. I have to be very honest, one of the strongest media
coverage that we have in the work we are doing is from here.
“So, I show full appreciation to you on behalf of
UNICEF Nigeria. Thank you so much. I look forward to a sustained partnership
for the good of the woman and child.”
In his remark, Chairman of the Bauchi State Council of
the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Comrade Umar Sa’idu commended UNICEF
for the opportunity given to Journalists in the State to be part of the success
story of Health and Education interventions.
The NUJ chairman stressed that the various trainings
and workshops organised over the years have exposed the Journalists to the
rudiments of advocacy journalism which has contributed to clear and objective
reporting of the various interventions.
Umar Sa’idu assured that Journalists in the state will
continue to support UNICEF in all its campaigns and advocacy for improved
healthcare services and the provision of quality education.
He however called for more training and workshops
which will further bring Journalists updates in the reportage of health and
education sectors.
Source:
tribuneonlineng.com
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---
Sudan military downs drones targeting its HQ in
Shendi, say army sources
23 April, 2024
Sudan's army used anti-aircraft missiles on Tuesday to
shoot down drones targeting its headquarters in the city of Shendi, witnesses
and army sources said, the latest in a series of such drone attacks.
None of the drones hit their target, the army sources
said. Reuters could not independently verify the report.
The head of Sudan's army, General Abdel Fattah
al-Burhan, arrived on Monday in Shendi, which is some 180 km (112 miles) north
of the capital Khartoum, army media reported earlier. It was not immediately
clear whether he remains in the area.
Sudan's army is battling the paramilitary Rapid
Support Forces (RSF) for control of the vast north African country.
Tuesday's drone attack is the third targeting areas
that remain solidly under army control. The city of Atbara, also in River Nile
state, and Al-Gedaref state to the east have also come under drone attack.
Both the army and the RSF have used drones in the
conflict, which erupted a year ago.
The RSF, which controls much of Khartoum and western
regions of the country, has not claimed responsibility for any of the attacks.
Shendi residents said the attacks have created panic
in the town.
The war between the army and RSF has sparked warnings
of famine, displaced millions, killed thousands in the crossfire and given way
to ethnic killings by the RSF and allied militias.
The war appears likely to spread to the city of
Al-Fashir, the army's final holdout in the Darfur region, with many warning of
a humanitarian catastrophe.
Source:
newarab.com
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https://www.newarab.com/news/sudan-army-downs-drones-targeting-hq-shendi-army-sources
----
North
America
Google Fires Workers For ‘Disruptive’ Protests Over
Contract with Israel
24.04.2024
Google fired at least 20 more workers in the aftermath
of sit-in protests over technology the company is supplying the Israeli
government amid war in Gaza, bringing the total number of terminated staff to
more than 50, a group representing the workers said.
There has been turmoil at the tech giant centred on
“Project Nimbus,” a $1.2 billion contract signed in 2021 for Google and Amazon
to provide the Israeli government with cloud computing and artificial
intelligence services.
Workers held sit-in protests last week at Google
offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California. The company responded by calling
the police, who made arrests. Google later announced that it fired 28 employees
for violating company policies by disrupting other workers and preventing them
from reaching its facilities.
The group organizing the protests, No Tech For
Apartheid, said the company fired 30 workers last week — higher than the
initial 28 they had announced.
Then, on Tuesday night, Google fired “over 20” more
staffers, “including non-participating bystanders during last week’s protests,”
said Jane Chung, a spokeswoman for No Tech For Apartheid, without providing a
more specific number.
“Google’s aims are clear: the corporation is
attempting to quash dissent, silence its workers, and reassert its power over
them,” Chung said in a press release. “In its attempts to do so, Google has
decided to unceremoniously, and without due process, upend the livelihoods of
over 50 of its own workers.”
They refuse to leave until @google stops powering the
genocide in Gaza
LIVESTREAM: https://t.co/uUiPbr3oDz
pic.twitter.com/vCkInh0769
— No Tech For Apartheid (@NoTechApartheid) April 16,
2024
Google said it fired the additional workers after its
investigation gathered details from coworkers who were “physically disrupted”
and it identified employees who used masks and didn’t carry their staff badges
to hide their identities. It didn’t specify how many were fired.
The company disputed the group’s claims, saying that
it carefully confirmed that “every single one of those whose employment was
terminated was personally and definitively involved in disruptive activity
inside our buildings.”
The Mountain View, California, company had previously
signaled that more people could be fired, with CEO Sundar Pichai indicating in
a blog post that employees would be on a short leash as the company intensifies
its efforts to improve its AI technology.
In March, Google fired an employee after he
interrupted a speech by the tech firm’s managing director in Israel with
pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel declarations during a conference in New York City.
The rallies came against the background of the ongoing
war in the Gaza Strip, which was started by the Palestinian terror group Hamas
on October 7 when it led a cross-border attack on Israel in which some 1,200
people were killed and 253 taken hostage.
Israel responded to the Hamas onslaught with a
military offensive to destroy the terror group, replace its de facto regime in
Gaza, and free the hostages.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than
34,000 people in the Strip have been killed in the fighting so far, a figure
that cannot be independently verified and includes some 13,000 Hamas gunmen
Israel says it has killed in battle. Israel also says it killed some 1,000
terrorists inside Israel on October 7. Two hundred and sixty-one IDF soldiers
have been killed in the Gaza offensive.
Source:
timesofisrael.com
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https://www.timesofisrael.com/google-fires-more-workers-for-disruptive-protests-over-contract-with-israel/
---
Ending Mideast conflict not a priority for most
Americans: Survey
April 24, 2024
Chicago: A majority of Americans do not see the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a foreign policy priority, according to two new
concurrent surveys by the Pew Research Center.
Americans identified as their top four of 22 foreign
policy priorities protecting the country from terrorism (71 percent), reducing
illegal drugs (64 percent), preventing the spread of weapons of mass
destruction (63 percent) and maintaining a military advantage over foreign
powers.
Finding a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
drew 29 percent, ranking only 14th among the 22 priorities.
The question of “supporting Israel” ranked even lower
at 20th with 22 percent, with 31 percent opposing that support.
“Overall, a majority of Americans say that all 22
long-range foreign policy goals we asked about should be given at least some
priority. Still, about three in 10 say supporting Israel, promoting democracy
in other nations (28 percent) and supporting Ukraine (27 percent) should be
given no priority,” Jacob Poushter, Pew associate director of research, told
Arab News.
“Even with these priorities, 83 percent of Americans
say it is more important for President Joe Biden to focus on domestic policy,
compared with 14 percent who say he should focus on foreign policy.
“In 2019, 74 percent wanted then-President Donald
Trump to focus on domestic policy, and 23 percent said he should focus on
foreign policy.”
Pew researchers said finding a solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict was previously “a priority that saw no partisan
difference at all” in a 2018 survey.
But the new surveys show a “partisan gap” emerging,
with twice as many Democrats (36 percent) today than in 2018 calling the
conflict “a priority,” while the share of Republicans (20 percent) has remained
constant.
Twenty-nine percent of Americans say they have a great
deal or fair amount of confidence in the UN’s ability to provide effective
humanitarian aid to Gaza. Fifty-one percent do not have confidence and 19
percent are unsure.
Only 15 percent of Americans say they have confidence
in the UN’s ability to enforce a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Sixty-seven percent have no confidence and 17 percent are unsure.
A recent Pew survey found that only 12 percent of
Americans believe that lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians is at
least somewhat likely.
Source:
arabnews.com
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2498441/world
----
US military still has concerns about potential Rafah
operation: Pentagon
Servet Gunerigok
24.04.2024
The US military still has concerns about a potential
Israeli ground operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, the Pentagon said
Tuesday.
Speaking at a press briefing, spokesman Pat Ryder
recalled a meeting between US and Israeli officials in which he said the two
countries agreed on a "shared objective" to defeat Hamas and shared
their thinking on Rafah.
"We've shared ours, but in terms of what their
plan looks like. We still have some concerns in terms of the various courses of
actions. And so we'll continue to discuss those concerns related to how they're
going to take into account civilian safety and humanitarian assistance,"
said Ryder.
He said there is no indications at this point that any
type of major ground operation has begun.
"And so, again, those conversations will continue
to be very important, and it will also continue to be something that we feel is
essential, that before any type of operation that they're taking civilian
safety and humanitarian considerations," said Ryder.
Despite international warnings about a planned Israeli
invasion of Rafah, the Israeli army insists on going ahead in attacking the
tiny city, which is home to nearly 1.4 million displaced Palestinians.
Last week, an Israeli government spokesperson said
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set a date for invading Rafah.
Rafah is the last remaining area in the enclave where
Israel has not yet formally announced the entry of its troops to continue the
onslaught against Palestinians.
Source:
aa.com.tr
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/us-military-still-has-concerns-about-potential-rafah-operation-pentagon/3200510
---
At least 100 pro-Palestinian protesters arrested near
US Senator Schumer’s home
Iclal Turan
24.04.2024
At least 100 pro-Palestinian protesters were
reportedly arrested near Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s home in
Brooklyn, New York, on Tuesday evening during a protest against an aid package
that would provide $26 billion to Israel.
The protest, organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, was
held during the Jewish Passover holiday, to demand a cessation of aid to Israel
after the US Senate approved a long-awaited $95 billion foreign aid package,
including $26.6 billion for Israel.
The group said in its X account that they blocked
traffic at Schumer’s doorstep to "demand the US stop arming and funding
the Israeli government as it carries out a genocide."
The group said New York police arrested hundreds of
protesters while some US outlets reported that at least 100 protesters were
arrested.
Stefanie Fox, executive director of Jewish Voice for
Peace, said in an interview that the protest was held during Passover in order
to send a message to Schumer as the Senate passed the $95 billion aid package
for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.
“Everything in our tradition compels us to bring
everything we have to stopping these historic atrocities being done in our
names and with our tax dollars,” Fox said.
Source:
aa.com.tr
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/at-least-100-pro-palestinian-protesters-arrested-near-us-senator-schumer-s-home/3200572
----
Columbia head threatens to remove anti-Israel
encampment as protests roil universities
24.04.2024
Columbia University President Nemat Shafik called
Tuesday for an encampment of pro-Palestinian protesters set up at the school’s
upper Manhattan campus to be removed, setting a midnight Tuesday deadline for
student organizers and representatives of the Ivy League school to reach an
agreement on ending the protest.
The move by Shafik came as she has become entangled in
a bruising battle between activists angered by Israel’s war on the Hamas terror
group in Gaza and Jewish students and faculty who say the demonstrations
include antisemitic harassment and calls for violence against Jews. Students at
a growing number of United States colleges have gathered in protest encampments
with a unified demand of their schools: Stop doing business with Israel — or
any companies that empower its ongoing war in Gaza, joining a decades-old
campaign against Israel and its policies toward the Palestinians that
pro-Israel groups say is tantamount to calls for the destruction of the Jewish
state.
As of 3 a.m., the protest encampment at Columbia had
yet to be removed, with the local chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine
saying activists had walked away from negotiations after school administrators
threatened to send in both New York City police and National Guard troops to
remove the tents.
“Without assurances of good faith bargaining and
protections for nonviolent protestors against police and military violence, we
will not be returning to the table,” read a statement posted on social media.
In a letter addressed to “fellow members of the
Columbia community,” hours earlier, Shafik said that she “fully support[s] the
importance of free speech, respect the right to demonstrate, and recognize that
many of the protestors have gathered peacefully.”
“However, the encampment raises serious safety
concerns, disrupts campus life, and has created a tense and at times hostile
environment for many members of our community. It is essential that we move
forward with a plan to dismantle it,” she added.
According to Shafik, negotiations have been going on
for several days. If the talks fail, she wrote “we will have to consider
alternative options for clearing the [encampment] and restoring calm to campus
so that students can complete the term and graduate.”
Ahead of the midnight deadline, some protesters
voluntarily packed up their tents and moved to another part of campus, but
returned to the main encampment after the deadline passed, the Columbia
Spectator student newspaper reported.
Rumors spread online that the deadline had been pushed
to the morning, but the university declined to comment on whether that was
true. The heightened tension arrived the night before US House Speaker Mike
Johnson’s trip to Columbia to visit with Jewish students and address
antisemitism on college campuses.
Inspired by ongoing protests and angered over the
arrests last week of more than 100 students at Columbia University, students
from Massachusetts to California are now gathering by the hundreds on campuses,
setting up tent camps and pledging to stay put until their demands are met.
“We want to be visible,” said Columbia protest leader
Mahmoud Khalil, who noted that students at the university have been pushing for
divestment from Israel since 2002. “The university should do something about
what we’re asking for, about the genocide that’s happening in Gaza. They should
stop investing in this genocide.”
Across the country, protestors at California State
Polytechnic University, Humboldt started using furniture, tents, chains and zip
ties to block the building’s entrances Monday evening, and an unknown number of
students had occupied a second campus building Tuesday.
“We are not afraid of you!” the protestors chanted
before officers in riot gear pushed into them at the building’s entrance, video
showed. Student Peyton McKinzie said she was walking on campus Monday when she
saw police grabbing one woman by the hair, and another student having their
head bandaged for an injury.
“I think a lot of students are in shock about it,” she
told The Associated Press.
Three students have been arrested, according to a
statement from Cal Poly Humboldt, which shut down the campus until Wednesday.
The upwelling of demonstrations has left universities
struggling to balance campus safety with free speech rights.
Critics of the protests, including prominent
Republican members of the US Congress, have stepped up accusations of
antisemitism and harassment by at least some protesters. Civil rights
advocates, including the ACLU, have raised free speech concerns over the
arrests.
There have been heated exchanges of words and insults
between anti-Israel and pro-Israel demonstrators, particularly in the public
streets around Columbia, leading congressional Republicans on Tuesday to demand
that US President Joe Biden do more to protect Jewish students.
Several campus protesters Reuters spoke to attributed
the off-campus incidents to rogue provocateurs who are trying to hijack the
protests’ message.
“There are no universities left in Gaza. So we chose
to reclaim our university for the people of Palestine,” said Soph Askanase, a
Jewish Columbia student who was arrested and suspended for protesting.
“Antisemitism, Islamophobia and racism, in particular racism against Arabs and
Palestinians, are all cut from the same cloth.”
The Israel-Hamas war erupted when 3,000 terrorists
poured across the border with Israel on October 7 in an unprecedented Hamas-led
massacre that resulted in the deaths of 1,200 people, mostly civilians, while
253 were kidnapped to Gaza.
The ensuing Israeli offensive has killed over 34,000
people, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry. This figure cannot be
independently verified and includes over 13,000 terror operatives Israel says
it has killed since the beginning of the war. The IDF says 261 of its soldiers
have been killed in the fighting.
Protesters want university endowments to divest from
Israeli interests and the US to end or at least condition Israeli military aid
on improving the plight of Palestinians.
Outside the Brooklyn home of Senate Majority Leader
Chuck Schumer, some Jewish demonstrators said they were taking the second night
of the weeklong feast of Passover, a holiday feast when families gather and
celebrate the biblical account of the Israelites’ freedom from Egyptian
slavery, to reaffirm their faith and distance themselves from the Israeli
government’s war strategy.
“Stop arming Israel,” “Stop funding genocide” and “Let
Gaza live,” the crowd of some 2,000 chanted.
“I don’t see what Israel is doing as self-defense. I
see incredible, absolutely unbelievable human rights violations,” said
Katherine Stern, 62, of Woodstock, New York, who gave up her family Seder 120
miles (190 kilometers) away to attend the Brooklyn protest.
Organizers staged music and songs from Jewish and
other cultures, giving prominence to Canadian author Naomi Klein, a peace
activist who drew on her Jewish roots to argue against Zionism, which she
called a “false idol.”
“We want freedom from the project that connects
genocide in our name,” Klein said to cheers. “We seek to migrate Judaism from
an ethnostate that wants Jews to be perennially afraid… or that we go running
to its fortress, or at least keep sending them the weapons and the donations.”
The protest reached a standoff on Tuesday when New
York police began to arrest people over disorderly conduct, restraining those
who refused to move with zip ties. At least 100 people were seen being
arrested, The New York Times reported.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations criticized
the use of police force to stifle dissent, saying it undermined academic
freedom.
“So does defaming and endangering Jewish, Muslim and
Palestinian… students based on suspiciously inflammatory remarks that a few
unidentified, masked individuals have made outside of campus,” Afaf Nasher,
executive director of CAIR in New York, said in a statement.
Other students blamed universities for failing to
protect their right to protest or stand up for human rights.
“As a Palestinian student, I too did not feel safe for
the past six months, and that was as a direct result of Columbia’s one-sided
statements and inaction,” said Khalil, a Palestinian student at Columbia.
Students at the University of California, Berkeley — a
school well known for its student activism during the 1960s — set up tents in
solidarity with protesters at other schools.
Milton Zerman, 25, a second-year student at Berkeley’s
law school, who is from Los Angeles, said Jewish and Israeli students have
suffered from hateful harassment.
“When you’re an Israeli student on this campus, you
feel like you have a target on your back, you feel unsafe and it’s no wonder
students from Israel are so hesitant to come here,” Zerman said.
New York police arrested more than 120 protesters at
New York University on Monday and more than 100 at Columbia University last
week. Columbia canceled in-person classes at its Upper Manhattan campus on
Monday in a bid to defuse tensions.
Motivated by the Columbia protests, students at the
University of Michigan were camping out on a campus plaza Tuesday demanding an
end to financial investments with Israel. They say the school sends more than
$6 billion to investment managers who profit from Israeli companies or
contractors. They also cited investments in companies that produce drones or
warplanes used in Israel, and in surveillance products used at checkpoints into
Gaza.
University of Michigan officials said that they have
no direct investments with Israeli companies and that indirect investments made
through funds amount to a fraction of 1% of the university’s $18 billion
endowment. The school rejected calls for divestment, citing a nearly
20-year-old policy “that shields the university’s investments from political
pressures.”
At the University of Minnesota campus in St. Paul,
police cleared an encampment after the school asked them to take action, citing
violations of university policy and trespassing law.
Transparency was one of the key demands at Emerson
College, where 80 students and other supporters occupied a busy courtyard on
the downtown Boston campus Tuesday.
Twelve tents sporting slogans including “Free Gaza” or
“No US $ For Israel” lined the entrance to the courtyard, with sleeping bags
and pillows peeking out through the zippered doors.
Students sat cross-legged on the brick paving stones
typing away on final papers and reading for exams. The semester ends in a
couple of weeks.
“I would love to go home and have a shower,” said Owen
Buxton, a film major, “but I will not leave until we reach our demands or I am
dragged out by police.”
Source:
timesofisrael.com
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.timesofisrael.com/columbia-head-threatens-to-remove-anti-israel-encampment-as-protests-roil-universities/
----
Biden’s Gaza humanitarian envoy to be replaced after
overseeing aid boost
24.04.2024
JACOB MAGID
The White House’s top official on getting humanitarian
aid to Gaza will step down this week and be replaced by a former United Nations
coordinator with decades of experience in the Middle East, two US sources
familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel on Tuesday.
Veteran diplomat David Satterfield was brought out of
retirement to fill the role of Gaza humanitarian envoy less than two weeks
after the October 7 attack.
The position was created by US President Joe Biden’s
administration, as it backed Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, but recognized
that it had the potential to exact a steep cost on Gaza’s civilian population.
The longtime State Department diplomat, who previously
served as US ambassador to Turkey, will be replaced by Lise Grande, who
currently heads the US Institute for Peace, or USIP.
Grande has decades of experience in the field, serving
as UN humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, India, Iraq, and most recently,
Yemen. She took over USIP in 2020.
Satterfield, who took temporary leave as director of
the public policy school at Rice University to take on the envoy role, will
stay on at the State Department as a senior adviser, the two US sources said.
His replacement this week allows him to leave the post
on a relatively high note.
On Tuesday, he told reporters that after months of
sluggish performance by Israel and a stern call from US President Joe Biden
with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on April 4, Jerusalem has taken
“significant steps” to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza.
“The volume of assistance entering into and, most
importantly, distributed within Gaza has increased significantly,” he said,
pointing to Israel’s decision to open additional crossings and scale up aid
coming in from Jordan.
However, he added that “the risk of famine throughout
Gaza is very high, especially in the north.”
He leaves the position days before the US is slated to
begin construction on a pier that will establish a maritime aid route meant to
help flood north Gaza and the rest of the Strip with assistance.
Satterfield called on Israel to do more to facilitate
efforts to avert famine in Gaza, including by establishing additional routes
for aid to be transported throughout the Strip since the main two crossings
have become overly congested due to the uptick in aid.
Satterfield also noted the need for the UN to secure
additional trucks and transfer them into Gaza so that the additional assistance
that has been approved in recent weeks can be delivered.
Source:
timesofisrael.com
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.timesofisrael.com/bidens-gaza-humanitarian-envoy-to-be-replaced-after-overseeing-aid-boost/
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/hate-venom-bjp-aiadmk-sad-pm-modi-muslims/d/132193