Iran Judiciary Charges Rapper, Toomaj Salehi, With ‘Corruption on Earth’, He Could Face the Death Penalty
New Age Islam News Bureau
28 November 2022
The outrage of women in
Iran, and the scores supporting the protests across the world, was triggered by
the killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. (Photo | AP)
-----
• Anti-Israel Sentiments High in Qatar’s World Cup as
Pro-Palestine Atmosphere Dominates
• Kids among the ‘Rebels’ Taliban Are Gunning down In
Afghanistan, Claims a Journalist
• House-Hunt in Kolkata: Students Unite To Fight
Anti-Muslim Bias
• Local Media Says At Least 4 People Killed Since
Al-Shabaab Terrorists Stormed Rose Villa Hotel, Forces Battling To End the
Siege
Mideast
• 198 Organizations Call on ICC to Investigate Israeli
Crimes against Palestinians
• Palestinian PM blasts Israel for seizing two-thirds
of Palestine's water resources
• Shift in al-Aqsa’s status quo to blow up regional
conflict: Palestinian Foreign Ministry
• Iran's football body slams Germany's Klinsmann over
'culture' remarks
• Iran’s Khamenei comes out against talks with US amid
protests
• Bomb blast kills military commander in Yemen’s
Shabwa
• Iran: We have proof that Western states were
involved in protests
--------
South Asia
• Islamic Emirate Calls for Release of Afghanistan’s
Foreign Reserves
• Taliban condemn UN official’s ‘disrespectful’
statement about Islamic penal code
• Bangladesh charges Rohingya insurgents with murder
• UN Experts Call for Investigations on Treatment of
Women in Afghanistan
--------
India
• 'Miya' Museum: The Controversy around Assam's
'Muslim' Museum Dedicated To the Culture of 'Miyas' - Bengali-Speaking Muslims
in the State
• Muslim Homes Makes Goods, Sharakkol (Arrows), Vaal
(Swords), Gada (Clubs), and Kachha (Black Cord), For Sabarimala Pilgrims
• Police: 3 arrested for assaulting Muslim man for
travelling with Hindu woman
• MCD Polls: Muslim Voters May Play Key Role In
Chandni Chowk, Northeast Delhi
• Egypt president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to be chief
guest at Republic Day celebrations
• 37 Muslim Independents in Two Surat Seats: Garment Worker
to Domestic Help to Auto Driver to Delivery Boy
• Clerics’ Diktat Fails To Douse Football Fever in
North Kerala
• Kejriwal is Modi of 2013, he defamed Tablighi
Jamaat, disappeared during riots: Owaisi
--------
Africa
• 20 foreigners held, being interrogated over claims
that al-Shabaab abducted them: Somali police
• Somali military recaptures strategic town of El
Dhere, government says
• Jordan’s military thwarts attempts to smuggle drugs
from Syria
• Jordan to receive $845 million in aid from US
--------
Pakistan
• ISPR: Leaked Data of Army Chief’s Family Wealth
‘Lies and Malice’
• Pakistan: Imran Khan claims 3 shooters tried to kill
him in Wazirabad
• Imran Wants To Destabilise Country by Quitting Assemblies:
Fazl
• PDM mulls options to foil PTI plan
• PM urges Pak-Turkiye joint research, resources
pooling to face challenges
--------
Southeast Asia
• PM Anwar Ibrahim Told To Use TikTok to Counter
Racial, Religious Propaganda
• Hadi Blasts 'Islamophobic' DAP Over Post-GE15
Narrative To Stop PAS
• Malaysia’s Sabah Seeking to Develop Islamic Tourism
• PAS gains prominence as Malaysian Malays reject
corruption
--------
Arab World
• Erdogan Says Detente with Syria Possible Even As He
Beats Drums Of War
• Saudi Arabia’s interior minister meets with Egyptian
counterpart for official talks
• Iraqi PM says fraction of stolen $2.5 bln retrieved
• Thousands protest Turkish strikes on Kurdish groups
in Syria
• Saudi Arabia sponsors $1 bln AMF deal to support
Yemen economic reform program
• Iraqis file lawsuit against Trump, former US
officials over assassination of Gen. Soleimani, PMU deputy head
• Bahrainis hold rallies to voice solidarity with
political inmates, demand their freedom
• Turkey set for ‘ground attack’ on Syria, 'anti-Daesh
ops' halted by aggression: Kurdish cmdr
--------
North America
• US Soccer Briefly Removed Emblem from Iran Flag to
Show Support for Protesters
• Rockets target US base in Syria in latest strike:
CENTCOM
--------
Europe
• NATO Chief Hails Türkiye’s Role in Extension of Ukraine
Grain Deal
• Turkish modern art exhibition opens in Netherlands
next week
• France’s Macron and Tajik President Discuss
Afghanistan over Phone
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/iran-judiciary-rapper-toomaj-salehi-corruption/d/128509
--------
Iran Judiciary Charges Rapper, Toomaj Salehi, With
‘Corruption On Earth’, He Could Face The Death Penalty
The outrage of women in
Iran, and the scores supporting the protests across the world, was triggered by
the killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. (Photo | AP)
-----
27 November, 2022
An Iranian rapper who expressed support for
anti-regime protests is charged with “corruption on earth” and could face the
death penalty, judicial authorities confirmed on Sunday.
A US-based rights group had tweeted on Saturday that
Toomaj Salehi’s trial had begun “without a lawyer of his choice,” and his
family said his “life is at serious risk.”
For the latest headlines, follow our Google News
channel online or via the app.
“The trial has not yet begun but the charge against
Toomaj Salehi has been drafted and sent back” to the court in Isfahan, said
Assadollah Jafari, judicial chief in the central province, according to the
judiciary’s Mizan Online website.
Salehi is charged with “corruption on earth,”
according to the judiciary, one of the Islamic Republic’s most serious
offences.
He is also accused of spreading “lies on the internet,
propaganda against the state, of having formed and managed illegal groups with
the aim of disrupting security in cooperation with a government hostile” to
Iran, and of inciting people to violence.
Iran’s judiciary says more than 2,000 people have been
charged since the start of the protests. Salehi is among a number of prominent
figures detained.
The September 16 death in morality police custody of
Mahsa Amini, 22, for allegedly breaching the strict dress code for women,
sparked nationwide demonstrations.
Authorities call them “riots” and say they are
encouraged by Iran’s Western “enemies.”
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Volker Turk says around 14,000 people have been arrested over the protests.
Salehi had disappeared at the end of October before
appearing in a video published on November 2 by Iran’s state news agency IRNA.
The video claimed to show the first images of Salehi
after his arrest.
In it, the man says: “I am Toomaj Salehi. I said I
made a mistake.”
Rights activists condemned the recording as a forced
confession.
His detention came shortly after he told the Canadian
Broadcasting Cooperation: “You are dealing with a mafia that is ready to kill
the entire nation... in order to keep its power, money and weapons.”
Iran’s judiciary has already confirmed six death
sentences over the protests, and rights group Amnesty International says that
based on official reports at least 21 people currently on trial are charged
with crimes that could see them hanged.
Source: Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
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Anti-Israel Sentiments High in Qatar’s World Cup as
Pro-Palestine Atmosphere Dominates
Supporters of Tunisia hold
a flag of Palestine that reads "Free Palestine" during the World Cup
group D soccer match between Tunisia and Australia at the Al Janoub Stadium in
Al Wakrah, Qatar, on November 26, 2022. (Photo by AP)
-----
27 November 2022
Anti-Israel sentiments are running high at the FIFA
World Cup Qatar 2022, with the occupying regime’s reporters saying an
atmosphere of hatred and hostility is encouraging soccer fans to wave
Palestinian flags in the Qatari stadiums amid refusal to speak to Israeli
media.
Since the beginning of the international sports
extravaganza, Israeli media reporters and journalists have confessed to being
boycotted and yelled at by fans, locals, and officials at the World Cup in
Qatar.
Raz Shechnick, Yedioth Ahronoth's reporter for the
World Cup, wrote on his Twitter account about his experiences in Qatar
regarding the anti-Israel atmosphere for the regime’s media.
Describing the atmosphere in a string of tweets,
Shechnick said, "We didn't want to write these words, we are not the story
here. but after ten days in Doha, we cannot hide what we are going through. We
are feeling hated, surrounded by hostility, not welcomed."
The Israeli reporter also recounted an incident in which
he and his colleague had lied about their origin, saying they were Equadorian
in order to prevent them from being harassed by fans.
Dor Hoffman, an Israeli journalist, reported that a
Qatari taxi driver kicked him out of his cab after he discovered he was from
Israel, refusing to take his money.
Hoffman later proceeded to a restaurant on a Qataru
beach, where he was escorted out of the premise of the restaurant by security,
with the owner of the restaurant demanding that he delete every photo taken in his
restaurant.
Moav Vardy, a foreign affairs reporter for the Israeli
Kan 11 television channel, said he was yelled at by a Saudi fan, who told him
that "You are not welcome here, this is Qatar, this is our country, there
is only Palestine, no Israel."
In various videos and media clips, local and
non-locals are seen standing behind Israeli reporters and raising Palestinian
flags to protest against the occupying regime.
Apart from the boycott on Israeli media, large
pro-Palestinian banners are also displayed by soccer fans in almost entire
stadiums in Qatar.
At the Al-Janoub Stadium in Al-Wakrah on Saturday,
Tunisian fans waved a banner bearing the Palestinian flag, including a caption
that read, “Free Palestine.”
Other examples include Qatari fans and players wearing
armbands and ribbons featuring the Palestinian flag during Qatar’s opening
match against Ecuador on Sunday, and some Saudi fans holding Palestinian flags
during their match against Argentina on Tuesday.
The anti-Israel moves came despite Qatar and FIFA's
policy of not allowing political protests in matches, with FIFA president
Gianni Infantino urging the 32 participating countries ahead of the tournament
to “let football take center stage” over politics.
Neither the Israeli nor the Palestinian teams are
competing in the international sports event.
Source: Press TV
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
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Kids among the ‘Rebels’ Taliban Are Gunning down In
Afghanistan, Claims a Journalist
Taliban’s interior ministry
spokesperson had denied reports of children being killed in the attack and
claimed that the dead people were armed. ANI
-----
November 27, 2022
New Delhi: A day after Taliban claimed they have
killed nine armed rebels in Daikundi, reports of three children – not linked to
any armed group – being among the victims are doing the rounds on social media.
Twitter user Abdulhaq Omeri, a journalist, claimed
that he has received photographs of the victims from their families which show
that among the nine killed, three were kids who had nothing to do with the
armed groups, contrary to the claims by Taliban.
“Taliban claimed they have killed 9 armed rebels in
Daikundi, but the new photos of the victims sent to me by families of victims
show 3 kids are among the victims. None of the victims related to any armed
groups. #Afghanistan @SR_Afghanistan,” he tweeted.
Taliban had on Saturday accepted responsibility for
the attack on civilians in Daikundi and called it “repression of the rebels”.
Abdul Nafe Takor, the Taliban’s interior ministry
spokesman, claimed that the Taliban forces attacked armed people in Sewak
Shibar area of Daikundi province.
He said nine people were killed and four others
suffered injuries in the operation.
The spokesperson said the group’s security forces had
sent two local officials to the area to ask the armed people to put down their
weapons. However, the “rebels” refused to give up.
Local sources said that the Taliban waged the
operation and killed these civilians with the cooperation of the local Taliban
members.
The spokesperson claimed that after the “rebels”
refused to lay down their weapons, the group’s fighters started an operation in
which two Taliban members were also been killed.
Takor had denied reports of children being killed in
the attack and claimed that the dead people were armed.
Source: Firstpost
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
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House-Hunt in Kolkata: Students Unite To Fight
Anti-Muslim Bias
Image used for
representational purpose only
-----
Nov 28, 2022
KOLKATA: For Muslims, finding a paying guest
accommodation or a rental accommodation in the city has been difficult for
years. With the resumption of classes at colleges and universities after the
pandemic, the students and scholars as well as professionals have been facing
problems in the past few months to find an accommodation as they are being
refused on multiple occasions due to their Muslim identity.
Now a group of students from Jadavpur University,
Presidency University and Calcutta University have come together under the
banner ‘Songbigno Pakhikul’ to sensitize the campuses about this issue.
“Despite being a politically active campus, no one in JU has raised this issue.
So, we started our sensitisation drive from JU and will spread it to PU and CU.
The phone numbers of people willing to give accommodation to Muslims are being
collected and we will start a helpline soon so that we can help the juniors,”
said Adwitiya Chatterjee, a computer science engineering student of JU.
An assistant professor at a popular south Kolkata
college had a traumatic experience when she tried to find a rented
accommodation near Dhakuria, Lake Gardens, Selimpur and Jadavpur for herself
between April and June this year. “At first the owners are eager to seal the
deal, knowing that I am a teacher and am also doing my research. But when they
heard my Muslim name, the look changed into suspicion and often I had to hear
that they fear about ‘illegal activities’. Since I am an unmarried woman, many
owners asked or hinted about my sexual activities, which was humiliating,” said
the assistant professor and a research scholar.
Two Presidency University students also faced a
similar problem because of their Muslim names when they tried to find a paying
guest accommodation near College Street, Girish Park and Maniktala. Debayudh
Sanyal, a student of performing arts at PU, helped them find accommodations. He
said some other students also had difficulty in finding accommodations because
of their religion.
Mir Farhad of Kolkata Police Law Institute and Mehedi
Hassan Molla of Jadavpur University were denied accommodation a few months ago,
when offline classes resumed after the pandemic. Molla was shocked when a
landlord at one of the PGs asked him not to reveal his name as others might
have a problem in sharing a living space with a Muslim and he might also be
harassed. Sabir Ahamed, researcher at Pratichi Trust, had a difficult time
finding a flat in Kidderpore-Mominpur area, where he has been living for 25
years. He said, “A flat, which belonged to a Hindu family, was up for sale in
the same locality. But they refused to sell it to a Muslim family, even though
we are familiar to each other.”
“We decided to utilise the office space of Association
SNAP, an NGO, to which I am attached, for giving space to at least two to three
people for a limited time till they arrange for an accommodation,” he said.
Sohel Reja, researcher, preparing for NET examination, was denied entry for an
hour to a friend’s PG because he was told that his presence will affect the
sanctity of the house where there are holy Gods. A senior IT professional
believes that all landowners do not discriminate. “I have some good experiences
of staying with families because they gradually came to know our culture,” he
said.
Source: Times Of India
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
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Local Media Says At Least 4 People Killed Since Al-Shabaab Terrorists Stormed
Rose Villa Hotel, Forces Battling To End the Siege
Photo: aa.com
-----
Mohammed Dhaysane
|
28.11.2022
MOGADISHU, Somalia
Somali security forces are still battling al-Shabaab
terrorists at a besieged hotel in the capital Mogadishu, some 15 hours after
the attack began, officials said on Monday.
According to local media reports, at least four people
have been killed at the Villa Rose hotel, which was stormed by attackers on
Sunday night.
Somali authorities are yet to confirm the casualty
count.
“The attack started with explosions, followed by gunfire
inside the hotel. We are trying to end the siege,” a security official in
Mogadishu told Anadolu Agency, requesting anonymity as he was not authorized to
speak to the media.
Samra Mohamed, who lives near the hotel, told Anadolu
Agency that she was “still hearing heavy gunfire and sometimes heavy
explosions.”
Lawmakers and government officials frequent the Villa
Rose, which is a short walk from the presidential palace in central Mogadishu
in one of the city’s most protected areas.
Some officials were present when the attack started
and managed to escape unharmed.
A police statement said security forces rescued scores
of people, including civilians and officials.
Adam Aw Hirsi, Somalia’s state minister for
environment, said on Twitter that he was safe after a “terrorist explosion
targeted at (sic) my residence.”
Somalia has been plagued by insecurity for years, with
al-Shabaab, which is affiliated with the al-Qaeda terrorist organization, being
one of the main threats.
Since at least 2007, al-Shabaab has waged a deadly
campaign against the Somali government and international forces, claiming
thousands of lives.
The UN has also warned of growing instability in the
country, with its periodic reports on Somalia this year detailing attacks by
al-Shabaab and pro-Daesh/ISIS groups.
There were at least 1,518 civilian casualties – 651
killed and 867 injured – in terrorist attacks in Somalia in 2018, followed by
1,459 – 591 killed and 868 injured – in 2019, according to UN estimates.
Source: Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
--------
Mideast
198 organizations call on ICC to investigate Israeli
crimes against Palestinians
28 November 2022
198 Palestinian and international organizations have
called on the International Criminal Court to investigate Israeli crimes and
for public condemnation, amid an increase in Israeli regime's killings and
continuous aggression against Palestinians.
Addressing the Prosecutor of the International
Criminal Court, Karim Khan, and the President of the Assembly of States Parties
to the International Criminal Court, Silvia Fernandez de Gourmandi, the
organizations submitted a memorandum calling for public condemnation of
Israel's classification of Palestinian civil society organizations as
"terrorism", and calling on the Israeli regime to reverse its
decision.
The organizations demanded that the crimes committed
by Israel during its unjustified military attack on the Gaza Strip in August
2022 be included in the ongoing investigation into the situation in Palestine.
Moreover, they stressed the need to speed up the
investigations, which should include crimes against humanity such as apartheid
and persecution pursuant to Article 9 of the Rome Statute, as well as to issue
proactive statements to prevent Israeli practices that may contribute to the
continuation of war crimes.
The organizations called for taking appropriate
measures to prevent and deter apartheid practices.
Earlier in February, the head of a human rights group
said that Palestinians, whether they live in Gaza, East al-Quds and the rest of
the West Bank, or the rest of the occupied Palestinian lands, are treated as an
inferior racial group and systematically deprived of their rights.
“We found that Israel’s cruel policies of segregation,
dispossession and exclusion across all territories under its control clearly
amount to apartheid. The international community has an obligation to act,”
said Agnès Callamard.
It is unknown whether the ICC will take action and
whether an investigation into Israeli regime crimes will be effective. In 2019,
in reaction to ICC’s decision to launch an investigation into Israeli war
crimes, head of the Religious Zionism party Bezalel Smotrich called for the
dismantling of the PA and said the ICC was a “political, anti-Semitic
institution”.
Israel has killed more than 200 Palestinians,
including more than 50 children in the occupied territories of East al-Quds,
the West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip this year.
Warning of dangers facing al-Aqsa
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Expatriates urged the UN to adopt measures to protect the population of the
occupied territories from the increase of Israeli attacks.
In a statement it issued, the ministry called to
pressure Israeli apartheid authorities in order to stop the violence of the
Israeli army forces and the settlers, saying “these violations amount to war
crimes and are within the framework of the official escalation of Israeli
aggression against our people and their rights.”
Touching on the arrival of a new Israeli far-right
government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, the statement warned of the
hawkishness of such a government, as Netanyahu proved to be extremely
aggressive towards Palestinians in his previous terms.
The ministry also said that Netanyahu’s allies are
fascists, with a markedly anti-Arab and racist discourse, especially the
Religious Zionism party.
Palestine has been witnessing a sharp increase in
coordinated and armed settler attacks, under Israeli army protection. More than
400 Palestinian properties were damaged in more than 500 attacks this year
until October 10.
Source: Press TV
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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Palestinian PM blasts Israel for seizing two-thirds of
Palestine's water resources
28 November 2022
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has
lambasted the Israeli regime for seizing two-thirds of the Palestinian
groundwater resources across the occupied West Bank, and diverting them into
cities and illegal settlements for Jewish extremists.
Shtayyeh made the remarks at a media briefing ahead of
the Fourth Arab Water Conference organized by Palestine under the motto “Arab
Water Security for Life, Development.”
The two-day conference will officially open in the
Egyptian capital city of Cairo on Wednesday.
“Israel steals 600 million cubic meters of Palestine's
800 million cubic meters and diverts it into its cities and settlements,”
Shtayyeh said.
The Palestinian prime minister noted that an average
Israeli settler consumes 430 liters of water per day, while a Palestinian only
consumes 72 liters, much less than the global average of 120 liters.
After 1967, “Israel began digging water wells in the
West Bank deeper than the Palestinian ones, which led to its control of most of
the groundwater and the drying of the springs,” Shtayyeh said
He added that such Israeli measures have affected the
transformation of the agricultural pattern in Palestinian territories.
According to Palestinian officials, the Israeli regime
directly controls 85 percent of water resources in the West Bank, and also has
a hold over how the rest is distributed.
The Palestinian Authority, meanwhile, is seeking
Israeli licenses to dig additional wells in the West Bank to address the
pressing need for more water.
Israeli authorities refuse to grant the necessary
licenses to the Palestinian water authorities to operate freely in the strategically
sensitive Area C of the occupied West Bank, whether drilling additional wells
or installing booster pumps.
As Palestinians suffer through chronic water
shortages, illegal Israeli settlers nearby enjoy unlimited quantities not only
for drinking but for irrigating crops and wash their vehicles.
Black-and-white water tanks are ubiquitous on the
roofs of Palestinian homes across West Bank cities and towns, to be filled when
their water taps literally run dry for weeks.
Source: Press TV
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of the original story:
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Shift in al-Aqsa’s status quo to blow up regional
conflict: Palestinian Foreign Ministry
27 November 2022
Palestine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Expatriates has warned that any Israeli attempt to change the status quo of
al-Aqsa Mosque will have damaging consequences for the occupying regime.
“Making any changes to the status quo at al-Aqsa
Mosque is a direct threat that will blow up the conflict across the entire
region,” the ministry said in a Sunday
statement.
The ministry urged Arab and Islamic countries to act
and coordinate on political, diplomatic and legal fronts to provide the
necessary international protection for occupied al-Quds and its sanctities.
The ministry also warned of the increasing threats to
the al-Aqsa Mosque under the upcoming Benjamin Netanyahu-Ben Gvir coalition
government, including allowing more mass incursions into the holy site by
extremist Israeli settlers.
The ministry's statement came after earlier on Sunday,
scores of Israeli settlers guarded by the regime's forces broke into the
al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
According to the Jordan-run Islamic Waqf Department,
scores of Israeli settlers entered the compound through the Moroccan Gate in
groups and performed rituals and Talmudic prayers there.
The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has already
warned the Tel Aviv regime against crossing “red lines” at the al-Aqsa Mosque
compound in the occupied Old City of al-Quds.
In recent weeks, scores of Israeli settlers escorted
by regime troops have broken into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound. The settlers
frequently enter the compound in groups and perform rituals and Talmudic
prayers there under the protection of Israeli forces.
Under the current status quo, only Muslims are allowed
to worship within the compound while non-Muslims may visit the site, but are
not allowed to pray there.
In May 2021, frequent acts of violence against
Palestinian worshipers at al-Aqsa Mosque led to an 11-day war between
Palestinian resistance groups in the besieged Gaza Strip and Israel, during
which the regime killed at least 260 Palestinians, including 66 children.
Source: Press TV
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2022/11/27/693489/East-al-Quds-al-Aqsa-Hamas
--------
Iran's football body slams Germany's Klinsmann over
'culture' remarks
Syed Zafar Mehdi
27.11.2022
TEHRAN, Iran
Iran has hit out at former German footballer and coach
Jurgen Klinsmann, demanding his resignation from the FIFA Technical Study Group
for his comments after Iran's 2-0 win against Wales on Friday.
In a statement issued on Sunday, Iran's football
federation accused Klinsmann of making judgments about Iranian
"culture" while referring to his "dramatic dives" as a
player and "shameful" episode in the 1982 World Cup.
After the thrilling finish in the Iran-Wales match on
Friday, Klinsmann appeared on BBC and made controversial remarks about Iran
that immediately sparked a furor.
“Yes, that’s their culture,” he said, in response to
presenter Gabby Logan's comments on Iran's “gamesmanship”. “Their way of doing
it, and that is why Carlos Queiroz fits really well [with] the Iranian national
team."
His comment that Iranian players "worked the
referee" suggested that it was in Iran's culture to engage in
unsportsmanlike conduct and obstruct on-field referees.
He also derided Iran's Portuguese manager Carlos
Queiroz, saying he struggled with South America and Egypt before going back to
Iran for a second stint.
Iran's football federation said it was inviting the
former German and Inter Milan striker to visit Team Melli's training camp in
Doha, ahead of the team's match against the US on Tuesday, pledging that he
"will not be judged for the most shameful part of World Cup history - the
Disgrace of Gijon '82" as well as for his famous "dramatic
dives".
"At this visit, it will be suggested to Mr.
Klinsmann to review the 99 minutes of the Iran-Wales, even if the match was
broadcasted worldwide already, and recognized as one of the most fair and
beautiful matches of the World Cup history."
Klinsmann's comments have drawn anger and outrage in
Iran, with football fans taking to social media to call him out.
The statement by Iran's football federation followed a
series of tweets by Queiroz, in which he demanded Klinsmann's resignation and apology
while inviting him to the team's training camp in Doha.
"Even not knowing me personally, you question my
character with a typical prejudiced judgment of superiority," he wrote in
the tweets.
"No matter how much I can respect what you did
inside the pitch, those remarks about Iran culture, Iran national team, and my
players are a disgrace to football."
Iranian players have been under tremendous pressure at
the 2022 World Cup in Qatar amid sweeping protests and unrest back home.
The team lost the first match against England last
Monday as players refused to sing the national anthem. On Friday, it won the
second match against Wales 2-0.
Klinsmann responds to Queiroz’s comments
The former German footballer said his comments about
the Iran national team were “taken out of context.”
"There was stuff really taken out of context. I
will try to give him a call and calm things down," he told BBC.
Klinsmann went on to say that he never criticized
Carlos or the Iranian national team bench.
"Some even thought I was criticizing the referee
because he didn't do anything about the way they were behaving on the
bench."
In his playing career, Klinsmann made appearances for
several European powerhouses, including Inter Milan, Tottenham Hotspur, and
Bayern Munich.
Source: Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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Iran’s Khamenei comes out against talks with US amid
protests
26 November ,2022
Engaging in negotiations with the US will not solve
Tehran’s issues with Washington, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on
Saturday.
Khamenei criticized voices calling for talks with the
US to help ease the pressure on Tehran amid the ongoing protests.
“Some people claim to have political understanding,
but their analyzes in newspapers and online really make one sad. They say that
in order to end these riots, you must solve your issues with America,” said
Khamenei.
“Negotiations will not solve our problem with
America,” he said, adding that the US seeks “ransom” from Iran.
“Anyone who is Iranian and has zeal is not willing to
pay these ransoms … America wants the Iranian nation to cross all of its red
lines.”
Indirect talks between the US and Iran aimed at
reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, which Washington withdrew from in 2018, have
yet to succeed since negotiations began in Vienna in April 2021.
Protesters ‘either oblivious, ignorant or mercenaries’
Khamenei described anti-regime protesters as a small
group of people who are “either oblivious, ignorant, or mercenaries.”
Protests have swept across Iran since September 16
when 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini died three days after
collapsing in police custody. She had been detained by Tehran’s morality police
for allegedly not complying with the regime’s strict hijab rules.
Demonstrators have been calling for regime change in
the protests which have become one of the boldest challenges to the regime
since its establishment in 1979.
Source: Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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Bomb blast kills military commander in Yemen’s Shabwa
Aziz al-Ahmadi
26.11.2022
SANAA, Yemen
Yemen’s separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC)
said Saturday a senior commander was killed in a bomb explosion in the southern
Shabwa province.
In a statement, the STC-affiliated Shabwa Defense
Forces said Major Salem Al-Jabwani lost his life in the explosion in As-Said
district, west of Shabwah.
The statement said a number of his body guards were
killed and injured, without giving an exact figure.
According to the statement, another explosive device
was defused by STC forces in the province.
There was no claim of responsibility for the blast.
Oil-rich Shabwa province is controlled by STC fighters
and allied government forces.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/bomb-blast-kills-military-commander-in-yemen-s-shabwa/2748789
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Iran: We have proof that Western states were involved
in protests
November 28, 2022
DUBAI: Iran has proof that Western nations were
involved in protests that have swept the country, the foreign ministry said on Monday.
The protests, sparked by the death of 22-year-old
Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini after her arrest for “inappropriate attire,”
pose one of the strongest challenges to the country’s clerical establishment
since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2207361/middle-east
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South Asia
Islamic Emirate Calls for Release of Afghanistan’s
Foreign Reserves
November 28, 2022
The acting Minister of Information and Culture,
Khairullah Khairkhwah, called for release of Afghan assets, saying that the
funds belong to the people of Afghanistan and there is no justification for
them being frozen.
Speaking at a gathering held by the members of the
Afghan private sector, Khairkhwah said the freezing of Afghan assets is an
injustice.
“I do not want it so much for the government as I do
for the private sector. Freezing government assets is an oppressive act but
freezing the assets of the private sector has no justification,” he said.
Speaking at the same gathering, the head of the
Afghanistan Chamber of Industry and Mines, Sherbaz Kaminzada, said that the
Afghan traders are facing severe challenges due to the freezing of the Afghan
assets.
“When the Afghan assets were frozen it had a negative
impact on our international credibility. We used to be able to transfer money
with low cost but no we cannot,” he said.
“The money was transferred by the previous government
abroad and is now frozen in New York. Around $2 to $2.5 billion of it has a
direct influence on the private sector,” said Khanjan Alokozai, a member of the
Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment.
Source: Tolo News
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https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-180934
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Taliban condemn UN official’s ‘disrespectful’
statement about Islamic penal code
November 26, 2022
KABUL: The Spokesperson of the Islamic Emirate of
Afghanistan Zabihullah Mujahid took to Twitter on Saturday to condemn a
statement by a UN official as “disrespectful” to Islam.
A day ealier, the spokesperson of the United Nations High
Commission for Human Rights and representatives of Western Countries had called
the punishment of flogging an “inhumane and cruel act”.
Mujahid said that this remark on the implementation of
the penal code of Islam was “disrespect to the Holy Religion of Islam and
against the international standards”.
Further, he stated that countries and organisations
should not allow individuals to make “irresponsible and provocative statements”
on their behalf regarding the “blessed religion of Islam”.
This response came following the UN Rights Office
Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani’s statement on Friday against corporal
punishment in Afghanistan.
Shamdasani said that the UN Human Rights Office was
appalled by the mass floggings in public by the de facto authorities, calling
an end to this “abhorrent form of punishment”.
The statement termed corporal punishment to be cruel
and inhuman, adding that it is prohibited under the Convention against Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both of which Afghanistan is party to.
Shamdasani noted that since the Taliban rule began in
Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, the UN Human Rights Office has documented
numerous cases of such punishment given in public, often for alleged violations
of religious codes.
Source: Pakistan Today
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Bangladesh charges Rohingya insurgents with murder
November 28, 2022
Bangladesh's main military intelligence agency has
charged the leader of a Rohingya insurgent group and more than 60 others over
the murder of an intelligence officer this month, police said Sunday.
Ataullah Abu Ammar Jununi is the founder of the Arakan
Rohingya Solidarity Army (ARSA), which is fighting for an independent homeland
in Myanmar's Rakhine state for the much-persecuted Rohingya Muslim community.
Almost a million of the stateless Rohingya minority
live in squalid conditions in overcrowded refugee camps in Bangladesh's
southeast after fleeing violence and discrimination in neighboring Myanmar.
A team of elite Bangladeshi police conducted an
anti-drug raid at one of the camps on November 14.
Police said Rizwan Rushdie, a senior officer the of
Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, was shot and then hacked to death
by alleged ARSA members. A Rohingya woman was also killed in the raid.
"Ataullah was there during the attack,"
police inspector Mohammad Shahjahan told AFP. "He is the chief accused in
the murder."
A total of 31 others, including ARSA members, were
also charged with murder, he said, along with at least 30 unidentified
attackers.
It is the first time that Ataullah has been charged
with any offense by Bangladeshi authorities, but he has been implicated in
other killings.
ARSA has been accused of assassinating political
opponents, running narcotics and instilling a climate of fear in the camps.
A series of ARSA attacks against Myanmar security
posts in 2017 prompted a brutal crackdown by the military that forced hundreds
of thousands of Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh.
Ataullah was also accused of masterminding the murder
of Mohib Ullah, a top Rohingya civilian leader, in September 2021.
ARSA has repeatedly denied the allegations on its
Twitter account, saying it has only been working "for reinstating the
legitimate rights of Rohingya".
AFP was unable to contact the group for comment about
the charges against Ataullah.
Source: UCA News
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https://www.ucanews.com/news/bangladesh-charges-rohingya-insurgents-with-murder/99553
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UN Experts Call for Investigations on Treatment of
Women in Afghanistan
By Saqalain Eqbal
November 27, 2022
Following reports of women being lashed, the Special
Rapporteurs of the UN have demanded an investigation into the suppression of
women’s rights in Afghanistan as a form of gender persecution.
Experts stated that in Afghanistan, recent months have
seen a rise in the fundamental rights abuses of women, which are already
“severe and unacceptable,” according to a news release from the UN on November
25.
The Special Rapporteurs warned that such gender bias
and persecution is a crime against humanity that is punishable under
international law.
The UN expert’s remarks correspond with the recent
public flogging of 14 people, 3 of whom were women, in an Afghan football
stadium in front of a large crowd.
According to Logar officials, fourteen people—three
women and eleven men—who were accused of robbery and “moral crimes”—were
publicly flogged in the eastern Afghan province of Logar. They received 39
lashes each.
The UN Special Rapporteurs said that women’s rights
activists have been increasingly singled out, assaulted, and detained in recent
months, using activist Zarifa Yaquobi as an illustration who is still detained
in an unknown location.
The experts urged the international community to take
action to investigate and prosecute those responsible for gender-based violence
in “appropriate international and extra-territorial jurisdictions” while also
working to restore women’s rights in Afghanistan.
Source: Khaama Press
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India
'Miya' Museum: The Controversy around Assam's 'Muslim'
Museum Dedicated To the Culture of 'Miyas' - Bengali-Speaking Muslims in the
State
28.11.22
Mohiton Bibi has been waiting for days for her son to
return from jail.
Mohar Ali was arrested a month ago after he opened a
small museum in his house in a hamlet in Goalpara district in the north-eastern
Indian state of Assam. The museum, he said, was dedicated to the culture of
'Miyas' - Bengali-speaking Muslims in the state.
Mr Ali, who is the leader of a local political party,
spent around 7,000 rupees ($86; £71) to set up the place, which mainly
displayed some agricultural tools and garments.
But two days later, local authorities shut the museum
down. They also sealed Mr Ali's home, alleging that he had wrongly used the
house - which was allotted to him under a government scheme - for commercial
purposes.
The police also arrested Mr Ali and two others who had
helped set up the museum.
They have said that the case against them was not connected
to the museum and was instead due to their alleged links to two terror groups.
The three men, who have been charged under a draconian anti-terrorism law that
makes it almost impossible to get bail, have denied the accusation.
The arrests have shocked Assam's Bengali-speaking
Muslim community, who say they are bewildered.
"What exactly is his crime?" Mr Ali's mother
asks, her eyes welling up.
Critics say the arrests are the latest in a long line
of attempts to marginalise the community in Assam, a complex and multi-ethnic
state where linguistic identity and citizenship are the biggest political fault
lines.
The state - residents include Bengali and
Assamese-speaking Hindus, a medley of tribespeople and Muslims - has seen an
anti-immigration movement against "outsiders" from neighbouring
Bangladesh for decades. Bengali-speaking Muslims, in particular, have often
been accused of being undocumented immigrants.
Since coming to power in 2016, the governing Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) has rallied its vote base of Hindus and tribal communities
by announcing policies that critics say are discriminatory towards Muslims.
Several politicians, including current chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, have
also targeted them in speeches.
After returning to power in 2021, the BJP government
forcibly evicted thousands of people in a controversial drive against illegal
encroachments - most of those affected were Bengali-speaking Muslims. Earlier
this year, the government also approved the classification of five Muslim groups
as "indigenous Assamese" communities, raising fears of further
marginalisation of others.
"Muslims of Bengali origin have become a soft
target of politics," says Dr Hafiz Ahmed, a scholar who works with the
community.
"The idea is to show to the majority [population]
that Miya people are not a part of the Assamese society - they are
enemies."
Senior BJP leader Vijay Kumar Gupta, however, denied
this and said that "others" were trying to "create a
dispute" between communities.
"A museum is meant to preserve the cultural
heritage of a community, but nothing like that is happening here," he
said.
Across South Asia, the word Miya is used as an
honorific for Muslim men.
But in Assam, the word is considered pejorative and
used to describe thousands of Muslim peasants who migrated from parts of
eastern Bengal that are now in Bangladesh. Assam shares a nearly 900km
(560-mile) long porous border with the neighbouring country.
A vast majority of these migrants settled in the chars
- the shifting islands along the lowlands of the Brahmaputra River - where
people from other communities also stay.
Residents of chars are mostly poor farmers and daily
wage workers whose lives and livelihoods are dependent on the river's shifting
moods.
They also face discrimination, and are often portrayed
as "infiltrators" who are taking over the jobs, land and culture of
the Assamese-speaking population and tribespeople.
But over the years, many in the Bengali Muslim
community have embraced their history, and tried to reclaim the term Miya as a
distinct marker of their identity.
The Miya museum in Goalpara, set up in a small room,
housed a few traditional agricultural tools, fishing gear made of bamboo, and a
gamusa - the traditional hand-woven garment of Assam - all of which, Mr Ali
said, was part of the "culture of Miya people".
But many BJP leaders accused him of trying to create
divisions in society and said that the artefacts represented Assamese identity
and not that of the Bengali-speaking Muslim community.
"Is there any community by the name of
Miya?" chief minister Sarma said last month, hours before the museum was
sealed.
The idea of such a museum at a prominent cultural
centre was first mooted in 2020 by former Congress leader Sherman Ali Ahmed -
who has often vociferously advocated for the community - but it faced vehement
opposition from Mr Sarma's government.
Before that, in 2019, some poets ran into trouble for
writing fiery, resistance poetry - which they called "Miya poetry" -
in the community's dialect instead of in standardised written Assamese. Ten of
them were charged with "promoting enmity between groups" on religious
grounds.
Sherman Ali Ahmed told the BBC that he did not think
it was right for Mr Ali open the museum in a government-granted house, but that
his punishment was excessive.
"He didn't commit any major crime, but the
government took strict action against him and others to scare the
community," he says.
Dr Ahmad, the scholar, alleged that the government was
trying to exploit the state's demographic complexity and play on the anxieties
of Assamese people - who have long feared they will lose their identity to
immigrants - by polarising the environment.
Meanwhile, people in Mr Ali's village are still
rattled by the arrests. Most of them refused to talk about the museum, fearing
more trouble.
Others said the controversy had nothing to do with
their lives. "We don't need a museum, we need jobs, roads and
electricity," said Shaheed Ali, a resident.
Dr Ahmad says that even though his personal stand was
that the museum was ineffectual, the community had a right to preserve their
culture.
Source: BBC
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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-63628983
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Muslim Homes Makes Goods, Sharakkol (Arrows), Vaal
(Swords), Gada (Clubs), And Kachha (Black Cord), For Sabarimala Pilgrims
November 27, 2022
Just days before the pilgrimage season at Sabarimala kicks
off every year, there is a bustle in the narrow, concrete lanes in the
Mattannoorkkara Lakshamveedu Colony at Erumely. Chicken feathers coloured in
red, sets of cords dyed in sharp black, and uniquely carved wooden pieces are
strewn all along these pathways or kept in bundles in front of houses.
Ever since the emergence of Erumely as a key base
station for Sabarimala pilgrims from other States, the colony has become the
sole hub of paraphernalia-making for the pilgrimage season. More than 90% of
the Sharakkol (arrows), Vaal (swords), Gada (clubs), and Kachha (black cord)
that are sold through the seasonal shops here come from the colony, an
overwhelmingly Muslim area.
Koya Thengummoottil, a 78-year-old resident of the
colony, is regarded as the senior-most craftsman in this business. “I have been
making Sabarimala-related paraphernalia for nearly five decades. The last two
years were particularly depressing. However, the business this year has been
extraordinary so far. It looks like we will soon run out of stock,” he said.
The business had had grown sharply over the last two
decades. “The number of devotees visiting Erumely, especially from the
neighbouring States, has recorded a considerable surge during this period,” he
added.
Price difference
The articles made at the houses here are sold to the
shops that function only during the two-month long Mandalam-Makaravilakku
season. While these materials are procured at nominal rates (₹1.50 per
Sharakkol and ₹4 for clubs, for instance), they are sold at a price several
times higher to the pilgrims, said Biju, a vendor in Erumely.
V.R. Sashi, a plantation worker who turns into
paraphernalia-manufacturing during the pilgrimage season every year, said about
10 lakh Sharakkols, over four lakh wooden arrows, and an equal number of swords
are manufactured in the colony during the season. Each of the 32 families
engaged in the business here earn an average of ₹50,000 while the actual
business in the open market is worth several crores of rupees.
Source: The Hindu
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Police: 3 arrested for assaulting Muslim man for
travelling with Hindu woman
Nov 28, 2022
Three days after a 20-year-old man was allegedly
assaulted while travelling in a bus with a woman in Mangaluru, three people
have been arrested in connection with the case, said police on Sunday.
Mangaluru city police on Saturday arrested
Mangaluru-based Muthu (18), Prakash (21) and Rakesh (23) for allegedly
assaulting Seyad Raseem Ummar near Nanthoor circle in Mangaluru on Thursday.
The police said Ummar and a woman were travelling in a bus from Karkala when
the accused stopped the bus, dragged Ummar out and allegedly thrashed him.
Ummar is a third year BE (information science) student
at NITTE Institute of Technology, Karkala.
In the FIR registered at the Kadri police station,
complaint Ummar had alleged that “the accused entered into the and abused him
verbally. The accused had also asked for my ID card, after which they thrashed
me”.
“They also threatened him from telling anyone about
the incident,” the FIR stated.
On Friday, ADGP (law and order) Alok Kumar had tweeted
that appropriate action was being taken against the accused.
The accused have links with right-wing groups Bajrang
Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), said police. Meanwhile, VHP leader from
Mangaluru, Sharan Pumpwell, said cases of ‘love jihad’ are on the rise in the
region.
“The Bajrang Dal is doing good work in coastal
Karnataka. As a result, many youths come to work with us. Incidents of love
jihad are on the rise. These youths must have seen such an incident and taken
necessary action. After they got arrested, we have provided them with the
required legal help,” Pumpwell said.
“We are also organising protest in seven to eight
places in Mangaluru on Monday. The government should implement the
anti-conversion law in the state effectively,” he added.
Source: Hindustan Times
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MCD Polls: Muslim Voters May Play Key Role In Chandni
Chowk, Northeast Delhi
27.11.22
As the political parties are campaigning hard to win
the coming MCD polls, Muslim voters are likely to play a crucial role in
deciding the outcome in many wards, especially those in Chandni Chowk, East and
North-East Delhi parliamentary constituencies.
Muslims constitute around 13 per cent of the Delhi's
population.
While the Congress has fielded 24 candidates from the
minority community, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bhartiya Janata Party
(BJP) have fielded seven and four such candidates, respectively.
Asserting that the Congress will sweep the
minority-dominated areas, Delhi Congress vice-president and former chairman of
the party's minority department, Ali Mehdi, said that the community
"trusts Congress" more than any other parties.
"Be it Delhi riots or Jahangirpuri violence, the
Congress has always been vocal about the issues of the minorities. We have
fielded 24 candidates from the minority community and we are confident that the
party will sweep the minority-dominated areas," Mehdi told PTI.
He said that candidates from minority community have
been fielded from Mustafabad, Seelampur, Okhla, Babarpur, Matia Mahal, Laxmi
Nagar, Krishna Nagar and Jama Masjid areas by the Delhi Congress.
Alleging that the BJP and AAP "neglected"
the minorities in Delhi, Mehdi said, "While the BJP fuelled hatred amongst
people, AAP chose to remain silent and even distanced itself from
minority-related issues."
He further said that the Congress worked towards
promoting communal harmony in the city on multiple occasions.
"We reached out to them when Delhi riots took
place in 2020. We helped them during the Covid-induced lockdown. They trust us
more than any other parties," he said.
The BJP has fielded four candidates from the backward
Pasmanda Muslims, including three women, in the upcoming civic body polls. The
contenders include a social activist, a would-be lawyer and a scrap dealer.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Yasir Gilani said that even as
the party fielded less number of Muslim candidates in the civic polls, all of
them have "strong influence" in their respective wards.
"We fielded very few Muslim candidates but they
will ensure that the BJP get votes of the minority community and win on seats
dominated by them. All four candidates have strong influence in their
respective wards and they will surely win," Gilani told PTI. The BJP
candidates had said that they are getting good response from people in their
respective wards. The saffron party has fielded Irfan Maliq from Chandni Mahal,
Samina Raja from Quraish Nagar, Saba Ghazi from Chauhan Bangar, and Shabnam
Maliq from Mustfabad wards of the MCD
"The mentality of Muslims is changing with time.
People are now focused on delivery of services and how can they get benefits
from the government rather than sticking to the Hindu-Muslim cliche," one
of the Muslim candidates said when asked how they were convincing people to
vote for BJP.
The AAP has fielded seven candidates from the minority
community for the upcoming civic body elections.
When asked whether the party's approach towards the
issues of minorities in the last one year would sway the minority community's
votes, AAP's MCD election in-charge Durgesh Pathak said every citizen in Delhi
would vote for the Arvind Kejriwal-led party in the upcoming polls.
The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) led
by Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi is also a contender in the MCD polls and has
fielded its candidates in several Muslim-dominated wards in the city.
Source: Telegraph India
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Egypt president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to be chief guest
at Republic Day celebrations
Nov 27, 2022
NEW DELHI: Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will
be the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations in January 2023.
"This is the first time that the President of the
Arab Republic of Egypt will be the Chief Guest at our Republic Day," the
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement on Sunday. Prime
Minister Narendra Modi had sent a formal invitation to al-Sisi which was handed
over to the Egyptian president by external affairs minister S Jaishankar on
October 16.
Both countries are celebrating the 75th anniversary of
the establishment of diplomatic relations this year. Egypt has been invited as
a 'Guest Country' during India's Presidency of G-20 in 2022-23, the statement
said.
"India and Egypt enjoy warm and friendly
relations based on civilisational and deep-rooted people-to-people ties,"
the statement said.
Leaders of friendly nations have graced the Republic
Day celebrations since 1950, when the then Indonesian President Sukarno was
invited as the chief guest.
In 1952, 1953 and 1966, the Republic Day celebrations
were held without a foreign leader as chief guest.
In 2021, the then British prime minister Boris Johnson
was invited as the chief guest but his visit had to be cancelled due to the
rising Covid-19 cases in Britain.
This year, India had invited leaders of the five
Central Asian Republics, who were to visit Delhi for the India-Central Asia
Summit, as chief guests for the Republic Day celebrations.
However, the visit was cancelled due to rising
Covid-19 cases in India. The India-Central Asia Summit was held in the virtual
format.
In 2018, the entire Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) leadership comprising 10 heads of state was present at the
Republic Day parade.
In 2020, the then Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro was
the chief guest.
Source: Times Of India
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37 Muslim Independents in two Surat seats: Garment
worker to domestic help to auto driver to delivery boy
by Sourav Roy Barman
November 27, 2022
Vasim Shaikh, who earns his living as a daily-wage
worker in a garment unit in Surat city, was made to sign a few documents by
some people in his “friend circle” a couple of days ago.
Shaikh’s name figures among a list of 30 Muslim
candidates contesting as Independents from Surat’s Limbayat constituency which
will go the polls in the first phase of the Gujarat Assembly polls on December
1.
“Mai toh cutting ka kaam karta hoon idhar, dihadi hai
mera. Kisine bataya toh maine bhar diya (I am engaged in cutting in a garments
unit. Someone told me to fill up forms which I did. I was not aware that I was
being made a candidate),” Shaikh claims.
The Limbayat Assembly seat is part of the Navsari Lok
Sabha constituency represented by Gujarat BJP president CR Paatil, from where a
total of 44 candidates are contesting — the highest among the state’s 89 seats
in the first phase — that include altogether 34 Independents. The Muslim
community makes up about 30 per cent of voters in Limbayat.
In the neighbouring Surat East Assembly constituency,
which is also scheduled for voting on December 1, Minhaj Patel, a delivery boy
with a private online food and grocery store, is among seven Muslim faces out
of 8 Independents in the fray. “I work with Big Basket company. I felt like
contesting, so I filed nomination this time,” he said. A total of 14 candidates
are contesting the Surat East seat.
The Congress, which has fielded a Muslim candidate in
Surat East, has charged that the ruling BJP has fielded “dubious Independent
candidates” in the two seats to split minority votes. Recently, the Surat East
seat had hit the headlines when Kanchan Jariwala, who was fielded by the AAP,
withdrew his candidature amid a row and exchange of allegations and
counter-allegations between the AAP and the BJP.
When contacted, the Congress’s Surat East candidate
Aslam Firozbhai alleged, “Of the 2.15 lakh voters in the seat, 43 per cent are
Muslims. Everyone knows that the BJP has fielded these so-called Independent
candidates to split the Opposition votes from the minorities. If CR Paatil was
so confident of winning a seat under his constituency, why did he feel the need
to resort to such tactics?”
Kher Paresh Anandbhai of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav), who
is also contesting from Surat East as an Independent, also made similar
allegations.
A Surat BJP leader, who did not want to be named,
rejected these charges, pointing out that the party had a smooth victory from
these seats in the 2017 polls.
Apart from Shaikh and Patel, The Indian Express spoke
to a slew of Independent candidates in the two constituencies, who have varied
backgrounds — from a couple engaged in social work to a scrap dealer, to an
autorickshaw driver. Here are excerpts from their responses.
Saiyad Suraiya Latif (Limbayat): I work as a domestic
help. This time, I thought of contesting the polls to gain experience. Maine
socha ye bhi karke dekh lete hain (I thought let me try my hand at this too).
Hamid Shaikh (Limbayat): This is the fifth time I am
contesting as an Independent. I like elections. I work as a commission agent in
the transport sector.
Hameed Madhavsang Rana (Limbayat): I work as a
commission agent for a tour and travels agency. My wife, Sayarabanu, who is
also contesting from Limbayat, and I served people in various ways during
Covid. She is a homemaker. The allegations of the Congress regarding BJP
setting us up to split votes is false.
Sabirabibi (Limbayat): I am a homemaker. I decided to
contest as other parties do not help us in any manner. My contribution as a
social worker will hold me in good stead in politics.
Shaikhlal Samir Shah (Limbayat): Currently, I am not
working anywhere. I am contesting to safeguard the rights of people in my area.
I feel pained by their plight. Other parties are least bothered.
Aiyub Shah (Limbayat): I run an autorickshaw on rent.
This time I thought why not contest the polls? At least more people will get to
know me. I am campaigning with my family members including in Hindu areas.
Mohammad Shaikh (Limbayat): I am contesting Assembly
polls for the first time. I had also contested the local body polls as a BSP
candidate in the past. I am contesting as parties discriminate between
communities.
Irfan Pathan (Surat East): I manage the parking lots
under flyovers that come under the Surat Municipal Corporation. I was with the
BJP 10 years back. Later, I decided to focus on my work. This time, the youth
of my area encouraged me to contest.
Shahabudin Jainudin (Surat East ): I am in the
business of buying and selling cars. My mother, who is no more, had contested
the civic body polls as a Congress candidate. I no longer have ties with any
party.
Samir Fakruddin Shaikh (Surat East): I am involved in
the scrap trade. Bas aisehi chunav mai aane ka mann hua (I just felt like
entering the poll fray). I want to do social work. The youth of my locality
encouraged me to contest as I had assisted people during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Source: Indian Express
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Clerics’ diktat fails to douse football fever in north
Kerala
Nov 27, 2022
By Ramesh Babu
The Muslim religious heads’ diktat against “fiery
fandom and idol worship” failed to douse soccer spirit in north Kerala as fans
spent a sleepless night celebrating their favourite team Argentina’s 2-0 win
over Mexico in the FIFA World Cup on Saturday night.
Ironically big celebrations unfolded a day after
Muslim religious bodies in Kerala warned believers against getting “intoxicated
and idol worship” of their players.
The Samstha Kerala Jamat-ul Khutbah, a body of clerics
and religious Islamic teachers, and Sunny students’ federation issued a sermon
on Friday against celebrations crossing all limits and asked believers not to
indulge in “hero worship” as it was against basic tenets of Islam.
Samstha Kerala claims that the football fever is
resulting in thin attendance in religious schools and Friday prayers. They
claim that students in some schools also sought remissions in the early hours
of their classes due to late-night matches.
“Addiction to the game and over-idolizing star players
are against the monotheism (worship only Allah) of belief,” said the religious
body in a statement.
Fans hit the street in large numbers in Kozhikode and
Malappuram districts celebrating Argentina’s win. Celebrations were seen in
north Malabar region and other parts of Kerala.
In some places, even women fans came out on the street
in large numbers chanting “Vamos, Vamos Argentina”, a popular chant in the
Latin American country meaning “let’s go, let’s go”.
“Messi lived up to his godly image,” said a banner in
Kunnamangalam near Kozhikode. “Our god is alive,” said another poster in Feroke
in the district.
“It is a total football and dream match. Messi proved
again he is the messiah of football,” said state tourism minister Mohammad
Riyas, who watched the match in a jam-packed stadium in Kozhikode with fans.
“Over 2,000 fans gathered at our small ground to watch
the match on the big screen and they really relished it,” said N K Zubair,
president of the Ninanvalappil football association president.
In several places, law-enforcement agencies had a
tough time controlling the over-dozed fans.
In south Kerala’s Kollam, fans of Argentina and Brazil
clashed openly in a coastal village in Sakthikulangara last Sunday forcing police
to register a case.
Source: Hindustan Times
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Kejriwal is Modi of 2013, he defamed Tablighi Jamaat,
disappeared during riots: Owaisi
27th November 2022
New Delhi: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday
attacked Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, alleging he defamed the Muslim
community in the entire country and “wants to break all records of Narendra
Modi”.
Campaigning for All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen
(AIMIM) candidates in Delhi’s Seelampur ahead of the civic body polls, he
alleged that Kejriwal disappeared at the time of riots in the national capital
and spoke against those who protested against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act
at Shaheen Bagh.
“When people were reeling under COVID-19, struggling
for oxygen and hospital beds, the Delhi chief minister spewed venom and said
coronavirus was spreading because of Tablighi Jammat. He defamed Tablighi
Jamaat.
“The lists of Covid cases in Delhi had a column that
mentioned Tablighi Jamaat members as super-spreaders. The entire country
started doubting Muslims. The hatred increased and many people were attacked.
The Delhi CM is responsible for this,” the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul
Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief said.
At the gathering, Owaisi alleged the Delhi chief
minister said he would have removed the (anti-CAA) protesters at Shaheen Bagh
in half an hour.
“A person from his party who later joined the BJP
raised the ‘goli maaron…’ slogan,” he claimed at the gathering. “The Delhi
chief minister got an FIR registered against Tablighi Jamaat, but not against
this person. This is his true face… He is the Narendra Modi of 2013 and wants
to break all his records.”
Owaisi alleged that Kejriwal “disappeared” when violence
flared up in Delhi. “Houses were burnt and people were killed. The Delhi chief
minister could not be seen anywhere,” he said.
The AIMIM chief alleged that no party wants to work
for the betterment of Muslims, Dalits and the Adivasis.
Source: Siasat Daily
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Africa
20 foreigners held, being interrogated over claims
that al-Shabaab abducted them: Somali police
Mohammed Dhaysane
27.11.2022
MOGADISHU, Somalia
Police in Somalia on Sunday said that 20 foreigners
are being interrogated after they said that they were in the al-Shabaab terror
group’s captivity for years.
Sadik Adan Ali, a police spokesman, said in a
statement that the foreigners, including 14 Iranians and six Pakistanis, were
apprehended by police in the country’s coastal town of Hobyo.
He said some of these individuals were said to be
abducted by the al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group Al-Shabaab in early 2014,
while others were kidnapped by the group in the middle of 2019 near the coast
of Harardere.
“Four of the foreigners have physical injuries,” said
the police statement.
According to local media, the foreigners claimed that
they are fishermen and were held captive by al-Shabaab terror groups for years
before they arrived in the government-controlled area as they were released by
the terrorist group.
Further investigation into the individuals is
currently underway, according to the Somali police.
Authorities in the Galmudug state, who spoke to
Anadolu Agency over the phone, said they “rescued” the foreigners and that they
are under interrogation.
The men were apprehended while traveling in two boats
between Hobyo and Haradhere on Saturday night, according to the regional
authorities.
In August 2020, three Iranian fishermen were released
by Somali pirates after being held for five years after a $180,000 ransom was
paid, according to local media.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Somali military recaptures strategic town of El Dhere,
government says
Mohammed Dhaysane
26.11.2022
MOGADISHU, Somalia
The Somali government on Saturday announced that the
country’s military has regained control of the strategic town of El Dhere from
the al-Shabaab terrorist group.
In a press conference, Abdirahman Yusuf al-Adala, the
deputy information minister, said that more than 100 al-Shabaab terrorists,
including 12 of their commanders, were killed in the Middle Shabelle region in
a military operation supported by local militias and international security
partners.
He said the operation was followed by a similar
military operation in the village of Bulo-Madino in the southwestern Lower
Shabelle region in which more than 60 al-Shabaab terrorists were killed.
On Friday, the army said it foiled an al-Shabaab
attack on a military base in the central region of Galgadud.
Somalia has been plagued by insecurity for years, with
al-Shabaab being one of the main threats.
Since at least 2007, al-Shabaab has waged a deadly
campaign against the Somali government and international forces, claiming
thousands of lives.
The UN has also warned of growing instability in the
country, with its periodic reports on Somalia this year detailing attacks by
al-Shabaab and pro-Daesh/ISIS groups.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Jordan’s military thwarts attempts to smuggle drugs
from Syria
November 28, 2022
AMMAN: Jordanian security forces have foiled two
attempts to smuggle large quantities of drugs from Syria in two days, the
Jordan News Agency reported.
On Sunday, border guards at the Jaber border crossing,
Jordan’s main border crossing with Syria, seized 10,000 Captagon pills and 1 kg
of crystal meth hidden inside a truck.
On Saturday, the Eastern Military Zone in Jordan
seized 564 palm-sized sheets of hashish, 20,000 Captagon pills, a Kalashnikov
rifle and ammunition.
A source at the Jordanian Armed Forces General Command
said frontline surveillance patrols, in coordination with security agencies,
tracked an armed group of smugglers illegally crossing into the kingdom from
Syria.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2207226/middle-east
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Jordan to receive $845 million in aid from US
27 November ,2022
The US will provide Jordan with more than $845 million
in annual financial support, officials in Amman said Sunday, as the country
remains heavily dependent on foreign aid.
Prime Minister Bisher al-Khasawneh was present at the
signing ceremony of the “agreement with the US for the allocation of annual
financial support of $845.1 million”, a Jordanian government statement said.
Minister of Planning and International Cooperation
Zeina Toukan and USAID official Margaret Spears signed the accord in Amman, it
added.
The Hashemite kingdom is a key Western ally in the
Middle East.
“Jordan is very grateful for the support, which
demonstrates that the United States understands the challenges” the country
faces, Khasawneh said.
Washington will provide the aid by the end of the
month, Toukan said, adding that the funds would go towards “financing
development projects and implementing economic reforms in different sectors”.
In September, the US committed to providing Jordan
with $10.15 billion in aid between 2023 and 2029.
Only slightly larger than Portugal, Jordan has few
natural resources and only one port, Aqaba, on the Red Sea.
The World Bank says the country is heavily in debt and
faces around 23 percent unemployment.
Some 675,000 refugees from neighbouring war-torn Syria
are registered with the United Nations in Jordan.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Pakistan
ISPR: Leaked data of army chief’s family wealth ‘lies
and malice’
November 27, 2022
ISLAMABAD: Days after the finance minister said the
Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) successfully traced the identities of the people
suspected of leaking the tax information of family members of Gen. Qamar Javed
Bajwa, the military said an investigative report which, citing those records,
estimated the combined declared wealth of the family of its outgoing chief at a
staggering $56 million was “totally untrue and based on blatant lies and
malice”.
Last week, an online investigative news portal,
FactFocus, ran the story about the accumulation of wealth and property by
family members of Gen. Bajwa during his extended six-year term in office ending
Tuesday.
The report alleged that Gen. Bajwa’s immediate and
extended family members had exponentially expanded their domestic as well as
foreign property and businesses since he took command of the Pakistan Army in
2016.
However, instead of questioning or denying the
validity of the information, the office of Ishaq Dar issued a statement saying
the finance minister had taken “serious notice” of the leak, calling it a
violation of the tax law and a breach of official confidential data.
Subsequently, on Tuesday, Dar said the top revenue
authority had traced the identities of staff who apparently leaked the records
to Ahmad Noorani, a Washington-based journalist who published the story.
In a statement responding to the report, released no
less than a week later, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) claimed the
data was being exaggerated on the basis of assumptions.
A “certain group” has “cleverly, and with ill intent,”
linked the assets of the father and family of the general’s daughter-in-law
with him and his family, the statement said.
The media wing of the military was concerned that a
“false impression” was being created that these assets were acquired by Sabir
Hameed, a Lahore-based realtor and father of Gen. Bajwa’s daughter-in-law,
during his time in office.
“It is totally untrue and based on blatant lies and
malice,” the statement said, adding the assets of the general and his family
had been declared to the FBR.
Source: Pakistan Today
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Pakistan: Imran Khan claims 3 shooters tried to kill
him in Wazirabad
Nov 27, 2022
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's ousted prime minister Imran Khan
has claimed that there were three shooters involved in the failed assassination
attempt on him during a protest march in the eastern city of Wazirabad earlier
this month.
The chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)
party suffered bullet injuries in the right leg when the gunmen fired at him in
Punjab's Wazirabad area on November 3, where he was leading the march against the
government to press for snap elections.
Addressing a massive rally of his party on Saturday
night in this garrison city, which houses the headquarters of the powerful
Army, Khan said the two attackers previously identified were the one who fired
at him and other PTI leaders and the second shooter fired at the container's
front, while the third attacker was tasked to eliminate the first gunman.
Khan, 70, claimed that this third shooter actually
killed a person at the rally while trying to kill the would-be assassin.
Addressing the nation from the Shaukat Khanum Hospital
in Lahore a day after the attack, Khan had said he was hit by four bullets in
his right leg by two shooters.
He said he was on a container when a “burst of
bullets” was directed at him.
"Then a second burst came, there were two
people," he said.
Khan, in his first in-person address to the party
workers after the attack, also alleged that "three criminals", who
were behind the failed assassination attempt, are waiting to target him again.
He has repeatedly alleged that Prime Minister Shehbaz
Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and ISI Counter Intelligence Wing head
Maj-Gen Faisal Naseer were behind the attack on him.
Khan also announced to continue his protest until new
elections were announced. Elections are not due in Pakistan until the term of
the current National Assembly gets over in August 2023.
"The movement of Haqeeqi Azadi will continue
until genuine freedom is achieved,” he said, adding that the moment would come
once new elections were held.
Khan was ousted from power in April after losing a
no-confidence vote in his leadership, which he alleged was part of a US-led
conspiracy targeting him because of his independent foreign policy decisions on
Russia, China, and Afghanistan. The US has denied the allegations.
Source: Times Of India
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Imran wants to destabilise country by quitting
assemblies: Fazl
Nisar Ahmad Khan
November 28, 2022
MANSEHRA: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl emir Maulana
Fazlur Rehman on Sunday said that PTI chief Imran Khan wanted to create a
political and economic mess in the country through resignation of his party’s
lawmakers from assemblies but he would never be able to accomplish his design.
“Imran Khan could hardly assemble 10,000 people. He
threatened to quit assemblies to destabilise the country on economic and
political fronts, but his conspiracy would never meet a success,” he told a
public gathering in Dasu, the district headquarters of Upper Kohistan.
Mr Rehman, who is also chief of Pakistan Democratic
Movement, said that almost all political parties were part of the national
government to put the country on the track of prosperity and development but
Imran Khan wanted to bring instability to the country.
“I have been kicking off my election campaign from
here and would also form the next government in the country,” he said. He
claimed that Imran Khan would not reach the power arena in the country again.
JUI-F chief to kick off election campaign from
Kohistan
The JUI-F emir defended Inter-Services Intelligence
(ISI), Pak Army and Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa as patriotic
entities and questioned as to why Imran Khan was targeting them.
He said that former prime minister Imran Khan
politically victimised his rivals and put them behind bars through the use of
National Accountability Bureau by labelling everyone a thief.
“This national government never believes in political
victimisation and putting rivals behind bars. We would never retaliate. That’s
why we amended NAB’s and all such laws which were against humanity and
justice,” he said.
The JUI-F chief said that Imran Khan was saying that
he victimised politicians on the directions of establishment. “This country is
now out of the rule of Zionists and their agents. The Sharia-based economic
system is going to be put in place shortly as the government has withdrawn its
appeals against the federal Shariat Court’s usury-free economy ruling,” he
added.
He said that Kohistan districts were also badly
affected by recent flash floods triggered by the monsoon rains and the national
government came to rescue them.
“We reached the flood-affected families across the
country without discrimination of Muslim or non-Muslim. We served Sikhs, Christians
and Hindus as Islam orders its followers to serve
humanity without the discrimination of sex and creed,” said Mr Rehman.
Source: Dawn
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1723510
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PDM mulls options to foil PTI plan
Amjad Mahmood | Mohammad Ashfaq
November 28, 2022
LAHORE / PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz
(PML-N) has summoned a meeting of its parliamentary party in the Punjab
Assembly to discuss options available for dislodging the alliance of Pakistan
Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) ruling the province or
at least barring it from dissolving the assembly.
The parliamentary party will meet at PML-N’s
provincial secretariat in Model Town on Monday (today) under the chairmanship
of opposition leader Hamza Shehbaz.
PTI Chairman Imran Khan had announced in Rawalpindi on
Saturday that party members would tender their resignations from Punjab and
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies, the two provinces where the Imran-led party is
in power, to put pressure on the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government
in Centre for early elections across the country.
The opposition parties in the 371-strong Punjab Assembly
enjoy the support of 179 MPAs — 167 of PML-N, seven of PPP, four independents
and one of the Rah-i-Haq Party. They need seven more votes to see a
no-confidence motion succeed against PTI-PML-Q-supported Chief Minister Parvez
Elahi.
The opposition cannot pin its hopes on the backing of
the disgruntled legislators among the PTI and PML-Q ranks because as per the
Supreme Court’s orders their votes would not be counted if polled against the
party policy, while they would also stand disqualified as assembly members.
The other possibility is that the governor asks the
chief minister to take a vote of confidence as in this case the disgruntled
members of the ruling alliance may abstain during the no-confidence vote and
may also avert their likely disqualification.
The huddle will evaluate the petition for the review
of the apex court’s orders on the Punjab chief minister’s election.
In an apparent move to bar the governor from directing
the chief minister to take a vote of confidence under clause 7 of Article 130
of the constitution, the PTI-PML-Q alliance is keeping the assembly in session,
whose sittings are held after weeks and without any worthwhile business.
However, legal experts, like Usama Khawar, believe
that the relevant constitutional provision puts no bar on the governor’s
authority to ask the chief minister to seek a vote of confidence if in his
(governor’s) opinion the CM has lost majority in the house.
“Nowhere in the Constitution has it been stated that
the governor cannot summon a special session for taking a vote of confidence by
the chief minister if the elected house of the relevant province is already in
session,” he said.
In the meantime, PPP has also begun seeking signatures
of its Punjab Assembly members on a no-trust motion. As a couple of MPAs,
including Syed Ali Haider Gilani, are presently abroad, they are being sent the
document for signatures through courier service, a senior party leader told
Dawn.
Meanwhile, in a bid to pave the way for the PDM
government in Punjab, PML-N leader Ishaq Dar called on PPP leader Asif Ali
Zardari in Islamabad. The former president is expected to travel to Lahore soon
for ‘Mission Lahore’.
Sources in PPP said the purpose of ‘Mission Lahore’ is
the ouster of the ruling PTI-PML-Q alliance and Mr Zardari will be staying in
the provincial capital for a while to execute his strategy.
According to sources, both leaders also discussed
financial issues confronting Sindh.
KP parties’ moot
Mr Khan’s announcement resulted in a flurry of
political activities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well where all major opposition
parties decided to consult their central leadership to formulate a strategy to
counter a potential move by the PTI to dissolve the assembly.
The decision was taken in a meeting of the opposition
parties chaired by the opposition leader in the KP Assembly, Muhammad Akram
Khan Durrani, a leader of JUI-F. The meeting was attended by ANP MPA Sardar
Hussain Babak, PPP MPA Nighat Orakzai, PML-N MPA Ikhtiar Wali, and others.
In a brief chat with the media persons, the opposition
leader said they did not believe that the PTI chairman was “serious” about his
decisions.
Meanwhile, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb
came down hard on the former prime minister and said the PTI chairman had
become “irrelevant” in the current political scenario, reported APP. “Why
should elections be held ahead of time because Imran Khan had lost power?” she
asked.
Source: Dawn
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PM urges Pak-Turkiye joint research, resources pooling
to face challenges
November 27, 2022
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that in
wake of the common challenges and emerging threats facing both countries,
Pakistan and Turkiye should work together through collective research and
pooling of resources.
“We believe that Pakistan and Turkiye should work
together and deepen their partnership through collective research and joint
development and pooling of resources,” Prime Minister Shehbaz told Turkish
Anadolu Agency in an exclusive interview, published on Sunday, during his
two-day visit to the country from November 25-26 to jointly inaugurate the
third of four MILGEM corvette ships manufactured by Turkiye for the Pakistani
Navy.
He said the “exemplary,” Pak-Turkiye relations were
“grounded firmly in common religious, cultural, and linguistic links and
transcend political changes on either side.” Over the past seven and a half
decades, the prime minister said, the two sides have always “stood by each
other in the face of all changes.”
“Pakistan and Turkiye support each other on all issues
of core national interests — whether it is Jammu and Kashmir or Northern
Cyprus. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Turkiye, particularly
its leadership, for its principled support on Jammu and Kashmir dispute,” he
said.
“Confronted by common challenges and new and emerging
threats, Pakistan and Turkiye have deepened their cooperation across various
spheres, particularly in defense,” Shehbaz Sharif said, lauding the Turkish
defense industry which has “achieved spectacular success under the leadership
of President Erdogan, defying all odds and challenges in the past two decades.”
“Pakistan is Turkiye’s largest defense customer,” the
prime minister underlined, adding that their collaboration on the construction
of the MILGEM-class warships, not only has a “unique value” for the Pakistani
Navy’s capability enhancements but also “prominently stands out as a defining
moment to further cement the bonds of friendship between our two nations and
our two navies.”
To a question, the prime minister said Pakistan’s
economy “was facing multiple global and domestic challenges” and was “on the
verge of financial collapse” when he assumed charge.
“The economic policies of the previous government were
not pro-growth and led the economy to multiple challenges,” he said. However,
the prime minister said his government had adopted a “mix of policies to tackle
the economic downturn by accepting the fact that “we have a very short time to
step back from the edge of bankruptcy and financial collapse.”
“No doubt, some of our policy options, like the
withdrawal of untargeted subsidies, had added to the cost to the economy in the
short term. But, most of our policies are more likely to offer benefits in the
longer term,” he remarked.
“We are also aware of the fact that our current course
of action is hurting the most vulnerable and marginalized in society but we are
taking care of them by announcing targeted subsidies and other relief
measures,” the prime minister said.
He said the revival of the IMF programme and “active
engagement with bilateral and multilateral partners” had eased the pressure.
To tackle the economy, he noted that his government
took measures to reduce the import bill, current account deficit, and pressure
on the Pakistani rupee.
The prime minister said the massive floods that hit
Pakistan early this year “caused a great deal of suffering.” The recently
announced packages by the government for farmers and businessmen will help
stimulate economic activities, he added.
Coming to the issue of climate change, Prime Minister
Shehbaz said, while Pakistan contributed less than 1% of the global carbon
footprint, it “is facing the brunt of natural calamities in the form of heat
waves, glacial outbursts, droughts, torrential rains, and unprecedented
monsoons.”
“There is an urgent need for the industrialized
countries to meet their climate finance commitments, with a balanced focus on
adaptation and mitigation,” he said, welcoming a deal to establish a “loss and
damage fund” to compensate developing countries most severely impacted by climate
change.
He also suggested that the international community
explore the possibilities of “debt swaps for climate action, particularly
adaptation.”
About his government’s efforts to respond to the flood
situation, the prime minister said the country “mounted coordinated rescue and
relief operations mobilizing all possible resources and capacities.”
A dedicated National Flood Response and Coordination
Centre (NFRCC) has been set up to effectively coordinate rescue and relief
operations, he noted.
While discussing his government’s foreign policy, he
said Pakistan’s “longstanding and broad-based relationship” with the US was
“committed to deepen and widen.”
“In recent months, engagement between both countries
has been quite productive and substantial. Our interactions at various levels
have intensified, which manifests in that the relationship is strengthening.”
Recalling a recent interaction with US President Joe
Biden in New York, he said there had been “several high-level visits including
congressional delegations and by members of the (US) administration.”
“These interactions have yielded positive results and
further solidified our ties,” he said, thanking Washington for its $97 million
of support for Pakistani flood victims.
The two countries, celebrating 75 years since the
establishment of diplomatic ties, are “charting out a promising course for the
decades ahead,” said Sharif.
He called the US an “important trading partner” and
added that the two countries were “exploring more ways to strengthen bilateral
trade and commercial ties.”
“Some of the US companies are doing quite well in
Pakistan. We encourage major US companies to invest in Pakistan’s lucrative
market and enhance commercial ties, particularly in our growing IT sector,” he
said, encouraging more student exchanges between the two countries.
Commending the “strong Pakistani diaspora” in the US,
Sharif said they were “acting as a bridge to deepen the ties between our two
countries and the people.”
Pakistan is also cooperating closely with the US “to
promote peace and stability in Afghanistan,” while also pursuing a foreign
policy of “friendliness and goodwill towards all countries,” he said.
“Pakistan has traditionally maintained good relations
with the United States and China. Historically, it was Pakistan that acted as a
bridge in opening up the relationship between the United States and the
People’s Republic of China,” he noted.
“While the Pakistan-China relationship is very
special, Pakistan and the US have also maintained a longstanding historic bilateral
relationship, which is broad-based in nature and covers all issues of mutual
interest.
Shehbaz Sharif said Pakistan “strongly believes that
inter-state relations should be based on mutual respect and peaceful resolution
of issues by upholding of principles of UN charter and international law.”
On relations with China, he said his recent meetings
with the Chinese leadership “injected new impetus in our joint efforts to
ensure timely progress and implementation of major projects.”
“Important understandings were reached on advancing
flagship projects such as the Main Line I and Karachi Circular Railway
(ML-I/KCR) projects, as well as on the early implementation of the Framework
Agreement on Industrial Cooperation.
“We also agreed to step up cooperation in green
energy, science and technology, and agriculture, which are all important
building blocks of CPEC’s (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) high-quality
development,” he said.
“Both Pakistan and China are mindful of the complex
regional environment and the risks it poses. We will continue to exercise
heightened vigilance and ensure that our detractors’ nefarious designs will
fail,” Sharif added.
Coming to the Kashmir issue and relations with India,
the prime minister said Pakistan’s foreign policy was “one of friendliness and
goodwill towards all.”
“We want good relations with all neighbors, including
India,” said the prime minister.
However, he stressed that for “complete normalization”
of relations, including the revival of trade ties, India must “reverse its
actions” of Aug. 5, 2019, when New Delhi revoked the limited autonomy of Indian
Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
He also said India must end its “state terrorism” in
IIOJK and not seek “demographic changes in the occupied territory to perpetuate
its illegal occupation.”
Referring to his inaugural address as prime minister,
Sharif said he “reiterated our desire for maintaining ‘good ties’ with India.
Source: Pakistan Today
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Southeast Asia
PM Anwar Ibrahim Told To Use TikTok to Counter Racial,
Religious Propaganda
27-11- 2022
PETALING JAYA: It has been suggested that Prime
Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (should utilise TikTok to level Perikatan
Nasional’s (PN) propaganda.
FMT reported that political analyst Azmil Tayeb from
Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) said that TikTok is “a different world” from
the three major social media platforms, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as
their short videos cater to the younger generation.
“TikTok videos are usually quite crude and direct,
which makes them look original. That is TikTok’s appeal that PN has managed to
capitalise on.
“Anwar and his Malay supporters can start by ramping
up efforts to provide counter-narratives, particularly via short TikTok videos.
(They should) recruit more everyday, regular Malays to do these videos so that
they’ll look natural and organic,” he told FMT.
Another analyst Azizuddin Mohd Sani from Universiti
Utara Malaysia (UUM) said that Anwar still has to uphold the Federal
Constitution in ensuring the protection of Bumiputera rights while fighting for
the other races’ rights.
Both analysts agreed that Anwar does not have to
appeal to the conservative voters who mostly voted for PN through their
conservative policies.
Azmil and Azizuddin added that the Tambun MP needs to
concentrate on the job market, resolving livelihood matters and combating
corruption which in turn will help to alleviate the discontent amongst many PN
supporters.
Azizuddin also proposed that Anwar should reach out to
the nation’s youths and fence-sitters convinced by PN online propaganda and
listen to their troubles to gain their support.
Meanwhile Azmil and Azizuddin also agreed that Anwar
does not have to sign the confidence and supply agreement (CSA) or memorandum
of understanding (MoU) with PN to push off any attempts by the opposition to
overthrow the current government.
Source: The Sun Daily
Please click the following URL to read the full text
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Hadi blasts 'Islamophobic' DAP over post-GE15
narrative to stop PAS
November 28, 2022
PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang has launched a scathing
attack on DAP, saying the Pakatan Harapan (PH) partner has been promoting an
Islamophobic narrative in its efforts to prevent PAS from being in a position
of power following its major gains at the polls.
Hadi, in a strongly worded statement, described DAP as
a party without morals, adding that it had "shown its fangs blatantly and
greedily".
"The most hostile views against Islam spread in
the West by the orientalists and Western media have been imported to Malaysia
by DAP, so that false information is spread against PAS," he said.
The recent election saw PAS winning 49 federal seats,
its biggest gain in a general election. This was followed by DAP which won 40
seats, making it the biggest partner in PH.
Hadi's statement came four days after a political
stalemate ended with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong naming Anwar Ibrahim as prime
minister.
Political leaders said that the Agong had urged all
parties to form a "unity government", although this was not mentioned
in the palace's official statement naming Anwar as the 10th prime minister.
Hadi's ally Muhyiddin Yassin, who heads Perikatan
Nasional, had rejected the palace proposal, and said he did not understand why
115 statutory declarations in support of him were ignored despite being
submitted before the end of a 24-hour deadline.
Hadi in his statement today said DAP never learnt any
lesson from its previous alliance with PAS in Pakatan Rakyat, where he said
leaders from both parties had held dialogues to clear confusion on Islam.
He said among DAP's narratives was to paint anyone who
spoke in defence of Malays and Muslims as "racists".
"This strategy is promoted with DAP as its
mastermind.
"Non-Muslim rights spelt out in the Federal
Constitution are considered insufficient and oppressive. It's like give them an
inch, they'll take a mile.
"In fact, the constitutional right to language and
culture has been considered insufficient. DAP continues to be extreme towards
the culture of Muslims which it wants to subtly and systematically
destroy," Hadi added.
Hadi also said DAP's use of Malay Muslims as spokesmen
would fail.
Source: Malaysia Now
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Malaysia’s Sabah Seeking to Develop Islamic Tourism
November 27, 2022
It seeks to make the state a more welcoming
destination for Muslim tourists.
This initiative is bolstered by a seminar on
Muslim-friendly Tourism and Hospitality, which aims to provide insight into
Islamic tourism to Sabah tourism stakeholders.
The seminar, held on Friday, was co-organized by the
Sabah Tourism Board (STB) and the Islamic Tourism Centre (ITC), an entity under
the Tourism, Arts, and Culture Ministry tasked with developing the Islamic
tourism segment in Malaysia.
STB Deputy Chief Executive Officer Tay Shu Lan said
the travel industry catering to Muslims has a significant amount of untapped
potential for expansion and that Sabah should capitalise on the Muslim market.
Citing the Mastercard-Crescent Rating Global Muslim
Travel 2022 report, she said the number of Muslim travelers had increased by
160 million in 2019.
It is expected that by 2028, Muslim travel spending
will reach USD225 billion, with the young and new generation, as well as women,
being identified as a growing demographic within the Muslim population and
acting as driving forces that influence travel.
“Malaysia is the top destination for Muslim travelers,
closely followed by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. These are regions that
Sabah Tourism has reached out to in terms of destination promotion.
“The seminar is an informative platform because it
would help our tourism industry players in Sabah to better understand the
significance of the Muslim tourist market, the basic requirements and needs of
Muslim tourists, and how their products or destination could become more
Muslim-friendly,” she said in her welcoming remarks during the seminar.
Meanwhile, ITC Industry Development Director
(Covering) / Manager Fitra Mohd Ali said that Sabah has the potential to grow
as a Muslim-friendly destination and should seize the opportunity to create
products that meet the required standards.
He mentioned the Kota Kinabalu State Mosque, halal
food, Muslim-friendly spas, and Muslim-friendly healthcare tourism as products
that would appeal to Muslim visitors.
Source: IQNA
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://iqna.ir/en/news/3481424/malaysia%E2%80%99s-sabah-seeking-to-develop-islamic-tourism
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PAS gains prominence as Malaysian Malays reject
corruption
Hazlin Hassan
NOV 27, 2022
KUALA LUMPUR – The fundamentalist Parti Islam
SeMalaysia (PAS) emerged as one of the big winners in Malaysia’s general
election, helped by a wave of Malay Muslim voters rejecting corruption and
worried that their rights would be eroded under a non-Malay-dominated
government.
A component of Perikatan Nasional (PN), PAS snatched
43 seats in Parliament, making it the largest single bloc of lawmakers.
Previous reports said PAS won 44 or 49 seats, but that would include wins by
Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) candidates who contested in Kelantan
and Terengganu under the banner of PAS.
Bersatu, which is headed by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin,
who is also PN leader, won a total of 30 seats.
A 50-year-old university lecturer, who declined to be
named, said she voted for PN – a coalition that is barely three years old. She
told The Straits Times that she was disgusted by Umno’s graft-tainted president
Zahid Hamidi and wary that the Chinese-dominated Democratic Action Party (DAP)
would take away Malay rights.
“Zahid should have stepped down before the election,”
she said.
Prior to the general election on Nov 19, PAS’
influence was mainly focused on the northern rural Malay heartland states of
Terengganu, Kelantan, Perlis and Kedah.
At the election, PN won the majority of support of the
Malay electorate in Peninsular Malaysia, at an estimated 54 per cent of votes,
according to Dr Bridget Welsh, honorary research associate of the University of
Nottingham Asia Research Institute Malaysia.
This was an increase from the 32 per cent support
garnered by PAS in 2018, when it won 18 seats in Parliament. However, PN did
not secure any meaningful share of support from non-Malays.
“In effect, PN was a coalition only supported by
Malays, with the exception of an estimated 5 per cent of support from other
communities, mostly (indigenous) Orang Asli,” she wrote in an article on the
Malaysiakini news website.
Both Pakatan Harapan (PH), which DAP is a part of, and
the Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) lost a portion of their Malay votes in the
election.
PH’s share of the Malay votes dropped from an
estimated 25 per cent in 2018 to around 11 per cent in 2022.
BN saw a significant reduction of support among
Malays, accounting for its major loss in seats, said Dr Welsh. BN won an
estimated 33 per cent of Malay support last week, down from 43 per cent in
2018.
BN also lost an estimated 3 percentage points among
Chinese (to 5 per cent) and about 2 percentage points of Indian voters (to 16
per cent).
Singapore Institute of International Affairs senior
fellow Oh Ei Sun outlined two factors that contributed to the rise of PAS.
“First is that there is indeed a sizeable number of
Malays who rejected Umno, thanks to relentless portrayals by both PH and PN of
Umno as being corrupt and scandalous,” he told ST.
“But this same cohort of Malays are equally
uncomfortable with PH, which they perceive as liberal and multicultural. So
they opted mainly for PAS and, to a lesser extent, Bersatu,” he said.
“Another factor is the sooner-than-expected
culmination of a long process of Islamic radicalisation effort by PAS, which
has been running many tahfiz (religious) schools around the country, promoting
its brand of Islamic supremacy in line with a trend of worldwide Islamic
revivalism that has emerged since at least the 1979 Islamic Revolution in
Iran.”
According to an insider from PAS splinter party
Amanah, religion is one of the factors that pushed Malay voters, particularly
highly impressionable first-time voters aged 18 to 20, to vote for PN.
“PAS used TikTok videos to warn voters that if you
don’t vote for PAS, you will go to hell,” he told ST.
A video of Mr Muhyiddin, which went viral in the final
days before polling, showed him claiming that PH was an agent of Jews and
Christians plotting to colonise Malaysia.
“Do not choose Barisan Nasional and never ever touch
Pakatan Harapan. It is dangerous,” Mr Muhyiddin said in the video, reportedly
taken during a rally in Johor on Nov 16.
This resulted in a wave of support for PAS that swept
the northern and eastern states of Peninsular Malaysia, Putrajaya and even
swathes of Perak, Pahang, Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.
PN also promised a clean, stable and caring
government, which appealed to its voters.
Soaring inflation has left many Malaysians unhappy
with the previous Umno-led government, seen as having failed to resolve the
cost-of-living crisis.
Many youth also remember Mr Muhyiddin as being the
face of the government during the Covid-19 crisis, and for providing cash
handouts to ease the effects of lockdowns.
University of Malaya sociopolitical analyst Awang
Azman Awang Pawi said Malay voters were influenced by social media,
particularly the TikTok platform, which PN aggressively campaigned on.
“PN is seen as being very capable in creating a
successful social media campaign compared with PH and BN,” he said.
“PAS and Bersatu also played on extreme Malay Muslim
sentiments, such as by accusing Anwar of having an LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender) agenda and that he would legalise same-sex marriage.”
Source: Straits Times
Please click the following URL to read the full text
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https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/pas-gains-prominence-as-malaysian-malays-reject-corruption
--------
Arab World
Erdogan says detente with Syria possible even as he
beats drums of war
27 November 2022
At the same time as he beats the drums of war on
Syria, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says normalization of relations
with the Arab country is possible.
"Just as relations between [Turkey] and Egypt
take shape, ties with Syria can follow the same path in the next period,"
Erdogan said on Sunday.
He was referring to an ongoing normalization process
between Turkey and Egypt, which saw Erdogan meet with his Egyptian counterpart
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi at the World Cup in Doha last Sunday. Ankara severed its
ties with Cairo in 2013 in protest at the latter's bloody crackdown on the
followers of late Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi.
"There is no room for hard feelings in
politics," Erdogan also alleged.
The Turkish presidency's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said
last month that Russia had offered to mediate a meeting between Erdogan and
Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Erdogan said earlier in the month that Ankara would
consider the proposal in due time.
Turkey cut off its relations with Syria in March 2012,
a year after the Arab country found itself in the grip of rampant and hugely
deadly violence waged by foreign-backed militants and terrorists, including
those allegedly supported by Ankara.
Since 2016, Turkey has also conducted three major
ground operations against United States-backed militants based in northern
Syria.
The Turkish government accuses the militants, who are
known as the People's Protection Units (YPG), of bearing ties with the
Kurdistan Workers' Party terrorist group.
The PKK has been waging a separatist war against
Turkey for decades. Ankara also accuses the group of being behind a terrorist
attack that killed one person and injured 81 others in Istanbul earlier this
month.
Last week, Turkey began launching a new round of
illegal airstrikes against, what it calls, hideouts belonging to the PKK in
northern Syria and Iraq.
Source: Press TV
Please click the following URL to read the full text
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https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2022/11/27/693501/Turkey-Syria-Erdogan-normalization-relations
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Saudi Arabia’s interior minister meets with Egyptian
counterpart for official talks
28 November ,2022
Saudi Arabia’s interior minister Prince Abdulaziz bin
Saud bin Naif bin Abdulaziz held official talks with his Egyptian counterpart
General Mahmoud Tawfiq, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported late
Sunday.
The ministers witnessed the signing of a cooperation
agreement between the governments of Saudi Arabia and Egypt in the field of
combatting crime.
The talks were attended by several high-level
officials from both sides.
Prince Abdulaziz hailed the security cooperation
between the two ministries and discussed with Tawfiq ways to further enhance
it.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Iraqi
PM says fraction of stolen $2.5 bln retrieved
27
November ,2022
Iraq
has recovered “part” of $2.5 billion in public funds fraudulently withdrawn
from a government account, the prime minister said Sunday, calling on guilty
parties to hand themselves in and return all the money.
Mohammed
Shia al-Sudani said a wealthy businessman implicated in the theft from tax
authorities had given back $125 million out of more than $1 billion that he
“confessed” to having received.
Businessman
Nour Zuhair Jassem will be subject to an assets freeze and released on
condition of recovering the remaining funds within two weeks, Sudani added.
The
scandal has provoked widespread ire in Iraq, an oil-rich country ravaged by
endemic corruption.
According
to a document from the country's tax authority, the colossal sum was allegedly
expropriated between September 2021 and August this year through 247 cheques
cashed by five enterprises.
The
money was subsequently withdrawn from the companies' accounts, the document
showed.
The
owners of those accounts -- most of whom are on the run -- are subject to
arrest warrants.
“The
competent authorities have been able to retrieve a first tranche amounting to
182.6 billion Iraqi dinars,” equating to more than $125 million, Sudani said.
His
comments came during a live address, and he was flanked by piles of banknotes
stacked in packages.
Jassem
was arrested late last month at Baghdad airport when he tried to leave the
country on a private jet, authorities said at the time.
The
prime minister said the judiciary had reached an agreement with the accused
that he return all the money.
Another
suspect, who was arrested in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, is the subject
of proceedings to transfer him to Baghdad.
“We
call upon all the suspects subject to arrest warrants in this case to hand
themselves in and hand back the stolen funds,” the prime minister said.
“Arresting
the thieves and those who aided them is very important,” Sudani added.
“But
the most important thing is the return of the funds. What does it matter if so
and so is in prison if the ($2.5 billion) is not in the state's coffers?”
Tax
officials and public bodies are implicated in the scandal, he said, adding that
their identity “will be revealed at the end of the investigation”.
“We
will spare no one,” Sudani vowed.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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Thousands
protest Turkish strikes on Kurdish groups in Syria
27
November ,2022
Thousands
of Kurds protested on Sunday in the Syrian city of Qamishli against Turkish
cross-border strikes targeting Kurdish groups in the country's northeast, an
AFP photojournalist said.
One
week ago Turkey began a barrage of air strikes against the semi-autonomous
Kurdish zones in north and northeastern Syria, and across the border in Iraq.
It
has also threatened a ground offensive in those areas of Syria.
The
strikes came after a November 13 bombing in Istanbul that killed six people and
wounded 81 and that Ankara blamed on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which
it and its Western allies consider a terrorist group.
The
PKK has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984. Turkey
alleges that Syrian Kurdish fighters are the PKK's allies.
Kurdish
groups denied any involvement in the Ankara blast.
Demonstrators
in Kurdish-controlled Qamishli in Hasakeh province on Sunday brandished photos
of people killed during the last strikes in the semi-autonomous region, the AFP
photojournalist said.
They
carried Kurdish flags alongside photos of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan -- jailed
in Turkey since 1999 -- and protesters shouted slogans against Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
They
also chanted in favour of the resistance in “Rojava” -- the name Kurds in Syria
give to the area they administer.
“Only
the will of the Kurdish people remains,” protester Siham Sleiman, 49, told AFP.
“It will not be broken and we remain ready. We will not leave our historic
land.”
Another
demonstrator, Salah el-Dine Hamou, 55, said: “The message that we want to
convey to the world is that we are victims of eradication.
“How
long will we continue to die while other countries watch?”
The
Turkish raids have killed at least 58 Kurdish fighters and Syrian soldiers, as
well as a Kurdish journalist, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory
for Human Rights, which has an extensive network of sources in Syria.
Turkey's
military has conducted three offensives against Kurdish fighters and extremists
since 2016 and already captured territory in northern Syria, held by
Ankara-backed Syrian proxies.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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Saudi
Arabia sponsors $1 bln AMF deal to support Yemen economic reform program
28
November ,2022
Sponsored
by Saudi Arabia, the Arab Monetary Fund signed a $1 billion agreement with the
Yemeni government to support an economic, financial and monetary reform program,
the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Sunday.
The
Kingdom’s Finance Minister Mohammed bin Abdullah al-Jadaan said that the
program aims to help support the Yemeni government’s effort to strengthen its
financial status, develop the country’s banking sector and provide a boost to
its private sector and economic development.
The
AMF-led program, which will run until 2025, seeks to establish the foundations
of economic, financial and monetary stability in Yemen and rebuild its
institutions, providing a push for social development, job creation and
sustainable economic growth.
The
program will see the development of the financial sector’s public resources and
enhance the government’s efficiency.
Saudi
Arabia’s sponsorship of the agreement comes as an extension of its support for
the Yemeni economy to help improve the daily life of its war-weary people.
According to SPA, the Kingdom deposited $1 billion in 2021 and $2 billion in
2018 to cover the import of basic food commodities such as wheat grains, flour,
rice, milk, cooking oil and sugar. These contributions improved Yemen’s
standard of living and human development index and strengthened the central
bank’s foreign reserves.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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Iraqis
file lawsuit against Trump, former US officials over assassination of Gen.
Soleimani, PMU deputy head
27
November 2022
A
number of Iraqi citizens have filed a lawsuit against former US president,
Donald Trump, former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, former US ambassador to
Baghdad and some previous Iraqi officials over the assassination of top Iranian
anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and his Iraqi trenchmate
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a drone strike near Baghdad airport more than two
years ago.
On
Sunday, a total of 78 plaintiffs took the legal action against former US
Republican president, his top diplomat, former US ambassador to Baghdad Matthew
H. Tueller, former Iraqi prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, and former
director of the National Operations Center Dhia al-Musawi, registering their
case at the Federal Court of Appeal in the capital Baghdad.
Among
the complainants is Muhammad Hassan Jaafar, a brother of Muhandis.
Lieutenant
General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic
Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of
Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), and their companions were assassinated
in a US drone strike authorized by Trump near Baghdad International Airport on
January 3, 2020.
Two
days after the attack, Iraqi lawmakers approved a bill that required the
government to end the presence of all foreign military forces led by the US in
the country.
Both
commanders were highly revered across the Middle East because of their key role
in fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in the region, particularly in
Iraq and Syria.
On
January 8, 2020, the IRGC targeted the US-run Ain al-Asad base in Iraq’s
western province of Anbar with a wave of missile attacks in retaliation for the
assassination of Lt. Gen. Soleimani.
Source:
Press TV
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Bahrainis
hold rallies to voice solidarity with political inmates, demand their freedom
27
November 2022
Protesters
have taken to the streets in Bahrain to show solidarity with prominent
opposition leader, Hasan Mushaima, and other political prisoners, calling for
their immediate an unconditional release as the ruling Al Khalifah regime
presses ahead with its cruel clampdown in the Persian Gulf kingdom.
The
protesters staged rallies in the villages of Sanabis and Dumistan to denounce
Bahraini authorities’ mistreatment of jailed activists and their miserable
conditions at detention centers.
The
demonstrators held up pictures of Mushaima and Sheikh Abd al-Hadi al-Mukhudhar,
demanding the freedom of all prisoners of conscience being kept behind bars in
crowded jails.
Meanwhile,
Mushaima’s family has staged a sit-in for the eighth consecutive day in front
of Hamad Kanoo Health Center in the city of Riffa to demand immediate release
of the 74-year-old veteran political dissident and his instant access to
required medication.
Earlier
this week, a Bahraini opposition movement blasted the Al Khalifah regime over
its harsh measures against imprisoned human rights activists and pro-democracy
campaigners in the country, warning of Mushaima's "lingering death."
“It
is no secret that the Al Khalifah regime is exercising flagrant and deliberate
medical neglect against distinguished opposition figure and Secretary-General
of Haq Movement for Civil Liberties and Democracy Hasan Mushaima, who has been
incarcerated in prison since 2011,” the February 14 Youth Coalition said.
It
added that the renowned opposition leader has not received proper medication
and treatment even though he suffers from chronic diseases.
“Prison
officials have been intentionally delaying provision of necessary medicine to
Mushaima, and adamantly refused to take him to hospital for examinations and
required treatments, until his health condition deteriorated sharply," the
group said in the statement.
Anti-regime
demonstrations have been regularly held in Bahrain since the popular uprising
began in mid-February 2011.
People
demand that the Al Khalifah regime relinquish power and allow a fair system
representing all Bahrainis to be established.
Source:
Press TV
Please click the following URL to read the full text
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Turkey
set for ‘ground attack’ on Syria, 'anti-Daesh ops' halted by aggression:
Kurdish cmdr
27
November 2022
The
commander of the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has said that Turkey
is preparing to conduct a "ground offensive" in the Arab country, as
Ankara’s aggression against northern Syria over the past week has halted the
Kurdish-led militants' attacks on remnants of the Daesh terrorist group.
Mazloum
Abdi made the remarks in an online news conference in Syria's northeastern
province of Hasakah on Saturday.
Turkey
is taking advantage of the deadly November 13 bombing in Istanbul to target the
US-backed Kurdish militants and after nearly a week of Turkish airstrikes on
northern Syria, Ankara is preparing for a “ground attack” to inflict severe
damage on the region’s infrastructure, Abdi said.
“The
Turkish state’s goal is to destroy the infrastructure of this region to pave
the way for a ground attack,” Abdi said, adding, “The Turkish state is
preparing itself for a ground attack. [President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan
repeatedly says that they want to attack Kobane, Manbij, and Shahba. Also, they
are preparing their forces on the ground - the Syrian groups affiliated to them
- for an attack.”
Turkey
blames Kurdish militants for the blast on Istanbul's Istiklal Avenue on
November 13, which killed six people and injured more than 80.
Last
week, the Turkish military carried out a series of airstrikes across the Syrian
provinces of Aleppo and Hasakah, targeting several towns and villages
throughout those provinces following the Istanbul attack.
The
Turkish Defense Ministry said it carried out airstrikes on the outlawed Kurdish
militant bases in northern Syria, which it said were used to carry out attacks
on Turkey. It added that the strikes targeted bases of the Kurdistan Workers
Party (PKK) and the Syrian Kurdish YPG militants, which Turkey regards as a
wing of the PKK.
No
group has claimed responsibility for the Istanbul blast and both the PKK and
the YPG have denied involvement in it.
During
the online news conference, the SDF commander said the Turkish military’s
airstrikes in northern Syria had stopped the Kurdish-led militants from
carrying out operations against the remnants of Daesh in the area.
“The
forces that work symbolically with the international coalition in the fight
against Daesh are now targets for the Turkish state and therefore anti-Daesh
military operations have stopped,” Abdi said.
Last
week, the commander of the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces warned of a
“major catastrophe” following the Turkish aggression, and said Ankara's bombing
of the “safe” areas of northern Syria threaten the whole region.
Ankara
to start 'ground offensive' soon
Turkish
media reported on Sunday that the country’s military would “soon” launch a
cross-border offensive in Syria’s northern region.
Turkish
daily Yeni Safak cited Defense Minister Hulusi Akar as saying in a secret meeting
that Turkey will “soon” start a “ground operation” in Syria’s north.
Erdogan
vowed on Tuesday to launch the country's fourth illegal ground operation in
Syria "soon," the most direct threat of the kind he has issued since
May when he started warning of such an invasion.
Turkey
has since 2016 conducted three illegal incursions into northern Syria against
Kurdish militants and has deployed forces there in violation of the Arab
country's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Ankara-backed
militants were deployed to northeastern Syria in October 2019 after Turkish
military forces launched a long-threatened cross-border invasion in a declared
attempt to push YPG fighters away from border areas.
Ankara
views the YPG, which controls swathes of Syria's northern border region, as a
terrorist organization tied to the homegrown Kurdistan Workers' Party, which
has been seeking an autonomous Kurdish region in Turkey since 1984.
Source:
Press TV
Please click the following URL to read the full text
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--------
North America
US
Soccer briefly removed emblem from Iran flag to show support for protesters
27
November ,2022
The
US Soccer Federation temporarily displayed Iran's national flag on social media
without the emblem of the Islamic Republic as a show of solidarity with
protesters in Iran ahead of the two teams' World Cup clash on Tuesday.
A
now-deleted graphic of the Group B standings posted on Saturday across US
Soccer's official Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts displayed a plain
green, white and red flag.
Iran
has been gripped by protests since 22-year-old Mahsa Amini's death in September
while in police custody after her arrest for flouting the country's strict
Islamic dress code.
The
intent of the posts was to “support for the women in Iran fighting for basic
human rights”, US Soccer media officer Michael Kammarman told a news conference
on Sunday. Players were not consulted on the decision to alter the flag.
The
banner on US Soccer's Twitter page was also changed on Saturday to feature the
flag without the emblem. It was changed back 24 hours later to the banner they
had been using during the tournament.
Iran's
state-affiliated Tasnim News Agency said the Iranian Football Federation will
file a complaint against US Soccer to the FIFA Ethics Committee for
“disrespecting the national flag” of the Islamic Republic.
Iranian
leaders have accused the United States and other foreign adversaries of
fomenting the protests in which Iranians from all walks of life have mounted
one of the boldest challenges to the theocracy since the 1979 Islamic
Revolution.
Washington
has imposed sanctions on Iranian officials over the crackdown on protesters.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
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Rockets
target US base in Syria in latest strike: CENTCOM
26
November ,2022
Two
rockets targeted a US patrol base in northeastern Syria late Friday, the third
such attack in nine days, US Central Command said.
Centcom
did not indicate who fired the rockets but said, in a statement, that they
aimed at “coalition forces at the US patrol base in Al-Shaddadi, Syria.”
The
strike at about 10:30 pm (1930 GMT) caused no injuries or damage to the base or
coalition property, said Centcom, which covers the Middle East region.
The
US troops support Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which are the Kurds’ de facto
army in the area and led the battle that dislodged the Islamic State group (IS)
from the last scraps of their Syrian territory in 2019.
Hundreds
of American troops are still in Syria as part of the fight against IS remnants.
“Syrian
Democratic Forces visited the rocket origin site and found a third unfired
rocket,” Centcom added in its latest statement.
On
November 17 rockets targeted the coalition’s Green Village base which is in
Syria’s largest oil field, Al-Omar, near the Iraqi border, Centcom said at the
time. There were no injuries.
A
war monitor, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights which has a
wide network of sources in Syria, said that strike came from “a base of
pro-Iranian militias.”
Such
groups have significant influence in the Syria-Iraq border region.
In
another attack, a Turkish drone strike on Tuesday killed two SDF fighters and
posed “a risk to US troops,” Centcom told AFP earlier.
That
strike hit a base north of Hassakeh city, also in Syria's northeast but farther
north.
On
November 20 Turkey announced it had carried out a series of air and drone
strikes in Iraq and Syria, a week after a bomb attack in Istanbul that killed
six people and wounded 81.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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Europe
NATO
chief hails Türkiye’s role in extension of Ukraine grain deal
Zehra
Nur Duz
26.11.2022
The
NATO secretary general on Saturday welcomed the support of Türkiye, together
with the UN, to extend the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
Speaking
at the Grain from Ukraine Summit organized with the initiative of Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Jens Stoltenberg said that he saw the grain
ships on the Istanbul Strait when he met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan.
“They
are getting food, grain, and fertilizers out of Ukrainian ports for the
vulnerable people who urgently need it,” he added.
Stoltenberg
also “strongly” hailed the efforts of NATO allies and the EU to get supplies
moving out of Ukraine over land.
Last
week, days before its scheduled expiration, the landmark grain deal signed in
Istanbul in July by Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine was extended for another
120 days, beginning Nov. 19.
On
July 22, Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine signed an agreement in Istanbul
to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports, which had been
paused in February due to Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Stoltenberg
also touched upon the “horrendous” Holodomor tragedy which killed millions of
Ukrainians 90 years ago.
“Today,
Russia is using hunger as a weapon of war against Ukraine.
And to create division and further instability
among the rest of the world,”
Stoltenberg said.
The
Holodomor is considered one of the most painful events in the history of
Ukraine.
At
least 3.9 million people starved to death between 1932 and 1933 as a result of
Joseph Stalin's policies and "collectivization" of agriculture,
according to the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory.
The
Soviet Union implemented the collectivization of its agricultural sector
between 1928 and 1940 to integrate individual landholdings and labor into
collectively controlled and state-controlled farms. It affected a significant
part of the west and south of the Soviet Union.
Estimates
conclude that 5.7 to 8.7 million people died of famine across the USSR.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
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Turkish
modern art exhibition opens in Netherlands next week
Fatih
Turkyilmaz and Aise Humeyra Bulovali
26.11.2022
An
exhibition of Turkish modern art is set to open its doors to the world's art
enthusiasts next week in the Netherlands.
The
works of Dutch painter Rembrandt will also be on display at the
Aura/Contemporary Turkish Art exhibition, said artist Hulya Yazici, who heads
the Independent Art Association that is organizing the event beginning on Dec.
3 in the Hague.
Speaking
to Anadolu Agency, the exhibition's global communication partner, Yazici said
the association had hosted numerous international artists in Türkiye during the
Istanbul Triennial, which it has been organizing since 2010.
She
added this would be the first time the event is taking place, noting the challenge
it would be to transport "the works of so many artists abroad."
"We
actually set out to do this three years ago. As we were about to leave, our
path was cut off due to the pandemic. This year, we gathered to realize this
exhibition," she said.
Positive
messages to world
People
around the world communicate the most through art, according to Yazici, who
said that through the exhibition, they wanted to send messages of positivity.
"While
parts of the world are unfortunately associated with war and bad events, we
want to give positive messages to the world through art," explained the
artist, underlining the importance of building "cultural bridges between
countries."
She
said they hoped to elicit "positive development" between the
Netherlands and Türkiye with the exhibition and added: "As the Independent
Art Association, we strive to be a cultural ambassador on the path of
art."
Yazici
said the group had plans for another project in Shusha, a city in the
Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, and intended "to bring Turkish
contemporary artists to other cities in Europe."
The
exhibition's curator, Ahmet Ozel, said the event would host a total of 84 works
by 18 artists using a variety of techniques.
Ozel
pointed out that cultural and artistic contacts between Türkiye and the
Netherlands started at the beginning of the 18th century, stating that this
time, they wanted to connect that relationship with contemporary art.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
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France’s
Macron and Tajik President Discuss Afghanistan over Phone
By
Saqalain Eqbal
November
27, 2022
The
president of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, spoke on the telephone with Emmanuel
Macron, the French President about Afghanistan.
According
to a news release from the office of the President of Tajikistan on Saturday,
November 26, the sides discussed the political, economic, and social situation
in the telephone conversation.
According
to the statement, they also underlined the joint cooperation of the
international community to support peace and stability in war-torn and
poverty-stricken Afghanistan.
The
two parties have spoken about maintaining regional security and working
together to address challenges and concerns including terrorism, extremism, and
narcotics.
The
Tajik President Emomali Rahom previously visited Paris, the capital of France,
in mid-October this year and discussed the situation in Afghanistan with his
French counterpart.
Tajikistan,
which shares a border with Afghanistan spanning more than 1357 kilometers, has
frequently found itself in the center of the latter’s conflict and unrest as
well as the spread of its terrorists’ influence into Tajikistan.
Human
rights advocates have been concerned by Emomali Rahmon’s stern stances against
extremist Islamists and his country’s efforts to crush Islamist groups for
years.
Currently,
France and Tajikistan are two nations that have publicly opposed the incumbent
administration in Afghanistan.
Source:
Khaama Press
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