Pro-Khalistan Groups and Pakistan-Backed Clerics Radicalising UK Muslims over Kashmir, Rishi Sunak Govt Told
New Age Islam News Bureau
10 February 2023
A group of pro-Khalistan
supporters take out a rally in Southall in this undated photo. The UK
government were warned regarding the group and its potential for creating
disharmony in a report earlier (Image: YouTube)
------
• BJP Plans 'Sufi Sammelans' And 'Qaumi Chaupals' To
Woo Minorities in Uttar Pradesh
• Rescuers Race to Find Turkiye-Syria Quake Survivors
as Toll Tops 21,000
• Former US Defence Secretary: Hold Pentagon
Accountable For Iraq, Afghanistan Disasters
• Human Rights Minister Urges Pakistan PM to Review
Amended Blasphemy Law
Europe
• Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield, Bristol Would Be
Devastated If Türkiye Quakes Hit British Isles: Seismologist
• UK extremism report errors not corrected,
investigation finds
• Greece’s Turkish minority community launches aid
drive for quake-hit Türkiye
--------
India
• Fed up of Harassment by Mosque Body, Muslim Family
Decides to convert to Hinduism and Donate Land to Build Hindu Temple in MP
• Hindus Allowed Appealing For Survey of Teele Wali
Masjid In Lucknow
• Over 1 lakh to take part in Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind’s
plenary session in Delhi
• NDRF Team Rescues 6-Year-Old Girl from Debris In
Quake-Hit Turkey
• 3-day Jamiat general session begins today, to
discuss UCC, reservation
• Terrorist hideout busted in Poonch, rusted
ammunition recovered
--------
Mideast
• 'Shame on You!’ Erdogan Faces Voter Fury in Turkey
Earthquake Zone
• Bedouin Israeli brothers charged with supplying arms
to Islamic Jihad in West Bank
• Row over West Bank Outpost Exposes Split in Israeli
Cabinet
• Official: 90 Countries Seeking to Purchase Iranian
Drones
• Israeli forces kill Palestinian in West Bank after
alleged stabbing
• Document shows Iranian prosecutors covered up rape
by IRGC officers: Report
--------
North America
• Hundreds mourn slain NYPD cop Adeed Fayaz at
Brooklyn mosque
• ‘US to help Pakistan weather challenging economic
situation’
• Candlelight vigil in US honours earthquake victims
in Türkiye, Syria
• US, Israel slipped arms into Iran to wreak havoc
during riots: FM
• Iran condemns new US sanctions, says Biden continues
failed policy of Trump
• US Treasury targets Iranian petrochemicals,
subsidiaries in fresh sanctions
--------
Pakistan
• Cash-strapped Pakistan reaches deal with IMF over
stalled bailout package
• Two TTP militants killed in Nowshera operation
• ‘Not a dry eye’ as fishermen released from Indian
jails reunite with families
--------
Southeast Asia
• PM Anwar Ibrahim Wants Youths to Rise As the New
Force of Madani Malaysia by Rejecting Old-Fashioned Ideas
• Indonesia aiming to learn better governance at
global UAE summit
• Experts say Menu Rahmah only Band-Aid, Putrajaya
must still address Malaysia’s low pay
• Malaysian PM vows to help Thailand solve southern
violence
• Negeri Sembilan Islamic council denies
misappropriating zakat money
• Lampung asks districts, cities to control inflation
ahead of Ramadan
--------
Arab World
• President Assad: Many Countries ‘Under US Pressure’
Not To Help Quake-Stricken Syria
• Turkiye-Syria earthquake: Clock is ticking against
harsh weather conditions
• Saudi Arabia Showcases Culture, Heritage in India
Roadshow
• Egypt Hold Talks Seeking to Prevent
Israeli-Palestinian Escalation in Ramadan
• Two decades later, US Senate eyes repeal of Iraq war
authorization
• UAE President Sheikh Mohamed promises Iraq support
in meeting with Iraqi PM al-Sudani
• Kuwait plans to reconsider policy of providing aid
to Arab and developing countries
• UK boosts White Helmets with funds to support search
and rescue in Syria
• International conference on justice to be organized
in Riyadh
• Quake forces Syrian family from Aleppo home after
surviving war
--------
Africa
• Libya's Ambassador to the UN, UN Chief Review
Developments in Libya
• Tunisia’s President Saied decides to strengthen
diplomatic ties with Syria
• France says it wants stronger ties with Algeria
despite envoy recall
--------
South Asia
• Hazaras are expected to Support Taliban Security
Forces: Afghanistan’s Acting Interior Minister
• US Envoy Criticises Taliban's Ban On Women's
Education, Urges Global Bodies To Take 'Unified' Stance
• Islamic Emirate Calls on UNSC to Lift Travel Ban on
Leaders
• Acting Justice Minister Urges World to Engage With
Islamic Emirate
• Pakistan Pulls out of Moscow Format on Afghanistan
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
--------
Pro-Khalistan Groups and Pakistan-Backed Clerics
Radicalising UK Muslims over Kashmir, Rishi Sunak Govt Told
A group of pro-Khalistan
supporters take out a rally in Southall in this undated photo. The UK
government were warned regarding the group and its potential for creating
disharmony in a report earlier (Image: YouTube)
------
FEBRUARY 10, 2023
A small number of pro-Khalistan groups and
Pakistan-backed clerics radicalising UK’s Muslims over Jammu and Kashmir have
raised concerns for the UK government. A review published by the UK government,
which was accessed by the PTI, said Islamist extremism is a primary threat to
the UK.
It pointed out instances of radicalisation of UK
Muslims over Kashmir and termed the pro-Khalistan sentiment seen in a section
of members from the UK Sikh community as ‘potentially toxic’.
The review was part of the ‘Prevent’ strategy that the
UK government introduced to nip the act of indoctrinating young minds into
radicalism and push them towards extremism.
The review published earlier this week said that
rhetoric from Pakistan is impacting UK Muslim communities. It inflames
anti-India sentiment around Jammu and Kashmir and mentions a Pakistani cleric
with a UK following, calling for the use of violence in Kashmir.
“I have seen evidence of UK extremist groups, as well
as a Pakistani cleric with a UK following, calling for the use of violence in
Kashmir. I have also seen evidence demonstrating that flashpoints related to
Kashmir lead to a significant surge in interest from UK Islamists,” the report
said.
Europe is also coming into terms with growing
intolerance among radical and hardliner Muslims with respect to blasphemy. The
controversy among what constitutes freedom of expression and what is blasphemy
has inflamed tensions between liberals in Europe and hardliner Muslims.
“There is an element of crossover between those who
seek to impose limits around blasphemy with those who voice incendiary rhetoric
on Kashmir,” the report said.
It should be noted that in UK’s Leicester, violence
erupted between the members of the Indian and Pakistani community after some
anti-social elements attempted to disrupt the communal harmony by spreading
rumours on social media, while some miscreants insulted the Indian community by
targeting shops, businesses and defacing the national flag.
‘BE MINDFUL OF PRO-KHALISTAN EXTREMISM’
The report also said that the Prevent program should
be mindful of pro-Khalistan extremism emerging from the UK’s Sikh communities.
The report said that a false narrative is being disseminated by few
pro-Khalistan groups operating in the UK.
They are peddling false information that the UK
government is working with the government of India to persecute Sikhs.
“Such groups’ narratives glorify violence carried out
by the pro-Khalistan movement in India. While the current threat is low, praise
for violence overseas and a simultaneous belief in a state-led campaign of
repression domestically is a potentially toxic combination for the
future," the report said.
Source: News18
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
BJP Plans 'Sufi Sammelans' And 'Qaumi Chaupals' To Woo
Minorities in Uttar Pradesh
Picture used for
representational purpose only
-----
Feb 10, 2023
LUCKNOW: The BJP is considering organising conventions
to woo followers of Sufism - the mystical Islamic belief in which Muslims seek
to find the truth of divine affection - in yet another ambitious move to reach
out to the minorities ahead of the Lok Sabha elections due next year.
The saffron outfit also plans to hold 'Qaumi
Chaupals', a campaign similar to 'gram chaupals' that were organised by the BJP
before 2022 assembly elections to connect with the beneficiaries of the various
welfare schemes initiated by the Centre and the state government.
Highly placed sources said that the BJP has tasked its
minority Morcha to hold the 'Sufi Sammelans' primarily in Muslim dominated
localities of the state. According to an estimate, Muslim population accounts
for a sizeable chunk in around 30,000 of the over 1.6 lakh polling booths in
the state.
Confirming the development, UP BJP minority Morcha
chief Kunwar Basit Ali said that the party has been reaching out to all
sections of the society. "The followers of Sufism are equally important
for the party. We are in the process of planning a campaign to reach out to
them in the coming days," he said.
Experts said that the Sufis are essentially associated
with Dargahs (shrines), contrasting with the Wahhabi Muslims who regard Dargahs
as places of idol worship, which is forbidden in Islam. They believe that going
to a Dargah is worshipping the grave of the Sufi saint, whereas Islam permits
worship of only Allah.
The development comes close on the heels of BJP's
overdrive to win over Pasmanda (backward) Muslims, months after PM Narendra
Modi pitched for expediting the process of ensuring welfare measures reach the
socially oppressed rung among the Muslims.
The development has been attaining significance even
as the BJP lays out its poll template in the run up to civic and Lok Sabha
polls. Analysts said that BJP IS making discreet overtures to woo the Muslims
who have been consolidating heavily behind the Opposition, primarily the
Samajwadi Party.
Source: Times Of India
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Rescuers Race to Find Turkiye-Syria Quake Survivors as
Toll Tops 21,000
Victims’ relatives sit
around a fire next to the rubble of a collapsed building in Adiyaman, Turkey on
February 9, 2023, three days after a 7,8-magnitude earthquake struck southeast
Turkey. — AFP
-----
February 10, 2023
Rescuers were scouring debris on Friday nearly 100
hours after a massive earthquake hit Turkiye and Syria, killing at least 21,000
people in one of the region’s worst disasters for a century.
The first UN aid deliveries arrived on Thursday in
Syrian rebel-held zones, but chances of finding survivors have dimmed since the
passing of the three-day mark that experts consider a critical period to save
lives.
Bitter cold hampered search efforts in both countries,
but more than 80 hours after the disaster struck, 16-year-old Melda Adtas was
found alive in the southern Turkish city of Antakya.
Her overjoyed father was in tears and the grieving
nation cheered an agonisingly rare piece of good news.
“My dear, my dear!” he called out as rescuers pulled
the teen out of the rubble and the watching crowd broke into applause.
The 7.8-magnitude quake struck early Monday as people
slept, in a region where many had already suffered loss and displacement due to
Syria’s civil war.
Top aid officials were planning to visit affected
areas with World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and UN humanitarian
chief Martin Griffiths both announcing trips.
The president of the International Committee of the
Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric, said she had arrived in Aleppo.
“Communities struggling after years of fierce fighting
are now crippled by the earthquake,” Spoljaric tweeted on Wednesday.
“As this tragic event unfolds, people’s desperate
plight must be addressed.”
Aid reaches rebel areas
An aid convoy crossed the Turkish border into
rebel-held northwestern Syria on Thursday, the first delivery into the area
since the quake, an official at the Bab al-Hawa crossing told AFP.
The crossing is the only way UN assistance can reach
civilians without going through areas controlled by Syrian government forces.
A decade of civil war and Syrian-Russian aerial
bombardment had already destroyed hospitals, collapsed the economy and prompted
electricity, fuel and water shortages.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the
Security Council to authorise the opening of new cross-border humanitarian aid
points between Turkiye and Syria.
Four million people living in the rebel-held areas
have had to rely on the Bab al-Hawa crossing as part of an aid operation
authorised by the UN Security Council nearly a decade ago.
“This is the moment of unity, it’s not a moment to
politicise or to divide but it is obvious that we need massive support,”
Guterres said.
Freezing temperatures
Temperatures in the Turkish city of Gaziantep, located
near the epicentre of the quake, plunged to minus three degrees Celsius (26
degrees Fahrenheit) early on Friday.
Despite the cold, thousands of families had to spend
the night in cars and makeshift tents — too scared or banned from returning to
their homes. Parents walked the streets of the city carrying their children in
blankets because it was warmer than sitting in a tent.
Gyms, mosques, schools and some stores have opened at
night. But beds are scarce and thousands spend the nights in cars with engines
running to provide heat.
“I fear for anyone who is trapped under the rubble in
this,” said Melek Halici, who wrapped her two-year-old daughter in a blanket as
they watched rescuers working into the night.
‘The quiet is agonising’
Monday’s quake was the largest Turkiye has seen since
1939, when 33,000 people died in the eastern Erzincan province.
Officials and medics said 17,674 people had died in
Turkey and 3,377 in Syria from Monday’s tremor, bringing the confirmed total to
21,051.
Experts fear the number will continue to rise sharply.
Anger has mounted over the government’s handling of
the disaster.
“People who didn’t die from the earthquake were left
to die in the cold,” Hakan Tanriverdi told AFP in Adiyaman province, one of the
areas hardest hit.
On a visit to the area, Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan admitted there had been “shortcomings” in the government’s handling of
the disaster.
Despite the difficulties, thousands of local and
foreign searchers have not given up the hunt for more survivors.
In the devastated Turkish town of Nurdagi, close to
the epicentre, emergency workers using drones and heat-detecting monitors
ordered silence when a potential survivor was found.
“The quiet is agonising. We just don’t know what to
expect,” Emre, a local resident, said as he waited next to one block on a main
road into the town.
Relief pledges
Dozens of nations, including China and the United
States, have pledged to help.
The World Bank said it would give $1.78 billion in aid
to Turkiye to help relief and recovery efforts.
Immediate assistance of $780 million will be offered
from two existing projects in Turkiye, said the bank, while an added $1 billion
in operations is being prepared to support affected people.
In addition to a staggering human toll, the quake’s
economic cost appears likely to exceed $2 billion and could reach $4 billion or
more, Fitch Ratings said.
Source: Dawn
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Former US Defence Secretary: Hold Pentagon Accountable
For Iraq, Afghanistan Disasters
Christopher C. Miller
served as acting US secretary of defense from November 9, 2020, to January 20,
2021. (Getty Images file photo)
------
09 February 2023
Former acting Pentagon chief Christopher C. Miller
said the United States must hold senior American military leadership
accountable for the failed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Miller who served as acting US secretary of defense
from November 9, 2020, to January 20, 2021 wrote in “Soldier Secretary,” a
memoir released this week, that the US military-industrial complex has now
become a “hydra-headed monster” with “virtually no brakes on the American war
machine.”
“The more I thought, the more I was horrified,” Miller
wrote, The Hill reported on Thursday. “We invaded a sovereign nation, killed
and maimed a lot of Iraqis, and lost some of the greatest American patriots to
ever live — all for a goddamned lie.”
The book “Soldier Secretary” offers an insight into
the life of an American soldier who rose to the top of the Pentagon as he grew
increasingly indignant about the US military-industrial complex’s hunger for
death and destruction abroad.
Miller said in an interview with The Hill that there
is an urgent need for accountability in the upper ranks of the Pentagon.
“That really bothers me. Our young soldiers see the
hypocrisy in that … if they end up being late for work, they get in a lot of
trouble. Or let’s say they mess up a piece of paperwork for a supply request,
there’s a possibility they can be kicked out of the service,” he said.
“And then there’s the people who lose wars and end up
advancing on to other positions of power and wealth,” Miller adds. “And that’s
what really bugs me.”
“The recognition that so many sacrifices were
ultimately made in the service of a lie, as in Iraq, or to further a delusion,
as in the neoconservatives’ utopian fantasy of a democratic Middle East,”
writes Miller, who became President Donald Trump’s acting defense secretary.
“It still makes my blood boil, and it probably will
until the day I die,” he adds.
American journalist Don DeBar said the story of Miller
is “that he was naive and then followed orders and then reached his limit of
cognitive dissonance.”
“He came back when Trump appeared to offer a challenge
to the paradigm that he walked away from. He has a level perspective towards
the absurdity of the January 6th narrative, although he retains some of his
original, almost religious fixation on US military power,” he told Press TV on
Thursday.
In his infamous February 5, 2003 speech at the UN
Security Council, then-US Secretary of State Colin Powell lied to the world
about non-existent weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to prepare the ground
for the invasion of the country.
Powell presented false American intelligence to the
United Nations that then-Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of
mass destruction. The presentation led
to the Iraq War and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi deaths.
In March 2003, the US and Britain invaded Iraq in
blatant violation of international law and under the pretext of finding WMDs;
but no such weapons were ever discovered in Iraq.
More than one million Iraqis were killed as the result
of the US-led invasion, and subsequent occupation of the country, according to
the California-based investigative organization Project Censored.
The US war in Iraq cost American taxpayers $1.7
trillion with an additional $490 billion in benefits owed to war veterans,
expenses that could grow to more than $6 trillion over the next four decades
counting interest, according to a study called Costs of War Project by the
Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University.
Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the United
States invaded and occupied Afghanistan, despite the fact that no Afghan was
involved in the attacks. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans died in the US war on
the country.
But as the US forces left Afghanistan in 2021, the
Taliban stormed into Kabul, weakened by continued foreign occupation.
“In my mind, the death of each and every person killed
by any military associated with the US since 2001 inside Afghanistan should be
reported as a wrongful death,” DeBar said.
“The US invasion of Afghanistan was illegal. The US
occupation of Afghanistan was illegal. Each and every death of every Afghan
citizen, military or civilian, and anyone else who died as a consequence of the
US invasion and occupation, whether directly by US forces or by the forces of
their allies, was an illegal killing (or, more simply, a murder),” he commented
to Press TV.
US officials assert that the 9/11 attacks were carried
out by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists, but many experts and independent researchers
have raised questions about the official account.
They believe that rogue elements within the US
government, such as former Vice President Dick Cheney, orchestrated or at least
encouraged the 9/11 attacks in order to accelerate the US war machine and
advance the Zionist agenda.
Source: Press TV
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Human Rights Minister Urges Pakistan PM to Review
Amended Blasphemy Law
Human rights groups are
concerned that Pakistan's recently strengthened blasphemy laws would result in
increased persecution of religious minorities like Christians and Hindus in the
Muslim majority nation. (Source: BBC News)
------
Syed Kalbe Ali
February 10, 2023
ISLAMABAD: A federal minister has suggested the prime
minister to undo the recent amendments to the blasphemy law because it was done
to “please a specific group” and approved without “fulfilling the norms of
parliamentary proceedings”.
The minister was referring to an amendment approved by
the National Assembly on Jan 17 in the presence of just 15 MNAs.
Human Rights Minister Riaz Hussain Pirzada made the
suggestion through a letter he wrote to Mr Sharif, saying the state had a duty
to protect religious minorities as it was an Islamic injunction as well as a
constitutional obligation.
Mr Pirzada raised concern over the method adopted in
the National Assembly to pass the bill for amendment in Section 298-A of the
Criminal Act 2021.
“Minority groups have raised their eyebrows on
ignoring a good practice in parliamentary business followed for amending a law
to eliminate technical defects rather intending to persecute a specific group,”
the letter said.
Mr Pirzada added that this bill was tabled and
approved by the lower house without fulfilling constitutional requirements like
quorum and a meaningful debate by standing committees.
Proposed by Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali of the
Jamaat-i-Islami, the amendment has raised the punishment for uttering
derogatory remarks against revered personalities, including the Holy Prophet
(peace be upon him), his family, wives and companions, and the four caliphs,
from imprisonment of three years to 10 years.
Furthermore, the amendment has made the offence
non-bailable.
Source: Dawn
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1736330/minister-urges-pm-to-review-amended-blasphemy-law
--------
Europe
Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield, Bristol would be
devastated if Türkiye quakes hit British Isles: Seismologist
Busra Nur Cakmak
09.02.2023
Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield, and Bristol would
be devastated if the quakes which hit Türkiye took the British Isles under its
grip, said an expert.
“To give you an idea of the sheer scale of the Turkey
earthquake, if we overlay the USGS ShakeMap onto the British Isles, the fault
(red colours) would have ruptured from the Severn Estuary to the Humber
Estuary. Much of England would have seen at least Intensity Level 7 shaking,”
said Stephen Hicks, a seismologist at University College London (UCL), on
Twitter.
Hicks said that buildings on the British Isles would
not stand up to such strong shaking and “England would have essentially been
sliced into two by the unzipping rupture.”
“Of course this is academic because the UK doesn’t
have faults this big to generate such large earthquakes,” said Hicks.
The map showed gaps from Wales and southwest England
but Hicks suggested that those places “would have not got away as lightly as
the map suggests … these apparent gaps are just due to the coastline of the
eastern Mediterranean Sea.”
He also shared the Turkish Red Crescent’s relief fund
for those who want to donate.
Source: Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
UK extremism report errors not corrected,
investigation finds
February 09, 2023
LONDON: An incorrect claim made in a major report into
UK counterterrorism strategy that no right-wing attacks have taken place in
recent years has failed to be addressed by officials.
The Independent said the report failed to mention a
number of incidents in which attackers had stated a desire to kill Muslims.
Report author William Shawcross wrote that the Prevent
strategy should “address all extremist ideologies proportionately according to
the threat each represents. Since this review was commissioned in 2019, six
terrorist attacks have blighted our nation. All these attacks were Islamist in
nature.”
However, The Independent said it identified eight
attacks in the timeframe referred to, and only five had involved Islamist
extremists.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman previously welcomed
the report’s findings, saying she accepted all 34 of its recommendations.
“This independent review has identified areas where
real reform is required,” she said. “I wholeheartedly accept all
recommendations and am committed to quickly delivering wholesale change.”
When challenged by The Independent, a Home Office
spokesperson refused to say why the error had not been corrected.
In March 2019, Vincent Fuller attacked multiple people
in the town of Stanwell in England, stabbing one man and shouting: “All Muslims
should die, white supremacists rule.”
He was arrested by counterterrorism police, and the
judge at his trial called the attack a “terrorist act” when sentencing him.
In October 2022, a man threw a firebomb at an asylum
seeker processing center in Dover before killing himself.
Source: Arab News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2248031/world
--------
Greece’s Turkish minority community launches aid drive
for quake-hit Türkiye
Ayhan Mehmet
09.02.2023
GUMULCINE, Greece
Greece’s 150,000-strong Turkish minority community has
launched a collection drive to help people in quake-hit Türkiye.
The campaign, which started simultaneously in multiple
regions of Western Thrace and will continue till Sunday, aims to collect relief
materials including blankets, hygiene products, diapers, and winter clothes.
The organizer, Eren Ismail, who lives in Yahyabeyli
village, near the city of Komotini (Gumulcine in Turkish) said the aid campaign
has drawn great interest.
“The small campaign that I led gathered impetus with
the help of various associations. I'm proud that one of our trucks is being
loaded and getting ready to be delivered to Türkiye,” Ismail told Anadolu.
English teacher Kubra Cavus Mehmet, a volunteer for
the same drive, said they are saddened by the devastation caused by the
earthquakes and want to contribute.
“We want you [Türkiye] to know that here in Western
Thrace you are always in our minds," said pharmacy student Zehra Ibrahim,
another volunteer.
Hasan Huseyin, a imam in the nearby village of
Basirlikoy, said they began to act as soon as they heard southern Türkiye was
hit by the deadly earthquakes.
“The earthquakes that affected our homeland Türkiye
also affect us very much. We felt very sorry. We wish God’s mercy to the ones
who lost their lives, and patience to loved ones of the victims in the
tragedy,” he added.
The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes, centered in the
Kahramanmaras province, were felt by 13 million people across 10 provinces,
including Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya,
Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa.
Source: Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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India
Fed up of Harassment by Mosque Body, Muslim Family
Decides to convert to Hinduism and Donate Land to Build Hindu Temple in MP
By: Akash Gaur
FEBRUARY 09, 2023
Troubled by his community in the Jaura area of Morena
in Madhya Pradesh, a Muslim family is ready to convert to Hinduism. There is a
house built adjacent to the Mosque. Yusuf Khan, the owner of the house which is
located outside the mosque, is now appealing to Hindu organizations to build a
temple on his land, for which he is ready to provide his land free of cost.
Yusuf Khan alleged that some people related to the
mosque management, want to demolish his ancestral house and merge it with the
mosque. This has made him so annoyed that he said, “I am upset with their
intention and want to give my land to the Hindu brothers, they should build a
temple on it and build a trust, I will cooperate fully. Even, though I am ready
to inaugurate the temple, I will not give my land to the people of the mosque
authority."
While narrating his pain, anguished Yusuf Khan said
that he is not ready to give his land even if the people of the mosque give
crores of rupees. Yusuf even said that his family has been harassed for the
last 30 years, “so what is the point of following such a religion, our family
is ready to adopt Hinduism.”
Yusuf has also contacted the police and administrative
officials with his complaint, but no action has been taken in this matter so
far. Yusuf says that an attempt is being made to forcibly occupy my ancestral
house. Not only this, some Namazis had suddenly attacked his family a few days
back, after which he saved his life by hiding inside the house. Yusuf says that
he was living under the fear that he would be murdered, so they sought out the
help of the police.
When the News18 team spoke to Deputy Collector
Narottam Bhargava in this matter, he said that Yusuf Khan has got a lease on
the government land next to the mosque where he is living with his family by
building a house, but now there is a dispute between mosque committee and Yusuf
Khan’s family regarding this.
Source: News18
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Hindus allowed appealing for survey of Teele Wali
Masjid in Lucknow
10th February 2023
Lucknow: The court of additional district judge-I
(ADJ-I) Prafull Kamal has allowed Hindu litigants to appeal in a lower court
for a survey of the Teele Wali Masjid in Lucknow.
The ADJ court quashed the contention of Muslim
litigants that the case is not maintainable.
The Hindu litigants had claimed that the Teele Wali
Masjid was ‘Lakshman Teela’ constructed by Lakshman, younger brother of Lord
Ram.
The court of additional civil judges (junior division)
will hear the case on February 17.
Lawyer Hari Shankar Jain had filed this case in the
civil court in Lucknow in 2013, seeking a survey of the mosque. The case has
been pending since then.
Muslim litigants had challenged the case in the court
of an additional district judge, stating that it is not maintainable.
“The court of additional district judge has permitted
Hindu litigants to appeal in the lower court for survey of Teele Wali Masjid,”
said Madhu Sen, a lawyer who represented the Hindu litigants, along with
another lawyer Shekhar Nigam.
Source: Siasat Daily
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of the original story:
https://www.siasat.com/hindus-allowed-to-appeal-for-survey-of-teele-wali-masjid-in-lucknow-2523247/
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Over 1 lakh to take part in Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind’s
plenary session in Delhi
10th February 2023
New Delhi: The Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind is going to hold a
three-day plenary session in Delhi starting from Friday.
More than one lakh people from all over the country,
including 15,000 Ulemas, are expected to participate in the convention being
held at Ramlila Maidan in the national capital.
According to Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, Uniform Civil Code,
religious freedom and Muslim personal law and autonomy of madrassas are among
some issues that will be discussed in the convention. Further, a proposal can
be brought to provide reservation for socio-economically backward Muslims.
In the 34th session of Jamiat, the steps being taken
to strengthen religious brotherhood and initiatives to prevent hate campaigns
will also be discussed.
Source: Siasat Daily
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NDRF Team Rescues 6-Year-Old Girl from Debris in
Quake-Hit Turkey
Feb 9, 2023
NEW DELHI: A team of India's National Disaster
Response Force (NDRF) engaged in relief and rescue operations in the quake-hit
Turkey has successfully rescued a six-year-old girl from under the rubble in
Gaziantep.
The NDRF has dispatched three teams to Turkey for
rescue operations.
The spokesperson of the Ministry of Home Affairs
tweeted a video of rescue act.
Standing with Türkiye in this natural calamity.
India’s @NDRFHQ is carrying out rescue and relief operations at gro…
https://t.co/pNMRWbihnG
— Spokesperson, Ministry of Home Affairs
(@PIBHomeAffairs) 1675950082000
In a tweet, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said,
"Proud of our NDRF. In the rescue operations in Türkiye, Team IND-11 saved
the life of a six-year-old girl, Beren, in Gaziantep city. Under the guidance
of PM @narendramodi, we are committed to making @NDRFHQ the world's leading
disaster response force. #OperationDost."
India launched "Operation Dost" to extend
assistance to Turkey as well as Syria following Monday's devastating quake that
has killed more than 19,300 people in the two countries so far.
The NDRF is working to extricate live victims from
under the rubble and providing first-aid to the injured, before handing them
over to medical response authorities.
The force is using chip and stone cutters to breach
fallen concrete slabs and other infrastructure and has deep radars that pick
feeble sounds like the heartbeat or sound of a person, officials said.
The teams on the ground have quick deployed antenna
and satellite phones for communication.
Source: Times Of India
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3-day Jamiat general session begins today, to discuss
UCC, reservation
Feb 10, 2023
NEW DELHI: Issues like constitutional rights in the
face of proposed Uniform Civil Code (UCC), non-interference in personal laws,
religious freedom, autonomy of madrasas, reservation for Muslims on the basis
of backwardness and measures to dispel misunderstandings regarding the
teachings of Islam, among others will be discussed at a three-day general
session of the influential body of Muslim clerics, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind (JUH),
that starts on Friday.
In the heart of Delhi, around 10,000 prominent Muslim
clerics, who constitute the national governing body of JUH, are expected to
attend the deliberations in focussed sessions at Ramlila Ground. The central
theme of the sessions is ‘Relevance of Composite Nationalism in the current
Political Scenario’.
On Sunday, at a plenary session where resolutions will
be adopted on key takeaways from the sessions, an open house will be attended
by a large congregation. The open house is expected to bring together on one
platform prominent speakers from different religions to share their thoughts.
According to JUH functionaries, the aim is to bring focus on the importance of
inter-community and intra-community cohesion, specifically in the context of
hate campaigns being launched to create social and communal divide.
This meet gains significance as it is the first such
congregation by the Jamiat since its last session held at Ajmer in 2016.
Speaking to TOI, JUH president Maulana Mahmood Madani said, “The message we
want to send out is one that reinforces national integration and that there
should be no discrimination against anyone.”
Source: Times Of India
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Terrorist hideout busted in Poonch, rusted ammunition
recovered
Feb 10, 2023
POONCH: Security forces in a joint search operation on
Thursday busted a terrorist hideout in Naka Manjari village of Mendhar in
J&K’s Poonch district and recovered rusted ammunition from there.
“On specific input, a team of Army and Poonch Police
launched a search operation in Naka Manjari and busted the hideout. A body
pouch was found from the spot from which security forces recovered four AK
rifle magazines, bullets, two grenades, explosive material, a binocular and
other war like stores,” a police official said.
Source: Times Of India
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Mideast
'Shame on You!’ Erdogan Faces Voter Fury in Turkey
Earthquake Zone
Feb 10, 2023
ADIYAMAN: Hakan Tanriverdi has a simple message for
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan days after Turkey suffered its worst disaster in
generations: "Don't come here asking for votes."
The earthquake that killed more than 21,000 people
across Turkey and Syria came at one of the most politically sensitive moments
of Erdogan's two-decade rule.
The Turkish leader has proposed holding a crunch
election on May 14 that could keep his Islamic-rooted government in power until
2028.
The date gives his splintered opposition little time
to hammer out their differences and agree on a joint presidential candidate.
Whether that vote can now go ahead as planned remains
to be seen.
Erdogan has declared a three-month state of emergency
across 10 quake-hit provinces. The region is still digging out its dead and
many are living on the streets or in their cars.
Campaigning here seems out of the question.
But there is also a political dimension that is deeply
personal for Erdogan.
The earthquake struck just as he was gaining momentum
and starting to lift his approval numbers from a low suffered during a dire
economic crisis that exploded last year.
Tanriverdi's bitterness is a bad sign for Erdogan in a
province where he handily beat his secular opposition rival in the last
election in 2018.
"We were deeply hurt that no one supported
us," Tanriverdi said of the government's earthquake response.
Tanriverdi's grievances are common in Adiyaman
province -- one of the hardest-hit by the quake.
Locals complain that rescuers didn't arrive in time to
pull out people who survived the first critical hours. Some pointed to a lack
of machinery to drill through slabs of concrete.
"I did not see anyone until 2:00 pm on the second
day of the earthquake," Adiyaman resident Mehmet Yildirim said.
"No government, no state, no police, no soldiers.
Shame on you! You left us on our own."
Erdogan admitted "shortcomings" in the
government's handling of the disaster on Wednesday.
But he is also fighting back. The 68-year-old led a
rescue response meeting in Ankara on Tuesday and spent the following two days
touring a series of devastated cities.
He is yet to visit Adiyaman.
That upsets Hediye Kalkan, a volunteer who travelled
nearly 150 kilometres (95 miles) to help with the Adiyaman rescue and recovery
effort.
"Why doesn't the state show itself on a day like
this?" she demanded.
"People are taking their relatives' bodies out by
their own means".
The sheer scale and timing of the disaster -- spanning
a large and remote region in the middle of a winter storm -- would make any
rescue effort complicated.
Erdogan has received a largely warm reception from
locals in carefully choreographed visits broadcast on national television.
One elderly woman came out to hug Erdogan and shed tears
on his shoulder.
Veysel Gultekin might not do the same if he had a
chance to face the Turkish leader.
Gultekin said he had seen one of his relatives' feet
trapped under the rubble after running out on the street after Monday's
pre-dawn tremor.
"If I had a simple drill, I could have pulled him
out alive," Gultekin said. "But he was completely trapped and after a
strong aftershock, he died."
AFP reporters saw more machines and rescue workers --
including international teams -- around collapsed buildings on Thursday.
But this was not enough to soothe Tanriverdi's pain.
Source: Times Of India
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Bedouin Israeli brothers charged with supplying arms
to Islamic Jihad in West Bank
By EMANUEL FABIAN
9 February 2023
The Shin Bet security agency on Thursday said two
Israeli brothers from a southern Bedouin town were arrested for allegedly
supplying Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives in the West Bank with firearm
parts and ammunition.
In December 2022, Border Police troops detained Adam
and Mohammed Abu Taha, residents of Tel Sheva, as well as Majdi Amarna, a
Palestinian from the West Bank village of Yabed, near Jenin, over the suspected
illegal arms trade.
According to the Shin Bet, the Abu Taha brothers
supplied some 150,000 rounds of ammunition and dozens of weapon parts to
Islamic Jihad terror operatives in the Jenin area. A complete M16 rifle was
seized from the two men during their arrest.
The pair also allegedly sold weapon parts to criminal
elements in southern Israel.
Amid the investigation, two more Israeli civilians
from the Negev area in southern Israel, Khaled Alaasem and Mughanim Alaasem,
were detained over their alleged involvement in the case.
Indictments were filed against the Abu Taha brothers
on Thursday at the Beersheba District Court, charging them with various weapons
and security offenses.
Prosecutors said the pair knowingly assisted terror
operatives: “This is not a one-time event, but rather a methodical and
continuous course of action over a period of time that included ongoing and
intensive contact and many meetings with PIJ operatives.”
An indictment against Amarna was to be filed at a
military court in the coming days, and the two additional Israeli civilians
were to be charged at the Beersheba court in the coming days too, the Shin Bet
said.
In recent months, Palestinian gunmen — many of whom
are PIJ members — have repeatedly targeted military posts, troops operating
along the West Bank security barrier, Israeli settlements and civilians on the
roads.
The case came at a time of rising violence in the West
Bank, with the Israeli military pressing on with an anti-terror offensive to
deal with a series of attacks that left 31 people in Israel dead in 2022, and
seven more in an attack last month.
The IDF’s operation has netted more than 2,500 arrests
in near-nightly raids. It also left 171 Palestinians dead in 2022, and another
42 since the beginning of the year, many of them while carrying out attacks or
during clashes with security forces, though some were uninvolved civilians.
Source: Times Of India
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Row over West Bank outpost exposes split in Israeli
cabinet
February 10, 2023
JERUSALEM: Cracks have emerged within Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardline government, with a row over the
demolition of a settlement outpost in the occupied West Bank testing the
fledgling coalition.
Netanyahu vowed in December to expand settlements
across the West Bank, as he returned to power at the helm of the most
right-wing government in Israeli history.
But a split over policy on the ground surfaced last
month, when Israeli troops moved in to dismantle a wildcat outpost in the
northern West Bank dubbed Or Haim on orders from Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
Despite such outposts being considered illegal by the
state, two far-right members of the cabinet, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich
and Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, objected to its demolition.
“There won’t be one law for the Arabs and another for
the Jews... law is law!” said Ben-Gvir, calling for the demolition of
unauthorised Palestinian construction in the largest part of the West Bank where
Israel exercises civil as well as security control.
Ben-Gvir has authority over border police operating in
the West Bank, while Smotrich has taken on an additional role overseeing civil
affairs in the Palestinian territory.
Netanyahu backed Gallant over the outpost affair,
saying settlements must be “coordinated in advance with the prime minister and
security officials, which was not done in this case”.
While the Or Haim outpost consisted of just a handful
of makeshift structures, the handling of its demolition hints at problems
within the coalition.
‘Very dangerous’
Gideon Rahat, senior fellow at the Israel Democracy
Institute, said the situation has “very dangerous potential for the state of
Israel”.
“It’s not normal to have two people that have parallel
responsibilities when it comes to the use of force,” he said, with Smotrich
sitting in the second ministerial post created in the defence ministry.
Smotrich boycotted a cabinet meeting in protest over
the handling over the affair.
Israeli soldiers returned to the Or Haim site two days
after the initial evacuation, to expel settlers attempting to rebuild in the
area.
“While this seems like a small conflict that was
resolved, it shouldn’t be there in the first place,” said Rahat.
The issue is bound to resurface because there are
dozens of similar outposts dotted across the West Bank, which Israel has
occupied since the Six-Day War of 1967.
All settlements in occupied territory are deemed
illegal under international law, but Israel distinguishes between wildcat
outposts, built without its permission, and state-approved settlements which
are home to an estimated 475,000 Israelis.
Construction at the Maoz Esther outpost began more
than a decade ago, according to Israeli anti-settlement movement Peace Now, and
the outpost has been cleared and rebuilt repeatedly.
For Emmanuel Navon, a politics professor at Tel Aviv
University, Smotrich’s decision to skip the cabinet meeting was intended to
“show his constituents that he cares about his agenda”.
‘Hit the jackpot’
But he expected Netanyahu not to be swayed by his
extreme-right allies.
The prime minister will “focus on settlement
expansion, not too much, not too little. He’s always playing his game of
equilibrium between international pressure and domestic pressure”.
Source: Dawn
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1736338/row-over-west-bank-outpost-exposes-split-in-israeli-cabinet
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Official: 90 Countries Seeking to Purchase Iranian
Drones
2023-February-9
“Ninety countries seek to buy Iran-made drones, and
Westerners and the arrogant countries cannot tolerate this,” an advisor to Iran’s
intelligence minister stated on Wednesday while addressing a local ceremony in
Qazvin.
Today, Western states, the US, and the Israeli regime
cannot stand Iran’s “defense might” in the region, he added.
The remarks come as a recently-published article in
the American National Interest magazine acknowledged that decades-long US
sanctions against Iran have failed to disrupt its drone program.
Back in late December, Chief of Staff of the Iranian
Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri underscored that Iran will proceed
with its plans to promote its drone capabilities and will cooperate with other
countries in the drone industry to meet the country’s needs.
The top commander stressed that Iran is among the
world’s top five powers in the unmanned aerial vehicles industry, adding
Iran-made drones can carry out various missions with great accuracy and flight
endurance.
The Islamic Republic’s military doctrine holds that
the country’s armed capability solely serves defensive purposes.
Tehran has in recent years gained significant progress
in developing surveillance and combat drones. Iranian military officials
announce that the country stands among the world's top states manufacturing
UAVs.
Military officials say Tehran is self-sufficient in
building drones from their fuselage to various subsystems and engines, adding
the country’s Armed Forces are equipped and ready to carry out any type of
drone operations and missions.
Source: Fars News Agency
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https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/14011120000202/Official-90-Cnries-Seeking-Prchase-Iranian-Drnes
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Israeli forces kill Palestinian in West Bank after
alleged stabbing
09 February ,2023
Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian near the West
Bank city of Hebron Thursday, the Palestinian health ministry said, after what
the army alleged was a “stabbing attack.”
Sharif Hassan Rabaa, 22, “succumbed to critical
wounds, which he sustained by bullets from the occupation (Israel), near the
entrance to Fawwar” refugee camp, the health ministry said in a statement.
The Israeli army said “an assailant approached...
soldiers and attempted to stab one of the soldiers” near Fawwar, in the south
of the occupied West Bank.
“The soldiers responded with live fire and neutralized
the suspect,” the army added in a statement.
Since the start of the year, the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict has claimed the lives of 43 Palestinians -- including attackers,
militants and civilians. Six Israeli civilians, including a child, and one
Ukrainian civilian have been killed over the same period.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Document shows Iranian prosecutors covered up rape by
IRGC officers: Report
09 February ,2023
Members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
(IRGC) allegedly raped two women in an attack that was concealed by state
prosecutors, according to a Guardian report citing an internal judicial
document.
The document, which was first leaked to London-based
Iran International TV by the hacktivist group Edalat-e Ali (Ali’s Justice),
outlined the case of sexual assault by two IRGC officers against two young
women who were arrested for “acting suspiciously” during protests that followed
the death of Iranian Kurdish woman Masha Amini in police custody in September.
The document, dated October 13, 2022, is based on
witness statements that suggest the two women were sexually assaulted by two
male security officials.
According to the Guardian, the document highlighted
how one of the IRGC officers admitted to having sex with the women but claimed
it was consensual, while the other claimed it was under the context of
“Sigheh,” a form of temporary marriage in Shia Islam that permits sexual
relations.
The document described the intercourse with the two
women as rape, according to the Guardian.
The document concluded by recommending the case be
filed as top secret, due to its sensitive nature and the possibility of it
being “misrepresented by enemy groups.”
Source: Al Arabiya
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North America
Hundreds mourn slain NYPD cop Adeed Fayaz at Brooklyn
mosque
By Kevin Sheehan and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon
February 9, 2023
Slain NYPD officer Adeed Fayaz was remembered as “the
star” of both his family and his precinct Thursday as hundreds of New York’s
Finest gathered at a Brooklyn mosque to pay their final respects.
Uniformed officers lined Coney Island Avenue for at
least 20 blocks outside the Makki Masjid Muslim Center, where city officials
and cops from Fayaz’s Borough Park precinct joined the 26-year-old dad of two’s
heartbroken family for a moving funeral service.
“I don’t want to see any other parents losing their
sons, daughters, kids,” his father, Sadigat Fayaz, said through tears, speaking
through an interpreter.
“I want this to be stopped with my son, here.”
His widow, Madiha Sabeel, wept as she clutched the US
flag from his coffin after it was folded and handed to her after the service.
“Adeed leaves behind a family. Not only was he a
police officer, but he was a dad,” Mayor Eric Adams said in his remarks at the
funeral, adding, “My heart goes out to Madiha Sabeel. We will continue to pray
and lift you up.”
Addressing Fayaz’s two boys, Rayan, 4, and Zayan, 3,
Adams said: “Children, there is no story we can give to the loss of a dad.
“There is no word in our vocabulary that we associate
what happens when children lose their parents in this magnitude.”
Among the mourners were hundreds of NYPD rank-and-file
cops.
“All my fellow brothers in blue here, we don’t just go
off and leave anyone,” NYPD cop Kenneth Harrison, a fellow Muslim, said outside
the mosque. “We’re all one team. All these officers you see here came to show
their respect for our brother who wore the shield.”
Others stood by to offer their condolences and bemoan
Big Apple gunplay.
“We show our respect to the family,” said mourner
Catherine Lee, whose son, NYPD Officer Kevin Lee, died in the line of duty in
Manhattan in 2006.
“No one knows how they go through,” Lee said. “This is
not the first. This is maybe the 100th officer we’ve come to give our support
to. It’s getting to be a little much.
“The laws have got to change,” she said. “And so we’re
here for the families. We just give them a hug. A hug goes a long way.”
Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell
are expected to be among the dignitaries scheduled to deliver remarks at
Fayaz’s funeral.
“This was a reprehensible taking of a police officer,
the violent robbery of a father from his family,” Sewell, wearing a hajib, said
during the service. “This city needs its good fathers. His sons need theirs.”
Fayaz, a five-year NYPD veteran, was shot once in the
head while off-duty on Saturday after responding to a Facebook Marketplace ad
to buy a Honda Odyssey — only to be ambushed.
Randy Jones, a 38-year-old career criminal, was
charged with first-degree murder on Wednesday after he was tracked down to a
Rockland County hotel.
Brooklyn prosecutors said Jones fled the scene in a
black BMW SUV and was on the lam for two days before being taken into custody
with Fayaz’s own handcuffs.
A bullet hole in the getaway vehicle had been
concealed with tape, and the cellphone used to arrange for the phony car sale
was ditched in an attempt by Jones to throw cops off his trail, prosecutors
said in court on Wednesday.
Jones was ordered held without bail at his
arraignment, with more than 100 stone-faced NYPD officers looking on in
solidarity in Brooklyn Criminal Court.
Fayaz and his brother-in-law met Jones in East New
York shortly before 7 p.m. Saturday to buy the Honda, with $24,000 in cash
stashed in their car to make the purchase.
But Jones allegedly asked the pair if they had a gun,
and grabbed Fayaz in a headlock when they said they didn’t — then opened fire
and mortally wounded the young cop.
Fayaz’s brother-in-law grabbed the cop’s gun and
returned fire as Jones fled.
Fayaz remained on life support at Brookdale Hospital
until he was pronounced dead on Tuesday.
“Normally, in our religion, the son gives the shoulder
to the father,” his heartbroken dad said during the service Thursday. “But I’m
doing the opposite. I’m giving my shoulder to my son.”
The slain cop’s uncle called Adeed “a star of our
family.”
“He has always admired the NYPD uniform since he had
seen his two uncles wearing them every day, going to work, coming home late,
doing whatever they had to do to make their life and their family life easy and
worked hard, responsibly, and he did the same,” he said.
After the service, a woman identified as the young
cop’s mother, Riffat Perveen, newly arrived from Pakistan, wailed in grief
outside as his body was placed into a waiting hearse.
“My Adeed! My Adeed!” she cried.
Outside the Brooklyn mosque, mourners lined up to
write a final message to the fallen cop on the back of his portrait, which will
be given to his parents as part of a department tradition.
“I’ve been doing this for 17 years for the families
because they sacrifice for us,” said artist Kenny Altidor, who painted the
portrait. “They give their loved ones who serve and protect the city, and I’m
trying to give back with some small token of my appreciation.”
Harrison, the fellow Muslim cop, said mourners will
give the slain officer his Salat, or prayer, “because he can’t make his.
Source: New York Post
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https://nypost.com/2023/02/09/hundreds-mourn-slain-nypd-cop-adeed-fayaz-at-brooklyn-mosque/
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‘US to help Pakistan weather challenging economic
situation’
Anwar Iqbal
February 10, 2023
WASHINGTON: Helping Pakistan deal with an
“unquestionably challenging” economic situation is a top priority for the US,
said US State Department Counsellor Derek Chollet.
In an interview with Dawn in Washington, Mr Chollet
also emphasised the need to assist Islamabad in fighting terrorists, who had
recently killed over 80 people inside a mosque in Peshawar’s Police Lines
compound.
Mr Chollet, who conducts special diplomatic
assignments for the US Secretary of State, is due in Islamabad next week for
talks on a wide range of issues.
“For the US, it’s going to be about how we can deepen
the partnership further and help Pakistan as it’s trying to deal with what is
an unquestionably challenging economic situation,” said the senior US diplomat
when asked what the top item on his agenda would be.
Pakistan, he noted, was still recovering from the
floods, and was also dealing with an “emerging counterterrorism threat”, which
has made the situation even worse.
Mr Chollet pointed out that the US and Pakistan were
already taking steps to further strengthen their ties which went through a
phase of disengagement during the Afghan war but started improving soon after
the withdrawal of US troops from Kabul.
“I believe the Trade and Investment Framework
Agreement (TIFA) talks will be here in Washington in the last week of February,
so the week after I’m back … and we will also hold a counterterrorism dialogue
next month,” he said.
Pakistan and the United States signed TIFA in June
2003 to promote bilateral trade. In March 2022, they decided to relaunch the
TIFA process to expand trade and investment in both goods and services.
The counterterrorism dialogue, which may be held in
Islamabad next month, will focus on groups like TTP and IS-K, which have once
again increased their activities in the region.
Mr Chollet agreed with the suggestion that the US was
refocusing its attention on South Asia “because of its importance to American
national interests, and because of its importance in the world”.
Last week, another State Department official, Victoria
Nuland, visited India, Sri Lanka, and Nepal, and now Mr Chollet is going to
Bangladesh and Pakistan.
“It’s a signal of our desire to have stronger
relations throughout the region, the importance we place on the countries of
the region, the shared interests that we have, the shared challenges that we
have to try to meet together,” Mr Chollet said.
“So, I am very much looking forward to my visits to
Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Mr Chollet said that in Islamabad, he would hear
directly from Pakistani officials about their needs, and about what they could
be looking for the US and others to help with and how their allies can be
helpful there. But the visit “is also to talk about the broader trajectory of
the relationship and the way forward”.
Asked if TTP was also a threat to US interests, he
said: “It is absolutely. The US rejects any form of terrorism by any group. And
so, we believe the US and Pakistan have a shared interest in fighting
terrorists.”
He also agreed with the observation that whenever
terrorist activity began, it ultimately led to “greater instability,
indiscriminate killing and attacks on US interests as well”.
Asked if the US was worried about the economic and
security situation in the region, he said: “There are always things that we
need to work on, challenges that we need to work on together, whether it’s the
shared impact of climate change, or other issues.”
And of course, in Pakistan “we’ll be following up on
my trip from last year. And the work we did in response to the floods, which is
ongoing. But then also talk about the shared opportunities that we have
together.
When reminded that Pakistan faced two major
challenges, a feared economic collapse and terrorism, Mr Chollet said he
discussed these issues with Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari when the
latter was in Washington last week.
Source: Dawn
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1736327
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Candlelight vigil in US honours earthquake victims in
Türkiye, Syria
Rabia Iclal Turan
09.02.2023
WASHINGTON
A candlelight vigil was held in Washington, D.C., to
honor the victims of the deadly earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria.
Nearly 50 people gathered at Dupont Circle to show
solidarity with the people who are affected by the earthquakes and the search
and rescue workers saving lives.
The vigil was organized by Syrian-Americans living in
Washington, D.C., and was also attended by Turkish-Americans, US citizens and
many other people.
A minute of silence was observed to honor the victims
of the tragedy as well as for those who are searching for loved ones.
Those attending the vigil urged people to support the
victims of the earthquake by sending help or donating through online campaigns.
Hazem Rihawi of the American Relief Coalition for
Syria told Anadolu that the event would help the community in Washington, D.C.,
to understand the impact of the earthquake on both countries.
"It's showing more solidarity, hoping that the
community contribute and help and assist in any way possible," he said.
"I hope the message will reach them to understand
the impact of this," he added. "It's a crisis beyond comprehension,
and it must be shown to the world and especially in such a capital like
Washington, D.C.," he added.
He said that the aim also is to encourage the US
administration "to put more resources to support both people regarding
this crisis."
Source: Anadolu Agency
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US, Israel slipped arms into Iran to wreak havoc
during riots: FM
10 February 2023
Iran's foreign minister says the United States and the
Israeli regime slipped firearms past Iranian borders during the recent riots
that took place across the Islamic Republic as means of wreaking havoc
throughout the country.
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks in an
interview with National Public Radio (NPR), which is a network of around 900
public radio stations in the United States. The interview was conducted at the
Iranian Foreign Ministry in Tehran by the radio channel's host Mary Louise
Kelly on Wednesday.
"American and Israeli armaments [were] entered
[into] the country via some of our less stable neighbors," he said.
"In fact, what they (the US and the Israeli
regime) did was that they wreaked havoc among mobs and masses, and, in effect,
resorted to the armaments in question [to further their goals]," the top
diplomat noted.
The unrest broke out last year in Tehran and then
spread across the country after the death of a young Iranian woman, named Mahsa
Amini.
Amini, who had been taken to a police station in the
Iranian capital to receive educational training on Hijab and dress code rules,
was reported to have suddenly collapsed on the ground at the station and then
put into an ambulance to be transferred to the hospital.
The police later released the CCTV footage of the
young woman at the station, which fully confirmed the veracity of the law
enforcement's reports on her death.
Amir-Abdollahian rejected the NPR's claim that
"tens of thousands" had been arrested during the riots, and that
"hundreds of people have been killed."
He rather put the number of the arrestees at
"hundreds," identifying those who had been rounded up as only "those
who had had a hand in the street riots," and affirming that no student had
been apprehended either at the universities or on their premises.
Rejecting, what the NPR host referred to as an alleged
hundreds-strong death toll during the riots, Amir-Abdollahian asserted,
"The number of the fatalities during the riots have not been stated
correctly," adding, "Despite intense tension during the riots, the
[Iranian] police were not allowed to carry firearms."
Leader's pardon
Amir-Abdollahian, meanwhile, addressed the issue of a
recent decree by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali
Khamenei, which allowed the pardoning of a considerable number of those who had
been arrested during the unrest, attributing the decree to the Leader's
"special attention to the issue of clemency and mercy."
Hundreds were pardoned and released on the back of the
decree, the foreign minister said, "save for those who have committed
murder or other serious crimes."
West's focus on Iran riots vs. its coverage of Abu
Akleh's murder
Still addressing the issue of the West's excessive
focus on the issue of the unrest in Iran, the senior diplomat asked how come
Western media outlets would not accord the same amount of attention to the
Israeli regime's murder of Shireen Abu Akleh.
The Al Jazeera journalist was shot in the head and
killed by the Israeli army forces on May 11 while she was covering their raid
on the Jenin refugee camp in the northern part of the Tel Aviv-occupied West
Bank. At the time of her killing, the 51-year-old journalist was wearing
easily-recognizable press attire.
Rebranding Iranian arrestees
Amir-Abdollahian refused to corroborate an account
offered by Kelly about the alleged apprehension of journalists during the
riots.
"It is very easy to rebrand someone who has been
detained. At any moment in time, you can [choose to] call the person in
question a human rights defender, a journalist, and things like that."
Source: Press TV
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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Iran condemns new US sanctions, says Biden continues
failed policy of Trump
09 February 2023
Iran has strongly condemned new US sanctions on a
number of petrochemical companies, saying President Joe Biden continues the
failed policy of his predecessor, Donald Trump.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan'ani said
on Thursday the US recourse to illegal and unilateral sanctions proves the
legitimacy of Tehran’s position and Washington’s
ill will and hypocrisy toward Iran and the JCPOA,”
which is the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
He said Biden’s policy of sanctions would “only make
Iran determined to diligently pursue its national development goals and exploit
its legal and undeniable rights.”
Kan'ani added that “the imposition of unilateral
coercive measures contravenes the accepted norms and principles of
international law.”
He said Iran reserves the right to take all necessary
measures to counter US sanctions.
Earlier on Thursday, the Biden administration said it
had imposed sanctions on several Iran-based petrochemical manufacturers and
their subsidiaries as well as three firms in Malaysia and Singapore.
The US Treasury Department said in a statement on
Thursday the sanctions would target six petrochemical manufacturers or their
subsidiaries and three firms in Malaysia and Singapore over what it claimed to
be their role in the “production, sale, and shipment of hundreds of millions of
dollars’ worth of Iranian petrochemicals and petroleum to buyers in Asia.”
Among the targeted Iranian companies were Amir Kabir
Petrochemical Co. (AKPC), its subsidiary Simorgh Petrochemical Co. and four
subsidiaries of previously sanctioned Marun Petrochemical Co.
The Treasury accused those companies of helping Iran
sell its petrochemicals and petroleum to Asian buyers.
“Iran is increasingly turning to buyers in East Asia
to sell its petrochemical and petroleum products, in violation of US
sanctions,” the statement quoted Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism
and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson as saying.
The United States began a campaign of "maximum
pressure" against Iran under former US President Donald Trump. As part of
the campaign, Trump took the US out of a nuclear deal between Iran and world
countries, and returned all the sanctions that the accord had lifted.
On his campaign trail, his successor Biden claimed he
was not unwilling to return Washington to the deal. The Biden administration
has, however, not only stopped short of doing so but has also been bringing the
Islamic Republic under multiple rounds of fresh economic measures, in what
Tehran slams as the Biden team's continuation of Trump's anti-Iran policies.
On October 3, 2018, the International Court of Justice
issued an order that temporarily, but unanimously, required the US to remove
any impediments to the importation of foodstuffs as well as medicines and
medical devices to Iran. The US has, however, been refraining from implementing
that verdict too.
Iran says despite US sanctions, the country’s oil
exports hit new highs in the last two months of 2022.
Iran’s overall exports of crude oil, petroleum
products, gas, condensates, liquids and LPG have reached 2.23 million barrels
of crude oil per day (bpd), which is the same figure as before the sanctions.
Source: Press TV
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/02/09/697930/Iran--Biden-continues-failed-policy-of-Trump
--------
US Treasury targets Iranian petrochemicals,
subsidiaries in fresh sanctions
09 February 2023
The administration of US President Joe Biden has
imposed a fresh round of sanctions against the Islamic Republic by targeting
several Iran-based petrochemical companies as part of Washington’s so-called
pressure campaign against Tehran.
The US Treasury Department said in a statement on
Thursday the sanctions would target six Iran-based petrochemical manufacturers
or their subsidiaries and three firms in Malaysia and Singapore over what it
claimed to be their role in the “production, sale, and shipment of hundreds of
millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian petrochemicals and petroleum to buyers in
Asia.”
Among the targeted Iranian companies were Amir Kabir
Petrochemical Co. (AKPC), its subsidiary Simorgh Petrochemical Co. and four
subsidiaries of previously sanctioned Marun Petrochemical Co.
The Treasury accused the firms of being involved in
facilitating the sale and shipment of petroleum and petrochemicals on behalf of
Triliance Petrochemical Co. Ltd., which was hit with sanctions by Washington in
2020.
“Iran is increasingly turning to buyers in East Asia
to sell its petrochemical and petroleum products, in violation of US
sanctions,” the statement quoted Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism
and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson as saying.
Stressing that the United States remains focused on
targeting Tehran’s sources of revenue, Nelson said Washington “will continue to
enforce its sanctions against those who wittingly facilitate this trade.”
In the statement on Thursday, the Treasury also
accused Singapore-based Asia Fuel PTE. Ltd. of facilitating the shipment of
petroleum products worth millions of dollars to customers in East Asia.
Sense Shipping and Trading SDN. BHD. in Malaysia and
Singapore-based Unicious Energy PTE. Ltd. were also hit with sanctions.
The sanctions freeze the US-based assets of the
targeted individuals and companies, and ban Americans from dealing with them.
The United States began a campaign of "maximum
pressure" against Iran under former US President Donald Trump. As part of
the campaign, Trump took the US out of a nuclear deal between Iran and world
countries, and returned all the sanctions that the accord had lifted.
On his campaign trail, his successor Biden claimed he
was not unwilling to return Washington to the deal. The Biden administration
has, however, not only stopped short of doing so, but has also been bringing
the Islamic Republic under multiple rounds of fresh economic measures, in what
Tehran slams as the Biden team's continuation of Trump's anti-Iran policies.
Source: Press TV
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/02/09/697915/US-Treasury-sanctions-petrochemical-companies
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Pakistan
Cash-strapped Pakistan reaches deal with IMF over
stalled bailout package
Feb 9, 2023
ISLAMABAD: Cash-strapped Pakistan and the IMF on
Thursday signed a staff-level agreement after tough parleys, unlocking over $1
billion loan tranche under Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for the country's
ailing economy.
A meeting took place between Prime Minister Shehbaz
Sharif and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation, where the mission
informed the premier about the agreement.
According to government sources, the two sides reached
a consensus over the details of loans and Prime Minister Sharif also approved
the deal.
Finance minister Ishaq Dar was tasked to share it with
the masses through the media.
The two sides discussed all aspects of the ailing
economy of Pakistan and the fund insisted on tough conditions, including
increase in electricity and gas prices and raising new taxes, to bridge the gap
in the budget deficit.
The two sides had finally reached consensus over the
details of the lending programme.
The IMF delegation led by Nathan Porter began talks on
January 31 with the Pakistan side headed by Finance Minister Dar to sort out
differences over the government's fiscal policy that had stalled the release of
over $1 billion from the bailout package.
In the first phase, Pakistan's technical discussion
with the IMF went on till February 3.
It was followed by the second phase of policy
negotiations that concluded on February 9 to finalise a memorandum of economic
and financial policies.
The IMF funding is crucial for the $350-billion
Pakistan economy facing a balance-of-payments crisis with the country's foreign
exchange reserves slipping below $3 billion for the first time in nine years on
Thursday, reducing import capacity to just over two weeks.
Pakistan entered a $6 billion International Monetary
Fund (IMF) programme during Imran Khan's government in 2019, which was
increased to $7 billion last year.
The programme's ninth review was pending with talks
being held between IMF officials and the government for the release of $1.18
billion.
Earlier, Minister of State for Finance and Revenue
Aisha Ghaus Pasha said the two sides "are very close to the
finalisation."
The successful ninth review would open venues for
bilateral loans from different friendly countries and multilateral
institutions.
Pakistan's reserves have fallen below $3 billion and
the country is feared to default on its external liabilities unless the IMF
unlocks its funds for it.
Source: Times Of India
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Two TTP militants killed in Nowshera operation
February 10, 2023
PESHAWAR: Two militants of banned Tehreek-i-Taliban
Pakistan were killed by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of police during
an intelligence-based operation in Nowshera on Thursday night.
According to details provided by police, a raid was
planned following information about the presence of militants in Misri Banda in
the jurisdiction of Risalpur police station.
A police official said that the team reached the spot
to arrest the militants.
They however opened fire and hurled a hand grenade at
the team, adding that police returned fire killing the two militants, the
official said adding that three other terrorists managed to escape and a search
was underway to arrest them
Later, the slain militants were identified as Mohammad
Zeeshan alias Usman and Salman alias Emirati and both were wanted in several
cases in districts Mardan and Charsadda, an official statement issued by the
CTD said.
Source: Dawn
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1736237/two-ttp-militants-killed-in-nowshera-operation
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‘Not a dry eye’ as fishermen released from Indian
jails reunite with families
Shazia Hasan
February 10, 2023
KARACHI: Twelve Pakistani fishermen arrived here after
being released from Indian jails to a touching welcome from their families and
well-wishers at the Edhi Centre near the Merewether Tower on Thursday morning.
Nine of the fishermen belong to Goth Chachjhan in
Sujawal, and three to Machhar Colony, in Karachi’s Lyari area.
Some of them had been in jail since 2009, some others
since 2013 and a few since 2017.
In a sharp contrast to the horrific stories of
mistreatment and beatings in Indian prisons told by so many of the returning
Pakistani fishermen in the past, the ones who returned this time had something
different to say about the jail authorities in India.
106 Pakistani fishermen are still languishing in
Indian prisons
“We were very sad to be away from our homes and from
our families but as far as life behind bars in India is concerned, they treated
us normally, like they treat their own prisoners,” said Mohammad Jumman of Goth
Chachjhan Khan, Shah Bandar, Sujawal, who was captured by the Indian coastguard
in 2017.
Brothers Maqbool Shah and Allah Bachayo, who were also
in the same boat as Jumman, also said that there was no harsh treatment towards
them just for being Pakistanis. “The only problem was that we were given
vegetables and lentils to eat,” said Allah Bachayo.
“But that we will remedy here when we get back to
catching fish,” smiled his brother Maqbool Shah.
Mithan Jat, the captain of the boat they had all been
in, couldn’t stop the tears. Asked why he was crying since he was in Pakistan
now, he smiled through his tears, shook his head and said that these were tears
of joy.
When asked if he was also going to get back to
catching fish now, Mithan shook his head again. “I think my wife and children
won’t even let me leave home now. It will be a new kind of captivity for me,”
he said, making the others around him chuckle.
There was also Amir Hussain eagerly waiting for his
son Shabbir Ahmed’s return. Amir was caught with his son as their boat Al Ghous
was captured back in 2013. While the father was released after two years, in
2015, the son Shabbir was released only now. “Each day of my life was terrible
without my son who I had to leave behind since they were not releasing him. I
am so grateful to my God to have ended this difficult time of separation for
us,” he said as he was finally reunited with his son.
Both embraced for a long while as they wept without
saying a single word.
Chairman of the Fishermen Cooperative Society Zahid
Ibrahim Bhatti said that it was unfortunate that the poor fishermen on both
sides of the border had to spend years behind bars for mistakenly crossing over
into alien territory. “They are separated from their families who have
difficulty making ends meet without their earning members. We also try and
support their families by helping getting some money and food rations to them
but still it is not the same,” he said while handing over Rs25,000 cash to each
returning fisherman.
With his uncle Faisal Edhi busy with earthquake
victims in Turkiye, Ahmed Edhi, was also there to welcome the returning
fishermen.
He had helped get them all to Karachi, as the Edhi
Foundation has been doing all these years, following their being handed over to
Pakistani authorities at Wagah on January 27.
Source: Dawn
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Southeast Asia
PM Anwar Ibrahim Wants Youths to Rise As the New Force
of Madani Malaysia by Rejecting Old-Fashioned Ideas
February 9, 2023
KUALA SELANGOR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar
Ibrahim wants youths to rise as the new force of Madani Malaysia by rejecting
old-fashioned ideas which are detrimental to the nation.
He said this was his challenge to the young people, in
whom he has placed great confidence.
"Smart Malay, Chinese, Indian, Iban, Kadazan
children rise as the force of the nation to defend our rights, values, moral
options, truth and justice, stand up as the new strength of Madani
society," he said when giving a lecture on Educational Reform for
Malaysia's Future Wellbeing at Unisel's Kursi Siddiq Fadzil Distinguished
Lecture programme at its Bestari Jaya campus here today.
The Madani concept which was introduced by Anwar on
Jan 19 is based on six pillars: sustainability, prosperity, innovation,
respect, trust and compassion.
At the event, the prime minister also announced an RM1
million allocation for Kursi Siddiq Fadzil to encourage efforts and research in
line with the works of the late Prof Datuk Dr Siddiq Fadzil who was an influential
academic.
Last year, the Selangor government launched the Kursi
Siddiq Fadzil at Unisel with an allocation of RM1 million to promote discourse
in harmony and moderation.
An additional RM4 million would be allocated to the
chair in appreciation of the academici who contributed greatly to the country
in elevating the Malay language and Islam.
Siddiq Fadzil, who died on Aug 31, 2021, was among
others, the former chairman of the board of Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia,
president of the Islamic Student Association of the University of Malaya, panel
member of Malaysian Islamic Economic Development Foundation and chairman of the
Darul Ehsan Institute.
Meanwhile, Anwar said in efforts to spread the message
of Islam, the Muslim community should be preaching instead of punishing others,
especially those who do not share the same beliefs and views.
"We are the callers, the preachers... let's not
take over the duties of the kadi or judge by punishing others just because they
do not agree with us or because they are from another group or party as how we
see on social media like TikTok," he said.
Source: NST
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https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2023/02/878075/pm-wants-youths-rise-new-force-malaysia-madani
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Indonesia aiming to learn better governance at global
UAE summit
SHEANY YASUKO LAI
February 09, 2023
JAKARTA: Indonesia will seek to learn more about good
governance at next week’s World Government Summit in Dubai, its ambassador to
the UAE said on Thursday.
This year’s gathering on Feb. 13 to 15 has been titled
“Shaping Future Governments,” and 20 heads of state, more than 250 ministers,
80 leaders of international organizations, and thousands of government
officials, are expected to attend.
The Indonesian delegation will be led by Deputy
Minister for Manpower Afriansyah Noor, while President Joko Widodo is set to
deliver a keynote speech in a virtual address.
“We hope that Indonesia will be able to learn more on
how to govern even better, more advanced,” Husin Bagis, the Indonesian envoy to
Abu Dhabi, told Arab News.
“Indonesia can learn a lot from developed countries on
how they govern their country well.”
Bagis said the UAE was a good model, particularly on
the issues of manpower, investment, and trade.
“Just take the example of the UAE, where it is easier
to make permits, investment is easier, working here is easier, it’s all easy
here in the UAE,” he added.
Indonesia has regularly participated in the annual
event in Dubai, with its Finance Minister Sri Mulyani receiving the summit’s
Best Minister Award in 2018.
Source: Arab News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2247951/world
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Experts say Menu Rahmah only band-aid, Putrajaya must
still address Malaysia’s low pay
By Zarrah Morden
10 Feb 2023
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 — The Menu Rahmah initiative to
offer balanced, cooked meals for only RM5 at selected food outlets is a good
initiative, according to experts who nevertheless said the government should
develop long-term solutions to Malaysia’s low wages.
Economist Datuk Jalilah Baba told Malay Mail that
there are better ways of empowering both consumers and food business owners,
such as by organising a food festival and subsidising costs for vendors.
“It is still badly thought out. There must be a
carefully planned programme so that it succeeds.
“The success of the programme does not depend on how
many customers the stall gets from people choosing the Menu Rahmah.
“Let the (vendors) be competitive and creative,” she
suggested.
However, she explained that the menu must be made
interesting for consumers as well.
“Otherwise, when you want to make it cheap, it will
compromise the quantity and quality,” she said.
Director of the Malaysian Inclusive Development and
Advancement Institute under Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (Minda-UKM) Tan Sri
Noor Azlan Ghazali pointed to low wages as the root issue that had to be dealt
with.
“Our ‘mistake’ is all along for years we have always
focused on prices, for example by trying to make it cheap/affordable via
various measures, price control, dedicated outlets selling at cheaper prices,
and now special ‘low price affordable’ menu,” he said when contacted.
He said it is no mystery that the bottom 40th per
centile of earners (B40) are not earning a fair wage.
“Roughly, only 16 per cent of national income goes to
the B40,” he added.
He explained that it would be better for the
government to focus on creating healthy competitive markets that set fair
prices and attend to the income problem faced by many.
On the other hand, economist Nungsari Ahmad Radhi
described Menu Rahmah as a “quick fix”, but still better than nothing.
“Yes, the menu doesn’t solve the problem of low wages,
but it provides affordable food now,” he said.
Besides that, the issue of wages was the result of a
major structural issue that would take time to untangle.
“[Menu Rahmah] helps the right people immediately in
terms of affordable food,” he added.
The menu was launched on January 31 by the Domestic
Trade and Cost of Living Minister Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub.
Around 12,000 premises have already offered Menu
Rahmah, including restaurants affiliated with the Malaysian Indian Restaurant
Owners Association (Primas), the Malaysian Muslim Restaurant Owners Association
(Presma), Malaysia Singapore Coffee Shop Proprietors General Association
(MCSPGA), and Mydin supermarket outlets nationwide, Salahuddin said at the
launch.
A survey done by Malay Mail found that stalls offering
Menu Rahmah food items at the food court at the Subang Jaya branch of the Mydin
hypermarket were a hit among customers regardless of income level.
Source: Malay Mail
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Malaysian PM vows to help Thailand solve southern
violence
February 9, 2023
Bangkok -- Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said
Thursday that his government is committed to helping Thailand solve a Muslim
insurgency in its far south but does not condone the use of violence to end the
conflict.
Anwar spoke after meeting in Bangkok with his Thai
counterpart, Prayuth Chan-ocha. It was Anwar's first visit to his country’s
northern neighbor since he took office last November. He has previously met
with leaders from Indonesia, Brunei and Singapore.
Their talks covered a range of economic and security
issues, but a top joint concern is the Muslim separatist insurgency in
Thailand’s deep south, which has taken the lives of about 7,000 civilians,
soldiers, government workers and rebels since it flared in 2004. The fighting
in Thailand’s three southernmost provinces, the only ones with Muslim
majorities, is intermittent but brutal, with the separatists carrying out
drive-by shootings and bombings, and the government accused of torturing
suspects and other abuses.
Southern Thai Muslims — whose ethnicity, culture and
language differ from the Buddhist majority — believe they are treated as
second-class citizens and have the sympathy of many Malaysians, about 60% of
whom are Muslim.
Malaysia has hosted and facilitated peace talks
between the separatist groups and the Thai government, but little progress has
been made. Anwar has expressed particular interest in the efforts and appointed
a former top Malaysian general to be the chief facilitator.
Addressing reporters after meeting with Prayuth, Anwar
said his country is committed to assisting Thailand in finding a solution to
the violence in the south.
“It is unfortunate because these small skirmishes have
led to a lot of tensions, some sort of resentment and distrust, so we have to
appeal to all forces both in Thailand, and in the south and even some in
Malaysia, to understand and appreciate that peace must be paramount, of
paramount consideration,” he said.
“I come here with a very clear, categorical message
that the government of Malaysia will not condone any sort of violence to
resolve any conflict,” Anwar said. “We will exercise our right as friends … to
express our concerns, our legitimate concerns, whilst acknowledging that south
Thailand is purely an internal issue within Thailand. But it is our duty as
good neighbors and family to do whatever is required and necessary to
facilitate the process.”
Anwar, referring to what he called the “trust deficit”
between southern Thai Muslims and the Thai authorities, said he believes it is
his duty to see that their concerns about religion, culture, and language are
addressed. He added that Prayuth agrees on the importance of economic
development in the region.
Anwar also said that the two leaders discussed “the
more contentious issue” of Myanmar, where violence continues after the military
seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021. He called
for Thailand and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to come up with
viable actions to ease, if not solve, the crisis because of its ramifications
throughout the region.
“Both leaders also had the opportunity to exchange
views on the current international and regional challenges and expressed satisfaction
with the longstanding cordial relations between Thailand and Malaysia,"
Thailand said in its statement about the meeting. “They reaffirmed their
commitment to further deepen the bilateral cooperation and collaboration at all
levels, and to seek new cooperation for Thailand-Malaysia border area to become
peaceful and prosperous ‘Golden Land.’”
Source: ABC News
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Negeri Sembilan Islamic council denies
misappropriating zakat money
By John Bunyan
10 Feb 2023
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 — The Negeri Sembilan Islamic
Religious Council (MAINS) chairman Datuk Seri Abdul Aziz Syeikh Ab Kadir has
been reported denying allegations of misappropriating funds from “zakat” or
alms collection.
He said he is disappointed that the council was again
being accused of the crime after a similar accusation was made in 2019, The
Star reported.
“We would like to categorically deny the slander on
social media alleging that MAINS had misappropriated zakat money.
“When the allegations were first made in 2019, we
lodged several police reports against the owner of the social media account,”
he was quoted as saying.
Abdul Aziz also denied allegations that the state
government and Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun were also involved in
the misappropriation of zakat money.
He said MAINS had previously cooperated with the
police, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the National Audit
Department when the allegations were first made.
“Sadly, these lies are being spread again by
irresponsible parties for personal gains.
“MAINS, as a statutory body under the patronage of the
Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan, has always ensured its management
complies with the concept of transparency, accountability and high integrity in
all aspects of its governance,” he added.
Source: Malay Mail
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Lampung asks districts, cities to control inflation
ahead of Ramadan
Bandarlampung, Lampung (ANTARA) - Lampung Governor
Arinal Djunaidi has asked city and district governments in the province to
continuously focus on controlling inflation, especially ahead of Ramadan in
March.
"The current inflation in Lampung province in January
2023 stood at 5.95 percent (yoy) and is ranked as the fifth lowest in Sumatra
(island)," he said in a statement received on Thursday.
According to him, the commodities that have
contributed the most to inflation are foods, beverages, rice, red chillies,
shallots, and chicken eggs.
As of Tuesday, the prices of several commodities
showed an upward trend compared to the previous week. The commodities that need
to receive attention are cooking oil, curly red chillies, red bird's eye
chillies, and green bird's eye chillies.
"It is essential to encourage the relevant
institutions and districts and cities to synergize in building communication to
keep inflation under control and maintain people's purchasing power, especially
ahead of Ramadan," he said.
All parties need to maintain the prices of commodities
that can trigger an increase in inflation, especially ahead of Ramadan and
religious holidays, Djunaidi added.
He stated that swift action is needed to tackle the
limited supply of food commodities and maintain food price stability,
especially in regions with high inflation rates.
"Immediately handle commodities that can trigger
inflation. Then, city and district governments, relevant institutions, and
entrepreneurs, we all must synergize to protect Lampung from inflation
jointly," he added.
He said that, apart from carrying out meetings to
discuss inflation control, it is also necessary to maintain food reserves in
order to maintain price stability, encourage business actors to maintain supply
and prices, and ensure that regional governments carry out routine monitoring
of prices.
Source: Antara News
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Arab World
President Assad: Many countries ‘under US pressure’
not to help quake-stricken Syria
09 February 2023
President Bashar al-Assad has expressed his
appreciation of help from world countries to the Syrian nation and government
in the recent devastating earthquake, stressing, however, that many countries
are "under pressure from the United States" not to help the Arab
country.
Assad made the remarks in a meeting with a Lebanese
delegation headed by caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib who traveled
to the country to follow up on the latest status of the deadly earthquake in
Syria.
The Lebanese delegation emphasized that their trip to
Damascus was aimed at expressing solidarity and sympathy with the Syrians as
“the Lebanese people consider themselves partners in this grief with the Syrian
nation and government, and feel obliged to be with their Syrian brothers in
this situation.”
The Lebanese delegation also reviewed measures taken
by the country’s caretaker government to provide assistance to the Syrian
institutions working in the field of relief and rescue of the earthquake
victims.
“Lebanon is ready to serve the Syrian people and that
it has opened its airfields and ports to dispatch aid to the country from all
directions,” Bou Habib said.
Assad, for his part, expressed his gratitude to the
Lebanese government and people for the practical measures taken to provide the
necessary facilities and aid to the victims of the Syrian earthquake and said
such aids were very effective and boosted the morale of the Syrian people.
In the meeting with the Lebanese delegation, the
Syrian president also underlined the significance of cooperation between Beirut
and Damascus in all fields based on the capacities of the two countries and
their shared interests.
Appreciating Lebanon and all the countries that rushed
to help Syria in the critical situation, Assad said, “We know that many
countries are under pressure from the United States not to help Syria.”
Bou Habib also met with his Syrian counterpart Faisal
Mekdad during the trip and underlined that the Lebanese are “ready to help
their Syrian brothers in every way.”
“The Syrian people have always stood by Lebanon in the
most difficult situations and we have a duty to stand with them,” the top
Lebanese diplomat underlined.
Bashar al-Jaafari, Syria’s ambassador to Moscow,
lambasted on Thursday the West’s discrimination against the Syrian people,
saying more aid shipments were being sent to Turkey than Syria following the
devastating earthquakes that hit both countries.
Jaafari also denounced US sanctions that are hampering
relief work in quake-stricken areas of the Arab country, saying they are “a
serious obstacle” to the flow of aid to Syria.
The disastrous earthquake hit Turkey and neighboring
Syria in the wee hours of Monday. The 7.8-magnitude temblor has so far killed
close to 20,000 people in total in the two countries.
As rescue efforts continue in Syria following massive
earthquakes there, calls are growing for the US and its allies to remove their
sanctions, which are said to be hampering international aid efforts in the
country.
In an interview with Lebanon's al-Mayadeen television
network on Tuesday, Mekdad highlighted Syria’s need for humanitarian assistance
after the recent deadly earthquake, warning that the US sanctions have worsened
the circumstances as the illegal bans have prevented the delivery of everything
to the country.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent
(SARC) called on the United States and the European Union to lift the siege and
economic sanctions imposed on Syria that are severely hampering relief work in
quake-stricken areas of the country.
Syria has been in the throes of foreign-backed
militancy since March 2011.
The US government has over the past years imposed
sweeping economic sanctions against Syria amid the Arab nation’s uphill battle
for reconstruction and recovery.
The controversial Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act,
signed into law by former President Donald Trump, targeted individuals and
businesses anywhere in the world that participated either directly or
indirectly in Syria’s economy.
The restrictive measures have blocked imports of
essential goods, affecting the Syrian people’s access to medical equipment,
food, heating, gas, and electricity.
France: No change in approach to Syria
France's political approach to the Syrian government
will not change, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday.
"Our political approach is not changing and
contrary to Bashar al-Assad we are working in favor of the Syrian
population," deputy foreign ministry spokesman Francois Delmas told
reporters in a briefing.
"Only a political process defined by United
Nations Security Council 2254 can lead to an exit of the crisis."
France cut off diplomatic ties with Damascus that year
and backed militant groups for years.
While President Emmanuel Macron has entertained the
idea of nurturing some contacts with Damascus since coming to power in 2017,
that re-engagement has never taken place amid a certain amount of reluctance
within parts of the diplomatic corps and French political establishment.
Source: Press TV
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Turkiye-Syria earthquake: Clock is ticking against
harsh weather conditions
MENEKSE TOKYAY
February 09, 2023
ANKARA: Cansu Cilingir, a choir member and music
teacher in the southern Turkish city of Hatay, was singing “Autumn Leaves” just
two months ago. Originally an opera singer, Cilingir delivered a moving
performance with her mellifluous voice, unaware that in just a short time,
tragedy would bring an early end to her career.
After three days buried under the rubble of Turkiye’s
7.8-magnitude earthquake as she and her neighbors waited for help from a single
crane, Cilingir passed away on Wednesday around noon.
“We lost our...lovely friend Cansu. We will always
remember her with her beautiful voice, sincerity and smile,” said Masis Aram Gozbek,
conductor of the Magma Choir, with which Cilingir had long been a singer.
Over 14,014 people have been killed in Turkiye and
3,162 in neighboring Syria, according to the latest figures, which keep rising.
More than 100,000 rescuers are currently working in 10 provinces of Turkiye
following Monday’s twin earthquakes.
The first UN aid convoy crossed the border from
Turkiye into northwest Syria on Thursday.
Given the geographical extent of the disaster, local
citizens have been drawing attention to the urgent need for cranes, diggers and
lift operators to remove the debris and hasten search and rescue efforts.
There have been reports from the region that disaster
management agency AFAD’s teams could not operate in buildings where they were
unable to hear voices.
Rescue teams have urged local citizens who are
anxiously awaiting news of their loved ones to remain quiet as they try to find
signs of life under debris.
The sister of Taha Duymaz, who made a name for himself
with the food videos he shot in his low-income house in Hatay, garnering 1.2
million followers on Instagram, made rescue pleas for her brother and other
relatives. She said rescue services had been halted as the teams could not hear
victims’ voices from the wreckage.
Duymaz had posted a video on TikTok just hours before
the first quake. His sister believes he might have fainted, which would explain
why he could not call for help from under the debris.
AFAD completed its rescue and search efforts in some
cities, including Kilis and Sanliurfa.
There have been some miraculous rescues, with people
being pulled from the rubble after four days. These, however, have tended to be
young people, children and babies — and rarely adults — who have managed to
remain safe in a small space under the rubble.
International support in the search and rescue efforts
has been notable, with France and Spain having immediately worked to establish
field hospitals in the region.
The Turkish government has set up tents and temporary
accommodation facilities outside the quake zone, and sport centers, shelters
and similar locations were allocated for those who wished to leave the disaster
area.
Mobile kitchens and bakeries are also being
established with governmental and civil society efforts. A sports center in
Kahramanmaras was turned into a mortuary, but several survivors told Arab News
that they are in urgent need of shrouds and vehicles to transfer corpses to the
cemeteries as victims’ families have had to carry their dead loved ones using
trolleys. Many people have said there is a strong smell of corpses in the
streets.
Ayse Yildiz, a professional search and rescue worker
who previously took part in the catastrophic 7.6-magnitude Marmara earthquake,
was dispatched yesterday to the southeastern Malatya province to help with
rescue efforts.
An academic by profession who works on international
refugee law, she passed the night searching for survivors under a collapsed
building and slept a short while on the floor as there was no tent large enough
to accommodate all volunteers in the region.
But Yildiz, who after a sleepless night engaged again
in an intense rescue operation, is also aware that the clock is ticking.
“We have only been removing dead bodies from under the
debris. There is no one alive in these freezing temperatures. Hatay province
was less cold than Malatya, but here, the rain and snow threaten the lives of
those trapped under the rubble, who end up dying by hypothermia,” she told Arab
News.
“We thank all the international rescue teams here who
are showing great efforts in helping victims and survivors. I have seen Maltese
and Italian teams so far,” Yildiz said.
In some parts of Malatya, aid workers have drawn
attention to insufficient equipment and tents where rescue teams can have small
breaks and sleep in shifts.
“We are only using human force. I descended into the
debris, but I couldn’t remove any of it because it had disintegrated into
pieces. I left my little one in Izmir, and I wanted so much to save the life of
a child here. It seems impossible. There will be a serious problem with hygiene
and disease here after a while,” Yildiz said.
In the southeastern province of Adiyaman, another zone
hard hit by the earthquake, some survivors died from internal bleeding after
being rescued.
“My student Nazim Can Hartlap was rescued the first
day from the wreckage of the hotel he was staying at, but we lost him afterward
because he succumbed to internal injuries. When he came to Eskisehir Anadolu
University, he had financial problems, but we found him a place to stay. He
worked so hard to be an informed and educated guide,” Meral Unver told Arab
News.
In the same collapsed hotel, rescuers also found the
bodies of three school volleyball players from Northern Cyprus.
In March, a conference is expected to be hosted in
Brussels by the EU to mobilize funds from the international community to
support Turkish and Syrian earthquake victims.
In total, a record number of 1,485 rescuers and 100
search dogs were mobilized in Turkiye as part of the EU Civil Protection
Mechanism operations, one of its largest search and rescue operations.
Twenty-one 21 EU member states, together with Albania, Montenegro and Serbia,
offered rescue and medical teams.
European Commissioner Janez Lenarcic, crisis
coordinator of the EU’s response, arrived in Gaziantep on Thursday. The EU also
sent temporary accommodation units, tents and beds to Turkiye.
In the meantime, as criticisms regarding the speed of
rescue efforts have mounted, Twitter has been restricted in Turkiye on
Wednesday and many users have reported requiring a connection via a virtual
private network. Twitter was a powerful communication tool during the rescue
efforts as many people under the debris communicated their locations to their
families and the authorities by posting tweets.
Electricity has returned in the streets and avenues of
the regions hit by the quake, but the underground main circuits are still being
repaired.
“On the first day, bad weather conditions prevented us
from…monitoring the region with drones and planes. Now, we are also supporting
our rescue efforts with an aerial component,” Vice President Fuat Oktay said
during a press conference on Wednesday.
Several celebrities, including well-known singer
Tarkan and actor Kivanc Tatlitug, have donated large sums of money to
humanitarian efforts.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2247761/middle-east
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Saudi Arabia showcases culture, heritage in India
roadshow
SANJAY KUMAR
February 09, 2023
NEW DELHI: Saudi tourism authorities and stakeholders
showcased on Thursday the Kingdom’s travel potential at India’s biggest
industry exhibition in their ongoing roadshow to draw visitors from the South
Asian country.
Since the beginning of February, the Saudi Tourism
Authority has been participating in a series of travel and trade events across
India, including the One World Travel Market in Mumbai and the South Asian
Travel and Tourism Exchange, which runs in Noida in the Indian capital region
from Feb. 9 through Feb. 11.
The roadshow is expected to provide a platform for
industry players to engage directly with Saudi stakeholders, as developing
tourism in the Kingdom is part of its Vision 2030 to establish a thriving
economy through diversification.
The STA, a government body promoting the Saudi travel
and hospitality sector, aims to deepen relations with India, its fourth-largest
trading partner, which it said has been a “key source market” over the past 18
months.
“The strategy follows Saudi Tourism Authority’s (STA)
ongoing efforts to increase awareness about Saudi as a unique, diverse,
authentic tourism destination and ultimately, drive visits, as one of the key
priority source markets for the country,” the STA said in a statement on
Thursday.
The current engagements with India, it said, are
critical in helping the authority achieve its goals and “drive volume and
growth.”
At the South Asian Travel and Tourism Exchange —
Asia’s leading platform for the tourism and hospitality industry — the STA
established a huge pavilion promoting not only traditional religious tourism
destinations like Makkah and Madinah but also the Kingdom’s ancient sites and
futuristic projects.
“We see lots of potential in the South Asian Travel
and Tourism Exchange and in the Indian market. We see the Indian market as
important for us,” Elodie Azar, deputy general manager of Saudi-based travel
operator Kurban Tours, told Arab News.
“We get lots of queries regarding Saudi Arabia and how
they can send clientele from India to Saudi Arabia. We have both kinds of
people — those who want to come for Hajj and those who want to come for
leisure.”
Another Saudi participant in the exhibition, Kizan
Tourism, came to present its offer at the South Asian Travel and Tourism
Exchange as it is one of the world’s largest tourism shows.
“Our expectation is that we will receive the largest
number of visitors by participating in this event,” the tour operator’s
representative, Faisal Al-Essa, told Arab News.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2248066/saudi-arabia
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Egypt Hold Talks Seeking to Prevent
Israeli-Palestinian Escalation in Ramadan
Feb. 9, 2023
GAZA (Reuters) - Egypt has stepped up mediation
between Israel and the Palestinians in a bid to tamp down violence in Jerusalem
and the occupied West Bank and to prevent its spread to the Gaza Strip ahead of
the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, officials said.
This week Cairo hosted leaders from Gaza's ruling
Hamas Islamist militant group and from the smaller, allied Palestinian Islamic
Jihad (PIJ) group, according to the officials. Talks with Israeli
representatives were held earlier, they said.
West Bank violence, which surged last year as Israel
intensified raids following a series of lethal Palestinian street attacks in
Israeli cities, has picked up pace since a hard-right Israeli government was
sworn in on Dec. 29.
Two Egyptian officials, who spoke on the condition of
anonymity, said Cairo believed the situation could further spiral out of
control, especially given Palestinian sensitivities about Israeli control of
access to Jerusalem during Ramadan, which begins in late March.
Egypt wanted the United States to appeal to Israel to
help constrain an escalation of violence, the officials said. Egypt, for its
part, was appealing to the PIJ, which spurns direct contact with Israel.
"More than ever, the Egyptians are worried of a
possible new armed confrontation in 2023 because they realize it would be hard
to restrain actions by some ministers of the new extremist government in
Israel," a Palestinian official told Reuters.
"Egypt understands that if things blow up in the
West Bank it will ignite an explosion in Gaza too," the Palestinian
official said.
Israeli officials did not immediately respond to a
request for comment.
Israel last fought a 56-hour war in Gaza in August
2022 against PIJ, and the year before against Hamas. The two groups are sworn
to Israel's destruction but have been observing a de facto extended truce with
it, brokered by neighbouring Egypt in 2021.
PIJ spokesman Daoud Shehab accused Israel of trying to
change the "status quo" in the West Bank and Jerusalem, a reference
to the new government's plan to expand Jewish settlements and what Palestinians
see as Jewish encroachment on a contested site in the holy city that is sacred
to both faiths.
Source: US News
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Two decades later, US Senate eyes repeal of Iraq war
authorization
10 February ,2023
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday
that the Senate will vote to repeal two decades-old measures giving open-ended
approval for military action in Iraq, raising the hopes of a bipartisan group
of senators who want to reclaim congressional powers over US military strikes
and deployments.
The vote, which would come after consideration in the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, could take place just before the 20th
anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq. It would repeal the 2002 measure that
greenlighted that March 2003 invasion, along with a separate 1991 measure that
sanctioned the US-led Gulf War to expel Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s forces
from Kuwait.
“Every year we keep this authorization to use military
force on the books is another chance for a future president to abuse or misuse
it,” Schumer said. “War powers belong squarely in the hands of Congress, and
that implies that we have a responsibility to prevent future presidents from
hijacking this AUMF to bumble us into a new war.”
He was referring to the Authorization for Use of
Military Force.
The bill, led by Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Todd
Young, R-Ind., passed the Senate Foreign Relations panel and the
then-Democratic-led House in 2021. But it never came up for a vote in the full
Senate, despite significant bipartisan support.
The Iraq war authorizations “are no longer necessary,
serve no operational purpose, and run the risk of potential misuse,” Kaine said
Thursday.
The House is now led by Republicans, and it’s unclear
if leaders would bring the bill up for a vote. Forty-nine House Republicans
supported the legislation two years ago, but current House Speaker Kevin McCarthy
opposed it.
The Biden administration has supported the move,
arguing that ending the war authorization against Iraq of the Saddam Hussein
era would make clear that the Iraq government of today is a partner of the
United States. It would also remove a grievance for rival Iran to exploit,
State Department officials have said.
But Republican opponents have argued that revoking the
two authorizations for military force would signal US weakness to Iran.
“The ayatollah is listening to this debate,”
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said, referring to Iranian Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, when the panel debated the legislation two years ago.
Republicans also pointed out that President Donald
Trump’s administration had cited the 2002 Iraq war resolution as part of its
legal justification for a 2020 US drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassim
Soleimani.
Supporters of the repeal said presidents should
instead come to Congress.
Source: Al Arabiya
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UAE President Sheikh Mohamed promises Iraq support in
meeting with Iraqi PM al-Sudani
09 February ,2023
UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed said that the
country would support Iraq in realizing its interests in a meeting with Prime
Minister Mohammed Shiaa’ al-Sudani on Thursday.
The Iraqi leader is on an official visit to the
country, and received a guard of honor welcome upon his arrival at the Qasr
al-Watan palace in the UAE capital.
The two leaders discussed ways of enhancing bilateral
relations and prospects for joint cooperation, according to an Emirates News
Agency (WAM) report. This included increasing ties in economic, trade,
investment and developmental sectors.
The duo reportedly affirmed their “identical visions”
towards regional disputes and crises and highlighted the importance of
diplomatic efforts towards stability.
“Iraq is a special country for the Emirati people, and
the UAE supports whatever must be done to realize the interests of the Iraqi
people and achieve Iraq’s unity, sovereignty and prosperity,” WAM reported
citing the UAE President.
The Iraqi Prime Minister said: “We are happy to be
among our peoples, and we shall strengthen the historic ties between our
countries.”
“Today, Iraq welcomes its partners, most notably the
UAE.”
Al-Sudani then reportedly stressed on the fact that
Iraq is part of the current solution in the region and will regain its leading
role due to the support of the UAE and its other allies.
The visit follows a call between the two leaders on
Saturday where they discussed “various aspects of cooperation and joint work
between the two countries, and ways of developing them to achieve their common
interests,” according to a WAM report.
Dubai Ruler and UAE Vice President Sheikh Mohammed bin
Rashid also met with the Iraqi Prime Minister at the Za’abeel Palace in Dubai
on Thursday.
Sheikh Mohammed expressed the hope that the visit
would “mark the start of a new phase of strengthened bilateral relations
between the UAE and Iraq,” WAM reported.
Various high ranking ministers and officials were
present at both meetings.
The UAE’s clean energy company Masdar and Abu Dhabi
Ports signed development and investment agreements last year. Trade between the
two countries is strong and growing.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Kuwait plans to reconsider policy of providing aid to
Arab and developing countries
09 February ,2023
Kuwait intends to reconsider its policy of providing
aid to Arab and developing countries through the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic
Development, its foreign minister said on Thursday.
“There are developments at the international level
that require us to reconsider the mechanisms of the fund’s work and harness the
fund’s work to preserve our national interests,” Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber
Al-Sabah said in a video sent by the foreign ministry.
The minister did not specify what the changes will be
and the ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for further
details.
Kuwait’s policy change follows an announcement last
month from Saudi Arabia’s finance minister, who said the kingdom was changing
the way it helps allies, and would make aid conditional on reforms rather than
give direct grants and deposits unconditionally.
Earlier this week, Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Qabas said
that the Kuwaiti fund’s new policy would offer loans to states in exchange for
“voting before the (UN) Security Council or political support (for Kuwait) on
specific issues.”
The report also quoted unnamed sources as saying that
“free loans will be reviewed, in addition to reviewing purely humanitarian
actions that do not contain any agenda.”
Established in 1961, the fund provides soft loans, guarantees,
grants and technical aid, but it does not give financial assistance to support
budgets.
It has provided more than 1,000 loans to 105
countries, with a total value of $21.9 billion, according to its website.
Source: Al Arabiya
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UK boosts White Helmets with funds to support search
and rescue in Syria
09 February ,2023
Britain said on Thursday it was committing additional
funding - at least 3 million pounds ($3.65 million) - to support search and
rescue operations and emergency relief in Syria following earthquakes in the
region.
“Given the magnitude of the earthquakes and
difficulties in accessing affected areas in North West Syria, the UK will be
providing The White Helmets with additional funding to aid their major
search-and-rescue operations,” Britain said in a statement.
Source: Al Arabiya
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International conference on justice to be organized in
Riyadh
February 09, 2023
RIYADH: The Saudi Ministry of Justice has announced it
will hold the International Conference on Justice in Riyadh from March 5-6.
The event will be held in the presence of legal
experts from around the world to exchange knowledge, discuss opinions and
enhance relations in the field of justice.
Minister of Justice Walid Al-Samaani extended
gratitude to the Saudi leadership for its support and empowerment of the
justice sector. He added that the ministry is holding the conference as part of
its endeavors to develop the legal field and technologies related to it.
Titled, “We facilitate access to justice with digital
technologies,” the conference will discuss challenges and solutions to improve
the quality of services provided to beneficiaries and ways to render justice
accessible through the use of technology.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2248111/saudi-arabia
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Quake forces Syrian family from Aleppo home after
surviving war
February 09, 2023
ALEPPO, Syria: Masoud Douba did not abandon his home
over years of bombardment in the Bustan Al-Basha district on the frontline of
Syria’s Aleppo but Monday’s earthquake forced his family to evacuate and they
have no idea when, or if, they will be allowed to return.
The 63-year-old olive and pistachio farmer, along with
his wife, son, daughter-in-law and four grandsons, have now joined the millions
of Syrians displaced from their homes over recent years, temporarily moving
into the house of a relative.
“Missiles fell here and on the buildings, and in spite
of all that we did not move or leave Aleppo,” Douba said, standing near the
now-empty building where he had lived.
Pro-Syrian government forces fought an array of rebel
groups in Aleppo from 2012-16 as part of the ongoing civil war, and Bustan
Al-Basha was among the worst-affected districts.
Douba’s own building, behind red-and-white striped
police tape to stop people entering, and where laundry could be seen hanging on
balconies, is still pocked with bullet marks from that period.
During times of heavy shelling, the family used to go
into the basement and spend terrified hours waiting for the all clear — a
contrast to Monday’s sudden disaster.
“This earthquake came and went all at once,” he said.
Next to his abandoned home, a pile of rubble showed
where the next-door building had collapsed when the earthquake struck.
Syria’s government said on Thursday that 1,350
citizens had been confirmed killed in areas it controls. A rescue service in
the opposition-held northwestern region of Syria not far from Aleppo said
nearly 2,000 people had also died there.
“We managed to get out with the kids. When we got out,
we saw this building collapse before our eyes, vertically. My car that was
parked under the building was hit. Thank God we are all fine and the children
are fine,” Douba said.
Now the family, the children aged between two and 10,
are staying with a relative in the nearby Qaterji district, borrowing blankets
and clothes because they are forbidden from re-entering their apartment.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2247996/middle-east
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Africa
Libya's Ambassador To The UN, UN Chief Review
Developments In Libya
February 09, 2023
Libya's Ambassador to the UN, Taher Al-Sunni, held
talks with the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, on the political
developments in Libya.
Al-Suni said discussions focused on the international
support for an inter-Libyan solution.
"I stressed the need for Int. Com.
active/positive support to the aspirations of Libyan people to achieve
elections as soon as possible in order to end all transitional phases &
reach stability," Al-Suni wrote on Twitter.
He also emphasized the importance of a Libyan
lead/owned solution away from any interventions.
Source: Libya Observer
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https://libyaobserver.ly/news/al-sunni-un-chief-review-developments-libya
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Tunisia’s President Saied decides to strengthen
diplomatic ties with Syria
09 February ,2023
Tunisian president Kais Saied decided to strengthen
diplomatic ties with Syria, the presidency said on Thursday, the clearest sign
of Tunisia’s intention to fully restore relations with Syria.
Tunisia cut off diplomatic relations with Syria nearly
a decade ago, in protest against the suppression of popular protests by
President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Source: Al Arabiya
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France says it wants stronger ties with Algeria
despite envoy recall
09 February ,2023
France will continue efforts to strengthen ties with
Algeria despite Algiers accusing Paris on Wednesday of orchestrating the escape
of an activist it wants to arrest, a French foreign ministry spokesman said on
Thursday.
Algeria recalled its ambassador to Paris on Wednesday
after Amira Bouraoui, a rights activist detained during the 2019 mass protests
in Algeria and freed from prison in 2020, had allegedly crossed into Tunisia
illegally after evading Algerian judicial surveillance, according to Algerian
and French media.
Speaking to reporters, French deputy foreign ministry
spokesman Francois Delmas declined to comment on the specific allegations but
said that Bouraoui, a Franco-Tunisian national, benefited from consular protection
like all French nationals.
Algiers’ reaction could trigger a new crisis between
the countries after months of increasingly warm relations. French President
Emmanuel Macron visited Algeria last year, warmly embracing President
Abdelmadjid Tebboune on a trip that seemed to turn a page on years of difficult
ties.
Algeria’s powerful military chief, Said Chengriha,
recently spent three days in Paris to discuss military issues including
Africa’s Sahel region and met Macron. Tebboune was due to visit Paris later
this year.
“The recall of the ambassador is an Algerian decision,
but for us we intend to continue to work to deepen our bilateral relations with
a renewed partnership,” Delmas said.
Bouraoui was arrested in Tunisia this week and faced
an extradition hearing, but the judge ordered her to be freed and she was
allowed to leave the country on Monday.
Source: Al Arabiya
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South Asia
Hazaras are expected to Support Taliban Security
Forces: Afghanistan’s Acting Interior Minister
By Nizamuddin Rezahi
February 10, 2023
Sirajudding Haqqani, Afghanistan’s Acting Interior
Minister on Thursday said that the ruling regime would pay every effort to
ensure the security of Afghans, including the Hazara people.
While meeting with some key Shia figures, Haqqani said
that the Hazaras are expected to support the current regime’s security forces.
Sheikh Abdul Naser Bamiyani, Seyyed Sufi Gardizi, and
Ahmad Hossein Sangardost have met with the Interior Minister and praised the
performance of the Taliban-led administration, and assured that “they will put
all efforts to strengthen the Taliban rule”.
The Taliban senior security leader assured the safety
of the Hazara people, even though attacks against the Hazara community
increased after that group’s takeover of Afghanistan, resulting in the death and
injury of hundreds of innocent civilians on different occasions.
Hazaras have been one of the most vulnerable ethnic
groups who have experienced brutal attacks by the Islamic State-Khurasan, the
Taliban, and other radical groups over the past decades in Afghanistan.
Hazaras predominantly belong to the Shia sect of Islam
and have been targeted by radical groups and authoritarian regimes throughout
the history of Afghanistan simply for their identity. With the recent vicious
killing, Hazara diasporas and Hazara World Council are demanding the
international community to recognize the groups’ ongoing genocide in their
birth country.
The group’s efforts are underway and are pushing the
international community and human rights groups to recognize the Hazara genocide
in Afghanistan.
Source: Khaama Press
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https://www.khaama.com/hazaras-are-expected-to-support-taliban-security-forces-sirajuddin-haqqani/
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US envoy criticises Taliban's ban on women's
education, urges global bodies to take 'unified' stance
Feb 9, 2023
KABUL: The United Nations (UN) Representative for UN Management
and Reform, Chris Lu criticised the Taliban-imposed ban on Afghan women's
education and employment as the females in the country still face challenges to
live a normal life, according to TOLOnews.
The envoy underscored the importance of education and
work and also highlighted how equal access for women in education and at work
can do wonders for a country and its growth.
"First, we join UNICEF and other Member States in
condemning in the strongest terms the Taliban's edicts that ban women from universities
and from working for NGOs, this on top of an existing ban on girls from
secondary school. Equal access to education and work is an essential component
for the vitality and resiliency of populations, including all young adults and
children, regardless of gender," Ambassador Chris Lu, US Representative
for UN Management and Reform said in a statement, TOLOnews reported on
Wednesday.
However, the Taliban responded back to the US diplomat
and stated that they regulate all issues within the framework of Islamic laws.
Additionally, Ambassador Chris Lu urged humanitarian
partners, donor UN agencies, and the international community to come forward
and call out Afghanistan's de-facto authorities to abolish bans on women's
education.
In the latest decree, the Taliban has banned female
students from sitting in university entrance exams, TOLOnews reported. The
decision was followed by another decree from the caretaker government
prohibiting women from working in non-governmental organisations, which sparked
outrage on both the national and international levels.
Source: Times Of India
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Islamic Emirate Calls on UNSC to Lift Travel Ban on
Leaders
By Mohammad Farshad Daryosh
The Islamic Emirate called on the United Nations’
Security Council to lift the travel ban on its senior officials.
A spokesman for the Islamic Emirate suggested that
lifting sanctions on the officials of the Islamic Emirate will benefit “all
sides” and will pave the way for engagement.
Spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said that the imposition
of pressure and restrictions by the international community will not bring a
solution to the problems.
“To build trust, to fulfil the promises that we have
committed to each other, the banned list should be eliminated and free travel
should be allowed. This benefits all sides to have good (relations) with
Afghanistan and to bring trust and be cooperative in economic and diplomatic
aspects,” said Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Islamic Emirate.
The political analysts said that the continued ban on
some officials of the caretaker government are due Islamic Emirate ignorance of
the international community’s wishes.
“As long as there is more travel of the senior Islamic
Emirate’s officials, the more possible it will be for the Islamic Emirate’s
leadership to have engagements, and this is effective for both sides,” said Janat
Fahim Chakari, a political analyst.
“If there are travel bans, the leaders of the Islamic
Emirate cannot engage in negotiations with the international community and
whenever there is no travel or negotiations, how can the problems that exist be
resolved?” said Mohammad Hasan Haqyar, a political analyst.
Source: Tolo News
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https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-181978
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Acting Justice Minister Urges World to Engage With
Islamic Emirate
By Nazir Shinwari
The acting Minister of Justice, Abdul Hakim Sharai,
urged the international community to engage with the Islamic Emirate and take
steps for its recognition instead of “hostility."
In his meeting with the UN Secretary General’s special
envoy for Afghanistan, Roz Otunbayeva, Sharai said that western countries are
seeking to put pressure on the Islamic Emirate.
“The Minister told the head of UNAMA that the
international community should engage with the Islamic Emirate. Positive
engagement means to recognize the Islamic Emirate,” said Abdul Hameed Jahadyar,
a spokesman for the ministry.
The political analysts said that the Islamic Emirate
should reconsider its decision about women's and girls' access to work and
education in order to engage with the international community.
“We call on the Islamic Emirate to accept the
conditions and rules of the United Nations which are not against the culture
and religion of the people of Afghanistan,” said Ahmad Khan Andar, a political
analyst.
Source: Tolo News
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https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-181981
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Pakistan Pulls out of Moscow Format on Afghanistan
By Fidel Rahmati
February 9, 2023
Pakistan will not be attending the summit of regional
stakeholders regarding Afghanistan, which is planned to take place this week in
Moscow, Russia.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson announced
that Pakistan would not be attending the summit of regional stakeholders
regarding Afghanistan, which is planned to take place this week in Moscow,
Russia.
The two-day conference of national security advisers
of regional states, which started on Wednesday, brought officials from India,
China, Iran and Central Asian states.
The spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch stated that
Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan coordinate on several vital issues. Currently,
“we do not want to reveal any particular agenda under discussion among the
three”.
Russia invited representatives from regional countries
to the Moscow Format Meeting to discuss Afghanistan-related topics, including
security and humanitarian crises.
India initially initiated the fifth round of the
Moscow format in November 2021. On the other hand, the relations between
Islamabad and Kabul are deteriorating. Since Pakistan has accused Afghan
Taliban of providing sanctuaries for TTP and Afghanistan’s soil used against
Pakistan’s national security, these could be the reasons for Pakistan to pull
out from attending the Moscow meeting on Afghanistan.
Source: Khaama Press
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of the original story:
https://www.khaama.com/pakistan-pulls-out-of-moscow-format-on-afghanistan/
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