Muslim Bharatanatyam Artist, Zahir Hussain, Gifts Ruby Crown With 600 Diamonds To Trichy Temple
New Age Islam News Bureau
12 December 2024
India
· Idols Of Hindu Gods Found After Survey Of Sambhal Mosque In UP? A Fact-Check Says, Said Idols Were Found In Karnataka In February 2024
· Crackdown On ‘Love-Land Jihad’, Cow Slaughter Will Continue, CM’s Bulldozer Will Roll Out: Gujarat Minister
· Babbar Khalsa role suspected in Gurugram bomb attack
· Pitch for Muslim among two deputy CMs if INDIA bloc wins in Bihar
· Durbar move will be restored in Jammu & Kashmir: CM Omar Abdullah
· SC grants bail to two men in Delhi Waqf Board money laundering case
· Army personnel shoots self in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri
· Anti-Muslim remarks: INDIA bloc MPs push for impeachment as calls to remove Allahabad HC Judge Shekhar Yadav grow
· A New Wave Of Muslim Filmmakers Tell Their Stories
· Two-member UN team meets Rohingya Muslims in Jammu
· Amend Ladki Bahin To Exclude Muslim Beneficiaries: BJP MLA Nitesh Rane
· Muslims in Uttar Pradesh's Jaunpur adopt Hindu surnames, cite Hindu ancestry
· ECI examining phrases like ‘vote jihad’ used during Maharashtra elections, says official
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Europe
· Greetings On A Regular Meeting Of The Russia-Islamic World Strategic Vision Group
· Islamic fintech startup Ayan Capital secures £2.6 million in equity funding
· Authors go to EP to warn of radical Islam in Belgian schools
· Islamic Centre in Yate plans revealed at Wellington Road
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Mideast
· Mufti of Khan Yunis to Islamic World: Supporting Gaza Today Religious Duty
· 54 Journalists Killed In 2024, A Third By Israel: Media Group
· US announces first Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon under ceasefire deal
· Israeli strikes in Gaza hit refugee camps, Palestinians tasked with securing aid trucks
· Netanyahu aide on trial in new case troubling Israeli PM
· How Sednaya’s liberation exposed decades of systematic torture under Syria’s Assad regime
· Pezeshkian: regional tensions highlight how Zionist entity exploits divisions among Islamic countries
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Arab World
· Crown Prince congratulates King Salman on Saudi Arabia’s successful bid to host World Cup 2034
· Saudi Arabia celebrates Arabic language’s legacy at UN
· COP16: Saudi Arabia co-leads in global initiative to monitor and tackle sand storms
· Eight new native plant species discovered in Saudi Arabia
· Saudi delegation in first round of free trade negotiations between GCC, Japan
· AlUla celebrated on UN International Mountain Day
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North America
· CAIR Welcomes Trade Restrictions on Chinese Firm Enabling Surveillance of Uyghur Muslims
· Mystery drones not from Iranian 'mothership' - Pentagon
· Why are Americans celebrating this vigilante murderer as a freedom fighter?
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Pakistan
· 'No Consensus' On Kurram Crisis Yet As Peace Jirga Continues
· Seven terrorists neutralised in two separate operations in North Waziristan
· Law allowing spy agencies to tap phones 'ambiguous', says Justice Mandokhail
· PPP, PML-N talks fail to make headway
· PTI ready to bury hatchet, only to block ‘third force’
· PTI leader regrets remarks made against DIG
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Africa
· Join Politics To Sanitize Governance, Muslim Scholars Urged
· Ilorin traders shut market to honour late Islamic leader
· At least 175 people killed, dozens injured in separate strikes in Sudan
· Sudan largest humanitarian crisis ever recorded: IRC report
· Sudan militia chief ‘willingly’ committed war crimes
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Southeast Asia
· Govt Seeks To Plug Loopholes And Provide Stiffer Penalties To Prevent Future Child Abuse Cases Like GISB And ‘Abang Bas’
· PM Anwar launches national AI office to turn Malaysia into regional digital hub
· The participation of large companies in NAIO shows national trade stance -- PM Anwar
· EPF raises basic retirement savings benchmark to RM390,000 from RM240,000
· Najib: I didn’t ask for ‘special treatment’, never hid my identity for AmIslamic accounts receiving ‘donations’
· Health minister defends move to up nurses’ working time from 42 hours a week to 45
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South Asia
· Relations with India to be based on equality: Asif
· Govt moves to curb officials’ foreign trips
· Senior Islamic Emirate Diplomat Meets Chairman of Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce
· Deputy PM Mawlawi Hanafi Chairs Hajj Committee Meeting to Ensure Smooth Operations
· Locally Manufactured Dump Truck Ready for Use in Afghanistan
· Mawlawi Abdul Kabir Affirms Islamic Emirate’s Cooperation with Turkish Charitable Organizations
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/muslim-bharatanatyam-artist-trichy-temple/d/134009
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Muslim Bharatanatyam Artist, Zahir Hussain, Gifts Ruby Crown With 600 Diamonds To Trichy Temple
Dec 12, 2024
In a gesture of devotion transcending religious boundaries, Bharatanatyam artist Zahir Hussain has donated a ruby crown adorned with 600 diamonds to the Srirangam Ranganathar Temple in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruchirapalli, said to be one of the 108 earthly abodes of Lord Vishnu.
The offering, made on Wednesday, was handed over to the Head Priest of the temple, Sundar Bhattar.
The crown, made of a single ruby stone weighing 3,169 carats and embellished with gold and emeralds, is believed to be the first of its kind. Hussain shared that such a crown has not been offered to the temple deity in nearly 200 years. “The whole crown is made of a single ruby stone, and it is the world’s first crown of its kind. More than 600 diamonds and an emerald stone on the top adorn it,” he explained.
Hussain revealed that the idea of this offering struck him during a prayer session with Head Priest Murali Bhattar before the deity Aranganathar. The crown was crafted by artisan Gopal Das after an eight-year-long meticulous process.
“The stone was found in Rajasthan, and it took three years to find the right ruby. The grinding team demanded that if the stone broke during the work, the entire cost would be borne by me. It was risky, but everything went well,” Hussain said.
Hussain used savings from his performances over several years to fund the project but declined to disclose the crown’s cost. He emphasised that his gesture was purely driven by devotion, dismissing any connection to religious identity. “Ranganathar is the prominent God for me, along with Andal. Religion has nothing to do with my offering. I don’t differentiate between being Muslim, Hindu, or Christian,” he said.
Source:indiatoday.in
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https://www.indiatoday.in/india/tamil-nadu/story/ruby-crown-with-600-diamonds-donated-to-srirangam-temple-by-muslim-bharatanatyam-artist-2648688-2024-12-12
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France: Son Of Imam And Two Others Arrested Over Alleged ‘Islamist Terror Plot’Inspired By Jihadist Ideology
11th December
Three young men who were said to have been radicalised have been charged with alleged criminal terrorist conspiracy by France’s intelligence services, the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI).
Allegedly inspired by jihadist ideology, the individuals are suspected of planning at least one violent act in the central-eastern city of Poitier involving “homemade bombs”.
The three suspects were charged on December 7 and placed in pre-trial detention
French media Le Parisien reported that one of the suspects was the son of an imam from the Saint-Brieuc city mosque and a former Muslim chaplain at the prison in the same Breton town.
According to the investigation by the authorities, the three men allegedly wanted to avenge the Arab-Berber troops defeated in 732 by Charles Martel at the Battle of Poitiers.
They are suspected of wanting to create chaos and civil unrest in the hope of installing an Imamat, a Muslim theocratic state ruled by Islam.
The preliminary investigation opened on November 20.
The three men allegedly radicalised around jihadist ideologies were arrested in the southwestern city of Nîmes and the northwest city of Nantes.
DGSI agents allegedly caught two of the accomplices boasting over the phone that they had succeeded in making a Triacetone triperoxide (TATP), a homemade explosive.
One aged 19 and the others 20, the three suspects were students in chemistry, psychology and computer science.
French domestic intelligence services identified them following what were described as alarming exchanges on encrypted messaging platform Telegram.
One of the first to have caught the attention of the DGSI was the imam’s student son who was born in the South of Algiers.
He is suspected of being the organiser behind the alleged operation. He ran a YouTube channel in which he gave “Islamic science” lessons to around 200 subscribers.
The Franco-Algerian came to official notice through his telephone contacts with several S-card status individuals who adhered to radical Islam theory. An S-card status is an administrative record and an indicator used by law enforcement to flag an individual considered to be a potential threat to national security.
According to French media, the three young men were allegedly also planning to go to the Middle East and join a terrorist organisation.
Source:brusselssignal.eu
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https://brusselssignal.eu/2024/12/france-son-of-imam-and-two-others-arrested-over-alleged-islamist-terror-plot/
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Militants ‘Did Not Receive Any International Support To Confront The Assad Government,’ Says Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham
December 12, 2024
The leader of Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham Abu Mohammed Al-Golani. (AFP)
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DAMASCUS: The leader of Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham confirmed on Wednesday that the militants did not receive any international support to confront former President Bashar Assad’s government.
HTS’ leader Abu Mohammed Al-Golani, now using his real name Ahmed Al-Sharaa, said that the weapons they fought the Assad government with were manufactured locally, according to Al Arabiya news channel.
He added: “The Syrian people are exhausted from years of conflict, and the country will not witness another war.”
Those responsible for killing Syrians, and security and army officers in the former administration involved in torturing will be held accountable by the Military Operations Department, said Al-Sharaa.
He said in a statement: “We will pursue the war criminals and demand them from the countries to which they fled so that they may receive their just punishment.”
The leader confirmed that “a list containing the names of the most senior people involved will be announced.”
He added that “rewards will also be offered to anyone who provides information about senior army and security officers involved in war crimes.”
Al-Sharaa said that the military leadership is “committed to tolerance for those whose hands are not stained with the blood of the Syrian people,” adding that it granted amnesty to those in compulsory service.
Source:arabnews.com
Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2582738/middle-east
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Saudi Arabia Lights Up After Being Named As Host For FIFA World Cup 2034
December 11, 2024
Saudi Arabia is celebrating being chosen as host of the FIFA World Cup 2034 with a series of events across the country. (SPA)
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RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is celebrating being chosen as host of the FIFA World Cup 2034 with a series of events across the country.
The football-themed festivities, which run until Dec. 14, invite citizens and residents to showcase their national pride by wearing football jerseys and sharing their moments on social media using the hashtag #Saudi2034.
Fireworks illuminated the skies of Riyadh, Jeddah, Alkhobar, Abha, NEOM, Al-Qassim, and Jubail at 8:34 p.m. on Wednesday, after the official announcement from an online ceremony that was broadcast at a Riyadh event attended by Sports Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal and other officials.
The dazzling displays reflected the spirit of unity and excitement surrounding the country’s historic achievement.
In celebration, dynamic drone shows are to captivate audiences in Riyadh, Jeddah, Alkhobar, and Abha.
There will also be an air show in Riyadh on Dec. 12 over the skies of King Abdullah Financial District, King Fahd Stadium, and King Fahd Road.
Riyadh’s municipality handed out scarves to football fans in Tahlia Street, Takhassusi Street, and Prince Turki bin Abdulaziz Road, and organized events with traditional dances at various urban parks.
A number of institutions held watch parties at the time of the announcement ceremony, including the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.
Parks and buildings were adorned with Saudi flags, while public spaces in a number of cities and regions were bathed in green light to mark the occasion.
A series of public gatherings will take place until Dec. 14 between 5:15 p.m. and 11 p.m. at Boulevard City, Laysen Valley, Roshn Front, and Bujairi Terrace in Riyadh; and the Corniche Circuit, Roshn Waterfront, Corniche Obhur, Prince Majid Park, King Abdulaziz Cultural Center, and the Municipality Building in Jeddah.
Elsewhere, celebrations will take place at the Corniche, Half Moon Beach, Tharwa Corniche, and King Abdullah Park in Alkhobar; and Beach District Plaza Al-Baha Mall, Al-Hawiya Walk, Boulevard, and the Winter Festival in Al-Baha; in Buraydah at Bukhari Street; and in Abha at Al-Bahar Square, Art Street, Veranda, Ariash, High City, and Midmac.
Hail will host gatherings on Dec. 13 from 5:15 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Al Fajr Walkway and Bahjah Park.
These activities offer football fans an opportunity to come together and share in the joyful atmosphere.
Source:arabnews.com
Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2582732/sport
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François Legault ‘picking on Muslims’ with new threat to ban public prayer in Quebec
december 11, 2024
Quebec Premier François Legault told reporters last Friday that his government wants to ban prayer in public places, such as parks and in the streets, in order to “send a very clear message to Islamists.” When asked to comment on this news on Tuesday, Federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said that Legault “keeps picking on Muslims.”
“I don’t know what Legault is picking on. It seems to me that it’s always Muslims,” Miller said, calling for respect for freedom of expression and religion, which are protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Legault has said that the CAQ would once again use the notwithstanding clause to shield the prayer ban from constitutional challenges.
Miller also pointed out the irony of Legault’s call for a ban on public prayer, and increased secularism in general (particularly in schools), just hours before attending the reopening of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.
The proposed prayer ban has also been criticized by the Assembly of Quebec Catholic Bishops.
Source:cultmtl.com
Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://cultmtl.com/2024/12/francois-legault-picking-on-muslims-with-new-threat-to-ban-public-prayer-in-quebec/
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India
Idols Of Hindu Gods Found After Survey Of Sambhal Mosque In UP? A Fact-Check Says, Said Idols Were Found In Karnataka In February 2024
December 12, 2024
What is the claim?
A collage of four images has been shared online, claiming that 1,500-year-old idols were discovered during the survey of a Mughal-era mosque in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal district. The collage shows Shivling (a cylindrical idol representing the Hindu god Shiva), two idols of the Hindu god Vishnu, and another item resembling the Sudarshan Chakra (a discus wielded by Vishnu).
A Facebook user shared the collage with the caption in Telugu, which translates to, "1500-year-old Vishnu statue, Sudarshana Chakra, and Hindu symbols discovered during the survey of Sambhal Mosque. Every Hindu should share and save Hinduism." Archives of similar posts can be found here and here.
The claim surfaced after a court-ordered survey of the Mughal-era Shahi Jama Masjid located in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal led to violent clashes in which five people were killed. A local court ordered the controversial survey after hearing a petition that claimed that a Hindu temple once existed on the land where the mosque was built.
However, the claim that the idols were recovered in Uttar Pradesh is false. Three idols in the image were found in the southern Indian state of Karnataka in February 2024, before the mosque survey was conducted.
Here are the facts
A reverse image search on the images in the viral collage led us to an X post by NDTV (archived here) on February 7, 2024. The caption reads, "Centuries-Old Vishnu Idol, Shivling Found In Karnataka Riverbed." Three of the images seen here match those shared in the now-viral claim.
The claim surfaced after a court-ordered survey of the Mughal-era Shahi Jama Masjid located in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal led to violent clashes in which five people were killed. A local court ordered the controversial survey after hearing a petition that claimed that a Hindu temple once existed on the land where the mosque was built.
However, the claim that the idols were recovered in Uttar Pradesh is false. Three idols in the image were found in the southern Indian state of Karnataka in February 2024, before the mosque survey was conducted.
Here are the facts
A reverse image search on the images in the viral collage led us to an X post by NDTV (archived here) on February 7, 2024. The caption reads, "Centuries-Old Vishnu Idol, Shivling Found In Karnataka Riverbed." Three of the images seen here match those shared in the now-viral claim.
A detailed report by NDTV stated that on February 6, 2024, a 1,000-year-old Vishnu idol and the Shivling were recovered from the Krishna riverbed in an area called Shakti Nagar in Karnataka's Raichur district. The report added that the idols were recovered during the bridge construction and were handed over to officials of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
These images were also published in reports by The Times of India and local news channel TV9 Kannada in February 2024, corroborating the details above.
Logically Facts spoke to the person in charge of the Karnataka Archaeology Department in Raichur, who confirmed that the Vishnu idol and the Shivling were found in Raichur.
Further, we traced the fourth image in the collage, showing the circular wheel believed to be the Sudharshan Chakra, to an online shopping website called Indiamart (archived here). The caption under the image reads, "Material: Brass Sudarshanachakra Kalasham, Temple." According to the website, the material is manufactured and sold by Kolcharam Art Creations in Hyderabad, the capital of the southern Indian state of Telangana.
It is to be noted that the first round of the survey of the Sambhal mosque was held on November 19, 2024, months after these idols were recovered.
The verdict
Three images of idols recovered in Karnataka and an image from a shopping website have been shared with the false claim that the idols were found during a survey of the mosque in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh.
Source:ndtv.com
Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/idols-of-hindu-gods-found-after-survey-of-sambhal-mosque-in-up-a-fact-check-7230470
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Crackdown On ‘Love-Land Jihad’, Cow Slaughter Will Continue, CM’s Bulldozer Will Roll Out: Gujarat Minister
by Ritu Sharma
December 11, 2024
Stating that CM Bhupendra Patel’s “bulldozer will roll out in the days to come”, Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi on Wednesday said the state government, in the last one year, has succeeded in getting the culprits punished in 16 cases of cow slaughter, removing illegal encroachments from Dwarka and Somnath, and solving 94 per cent of temple theft cases.
Stressing on Gujarat government’s determination to fight against “love jihad”, cow slaughter and “land jihad”, he said, “Gujarat is the only state where the accused in cow slaughter cases are not only caught but convicted too. In the last one year, 16 persons were convicted of cow slaughter. Be it Kutch, Banaskantha or Amreli, we ensure the accused are convicted so that it creates fear among the killers.”
Addressing a gathering at the foundation-laying ceremony of re-construction of Dr Vanikar Memorial Bhawan, the headquarters of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in Gujarat, Sanghavi said, “Bhupendra Patel’s bulldozer will certainly work in the coming days too as illegal encroachment is still present in many cities. In the last two years, illegal encroachment was removed from government land where schools and hospitals will be constructed soon.”
He further said, “Huge parcels of encroached land have been freed in Dwarka and Somnath. In Kutch alone, 2,000 acres of government land for ports, which was illegally captured and used for drug business, was taken back. Similar drives were carried out in Ahmedabad, Surat and Kheda.”
Highlighting the active role of the state government against “love jihad”, he said that even in the absence of any complaint from parents, Gujarat police was able to get back “innocent girls” from Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra and reunite them with their families. “Bhupendra Patel’s stick will not spare anyone,” he said.
On temple thefts, he said, “Under Tera Tujhko Arpan drive, in the last one year, 94 per cent theft cases were solved and idols and jewellery returned in the presence of trustees.”
On attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh, VHP national president Alok Kumar said that this is a conspiracy to make the neighbouring country a Hindu-free nation. Batting for a uniform civil code, he asked, “If we can have one tax law and one criminal law, why can’t we have one family law?”
At the event, relaunch of VHP’s monthly magazine Hindu Sandesh was announced by its editor Kaushik Mehta. Ashok Rawal, secretary of Dr Vanikar Memorial Trust and general secretary of VHP, Gujarat, said that the premises has been the centre of consciousness of Hindutva in the state.
The new building will be equipped with modern facilities like accommodation, canteen, seminar hall and meeting room. Besides, it will have provisions for rainwater harvesting, solar power, natural light and air, WiFi, and e-library.
Source:indianexpress.com
Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/ahmedabad/crackdown-on-love-land-jihad-cow-slaughter-will-continue-cms-bulldozer-will-roll-out-gujarat-minister-sanghavi-9719458/
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Babbar Khalsa role suspected in Gurugram bomb attack
Harpreet Bajwa
12 Dec 2024
CHANDIGARH: Terror outfit Babbar Khalsa International’s (BKI) involvement in a “crude bomb” attack on a Gurugram bar has been suspected, officials said on Wednesday.
This was revealed during the interrogation of a man who was arrested red-handed while hurling crude bombs outside the bar in the sector 29 market here, a senior police officer said.
Sachin Taliyan (27), a native of Chhur village in Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh, has revealed during his interrogation that he is a henchman of designated terrorist Satwinder Singh alias Satinderjeet Singh alias Goldy Brar.
A city court send the accused to a seven-day police custody on Wednesday.
Days after blasts at a bar owned by singer Badshah in Chandigarh, an explosion was reported outside two nightclubs in sector 29 here on Tuesday morning.
Police sources said the Lawrence Bishnoi gang had called the club operators via WhatsApp about two weeks ago, demanding crores of rupees and a stake of up to 30 per cent in the business. After the club operators approached the police, cops were deployed at the sector 29 market, a senior officer said.
An FIR has been filed on a complaint from Head Constable Anil of the crime unit, sector 17. The complainant has said he was on duty at the sector 29 market on Tuesday morning when there was an explosion on a grey Scooty that was parked in front of the Warehouse Club.
A man was seen running and hurling another bomb on a signboard of the Human Club, the complainant has said, adding that the blasts triggered panic in the area.
The accused, who was carrying a yellow and blue striped bag, was overpowered by the policemen deployed in the area. A country-made weapon, two “crude bombs” and a mobile phone were seized from his possession.
Source:newindianexpress.com
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https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2024/Dec/12/babbar-khalsa-role-suspected-in-gurugram-bomb-attack
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Pitch for Muslim among two deputy CMs if INDIA bloc wins in Bihar
Ramashankar
12 Dec 2024
PATNA: It appears that all is not well within INDIA bloc partners in Bihar as AICC general secretary and party’s co-in-charge Shahnawaz Alam on Wednesday said his party would like to have two deputy chief ministers, including a Muslim if the coalition formed the next government in the state.
Alam, currently on a tour of the state, told party workers that the Congress would like to have two deputy CMs if the INDIA bloc headed by RJD’s Tejashwi Prasad Yadav formed the government after the assembly polls due next year.
“It’s our resolve that if the next government is headed by Tejashwi, our party shall have to deputy CMs — one a Muslim and the other from Upper Caste (general category),” he said.
His statement is aimed at reaching out to his party’s traditional support base, which includes Muslims, Upper Castes, and Dalits.
Alam’s statement came two days after he contended that there is no ‘Bada Bhai’ (big player) or ‘Chhota Bhai’ (small player) in politics.
“We must reinforce the ideological foundation of the coalition, rather than a hierarchy of power. Congress workers should not view themselves as subordinate to other partners. Any decisions on alliance would incorporate the inputs of Congress workers,” he said.
On tickets for the assembly elections, Alam said that the distribution should be done on the basis of strike-rate — a metric reflection of the parties’ performance in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress won three out of nine seats it contested (at the strike-rate of 33%), while the RJD won four out of 23 seats it contested (17%), respectively. The CPI(M-L), the third partner, however, registered the highest strike rate of 67% by winning two out of three seats it had contested in the polls.
Remarks come after Lalu backs Mamata
AICC general secretary Shahnawaz Alam’s statement is significance in the wake of RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s backing West Bengal CM Mamta Banerjee’s contention to lead the INDIA bloc at the national level.
Congress is a major ally of the bloc and Rahul Gandhi is regarded as the most important leader of the coalition
Source:newindianexpress.com
Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2024/Dec/12/pitch-for-muslim-among-two-deputy-cms-if-india-bloc-wins-in-bihar
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Durbar move will be restored in Jammu & Kashmir: CM Omar Abdullah
Fayaz Wani
12 Dec 2024
SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said the disbanded Durbar Move will be restored.
Darbar move, an age-old practice under which the civil secretariat and other government offices used to function six months each in Srinagar and Jammu during summer and winter, respectively.
“Darbar move is an issue which I fail to understand why it was not projected during campaigning for assembly polls. The issue gained momentum only after the election,” he said after meeting traders and businessmen.
The NC in its poll manifesto has pledged to restore the Durbar Move. “In our election manifesto, we have assured that the Durbar Move will be restored. Jammu has its own uniqueness and importance and we will not allow it to diminish,” he said.
The Durbar Move, which was introduced by Maharaja Gulab Singh in 1872, was abandoned by the Lt Governor administration in 2021, two years after abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of erstwhile J&K state into two Union Territories on August 5, 2019.
In June 2021, L-G Manoj Sinha ended the 149-year-old practice of Durbar move saying the it would save the government Rs 200 crore every year.
Source:newindianexpress.com
Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2024/Dec/12/durbar-move-will-be-restored-in-jammu-kashmir-cm-omar-abdullah
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SC grants bail to two men in Delhi Waqf Board money laundering case
11 Dec 2024
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to two men arrested in connection with the Delhi Waqf Board money laundering case, taking note of their prolonged incarceration and the unlikelihood that trial would begin in the near future.
A bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih observed Zeeshan Haider and Daud Nasir were in jail since their arrest on November 11, 2023, in the case and even the charges had not been framed against them yet.
"Appellants have been in custody for approximately one year and one month. Charges have not been framed in the complaint filed under the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act). In the complaint, 29 witnesses have been cited, and about 50 documents are being relied upon which run into more than 4,000 pages," the bench said.
The top court went on, "The trial is not likely to commence soon as even charges have not been framed. Therefore, in the facts of the case and in view of the undertakings furnished by the appellants and what is held in paragraphs …of the judgement of this court in the case of Senthil Balaji…the appellants have to be enlarged on bail."
The bench subsequently directed the men to be produced before the special court within a week to complete the bail formalities and to be released on bail on appropriate terms and conditions, which include abiding by the undertakings filed in the top court.
The bench said the appellants' undertakings of December 6 and December 9, 2024, filed before it would be part of the record, and its compliance would be a bail condition.
"If the hearing of the complaint is delayed due to any act or omission on part of the appellants, it will be open for the respondent (ED) to apply for cancellation of bail before the special court," the bench said.
AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan, the former chairperson of Delhi Waqf Board, was the main accused in the case and he was recently granted relief by a trial court, which refused to take cognisance of a chargesheet filed against him.
The ED has moved against the trial court's decision.
Haider and Nasir were arrested by the ED in November 2023 in a case alleging irregularities in the Delhi Waqf Board recruitment process.
The ED accused Khan of laundering proceeds of crime amounting to approximately Rs 36 crore, which were allegedly used to purchase immovable properties through associates, including Haider and Nasir.
The case stems from a CBI FIR and multiple complaints lodged by the Delhi police.
The ED's investigation unearthed alleged illegal recruitment, financial mismanagement, and misuse of Waqf Board properties during Khan's tenure as the chairman between 2018 and 2022.
The Delhi High Court previously denied bail to Haider and Nasir in July 2024, citing sufficient evidence to invoke the stringent bail restrictions under Section 45 of the PMLA.
It observed that Khan and his associates engaged in transactions involving significant cash payments concealed from authorities.
Source:newindianexpress.com
Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2024/Dec/11/sc-grants-bail-to-two-men-in-delhi-waqf-board-money-laundering-case
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Army personnel shoots self in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri
Dec 12, 2024
NEW DELHI: An Army jawan allegedly shot himself dead with his service rifle in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district late Tuesday, officials said.
The incident occurred when the army personnel, Havaldar Indesh Kumar was on sentry duty at his camp in Anjanwali village, located in the Manjakote area. The reasons behind his actions remain unclear, the officials said.
Police have initiated inquest proceedings to investigate the case, they added.
Earlier on Sunday, in a separate incident, another in Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur district shot his colleague with an AK-47 assault rifle before turning the weapon on himself, officials said.
The incident occurred while the two policemen, along with another colleague, were traveling from Sopore in north Kashmir to the Subsidiary Training Centre (STC) in Talwara, Reasi district, in the Jammu region.
Udhampur SSP Amod Ashok Nagpure confirmed the events, stating, the accused constable used his AK-47 assault rifle in the firing. "The accused constable shot dead his colleague before killing himself. Initial probe reveals it is a case of fratricide and suicide," he added.
Source:indiatimes.com
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https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/army-personnel-shoots-self-in-jammu-and-kashmirs-rajouri/articleshow/116235583.cms
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Anti-Muslim remarks: INDIA bloc MPs push for impeachment as calls to remove Allahabad HC Judge Shekhar Yadav grow
12 Dec 2024
The Opposition INDIA bloc parties in Rajya Sabha are planning to move a motion to impeach Allahabad High Court judge Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav, who sparked a controversy with ‘anti- Muslim’ remarks at an event organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) last week
Lok Sabha MP from Srinagar, Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi announced that he would submit a notice seeking removal of the Judge. The National Conference leader said the Congress, the Samajwadi Party, the DMK, and the Trinamool Congress members have offered support in the Lower House for the impeachment motion.
Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav of the Allahabad High Court sparked a rowwhen he said the country would function according to the wishes of the majority in India.
As many as 36 Opposition MPs across parties have already signed the petition, initiated by Independent Rajya Sabha MP and lawyer Kapil Sibal. The opposition may move it today, December 12 after getting more signatures. The INDIA bloc has 85 members of parliament (MPs) in the Rajya Sabha.
Leaders who have already signed the petition, according to a report in The Indian Express, include Digvijaya Singh, Jairam Ramesh and Vivek Tankha of the Congress, Sanjay Singh of the Aam Aadmi Party, Saket Gokhale and Sagarika Ghose of the Trinamool Congress, Manoj Kumar Jha of the RJD, Javed Ali Khan of the SP, John Brittas of CPI(M) and Sandosh Kumar of the CPI.
Impeachment under the Judges (Inquiry) Act
The notice seeks to initiate proceedings for impeachment of Justice Yadav under section 3 (1) (B) of The Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968 read with Article 124 (4) and Article 124 (5) of the Constitution.
As per the provision of the Act, a complaint against a judge has to be made through a resolution signed at least by 100 members if moved in Lok Sabha and by 50 MPs if initiated in Rajya Sabha.
After the members move the motion, the presiding officer of the House (Rajya Sabha in this case) can either accept or reject it. Once accepted, a three-member committee, comprising two judges and a jurist, will probe the complaint and decide if it is a case fit for initiating the process of impeachment.
The motion for impeachment needs the majority support of not less than two-third of the members to pass in the House. Since the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has the majority in both Houses of Parliament, the motion is likely to be rejected.
There have been four attempts to impeach High Court judges and two to remove Supreme Court judges so far. The last instance was in 2018 against then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. No motion has ever cleared the process.
What did Justice Yadav say?
Justice Yadav delivered a lecture on the Constitutional Necessity of Uniform Civil Code at an event organised by theVHP in Prayagraj on December 8.
“I have no hesitation in saying that this is Hindustan, this country would function as per the wishes of the bahusankhyak living in Hindustan. This is the Law. You can't say that you are saying this being a High Court Judge. The law, in fact, works according to the majority. Look at it in the context of family or society...Only what benefits the welfare and happiness of the majority will be accepted,” he said, speaking at the event, according to the legal news website LiveLaw.
The remarks sparked a row with Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi saying that the Constitution of India is not a majoritarian but a democratic one. “In a democracy, the minority's rights are protected. As Ambedkar put it ‘...as a King has no Divine Right to rule, so also a majority has no Divine Right to rule’,” the Hyderabad MP said.
Lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan wrote to Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna seeking an "in-house enquiry" into the conduct of Justice Yadav.
On December 10, the Supreme Court of India reached out to the Allahabad High Court over the issue. The apex court took note of reports quoting the speech made by Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav during a VHP event and sought additional details.
Source:livemint.com
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https://www.livemint.com/politics/news/justice-shekhar-yadav-allahabad-hc-impeachment-anti-muslim-parliament-india-bloc-majority-rule-remark-11733976732891.html
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A New Wave Of Muslim Filmmakers Tell Their Stories
12 December 2024
It’s 5 AM. At a tiny tea stall near the police barricades encircling the Shaheen Bagh protest site, a woman wrapped in a shawl is serving tea. “How much loss have you incurred up until now?” Nausheen Khan, a filmmaker, asks her. “Around a lakh…maybe more,” she says, and adds after a considered pause: “It doesn’t matter. Even if these protests go on for four months, I will keep my shop shut.” When Khan asks: “Why are you so committed to this movement?” the woman replies: “We are Indian, that’s why! Why would we leave when we belong here?”
This conversation between Khan and the woman was filmed sometime between December 2019 and March 2020 when women, mainly Muslim, led a peaceful sit-in protest at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh in response to the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act by Parliament on December 11, 2019. Four days later, police action at Jamia Millia Islamia university shook students, including Khan, now 31, an alumna of Jamia’s AJK Mass Communication Research Centre.
Her film—Land of My Dreams (2023)—was a result of the cognitive dissonance she was experiencing during this period. “I didn’t have a film in mind when I first started shooting. I was in the crowd of protesting students on December 13 and all the footage of the protest that I had seen on the news was from behind the crowd or the police. I thought there should have been a view from within the crowd as well. I took out my phone and I started documenting.” After she recorded various instances of students being lathi-charged by the police, she tried sending the videos to various media outlets. But there were no takers. “That’s when I thought of making a film by myself,” says Khan. The film reflects her ideas in its form. It has a voice-over by Khan—sharing her own experience of reconciling with her identity as a Muslim woman filmmaker—while the visuals exhaustively document the Shaheen Bagh protest and the Delhi violence of 2020. Entirely self-funded, the film bears witness to a movement that empowered Muslim women to break through the stereotypes that have historically been associated with them. In a glimpse at one of the many protest sites in Delhi, a hijabi woman protestor states: “We are told that we are oppressed by the men in our community. But we have established that if we know how to be behind a purdah, we also know how to speak up when necessary.”
Khan’s film is a difficult watch—it organically follows the trajectory of a movement led by Muslims to demand their right to citizenship, which culminated in the violent deaths and prolonged incarceration of many from the community.
In a similar vein, In a Dissent Manner (2022), by Ehraz Zaman, is a film on a footnote of recent history—the violence unleashed by UP Police on the students of Aligarh Muslim University, on the same day that the Jamia students were assaulted. Zaman—an AMU graduate, who was 20 then—has been unable to screen it at his alma mater. “I always wanted to make a film. This one became a natural response to both my interest in cinema, as well as my surroundings. I realised that if I wanted to practice filmmaking, documentary was the best format to begin. So, I picked up my camera, and figured out what to shoot on the go,” Zaman says.
The film came from the intention of correcting the imbalance in the larger perception of what transpired at AMU. “I don’t think that even people living in the vicinity of the campus knew the full extent of what had really happened. Since there was a state clampdown on the internet, a lot of information coming out of the university was suppressed. The idea was to put these unspoken stories out,” Zaman says. So far, Zaman and his team have only managed to screen the film at a few festivals and its primary viewership has been through the circulation of private links.
Yet, no hurdle—in sourcing funds or audiences—has been able to stop the steady increase in the number of young Muslim filmmakers in the country. Shahrukhkhan Chavada, 29, the director of Kayo Kayo Colour (2023), says that he simply wanted to portray the life he knows. Hailing from Vadgam, Gujarat, he had no prior training in filmmaking. “There have been two kinds of perspectives on Muslims in our cinema—one is the right-wing perspective of absolute demonisation. But the other, which is of well-meaning left-liberals, has also been stereotypical in its approach. Aksar in filmon mein ant mein Musalman mar jata hai,” he says. “I have been deeply inspired by the aesthetics of Iranian cinema. Its low-budget, realist style has encouraged me to make a film about 24 hours in the life of an ordinary working-class Muslim family.” Most of the characters in his film are non-actors; some are even his relatives. The locations of the ghetto in the film are all spaces that he and his partner have inhabited since childhood. Still, he has managed to weave a narrative that plays with the boundaries between documentary and fiction. In the process, the film lays bare not just the ordinariness of their lives, but also the social hierarchies within the community.
The film has an intriguing climax. Tension is built through the culminating sequences of the film about the news of something big happening in the country. As a spectator, one assumes that since this is a film about Muslims and is set against the backdrop of the internal migrations in cities post 2002 in Gujarat, one is about to witness a hate crime again. But the event in question turns out to be demonetisation. When asked about the climax, Chavada laughs and says: “I didn’t want to kill any of my characters or leave them with trauma. Neither did I want to shy away from the contemporary state of politics in India. To me, demonetisation seemed like the perfect event, because it did not impact just Muslims.”
Another promising film in this recent crop is Syed Arbab Ahmad’s Insides and Outsides (2023). Autoethnographic in its approach, the film strays away from conventional storytelling. The personal lives of Ahmad and his parents become deeply imbricated with the larger history of violence that haunts Muslims in India. The literature documenting this violence seamlessly flows into the personal documents and memories of the family, throwing up larger existential questions about the intersections between religion, class, caste and gender in the process. Through this web emerge the negotiations that constitute a Muslim citizen in today’s time.
Ruuposh (2021), also an autoethnographic documentary by Mohd Fehmeed and Zeeshan Amir Khan, pushes this premise further. The film points out how the existent vulnerabilities of Muslims deny them the right to reconnect with their roots—leading to an even deeper erasure of their identities. Fehmeed traces the lineages of his mother to Pakistan, where everyone except his grandfather migrated during Partition. His grandfather refused to go because he believed India was his home. Through the fond memories and unspoken pain of his mother, Fehmeed highlights the palpable fear in wanting to reconnect with his loved ones across the border. Being a resident of Jamia Nagar and a Jamia student, he fears that re-establishing associations could actually confirm the stereotypes that majoritarian forces have about Muslims.
These films have one common thread—that they are made by a new generation of Muslim filmmakers, determined to tell their stories. But can their humble endeavours counter the narrative that the multi-crore Bollywood productions and the 24-hour news channels churn out? “I’m not sure. But what I’m confident about is that it will leave an impact on whoever watches the film,” says Chavada. Khan and Zaman, too, remain uncertain but interacting with fellow filmmakers gives them hope. “We are making films in spite of the vulnerable locations and identities we come from. This, in itself, makes this moment a movement,” says Khan.
Source:outlookindia.com
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https://www.outlookindia.com/art-entertainment/a-new-wave-of-muslim-filmmakers-tell-their-stories
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Two-member UN team meets Rohingya Muslims in Jammu
Dec 12, 2024
A two-member team of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) met Rohingya Muslims at a slum here amid a heated debate whether the illegally settled immigrants be provided water and electricity.
Senior protection officer Tomoko Fukumura along with protection associate Ragini Trakroo Zutushi on Monday met the Rohingya Muslims and some local residents in the Kiryani Talab area of Narwal, an official said on Wednesday.
He said the head of the team would return to Delhi on Wednesday evening as their attempt to meet some police officials failed.
On December 7, Jammu and Kashmir Jal Shakti Minister Javed Ahmed Rana said the water supply would not be snapped to the slums housing the immigrants, pending a call from the Centre on their deportation.
Rana’s statement came after Rohingyas living on three plots of land in the Narwal area of Jammu claimed that their power and water supply were snapped recently despite being registered with the UNHCR.
Two days later, chief minister Omar Abdullah said the Centre should decide the fate of the Rohingya population settled in Jammu, asserting that they could not be allowed to die of starvation or cold.
“It is a humanitarian issue. The central government should decide about them (Rohingyas). If they are to be sent back, do that. If you can, send them back. If you cannot send them back, we cannot starve them to death. They cannot be allowed to die of cold,” Omar had told reporters.
“The Government of India should tell us what we have to do with them. As long as they are here, we need to take care of them,” he added.
Omar, the National Conference vice president, also asserted that they did not bring the Rohingyas to Jammu.
“They have been brought and settled here. If there is a change in policy at the Centre, take them back. As long as they are here, we cannot treat them like animals. They are humans and they should be treated as such,” he said.
The BJP, however, called the settlement of Rohingyas and Bangladeshi nationals in Jammu a major “political conspiracy” and demanded a CBI probe to identify those involved in bringing and settling them in the city.
Hitting out at the National Conference government over granting water and power connections to the settlers, the BJP alleged it was being done to protect them as they belonged to a “particular community”.
According to government data, more than 13,700 foreigners, most of them Rohingyas and Bangladeshi nationals, are settled in Jammu and other districts of Jammu and Kashmir, where their population increased by over 6,000 between 2008 and 2016.
In March 2021, police found more than 270 Rohingyas, including women and children, living illegally in Jammu city during a verification drive and lodged them at a holding centre inside the Kathua sub-jail.On November 25, senior superintendent of police, city south Jammu, Ajay Sharma said 18 FIRs were registered in a major drive against the landlords renting out their properties to Rohingyas and others without providing information to police as per the order of the district magistrate.
“The civil administration has also launched a drive to identify the people who facilitated electricity and water connections to the plots housing Rohingyas,” Sharma had said.
India, not being a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention, views Rohingyas as “illegal immigrants”. The convention outlines refugee rights and the legal obligations of countries to protect them.
Source:hindustantimes.com
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Amend Ladki Bahin To Exclude Muslim Beneficiaries: BJP MLA Nitesh Rane
11 December 2024
Maharashtra government’s flagship Ladki Bahin (beloved sister) scheme has yet again triggered a fresh controversy.
A video clip circulated on social media, showed BJP MLA Nitesh Rane, son of Union Minister Narayan Rane, calling for their exclusion from seeking state benefits. Speaking at an event on justice for Bangladeshi Hindus in his native Konkan, Sindhudurg district, Rane said he would request newly appointed Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to amend the qualification criteria of the Ladki Bahin scheme. “The scheme should be given to only those who have two children. Otherwise, these people will stay with us, take benefits of our schemes and on the day of voting declare, we want Islam (sic).”
Rane was speaking about violence against Hindu minorities in Bangladesh and Pakistan and comparing minorities in India. “They are targeted and assaulted…in Pakistan, they are given two options, either accept Islam or get killed. But in our country, they (minorities) are pampered. We bring so many initiatives for them…like Maulana Azad (minorities financial development corporation). They take advantage of all government schemes. If you check the list of beneficiaries of Ladki Bahin, you will find how many of these are with more than two children.”
He was earlier booked for hate speech against Muslims in Maharashtra, four times. Since joining the BJP in 2019 after quitting Congress, he has raked up an anti-Muslim agenda and made inflammatory remarks threatening the genocide of Muslims. BJP has so far turned a blind eye against Rane and let him loose to cause communal fracas like in the Mira Road riot case in Mumbai and the demolition of Muslim houses in Kolhapur.
The Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana provides a monthly allowance of Rs 1,500 to women from marginalised backgrounds. The welfare scheme, emulated on the BJP government’s Ladli Behena scheme in Madhya Pradesh, has benefited 2.34 crore women. Its phenomenal success was deemed to be a major factor in increasing female voter turnout, and helping the BJP-led Mahayuti government to win the assembly elections held in November.
The Mahayuti alliance has promised voters to increase the allowance to Rs 2100 if it came to power. To ensure the benefits reach the maximum number of women, the erstwhile CM Eknath Shinde government extended the enrollment deadline twice and endorsed applications in bulk. CM Fadnavis has now hinted the government will strictly scrutinise the list of beneficiaries so that socio-economically backward and only eligible candidates, get the benefit. The Ladki Bahin scheme along with a slew of populist measures, launched ahead of the polls, are expected to cost the government exchequer exceeding Rs 90,000 crore annually. The state government is grappling with a heavy debt burden of Rs 7.11 lakh crore with a projected fiscal deficit is Rs.1,10,355 crore. It is
unclear whether and how the government will continue to dole out the increased cash transfers over the next five years.
Source:outlookindia.com
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Muslims in Uttar Pradesh's Jaunpur adopt Hindu surnames, cite Hindu ancestry
11.12.24
Several Muslim families in a village here have adopted surnames such as Dubey, Pandey, and Tiwari, claiming their ancestors were Hindus.
This transformation stems from a campaign led by the Vishal Bharat Sansthan, an organisation encouraging individuals in the Purvanchal region of the state "to reconnect with their roots" to end religious conflicts.
Naushad Ahmed, now known as Naushad Ahmed Dubey, said, "I discovered my ancestors were Brahmins. My father, Lal Bahadur Dubey, was later known as Lal Bahadur Sheikh." A resident of Dehri village in Kerakat tehsil, he asserted that he follows Islamic practices such as namaz and fasting, but has started caring for cows and now owns nine of them.
"I haven't changed my religion, just my surname, to honour my ancestors," he said. However, none of the family members have changed their surname.
The campaign has inspired others in the village which has a sizeable Muslim population.
Sheikh Abdullah, now Sheikh Abdullah Dubey, said he has adopted the Dubey surname but continues to practice Islam. He declined to engage in Hindu rituals like reciting the Hanuman Chalisa or idol worship.
Ehtesham Ahmed, another resident, acknowledged his Brahmin lineage but refrained from using a Hindu surname, saying, "Adopting a surname doesn't mean practising Hindu rituals." Naushad, who faced backlash after getting his full name printed on his daughter's wedding invitation, revealed, "Some people spread rumours that I have converted my religion, causing the marriage to be called off. However, I didn't justify myself to anyone." The local Kerakat police station in-charge Avneesh Kumar Rai on Tuesday held a meeting in the village following threats to Naushad's family.
"We will identify and act against mischief-makers," he assured them.
Meanwhile, Jaunpur Superintendent of Police Ajaypal Sharma told PTI that extra police personnel have deployed in the area as a preventive measure even though, there have been no official complaints in the cases. "We are maintaining communication with all locals." Rajeev 'Guruji', the national president of Vishal Bharat Sansthan, said the organisation's work aims to help people rediscover their ancestry.
"Through our 'Reconnect with Roots' initiative, many have come forward to explore their family histories," he said.
He added that the campaign has extended beyond Jaunpur, with families in Azamgarh, Ghazipur, and Varanasi also adopting Hindu surnames.
He claimed that Kunwar Naseem Raza Sikarwar of Ghazipur and others like Irshad Ahmed Pandey and Rehan Dubey have played pivotal roles in this movement.
When asked about the motivation for the initiative, Rajeev said, "The aim of this campaign is to end religious conflicts. If people know their roots, they can forget their mutual animosity." "Any religion can be changed but caste cannot be changed. There are as many castes in Muslims as there are in Hindus. Muslims also have Brahmins, Thakurs, and Vaishyas. In such a situation, if we find out their roots and prove that a particular person is also a Brahmin, then people can forget their mutual animosity," he told PTI.
He further said, "To find this, we investigate the gazetteer, old land papers and also examine other relevant old documents, we get the name given according to them and prove that a particular person belongs to which caste." He said the campaign was launched five years ago but has started bearing results in the districts of Purvanchal only two years ago.
Source:telegraphindia.com
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ECI examining phrases like ‘vote jihad’ used during Maharashtra elections, says official
December 11, 2024
Controversial phrases such as “vote jihad,” used by some political parties during the recent Maharashtra assembly elections, are being closely examined by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Maharashtra Additional Chief Electoral Officer Dr Kiran Kulkarni told news agency PTI that more than 650 cases of election code violations were registered during the state elections. Enforcement agencies are ensuring these cases are pursued to a logical conclusion, according to an official.
When asked about the term “vote jihad,” Kulkarni said, “The ECI is carefully analysing its implications across legal, linguistic, and social domains before taking further action. We should be cautious with terms like ‘vote jihad’ because they have serious repercussions.”
He noted that the phrase is new and requires thorough study, with legal, linguistic, social, and religious aspects being considered. Kulkarni said that ECI officials, including the Chief Electoral Officer, are reviewing the matter before making a decision.
He cautioned against drawing quick conclusions about the impact of such controversial phrases on election discourse. “It’s a long-term process. Words and their references need to be defined and analysed thoroughly. There is no airtight legal framework for new terminology, so we must handle such matters carefully, keeping in mind their consequences,” Kulkarni said.
Elections to Maharashtra’s 288-member legislative assembly were held on November 20, and counting of votes took place on Novemebr 23. The election code of conduct had come into effect on October 15.
Kulkarni also revealed that 659 cases of election code violations were filed, a significant increase from the 366 cases during the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year. “Our investigating agencies did excellent work in the Lok Sabha cases, with 300 chargesheets already filed in courts,” he said.
Regarding the assembly election cases, Kulkarni said enforcement agencies are actively investigating, and all chargesheets will be filed in courts to ensure the cases reach a logical conclusion. The timeline for action depends on the judiciary, he added. “These are criminal cases, so they follow the due process. Courts are serious about election-related offenses, and we are requesting expedited resolution,” he said.
On complaints of hate speech, Kulkarni said these are addressed under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). “Some complaints were verified as genuine, and cases were filed under relevant legal provisions. However, the model code of conduct is not a law, but a consensual guideline supported by various laws,” he explained.
Kulkarni also dismissed allegations of booth capturing during the polls. “Booth capturing has never happened in Maharashtra. With EVMs, it is meaningless because the machines are robust and data is retrievable. There were six reported instances of disruption during voting, but the polling process was restored within an hour,” he said. In one case, an EVM was replaced to clear any doubts.
Source:financialexpress.com
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Europe
Greetings on a regular meeting of the Russia-Islamic World Strategic Vision Group
December 11, 2024
“The Russian Federation has always attached great importance to promoting friendly ties with Muslim countries, both bilaterally and in the context of its dialogue with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
It is important that our positions on current regional and global issues are closely aligned in many respects amid today’s difficult international situation. This is underscored by the theme of the meeting, “Russia and the Islamic world: Cooperation in an emerging multipolar era.” In fact, we are united in our commitment to building a fair democratic world order based on true equality, the rule of international law and free from any forms of discrimination, diktat, and sanctions pressure.
The participants in the meeting will consider a wide range of issues. As usual, the agenda related to settling regional conflicts and crises, as well as combatting the terrorist threat, deserves a special focus. It is also important to think about coordinating efforts in education to provide more effective resistance to the spread of extremist ideology.
Overall, I am confident that you will hold constructive and substantial discussions, and that the ideas and initiatives put forward by the Group will facilitate further development of mutually beneficial cooperation between our countries.”
Source:kremlin.ru
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http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/75823
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Islamic fintech startup Ayan Capital secures £2.6 million in equity funding
December 11, 2024
The round has been led by Cur8 Capital, a UK-based platform that offers ethical investment opportunities.
In early 2024, Ayan started providing Islamic car finance for private hire drivers such as those on Uber, Bolt and Wheely, to purchase EVs and low-carbon-emission plug-in hybrid cars.
Ayan has already financed over £3.4M, maintaining a 0% NPL rate.
In addition to this, the firm recently launched AyanPay - a 0% car repair and home improvement service. AyanPay enables customers to finance purchases for up to £20,000 for 12 months.
The team behind Ayan previously built Alif, a banking and fintech group in Central Asia, that has over 1,300 employees and serves 3.8 million customers.
Uzair Ali, principal at Cur8 Capital, says: “With 85% of Gen Z Muslims seeking to bank in line with their values, Ayan is going after a massive market. They have scaled impressively from car finance to broader solutions in line with their vision to build a digital Islamic neo-bank. With Abdullo's proven track record and the team’s deep expertise, we are very excited for what comes next.”
Source:finextra.com
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https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/45198/islamic-fintech-startup-ayan-capital-secures-26-million-in-equity-funding
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Authors go to EP to warn of radical Islam in Belgian schools
11 December 2024
Jean-Pierre Martin and Laurence D’Hondt, who wrote a controversial book on the rising Islamism that is facing teachers in Belgium, presented their book on December 10 in the European Parliament.
Laurence D’Hondt highlighted how she and Martin have been professional journalists, working across the Islamic world, and now see how radical Islam is spreading, how Islamists “impose their views and way of life on everyone.”
She labelled this rising Islamism “a totalitarian project’ and said it was “worrisome” to see it grow so much.
A watershed moment for France came with two startling murders: the killings and decapitations of schoolteachers Samuel Paty in 2020 and Dominique Bernard in 2023 by radical Muslims.
But in Belgium, not much was generally known, and for that reason, D’hondt and Martin went out to speak with teachers in Belgium. They discovered the situation is bad as well, especially in Brussels.
“Schools in Belgium are a target of the Muslim Brotherhood,” D’hondt said.
Martin noted that since its inception in the 1920’s, the Muslim Brotherhood has targeted schools and educational institutions. For example in Turkey, when Kemal Ataturk created a secular state, Martin said the Muslim Brotherhood became experts in subversive ways.
He warned that in Europe, many have a blind spot for how they operate, leading to increasing problems.
“Now it’s a difficult situation in many schools.”
He said there was intensive proselytization in schools and that politics “didn’t take the necessary steps to safeguard secularism”.
Martin noted that the youngest generations never knew the power of faith in society and did not know the repercussions of Islamism on freedom or on the relationship between men and women.
Assita Kanko, a Belgian MEP who is a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group, hosted the event. She remarked that in Brussels political Islam was on the rise, pointing to the Belgian politician Fouad Ahidar, whose party emphasises Muslim issues. He made gains in the local elections in October. Radical Muslims also were present in cultural centres showing increasing political and intellectual power of radicals in the capital of Europe.
This, of course, is visible in Brussels schools, where the authors talked with teachers, who said they see a shift in atmosphere in class, where girls say they want to wear veils.
Some children appear to be captured by the radical ideology, but many moderate Muslim children appear to be forced to follow the most radical, feeling intimidation and experiencing social pressure.
Belgian teachers say they were no longer invited to certain parties, and some suffered from burnouts.
“There is separatism at schools in Brussels”, Laurence D’hondt said.
“If it happens in schools today, it will be in our streets tomorrow”.
Organisers of the initial presentation just a few weeks ago in November, pulled out after they received threats, apparently from young Muslims who were offended by people allegedly abusing the name of Allah.
Since 2016, there is a new Islamic radicalism, Martin said, less visible, more pernicious.
“Women play a prominent role, experimental even.” They were used to spread radical Islam, often in an educational role.
D’hondt pointed out they were often well-educated, wore make up, appear open, wear a veil, look modern and so on, but did have a radical political agenda.
Wearing a veil was said to be a telling sign, and it allegedly was not a coincidence a TV channel such as Al Jazeera showed young veiled children so often.
Kanko noted that European institutions often used advertising with veiled women and girls.
The authors said there is an inverse integration ongoing, where Europe is increasingly opting for halal food instead of the other way around.
D’hondt said radical Muslims often use the judicial route, and leaned on so-called anti-discrimination laws to get what they want at schools, including the right to wear a veil.
But the radicals did not limit themselves only to this. They also used the economic route, and promoted halal food for example, or the social and cultural route, promoting ritual slaughter, Ramadan and other Islamic customs.
“Discreetly, they are using our system and liberties to impose their customs.”
According to Kanko, all political parties were too supportive of this communautarism, but in particular, the Left supported this way too much.
The authors also noticed a rise in antisemitism, where young children talk about “filthy Jews” and where parents meddle in and determine what can or cannot be said at schools.
Making everything worse is that all this radicalism was pushed via systems often receiving heavy subsidies from Brussels, where radicals allegedly could hand out money with no checks or controls.
Both authors of the book Allah n’a rien à faire dans ma classe (Allah has nothing to do in my class) were invited to the EP by Assita Kanko, Belgian MEP for the European Conservatives and Reformists and François Bellamy, French MEP for the European People’s Party after an earlier presentation in Brussels was chancelled.
Bellamy could not attend the event due to the political situation in France.
Source:brusselssignal.eu
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Islamic Centre in Yate plans revealed at Wellington Road
11th December
PROPOSALS have been lodged for a new Islamic centre which would include a place for daily worship, community gatherings and workshops.
The plans for Yate's first ever Islamic Cultural and Resource Centre – at units 2 and 3 in Wellington Road – were sent to South Gloucestershire Council last month.
According to the applicant, the site would welcome locals into the space for daily worship, workshops, community engagement and gatherings.
They say that it would also 'increase footfall' for businesses in the area and that the site has 'lain under-utilised' for many years.
A statement – on behalf of the applicant – read: “The site is located directly off Wellington Road and sits adjacent to an established rank of shops, in close proximity to other key local resources.
“The site has lain under-utilised for many years and has been granted approval for development.
“We envisage that local businesses will see an increase in footfall and we further estimate that this will lead to an increase in custom.
“The space would represent a fresh approach that would welcome locals into the space for daily worship, workshops, community engagement and gatherings.
“Although the main entrance is relatively understated, the intention is to provide a vestibule that is befitting the building welcoming worshippers and its visitors.
“The proposal seeks to provide essential spaces for wudu/ablution along with toilets and shoe racks.
“Given the split in floors, we have the opportunity to have split uses simultaneously on either floor allowing more flexibility and to allow for increased usage in the years to come.
“The site is in a highly sustainable location, which benefits from a wide range of amenities and a relatively dense population that can easily access the site by walking or other means of sustainable transport.
“The proposal includes discreet windows that face west and south in particular to improve passive surveillance and overlooking, something which is currently lacking.
“The site is in a highly sustainable location, with many Muslims living in 15 minute walking distance.
“There is a population of over 10,935 residents in this radius with 1.6 per cent stating their faith as Muslim as identified within the 2021 census data, this would give an estimated figure of 175 people within this area to support the centre.
“The site has the capacity to allow for parking in the ten spaces for the retail units, a number of auxiliary spaces to the rear for essential staff.
“The carefully considered design has elements of existing vernacular namely the use of red brickwork whilst also presenting a new aesthetic, with a modern twist.
"This not only has influences of Islamic architectural flare but are also intertwined with crafts and skills of Great British traditions.
“The principles will deliver a considered improvement to this site and provide further vibrancy to this small rank of shops as well as providing a space that is fit for many years to come.”
Scores of residents have however issued objections to the proposals, with parking and traffic concerns being prevalent among many.
One said: "It would be totally irresponsible to add in a place where multiple people would visit daily to an already strained and over crowded area.
Another opponent said: "This area is not ideal for a building like this - there is already congestion on Wellington Road and no parking.
Source:gazetteseries.co.uk
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Mideast
Mufti of Khan Yunis to Islamic World: Supporting Gaza Today Religious Duty
11 Dec 2024
The Mufti of Khan Yunis Governorate in the southern Gaza Strip, Ihsan Ashour, sent a message to scholars and "zealous" people from the Islamic world, urging them to provide relief to the Strip with everything they can and to fulfill their responsibilities towards their nation's people, "as this is a religious duty."
Ashour said in a message he posted on his Facebook account today, Wednesday,
that the situation in the Strip today has become difficult with the increasing number of martyrs.
Source:saba.ye
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54 journalists killed in 2024, a third by Israel: media group
December 12, 2024
PARIS: Fifty-four journalists were killed worldwide while carrying out their work or because of their profession in 2024, a third of them by the Israeli army, according to an annual report by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) published Thursday.
According to the press freedom NGO, Israeli armed forces were responsible for the deaths of 18 journalists this year — 16 in Gaza and two in Lebanon.
“Palestine is the most dangerous country for journalists, recording a higher death toll than any other country over the past five years,” RSF said in its annual report, which covers data up to December 1.
The organization has filed four complaints with the International Criminal Court (ICC) for “war crimes committed against journalists by the Israeli army.”
It said that in total “more than 145” journalists had been killed by the Israeli army in Gaza since the start of the war there in October 2023, with 35 of them working at the time of their deaths, RSF said.
It described the number of killings as “an unprecedented bloodbath.”
In a separate report published Tuesday, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) reported that 104 journalists were killed worldwide in 2024, with more than half of them in Gaza.
The figures differ between the IFJ and RSF due to two different methodologies used in calculating the toll.
RSF only includes journalists whose deaths have been “proven to be directly related to their professional activity.”
Israel denies that it intentionally harms journalists but admits that some have been killed in air strikes on military targets.
“We don’t accept these figures. We don’t believe they are correct,” Israeli government spokesman David Mercer told a press conference on Wednesday.
After Gaza, the deadliest places for journalists in 2024 were Pakistan with seven deaths, followed by Bangladesh and Mexico with five each.
In 2023, the number of journalists killed worldwide stood at 45 in the same January-December period.
As of December 1, there were 550 journalists imprisoned worldwide, compared to 513 last year, according to RSF figures.
The three countries with the highest numbers of detained journalists are China (124, including 11 in Hong Kong), Myanmar (61), and Israel (41).
Furthermore, 55 journalists are currently being held hostage, including two abducted in 2024. Nearly half — 25 in total — are in the hands of the Daesh group.
In addition, 95 journalists are reported missing, including four new cases reported in 2024.
Source:arabnews.com
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US announces first Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon under ceasefire deal
December 12, 2024
WASHINGTON: Israeli forces conducted a first withdrawal from a town in south Lebanon and were replaced by the Lebanese military under a ceasefire deal, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Wednesday.
The command’s leader General Erik Kurilla “was present at the implementation and monitoring headquarters today during the ongoing first Israeli Defense Forces withdrawal and Lebanese Armed Forces replacement in Al-Khiam, Lebanon as part of the (ceasefire) agreement,” CENTCOM said in a statement.
“This is an important first step in the implementation of a lasting cessation of hostilities and lays the foundation for continued progress,” the statement quoted Kurilla as saying.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said that the stationing of troops “in the Khiam and Marjayoun areas today represents a fundamental step toward strengthening the army’s deployment in the south, in implementation of the ceasefire decision.”
“We salute the army’s efforts” toward establishing “stability in the south,” Mikati said in a post on X.
The Israeli military meanwhile said its 7th Brigade had “concluded their mission in Khiam in southern Lebanon.”
“In accordance with the ceasefire understandings and with the coordination of the United States, soldiers of the Lebanese Armed Forces are being deployed in the area together” with UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping mission in the area, the Israeli statement said.
Israel stepped up its military campaign in south Lebanon in late September after nearly a year of cross-border exchanges begun by Hezbollah in support of its ally Hamas, following the Palestinian group’s October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel.
A ceasefire came into effect on November 27 and is generally holding, though both sides have accused the other of repeated violations.
As part of the agreement, the Lebanese army and United Nations peacekeepers will deploy in southern Lebanon as the Israeli army withdraws over a period of 60 days.
Hezbollah is also meant to withdraw its forces north of the Litani river, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border, and dismantle its military infrastructure in southern Lebanon.
Source:arabnews.com
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Israeli strikes in Gaza hit refugee camps, Palestinians tasked with securing aid trucks
December 12, 2024
CAIRO: At least eight Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded in two Israeli airstrikes that targeted groups of Palestinians tasked with securing trucks bringing aid into the Gaza Strip on Thursday, medics said.
Medics said at least 30 people were wounded and with several in critical condition, they feared the death toll may rise in the first strike in the western area of Rafah City, in the south of the enclave.
A separate strike killed 21 people including several children, after Israeli warplanes targeted two homes near Nuseirat refugee camp and Gaza City.
“Fifteen killed, including at least six children, and more than 17 wounded were recovered as a result of the Israeli bombing” of a building sheltering displaced people near Nuseirat, Gaza’s civil defense agency spokesman Mahmud Basal said.
The bodies of six others killed in a strike on an apartment in Gaza City were transferred to hospital, along with multiple wounded people, he added.
In the nearby city of Khan Younis, another group of men tasked with security for aid shipments was hit by a separate Israeli airstrike that wounded several of them, medics said.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Armed gangs have repeatedly hijacked aid trucks shortly after they roll into the enclave, prompting the Islamist Hamas group to form a task force to confront them. The Hamas-led forces have killed over two dozen members of the gangs in recent months, according to Hamas sources and medics.
In Gaza City, medics said at least six people were killed in an airstrike that hit a house, taking the death toll on Thursday to at least 14.
Hamas said Israeli military strikes have killed at least 700 police tasked with securing aid trucks in Gaza since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023.
Months of ceasefire efforts by Arab mediators, Egypt, and Qatar, backed by the United States, have failed to conclude a deal between the two warring sides.
On Wednesday, the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly voted to demand an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the immediate release of all hostages.
General Assembly resolutions are not binding but carry political weight, reflecting a global view on the war. The United States, Israel and seven other countries voted against the ceasefire resolution, while 13 countries abstained.
The war in the Palestinian enclave began after Hamas gunmen stormed into Israeli communities in October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages back to Hamas-run Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, Israel’s military has leveled swaths of Gaza, driving nearly all of its 2.3 million people from their homes, giving rise to deadly hunger and disease and killing more than 44,800 people, according to Palestinian health authorities.
Source:arabnews.com
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Netanyahu aide on trial in new case troubling Israeli PM
December 11, 2024
JERUSALEM: As the corruption trial of Benjamin Netanyahu resumed this week, Israel was gripped by another scandal involving the prime minister and the alleged leaking of classified documents.
Eli Feldstein, a former adviser to Netanyahu, is accused in the case of leaking a classified document related to hostage negotiations in Gaza to shift critical media coverage of the Israeli leader.
The case, critics say, highlights deep-seated corruption inside his office, including attempts to sway public opinion amid a divisive war.
It also casts a spotlight on disciplinary issues faced by the Israeli military during the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
Feldstein, who was released to house arrest on Tuesday, allegedly received the classified information from a reservist noncommissioned officer who has not yet been named. In a combative press conference on Monday, Netanyahu said the charges against Feldstein were a part of a broader attack against him and his supporters.
“I do not intend to get involved in ongoing investigations, but I want to talk about this here as well,” Netanyahu said in response to a question from a journalist about the affair. He said he was shocked by the investigation and the methods used by law enforcement officials to extract information, adding the overarching goal was to get his former aides to give up sensitive information about him.
Both Feldstein, who served as an unofficial aide to Netanyahu, and the unnamed soldier, were indicted last month on charges of compromising state security.
Feldstein leaked a document to German newspaper Bild that detailed apparent Hamas tactics in the negotiations for a hostage release and ceasefire.
The information in the document has since been dismissed by the army as not accurately reflecting Hamas’s upper leadership.
Feldstein and the unnamed soldier had been held in police custody for more than two months and the charges against them are serious enough to carry a life sentence. Prosecutors have alleged the adviser had political motives in leaking the document.
They allege he was in possession of the document from July, but only chose to leak it to the media in September, after the murder of six high-profile hostages by Hamas in late August, with the aim of alleviating public criticism of the prime minister.
Feldstein’s case has sparked a fierce response from Netanyahu and his allies.
Netanyahu and his supporters have decried Feldstein’s arrest and indictment as a political witch-hunt and an abuse of the legal system.
In a lengthy video clip released on Nov. 24, Netanyahu said the Feldstein case was “selective law enforcement” aimed at harming him and his right-wing camp.
Some of Netanyahu’s supporters accuse the defense establishment of seeking revenge against Netanyahu and his government, which has pointed a finger of blame at the military, the Shin Bet security agency and the Mossad spy agency as being responsible for the failures that enabled Hamas to attack Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 — sparking the ongoing war in Gaza.
In a direct response to Feldstein’s indictment, ministers in Netanyahu’s coalition have even advanced legislation that would allow soldiers — and other members of the defense establishment — to pass classified intelligence, even without authorization, to the prime minister or defense minister.
Source:arabnews.com
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How Sednaya’s liberation exposed decades of systematic torture under Syria’s Assad regime
NADIA AL-FAOUR ROBERT EDWARDS
December 11, 2024
DUBAI/LONDON: As jubilation spread across Syria following the overthrow of Bashar Assad on Dec. 8 after 13 years of civil war, Sednaya prison — a name synonymous with unspeakable horrors — finally fell into opposition hands.
Thousands of Syrians flooded the gates of the infamous facility near Damascus on Monday, desperate for news of loved ones who had vanished into the prison’s labyrinthine depths, many of them decades ago.
For years, Sednaya had been a black hole of despair, where political prisoners, activists and regime critics were detained, tortured and often executed.
Built in the 1980s under the rule of Assad’s father, Hafez, Sednaya began as a military prison but quickly morphed into a symbol of state terror.
Human rights groups have described it as a “human slaughterhouse,” a moniker reflecting the industrial-scale torture and execution that defined its operations.
Former detainees recount harrowing tales of abuse within its walls. Testimonies shared with Amnesty International, the rights monitor, detailed how prisoners were beaten, sexually assaulted and left to die of untreated wounds and diseases in squalid, overcrowded cells.
Others faced mass hangings after sham trials that lasted only minutes. Between 2011 and 2015, Amnesty estimates that up to 13,000 people were executed. The methods of torture were both medieval and methodical, including beatings, stabbings, electric shocks and starvation.
The horrors extended beyond death. The US has previously accused the Assad regime of using a crematorium at Sednaya to dispose of bodies, while surviving detainees described “confession” protocols involving sadistic torture.
On Sunday, Sednaya’s gates were forced open by opposition fighters from Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham after a 10-day campaign led by opposition chief Abu Mohammed Al-Golani that toppled the Assad regime.
Thousands of detainees spilled out of the jail, some barely able to crawl after years of abuse. Videos circulated online showed women, children and elderly prisoners emerging from filthy cells, their emaciated forms bearing witness to the atrocities they had endured.
One video showed hundreds of traumatized women emerging from filthy cells, among them a three-year-old child and scores of teenage girls.
Among the freed prisoners was Ragheed Al-Tatari, a former Syrian air force pilot imprisoned for 43 years after refusing to bomb civilians during the 1982 Hama massacre. Al-Tatari’s survival shocked even those accustomed to Sednaya’s grim history.
Another video circulating online showed an elderly lady in a squalid cell. The unidentified woman was only capable of laughing and repeating what the rebels told her, “the regime fell, the regime fell, the regime fell,” through her laughter.
Like her, countless prisoners seem to have lost their minds and are unable to comprehend what is happening.
Others emerged from their incarceration desperate to learn the fate of their loved ones outside. A QudsN clip circulating on social media shows a man who, on being released, immediately went to visit the graves of his children, who had reportedly been killed by the regime.
Tragically, not all inmates survived long enough to see liberation.
The decomposing body of activist Mazen Hamadeh, who had traveled the world detailing the horrors he had endured during a previous stint in the regime’s dungeons before being lured back to Syria in 2021 under false promises of security, was found inside.
He bore signs of recent blunt-force trauma.
For many Syrians, the fall of Sednaya has been bittersweet. Thousands remain unaccounted for, and families desperate for closure have scoured its grounds for clues.
Volunteers from the Syrian civil defense, known as the White Helmets, armed with maps and sniffer dogs, have searched for hidden cells and underground chambers. Despite rumors of secret detention areas, they reported finding no evidence of additional prisoners.
Sednaya’s facilities reveal the systematic cruelty that defined the Assad regime. Surveillance rooms with wall-to-wall monitors allowed guards to oversee detainees at all times.
Paraphernalia of torture, including ropes for hanging and devices for crushing bodies, were found in abundance. Mass graves and decomposing bodies near the Harasta hospital — where corpses were sent from Sednaya — underscore the scale of atrocities.
The “red wing” housed political prisoners, subjected to the worst abuses. Survivors describe being denied water, beaten into unconsciousness, and forced to relieve themselves in their cells.
Inmates were often forbidden from making noise, even during torture. Every morning, guards collected the dead for burial in unmarked graves, recording causes of death as “heart failure” or “respiratory issues.”
As the White Helmets and opposition fighters continued to make their way into Sednaya to ensure no cell had been left unopened, they came across several decomposed bodies and others that had been partially dissolved in acid.
Sednaya’s reputation as a site of systemic abuse predates Syria’s civil war. In the 1980s, it became a repository for Islamists the regime had once encouraged to fight US forces in Iraq but later deemed threats.
Following the 2011 Arab uprisings, the prison’s role expanded dramatically. Protesters, journalists, aid workers and students were detained en masse, many never to be seen again.
The prison’s practices bear the fingerprints of Alois Brunner, a Nazi war criminal who trained Syrian intelligence officers in interrogation and torture techniques.
Once a high-ranking Gestapo officer who oversaw the deportation of more than 128,000 Jews to death camps during the Second World War, Austrian-born Brunner was on the run until he was offered protection by Hafez Assad.
Assad refused on multiple occasions to extradite Brunner to stand trial in Austria and Germany in the 1980s, but later came to see him as a burden and an embarrassment to his rule.
In the mid-1990s, Hafez ordered Brunner’s “indefinite” imprisonment in the same squalor and misery the former Nazi officer had taught Syrian jailors to inflict on their prisoners. He died in Damascus in 2001 aged 89.
Despite overwhelming evidence, Bashar Assad consistently denied allegations of abuse. “You can forge anything these days. It is the fake news era,” he told Yahoo News in 2017 when confronted with Amnesty’s findings.
His denials, however, are contradicted by testimonies and reports such as the Caesar files — a cache of 53,000 images taken in Syria’s prisons and military hospitals and smuggled out by a defector — which document the regime’s crimes in horrifying detail.
On Monday, Fadel Abdul Ghany, director of the Syrian Network for Human Rights, broke down in tears during a televised interview when asked about the fate of missing detainees. “It is most probable that those who have been arbitrarily disappeared by the regime are dead,” he said.
Abdul Ghany later posted on social media: “I deeply regret having to share this distressing announcement, but I feel it is my responsibility to share it.”
Syrian activist Wafa Ali Mustafa, whose father was forcibly disappeared in 2013, said on X that she has been searching “through harrowing videos, clinging to any chance” that he might be among the survivors.
The prison’s fall has prompted calls for accountability. “The blood that was spilled here cannot just run. They must be held to account,” Radwan Eid, a former detainee, told Reuters news agency.
Sednaya is also not the only regime jail where such abuses are claimed to have taken place. There are multiple facilities across the country, including Mezzeh military prison, Tedmor, and Fereh Falasteen, from which evidence of further horrors are likely to emerge.
The challenge now lies in preserving evidence and ensuring that Sednaya’s perpetrators face trial.
The International Committee of the Red Cross and other organizations have urged the armed opposition to protect records and prevent further destruction. However, looting and chaos at Sednaya has complicated these efforts.
As Bashar Assad and his acolytes have been granted asylum in Russia, it seems unlikely the deposed president and others in the upper echelons of his regime will stand trial for their role in the crimes perpetrated at Sednaya.
While the road to justice may be long, Sednaya’s liberation represents a turning point. For survivors and families, it offers a rare opportunity to confront the truth and honor the memories of those lost.
The dismantling of Sednaya’s imprisonment machinery is a symbolic step toward rebuilding the nation and serves as a reminder of the resilience of those who survived, and the enduring need for accountability.
Source:arabnews.com
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Pezeshkian: regional tensions highlight how Zionist entity exploits divisions among Islamic countries
11 Dec 2024
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has stressed during his meeting with Turkish Minister of Trade Omer Bolat the importance of strengthening cooperation between Islamic countries and expanding relations and interactions between them.
Tasnim International News Agency reported Wednesday that President Pezeshkian expressed during the meeting his deep conviction that Islamic countries should work to expand their relations and joint interaction more than ever before, as this is in the interest of the entire Islamic nation.
He stressed the importance of Islamic countries sharing their various capabilities, whether in trade markets, transportation routes, or any other capabilities, with the aim of achieving common benefits that serve the Islamic nation.
He called for resolving problems between Islamic countries in a spirit of brotherhood and in a practical manner, while emphasizing the need to strengthen the strength of the Islamic world not only with words, but with actions.
President Pezeshkian explained that what is happening in the region clearly shows how the Zionist entity is exploiting the differences between Islamic countries to continue its attacks on Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, causing the bloodshed and suffering of Muslims.
Source:saba.ye
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Arab World
Crown Prince congratulates King Salman on Saudi Arabia’s successful bid to host World Cup 2034
December 11, 2024
RIYADH: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman congratulated King Salman, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, on Saudi Arabia’s successful bid to host the FIFA World Cup 2034.
The Crown Prince confirmed Saudi Arabia’s strong commitment to contribute to the development of football sport worldwide and promoting messages of love, peace and tolerance.
He highlighted the Kingdom’s significant capabilities, the enthusiasm of the Saudi people, and their ability to overcome challenges, which ultimately led to their successful bid to host the World Cup 2034, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
On Wednesday, FIFA announced that Saudi Arabia will host the international football tournament in 2034.
Later on Wednesday, the crown prince announced the establishment of the “Supreme Authority for Hosting the 2034 World Cup.”
Setting up the authority showed the Kingdom’s determination to present an exceptional version of the tournament, SPA said.
Saudi Arabia became the first country in FIFA’s history to solely host the expanded format of the World Cup with 48 teams, featuring 16 additional football teams for the first time since Qatar’s World Cup 2022, SPA reported.
The US, Mexico and Canada will host the expanded format of World Cup 2026, while the 2030 event is set to take place in Morocco, Spain and Portugal.
In July, Saudi Arabia officially submitted its bid to host the World Cup 2034 under the slogan “Growing Together.”
The Kingdom will host the football matches in 15 stadiums across five cities, including Riyadh, Jeddah, Al-Khobar, Abha and Neom.
It also plans to host entertainment activities for World Cup fans in 10 sites, including King Salman Park and the Jeddah Waterfront Park.
Source:arabnews.com
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Saudi Arabia celebrates Arabic language’s legacy at UN
December 11, 2024
RIYADH: The King Salman Global Academy for the Arabic Language hosted the World Arabic Language Day celebration program and its accompanying exhibition at the UN headquarters in New York.
Organized in collaboration with the Kingdom’s permanent mission to the UN, the event was held under the theme, “Arabic Language and Artificial Intelligence: Enhancing Innovation While Preserving Cultural Heritage,” from Dec. 9 to Dec. 11.
The academy’s secretary-general, Abdullah Al-Washmi, emphasized the Kingdom’s pivotal role in supporting the Arabic language globally, rooted in Saudi Vision 2030, as the birthplace of the Arabic language and the Holy Qur’an, and in preserving and promoting Arabic as an integral part of cultural identity.
He added that this year’s theme reflected a growing global awareness of the importance of the Arabic language, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Al-Washmi said that the academy’s role was as a leading institution working to enhance the status of the Arabic language and developing tools for its teaching and dissemination locally and internationally, adding that the institution operated in more than 60 countries, demonstrating its global impact.
He also underscored the historical significance of the Arabic language at the UN, where it was recognized as one of its six official languages through a landmark resolution by the General Assembly in 1973.
Held under the patronage of Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan, the event was attended by high-ranking international and diplomatic figures.
This marks the fourth consecutive year of the celebration, showcasing the academy’s efforts to promote Arabic in global organizations and highlighting Saudi Arabia’s dedication to preserving the language’s cultural and scientific heritage.
The event included a panel discussion, “Arabic Translation at the UN,” featuring international experts and a virtual training course on “Arabic Translation Skills for Diplomatic Purposes” for UN staff.
An Arabic language exhibition featured artistic works and digital displays focused on the language’s beauty, history and impact on other civilizations. It reflected Saudi culture’s authenticity while introducing the academy’s activities and publications.
Source:arabnews.com
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COP16: Saudi Arabia co-leads in global initiative to monitor and tackle sand storms
December 11, 2024
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is taking up a leading role in a global initiative to establish an early warning system in the Middle East to monitor sand and dust storms.
The announcement was made on Wednesday during the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) to combat desertification, being held in Riyadh until Dec. 13.
Under the supervision of the World Meteorological Organization, Riyadh and other participating countries will contribute about $2 billion to this initiative aimed at addressing sand and dust storms, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
The initiative for the early warning system aims to develop renewable solutions to tackle land degradation, drought and desertification.
Jamaan Saad Al-Qahtani, executive director of the Sand and Dust Storm Regional Center in Jeddah, said during the COP16 panel that “the initiative seeks to enhance global monitoring, surveillance, warnings and coordination related to sand and dust storms.”
According to environmental studies, desertification has generated about two billion tons of sand and dust yearly.
Saudi Arabia hosts the fourth global center in Jeddah affiliated with the World Meteorological Organization, which monitors dust storms in the GCC and the Middle East. The other three global centers are in Beijing, Barcelona and Barbados.
Qahtani said that Saudi Arabia would “enhance early warning systems in countries that currently lack the necessary capabilities.”
Osama Fakiha, Saudi deputy minister of environment, said that more than 1.8 billion people were affected by drought.
He stressed the need to shift from simply responding to drought conditions as they arose to taking proactive steps to address these challenges effectively, SPA reported.
“Through this initiative, we target 80 countries that are most vulnerable to drought,” Fakiha said.
Source:arabnews.com
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Eight new native plant species discovered in Saudi Arabia
December 11, 2024
RIYADH: The Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture and NEOM have discovered eight native plant species that were not previously recorded in the Kingdom, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Wednesday.
This discovery is part of the NEOM flora program, which aims to protect 95 percent of natural lands and restore and document the region’s unique biodiversity.
The two-phase program included a comprehensive study of the geology, soil, watershed hydrology, ecology and topography of NEOM.
“The new plant species have been documented at the National Herbarium within the Seed Center and Plant Genetic Resources Bank in Riyadh, representing a significant addition to Saudi Arabia’s recorded flora,” said Ahmad Alayadh, deputy minister for agriculture.
The eight species are: Bituminaria flaccida (Nabelek) Greuter, Cicer judaicum Boiss, Crambe hispanica L, Diplotaxis tenuifolia (L.) DC, Hyoscyamus boveanus (Dunal) Asch & Schweinf, Muscari longipes subsp Longipes, Phagnalon nitidum Fresen, and Plantago sinaica (Barneoud) Decne.
Dhiya Zaidan, senior manager of landscape architecture at NEOM, said: “Over the past two and a half years, this initiative has yielded remarkable results, including documenting 345 local plant species, 28 rare species, and eight new registered plant species not previously recorded in the Kingdom.
“This would not have been possible without the dedication and commitment of our researchers and scientists on the ground.”
Launched in 2021, the NEOM flora program is a key initiative to document and conserve the region’s natural heritage, enhancing knowledge of local vegetation and plant species.
Source:arabnews.com
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Saudi delegation in first round of free trade negotiations between GCC, Japan
ARAB NEWS JAPAN
December 11, 2024
RIYADH: The General Authority for Foreign Trade led the Saudi delegation at the first round of negotiations for a free trade agreement between the Gulf Cooperation Council and Japan, which took place from Dec. 10-12.
Represented by Fareed bin Saeed Al-Asali, the deputy governor for Agreements and International Organizations and head of the Saudi negotiation team, the Saudi team is overlooking the progress of the negotiations. It consists of nine subcommittees focusing on goods, services, general texts and provisions, e-commerce, intellectual property, government procurement, rules of origin, investment and economic evaluation.
The subcommittees include members from 46 government entities working together to prepare the Kingdom’s negotiating positions for discussions within the World Trade Organization, FTAs, and related initiatives.
In 2023, trade exchange between Saudi Arabia and Japan amounted to approximately 6 trillion yen ($41 billion). The Kingdom’s primary exports include mineral and organic chemical products, while Japan predominantly exports vehicles and machinery, along with their respective spare parts.
The GAFT plays an important role in expanding Saudi Arabia’s global presence and ensuring its active participation in international organizations in order to achieve common goals.
Source:arabnews.com
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2582702/saudi-arabia
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AlUla celebrated on UN International Mountain Day
December 11, 2024
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s majestic mountain ranges in the historic AlUla Governorate are being celebrated on Wednesday’s International Mountain Day.
Nestled in northwest Saudi Arabia’s Hijaz region, AlUla is home to breathtaking mountain summits that stand as a testament to the wonders of nature and the rich tapestry of history in the Kingdom, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Set up by the UN in 2003, International Mountain Day aims to underline the importance of mountainous terrain as a stunning natural landscape and a vital source of biodiversity and cultural heritage.
AlUla has become a must-see site for world leaders visiting Saudi Arabia. It is also an attractive destination for tourists and nature enthusiasts looking to explore its wind-sculpted sandstone mountains, and mausoleums.
AlUla’s mountains boast distinctive geological formations that hold past mysteries and promise rich visual and cultural experiences, the SPA added.
Attracting tourists forms an integral part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, along with preserving the region that tells the stories of the ancient civilizations that once thrived there.
Source:arabnews.com
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2582691/saudi-arabia
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North America
CAIR Welcomes Trade Restrictions on Chinese Firm Enabling Surveillance of Uyghur Muslims
December 11, 2024
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today welcomed new trade restrictions on two Chinese firms, including one accused of enabling human rights violations through surveillance of Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic and religious minorities in China.
One company named by the US Commerce Department was Beijing Zhongdun Security Technology Group, which offers products allowing human rights violations by Chinese authorities.
Last month, CAIR welcomed the addition of 29 Chinese companies to the list of entities using forced labor involving Uyghur minorities.
In a statement, CAIR said:
“We welcome the new trade restrictions, especially those targeting a firm reportedly enabling the surveillance of Uyghur Muslims and other minority groups. Dictatorial governments often use mass surveillance to violate the human rights of targeted minority populations. We encourage U.S. officials to similarly sanction firms enabling the mass surveillance of the Palestinian people targeted by Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
In November, CAIR welcomed a ban on the entry to the United States of products produced by Esquel Group, one of the world’s largest textile and apparel companies, over allegations it uses forced Uyghur labor.
In October, CAIR welcomed DHS banning two Chinese companies over their reported use of Uyghur slave labor.
CAIR has previously welcomed the banning of Chinese companies using slave labor.
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
Do you like reading CAIR press releases and taking part in our action alerts? You can help contribute to CAIR’s work of defending civil rights and empowering American Muslims across the country by making a one-time contribution or becoming a monthly donor. Supporters like you make CAIR’s advocacy work possible and defeating Islamophobia an achievable goal. Click here to donate to CAIR.
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Source:cair.com
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https://www.cair.com/press_releases/cair-welcomes-trade-restrictions-on-chinese-firm-enabling-surveillance-of-uyghur-muslims/
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Mystery drones not from Iranian 'mothership' - Pentagon
December 12, 2024
A spate of mysterious drone sightings in the US are not the work of an Iranian "mothership" lurking off the east coast, the Pentagon says.
Dozens of drones have been spotted across New Jersey in recent weeks, including near sensitive military locations in the state and close to President-elect Donald Trump's golf course in the town of Bedminster.
A US congressman Jeff Van Drew claimed he had heard from "high sources" that the flying objects were tied to Iran.
Speaking to Fox News, the New Jersey Republican said the drones were coming from an Iranian "mothership" in the Atlantic.
"That mothership... is off the East Coast of the United States of America. They've launched drones into everything that we can see or hear," Van Drew said on Wednesday.
"These are from high sources. I don't say this lightly."
He added that the drones should be "shot down".
But deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh flatly rejected the claims.
She told a briefing on Wednesday: "There is no truth to that.
"There is no Iranian ship off the coast of the United States, and there's no so-called mothership launching drones towards the United States."
The Pentagon's initial assessment, Ms Singh added, is that "these are not drones coming from a foreign entity or adversary".
The Pentagon statement comes weeks after publicly unexplained drone incursions were reported over US airbases in the UK.
Dozens of sightings have been reported over New Jersey since 18 November, with 49 reported sightings on Sunday alone, Governor Phil Murphy said Monday.
Some of the flights have taken place near Picatinny Arsenal - a sensitive military research facility - as well as near President-elect Donald Trump's golf course in the town of Bedminster.
Murphy stressed that the drones don't appear to pose a public safety concern.
The FBI has not explained the sightings so far.
"I don't have an answer of who's responsible," Robert Wheeler Jr, the assistant director of the FBI's Critical Incident Response Group told lawmakers at a congressional hearing on Tuesday. "But we're actively investigating."
New Jersey assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia dismissed the Pentagon's assertions.
"To state that there is no known or credible threat is incredibly misleading," she said.
The Republican - who was briefed by the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday - said the drones appear to avoid detection by traditional methods such as helicopter and radio.
Fantasia said the drones are up to 6ft (1.8m) in diameter, travel with lights turned off and "operate in a co-ordinated manner."
While the mysterious objects are not believed to be hobbyist drones, Fantasia said it remains unclear what they are.
In late November, the United States Air Force confirmed that unidentified drones were spotted over three US airbases in the UK: RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk and RAF Feltwell in Norfolk.
Defence sources told the BBC that suspicion had fallen on a "state actor" being responsible for the incursions.
Source:bbc.com
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https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crrwz91wqd9o
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Why are Americans celebrating this vigilante murderer as a freedom fighter?
11 Dec, 2024
A US health insurance CEO’s murder has transcended political ideology in uniting average Americans of all stripes against the kind of corruption that would warrant some freedom bombs if it were in a foreign nation of strategic interest to the US.
It’s no wonder Washington is hell-bent on banning TikTok. Shortly after a masked man was caught on camera gunning down UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson in midtown Manhattan on December 4, sparking a manhunt, users flooded the social media app with comments like, “Sorry, I can’t help. I didn’t see anything because my insurance co-pay was too high for me to afford eyeglasses.” Or “This story is getting more coverage than UnitedHealthCare ever provided.”
They were mostly amused by the suspect’s successful evasion of authorities for several days, and the “deny, defend, depose” inscriptions on the shell casings found at the scene – similar to the “delay, deny, defend” phrase synonymous with the strategy used by health insurance companies to avoid paying out claims to those who have been paying for their coverage.
People popped up asking where they could donate to the suspect’s legal fees online, and started posting their own health insurance rejection letters.
As someone who was once surprised to find an $800 bill for a simple blood test in my mailbox while living in the US, all because my doctor didn’t check whether my health insurance actually covered the lab in question before referring me there, it’s long been clear that the American healthcare system is a giant racket that’s ripping people off.
And those of us who have had the unpleasant experience of paying hundreds of dollars every month in ever-increasing premiums for private insurance, only to end up in administrative hell dealing with an insurer’s attempt to dodge the service you’re paying for, have long understood the problem.
Know who really wasn’t amused by this violent manifestation of it? The Democratic Party governor of the state of Pennsylvania, where the 26-year-old suspect, Luigi Mangione, was turned in to police – at a McDonald’s in Altoona, whose online reviews are now rife with reports of “rats” (in the snitch sense).
“Some attention in this case, especially online, has been deeply disturbing, as some have looked to celebrate instead of condemning this killer,” said Governor John Shapiro. That’s quite a different tune from September, when Shapiro was celebrating killings himself by autographing ammunition alongside Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky at an army ammunition plant in the state.
“We must all do our part in the fight for freedom – from the workers in Scranton who make Pennsylvania the arsenal of democracy to the brave Ukrainian soldiers protecting their country,” Shapiro said at the time.
But what about protecting Americans from predatory profiteers? He and his pals have done such a bang-up job that a not-insignificant number of Americans are now cheering a symbolic act of murder like it was the political assassination of an authoritarian regime.
And maybe that’s exactly the best way to view it, if they’re really struggling to wrap their minds around it. Washington is quick to portray foreign leaders who happen to be in the way of its ambitions as oppressive and victimizing their own people. Yet, when it comes to the health system and its executives at home, making tens of millions of dollars in annual compensation as a reward for increasing profits in part by limiting claim payouts to sick people and raising costs, they’re selectively blind to the exploitation.
There’s a reason why online “wanted” style graphics, which almost immediately started to circulate online with the headshots and accompanying salaries of private health insurance CEOs (and a large red “X” over Thompson’s) resembles an FBI most-wanted terrorist list.
The military industrial complex requires external enemies and an entire national security machinery to actively scare up taxpayer cash for domestic profits. But the medical industrial complex just requires turning a blind eye to the system already in place. Both are equally dysfunctional, but there’s a sense that wars can at least be stopped. Ceasefires and peace treaties can be enacted. The violence grabs headlines. People’s quiet suffering doesn’t. But where does the average person paying more and more for less and less care even turn in their plight? A single violent act has galvanized them online, Arab Spring style, and elevated the typically silent struggles of millions of Americans to front page headlines.
A manifesto, attributed to Mangione, smacks of guerrilla warfare. “Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming… The US has the #1 most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank roughly #42 in life expectancy. United is the largest company in the US by market cap, behind only Apple, Google, Walmart. It has grown and grown, but has our life expectancy? No, the reality is these have simply gotten too powerful, and they cannot continue to abuse our country for immense profit because the American public has allowed them to get away with it,” it says.
“I do not pretend to be the most qualified person to lay out the full argument,” Mangione wrote, allegedly opting to cede the floor to Mr. Bullet instead.
The trial should be interesting. Seems like an opportunity to compel disclosure of the industry’s methods and tactics. A Manhattan jury just acquitted an army veteran of criminally negligent homicide for a chokehold on an aggressive subway rider. It’s hard to imagine that a Manhattan jury’s life experiences won’t somehow impact a verdict in this case.
In the meantime, violence is not supposed to be how civilized people resolve problems in America. Such methods are reserved for the US establishment against its targets, not for ingrates living in the Best Nation On Earth™️.
Source:rt.com
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https://www.rt.com/news/609207-luigi-mangione-us-celebrating-murderer/
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Pakistan
'No consensus' on Kurram crisis yet as peace jirga continues
By Ali Afzal Afzaal
December 11, 2024
Kohat Grand Peace Jirga, assembled to tackle the ongoing unrest in Kurram district, will continue today (Wednesday) as no consensus has yet been reached to put an end to the violent incidents in the turbulent region, sources revealed to Geo News.
The talks have been underway for nearly a week with efforts centred on restoring peace and reopening the main highway, which has remained closed for traffic, making life difficult for the residents.
The deteriorating security situation has severely disrupted daily life in Kurram. Food, petrol, and medical supplies are critically low, with residents struggling to access essential services.
Gas shortages have forced the closure of tandoors and restaurants, exacerbating the community’s hardships.
Meanwhile, addressing the grand jirga, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Adviser on Information Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif urged unity and collaboration to restore peace.
"Hatred must end for war to cease," he said. Saif assured participants that the provincial government is taking measures, including the delivery of medicines via helicopters and exploring the restoration of air travel services to the region.
He emphasised the urgency of removing private bunkers from the central highway and disarming the area of heavy weaponry.
Saif went on to say that both tribes desire peace, but certain elements have vested interests in perpetuating conflict, which he said cannot be identified without the collaboration of public.
He also pledged strict action against those hindering peace efforts.
The KP Cm's aide urged the grand jirga participants to find a permanent solution to the conflict and also expressed hope that the ceasefire deal would be followed on a long-term basis.
He further said that CM Ali Amin Gandapur has also formed a committee to supervise the peace process between the warring tribes.
District Commissioner Javedullah Mehsud highlighted ongoing initiatives to normalise the situation and assist affected residents.
However, locals stressed the need for a sustainable resolution, calling for the permanent reopening of the Peshawar-Parachinar highway to ensure lasting peace.
Due to the violence that started last month and claimed over 130 lives, elected representatives from Kurram district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly had on Tuesday demanded the government to launch a de-weaponisation drive in the lower and upper Kurram district.
The Provincial Disaster Management Authority, meanwhile, has provided relief goods worth Rs150 million to the deputy commissioner Kurram for onward distribution among the affectees of the violence.
Last week's All Parties Conference (APC) raised alarm over the deteriorating law and order situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). It highlighted over 200 fatalities in Kurram unrest this year, blaming ineffective governance at both federal and provincial levels.
It also called for immediate measures, including the release of funds allocated for tribal districts under the National Finance Commission (NFC) award, which has been inactive for more than two years.
Source:thenews.com.pk
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Seven terrorists neutralised in two separate operations in North Waziristan
By Web Desk
December 11, 2024
Seven terrorists were killed in two separate engagements with security forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s North Waziristan district, the military’s media wing said on Wednesday.
According to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the security forces conducted an operation in the Miran Shah area of North Waziristan district on the "reported presence of khwarij [terrorists]".
During the conduct of operation, it said, the security forces effectively engaged the terrorist location and "as a result of which four khwarij were killed".
In another encounter in Spinwam area, the security forces successfully gunned down three more terrorists. However, during the intense fire exchange, Lance Naik Muhammad Amin, 34, a resident of district Faisalabad, embraced martyrdom.
"Sanitisation operation is being conducted to eliminate any other kharji found in the area," the ISPR said, adding that the security forces were determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism.
Pakistan has witnessed a spike in terror attacks on security forces and civilians — especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan — since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021 following the withdrawal of US and NATO forces.
As per a report by the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), the third quarter (July-September) of 2024 saw a sharp increase in fatalities of terrorist violence and counter-terrorism campaigns, with a 90% surge in violence.
A total of 722 people were killed, including civilians, security personnel, and outlaws, while 615 others were wounded in as many as 328 incidents recorded during the period under review.
Nearly 97% of these fatalities occurred in KP and Balochistan – marking the highest percentage in a decade, and over 92% of these incidents of terror attacks and security forces’ operations were recorded in the same provinces.
The total fatalities from three quarters of this year have now surpassed the total fatalities recorded for the entire 2023; the number of fatalities rose to at least 1534 in the first three quarters compared to 1523 in 2023.
Meanwhile, terrorist groups continue to reorganise and beef up their ranks. Most of the terror attacks remained unclaimed by terrorist or insurgent groups, likely for tactical reasons, as per the report.
Source:thenews.com.pk
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https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1260585-seven-terrorists-neutralised-in-two-separate-operations-in-north-waziristan
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Law allowing spy agencies to tap phones 'ambiguous', says Justice Mandokhail
By Abdul Qayyum Siddiqui & Arfa Feroz Zake\
December 11, 2024
ISLAMABAD: Terming the existing law allowing spy agencies to tap phones "ambiguous", Supreme Court’s Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail has said that the case would also impact the pending cases.
A seven-member constitutional bench, headed by Justice Amin-Ud-Din Khan, heard the case related to phone tapping on Wednesday.
The incumbent government, in July 2024, gave a nod to the country's premier spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to intercept and trace calls and messages in the apprehension of an offence against national security.
The notification, issued by the Ministry of Information Technology, said that the authorisation was granted to the ISI under Section 54 of the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organisation) Act, 1996.
During today’s hearing, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar — who is part of the seven-member bench — inquired whether any legislation was carried out regarding the phone tapping.
Responding to the query, Additional Attorney General Amir Rehman said the law has been in place since 2013 and ISI and Intelligence Bureau (IB) were officially granted permission to tap phones. "The procedure for phone tapping is part of the law, and judicial supervision is also in the law,” he told the court.
Justice Mazhar responded that as per the law, only a judge can permit phone tapping. "Has any judge been notified for this purpose?" he asked. The AAG replied he was not aware of the nomination of a judge in this regard.
Justice Amin-Ud-Din Khan told the AAG: "We are not interested in reports or the law, we want results.”
Meanwhile, Justice Mandokhail termed the phone tapping law "ambiguous," saying: "The [phone tapping] case will also affect the pending cases. This matter started from the chief justice’s chamber, where will the chief justice go?"
The advocate on record (AOR) noted that contact can’t be made with the petitioner, adding that his lawyer also passed away last year. The court issued a notice to the advocate general and adjourned the hearing.
The federal government’s decision to allow phone tapping faced strong backlash from the opposition quarters and was challenged in the Lahore High Court (LHC).
Earlier in August, the apex court accepted a federal government's appeal in a case related to audio leaks of Bushra Bibi, spouse of PTI founder Imran Khan and Najamul Saqib, son of former chief justice Mian Saqib Nisar and ordered the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to stop proceedings till further orders.
During the hearing, the AAG had apprised the court that the intelligence agencies were unable to perform counterintelligence due to the IHC's ruling. He added that the high court exceeded its jurisdiction under Article 199 of the Constitution in contradiction to the top court's two verdicts.
It is worth mentioning that on May 29, IHC's Justice Babar Sattar barred telecom companies from recording phone calls and data which disabled the intelligence and law enforcement agencies’ surveillance against criminals and terrorists.
Source:thenews.com.pk
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https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1260551-law-allowing-spy-agencies-to-tap-phones-ambiguous-says-justice-mandokhail
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PPP, PML-N talks fail to make headway
December 12, 2024
ISLAMABAD: As the federal government makes efforts to win back its disgruntled ruling partner, the second round of talks between the PML-N and PPP ended without any positive development, with both sides expected to meet again on Dec 24 or 25.
The meeting took place in the chambers of the National Assembly speaker and the PPP decided to stick to its demand regarding the implementation of a written agreement between the two parties. Ishaq Dar and Speaker Ayaz Sadiq represented the government while Raja Pervez Ashraf, Naveed Qamar, and Syed Kursheed Shah represented the PPP.
After the meeting, the PPP delegation presented a report to the PPP chairman about the progress of talks with the government. Sources said the two sides will meet again on December 24 or 25 ahead of the PPP Central Executive Committee’s meeting on Dec 26 in which the outcome of these talks will be tabled for a final nod from the top brass.
A senior PPP leader said one of the major issues raised by the PPP was regarding the water share of Sindh which, the PPP believed, could be curtailed due to a plan by the federal government to carve out six canals from Indus River to irrigate Cholistan. He said all political and nationalist parties in Sindh were raising a hue and cry on the federal government’s decision regarding new canals.
The PPP believed that the federal government should have brought the issue of the proposed Cholistan canals to the Council of Common Interests (CCI) to take all stakeholders on board. The PPP urged the government to convene a CCI meeting as soon as possible, lamenting that the meeting of the body had not taken place for the last 180 days.
A PPP source said Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari complained that the ruling PML-N did not take the PPP on board in the decision-making process and he even withdrew his name from the judicial commission formed under the 26th Amendment.
The PPP chief had lamented that the government had backtracked on its promises by not ensuring equal representation of the ruling PML-N and the PPP in the judicial commission. Since the formation of the PML-N-led government following the Feb 2024 general elections, it is for the first time a breach has become visible between two main coalition partners.
The PML-N formed its government with the support of the PPP, the third-largest party in the National Assembly. If the PPP withdraws its support, the PML-N government will not last even for a day. Although the PPP is not part of the government, it has obtained many constitutional offices in return for extending its support to the Shehbaz-led government.
Source:dawn.com
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1878234/ppp-pml-n-talks-fail-to-make-headway
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PTI ready to bury hatchet, only to block ‘third force’
Amir Wasim
December 12, 2024
• Gohar asks govt to apologise, announce compensation for victims of Nov 26 ‘massacre’
• Law minister lauds PTI for utilising parliamentary forum
• Members from both sides of aisle slam ministers’ absence during question hour
• Secretary discloses govt is working to amend PECA
ISLAMABAD: Adopting a reconciliatory posture, PTI chairman Gohar Ali Khan on Wednesday highlighted the need to move forward by rectifying past mistakes, asking the government to at least apologise and announce compensation for party supporters allegedly killed during the Nov 26 protest at Islamabad’s D-Chowk.
“Even if bullets have been fired, there should at least be the courage to give answers, show remorse, apologise, investigate, and compensate the people,” said the PTI chairman while speaking on a point of order in the National Assembly, claiming that 12 PTI protesters were killed at “the doorstep of parliament” for which the nation demands accountability.
He said PTI founder Imran Khan had constituted a committee for holding dialogue but made it clear that their decision to form the committee should not be perceived as a sign of weakness. “We only want that a third force should not occupy this house,” he said, adding: “Do not consider it our weakness, take remedy for the mistakes.”
“Settle the dust of May 9 [incident] and move forward,” the PTI chairman remarked while speaking on the floor of parliament a day after Leader of the Opposition Omar Ayub Khan demanded a judicial probe into the Nov 26 “massacre” of PTI workers and blamed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for directly issuing “order to kill”.
Expressing PTI’s willingness for dialogue, Mr Khan warned the government not to force them to take to the streets again. He refuted the allegations levelled by the ministers that the PTI protesters were carrying arms.
He said the party was not using “Pakhtun card”, but it was a fact that they had carried bodies of their near and dear ones. “People remember the echo of a bullet for generations; they do not forget”, he said, adding: “If shots were fired, then responsibility must be assigned. We also demand that justice must be served and want to get it through this House.”
The PTI chairman said that NA human rights committee chairman Sahibzada Hamid Raza wanted to convene a meeting to take up the matter. “This is not the time for revenge, but you could have called for a case to be filed for investigation and brought it on record. These are your citizens and our citizens,” said Mr Khan while addressing Defence Minister Khawaja Asif.
Despite storming of parliaments in India, the US, Sri Lanka, South Korea and Bangladesh, no bullet was fired on the protesters, as protest was their democratic right, he said.
He said the government termed the PTI workers and supporters ‘miscreants’, but they did not call the PML-N ‘Murderer League’. “It is PTI’s history that despite all the tyranny it has faced — our people were killed and injured — we did not abandon relationship based on mutual respect,” he added.
Govt response
Taking the floor, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said it was encouraging to see the opposition finally using parliament for discussing issues rather than confrontation. “This is the essence of democracy,” he noted.
The minister stressed the importance of engaging in constructive dialogue within parliament, adding that it was important to respect the platform of parliament for meaningful debate.
Earlier, both treasury and opposition members protested the absence of ministers during the question hour. They expressed their dissatisfaction over several replies given by parliamentary secretaries on behalf of the ministers.
Besides the opposition members, the most vocal and strong protest was lodged by the PPP members who termed it ‘an insult to parliament’.
It was after the members’ protest that Deputy Speaker Ghulam Mustafa Shah announced that they would write a letter to the prime minister to ask him to ensure the presence of ministers for parliamentary business.
Responding to the criticism, the law minister said the prime minister had already directed the cabinet members to take parliamentary business seriously.
Bill to tweak PECA
In response to a call attention notice, parliamentary secretary for cabinet secretariat Sajid Mehdi announced that the government was working on a bill to amend Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) of 2016 to check “fake news” on social media.
He said the government wanted to strengthen defamation laws on the pattern of the UK where cases were decided quickly. He said presently the PTA had no mechanism to check fake news and it took action only after receiving complaints.
The National Assembly will meet again today at 11am.
Source:dawn.com
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1878238/pti-ready-to-bury-hatchet-only-to-block-third-force
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PTI leader regrets remarks made against DIG
December 12, 2024
ISLAMABAD: Outspoken PTI leader Sher Afzal Marwat on Wednesday expressed regret over his remarks he made against deputy inspector general (DIG) of Islamabad police in the National Assembly session held in September.
Mr Marwat expressed regret during an audience with the DIG at his office.
According to a video on social media, Mr Marwat and DIG Operations Syed Ali Raza stood side by side.
Mr Marwat said: “Today, I have come to the office of DIG Operations Islamabad Syed Ali Raza for two reasons one is that what I had spoken about him on the floor of the National Assembly was not appropriate. I was angry as I was kept in the lockups which was not usually done to MNAs. Later, I came to know that Ali Raza is ‘Syed’ and being a Syed, those words must have hurt him and his family.
“The other reason which compelled me to come to the office because the DIG stands for the rights of people,” he added.
“I have come to him today to say sorry to him, as I did not want to disgrace him and his family because what I said at that time was out of anger.
Second thing is that he is DIG Operations Islamabad, and a part of a system and such person should be encouraged if he stands by the law.
“Being a Syed, and being a very good officer, I visited him. He has also embraced me and he will respect him as a younger brother,” Mr Marwat said.
Source:dawn.com
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1878180/pti-leader-regrets-remarks-made-against-dig
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Africa
Join Politics To Sanitize Governance, Muslim Scholars Urged
11 Dec 2024
Muslim scholars across the country have been advised to participate in the country’s political system to sanitize governance.
The call was made by a former Grand Khadi of the Kwara State Sharia Court of Appeal, Justice Idris Haroon, during the 75 years anniversary of Kamal School of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Ilọrin and a book launch.
The book was titled: “Shaykh Abdulraheem Aminullahi Al-Adabby, Oniwasi Agbaye: His Role in the Development of Arabic, Islamic Studies and Da’wah” in honour of the founder.
The weeklong programme also featured a N500 million fundraising for the comprehensive renovation of the school and award presentation.
According to the former Grand Khadi, apart from the drive to obtain Islamic scholars, muslim scholars should be encouraged to participate in governance to sanitize the system.
“We have been told to improve our educational qualifications as muslims and acquire doctorate and professorship, but if we don’t participate in politics, we will be lefr aside.
“Our getting involved as upright muslims with such credentials will sanitize the system and improved good governance in the country”, he said.
In his opening remarks, chairman of the occasion and Danmasani of Ilọrin, Engr Suleiman Alapasanpa, urged muslim scholars to restrict themselves to the text whenever they are preaching.
He said doing otherwise will give the enemies of Islam the opportunity to be comparing sermons of scholars for divisive tendencies.
He advised owners of madrasahs in the country to focus on the spread of Islamic knowledge adding that the percunary gains will come later.
Speaking, National Missioner of Ansarul Islam Society, Shaykh Abdul-Mumini Hanafi Ayara, encouraged Well-to-do Muslims in the country to contribute meaningfully towards propagating and promoting the course of Islam.
Earlier, the chairman of Central Working Committee, Professor Salihu Muhammad Alaso, said Ansarul Islam began from a night class in the 1940s now a global brand.
He said the funds realize will further be deployed to build 20 classrooms, completion of the mosque, hostels to accommodate more students and provide accomodation for the Egyptian and Saudi Arabian scholars.
Alaso stressed the need for the product of the school and muslims generally to continue to support it growth.
Source:dailytrust.com
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Ilorin traders shut market to honour late Islamic leader
By Mansur Aramide
11 December 2024
Traders at the popular Agaka spare parts market in Ilorin, Kwara State on Wednesday closed shops for hours in honour of a late Islamic leader, Yahaya Olayiwola Ajia.
Speaking at the eighth-day Fidau jointly organised by the Kuranga-Ajia family and leaders of traders’ unions in the market for the reposed of the soul of the community leader, the well-wishers, comprising of family members and market leaders, described Ajia as a pillar of peace in the community.
Chairman of the trade union for Agaka/Baboko/Adabata auto spare parts and other accessories dealers, (Yoruba section), Sulaiman Ahmed, described the deceased as a patron and father to many different tribes in the market and its surroundings.
He said: “we take all disputes in the market to him for amicable resolutions which he often did to our admiration till he left this sinful world.
“He was ever ready to serve as a man of peace. He abhors violence and he’s well respected among old and the young ones among us; he’ll be well missed.”
The market leader however added: “If not for the economic situation in the country, if we close shops for the whole day, it won’t be too much for him.”
Also speaking, his Igbo counterpart, Sunday Okoroji, who said that Alhaji Ajia stood for unity, added that the Igbo traders even honoured him with a minute silence when his death was announced during their meeting.
“That particular day, everywhere was cold. We closed early that day because of his noble contributions to us, irrespective of tribe or religion. He encouraged unity and progress among us all.
“As you can see, the market is shut for him. If it’s not because of his goodness, kindness, and love for all, everyone would have opened shops and gone about like nothing ever happened.
“We missed his fatherly relationship, always discouraging misunderstandings among us. He’s gone and we can’t query God.”
The Iyaloja at Agaka market, Latifah Ajanaku, described the late Ajia as a person loved by all, for encouraging progress, unity, and love among traders.
One of the sons of the deceased, Dr. Abdulmumin Yinka Ajia, who described the honour done to his father as a soldier’s farewell, thanked the traders and well-wishers for their concerns.
He vowed to continue the legacy left behind by the community leader and to support the traders, saying he lived his life to serve his family, Agaka community, and Ilorin.
During the prayers led by the Chief Imam of the Ita Ajia Sakasaka community, Alhaji Mohammadu Jamiu, the cleric admonished people to always encourage peaceful and harmonious relationships wherever they find themselves.
Source:guardian.ng
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At least 175 people killed, dozens injured in separate strikes in Sudan
11 December 2024
At least 175 people have been reported dead and dozens injured after a series of airstrikes hit Sudan's capital on Monday and Tuesday.
The attack has been linked to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) who have been waging a war with the Sudanese army in the 20-month conflict.
The first attack took place on Monday when an air strike hit a busy market in the town of Kabkabiya, 180km west of North Darfur, killing at least 100 civilians including women and children according to a rights group.
In another incident, a single shell fired at a passenger bus "killed everyone on board," totaling 22 people, stated Ahmed Othman Hamza in a communiqué, denouncing a "massacre" committed by RSF.
In a separate incident, at least 65 people were killed in Omdurman, which is an army-controlled region, according to Khartoum Governor Ahmed Othman Hamza who also indicated that a hundred were injured during the incursion.
Tuesday marked the year’s most violent clashes between the regular army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF, commanded by his former ally and deputy, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
Sudan, a predominantly Arab country on the edge of sub-Saharan Africa, descended into civil war in 2023, as fighting erupted between the military and a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces that grew out of Darfur’s notorious Janjaweed militia.
Though estimates are difficult to come by, at least 24,000 people have been killed and millions displaced in a conflict that has largely been eclipsed in the world’s attention by wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.
Source:africanews.com
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Sudan largest humanitarian crisis ever recorded: IRC report
December 11, 2024
CAIRO: Sudan has become the “biggest humanitarian crisis ever recorded” after 20 months of devastating war between rival generals, the International Rescue Committee said in a report released Wednesday.
“The country accounts for 10 percent of all people in humanitarian need, despite being home to less than 1 percent of global population,” the New York-based organization said in their 2025 Emergency Watchlist.
Since April 2023, a war between the Sudanese regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted 12 million.
Nearly 9 million of those are displaced within Sudan, most in areas with decimated infrastructure and facing the threat of mass starvation.
Across the country, nearly 26 million people — around half the population — are facing acute hunger, according to the United Nations.
Famine has already been declared in the Zamzam displacement camp in the western Darfur region, and the United Nations has said Sudan is facing the worst humanitarian crisis in recent memory.
IRC’s report highlights the 20 countries at greatest risk of humanitarian deterioration, with Sudan ranking highest on the list for the second year in a row.
They said a total of 30.4 million people were in humanitarian need across the northeast African country, making it “the largest humanitarian crisis since records began,” the IRC said.
There is no end to the war in sight, with both parties intensifying strikes on residential areas in recent weeks.
The IRC warned of total “humanitarian collapse,” as the health crisis was set to worsen and both sides continued to “choke humanitarian access.”
Around 305 million people worldwide are in need of humanitarian support, according to IRC, with 82 percent of them in watchlist areas such as the occupied Palestinian territories, Myanmar, Syria, South Sudan and Lebanon.
“It is clear that ‘the world is on fire’ is a daily reality for hundreds of millions of people,” IRC chief David Miliband said.
“The world is being cleaved into two camps: between those born in unstable conflict states, and those with a chance to make it in stable states.”
Source:arabnews.com
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Sudan militia chief ‘willingly’ committed war crimes
December 11, 2024
THE HAGUE: A feared Sudanese militia chief “willingly and enthusiastically” participated in war crimes, the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor charged Wednesday, laying out searing accusations of rape, murder, and torture.
Prosecutor Karim Khan was summing up in the case of Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, also known by the nom de guerre Ali Kushayb, facing 31 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity during Sudan’s brutal civil war.
A leader of Sudan’s infamous Janjaweed militia, and ally of deposed Sudanese leader Omar Bashir, Abd-Al-Rahman is suspected of brutal attacks on villages in the Wadi Salih area of Darfur in August 2003.
Abd-Al-Rahman, who appeared in court wearing a light suit and striped tie, has denied the charges. He sat impassively as prosecutors presented closing arguments.
He stands accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder, rape, torture, pillaging, and cruel treatment.
“The accused in this case was a senior Janjaweed member, a leader, and was actively involved in the commission of offenses, willingly and enthusiastically,” Khan told the court.
“The stark reality is the targets in this case were not rebels but civilians. They were targeted. They have suffered. They’ve lost their lives. They’ve been scarred physically and emotionally in a myriad of different ways,” added the prosecutor.
Fighting broke out in Darfur when non-Arab tribes, complaining of systematic discrimination, took up arms against Bashir’s Arab-dominated government.
Khartoum responded by unleashing the Janjaweed, a force drawn from among the region’s nomadic tribes.
The United Nations says 300,000 people were killed and 2.5 million displaced in the Darfur conflict.
Khan said that witnesses during the trial had shared testimony of the horrors committed by the Janjaweed.
“They have detailed accounts of mass murder, torture, rape, targeting of civilians, burning and pillaging of entire villages,” he said.
He said the militia raped children in front of family members, using sexual violence as a deliberate “policy.”
The ICC is holding three days of hearings in the case, the first-ever stemming from a UN Security Council referral.
Bashir, who ruled Sudan with an iron fist for three decades, was deposed and detained in April 2019 following months of protests in Sudan, and is wanted by the ICC for genocide.
He has not been handed over to the ICC, based in The Hague, to face multiple charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Abd-Al-Rahman fled to the Central African Republic in February 2020 when the new Sudanese government announced its intention to cooperate with the ICC’s investigation.
Four months later, he surrendered voluntarily.
Prosecutor Khan is also hoping to issue warrants relating to the current situation in Sudan.
Tens of thousands have been killed and millions displaced in a war between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and Sudan’s army.
The conflict, marked by claims of atrocities on all sides, has left the northeast African country on the brink of famine, according to aid agencies.
On Monday, a Sudanese military air strike on a market in North Darfur killed more than 100 people, according to a pro-democracy lawyers’ group.
Both sides have been accused of targeting civilians and deliberately shelling residential areas.
The army on Tuesday dismissed the accusations against it as “lies” spread by political parties backing the RSF.
The ICC last year opened a new investigation for war crimes in the region, and Khan said it had made “significant progress.”
“I sincerely do believe that this trial represents a step forward in the quest for justice,” he told the court, referring to the case against Abd-Al-Rahman.
Source:arabnews.com
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Southeast Asia
Govt seeks to plug loopholes and provide stiffer penalties to prevent future child abuse cases like GISB and ‘Abang Bas’
By Muhammad Yusry
12 Dec 2024
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 12 — The government is planning more comprehensive provisions and harsher penalties to close existing loopholes in the Child Act 2001 to better protect minors, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said.
He said the government’s proposed amendments are to ensure wider protection for children from various forms of abuse, including those related to technology and the digital world, especially after recent scandals involving a school bus driver and Global Ikhwan Sdn Bhd (GISBH).
“Provisions related to punishment will also be tightened, especially against guardians responsible for neglect or physical, emotional, or sexual abuse of children,” he said in a written parliamentary reply yesterday.
Saifuddin Nasution was responding to Sibu MP Oscar Ling Chai Yew, who wanted to know the government’s plan to improve enforcement of the Child Act so that cases such as GISBH, the local conglomerate linked to a deviant Islamic group and “Abang Bas”, a Johor bus driver whose TikTok posts about his interactions with a girl passenger whom he claimed to have a “crush” on, back in September, drew online concern resulting in his arrest and charging
The minister said the police – which is under purview of the Home Ministry – has stepped up enforcement of the Child Act so that cases of abuse and sexual crimes against children, such as the two cases, can be prevented more effectively.
Other measures include expanding the self-safety education programs in schools with a focus on educating children about their rights, personal safety, and how to recognise and report suspicious or dangerous situations.
“The educational curriculum will be checked, to make sure children understand how to protect themselves from physical, emotional, or sexual abuse and develop awareness of parents and guardians in child protection issues,” he added.
Source:malaymail.com
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PM Anwar launches national AI office to turn Malaysia into regional digital hub
12 Dec 2024
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 12 — Malaysia launched on Thursday a national artificial intelligence office aimed at shaping policies and addressing regulatory issues, as it looks to establish itself as a regional hub for AI development.
The Southeast Asian country has secured billions of dollars in investment in the past year from global tech firms seeking to build critical infrastructure to cater to growing demand for their cloud and AI services.
“This is another historical moment in our digital transformation journey,” Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said at the launch of the new office.
The office is expected to serve as a centralised agency for AI, providing strategic planning, research and development as well as regulatory oversight, among others, according to details published on its website.
It will pursue seven deliverables in its first year, including developing a code of ethics, an AI regulatory framework and a five-year AI technology action plan until 2030.
The government on Thursday also announced strategic partnerships with six companies, including Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, which have all announced data centre, cloud and AI projects in Malaysia in the past year.
Digital ventures have helped propel Malaysia’s economy in 2024, with RM71.1 billion (US$16.06 billion) in approved investments in the information and communications sub-sector, its investment authority said this week.
Source:malaymail.com
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The participation of large companies in NAIO shows national trade stance -- PM Anwar
BERNAMA
12-12- 2024
KUALA LUMPUR: The participation of large companies from the United States (US), China and Europe in the National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Office (NAIO) shows the country’s trade stance and Malaysia’s friendly attitude towards all countries, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
He said the US still dominates and leads the field of information technology and AI, however there is also participation from European and Chinese companies.
“This shows that our attitude as a country is free to network with all countries. (At the same time) emphasising the need to increase trade relations through free trade agreements (FTAs) and several trade agreements at the international level,“ he said in his keynote speech when officiating at the launch of NAIO today.
The ceremony also saw the announcement of six strategic collaborations that represent important achievements in the country’s AI journey, where the partnership aims to accelerate AI innovation, drive industry adoption and strengthen Malaysia’s position as a regional leader in AI development.
The six strategic partners are Toshiba, Global AI Village, YTL, Microsoft, Google and Amazon Web Services.
Meanwhile, Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo said today’s event marked the first anniversary of the ministry’s establishment.
“The future is now. We must take steps to prepare our country and its people for the challenges of the digital world ahead. When we speak about digitalisation, we focus on three key pillars: infrastructure, security, and talent,” he said in his speech.
He emphasised that to foster innovation, attract investments and build global confidence in Malaysia’s forward-thinking capabilities, the country must ensure robust connectivity.
Source:thesun.my
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EPF raises basic retirement savings benchmark to RM390,000 from RM240,000
12-12- 2024
PETALING JAYA: The basic retirement savings benchmark has been raised to RM390,000, according to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).
The New Straits Times reported that the jump from the previous benchmark of RM240,000 was shown during the launch of the Retirement Income Adequacy (RIA) Framework and Belanjawanku 2024/2025.
It is said that the RIA Framework will be implemented in 2026, focusing on the concepts of retirement income security and savings.
The RIA Framework will consist of a three-tier savings system to guide EPF members on comfortable retirement savings.
Furthermore, the policy changes regarding the RIA framework will gradually take effect from 2026.
In order to maintain relevance to rising costs, the RIA savings will be assessed every three years beginning from 2029 with the use of updated data from the Belanjawanku guide.
The Belanjawanku 2024/2025 guide was developed by EPF and the Social Wellbeing Research Centre which looks into the minimum monthly budget required for a “decent living standard”, as quoted.
The guide currently covers 11 major cities in Malaysia after its initial focus on the Klang Valley.
Source:thesun.my
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Najib: I didn’t ask for ‘special treatment’, never hid my identity for AmIslamic accounts receiving ‘donations’
By Ida Lim
12 Dec 2024
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 12 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak today said he never asked AmIslamic to give him “special treatment” when he was prime minister for his bank accounts, claiming that it was the bank which had decided to give them codenames.
Testifying in his own defence in his trial over 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) misappropriated RM2 billion funds, Najib said he found it quite surprising that the prosecution was claiming that he had played a role in getting codenames to these bank accounts.
The prosecution is alleging that the billions of money which entered Najib’s AmIslamic accounts were 1MDB funds, while Najib insists that he believed the money were donations from the late Saudi Ruler King Abdullah to him.
Having opened two current accounts with the account numbers ending 9694 and 1880 at AmIslamic bank in 2011 and 2013, Najib said he “never asked” for these two bank accounts to have the designated codenames “AmPrivate Banking-MR” and “AmPrivate Banking-1MY”.
“I would like to emphasise that I have never concealed my identity as the beneficial owner of my AmIslamic accounts ending in 9694 and 1880,” he told the High Court.
He added that this was supported by court testimonies from AmBank officers and documents at that time.
During the 1MDB trial, multiple banking documents produced as evidence had referred to Najib’s bank accounts only by their codenames instead of by his name.
But Najib said that the assigning of codenames to his accounts was an “internal decision made by AmBank”, basing this on the bank’s former managing director Cheah Tek Kuang’s court testimony.
According to Najib, it was AmBank’s operations team that proposed the codenames to maintain confidentiality and prevent any sensitive information from being leaked since it was a high-profile account.
“I suppose AmBank viewed the fact that I was receiving donations from the Saudi monarchy and government as sensitive information.
“I was neither informed of this decision nor did I request any special treatment,” he said.
Referring to banking forms for him to open those two AmIslamic accounts (9694 and 1880), Najib said he had opened the accounts using his personal name “Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak” and with the name matching his national identity card, in compliance with proper banking procedures and transparency.
He confirmed that the account opening forms had stated his employer then as the Prime Minister’s Department of Malaysia, and said one of these forms had a notation which stated that he was a “non-foreign PEP”, short for politically exposed person.
Najib said he had from the start intended to be transparent about his AmIslamic bank accounts and their purpose, unlike other individuals – such as now-fugitive Low Taek Jho, 1MDB’s former in-house lawyer Jasmine Loo, Najib’s former special officer Datuk Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin.
He said they, unlike him, opened offshore accounts under company names with the alleged knowledge that they were receiving 1MDB-linked funds.
“In contrast, I had no reason to hide my identity or to conceal the fact that I was receiving donations from His Majesty King Abdullah. On the contrary, I was honoured and deeply appreciative that His Majesty had chosen to provide such support,” he said.
“The reason and the only reason I opened accounts at AmIslamic was to receive donations from King Abdullah who was the King of Saudi Arabia, however the designated accounts to receive donations were the accounts ending 9694 and 1880,” he said at another point.
Najib’s two AmIslamic bank accounts were opened at the bank’s Jalan Raja Chulan outlet, but he claimed to have never set foot in that branch and that it was instead Cheah visited him at home, carrying along the account opening forms.
“Yes, Yang Arif, at that time, I was the prime minister, can you imagine the prime minister walking into the Jalan Raja Chulan branch? It would create quite a bit of a stir not only with the staff, but also the customers,” he said.
He said there were many people who could attest to his assertion.
The accused said he had told both the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the police during investigations that it was his then principal private secretary, the late Datuk Azlin Alias, who had in early 2011 recommended for Najib to open an account under his own name at AmIslamic bank to receive the purported donation fromKing Abdullah.
Najib said Azlin had said he would coordinate with Cheah.
Asked by his lawyer Wan Azwan Aiman Wan Fakhruddin on how Azlin came to know about the alleged donation, Najib said: “He must have been told by Jho Low, I suspect, about the impending donation.”
Najib said he had a brief meeting of around five minutes in the living room of his Langgak Duta house in 2011 with just Cheah to sign the account opening forms, and that he had told the latter he was expecting to “receive a donation from Saudi Arabia, specifically a personal contribution from King Abdullah”.
Najib said he had asked Cheah to inform Bank Negara Malaysia and the latter told the central bank’s then governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz.
He added that he had no obligation to ask Cheah to do so since he was a PEP but wanted to ensure transparency.
About a week after opening the AmIslamic account, Najib said Azlin informed him of a February 1, 2011 letter from a purported Saudi prince named Prince Saud Abdulaziz Majid Al Saud to inform him of an upcoming gift of US$100 million for him to use at his “absolute discretion”.
Najib claimed Prince Saud was King Abdullah’s authorised representative.
Najib confirmed he started receiving millions of ringgit in this 9694 account which he insists were King Abdullah’s donations, saying that the total sum of US$99,999,976 (equivalent to RM304,329,765.73) he received in 2011 matched the promised gift’s sum of US$100 million.
The US$99 million which Najib referred to came in the form of four transactions (US$10 million on February 24, 2011, US$10 million on June 14, 2011, over US$49 million on August 19, 2011, and over US$29 million on November 25, 2011).
The first two sums of US$10 million each are part of Najib’s first power abuse charge.
In the 1MDB trial, Najib is facing 25 criminal charges, including four power abuse charges where he is accused of abusing his powers to obtain financial benefit for himself.
Najib’s 1MDB trial before judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah resumes this afternoon.
Source:malaymail.com
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Health minister defends move to up nurses’ working time from 42 hours a week to 45
12 Dec 2024
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 12 — The move to increase the working hours of nurses in hospital wards by three hours under the new Public Service Remuneration System (SSPA) directive underwent multiple rounds of engagement, including with seven trade unions and nurses association, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.
He said the decision was not taken arbitrarily, and views from various quarters were taken as he knew that staff shortage issues had long burdened those involved.
“We (ministers) have also discussed this matter in the Cabinet. I am very aware of what they raised (the issue of additional working hours).
“We will continue this engagement because this matter has been adopted in the SSPA. The Cabinet and the Prime Minister also want this matter to be implemented first. We are ready to consider this need because I know (the problem),” he said when winding-up debate on the Supply Bill 2025 for his ministry in the Dewan Negara today.
Earlier, Senator Dr A. Lingeswaran had asked Dr Dzulkefly’s position on the nurses’ additional three hours of working time in hospital wards, effective December 1.
The Health Minister explained that although the new directive requires nurses to work overtime, their welfare is still maintained as it is implemented through more flexible shift working hours despite increasing to 45 hours a week compared to 42 hours previously.
“In the past, the 42-hour workday had no breaks, no meal times... They had to find the time or take turns. The 45-hour workday is indeed additional, but at the same time the 45-hour workday includes meal times, prayer times, handing over tasks or shifts,” he said.
Meanwhile, at a press conference later, the Health Minister said his ministry, through the Private Medical Practice Control Section (CKAPS), had taken statements on allegations that a private hospital had refused to hand over the body of a baby that had died two weeks ago after the parents failed to pay the hospital bill.
Dr Dzulkefly asked everyone to remain calm, as the relevant party had been deployed to investigate, and he expressed his condolences to the families involved.
Meantime, he announced that the Health Ministry will amend the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 1998 (Act 586) to streamline medical consultation charges.
It will take place at the next parliamentary sitting. — Bernama
Source:malaymail.com
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South Asia
Relations with India to be based on equality: Asif
Dec 12, 2024
The government is moving away from a submissive foreign policy towards India, said LGRD Adviser Asif Mahmud yesterday.
Instead, the foundation of bilateral relations between Bangladesh and India will now be based on equality and justice, he said at the closing ceremony of a training workshop in Cumilla.
Bangladesh Rural Development Academy (BRDA) organised the workshop titled "Achieving Sustainable Development Goals: Financial Inclusion & Rural Transformation."
Asif also expressed strong discontent over the attack at the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in India's Agartala, saying the interim government had officially protested over the matter.
The adviser reiterated that national development could be achieved through financial inclusion and rural development.
Saif Uddin Ahmed, director general of BRDA, chaired the event.
Source:thedailystar.net
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https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/relations-india-be-based-equality-asif-3773921
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Govt moves to curb officials’ foreign trips
Dec 12, 2024
The government has issued a series of guidelines for the foreign travel of government officials as part of its austerity measures.
In a circular dated Monday, Principal Secretary Siraj Uddin Mia said foreign travel will generally be discouraged for government officials, and they must submit a list of potential foreign trips for the year in advance.
The circular mandated that while submitting a foreign travel proposal, details of the proposed official's travel history for the previous year must be attached.
Non-essential foreign trips funded by government resources are to be strictly avoided, said the circular.
The government directed all levels of government officials to refrain from undertaking recreational trips abroad. It also said that government officials and employees should avoid taking long-term leave for education abroad.
The circular stated that a ministry-based database for foreign trips must be created, and the structure of the database will be developed by the Chief Adviser's Office, which will also maintain the data.
The circular advised government officials at all levels to avoid foreign travel simultaneously.
The adviser and secretary of a ministry should generally refrain from travelling abroad together, stated the government order.
However, if such travel is deemed absolutely necessary in the national interest, the justification for the necessity must be specified.
The circular added that secretaries of ministries and heads of subordinate departments or agencies should not travel abroad together unless it is absolutely essential for the national interest.
For participation in seminars or workshops abroad, the circular mandates that proposals involving advisers and secretaries must include information on the level of officials invited by the organising authority and the levels of officials participating from other countries.
Proposals for foreign travel must include the necessity of the trip and the relevance and suitability of the proposed official to the specific activity, said the circular.
The government guidelines mentioned that for purposes such as procurement, pre-shipment inspection, or factory acceptance tests, only relevant experts should be considered for travel.
Source:thedailystar.net
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Senior Islamic Emirate Diplomat Meets Chairman of Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce
2024-12-12
KABUL(BNA): Sardar Ahmad Shakib, Acting Ambassador of the Islamic Emirate in Islamabad, met with Junaid Makda, Chairman of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry, at the embassy premises.
According to a statement from the Islamic Emirate’s Embassy in Islamabad, the meeting was attended by a delegation led by Junaid Makda, along with members of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
Discussions focused on enhancing trade between Afghanistan and Pakistan, addressing existing challenges, and exploring practical solutions to improve bilateral commerce. The meeting also covered other relevant topics aimed at strengthening economic ties.
Source: bakhtarnews.af
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Deputy PM Mawlawi Hanafi Chairs Hajj Committee Meeting to Ensure Smooth Operations
2024-12-12
KABUL(BNA): A meeting of the National Hajj Committee was held under the chairmanship of Deputy Prime Minister for Administrative Affairs, Mawlawi Abdul Salam Hanafi, and attended by committee members.
According to a statement released by the ARG, the discussions in this meeting centered around the organization and scheduling of flights for pilgrims, arrangements for transportation, and the regulation of financial and banking matters. Necessary decisions were made to ensure smooth operations in these areas.
Source: bakhtarnews.af
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Locally Manufactured Dump Truck Ready for Use in Afghanistan
2024-12-12
KABUL(BNA): Mawlawi Zabihullah Mujahid, Spokesman for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, has announced the production of a locally manufactured dump truck by Afghanistan’s National Development Company (NDC).
In a post on his X account, Mawlawi Mujahid stated, “Another type of vehicle has also been produced by the National Development Company. It will soon be used within the country for transportation and freight purposes.”
He further noted that the National Development Company has additional products that will be showcased soon.
According to Mawlawi Mujahid, Afghanistan is actively working to meet its domestic needs, demonstrating significant progress in industrial and technological self-reliance.
Source: bakhtarnews.af
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https://www.bakhtarnews.af/en/locally-manufactured-dump-truck-ready-for-use-in-afghanistan/
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Mawlawi Abdul Kabir Affirms Islamic Emirate’s Cooperation with Turkish Charitable Organizations
2024-12-11
KABUL (BNA): Mawlawi Abdul Kabir, Deputy Prime Minister for Political Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, met today,Wednesday with representatives of several Turkish charitable organizations.
According to a statement released by the Office of the Prime Minister, the Turkish representatives expressed their readiness to implement projects in Afghanistan, focusing on educational institutions, mosque construction, provision of clean drinking water, and assistance to Afghan citizens in need.
The Deputy Prime Minister acknowledged and appreciated the charitable contributions made by Turkey to Afghanistan.
He assured the representatives that the Islamic Emirate is committed to cooperating with Turkish charity organizations at all levels to ensure the effective implementation of their humanitarian activities.
Source: bakhtarnews.af
Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.bakhtarnews.af/en/mawlawi-abdul-kabir-affirms-islamic-emirates-cooperation-with-turkish-charitable-organizations/
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/muslim-bharatanatyam-artist-trichy-temple/d/134009