A Kashmiri Pandit holds out hope of Pandits return in restive J&K
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Kashmiri Pandit woman wins panchayat poll, wants migrants to return
11 MAY 2011
Srinagar,A Kashmiri Pandit woman who won the panchayat elections in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district said her victory is a message to other Pandit families to return to the Valley they left two decades ago. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah endorsed her win as a signal of ‘hope for the Valley and Kashmiriyat’.
Asha, a resident of Wussan Kunzer village in Baramulla district, 30 km from summer capital Srinagar, defeated her nearest rival, Sarwa Begum, by 11 votes in the panchayat elections held in the village on Saturday.
‘My victory has only been possible because of the support of my Muslim neighbours.
‘My victory is a clear and loud message for the migrant Pandit community of the Valley. They should return to their motherland,’ Asha said.
Chief Minister Abdullah also tweeted on the Asha’s victory.
Quoting residents, Abdullah posted on his micro blogging site: ‘We didn’t see whether she is a Muslim or non-Muslim as she is a nice lady. We gave her preference over Muslim candidates.’
In his own comment, the chief minister posted: ‘Regardless of what the extremist elements of both sides want the world to believe, there is still hope for the Valley and Kashmiriyat.’
Married to a local Pandit, Radha Krishen, Asha’s family stayed back in Wussan Kunzer village along with four other Pandit families who resisted the tide of migration.
Thousands of Kashmiri Pandits left the Valley in early 1990s when the armed separatist campaign started here against the Indian rule.
http://www.inewsone.com/2011/05/10/kashmiri-pandit-woman-wins-panchayat-poll-wants-migrants-to-return/49401
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US drone attack kills four in South Waziristan
PESHAWAR: A US drone strike targeting a vehicle killed four people in South Waziristan belt on Tuesday, local officials said, the second such operation since the killing of Osama bin Laden.
A security official said the drones fired two missiles into South Waziristan, near the Afghan border. Another official said the missiles fell near Angoor Adda village.(AFP)
http://www.thenews.jang.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=15358
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200 Taliban attack police station, two killed: Kabul
May 11, 2011
KABUL (Reuters): About 200 Taliban fighters attacked a police outpost in a remote, mountainous region of Afghanistan’s east on Tuesday, police and government officials said, with two insurgents killed during a gunfight lasting several hours.The Taliban announced this month the start of its long-awaited “spring offensive”, with dozens of fighters staging a two-day siege in the southern city of Kandahar that came to a bloody end on Sunday.U.S. and Afghan commanders have also warned of a spike in violence as insurgents push back after NATO-led troops made gains during offensives, mainly in the Taliban heartland in the south, over the past year.Afghan and foreign troops however have less control over more remote areas in provinces like Nuristan and Kunar in the east near the border with Pakistan.Sham ul Rahman, the police chief of Nuristan, said there had been “a short engagement” between Taliban fighters and Afghan security forces after insurgents attacked a police outpost in the Chapras area of Nuristan earlier on Tuesday.He said two insurgents were killed and one wounded, and three members of Afghan security forces wounded during the battle.”A group of insurgents fired on a police outpost and were pushed back,” Rahman told Reuters by telephone in Nuristan. “The gunbattle lasted for few hours.”He said about 200 Taliban fighters had crossed into Nuristan from the Chapa Dara district in neighboring Kunar province, climbing into mountains above the police outpost to launch their attack.A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Kabul said the coalition was aware of reports of fighting in the area but said it had not yet been asked for help. “We are certainly standing by to assist if we receive a request,” the ISAF spokesman said.Nuristan governor Jamaluddin Badr said insurgents have sanctuaries in Chapa Dara, from where they sometimes launch attacks into Nuristan.There are relatively few foreign troops in the area and it is not unusual for insurgents to overwhelm remote outposts, only to be pushed back later by security forces.Afghan troops, aided by ISAF, on Monday mopped up the remnants of a major assault launched by the Taliban in Kandahar city, the main city in the south, where the governor’s compound and other key facilities were attacked by suicide bombers and Taliban fighters on Saturday.Officials said at least 20 attackers, many of them suicide bombers who had used explosives-packed vehicles, were killed during the operation.Three Afghan troops and a civilian were also killed in a battle that showed the Taliban retain the ability to launch telling strikes in an area where U.S. and Afghan leaders say significant progress has been made against the insurgents.Violence across Afghanistan last year reached its worst levels since the Taliban were overthrown in late 2001, with record casualties on all sides of the conflict.
http://www.thefrontierpost.com/?p=12834
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Severe Action Demanded against Diamond Comics
Awami Election Committee threatens to Protest
By New Age Islam News Bureau
11 MAY 2011
New Delhi: 11May 2011: “Why any action is not being taken against Diamond Comics and its printer-publisher when all the proof to Jamia Nagar Police Station has been submitted. If action is not taken against the Publisher, we will be forced to protest and if the government did not take appropriate action against the blasphemer it will bear the brunt during the elections” threatened President of Awami Election Committee, according to reports in Urdu Press. Zaeem Hasan Quadri and Dr.Ameer Anjum asked why no action is being taken once the perky obligator has accepted his crime.
Dr. Ashraf Ali said, Muslims can in no case tolerate blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). If NSA against the publisher and ban on Diamond Comics is not applied, Muslims will come on the road and protest.
Hafiz M. Ibraheem Khaleel, patron of Khatauli Press Club said: “A movement of blasphemous acts to denigrate the Prophet and to present a deformed image of Islam has been deliberately launched all over the world so that Muslims forget their basic needs and get involved in these issues.
Master Ehteram ul Haque Sharar said, the government’s silence in this regard is very worrying and it seems to be a preplanned conspiracy. Besides him Haji Mohammad Moeen, Mohammad. Abaad Quraishi, Tahir Siddiqui, Ghalib Kausar, Jamaal Hashmi, Quazi Naseem Ahmad, Advocate, Anees Ahmad, Saleem Faridi, Haji Sadaquat Ali, Mistri Naseemuddin, Haider Faridi, Maulana Wasi Suleiman Nadvi, Hafiz Md. Idrees Quaraishi and Master Md. Khalid etc. were also present on the occasion.
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Linking Tableeghi Jama’at with Al Quaeda an Unfortunate Step
Unrest among Muslims on being considered supporters of Al-Qaeda
New Age Islam News Bureau
New Delhi: 11May 2011: According to reports in Urdu Press there is great unrest among Indian Muslims for being linked to Al-Qaeda. Tableeghi Jama’t, they say, is known to be a religious organization with the objectives of teaching and spreading the teachings of Allah, His Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and arranging such conferences and meetings and study circles.
On being linked with Al Qaeda the Jama’at and the entire Muslim community is worried, report Urdu newspapers. In this background, National President of Ameer ul Hind Jamiat Ulema e Hind, Maulana Quari Md. Usmana Mansoorpuri said, Tableeghi Jama’t is doing its duty for the years together. Linking its name is a conspiracy against Islam and Muslims. Every now and then such conspiracies are created so that Muslims find themselves trapped in such allegations and stay busy giving their clarifications. Muslims are being trapped to keep them away from the mainstream society and to keep them financially weak. He said: “Tableeghi Jamaat is a pure Islamic religious organization and not to talk of international it does not even have anything to do with national politics. It keeps itself away from every kind of political affairs and activities.
Patron of Jamia Emam, Md. Anwar and National President of Tanzeem e Ulema e Hind Maulana Syed Ahmad Khizr Shah Masoodi said expressing his views that Al Qaeda ‘s ghost has been created just to defame Tableeghi Jama’at to somehow stop its religious works by making its activists doubtful characters. He said it is the responsibility of the Government of India and especially of the Ministry of Home Affairs to look into the matter and take appropriate action in exposing the people or organizations involved in such conspiracy acts.
Maulana Mufti Md. Ehsan Quasmi, Ustaad e Hadith, Dar ul Uloom Waqf Deoband and National President, All India Tanzeem e Muftian said: O’ God, may the future not be as worrisome and frightening for madarasas and maktabs as the present is for Tableeghi Jamaat. The media is also being irresponsible. It should be honest while reporting such news and should not be a part of it.
Maulana Ibraheem Quasmi, state jt. secretary Majlise Ehrar said: “Tableeghi Jamaat has a very clean slate and it is a heinous plot to defame it. It is shocking that in no time it was linked with Al Qaeda. It is nothing but a conspiracy.
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IB sends Dawood’s Jeddah locale to CIA
11 MAY 2011
The Intelligence Bureau has zeroed in on Dawood Ibrahim’s location in Jeddah. It has updated the dossier on the world’s second-most-wanted terrorist with the latest intelligence, including details of his bases in Islamic countries beyond Pakistan, especially in Jeddah and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.
According to IB officers, the dossier has been handed over to America’s Central Intelligence Agency through the National Investigation Agency. The IB officers say Jeddah has always been Dawood’s second home for many reasons. “We have prepared a detailed updated dossier on him after the Osama bin Laden encounter,” said an IB source. “Ibrahim knows that due to international pressure Pakistan would never want him to stay put in their territory. Further, Saudi Arabia would be the next logical choice as it is the holiest place in Islam and hence there is no question of surgical strikes by the US or India,” said a well-placed source.
Full report:
http://www.asianage.com/india/ib-sends-dawood-s-jeddah-locale-cia-164
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NATO bombs rock Tripoli, Libya rebels hail advance
May 10, 2011
TRIPOLI: A NATO bombing blitz, which the alliance insisted was not aimed at Moamer Kadhafi, rocked Tripoli on Tuesday, as rebels in besieged Misrata claimed to be pushing back the Libyan strongman's forces.
The United Nations, meanwhile, said the offensive launched by Kadhafi's forces was paralysing the oil-rich nation and causing the population to suffer widespread shortages of essential goods.
The blasts came after NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said time was running out for Kadhafi.
He said Kadhafi "should realise sooner rather than later that there's no future for him or his regime."
Full report:
http://www.thenews.jang.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=15379
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After Bin Laden: US mosque holds 'open house' for neighbors
By BARBARA FERGUSON
May 10, 2011
WASHINGTON: Since the killing of Osama Bin Laden last Monday, one of the largest mosques in the DC area held an open house this weekend in an attempt to combat negative stereotypes of Muslims and close the rift between Muslims and others within their community.
The open house was planned for this Saturday before Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan by US troops. But his death changed the focus of the event and strengthened its meaning, said Imam Abdul Malik, the mosque's outreach director.
"It's time for us to move on. And to do that, we need to get to know one another better," said Abdul Malik at the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia.
He said the open house provided an opportunity to answer questions that may have cropped up in people's minds after the news of Bin Laden's death. Such as: "What is it like, what do Muslims believe, what are they thinking now?" he said.
Full report:
http://arabnews.com/world/article393424.ece
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CIA to let some US senators see Osama photos
May 10, 2011
WASHINGTON: The CIA has informed two Senate committees that their members can view post-mortem photos of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden if they wish, a congressional aide said on Tuesday.
The CIA invited members from the Senate Intelligence Committee and Senate Armed Services committee to make an appointment with the intelligence agency to see the photographs, the aide said.
Full report:
http://www.thenews.jang.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=15380
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Turkish politicians resign over sex tapes
May 11, 2011
ANKARA, Turkey: Two more top Turkish opposition politicians have resigned ahead of next month’s general election after secretly filmed tapes posted on the Internet reportedly showed them having extramarital affairs.
The resignations on Tuesday raised to four the number of far-right Nationalist Action Party politicians forced to withdraw from the June 12 elections. Two other politicians resigned last month after similar sex tapes emerged.
Full report:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article393820.ece
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More than 80 killed in south Sudan violence
By JEREMY CLARKE
May 11, 2011
JUBA, Sudan: More than 80 rebels and civilians were killed when insurgents attacked a camp in south Sudan, the army said on Tuesday, in the latest violence to mar preparations for the region’s independence.
In a separate incident, unknown attackers shot and wounded four Zambian UN peacekeepers in the contested Abyei region on Tuesday, another north/south flashpoint, the United Nations said.
Full report:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article393818.ece
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Al-Qaeda warns US of new jihad after bin Laden
11 May 2011
Al-Qaeda's franchise in Yemen warns the US of more attacks on its interest after the killing for Bin Laden
Al-Qaeda's supremo in Yemen -- Osama bin Laden's ancestral homeland -- has warned Americans of a bloodier jihadist struggle to come following the terror mastermind's killing by US commandos.
The warning from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula came as top US Senator John Kerry announced a trip to mend fences with a resentful Pakistan, where bin Laden was gunned down, but also to seek answers on how he came to be there.
AQAP leader Nasir al-Wahishi said in a statement posted on an Islamist website that the "ember of jihad (holy war) is brighter" following the May 2 death of bin Laden, according to the SITE monitoring group Wednesday.
The Yemen-based fugitive warned Americans not to fool themselves that the "matter will be over" with the killing of bin Laden, the Saudi-born architect of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Full report:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContentPrint/2/0/11826/World/0/-killed-in-Syrian-uprising-rights-group.aspx
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Pitzer College in California Adds Major in Secularism
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
11 May,2011
Colleges and universities have long offered majors in religion or theology. But with more and more people now saying they have no religion, one college has decided to be the first to offer a major in secularism.
Phil Zuckerman
Full report:
http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=240353
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Pakistan government loses chance to discipline weak army
11 MAY 2011
The US raid that killed Osama bin Laden gave Pakistan's weak civilian government a rare chance to wrest some power away from an influential military establishment that suddenly faced unusual public criticism over its failure to detect the al Qaeda leader and prevent the foreign incursion. Ins
The civilians' timidity doesn't bode well for US and Pakistani hopes that the nuclear-armed nation will evolve into a stable democracy.
Full report:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Pakistan-government-loses-chance-to-discipline-weak-army/H1-Article1-696123.aspx
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India's most wanted Hafiz Saeed roams free in Pak
May 11, 2011
Turning more heat on Pakistan, India on Wednesday released a list of 50 "most wanted fugitives", including underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, 26/11 mastermind and LeT founder Hafiz Saeed and dreaded terrorist Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi, hiding in that country. Hafiz Saeed, who is involved in Mumbai terr
or attack and various other attacks in the country, tops the list which also includes Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar, the principal accused in the 2001 Parliament attack after his release in exchange of hostages in the Khandhar hijack episode in 1999.
The government's action comes in the midst of acute discomfort for Pakistan which has been tying itself in knots over the charge of sheltering al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, who was killed in a unilateral US special forces action in Abbottabad.
Full report:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-s-most-wanted-Hafiz-Saeed-roams-free-in-Pak/H1-Article1-696179.aspx
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US terror trial opens amid tense Pakistani relations
May 10, 2011
CHICAGO: The Chicago trial of a Pakistani man accused of helping to plot the deadly Mumbai attacks opens next week amid a diplomatic crisis which could worsen if evidence of Pakistan’s involvement is revealed.
Pakistan is already trying to deflect mounting suspicion of official complicity with terrorism in the wake of the May 2 US raid which killed Osama bin Laden in an urban compound only 55 kilometers (35 miles) from Islamabad.
Full report:
http://www.dawn.com/2011/05/11/us-terror-trial-opens-amid-tense-pakistani-relations.html
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US lawmaker introduces legislation to cut off aid to Pak
May 11, 2011
WASHINGTON: A key US lawmaker has introduced a legislation in the House of Representatives to stop American aid to Pakistan, saying the killing of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad has made it clear that Islamabad concealed, protected and enabled him for many years.
"We can no longer afford this foolishness," Congressman Dana Rohrabacher said after introducing the 'Defund United States Assistance to Pakistan Act of 2011' in the House of Representative.
"The time has come for us to stop subsidizing those who actively oppose us. Pakistan has shown itself not to be America's ally," he said.
The bill says that terrorist outfits based in Pakistan, especially Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), has been responsible for terrorist strikes inside India including the Mumbai terrorist attack in November 2008, in which 166 people including six American nationals were killed.
Rohrabacher is a senior member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
The bill outlines several accounts of Pakistan's duplicitous behavior toward the US including recent reports of Pakistani leadership lobbying Afghan President Hamid Karzai to move away from "imperial" America and to embrace Communist China, said a statement issued by the Congressman.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen said the Pakistani intelligence service has had a long relationship with the Haqqani terror group that is right now "killing Americans" in Afghanistan.
Full report:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/US-lawmaker-introduces-legislation-to-cut-off-aid-to-Pak/articleshow/8242694.cms
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PPP ministers say JUI-F supporting terrorism
By Amanullah Kasi
May 10, 2011
QUETTA: Six ministers belonging to the PPP have accused the JUI-F, their coalition partner in the government, of supporting the Taliban and promoting terrorism.
They walked out of the provincial assembly on Tuesday and urged the chief minister to expel JUI-F ministers from the cabinet.
Full report:
http://www.dawn.com/2011/05/11/ppp-ministers-say-jui-f-supporting-terrorism.html
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Kerry to visit Pakistan to discuss US ties
May 10, 2011
WASHINGTON: USSenator John Kerry said on Tuesday he would travel to Pakistan in the coming days to discuss "all the relevant issues" with Islamabad after the US killing of Osama bin Laden.
Kerry, a Democrat who is close to the Obama administration, said he expected to see "all the main players" in Pakistan to discuss difficulties in bilateral ties following the US raid that killed bin Laden in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
"A number of people suggested it would be good to get a dialogue going about the aftermath and how we get on the right track," Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters in Washington.
Full report:
http://www.thenews.jang.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=15376
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Good ties with Pakistan 'but not at any price': US Senator
May 10, 2011
WASHINGTON: Pakistan must heed US "concerns" about its efforts to combat extremists, a senior US senator said Tuesday, warning he wanted to maintain good ties with Islamabad "but not at any price."
Full report:
http://www.thenews.jang.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=15375
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Pak, US in make-or-break moment: Boehner
May 10, 2011
WASHINGTON: House Speaker John Boehner says the killing of al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden presents a make-or-break moment for U.S.-Pakistani relations.
The Ohio Republican says in a broadcast interview he believes "it's a moment to look each other in the eye." Boehner (BAY'-nur) told NBC's "Today" show Tuesday that "if we're really going to be allies, if we're going to fight this war together, we need to be in it together all the time."
Full report:
http://www.thenews.jang.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=15363
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Syria tightens noose on protest hubs: activists
May 10, 2011
DAMASCUS: Syrian forces tightened the noose Tuesday on key protest hubs, including flashpoint Banias, sealing off neighbourhoods and arresting dissident leaders, activists said.
A pro-regime newspaper said the army had restored "calm" in Banias, while an adviser to President Bashar al-Assad told The New York Times she believes the regime has ridden out the worst of the uprising.
EU sanctions against the regime took effect on Tuesday, with the president spared but his younger brother heading a list of 13 officials targeted for their involvement in the brutal crackdown.
Full report:
http://www.thenews.jang.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=15378
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Bombs kill two north of Baghdad
May 10, 2011
TIKRIT: Two bombs exploded as a police patrol passed through the centre of Tikrit, north of Baghdad, on Tuesday, killing two policemen, police and medical officials said.
Another policeman was wounded in the attack, which struck at around 9:15 pm (1815 GMT) in the city, hometown of now executed dictator Saddam Hussein, Salaheddin provincial police said in a statement issued to journalists.
A doctor at Tikrit's main hospital confirmed that two policemen were killed and one was wounded.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack in its immediate aftermath. (AFP)
http://www.thenews.jang.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=15377
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Afghanistan still potential refuge for int’l terror groups
May 10, 2011
KABUL: The killing of Osama bin Laden may weaken al-Qaida's influence on the Afghan Taliban, the U.S. military commander in Afghanistan said.
Even so, Gen. David Petraeus warned that Afghanistan is still a potential refuge for international terror groups, and al-Qaida is just one of those. He also warned that the May 1 U.S. raid that killed the al-Qaida leader in his Pakistani compound did not spell the end of the NATO battle in Afghanistan, which began just one month after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington with the aim of wiping out al-Qaida and bin Laden.
Interviewed aboard his helicopter by the US news agency, Petraeus said the strong link between al-Qaida and the Taliban was personal, not organizational.
"The deal between the Afghan Taliban and al-Qaida was between Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden, not the organizations," Petraeus said as he visited U.S. troops in eastern Afghanistan.
Full report:
http://www.thenews.jang.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=15372
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Nawaz calls for reviewing relations with US
May 10, 2011
LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Chief Mian Nawaz Sharif has termed Abbottabad incident as ‘attack on the sovereignty’ and called for reviewing Pak-US relations, Geo News reported.
Chairing the party meeting here, Nawaz Sharif also demanded to constitute an independent commission, consisting equal number of members both from government and the opposition, to investigate into the incident.
Full report:
http://www.thenews.jang.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=15371
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Give unity deal a chance, Palestinian PM urges
By REUTERS
May 11, 2011
RAMALLAH, West Bank: Palestinian unity is crucial to peace with Israel and the pact between the secular Fatah and Islamist Hamas movements must be given a chance, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said on Friday.
“I am satisfied that we are on the verge of the process of putting the country back together,” he told France 24 television in an interview.
Starting the process of reconciling the two rival factions, which fought a brief civil war in 2007 over the Gaza Strip, is “absolutely essential,” even if it was not achieved immediately, Fayyad added.
Full report:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article393821.ece
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Obey rulers to ensure stability, says Grand Mufti of Medina
By YOUSUF MUHAMMAD
May 10, 2011
MADINAH: Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh on Tuesday emphasized the need to obey rulers, saying it would strengthen unity and stability and ensure protection for people’s honor and properties.
Delivering a lecture at the girls’ section of Taibah University in Madinah, he said: “Islam has honored women and respected her as mother, daughter and sister, and gave her rights.”
He continued: “Islam also protected her honor as she is not allowed to travel alone and mix with men. She is also given the right to own her wealth and prevented men from causing any harm to her.”
Full report:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article393580.ece
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Conservatives, liberals intensify war of words over co education: Jeddah
By MUHAMMAD AL-SULAMI
May 11, 2011
JEDDAH: A move by the Ministry of Education toward introducing coeducation in primary schools has triggered a dispute between conservatives and reformists in the Kingdom.
Opponents of the idea of mixed education warn that the move would lead to a sharp fall in the level of women’s education, as the majority of conservatives would prefer to keep their girls illiterate than sending them to schools where they would have to sit with boys.
The controversy first surfaced years ago, when several primary schools in Jeddah reportedly started experiments in coeducation followed by a rumor that the experiment would be introduced in schools in other cities as well. However, the officials of the ministry put an end to the dispute by reassuring that it did not plan any new experiment.
Full report:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article393682.ece
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Saudi women urged to play role in fight against terror
By GHADAH SALEH
May 10, 2011
ABHA: Participants in an educational seminar on the role of women in combating terror stressed the need to equip Saudi women to protect the younger generation from the influence of extremist ideology.
More than 50 women representing various departments and organizations are participating in the two-day event that opened on Tuesday.
Full report:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article393464.ece
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Osama bin Laden said: 'Find me a wife'
Tom Finn in Sana'a
11 May 2011
Osama bin Laden's wife Amal Ahmed al-Sadah
It was early in September 1999 when Rashad Mohammed Saeed Ismael, a Yemeni sheikh in his early 20s working as a preacher and a leading member of al-Qaida in Kabul, received the most important phone call of his life. Osama bin Laden had decided to marry for the fifth time and had charged Rashad, one of his closest aides, with the important task of finding him the right woman.
Full report:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/11/osama-bin-laden-wife/print
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Bin Laden Sons Say U.S. Broke International Law
By SCOTT SHANE
WASHINGTON — The adult sons of Osama bin Laden have lashed out at President Obama in their first public reaction to their father’s death, accusing the United States of violating its basic legal principles by killing an unarmed man, shooting his family members and disposing of his body in the sea.
The statement, provided to The New York Times on Tuesday, said the family was asking why Bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda, “was not arrested and tried in a court of law so that truth is revealed to the people of the world.”
Full report:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/world/asia/11binladen.html?ref=world
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Egypt’s ex-tourism minister jailed for 5 years
By AGENCIES
May 10, 2011
CAIRO: Egypt’s former tourism minister Zoheir Garranah was sent to prison for five years for squandering public funds, a judicial source said on Tuesday.
A criminal court found Garranah guilty of selling public land in the Red Sea region below its market value to two businessmen, the source said.
Full report:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article392780.ece
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Kuwait, not Syria, to run for UN rights body — envoys
By LOUIS CHARBONNEAU
May 11, 2011
UNITED NATIONS: Under pressure from fellow UN member states, Syria dropped plans to run for a seat on the top UN human rights body and allowed Kuwait to replace it as a candidate, UN diplomats said on Tuesday.
Several UN diplomats told Reuters on condition of anonymity that Kuwait had confirmed to Western officials that it planned to declare its candidacy for a spot on the 47-nation Human Rights Council in the Asian category.
They said Syria planned to trade candidacies with Kuwait, which was slated to run for the rights council in 2013, and drop out of the 2011 race for one of the four spots available to Asian countries. Other Asian candidates running this year are India, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Full report:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article393814.ece
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UN examines civilian protection in conflict
By ANITA SNOW
May 11, 2011
UNITED NATIONS: The Syrian government’s deployment of tanks and reports of shelling in that country’s residential areas are “alarming,” UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said Tuesday in a hearing about protecting civilians.
Amos told the UN Security Council debate session that she is also concerned about the violence leveled against civilians in Bahrain, Yemen and Syria, and at the loss of life and other human rights violations in those countries.
Full report:
http://arabnews.com/world/article393801.ece
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Taiwan to postpone US weapons purchase
May 10, 2011
TAIPEI: Taiwan is postponing purchases of US-made Black Hawk helicopters and Patriot air defense systems that are part of a $6.4 billion US weapons package that has been strongly opposed by China, officials said Tuesday.
Full report:
http://arabnews.com/world/article393443.ece
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Afghan govt urges Taleban to join talks
May 10, 2011
KABUL/WASHINGTON: The Afghan government Tuesday called on Taleban leaders to join peace talks initiated by the government or face the same fate as Osama Bin Laden, who was killed by elite US commandos last week.
Opening a two-day conference discussing efforts to broker peace, Afghan Vice President Mohammad Karim Khalili said the talks were an opportunity for the Taleban to embrace peace.
Full report:
http://arabnews.com/world/article393429.ece
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Pakistan suspected of retaliating after US raid
By SEBASTIAN ABBOT
May 10, 2011
ISLAMABAD: Suspicion has been rising that Pakistan’s intelligence service leaked the name of the CIA chief in Islamabad to local media in anger over the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden — the second outing of an American covert operative here in six months.
The US said Monday it has no plans to pull the spy chief, but the incident is likely to exacerbate an already troubled relationship between the two countries a week after Navy SEALs in helicopters swooped down on Bin Laden’s compound without first telling the Pakistanis. The CIA and Pakistan’s spy agency have long viewed each other with suspicion, which the death of the terror leader has laid bare.
Full report:
http://arabnews.com/world/article392261.ece
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Egypt developer’s Mubarak-linked chairman resigns
May 10, 2011
CAIRO: Egyptian real estate developer SODIC’s chairman has stepped down, the firm said, adding to a list of resignations at property firms scrambling to distance themselves from the country’s deposed president.
SODIC, Egypt’s third-biggest property developer, has not been directly implicated in any of the land sale scandals that have torn through a once-booming real estate sector since an uprising toppled President Hosni Mubarak in February.
But the firm’s chairman, Magdi Rasekh, is the father-in-law of Mubarak’s eldest son Alaa, a tie some analysts believed could expose SODIC to widening investigations as a patronage network centered on Mubarak’s family unravels.
“When you have certain political affiliations at the senior level in the company it can become a distraction. I think the company wants to focus on its core business,” said Naeem analyst Hisham Halaldeen.
Two former housing ministers under Mubarak, Ibrahim Soliman and Ahmed El-Maghrabi, have been arrested on graft charges.
One of the charges against Soliman accuses him of selling land to SODIC for less than it was worth.
SODIC denies any wrongdoing in the contract and says all its land deals have been fair and legal.
Full report:
http://arabnews.com/economy/article393330.ece
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Iran to stay OPEC head despite ministry changes
May 10, 2011
TEHRAN: Iran’s OPEC governor said possible further changes in the structure of its oil ministry will not affect its tenure in the rotating office of the group’s president.
Iran holds the one-year presidency of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, the group of 12 nations that pump almost a third of the world’s oil.
Iran has started a move to merge its oil and energy ministries as part of a plan to slim down the number of ministries to 17 from 21.
“Iran is currently holding the chairmanship of OPEC and the post has been delegated to a legal rather than a real entity,” the Fars news agency quoted Mohammad Ali Khatibi as saying.
Full report:
http://arabnews.com/economy/article392531.ece
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Suicide off tallest skyscraper in Dubai
May 10, 2011
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: A man committed suicide on Tuesday in a plunge of 39 floors from a segment of the world’s tallest skyscraper in Dubai, according to the its owner and reports in the local media. Emaar Properties, the owner of the towering Burj Khalifa said in a brief statement “an incident involving a male” was reported at the tower’s site at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
Full report:
http://arabnews.com/lifestyle/offbeat/article393203.ece
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Pak to get benefit from revamped GSP
May 10, 2011
BRUSSELS: The European Union plans to end tariff benefits for dozens of countries that have outgrown the need for preferential trade treatment under sweeping reforms presented by the bloc's trade chief on Tuesday.
Brazil, Argentina, Russia, Saudi Arabia and scores of other relatively prosperous developing countries will be excluded from trade preferences under the plan, which must be approved by the European Parliament and the EU's 27 member states.
The EU, the world's largest trading bloc, will instead focus on poorer countries it views as being in greater need of growth-boosting trade benefits, including Pakistan and Ukraine.
"Global economic imbalances have shifted tremendously in the last decades. World tariffs are at all-time lows. If we grant tariff preferences in this competitive environment, those countries most in need must reap the most benefits," Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said in a statement, as he laid out reforms that are a broad reworking of EU trade policy.
The plans, expected to ruffle feathers and take until 2014 to complete, reflect European ambitions to protect its industries from booming export economies while at the same time using trade as a foreign policy and development tool.
The EU has extended preferential trade treatment to developing countries under the so-called Generalised System of Preferences since 1971. In 2008, concessions to poor countries were granted on more than 6,000 products and were worth about 3 billion euros, according to EU figures.
Full report:
http://www.thenews.jang.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=15381
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PM failed to satisfy nation: Nisar
May 10, 2011
ISLAMABAD: Opposition Leader in National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Monday said Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has failed to satisfy the nation and that the failure of intelligence agencies is actually the failure of PM, Geo News reported.
Full report:
http://www.thenews.jang.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=15325
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Pakistan military cut off ties for two days
By Anwar Iqbal
May 10, 2011
WASHINGTON: The Pakistani military cut off its communication with US and Nato forces in Afghanistan for two days after a US raid killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, an American general said on Tuesday.
In the US Congress, officials told reporters that Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee John Kerry might visit Pakistan soon to reduce tensions between Washington and Islamabad.
Full report:
http://www.dawn.com/2011/05/11/pakistan-military-cut-off-ties-for-two-days.html
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PML-N likely to seek independent probe
By Amir Wasim
May 10, 2011
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-N chief Nawaz Sharif sat stoically listening to his party colleagues’ demand for almost four hours at a consultative meeting here on Tuesday that the party should seek formation of an independent commission to investigate the Abbottabad fiasco, fix responsibility and “roll heads”.
At the end of a joint meeting of its central organising committee and parliamentary group held at the Punjab House, the N-League announced that Mr Sharif would speak his mind on Wednesday after another round of consultations with party leaders and other segments of society.
Sources in PML-N said the participants called upon the party leadership to press for an independent inquiry into the May 2 US covert operation which killed Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
Full report:
http://www.dawn.com/2011/05/11/pml-n-likely-to-seek-independent-probe.html
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SC issues contempt notice to FIA chief
By Nasir Iqbal
May 10, 2011
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court issued on Tuesday a contempt notice to newly-appointed Director General of the Federal Investigation Agency Malik Mohammad Iqbal for `interfering` in its affairs by transferring an officer who was investigating the multi-billion-rupee scam in the National Insurance Company Limited.
A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Mohammad Sair Ali and Justice Ghulam Rabbani has taken up a case relating to corruption in the NICL.
Full report:
http://www.dawn.com/2011/05/11/sc-issues-contempt-notice-to-fia-chief.html
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Obama notes Bin Laden death on campaign trail
May 10, 2011
AUSTIN: US President Barack Obama on Tuesday carefully wove the killing of Osama bin Laden into the political pitch he is beginning to make to voters for a second White House term.
Analysts have speculated for days over the impact on Obama’s prospects of the high-risk covert raid by special forces deep into Pakistan which resulted in the Al-Qaeda leader’s death.
Full report:
http://www.dawn.com/2011/05/11/obama-notes-bin-laden-death-on-campaign-trail.html
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EU proposes overhaul of trade preferences scheme
May 10, 2011
BRUSSELS: The European Union plans to end tariff benefits for dozens of countries that have outgrown the need for preferential trade treatment under sweeping reforms presented by the bloc’s trade chief on Tuesday.
Full report:
http://www.dawn.com/2011/05/11/eu-proposes-overhaul-of-trade-preferences-scheme.html
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Post-Osama strategic environment
Khalid Iqbal
May 11, 2011
America’s military men who conceived, planned and executed Operation ‘Geronimo’ (Abbottabad attack) deserve highest recognition for their professional competence. This brilliant operation will always be bracketed with its other prestigious cousins like Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour (1941), Israel’s hostage rescue operation from Entebee (1976), attack on Iraqi nuclear reactor by Israeli (1981), etc. For decades, this operation shall be critically analysed at exalted military training institutions. Such operations are few and far between and they leave lasting scars for those on whose soil these are executed. Americans are yet to forget their “Pearl Harbour.” It is unfortunate that Osama was in Pakistan and such a humiliating mission was conducted on Pakistani soil. Pride of a common Pakistani stands severely bruised. At the same time, this mission shall always be cited by the international jurists as precedent of blatant violation of the UN charter and international norms.Not withstanding the marvels by the boys at arms, Osama’s dramatic demise is likely to raise as many questions as it may be able to answer. It appears that mission was designed to proclaim Osama as dead with no provision for capturing him alive. Indecent haste in which his body was deposed off in the sea would always keep a question mark on the authenticity of the event. Given previous assertions of death of Osama, it would have been in the fitness of the things to arrange at least a transparent funeral if not a befitting burial for him. Orchestration of the event has generated an impression as if previously occurred death has been regularised through a well planned action to create an aura of “Mission Accomplished,” prior to drawdown. Marine Colonel Bob Pappas has been saying for years, that death of Osama might have taken places at Tora Bora on December 13, 2001, or any time later, as many such claimants have been postulating. One understands that conflicts like Afghanistan don’t end in neat; they do not give decisive victories for either side. And face saving extrication out of such wars is not an easy task; at times it involves gimmicks of the sorts.Initial comments by President Obama and Hillary Clinton were prudent and well thought out; both acknowledged Pakistan’s cooperation in the event.
Full report:
http://www.thefrontierpost.com/?p=12861
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No US request to access Osama’s family: FO
May 11, 2011
WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD: The United States said on Tuesday it expects Pakistan will “soon” let it question three widows of Osama bin Laden while Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said it had yet to receive a formal request from the US in this regard. Bin Laden’s Yemeni wife has told Pakistani investigators that they lived in the compound where her spouse was killed in the garrison town of Abbottabad for five years. US investigators want to question his three wives as they seek to roll up his global militant network.
Full report:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\05\11\story_11-5-2011_pg1_2
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Killings and Rumors Unsettle a Libyan City
By KAREEM FAHIM
May 11, 2011
BENGHAZI, Libya — Three weeks ago, a traveler spotted a man’s body in the farmland on this city’s outskirts, shot twice in the head with his hands and feet bound. He had disappeared earlier that day, after visiting a market.
Mariam al-Abdali, center, and other family members mourned last week for her husband, Hussein Ghaith, a former interrogator for the internal security services, who was killed in Benghazi.
Full report:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/world/africa/11benghazi.html?ref=world
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Young single men find shopping in the Kingdom a challenge
By RIMA AL-MUKHTAR
May 10, 2011
JEDDAH: Shopping malls in Saudi Arabia preclude men who are not accompanied by their female family members from entering, in an attempt to protect female shoppers from harassment.
Young men have expressed their resentment at this habit to Arab News. Some ask their family members to join them while shopping.
“Whenever I want to go and buy anything for myself, I have to call my mother or one of my sisters to join,” said Adel Sahhaf, a 26-year-old marketer. “It’s sad that I can’t just walk into a shopping center and buy whatever I need. I have been facing refusal from many security guards to enter the mall, even in the early morning when no one is around,” he added.
Full report:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article393587.ece
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Yemen parties urged to sign deal
By GHAZANFAR ALI KHAN
May 11, 2011
GCC welcomes Jordan, Morocco to its fold; talks on membership process to begin
RIYADH: A summit of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah welcomed bids by Jordan and Morocco to join the GCC.
Full report:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article393663.ece