Atambayev Wins Kyrgyzstan's Presidential Polls
Karachi: Moot sees Sufism as solution to rampant unrest
Historical Hindu temple reopens after 60 yrs in northwest Pak
Indian Baby picked as world's seven billionth person
Admission of female students in medical colleges on the rise in Karachi
Attack near UN guest house kills 4 in Afghanistan
Suicide car bombing kills three in Kandahar: officials
7 Pakistanis burnt to death in Turkey
NWFP Minister escapes Taliban attack
NATO oil tanker’s driver, cleaner abducted in Bolan
Pak ambassador joins Diwali revelry in Beijing
Indo-Pak secretary-level talks in November
Palestinians get UNESCO seat as 107 vote in favour
US relying on ISI for 'reconciliation talks': report
Pakistan dismisses BBC claims on supporting Taliban
Military operations not a solution to militancy: Gilani
CM sees Pakistan turning into Al Tahrir Square
Blasts destroy three Yemeni fighter jets
Mubarak trial postponed until Dec. 28
Syria’s Assad says intervention will burn region
Lay off or risk Mideast ‘quake’: Syria to West
Iran parliament to question Ahmadinejad over fraud
Saudi prince offers $1 mn. Bounty to catch Israeli soldier
Qaeda seeking new sanctuaries in African states
Compiled By New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/atambayev-wins-kyrgyzstan-presidential-polls/d/5797
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Atambayev Wins Kyrgyzstan's Presidential Polls
VLADIMIR RADYUHIN
MOSCOW, October 31, 2011
AP Kyrgyzstan's Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev speaks to the press in Bishkek on Monday. He claimed victory in the presidential elections after preliminary rounds showed he had garnered an overwhelming share of votes.
Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev has claimed a surprising outright win in Kyrgyzstan’s presidential elections on Sunday, but some of his 15 opponents refused to concede defeat and alleged fraud.
With 99 percent of the votes counted Mr. Atambayev garnered more than 63 percent, well above the 50-percent minimum needed to avoid a runoff.
His rivals, however, claimed there were many violations, including ballot box stuffing and repeat voting. They found it incredible that Mr. Atambayev, a northerner, could have won the same share of the votes in the south as he did in the north.
Supporters of the winner’s main rivals, former Parliament Speaker Adakhan Madumarov and ex-Emergency Services minister Kamchibek Tashiyev, who won 14 percent each, staged protests rallies in the south provinces and blocked the main north-south road demanding a new vote. They gave authorities two days to meet their demands, threatening to resume the protests.
Observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), criticised faulty voter lists, multiple voting and ballot stuffing, even as they hailed the free and peaceful election campaign.
Many people were unable to vote because they could not find themselves in the registered voter lists. Those who were turned away included even the son of Interim President Rosa Otunbayeva and one of the presidential candidates.
However, analysts attributed Mr. Atambayev’s victory to his popularity as Prime Minister and his ability to consolidate his electorate in the north, where the turnout was much higher than the country’s average of 60 percent. At the same time, they said the election deepened the split between the north and the south, which largely defined Kyrgyzstan’s clan-based politics since the breakup of the Soviet Union. The country’s first post-Soviet President Askar Akayev, a northerner, was toppled in 2005 by protests that originated in the south, and his successor Kurmanbek Bakiyev, a southerner, was overthrown by northern protesters last year.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article2585702.ece
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Karachi: Moot sees Sufism as solution to rampant unrest
Staff Report
October 31, 2011
KARACHI: The Culture Centre of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Karachi organised an International Conference entitled ‘Impact of Mysticism and Sufism in Sindh,’ here on Saturday evening.
Eminent Iranain and Pakistani scholars presented their thesis on the topic of the conference, organised on the theme that true Sufi message could bring peace of mind to masses in the prevailing stormy season of unrest, hatred and violence. Addressing the conference, guest of honour Dr Abdul Ghafar Soomro presented his thesis on the role of Shaikh Mehmood Shabistry’s views in evolution of Sufism and mysticism in Sindh.
Speakers shed light on various aspects of Sufism and its role and impacts on the civilisation and culture of Sindh province.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\10\31\story_31-10-2011_pg7_27
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Historical Hindu temple reopens after 60 yrs in northwest Pak
PTI Oct 31, 2011,
ISLAMABADL: Hindus celebrated Diwali at a historic 160-year-old temple at Peshawar in northwest Pakistan after it was reopened to the minority community after six decades on a court's orders.
Scores of Hindus, including women and children, visited the Goraknath temple at Gor Khatri, which was reopened after Phool Wati, the daughter of the shrine's cleric, petitioned the Peshawar High Court.
Children and youths wearing colourful clothes were part of the gathering. The children burst crackers while the youths sang bhajans and danced.
Phool Wati and her son Kaka Ram have claimed that the temple, which has been controlled in past decades by the police, Evacuee Property Trust Board and the provincial archaeology department, belongs to their family.
Though a two-judge bench of the High Court ruled last month that Phool Wati had failed to provide evidence of her family's ownership of the temple, it directed authorities to reopen the shrine for religious purposes.
The court observed that stopping religious activities at a place of worship was against all laws.
Kamla Rani, the daughter of Phool Wati, was grateful to the authorities for reopening the temple.
"I am very happy that my mother, though very old, fought a legal battle to reopen this temple for Hindu worshippers," she told the media.
She said she had good relations with Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Muslims in her neighbourhood. "I don't feel that I am different from others living in Peshawar."
Noting that the temple was reopened due to the joint efforts of the Hindu community, Kamla Rani said: "You can't imagine how happy we feel today."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Historical-Hindu-temple-reopens-after-60-yrs-in-northwest-Pak/articleshow/10554497.cms
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Indian baby picked as world's seven billionth person
31 October 2011
A baby born in India has been declared the world's seven billionth person by child rights group Plan International.
Baby Nargis was born at 07:25 local time (01:55GMT) in Mall village in India's Uttar Pradesh state.
Plan International says Nargis has been chosen symbolically as it is not possible to know where exactly the seven billionth baby is born.
The United Nations estimated that on Monday 31 October, the world's population would reach seven billion.
Earlier on Monday, the Philippines also declared a symbolic seven billionth baby, a girl born in a Manila hospital.
Every minute, 51 babies are born in India, 11 of them in the most populous state, Uttar Pradesh.
Nargis was born to Vinita and Ajay Kumar on Monday morning in a small government-run hospital in Mall village, nearly 50km (31 miles) from the state capital, Lucknow, a Plan International official told the BBC.
The daughter of a poor farmer, Nargis was chosen as the seventh billion baby to focus attention on the ills of female foeticide and India's skewed sex ratio, the organisation said.
Hundreds of thousands of female foetuses are aborted in India every year, even though sex-selective terminations and the use of ultrasound technology for foetal sex-determination are illegal there.
Photos of baby Nargis were shown at a function attended by nearly 250 villagers at the hospital, the BBC's Ram Dutt Tripathi reports from Mall.
Health officials presented the birth certificate to her father at the event.
"We were praying all along for a daughter," Ajay Kumar said. "She is Lakshmi [Hindu goddess of wealth], she will bring us good luck," he said.
A street play staged at the event on the importance of the girl child saw many moist eyes among the audiences, our correspondent says.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15517259
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Admission of female students in medical colleges on the rise in Karachi
By Haris Hanif
October 31, 2011
KARACHI: Entry test for admissions to MBBS and Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) of the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) was held here on Sunday with one-month delay at the Ojha campus of the varsity in which a majority of female candidates was witnessed.
As many as 5,000 applications were received of them 4,693 candidates were declared eligible for admissions against 700 seats (350 each at the DMC and the SMC) available for the MBBS programme and 100 seats for the BDS programme in the DUHS’s Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan Institute of Health Sciences. The entry tests for admissions in medical colleges were simultaneously held in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Nawabshah and Larkana for 1,700 seats of MBBS and BDS.
There are 350 seats in Liaquat University of Medical Sciences (LUMS), 250 in Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University, Larkana; 200 in People’s University of Medical and Health Sciences and 100 in Lyari Medical College. National Testing Service (NTS) will declare the results on its website within 72 hours of the test while three days will be given to students for claim.
Full Report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\10\31\story_31-10-2011_pg7_16
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Attack near UN guest house kills 4 in Afghanistan
AP, Oct 31, 2011,
KANDAHAR: A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a checkpoint in a neighborhood housing United Nations and international aid groups' offices and guest houses in the southern city of Kandahar early today, killing four people including an Afghan policeman, Afghan officials said.
Security forces were exchanging fire with armed insurgents who rushed into the area and seized control of a building, Kandahar police chief Gen Abdul Razzaq said.
NATO said that Afghan security forces were "leading the efforts against the attackers."
Immediately after the 6:15 am bomb attack, several insurgents rushed into the area and seized control of an animal clinic near the office of the International Relief and Development organization, said Faisal Khan, head of the Kandahar local government media office.
The clinic and IRD offices are near guest houses affiliated with both the IRD and the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, he said.
Full Report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/Attack-near-UN-guest-house-kills-4-in-Afghanistan/articleshow/10552021.cms
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Suicide car bombing kills three in Kandahar: officials
AFP Oct. 31, 2011
KANDAHAR: Three suicide attackers mounted an assault on the offices of a non-governmental organisation in the Afghan city of Kandahar, killing three people on Monday, officials said.
One attacker detonated a car bomb outside the offices, killing three civilians and wounding two others before two other attackers entered the compound where they were surrounded by police, said a police spokesman, Ghorzang.
The Kandahar government’s media office gave the toll, while a doctor at nearby Mirwais hospital said it had received three wounded, two of whom had since died. Sporadic gunfire was heard ongoing at the site.
The car bomber had exploded in front of the offices of the US-based International Relief and Development offices in the southern city, officials said.
“An attack took place on IRD and during this attack three civilians died, a Nepali (guard) and one civilian were also wounded in the attack,” said the media office statement.
Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said the insurgent group were responsible for a car bomb attack in Kandahar but claimed it was on the offices of the United Nations refugee agency.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/10/31/two-killed-in-kandahar-suicide-attack-official.html
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7 Pakistanis burnt to death in Turkey
October 31, 2011
An agent allegedly burnt illegal immigrants to death over what appears to be a financial dispute.
An illegal immigration agent reportedly set on fire seven Pakistanis who he had smuggled to Turkey, Express 24/7 reported on Monday.
The agent allegedly burnt the illegal immigrants to death over what appears to be a financial dispute.
Two of the seven bodies have arrived in Pakistan.
Mohammad Fayyaz and Zulqernain, both belonging to Jhelum, had paid money to an agent three months ago and reached Turkey with five other men where they were reportedly burnt to death.
There are no details available about the incident or the circumstances in which they were killed.
The bodies have been sent back to Islamabad and the funeral prayers have also been offered.
The father of Zulqarnain said that grave injustice has been done and demanded an inquiry intro the matter.
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NWFP Minister escapes Taliban attack
PTI, ISLAMABAD, October 31, 2011
A provincial minister from the ruling Pakistan People’s Party escaped unhurt when Taliban fighters ambushed his vehicle in the country’s restive northwest on Monday.
Amjad Khan Afridi, the Housing Minister in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, was travelling in his bulletproof car when militants fired at it in Kohat district, police said.
A Taliban sniper fired three shots at the car from nearby hills.
One bullet hit the car’s windscreen though the minister remained unharmed, police officials said.
The minister was the target of the attack, they said.
The Taliban have carried out numerous attacks on politicians and their supporters in Pakistan’s northwest.
Most of the attacks have targeted leaders and workers of the Awami National Party, which heads the government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
The PPP, which heads the government at the centre, is a junior partner in the provincial coalition.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article2585700.ece
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NATO oil tanker’s driver, cleaner abducted in Bolan
October 31, 2011
QUETTA: Unidentified armed men kidnapped driver and cleaner of an oil tanker carrying supply for NATO troops in Afghanistan near Mach area of Bolan district on Sunday. According to Levies sources, armed men signalled to stop a NATO oil tanker carrying fuel from Karachi to Quetta. The driver tried to flee but armed men opened fire at the vehicle bursting the tyres of the oil tanker. Levies sources said the armed men took the driver and cleaner to some unidentified location on gunpoint. The Levies officials, soon after the incident, reached the scene and cordoning off the area to arrest the culprits. agencies
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\10\31\story_31-10-2011_pg7_13
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Pak ambassador joins Diwali revelry in Beijing
Saibal Dasgupta, TNN
Oct 31, 2011,
Pakistan ambassador Masood Khan waves to artists and assembled Indians along with Indian ambassador S Jaishankar in Beijing on Saturday.
BEIJING: India-Pakistan relations sparkled for a while as Pakistani ambassador Masood Khan and his wife, Zohra, took the rare step of participating in Diwali celebrations at the Indian embassy premises on Saturday evening. Khan also cheered at artists performing on the stage and the assembled Indians as a gesture of bonhomie.
The move comes soon after Indian ambassador S Jaishankar visited the Pakistani embassy to pay his condolences over the recent demise of Begum Nusrat Bhutto, the wife and mother of two different prime ministers of Pakistan and the mother-in-law of Asif Ali Zardari, the present one.
The Khans stayed close to two hours and joined in the dinner with the Indian ambassador, Sultan Ahmad Baheri, the ambassador of Afghanistan and Sun Weidong, deputy director general of the department of Asian affairs in the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs. This is the first time in many years that a Pakistani ambassador has visited the Indian embassy on a festive occasion giving the event a diplomatic hue.
The celebrations was attended by Indians living in Beijing included a Bharat Natyam performance by Chinese dancer Jin Shanshan and display of fire crackers, which is usually not allowed outside the embassy premises in Beijing.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/china/Pak-ambassador-joins-Diwali-revelry-in-Beijing/articleshow/10552948.cms
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Indo-Pak secretary-level talks in November
October 31, 2011
NEW DELHI: India will again press for normalisation of trade with Pakistan when the commerce secretaries of the two neighbouring countries meet in the second week of November, Indian media reported on Sunday.
The commerce secretary-level talks are being held within two months of the India-Pakistan trade ministers meeting, which reviewed the bilateral commercial engagement. Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma had hosted his Pakistani counterpart, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, in September. “Essentially, we will review the progress of the agenda set in Islamabad in April,” an Indian senior Commerce Ministry official told NDTV.
The two countries had resumed economic talks after a long gap in April and had drawn a roadmap for increasing bilateral trade, which remained at a low level of $2.65 billion in 2010-11.
Pakistan commerce secretary Zafar Mahmood will be in India for three days from November 14 for comprehensive discussions with his Indian counterpart, Rahul Khullar, the official said. The main roadblock in pushing bilateral trade is the restrictions on imports of most Indian merchandise in Pakistan.
India has been pressing for an arrangement through which the Pakistan opens trade with New Delhi on all but a few items. This is reciprocated by India, which will allow imports of all Pakistani items, except a small number of goods. Like in the past, India will build further pressure on Pakistan to agree for the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) treatment for New Delhi.
There is a concern among the Pakistani industry that Indian exporters may flood the market with their merchandise once normal trade is allowed. The feeling arises from imbalance in the bilateral trade against Pakistan. online
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\10\31\story_31-10-2011_pg7_26
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Palestinians get UNESCO seat as 107 vote in favour
31 October 2011
The UN cultural organisation has voted strongly in favour of membership for the Palestinians - a move opposed by Israel and the United States.
Of 173 countries voting, 107 were in favour, 14 opposed and 52 abstained.
Under US law, Washington can now withdraw funding to Unesco. This would deprive the agency of some $70m (£43.7m) - more than 20% of its budget.
The UN Security Council will vote in November on whether Palestine should become a full UN member state.
Membership of Unesco - perhaps best known for its World Heritage Sites - may seem a strange step towards statehood, says the BBC's Jon Donnison, in Ramallah, but Palestinian leaders see it as part of a broader push to get international recognition and put pressure on Israel.
This is the first UN agency the Palestinians have sought to join since submitting their bid for recognition to the Security Council in September.
Palestinians currently have permanent observer entity status at the UN
They are represented by the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO)
Officials now want an upgrade so a state of Palestine has full member status at the UN
They seek recognition on 1967 borders - in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza
Enhanced observer member status could be an interim option
"This vote will erase a tiny part of the injustice done to the Palestinian people," Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki told the Unesco meeting in Paris, after the result was announced.
The UN Security Council is expected to vote on that bid in November. The United States has said it will use its veto.
But at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the US does not have veto power.
"The action today will complicate our ability to support Unesco," the US ambassador to Unesco said after the vote.
"The US has been clear for the need of a two-state resolution, but the only path is through direct negotiations and there are no shortcuts, and initiatives like today are counterproductive," David T Killion told journalists.
A US law passed in the 1990s allows Washington to cut funding to any UN body that admits Palestine as a full member.
That amounts to $70m - more than 20% of Unesco's entire budget.
Widespread applause greeted the result of Monday's vote in the chamber, where a two-thirds majority is enough to pass the decision.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15518173
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US relying on ISI for 'reconciliation talks': report
Oct 31 2011,
New York: After accusing Pakistan's ISI of supporting the Haqqani terror network, the Obama administration is now relying on the spy agency to help it organise and begin "reconciliation talks" aimed at ending the war in Afghanistan, a media report said here.
"The revamped approach, which Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called 'Fight, Talk, Build' combines continued American air and ground strikes against the Haqqani network and the Taliban with an insistence that Pakistan's ISI get them to the negotiating table," the 'New York Times' daily said.
The new strategy has emerged as an option in the wake of the increased attacks against Americans in Kabul, including the suicide attack on Saturday that killed as many as 10 Americans and in which the Haqqanis are suspected.
"It is the latest effort at brokering a deal with militants before the last of 33,000 American troops prepare to pull out of Afghanistan by September, and comes as early hopes in the White House about having the outlines of a deal in time for a multinational conference December 5 in Bonn, Germany, have been all but abandoned," the report said.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/us-relying-on-isi-for-reconciliation-talks-report/868198/
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Pakistan dismisses BBC claims on supporting Taliban
IANS, Oct 30, 2011,
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Sunday strongly rejected claims made in a BBC documentary that the country's security services were supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan.
"The BBC series 'Secret Pakistan' accuses Pakistan of playing a double game, acting as the US' ally in public while secretly training and arming its enemy (Taliban) in Afghanistan. The series makes baseless and fabricated allegations," Xinhua quoted a Pakistani foreign ministry statement as saying.
"Fiction such as those depicted in the series cannot belittle Pakistan's sacrifices and contribution in countering terrorism," the statement said.
The Pakistani army also strongly denied the claims made in the documentary. Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas described the allegations as "baseless and malicious".
He said the US and Afghanistan were trying to blame Pakistan for their own failures. He said the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had itself suffered at the hands of al-Qaida and its affiliates. About 300 ISI officials had died in terror attacks, he said.
Meanwhile, BBC spokeswoman Helen Deller said the documentary was made in line with BBC editorial guidelines and did "not attempt to take sides".
"'Secret Pakistan' was made in accordance with the BBC's editorial guidelines. Information we gained was checked with multiple sources and the programme strove to be fair and accurate," she said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Pakistan-dismisses-BBC-claims-on-supporting-Taliban/articleshow/10541985.cms
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Military operations not a solution to militancy: Gilani
October 31, 2011
PERTH: Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, on Sunday, said that military operations were not a sustainable solution to the problem of militancy, as political process had to be initiated to bring peace.
Speaking to the Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, on the sidelines of Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) here, Gilani said the government and people of Pakistan were committed to fighting terrorism, and it was reflected in successful operation in Malakand and Swat.
Gilani said his initiative of political reconciliation was not taken seriously by the US leadership, but now his stance had been vindicated as the whole world now urged a political resolution for a long-term stability in Afghanistan by bringing to the negotiation table all Afghan factions.
The prime minister said he visited Afghanistan thrice and also took along with him the army chief and the head of intelligence service to meet the Afghan president in order to give impetus to the process of reconciliation.
Gillard said she understood criticality of political reconciliation in Afghanistan, as it was intertwined closely to stability, development and good governance. She invited Pakistan for a meaningful dialogue to deepen economic ties, enhance cooperation in agriculture and undertake joint investment ventures to strengthen bilateral relations as an effective means to counter terrorism.
Full Report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\10\31\story_31-10-2011_pg7_6
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CM sees Pakistan turning into Al Tahrir Square
Staff Report
October 31, 2011
LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Sunday that corruption, poverty and unemployment would turn the country into Al Tahrir Square, while the people would be picketing those stashing looted wealth in Switzerland.
Addressing a meeting of the Dengue Emergency Committee, Shahbaz said that the courts were complaining that their rulings were not being accepted and vowed that he would talk about corruption not once, but a thousand times. He said that the people would be picketing those sending the country’s looted wealth to Switzerland and that the thieves and robbers would be dragged in the streets. The Punjab chief minister said that he took the taunts relating to dengue virus as a matter of honour for him and declared that he would continue doing whatever was necessary to save the lives of dengue patients.
Addressing the inaugural ceremony of the Punjab Forensic Science Agency, the chief minister said that the completion of the forensic agency would prove to be a milestone in the provision of speedy justice to the people and would also help in curbing crimes.
Senior Advisor Sirdar Zulfiqar Ali Khan Khosa, elected representatives, the home secretary, IGP, senior officers and scientists attended the function.
He said that the forensic lab would help in making investigation processes transparent and authentic, adding that it would not only be useful for curbing crimes in Punjab, but also in the entire country.
Full Report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\10\31\story_31-10-2011_pg7_15
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Blasts destroy three Yemeni fighter jets
AFP Oct. 31, 2011
SANAA: Three Yemeni fighter jets were destroyed and several others damaged in overnight explosions that rocked an air base, apparently caused by explosives planted in the planes, officials told AFP on Monday.
“Unknown assailants appear to have planted explosive devices in the fighter jets which were loaded with ammunition in preparation for a combat mission planned for Monday morning,” a military official said on condition of anonymity.
“Three fighter jets went up in flames and several others were damaged by the explosions,” said an aviation official from Sanaa’s International Airport just adjacent to the targeted military base.
The military official told AFP that the planes had been due to undertake a combat mission over the Arhab region, the northern gateway to the capital Sanaa, just 40 kilometres south.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, in which apparently no one was hurt.
The elite Republican Guard units controlled by President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s son Ahmad have a strong presence in Arhab and have so far prevented troops from defected General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar’s First Armoured Division, stationed further north, from streaming into the capital.
Anti-government protests that have swept Yemen since January have triggered an unprecedented political crisis that has left the impoverished country’s economy in shambles and its government weak and fractured.
The deadlock has also triggered defections among Yemen’s military and tribal ranks, with two of Saleh’s once staunch allies, General Ahmar and tribal chief Sheikh Sadeq al-Ahmar, throwing their support behind the protest movement and openly battling pro-Saleh troops in Sanaa’s streets.
Saleh, in power for 33-years, has refused to heed regional and international calls to step down, and his military forces have launched a brutal crackdown on protesters that has left hundreds dead and thousands more wounded.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/10/31/blasts-destroy-three-yemeni-fighter-jets.html
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Mubarak trial postponed until Dec. 28
By Hamza Hendawi
Associated Press October 30, 2011
CAIRO — The trial of ousted Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak on charges of complicity in the killing of more than 800 protesters this year was adjourned on Sunday until Dec. 28.
Mr. Mubarak’s trial began nearly three months ago, and Sunday’s lengthy adjournment was certain to frustrate leaders of the anti-Mubarak protest movement who want to see the former leader and his co-defendants — his two sons, security chief and six top police officers — brought swiftly to justice.
Mr. Mubarak stepped down in February after a popular uprising. Reformers are frustrated by what they see as the slow progress by Egypt’s military rulers to liberalize the system.
The adjournment was meant to allow time for another court to rule on a request by lawyers for the victims to remove the three-judge panel in Mr. Mubarak’s trial. That ruling is expected on Nov. 3.
Mr. Mubarak, his two sons, his former security chief and the six police officers sat in the defendants’ cage for Sunday’s 10-minute hearing. If convicted, Mr. Mubarak could face the death penalty. Mr. Mubarak and his sons also face corruption charges.
An 18-day uprising forced Mr. Mubarak to step down Feb. 11.
Also Sunday, two prominent activists were summoned for questioning by military prosecutors for their alleged role in the incitement of clashes this month in which 27 people, most of them Christians, were killed and hundreds were wounded.
For Full Report:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/oct/30/mubarak-trial-postponed-until-dec-28/
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Syria’s Assad says intervention will burn region
By Bassem Mroue
Associated Press
October 30, 2011
BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad has warned against Western intervention in his country’s 7-month-old uprising, saying such action would trigger an “earthquake” that “would burn the whole region.”
Mr. Assad’s comments, published in an interview with Britain’s Sunday Telegraph, were made against a backdrop of growing calls from anti-regime protesters for a no-fly zone over Syria and increasingly frequent clashes between government troops and army defectors, which left at least 30 troops dead late Saturday.
“Syria is the hub now in this region. It is the fault line, and if you play with the ground, you will cause an earthquake,” Mr. Assad said. “Do you want to see another Afghanistan, or tens of Afghanistans?”
Mr. Assad’s remarks appeared to reflect his regime’s increasing concern about foreign intervention in the country’s crisis after the recent death of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, who was toppled by a popular uprising backed by NATO airstrikes.
Syrian opposition leaders have not called for an armed uprising like the one in Libya and have for the most part opposed foreign intervention, and the U.S. and its allies have shown little appetite for intervening in another Arab nation in turmoil. But with the 7-month-old revolt against Mr. Assad at a stalemate, some Syrian protesters have begun calling for a no-fly zone over the country because of fears the regime might use its air force now that army defectors are becoming more active in fighting the security forces.
Full Report at:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/oct/30/syrias-assad-says-intervention-will-burn-region/
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Lay off or risk Mideast ‘quake’ : Syria to West
Agencies, Oct 31, 2011,
AMMAM: Western powers would cause an "earthquake" in the Middle East if they intervened in Syria, president Bashar al-Assad said in an interview published on Sunday, after protesters demanded outside protection from a crackdown that has killed 3,000 people.
Syrian officials were to hold more talks in Qatar with delegates of the Arab League, which wants to convene a dialogue in Cairo between the Syrian authorities and their opponents. The League's two-week deadline for the planned dialogue to start expires on Sunday , with Assad showing no signs of easing the crackdown , which is drawing increasing international outrage and criticism even from previously cautious Arab countries.
Syria, as Assad noted in his interview with Britain's Sunday Telegraph, sits at the heart of the volatile Middle East, where it borders Israel, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Jordan. "It is the faultline, and if you play with the ground, you will cause an earthquake," he said. "Do you want to see another Afghanistan, or tens of Afghanistans ?"
Assad's remarks signal determination to hang onto power against a popular uprising that repression has failed to crush.
The Arab League's committee on Syrian crisis sent an "urgent message to Syrian government expressing its discontent over the continued killing of civilians" . A foreign ministry source, quoted by state media, said the statement was "based on media lies" and urged the committee to "help restore stability in Syria.
In the interview, Assad compared the unrest with the 1980s, when his father, Hafez al-Assad , crushed Islamist and leftist challenges to his rule, killing tens of thousands of Syrians. Syrian opposition leaders have not called for an armed uprising like the one in Libya and have for the most part opposed foreign intervention . In addition, the US and its allies have shown little appetite for intervening in another Arab nation in turmoil .
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Lay-off-or-risk-Mideast-quake-Syria-to-West/articleshow/10549074.cms
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Iran parliament to question Ahmadinejad over fraud
Associated Press
Oct 31 2011, 09:56 hrs
Tehran: Iran's parliament is set to summon President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for questioning over an economic scandal and his polices after the required number of lawmakers signed a petition, the latest salvo in a long battle between the president and his rivals.
Ahmadinejad would be the first president to be hauled before the Iranian parliament, a serious blow to his standing in a the conflict involving the president, lawmakers and Iran's powerful clerics.
At least 73 lawmakers signed the petition to question Ahmadinejad, just above one-quarter of the 290 members required by Iran's constitution to call in a president. Earlier the parliament found Ahmadinejad's economics minister guilty in relation to a USD 2.6 million fraud case, considered the largest in Iran's history.
This is just one of several economic misconduct cases that target Ahmadinejad allies, evidence that his political struggles are a factor.
Ahmadinejad has been wrestling with the parliament and the clergy over in the run-up to parliamentary elections in March and a presidential election in 2013.
Ahmadinejad has come under increasing attacks in recent months from the same hardliners who brought him to power. Dozens of Ahmadinejad's political backers have been arrested or hounded out of the public eye by hard-line forces in recent months.
His protege and top aide, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, has been effectively blackballed from his goal of succeeding Ahmadinejad in 2013 elections by a series of reputation-killing accusations.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/iran-parliament-to-question-ahmadinejad-over-fraud/868088/
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Saudi prince offers $1 mn bounty to catch Israeli soldier
Oct 31 2011,
Riyadh: A member of Saudi Arabia's royal family increased to $1 million a reward offered by a Saudi cleric to anyone who captures an Israeli soldier to swap him for Palestinian prisoners.
Prince Khaled bin Talal, brother of billionaire Prince Al-waleed bin Talal, told the kingdom's al-Daleel TV station by telephone Saturday that he was raising a previous offer made by Sheik Awadh al-Qarani, a prominent Saudi cleric who promised $100,000 for capturing an Israeli soldier.
"I tell Sheik al-Qarani that I support you and I will pay $900,000 to make it one million dollars to capture an Israeli soldier to release other prisoners,'' said a voice identified as Prince Khaled, who holds no official position in the government.
The Saudi offers follow in the wake of the release of Israeli soldier Sgt. Gilad Schalit, who was held by Hamas in Gaza for more than five years. Israel has agreed to free over 1,000 prisoners in exchange.
Prince Khaled said he made the offer in response to what he said were Israeli threats against Qarani's life. He did not provide any further details.
In Israel, extremists have offered two rewards of $100,000 to anyone who kills a Palestinian released in the Schalit deal if the Palestinian killed Israelis.
Extremist settler activist Baruch Marzel said he was familiar with the bounties and that there were a number of bereaved Israeli families who were looking to "settle the score'' with the killers.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/saudi-prince-offers-1-mn-bounty-to-catch-israeli-soldier/868199/
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Qaeda seeking new sanctuaries in African states
October 31, 2011
PARIS: Al Qaeda could be seeking new sanctuaries in unstable African nations and the continent’s disparate armed extremist groups may foster closer ties under the Al Qaeda umbrella, experts and officials warned.
The organisation founded by the Saudi-born Osama bin Laden has largely been driven out of former safe-haven Afghanistan, while it has been battered by US drone attacks across the border in Pakistan, leaving it in need of new bases.
Al Qaeda had already established links with a number of African extremist groups. Its declared north Africa affiliate is Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Somalia’s Shebab also swore allegiance to bin Laden, who was killed by US commandos in May. “Al Qaeda, traditionally has taken advantage of areas that are wracked by conflict, turmoil and lack of government, it is a safe heaven they seek to launch attacks,” said John Brennan, US President Barack Obama’s top anti-terrorism official.
Somalia, without a stable government since 1991 and currently led by a weak government that is largely confined to the capital Mogadishu, could therefore be an ideal sanctuary, Brennan added.
Full Report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\10\31\story_31-10-2011_pg7_10
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/atambayev-wins-kyrgyzstan-presidential-polls/d/5797