Bengal Imams' Association Terms Supporting Bhoomi Pujan As Anti-Islam
New Age Islam News Bureau
11
Aug 2020
Image Source: INDIA TV
-----
• US Court
Summons Saudi Crown Prince Over Alleged Assassination Attempt
• Widely Seen as
Warning Shot, Russia Court Sentences Young Activists for Extremism
• Resolution in
Punjab Assembly for Including Minority Heroes in School Curriculum
• Beirut
Explosion: PM And President Knew About 2,750 Tonnes Of Chemicals Last Month
• Tunisia’s
Prime Minister-Designate to Form Technocratic Govt Without Parties
• Afghan
President Signs Decree to Release ‘Hardcore’ Taliban Prisoners
This letter, purportedly
from the Bengal Imams Association, issues an open threat to Muslims working for
or associated with BJP-RSS.
-----
India
• Bengal Imams'
Association Terms Supporting Bhoomi Pujan As Anti-Islam
• Renowned Urdu
Poet Munawwar Rana Writes to PM Modi, Offers His Five Acre Land For ‘Babri
Mosque’
• Officials
Inspect Tank Works at Mecca Masjid, Hyderabad
• India must
heed growing China-Pakistan intel-sharing. It may have aided Galwan clash
• Covid pandemic
gives birth to new mobile app to make donations to Masjids, Madrasas
contactless
• 3 suspects
apprehended in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara, arms and ammunition recovered: Army
------
North America
• US Court
Summons Saudi Crown Prince Over Alleged Assassination Attempt
• US At Risk of
Beirut-Style Explosion as Regulations Remain Weak
• Trump’s plan
of troop reduction in Afghanistan part of his election campaign: Commentator
• Trump Vows To
'Have A Deal' With Iran 4 Weeks After 2020 Re-Election
--------
Europe
• Widely Seen as
Warning Shot, Russia Court Sentences Young Activists for Extremism
• Ankara blasts
Armenia for 'sneaky goals' against Turkey
• France calls
for 'rapid formation' of new Lebanon govt after PM steps down
--------
Pakistan
• Resolution in
Punjab Assembly for Including Minority Heroes in School Curriculum
• Pakistan Establishing
Diplomatic Missions in African Countries Amid Rising Radical Islamic Terrorism
in Africa
• PM underlines
need for stronger ties with Maldives
• PML-Q ‘ready’
to mend fences with PTI
--------
Arab world
• Beirut
Explosion: PM And President Knew About 2,750 Tonnes Of Chemicals Last Month
• UN Chief Calls
for Independent Inquiry into Beirut Explosion
• NASA radar
data maps out extent of Beirut explosion damage
• Explosion hits
near Iraq-Kuwait border crossing: Iraqi security source
• Beirut
firefighters were not given keys, location of burning hanger: The Independent
• Lebanese
protesters clash again with security forces in central Beirut
• Hezbollah
softens stance on Israel maritime border dispute after Lebanese rage
• Lebanon PM
Hassan Diab resigns less than a week after deadly Beirut explosion
• Lebanese
cabinet refers Beirut explosion investigation to judicial council: Reports
• Lebanon
justice, finance ministers submit resignation after Beirut explosions
• Egyptians
start voting for revived upper house of parliament
--------
Africa
• Tunisia’s
Prime Minister-Designate to Form Technocratic Govt Without Parties
• Nigerian
Singer Sentenced to Death for Blasphemy In Kano State
• ISIL will
bounce back if Libya civil war doesn't end, study warns
• Chad says Boko
Haram wreaking havoc despite offensive
--------
South Asia
• Afghan
President Signs Decree to Release ‘Hardcore’ Taliban Prisoners
• Taliban attack
repulsed in Sar-e Pul; at least 21 militants killed, wounded
• 180 Afghan
Sikhs and Hindus to leave for India on Wednesday
• Explosion in
Kabul city leaves at least 3 dead or wounded
--------
Southeast Asia
• Maal Hijrah
Celebration at Final Stage of Discussion, Says Malay Religious Minister
• ‘Is this what
Syed Naquib taught?’ Johor DAP’s Sheikh Umar slams Wan Fayhsal over support
letter offer
• Religious
affairs minister: I hope RUU355 happens before I die
• Sunni radicals
attack Shias during wedding vigil in Central Java
--------
Mideast
• IRGC Deputy
Commander: US Democrats, Republicans No Different to Iran
• Spokesman: US
Extension of Arms Embargos against Iran Threatens UNSC
• Iran: External
Agitators Seeking Vested Interests in Lebanon
• US-Iran won't
make deals as President Trump has suggested: Iranian spokesman
• Turkey will
conduct seismic survey in eastern Mediterranean: Turkish navy
• Iran slams
Persian Gulf Cooperation Council's call for extension of arms embargo
Compiled by New
Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/bengal-imams-association-terms-supporting/d/122596
--------
Bengal Imams' Association Terms Supporting Bhoomi Pujan As Anti-Islam
Manogya Loiwal
Kolkata
August 11, 2020
This letter, purportedly from the Bengal Imams Association, issues an open threat to Muslims working for or associated with BJP-RSS.
-----
The Bengal
Imams' Association has issued a new diktat stating that supporting Ram temple
bhoomi pujan is "anti -Islam".
Imams'
Association has released a statement lashing out at the right wing for
threatening of dire consequences too.
Highlighting the
Nizamuddin incident, the association took a dig at the RSS and BJP claiming
their actions to be a propaganda against Islam.
Imams'
Association added on to distinguish the RSS-BJP from Hinduism.
Slamming the
parties, it stated," It is not the foundation of Ram Rajya or Hirashtra
but the annual celebration of anti-Muslim sentiment is the religion of
RSS-BJP."
The Association
further asked the Muslim allies of BJP-RSS to reflect upon their choices and
"correct" themselves as it will otherwise erase their identity as a
Muslim.
Bengal Imams'
Association stands against the demolition of Babri Mosque and construction of a
temple. The association threatened the right wing and reiterated that their
"fight" with RSS-BJP will continue.
Md. Yahiya,
President stated, "It is to warn those Muslims who are supporting RSS- BJP
that they should decide now who they want to support in days to come. This is
not any fatwa but they need to understand that they are helping who want to
harm Muslims."
The letter also
hits out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his gesture of bowing down before
constitution while entering Parliament and then sitting in bhoomi pujan,
thereby 'mocking at everything that is written in the same constitution'. 'He has
also broken all possible laws which is unimaginable in any democratic country.'
The RSS,
however, has reverted on the same terming these letters to be provocations by
vested interest for vested interest.
Jisnu Basu,
Secretary of West Bengal unit of RSS said, "If you think the Muslim
community in Bengal a fool you are going to make the biggest mistake. Political
parties have been cheating this community for the last few decades. The Left
front pretended to be the best friend of the Muslim community but according to
the shutter committee report the socio-economic condition of the community in
Bengal was shown to be worse than any other states."
He added,
"For last 10 years, the Jihadi activities have been pampered by the
political forces. The Khagragarh blast incident, in Kaliyachak the Jihadi's
attacked a police station. In Simulia Madrasa the anti-nationals were supported
by political parties. But the common Muslims in West Bengal didn't like this.
They would like to get proper education for their children, jobs for their
youth and overall prosperity of the community which these political forces
failed to provide. So I think this time the Muslim community will understand
the conspiracy and take actions accordingly."
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/imam-association-terms-supporting-bhoomi-pujan-as-anti-islam-1709876-2020-08-11
--------
US Court Summons
Saudi Crown Prince Over Alleged Assassination Attempt
10 August 2020
Prince Mohammed bin Salman
Photograph:( Reuters )
-----
A court in the
United States has summoned Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) based
on a lawsuit initiated by a former senior Saudi intelligence official accusing
the kingdom's de facto ruler of an assassination attempt against him.
The District of
Columbia court on Friday issued the summons, just a day after Saad Aljabri
filed a lawsuit against MBS, accusing the top royal of sending a hit squad to
trap and kill him in the United States and Canada, Qatar’s Al Jazeera
broadcaster reported on Sunday.
The ex-official,
who functioned as a top aide in the Saudi Interior Ministry for years, now
lives in Canada and is reportedly under increased protection by police and
private security guards.
The summons,
which mentioned 12 other people by name in addition to the crown prince, said,
“If you fail to respond, judgment by default will be entered against you for
the relief demanded in the complaint.”
The lawsuit
alleges that a team of Saudi agents carrying forensic gear and including
forensic experts arrived at an airport in Ontario in October 2018. They tried
to enter on Canadian tourist visas but were turned away by Canadian border
officials.
Aljabri claimed
that his close ties with the US intelligence community and deep knowledge of
the prince’s activities had turned him into one of the key targets of bin
Salman.
“Few places hold
more sensitive, humiliating and damning information about defendant bin-Salman
than the mind and memory of Dr. Saad - except perhaps the recordings Dr. Saad
made in anticipation of his killing,” the lawsuit read.
Riyadh has
already issued Interpol red notices, the highest-level notice, seeking
Aljabri’s extradition, accusing the former senior intelligence officer of
corruption. The international organization, however, has dismissed the notices
as political.
Nevertheless,
the Saudi regime has urged other countries to send Aljabri back to the Arab
kingdom.
According to the
lawsuit, the Saudi crown prince had purportedly ordered the detention of two of
Aljabri’s children, who went missing from their home in Riyadh in mid-March, in
a bid to force Aljabri to return to Saudi Arabia.
It also asserts
that other relatives of the ex-official have been arrested and allegedly
tortured “all in an effort to bait Dr. Saad back to Saudi Arabia to be killed.”
Attempts by the
Saudi regime to forcibly return certain citizens living abroad began attracting
global attention after the gruesome assassination of Saudi critic Jamal
Khashoggi two years ago.
The ill-fated
dissident, an MBS critic and Washington Post journalist, was executed and
dismembered after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018. The
journalist is widely believed to have been murdered on bin Salman’s direct
orders.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/10/631488/Saudi-bin-Salman-US-court
--------
Widely Seen as
Warning Shot, Russia Court Sentences Young Activists for Extremism
By Charles
Maynes
August 07, 2020
Police officers detains a
protester, center, dressed as a Russian police officer before a court hearing
of the New Greatness group who are charged with the organization of an
extremist association in Moscow, Russia, Aug. 6, 2020.
MOS
-----
MOSCOW - A
Moscow court convicted 7 young Russians on extremism charges Thursday —
sentencing several of the group to lengthy prison sentences in a closely
watched case that seemed to encapsulate the limits of political youth activism
in today’s Russia.
Prosecutors
argued that the defendants — most in their teens and 20’s — had organized an
illegal online extremist chat group called “The New Greatness” with the intent
of overthrowing the government in 2018.
The accused all
denied the charges and said evidence was fabricated.
Indeed, to
critics, the case was the latest example of the government’s abuse of Russia’s
vague anti-extremism laws — and subservient court system — to crush perceived
political rivals through any means necessary.
The state’s case
was marred by credible accusations of torture and entrapment by Russia’s
Federal Security Services, or FSB.
The government’s
key witness was an undercover FSB agent named “Ruslan D” who prosecutors say
infiltrated the group to learn of their plans. Throughout the trial, the
accused countered that the agent himself concocted “The New Greatness” label
and pushed a radical political agenda to the other participants in an otherwise
largely apolitical group chat.
Supporting
government evidence came from an additional suspect in the case — Pavel
Rebrovsky, who later cut a plea deal with investigators and was given a
two-and-a-half-year prison sentence in April 2019. Rebrovsky has since rescinded his testimony —
saying it was given under pressure from state investigators.
The judge cited
Rebrovsky’s initial confession as proof of the group’s guilt, nonetheless.
Authorities also
promoted the group’s guilt by releasing a video confession from another
defendant, Ruslan Kostylenkov.
Kostylenkov, 27,
later retracted the statement explaining he had been coerced through torture
and rape while in custody.
He was given the
harshest sentence — a 7-year prison term.
Two others were given 6.5- and 6-year prison terms. The remaining
accused were handed suspended sentences, including Anna Pavlikova, who was a
17-year old high school student when the case began.
Lawyers for all
said they would appeal the ruling.
Acquittals are
exceedingly rare in Russia, with conviction rates hovering at over 99% in
criminal trials.
FSB Unbound
Outside the
courthouse, several hundred supporters — most of them younger Russians —
gathered and shouted chants of “Not guilty!” and “Let them go!” While inside the courtroom, the defendants
were forced to stand for 4 hours as the judge read his verdict in a hushed
whisper.
The case was
widely seen as the latest legal warning shot against youth dabbling in politics
— particularly as the Kremlin has increasingly struggled to gain support among
a generation that has essentially known one leader, Vladimir Putin, for their
entire lives.
In February, a
court sentenced a group of young leftist activists to lengthy prison terms for
running an “anarchist terrorist” cell called “The Network.” The case was
similarly tainted by allegations of fabricated evidence and torture at the
hands of the federal security services.
And, like in The
New Greatness trial, the group’s goal was allegedly ending President Vladimir
Putin’s rule.
The initial
arrests in The New Greatness occurred in March 2018, just days before Putin was
elected to a new 6-year term.
“It was a gift
to the president from the FSB,” said Alina Danilina, whose boyfriend, 22-year
old law student Vyachaslav Kryukov, was sentenced to six years.
“It’s a
catastrophe,” she added about Thursday’s ruling. “The worst happened.”
“There is no
evidence, no objective reason for my involvement in this case,” wrote Kryukov
in a statement provided to VOA ahead of the verdict.
“It feels
extremely strange that they accused me of things I’ve always opposed. Extremism
stands for hatred and violence — I’ve never been like that.”
Indeed, the case
seemed to point to a security apparatus untethered — with many voicing
suspicion agents were inventing threats simply to justify their continued
existence and generous state funding.
“These people
have to do something to prove their effectiveness. So they forge these fake
cases to show there is extremism and they are doing an important job,” said
Alexey Minyaylo, 35, a political activist who himself was arrested and faced
charges of “inciting riots” against the government during a charged election
season in 2019.
“They know how
to beat out a confession,” he tells VOA in an interview. “What they don’t know
is how to gather evidence. And this is especially true when there is nothing to
find.”
“It’s a security
service out of control,” said Nikolai Svanidze, a veteran journalist who sits
on Russia’s Presidential Human Rights Council, in an interview outside the
courthouse.
“It means any
provocateur can give false testimony and make an honest person guilty,” added
Svanidze, while noting similarities to the worst of Russia’s Soviet-era
repressions.
"The scale
is different, but the principles are the same.”
Torture
Allegations
The grim nature
of the torture allegations were front and center throughout the trial — even if
judge refused to acknowledge them or investigate the charges.
In October of
last year, Kostylenkov and Kryukov slit their wrists during a courtroom hearing
— the two of them yelling “This is an unfair trial" and "Freedom for
political prisoners" before being rushed to hospital.
“Their nerves couldn’t
handle it anymore,” said Kostylenkov’s lawyer, Svetlana Sidorkina at the time.
“All the evidence proves that they didn’t commit a crime.”
Kostylenkov
later detailed horror at the hands of FSB agents. In a letter written to a
friend last March but only released to the media during the final phase of the
trial, he said he had been beaten and sexually assaulted with a kitchen mallet
to gain his confession.
ndeed, the
violence hovering over the case was captured in a stunt before the day’s final
verdict: Activists dressed as police slit the throat of a mannequin dressed as
Christ — spraying red paint on supporters before being detained by security
officers.
Meanwhile, Kira
Yegorova, an actress, showed up to give a more low-key performance — she was
holding a teddy bear.
“The state is
destroying our children,” she tells VOA.
And yet — for
some — the trial has meant there was also fast growing up to do.
Kryukov’s
girlfriend, Alina Danilina 23, announced the verdict meant that she and
Vyachaslav Kryukov were getting married. “It’s the only way I can visit him in
prison,” she tells VOA.
“We’ve lost for
now,” she added. “But I will fight until the end.”
https://www.voanews.com/europe/widely-seen-warning-shot-russia-court-sentences-young-activists-extremism?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1426864_
--------
Resolution in Punjab
Assembly for including minority heroes in school curriculum
11 Aug 2020
LAHORE: PML-N
MPA Hina Pervaiz Butt has submitted a resolution in the Punjab Assembly
demanding inclusion of minority heroes in the curriculum.
“According to
the Constitution of Pakistan, all citizens have equal rights. In Pakistan even
today the people of the minority community are performing the most important
services in various fields. Pakistan has made history all over the world by
giving this right to the Sikh community. Therefore, this House demands that the
hero of minorities be included in the curriculum. Encourage Pakistan’s minority
community by including minority heroes in the curriculum,” the resolution said.
RAIN: Punjab
PML-N information secretary Azma Bokhari said here on Monday Chief Minister
Usman Buzdar remained in his office while many areas of Lahore were inundated
by Monday’s rain.
“The sinking of
the first project of the Buzdar administration – Firdous Market underpass – was
completely exposed by Monday’s rain. Buzdar and his team remained in offices
while the Lahorities suffered because of rainwater that inundated their areas.
Now those seeking resignation from Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah on rainwater issue
should also ask Punjab CM Buzdar to step down on this matter,” she said in a
statement.
She said the
50-member cabinet of Punjab was in fact a crowd of incompetent and inept people
making the lives of the people of Punjab miserable. “Not a single meeting
before monsoon was chaired by Buzdar showing his seriousness to address the
problems faced by it,” she said and added Mr Bbuzdar had no control over any
department as he was a remote-controlled chief executive of the province.
PML-Q: Honorary
Consul General of Belarus Waleed Mushtaq called on Speaker Punjab Assembly
Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi at his residence here on Monday.
They exchanged
bilateral political situations and matters of mutual interest. Mr Elahi said
cooperation with Belarus in trade, education, health and agriculture sectors
would have a positive impact on the economies of both the countries.
He said the
pandemic of Corona had adversely affected the economic situation
internationally, thanks to Almighty Allah circumstances were improving in
Pakistan but still the people would have to follow SOPs.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1573713/resolution-in-punjab-assembly-for-including-minority-heroes-in-school-curriculum
--------
Beirut
explosion: PM and president knew about 2,750 tonnes of chemicals last month
10 August 2020
Lebanese
security officials warned the prime minister and president last month that
2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored in Beirut's port posed a security risk
and could destroy the capital if it exploded, according to documents seen by
Reuters and senior security sources.
Just over two
weeks later, the industrial chemicals exploded in a massive blast that
obliterated most of the port, killed at least 163 people, injured 6,000 more
and destroyed some 6,000 buildings, according to municipal authorities.
For all the
latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
A report by the
General Directorate of State Security about events leading up to the explosion
included a reference to a private letter sent to President Michel Aoun and
Prime Minister Hassan Diab on July 20.
While the
content of the letter was not in the report seen by Reuters, a senior security
official said it summed up the findings of a judicial investigation launched in
January, which concluded the chemicals needed to be secured immediately.
The state
security report, which confirmed the correspondence to the president and the
prime minister, has not previously been reported.
"There was
a danger that this material if stolen, could be used in a terrorist
attack," the official told Reuters.
"At the end
of the investigation, Prosecutor General (Ghassan) Oweidat prepared a final
report which was sent to the authorities," he said, referring to the
letter sent to the prime minister and president by the General Directorate of
State Security, which oversees port security.
"I warned
them that this could destroy Beirut if it exploded," said the official,
who was involved in writing the letter and declined to be named.
Reuters could
not independently confirm his description of the letter.
The prime
minister's office and the presidency did not respond to requests for comment
about the July 20 letter.
The prosecutor
general did not respond to requests for comment.
'DO WHAT IS
NECESSARY'
The
correspondence could fuel further criticism and public fury that the blast is
just the latest, if not most dramatic, example of the government negligence and
corruption that has already pushed Lebanon to economic collapse.
As protests over
the blast raged in Lebanon on Monday, Diab's government resigned, though it
will remain as a caretaker administration until a new cabinet is formed.
The rebuilding
of Beirut alone is expected to cost up to $15 billion, in a country already
effectively bankrupt with total banking system losses exceeding $100 billion.
Aoun confirmed
last week that he had been informed about the material. He told reporters he
had directed the secretary-general of the supreme defense council, an umbrella
group of Lebanon's security and military agencies chaired by the president, to
"do what is necessary."
"(The state
security service) said it is dangerous. I am not responsible! I don't know
where it was put and I didn't know how dangerous it was. I have no authority to
deal with the port directly. There is a hierarchy and all those who knew should
have known their duties to do the necessary," Aoun said.
Many questions
remain over why the shipment of ammonium nitrate docked in Beirut in late 2013.
Even more baffling is why such a huge stash of dangerous material, used in
bombs and fertilizers, was allowed to remain there for so long.
The letter sent
to Lebanon's president and prime minister followed a string of memos and
letters sent to the country's courts over the previous six years by port,
custom and security officials, repeatedly urging judges to order the removal of
the ammonium nitrate from its position so close to the city center.
The General
Directorate of State Security's report seen by Reuters said many requests had
been submitted, without giving an exact number. It said the port's manifest
department sent several written requests to the customs directorate up until
2016, asking them to call on a judge to order the material be re-exported
immediately.
"But until
now, no decision has been issued over this matter. After consulting one of our
chemical specialists, the expert confirmed that this material is dangerous and
is used to produce explosives," the General Directorate of State Security
report said.
HAZARDOUS
MATERIAL
The road to last
week's tragedy began seven years ago, when the Rhosus, a Russian-chartered,
Moldovan-flagged vessel carrying ammonium nitrate from Georgia to Mozambique,
docked in Beirut to try to take on extra cargo to raise the fees for passage
through the Suez Canal, according to the ship's captain.
Port authorities
impounded the Rhosus in December 2013 by judicial order 2013/1031 due to
outstanding debts owed to two companies that filed claims in Beirut courts, the
state security report showed.
In May 2014, the
ship was deemed unseaworthy and its cargo was unloaded in October 2014 and warehoused
in what was known as Hangar 12. The ship sank near the port's breakwater on
Feb. 18, 2018, the security report showed.
Moldova lists
the owner of the ship as Panama-based Briarwood Corp. Briarwood could not
immediately be reached for comment.
In February
2015, Nadim Zwain, a judge from the Summary Affairs Court, which deals with
urgent issues, appointed an expert to inspect the cargo, according to the
security report.
The report said
the expert concluded that the material was hazardous and, through the port
authorities, requested it be transferred to the army.
Reuters could
not independently confirm the expert's account.
Lebanese army
command rejected the request and recommended the chemicals be transferred or
sold to the privately-owned Lebanese Explosives Company, the state security
report said.
The report did
not say why the army had refused to accept the cargo. A security official told
Reuters it was because they didn't need it. The army declined to comment.
The explosive
company's management told Reuters it had not been interested in purchasing
confiscated material and that the firm had its own suppliers and government
import licenses.
From then on,
customs and security officials wrote to judges roughly every six months asking
for the removal of the material, according to the requests seen by Reuters.
Judges and
customs officials contacted by Reuters declined to comment.
Several customs
and port officials have since been detained as part of the investigation into
the blast.
'BAD STORAGE AND
BAD JUDGMENT'
In January 2020,
a judge launched an official investigation after it was discovered that Hangar
12 was unguarded, had a hole in its southern wall and one of its doors
dislodged, meaning the hazardous material was at risk of being stolen.
In his final
report following the investigation, Prosecutor General Oweidat "gave
orders immediately" to ensure hangar doors and holes were repaired and
security provided, a second high-ranking security official who also requested
anonymity said.
On June 4, based
on those orders, state security instructed port authorities to provide guards
at Hangar 12, appoint a director for the warehouse and secure all the doors and
repair the hole in the southern wall, according to the state security report
and security officials.
The port
authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
"The
maintenance started and (port authorities) sent a team of Syrian workers (but)
there was no one supervising them when they entered to fix the holes," the
security official said.
During the work,
sparks from the welding took hold and fire started to spread, the official
said.
"Given that
there were fireworks stored in the same hangar, after an hour a big fire was
set off by the fireworks and that spread to the material that exploded when the
temperature exceeded 210 degrees," the high-ranking security official
said.
The official
blamed the port authorities for not supervising the repair crew and for storing
fireworks alongside a vast deposit of high explosives.
Reuters could
not determine what happened to the workers repairing the hangar.
"Only
because the hangar faces the sea, the impact of the explosion was reduced.
Otherwise, all of Beirut would have been destroyed," he said. "The
issue is all about negligence, irresponsibility, bad storage and bad
judgment."
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/2020/08/11/Beirut-explosion-PM-and-president-knew-about-2-750-tonnes-of-chemicals-last-month.html
--------
Tunisia’s prime
minister-designate to form technocratic govt without parties
10 August 2020
Tunisia’s prime
minister-designate said on Monday he would form a purely technocratic
government following wrangling among political parties over the formation of
the country’s next administration.
The decision by
Hichem Mechichi will likely put him in confrontation with the moderate Islamist
Ennahda Party, the largest political group in parliament, which announced it
would oppose the formation of a non-political government.
However, the
proposal for a government of independent technocrats without political parties
will win support from the powerful UGTT trade union and some other parties,
including Tahya Tounes and Dustoury el Hor.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Mechichi said
that the government’s focus would mainly be on social hardship and the weak
economy, explaining that “while the political dispute continues, some Tunisians
have not found drinking water.”
Protests have
erupted in the country’s interior this year over widespread unemployment, lack
of development and poor public services in health, electricity and water.
Mechichi, who
was proposed by President Kais Saied last month to succeed Elyes Fakhfakh, said
his priority would also be to rescue the struggling public finances. Fakhfakh
resigned over allegations of a conflict of interest.
Tunisia is
struggling to revive its collapsed economy since a 2011 revolution that ended
the rule of former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and sparked the Arab
Spring.
The government
said last month it had asked four creditor countries to delay debt repayments,
as it announced more pessimistic economic and budget forecasts for 2020 because
of the coronavirus pandemic.
The request on
debt repayments underscores the dire condition of the public finances, already
a source of concern before the coronavirus crisis pummeled the global economy.
Mechichi, 46, an
independent, needs this month to form a government capable of winning a
confidence vote in parliament by a simple majority, or the president will
dissolve parliament and call for another election.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/north-africa/2020/08/11/Tunisia-s-prime-minister-designate-to-form-technocratic-govt-without-parties.html
--------
Afghan president
signs decree to release ‘hardcore’ Taliban prisoners
10 August 2020
Afghanistan’s
President Ashraf Ghani has signed a decree to release a final batch of
‘hardcore’ Taliban prisoners, raising hopes for long-awaited peace talks to
restart.
Late on Monday,
the president ordered the release of the 400 prisoners, his office said.
“It is signed,”
a presidential palace source said.
National
Security Council spokesman Javid Faisal said, “The Afghan government will start
releasing the 400 Taliban prisoners within two days.”
In Doha, a
spokesman for the Taliban’s political office welcomed Kabul’s decision to
release the last batch of 5,000 prisoners to be freed as a condition for
starting intra-Afghan negotiations.
“We are ready to
sit for talks within a week from when we see our prisoners released. We are
ready,” Suhail Shaheen said.
A government
source said, “The original plan is to travel to Doha on Wednesday and the talks
will begin on Sunday.”
Loya Jirga, a
grand assembly of Afghan elders, approved the release of the 400 Taliban
prisoners, whom Kabul was wary of freeing given their background of involvement
in deadly attacks and kidnappings.
In a resolution
it issued on Sunday to make the announcement, the Loya Jirga also called for an
immediate and long-lasting ceasefire, which would pave the way for an end to
the war in Afghanistan.
The Taliban had
demanded the release of the remaining prisoners as a condition for joining the
peace talks.
Both President
Ghani and the Taliban had already signaled that protracted peace negotiations
could begin once the Eid-al Adha was over.
In February, the
Taliban and Washington signed a deal that slated Afghan peace talks to begin in
March, but discussions were delayed by disagreements over the terms of a
prisoner swap.
The deal, which
sets the stage for the withdrawal of all US-led foreign forces from Afghanistan,
required Kabul to free some 5,000 Taliban prisoners in exchange for 1,000
Afghan security personnel held by the Taliban. The Taliban said they have
already fulfilled their side of the exchange.
Authorities,
however, had refused to free hundreds of inmates accused of serious crimes that
the militant group had requested for release.
Official data
shows that bombings and other assaults by the Taliban have surged 70 percent
since the militant group signed the deal with the United States. Last month,
Ghani said more than 3,500 Afghan troops and nearly 800 civilians had been
killed since the deal was signed in Doha.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/10/631505/Afghanistan-Taliban-prisoners
--------
India
Renowned Urdu
Poet Munawwar Rana Writes to PM Modi, Offers His Five Acre Land For ‘Babri
Mosque’
Aug 11, 2020
LUCKNOW:
Renowned Urdu poet Munawwar Rana has sent a letter to PM Modi expressing
willingness to donate his ancestral 5.5-acre land next to river Sai in Rae
Bareli, for construction of a grand Babri Masjid.
The poet has
also said that the five-acre land in Dhannipur village sanctioned by the
government in lieu of Babri Masjid, should be used for building a hospital in
the name of King Dashrath, the father of Lord Ram.
TOI is in
possession of the two-page letter sent to the PM by speed post. The 69-year-old
poet who received the Sahitya Akademi award for Urdu but returned it in 2015
over the “intolerance” issue, has also asked the PM for a new Muslim waqf Board
for protection of waqf properties.
Speaking to TOI
over phone, the poet reiterated that, “Land for the mosque was thrown away in a
far off area in Dhannipur. It is better then that instead of igniting more hate
between Hindus and Muslims, Raja Dashrath hospital be built on the said land.
People should see what Muslims did.”
“In any case
mosques are not built on government lands or those usurped by force,” he added.
In the letter,
Rana has said that Rae Bareli is a city of historical, cultural and religious
importance.
“It is desirable
then that the land in my son Tabrez Rana’s name be given for construction of a
grand Babri Masjid,” the letter states.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/poet-writes-to-pm-offers-his-5-acre-land-for-babri-mosque/articleshow/77473122.cms
--------
Officials
Inspect Tank Works At Mecca Masjid, Hyderabad
Aug 11, 2020
Hyderabad: After
protests from activists over the construction of a brick platform in the water
tank used for ablution at Mecca Masjid, a team of government officials visited
the mosque to inspect the construction of the tank on Monday.
Advisor to the
state government, AK Khan, along with other officials inspected the work.
The contractor
was constructing a platform using brick and cement inside the water storage
tank to prevent leakage of water from the sump.
Activists had
raised concerns over the ongoing work stating that the use of bricks and cement
will affect the beauty of the water tank which is of historical importance.
After
inspection, the team decided not to use bricks and cement for restoration of
the wazu gah and recommended the contractor to remove the bricks and replace it
with the cement and iron rods.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/officials-inspect-tank-works-at-mecca-masjid/articleshow/77472269.cms
--------
India must heed
growing China-Pakistan intel-sharing. It may have aided Galwan clash
TARA KARTHA
11 August, 2020
As China
attempted to raise the Kashmir issue at the United Nations Security Council, a
recent report on its enhanced cooperation with Pakistan brought out an
interesting aspect that could be of concern to India. As per US intelligence,
China had a much better understanding of Indian troop positions and movements
ahead of the 15 June Galwan clash in Ladakh. The assumption is that Pakistan
had shared its intelligence on Indian Army with China, thereby making a
considerable value addition to Chinese operations.
While
intelligence cooperation between the two is not unknown, in the past Islamabad
was a little more cautious, providing intel in return for some specific favour.
At other times, it behaved evasively for fear of compromising its deep sources
to a foreign power. But it now seems that Beijing has been able to overcome
these reservations, as it gains a steady ingress into the Pakistani
establishment at the highest levels, as well as on the ground. This
Pakistan-China intelligence cooperation poses a challenge for India, because it
marks an alarming accretion in a relationship in which Pakistan is beginning to
resemble nothing more than a colony.
A budding
relationship
Signs of the
evolving ‘intel chumminess’ has been apparent for the last few years, as the
Pakistan Army began to virtually govern through its ‘selected’ Prime Minister
Imran Khan. The role of Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa is
central to this, with his extension hailed by Beijing. The Chinese Foreign
Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said: “Gen Bajwa is an extraordinary leader of
the Pakistani army. He is also an old friend of Chinese government and the army.”
China is usually
careful of commenting on such internal appointments in another country, which
makes this lavish praise noteworthy. Moreover, Beijing was earlier distinctly
unhappy with Pakistan’s handling of sensitive issues, including frequent
attacks on its nationals by Baloch separatists in the Chinese-operated port of
Gwadar, the ingress of religious preachers into Xinjiang, and other such
issues. In fact, in a first, China even ‘named and shamed’ Pakistan at the
National People’s Congress, with official media also proclaiming the threat of
radical Islam from Pakistan. In 2017, it went so far as to close its borders.
All that seems
to be in the past now, as Islamabad pulls up intel cooperation with Beijing by
its bootstraps.
Evidence of
intelligence sharing
When Baloch
insurgents attacked the Chinese consulate in Karachi, the perpetrators were
killed in just a month in Kandahar. Whoever launched the strike had precise
intelligence, since almost an entire rung of leadership of the Balochistan
Liberation Army (BLA) was wiped out. When the same group tried to attack the
Karachi Stock Exchange – where China has
a 40 per cent stake – all four members were killed, with the whole operation
wound up in “eight minutes” by the Sindh Rangers. Clearly, security forces were
literally waiting for the insurgents to show up, indicating advance
intelligence of no small degree.
Pakistan’s
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) seems to have thrown all its resources into
protecting Chinese interests, with sources indicating that Chinese ambassador
himself has sometimes sat in on high-level meetings of security agencies on the
issue. China is now going a step further in pushing Pakistan to allow the
designation of the BLA as a terrorist entity at the UN. This is embarrassing for
Islamabad, which doesn’t want the situation to be ‘internationalised’ at a time
when it is liquidating Baloch’s youth by the dozens.
Uighur
contention
Then there is
the sensitive Uighur Muslim issue, which is now prime time news. Many Uighurs
have settled down in Pakistan or married Pakistanis, leading to a considerable
exchange of persons across the border. Uighur youth have used Pakistan’s border
regions for training to prepare themselves to fight Beijing. This was probably
part of the usual ‘terrorist barter system’ that the ISI has used in the past,
where it obligingly deports a few ‘terrorists’ in return for cash or kind. In
2018, religious affairs minister Noor-ul-Haq Qadri was even ‘counselling’ the
Chinese on its Uighur policy.
That has all
changed. As China turned on the pressure, Uighurs in Rawalpindi for instance,
have come under more restrictions. Guest houses for Uighurs have been closed,
and Hajj permits denied. In January this year, PM Imran Khan refused to discuss
the Uighur issue in a media interview, quickly shifting to ‘atrocities’ in
Kashmir.
But local
sympathy for fellow Muslims has been growing, with reports of Pakistani wives
and children disappearing in China, and media covering large scale detention
camps and surveillance in Xinjiang. Beijing is aware of this, and in an unusual
demand, asked the Pakistanis for an internal assessment of the situation. A
sovereign country would have refused. Pakistan did not.
The intelligence
assessment indicated that major Islamic journals were highlighting the Uighur
issue, and lamenting the state of Muslims in China. Beijing expects Pakistan
to ‘manage’ this perception, with the
warning that it could impact bilateral relations. Meanwhile, Pakistan has been
quietly deporting Uighurs on its soil, and also often eliminating those
operating in Afghanistan, using its links with diverse groups including the
Taliban. Such an intel relationship is without equal.
Additionally,
Pakistan has also assisted Chinese ingress into Afghanistan, which included
getting the Taliban to meetings in Beijing several times, even while it assists
China in intel operations in non-Islamic states such as Nepal, most apparent in
the recent attempts to keep the K.P. Sharma Oli government afloat. A recent
quadrilateral meeting between China, Afghanistan, Nepal and Pakistan is a
triumph of no small order.
India’s cause
for concern
Obviously, it is
the intel sharing in India that is worrying. China has a far superior technical
intelligence capability than Pakistan, and it needs no assistance in this. It
also has some human intelligence capability among the Tibetans spread out in
regions of India such as Dharamshala, Tawang and parts of Himachal Pradesh, as
well as southern cities like Bengaluru.
But Pakistan has
had intel operations into India for decades, particularly on movement of troops
that were acquired using low-level assets. Sources also point to increased
Pakistani intel activity during the Galwan stand-off, indicating that the human
intelligence capability is being outsourced to Islamabad. This also ties in
with the recent report regarding the posting of ISI officers to China Military
Commission’s Joint Staff Department, as well as the consistent emphasis on
intelligence sharing in Pakistan–China military exercises.
What is even more
worrying is that Pakistan is now willing, or has been forced, to go the extra
mile in intelligence sharing — an area that is traditionally regarded as
central to national security. With China projected to pay up $62 billion for
China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), that’s probably one way to pay the
bills.
https://theprint.in/opinion/india-must-heed-growing-china-pakistan-intel-sharing-it-may-have-aided-galwan-clash/478761/
--------
Covid pandemic
gives birth to new mobile app to make donations to Masjids, Madrasas
contactless
10 Aug 2020
A Delhi-based
startup felt the need to make collection of sadaqah, zakat donation easier
during the COVID pandemic. Almspay is a Mobile App that connects donors to
verified institutions. Almspay intents to eliminate need for donation
collection agents to tour around the country. The digital platform will also
eliminate the commission model and hence make more Zakat fund available for the
poor.
"Muslims in
India are the second largest group comprising around 14 percent of the
population of the country. A large section of Muslims society in India are in a
poor financial condition. According, to the 55th round of the NSS report,
nearly 35% of urban Muslims and 31% of rural Muslims live below the poverty
line" says advocate turned entrepreneur Syed Asif who is the founder of
almspay mobile app. He further said that it is, therefore, believed that
effective management of zakat is essential not only to the community but to the
country as well. An improved system of donation, collect and distribution can
improve the conditions of Muslims said Mohd Owais, another co-founder, who has
an experience of working with zakat collecting bodies.
Rough estimates
put yearly zakat collection in India at around INR 10000 Crore. Many believe
ineffective collection and distribution of Zakat is the reason that the average
living standard of Muslims has not shown any significant improvement.
The most
important factor for this failure is the lack of technological upgradation in
zakat collection and disbursement. Till now, zakat & sadaqah have mostly
been collected offline and also through some old school digital platforms.
There are three
different categories of Muslim donation collectors: Firstly, Madarsa &
Maktabs. A major chunk of Zakat collection goes to these Maktabs and Madarsas.
Apart from the state aid, these institutions use the Zakat fund for the
education of poor students. Secondly, social NGO working for the upliftment of
the society. They use Zakat for social good providing education, medical and
financial assistance to the poor. Thirdly, religious organisation like Masjids,
dargahs, khanqahs, Imam badas etc.
This year COVID
has catastrophically affected Zakat/imdad collection and distribution. Ramadan,
the month of the year when most people usually calculate and donate their
zakat, were witnessed during the lockdown. People who wanted to donate zakat
looked online for institutions that collect zakat. On the other institution
that exists only for collection and disbursement felt frustrated as they could
not collect zakat. These institutions lack digital presence, digital payment
systems, digital record keeping, and transparency.
"In the age
of digital transformation and digital payments, there still exists a huge gap
that disconnects donors from verified Zakat collecting institutions" said
Umair who is the tech head of almspay
This Delhi Based
venture almspay realised this gap much earlier and they launched almspay which
is a digital platform where institutions can list themselves after verification
to collect Zakat. Zakat donors can donate Zakat to their known or any other
verified institution.
Donors can now
set their charity goals, track their zakat also get online acknowledgment for
their Zakat Donation. Institutions are provided with a dashboard to record and
track all their Zakat collections. This improves digital payment support,
digital presence, and digital record-keeping for the institutions.
In the last
three months, around 5000 users have used the almspay app and website to donate
zakat and sadaqah. There are around 40+ institutions that have stood the
screening criterion of almspay and are now listed on almspay. Most donors are
picked causes like Education, food and hunger, poor girl's marriages, and
setting livelihood for economically downtrodden to donate.
The revenue
model of this company is charging a monthly fee from the registered mosque,
school or NGO and also small transaction fees which is normal is digital
payments.
The founders
believe that through almspay not only zakat collection will be more transparent
and effective but at the same time its impact will also be visible. Zakat has
the potential of assuring social security to many.
https://www.milligazette.com/news/4-national/33656-covid-pandemic-gives-birth-new-mobile-app-make-donations-masjids-madrasas-contactless/
--------
3 suspects
apprehended in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara, arms and ammunition recovered: Army
Aug 11, 2020
The Army
apprehended three suspects and recovered arms and ammunition from their
possession in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara on Monday.
An Indian Army
spokesperson said that a joint search operation was launched along with Jammu
and Kashmir Police late on Monday night in which one AK rifle and two pistols
with magazines were recovered from the three suspects.
The joint
operation is in progress, the spokesperson further said.
Jammu and
Kashmir’s Director General of Police Dilbag Singh had said last week that
Pakistan has adopted a new technique of sending arms and ammunition to the
union territory by using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
He had further
said that such incidents of Pakistani UAVs carrying weapons were detected in
Kupwara, Heera Nagar, Kathua and Rajouri.
Another modus
operandi of Pakistan to dispatch weapons through trucks to Jammu and Kashmir
was unearthed in Punjab in the past, he said.
The top cop had
further said that due to sustained anti-militancy operations, the security forces
have been able to curtail the number of active militants in Jammu and Kashmir
to less than 200 now from 300 to 350 terrorists a few years ago.
Singh said that
there were 76 casualties and 107 injuries in the security forces in first seven
months of 2019 in Jammu and Kashmir, while there were just 36 casualties and
102 injuries in the security forces in the same period in 2020.
Terror incidents
were also down by 70 per cent - from 198 in first seven months of 2019 to 124
in the same period in 2020, the DGP had said.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/3-suspects-apprehended-in-jammu-and-kashmir-s-kupwara-arms-and-ammunition-recovered-army/story-MnfZQunvQSwL5hsblnoW9I.html
--------
North America
US at risk of
Beirut-style explosion as regulations remain weak
10 August 2020
The US
Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to weaken standards governing how
companies store dangerous chemicals last year leaves US potentially at risk of
Beirut-style explosions.
In 2013, an
explosion in the city of West in Texas left 15 dead and injured 260 others
after the ignition of 80,000 to 100,000 pounds of unsafely stored
fertilizer-grade ammonium nitrate – the same chemical responsible for the
deadly explosion in the Port of Beirut last week.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Following the
explosion in Texas, new legislation was adopted by the EPA under the Obama
Administration. Serious reforms that chemical manufacturers had pushed for as
to how companies store dangerous, flammable chemicals and how they develop
risk-management plans were set to come into effect in June 2017.
But in November
2019, the EPA, with Scott Pruitt at the helm, suspended the Obama-era guidance
in his first month on the job, the Washington Post reported. He said that the
2017 regulations put too much burden on chemical companies, and the Post
reported that some chemical companies and refineries had complained about them.
Since March
2019, six major chemical explosions have hit the Houston area in Texas.
But the Texas
storehouse paled in comparison to the 2,750 metric tons of the substance that
were responsible for the Beirut blasts that left 158 dead, over 6,000 injured
and 300,000 homeless.
Ammonium nitrate
is commonly used in fertilizers, but can also be used in explosives.
The explosion
decimated the port and left in entire swaths of Lebanon’s capital in ruin, and
estimated damages stand between $10 and 15 billion.
In Beirut, the
ammonium nitrate at the port arrived in 2013, and had been stored there since.
While subsequent governments knew of it and were advised to move it, no action
was taken.
Speaking to AP,
West city mayor Tommy Muska said “I don’t know what people were thinking about
storing that stuff.”
Muska was a
volunteer firefighter at the time of the West explosion.
“We don’t seem
to learn that chemical is deadly,” Muska told AP. “I feel for those people in
Beirut, I surely do. It brought back a lot of memories.”
The EPA’s
Administrator Andrew Wheeler at the time said that the revised Risk Management
Program ruling addressed concerns that releasing the location of the country’s
chemical stores could provide a road map for terrorists. Wheeler said that
rolling back the regulations would save $88 million a year in compliance costs.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2020/08/10/US-at-risk-of-Beirut-style-explosion-as-regulations-remain-weak.html
--------
Trump’s plan of
troop reduction in Afghanistan part of his election campaign: Commentator
11 August 2020
US President
Donald Trump’s announcement of a plan to reduce American troops in Afghanistan
in November shows he’s clearing gearing up for the election, an American writer
and political commentator has said.
Walt Peretto,
who’s based in Washington, DC, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV
after Trump last week announced Washington’s major troop drawdown plan, saying
he would like to have “probably anywhere from 4,000 to 5,000” troops in
Afghanistan by the time of the election on November 3.
US Defense
Secretary Mark Esper said on Saturday that the United States would lower the
number of its forces currently deployed in Afghanistan from about 8,600 to
below 5,000 troops by the end of November.
“We are going
down to a number less than 5,000 before the end of November,” Esper said in an
interview with Fox News.
The figure would
be the lowest since the United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001.
Peretto said
that “Trump also signed executive orders yesterday trying to fasttrack an
additional $400 US dollars a week to the unemployed in America. He is clearing
gearing up for the election. But the focus should be on - why are American
troops in Afghanistan at all? The pretense for the 2001 US invasion was the
fictional story of Osama bin Laden leading a pack of Muslim fundamentalists
that supposedly hijacked 4 planes and flew 3 of them into exact locations that
thwarted investigations of government corruption---taking down three
skyscrapers in New York totaling 267 stories of thick steel framing in just a
few hours with only two planes.”
“The fact that
NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) created the fantasy
physics necessary to justify the official narrative, is testimony that American
institutions are merely prostitutes when called upon,” he added.
“Meanwhile, the
Zionist controlled Trump is making gestures in exchange for votes by reducing
troop numbers in a country invaded in the name of pure fantasy and
pseudoscience,” he stated.
“People need to
wake up to reality before they start lining up for their COVID injections that
will likely have sterilization components since they are obsessed with
depopulation and other nefarious ingredients designed to control the bewildered
herd. Their social-engineers get away with this because they start people off
with incessant propaganda and disinformation through school and
entertainment---then the corrupt mass media---intertwined with emotional false flag,
and contrived events like 9/11 and the current global COVID operation,” he
noted.
“This is not all
about the United States---or even Israel---this is a global phenomenon tied to
cooperation between people and families with concentrated cases of clinical
psychopathy. These people innately lack the neuropsychological ability to feel
the otherwise normal emotions of empathy, guilt, and remorse. To these people
killing innocent Afghanis or thousands of Americans in office buildings is just
another day at the office. The only way out of the impending global dystopia is
awareness of these provable facts and damming up the flow of incessant lies and
disinformation by turning off their mainstream media whose only purpose is to
fool you,” the analyst concluded.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/11/631531/%E2%80%98Trump%E2%80%99s-plan-of-Afghanistan-troop-reduction-part-of-election-campaign%E2%80%99
--------
Trump Vows To
'Have A Deal' With Iran 4 Weeks After 2020 Re-Election
10 August 2020
US President
Donald Trump says he will “have a deal” with Iran a month after possible
victory in the 2020 presidential election.
While Tehran has
maintained that it would not negotiate under pressure, Trump made the comment
as his country was about to introduce a resolution at the United Nations to
extend an arms embargo against Iran.
The Republican
nominee, who is set to face former Vice President Joe Biden in November, made
the claim at a campaign fundraiser in the state of New Jersey on Sunday.
“When we win, we
will have a deal within four weeks,” Trump was cited as saying by several media
outlets.
His remarks were
reportedly cheered by the crowd at the home of the late Stanley Chera, a real
estate mogul, in Long Branch.
The president
has also launched a so-called “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran
spearheaded by war hawks such as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
In January, the
US president also ordered assassination of Iran’s General Qassem Soleimani.
Trump
unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal – clinched under his
predecessor in 2018 -- despite opposition from its allies as well as Russia and
China.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/10/631512/Trump-vows-new-Iran-deal-a-month-after-2020-reelection
--------
Europe
Ankara
blasts Armenia for 'sneaky goals' against Turkey
Faruk
Zorlu
11.08.2020
Turkey
criticized Armenia on Monday for bringing up the Treaty of Sevres 100 years
later, which the Turkish nation overturned.
"Today,
it is absurd that a government, which is unable to feed its own people, dare to
bring up the Treaty of Sevres which the Turkish nation overturned 100 years
ago," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Those
who have the idea of achieving "sneaky goals" should know that they
will fail against Turkey's determination to maintain its survival and national
existence, it said.
"It
is not surprising that those who draw animosity from history instead of taking
lessons seek help from this document after 100 years.
"The
lesson given by the noble Turkish nation to those who dare to invade Anatolia
and the heavy blow it dealt on imperialism is taught as lessons in history
books. This glorious struggle has set an example for other oppressed
nations," it underlined.
The
Treaty of Lausanne -- signed by Turkey on one side and Britain, France, Italy,
Greece and their allies on the other -- recognized the modern Turkish state and
replaced the 1920 Treaty of Sevres, an unfair pact imposed on the Ottoman
Empire after World War I.
Also,
Armenia, which has been continuing an illegal occupation of Azerbaijani
territory for years, is the main obstacle to the establishment of regional
peace and stability.
Upper
Karabakh, or Nagorno-Karabakh, an internationally recognized territory of
Azerbaijan, has been under illegal Armenian occupation since 1991.
International
organizations, including the UN, have demanded the withdrawal of the
occupational forces.
The
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Minsk Group -- co-chaired
by France, Russia and the US -- was formed in 1992 to find a peaceful solution
to the conflict, but to no avail.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/ankara-blasts-armenia-for-sneaky-goals-against-turkey/1937805
--------
France
calls for 'rapid formation' of new Lebanon govt after PM steps down
10
August 2020
France
on Monday urged the "rapid formation" of a new government in Lebanon
shortly after premier Hassan Diab stepped down over the deadly Beirut port
blast.
"The
aspirations expressed by the Lebanese in terms of reforms and governance must
be heard," French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a statement,
adding that a new government would have to "prove itself" to the
people.
For
all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Prime
Minister Hassan Diab resigned on Monday after the Beirut explosions killed over
150 people and wounded more than 6,000. Dozens are still missing.
Diab
alleged that "some" sides did not let his government work and placed
the blame on unnamed parties for the failure to implement badly needed ecomomic
reforms.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/10/France-calls-for-rapid-formation-of-new-Lebanon-govt-after-PM-steps-down.html
--------
Pakistan
Pakistan
establishing diplomatic missions in African countries amid rising radical
Islamic terrorism in Africa
11
August, 2020
Pakistan,
a country that is known for being the epicentre of international terrorism is
now involved in establishing diplomatic relations and setting up its diplomatic
missions in the African countries amid rising radical Islamic terrorism in the
continent.
As
per the Indian security officials who are aware of the developments, Pakistan
has been establishing its diplomatic relations and missions in the African
continent at an accelerated pace since 2019.
The
officials stated that this factor, when seen with Pakistan's association with
radical Islamic terror groups, can be a cause of concern for India and by
covertly supporting the terror groups and overtly strengthening diplomatic
relations with these countries, Pakistan can place itself in a powerful
position.issues
The
instability in Africa is going to impact the whole world and the rise of
radical Islamic terrorism in the continent will result in New Delhi having to
reconfigure its positions on Africa-related issues.
India
has been contributing to the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping missions in
African countries for a long time and has also either set-up or run military
academies in countries like Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Ghana.
With
an increase in the number of terror-related activities in these African
regions, India’s role in counter-terrorism building capacity in Africa will
grow further.
The
objective of most of these radical Islamic outfits is to establish Islamic
regimes across the world. India might become a centre of the transaction of
workforce and resources for these outfits.
In
countries going through sheer anarchy and growing terrorism, like Somalia and
those located in the Sahel region, it is very likely that the terrorist outfits
might gain a significant amount of control on governance — if not neutralized.
These
countries might become similar to Afghanistan of the 1990s, ruled by the
Taliban.
https://zeenews.india.com/world/pakistan-establishing-diplomatic-missions-in-african-countries-amid-rising-radical-islamic-terrorism-in-africa-2301719.html
--------
PM
underlines need for stronger ties with Maldives
11
Aug 2020
ISLAMABAD:
Prime Minister Imran Khan in a phone call to Maldivian President Ibrahim
Mohamed Solih on Monday emphasised the need for stronger ties between the two
countries.
“The
prime minister reaffirmed Pakistan’s desire to work with the Maldives to
strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation, bilaterally and in the region,” the
Prime Minister Office (PMO) said in a statement.
Mr
Solih tweeted: “Had a very engaging phone conversation with Pakistan’s PM Imran
Khan this afternoon in which we updated each other on COVID 19 measures in our
respective countries and also, how we could further enhance the already warm
and fraternal relations between Maldives and Pakistan.”
The
call comes months after the Maldives surprised Pakistan by thwarting its bid
for constituting an informal group of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
envoys at the United Nations on Islamophobia on the pretext that India was
being singled out, which could, therefore, be “detrimental to religious harmony
in South Asia”.
President
Solih in phone call with Imran discusses coronavirus, other issues
This
is the second fence-mending call by the prime minister to countries in South
Asia in weeks. On July 22, Mr Khan called Bangladesh Prime Minister Hasina
Wajed to express his desire for “closer and fraternal” relations. Ties between
Islamabad and Dhaka had been tense for years.
During
his conversation with President Solih, “the prime minister shared Pakistan’s
perspective on peace and security situation in South Asia, underlining that the
region needed peace and cooperation so that the South Asian nations could
realise their true economic potential”.
Mr
Khan renewed his invitation to President Solih to visit Pakistan.
“Pakistan
accords high importance to its fraternal ties with the Maldives, a fellow Saarc
member state, and is committed to further strengthening them in all fields,”
the PMO said.
The
two leaders exchanged views on the challenges posed by Covid-19. Mr Khan
appreciated the Maldivian government’s efforts to contain the spread of the
disease and shared his own experiences in the fight against the pandemic.
Pakistan
is being described as a successful example in the fight against Covid-19. The
coronavirus cases and deaths due to the disease have consistently been on the
decline. However, experts warn that the threat may still not be over.
Mr
Khan briefed Mr Solih on his “Global Initiative on Debt Relief” for developing
countries to mitigate the severe socio-economic impacts of the pandemic.
“The
prime minister underscored that developing countries were particularly
vulnerable due to limited fiscal space and health sector infrastructure
constraints and, therefore, required special measures,” the PMO said.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1573778/pm-underlines-need-for-stronger-ties-with-maldives
--------
PML-Q
‘ready’ to mend fences with PTI
Waseem
Ashraf Butt
11
Aug 2020
GUJRAT:
The PML-Q is ready to mend fences with the PTI, its senior partner in the
coalition governments at federal and provincial level; however, it has not yet
received any positive response from the party.
A
source in the Chaudhrys’ party has revealed that Prime Minister Imran Khan is
giving a cold shoulder to the PML-Q leaders and he was not willing to meet them
during his visit to the provincial capital last Friday.
Another
source says that there is a proposal for law minister Raja Basharat replacing
Chief Minister Usman Buzdar in Punjab, which may help melt the ice between both
the coalition parties.
Talking
to Dawn on condition of anonymity, a PML-Q lawmaker says that most of his
party’s former and incumbent lawmakers in national and Punjab assemblies as
well as the party officials have advised the senior leadership to review the
current tense relationship with the PTI.
Sources
say efforts were made for a meeting with PM on Friday last
“During
the consultation with the party president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Punjab
Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, some party lawmakers and officials
have been of the opinion that if the PML-Q wants to continue the coalition
government, it should come out of the current situation through negotiations
with the PTI,” he says and adds that the party is already in the mood of
mending fences with the PTI but Prime Minister Imran Khan is not paying any
heed towards the genuine concerns of the PML-Q.
A PTI
lawmaker says efforts have been made by some senior functionaries in the Punjab
government to arrange a meeting between PM Khan and the PML-Q leaders during
the former’s visit to Lahore on Friday last but it could not happen due to his
unwillingness.
He
says the PM is reportedly annoyed with Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz
Elahi for issuing the production orders of some opposition lawmakers in the
custody of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on corruption charges and
absence of PML-Q lawmakers from the dinner hosted by the PM himself during the
budget session of the parliament in June.
On
the other hand, some video recordings and media statements issued by the
Pervaiz Elahi are also said to be against the policies of the PTI government,
which also offended some senior members of the ruling party, says the lawmaker.
Another
source thinks that the PML-Q is also considered as a major hurdle to the
possible change of Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar as the PTI leadership is
seriously considering various options to replace the CM. He claims that ice has
started melting between the coalition partners over the matter of change of the
CM and the name of Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat has been proposed by some
relevant quarters.
Mr
Basharat, a PTI MPA from Rawalpindi, has close relations with the Chaudhrys of
Gujrat as he was in their party before joining the PTI.
The
source says Basharat’s name has been proposed to both the coalition partners as
possible replacement in Punjab and the PML-Q reportedly has not shown any
reservations about his name but its senior partner is yet to decide on it.
However,
when approached by this scribe, a PML-Q leader denies being consulted on the
possible replacement for the CM by any quarter yet and says that speaking on
the topic has already damaged his party interests. But he has confirmed the
reports of the party’s wish to mend fences with the PTI despite the moves by
NAB against its senior leaders.
Responding
to another question, he says now the Chaudhrys feel that NAB has become a part
of their life and politics as whether they were in opposition or in the
government, the bureau continues to haunt them without having any proof or
evidence against them.
As
far as the matter of expressing opinion different from the PTI policies, he
says the PML-Q is a separate political entity having its own views on various
issues of national importance.
The
PTI and PML-Q have a history of troubled relations and frequent statements by
the latter’s leaders have hinted at the fissures between both the parties. In
November last year, Pervaiz Elahi had alleged that a former head of a security
agency had forced some prominent leaders of his party, including Jahangir
Tareen and Aleem Khan, to quit the PML-Q and join the PTI in 2010.
Last
month, before the Lahore High Court, NAB accused the PML-Q leaders, Chaudhry
Shujaat Hussain and Pervaiz Elahi, of money laundering and accumulating illegal
assets while the Chaudhrys have moved the court against NAB inquiries.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1573707/pml-q-ready-to-mend-fences-with-pti
--------
Arab world
UN
chief calls for independent inquiry into Beirut explosion
August
10, 2020
NEW
YORK: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for a “credible and
transparent” investigation into the causes of the explosion at Beirut’s port
last week that killed dozens of people and left thousands injured.
His
comments echoed the demands of protesters who took to the streets throughout
the weekend and on Monday. They blame years of government corruption and
incompetence for the blast.
Amal
Mudallali, Lebanon’s ambassador to the UN, likened the blast to “15 years of
war in 15 seconds, the darkest 15 seconds we have ever seen.”
In an
emotional keynote speech during a UN virtual briefing on the humanitarian
situation in Lebanon, she added: “People are demanding, and deserve, justice —
and rightly so.”
As he
opened the international gathering on Monday, Guterres saluted the spirit of
the Lebanese people in the aftermath of the massive explosion, giving the
example of “neighbors helping neighbors, people clearing their streets of
broken glass and opening their homes to those who have lost theirs.”
He
urged international donors to provide aid “speedily and generously” to help the
devastated country, but also stressed the importance of implementing
longer-term political and economic reforms in the country that address the needs
of the Lebanese people.
The
UN has sent search-and-rescue experts to assist first responders in Beirut,
along with desperately needed medical supplies to treat the injured. In
addition, the organization has provided $15 million to help fund urgent needs
such as temporary shelters for families whose homes were damaged, and the
import of wheat flour and grain for bakeries to help address food shortages
across the country after grain silos at the port were destroyed.
Guterres
urged world leaders to build on the efforts of French President Emmanuel
Macron, who on Thursday was the first world leader to visit Beirut after the
explosion.
Mudallali
evoked the words of former French President Charles de Gaulle as she said of
the visit: “The Lebanese hearts were truly beating to the rhythm of France’s
heart as we saw Macron and the French come to the rescue of Lebanon.”
On
Sunday, Macron co-convened a virtual donors’ conference to solicit
international assistance for Lebanon, during which world leaders and
international organizations pledged $300 million.
Donors
said the humanitarian aid will be coordinated by the UN and delivered directly
to the Lebanese people, a clear indication of their concerns that any money
delivered to the government will not be used properly. They also warned that
investment in rebuilding the city will be contingent on the full commitment of
the authorities in the country to “timely measures and reforms expected by the
Lebanese people.”
Macron
has insisted on reforms, in co-ordination with the International Monetary Fund
(IMF), to tackle deep-seated corruption and restore order to Lebanon’s crippled
economy and the banking system. The IMF has criticized the ruling elite in the
country for a “shortage of political will to adopt and implement meaningful
reforms.”
More
than 50 countries participated in Monday’s UN briefing. They unanimously
expressed solidarity with the Lebanese people and promised a prompt response to
their urgent needs.
David
Beasley, the executive director of the World Food Program, warned that Lebanon
is facing bread shortages within two weeks, and said efforts are being made to
import grains to avoid this. He said he met Lebanese President Michel Aoun and
cabinet ministers and asked them for “absolute cooperation. No obstacles.
People on the streets have been asking us to please make sure the aid goes
directly to the people.”
Mudallali
highlighted the priorities in Beirut: medicine, food, construction materials,
and the rebuilding the city’s port. She urged the international community to
“remain with us for the whole journey, and not only help with the emergency
stage of the catastrophe. I appeal to you to stay with us for the second, most
important stage: the rebuilding and rehabilitation stage.”
Despite
the tragedy and the challenges facing Beirut as it recovers and rebuilds, the
envoy concluded her speech on an upbeat, optimistic note.
“Lebanon,
one of the countries that met in San Francisco 75 Years ago and founded the UN,
promises you that it will rise again,” she said. “We will rebuild better. We
will continue to offer a message of coexistence and tolerance, and we will
continue to uphold the principles and values enshrined in the UN charter.
“But
we have to do it together.”
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1717601/middle-east
--------
NASA
radar data maps out extent of Beirut explosion damage
10
August 2020
A
heat map released by NASA using satellite-derived synthetic aperture radar data
shows the likely extent of damage from the devastating Tuesday explosion in
port Beirut.
The
map collated and analyzed by NASA’s Advanced Rapid Imaging and Analysis (ARIA)
team in collaboration with the Earth Observatory of Singapore used data from
space to show ground surface changes from before and after the major explosion.
“On
the map, dark red pixels - like those present at and around the Port of Beirut
- represent the most severe damage. Areas in orange are moderately damaged and
areas in yellow are likely to have sustained somewhat less damage. Each colored
pixel represents an area of 30 meters (33 yards),” according to NASA’s report.
“Maps
like this one can help identify badly damaged areas where people may need
assistance. The explosion occurred near the city's port. It claimed more than
150 lives and is estimated to have caused billions of dollars' worth of
damage,” NASA added.
The
deadly explosion at Beirut port on Tuesday killed at least 158 people and
injured more than 6,000. Hundreds of thousands of Beirut residents were also
left without homes when many were already struggling to pay the rent.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/10/NASA-radar-data-maps-out-extent-of-Beirut-explosion-damage.html
--------
Explosion
hits near Iraq-Kuwait border crossing: Iraqi security source
11
August 2020
An
explosion near the Jraischan border crossing at the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border on
Monday evening targeted a convoy carrying equipment for US forces, three Iraqi
security forces told Reuters.
It
was not immediately clear if there were any US troops in the convoy or if
anyone had been injured in the explosion, which went off just before 9 pm
Baghdad time (1800 GMT).
Vehicles
are regularly loaded with military equipment at the crossing, the sources said,
and the cargo is usually loaded or unloaded before entering or exiting Iraq.
Foreign
companies are contracted by US forces to provide security in the area, the
Iraqi security sources said.
A
security source had earlier said that the explosion was caused by an Iraqi Shia
militia targeting a US military base near the crossing by smuggling in an
explosive device, and that some staff on the base had been injured, but this
was later contradicted by other security sources who said a convoy was
attacked, not a base.
“We
are currently looking into this matter,” said a spokesperson for the US Embassy
in Kuwait.
A
little known Iraqi Shi’ite militia group by the name of Ashab al-Kahf claimed
responsibility for the attack and published a video showing an explosion at a
distance. It said it was able to destroy US military equipment and large parts
of the crossing.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/11/Explosion-hits-near-Iraq-Kuwait-border-crossing-Iraqi-security-source.html
--------
Beirut
firefighters were not given keys, location of burning hanger: The Independent
10
August 2020
Firefighters
who responded to the fire at the port in Beirut last Tuesday were not given the
location or the keys to the burning warehouse holding 2,700 tonnes of ammonium
nitrate, according to sources from the Lebanese capital’s fire department who
spoke to The Independent.
Beirut’s
fire department officials told the Independent’s Bel Trew that the 10 fire crew
members, including one female firefighter, who arrived on the scene were not
given much information, delaying their response to contain the initial fire
prior to the stockpile of ammonium nitrate exploding in a second larger blast.
“If
they had the hangar door open already, if they knew where they were going, they
might have had moments to control the fire. So you would not have had the first
initial explosion that triggered the larger blast,” Fadi Mazboudi, a fire
department chief, told the Independent.
Over
150 people were killed and more than 6,000 others were injured in the capital
last Tuesday when a warehouse storing 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate exploded
after catching on fire.
Lebanese
Prime Minister Hassan Diab announced his resignation Monday after thousands of
protesters took to the streets of Beirut in the days after the deadly
explosion.
Since
the explosion, 300,000 people in Beirut have been left homeless after the
shockwave from the larger second blast destroyed and damaged homes in the
capital.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/10/Beirut-firefighters-were-not-given-keys-location-of-burning-hanger-The-Independent.html
--------
Lebanese
protesters clash again with security forces in central Beirut
10
August 2020
Lebanese
protesters have clashed with security forces in central Beirut for the third
consecutive day of protests following the deadly blast in the Lebanese
capital’s port last Tuesday.
Demonstrators
were seen throwing rocks at the security forces who initially threw tear gas
canisters at them, according to eyewitness accounts.
The
clashes erupted shortly before Lebanon’s Prime Minister Hassan Diab is set to
give a televised address to the nation.
Diab
has reportedly informed President Michel Aoun that he is planning to resign
shortly, according to local media reported on Sunday.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/10/Lebanese-protesters-clash-again-with-security-forces-in-central-Beirut.html
--------
Hezbollah softens stance on Israel maritime border dispute after Lebanese rage
10
August 2020
The
main Lebanese sides blocking a solution to the maritime border dispute with
Israel have agreed to American mediation efforts after the deadly Beirut
explosions drew the wrath and anger of protesters across Beirut, senior
Lebanese officials and multiple diplomats said.
Washington
has attempted for years to help reach an understanding over disputed waters
between Beirut and Tel Aviv, but Lebanese sides have seen the negotiations as
biased toward Israel.
For
all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Iran-backed
Hezbollah, via its Shia ally, the Amal Movement, has long determined Lebanon’s
position and remained steadfast in their demands.
But
after the Beirut explosions and nationwide rage against the ruling elite,
Lebanon’s president and parliament speaker were quick to publicize their
willingness to reach an agreement on the maritime border.
There
are two separate border disputes: the land border and the maritime border.
The
UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) continues to work to reach an
agreement on the land border, which is currently separated by a UN-demarcated
Blue Line. Lebanon disputes 13 of the 200 points along its southern border.
Parliament
speaker Nabih Berri told a local newspaper last week that talks “with the
Americans are almost finished.” A senior Lebanese political source confirmed
this to Al Arabiya English.
Berri
is a close ally of Hezbollah and also heads the Amal Movement. Together, the
two parties have all government and parliament seats allocated to the Shia
sect.
During
a phone call on Thursday between US President Donald Trump and his Lebanese
counterpart Michel Aoun, the latter voiced his hopes that the US would help
solve the border dispute.
The
US State Department said it had “no comment” when asked about recent progress
and US efforts over the maritime border.
However,
the number three State Department official is expected to visit Beirut this
week, and the maritime border is set to be a high priority for Under Secretary
of State for Political Affairs David Hale, according to diplomatic sources.
Lebanon
and Israel are technically in a state of war and both sides have been at
loggerheads over 860 sq. km of waters, which contain potential natural gas
reserves.
At
least three different US envoys have exerted significant diplomatic efforts to
help resolve the dispute. In 2012, Frederic Hof, most notably, proposed
dividing the disputed waters along what became the “Hof Line.” This would see
Lebanon take 500 sq. km. out of the 842. This fell through.
Amos
Hochstein succeeded Hof but made little progress.
Before
taking up his current role as US ambassador to Turkey, David Satterfield
shuttled back and forth between Lebanon and Israel for more than a year.
According to Lebanese officials, the most progress was made during
Satterfield’s period and the main framework for how talks between the sides,
with US and UN mediation, would take place.
Assistant
Secretary of Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker has since succeeded
Satterfield and previously voiced his hope that the two sides would agree.
Schenker said that progress was waiting for the green light from Beirut.
Hezbollah,
the primary opponent of reaching a deal, publicly acknowledged entrusting Berri
with deciding Lebanon’s stance. The group’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah
previously alleged that the US was using the border talks to try to end
Hezbollah’s precision-guided missile arsenal.
Reports
surfaced in recent months that Aoun wanted to be the main point of contact for
negotiations with the Americans; Berri did not reportedly accept.
Throwing
in the towel
But
with the growing frustration of Lebanese citizens who are demanding an end to
years of corruption from the ruling elite, which has been in power since the
end of the 1975-90 civil war, the tide seems to be turning.
A
senior Arab diplomat based in Beirut said that “Hezbollah has thrown in the
towel,” and softened its hardline stance on refusing an agreement.
Western
diplomats have also noticed a significant change in regional geopolitics in
recent days, especially following French President Emmanuel Macron’s Beirut
visit.
Macron
rapped the heads of the main political parties in the country and sat them on
one table. Lebanon’s president has been unsuccessful in trying to hold
all-party talks under his auspices.
Macron
also spoke of a “new political pact,” when he was touring decimated parts of
Beirut’s Gemayzeh neighborhood.
Some
saw this as implying a new ruling class in Lebanon, while other analysts and
diplomats said he was referring to a shift in regional geopolitics.
One
Western diplomat said they detected a changing political landscape.
“That
is going to be bad for Hezbollah,” the diplomat said.
Aram
Nerguizian, a senior associate at the Center for Strategic & International
Studies (CSIS), said Hezbollah and Amal have time and again sought to stall
efforts US mediation efforts in the pursuit of their own discreet interests.
“Such
maneuvers are happening now yet again, except that this time, in the wake of
the August 4 Port of Beirut explosion, they are offering to move forward with
major concessions in an attempt to placate future US sanctions or worse – to
try and slow US calls for drastic political reform in Lebanon by offering a
geopolitical carrot to Washington and its allies in Israel,” Nerguizian told Al
Arabiya English.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/10/Hezbollah-softens-stance-on-Israel-maritime-border-dispute-after-Lebanese-rage.html
--------
Lebanon
PM Hassan Diab resigns less than a week after deadly Beirut explosion
10
August 2020
Lebanese
Prime Minister Hassan Diab announced his resignation Monday after thousands of
protesters took to the streets of Beirut in the days after the deadly Beirut
explosion.
Diab
announced his resignation after four ministers had already stepped down from
their posts. In a televised speech, Diab said that "corruption is bigger
than the state."
For
all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Diab
said his government "fought fiercely and honorably," and he accused
unnamed opponents of preventing the government from carrying out any reforms or
progress. "We were alone, and they were all against us."
Over
150 people were killed and more than 6,000 others were injured in the capital
last Tuesday when a warehouse storing 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate exploded
after catching on fire.
The
explosion destroyed entire buildings and shattered windows, leaving an
estimated 300,000 people in Beirut homeless.
Diab
said the port explosions “occurred as a result of chronic corruption in
politics, administration and the State.”
A
large part of Diab’s speech was directed at “some” who he said sought “to score
political points, deliver populist electoral discourse, and demolish the
lingering State’s presence.”
Diab's
resignation was later accepted by President Michel Aoun, who asked the current
government to stay on in a caretaker capacity until a new one is formed. This
is the third government under Aoun since he was elected in 2016.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/10/Lebanese-PM-Hassan-Diab-s-cabinet-resigns-after-Beirut-explosion-Reports.html
--------
Lebanese
cabinet refers Beirut explosion investigation to judicial council: Reports
10
August 2020
Lebanon's
cabinet has referred the investigation into the deadly Beirut explosion to the
judicial council, according to media reports.
Local
media reported earlier that Prime Minister Hassan Diab had informed President
Michel Aoun that he was planning to resign shortly.
For
all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
The
news comes as multiple MPs and ministers resigned in the past few days,
including the finance, justice, information, and environment ministers.
At
least 158 people were killed and more than 6,000 others were injured in the
capital on Tuesday when a warehouse storing 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate
exploded after catching on fire.
The
explosion had destroyed entire buildings and shattered windows, leaving around
300,000 people in Beirut homeless.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/10/Lebanese-cabinet-refers-Beirut-explosion-investigation-to-judicial-council-Reports.html
--------
Lebanon
justice, finance ministers submit resignation after Beirut explosions
10
August 2020
Lebanon’s
Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni resigns from Prime Minister Hassan Diab’s
government, making him the fourth minister to resign almost a week after the
August 4 Beirut explosion that killed at least 158 people.
The
Justice Minister Marie-Claude Najm had submitted her resignation earlier on
Monday.
In
submitting her resignation letter, Najm cited the Beirut explosion and protests
as reasons for stepping down, Reuters reported.
Several
Members of Parliament, two Cabinet members, and one ambassador have already
resigned following the blast that left portions of Beirut in rubble and around
300,000 homeless. Minister of Information Manal Abdel Samad and Minister of
Environment Demianos Kattar have also resigned.
If
seven of the 20 ministers in the Hassan Diab government resign, the Cabinet
would effectively become a caretaker government, AP reported.
An
official investigation is yet to determine the cause of the blast, but initial
reports suggest that 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored at the port since
2014 caught fire and caused the explosion. Authorities knew the chemicals were
present and for years failed to act to remove them. Losses from the blast are
estimated to be between $10 billion to $15 billion.
Before
assuming the position as justice minister, Najm previously advocated for
independence of the judiciary and was vocal in civil society as a founding
member of the 2007 “Khalas!” campaign that sought a peaceful solution to the
sectarian conflict going on at the time.
The
country is facing an unprecedented financial and economic crisis and is also
grappling with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The economic situation has
seen salaries slashed and food prices rise as inflation takes hold. Around half
of the population is now said to be below the poverty line.
As
government negligence emerged as the cause of the explosion that could be felt
in Cyprus some 200 kilometers away, protests broke out again following
widespread protests against government corruption in October 2019.
Similar
to the Octover revolution, Lebanese have once again called for the downfall of
the ruling elite – but this time with more anger. Protesters in Downtown Beirut
have held nooses and called for the current government to be hanged.
Lebanese
and watchdog groups, including Human Rights Watch, have called for an
independent investigation into the blasts, which Lebanese President Michel Aoun
has said would be a “waste of time.”
“The
goal of calls for an international investigation in the port case is to waste
time,” the President’s media office cited him as saying. US President Donald
Trump has called for the country to conduct a “full and transparent
investigation.”
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/10/Lebanon-Justice-Minister-Najm-resigns-after-Beirut-explosions.html
--------
Egyptians
start voting for revived upper house of parliament
August
11, 2020
CAIRO:
Egyptians started voting on Tuesday for the Senate, the upper chamber of
parliament that was revived as part of constitutional amendments approved in a
referendum last year — an election that comes as the country faces an uptick in
daily numbers of new coronavirus cases.
Authorities
have said face masks would be handed out to voters for free and polling
stations were disinfected ahead of the balloting to ease concerns amid the
pandemic.
The
vote is mostly a symbolic exercise as the Senate — unlike the House of
Representatives, the lower chamber — has no legislative powers and will have
mainly in an advisory role. It replaces the Shoura Council, which was dissolved
in 2014.
The
balloting will extend for two days to allow for a maximum turnout as some 63
million voters are eligible to cast ballots. They will choose two thirds of the
300-member Senate, with 787 candidates running for those 200 Senate seats.
Egyptian expats abroad voted on Sunday and Monday.
The
first 100 seats in the running are reserved for individual candidates, the
second for those running on a list dominated by pro-government parties.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi will choose the remaining 100 members.
The
results were expected within a week and the runoff will take place in
September. Under the constitutional amendments approved in April last year,
women will have a 25 percent quota in the chamber.
Lasheen
Ibrahim, chairman of the National Election Authority, called voting “a national
duty” and warned in televised comments Saturday that those who boycott the
election could be fined up to 500 Egyptian pounds ($32), under an Egyptian law
that has existed for years but was never really implemented.
For
the past two weeks, Cairo and other cities and towns across the country have
been awash with posters and banners of candidates, mostly pro-government
businessmen and politicians.
The
election comes despite an uptick in coronavirus cases this week, after the
daily reported numbers dropped from around 1,500 to 112 on Aug. 4. However, the
actual numbers of COVID-19 cases, like elsewhere in the world, are thought to
be far higher, in part due to limited testing.
The
Health Ministry on Monday reported 174 new cases of the virus and 26 deaths.
Overall, the country of more than 100 million people has reported more than
95,600 confirmed cases, including 5,035 deaths — the highest number of
fatalities in the Arab World, and the third in the Middle East, tailing Iran
and Turkey, according to a tally by The Associated Press.
Egypt’s
latest constitutional amendments extended a president’s term in office from
four to six years, allowing for a maximum of two terms. But they also included
a specific article extending El-Sisi’s current second four-year term to six
years and allowing him to run for another six-year term in 2024 — potentially
extending his rule until 2030.
El-Sisi
in 2013 led the military overthrow of an elected but divisive Islamist
president, Muhammad Mursi, amid mass protests against his rule. El-Sisi has
since presided over an unprecedented crackdown on dissent.
Opposition
voices have largely been shut out, and thousands of people, including many
pro-democracy activists, have been arrested. Freedoms won in 2011, when mass
protests ended President Hosni Mubarak’s nearly three-decade rule, have largely
been rolled back.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1717821/middle-east
--------
Africa
Nigerian
singer sentenced to death for blasphemy in Kano state
10
August 2020
A
musician in Nigeria's northern state of Kano has been sentenced to death by
hanging for blaspheming against the Prophet Muhammad.
An
upper Sharia court in the Hausawa Filin Hockey area of the state said Yahaya
Sharif-Aminu, 22, was guilty of committing blasphemy for a song he circulated
via WhatsApp in March.
Mr
Sharif-Aminu did not deny the charges.
Judge
Khadi Aliyu Muhammad Kani said he could appeal against the verdict.
States
across Muslim-majority northern Nigeria use both secular law and Sharia law,
which does not apply to non-Muslims.
Only
one of the death sentences passed by Nigeria's Sharia courts has been carried
out since they were reintroduced in 1999.
The
singer who is currently in detention, had gone into hiding after he composed
the song.
Protesters
had burnt down his family home and gathered outside the headquarters of the
Islamic police, known as the Hisbah, demanding action against him.
Critics
said the song was blasphemous as it praised an imam from the Tijaniya Muslim
brotherhood to the extent it elevated him above the Prophet Muhammad.
'Judgement
will serve as deterrent to others'
The
leader of the protesters that called for the musician's arrest in March, Idris
Ibrahim, told the BBC that the judgement will serve as a warning to others
"contemplating toeing Yahaya's path"."When I heard about the
judgment I was so happy because it showed our protest wasn't in vain.
"This
[judgement] will serve as a deterrent to others who feel they could insult our
religion or prophet and go scot-free," he said.
Who
is Yahaya Sharif-Aminu?
Few
people had heard of him before his arrest in March.
An
Islamic gospel musician, he is not well-known in northern Nigeria and his songs
were not popular outside his Tjjaniya sect, who have many such musicians within
their ranks.
How
common are death sentences in Sharia courts?
Several
sentences have been passed, including for women convicted of having
extramarital sex - cases which have caused widespread condemnation.
But
only one has been carried out - a man convicted of killing a woman and her two
children who was hanged in 2002.
The
last time a Nigerian Sharia court passed a death sentence was in 2016 when
Abdulazeez Inyass, was sentenced to death for blaspheming against Islam during
after a secret trial in Kano.
He
was alleged to have said that Sheikh Ibrahim Niasse, the Senegalese founder of
the Tijaniya sect, which has a large following across West Africa, "was
bigger than Prophet Muhammad".
The
sentence has not been carried out as a death penalty in Nigeria requires the
sign-off of the state governor.
Mr
Inyass is still in detention.
How
Nigeria's Sharia courts work
By
Mansur Abubakar, BBC News, Kano
Twelve
states in Nigeria's Muslim-dominated north operate the Sharia system of
justice, but only Muslims can be tried in its courts.
The
Sharia system, which also has its own Court of Appeal, handles both civil and
criminal matters involving Muslims and its judgements can also be challenged in
Nigeria's secular Courts of Appeal and the Supreme Court.
The
Sharia judges, known as alkalis, are learned in both Islamic and secular laws.
If a
case involves a Muslim and a non-Muslim, the non-Muslim has the option of
choosing where they want the case to be tried. The Sharia court can only hear
the case if the non-Muslim gives written consent.
Sentences
handed down by the courts include floggings, amputations and the death penalty.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53726256
--------
ISIL
will bounce back if Libya civil war doesn't end, study warns
9 Aug
2020
The
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) remains a "persistent
threat" in Libya and could rise again unless the country's long-running
conflict is brought to an end, a new study has warned.
The
study, conducted by the Strategic Studies Institute at the United States Army
War College, says ISIL is "regrouping, quietly expanding capacity ...
until [it] might once again be strong enough to be a challenger in Libya".
It
said the armed group retained its capacity to launch "small-scale"
attacks in Libya, which was a deviation from its earlier strategy of
high-profile "shock and awe" raids.
"They
engage in small-scale attacks and skirmishes necessary to establish themselves
in the criminal smuggling network that link sub-Saharan Africa to the Libyan
coast in the north," according to the study conducted by Azeem Ibrahim.
Oil-rich
Libya was plunged into chaos when a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 overthrew
longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi, who was later killed.
The
country has since split between the internationally recognised Government of
National Accord (GNA) in the west and renegade military commander Khalifa
Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) in the east.
Each
faction is backed by militias and foreign governments. While the GNA is
supported by Turkey, the LNA is backed by Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and
Russia.
In
April last year, Haftar launched an offensive to seize the Libyan capital,
Tripoli, from the GNA. But the 14-month campaign collapsed in June this year
when the GNA gained the upper hand, driving his forces from the outskirts of
Tripoli and other western towns.
After
a months-long campaign by GNA forces, ISIL was expelled in May 2016 from the
coastal city of Sirte, the biggest territory controlled by the armed group
outside its then heartland in Syria and Iraq.
According
to the study, after ISIL's removal from Sirte, most of its activity moved to
Fezzan in the southern Libyan desert, "where the group has increasingly
embedded themselves in the local human and illicit goods trafficking,
particularly along the refugee migration routes through Libya".
"ISIS
[ISIL] in Libya is overwhelmingly composed of non-Libyan foreign fighters,
further diminishing their capacity to embed themselves in the local political
landscape," it said.
However,
Ibrahim warned the situation could change if the Libyan civil war is prolonged,
and called on the international community to ensure stability in the country.
"[The]
longer the instability persists, the longer we go without a central government
that does not need to fight everyone else and can keep a closer eye on what
ISIS and other groups like it are doing in the hinterlands, the higher the
chance that ISIS [or someone similar] will stage a large-scale
resurgence."
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/isil-bounce-libya-civil-war-doesn-study-warns-200809142820086.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1426864_
--------
Chad
says Boko Haram wreaking havoc despite offensive
August
9, 2020
Chad's
President Idriss Deby said Saturday that Boko Haram jihadists would continue to
wreak havoc in the Lake Chad region despite a huge military offensive against
the group earlier this year.
Lake
Chad -- a marshy region dotted with islands near the border of Niger, Nigeria
and Cameroon -- has been battered by attacks from jihadists crossing from
Nigeria.
"We
will have this Boko Haram phenomenon for a long time yet," Deby told Radio
France Internationale in an interview.
"The
incursions will continue," he said, adding that the group "will
continue to cause great damage," in the Lake Chad area.
Boko
Haram's insurgency, launched in northeast Nigeria in 2009, has killed more than
36,000 people and displaced more than two million from their homes.
The
violence has since spread to Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
In
March, Chad's armed forces suffered their biggest single-day loss, when 98
soldiers were massacred in their base at Bohoma, on the banks of Lake Chad.
In
response, Deby launched an offensive from March 31 to April 3, declaring at its
end that there was "not a single jihadist left" in the Lake Chad
region.
But
sporadic violence has continued, with an attack attributed to Boko Haram on an
army vehicle earlier last month killing eight Chadian soldiers.
Deby
on Saturday insisted that there were no Boko Haram fighters left on Chadian
territory but that cross-border raids from Nigeria and Niger were continuing at
night.
https://news.yahoo.com/chad-says-boko-haram-wreaking-221358968.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1426864_
--------
South Asia
Taliban
attack repulsed in Sar-e Pul; at least 21 militants killed, wounded
11
Aug 2020
The
Afghan forces repulsed a Taliban attack in northern Sar-e Pul province of
Afghanistan, killing or wounding at least 21 militants of the group.
The
Ministry of Defense (MoD) in a statement said a large group of Taliban
militants attacked the security posts in Masjid-e Sabz area of Sancharak
district.
The
statement further added that the security forces repulsed the attack, killing
at least 11 militants of the group including Mullah Noor Mohammad, one of the
local commanders of the group.
The
security forces also wounded at least 10 other militants during the clash, the
statement added.
The
Taliban group has not commented regarding the incident so far.
Meanwhile,
the Ministry of Defense said a roadside bomb planted by Taliban militants
wounded a civilian in the area.
https://www.khaama.com/taliban-attack-repulsed-in-sar-e-pul-at-least-21-militants-killed-wounded-09018/
--------
180
Afghan Sikhs and Hindus to leave for India on Wednesday
11
Aug 2020
A
group of 180 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus are expected to leave for India on
Wednesday as part of mass migration of the members of the two minority
communities following deadly attacks.
Sources
privy of the development told Times of India “As many as 180 Sikhs and Hindus
are likely to leave Kabul on Wednesday.”
The
sources further added that the 180 members of the two minority communities are
leaving the country amid panics following the recent attacks on them which left
dozens dead or wounded.
They
also added that the Sikhs and Hindus have been victims of discrimination,
terror, violence and persecution at the hands of extremists and it has now
triggered mass exodus.
According
to the sources, the number of the Sikhs and Hindus has reduced to just around
700 from earlier number which was more than 100,000.
This
comes as the most recent attack targeted the Sikh community in capital Kabul
which left at least 25 members of the community dead and several others
wounded.
https://www.khaama.com/180-afghan-sikhs-and-hindus-to-leave-for-india-on-wednesday-09017/
--------
Explosion
in Kabul city leaves at least 3 dead or wounded
11
Aug 2020
An
explosion in Kabul city left at least three people dead or wounded, hours after
a similar blast left at least two people wounded.
Sources
in Kabul Police Headquarters confirmed that the explosion took place in the
vicinity of Prozha-e Jadid, located in Khair Khana area of the city in 11th
district.
The
sources further added that the explosives planted in a vehicle went off at
around 7 am local time, leaving one person dead and at least two others
wounded.
This
comes as a similar explosion wounded at least two people in 9th district of the
city on Monday morning.
Earlier,
an explosion killed 2 people and wounded at least 5 others in Company Bazaar
area of Kabul city at around 3:40 pm local time on Sunday.
No
individual or group including Taliban has so far claimed responsibility for the
incident.
https://www.khaama.com/explosion-in-kabul-city-leaves-at-least-3-dead-or-wounded-09016/
--------
Southeast Asia
Maal
Hijrah Celebration at Final Stage of Discussion, Says Malay Religious Minister
11
Aug 2020
NILAI,
Aug 11 — The government has reached the final stage of discussion to decide
whether or not this year’s Maal Hijrah celebration should proceed as scheduled
on August 20.
Religious
Affairs Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Zulkifli Mohamad
Al-Bakri said the matter would be finalised and announced soon.
“We
are looking into organising a Maal Hijrah celebration that complies with the
standard operating procedures (SOP) set by the Ministry of Health and the
National Security Council to curb the spread of Covid-19.
“So,
we may set a limit to the time and number of participants. We want to promote
that even if it is being organised on a small scale, it will still be very
meaningful to the Muslim community,” he told reporters here today.
The
minister had earlier officiated the National Seminar on Malaysian Islamic
Affairs Management Research at Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM), which
was also attended by USIM vice-chancellor Prof Dr Mohamed Ridza Wahiddin.
On
the seminar, Zulkifli said it was aimed at gathering information and research
findings to empower, improve and transform Islamic affairs management to meet
current demands and cope with contemporary challenges. — Bernama
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/08/11/maal-hijrah-celebration-at-final-stage-of-discussion-says-zulkifli/1892866
--------
‘Is
this what Syed Naquib taught?’ Johor DAP’s Sheikh Umar slams Wan Fayhsal over
support letter offer
10
Aug 2020
JOHOR
BARU, Aug 10 — Johor DAP publicity secretary Sheikh Umar Bagharib Ali described
Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal as someone
that has “lost his dignity” for offering support letters.
He
said he had lost respect for Wan Ahmad Fayhsal, which he knew from his
university days, after his video went viral about how he would use his position
as a deputy minister for political gain.
“For
me he had stepped on his own dignity. Where is the slogan ‘Bersatu, Beramanah
and Bermaruah’?” questioned Shaikh Umar in a statement, referring to Parti Pribumi
Bersatu Malaysia’s slogan in Malay calling for members to be united,
trustworthy, and being dignified.
Sheikh
Umar, who is also the Paloh assemblyman and former Johor state exco, explained
that he used to know Wan Ahmad Fayhsal as a blog writer who looked up to
Malaysian Muslim philosopher Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas.
He
was good with knowledge, Islamic worldview, Islamisation and so on.
“When
Wan Ahmad Fayhsal was with the group that turned their backs on the people’s
mandate after the Sheraton Move, I saw that he was gone.
“This
is not the Wan Ahmad Fayhsal that I knew in the past,” said Sheikh Umar, who is
also the Johor DAP Youth chief.
Sheikh
Umar questioned if this is what Wan Ahmad Fayhsal understood from his journey
of knowledge over the past 10 years.
“Is
this what Syed Naquib had taught?” He asked.
Earlier,
DAP’ MP Anthony Loke Siew Fook and PKR’ MP Akmal Nasrullah Nasir also slammed
Wan Ahmad Fayhsal for alleged power abuse by offering endorsement letter to
gain support in party election.
In a
video that was circulated on social media, Wan Ahmad Fayshal can allegedly be
heard saying that he will issue endorsement letters in his capacity as deputy
minister to help Bersatu Youth members in return for their support.
He is
one of the candidates for the post of Bersatu Youth chief in the upcoming party
election scheduled for September 27.
In
the 53-second-long video clip, Ahmad Fayhsal was also allegedly caught on
camera saying that as Bersatu Youth chief, he will be able to make copies and
present the endorsement letters to Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who
is also Bersatu president.
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/08/10/is-this-what-syed-naquib-taught-johor-daps-sheikh-umar-slams-wan-fayhsal-ov/1892678
--------
Religious
affairs minister: I hope RUU355 happens before I die
10
Aug 2020
BY
SOO WERN JUN
KUALA
LUMPUR, Aug 10 — Religious Affairs Minister Datuk Zulkifli Mohamad has expressed
his hope today for the controversial amendments that would allow harsher
punishments for Shariah criminal offences to be realised before his death.
Speaking
in the Parliament, the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department said
proposals on the Bill to amend the Shariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act
1965 or Act 355 — known as RUU355 in Malay — need to be presented to state
Islamic authorities before tabling.
“Once
these processes have been completed, then only the amendment can be proposed,
when the time is right.
“I
hope, God-willing, it can be realised before I die,” he told the Parliament
today during his winding up speech for the debate on the King’s address.
Zulkifli
was responding to PKR’s Kulim Bandar Bharu MP Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail’s
supplementary question, who expressed gratitude before he asked if there is a
timeline of when the amendment Bill can be tabled.
Islamist
party PAS had previously starting from 2015 planned to table the Bill to amend
the Shariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965, also known as Act 355, but
was halted by then Barisan Nasional government.
The
Bill seeks to raise the Shariah courts’ maximum sentencing limits to 30 years’
jail, RM100,000 fine and 100 strokes of the cane. The current limits are three
years’ jail, RM5,000 fine and six strokes.
The
Bill was allowed by the Barisan Nasional government to be tabled and read out
in Parliament, though it was never passed.
However
with PAS now part of the government, it had instead downplayed the return of the
Bill, with vice-president Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah saying there are other
issues that need to be prioritised, including a possible no-confidence vote
against the prime minister.
“The
amendments to the Act 355 will be tabled in accordance with the order and
framework of the Federal Constitution.
“Some
important processes need to be scrutinised and implemented first, before the
Bill to amend the Act 355 is brought to Parliament,” Zulkifli said today.
He
also explained that it covers discussions at the level of the Islamic and Civil
Law technical committee of the established by National Council for Islamic
Religious Affairs.
“These
discussions are held to evaluate and standardise all amendments as well as the
enactment of laws involving Islamic affairs.
“Therefore,
the government needs to allow room and time for the technical committee to
study the amendment proposals, apart from formulating and negotiating with the
States.
“It
is appropriate and organised if the proposals to amend this Act is first negotiated
at state level so that the laws are holistic and represent each states’
aspirations.
“This
is because the State Islamic Religious Council, State Islamic Religious
Department, state mufti office and state advisory and law offices will be directly
affected by the amendment to this Act,” he said.
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/08/10/religious-affairs-minister-i-hope-ruu355-amendment-happens-before-i-die/1892652
--------
Sunni
radicals attack Shias during wedding vigil in Central Java
by
Mathias Hariyadi
08/10/2020
Solo
(AsiaNews) – Sunni extremists attacked the home of a family hosting a group of
Shias taking part in “Midodareni” prayers. The latter are held on the eve of a
wedding, and are attended by neighbours and relatives of the bridge and groom.
The guests receive some small gifts.
In
this particular case, the ceremony was held at the home of Assegaf bin Jufri, a
Sunni, in Metrodana, a village on the outskirts of Surakarta (Solo), in Central
Java.
A mob
of about 100 people attacked the ceremony yesterday resulting in minor injuries
for two adults and a 15-year-old boy.
Despite
“negotiations" between the host family, the police and the attackers, the
attack went ahead.
The
vandals interrupted the vigil shouting the Shiism is not "authentic Islam”
and damaged the house and some vehicles.
According
to one eyewitness, the Islamic radicals carried out their attack after rumours
spread in the village that a Shia ritual was taking place in the house, not the
Midodareni.
Central
Java Gerakan Pemuda Ansor (GP-Ansor), a youth group linked to Nahdlatul Ulama,
Indonesia’s largest Islamic organisation, strongly condemned the act of
intolerance.
"Nobody
can take the law into their own hands", said GP-Ansor chief Sholahudin
Aly.
Indonesia
is the world’s most populous Islamic nation. About one million (0.5 per cent)
out of 267 million are Shia. Sunnis represent 90 per cent of the total.
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Sunni-radicals-attack-Shias-during-wedding-vigil-in-Central-Java-50762.html
--------
Mideast
IRGC
Deputy Commander: US Democrats, Republicans No Different to Iran
Aug
10, 2020
The
idea to pin some hope on a democrat administration is a waste "since the
Democrats and Republicans both believe that Iran’s move should be stopped through
pressure and negotiations,” General Javani told FNA on Monday.
He
referred to the US attempts to approve a resolution at the UN Security Council
to extend arms embargos against Iran are most likely destined to failure,
saying that the US has slim chances.
Meantime,
General Javani underlined that Iran has gained self-sufficiency in production
of different weapons and military equipment despite being sanctioned for over
40 years, adding that embargoes cannot prevent the country’s military progress
and access to state-of-the-art equipment.
Asked
about Washington’s harassment of an Iranian passenger plane over Syria’s
airspace last month, he said that it was a reaction to the recent important
military agreement between Tehran and Damascus.
“The
Americans adopted the measure to display that they are present there (in Syria)
and inspire us with the notion that we cannot even have security in the air (in
Syria),” General Javani said.
Late
month, two US fighter jets approached a Mahan Air Tehran-Beirut flight over the
Syrian sky in a highly risky move and the captain of the Iranian passenger
plane was forced to make a sudden change of direction and altitude, causing
several injuries.
The
captain of Mahan Air Flight No. 1152 later said the pilots of the two hostile
planes have identified themselves as US army pilots during a radio contact.
A
video posted by a reporter of Iran's state-run TV who was aboard the plane
showed an F-15 fighter jet from the window of the plane and comments from a
passenger who had blood on his face.
In a
later interview from Beirut, the reporter said three passengers have been
wounded during "the US planes' intentional move".
https://en.farsnews.ir/newstext.aspx?nn=13990520000737
--------
Spokesman:
US Extension of Arms Embargos against Iran Threatens UNSC
Aug
10, 2020
“The
arms embargos are rather a threat to the UNSC and its legal mechanism than a
threat against the Iranian nation and against us,” Mousavi told reporters in a
press conference in Tehran on Monday.
“The
Americans want to weaken or annihilate the UNSC by using it instrumentally or
take control of it,” he warned.
Mousavi
called on the UNSC’s permanent and non-permanent members to keep vigilant in
this sensitive period of time, expressing the hope that the independent states’
wisdom and Iran’s consultations with them would create another failure for
Washington.
The
arms embargo on Iran restricts Iran’s ability to obtain and transfer weapons
and expires in October. The expiration is part of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal
that the United States walked away from in 2018.
US
Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft and the former US envoy for Iran,
Brian Hook, briefed the UN Security Council on a proposal to extend the embargo
in June.
In
relevant remarks last month, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned the Group
4+1 (France, Britain, China and Russia plus Germany) that the US-desired
extension of arms embargos against Tehran will deal a heavy blow to
international laws and multilateralism.
“The
G4+1 should know that today Iran’s interests or Iran’s relations with them or
Iran’s relations with the regional states are not the only important issues,”
Rouhani said, addressing a cabinet meeting in Tehran.
“If
the G4+1 does not act precisely today and be influenced by the US, they will
deal an essential blow to the international laws and rules and multilateralism,
and this will harm everyone,” he added.
President
Rouhani, meantime, said that the US has so far been defeated in its political
and legal moves, expressing the hope that Washington’s failures would continue
as a result of the G4+1 and other countries’ vigilance, and the damages
inflicted on the nuclear deal would be repaired by the European states.
Also
in July, Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami expressed
confidence about Washington’s failure in extending the arms embargos against
his country.
“The
US administration’s demand for extending the arms embargos is an excessive and
biased demand and the world states do not accept this demand and will not accompany
the US,” General Hatami said.
“In
such conditions the US statesmen will not succeed in extending the arms
embargos against the Islamic Republic of Iran at the UN Security Council,” he
added.
General
Hatami, meantime, underlined that the sanctions have left no impact on Iran’s
progress in the defensive field.
Meantime,
Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Hossein
Salami underlined in June that arms embargos would leave no impact on Iran's
defense power but rather persuade Iranian experts to produce home-made military
equipment and weapons.
"We
are under a global arms embargo; arms embargo on one hand and threats by the US
and its allies on the other hand. The arms sanctions have created an
opportunity for our scientists to build and manufacture defensive needs by
reliance on domestic power," General Salami told reporters.
He
stressed that extension of the arms embargo against Iran "will not affect
our defense power and we will witness the unveiling of surprising systems (by
the IRGC) in the near future".
General
Salami also said that the IRGC Ground Force does not need imports of any
military systems from foreign states.
https://en.farsnews.ir/newstext.aspx?nn=13990520000313
--------
Iran:
External Agitators Seeking Vested Interests in Lebanon
Aug
10, 2020
“The
Beirut blast was a huge catastrophe and it is normal that people are shocked by
the incident; yet, it is not acceptable that certain individuals, groups or
countries are misusing the situation to gain their political wishes,” Foreign
Ministry Spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi said on Monday.
The
spokesman went on to say that Lebanon urgently needs solidarity and assistance,
not foreign intervention, and stressed the need for letting the Lebanese
government handle the crisis and alleviate the people’s sufferings.
Mousavi
added that a high-ranking Iranian official will visit Lebanon in the coming
days.
“The
Islamic Republic of Iran has been standing by the Lebanese people and
government since the early hours of the incident,” he further said.
Several
aid cargoes have so far been sent to Beirut and more will be on the way, the
spokesman noted.
The
US Embassy expressed its solidarity with anti-government demonstrators in
Lebanon, after angry mobs of people stormed several government buildings and
clashed violently with police in the streets of Beirut.
Thousands
of people gathered at Martyrs' Square in Central Beirut on Saturday, demanding
the government to resign after the horrific explosion on Tuesday that killed
and wounded thousands. Amid clashing with riot police, violent protesters
stormed several government buildings in the city, breaching the Foreign
Ministry, the Economy Ministry and the Ministry of Water and Energy premises.
Demonstrators
threw rocks and projectiles at the officers, who responded by employing tear
gas. The Lebanese Army was also deployed in Beirut later to help police restore
order.
The
number of injuries climbed to at least 500, according to the emergency medical
services cited by Al-Manar TV. Authorities announced that 70 security officers
were injured and at least one them died in clashes.
Even
though, rallies and violence continue in several US cities over the police
killing of George Floyd, and the US police and federal agents brutality against
peacefull demonstrations has gone to the extreme in recent months, the US
embassy in Beirut wade into the crisis in Lebanon on Saturday, voicing its
support for the citizens’ “right to peaceful protest”.
"The
Lebanese people have suffered too much and deserve to have leaders who listen
to them and change course to respond to popular demands for transparency and
accountability," the embassy said, and added, "We support them in
their right to peaceful protest, and encourage all involved to refrain from violence."
The
violent protests came as a large part of the city lies in ruins, with many
victims still feared trapped under the rubble, Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan
Diab noted that he was going to request an early parliamentary election as the
only way to resolve the crisis.
While
rallies over the dire economic conditions in Lebanon were underway before the
incident, the Beirut tragedy came to be a ploy for the anti-government camp.
A
mega explosion rocked the Lebanese capital on Tuesday. Terrifying footage
showed a huge mushroom cloud of fire and smoke covering much of Beirut’s port
area, blowing out windows and destroying buildings in the neighborhood, as a
warehouse at the Beirut docks caught fire on Tuesday afternoon. Photos on
social media showed many buildings in the area damaged or destroyed, leaving
residents covered in glass and blood.
Several
smaller explosions were heard before the bigger one occurred and turned the
city’s streets into a debris-strewn wasteland.
Lebanon's
Ministry of Health announced that 158 people have been killed in the blast at
Beirut's port on Tuesday, while at least 6,000 others have been injured. The
explosion left 300,000 homeless, as vast part of the city has been fallen into
ruin. Red Cross volunteers at the scene of the explosion declared they expect
the death toll to rise.
Lebanese
rescue workers and army soldiers are struggling to remove huge items of debris
in search for possible survivors at Beirut's port. The Lebanese Red Cross
believes there are still tens of people missing.
Health
Minister Hamad Hassan blamed the explosion on a fireworks accident, ordering
all hospitals in Beirut to prepare for the victims of the incident.
Lebanese
General Security Director Abbas Ibrahim has also dismissed rumors of Israeli
involvement, noting that a large cache of highly explosive sodium nitrate was
stored at the site, after being confiscated off a ship several months ago. He
did not explain how the fire has started.
https://en.farsnews.ir/newstext.aspx?nn=13990520000432
--------
US-Iran
won't make deals as President Trump has suggested: Iranian spokesman
11
August 2020
The
US will not reach any deals with Iran if President Donald Trump continues his
“maximum pressure” policy against Tehran, Iranian government spokesman Ali
Rabiei said on Tuesday.
For
all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Rabiei’s
remarks came in response to comments made by Trump on Monday that he would
reach a deal with Iran “within four weeks” if re-elected in November.
“If Trump
is serious about making up for past mistakes, we would welcome it, but his
recent claim does not seem to have a purpose beyond winning votes,” the
official IRNA news agency quoted Rabiei as saying.
Tensions
between Tehran and Washington have escalated since Trump pulled out of the 2015
nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions on Iran.
“Trump
had four years to begin successful diplomacy with Iran … not only did he not do
it, he made the worst mistakes America has made in decades,” Rabiei said.
“Even
if Trump is re-elected, he will not succeed in reaching an agreement as long as
he continues to pursue a policy of pressure on Iran,” the government spokesman
added.
Tehran
will continue its “maximum resistance” for as long as necessary, according to
Rabiei.
US efforts
to extend arms embargo on Iran will fail
Rabiei
also said that US efforts to extend the UN Security Council arms embargo on
Iran “will turn into another catastrophic and isolating failure.”
Washington
has been pushing to extend the arms embargo on Tehran before it expires in
October. The US argues that a failure to extend the embargo on Iran would
further destabilize the Middle East.
The
embargo is due to expire on October 18 under the 2015 nuclear deal.
“Iran
is ready to prove that it will not show the slightest leniency in providing a
proportionate and decisive response to any provocative and illegal action,”
Rabiei warned.
Other
Iranian officials have also warned against the extension of the embargo in
recent weeks, saying it would have severe consequences for Washington and its
allies.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/11/US-Iran-won-t-make-deals-as-President-Trump-has-suggested-Iranian-spokesman.html
--------
Turkey
will conduct seismic survey in eastern Mediterranean: Turkish navy
10
August 2020
Turkey’s
navy has issued an advisory saying that the Turkish ship Oruc Reis will carry
out a seismic survey in the eastern Mediterranean over the next two weeks, a
step likely to revive tensions with NATO ally Greece.
The
two countries are at odds over overlapping claims for hydrocarbon resources in
the region. A similar advisory, or Navtex, last month caused a row which was
calmed after the intervention of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
For
all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
However,
President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday Turkey had resumed energy exploration
work in the region as Greece had not kept its promises on the issue.
“We
have started drilling work again,” said Erdogan, adding “I don’t think we are
obligated to talk to those who do not have rights in the areas of maritime
powers.”
Seismic
surveys are part of preparatory work for potential hydrocarbon exploration.
Turkey and Greece are also at odds over issues such as overflights in the
Aegean Sea and ethnically divided Cyprus.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/10/Turkey-will-conduct-seismic-survey-in-eastern-Mediterranean-Turkish-navy.html
--------
Iran
slams Persian Gulf Cooperation Council's call for extension of arms embargo
10
August 2020
Iran
has categorically rejected a recent statement by the Persian Gulf Cooperation
Council (GCC) Secretariat, which called for the extension of a UN arms embargo
against the Islamic Republic.
Iran's
Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi on Sunday expressed regret over the
destructive approach adopted by certain members of the Persian Gulf Cooperation
Council against Iran.
He
said the so-called Persian Gulf Cooperation Council seems to have turned into a
mouthpiece for some "narrow-minded people" both inside the council
and outside the region.
"The
council’s secretariat, swayed by the wrong and destructive policies and
behavior of certain member states, has turned into a mouthpiece for anti-Iran
elements,” the spokesman said.
He
said the GCC is currently at the "apex of its incompetence", and its
"unrealistic" policies have rendered it ineffective.
His
comments came after the secretariat of the GCC, made up of Bahrain, Kuwait,
Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, said in a statement
that Iran's alleged “interference” in neighboring countries made an extension
of the UN arms embargo necessary.
The
arms embargo on Iran is currently set to end on October 18 under Tehran's 2015
nuclear deal with world powers, which Washington quit in 2018.
"It
is inappropriate to lift restrictions on the supply of weapons from and to
Iran,” a statement from GCC Secretary General Nayef Falah Mubarak al-Hajraf
said.
In
his Sunday comments, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman described the secretary
general’s remarks as “irresponsible ones dictated and issued unilaterally at a
time when some members of the council have not stopped purchasing and
stockpiling weapons even at a time of economic problems, and are among the
biggest buyers of arms in the region and in the world.”
The
spokesman said the United States’ interests are undoubtedly contingent upon
further sales of weapons to these countries with such approaches and empty
claims.
“The
killing of defenseless people and children in Yemen is a textbook example of
wrong policies adopted by certain GCC members, which have resulted in Yemeni
people being killed every day before the eyes of the world by different Western
weapons by leaders of this very council,” Mousavi went on to say.
Saudi
Arabia waged a devastating military aggression against its southern neighbor
Yemen in March 2015 in collaboration with a number of its allied states, and
with arms support from certain Western countries.
The
purported aim was to return to power a Riyadh-backed former regime and defeat
the Houthi Ansarullah movement that took control of state matters after the
resignation of the then president and his government.
The
UN refers to the situation in Yemen as the world's worst humanitarian crisis,
with more than half of hospitals and clinics destroyed or closed.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/10/631445/Tehran-says-GCC-turning-into-mouthpiece-for-Iranophobes
--------
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/bengal-imams-association-terms-supporting/d/122596