Bomb attack near funeral in Baghdad kills 32 people in Shia District
New Age Islam News Bureau
27 Jan 2012
- Flogging women for having sex outside of marriage sky rockets in the Maldives
- Pakistan heart drugs: Lahore death toll reaches 100
- Islamic Nations Need Jobs, Not Sharia Law: Experts
- Uzbekistan’s President: No Reason to Miss the USSR; Now Fulfill Your Quota
- Two Uyghurs Extradited from Cambodia Sentenced To Life Imprisonment
- Iran : Reza Pahlavi Charges Khamenei of Crimes against Humanity
- Pakistan Leader Softens Criticism of Army and Spy
- Tunisia’s Islamic leaders pressured by radical fringe
- Jakarta: Law Enforcers ‘Rarely Neutral’ in Religious Conflict
- Pakistan: Pope names interfaith-dialogue promoter as Karachi archbishop
- Group blasts Gingrich for limiting hires to Muslims who renounce Shariah law
- Iran border guards 'kill six Pakistanis'
- Syrian tanks storm restive city of Hama, at least 44 killed
- Bahrain criticised over 'inappropriate' use of tear gas
- Pak SC hears Balochistan peace case
- Ahmadinejad says ready for talks, blasts sanctions
- Everyone wants democracy in Pakistan: Gilani
- US says wants Pakistan to be part of Afghan Reconciliation process
- Iran could ban EU oil exports next week - lawmaker
- Voyage to heart of Islam opens at British Museum
- Rockets hit Pakistan academy near bin Laden home
- America and its relationship with Muslims
- Sudan and South Sudan leaders bid to defuse oil dispute
- After President's Departure, Yemen Braces for Transition
- Extension of Political Parties Act: Call for tailored
- Implementation in the tribal region
- India, Pakistan Announce Joint Energy Initiatives
- Arab Spring in the offing in Punjab: Manpreet
- The NYPD, the CIA, and “The Third Jihad”
- Egypt: Al-Azhar Imam from Tahrir - Arab and Islamic
- World Looks Up to Nation Today
- Khamnei’s Advisor Calls Islam Best Governing System
- Hamas: Wishful Thinking is No Basis for Policy Making
- Hamas leader solidifying relations with Islamists
- Nigeria militants strike fear across Africa
- Is The NYT's Agenda to Normalize Islam in the West?
- Broken schools breed S. Africa's "lost generation"
Complied by New Age Islam News Bureau
Photo: The aftermath of the explosion
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/bomb-attack-near-funeral-baghdad/d/6480
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Bomb attack near funeral in Baghdad kills 32 people in Shia district
27 January 2012
A suicide car bomber has killed at least 28 people and injured at least 60 in a predominantly Shia Muslim district of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
The bomb went off in a market place as a funeral procession was passing in the city's Zafaraniya district.
A security official told Reuters the bomber had initially attempted to attack a police station.
Attacks in Iraq have risen since US troops left last month, with 16 people killed in attacks on Thursday.
The suicide attacker struck as mourners escorted by police cars were transporting the body of a man shot a day earlier for burial, police said.
"It was a huge explosion,'' Salam Hussein, a 42-year-old grocery store owner, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.
I cannot tell you anything - there are only arms and legs, we do not know who they belong to”
One of Mr Hussein's employees was hurt and as he took him to hospital, he saw cars engulfed in flames.
Where the bomber's car had exploded, he saw "human flesh scattered around and several mutilated bodies in a pool of blood''.
Helicopters hovered as security forces cordoned off the site of the explosion, while distraught witnesses screamed in anguish, AFP reports.
Outside the hospital, groups of men called out names, searching for missing relatives.
Inside, people crowded around medics to ask about their loved ones.
One nurse quoted by AFP said simply: "I cannot tell you anything - there are only arms and legs, we do not know who they belong to."
Thirteen people were also killed in bomb attacks on Thursday.
Two brothers - both policemen - and at least eight of their relatives were reported to have been killed after insurgents bombed a house in Musayyib in the south of Baghdad.
Three people were also killed in Kirkuk in a separate bomb attack.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16755347
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Flogging women for having sex outside of marriage sky rockets in the Maldives
JANUARY 25, 2012 1
The UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay has found herself at the center of contentious protests for publicly berating the Maldives for their capricious treatment of women. Specifically Mrs Pillay has gone on record to state that women in the Indian Ocean region have been subjected to increasing levels of harsh and cruel punishment at the hands of authorities. Their offense? Having extra marital affairs outside of their marriages.
Reiterates Pillay:
‘This practice constitutes one of the most inhumane and degrading forms of violence against women,”
She also goes on to note that men who also have affairs outside of their marriages are rarely sited and certainly not subjected to the punishment that authorities more than ever are resolute to subjecting to women.
Her comments were met with widespread condemnation the day after following her comments, with protesters clamoring outside the UN building holding placards demanding that the UN be banned and “Islam is not a toy.” Websites also went on to extoll the UN, with one promising ‘slaughter against anyone opposed to Islam.”
One can only wonder as to the hardlined and immediate reaction to Navi Pillay’s statements, and who organized local protesters to quickly react.
With a growing schism between fundamentalist and moderate Muslims (the local faith in the Maldives) attitudes are divided as to the direction of religion in the Maldives as well as the role of women who fundamentalist insist follow tight definitions of how Islamic women must behave and display themselves in public. In fact some local groups have been vocal about advocating circumsicion for women and even keeping girls from attending school.
All of which raises the question as to how a modern society goes about viewing the role of women, especially one that is adamant in adhering strict fundamentalist codes in with keeping with the country’s faith? Of course this raises some degree of suspicion as to why a hardcore line towards women remains the standard in this enclave despite a loosening in other Islamic states in the region.
As for the flogging itself it is done in very public settings with a paddle or cane with the intention of humiliating perpetrators as opposed to physically hurting them. Although it seems obvious the design of this type of punishment is designed for the express provision of deterring women seeking redress and equal rights for fear of being subjected to said punishment.
At present stalled legislation (14 months already) exists to counter domestic violence against women, no date as of yet has been set to re visit the issue.
Reiterates one local official:
”Men in the Maldives feel that the women’s role is reproductive and in the home. That’s what women should do and that’s all we should do.’
http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2012/01/flogging-women-for-having-sex-outside-of-marriage-sky-rockets-in-the-maldives/
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Pakistan heart drugs: Lahore death toll reaches 100
26 January 2012
Patients who still had supplies of the faulty medicine have been returning them.
More than 100 people have now died in Lahore after taking contaminated heart medicine, Pakistan officials have said.
The deaths, which span a three-week period, are linked to a batch of faulty drugs given to up to 40,000 cardiac patients at a government-run hospital.
Another 250 people remain in hospital while an investigation into the situation gets under way.
The owners of three local drugs companies alleged to have supplied the contaminated drugs have been arrested.
Government official Shahbaz Sharif said the victims tended to be poor people who had received the drugs free, the news agency AFP reported. He said action would be taken against anyone found guilty.
Samples of the drugs had been sent to laboratories in Pakistan, London and Paris for testing.
The deaths caused panic in the city less than three months after a dengue fever epidemic.
Officials have warned that the batch of contaminated drugs might have been distributed to nearly 40,000 people since 15 December. They say that patients affected by the substandard drugs suffer a rapid depletion of white cells and blood platelets.
The symptoms - first noticed in late December - created an impression that patients were suffering a form of dengue fever, a mosquito-borne disease common in Pakistan during the monsoon season, officials say.
All patients are suffering from bleeding from the mouth and urinary tracts”
Asim Saeed
But patient data soon revealed that all of those affected were heart patients who had been using free cardiovascular drugs from the government-run Punjab Institute of Cardiology.
On Wednesday relatives of the dead and sick told the BBC how their families had suffered.
Parveen Bib showed the BBC her father's death certificate and said: "My father died on 23 December after taking the contaminated medicine. There was bleeding from his mouth and also bleeding from his urinary tract."
Many of those affected are poor patients
Asim Saeed said: "All patients are suffering from bleeding from the mouth and urinary tracts. We have been in the hospital for seven days but no-one came to check on us. They would sneak in quietly - doctors would check patients and go away."
Officials said one or more of at least six drugs - all manufactured by little-known local firms and purchased by the Institute of Cardiology for heart patients - may be responsible.
Officials of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) told a court in Lahore on Wednesday that the drugs did not carry dates of manufacture and expiry.
The court has remanded in custody three people who own pharmaceutical firms which supplied the drugs to the Institute of Cardiology. The owners of two other companies are being sought..
None of the firms has commented on the allegations.
The medicines have been removed from hospitals and stores
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16742832
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Islamic Nations Need Jobs, Not Sharia Law: Experts
Thursday, 26 Jan 2012
After the initial excitement following the Arab Spring, some Western political figures have expressed concern that the resulting democratic governments could move toward more laws dictated by very strict interpretations of the Koran.
“This revolution wasn’t liberal or secular, and it’s patronizing of Americans to think that when there’s democracy, Egyptians will turn out to be fluffy liberals,” Shadi Hamid, director of research, Brookings Doha Center, Qatar, said. “Egyptians should be able to vote for whoever they want and you should respect the outcome.”
Full Report At:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/46148456
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Uzbekistan’s President: No Reason to Miss the USSR; Now Fulfill Your Quota
January 25, 2012
January 25, 2012 - 6:42am, by David Trilling Choihona Islam Karimov Uzbekistan Uzbekistan News Brief
Uzbekistan’s apparatchik-in-chief could still give a Sovietologist pause. Twenty years after the fall of the Soviet Union, President Islam Karimov – an economist by training – continues to stuff his people full of fabulous statistics, records even. But like the excerpts from a Central Committee meeting, something doesn’t quite add up.
Full Report At:
When life is just like the Soviet Union, how could anyone miss the Soviet Union?
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/64900
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Two Uyghurs Extradited from Cambodia Sentenced To Life Imprisonment
28 January 2012
According to new information released by Radio Free Asia (RFA) on 26 January 2012, another two Uyghurs, who were part of the group of Uyghurs extradited from Cambodia to China on 19 December 2009, have received harsh prison terms. Both 35 year old Nurahmat Kudret and 32 year old Islam Urayim were sentenced to life imprisonment. The dates of the trials and the charges against them are unknown. The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) is deeply concerned by this troubling news and condemns the sentences in the harshest possible terms. The WUC calls on the Chinese government to provide detailed information on their cases, as well as to reveal the fate of the other 17 people, including one pregnant woman and two children, extradited from Cambodia more than two years ago.
The individuals of the group of 20 Uyghur refugees, forcibly returned from Cambodia, were:
Maymuna Abdukadir (born in 2009)
Bilal Abdukadir (born in 2008)
Shahida Kurban (born in 1989) – female
Abdukadir Abdugheni (born in 1987)
Halil Abdugheni (born on August 2, 1987)
Kasim Abdulla (born in 1986)
Kawul Kurban (born in 1977)
Eli Amat (born in 1967)
Musa Muhamad (born in 1986)
Ali Nur (born in 1979)
Ali Ahmat (born in 1979)
Mamat Ali (born in 1972)
Ebrayim Mamat (born in 1972)
Mahmut Bilal (born in 1983)
Omar Mohamed (born in 1972)
Turik Muhamet (born in 1984)
Mutallip Mamut (born in 1980)
Islam Urayim (born in 1980)
Hazirti ali Umar (born in 1990)
Aikebaierjiang Tuniyazi (born in 1982)
While Musa Muhamad and Islam Urayim appear on the list, the identity of Nurahmet Kudret is not entirely clear. Some of the Uyghurs who applied for political asylum in Cambodia apparently used fake names for their asylum applications in fear of repression after a possible return to China. The Chinese authorities are harshly punishing not only the act of fleeing the country, but especially for seeking political asylum abroad. The negative records of past extradition cases may have prompted some of the refugees to adopt false names. The real name of Nurahmet Kudret, who is reportedly 35 years old, might be Kawul Kurban, the only 35-year old on the list.
According to information by the Uyghur American Association (UAA), “Islam Urayim was one of two Uyghur asylum seekers who reported having witnessed security forces killing and beating Uyghur demonstrators on 5 July 2009 in Urumqi. He was one of only four Uyghur asylum seekers who had agreed to be named while still in Cambodia. Urayim told RFA before being deported that Chinese authorities had misrepresented the truth about events on 5 July by covering up news about shootings and killings of Uyghurs, and only publicizing acts of violence committed by Uyghurs.”
The UAA cites Urayim saying that, “living abroad is a terrifying thing for me, but I have no choice. They are hiding the fact that the police shot at demonstrators, that Uyghurs were killed, and they are showing only Chinese fatalities to the world. I fled the country so I could do my part in revealing the facts about July 5.”Muhamad is serving his sentence in Daheyan (Dahiyen) Prison in Turpan Prefecture, while Kudret (originally from Gulbagh town from Yarkand County) and Urayim (originally from Uchturpan County, Aksu Prefecture) are imprisoned in Xinjiang Prison No.3 and Xinjiang Prison No.1 respectively, both situated in Urumqi, East Turkestan´s regional capital.
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Iran: Reza Pahlavi of Iran Charges Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei of Crimes Against Humanity
Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012
WASHINGTON, Jan. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Reza Pahlavi of Iran today submitted a report to the United Nations Security Council accusing the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, of ordering crimes against humanity.
Full Report At:
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/01/24/4212195/reza-pahlavi-of-iran-charges-irans.html
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Pakistan Leader Softens Criticism of Army and Spy Agency
By SALMAN MASOOD and DECLAN WALSH
January 25, 2012
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani softened his criticism of senior generals on Wednesday in what appeared to be an effort to ease the tensions between Pakistan’s sparring civilian and military elites, saying the country could not afford further friction between its most powerful institutions.
Full Report At:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/world/asia/pakistan-leader-softens-criticism-of-army-and-spy-agency.html?_r=1
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Tunisia’s Islamic leaders pressured by radical fringe
Thursday, 26 January 2012
Tunisia’s moderate Islamist leaders are under pressure from a radical Muslim fringe, forcing them to stress their liberal democratic credentials without alienating their base, analysts say.
Ultra-conservative Salafists have in past months launched bold challenges ̶ demanding full-face veils for female university students, castigating a TV channel for a “blasphemous” film and beating up journalists at a protest.
Full Report At:
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/01/26/190695.html
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Jakarta: Law Enforcers ‘Rarely Neutral’ in Religious Conflict
Ulma Haryanto
January 26, 2012
When dealing with religious conflict in the field, police officers and other law enforcement officials tend to put their beliefs before their uniform, a researcher said on Wednesday.
Gadjah Mada University political analyst Samsu Rizal Panggabean said that several factors explained why field officers were reluctant to take action.
“The first is a problem of identity,” Samsu said in a public discussion titled Police, Civil Society, and Religious Conflicts in Indonesia. “During our interviews with [police] officers in Pandeglang [in Banten], they all said that when it comes to religious conflicts, their own religion comes first, then their uniform.”
Pandeglang includes the Cikeusik subdistrict, the scene of a brutal attack on Ahmadiyah community members last February. Three members of the minority Muslim sect died in the attack, gruesome footage of which was uploaded to YouTube.
The footage showed how police officers stood by watching as the Ahmadis were attacked.
“This situation is not unique. We also learned that during the conflict in Ambon [in Maluku], officers there were known to take sides according to their religion,” the researcher said.
Ambon was the scene of bloody interreligious conflict between 1999 to 2002 that left thousands of people dead.
The second factor behind police inaction in the face of religious conflict, Samsu said, was the lack of support from mainstream religious organizations.
“I’ve never seen the chief of police appear in public with leaders of NU and Muhammadiyah,” Samsu said, referring to the largest Indonesian religious organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, and the second-largest one.
Yosep Adi Prasetyo, deputy chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), added that instead, police are often seen with hard-line groups such as the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI).
“They might say that they are doing it for the sake of getting information, but I have to say the current National Police chief’s track record isn’t exactly spotless,” Yosep said in reference to Gen. Timur Pradopo.
After the Cikeusik attack, Timur suggested in a hearing with lawmakers that the Ahmadis had only themselves to blame for the fatalities for failing to heed police advice to flee.
Yosep said that most of the time police failed to be impartial because they had vested interests: “Funding from outside the APBN [state budget] is actually much larger [than official funding],” he said.
Non-APBN sources of income for the police, he said, included unlawful “security payments” from private companies, acknowledged and called “understandable” by the National Police, and kickbacks from field officers.
But Mubarik Ahmad, a spokesman for the Indonesian Ahmadiyah Congregation (JAI), said that police in the recent past have proven that they could take a firm stand in religious conflicts.
“There was a time when the West Java Police chief gave a clear instruction to his men at Manis Lor village to not let any outsiders in,” Mubarik said.
In July 2010, thousands of anti-Ahmadiyah protesters flocked to the village where around 2,000 Ahmadis lived. “And they did their job, it was tense but nobody got hurt, no blood was shed,” Mubarik said.
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/lawandorder/law-enforcers-rarely-neutral-in-religious-conflict/493692
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Pakistan: Pope names interfaith-dialogue promoter as Karachi archbishop
January 25 2012
Vatican City, 25 Jan. (AKI) - Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday appointed Joseph Coutts as archbishop of Karachi, the Pakistani sprawling southern port city where Christians have been the target of religious violence, the Vatican announced.
He succeeds Evarist Pinto, who resigned after reaching the age limit of 75 years old.
The late Pope John Paul II in 1998 appointed Coutts Bishop of Faisalabad, an industrial city in the centre of Pakistan.
Full Report At:
http://www.adnkronos.com/IGN/Aki/English/Religion/Pakistan-Pope-names-interfaith-dialogue-promoter-as-Karachi-archbishop_312899143245.html
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Group blasts Gingrich for limiting hires to Muslims who renounce Shariah law
January 25, 2012
The largest Muslim civil liberties group in the United States on Wednesday condemned Newt Gingrich for saying he would only hire Muslims to his administration if they renounced the use of Islam’s Shariah law as a tool for U.S. government.
Calling Gingrich “one of the nation’s worst promoters of anti-Muslim bigotry,” the Council of American Islamic Relations suggested the Republican presidential candidate is a segregationist.
Full Report At:
http://www.euro-islam.info/2012/01/25/group-blasts-gingrich-for-limiting-hires-to-muslims-who-renounce-shariah-law/
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Iran border guards 'kill six Pakistanis'
27 January 2012
At least six Pakistanis have been shot dead and two others wounded by Iranian border guards after they crossed the border, Pakistani officials say.
Officials say the incident occurred on Thursday on the Iranian side of the border close to Pakistan's south-western Balochistan province.
The wounded men and the corpses of the six others are yet to be handed over to the Pakistani authorities.
Reports say the men were livestock traders.
"Six of them were killed in firing by Iranian border forces and two others were wounded," local police official, Mujeebur Rehman, in the port town of Gwadar told the AFP news agency.
Earlier this month, Pakistani police detained three Iranian border guards after they allegedly crossed the border, and opened fire, killing one Pakistani man in a car they had been chasing.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16754827
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Syrian tanks storm restive city of Hama, at least 44 killed
27 January 2012
Firing at random, tanks surround restive city from four directions.
Syrian army tanks on Friday stormed the city of Hama, a hub for opposition protests against the government, killing at least 44 people, among them women and children, activists said.
"Tanks are attacking the city from four directions. They are firing their heavy machine guns randomly," activist Abu Omar told DPA by phone over the sound of gunfire in the background.
Full Report At:
http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/syrian-tanks-storm-restive-city-of-hama-at-least-44-killed-1.409555
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Bahrain criticised over 'inappropriate' use of tear gas
27 January 2012
Heavy use and 'inappropriate' use of tear gas causing growing concern
Amnesty International has called for an investigation into what it says is the misuse of tear gas by Bahraini security forces.
The organisation says that more than a dozen deaths may have resulted from the heavy use of tear gas in residential areas.
Police are struggling to contain a growing wave of protests in the gulf island kingdom.
The most recent death attributed by activists to tear gas was on Wednesday.
Saeed Ali Hasan al-Sakri, 65-yars-old, is said by his family to have collapsed after a heavy volley of tear gas was unleashed near their home in a Shia village on Tuesday.
Shia in Bahrain have long complained of discrimination at the hands of the Sunni ruling family. Pro-democracy protesters briefly occupied a prominent traffic roundabout in February of last year.
Since being driven out of Pearl Roundabout in mid-March, mainly Shia demonstrators have continued to agitate against the government.
Full Report At:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16756725
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Pak SC hears Balochistan peace case
26 JANUARY 2012
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) resumed the hearing of Balochistan peace case on Friday where Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry remarked that it is a matter of great concern that no one is taking notice of killings in Quetta, Geo News reported.
During today’s hearing, intelligence agencies presented a ‘classified’ report in the court and requested to keep it secret and do not give its access to the petitioners.
Justice Arif Khilji remarked that things do not become classified on any one’s request on which the Chief Justice remarked that the report can be considered ‘classified’ if the agencies say so, however, the court is not satisfied.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-32722-SC-hears-Balochistan-peace-case
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Ahmadinejad says ready for talks, blasts sanctions
26 JANUARY 2012
TEHRAN: Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that Tehran is ready to sit down with world powers for talks on its nuclear drive as he downplayed the harmful effects of newly imposed sanctions.
The Islamic republic, which was already under four rounds of United Nations sanctions, vehemently denies its nuclear programme masks an atomic weapons drive as the West alleges, and insists it is for civilian purposes only.
Full Report At:
http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-32736-Ahmadinejad-says-ready-for-talks
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Everyone wants democracy in Pakistan: Gilani
Jan 27, 2012
All stakeholders in the country favour democracy in Pakistan and "no one has a desire to violate the constitution", Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said in Davos where is attending the World Economic Forum.
ISLAMABAD: All stakeholders in the country favour democracy in Pakistan and "no one has a desire to violate the constitution", Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said in Davos where is attending the World Economic Forum.
Full Report At:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Everyone-wants-democracy-in-Pakistan-Gilani/articleshow/11647487.cms
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US says wants Pakistan to be part of Afghan reconciliation process
26 JANUARY 2012
WASHINGTON: The United States believes Pakistan has an important role to play in the Afghan reconciliation process and expects Islamabad to have an ample opportunity to stay engaged on the issue going forward, the State Department said on Thursday.
“We think Pakistan has an important role to play in supporting the reconciliation process. We very much like Pakistan to be part of this (Afghan-led reconciliation process) as do Afghans,” spokesperson Victoria Nuland said at the daily briefing.
Full Report At:
http://www.dawn.com/2012/01/27/us-says-wants-pakistan-to-be-part-of-afghan-reconciliation-process.html
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Iran could ban EU oil exports next week - lawmaker
By Hashem Kalantari
Friday, January 27, 2012
TEHRAN (Reuters) - A law to be debated in Iran's parliament on Sunday could halt exports of oil to the European Union as early as next week, the semi-official Fars news agency quoted a lawmaker as saying on Friday.
"On Sunday, parliament will have to approve a 'double emergency' bill calling for a halt in the export of Iranian oil to Europe starting next week," Hossein Ibrahimi, vice-chairman of parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, was quoted as saying.
Parliament is pushing for the export ban to deny the EU a 6-month phase-in of the embargo on Iranian oil that the bloc agreed on Monday as part of a raft of tough new Western sanctions aimed at forcing Iran to curb its nuclear programme.
Full Report At:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/1/27/worldupdates/2012-01-27T101433Z_4_TRE80Q0GS_RTROPTT_0_UK-IRAN-SANCTIONS-OIL&sec=Worldupdates
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Voyage to heart of Islam opens at British Museum
Friday, January 27, 2012
LONDON — It is a rite that all followers of Islam are supposed to perform at least once in a lifetime, yet for the rest of the globe the hajj is veiled in mystery.
Now the British Museum in London has opened the first ever major exhibition on the pilgrimage, to give non-Muslims a glimpse of the heart of this world religion.
"This exhibition is for everybody, Muslims and non-Muslims, everyone who wants to know more about this extraordinary phenomenon, which is one of the great religious manifestation of the world," said Neil MacGregor, the director of the museum.
"Hajj is the only part of the practice of islam that non-Muslims can't see.
"It seems very important to try to explore that experience and to understand what it means to Muslims now, what it has meant through the centuries and to understand how that habit of pilgrimage has changed the world."
Full Report At:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hfcs0DypTykcfItyVXcR4iqF9OJQ?docId=CNG.7987705457e83a973a9eac77e2c28de5.2d1
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Rockets hit Pakistan academy near bin Laden home
27 JAN, 2012
PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN: Attackers on Friday fired rockets at Pakistan's top military academy, damaging its outer wall in a major security breach near the home where Osama bin Laden lived for years, officials said.
No one was hurt in the pre-dawn attack and it was unclear who fired the nine rockets from behind a mosque in mountains overlooking the Kakul academy, Pakistan's equivalent of West Point 30 miles (50 kilometres) from the capital.
Full Report At:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/rockets-hit-pakistan-academy-near-bin-laden-home/articleshow/11647941.cms
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America and its relationship with Muslims
By Salman Ali Shoaib
January 27, 2012
The writer, a graduate of Brown and Cambridge universities, is an ex-banker and runs his own consultancy in Singapore salman.shoaib@tribune.com.pk
Watching the Republican presidential nomination race in America gives us an insight into the acceptability of bigotry against Muslims in many segments of the American society. A number of past and present candidates have expressed views, if said about any group other than Muslims, would have been considered racist and probably ended their chances of being elected. Rick Santorum has said that “absolutely” Muslims should be profiled, Newt Gingrich believes that the Palestinians are an “invented people” and Katherine Bachmann has been accused by Ron Paul (a fourth candidate) of hating Muslims. Of all the candidates running for US president in 2012, including the current president, only Ron Paul has stated views about the Muslim world’s feelings towards America that a significant segment of the Muslim population would hold true. And he, like the truth, is given very little airtime in the US.
Full Report At:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/327619/america-and-its-relationship-with-muslims/
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Sudan and South Sudan leaders bid to defuse oil dispute
27 January 2012
South Sudan is an oil rich country but still has to use refineries and pipelines in Sudan
The presidents of Sudan and South Sudan are to meet in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa to discuss a deepening crisis over sharing their oil wealth
When South Sudan became independent last July, Sudan lost most of its oil.
However, the export pipelines go through Sudan, which has seized some $815m (£520m) in oil revenue, accusing the south of not paying transit fees.
South Sudan last week said it was suspending oil production, accusing Sudan of "stealing" its oil.
Full Report At:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16754352
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After President's Departure, Yemen Braces for Transition of Leadership
Meredith Buel
January 26, 2012
Yemen’s outgoing president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, is in Oman and has been given a visa to enter the United States for medical treatment. President Saleh left Yemen following nearly a year of protests against his rule that left hundreds dead.
Inspired by protests across the Arab world, demonstrators in Yemen took to the streets to demand the ouster of President Saleh, who has ruled the country with an iron hand for more than three decades.
Full Report At:
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/After-Presidents-Departure-Yemen-Braces-for-Transition-of-Leadership-138157439.html
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Extension of Political Parties Act: Call for tailored implementation in the tribal region
By Our Correspondent
January 26, 2012
ISLAMABAD: Extension of the Political Parties Act (PPA) to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) will pave way for political and economic empowerment of the tribal people, experts said at a seminar on Wednesday. However, they underscored that the act needs to be implemented while addressing the people’s grievances and taking all stakeholders into confidence.
Full Report At:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/327291/extension-of-political-parties-act-call-for-tailoured-implementation-in-the-tribal-region/
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India, Pakistan Announce Joint Energy Initiatives
JANUARY 25, 2012
By RAKESH SHARMA And SANTANU CHOUDHURY
NEW DELHI—India and Pakistan on Wednesday announced several initiatives to accelerate cooperation in the oil and gas sector, as the two energy-starved nuclear-armed neighbors try to mend economic ties despite political differences.
Energy ministers from India and Pakistan said the two nations may jointly take part in developing a gas field in Turkmenistan.
Full Report At:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203806504577182301242396574.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
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Arab Spring in the offing in Punjab: Manpreet
Badal, January 27, 2012
Manpreet Badal, who till last year was with the ruling Akali Dal as its finance minister in the coalition government, feels an Arab Spring is in the offing in Punjab to unseat the government headed by his uncle Parkash Singh Badal. Citing the anti-government protests across the Arab
world, Manpreet feels people in Punjab are also in mood for a change.
President of newly-formed Punjab People's Party which is emerging as a third force in the state, Manpreet claims the results of Punjab elections would be quite different than expected.
Full Report At:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/Chunk-HT-UI-AssemblyElections2012-Punjab-OtherStories/Arab-Spring-in-the-offing-in-Punjab-Manpreet/Article1-802686.aspx
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The NYPD, the CIA, and “The Third Jihad”
27 January 2012
by Sheila Musaji
On TAM, we have published a great deal about the film The Third Jihad and other films produced by Raphael Shore and the Clarion Fund. We have also discussed concerns about anti-Muslim training being conducted for law enforcement.
In the very detailed TAM backgrounder article Where is the U.S. Government Getting It’s Information on Islam and Muslims?, a year ago, I listed many examples of questionable “experts” and materials being used in training programs including programs run by the NYPD. I asked specifically about this film, How is it possible that the NYPD could consider that it made sense to screen The Third Jihad, a spectacularly offensive film to train police officers about Islam?
Full Report At:
http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/nypd/0018989
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Egypt: Al-Azhar Imam From Tahrir - Arab and Islamic World Looks Up to Nation Today
25 January 2012
Al-Azhar's Imam, Sheikh Mohamed Ahmed Al-Tayeb, has called for people to unite, remember those who died for freedom and make today a day to remember.
Al-Tayeb also insisted in his speech at the square that fulfilling the demands of the revolution is a collective effort every Egyptian is responsible for, "We will never be apathetic again in the face of violations".
Calling for protesters to remain united and peaceful and warning against the vandalism of national buildings, Al-Tayeb also added that the entire Arab and Islamic world looks up to Egypt today.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201201251105.html
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Khamnei’s Advisor Calls Islam Best Governing System
Friday 27 Jan 2012
TEHRAN (FNA)- Senior Advisor of the Iranian Supreme Leader for International Affairs Ali Akbar Velayati reminded the repeated failures of the Western-style governing system, and called Islam as the only good and successful model for governing the regional states.
Velayati pointed to the recent popular uprisings in Islamic and regional countries in the last few months that led to the overthrow of the West-backed regimes in the Middle-East and North Africa, and said that people in the region are seeking a new governing system as the Western-style liberal democracy and the Eastern-style socialism have proved to be unsuitable for the region.
Full Report At:
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9010172433
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Hamas: Wishful Thinking is No Basis for Policy Making
01/26/2012
"If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair." C.S. Lewis
Is the Palestinian Islamist organisation Hamas about to give up its strategy of armed resistance? Hopes were raised when Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal told Al Jazeera on 26 December 2011 that "all forms of resistance, especially armed resistance [i.e. the path of terrorism], are our right, but now, during the Arab Spring, we prefer the popular resistance and to focus instead on a unified strategy of popular resistance."
Full Report At:
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/lorna-fitzsimons/hamas-wishful-thinking-no-basis-for-policy_b_1231235.html
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Hamas leader solidifying relations with Islamists
Jim Kouri
27 January 2012
Ismail Haniya, head of the Hamas administration within the Gaza Strip, recently visited the Muslims nations of Egypt, Sudan, Turkey and Tunisia. It was the first such series of visits since the violent coup which brought Hamas to power in the Gaza Strip in June 2007.
According to an Israeli source, there were two aspects to Haniya's trip: the official, which was prominent in his meetings with the heads of state in Turkey, Sudan and Tunisia, but absent from his visit to Egypt (where the heads of the regime did not meet with him), and the popular aspect, manifested in meetings with the heads of the Muslim Brotherhood (in Egypt) and the heads of the Islamic movements whose ideologies are close to that of the Muslim Brotherhood (IHH in Turkey, Al-Nahda in Tunisia).
Full Report At:
http://www.examiner.com/law-enforcement-in-national/hamas-leader-solidifying-relations-with-islamists
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Nigeria militants strike fear across Africa
Tim Witcher
2012-01-26
New York - Boko Haram militants from Nigeria are bolstering links with al-Qaeda and other hardline groups in West Africa, according to a UN report released on Wednesday which highlighted the growing concerns of the region's governments.
Attacks, detentions of accused militants, seizures of explosives and arms - many smuggled out of Libya - have all added to the worries of Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and their neighbours, according to a UN mission which went to the Sahel region to report on security fallout after the downfall of Muammar Gaddafi.
Fears of terrorism and poor security dominated concerns raised. The UN report said Niger had increased its defence budget by 65% and reduced health and education spending because of the threat.
Full Report At:
http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Nigeria-militants-strike-fear-across-Africa-20120126
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Is The NYT's Agenda to Normalize Islam in the West?
January 25, 2012
There is no nuance, no balance, no justice in the plethora of anti-Israel pieces in the NYT. But there is another agenda as well - normalizing Islam, especially in North America and Europe. See the evidence below.
Prof. Phyllis Chesler
Prof. Phyllis Chesler is the author of fifteen books, including Women and Madness (Doubleday, 1972), The Death of Feminism: What's Next in the Struggle for Women's Freedom (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005) and most recently, The New Anti-Semitism. She is the co-founder of the Association for Women in Psychology and the National Women's Health Network.
On a single day, the New York Times has been known to publish anywhere from two to six anti-Israel articles, editorials, op-ed pieces, and letters. Today, I see a new danger arising in their pages.
Full Report At:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/11169#.TyI5eaVl-Cc
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Broken schools breed S. Africa's "lost generation"
By Jon Herskovitz and Lisa Laventure
Friday, January 27, 2012
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The first blow to Martha Netshiozwe's future came when her parents died of AIDS. The second came when she ran out of money and had to drop out of a South African high school.
Netshiozwe, 23, is a product of the first post-apartheid generation who entered a new and aspiring education system which aimed to heal the economic divisions created by the white-minority government. But like many, she left without the skills to qualify for anything other than manual labour.
Full Report At:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/1/27/worldupdates/2012-01-27T100651Z_1_TRE80Q0JI_RTROPTT_0_UK-SAFRICA-EDUCATION&sec=Worldupdates
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/bomb-attack-near-funeral-baghdad/d/6480