British Military Killed Over 50 Detainees, Unarmed Men in Afghanistan, BBC Investigation Finds
New Age Islam News Bureau
12 July 2022
File Photo / Source: UK
Army
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• Israel Hopes Biden Visit May Lead To Common Mideast
Market, With Saudi Arabia
• After Germany's Halal Meat Slaughter Ban, Muslims
Head To Poland for Eid Feasts
• YPG/PKK Recruited 221 Child Soldiers in Syria: UN
Report
• Jharkhand Schools Change Weekly Off To Friday in
Muslim-Dominated Areas of Jamtara, Probe On
South Asia
• Kabul, Doha to Ink a Deal on Security Cooperation:
Afghanistan acting Minister of Defence
• Nature’s Fury; Flash Floods in Central Afghanistan
Kills At Least 24
• Taliban throws wrench into Pakistan's plans for
cheap coal power
--------
Mideast
• IRGC General Javani: Arab NATO Has No Other Result,
But Failure
• Iran Scolds Biden for Sanctions Threat, One-Sided
Views
• DM Cites Boosting Combat Capability as Iranian
Army's Top Priority
• President Rayeesi: Iran Ready to Broaden Ties with
Tunisia
• Israel to examine reports of mass burial of Egyptian
soldiers in 1967
• Turkish forces 'neutralize' 3 PKK terrorists in
northern Iraq
• Iran preparing to send armed drones to Russia to aid
Ukraine war effort
--------
Europe
• 'We will not forget,' Turkish first lady says on
27th anniversary of Srebrenica genocide
--------
Arab World
• Tel Aviv Municipality Website Targeted in Latest
Iraqi Cyber-attack Against Israeli Institutions
• One million copies of Qur’an as King’s gifts for
pilgrims
• Lebanon telecom price hikes threatens migrants’ link
to jobs, safety
• Saudi man stabbed to death in Beirut, Lebanon police
arrest brothers for murder
• West bows to Russian call for 6-months aid to Syrian
rebels
--------
India
• Jharkhand Schools Change Weekly Off To Friday in
Muslim-Dominated Areas of Jamtara, Probe On
• Family Planning Among Muslims Has Increased Over the
Years: SY Quraishi, Former CEC
• Last Muslim Lawmaker, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Leaves
India's Ruling Party
• Two militants, including Jaish ‘commander’, killed
in south Kashmir’s Awantipora
--------
Pakistan
• Imran Urges Supporters to Defeat 'Turncoats, Nexus
of ECP and PML-N'
• Sharif ‘thwarted Imran’s conspiracy’ to make
Pakistan next Sri Lanka: minister
• Pakistan: 24 children among 62 killed in
rain-related incidents
• After his visits to India in Congress regime,
Pakistan columnist claims he passed info to ISI
• Eid-ul-Azha Celebrates With Religious Fervour In
Larkana Division
• Pakistan, China maritime drill to conduct live-fire
exercise
• Sharif, Erdogan exchange Eid greetings
--------
Southeast Asia
• Targeting the Messenger: Indonesian Islamic College
Bans Magazine Reporting Sexual Abuse
• Civil Courts Have No Jurisdiction to Hear
Renunciation Cases, Says Judge
• Pandemic turns property outlook analysis upside down
• Livewire sports minister rocks gala of athletics
legends
• Expanding companies’ presence in the global halal
market
• Cops nab boyfriend of woman insulting Islam at
comedy club
--------
North America
• Growing Israeli West Bank Settlements Test US
Position Ahead Of Biden Visit
• Biden Will Push For Greater Oil Output on Mideast
Trip: Adviser
• Iran preparing to provide Russia with drones to use
in Ukraine: Senior US official
• Six things to watch during Biden’s trip to the
Middle East
--------
Africa
• Tinubu-Shettima: Act On APC’s Muslim-Muslim Ticket
through PVC – Buhari’s Aide To Nigerians
• Jordan Says Never Regards Iran As ‘National Threat’
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL:
https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/british-military-uk-afghanistan-bbc/d/127464
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British Military Killed Over 50 Detainees, Unarmed Men
In Afghanistan, BBC Investigation Finds
File Photo / Source: UK
Army
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Ahmet Gürhan Kartal
12.07.2022
LONDON
More than 50 detainees and unarmed men were killed by
British troops in Afghanistan, according to newly obtained military reports and
an investigation by the BBC.
BBC Panorama program, which is to be aired on Tuesday
night, looked into documents of operations by the Special Air Service (SAS) – a
British elite unit used in special operations – and found they include “reports
covering more than a dozen ‘kill or capture’ raids carried out by one SAS
squadron in Helmand in 2010/11.”
Individuals who served with the SAS squadron on that
deployment talked to the program and said they witnessed the SAS operatives
“kill unarmed people during night raids,” according to a BBC News report.
According to the former soldiers’ account, an
individual’s murder was justified by planting an AK-47 assault rifle in the
scene and some individuals within the force “were competing with each other to
get the most kills.”
The report also alleges that “internal emails show
that officers at the highest levels of Special Forces were aware there was
concern over possible unlawful killings, but failed to report the suspicions to
military police despite a legal obligation to do so.”
The investigation by the BBC suggests that “one unit
may have unlawfully killed 54 people in one six-month tour.”
General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, the former head of UK
Special Forces, was “briefed about the alleged unlawful killings but did not
pass on the evidence to the Royal Military Police, even after the RMP began a
murder investigation into the SAS squadron.”
The Defense Ministry said the Panorama program “jumps
to unjustified conclusions from allegations that have already been fully
investigated,” adding that the investigation into incidents alleged in the
program did not find sufficient evidence to prosecute.
The ministry also said it “stands open to considering
any new evidence, there would be no obstruction.”
Source: Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
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Israel Hopes Biden Visit May Lead To Common Mideast Market,
With Saudi Arabia
File photo of Avigdor
Lieberman. (AP)
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11 July ,2022
Israeli Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on
Monday he hoped a regional visit by US President Joe Biden this week will lead
to a common Middle East market that includes Saudi Arabia.
Biden arrives in Israel on Wednesday and continues to
Saudi Arabia on Friday. The White House has said the visit’s aims include “expanding
regional economic and security cooperation.”
Asked at an economic conference hosted by Calcalist
newspaper what he expects to arise from Biden’s visit, Lieberman said: “The
creation of a new, common market in the Middle East. That’s the big challenge.”
“It will change the reality here from end to end, in
both the fields of security and of economics. Therefore I hope the emphasis
during Biden’s visit will be on creating this new market in the Middle East.”
Israel normalized relations with four Arab countries
under a 2020 US diplomatic drive that received Riyadh’s blessing. But Saudi
Arabia has stopped short of formally recognizing Israel in the absence of a
resolution to Palestinian statehood goals.
In separate remarks to the conference, Israeli
National Security Adviser Eyal Hulata said that within the framework of Biden’s
visit “it is certainly possible to begin talking about the potential expansion
of our markets in the region.”
“It’s no coincidence that Biden is coming here on
Wednesday and continuing on Friday from here to Saudi Arabia by direct flight,”
Haluta added. “The ability to attend to these things carefully, step by step,
can bring about breakthroughs.”
Lieberman said his regional vision would include “a
kind of trans-Middle East highway” and rail network linking up partner
countries.
Turning to domestic matters, Lieberman said that
despite the rising cost of living and an inflation rate that has topped four
percent, inflation in Israel still remains well below Western peers, while data
show a strong economy with consumers continuing to spend locally and travel
heavily abroad.
Source: Al Arabiya
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original story:
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After Germany's Halal Meat Slaughter Ban, Muslims Head
To Poland For Eid Feasts
After France, Germany hosts the second largest Muslim
population in Europe [Getty]
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11 July, 2022
German butchers have resorted to importing halal meat
for Eid Al-Adha in Poland after authorities in Berlin banned an integral
process of slaughtering meat in a way that makes it religiously permissible for
Muslims to eat.
In Germany, slaughtering meat without electrocution is
illegal, which effectively bans the domestic production of halal meat. German
Muslims have resorted to neighbouring Poland to stock up on halal animal
produce.
Butcher Batal Turkman told Anadolu Agency that he
slaughtered 100 lambs on a farm in Poland for German Muslims who are not
allowed to carry out the sacrifice themselves without either breaking local, or
religious laws.
Transporting meat from Poland to Germany has been
difficult, he said, but the joy of delivering meat to its owners makes up for
it.
As with the vast majority of European countries, the
German government does not recognise Eid Al-Adha as a formal holiday, leaving
many Muslims to continue with work and school during the four days of Eid.
After France, Germany hosts the second-largest Muslim
population in Europe with some 4.7 million Muslims in the country, the majority
of which are of Turkish origin.
Source: The New Arab
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
https://english.alaraby.co.uk/news/german-muslims-look-poland-halal-meat-eid-al-adha
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YPG/PKK Recruited 221 Child Soldiers In Syria: UN Report
Photo aa.com/Child soldiers
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Servet Günerigök
12.07.2022
The YPG/PKK terrorist group continued to recruit child
soldiers last year in northern Syria, according to a UN report released Monday.
The group, which rebranded itself as the Syrian
Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by the US and Western nations recruited 221
child soldiers, said the annual Children and Armed Conflict report by UN
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The report covers the period from January to December
2021 and lists parties that engage in the recruitment and use of children, the
killing and maiming of children and sexual violence against children, among
other things.
The report also said another branch of the YPG/PKK,
the so-called "Internal Security Forces" recruited 24 children as
soldiers in northern and eastern Syria. In addition, the "Afrin Liberation
Forces," linked to the same terror group, recruited two children in 2021.
According to the report, the "Internal Security
Forces" jailed 43 children, while the YPG/PKK imprisoned six children in
regions they occupied.
"At the end of 2021, over 800 children, including
foreigners, reportedly remained in detention for alleged association with
Da’esh in the north-eastern Syrian Arab Republic," said the report,
referring to YPG/PKK-run prisons.
The report also recorded that the YPG/PKK killed 55
children in 2021, while the "Internal Security Forces" and
"Afrin Liberation Forces" killed 18 children last year.
It also reported attacks on 45 schools and hospitals
in Syria, saying 26 of them were carried out by the Bashar al-Assad regime and
pro-government forces while 12 of them were attributed to the YPG/PKK terror
group.
The group also seized 12 schools and hospitals for
military use. It also denied humanitarian access for children.
The report said the highest numbers of grave
violations were verified in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo,
Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.
"The number of cases of abduction increased by
over 20 per cent and cases of sexual violence against children continued to
increase, by over 20 per cent," said the report.
"The number of attacks on schools and hospitals
increased by 5 per cent in a context of school closures, the military use of
schools and disregard for children’s right to education and health, and the
situation was compounded by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic,"
it added.
The report said non-state armed groups were
responsible for 55% of violations and state forces for 25%.
"And the remainder of the violations resulted
from crossfire, the use of improvised explosive devices, explosive remnants of
war and landmines, or were committed by unidentified perpetrators," it
said.
"Over 25 per cent of child casualties resulted
from improvised explosive devices, explosive remnants of war and landmines, for
a total of 2,257 child casualties," it added.
Source: Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/ypg-pkk-recruited-221-child-soldiers-in-syria-un-report/2635152
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Jharkhand Schools Change Weekly Off To Friday in
Muslim-Dominated Areas of Jamtara, Probe On
(Representative use)
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Jul 12, 2022
The weekly off in several government-run primary
schools in Muslim-dominated areas of Jharkhand’s Jamtara district was changed
from Sunday to Friday allegedly under pressure from local residents, prompting
the state government to order a probe, officials said.
Besides the change in weekly off, word ‘Urdu’ was also
allegedly added to the names of some of the schools, giving an impression that
they were minority schools, officials of the state education department said.
“The concerned officers across the state have been directed
to conduct a probe and submit their report in a week,” Jagarnath Mahto,
Jharkhand’s education minister said on Monday. “Government schools will run as
per the rules and not under any kind of local pressure.”
The issue first came to light on Sunday after a
section of local media reported the changes in the weekly off and name of
schools in Jamtara. Over two dozen schools in Raghunathpur and Karmatand areas
in the district have been reportedly operating with Friday as the weekly off, a
senior education department official said, requesting anonymity.
Jamtara deputy commissioner Faiz Ahmed Mumtaz said
action will be taken if any violation is ascertained. “I have asked the
district education officer to seek exact situation across the district,” said
Mumtaz. “The government also runs dedicated Urdu schools. So, it’s important to
check if there has been any violation in regular schools as well. Direction has
also been given to ascertain since when has the practice been in force.”
Jamtara district has eight dedicated Urdu primary
schools, said education department officials, adding that any change in a
regular school, even in its name, can be done only by the state government.
“At best the school managing committee or local
elected representatives can give suggestions in departmental meetings.
Ultimately, it is the department that takes a call related to changes in the
rules of the school. Any change beyond that is considered illegal,” said an
official.
Source: Hindustan Times
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original story:
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South Asia
Kabul, Doha to Ink a Deal on Security Cooperation:
Afghanistan acting Minister of Defence
By Arif Ahmadi
12 Jul 2022
KABUL, Afghanistan – Kabul and Doha are expected to
sign an agreement on security cooperation, said acting Minister of Defence
Mawlawi Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid, as he wrapped up a two-day official trip to
the Qatari capital Doha.
But some sources said Taliban government expressed
unwillingness to any kind of foreign support that would jeopardize their
authority over the Afghan National Security Forces.
According to the acting minister, the agreement will
be assessed by the officials of the Islamic Emirate to decide whether to close
the deal, saying “I look at it as a good step and we will consult on this
agreement.”
“Qatar is interested in an agreement to be signed
between the defense ministries of Qatar and Afghanistan,” he told the RTA, as
TOLOnews quoted. “There will be a security pact, based on which the two
countries will cooperate with each other.”
Addressing the reform of a new government – including
the military forces – in Afghanistan, Mawlawi Mojahid said he requested Qatar
to help provide the Islamic Emirate forces with adequate military gears and
monthly compensation.
“We call for their cooperation in providing salaries
for the army because Qatar is an Islamic country and it has helped Afghanistan
in the past,” he said. “And also to help us provide uniforms for the forces to
secure the borders.”
Meanwhile, political analyst and former diplomats in
the country have mixed opinions, saying Qatari government is willing to sign a
deal with Afghan authorities based on the “wants” of the international community.
“Qatar has offered an agreement based on consultation
with Western countries to encourage the young Afghan leaders to bring reforms,
the reforms which the international community wants,” said Torek Farhadi, a
political analyst, as local media quoted.
“The Qatari government as the strategic partner of the
US is implementing the goals of the US in Afghanistan and it implements the
instructions of the US toward the Taliban,” said Aziz Maarij, a former
diplomat.
Asadullah Nadim, another political analyst, said “the
security pact regarding incentivizing the Air Force and National Defense Forces
of Afghanistan with Qatar will allow the people of Afghanistan and the new
rulers to stand against the ominous plans of Pakistan and Iran.”
Last week, the acting Minister of Defense Mawlawi
Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid left for an official visit to Qatar, where he met the
country’s senior officials to discuss bilateral ties.
Acting Minister of Defense Mawlawi Mohammad Yaqoob
Mujahid met with the Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and discussed
biliteral ties, Islamic Emirate spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid tweeted.
In a two-day formal trip, the Taliban senior official
is meeting with Qatari authorities, including the Qatari Minister of Defense,
to tackle regional cooperation and bilateral ties.
Meanwhile, former Afghan diplomats expressed concern
over the outcome of such meetings, which according to them are being held
behind the closed doors and the details are not being shared with public.
“These negotiations have a status which unfortunately
is not told by the Taliban officials and politicians to the Afghan nation but
behind the curtains there is a plan and a vital change of a political aspect of
Afghanistan will happen,” said Azizi Maarij, a former diplomat, as local media
quoted.
Source: Khaama Press
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.khaama.com/kabul-doha-to-ink-a-deal-on-security-cooperation/
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Nature’s Fury; Flash Floods in Central Afghanistan
Kills At Least 24
By Saqalain Eqbal
12 Jul 2022
The Taliban officials in Uruzgan, a central province
in Afghanistan, say that turbulent and devastating flash floods in the province
have resulted in the death of 24 and the injury of scores of people.
The situation appeared particularly terrible in
Uruzgan province, where entire villages remained flooded on Monday, leaving
people trapped in areas or forced to swim through knee-deep water on foot,
navigating the floods.
According to the Taliban’s spokesperson for the
Uruzgan governor’s office, Mawlawi Wali Jan Pohanyar, the floods have killed at
least 24 and injured many people in Uruzgan’s Chora, Khas Uruzgan, and
Chinartoo districts.
Women and children, according to him, were no
exceptions to nature’s fury and the death toll included both.
At least 300 houses, in Chora district of Uruzgan
province alone, were destroyed by the flash floods.
Severe flooding in Uruzgan province also inflicted
financial harm, costing residents millions of Afghanis.
According to the Taliban officials, the flood-hit
Uruzgan province is in dire need of humanitarian assistance, to at least meet
their immediate needs.
Deluges and torrential rains have ravaged various
regions in Afghanistan, killing hundreds, and injuring numerous people. Many
people have also gone missing following the previous floods in Afghanistan.
Source: Khaama Press
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of the original story:
https://www.khaama.com/natures-fury-flash-floods-in-central-afghanistan-kills-at-least-24-47332/
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Taliban throws wrench into Pakistan's plans for cheap
coal power
ZIA UR REHMAN
July 12, 2022
PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- The Taliban has upset Pakistan's
plans to ease its energy crisis by importing cheaper coal from Afghanistan,
exposing the neighbors clashing interests.
Facing a severe energy shortage, partly due to a lack
of foreign reserves to import coal or gas for its Chinese-built power plants,
Islamabad recently announced its intention to import coal from Afghanistan in
Pakistani rupees instead of dollars. This way, it hoped to reduce its
dependence on more expensive South African coal.
But the Taliban rulers in Kabul more than doubled the
price, quickly setting customs duties at 30%. Afghanistan has its own foreign
funding crunch under Western sanctions and is keen to generate more revenue.
The Taliban is also eager to show that it can assert itself and is no proxy,
observers note.
Pakistan has been grappling with blackouts that
disrupt life and business, and its woes have grown only worse this week due to
severe weather and flooding.
The country imports about 70% of its coal from South
Africa for its cement and textile industries, as well as some power plants.
However, it has not been able to do so in the last few months as coal prices
have remained close to record highs. In South Africa, elevated prices are
linked not only to the Ukraine war but also to disruptions from domestic civil
unrest, according to an S&P Global analysis in May.
In March, the coal price on the international market
touched $425 per ton. While it has declined in recent weeks, the market is
unpredictable due to global uncertainties, experts said.
Worried about high import bills due to sky-high
international prices of petroleum products, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz
Sharif late last month approved imports of cheaper but good quality coal from
Afghanistan in Pakistan's own currency.
Key power plants that use coal include the Huaneng
Shandong Ruyi-Sahiwal Coal Power Plant and the China-Hub Coal Power Plant, both
1,320-megawatt facilities that supply the national grid. They were built and
financed under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the Pakistan component of
the Belt and Road Initiative.
"The prime minister was informed that imports of
coal from Afghanistan, initially required only for the Sahiwal and Hub power
plants, would save more than $2.2 billion annually in the import bill,"
state-run Radio Pakistan reported.
But there was a glaring problem with the plan:
Pakistan needed the other side to play ball. Almost as soon as Islamabad showed
interest in Afghan coal, the Taliban announced it was imposing a 30% duty and
taxes, increasing the price from $90 per ton to $200.
As no country has recognized the Taliban as
Afghanistan's legitimate rulers, the millions of dollars in aid that helped
prop up the previous government have vanished. Billions in state assets are
frozen and economic sanctions have led to a near-collapse of the country's
economy. In this situation, the Taliban are banking on the country's natural
resources, particularly coal, to survive.
"The price of coal per ton in the global market
is around $350 and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will exploit its coal
reserves by selling it at international rates, imposing duties on export of
coal abroad," Mufti Esmatullah Burhan, a spokesperson for Afghanistan's
Ministry of Petroleum and Minerals, told Nikkei Asia. He insisted that Kabul had
not yet inked any agreements on shipping coal to foreign countries.
The ministry said that it had surveyed 80 coal fields
across the country, and among them 17 were functional. "Local companies
extract nearly 10,000 tons of coal from 17 functional fields," Burhan
said.
Officials in Islamabad have avoided reacting publicly
to the Taliban's stance, as they attempt to manage complicated relations with
Kabul's new rulers. However, Miftah Ismail, Pakistani finance minister,
recently told The News newspaper that Pakistan was interested in importing coal
from Afghanistan only if it was available at affordable rates.
Shahid Hussain, a leader of the Sarhad Chamber of
Commerce and Industry -- a body of industrialists and traders in Pakistan --
said that the increase in import duty on coal from Afghanistan will create
problems for sectors such as cement and textiles, which use coal as fuel.
"Due to the high cost of furnace oil, Pakistan industries shifted to using
coal, but now coal is also becoming expensive," said Hussain.
The Taliban's move raised larger questions about
relations between Islamabad and the administration in Kabul.
The Taliban has not met Islamabad's demands to flush
out sanctuaries of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, a Pakistani militant outfit.
Instead, it brokered a cease-fire between Islamabad and the TTP.
Taliban troops recently also blocked an ongoing
Pakistani project to erect fencing along the 2,570 km border with Afghanistan.
Some experts note that the Taliban has a domestic
audience to consider.
"The Pakistani premier's announcement of
importing cheaper Afghan coal in local currency has sparked severe criticism of
Taliban rulers," Haji Mujtaba, a Nangarhar-based political analyst, told
Nikkei Asia.
Source: Asia Nikkei
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Mideast
IRGC General Javani: Arab NATO Has No Other Result,
But Failure
2022-July-12
“When the United States and the Zionist regime and
Saudi Arabia were at the peak of their power, the coalitions that they built to
counter the resistance front and the Islamic Republic had no other result, but
failure,” Javani said on Monday.
“An example is the coalition that the United Arab
Emirates and Saudi Arabia formed along with many other countries against the
oppressed nation of Yemen. However, they got nothing, but humiliating defeat,”
the IRGC commander added.
General Javani made the remarks in reference to US
President Joe Biden’s forthcoming visit to Middle East and Washington’s plan to
build a regional security alliance to fight off what it calls the "threat
from Iran".
Discussions on the plan are still at an early stage
and have already met resistance from several Arab countries who refuse to do
business with Israel.
Javani mentioned the alliance formed by the United
States, Saudi Arabia and “about 100 European and regional countries” to bring
down the government of Syria as another example, and said, “Despite spending
trillions of dollars over these years ... everyone saw they were defeated and
today, the resistance front is more powerful than ever before.”
“Therefore, it is quite easy to predict the possible
fate of the [so-called] Arab NATO. Compared to the past coalitions, the new
alliance will be even weaker and lack effectiveness in the face of the
resistance front and the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the IRGC commander noted.
He added that the existing trends in Middle East prove
that the US has to leave the region followed by the annihilation of the Zionist
regime and their allies “and there is no factor to change these trends".
Iran has repeatedly made clear that its homegrown
military capabilities remain defensive and deterrent in nature and are intended
to keep foreign intruders from destabilizing the region. It has also urged the
Persian Gulf states to quit relying on foreign powers for their security,
reminding that regional security can only be achieved through collective
efforts by the neighboring states.
Iran Cautions US Presence in Middle East to Increase
Instabilityhttps://t.co/salhXt4w2i pic.twitter.com/Q0JIydaAj7
— Fars News Agency (@EnglishFars) July 10, 2022
Early on Monday, Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier
General Mohammad Reza Ashtiani described improving the combat capability of the
country's armed forces as the most important priority for his ministry.
Ashtiani said enhancing the Iranian armed forces’
combat power is of utmost significance as the rivals and enemies are constantly
flexing their military muscles.
“The most important priority for the ministry of
defense is to strengthen the combat capability of the armed forces in the face
of threats and upgrade the defense systems and innovations that will be needed
in the future,” he noted.
Source: Fars News Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/14010421000115/IRGC-General-Arab-NATO-Fail
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Iran Scolds Biden for Sanctions Threat, One-Sided
Views
2022-July-11
On the eve of his trip to the region, Biden once again
used rhetoric against Iran and claimed that if Tehran does not return to the
nuclear deal, the economic pressure will continue.
In response, Amir Abdollahian stated that Biden cannot
impose "US one-sided views through accusation and sanction".
"Diplomacy is not a one-way street," the
foreign minister wrote on Twitter on Monday.
"If window of diplomacy is still open, that's
because of Iran's dynamic initiatives," he continued, adding,
"Reaching final agreement needs US' acceptance of realities, flexibility
and initiatives."
Iran and the five remaining parties to the nuclear
deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), have
held several rounds of negotiations in the Austrian capital of Vienna since
April last year to restore the agreement, which was unilaterally abandoned by former
US President Donald Trump in May 2018.
In quitting the agreement, Trump restored sanctions on
Iran as part of what he called the “maximum pressure” campaign against the
country. Those sanctions are being enforced to this day by the Biden
administration, even though it has repeatedly acknowledged that the policy has
been a mistake and a failure.
EU Deputy Foreign Policy Chief Enrique Mora
coordinated the indirect negotiations between Iran and the US in Qatar's Doha
in late June aimed at resolving the differences hindering the revival of the
2015 agreement.
Iran has blasted the US for insisting on previous
positions during the Doha talks, stressing that the path of diplomacy is still
open.
In a joint press conference with his Qatari
counterpart Mohammad bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani in Tehran in early July, Amir
Abdollahian blamed Washington for failure in arriving at a deal in Doha talks,
and refuted the US claim that Iran’s negotiators have raised demand irrelevant to the nuclear
deal in the negotiations.
Source: Fars News Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/14010420000842/Iran-Sclds-Biden-fr-Sancins-Threa-One-Sided-Views
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DM Cites Boosting Combat Capability As Iranian Army's
Top Priority
2022-July-11
Ashtiani said enhancing the Iranian armed forces’
combat power is of utmost significance as the rivals and enemies are constantly
flexing their military muscles.
Visiting the industries groups of the Ministry of
Defense in northeastern Khorasan Razavi Province, he noted, “The most important
priority for the ministry of defense is to strengthen the combat capability of
the armed forces in the face of threats and upgrade the defense systems and
innovations that will be needed in the future.”
“The battle scene and the requirements of the armed
forces units are constantly changing due to the type of threats, which makes
progress in all-out defense, implementing the capacity of scientific and
knowledge-based centers, as well as updating defense knowledge within the
defense industry doubly significant,” the minister added.
His remarks come as the United States and Israel plan
to build a security alliance with some regional Arab states that would connect
their air defense systems to allegedly fight off what they call "threat
from Iran".
Iran has repeatedly warned that any mistake by the US
and Israel will be met with Tehran's crushing response.
Source: Fars News Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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President Rayeesi: Iran Ready to Broaden Ties with
Tunisia
2022-July-11
"Tehran is ready for expansion and strengthening
of comprehensive cooperation with the brother and friendly country of
Tunisia," President Rayeesi said during the phone talk.
President Saied, for his part, felicitated the Al-Adha
Eid to President Raeisi and wished the best for the Iranian government and
nation.
"Iran and Tunisia, based on their cultural and
civilizational commonalities, as well as their fine historical relations, and
the efforts made by President Raisi, can hope for a lot broader level of cooperation
and bilateral interactions, for which the Tunisian president said he is very
appreciative," he added.
In a relevant development in late March, Iranian First
Vice-President Mohammad Mokhber felicitated Tunisia's independence day, and
asked for the further expansion of relations and cooperation between the two
friendly states.
In a message to Prime Minister of Tunisia, Mokhber
congratulated him, the government and the people of Tunisia on the occasion of
the African country’s independence day.
Source: Fars News Agency
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https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/14010420000349/Presiden-Rayeesi-Iran-Ready-Braden-Ties-wih-Tnisia
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Israel to examine reports of mass burial of Egyptian
soldiers in 1967
Ibrahim al-Khazen
11.07.2022
ISTANBUL
Egypt said Israel will examine reports of the mass
burial of Egyptian soldiers during the 1967 Middle East war.
Last week, Israeli media published accounts of people
involved in the burial of dozens of Egyptian soldiers during the 1967 war in an
unmarked mass grave west of Jerusalem.
The Egyptian Presidency said President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi
received a phone call from caretaker Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid on
Sunday during which they agreed that the Israeli authorities would conduct “a
full and transparent probe” into Israeli press reports about the mass burial of
soldiers in 1967.
According to the statement, Lapid stressed that the
Israeli side would positively and transparently deal with this issue and would
communicate and coordinate with the Egyptian authorities on developments in
order to reach the truth.
Lapid’s office, for his part, said that the prime
minister directed his military secretary “to examine the issue in depth and to
update Egyptian officials”.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Turkish forces 'neutralize' 3 PKK terrorists in
northern Iraq
Faruk Zorlu
11.07.2022
Turkish security forces "neutralized" three
PKK terrorists near the Turkish border in northern Iraq, authorities said on
Monday.
The terrorists were targeted in the Operation
Claw-Lock zone, the Turkish National Defense Ministry said on Twitter.
Separately, two terrorists attempting to escape into a
cave in the Qandil area in northern Iraq were neutralized in a drone strike,
the ministry said.
Turkish authorities use the term
"neutralize" to imply the terrorists in question surrendered or were
killed or captured.
Türkiye launched Operation Claw-Lock in April to
target the PKK terror organization's hideouts in Iraq's northern Metina, Zap,
and Avasin-Basyan regions, near the Turkish border.
It was initiated after Operations Claw-Tiger and
Claw-Eagle to root out terrorists hiding in northern Iraq and plotting
cross-border attacks in Türkiye.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Iran preparing to send armed drones to Russia to aid
Ukraine war effort
Michael Gabriel Hernandez
12.07.2022
Iran is moving rapidly to provide Russia with hundreds
of its domestically-manufactured drones to bolster the Kremlin's war effort
against Ukraine, a senior Biden administration official said Monday.
Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden's national security
adviser, said the US has information suggesting Tehran "is preparing to
provide Russia with up to several hundred UAVs, including weapons-capable UAVs,
on an expedited timeline." He was referring to unmanned aerial vehicles,
or drones.
Iran, Sullivan said, is further preparing to train
Russian forces on its drones as soon as this month as Moscow's forces continue
to suffer battlefield losses amid its slowly grinding offensive in eastern
Ukraine.
Sullivan did not specify the intelligence on which he
was basing his claims.
The US and its Western allies have worked to implement
sweeping sanctions on Russia, in part to prevent the country from replenishing
its war stocks. That has included imposing export restrictions on key dual-use
technologies, including drones.
DJI, a China-based leader in drone technologies,
announced in April that it would suspend its operations in Russia due to
Western sanctions that were imposed in retaliation for Russia's war.
Sullivan said Iran's decision to send drones to Russia
is further proof that Moscow's war stocks have been badly depleted by its war
in Ukraine and its gains in the country's east have come "at a cost to the
sustainment of its own weapons."
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Europe
'We will not forget,' Turkish first lady says on 27th
anniversary of Srebrenica genocide
Talha Ozturk
11.07.2022
BELGRADE, Serbia
It was humanity, conscience, and compassion that was
buried in Srebrenica 27 years ago, Türkiye's first lady said on Monday, the
27th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide.
"We will not forget either the cry of the Bosniak
mothers nor the children who watched the murderous expulsion of their fathers.
I commemorate our brothers and sisters who lost their lives in the genocide
with mercy," Emine Erdogan said.
Bosnia and Herzegovina on Monday marked the
anniversary of the genocide, Europe's worst atrocity since World War II, by
bidding farewell to 50 newly identified victims of the massacre at a memorial
service.
Every year on July 11, newly identified victims are
laid to rest at a memorial cemetery in Potocari, eastern Bosnia.
After this year’s funeral, the number of burials in
the cemetery rose to 6,721.
The youngest of the victims buried this year was Salim
Mustafic, who was 16 when killed, while Husejin Krdzic, 59, was the oldest.
Srebrenica genocide
More than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were
killed when Bosnian Serb forces attacked the eastern town of Srebrenica in July
1995, despite the presence of Dutch peacekeeping troops.
The Serb forces were trying to wrest territory from
Bosnian Muslims and Croats to form a state.
The UN Security Council had declared Srebrenica a
"safe area" in the spring of 1993. However, troops led by Gen. Ratko
Mladic, who was later found guilty of war crimes, and crimes against humanity
and genocide, overran the UN zone.
Dutch troops failed to act as Serb forces occupied the
area, killing some 2,000 men and boys on July 11 alone.
Around 15,000 residents of Srebrenica fled to the
surrounding mountains, but Serb troops hunted down and killed 6,000 more
people.
The bodies of victims have been found from 570 places
across the country.
In 2007, the International Court of Justice in The
Hague ruled that genocide had been committed in Srebrenica.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Arab World
Tel Aviv Municipality Website Targeted in Latest Iraqi
Cyber-attack Against Israeli Institutions
2022-July-12
Sabereen News, a Telegram news channel associated with
Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU),was quoted by press tv as reporting that
the group, known as Al-Tahera, carried out the operation on Monday.
“Do not work, it's suspended by order of General
Qassem Soleimani,” the message shown after the hack read on the Tel Aviv
Municipality website.
Israel’s NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System Ltd, the
company building the light rail network for the Tel Aviv area, said last week
that its website was temporarily disrupted by a foreign cyberattack.
Sabereen News said a group based in the Arab country
targeted the company last Monday, affecting its operating systems, control
monitors, and servers.
Last April, the website of Israel’s Airports Authority
was also knocked offline due to a denial of service attack.
The targeting apparently came in the form of a
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, during which website servers are
overwhelmed by near-simultaneous requests to connect.
The Airports Authority was one of several Israeli
websites targeted in a cyberattack claimed by the Al-Tahera group in Iraq.
The group said it targeted the Israeli website in an
act of revenge for the assassination of top Iranian anti-terror commander
Lieutenant General Soleimani and his Iraqi trenchmate Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis,
deputy head of the PMU, near Baghdad airport in 2020.
Israel reportedly played a covert role in the
assassination, even though the criminal act was directly ordered by then US
President Donald Trump.
Source: Fars News Agency
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One million copies of Qur’an as King’s gifts for
pilgrims
July 11, 2022
MAKKAH — The Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Call and
Guidance started on Monday distribution of a total of one million copies of the
Holy Qur’an as a gift from Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman to the
pilgrims who are departing via Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport and
Islamic Sea Port and other land and air outlets. The gifts will also be
presented to the government personnel who participated in duty for this year’s
Hajj.
Source: Saudi Gazette
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Lebanon telecom price hikes threatens migrants’ link
to jobs, safety
11 July ,2022
Kenyan cleaner Noel Musanga survived Lebanon’s
economic meltdown, waves of COVID-19 and Beirut’s port blast. But when her
internet provider announced rates would double, she feared her last lifeline to
family and work would snap.
The freelance migrant worker already barely earned
enough to survive. Now, the higher telecoms bill means she will have to ration
her calls to relatives and potential employers.
For the latest headlines, follow our Google News
channel online or via the app.
“It will be like (being) in a deep hole,” Musanga said
in her ground-floor apartment in the densely-populated Burj Hammoud
neighborhood on the edge of Beirut.
Lebanon hosts an estimated 250,000 migrant workers
primarily from sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, according to the United
Nations.
Their residence is usually subject to “kafala,” a
sponsorship system that rights groups say gives employers excessive control
over workers’ lives.
Lebanon’s three-year financial downturn has only added
to their woes, with employers abandoning domestic migrant workers in the
streets as their monthly wages – between $150 to $400 – became too expensive.
Some went freelance, living on their own and taking on
cleaning or nannying work to pay the bills.
But that has become harder by the day. Lebanon's
currency has lost 95 percent of its value while food and public transportation
costs have risen roughly eleven-fold.
The internet is the next big challenge.
Until this month, Lebanon’s telecoms sector had
continued to use the government’s old peg of 1,500 Lebanese pounds to the
dollar to charge for phone calls, broadband and mobile internet.
With slim revenues, the state struggled to import
enough fuel to run telecoms transmitter stations, leading to cuts in coverage
throughout 2021.
To reverse that trend, Lebanon’s cabinet said telecoms
tariffs would be calculated based on the much weaker flexible currency rate set
by the government’s Sayrafa platform.
‘Everything is expensive’
Using the government’s formula, that would cause up to
four-fold increases in customers’ bills, according to digital rights group
SMEX.
Musanga, who also volunteers as a migrant rights
advocate, said that mark-up will be life-changing for vulnerable workers.
They would have to choose between paying for a home
connection or a mobile one, which they would likely use less to conserve data
packages.
It could also present a higher risk for workers
seeking to escape abusive employers.
“All the time, I'm on the phone receiving complaints
from the girls on contract who are in trouble ... So, I have to have the
internet to reach them and solve all these problems,” Musanga said.
The higher cost of living all-around also meant
migrant workers had almost nothing left to send in remittances to their
relatives back home.
“Now in Lebanon if you are here, you are wasting your
time, wasting your energy ... Because everything is expensive, and you’ll have
nothing to save for yourself or send to your family. So it’s better to go
home,” she said.
The price jumps could even have an impact on the
mental health of migrant workers and their families back home.
With cases of domestic violence on the rise across
Lebanon since 2019, workers’ families back home would be in a constant state of
worry if they didn’t hear from them, Kareem Nofal, communications specialist at
the Anti-Racism Movement, said.
Live-in workers had relied on their phones and Wi-Fi
connections to stay connected, particularly throughout the coronavirus pandemic,
Tsigereda Birhanu, a 27-year-old advocate for migrant workers in Lebanon, told
Reuters.
“That’s their therapy,” Birhanu said.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Saudi man stabbed to death in Beirut, Lebanon police
arrest brothers for murder
12 July ,2022
Lebanese police arrested two Saudi citizens in
al-Sfeir, south of the capital Beirut, for stabbing their brother to death, the
National News Agency (NNA) reported on Sunday.
According to a statement issued by Lebanon’s Internal
Security Forces, the victim, born in 1980, was killed by his two brothers over
family disputes on July 9.
Police detained the two on July 10 after
investigations revealed that they were hiding in an apartment in al-Sfeir.
The knife used in the crime was seized during the
raid, police said, adding that both men, identified by their initials, A. M.
and H. M., confessed to killing their brother, M. M., over family disputes.
The perpetrators have been transferred to the relevant
authorities to resume the investigation, the statement added.
Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Lebanon Waleed Bukhari
commended the police for arresting the perpetrators.
Source: Al Arabiya
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West bows to Russian call for 6-months aid to Syrian
rebels
11 July ,2022
Supporters of a one-year extension of humanitarian aid
deliveries from Turkey to 4.1 million Syrians in the rebel-held northwest,
which Russia vetoed, are now calling for a Security Council vote on Moscow’s
proposal for a six-month extension.
Ireland and Norway, who sponsored the yearlong
extension that Russia vetoed last Friday, circulated a new draft resolution on
Monday for a six-month extension of deliveries through the Bab al-Hawa crossing
until Jan. 10, 2023, with a new resolution required for a further six-month
extension until July 10.
The draft, which diplomats said could be voted on
possibly Monday evening, is almost identical to the Russian draft resolution
that failed to get council support last Friday.
At the heart of the apparent backdown by supporters of
a year-long extension is Russia’s adamant refusal to consider any timetable
beyond six months, and the fact that the Security Council’s last mandate, for a
year, ended Sunday.
In Friday’s votes, the Ireland-Norway draft resolution
for a one-year extension was supported by 13 countries, with China abstaining
and Russia using its veto to defeat the measure.
Council members then voted on the rival Russian
resolution for a six-month extension which got only 2 “yes” votes, with China
the only country to join its ally Russia in supporting the resolution. The
three other veto-wielding permanent council members — the United States,
Britain and France — voted against it and 10 countries abstained. The vetoes
were not needed, however, because the resolution failed to get the minimum nine
“yes” votes required for approval.
US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield warned after
Friday’s votes that “I have long said this is a life-and-death issue” and
“people will die because of this vote.”
Thomas-Greenfield, who visited Bab al-Hawa in June,
said aid workers told her that a six-month renewal would be “a disaster” for their
supply lines. They told her it “would mean lifesaving assistance would shut off
in the dead of winter when needs are at their highest, which would be a
nightmare scenario for a region where millions of people are still displaced.”
But Russia’s deputy ambassador Dmitry Polyansky told
reporters there was “99 percent agreement” on a resolution and said Russia
wouldn’t support a nine-month extension, suggested as a compromise by Brazil
and the United Arab Emirates.
Unless council members decide to go with the Russian
six-month proposal, Polyansky said, he saw no possibility for an agreement.
Asked whether that meant that Russia would veto any proposed resolution that
didn’t follow its draft with a six-month timeline, he replied: “Obviously.”
That left the rest of the council with no alternative
but a six-month extension if they want to see the continuation of cross-border
deliveries that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and more than 30
non-governmental organizations also consider crucial.
Northwest Idlib is the last rebel-held bastion in
Syria and a region where an al-Qaida-linked militant group, Hayat Tahrir
al-Sham, is the strongest.
The UN said recently that the first 10 years of the
Syrian conflict, which started in 2011, killed more than 300,000 civilians, the
highest official estimate of civilian casualties.
Russia, a close ally of Syria’s government, has
repeatedly called for stepped up humanitarian aid deliveries to the northwest
from within Syria, across conflict lines. This would give Syrian President
Bashar Assad’s government more control.
In early July 2020, China and Russia vetoed a UN
resolution that would have maintained two border crossing points from Turkey
for humanitarian aid to Idlib. Days later, the council authorized the delivery
of aid through just one of those crossings, Bab al-Hawa.
In a compromise with Russia, that one-year mandate was
extended on July 9, 2021, for six months, with an additional six months subject
to a “substantive report” from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. This was
effectively a year-long mandate because a second resolution wasn’t needed.
Source: Al Arabiya
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India
Family
Planning Among Muslims Has Increased Over the Years: SY Quraishi, Former CEC
Jul
12, 2022
SY
Quraishi, former Chief Election Commissioner of India, said that family
planning among Muslim have increased over the years.
Delivering
a lecture at Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE) on the occasion
of World Population Day on Monday, Quraishi said, “Muslim families which do not
practise family planning have reduced from 55 per cent to 45 per cent. Even 45
per cent Hindu families do not practise family planning. On various parameters,
data suggests that Muslim population is not overtaking Hindu population.”
“It
is a myth that ‘Islam is against family planning’. Nowhere in the religious
scriptures is family planning prohibited. There are interpretations of
religious scriptures both for and against family planning. Sterilisation is
forbidden by interpretations, but birth spacing is not only allowed, but also
encouraged,” said Quraishi.
There
was also a panel discussion on “Significance of Caste Census” during the
programme.
PM
Kulkarni, demographer and former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) professor,
said that to understand the larger issues, caste census is important.
“Caste-based
census are important. Sample surveys can be done to identify backward classes.
However, many sample surveys cannot cover small communities. Mandal Commission
has recommended review of surveys to cover smaller communities. There are rural
to urban migration that can be seen as a certain caste having affiliation to
move from rural to urban areas for various reasons. Earlier, it was white
collar migration. Now, there may be interstate migration which may be caste
selective, but we don’t know. Therefore, there is a need for including caste
census as sample surveys cannot be completely helpful,” said Kulkarni.
Another
panellist, Rajashree Deshpande, professor, Department of Political Science at
Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), said that caste census will not help
completely, but only to a certain extent to challenge the fossilised
understanding of caste.
“Collecting
caste data will make caste reality more transparent,” said Deshpande.
RB
Bhagat, head, Department of Migration and Urban Studies, International
Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), said that caste has become an
identity.
Source:
Hindustan Times
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Last
Muslim Lawmaker, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Leaves India's Ruling Party
July
07, 2022
NEW
DELHI — The last remaining Muslim lawmaker in India's ruling Bhartiya Janata
Party has resigned, leaving the party without a single representative from the
minority community among its 395 members of parliament.
Minister
of Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi resigned on Wednesday, one day before
his term was expected to come to an end. The Indian parliament has nearly 800
lawmakers in total.
"My
work in the Rajya Sabha (upper house of parliament) is over, but my political
and social work will never be over," Naqvi told local news channel NDTV
Thursday, without providing details over why he will not be seeking
re-election.
Naqvi's
resignation comes at a volatile time for India's Hindu and Muslim communities.
Religious tensions have been flaring in recent weeks, following comments by the
now suspended BJP spokesperson, Nupur Sharma, about the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)
widely condemned as Islamophobic.
Violent
and deadly clashes have since broken out in parts of the country between Hindus
and Muslims -- who respectively make up about 80% and 14% of the country's 1.3
billion population.
Tensions
reached a boiling point last week following the brutal killing of a Hindu
tailor, allegedly by two Muslim men.
With
about 200 million Muslims in India, the country is home to the third-largest
Muslim population in the world, following Indonesia and Pakistan.
Prime
Minister Narendra Modi and his BJP swept to power in 2014 promising economic
reform and development, but critics feared his rise could signal an ideological
shift away from the nation's secular political underpinnings to those of a
Hindu-nationalist state.
The
BJP has its roots in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a right-wing Hindu group
that counts Modi among its members, and adheres to Hindutva ideology which
seeks to define Indian culture in accordance with Hindu values.
Since
then, the ruling party has been repeatedly accused by rights groups, activists
and opposition parties of stirring anti-Muslim sentiment.
Over
the last eight years, several BJP-run states have imposed new laws that critics
say are rooted in Hindutva ideology. At the same time, reports of violence and
hate-speech against Muslims have made headlines across the country.
Some
of the most controversial new laws are in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh,
ruled by Hindu monk-turned-politician Yogi Adityanath. The state has introduced
laws to protect cows, an animal considered sacred to Hindus, from slaughter,
and made it increasingly difficult to transport cattle. It has also introduced
an anti-conversion bill, which makes it harder for interfaith couples to marry
or for people to convert to Islam or Christianity.
Earlier
this year, the BJP-ruled southern state of Karnataka banned Muslim girls from
wearing religious headscarves in classrooms, prompting several to challenge the
decision in the state's top court -- a battle they ultimately lost.
Last
month, India scrambled to contain the diplomatic fallout as at least 15
Muslim-majority countries condemned Sharma's remarks about the Prophet
Mohammed. The incident sparked uproar among India's key Arab trading partners
and calls from around the Gulf to boycott Indian goods.
Source:
Saudi Gazette
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https://saudigazette.com.sa/article/622708
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Two
militants, including Jaish ‘commander’, killed in south Kashmir’s Awantipora
July
11, 2022
A
Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) ‘commander’ was among two militants killed in a gunfight
with security forces in a village in Awantipora in South Kashmir’s Pulwama
district Monday, according to the Jammu and Kashmir police.
The
J-K Police have identified one of the killed militants as Kaiser Koka of
Jaish-e-Mohammad, saying he was active in South Kashmir for the last four
years.
“#AwantiporaEncounterUpdate:
#Terrorist Kaiser Koka #neutralised. Identification of 2nd terrorist being
ascertained. #Incriminating materials, arms & ammunition including 01 USA
made rifle (M-4 Carbine), 01 pistol and other materials have been recovered.
Officials
said that a joint team of the J-K Police, Indian Army and paramilitary forces
cordoned off the Wandakhpora village in Awantipora in the morning after inputs
about the presence of militants in the village.
Source:
Indian Express
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https://indianexpress.com/article/india/jk-militants-jaish-commander-killed-awantipora-8022444/
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Pakistan
Imran
Urges Supporters to Defeat 'Turncoats, Nexus of ECP and PML-N'
July
11, 2022
Former
prime minister Imran Khan on Monday urged his workers and supporters to defeat
the "turncoats" as well as the "nexus" of the Election
Commission of Pakistan and the PML-N by voting for his party in the upcoming
by-polls in Lodhran.
The
PTI chairman made these while addressing a PTI power show in Lodhran.
Towards
the start of the speech, Imran rued the situation in Karachi, where at least
five people have been killed due to relentless rainfall that has submerged
several areas of the city and left many without power.
He
accused the Sindh government of being unprepared to deal with the monsoon
rains, unlike the PTI's former government in Punjab under Usman Buzdar.
Imran
said the Buzdar administration had installed underground water tanks to store
rain water and prevent it from causing urban flash floods.
He
said same could not be done in Sindh due to "corrupt" elements such
as PPP leaders Asif Ali Zardari being in charge. "Sindh can't progress
until he (Zardari) is there," Imran said.
The
PTI chairman said that during his government there were corruption cases ready
against Zardari and Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah. He said the duo were
prevented from getting the punishment they deserved by "those who had [the
real] power".
He
branded PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal the "lying Aristotle" and targeted
his speech where he had suggested that "corruption doesn't impede economic
development, but instability and policy reversals do."
He
talked about the recent incident where Iqbal was heckled at a restaurant and
slogans of "chor (thief)" were chanted against him. Imran said
Iqbal's hecklers were not misbehaving but merely "telling the truth".
Imran
slammed the incumbent government's narrative on inflation from the time when it
was in the opposition and his party was in power. He made a comparison of food
and energy prices during his government and now, claiming that it was proof
that the narrative built against him was hollow.
He
said the actual reason the PML-N and its allies wanted to cease power was to
"amend accountability laws, give themselves an NRO and shut their
corruption cases".
Addressing
the farmer community of Lodhran, Imran said that his government had taken measures
for their benefit and ensured that they received their due profits rather than
mill owners and sugar barons.
Source:
Dawn
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Sharif
‘thwarted Imran’s conspiracy’ to make Pakistan next Sri Lanka: minister
July
12, 2022
ISLAMABAD:
Minister for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb Monday criticised Imran Khan for
what she claimed were the poor economic indicators and said his successor,
Shehbaz Sharif, “thwarted former prime minister’s conspiracy to turn Pakistan
into Sri Lanka”.
Reacting
to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman’s speech in Lodhran late Monday,
Aurangzeb said: “Keep lying Imran sahib, while Shehbaz Sharif, his brother
(Nawaz Sharif), and his (ruling) allies in the government will continue to
strive for economic self-sufficiency and national development and resolve the
problems of people.”
The
minister also lambasted Khan for striking a deal with the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) on “tough conditions”, adding that “Khan should be ashamed
of himself for the agreement he signed with the IMF.”
“Shame
on you, Imran Khan […] it was you who had said I’d rather end my life than
knock on IMF’s door,” she added.
Aurangzeb
further declared Khan had used his time in office for corruption, adding if he
had not done so, the economy of the country would have been in a much better
condition today.
Source:
Pakistan Today
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Pakistan:
24 children among 62 killed in rain-related incidents
Jul
12, 2022
ISLAMABAD:
Rains continue to wreak havoc in Balochistan claiming 62 lives, including 24
children and impacting hundreds of people in the region, officials said.
Pakistan's
Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said that the deaths took place
in Bolan, Quetta, Zhob, Dakki, Khuzdar, Kohlu, Ketch, Mastung, Harnai, Qila
Saifullah and Sibi, ARY News reported.
Owing
to the heavy rainfall, around 48 people were injured in various accidents in
Balochistan province, while more than 670 houses collapsed.
Due
to the recent monsoon rains, the water level in Hub Dam has risen to 334 feet,
while the capacity is 339 feet, ARY News reported.
On
Monday, Karachi received a heavy spell of rain in Korangi, Saddar, Nipa
Chowrangi, People's Chowrangi, Superhighway, and other parts of the city.
Parts
of the city submerged after heavy rainfall, further exposing the tall claims of
the provincial authorities who imposed a rain emergency to deal with the
situation.
Owing
to the heavy rainfalls, three people were electrocuted including two in the
Garden's Shoe Market area while another man died of electrocution in the Bilal
Colony area of Korangi.
Several
roads in the city were filled with water and closed for traffic. The police
officials said the traffic has been severely affected due to the accumulation
of water, while the flow of the water at Korangi Causeway Road has increased
after overnight showers.
The
accumulation of water also led to power outages in the South Asian Country as
500 feeders were shut due to the accumulation of water in those places and the
metropolis was provided with electricity from 1,400 out of 1,900 power feeders.
Frequent load-shedding across the country has left the people suffering in
sweltering high temperatures.
According
to the Met Office, the received at most rainfall-119.5 mm- at PAF Base Masroor
during the last 24 hours, followed by 106.6 mm in Defence phase II, 56.2 mm in
Orangi Town, 56 mm in Quaidabad, 49.8 mm at Old Airport, 46.5 mm in
Gulshan-e-Hadeed, 31.8 mm in Nazimabad, 29.6mm at Jinnah Terminal, 14.4 mm at
Surjani Town, and 14.8 mm at University Road.
The
Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has predicted widespread rains in
Karachi and other parts of Sindh From July 14.
According
to the PMD's advisory, a strong rain system will enter Pakistan from July 14,
which is likely to gradually spread over central and upper Sindh, ARY News
reported.
In
a statement, Chief Meteorologist Sardar Sarfraz said that the strong rain
system is currently present in Eastern India and will enter Pakistan on July 14
from Rajasthan. Karachi would receive widespread rain till July 18 or 19, the
PMD chief said.
Source:
Times Of India
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
After
his visits to India in Congress regime, Pakistan columnist claims he passed
info to ISI
July
12, 2022
Islamabad:
Nusrat Mirza, a Pakistani columnist who has visited India many times during the
Congress' rule, has boasted on camera that he used to pass on information
collected during his visits to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
During
a virtual interview with journalist and political analyst Shakil Chaudhary,
Mirza said that he had received various privileges from the foreign affairs
department of Pakistan during his visits to India.
He
shared that "usually when you apply for a visa to India, they only allow
you to visit three places. However, at that time, Khurshid Kasuri (Pakistani
politician and writer who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan
between November 2002 till November 2007) was the foreign minister who helped
me to get a visa for seven cities."
He
claimed that he had visited India on several occasions. "I was invited to
India at the time of Vice Presidentship of Mohammad Hamid Ansari."
Ansari
is an Indian politician and retired diplomat who was the 12th vice president of
India from 2007 to 2017.
"I
have visited India five times. I have visited Delhi, Banglore, Chennai, Patna
and Kolkata as well. In 2011, I also met with the Milli Gazette's publisher
Zafarul Islam Khan."
Zafarul-Islam
Khan is a former Chairman of the Delhi Minorities Commission and Founder-Editor
of the Milli Gazette, Indian Muslims' leading news source.
Replying
to a question about Pakistan lagging behind on Urdu intellectuals and
strategists, Mirza responded in an affirmative.
However,
he also registered his disappointment with the leadership in the Pakistan Army
and said that they are not considerate of the situation and usually ignore the
work of experts.
"Do
you know what the problem in Pakistan is? When a new chief comes, he wipes out
the work done by the previous chief and starts with a clean slate. Khurshid
asked me to hand over the information I had brought to Kayani (General Ashfaq
Parvez Kayani, Pakistan's former Army Chief). I said I would not hand over the
information to him, but if you want, I am giving you the information. He handed
it over to Kayani," he said.
"Later
they called me and asked if I could get more information like this. I asked
them to work on the information I provided. They have a research wing. They
have information. They know about the weaknesses in the leadership in India.
But they do not use it," he added.
Continuing
Pakistan's 'lackadaisical' approach to handling the intelligence received by
him from India, he said, "since FATF came, Pakistan has not done any
activity. It has its hands tied up."
It
is worth noting that Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) terror finance
watchlist has been keeping a close eye on Pakistan for not fulfilling the
parameters to counter terrorism in the country.
He
continued the interview by bragging about how he "fully understands"
India and its outlook. He said that though he handed down the information to
the Pakistani leadership, however, no one seemed to pay any attention to it due
to leadership issues.
"Though
I agree I am not an expert, I understand their (India's) culture. I know about
their weaknesses. But the problem is the experience I gathered about India is
not being used due to lack of good leadership in Pakistan," he said.
"I
think I understand how India functions. I have studied the circumstances in which
Indian Muslims live. I am friends with all the editors of Urdu papers in India.
Many news channel owners are good friends. Whenever I have visited India, I
have given several interviews."
"I
know where separatist movements are happening. But no one wants to exploit the
information. The separatist movements are happening in all regions of India.
There is no doubt about that. I used to say there were 26 movements ongoing,
but someone said now there are 67 such movements."
Mirza
has also worked as an advisor to the Chief Minister of Sindh. Speaking about
former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan he said that the former premier could
not even establish himself as a leader within his own party.
Source:
Firstpost
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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Eid-ul-Azha
Celebrates With Religious Fervor In Larkana Division
Faizan
Hashmi
July
10, 2022
LARKANA,
(UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Jul, 2022 ) :To commemorate the supreme
sacrifice offered by Hazrat Ibrahim (A.S.) and Hazrat Ismail (A.S.) Eid-ul-Azha
was celebrated here on Sunday in all parts of Larkana, Kamber-Shahdadkot,
Shikarpur, Jacobabad and Kandhkot-Kashmore districts with traditional religious
festivity, enthusiasm and fervour.
Eid
prayers were offered at Larkana, Warah, Ratodero, Sijawal Junejo, Qubo Saeed
Khan, Dokri, Bakrani, Nasirabad, Naudero, Shikarpur, Garhi Yaseen, Kamber,
Shahdadkot, Jacobabad, Thull, Kandhkot and Kashmore at more than 1550 mosques,
Imam Bargahs, Open places, Parks, Eidgahs and grounds, where the faithful's
turned in hundreds of thousands, in the morning Ulema and Khatibs in their Eid
sermons highlighted the significance of the day and urged the people to follow
the teachings of islam and Holy Quran.
They
called upon the audience to adhere to the Islamic teachings, as was defined in
his personal life by Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (Peace Be upon Him).
They
referred to the great spirit of sacrifices of Prophet Hazrat Ibrahim (A.S),
which later became a glorious chapter for the entire history of mankind.
They
underlined the need of complete unity of Muslim Ummah in their rank and file in
order to counter the evil design of anti Islam forces.
These
scholars also highlighted the last sermon of Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH)
delivered by him (PBUH) while performing Hajjat-ul-Wida, and provide a
guideline for the ummah as well as the entire humanity for all times to come.
Special
prayers were offered for integrity, solidarity and prosperity of the country.
They
also prayed God Almighty to put the nation on his path and emphasized the
believers to make the Holy Qur'ran code of life, so as they could achieve their
past glory.
After,
Namaz-e-Eid, people visited the residences of their relatives and friends to
exchange Eid greetings with them.
Later,
the people sacrificed the animals to commemorate the supreme sacrifice of
Hazrat Ibrahim (A.
S.).
In
Larkana the main Eid congregations was held in the Municipal Stadium Larkana,
Jamia Masjid Qasmia, Jamia Masjid Qaim Shah Bukhari, Police Lines Larkana, and
Jinnah Bagh, Dargah Hussainabad Kamber, Dargah Mashori Sharif, and at Garhi
Khuda Bux Bhutto where people had poured in a great number to offer Eid prayer.
Meanwhile,
foolproof arrangements were made by the District administrations of Larkana,
Kamber-Shahdadkot and municipal administrations of Larkana and
Kamber-Shahdadkot districts for the cleanliness during the Three(3) days, of
Eid-ul-Azha and special parties were inducted to dispose of the animals' refuse
including offals, hides and skins.
Many
people and children visited Jinnah Bagh Larkana, Shahnawaz Bhutto Children Park
Larkana. People from various walks of life, PPP workers also visited the graves
of the martyrs of Bhutto's family in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh Bhutto, some 32 kms off
from here on Eid day and laid floral wreaths.
The
local administrations in all the cities and towns of the five districts had
undertaken extra security steps to guard the Eid gahs, mosques and Imam
bargahs, where police and Ranger had performed their security duties.
According
to reports from different parts of the five districts, complete calm and peace
prevailed and no untoward incident was reported from any place.
Source:
Urdu Point
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.urdupoint.com/en/pakistan/eid-ul-azha-celebrates-with-religious-fervor-1534808.html
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Pakistan,
China maritime drill to conduct live-fire exercise
July
12, 2022
SHANGHAI:
Navies of Pakistan and China commenced a live-fire drill Tuesday as part of a
four-day joint maritime exercise codenamed Sea Guardians-2.
Fleets
participating in the drill set off from a military port in Shanghai for the
scheduled sea area.
The
joint exercise aims to enhance defense cooperation, exchange expertise and experience,
deepen the traditional friendship between the two countries and militaries, and
promote the development of the China-Pakistan all-weather strategic cooperative
partnership.
Source:
Pakistan Today
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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Sharif,
Erdogan exchange Eid greetings
July
12, 2022
ISLAMABAD/ANKARA:
The prime minister and Turkish president exchanged greetings for the Muslim
holiday of Eid ul-Adha on Saturday.
In
a phone call, Shehbaz Sharif and Recep Tayyip Erdogan also discussed bilateral
and regional issues, the former’s office said in a statement.
Erdogan
offered prayers for the victims of the devastating floods in Balochistan, while
Sharif expressed Pakistan’s firm resolve to further enhance its bilateral
cooperation with Turkiye, recalling his recent visit to Ankara, the statement
noted.
Source:
Pakistan Today
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2022/07/12/sharif-erdogan-exchange-eid-greetings/
--------
Southeast Asia
Targeting
the Messenger: Indonesian Islamic College Bans Magazine Reporting Sexual Abuse
Andreas
Harsono
One
would hope that an educational institution that learned of sexual assaults on
campus would focus on holding perpetrators accountable and preventing further
incidents rather than targeting the messenger. Not so the State Islamic
Institute in Ambon (Institut Agama Islam Negeri Ambon, IAIN Ambon) in
Indonesia’s Maluku province, which instead of recognizing and valuing a student
magazine’s ground-breaking and thorough investigation, ordered its shutdown.
On
March 14, when Lintas magazine reported on dozens of incidents of sexual
violence on campus taking place between 2015 and 2021, the story unsurprisingly
created an uproar. Lintas had spent 5 years investigating the story,
interviewing 32 sexual violence survivors (27 female and 5 male students) as
well as campus officials, including Zainal Abidin Rahawarin, the IAIN Ambon
rector. The magazine identified 14 alleged perpetrators. Some of the victims,
who were not named, detailed sexual assaults that took place during field
research trips, on campus, or in lecturers’ offices and houses.
Five
men who said they were relatives of one of the lecturers, whom Lintas alleged
had asked a survivor to delete sexting messages, went to Lintas’ newsroom and
assaulted two staff members, reporter M. Nurdin Kaisupy and designer Muh.
Pebrianto.
Three
days later, Rahawarin closed the student magazine, ordering campus security to
seal the newsroom and seize all equipment, accusing its reporters and editors
of “defaming IAIN Ambon.” He reported nine journalists to the police.
Asked
to reveal the names of the victims and the alleged perpetrators, Yolanda Agne,
Lintas’ chief editor, instead suggested that the campus set up a task force on
sexual violence similar to what the Ministry of Religious Affairs, which is in
charge of all Islamic schools and universities, had mandated by regulation in
2019. IAIN Ambon has so far not done so.
The
magazine’s shutdown prompted more than two dozen journalists’ groups and
student media outlets to protest, including Indonesia’s Alliance of Independent
Journalists as well as local groups in Ambon.
Source:
HRW
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/07/12/indonesian-islamic-college-bans-magazine-reporting-sexual-abuse
--------
Civil
courts have no jurisdiction to hear renunciation cases, says judge
July
12, 2022
KUALA
LUMPUR: The High Court has dismissed a woman’s bid to start a legal challenge
to renounce her religion, saying civil courts did not have the jurisdiction to
hear such cases.
Judge
Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid said the Federal Constitution has given power under
Article 121(1A) to the shariah courts to determine renunciation cases.
“To
me, it does not matter what the decision (made by the shariah court) is, but
the issue is that the civil courts have no jurisdiction to hear matters within
shariah courts nor do they have power to review a shariah court’s decision in
cases involving the renunciation of Islam.
“The
shariah courts have also done nothing wrong in determining her case as it was
within their jurisdiction and have not acted ultra vires when they made the
order,” he said.
Last
month, the judge turned down the 32-year-old woman’s bid to start a legal
challenge to be allowed to renounce Islam.
However,
at the time, the court did not provide its grounds as to why it refused to
entertain her attempt to initiate a legal challenge.
The
woman, born a Muslim, claimed she never practised Islam and that her mother had
allowed her to choose her religion.
She
said she had gone to the Shariah High Court here in 2018 to seek an order to
convert out of Islam as she wanted to practise Buddhism.
Shortly
after she filed her application at the Shariah High Court seeking to renounce
Islam, the court ordered her to attend 12 counselling sessions.
Subsequently,
the court denied her application to leave Islam in 2020 and told her to go for
more counselling. When she appealed, the Shariah Appeals Court upheld the
ruling.
The
woman then turned to the civil courts to nullify the decisions of the shariah
courts. She claimed the decision to reject her “conversion out” application
violated Article 11, which guaranteed a person’s freedom of religion.
Source:
Free Malaysia Today
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Pandemic
turns property outlook analysis upside down
Jay
Wong
July
12, 2022
PETALING
JAYA: Covid-19 has left property market players clueless about the supply and
demand situation.
The
pandemic has totally disrupted market forces and distorted what should have
been the norm, according to Real Estate and Housing Development Association
(Rehda) acting president NK Tong.
“As
a result, it has made it difficult for us to decide what the reality is right
now,” he told FMT Business.
Tong
explained that the pandemic had made it difficult to determine how much of the
changes had been caused by the two years of lockdown that had led to job losses
and business closures.
“But
it is clear that there has been a significant impact,” he said.
He
was commenting on a report that there has been a marginal decline in the
residential property market overhang in the first quarter of 2022 (Q1 2022)
from the end of 2021.
In
its latest report, the National Property Information Centre (Napic) said there
were 35,592 units of residential property worth RM22.45 billion that remained
unsold in Q1 2022.
This
was a marginal drop from the more than 37,000 units worth RM22.79 billion at
the end of last year.
Of
the property left unsold in Q1 2022, up to 20,680 or 58.1% of the total, were
high-rise units. Apart from that, 7,407 units of linked landed property (20.8%)
and 7,505 other properties (21.1%) were unsold in the same quarter.
Tong
said it had been difficult to determine the factors that had caused the
residential property overhang in the first place.
“If
the supply of completed but unsold units is too high, or higher than normal
under usual circumstances, particularly in the residential sector, we can
attribute it to over-building or a drop in demand,” he said.
He
said that under normal circumstances, there will always be a certain percentage
of completed but unsold units in a well-functioning market.
“But
it has not been normal for more than two years already. This has also made it
difficult to quantify and attribute the causes of the overhang to the pandemic
entirely,” he said.
Tong
said it could take a year or more for the market to find a new equilibrium,
taking into account the rise in inflation and the decision by Bank Negara
Malaysia (BNM) to raise interest rates to help cool down the market.
At
its monetary policy meeting last Wednesday, BNM raised the overnight policy
rate (OPR) by another 25 basis points (bps) to 2.25%. This was the second
increase in the OPR this year. At its previous meeting in May, it raised the
OPR, also by 25 bps, from 1.75% to 2%.
According
to data from the department of statistics Malaysia, the inflation rate has been
rising steadily from 2.2% in January 2022 to 2.8% in May.
Tong
said this is an opportune moment to purchase property to hedge against
inflation and to protect the value of the investor’s money in the medium to
long term.
“Purchasing
a property usually comes with the expectation that its price will rise over
time and this helps to lower the loan-to-value of the debt,” he said.
“Based
on the assumption that property value appreciates faster than inflation, it
will result in the equity of the property rising at a faster rate than loan
repayments.”
He
also expressed optimism in the outlook for the rest of the year. “The property
sector will likely see steady growth in demand this year even in a moderately rising
interest rate environment,” he said.
Source:
Free Malaysia Today
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Livewire
sports minister rocks gala of athletics legends
Frankie
D'Cruz
July
12, 2022
IPOH:
It was an extraordinary arena bursting with some of the major names in
athletics who made hundreds of headlines and held the nation spellbound with
their might in the 1960s and 70s.
They
had a magical knack of stimulating fans with their scintillating performances, and
their presence on Saturday at “A Celebration of Perak’s Track and Field
Legends” made it a seminal moment.
All
their gifts came together in breathless abundance and old friendships were
excavated at the convivial gala.
It
was organised by the Perak athletics family to recognise and lift the spirits
of the 16 living heroes and the families of nine who had passed on.
Most
of them are largely unknown to the younger generation of Malaysians.
Countless
stories flowed about devoted athletes, coaches and officials, and sporting and
academic excellence as the glorious past and capricious present raised mixed
emotions.
While
they appeared content with the way their lives have panned out, some of their
recollections were hilarious and rose-tinted while others had sharp edges.
Most
of the guests were state and national athletes themselves, who came together to
resample their youth and slyly gauge the impact of time on one another.
Joining
them in the good-natured, knockabout fun on a peerless evening at the Royal Ipoh
Club was youth and sports minister Ahmad Faizal Azumu whose vibrancy was worthy
of a gold medal.
Faizal
is a true spark plug. By doing the unexpected, he rocked the house. By relating
offbeat stories, he raised a chuckle, in some cases, lifting the heart as well.
He
spontaneously surprised the audience by getting into a video call with US-based
400m Ipoh-born athlete, Shereen Vallabouy, and her coach, Mason Rebarchek, to
wish them the best at the world athletics championships.
Faizal
rallied the attendees to give Shereen and Rebarchek a big applause ahead of her
race in Oregon on July 17 before leading some 300 people to sing ‘happy
birthday’, like a chorus line, to Shereen, who was turning 24 the next day.
Earlier,
Faizal received rousing cheers and a standing ovation as he revelled on the
stage with a framed souvenir bearing the signatures of the athletics greats who
attended the event and that of family members of those who had died.
In
his speech, he said he wanted the event to be an annual affair involving all
sports and hoped other states would do the same.
“The
achievements of sports people are significant and their contributions and
talent should be acknowledged deservedly.
“We
are a country built on the bonds of family and community and a shared society
is one that focuses on responsibilities we have to one another,” he said.
The
celebration of athletes, coaches and administrators from the glorious era of
Malaysian athletics was joyful, emotional and history-making.
Olympian
Karu Selvaratnam (400m and 400m hurdles, Tokyo and Mexico Olympics), who
received a Perak Legend trophy, said: “This was a celebration of human
relationship, one which pointedly showed we were made for each other.”
“The
event captured the intensity of friendships formed and individual and team
achievements in our early sporting years,” said Karu, a retired naval officer.
“It
also displayed a high sense of caring by those who initiated the event, and the
presence of the youth and sports minister reinforced the need to jealously guard
such memories.”
Leading
the list of the delightful club of greats were 1960s track phenoms, M
Jegathesan and M Rajamani, who are both Olympians and Malaysia’s first
sportsman and sportswoman of the year in 1967.
Two
other Olympians – Nashatar Singh Sidhu (javelin, Tokyo and Mexico Olympics) and
Junaidah Aman (400m, 1972 Munich Olympics) – were unable to attend the
gathering while S Sivaraman, a reserve in the 4×400 relay at Munich, made a
rare appearance.
Malaysia’s
oldest coaches, K Jayabalan and Tan Choo Mong, were in the spotlight, too, for
their special blend of passion and persistence.
Two
other Perak-born coaches, Papu Ignatius and C Ramanathan, who developed star
athletes in Penang, were terribly missed by many.
The
others who received the Perak Legend trophy were discus-throwing giant M
Dattaya, Perak athletics chief Karim Ibrahim, 93-year-old sprinter and a former
top official L Pushpanathan, and Ng Kar Liew, the 1961 Seap Games (now SEA
Games) javelin gold medallist, who is now a fruit seller.
Those
honoured posthumously were Asir Victor (400m) and Shamsuddin Jaafar (400m),
both Olympians who also served as national athletics coach for the Asian Games
in 1970, 1974 and in 1978.
The
others were hammer champions Genda Singh and his son Semret, ex-national
barefoot distance runner A Kandiah, sprinter V Vijiaretnam and coaches Sangaran
Kutty Nayar, R Suppiah and Aloysius Ong Yoon Pheng.
You
can tell a great deal about Perak from the quality of its sportsmen. Football
genius M Karathu and hockey marvel R Yogeswaran, who were both speed aces, were
also recognised for their lifelong contributions to their respective sports.
Shereen’s
father, Samson, and her mother, Josephine Mary, who themselves were elite
athletes, were given surprise awards for making the country proud
internationally.
The
gala was hosted by Young Talent Track & Field (YTTF), a grassroots
organisation dedicated to training children below the age of 12 and young
disabled people, and was supported by the Perak Athletics Association,
Paralympic Council of Malaysia and Malaysia Olympians Association.
YTTF
CEO Danny Sritharan and the secretary-general of Paralympic Council of
Malaysia, Subramaniam Raman Nair, inked their collaboration with a memorandum
of understanding to jointly-develop para athletes.
Source:
Free Malaysia Today
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Expanding
companies’ presence in the global halal market
By
ZAZALI MUSA
12
Jul 2022
JOHOR
BARU: Malaysian companies should target a global market, instead of just
focusing on Muslim countries when it comes to exporting halal products, said
Standard Chartered Saadiq Malaysia executive director and Islamic corporate,
commercial and institutional banking head Bilal Parvaiz (pic)during a recent
panel discussion.
Entitled
Halal Export Opportunities, the panel discussion was held during the Excellence
Export Awards (EEA) Johor Roadshow, held in Johor Baru.
The
companies including the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) need to work
closely with the relevant agencies to expand their presence in the global halal
market, he said.
“Malaysia
has the right ecosystem to emerge as the world’s leader in the halal market,’’
Bilal said.
He
said local companies should not miss the opportunity, as the growth prospects
in the halal global market were huge, estimated at about US$2 trillion (RM8.86
trillion).
Bilal
said Malaysia has done well in the halal market and the country should continue
to put in more efforts to elevate its competitiveness in the global halal
market.
“Local
companies including SMEs and micro-enterprises should embark on the halal
journey to further strengthen our country’s position in the world’s halal
market,’’ he said.
Bilal
was one of the three panellists during the panel discussion. The others were
Halal Development Corp (HDC) halal event management division senior manager
Faridah Ali and Guan Chong Bhd quality assurance manager Amy Woong.
The
session was moderated by Malaysia External Trade Development Corp customised
section transformation and digital trade division deputy director Muhd
Shahrulmiza Zakaria.
Faridah
advised local businesses and companies to expand their presence in the halal
market and not solely depend on the domestic market. She said apart from
looking at Muslim countries, demand for halal products and services from
non-Muslim countries are also growing over the years.
“China,
Indonesia, Japan and Singapore offered good halal business opportunities for
local halal exporters apart from the Middle Eastern countries,’’ said Faridah.
She
said exporters should not limit themselves to only food, as there are other
products where halal requirements could be applied.
Faridah
said among halal-certified products include cosmetics and personal care,
pharmaceuticals, health supplements, as well as logistic and warehousing
services where there is no mixture of halal and non-halal products.
“Many
countries are looking at our halal success story and we should not rest on our
laurels and have to be steps ahead against our rivals,’’ she said.
Woong
described the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) halal
certification as a gold standard in the Islamic world.
She
said it was crucial for the company like Guan Chong to have halal certification
from Jakim as most of its products were exported for clients in the cocoa
industry.
“It
is a bonus to be certified as a halal company and we like to correct the
misconception that you should look at halal from a wider perspective,’’ said
Woong.
She
said halal was not only about Islamic religious obligations but also covered
hygiene and good manufacturing practices for universal consumers.
Woong
said the global Covid-19 pandemic which happened in early 2020 has created
awareness among consumers that food safety and security should not be
compromised.
“The
halal global market is growing as it caters not only for Muslim but also
non-Muslim customers,’’ she said.
Source:
The Star
Please click the following URL to read the full text
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Cops
nab boyfriend of woman insulting Islam at comedy club
11
Jul 2022
KUALA
LUMPUR, July 11 — Police have detained the boyfriend of a woman who allegedly
insulted Islam while performing at a comedy club in Taman Tun Dr Ismail.
Royal
Malaysia Police (PDRM) secretary, Datuk Noorsiah Mohd Saaduddin in a statement
today said the boyfriend was arrested yesterday (July 10) for investigation.
The
suspect is being remanded for three days until Wednesday for investigation.
Noorsiah
said police would also apply to extend the remand order on the woman, who was
arrested last Saturday, and whose remand would end tomorrow.
She
added that the investigation papers would be referred to the Attorney-General’s
Chambers (AGC) with a proposed charge.
The
case is being investigated under Section 298A of the Penal Code (for causing
disharmony, disunity or enmity, hatred or ill will on grounds of religion), as
well as under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 for
improper use of network services.
Source:
Malay Mail
Please click the following URL to read the full text
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--------
North America
Growing
Israeli West Bank settlements test US position ahead of Biden visit
11
July ,2022
Steps
away from a cluster of Palestinian tents and shacks in the northern Jordan
Valley in the occupied West Bank, trucks were working in full force to prepare
for the construction of a school for Israeli settlers.
The
settlement of Mehola is trying to expand, as demand has become very high, Zohar
Zror, 32, a resident, told Reuters.
Largely
out of the public eye, Israeli settlements are expanding across the occupied
West Bank, raising Palestinian fears of displacement and posing a test for US
opposition to such building ahead of President Joe Biden’s visit this week.
In
a Washington Post op-ed published on Saturday, Biden said the United States has
rebuilt ties with the Palestinians and is working with Congress to restore about
$500 million in funding for the Palestinians. His administration has also
pledged to reopen a consulate in Jerusalem closed by his predecessor Donald
Trump.
But
that has done little to satisfy Palestinian demands for US support for an end
to Israel’s decades-long occupation.
While
the administration has expressed strong opposition to Israeli settlement
expansion, which it said “deeply damages the prospect for a two-state
solution,” settlement construction has gone ahead apace.
Meanwhile,
the search for a solution involving an independent Palestinian state alongside
the State of Israel, which the United States and other countries see as the
best basis for a lasting peace, has stalled.
“They
don’t want to leave any Palestinians here,” said Salah Jameel, 53, a
Palestinian farmer in the Jordan Valley. “They want to take the land.”
Most
countries regard settlements Israel has built on territory it captured in a
1967 Middle East war as illegal. Israel disputes this and has settled some
440,000 Israelis in the West Bank, citing biblical, historical and political
ties to the area, where 3 million Palestinians live under military rule.
In
May, the Israeli government approved 4,400 new homes for Jewish settlers. Plans
for a further expansion of settlements, that will effectively cut through the
area Palestinians hope will form the basis of a future state, are set to be
discussed after Biden’s visit.
The
State Department did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment about
the expansion of West Bank settlements.
The
US Embassy’s Palestinians Affairs unit referred questions to the White House.
David
Elhayani, outgoing head of the Yesha Council, the settlers’ main umbrella
organization, said it is time the Palestinians accept that there will be no
Palestinian state.
“The
settlement enterprise has taken off, it cannot be stopped now,” he told
Reuters.
Noise
As
Israel deepens its normalization with Arab countries in the region, it remains
unclear what steps the United States is willing to take to discourage its ally
from further entrenching the occupation.
Biden’s
upcoming visit “can impact the amount of noise Israel is making about
settlement expansion but not on the construction itself,” said Dror Etkes of
Kerem Navot, an organization that monitors Israeli policy in the West Bank.
“The entire political system (in Israel) is mobilized to protect the settlement
enterprise,” he said.
The
first settlements in the Jordan Valley date from the immediate aftermath of the
1967 war. A fertile area of orchards and date plantations on the border with
Jordan, it was seen by Israeli planners as key to creating a defensive buffer
well to the east of Jerusalem.
Mehola,
which was built in the late 1960s on Palestinian-owned land with Israeli
government approval, is one example.
The
military protection and the roads, water and power infrastructure underpinning
settlements stand in stark contrast to conditions in nearby Palestinian
villages.
But
Israel strongly rejects accusations from international and local rights groups
that the settlement enterprise has created a system of apartheid.
Data
collected by Israeli authorities shows a trend of expanding Israeli presence.
In
the area of the West Bank where Israel has full control and where most Jewish
settlements are located - a zone referred to as Area C under the Oslo Peace
accords agreed in the 1990s - only 33 building permits for Palestinians have
been approved in the last five years, Israeli Deputy
Defense
Minister Alon Schuster told the Knesset plenum in February.
During
that time, more than 9,600 housing units were started for Israeli settlers in
the West Bank, according to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics.
Palestinian
Mahmoud Bisharat, 40, has no expectations from Biden’s visit. Still, he told
Reuters he hopes the US administration will take stronger action to stop
Israeli settlements and “the dispossession of Palestinians.”
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
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Biden
Will Push For Greater Oil Output on Mideast Trip: Adviser
12
July ,2022
US
President Joe Biden will make the case for greater oil production from OPEC
nations to bring down gasoline prices when he meets Gulf leaders in Saudi
Arabia this week, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on
Monday.
Biden
leaves Tuesday night on his first visit to the Middle East as president, with
stops in Israel, the occupied West Bank, and Saudi Arabia on his agenda.
The
trip comes as Biden struggles at home to bring down gasoline prices that have
contributed to a dip in his job approval ratings.
Sullivan
said members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries have the
capacity to take “further steps” to increase oil production despite suggestions
from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that they can barely increase
oil production.
“We
will convey our general view…that we believe that there needs to be adequate
supply in the global market to protect the global economy and to protect the
American consumer at the pump,” Sullivan added.
Experts
say the White House understands Saudi Arabia is unlikely to move unilaterally
and that Riyadh and other Gulf nations lack significant spare capacity.
“I
think that a surge in Saudi production seems unlikely,” said Ben Cahill, a
senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, adding
that he expects “statements from Saudi Arabia about helping to balance the
global oil market, meet global demand, support economic growth and stability
among the import countries.”
In
a commentary published in the Washington Post late on Saturday, Biden said his
aim was to reorient and not rupture relations with a country that has been a US
strategic partner for 80 years.
Sullivan,
briefing reporters at the White House, said Biden has not expressed regret
about previously referring to Saudi Arabia as a “pariah” over Jamal Khashoggi’s
death.
But
he said one of Biden’s objectives on the trip will be “publicly and privately
advocating for universal values including progress on human rights and
political reform.”
Iran
is expected to be discussed on the trip in a region nervous about Tehran’s
influence. Sullivan said the United States believes Iran is preparing to
provide Russia with up to several hundred drones, including some that are
weapons capable, for use in its war against Ukraine.’
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
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Iran
preparing to provide Russia with drones to use in Ukraine: Senior US official
12
July ,2022
A
senior US official said Monday that Iran was preparing to provide Russia with
“several hundred” drones to use in its war on Ukraine, with training sessions
set to begin as early as this month.
“Our
information indicates that the Iranian government is preparing to provide
Russia with up to several hundred UAVs, including weapons-capable UAVs on an
expedited timeline,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said.
“Our
information further indicates that Iran is preparing to train Russian forces to
use these UAVs, with initial training sessions slated to begin as soon as early
July,” he added during a press briefing.
Sullivan
said it was “unclear” whether Iran had delivered any of the drones to Russia
yet. “But this is just one example of how Russia is looking to countries like
Iran for capabilities that are also being used… to attack Saudi Arabia,” he
said.
Sullivan
was responding to questions on whether or not the US believed Russia would
continue to fail in its primary objective of capturing the Ukrainian capital of
Kyiv. He said the US was confident that the “bravery of the Ukrainians and the
support of the West to Ukraine” would enable the country to defend its capital.
The
US official pointed out severe costs that Russia was enduring on the
battlefield, precisely regarding the sustainment of its own weapons.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
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Six
things to watch during Biden’s trip to the Middle East
11
July ,2022
US
President Joe Biden will confront a kaleidoscope of challenges when he travels
to the Middle East this week, his first trip there since taking office. With
the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the rearview mirror, the United
States is reassessing its role in the region at a time when its focus has
shifted to Europe and Asia.
A
look at some of the major issues that will be at play during Biden’s travels.
Israeli-Arab
cooperation
Biden
will become the first US president to travel directly from Israel, his first
destination, to Saudi Arabia, his last stop before returning to Washington. The
itinerary is a reflection of friendlier relationships between Israel and its
Arab neighbors, a tectonic shift that is reshaping the region’s politics.
Under
President Donald Trump, Israel normalized relations with countries such as the
United Arab Emirates through the Abraham Accords.
Although
no one expects Israel and Saudi Arabia to announce formal diplomatic ties
during Biden’s trip, more incremental steps could be taken, such as allowing
Israeli commercial flights to cross over the Kingdom en route to other
countries nearby. In addition, there’s already a surge in security cooperation
being presided over by the US military’s Central Command, which oversees
operations in the region. John Kirby, a national security spokesman for the
White House, said the nascent military partnership is intended to foster a
regional air defense system that could protect against Iranian ballistic
missiles and drones.
Iran
nuclear deal
The
threat of Iran is one of the primary incentives for Israel and Arab countries
to work more closely together, and the issue will likely be a top focus for
Biden’s meetings. Israel views Iran as its greatest threat, and Sunni Arab
countries consider Shia Iran as a dangerous competitor for regional power.
A
key question is finding the best way to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear
weapon, which it’s believed to be closer than ever to achieving.
Biden
wants to rejuvenate the nuclear deal that was reached by President Barack Obama
in 2015 and abandoned by Trump in 2018, but negotiations appear to have
stalled.
Israel,
which is widely believed to be the only nuclear-armed state in the region but
does not acknowledge having such weapons, was opposed to the deal. It didn’t
like that the agreement limited Iran’s nuclear enrichment for only a set period
of time, nor did it address Iran’s ballistic missile program or other military
activities in the region. Now Israel is calling for increasing sanctions to
pressure Tehran into agreeing to a more sweeping accord.
Biden
is expected to visit one of Israel’s missile defense installations as he tries
to reassure Israelis that the US is committed to the country’s protection.
Israeli-Palestinian
conflict
Even
though Israel is building closer ties to Arab countries, there’s been no
progress toward resolving its decades-long conflict with the Palestinians.
In
fact, some Palestinians feel abandoned by Arab leaders who have reached their
own deals with Israel through the Abraham Accords. That came without securing
progress toward the Palestinians’ goal of an independent state in
Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank and Gaza, lands Israel
seized in the 1967 Mideast war.
And
there are increasing doubts that a two-state solution is even possible at this
point because Israel has spent decades expanding settlements that are now home
to hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers. Israel blames the continuing
conflict on Palestinian violence and the refusal of Palestinian leaders to
accept past proposals that it says would have given them a state.
Biden
plans to visit with Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority, in
Bethlehem during his trip. But it’s unlikely that there will be an opportunity
to prod either him or Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid to reopen talks. The
Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the occupied West Bank, has
grown increasingly unpopular and autocratic in recent years. Lapid is a
caretaker prime minister serving while Israel braces for another round of
elections later this year.
Human
rights
Biden
will likely be confronted with more fallout over the death of
Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed two months
ago. An analysis overseen by the United States suggested that she was shot by
Israeli soldiers who were conducting a raid nearby, but it stopped short of
drawing a definitive conclusion. The murky outcome led to more anger than
clarity.
Biden
has also been pressed by mainly progressive Democrats to raise the issue of
Washington Post journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered in Turkey.
But
Saudi Arabia looks and feels starkly different than just five years ago, when
religious police still roamed the streets chastising women for wearing bright nail
polish in malls, enforcing gender segregation in public places and ordering
restaurants to turn off background music. Women can now drive, travel abroad
without the permission of a male relative and attend sporting events in
stadiums once reserved solely for men. Movie theaters and concerts, including
one with pop star Justin Bieber, have government backing, a major change after
decades of ultraconservative Wahhabi influence.
Oil
production
Biden
will likely face pressure to temper his criticism of Saudi Arabia’s human
rights record to persuade the kingdom and its neighbors to pump more oil and
alleviate months of sky-high prices at the gas pump.
Energy
analysts say drivers shouldn’t get their hopes up. “If the public is looking
for lower gasoline prices after this trip, I think they’re bound to be
disappointed,” said Samantha Gross, director of the energy security and climate
initiative at the Brookings Institution.
The
Saudis, among the biggest energy producers in the world, are already producing
near their full capacity of 11 million barrels of oil per day. And members of
OPEC+ nations, including the Saudis, are likely to be cautious when it comes to
demands from the US.
In
2020, as the coronavirus pandemic severely scaled back travel, Trump urged OPEC+
to scale back production as the US oil industry wobbled.
Now,
as the Russian invasion of Ukraine has driven up prices, Biden wants OPEC+ to
produce more even though there are fears of a global recession around the
corner.
Elevated
oil prices are simply good business for the Saudis, the de facto leader of
OPEC+. The kingdom reported that the value of its crude exports were about a $1
billion per day in March and April, a 123 percent increase compared to the same
period in 2021.
India
Another
partnership is also taking shape while Biden is traveling in the Middle East.
He’ll be convening a virtual summit with the leaders of Israel, India and the
United Arab Emirates under a new moniker — the I2U2.
It
might seem like an unlikely collection of countries, but there are hopes for
productive collaboration. Navdeep Suri, a former Indian ambassador to the UAE,
said the initiative is intended to bring together Israeli technology, UAE
capital and Indian skills.
“We
are seeing a churn in the region and for India, it is better to be on the table
rather than off the table,” he added.
Ned
Price, a spokesman for the US State Department, said there’s a lot of
opportunity for deepening relationships.
“There
are a number of areas where these countries can work together, whether it’s
technology, whether it’s trade, whether it is climate, whether it’s COVID, and
potentially even security as well,” he said.
Talmeez
Ahmed, India’s former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, suggested there would be
limits to security cooperation, and he’s skeptical about the new initiative.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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Africa
Tinubu-Shettima:
Act on APC’s Muslim-Muslim ticket through PVC – Buhari’s aide to Nigerians
July
11, 2022
By
Wale Odunsi
Tolu
Ogunlesi, President Muhammadu Buhari’s assistant on Digital and New Media, has
spoken on reactions to the emergence of Senator Kashim Shettima as ex-Lagos
governor Bola Tinubu’s running mate.
The
All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate made the announcement on
Sunday in Daura, Katsina State.
The
decision has divided Nigerians, pitching supporters of other parties and
candidates against the APC and its followers.
While
some argue that competence should be considered ahead of religion, others
insist religion must not be regulated.
On
Monday, Ogunlesi advised opponents to wait for 2023.
He
said instead of anger and tantrums, aggrieved Nigerians should express their
position during the general election.
“Express
your view about APC’s Muslim-Muslim ticket through the ballot box. That’s why
you have a PVC (Permanent Voter’s Card).
“And
let’s all work for the freest and fairest elections we can possibly have.
Everything else is just talk.
“If
you think a Muslim-Muslim ticket is absolutely unacceptable in Nigeria today,
you have several other options to choose from.
Source:
Daily Post Nigeria
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Jordan
says never regards Iran as ‘national threat’
Laith
al-Junaidi
11.07.2022
AMMAN,
Jordan
Jordan
said it has never considered Iran a threat to its national security.
“We
have never looked at Iran as a source of threats to our national security,”
Jordanian Prime Minister Bisher al-Khasawneh told the BBC in an interview.
The
premier said Amman is seeking to establish good relations with Tehran. “Jordan
has substantial reservations about the way Iran is dealing with some regional
files,” he added.
“Jordan
seeks to reach a formula of dialogue with Iran based on relations of
neighborliness,” al-Khasawneh said.
Jordan’s
relations with Iran were severely damaged after the Jordanian support to Iraq
during its war with Tehran in the 1080s.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/jordan-says-never-regards-iran-as-national-threat-/2634765
--------
URL:
https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/british-military-uk-afghanistan-bbc/d/127464