Delhi High Court Observes: Nobody Can Have a Copyright on the Teachings Given In the Holy Books Quran and Hadees and Other Religious Text; These Are Bound To Be Same
New Age Islam News Bureau
04 August 2022
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• Aligarh
Muslim University to Include 'Sanatan Dharma', Along With Other Religions, In
New Course
• Taliban Say Investigating US Claim of Killing
Al-Qaida Leader Zawahiri in A US Drone Strike in Kabul
• Religious Scholars of All Schools Of Thought Vow To
Forge National Unity, Harmony and Peace
• European Governments Accused Of Giving Almost €80m
to Muslim Brotherhood-Linked Groups
India
• Plea, Filed By Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha
Treasurer, Seeking ‘Jalabhishek’ Of Laddoo Gopal at Shahi Eidgah Mosque Dismissed
• Rehan, a Youth Arrested From UP For Allegedly
Posting an "Objectionable" Tweet, Asking India to Be Made an Islamic
Country
• HC Stays Proceedings In Case Seeking Removal of Shahi
Eidgah Mosque
• UP MLA's Father Sits on Dharna over Mosque-Shaped
Gate in Pratapgarh
• 30 Afghan Sikhs arrive in India, 110 still stuck
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South
Asia
• Second Deputy Prime Minister of the Islamic Emirate
Calls U.S. Drone Strike Violation of Doha Agreement
• Doha Peace Pact in Tatters As US & Taliban
Accuse Each Other Of Violations after Zawahiri Killing
• Clash in Afghan Capital; Taliban Besieges House in
Karta-e-Sakhi Area
• Taliban Settles Multi-Million Dollar Unpaid Debt to
Uzbekistan for Electricity
--------
Pakistan
• Valmikis Converge On Lahore Temple ‘After 20 Years’
• Peace talk between Pak tribal council leaders and
TTP reaches deadlock: Report
• PTI files reference with Supreme Judicial Council,
seeks removal of CEC
• ANP protests Imran’s ‘indecent’ remarks against
Pakhtuns
• Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan will have 'serious
implications' for regional peace: Pakistan
--------
Europe
• British PM candidate Rishi Sunak pledges crackdown
on Islamist extremism
• Turkish coast guards save 194 irregular migrants
pushed back by Greece
• UK leadership hopeful Rishi Sunak criticized over
anti-terror propositions
• Sydney realtor says deaths of Saudi sisters not
random incident as crime scene apartment put back on market
--------
Southeast
Asia
• Malaysia and Turkiye Finalising Discussions on
Currency Swap Deal, Says Saifuddin
• Dr Mahathir: New concept on Malay and Islamic agenda
to be initiated
• Japan welcomes the extension of Yemen truce, hails
Saudi role
--------
Arab
World
• UAE, Egypt Discuss Cooperation on Money Laundering
and Terrorist Financing
• Bahraini Regime Tightens Crackdown on Shias Ahead Of
Ashura Commemorations
• Iraq's Sadr Says Parliament Sit-In Will Continue
Until Demands Met
• Iraq’s Sadr calls for dissolving Parliament, holding
early elections
• Kuwait, Oman, and UAE welcome truce extension
agreement in Yemen
• Northern Iraq's Ezidis say PKK terrorists,
international neglect keeps them stranded in camps
• Daesh/ISIS terrorists kill 5 soldiers in eastern
Iraq
• Saudi Arabia announces bid to host 2029 Asian Winter
Games
--------
Mideast
• Iran: No Discrimination in Islamic Human Rights
• Iran's Human Rights Chief Blasts EU's Inaction on
Cruel US Sanctions
• Jenin fighters vow to 'scatter bodies of Israeli
troops on mountains'
• Turkish warplanes continue to bombard northern Iraq
despite global outcry
• Turkey Says Greek Move against Muslims' Local
Leaders 'Unacceptable'
• Iran Preparing Three Remote-Sensing Satellites for
Launch into Orbit
• Iran Calls on IAEA Chief to Stop Politicized
Approach
• Spokesman: Iran's Support for 'One China' Policy
Indubitable
• Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator to travel to Vienna
to resume 2015 nuclear deal talks
• Israel’s road closures along border with Gaza Strip
amount to ‘crime against humanity’: Hamas
• Iran supports ceasefire renewal, lasting peace in
Yemen: Envoy
--------
Africa
• Ennahda Party Says Leader Faces Politically
Motivated Police Investigation
• Somalia should shape Horn of Africa’s geopolitics
--------
North
America
• Iran, US, EU to Send Envoys to Vienna For Nuclear
Talks
• Sullivan expresses concern over Iranian-American
journalist’s safety
• US approves billions of dollars’ worth of arms sales
to Saudi Arabia, UAE
Compiled by New
Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/holy-books-quran-and-hadees-religious-text/d/127646
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Delhi High Court Observes: Nobody Can Have a Copyright
on the Teachings Given In the Holy Books Quran and Hadees and Other Religious
Text; These Are Bound To Be Same
Representative image
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By: Express News Service | New Delhi |
August 3, 2022
A Delhi court dismissed a copyright infringement suit
filed over the publication of a book titled ‘Islamic Studies’ and imposed a
cost of Rs 50,000 on the plaintiff, observing that nobody can have a copyright
on the teachings in the Quran and other Islamic books.
District Judge (Commercial) Sanjeev Kumar Aggarwal in
his order dated July 25 observed, “Some contents are bound to be similar as
teaching given in the Holy Books Quran and Hadees and other religious text
related to Islam religion are bound to be same in all books which are about teaching
on Islam. In my view, nobody can have copyright on these teachings which are
written in the Holy Books Quran and Hadees or other Islamic books.”
The suit was filed by Islamic Book Service (P) Ltd, a
publisher and exporter of Islamic books situated in Delhi’s Daryaganj, claiming
that Maulvi Abdul Aziz, as the owner and author of the literary work titled
‘Islami Taleemat’ series of books, Part I to VIII, had assigned its copyright
to the company unconditionally and also handed over the manuscript of the work
against consideration.
The company alleged that in May 2018, it came to know
that the defendant, one Abdur Rauf Najeeb Bakali, started publishing the
literary work of Maulvi Aziz in the name and style of ‘Islamic Studies Grade I
to Grade 5’.
The company said that it had been publishing the book
series ‘Studies in Islam’ (Grade I to Grade VIII) exclusively and continuously
since 1992 and the same is sold on an extensive scale in Delhi as well as
abroad. The company alleged that the defendant infringed its copyrights in
‘Studies in Islam’ by publishing the book ‘Islamic Studies’.
While examining whether the defendant had copied
content from ‘Studies in Islam Grade I’ in its book ‘Islamic Studies’, the
court observed, “No comparison of the books of plaintiff and defendant was
given to show either in the plaint or in the evidence of PW1 (prosecution
witness) so that it could be said that the defendant has copied the plaintiff
book and thus infringed the copyright work of book ‘Studies in Islam’.”
Rejecting the company’s argument that the names of
both the books ‘Islamic Studies’ and ‘Studies in Islam’ were almost similar as
it contained the words ‘Islam’ and ‘studies’, the court said, “In my view there
cannot be any copyrights on word ‘Islam’ or ‘studies’. The name of the
plaintiff’s book is ‘Studies in Islam’ whereas the name of the defendant’s book
is ‘Islamic Studies’. The colour printing of the cover page of both the books
is also quite different.”
The court thus held that the company “miserably
failed” to prove that it had any copyright over the book ‘Islamic Studies’ or
that the defendant had committed any infringement of copyright of its book by
publishing ‘Islamic Studies’.
The court said that the plaintiff is not entitled to
any relief and dismissed the company’s suit with a cost of Rs 50,000, which the
company has to pay to the defendant for the fees and expenses incurred by him.
Source: Indian Express
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Aligarh Muslim University to Include 'Sanatan Dharma',
Along With Other Religions, In New Course
Aligarh Muslim University (File Photo | PTI)
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Aug 4, 2022
AGRA: Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has decided to
include Sanatan Dharma, along with other religions, in its course curriculum
from the next academic session. For this, the varsity is going to start a
post-graduate course in comparative religion. So far, it has been offering
courses only in Islamic studies.
AMU spokesperson M Shafey Kidwai said,
"Chairperson of the Islamic Studies department has moved a proposal to
start a course on comparative studies will be offered from the next session.
Religious texts of Sanatan Dharma and other faiths will be taught along with
Islamic studies."
Chairman, department of Islamic Studies, Mohammad
Ismail, said, "Like Islamic studies, we aspire to offer quality education
concerning Sanatan Dharma and other religions. In the new course, there will be
lessons on the Vedas, Purans, Upanishads, Ramayana, Gita and other scriptures
related to Sanatan Dharma. Teachings of Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and other
religions will also be there in the curriculum."
Professor Ismail said that the department has been
functioning since 1948. Over 1,000 students are enrolled in undergraduate,
postgraduate and PhD programmes. At least 10 students from Iran, Thailand,
Bangladesh and other central Asian countries are pursuing research there. The
department has a library with over 70,000 books.
This comes even as the the department of Islamic
Studies has decided to remove books by two authors from the syllabus. These
authors are Maulana Abul Ala Maududi of Pakistan and Syed Qutb of Egypt.
The decision came after more than 20 educationists
wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding that these books be
banned as the content of these books supported the Islamic State.
"The board of studies will formally endorse the
decision in its meeting to be held within a fortnight. There have been
objections against the inclusion of books by these authors. Therefore, we have
decided to remove them from the course curriculum to avoid unnecessary
controversy," said professor Ismail.
Source: Times Of India
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Taliban Say Investigating US Claim of Killing Al-Qaida
Leader Zawahiri in A US Drone Strike in Kabul
Al-Qaida Leader Zawahiri
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Aug 4, 2022
ISLAMABAD: The Taliban are investigating a US
"claim" that al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in a US
drone strike in Kabul, a Taliban official said on Thursday, indicating the
group's leadership were not aware of his presence there.
The United States killed Zawahiri with a missile fired
from a drone while he stood on a balcony at his Kabul hideout on Sunday, US
officials said, in the biggest blow to the militants since Osama bin Laden was
shot dead more than a decade ago.
"The government and the leadership wasn’t aware
of what is being claimed, nor any trace there," Suhail Shaheen, the
designated Taliban representative to the United Nations, who is based in Doha,
told journalists in a message.
"Investigation is underway now to find out about
the veracity of the claim," he said, adding that the results of the
investigation would be shared publicly.
Taliban leaders have remained largely tight-lipped
about the Sunday drone strike and have not confirmed the presence or death of
Zawahiri in Kabul.
Top Taliban leaders have been holding lengthy
discussions about how to respond to the US drone strike, three sources in the
group said.
How the Taliban react could have significant
repercussions as the group seeks international legitimacy and access to
billions of dollars in frozen funds, following their defeat of a US-backed
government a year ago.
Zawahiri, an Egyptian doctor, was closely involved in
the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and was one of the world's
most wanted men.
His death in Kabul raises questions about whether he
received sanctuary from the Taliban, who had assured the United States as part
of a 2020 agreement on the withdrawal of US-led forces that they would not
harbour other militant groups.
Shaheen said the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan - the
name the Taliban use for the country and their government - was committed to
the agreement, signed in the Qatari capital, Doha.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken said the Taliban
had "grossly violated" the agreement by hosting and sheltering
Zawahiri.
Source: Times Of India
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Religious Scholars Of All Schools Of Thought Vow To
Forge National Unity, Harmony And Peace
8 Most Influential Islamic
Scholars in Pakistan
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August 04, 2022
LAHORE:
Religious scholars of all schools of thought pledged
on Wednesday to continue playing their key role for national unity, stability,
harmony and peace.
This was asserted in a joint declaration issued after
Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi presided over a meeting of the Punjab
Ittehad Bainul Muslimeen Committee.
Ulema, Khatteebs and Zakirs will adopt a moderate and
positive attitude in their sermons, it declared and added that Islam teaches
showing tolerance towards ‘Ahl-e-kitab’ and non-Muslims; so the ulema will
emphasise tolerance and unity of Muslims in their sermons and will completely
reject differences, especially during Muharram to help establish peace and
harmony.
“The ulema of all schools of thought also agree that
no Muslim should be hurt and we will all adhere strictly to this policy.
Terrorism and killings in the name of religion are anti-Islam and we strongly
condemn them,” the declaration read.
“We will avoid such writings and speeches that could
hurt any school of thought,” the clerics declared.
It was stated that the country was going through a
critical period in its history and “we are determined to strengthen and
stabilise the country by making it a cradle of peace and stability by showing
patience, courage and prudence. We pray to Almighty Allah to protect our
beloved homeland and make our efforts of promoting unity among Muslims
fruitful.”
Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi vowed to take action
against the publication and sale of hate literature.
He announced that indiscriminate action will be taken
against those who spread hateful content on social media.
Religious scholars attending the meeting appreciated
the initiative of the chief minister for making an affidavit about the Finality
of Prophethood (PBUH) mandatory in the marriage certificate.
The CM said ulema and mashaikh had always guided the
nation and he appreciated their role in maintaining brotherhood, tolerance and
unity in the society.
He said special committees including administrative
and police officials and ulema have been formed in districts for religious
tolerance and peace during Muharram.
In order to maintain peace at the grassroots,
decisions will be made in consultation, he said.
He asserted that the publication and sale of any
literature containing hateful content cannot be allowed under any
circumstances.
The chief minister also ordered the formation of a
committee headed by former minister Basharat Raja and having representation of
administration and police officials along with religious scholars to resolve
issues of the ulema.
Australian cooperation
Australian High Commissioner Neil Hawkings also met
Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi and discussed promotion of bilateral relations and
increasing cooperation in the fields of health, education, agriculture,
livestock, sports and culture.
Both sides agreed to start an exchange programme for
training officers of police and other departments.
The CM said Australia had great expertise in
agriculture, dairy development and livestock and Punjab wanted to utilise the
Australian model in the areas.
There are significant investment opportunities
available for Australia in the information technology and tourism sectors and
the exchange of cultural delegations between Pakistan and Australia will also
increase friendly relations, he concluded.
The Australian high commissioner said every possible
cooperation would be extended to the Punjab government to enhance partnership
in various fields.
MNA Moonis Elahi, the chief secretary and other senior
officials were also present.
Source: Tribune Pakistan
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https://tribune.com.pk/story/2369297/ulema-vow-to-forge-harmony
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European Governments Accused Of Giving Almost €80m To Muslim
Brotherhood-Linked Groups
The latest Global
Influence Operations Report documented €79,551,732 in donations given to groups
with reported links to the Muslim Brotherhood. AP
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Nicky Harley
London
Aug 03, 2022
Muslim Brotherhood-linked groups have received almost
€80 million in funding from European governments over the past decade, a report
has revealed.
The latest Global Influence Operations Report
documented €79,551,732 in donations given to groups with reported links to the
Muslim Brotherhood by the European Union, the Council of Europe and various
national governments since 2004.
“The threats to European civil society posed by the
Global Muslim Brotherhood include hindering the integration of minorities,
inciting conflict between ethnic groups, fostering hatred and incubating
terrorism,” the report said.
“Tracing and identifying funding sources for the
Global Muslim Brotherhood is one of the most challenging tasks for analysts. Nevertheless,
Gior research into the Muslim Brotherhood has identified a variety of funding
streams, one of which is European governments.”
In one incident mentioned in the report, the EU
Commission awarded more than €53,000 to a Belgium partner organisation of
France's Collective Against Islamophobia in France.
The charity was forced to close before the French
government moved to dissolve it in 2020 after it was accused of taking part in
a social media campaign against a French history teacher who was murdered for
showing his class caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed.
The report showed that the charity was linked to the
Muslim Brotherhood and its founder’s grandsons, Tariq and Hani Ramadan, and had
been described as an “Islamist pharmacy” and an “enemy of the Republic” by
France’s Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.
Islamic Relief was given more than €33.7m by the EU
between 2007 to 2020, the EU Financial Transparency database used in the study
showed.
The German government has previously stated that there
are “significant personnel connections” between Islamic Relief Germany and the
Muslim Brotherhood and it has halted its funding.
Last year, Vice President of the European Parliament
Nicola Beer wrote to the European Commission and said it was unacceptable for
Islamic Relief to receive funding if it has connections to the Muslim
Brotherhood.
“European funds must not fall into the hands of
organisations that are responsible for anti-Semitism or other hatred,” she
said.
The US and the Netherlands have also stopped funding
the charity.
Islamic Relief denies it has ties to the Muslim
Brotherhood.
MEP Tomas Zdechovsky has described the funding given
to groups linked to the Muslim Brotherhood as “ridiculous”.
“The threats of non-violent Islamism posed by the
Muslim Brotherhood and associated organisations are, in an almost punishable
manner, overlooked and underestimated in Europe,” he told the Brussels Morning
Newspaper.
“The goal of the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing less
than to undermine and destroy western democracy. That said, Muslim Brotherhood
and associated organisations still receive substantial financial support from
public resources and are facilitating a platform to influence public opinion in
Europe.
“Islamist study and cultural associations are aided at
all levels of governance in Europe. Member states send multimillion[-euro]
donations to organisations such as Islamic Relief, which, although involved in
charity work, still holds an Islamist agenda and anti-Semitism views.
He added that organisations looking to “destroy our
freedom” should not be supported.
“Providing financial support and facilitating the
public exposure at the EU and all lower levels of governance to organisations
influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood is an absurd but sure quest of Europe to
self-destruction,” Mr Zdechovsky said.
“Assigning EU funds to people who want to destroy our
freedom is ridiculous. We cannot ignore this danger anymore because the future
of liberty in entire Europe is at stake.”
Last October, the report “Network of Networks: The
Muslim Brotherhood in Europe” described the EU funding of organisations linked
to the group and said that the level of education among legislators and
bureaucrats about the Muslim Brotherhood needed to the raised.
MEP Charlie Weimers said the report's findings were
“concerning” and he has asked the European Commission to cease funding the
groups.
Source: The National News
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India
Plea, Filed By Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha Treasurer,
Seeking ‘Jalabhishek’ Of Laddoo Gopal at Shahi Eidgah Mosque Dismissed
Aug 04, 2022
AGRA A revision plea seeking ‘Jalabhishek’ of ‘Laddoo Gopal’
at Shahi Eidgah Mosque in Mathura was dismissed by the court of additional
district judge (court no. 7) in Mathura on Wednesday. The application was filed
by Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha (ABHM) treasurer Dinesh Sharma.
“On May13, 2022, we had moved an application in our
case no. 174 of 2021 (Thakur Keshav Dev ji Maharaj Vs Management Committee,
Shahi Eidgah Mosque and others) in the court of civil judge (senior division),
Mathura seeking permission to conduct ‘jalabhishek’ (offering water) on ‘Laddoo
Gopal’ within the premises of the mosque where Lord Krishna was born. But the
court fixed July 1, 2022 for hearing in the case,” stated Sharma.
“Thereafter, no orders were passed by the court in
July. With Janmashtami approaching on August 18, I had filed a revision plea
last month, seeking permission to perform the ritual. The court fixed August 3
as the next date for hearing my application,” he stated.
“The said revision was taken up today in court of
additional district judge, Mathura, who was of the view that with a civil case
already on with similar applications, there was no logic for the revision to
continue,” he stated after the hearing.
“The court of additional district judge (Mathura),
Sanjay Chaudhary, heard the matter and found the revision not maintainable and
thus dismissed it at stage of admission only. The order passed by ADJ (court
no. 07) is legally valid and we welcome the order,” stated Tanveer Ahmed,
secretary and counsel for the management committee of Shahi Eidgah Mosque.
Lawyers including Neeraj Sharma, Abrar Hussain,
Saurabh Srivastava along with Tanveer Ahmed appeared for the mosque management
committee in the case.
Dinesh Sharma had filed case no. 174 of 2021 in the
court of civil judge (senior division), Mathura, and moved various applications
in the case in May. Sharma had also filed an application seeking survey of the
Shahi Eidgah Mosque by an advocate commissioner in this case. Finding no order
from court over that application, he (Sharma) preferred another revision, which
too was dismissed by the same court on July 28, 2022.
Since September 2020, a dozen such cases related to
Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi and Shahi Eidgah Mosque had been filed in Mathura
court.
Source: Hindustan Times
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Rehan, A Youth Arrested From UP For Allegedly Posting
An "Objectionable" Tweet, Asking India To Be Made An Islamic Country
August 04, 2022
Ballia: A youth was arrested from Uttar Pradesh's
Ballia district for allegedly posting an "objectionable" tweet,
asking India to be made an Islamic country, police said on Thursday.
Rehan, a resident of Chachaiyan village in Nagra area,
on Wednesday posted maps of India and Pakistan on Twitter and wrote India
should be made an Islamic state, said Nagra Station House Officer Devendra Nath
Dubey.
Source: Firstpost
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HC stays proceedings in case seeking removal of Shahi
Eidgah mosque
Aug 04, 2022
PRAYAGRAJ The Allahabad high court on Wednesday stayed
proceedings pending before the Mathura court in a suit filed by the Shri
Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust and others seeking to remove the Shahi Eidgah Masjid,
allegedly built on the land of Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura.
The order was passed by Justice Salil Kumar Rai while
hearing a petition challenging the judgment and order dated May 19, 2022,
passed by the district judge, Mathura, wherein the court had held that the suit
to remove the Shahi Eidgah Masjid, allegedly built on the land of Shri Krishna
Janmabhoomi is maintainable.
The court also directed respondents to file
counter-affidavits by the next date of hearing in the case, which will be fixed
by the registrar later.
The district judge, in the May 19 order, directed the
trial court to hear the case again and pass appropriate order on it.
The petitioner’s (U.P. Sunni Central Waqf Board) plea
was that the order was without jurisdiction in as much as the valuation of the
revision was more than Rs.25,00,000 and, therefore, the district judge did not
have the pecuniary jurisdiction to hear the revision.
Source: Hindustan Times
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UP MLA's father sits on dharna over mosque-shaped gate
in Pratapgarh
Abhishek Mishra
Pratapgarh
August 3, 2022
Kunda MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh's father, Raja Uday
Pratap Singh, on Wednesday protested over a mosque-shaped gateway in Uttar
Pradesh's Pratapgarh district. The gate was themed around the pillars of a
mosque as part of Muharram celebrations.
Uday Pratap Singh told India Today that a mosque-like
gate was built across the road in Sheikhpur village and alleged that Hindus are
being forced to pass through it. He had also asked residents to tweet to UP
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath regarding the same.
The temporary gateway installed on the
Lucknow-Prayagraj highway in Sheikhpur region has writings in Urdu and the
Kunda MLA's father objected to this.
"I do not know what has been written in Urdu on
that gate. We are being forced to pass through it. If the administration does
not remove it, the dharna will continue," he said.
Similarly, several Hindu outfits have also opposed the
idea of a mosque-shaped gateway.
On the other hand, the administration has taken
cognisance of the matter. Satish Chandra Tripathi, SDM Kunda, told India Today
that the gate has been there for the past 4-5 years and is a part of the local
custom.
Source: India Today
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30 Afghan Sikhs arrive in India, 110 still stuck
Aug 4, 2022
AMRITSAR/AMBALA: A group of 30 Sikhs, including two
minor children, arrived in Delhi from Kabul on Wednesday as evacuation of
Afghan minorities to India continues in the wake of religious persecution in
Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
These Afghan nationals arrived on board Kam Air Flight
and left for Gurdwara Sri Guru Arjan Dev, Tilak Nagar, New Delhi. "They
are likely to be rehabilitated by the World Punjabi Organisation (of AAP Rajya
Sabha MP Vikramjit Singh Sahney), Sobti Foundation, and other social
organisations," said Puneet Singh Chandok, president of Indian World
Forum. He said 110 Sikhs were still in Afghanistan while 61 were waiting for
the Indian government to clear their e-visa applications.
There was a terror attack on June 18, 2022 on the
gurdwara at Karte Parwan in Kabul and Afghan Sikhs have been repeatedly
targeted since then. A blast took place at a Sikh man's shop near the Gurdwara
Karte Parwan on July 27.
SGPC's Delhi Sikh Mission in-charge Surinder Pal Singh
said, "Thirty Afghan Sikhs who arrived from Kabul were transported to
Gurdwara Guru Arjan Dev Ji at Tilak Nagar in a bus arranged by SGPC. Some of
them will stay in the Gurdwara while others will go to their relatives and
families."
Source: Times Of India
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South
Asia
Second
Deputy Prime Minister of the Islamic Emirate Calls U.S. Drone Strike Violation
of Doha Agreement
By
Arif Ahmadi
04
Aug 2022
KABUL,
Afghanistan – Abdul Salam Hanafi, the second Deputy Prime Minister of the
Islamic Emirate, said the United States drone strike in Kabul violates both
national sovereignty and the Doha Agreement, according to sources.
On
Monday night, President Biden administration announced an American drone strike
killed Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri at an urban safe house in Afghanistan.
“These
issues are still unclear to us, the only thing we know for sure is that a drone
attack has taken place, which is against international law and the Doha
Agreement,” Hanafi said, as TOLOnews quoted.
American
intelligence agencies tracked down al-Zawahri in Kabul earlier this year and
then spent months determining if it really was him hiding out in a crowded
neighborhood of the Afghan capital, which drew questions whether the Taliban
provides sanctuary to terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.
But
the Islamic Emirate defied the criticism, saying Afghanistan soil is not used
for any thread against other countries, including the United States.
“The
Islamic Emirate’s policy, which has been repeatedly stated to the people, is
that our soil is not used against our neighbors,” Hanafi said.
Meanwhile,
political analysts believe the recent drone attack affected the relationship
between Washington and Kabul, saying now formal recognition of the Taliban is
completely out of the topic.
“This
(drone strike) means the non-recognition of the Islamic Emirate, now it is
1000% clear that no one will recognize it, and the US, which has shown some
flexibility to give Afghanistan’s money, now will definitely not give it,” said
Sayed Ishaq Gailani, leader of the Afghanistan Solidarity Movement.
“After
this, every claim the Taliban foreign minister has made or will make at
international meetings will be considered false,” said Aziz Marij, former
diplomat.
Earlier
this week, President Biden announced an American drone strike killed Al-Qaeda
leader Ayman al-Zawahri at an urban safe house in Afghanistan – a key plotter
of the 9/11 terrorist attacks who took over as the leader of Al Qaeda after
Osama bin Laden’s death.
“Now
justice has been delivered and this terrorist leader is no more,” Biden said in
a seven-minute nationally televised address from the White House, as the New
York Times quoted.
“We
make it clear again tonight,” he added, “that no matter how long it takes, no
matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the United States
will find you and take you out.”
The
Islamic Emirate spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid in a statement confirmed that a
strike took place and strongly condemned it, calling it a violation of
“international principles.”
“The
security and intelligence agencies of the Islamic Emirate investigated the
incident and found in their preliminary investigations that the attack was
carried out by American drones,” the statement read.
Source:
Khaama Press
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https://www.khaama.com/hanafi-calls-u-s-drone-strike-violation-of-doha-agreement/
--------
Doha
peace pact in tatters as US & Taliban accuse each other of violations after
Zawahiri killing
NAYANIMA
BASU
3
August, 2022
New
Delhi: More than two years after the US and the Taliban signed the Doha
Agreement and almost a year after the radical Islamist group took over
Afghanistan, both sides seem to have once again signalled that the peace deal
is over even as US President Joe Biden said Tuesday that al Qaeda chief Ayman
al-Zawahiri had been killed in a drone attack in Kabul by the CIA.
Washington
and Kabul have blamed each other for violating the commitments made under the
so-called peace deal, which was signed between Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump
and the Taliban in Doha in February 2020.
“By
hosting and sheltering the leader of al-Qa’ida in Kabul, the Taliban grossly
violated the Doha Agreement and repeated assurances to the world that they
would not allow Afghan territory to be used by terrorists to threaten the
security of other countries,” US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said
Tuesday, while announcing Zawahiri’s death.
“They
(the Taliban) also betrayed the Afghan people and their own stated desire for
recognition from and normalisation with the international community,” he added.
Blinken
further said that in the face of the Taliban’s “unwillingness or inability to
abide by their commitments”, the US will “continue to support the Afghan people
with robust humanitarian assistance and advocate for the protection of their
human rights, especially of women and girls”, effectively ruling out any kind
of recognition to the interim Taliban regime in Kabul.
The
Taliban, on the other hand, said that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA)
condemns the attack and stressed that it was a “clear violation of
international principles and the Doha Agreement”.
IEA
spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid in a statement said that they are investigating
the matter, and warned that such actions will work “against the interests of
the USA, Afghanistan and the region”.
Zawahiri
was killed Sunday by an American drone that hit his residence, located in the
Shirpur area of main Kabul city, as he came out on the balcony of his house.
This has given rise to questions on the Taliban’s claims that it will not allow
Afghan soil to be used for terrorism.
Tenets
of the Doha Agreement
The
Doha Agreement, also called the peace deal, was inked in February 2020 after
nine rounds of negotiations between the US and the Taliban.
It
was signed by former US special envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad and
Taliban political chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, with former US secretary of
state Mike Pompeo as a witness.
Under
the agreement, the Taliban had given guarantees to the US that it will not
allow terrorism to be nurtured on their soil.
Part
1 of the agreement states, “The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the United
States recognise that al-Qa’ida, ISIS-K and other international terrorist
groups or individuals continue to use Afghan soil to recruit members, raise
funds, train adherents and plan and attempt to conduct attacks that threaten
the security of the United States, its allies, and Afghanistan.”
As
a result, both parties had agreed to follow certain “steps to defeat the
al-Qa’ida, its affiliates” by way of not allowing these terror outfits to
“recruit, train, raise funds (including through the production or distribution
of narcotics), transit Afghanistan or misuse its internationally recognised
travel documents, or conduct other support activities in Afghanistan, and will
not host them.”
‘An
exercise in self-delusion’
Rakesh
Sood, veteran diplomat and former Indian envoy to Kabul, said, “The Doha Agreement
was an exercise in self-delusion on the part of the West, especially the US,
whose only interest was to get out of Afghanistan.”
“The
only commitment that mattered under the agreement was withdrawal of US troops
from that country…The Taliban always has links with the al Qaeda. Over half
dozen UNSC reports reiterated that ties between them are intact and stronger
than before,” he added.
The
four broad areas of the Doha Agreement were — counterterrorism actions by the
Taliban, a conditional timeline for US troops’ withdrawal, commencing
intra-Afghan talks, and discussion of conditions that would lead to a permanent
ceasefire.
Michael
Kugelman, deputy director and senior associate for South Asia at the Wilson
Center in Washington, said, “The Doha deal was always fragile and open to
contradictory interpretations. But the fact of the matter is that Zawahiri was
living in Kabul and the Taliban regime did nothing about it. That appears to be
a clear violation of the Doha deal stipulation that the Taliban not allow those
that threaten the US to be on Afghan soil.”
“The
location and length of Zawahari’s stay in Afghanistan shatters once and for all
the Taliban-propagated myth that it no longer has ties to al Qaeda. The Taliban
had to have known and helped him have that accommodation,” he added.
While
the agreement was signed at a time when the US was desperate to close “endless
wars”, it lacked teeth by way of an enforcement mechanism under which any of
the parties can file a legal dispute in case of a “violation”.
Source:
The Print
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--------
Clash
in Afghan Capital; Taliban Besieges House in Karta-e-Sakhi Area
By
Saqalain Eqbal
03
Aug 2022
According
to the Taliban’s security officials, they were conducting a clearing operation
in the Karta-e-Sakhi area in Kabul, the Afghan capital, when they were shot
from a high-rise structure above them.
The
Taliban’s spokesman for the Kabul Police, Khalid Zadran, said that the group’s
forces had besieged a residence while the special operation was currently
underway.
The
Taliban spokesman for Kabul Police made no particular mention of the
operation’s potential casualties, and the special operation’s purpose is also
still unknown.
This
morning at about 11:30, locals reported hearing gunfire in the Karta-e-Sakhi
area in Kabul’s third district.
The
sound of gunfire can be heard in the Karta-e-Sakhi area on the video footage
that has been making the rounds on social media today, Wednesday, August 3.
The
operation comes as a US drone attack killed the al-Qaeda leader, Ayman
al-Zawahiri, in the Sherpur area of Kabul, a diplomatic enclave where Taliban
leaders and commanders reside.
Source:
Khaama Press
Please click the following URL to read the full text
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https://www.khaama.com/clash-in-afghan-capital-taliban-besieges-house-in-karta-e-sakhi-area-37484/
--------
Taliban
Settles Multi-Million Dollar Unpaid Debt to Uzbekistan for Electricity
By
Saqalain Eqbal
03
Aug 2022
The
Energy Ministry of Uzbekistan announced on Monday that Afghanistan has paid off
its debt to Uzbekistan for the supply of electricity for the year 2021.
Afghanistan
has fully paid for the supply of energy in 2021 and is now making payments for
the supply of electricity in 2022, according to the Uzbek Energy Ministry.
The
actual figure of the outstanding debt was not disclosed by the Energy Ministry.
The Taliban government, however, stated in May that it owed Uzbekistan and
Tajikistan $100 million for energy, $70 million to Uzbekistan precisely.
It
had been unable to pay due to difficulties in moving funds through the
international banking system caused by the country’s sanctioned Taliban.
“The
calculations were made based on the demand of Afghanistan for electricity in
January-June. To date, 770.2 million kWh have been delivered,” the ministry’s
statement stated.
While
the government of the Taliban has been able to settle its debts with the Uzbek
government for electricity, Tajikistan on the other hand says Afghanistan
stands a considerable debt.
According
to Mohammad Omar Asuzada, the head of Tajikistan’s national power company,
Barqi Tojik, Afghanistan’s Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) owes
Tajikistan $28 million for electricity.
Source:
Khaama Press
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--------
Pakistan
Valmikis
converge on Lahore temple ‘after 20 years’
Sheharyar
Rizwan
August
4, 2022
LAHORE:
The recently re-acquired historic Valmiki temple in the Neela Gumbad area here
was formally inaugurated on Wednesday at an event organised under the auspices
of the Pakistan Hindu Mandir Management Committee (PHMMC) and the Evacuee Trust
Property Board (ETPB).
The
event was attended by over 100 Valmiki Hindus from across the country, as well
as various Sikh, Christian and Muslim leaders. The Hindu participants held
apuja, distributed langar among the participants and presented specialsaropay
(a scarf presented in Sikhism to felicitate and honour someone) and gifts to
the guests.
The
temple is said to be around 1,200 years old and possessed by a converted Hindu
family that, claiming to be the property owner, filed a case in the civil court
in 2010-2011. In the first week of July, the court admitted the ETPB was the
sole owner of the property after which the board retrieved its possession.
The
PHMMC members surveyed the renovation and construction work and appreciated the
ETPB’s efforts for the purpose, said Mr Amir Hashmi, the ETPB spokesman.
Additional
Secretary (Shrines) Rana Shahid was the chief guest at the event, which was
also attended by ETPB Deputy Secretary Faraz Abbas and other officials as well
as PHMMC President Krishan Sharma, General Secretary Diwan Chand Chawla and
committee member Amarnath Randhawa and others from across the country.
Christian community leader Jacqueline Tressler and Minhajul Quran’s Sohail Rana
were also present on the occasion.
Earlier,
a meeting of the temple management committee was held under the chairmanship of
ETPB Chairman Habibur Rehman Gilani at the board’s office, where all the
members through a unanimous resolution lauded the ETPB chairman and the shrines
administration, courts and judges for retrieving possession of the historic
Valmiki temple and initiating renovation and other administrative measures.
They said they had got the opportunity to come here and pray after 20 years.
Mr
Gilani assured the committee members of protecting Hindu temples and taking
appropriate measures for the welfare of the Hindu community. In light of the
directions of the federal government, the ETPB is making utmost efforts to
protect, rehabilitate and renovate religious sites of Hindus and Sikhs.
Talking
to Dawn, PHMMC President Sharma said it was a goodwill gesture and also a step
towards mainstreaming the community and should be applauded. “As a Pakistani
Hindu, two things that Hindus and the insulated community fear here: freedom of
faith or belief regarding which there were questions socially, politically,
administratively, and secondly social protection. In India mosques are getting
deserted, people are being harassed, whether they are Dalits or Hindus. While
in a country created in the name of Islam, temples are reopening every other
day.”
The
Valmiki sect of Hindus are a poor segment of society who have no say or access,
Mr Sharma explained, adding they had regained access to this temple now. “The
role of Valmikis is very significant in Hindu mythology; had they not written
the Ramayan, no one would know Ram. Earlier, this temple was not being used for
worshipping, those possessing it didn’t allow anyone to enter. But now, every
Hindu can come in and pray,” he added.
Source:
Dawn
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1703136/valmikis-converge-on-lahore-temple-after-20-years
--------
Peace
talk between Pak tribal council leaders and TTP reaches deadlock: Report
01.08.22
The
talks between Pakistan's tribal council leaders and the outlawed
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) being held in Afghanistan have reached a
deadlock, further complicating Pakistan's government's efforts to end nearly
two decades of militancy in the restive border region.
The
latest impasse comes after the militant group refused to back down from its
demand for the reversal of the merger of erstwhile Federally Administered
Tribal Areas with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the Express Tribune
newspaper reported on Monday.
The
outfit has also refused to lay down the arms in case a peace deal materialises,
the report said.
The
12-member delegation, which is led by Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif, special
assistant to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister, reached Kabul on Saturday
for the second round of negotiations with the TTP leadership.
The
visit comes a day after the return of the delegation of Pakistani clerics, headed
by Mufti Taqi Usmani, who visited Afghanistan from July 25 to 29.
The
first meeting was very brief in which the two sides introduced themselves and
then concluded soon after Mufti Usmani offered prayers for the success of the
peace process.
Mullah
Hasan and interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani organised the second meeting in
which the two sides openly discussed issues pertaining to the peace process.
Now tribal elders are in Afghanistan to hold the second round of talks.
"There
is a deadlock. And the prospects of a peace deal are not bright, a source
connected to the peace efforts was quoted as saying by the paper.
The
second round of talks comes as the Pakistan government and the TTP last month
agreed to extend a ceasefire indefinitely while continuing negotiations to find
an end to the nearly two decades of militancy.
The
purpose of the delegation's visit was to use the goodwill of these religious
clerics to persuade the TTP to withdraw their demands.
Pakistan
began talks with the TTP in October last year at the request of the Afghan
Taliban to seek a political solution to this festering issue.
The
TTP, also known as the Pakistan Taliban, was set up as an umbrella group of
several militant outfits in 2007. Its main aim is to impose its strict brand of
Islam across Pakistan.
The
group, which is believed to be close to al-Qaeda, has been blamed for several
deadly attacks across Pakistan, including an attack on army headquarters in
2009, assaults on military bases and the 2008 bombing of the Marriott Hotel in
Islamabad.
Source:
Telegraph India
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--------
PTI
files reference with Supreme Judicial Council, seeks removal of CEC
Nasir
Iqbal
August
4, 2022
ISLAMABAD:
A day after the announcement of the verdict by the Election Commission of
Pakistan in the prohibited funding case, the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf moved a
reference before the Supreme Judicial Council against Chief Election
Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja on Wednesday.
Moved
through Babar Awan, the reference pleaded with the SJC to order removal of the
CEC on account of the “commission of continuous and deliberate misconduct”.
The
reference alleged that on July 29, a delegation of the Pakistan Democratic
Movement (PDM) met the CEC and four other members of the ECP in his office to
“pressure” him into announcing the verdict in the prohibited funding case.
It
was a consequence of that meeting that the Election Commission decided to
deliver the verdict on Aug 2.
Imran
reaffirms party decision to hold protest outside ECP offices today
Thus
the CEC allegedly violated his oath, the reference argued.
The
reference contended that the ECP decision was illegal, unlawful and coram non
judice. The PTI will challenge the order in court, it added.
The
reference further argued the CEC had violated the ECP’s code of conduct and
failed to fulfil his constitutional obligations.
The
code of conduct for judges of the superior judiciary applies to the chief
election commissioner as well, the PTI said, adding that a high court judge
never discusses pending cases with any person or institution.
“The
CEC must be removed from one of the most respectable and sacred constitutional
posts,” the reference said.
Joint
hearing
Sikandar
Sultan Raja, the CEC, had dismissed many PTI applications in the prohibited
funding case, including a request to conduct a joint hearing in funding cases
of PTI and other parties, the reference said.
The
Islamabad High Court provided relief to PTI, asking the ECP to extend an equal
treatment to all political parties and to hear their cases with due diligence
and to concluded these within a reasonable time, the reference said.
Instead,
the reference complained, the ECP announced a verdict in the PTI case only and
kept the cases of other parties in abeyance. “This is absolute discrimination.”
It
is a routine matter that judges of the Supreme Court meet members of the
Pakistan Bar Council, the Supreme Court Bar Association and other lawyer
forums, but it has been observed recently that the apex court refused to meet a
delegation of the Supreme Court Bar Association during hearing of the suo motu
petition under article 184(3) of the Constitution in the “Parvez Elahi versus
Deputy Speaker, Punjab Assembly” case since it was one of the parties in the
proceedings.
The
same rule applied to the CEC, the reference said, but he not only met the PDM
delegation but also admitted that a discussion did take place on the timing of
the judgement in PTI prohibited funding case.
The
reference recalled that the Lahore High Court had asked the Election Commission
in 2018 to dispose of a funding case related to the Peoples Party within one
month. But the ECP did not comply with the directive “only to benefit (PPP
chief) Bilawal Bhutto in the run-up to the general election”, the PTI alleged.
“The
discriminatory attitude of the respondent has been noticeable time and again
since 125 members of the National Assembly resigned their seats on April 9,
which was accepted by former deputy speaker (acting as Speaker) Qasim Suri.
“Their
resignations were published in the gazette on April 13 and sent to the ECP, but
they were not denotified, whereas the current National Assembly Speaker, by
doing an illegal and unconstitutional act, accepted the resignation of 11
members out of 125 and sent the reference to the CEC. He took no time to
denotify them,” the PTI said.
In
the disqualification case of Mohammad Kashif Chaudhry, a PML-N member of the
Punjab Assembly, the CEC delayed the process of his denotification, the PTI
said. But when Faisal Niazi, a former member of the Punjab Assembly belonging
to PML-N, resigned his seat to dissociate himself from his party, the CEC
delayed the denotification process, the reference alleged.
Electronic
voting machine
The
CEC has been opposing the introduction of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) so
that the PTI’s opponents “are able to use unfair means during elections”, the
reference further alleged.
The
PTI-led government in the centre was toppled through a “conspiracy initiated
upon the cypher issued by Donald Lu, a US Deputy Undersecretary of State”, on
March 8, the reference alleged.
Meanwhile,
Imran Khan said he would thank the coalition government if they included his
name in the exit control list (ECL), adding he did not want to fly abroad as he
didn’t own any flats there.
Khan,
in an interview with a private news channel, said PTI will approach the Supreme
Judicial Commission against Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja.
Source:
Dawn
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--------
ANP
protests Imran’s ‘indecent’ remarks against Pakhtuns
August
4, 2022
PESHAWAR:
Awami National Party leaders and workers on Wednesday demonstrated against PTI
chairman Imran Khan for allegedly using indecent remarks against Pakhtuns.
ANP
spokesperson MPA Samar Haroon Bilour, former MPA Yasin Khalil, Sana Gulzar
Advocate, Sher Rehman, trade leader Mujabur Rehman and large number of workers
gathered in front of the Peshawar Press Club to register their protest.
They
said the verdict of the Election Commission of Pakistan in the foreign funding
case against the PTI had proved that Imran Khan received prohibited funding
from foreign nationals.
On
the occasion, ANP leaders said Pakhtuns had respect for PTI and Imran Khan, but
he totally disregarded their sympathies.
Source:
Dawn
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of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1703118/anp-protests-imrans-indecent-remarks-against-pakhtuns
--------
Nancy
Pelosi's visit to Taiwan will have 'serious implications' for regional peace:
Pakistan
Aug
3, 2022
ISLAMABAD:
Lending its support to its all-weather ally China, Pakistan on Wednesday said
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan will have "serious
implications" for regional peace and stability.
Pelosi
landed in Taipei on Tuesday night disregarding China's stern warnings. She is
the highest-ranking US official to visit Taiwan in 25 years. After Pelosi's
arrival in Taiwan, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a strong
statement, saying that her visit is a "serious violation of the one-China
principle and the provisions of the three China-US joint communiques".
China
claims Taiwan as part of the mainland and vows to integrate what it calls the
rebel province even by force.
The
Foreign Office said Pakistan "is deeply concerned over the evolving
situation in the Taiwan Strait, which has serious implications for regional
peace and stability”.
Pakistan
also reaffirmed its “strong commitment to the ‘One-China' Policy” and firmly
supported China's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The
statement said the world is already reeling through a critical security
situation due to the Ukraine conflict, with destabilising implications for
international food and energy security. The world cannot afford another crisis
that has negative consequences for global peace, security and economy.
Source:
Times Of India
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--------
Europe
British
PM candidate Rishi Sunak pledges crackdown on Islamist extremism
August
3, 2022
British-Indian
prime ministerial candidate Rishi Sunak on Wednesday pledged a crackdown on
Islamist extremism, the UK’s most “significant terror threat”, with a widened
government definition of extremism and strengthening existing terrorism
legislation.
The
42-year-old former Chancellor, who is seen closing the gap with opponent
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss in the race to 10 Downing Street, also vowed to
weed out organisations that promote extremism in the UK and refocus the
“failing” Prevent programme, a government tool intended to tackle Islamist
extremism.
“There
is no more important duty for a Prime Minister than keeping our country and our
people safe,” said Sunak, on the campaign trail to win Conservative Party
members’ votes.
“Whether
redoubling our efforts to tackle Islamist extremism or rooting out those who
are vocal in their hatred of our country, I will do whatever it takes to fulfil
that duty. Britain is a beacon of freedom, tolerance and diversity. We must
never let those who seek to undermine and destroy our way of life to succeed,”
he said.
The
Ready4Rishi campaign team released details of what has been dubbed as
“ambitious plans” to tackle Islamist extremism and protect the UK from
terrorism.
“Rishi
will refocus the failing Prevent programme onto the UK’s most significant
terror threat Islamist extremism and widen the government’s definition of
extremism to encompass those who vilify our country,” the statement said.
“By
far and away, the single largest terror threat to the UK’s national security is
Islamist extremism, but the organisation tasked with preventing terrorism in
the UK is failing on this front. Islamist extremists make up roughly 80 per
cent of live counter-terrorism investigations and 68 per cent of all extremists
in prison, but only 22 per cent of Prevent referrals and Channel cases,"
the statement noted.
"Rishi
would reform the Prevent programme so that the profile of cases in the
programme broadly reflects the terror threat posed to the UK.”
Sunak
also plans to review how the Prevent programme can be linked more effectively
with mental health services to improve Prevent’s ability to differentiate
between those with mental health problems and those with extreme world views.
Extremism
is defined in the 2011 Prevent strategy as “vocal or active opposition to
fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual
liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs",
and "calls for the death of members of our armed forces, whether in this
country or overseas”.
Sunak
in his campaign pledge notes that extremists do not just want to attack our
values, but our very existence.
Therefore,
he intends to add "vilification of the United Kingdom" to the
definition of extremism, making sure that those with an extreme hatred of the
country that leads them to pose a risk to national security can be
"identified and diverted away from a destructive path".
This
expanded definition is intended to help guide the public sector in its work to
keep the UK safe.
The
UK-born Indian-origin candidate in the race to succeed outgoing Tory leader and
Prime Minister Boris Johnson also believes there have been too many examples of
publicly funded charities and organisations accused of promoting extremist
ideology in the UK.
“Rishi
will conduct an audit of publicly funded third-party organisations starting
with those linked to the government’s anti-radicalisation work to make sure no
extremist organisation receives taxpayer money,” his campaign team said.
Additionally,
Sunak's plan to amend the Terrorism Act is intended to make the support of a
proscribed organisation and the encouragement of terrorism in a prison cell an
offence, even if it involves only two prisoners.
If
elected Prime Minister, he intends to pass a Bill of Rights to make it easier
to separate terrorists from the general prison population, making sure they can
no longer abuse our human rights framework to spread their "poisonous
ideology".
Source:
India Today
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--------
Turkish
coast guards save 194 irregular migrants pushed back by Greece
Zehra
Nur Düz
03.08.2022
Türkiye's
coast guards saved the lives of 194 irregular migrants in the Aegean Sea who
were illegally pushed to the Turkish side by Greek forces, the National Defense
Ministry said on Tuesday.
A
Turkish navy drone recorded footage of Greek forces pushing a boat carrying the
migrants to the coast of Cesme in Izmir province, the ministry said on Twitter.
It added that the situation was immediately reported to the Turkish Coast Guard
Command and the migrants were rescued.
Meanwhile,
the coast guards saved the lives of 188 others off Urla and Cesme districts
between Monday and Tuesday, the service said.
The
migrants were moved to the provincial migration office.
Human
rights groups and media outlets have frequently reported on illegal pushbacks
and other human rights breaches by Greek authorities.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
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--------
UK
leadership hopeful Rishi Sunak criticized over anti-terror propositions
Muhammad
Mussa
03.08.2022
LONDON
Rishi
Sunak, one of the main contenders to become the British prime minister and the
Conservative Party leader, has been criticized over his proposals to strengthen
the government’s anti-terror strategy.
Sunak’s
plans, which include expanding the definition of extremism and vilifying
individuals who are critical of the UK foreign policy, has been described by a
former senior police chief as damaging to the country’s national security as
well as its democratic and liberal credentials.
“The
widening of Prevent could damage its credibility and reputation. It makes it
more about people’s thoughts and opinions. It is straying into thought crimes
and political opinions,” Peter Fahy, Britain’s former police chief, said in a
statement.
“Political
opposition is not where police should be, it is those who pose a serious threat
and risk of violence, not those opposed to political systems,” Fahy added.
During
a Tuesday night hustings event, Sunak vowed to refocus Prevent, the
government’s anti-terrorism strategy, to tackle radical Muslim extremism,
describing the latter as the UK’s most significant terror threat.
The
leadership hopeful also promised to broaden this definition to include the
vilification of the UK, arguing that “those with an extreme hatred of our
country that leads them to pose a risk to national security can be identified
and diverted away from a destructive path.”
The
government’s Prevent program is highly controversial and has come under
repeated criticism by rights groups over suppression of free speech and
thought, often imprisoning innocent people on false accusations of extremism.
It
relies on information given to authorities by the public sector. Teachers,
doctors and work place managers have a duty under the program to report any
instances of radicalism to the authorities.
Fahy
argued that the danger in this strategy as well as in the new proposals put
forward by Sunak are the perceptions it creates of the public sector as a
government tool to spy on the public and who would define extremism and
vilification.
“The
danger is the perception it creates that teachers and health workers are
involved in state surveillance,” Fahy said.
“What
does vilification mean? Vilification would have to be carefully defined,” he
added.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Sydney
realtor says deaths of Saudi sisters not random incident as crime scene
apartment put back on market
August
04, 2022
CANBERRA,
Australia: The Sydney apartment where the bodies of two Saudi sisters were
found in June is back on the rental market with a real estate ad advising their
deaths were “not a random crime and will not be a potential risk for the
community.”
Asra
Abdullah Alsehli, 24, and her 23-year-old sister Amaal Abdullah Alsehli, were
found dead June 7 in separate bedrooms of the apartment in the southwest suburb
of Canterbury.
Police
believe they died in early May. The decomposed state of their remains
complicated the task of determining the causes of death.
The
first-floor Canterbury Road apartment was open for inspection on Monday with
rent set at 520 Australian dollars ($362) a week. That is AU$40 ($28) more than
the sisters were charged.
An
online ad said the apartment had been designated a crime scene and the
mysterious deaths remained under police investigation.
“According
to the police, this is not a random crime and will not be a potential risk for
the community,” the ad said.
But
police would not confirm or deny the realtor’s advice.
“As
the investigation is ongoing, police continue to appeal for information in
relation to the deaths of the two women,” a police statement said. “No further
information is available at this stage.”
Police
released the sisters’ names and photographs last week in an appeal for more
public information about how they died, but investigators have remained
tight-lipped about many details, including how the sisters came to Australia as
teenagers in 2017, their visa status and how they earned money.
Multiple
sources with knowledge of the case said the sisters had been seeking asylum in
Australia, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. They had worked for a time as
traffic controllers, a common job for backpackers and new immigrants. They
drove a luxury BMW 5 Series coupe, the newspaper reported.
Police
Detective Inspector Claudia Allcroft said their family in Saudi Arabia was
cooperating with police and there was “nothing to suggest” that they were
suspects.
She
described the decomposition of the bodies as “problematic.” Police last week
had yet to see the results of toxicology tests.
There
was no evidence of forced entry to the apartment, where the sisters kept to
themselves, Allcroft said.
“The
deaths are suspicious in nature as we don’t know the cause of death,” Allcroft
said.
“The
girls were 23 and 24 years old and they have died together in their home. We
don’t know the cause of death, it’s unusual because of their age and the nature
of the matter,” Allcroft added.
The
sisters seemed fearful and suspicious that food delivered to their apartment
had been tampered with, unidentified associates told Sydney media.
An
unidentified senior police source told Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph: “It really
does appear to be a tragic suicide.”
The
sisters were able to show “significant savings” in a bank account when they
applied to lease their apartment, property manager Jay Hu told the newspaper,
but they had stopped paying rent early this year.
“They
had always paid on time before then. ... They were good tenants,” Hu told the
newspaper.
Source:
Arab News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2135876/world
--------
Southeast
Asia
Malaysia
and Turkiye Finalising Discussions on Currency Swap Deal, Says Saifuddin
04
Aug 2022
KUALA
LUMPUR: The central banks of both Malaysia and Turkiye are currently finalising
talks on a potential currency swap, said Foreign Affairs Minister Datuk Seri
Saifuddin Abdullah.
“On
the currency swap, we are working to expedite the signing of the
Malaysia-Turkiye Free Trade Agreement (MTFTA) and also for both central banks
to expedite the conclusion of the discussion on the currency swap within the
parameters of the financial sphere,” said Saifuddin.
A
currency swap is an agreement whereby two countries agree to exchange a given
amount of currency at an agreed upon interest rate and a common maturity date
for the exchange.
Turkey
has currency swap deals with China, Qatar and South Korea worth about US$23bil
and Turkiye inked an almost US$5bil swap deal with the United Arab Emirates in
January.
Saifuddin
also said Malaysia and Turkiye had enjoyed positive economic growth since both
countries signed the MTFTA in Aug 2015 and talks are being finalised to expand
the free trade agreement.
“The
expansion of the MTFTA will cover new areas such as investment, services and
e-commerce,” said Saifuddin, who was speaking alongside his Turkish counterpart
Mevlut Cavusoglu during a press conference in Parliament on Thursday (Aug 4)
afternoon.
Saifuddin
also said both Malaysia and Turkiye has agreed that new potential ares of
investments should be explored, particularly digital economy, as well as the
military and defence industry.
Meanwhile,
Saifuddin said he and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob spoke about
the Malaysian Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) further participation in the
Istanbul International Airport, as well as food security, due to the ongoing
Russia-Ukraine conflict
Saifuddin
also said there is talk of more cooperation between Malaysian and Turkiye
Muslim scholars, particularly those specialising in social sciences.
“We
are really looking forward to working much closer, between the two of us
foreign ministers and other ministers, so relations between the two brotherly
countries can be enhanced in the coming years,” added Saifuddin.
Saifuddin’s
counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu then added at the press conference that Malaysia
is a key actor in the Asean region, saying that Turkiye was looking forward to
Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa’s official
visit in mid-August.
He
said Malaysia is Turkiye’s biggest trading partner in Asean and added said that
the trade volume has grown by approximately 50% or US$2.42bil in the first half
of this year.
Cavusoglu
said there was a target of achieving a US$5bil growth between Malaysia and
Turkiye by the end of the year.
“It
appears that this target is achievable this year and obviously, we need to work
for a more balanced trade and we will do our best,” said Cavusoglu
“We
hope to expand and deepen our cooperation in the coming period based on the
comprehensive strategic partnership (CSP),” he added.
Source:
The Star
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Dr
Mahathir: New concept on Malay and Islamic agenda to be initiated
03
Aug 202
PUTRAJAYA,
Aug 3 — A new concept based on the Malay and Islamic agenda led by Tun Dr
Mahathir Mohamad will be established.
At
a “solat hajat and doa selamat” prayer ceremony here tonight, Dr Mahathir who
is also Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) chairman hinted at the establishment
of the idea in an effort to reunite the Malays in the struggle to defend
Malaysia.
“This
is a Muslim Malay group. The move is necessary if we want to save our country,
our nation, our religion,” he said.
The
prayer ceremony was attended by leaders and members of the National Indian
Muslim Alliance Party (IMAN), Pejuang, Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia
(Putra) and Parti Barisan Jemaah Islamiah Se Malaysia (Berjasa).
Meanwhile,
Putra president Datuk Ibrahim Ali said Dr Mahathir is expected to announce the
establishment of the idea at Yayasan Al-Bukhary, Kuala Lumpur tomorrow.
Source:
Malay Mail
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Japan
welcomes the extension of Yemen truce, hails Saudi role
August
03, 2022
TOKYO:
The Government of Japan welcomed the extension of the truce in the republic of
Yemen announced by the United Nations on August 2, 2022 (local time) and hailed
Saudi Arabia’s role in achieving it.
The
foreign ministry in Tokyo said in a statement that Japan highly appreciates the
efforts made by all parties in Yemen and the important roles that regional
countries, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Sultanate of Oman,
have been playing in realizing the extension of the truce.
Japan
reiterates its support for the efforts of Mr. Hans Grundberg, Special Envoy of
the United Nations Secretary-General for Yemen, to realize peace and stability
in Yemen, it said.
The
statement emphasized there is no military solution to the Yemeni conflict but a
political solution through dialogue among the Yemeni people.
“From
this perspective, the Government of Japan strongly hopes that this truce
agreement will continue to be observed by all parties, roads in Taiz and other
governorates will be opened, and the parties will progress in the dialogue
toward realizing a permanent peace in Yemen, according to the statement.
Japan
has been actively providing humanitarian assistance for Yemen, including the
emergency food assistance announced on May 10, 2022, to support the truce.
Source:
Arab News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2135496/world
--------
Arab
World
UAE,
Egypt discuss cooperation on money laundering and terrorist financing
August
04, 2022
DUBAI:
Officials from the UAE and Egypt have met to discuss the two countries’ efforts
and coordination to counter money laundering and financing terrorism, the Emirates
News Agency reported on Thursday.
Hamid
Al-Zaabi, director-general of the executive office for anti-money laundering
and counter terrorism financing, met Ahmed Khalil, chairman of the board of
trustees of the Egyptian money laundering and terrorist financing unit, and
Judge Hatem Aly, regional representative of the UN office on drugs and crime
for the Gulf region.
The
meeting highlighted the key steps the UAE is taking to develop an effective
system to combat financial crime and its partnership with the private sector.
The
Egyptian unit also highlights ways to advance the national system and
significant steps taken by Egypt.
“Continuous
communication with our partners is one of the priorities of our national agenda
in the executive office. International cooperation and knowledge exchange are
at the core of the UAE’s efforts to fight financial crime,” Al-Zaabi said.
“We
are also strong partners with Egypt on counter terrorism financing, and we
value effective coordination with our partners there,” he said.
Source:
Arab News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2135881/middle-east
--------
Bahraini
regime tightens crackdown on Shias ahead of Ashura commemorations
03
August 2022
Bahraini
forces have tightened their ruthless crackdown against Shia Muslims ahead of
the occasion of Ashura, as the Al Khalifah regime presses ahead with its
heavy-handed measures against members of the majority religious community.
Social
media activists have posted videos and pictures of Bahraini regime forces
roaming through the streets of the northern town of A'ali to pull down any
banner or flag related to Ashura commemorations, which marks the martyrdom
anniversary of Imam Hussein (AS), the third Shia Imam.
Bahrain’s
Shia community has long complained about discrimination and marginalization at
the hands of the West-backed regime.
According
to human rights organizations, Bahraini authorities have imposed heavy curbs on
the religious freedom of the majority community since the outbreak of the
popular uprising and nationwide protests in 2011.
Bahraini
prison officials prevent inmates from taking part in Shia mourning rituals
Officials
at Bahrain's notorious Jau prison have prevented inmates from commemorating the
rituals of Muharram under the pretext of potential irregularities.
Imprisoned
political dissident Hussein Hilal Ahmed said prison guards have informed
detainees at Building 7 of the detention facility about the restrictive
measures, and stated that they do not allow the inmates to hold mourning
rituals during the lunar calendar month of Muharram.
He
said the ban was introduced "after a number of officers reported what
seemed to be violations and compliance breaches.”
The
detainee further noted that officials at Jau Prison, which is the Arab
country's main detention facility, have enforced restrictions against inmates
at Building 7 over the past several months.
The
prisoners, in protest, organized a peaceful sit-in inside the prison and
refused to go back to their rooms. Prison guards threatened to use brutal force
if the sit-in was not suspended.
Another
detainee, Osama al-Saghir, also complained about the ban on religious rites,
stressing that “political prisoners are targeted systematically, and that
official media outlets are complicit in their persecution. The outlets impose a
news blackout on the violations being committed against them.”
Top
Bahraini Shia cleric blasts ban on Ashura mourning rituals
Sheikh
Hussain al-Daihi, the deputy secretary general of Bahrain's dissolved al-Wefaq
National Islamic Society, also condemned Bahraini authorities' stringent
restrictions on Shia citizens and prevented them from taking part in Ashura
mourning rituals.
He
said the practice falls within the framework of a “racist policy that has been
nurtured in recent years.”
Sheikh
Daihi pointed to the “deep rift between the Bahraini nation and the Manama
regime,” arguing that Bahraini authorities are misappropriating state
institutions in order to target Shias, their religious halls and preachers, and
whoever disobeys the orders will be punished harshly.
“Shias
in Bahrain do not seek to overthrow the ruling regime and establish their own
rule. At the same time, they do not accept the ongoing imposition of tailored
principles and certain religious orientations on them. Educational curricula,
media reports as well as judiciary and security bodies are all being misused
for the sake of suppressing Shias. This is the most contemptible level of
tyranny,” he pointed out.
Demonstrations
have been held in Bahrain on a regular basis ever since the popular uprising
began in mid-February 2011.
Source:
Press TV
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Iraq's
Sadr says parliament sit-in will continue until demands met
03 August,
2022
raqi
populist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Wednesday told his supporters to continue
their sit-in occupation of the Baghdad parliament until his demands, which
include early elections and unspecified constitutional changes, are met.
The
remarks, delivered by the Shia Muslim leader in a televised address, are likely
to prolong a political deadlock that has kept Iraq without an elected
government for nearly 10 months.
Thousands
of Sadr's followers stormed Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, which houses
government buildings and foreign missions, last weekend and took over the empty
parliament building staging a sit-in that is ongoing.
The
moves were a response to attempts by his Shia Muslim rivals, many of whom are
close to Iran, to form a government with prime ministerial candidates that Sadr
disapproves of.
Sadr
won the largest number of seats in parliament in an October election but failed
to form a government that would exclude his Iran-backed rivals.
He
withdrew his lawmakers from parliament and has instead applied pressure through
protests and the parliament sit-in, drawing on his popular base of millions of
working-class Shias.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Iraq’s
Sadr calls for dissolving Parliament, holding early elections
Haydar
Karaalp
03.08.2022
BAGHDAD
Iraqi
Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called Wednesday for dissolving Iraq’s Parliament
and holding early elections.
“There
will be no place for old faces anymore through a peaceful, revolutionary and
democratic process and [holding] early democratic polls after dissolving the
current Parliament,” al-Sadr said in a televised speech.
The
influential leader ruled out dialogue with the Coordination Framework, a
coalition of groups close to Iran.
“There
is no use in holding dialogue with them,” he said.
The
Shia cleric called on his supporters to continue their sit-in in Baghdad’s fortified
Green Zone, which houses government offices and a number of foreign embassies,
until their demands are met.
Tension
escalated across Iraq since last week following the nomination of Mohammed Shia
al-Sudani as a new prime minister by the Coordination Framework, a move that
triggered protests from al-Sadr’s supporters.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Kuwait,
Oman, and UAE welcome truce extension agreement in Yemen
04
August, 2022
Kuwait,
Oman, and the United Arab Emirates have welcomed the United Nations
announcement of a truce extension in Yemen for another two months.
The
UN special envoy for Yemen announced another extension of the fragile ceasefire
between warring parties on Tuesday, pledging to ramp up talks for an expanded
truce agreement.
“I
am pleased to announce that the parties have agreed to extend the truce, under
the same terms, for an additional two months, from 2 August 2022 until 2
October 2022,” Hans Grundberg said in a statement.
“This
truce extension includes a commitment from the parties to intensify
negotiations to reach an expanded truce agreement as soon as possible.”
The
official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Thursday that the three GCC
countries had welcomed the truce extension agreement.
It
said that the Kuwaiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed the State of
Kuwait's hope that the truce extension would pave the way for an expanded truce
agreement and the resumption of the political process, in order to reach a just
and sustainable peace in Yemen.
In
Muscat, the Omani Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed the hope that this
agreement would establish expanded discussions under the auspices of the United
Nations to ensure a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire, and to address
humanitarian, economic and political issues, leading to a sustainable peace in
Yemen.
The
Sultanate of Oman also commended the existing cooperation with the Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia and the international community in efforts to resolve the Yemeni
crisis.
In
Abu Dhabi, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation stated
that the UAE praises the efforts being made by the United Nations and the
Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to Yemen, Hans
Grundberg to reach a permanent ceasefire and then a political solution to the
Yemeni crisis in a way that enhances peace and stability in Yemen and the
region.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Northern
Iraq's Ezidis say PKK terrorists, international neglect keeps them stranded in
camps
03.08.2022
DUHOK,
Iraq (AA) – The Ezidi community, living in harsh conditions in camps for eight
years and unable to return to their homes due to PKK terrorists in northern
Iraq's Sinjar region, say the international community has abandoned them.
"We
can’t go back to our homes due to some forces (PKK) in Sinjar and the problems
people are experiencing there," Saud Seydo, a resident of the Sharya
Refugee Camp, told Anadolu Agency.
"International
organizations give us no help going back to our homes," he added.
Seydo,
another camp resident, said: "We have no income, our financial situation
is not good, and we cannot return to Sinjar."
The
Ezidis, are unable to return to their homes because of the terrorist group PKK,
according to Suleyman Hidir, another refugee from the camp, who said that
everyone wants to live in their homes if they are safe, but they cannot in the
current situation.
They
are afraid of returning to their houses, refugee Ali Hudada said, adding that
if the Iraqi government officially declares Sinjar safe, then they can return.
In
an Aug. 3, 2014 attack on the Sinjar district, where Ezidis live, Daesh/ISIS
kidnapped and killed thousands of people, including women and children, or
detained them in areas they hold.
Some
300,000 people lived in Sinjar before the attacks, two-thirds of them Ezidi and
the rest Sunni Kurds and Arabs.
Daesh/ISIS
has been active in the Iraqi provinces of Salahuddin, Anbar, Kirkuk, and
Diyala, at a time when the federal government is struggling to contain attacks
by the terrorist group by launching security and military operations in the
country’s northern, western, and eastern regions.
In
2017, Iraq declared victory over Daesh/ISIS by reclaiming all territories the
terrorist group controlled since the summer of 2014, estimated to be about
one-third of the country’s territory. But the PKK terror group remains active
in the region.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Daesh/ISIS
terrorists kill 5 soldiers in eastern Iraq
Mahmoud
Mohamed Barakat
03.08.2022
DIYALA,
Iraq
Five
soldiers were killed and three others injured when Daesh/ISIS terrorists
attacked a military checkpoint in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, the Iraqi
government said on Wednesday.
The
attack took place in the town of Qara Tapa, the government’s Security Media
Network in a statement.
Iraqi
soldiers at the checkpoint engaged in clashes with the attackers for about half
an hour, the statement said.
No
injuries were reported among the Daesh/ISIS terrorists.
The
Iraqi military launched a manhunt for the attackers.
Daesh/ISIS
overran Iraq's Mosul, Salahuddin and Anbar provinces in 2014, as well as parts
of Diyala and Kirkuk provinces, before these regions were gradually freed from
the terror group.
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/daesh-isis-terrorists-kill-5-soldiers-in-eastern-iraq/2652547
--------
Saudi
Arabia announces bid to host 2029 Asian Winter Games
04
August, 2022
Saudi
Arabia’s Olympic committee has announced a bid to host the 2029 Asian Winter
Games in the planned megacity of NEOM, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on
Wednesday.
Officials
are bidding for the games to be held at the TROJENA project in NEOM - an
ambitious vision for a mountain resort in the northwest of the country.
More
than 32 Asian countries are expected to attend the games, competing in events
such as alpine skiing, ice hockey, biathlon, cross-country skiing, and figure
skating.
The
plans for TROJENA include an outdoor ski slope, created by blasting artificial
snow at the mountains.
Saudi
Arabia predicts a $798 million (three billion riyal) boost to the Saudi GDP by
2030 from the TROJENA project.
Around
7,000 people are expected to live permanently at TROJENA, and 700,000 tourists
are predicted to visit each year once the project is completed, according to
SPA.
The
mountain resort is expected to form one part of the wider NEOM megacity – a
$500 billion project currently under construction in a remote location on the
Red Sea coast.
The
mountainous Tabuk region, where Saudi Arabia is building NEOM, is one of the
few areas in the country that sees some snowfall during the winter months.
Winter
sports are not often associated with the desert kingdom, but Saudi Arabia did
send its first winter Olympics team to the Beijing games in February.
Fayik
Abdi competed in the men’s giant slalom, placing 44th.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Mideast
Iran:
No Discrimination in Islamic Human Rights
2022-August-3
Amirabdollahian
made the remarks on his Instagram page
following participation in the 7th Islamic Human Rights Awards in the
capital Tehran.
This
year’s awards were granted to the prominent theorist of Islamic human rights
Ayatollah Javadi Amoli, Palestinian-American journalist who worked for Al
Jazeera network Martyr Shireen Abu Akleh, Member of the National Assembly of
South Africa Mandla Mandela, and Iranian commander who fought terrorism and was
killed in a terrorist attack Hassan Sayyad Khodaei.
"The
combination of those who were granted the Islamic human rights award has a
glorious message that in terms of Islamic human rights, there is no
discrimination in gender, religion, nationality, and race," he noted.
Also
in a meeting with Nelson Mandela's grandson, the Iranian Foreign Minister
hailed his efforts aimed at strengthening Iran-South Africa cooperation and his
unlimited support for the oppressed Palestinian nation.
Mandla
Mandela who is visiting Iran to receive here Islamic Human Rights Award in a
ceremony met Amir Abdollahian on Tuesday evening.
The
top Iranian diplomat welcomed the South African leader’s grandson and expressed
delight over that personality’s visit to Tehran, which he said reminds Iranians
of his dear grandfather.
Amir
Abdollahian also appreciated Mandla Mandela for his efforts aimed at
strengthening Iran-South Africa cooperation and his unlimited support for the
oppressed Palestinian nation.
The
top Iranian top diplomat said that for Iran, the late Nelson Mandela’s stands,
and the South African Congress Party's approach to the Palestinians’ ideal are
noteworthy.
He
also said that the establishment of a parliamentary friendship group between
the two countries’ parliaments is very important.
The
grandson of the champion of the campaign against apartheid, Mandla Mandela,
too, in the meeting appreciated the warm and intimate hospitality of the
Iranian officials.
He
said that the Islamic Revolution of Iran was quite inspiring for the South
African nation, and filled the heart of the late Nelson Mandela who was at the
time in jail of the South African apartheid regime of the time.
He
said that at the 52nd General Assembly of the African National Congress (ANC)
party, the representatives unanimously asked for lowering South Africa’s
relations with Israel, and along with Algeria, and a number of other African
countries, the ANC also opposed Israel’s membership in the African Union.
In
a relevant development, Amir Abdollahian emphasized continuation of Iran’s
support for the cause of liberation of Palestine in a meeting with the Islamic
Jihad leader on Tuesday.
Amir
Abdollahian also expressed hope that strengthening integration among Muslim
countries would despair enemies’ hopes to undermine the cause of Palestine and
Quds.
He
noted that the Islamic Resistance in the region and Palestine would firmly
defend the rights of the nations in the region and the rights of Palestine.
Leader
of Palestine's Islamic Jihad Ziyad al-Nakhalah praised Iran’s strong, effective
and constructive role in regional issues and described Tehran’s active
diplomacy with different countries in the region and the Islamic world as an
indicator of Iran’s power.
Al-Nakhalah
highlighted the Zionist regime’s record of violating commitments and agreements
regarding the peace process and said that the only option for the Palestinian
nations to protect their rights and expel the occupiers was resistance.
He
also underscored the necessity of unity among Palestinian groups and the role
of Iran, Syria, and the Lebanese resistance in supporting the Islamic
resistance front.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/14010512000344/Iran-N-Discriminain-in-Islamic-Hman-Righs
--------
Iran's
Human Rights Chief Blasts EU's Inaction on Cruel US Sanctions
2022-August-3
Qaribabadi
said that 25,000 Iranians had so far fallen victim to acts of terror, while the
‘most cruel sanctions’ had been placed on the nation by Washington.
"The
role of Europe [in this situation] should not be ignored. The Europeans did not
take even a single step toward a removal of the sanctions over the past
years," he added.
Qaribabadi
pointed to a report published in May by UN Special Rapporteur on the Negative
Impact of Coercive Measures on the Enjoyment of Human Rights Alena Douhan,
following her visit to Iran.
In
a relevant development in mid-May, Douhan said that the US sanctions and
maximum pressure policy have left negative impacts on ordinary people in Iran
and they should stop.
Addressing
a press conference in Tehran, Douhan blasted Washington for its brutal
sanctions regime against the Islamic Republic of Iran, saying that harsh
economic sanctions have had a damaging impact on human rights in the country.
She
noted that decades of sanctions have wholly affected Iranian people’s lives and
have particularly hit the low-income section of the society.
While
presenting her assessment of the unilateral coercive measures (UCM) against
Iran, the UN official who works under a mandate from the UN Human Rights
Council, called on Washington to abandon its hard-nosed policy of maximum
pressure against Iran and other countries.
Douhan,
who arrived in Tehran in May, said she had met with many civil society members,
representatives of financial centers, diplomatic community during her visit.
The
UN official said she will address her concerns about the legality of US
sanctions in her final report, which will be released at a later date.
Douhan’s
mission from May 7 to 18 is the first to Iran by a UN special rapporteur.
Before
embarking on the trip, the UN official said she hoped to "gather
first-hand information on the impact of unilateral coercive measures on the
full realization of all human rights" in Iran.
"My
visit will aim at covering all walks of life and sectors affected by such
measures," she noted, dismissing speculation in the Western media that she
was heading to Iran with a specific agenda.
She
told reporters on Wednesday that the US has since the 1970s imposed crippling
economic and trade sanctions on Iran and significantly expanded them since the
early 2000s.
“I
call on the sanctioning states, particularly the US, to abandon the unilateral
sanctions,” she stated.
Douhan
also referred to stalled negotiations in Vienna to bring the US back to the
JCPOA, urging the JCPOA signatories and the US to resume the negotiations.
Decrying
the US decision to abandon the nuclear deal and continue with its sanctions
regime, she said the deal was endorsed by UN Security Council Resolution 2231.
“Applying
extraterritorial sanctions on Iranian companies or companies working with Iran
… is illegal under international law,” she asserted.
Commenting
on Iran's frozen assets abroad, the UN official said the assets estimated to be
around $120 billion need to be unblocked.
“I
urge the states that have frozen the assets of Iranian Central Bank to
immediately unfreeze Iran’s funds based on international law.”
Douhan
also welcomed Iran’s efforts to support Afghan refugees, displaced by the
20-year US war, despite reeling under sanctions.
In
May 2018, the former US President Donald Trump, after unilaterally withdrawing
his country from the 2015 nuclear deal, reinstated harsh economic sanctions on
Iran and slapped new ones in an unprecedented move that was widely decried.
Under
the 2015 agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
(JCPOA), international sanctions on the Islamic Republic were eased in exchange
for Tehran putting limitations on certain aspects of its nuclear activities.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
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--------
Jenin
fighters vow to 'scatter bodies of Israeli troops on mountains'
04
August 2022
The
armed wing of the Islamic Jihad has threatened to scatter the bodies of Israeli
troops on Jenin mountains in the occupied West Bank if Israel harms one of its
most senior commanders arrested in a late Monday raid.
Israeli
troops shot dead a Palestinian teenager during the raid on the Jenin refugee
camp where they also arrested Bassam al-Saadi. They also captured his
son-in-law, Ashraf al-Jada, who was visiting al-Saadi’s home in the camp.
In
a statement issued early Thursday, the Jenin branch of the al-Quds Brigades
warned that Palestinian fighters will not sit idly by after the Israeli raid.
"We
will not ignore this event. We consider the occupiers fully responsible for the
life of Commander al-Saadi," it said. "We will scatter the bodies of
the occupying soldiers over the mountains in Jenin" if any harm is done to
al-Saadi.
On
Monday night, the al-Quds Brigades announced “a state of alertness and
readiness among its fighters and active combat units” which it said comes “in
response to its duty towards the treacherous aggression that the great leader,
the sheikh Bassam al-Saadi and his family were exposed to in Jenin”.
Videos
and images shared on social media showed traces of blood on the floor of
al-Saadi’s home following the arrest. His family and the Palestinian Prisoners’
Society said the Israeli troops had assaulted al-Saadi and his wife, Nawal, who
was hospitalized due to the injuries she sustained during the raid.
The
al-Quds Brigades branch in Jenin said it was awaiting order from the resistance
movement's Secretary General in the besieged Gaza Strip, Ziad al-Nakhala, to
respond to the raid.
"You
hurt our Sheikh al-Saadi … it will not continue like this. We are waiting for
the fighters of Gaza to tell us what to do.
"We
are waiting for the order of our brother Ziyad Nakhala. When he starts a war,
we will also enter it," the group added.
Islamic
Jihad official Khader Adnan told Lebanon's Al Mayadeen television channel that
harming al-Saadi would draw greater Palestinian reaction.
A
former prisoner, al-Saadi spent many years in and out of Israeli jails. He was
last arrested in 2018 following a five-year hunt by the Israeli military and
released in 2020. Two of his sons were killed during a large-scale Israeli
invasion of the Jenin refugee camp in 2002.
The
Israeli raid on Jenin comes in the wake of months-long brutal campaign to quash
rising resistance in the city’s refugee camp.
At
least 60 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops since the start of the
year, about a third of them from Jenin.
Source:
Press TV
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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Turkish
warplanes continue to bombard northern Iraq despite global outcry
03
August 2022
Turkish
warplanes again launched an aerial attack on an area in the semi-autonomous
Kurdistan region of northern Iraq, a fortnight after artillery bombardment
against a tourist resort in the same district caused multiple casualties.
Kurdish-language
media outlets reported that Turkish fighter jets targeted the Amadiya district
in the northern Iraqi province of Dohuk on Wednesday.
There
were no immediate reports about possible casualties and the extent of damage
caused after the bombardment.
The
aerial attack came a day after Shafaq News reported that Turkish jets had
repeatedly struck the outskirts of Sekiri village in the Amadiya district.
On
July 20, at least four missiles hit the resort area of Barakh in the Zakho
district of the Kurdistan region, killing at least nine tourists and wounding
more than 20, local officials and the Iraqi army said at the time. All the
victims were Iraqi citizens.
The
victims reportedly included Iraqi tourists who had come to the area to escape
sweltering temperatures in southern parts of the country.
The
aerial aggression sparked global outcry with many countries calling on Ankara
to respect Iraq's territorial integrity and sovereignty.
The
members of the UN Security Council also condemned the attack in “strongest
terms”, said the UN statement.
“The
members of the Security Council expressed their deepest sympathy and
condolences to the families of the victims and to the Government of Iraq and
the Iraqi Kurdistan Region,” the statement added.
Following
the attack that sent shock waves across the region, Iraq’s Prime Minister
Mustafa al-Kadhimi dispatched the country’s Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein and
top security officials to the site, and ordered an investigation into the
incident.
“Turkish
forces have perpetrated once more a flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty,”
Kadhimi wrote on his Twitter page, condemning the harm caused to “the life and
security” of Iraqi citizens.
“Iraq
reserves the right to retaliate against this aggression and take all necessary
measures to protect our people,” he added.
Turkey
launched a new cross-border incursion into Iraq, dubbed Operation Claw-Lock, in
April.
The
air-and-ground military attacks target suspected strongholds of the members of
the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militant group in Zab, Basiyan, Avasheen,
and Korajiwar districts in the Kurdistan region.
The
Iraqi government summoned Turkish ambassador Ali Riza Guney shortly afterward
and handed him a “strongly worded” protest note over the offensive, calling it
a blatant violation of the Arab country’s sovereignty.
For
its part, Ankara also summoned the Iraqi charge d'affaires and warned him that
the military operations will continue if Baghdad doesn’t take action against
PKK members.
Militants
of the PKK — designated as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States, and
the European Union — regularly clash with Turkish forces in the
Kurdish-dominated southeast of Turkey attached to northern Iraq.
A
shaky ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish government collapsed in July
2015. Attacks on Turkish security forces have surged ever since.
Source:
Press TV
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Turkey
says Greek move against Muslims' local leaders 'unacceptable'
AUG
04, 2022
Ankara
slammed Greece's latest move denying recognition to the Turkish minority’s
elected Muslim clerics (muftis).
In
a statement on Thursday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry termed the move as
"unacceptable" and urged Greece to respect international law and
fulfill its obligations under the longstanding Treaty of Lausanne Peace and
other relevant agreements on the Turkish minority in the Western Thrace region.
The
statement came in response to new legislation allowing the appointment of
muftis by Greek authorities, a system the Turkish minority in Western Thrace
rejects, as it ignores the Turkish minority’s right under treaty to elect their
own muftis.
Greece's
Western Thrace region - in the country’s northeast, near the Turkish border -
is home to a substantial, long-established Muslim Turkish minority numbering
around 150,000, or around a third of the population. The rights of the Turks of
Western Thrace were guaranteed under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, but since
then the situation has steadily deteriorated. After a Greek junta came to power
in 1967, the Turks of Western Thrace started to face harsher persecution and
rights abuses by the Greek state, often in blatant violation of European court
rulings.
Source:
Daily Sabah
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Iran
Preparing Three Remote-Sensing Satellites for Launch into Orbit
2022-August-3
Salarieh
told IRIB that the Space Organization of Iran had been pursuing “very detailed
and comprehensive plans, which have been constantly updated over the past
years".
In
the field of remote-sensing, communications and navigation satellites, “very
precise and organized plans” have been drawn up, he added.
The
remote-sensing applications of satellites include Earth observation, he
explained, adding that this type of spacecraft can capture “highly up-to-date,
accurate and real time images from the surface of the Earth".
“We
have three remote-sensing satellites in line to be launched and hope that the
launch will take place at the earliest,” he continued.
Generally,
the official said, the space technology has various applications in different
fields, including monitoring natural hazards, evaluating the lands under
cultivation for agricultural purposes, keeping watch on borders, road traffic,
seas and ports, and keeping water resources in check.
"Iran
has been making efforts to develop its space industry on its own as it hardly
gets to benefit from the relevant experiences of other countries due to the
tough sanctions in place against the Islamic Republic," Salarieh noted.
In
early June, the Iranian Space Agency announced that work has been underway to
prepare seven more satellites for launch into the orbit.
In
late June, Iran tested its domestically-developed hybrid-propellant satellite
carrier rocket called Zuljanah for “predetermined research purposes” for the
second time. The Iran’s Defense Ministry launched the Zuljanah satellite
carrier into space for the first time in February 2021.
Last
week, Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Commander Brigadier
General Amir Ali Hajizadeh praised Iran's rapid advancement aerospace
industries, and said the country has made great achievements in the field.
The
aerospace commander added that "the space sector is extremely significant
and a key ground for progress in other fields", stressing that "Iran
is now advancing speedly in the field of aerospace industries".
Recently,
head of Iran’s Space Organization Hassan Salarieh said that Tehran has plans
for developing telecommunication satellites, adding that one of the spacecrafts
under construction will be placed in high-altitude orbits in coming months.
It
is the third military satellite Iran will put into orbit. The country launched
its second satellite, dubbed Nour (Light)-2, into orbit in March 2022 and the
first one in April 2020.
Iranian
President Seyed Ebrahim Rayeesi has also stressed continued efforts to further
advance space technology.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Iran
Calls on IAEA Chief to Stop Politicized Approach
2022-August-3
In
response to the IAEA Director-General who has recently claimed that the Iran's
nuclear program is progressing very, very rapidly, Eslami noted, "We
expect Mr. Grossi to talk according to the rules of IAEA and to stop the
political behavior that is affected by the Zionist pressures."
Commenting
on the beyond-safeguards monitoring cameras installed by the United Nations
nuclear agency at the country's nuclear sites, Eslami said, "The IAEA's
cameras we collected were Beyond-Safeguards Cameras and were installed with
Iran's agreement toward the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to
measure the limits, capacity, and speed of Iran's nuclear activity."
"There
is no reason for us to unilaterally act on a quasi-obsolete agreement when no
parties are left in the JCPOA. No cameras will be installed if they do not drop
the charges and return to their commitments," Eslami further explained.
The
head of the AEOI added that gassing the centrifuges is within the framework of
the parliament's strategic action law and is a response to the sanctions of the
other side.
The
official stressed that Iran has always emphasized that all its nuclear
activities are in accordance with the standards of safeguards and NPT, and
Tehran is committed to NPT and safeguards.
"Iran
will not shy away from any action to safeguard its national rights against
increasing pressures," the nuclear head stated after Tehran began to feed
gas into cascades of new centrifuges as an immediate response to a fresh round
of US sanctions.
On
the fresh sanctions imposed by Washington against Tehran, Eslami said,
"The Americans not only did not fulfill their obligations, but they are
also committing new actions and repeating accusations against Iran."
"The
United States has repeatedly admitted the failure of the policy of maximum
pressure," he continued, adding, "However, we are witnessing the dual
and multiple behaviors of the US and the false accusation that they attribute
to the country for 20 years."
Eslami
stressed that Iran has a strong will for lifting the anti-Tehran sanctions and
does not hesitate to take any actions that are in the interests of the nation.
On
Monday, US Treasury and State Department imposed sanctions on a total of six
companies, four based in Hong Kong, one in Singapore, and one in the United
Arab Emirates (UAE). The US claimed the firms have helped Iran sell tens of
millions of dollars in oil and petrochemical products to East Asian countries.
Later
in the day, Iran announced it was beginning to feed gas into hundreds of
advanced IR-1 and IR-6 machines.
Iran
Blames US for Sanctions Addiction, Says No Difference Between Biden,
Trumphttps://t.co/70LvcmFif5 pic.twitter.com/h0DJLXAEGx
—
Fars News Agency (@EnglishFars) August 2, 2022
Iranian
officials blast the US addiction to sanctions, and slammed President Joe Biden
for continuing his predecessor Donald Trump's policy on Tehran. They say Iran
will not give in to the US pressures in the nuclear talks.
Iranian
officials say the ball is in the US' court, and the Biden administration should
assure Tehran that it will not repeat Trump's past mistakes.
Iran
and the five remaining parties to the nuclear deal have held several rounds of
negotiations since April last year to restore the agreement, which was
unilaterally abandoned by 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.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/14010512000566/Iran-Calls-n-IAEA-Chief-Sp-Pliicized-Apprach
--------
Spokesman:
Iran's Support for 'One China' Policy Indubitable
2022-August-3
Kan’ani
said on Tuesday that the recent “tension-creating behavior” of the US officials
in interfering in China’s domestic affairs and violating its territorial
integrity was an example of Washington's interventionist policies in different
parts of the world.
"This
behavior will have no outcome except the increasing of instability and the
stirring of hostilities, and it is therefore condemned," he noted.
“Respect
for the national sovereignty of countries is one of the fundamental principles
of the United Nations Charter,” the official continued, adding, “Article 2 of
the Charter prevents members from any behavior that harms the territorial
integrity and political independence of other states.”
“The
Islamic Republic of Iran considers respect for the territorial integrity of
countries to be among the principles of its foreign policy, and support for the
One-China policy is unquestionable in line with this tenet,” the spokesman
stated.
The
Iranian diplomat stressed that unilateralism and violations of international
regulations and commitments had become an integral part of the US foreign
policy.
Another
Iranian diplomat also stated Pelosi’s incendiary visit to Taiwan is a “turning
point” in the already tense ties between China and the United States and will
have reverberations across the world.
In
a tweet on Tuesday night, Reza Zabib, the Director general of the Iranian
Foreign Ministry’s Asia and Oceania Department, described the heightened
tensions between Washington and Beijing as “Cold War II", which he said
will bring about “major shocks” to international relations.
“Nancy
Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan is a turning point in relations between China and
America and it will affect international relations with the reverberations it
creates,” Zabib added.
“Until
Cold War II is consolidated, international relations will experience major
shocks,” he warned.
Pelosi,
the third most senior official in the US government, touched down in Taipei
late on Tuesday despite repeated warnings from Beijing against attempting to
visit territory that it regards as an integral part of China.
In
response, Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng has urgently summoned the US
Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns on Tuesday night, to lodge “stern
representations” over the House Speaker’s visit to Taiwan and warn Washington
against going further down the “dangerous path” of antagonizing Beijing.
Beijing
has also begun conducting military drills off Taiwan after promising to launch
a series of “targeted military operations” in response to Pelosi’s visit to the
island.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/14010512000151/Spkesman-Iran's-Sppr-fr-'One-China'-Plicy-Indbiable
--------
Iran’s
chief nuclear negotiator to travel to Vienna to resume 2015 nuclear deal talks
03
August, 2022
Iran
said its chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri-Kani will head to Vienna on
Wednesday to resume talks with world powers aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear
deal.
“Iran’s
negotiating team, headed by Ali Bagheri-Kani, our country’s chief negotiator,
will leave for Vienna in a few hours,” state media quoted Iran’s foreign
ministry spokesman Naser Kanani as saying on Wednesday.
“In
this round of talks, there will be a discussion and exchange of views regarding
the ideas presented by the different parties, including the ideas presented by
Iran,” Kanani said.
Earlier
on Wednesday, European Union envoy Enrique Mora, who’s in charge of
coordinating the talks, said he was heading to Vienna for discussions related
to the nuclear deal.
“On
my way to Vienna to discuss #JCPOA back to full implementation on the basis of
the coordinator’s text tabled on 20 July. #ViennaTalks. Extremely grateful to
Austrian authorities,” Mora tweeted, using the acronym for the formal name of
the deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
The
latest round of indirect talks between the US and Iran took place in Doha last
month, with the two sides negotiating indirectly through Mora as Tehran refuses
to negotiate directly with Washington.
Prior
to the talks in Doha, which lasted two days and ended without any progress, the
US and Iran had engaged for over a year in indirect talks in Vienna aimed at
reviving the 2015 deal.
Negotiations
stalled in March, reportedly over an Iranian demand to have the IRGC removed
from the US FTO list. The US had designated the IRGC as a foreign terrorist
organization under former President Donald Trump in 2019.
The
2015 deal offered Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear
program.
Trump
withdrew Washington from the deal in 2018 and reimposed sweeping sanctions on
Tehran, saying the deal failed to address Iran’s ballistic missile program and
regional activities and did not block Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Israel’s
road closures along border with Gaza Strip amount to ‘crime against humanity’:
Hamas
04
August 2022
The
Palestinian Hamas resistance movement has denounced the latest Israeli decision
to enforce road closures along the border with the Gaza Strip, stating that the
regime’s ongoing measures against people living in the impoverished coastal
sliver amount to “crimes against humanity.”
“These
measures have made more than two million Palestinians hostage to the occupying
regime [of Israel], especially women and children with medical conditions and
cancer patients who need treatment in hospitals in the West Bank and al-Quds,”
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in a statement.
Barhoum
also lambasted the international community’s failure to take an action aimed at
ending Israeli violations against the besieged territory, emphasizing that
“Gazans’ silence will not last forever.”
“It
is no longer acceptable to allow such a dangerous situation to continue,” the
Hamas spokesman argued
He
then called for an urgent and effective Arab and Islamic action to lift the
Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip, and demanded solid support for the Palestinian
nation’s steadfastness in the face of “the Israeli war machine.”
Israeli
authorities said on Wednesday night that road closures along the border with
the Gaza Strip will remain in place on Thursday, for the third day in a row.
The
closures came amid fears of an imminent attack by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad
resistance movement, after Israeli forces arrested its West Bank leader Bassem
Saadi on Monday night.
Earlier
on Wednesday, the Israeli military said it was deploying 100 reservist troops
and three conscript companies to assist in keeping settlers out of restricted
areas under imminent threat of anti-tank guided missile fire or sniper attacks
by Islamic Jihad.
Saadi
was arrested in the northern occupied West Bank city of Jenin along with his
son-in-law and aide, Ashraf al-Jada. Another member of the Palestinian
resistance movement was killed in a gun battle with Israeli troops.
In
response to Saadi’s arrest, the Gaza-based group announced in a statement that
it was declaring a state of “alertness” and raising its fighters’ “readiness.”
Over
concern that Islamic Jihad might retaliate, the Israeli army closed off roads
along the Gaza Strip shortly after Saadi’s arrest.
Israeli
prime minister Yair Lapid held a situation assessment session on Tuesday
morning with alternate prime minister Naftali Bennett and senior military
officials.
Saadi,
62, was previously detained seven times by Israel for his role as the Islamic
Jihad’s top leader in the West Bank. He has served 15 years in Israeli prisons.
Two
of his sons were killed by the Israeli military during the Second Intifada.
The
Israeli regime’s crippling siege of the Gaza Strip for electing the popular
resistance movement Hamas has turned the enclave into an open-air prison.
The
occupying regime brought the entire enclave under the land, aerial, and naval
blockade in June 2007.
Source:
Press TV
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Iran
supports ceasefire renewal, lasting peace in Yemen: Envoy
04
August 2022
The
Iranian foreign minister’s senior aide for special political affairs says the
country supports the extension of a UN-brokered ceasefire as well as effective
efforts aimed at establishing sustainable peace in war-torn Yemen.
Ali
Asghar Khaji made the remarks in a meeting with Hans Grundberg, the United
Nations secretary-general’s special envoy for Yemen, in Tehran on Wednesday.
He
expressed hope that during the renewed two-month ceasefire, efforts would
continue toward achieving a comprehensive agreement on a lasting truce,
complete lifting of the blockade and economic embargo imposed on Yemen, the
payment of salaries in the country and freedom of transit in all routes.
The
Iranian diplomat also hoped that military, economic and political committees
would start their activities and all the necessary mechanisms for supervising
commitment to the ceasefire would be fully implemented.
The
UN special envoy, for his part, outlined the latest proposals presented to the
Yemeni parties to solve the crisis in the country.
Grundberg
said the two-month renewal of the ceasefire in the war-ravaged country would be
an opportunity to achieve a regular mechanism for paying the salaries of the
employees, opening routes among provinces, adding flight destinations at the
Sana’a airport and guaranteeing fuel shipment to the port city of al-Hudaydah.
He
added that the truce would prepare the ground for setting up military, economic
and political committees with the aim of monitoring the implementation of the
ceasefire agreement.
Grundberg
said on Tuesday that a direly-needed truce between Yemen’s aggressors and the
impoverished country’s popular resistance Houthi Ansarullah movement had been
renewed for another two-month-long period.
The
extension, running from August 2 to October 2, “includes a commitment from the
parties to intensify negotiations to reach an expanded truce agreement as soon
as possible,” the UN diplomat added.
Saudi
Arabia launched a devastating war on Yemen in March 2015 in collaboration with
its Arab allies and with arms, logistical, and political support from the
United States and other Western states. Simultaneously with the invasion, the
aggressors and their supporters also put the entire impoverished country under
an all-out land, aerial, and naval blockade.
The
objective was to reinstall the Riyadh-friendly regime of former Yemeni
president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, and crush Ansarullah, which has been running
state affairs in the absence of a functional government in Yemen.
While
the Saudi-led coalition has failed to achieve any of its objectives, the war
has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and spawned the world’s worst
humanitarian crisis.
The
United Nations brokered the truce between the coalition and Ansarullah, which
came into effect in April, and was extended for another two months on June 2.
Source:
Press TV
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2022/08/04/686755/Iran-Yemen-UN-Khaji-Hans-Grundberg-ceasefire-
--------
Africa
Ennahda
party says leader faces politically motivated police investigation
03
August, 2022
Tunisia’s
Islamist opposition party Ennahda on Wednesday accused the authorities of
attempting to intimidate opponents, saying police had opened a new
investigation into its leader Rached Ghannouchi.
The
party said Ghannouchi was being investigated on suspicion of describing the
security forces as tyrannical, and it denied that he had said this.
Tunisian
politics has grown more acrimonious over the past year since President Kais
Saied dismissed parliament and seized most powers last year, enshrining them in
a new constitution that was passed in a referendum last week.
He
said his moves were necessary to save Tunisia from years of political failure.
Ennahda and other parties describe them as a coup and say Saied’s new
constitution and the referendum, in which official figures say 30 percent of
Tunisians voted, are illegal.
Last
month, Ghannouchi was put before a judge to answer questions in a separate
investigation into money laundering, which he and Ennahda also deny, calling
the accusations bogus political targeting.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Somalia
should shape Horn of Africa’s geopolitics
04.08.2022
By
Anwar Abdifatah Bashir
The
writer is a senior lecturer at Somali National University and a Horn of Africa
affairs analyst
MOGADISHU,
Somalia
The
Horn of Africa region is full of untapped natural resources, including gas,
oil, and minerals. But, regrettably, the region is also familiar with
destitution, frequent droughts, famines, internecine communal violence, and
political instability and insecurity. In addition, Horn of Africa countries are
victims of Western economic hitmen and will be forever obligated to the endless
Western debt.
The
tottering political transitions in Sudan and Ethiopia contribute to the
instability in the region. Both countries are facing intractable transitions.
Ethiopia’s former Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn resigned in 2018 because
of protracted civil unrest and demonstrations, mainly in the Oromo region,
which later spread to the Amhara region. Sudan has more or less confronted its
unstable transition after President Omar al-Bashir was ousted by the military
in 2019.
Kenya
and Somalia’s intermittent diplomatic clashes
The
neighboring countries of Kenya and Somalia have a deep-rooted relationship.
Somalis are among the most influential communities in Kenya. They have colossal
businesses in the country. They have prominent politicians in Kenya’s North
Eastern Province, formerly known as the Northern Frontier District (NFD). Kenya
hosted the largest number of Somali refugees after the civil war erupted in
Somalia in 1991. Kenya also exports khat, a mildly narcotic native shrub, to
Somalia and receives a colossal amount of money from Somalia. When Somalia
filed a maritime boundary case against Kenya with the International Court of
Justice (ICJ) in 2014, ties between the two nations deteriorated dramatically.
In February 2017, when the former government of Somalia led by Mohamed
Abdullahi Mohamed, also known as Farmajo, came to power and stopped importing
khat from Kenya and opted to import it instead from Ethiopia, relations became
strained.
As
a result, the two countries summoned their ambassadors and finally cut ties.
On
Oct. 12, 2021, the ICJ issued a long-awaited judgment demarcating the two
countries' maritime boundary, ruling mostly in Somalia's favor.
Since
then, the two countries' diplomatic relations have become inflamed. The Somali
government has rebuked Kenya for meddling in its internal affairs by supporting
the current leadership of Somalia’s Jubaland State to eviscerate the federal
government.
On
May 15, President Farmajo lost his re-election bid and was succeeded by Hassan
Sheikh Mohamud as president. Mohamud started mending fences with the
neighboring countries under his slogan “Somalia at peace with itself and the
world.” As part of this fetching mantra, the president has expedited his
efforts to repair the lost diplomatic ties with the neighboring countries.
Within his first two months in office, Mohamud visited the United Arab
Emirates, Türkiye, Eritrea, and Kenya, where he reached agreements with his
counterparts.
On
July 15, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and President Mohamud signed an
agreement for restoring ties and cordial relations between the two countries.
According to the agreement, Kenya will resume exporting khat to Somalia, and in
exchange, it will import fish from the country. But the trade agreement has
faced plenty of criticism from Somali intellectuals and talking heads and has
been labeled unfair.
Somalia-Djibouti:
Smoothening strained ties
Somalis
consider Djibouti their second country. But the last five years under the
government led by Farmajo created uncalled-for diplomatic tensions between the
two brotherly nations. Djibouti was not part of the failed Tripartite Agreement
between Somalia, Ethiopia, and Eritrea, and this led to them feeling
politically ostracized.
The
Trojan horse deal between Farmajo, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, and
Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki was to extend their seats beyond their
constitutional terms. That is why a plethora of Somalis had not supported the
Tripartite Agreement as long as Djibouti was not part of it, and no one knows
the nitty-gritty of it as it was veiled in secrecy. During a two-day official
visit of President Mohamud to Djibouti, he promised a tight-knit relationship
with Somalia and Djibouti.
Eritrea:
Pariah State!
Some
argue that Eritrean President Afwerki is a modern-day robber baron to steal the
nascent democracy in the region. Amid the Tripartite Agreement, Afwerki was the
de facto leader and mover and shaker. He masterminded the vicious war against
Ethiopia’s Tigray region by supporting Prime Minister Ahmed’s side, and many
Eritrean troops participated in the Tigray war. Although in the beginning, the
Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) entered the capital of Tigray,
Mekelle, they ended up withdrawing in a dramatic defeat by the restive forces.
Also, Afwerki inspired Farmajo to imitate his dictatorial style. As such,
Farmajo’s regime did everything possible to remain at the helm. He delayed
parliamentary and presidential elections for too long, oppressed the dissenting
voices, cut ties with neighboring countries, and surreptitiously sent Somali
cadets to Eritrea. With all these unbecoming acts, Farmajo’s swashbuckling
adventures ended up in vain. He lost touch with reality. Eritrea is spreading
its cancerous tentacles across the region. Especially Afwerki’s uncanny ability
to outmaneuver everyone is so dangerous.
Türkiye
and other international partners
Türkiye
came to the aid of Somalia during the deadly drought and famine in 2011.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was then prime minister, arrived in
the capital Mogadishu and visited camps housing internally displaced persons
(IDPs). That humanity and bold move by Erdogan mesmerized and captivated the
attention of the world. Since then, Türkiye has been supporting Somalia,
especially through infrastructure and institutional building projects,
providing scholarships to Somali students, and other commendable works. Many
Somali talking heads believe that Türkiye is a staunch partner of Somalia.
The
other remarkable thing is that some analysts argue that Türkiye has never
intervened politically in Somalia’s internal affairs, while other partners
including Qatar and the UAE are doing the opposite. The incumbent government is
repairing the lost ties with the international community and accommodating all
the partners for the sake of Somalia’s interests. The former government cut
ties with the UAE, while it considered Qatar as near and dear. As a result,
Somalia was a victim of the Gulf diplomatic crisis that began in 2017.
Somali
regional diaspora
Source:
Anadolu Agency
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of the original story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/opinion-somalia-should-shape-horn-of-africa-s-geopolitics/2652979
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North
America
Iran,
US, EU to send envoys to Vienna for nuclear talks
03 August,
2022
Iran,
the US and the European Union said Wednesday they would send representatives to
Vienna amid what appears to be a last-ditch effort at reviving talks over
Tehran's tattered 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
It
wasn't immediately clear if other parties to the landmark accord would attend
the surprise summit, nor if there had been any progress after a monthslong
stalemate and fruitless round of indirect talks between Iran and the US in
Doha.
The
European Union official who chairs the talks, Enrique Mora, said the
negotiations would focus on the most recent draft to restore the agreement,
while Tehran said it was dispatching nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani to the
Austrian capital.
US
Special Representative for Iran Rob Malley wrote on Twitter that he was also
preparing to travel to Vienna for talks. He cautioned that American
“expectations are in check" ahead of the negotiations.
“The
United States welcomes EU efforts and is prepared for a good faith attempt to
reach a deal. It will shortly be clear if Iran is prepared for the same,"
Malley added.
The
prospects for the deal's restoration have darkened in the past few months with
major sticking points remaining, including Tehran's demand that Washington
provide guarantees that it won’t again quit the pact and that it lift terrorism
sanctions on Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
The
abruptly called meeting in Vienna comes after EU foreign affairs chief Josep
Borrell has repeatedly pushed to break the deadlock and salvage the deal in
past weeks. He recently wrote in The Financial Times that “the space for
additional significant compromises has been exhausted.”
Former
President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the 2015 deal, which lifted most
international sanctions on Tehran in exchange for tight restrictions on Iran’s
nuclear program. Since then, Iran has massively expanded its nuclear work and
now has enough highly enriched uranium to fuel one nuclear weapon, according to
nonproliferation experts.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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Sullivan
expresses concern over Iranian-American journalist’s safety
04 August,
2022
US
National Security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke with Iranian-American journalist
Masih Alinejad on Wednesday and expressed his concern over her safety following
the arrest of a man with a rifle outside her home in New York last week, an NSC
spokesperson said in a statement.
The
man, Khalid Mehdiyev, spent two days last week outside the home of Alinejad,
and at one point attempted to open the door, an FBI agent wrote in a complaint
filed in Manhattan federal court last week. Police stopped him after he ran a
stop sign and found the gun in the back seat of the car, according to the
complaint.
Alinejad,
who saw the incident as an attempt on her life by Tehran, said: “what the
Iranian regime did, first trying to kidnap me and now sending someone here
trying to kill me, it’s a pattern. It’s a continuation of their way of
oppressing dissidents inside and outside Iran.”
On
Wednesday, Sullivan said US President Joe Biden will continue to receive
updates on her situation, and added that the administration will continue to
protect its citizens and dissidents from threats from the Gulf nation.
“...the
US Government will use all tools at its disposal to disrupt and deter threats
from Iran, including those which target US citizens and dissidents living in
the United States,” the NSC statement said.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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US
approves billions of dollars’ worth of arms sales to Saudi Arabia, UAE
Darren
Lyn
03.08.2022
HOUSTON,
Texas
The
US State Department announced Tuesday that it has approved the potential sale
of arms to two of its key Middle East partners in separate deals with a total
value of more than $5 billion.
Under
the terms of the first agreement, Saudi Arabia would purchase $3.05 billion
worth of Patriot missiles.
The
United Arab Emirates would buy $2.25 billion worth of Terminal High Altitude
Area Defense (THAAD) system missiles.
According
to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), the proposed deal with Saudi
Arabia will help replenish its “dwindling” stocks of Patriot missiles, arming
the Saudis with 300 new weapons.
“These
missiles are used to defend the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s borders against persistent
Houthi cross-border unmanned aerial system and ballistic missile attacks on
civilian sites and critical infrastructure in Saudi Arabia,” the DSCA said in a
statement.
“These
attacks threaten the well-being of Saudi, international and U.S. citizens
(approximately 70,000) residing in the Kingdom. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
will have no difficulty absorbing these missiles into its armed forces.”
The
UAE would receive two THAAD launch control stations, two THAAD tactical
operations stations and 96 missile rounds under the proposed deal.
The
timing of these arms deals comes at a crucial juncture, however, as the US is
currently in the process of returning to the table with Iran over its 2015
nuclear deal.
The
US withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2018 under
former President Donald Trump, but current President Joe Biden's administration
is in the process of possibly re-entering the agreement with Iran over nuclear
regulations.
Biden
himself made a four-day trip to Saudi Arabia in July to discuss the Iran
nuclear deal, saying at the time that "the only thing worse than the Iran
that exists now is an Iran with nuclear weapons."
The
fact that any missile defense capabilities are heading to the region is
notable, especially in the wake of a new agreement in June between Israel and a
number of Arab nations to form a US-led joint air defense network known as the
Middle East Air Defense Alliance (MEAD).
Under
MEAD, Israel will tie in its air defense capabilities with other Middle East nations,
including Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
The
countries' defense systems will be linked together to counter any tactical
moves by Iran. This will allow the new alliance to jointly protect their
nations from any attempt by Iran to attack the region using rockets, cruise
missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
The
proposed US arms deals with Saudi Arabia and the UAE have not yet been
finalized, although an announcement by the DSCA likely means they have already
been approved by the executive branch.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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