Issued By Indian Imams, UN Arm Takes up Biggest Anti-IS Fatwa
New Age Islam News Bureau
18 Nov 2015
Photo: Not the first time: ISIS fighters handing out sweets after Russian plane crash in Egypt
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India
• Issued By Indian Imams, UN Arm Takes up Biggest Anti-IS Fatwa
• Muslims Should Declare Jihad against Terrorism: Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind Islamic Scholar
• India Warns Of IS Threat, Tightens Vigil at French, US Missions
• Wanted To Join IS, Return to Wage War Against India: Hyderabad Engineer
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Africa
• Nigeria: Bomb Blast Kills 32 People in Yola
• ISIS militants hand out sweets to children in the streets of Libya to celebrate Paris terror attack
• Central African Republic priest pained by growing anti-Muslim sentiment
• New UN envoy to restart Libya unity govt talks
• Libya: CPJ Concerned for Safety of Photojournalist Missing in Libya
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Southeast Asia
• Chinese Security Forces Kill 17 in Xinjiang: Radio Free Asia
• ‘All Violence against Muslims in Myanmar Is Politically Motivated’
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Arab World
• ISIL Militants Fleeing Palmyra after Disclosure of Syrian-Hezbollah Forces' Imminent Operation
• Hundreds of Hezbollah Fighters Join Syrian Army to Launch Palmyra Liberation Operation
• Russian Warplanes Destroy 140 Terrorist Targets in Syria
• Russia intensifies air strikes against IS in Syria
• Saudi Arabia says 2 police officers killed in kingdom's east
• Heavy rains hit Saudi Arabia; three killed, flights delayed
• Jeish Al-Islam Military Commander Killed in Idlib
• Gov't Sources Fend Off Militants' Offensives on Two Newly-Captured Areas North of Lattakia
• Military Source Strongly Denies Rumors about fall of Deir Hanna in Syria's Lattakia
• Iraqi Forces Thwart ISIL Attacks in Salahuddin
vSyrian Forces, Hezbollah Win Back another Region in Southern Aleppo
• Iranian Envoy: S-300 Contract Finalized with Russia, Delivery Process Underway
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South Asia
• 27 ISIS and Taliban Loyalists Arrested From Nangarhar University
• Three Landmine Planters Killed By Own Bomb in Kunar
• Bomb blast kills two brothers in Ghazni
• Italian priest wounded in latest attack on foreigner in Bangladesh
• Bangladesh opposition leaders to hang for war crimes
• Germany starts eight disaster prevention projects in Badakhsha’s remote areas
• NDS detains Taliban commander for Qala-i-Zal District of Kundoz
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Europe
• Two suspects killed, one blowing herself up, during raid in suburb of Paris
• Muslims good citizens of Europe, need to save them from backlash of far right: Austrian ambassador
• Paris shootout: Three arrested as police operation continues
• Syria's Assad says no intelligence sharing with France
• Paris attacks: Hating Muslims plays right into ISIS's hands
• We planned attacks on crusaders: Abdelhamid Abaaoud, suspected Paris attack mastermind
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Mideast
• Iran Dismisses Allegations on Assisting Taliban
• Iraqi Kurdistan Says Will Keep Bypassing Baghdad To Sell Oil
• Armed Attack in France Targets Turk
• Amano Confirms Iran's Cooperation with UN Nuclear Watchdog
• Turkey, US to intensify drive to push ISIL from Syria border, Sinirlioğlu says
• 2.2 mln Syrian refugees in Turkey struggling, demand better living conditions
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North America
• Police treating fire at Canada mosque as a hate crime
• Obama says Putin a 'constructive partner' in Syria talks
• Paris attacks reshape US debate on immigration, security
• US shouldn't sell nuclear-armed version of F-16 to Pak: Republican leadership
• Obama hits out as Republicans seek to halt Syria refugee program
• US Muslims face backlash after Paris attacks
• US man arrested for threatening to firebomb, shoot people at Florida Islamic centre
• Man in Joker mask threatens to kill one Muslim or Arab in Quebec a week in online video
• FBI investigating anti-Muslim threats against Dearborn
• Survey: Christian Americans view Muslim values 'at odds' with those of America Experts say Islam incorrectly perceived
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Pakistan
• Defence Cooperation Dominates Gen Raheel's Meetings with Top US Officials
• Paris-Like Attacks Can’t Be Ruled Out In Punjab: CTD Official
• ‘Maltreatment of Afghans peaked post-APS attack’
• ‘Paris attacks will not affect ties with Pakistan’
• Potato to web: Internet outsourcing in Gilgit-Baltistan
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
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India
Issued By Indian Imams, UN Arm Takes up Biggest Anti-IS Fatwa
Mohammed Wajihuddin,TNN | Nov 18, 2015
MUMBAI: Days before Islamic State (IS) jihadists carried out bloodbath in Paris, the United Nations forwarded the "biggest fatwa" against the terror outfit, signed by over 1,000 Indian imams and muftis (religious scholars), to the UN Alliance of Civilization (UNAOC).
Aimed at improving understanding and cooperation among nations, UNAOC also helps develop more inclusive societies.
This arm of the UN is now perusing the fatwa that unequivocally denounces the IS as "un-Islamic" and "inhuman".
Mumbai-based Islamic Defense Cyber Cell head Dr Abdur Rahman Anjaria had sought the fatwa against IS a couple of months ago.
He asked Darululoom Ali Hashan Ahle Sunnat's Mufti Mohammed Manzar Hasan Khan Ahrafi Masbahi whether IS, which kills innocent people and uploads images of heinous killings on the internet can be endorsed by the Shariat.
"The holy Quran has declared killing of even one innocent life as killing the entire humanity...the claims of IS are absolutely absurd and accursed," Misbahi decreed.
"It can't be rule of Islam in any condition...representatives of this terrorist organization have evidently proved that it has no relations with Islam and its teachings."
Leading Indian Muslim organizations cutting across sectarian divide endorsed this fatwa. As many as 1,070 muftis and imams, including Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid, Ajmer Dargah, Jamiat ul Ulema Maharashtra, Ulema Council and Jamiat Ahle Hadees backed the decree.
On August 15, Anjaria shared the fatwa with several prime ministers, presidents and heads of states across the world, including Narendra Modi.
Modi's office informed Anjaria that it had forwarded a letter in this regard to the ministry of home affairs.
"This is the biggest ever initiative by Indian Ulema to reject the dangerous ideology of IS," said Anjaria.
"Our PM should have used it as a weapon to denounce the terrorist organization in his speeches against terrorism in India and abroad."
Several heads of states, who received the fatwa's copy, have acknowledged and appreciated the effort.
But the IS, which is very active on the social media, has not reacted to it so far.
After the Paris attacks on Friday, Anjaria said the Islamic countries should jointly declare a war against the IS.
"Islamic State uses name of my religion. It has disgraced the name of Allah and the Prophet whom Muslims call a messenger of peace," he said.
"It deserves no mercy and it the duty of every Muslim to join fight to defeat it."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Issued-by-Indian-imams-UN-arm-takes-up-biggest-anti-IS-fatwa/articleshow/49823753.cms
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Muslims should declare Jihad against terrorism: Islamic scholar
New Delhi, Nov 17, 2015 (IANS)
The Muslims should declare a jihad (holy war) against terrorism as radicals and zealots have unleashed a reign of terror that challenges the basic tenets of Islam, which propagates and promotes peace and harmony, an Islamic scholar said on Tuesday.
"Waging a jihad is a positive act intended to root out evils from society. Killing of innocents can never be accepted as an act of jihad," Jamiat Ulema-I-Hind leader Maulana Mahmood Madani said at a press conference at the Constitution Club here.
It is the responsibility of Islamic nations to wage war against terrorists who are misusing the name of Islam, the Islamic scholar said.
"There is a need to check groups spreading hatred. Intolerance should be discouraged at all costs," he said.
Quoting teachings of Prophet Mohammed, he said that "saving one human being is like saving humanity".
Madani said countrywide protests would be held on November 18 to denounce terrorism. Protest rallies would be held in Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and over 65 other cities in which leaders of various Muslim groups and organisations were expected to participate.
The Jamiat Ulema-I-Hind leader said it is a matter of great concern that terrorists are commiting brutal killings in the name of Islam.
"They claim they represent the real face of Islam. So, it is incumbent upon Muslims, scholars and clerics to preach and propagate the real message of Islam and defeat the designs of fanatics who are out to malign Islam," he said.
Madani said no one could deny that terrorist attacks have caused maximum harm to the Muslims.
He said his organisation has held a series of conference and rallies against terrorism since 2007.
deccanherald.com/content/512383/muslims-should-declare-jihad-against.html
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India Warns Of IS Threat, Tightens Vigil At French, US Missions
Reuters — Nov 18, 2015
NEW DELHI: India has warned of Islamic State (IS) using regional militant groups to mount strikes in the country, and has increased security around the diplomatic missions of the United States, France and Britain among others, a government advisory said.
The federal interior ministry said in the note issued to state police chiefs that Friday's attacks in Paris in which 129 people were killed showed the intentions of Islamic State to expand its arc of operations beyond Syria and Iraq.
Despite India's large Muslim population, Islamic State has only been able to draw a handful of recruits from the country, although security officials say they don't have a full picture, and that there could be more youth getting radicalised.
But some of the world's deadliest militant groups, including the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba that carried out the Mumbai 2008 attacks, operate in India, and the fear is Islamic State might turn to them to target foreign interests in the country.
“Though ISIS/ISIL has not been able to establish any significant presence in India, its success in radicalising some youth, attracting certain section of the local population/Indian diaspora... or the possibility of piggybacking on terrorist groups operating in India have opened up the possibility of ISIS sponsored action on Indian territory,” the note said.
Reuters has a copy of the advisory issued on Monday. It ordered security to be enhanced for the missions of France, the United States, Britain, Germany, Russia, Australia, Turkey and Israel.
“Available intelligence about ISIS activities should be immediately reviewed to identify plans, targets, areas vulnerable to attack by ISIS and appropriate action taken to neutralise potential threats,” the advisory said.
Ten Lashkar-e-Taiba gunmen attacked luxury hotels, a train station and a Jewish centre in a three-day shooting spree in Mumbai seven years ago, killing 166 people, India said, in an assault similar to the attacks in Paris.
dawn.com/news/1220504/india-warns-of-is-threat-tightens-vigil-at-french-us-missions
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Wanted to join IS, return to wage war against India: Hyderabad engineer Salman Mohiuddin
Written by Sagnik Chowdhury | New Delhi | Updated: November 18, 2015
“I had no livelihood here (in Hyderabad), and used to spend hours together over Internet chatting with ‘Daula Newsroom’ group members. I felt that western forces are plundering Muslim property and Muslims are facing pitiable situation all over the world and the solution is to establish Islamic State, where Sharia law can be implemented,” electronics engineer Salman Mohiuddin told his interrogators after being arrested from Hyderabad’s international airport on January 16 this year.
The Cyberabad police has alleged that Mohiuddin, 32, the father of two, was about to fly to Dubai, from where he planned to reach Syria via Turkey to join the IS, when he was held, making him the third arrest in India for association with the terror outfit. This was months after he had to return to Hyderabad from the US over visa issues.
In his interrogation report, accessed by The Indian Express, Mohiuddin claimed to have been attracted to the IS as he faced discrimination in the US and said he intended to “proceed to Syria to join the IS and later return to wage war against India”. His only “weakness” recorded by the interrogators was “smoking”.
The indoctrination: Meeting Nicky Joseph
The son of a retired chief engineer of the Andhra Pradesh Housing Board, Mohiuddin did his BTech from Anwar-ul-Uloom College of Engineering and Technology in Vikarabad. Married in 2007, a year before he graduated, he had two children, a daughter and a son, in quick succession.
In 2010, Mohiuddin left for the US to do a Masters in Science in transportation planning and management from Texas Southern University in Houston. For two years, till 2014, he worked as a desktop support engineer at oilfield service company Baker Hughes in Texas and at Merathon Petroleum in Findlay, Ohio.
“While I was in Texas (2011), I came in contact with a lady, Nicky Joseph (a British national), staying in Dubai through YouTube… I came to know that she converted to Islam from Christianity… I learnt that she married one doctor and intended to marry a Muslim. I proposed her to marry… she agreed,” Mohiuddin told interrogators. “I and Nicky Joseph alias Ayesha decided to join ISIS to fight in favour of ISIS through illegal border crossing of Turkey.”
Joseph, who has now been identified as Afsha Jabeen, an Indian-origin mother of three who was at the time based in Dubai, has denied having any plans of accompanying Mohiuddin to Syria.
Arrested in Hyderabad in September on deportation from the UAE, Jabeen, however, has admitted to interrogators that she pretended to be Nicky Joseph and told Mohiuddin that she was married to a Christian, and that her cardiologist husband harassed her. She told him she intended to divorce and marry a Muslim, but her husband was not agreeing to a divorce.
“This chatting I have done to play around with Salman,” she said in her interrogation report, whose copy is also with The Indian Express. According to her, Salman and she knew about each other’s marital status and their children, and that they were in regular touch “till 2010”.
The radicalisation: Hearing al-Baghdadi
“I am religious, and during June 2014, after Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (the IS chief) declared Caliphate, I observed the posts released by Al Hayat — a media centre of ISIS — and was attracted towards ISIS as I was facing indiscrimination (sic) in USA. I learnt more about the Caliphate, ISIS and made research over ISIS by browsing Net,” Mohiuddin told interrogators.
In 2012, Mohiuddin had started his first pro-jihadi Facebook group, ‘Revalations and Hadith’. The second, ‘Daula Islamia’, followed in mid-August 2014.
Mohiuddin said that on Daula Islamia, he “used to post ISIS updates and other relevant information with intention to attract youth”. The page was later blocked by Facebook for its posts related to the IS.
In October 2014, Mohiuddin was forced to return to Hyderabad as his US visa was not extended.
The Syria plans: Time on hand
Back home, he found himself out of work, and engaged in hours of discussions on IS-related developments on the Net. In November 2014, he created two more pro-jihadi Facebook groups, ‘Moderators vs Liberals’ and ‘Daula Newsroom’. “I was active in posting of ISIS posts in Daula Newsroom and used to ask maximum number of people about their plan to join ISIS,” Mohiuddin told interrogators.
Jabeen as Joseph was an administrator in each of these groups, while Mohiuddin’s wife was an administrator in Revelations and Hadith. Mohiuddin said they discussed Quran and Hadeeth in this group.
Daula Newsroom also had a Dubai-based man from Kerala, an Afghan, two youths from Delhi and Bangalore, and a young woman from Mumbai as administrators. Jabeen was an administrator too, posing as Sana Ahmed of Delhi.
Moderators vs Liberals had 2,500 followers and Daula Newsroom 188 when Mohiuddin was arrested.
About his interactions with IS supporters, Mohiuddin said, “I observed negative propaganda by Western media towards ISIS that one of the IS militants married (a) 6 years old girl and (of) killing innocent people etc. In this regard, I started to chat with Abu Muhajeer of Syria/Egypt, Abu Al Barra of Iraq who is doing aid work for IS, Hasan Abdul Gani of Iraq, and Abu Muhammod of Iraq, adding them (to) my friends’ list.”
Mohiuddin said it was during chats with “Abu al Barra al Sami, an IS sympathiser based in Syria, and Abu Mohammad of Turkey, a facilitator with links to IS” that he started giving serious thought to entering Syria from Turkey to become a fighter with the IS.
He said Abu Mohammad gave him two Skype IDs — Abdulla_Jihadi and Abu Muhaajir — and said that if he visited Turkey, they would “receive” him. In turn, Mohiuddin told interrogators, he shared his Skype id, ‘Sa1mann’.
On January 16, 2015, Mohiuddin was arrested at Hyderabad international airport while on his way to Dubai, from where he allegedly planned to go to Syria.
Police were acting on a tip-off from US intelligence, that had been monitoring Mohiuddin’s online activities.
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/i-would-join-is-return-to-wage-war-against-india-salman-mohiuddin/
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Africa
Nigeria: Bomb Blast Kills 32 People in Yola
By Kabiru R. Anwar
Yola — A blast has killed 32 people including women and children at a lorry park known as Kasuwan Tipa in Yola, Adamawa state.
The NEMA Coordinator, Saadu Bello put the death toll at 32 while 80 got injured.
The blast rocked the park at about 8 pm on Tuesday when the place was crowded with food sellers, petty traders as well as other low income earners who patronise the spot.
The Police Public Relations Officer of the Adamawa State Police Command Othman Abubakar said 31 persons lost their lives in the incident while many sustained injuries.
Our correspondent who visited the scene reports that security personnel cordoned the area while humanitarian workers were seen evacuating dead bodies and the wounded to the hospital.
Family members who rushed to look for their missing relatives were seen crying as they await information about the fate of their loved ones.
Witnesses said dozens of people were feared dead in the blast. It was not clear whether the bomb was planted or it was a suicide attack.
A Red Cross official, Aliyu Maikano said dozens were evacuated to the Specialists Hospital as well as the Federal Medical Centre in Yola.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201511180111.html
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ISIS militants hand out sweets to children in the streets of Libya to celebrate Paris terror attack
17 Nov 2015
By Gemma Mullin
Twisted ISIS militants handed out sweets in the streets of Libya to celebrate the brutal Paris attacks, which left at least 129 people dead.
Kids were offered treats from armed jihadists wearing black balaclavas and combat fatigues and carrying baskets full of sweets.
Meanwhile their parents were apparently handed propaganda leaflets with information on the atrocities in the French capital on Friday night.
Other pedestrians and drivers were also given the material the day after the group slaughtered and injured hundreds of innocent people.
#LIBYA #IslamicState (#ISIS) Terror Group Celebrating The #ParisAttacks By Handing Out Candies In #Sirte. pic.twitter.com/i9Dn5ZNF6X
— Terrormonitor.org (@Terror_Monitor) November 15, 2015
It wrote: "#LIBYA #IslamicState (#ISIS) terror group celebrating the #ParisAttacks by handing out candies."
The north African city has remained a stronghold for the Islamists since September, when they came out on top following six months of fighting.
ISIS hand out sweets 'to children at Russian crash site' in latest propaganda video
Pictures have also emerged of Islamic State militants in Anbar, western Iraq, handing out its statement on the attacks.
This is not the first time the terrorists have given treats out after a major attack.
Last month grinning ISIS thugs were filmed in a propaganda video as they gave out sweets to celebrate the Russian passenger plane crash that killed 224 innocent people, including children.
Getty Police forces, firefighters and rescue workers secure the area near the Bataclan concert hall in central Paris, on November 14, 2015
Emergency services on the scene after ISIS terrorists slaughtered innocent people in Paris on Friday
The footage showed them handing out the treats and leaflets in Ninevah, Iraq, in the wake of the tragedy.
The video ends with five ISIS fighters, including one with an Eastern European accent, praising the alleged downing of the flight.
The group claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks in the aftermath of the killings, which took place at six different locations across the city, including Stade de France, the Bataclan concert hall and a string of bars and restaurants.
mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/isis-militants-hand-out-sweets-6847807
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Central African Republic priest pained by growing anti-Muslim sentiment
By: Gilbert Ngabo Metro Published on Tue Nov 17 2015
Father Bernard Kinvi believes the world needs to distinguish between terrorism and Islam.
Following the Paris attacks and subsequent airstrikes by the French government on ISIL territories in Syria, the Catholic priest from the Central African Republic is pained by a wave of anti-Muslim sentiment washing over the world.
“The majority of Muslims are true martyrs of this terror conflict,” Kinvi said. “Just because someone is shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ as he detonates a bomb doesn’t mean they are representing all Muslims.”
Kinvi was in Toronto this week to receive the 2015 Human Rights Watch’s Alison Des Forges award.
Perceived faith-based violence is at the core of his work as a priest – and as a doctor. When war broke out in the CAR, his hospital in Bossemptele, near the border with Cameroon, received both victims and perpetrators of the violence.
He also put his own life at risk by using his church to hide and save over 1,500 people during the conflict, mostly children and members of the country’s Muslim minority.
The work took an emotional toll, he said. Rebels would often call him, say they had just killed people and ask him to do the burial.
“It was painful. I felt anger burning inside of me,” he said. “The images of the dead and the odour of decomposing bodies will never leave my mind.”
Yet he continued to treat the wounded – including the rebels themselves, some of whom he slowly turned away from violence and murder. Unlike what’s reported in the media, he believes the root of the conflict lies in poverty and state mismanagement, not religion.
The same applies to war on terror, he said. People need to stop the “us against them” mentality, he said, and countries need to change policies that lead to the radicalization of young people, rather than resorting to military measures.
“When a bomb is dropped in Syria, it doesn’t necessarily kill jihadists,” he said. “The number of innocent civilians dying in Syria at the hands of French airstrikes far surpasses 129 victims of Paris attack.”
metronews.ca/news/toronto/2015/11/17/car-priest-questions-response-to-terror-attacks.html
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New UN envoy to restart Libya unity govt talks
Nov 18 2015
Kobler took up his new job as United Nations special envoy for Libya on Tuesday, saying he was "full of hope and determination" as replaced from Spaniard Bernardino Leon.
His appointment comes after almost a year of intense negotiations, which - in October - saw the UN propose a power-sharing deal aimed at establishing a unity government for the oil-rich country.
But Libya's rival factions quickly rejected the plan, which would have seen the war-ravaged nation governed by a nine-member presidential council made up of a prime minister, five deputy prime ministers and three senior ministers.
Two steps forward
Kobler on Tuesday said his priority would be to restart talks to form a unity government.
"Only through dialogue and unity can stability be attained and the state's authority restored," he said in a statement.
"We cannot afford to waste the hard work already done," Kobler added.
The veteran German diplomat is due to meet several Libyan political leaders in the next few days in a bid to push for a peace deal.
Moderates on both sides have agreed to the unity government proposal, as have some of the armed factions. But hardliners in both camps are holding out against the deal.
Libyan militia
The chaos unleashed by the Arab Spring led to the rise of powerful militias and left Libya labeled as a failed state
"Islamic State" threat
Kobler vowed that security would also be a priority, after the country descended into chaos following the fall of dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
The fighting that followed his ouster saw an an Islamist-backed militia alliance overrun Tripoli, forcing the internationally recognized government to take refuge in the country's east.
Two administrations have attempted to run the country since August 2014.
A former ambassador to Iraq and Egypt, Kobler led the UN peace mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo over the past two years and has represented the United Nations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Italian Lieutenant General Paolo Serra has been appointed as Kobler's "senior adviser" for security matters.
dw.com/en/new-un-envoy-to-restart-libya-unity-govt-talks/a-18856378
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Libya: CPJ Concerned for Safety of Photojournalist Missing in Libya
Nov 18 2015
New York — The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned for the safety of Mohamed Neili, a Libyan photojournalist missing since October 29.
Neili, who works for the Chinese state-run Xinhuanews agency, disappeared after leaving his house in southern Tripoli, according to media outlets and a local press freedom center.
Neighbors said they witnessed Neili being abducted near his house, according to local reports and the Libyan Center for Press Freedom, an independent local press freedom group that documents violations against the media. In Libyan media outlet reports, Neili's neighbors said they saw him being taken away in a black car they did not recognize. The Libyan Center for Press Freedom told CPJ the photojournalist was kidnapped in his own car. Neighbors told the center that gunmen in a car stopped Neili a few blocks from his house then forced themselves into his car and drove away.
"For too long, journalists in Libya have faced a high risk of attack, including kidnapping by militias, and there has been no authority to investigate these crimes. This climate of fear and intimidation has all but shut down media coverage of the ongoing conflict," CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour said. "We call on anyone with information about Mohamed Neili's whereabouts to come forward, and anyone holding him to release him immediately."
http://allafrica.com/stories/201511180275.html
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Southeast Asia
Chinese security forces kill 17 in Xinjiang: Radio Free Asia
Reuters — November 18th, 2015
BEIJING: Chinese security forces in the restive far western region of Xinjiang have killed 17 people, including women and children, accused of involvement in an attack at a coal mine that left at least 50 dead, United States (US)-based Radio Free Asia said on Wednesday.
Hundreds of people have died in unrest in Xinjiang, home to the mostly Muslim Uighur people, and other parts of China over the past three years or so. China blames the violence on Islamist militants.
China has appealed for the international community to provide more help in its campaign against Xinjiang militants following the attacks in Paris, for which the self-styled militant group Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility.
The government has made no public comment about the September 18 attack at the Sogan colliery in Aksu, with Radio Free Asia reporting most casualties were members of the Han Chinese majority and police blaming knife-wielding separatists.
Radio Free Asia, citing Xinjiang police, said the 17 killed were all suspects in the attack, including three men believed to have been the ringleaders and their family members.
Repeated calls to the Xinjiang government seeking comment went unanswered.
"I heard from colleagues who participated in the operation that the military blew up the cave where the suspects were hiding," the report quoted Xinjiang police officer Ghalip Memethe as saying.
"That is why we were able to kill all of them with zero victims from our side. Seventeen corpses were gathered after the explosion."
On Saturday, state media microblogs published pictures provided by the Ministry of Public Security of armed police on what it said was a 56-day mission to root out militants in Xinjiang, though it gave no details of the target, only that all the suspects had been killed.
Some of those reports were later removed from the Internet.
Radio Free Asia said that report likely referred to the operation to find the suspects in the coal mine attack.
The Ministry of Public Security did not respond to requests for comment. While the government often gives details about violence in Xinjiang, it is not uncommon for them not to report certain incidents at all.
A spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, the only government department that regularly answers questions from foreign reporters, said he knew nothing about the report.
Rights groups and exiles say the violence in Xinjiang stems more from widespread Uighur resentment at Chinese controls on their religion and culture rather than being committed by a well-organised militant group.
China strongly denies abusing human rights in Xinjiang, and says it is facing a determined campaign from Islamic radicals and separatists.
dawn.com/news/1220512/chinese-security-forces-kill-17-in-xinjiang-radio-free-asia
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‘All violence against Muslims in Myanmar is politically motivated’
November 18th, 2015
Just a short ride from Masoerein monastery, from where Ashin Wirathu preaches anti-Muslim rhetoric, a Muslim community lives side-by-side with their Buddhist neighbours. A mosque and a Buddhist temple are situated next to each other.
“Muslims and Buddhists have been living peacefully as neighbours for hundreds of years,” said Tin Swe Aung, a leader of the Muslim community in Kyauk Sit Tan, Mandalay.
He believes all the violence against Muslims was politically motivated. “There had been no violence until the NLD [National League for Democracy] won the by-election with a landslide victory in 2012. It started in Rakhine before spreading to other parts of the country,” said Tin Swe Aung.
Like most Muslims in the neighbourhood, Tin Swe Aung believes that their future depends on Aung San Suu Kyi. But their hope for a better future is mixed with fears and anxiety. “As long as Muslims are still the target of hatred and people use religion as a political tool, we fear there will still be violence.”
Tin Swe Aung blamed the violence on the government. “The government uses divide-and-rule tactics against the minorities and Muslims,” he said, and accused Ma Ba Tha, an organisation of nationalist Buddhist monks led by Wirathu, of being an instrument of the government in stoking anti-Muslim fervour.
He said his Muslim community harboured no grudges against the NLD for not fielding a single Muslim candidate in the election. “We understand the pressure Suu Kyi was facing,” he said.
Tin Swe Aung believes it would take a long time for the religious divide to be bridged. Education is a long-term solution to the problem, he said.
—The Nation/Thailand
dawn.com/news/1220356/all-violence-against-muslims-in-myanmar-is-politically-motivated
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Arab World
ISIL Militants Fleeing Palmyra after Disclosure of Syrian-Hezbollah Forces' Imminent Operation
Wed Nov 18 2015
TEHRAN (FNA)- The ISIL terrorists are fleeing Palmyra (Tadmur) in Homs province after different sources informed of an imminent large-scale operation of the pro-government force, including army, popular forces and Hezbollah, to recapture the militant-held city, local sources said Wednesday.
The sources said that the ISIL militants, who have heard about dispatch of hundreds of Hezbollah fighters to Palmyra to join Syrian army, are leaving Palmyra and its nearby areas in groups to find safer location inside or outside of the country.
On Tuesday, the Syrian army and the National Defense Forces (NDF) won key battles against ISIL terrorists in two key areas in the Western countryside of Palmyra after killing at least 25 militants.
The sources said that the pro-government forces broke through the ISIL militants' defense lines in Tal Syriatel and Jabal Ma'ar and retook full control over these two important areas.
The Syrian forces are fortifying their position around the newly-recaptured areas to fend off the ISIL possible infiltration attempts.
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940827000648
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Hundreds of Hezbollah Fighters Join Syrian Army to Launch Palmyra Liberation Operation
Wed Nov 18 2015
TEHRAN (FNA)- The Lebanese Hezbollah Resistance Movement has dispatched hundreds of its ready-to-fight forces to the Central Homs province to take part in a large-scale operation with the Syrian forces to recapture the ancient city of Palmyra from the ISIL terrorists, intelligence sources disclosed Wednesday.
The source said that the Syrian Army, popular force, Hezbollah fighters and the Russian Air Force are coordinating to launch a joint massive operation to win back militant-held Palmyra city.
The experienced Hezbollah fighters, as one of the main allies of the Syrian government in its fight against terrorism, have won many battles across the country, including Zabadani in Damascus province, Aleppo countryside and Lattakia province.
Sources said on Tuesday that the Syrian Army and the National Defense Forces (NDF) won key battles against ISIL terrorists in two key areas in the Western countryside of Palmyra (Tadmour) after killing at least 25 militants.
The sources said that the pro-government forces broke through the ISIL militants' defense lines in Tal Syriatel and Jabal Ma'ar and retook full control over these two important areas.
The Syrian forces are fortifying their position around the newly-recaptured areas to fend off the ISIL possible infiltration attempts.
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940827000487
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Russian Warplanes Destroy 140 Terrorist Targets in Syria
Wed Nov 18 2015
TEHRAN (FNA)- Russia used 34 air launched cruise missiles during the strike on the terrorist targets in Syria, Russian General Staff chief Gen. Valery Gerasimov said Tuesday. The members of the US-led coalition were informed about the operation in advance, he added.
“During a massive airstrike today, 14 important ISIL targets were destroyed by 34 air-launched cruise missiles. The targets destroyed include command posts that were used to coordinate ISIL activities in the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo, munition and supply depots in the northwestern part of Syria,” Gerasimov said on Tuesday.
Russian Air Forces will be strengthened with advanced 37 aircraft, including eight Su-34 bomber jets and four Su-27 fighter jets, Gerasimov noted.
Full report at: http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940826001616
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Russia intensifies air strikes against IS in Syria
IANS | Nov 18, 2015
MOSCOW: Russian air force intensified military operation against Islamic State (IS) targets in Syria, shortly after the Kremlin said that a passenger plane that crashed in Egypt last month was brought down by a bomb.
Russian Federal Security Service said on Tuesday that the downing of the plane in Sinai was the result of a terrorist attack. president Vladimir Putin vowed vengeance and massive anti-terror campaign in Syria, Xinhua reported.
"The number of flights has doubled in the air operation in Syria to carry out powerful strikes against IS targets across Syria with pinpoint accuracy," Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told Putin in a meeting on the military operation in Syria.
A total of 127 sorties were planned on Tuesday against 206 terrorist targets in Syria, with 82 sorties being flown, hitting 140 targets so far, an online Kremlin release quoted Shoigu as saying.
Full report at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Russia-intensifies-air-strikes-against-IS-in-Syria/articleshow/49827050.cms
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Saudi Arabia says 2 police officers killed in kingdom's east
AP | Nov 18, 2015, 01.47 PM IST
File photo of Saudi security officials in Jeddah.File photo of Saudi security officials in Jeddah.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia says two police officers have been shot and killed in the country's east.
The state-run Saudi Press Agency says the shooting happened around 1 a.m. on Wednesday in the predominantly Shiite eastern region of al-Qatif.
The report, quoting an unnamed Interior Ministry spokesman, says the officers were shot while on patrol near farm fields and that an investigation is underway. Semi-official Saudi media reported earlier that the two officers were shot at a checkpoint in the area, something the Saudi Press Agency did not immediately say.
The shooting comes as the kingdom has faced a series of attacks by Islamic State-inspired militants.
In October, a previously unheard-of Islamic State affiliate claimed an attack in the al-Qatif region targeting a Shiite mosque that killed five people and wounded nine.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Saudi-Arabia-says-2-police-officers-killed-in-kingdoms-east/articleshow/49829152.cms
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Heavy rains hit Saudi Arabia; three killed, flights delayed
AFP —November 18th, 2015
RIYADH: At least three people died and flights were delayed during heavy rain that fell on Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, officials said as the desert nation braced for a cool snap.
Two people in the Red Sea city of Jeddah were electrocuted, and an 11-year-old boy drowned in Yanbu further north, the civil defence agency said.
Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport said eight domestic flights were delayed “due to the rainy weather conditions in Jeddah”.
One international flight was diverted to Medina, it added in a statement, without giving more details.
“Air traffic is now back to normal,” the airport said.
Some streets in Jeddah, the kingdom’s second-largest city, were flooded.
A picture posted by the civil defence agency showed water over the wheels of cars in one Jeddah location, but elsewhere it covered only the feet of firefighters.
The government urged Jeddah residents to stay home, and reportedly gave children there a day off school on Tuesday.
“The next few hours will see more moderate rains in Jeddah and its northern areas,” said Hussein al-Qahtani, a weather department spokesman.
Even heavier rains fell in the northwestern city of Tabuk, near Jordan, where 46 millimetres were recorded since Monday, Qahtani said.
Following cool winds, moderate to heavy rains would on Wednesday move east to the Riyadh region and other areas, he told Al-Ekhbaria television news channel.
Floods killed 123 people in Jeddah in 2009, and about 10 people two years later.
dawn.com/news/1220378/heavy-rains-hit-saudi-arabia-three-killed-flights-delayed
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Jeish Al-Islam Military Commander Killed in Idlib
Wed Nov 18 2015
TEHRAN (FNA)- The Takfiri militants confirmed the death of the military commander of Jeish Al-Islam terrorist group in the Syrian province of Idlib.
The terrorists said the military commander was killed after Russian fighter jets bombed headquarters of the terrorist group in Idlib.
On Tuesday, Russian fighter jets struck the concentration centers and key positions of the al-Nusra Front terrorist groups in Hama and Idlib provinces.
The strongholds of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front in Hama's Karf Zita and Idlib's Kahn Sheikhoun were bombed by the Russian warplanes on Tuesday.
Sources said earlier on Tuesday that the Syrian Army and the Lebanese Hezbollah fighters are resolved to end the several-month-long siege on Fou’aa and Kafraya as they have deployed forces just 17 km away from the two besieged towns.
The sources said that an ultimate goal for the army and Hezbollah is to capture the territory leading to Kafraya and Al-Fou’aa; and by doing so, they will no longer be at the mercy of the terrorist groups that use these two towns to threaten the pro-government forces with an attack on the civilian populous.
As of now, Hezbollah and their allies are approximately 17km away from Al-Fou’aa and only 11km from the militant stronghold of Taftanaz; if the aforementioned town is captured, the terrorist groups will be in serious trouble.
Also sources said on Tuesday that the Russian airstrikes hit strategic positions of the Takfiri militants in Hama province.
Russian fighter jets pounded terrorists' positions in the towns of al-Lataminah and Morek in Hama.
Tens of Takfiri terrorists were reportedly killed in the air attacks.
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940827000374
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Gov't Sources Fend Off Militants' Offensives on Two Newly-Captured Areas North of Lattakia
Wed Nov 18 2015
TEHRAN (FNA)- The Syrian Army and popular forces repelled large-scale attacks of the Takfiri militants to retake control of al- Dughmishlyia and Deir Hanna in the Northern part of Lattakia province on Wednesday.
The terrorist groups carried out two almost massive attacks on the government forces' positions around the abovementioned villages, but the Syrian forces' heavy fire pushed them back to retreat without any result.
The militants reportedly suffered heavy death toll.
Sources said on Monday that the Syrian Army and National Defense Forces (NDF), backed up by the Russian warplanes, regained two strategic villages in the Northeastern part of Lattakia province after inflicting heavy death toll on the militant groups.
The militant position near the villages of al-Dughmishlyia and Beit Ayyash were heavily bombed by the Russian fighter jets and choppers since this morning, which pave the groups for the army and NDF to push back the terrorists and regain control over the villages.
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940827000280
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Military Source Strongly Denies Rumors about Fall of Deir Hanna in Syria's Lattakia
Wed Nov 18 2015
TEHRAN (FNA)- An informed source within the Syrian military ranks on Wednesday rejected rumors spread by the terrorist groups about their victories against the government forces near the newly-liberated village of Deir Hanna in Lattakia.
The source said that the terrorist groups' attempts to infiltrate into the government forces' defense lines near the strategic village of Deir Hanna and its surrounding areas have been repelled by the Syrian army troops.
The source further added that the army is in full control of the village and the militants left behind many dead members and fled the fighting area in order to evade more death toll.
Sources said on Monday that the Syrian army and popular forces continued to push back the terrorist groups from the Northern parts of Lattakia and entered the strategic village of Deir Hanna.
The pro-government forces, after fierce clashes with the militant groups, broke through their defense lines and entered Deir Hanna.
The militant groups reportedly suffered heavy death toll in the Syrian forces' operation and retreated the remaining of forces from the battlefront.
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940827000564
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Iraqi Forces Thwart ISIL Attacks in Salahuddin
Wed Nov 18 2015
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iraqi army troops and volunteer forces repelled attacks by the ISIL terrorists in Salahuddin province, killing and injuring scores of them.
The Iraqi forces repelled the ISIL assaults in Makhoul Mountains in Salahuddin, informed sources said Tuesday.
The sources added that scores of the Takfiri militants were killed and injured.
Also on Tuesday, the Iraqi security forces advanced against the ISIL terrorists in Ramadi city in Anbar province, regaining control of several government buildings and institutions.
Iraq's anti-terrorism forces said the Iraqi security forces crossed the Euphrates River, for the first time since the ISIL terrorists captured Ramadi city, advancing towards the center of the city.
The Iraqi forces also regained control of several government buildings and institutions in Ramadi.
Full report at: http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940827000458
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Syrian Forces, Hezbollah Win Back Another Region in Southern Aleppo
Wed Nov 18 2015
TEHRAN (FNA)- The Syrian Army, popular forces and Hezbollah fighters won another battle against the militant groups in the Southern territories of Aleppo province on Wednesday and retook full control over the village of Khalasah, known to locals as Halash.
With the capture of Halash, the Syrian Armed Forces and their allies are now in position to attack the important village of Zitan from two different directions.
On Tuesday, the Syrian army killed a senior terrorist commander of "Nour al-Din al-Zenki movement" in Aleppo province.
Hassan Moaikeh, a military commander of the movement, was killed in heavy clashes in Southern Aleppo.
He was one of the field commanders of the movement and one of the commanders of al-Rashidin operations room in Aleppo.
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940827000381
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Iranian Envoy: S-300 Contract Finalized with Russia, Delivery Process Underway
Wed Nov 18 2015
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Ambassador to Moscow Mehdi Sanayee announced that the contract to deliver the Russian S-300 missile defense system to Tehran has been finalized and its implementation is underway.
"As our defense minister and the Russian side have announced, the contract has been finalized and both sides have reached a definite agreement in this regard," Sanayee told FNA on Wednesday.
"The implementation of the contract is moving on its natural course," he added.
In September, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov announced that the contract between Moscow and Tehran on the delivery of S-300 missile defense systems to Iran will be signed in the near future,.
"The negotiations are continuing, the contract will be signed in the near future. All political decisions have been made, there are no obstacles there," Ryabkov said.
In 2007, Iran signed a contract worth $800mln to buy five Russian S300 missile defense systems.
But the deal was scrapped in 2010 by the then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev under the pretext of the UN Security Council sanctions, although the UN embargoes did not include defensive military systems.
Full report at: http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940827000563
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South Asia
27 ISIS and Taliban loyalists arrested from Nangarhar University
By Khaama Press - Tue Nov 17 2015
ISIS loyalists in Nangarhar universityThe Afghan Intelligence operatives have detained at least 27 university students who were affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group and the Taliban group.
The National Directorate of Security (NDS) said the university students were arrested after they torched the national flag and instead raised the flags of ISIS and Taliban group.
NDS said a number of the detained university students also have links with Hezb-e-Islami Party led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
The group was looking to organize further illegal demonstrations in a bid to disrupt the situation in Nangarhar and particularly in Nangrhar University, NDS said, adding that the suspects were arrested during a joint operation conducted by Afghan police and intelligence operatives.
The Afghan security forces also confiscated numerous ISIS and Taliban flags along with documents proving their affiliation with the terror groups, NDS added.
Calling the Taliban and ISIS as terror groups, NDS warned of strict actions against those who are supporting and spreading propaganda in favor of the mentioned groups.
Nangarhar is among the relatively volatile provinces in eastern Afghanistan where anti-government armed militant groups are actively operating in a number of its remote districts which have also became a hotbed for the loyalists of ISIS terrorist group.
khaama.com/27-isis-and-taliban-loyalists-arrested-from-nangarhar-university-1697
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Three landmine planters killed by own bomb in Kunar
By Khaama Press - Tue Nov 17 2015
kiledThree landmine planters have been killed in the explosion of their own bomb in eastern Kunar province.
According the Ministry of Interior, the incident took place in Panjshir Naw area of Noorgal District on Monday.
A statement issued by the ministry states that the militants belonging to Taliban group were in the process of planting bomb on a roadside that exploded on them.
The only casualties the explosion had were the militants, the statement adds.
The ministry also reports destroying a huge weapon cache and Radio system of Taliban in Marja District of southern Helmand province.
Weapons, bombs, ammunition and other materials used in attacks were hidden in the depot and the radio was used by Taliban for their propaganda campaign, a statement released by the ministry states.
khaama.com/three-landmine-planters-killed-by-own-bomb-in-kunar-4126
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Bomb blast kills two brothers in Ghazni
By Khaama Press - Wed Nov 18 2015
Ghazni-Police HQA bomb explosion has claimed the lives of two brothers in southern Ghazni province of Afghanistan.
The incident took place in Rabat area of Deh Yak District around 07:00 am this morning.
According to the district’s governor Karimullah Ameeri , the victims had loaded apples to a “Flying Coach” vehicle and were driving towards Ghazni city when their vehicle ran over a Taliban-planted roadside landmine.
Meanwhile, the province’s Police Chief Brigadier General Aminullah Amarkhil says that the victims belong to Rabat village.
Reports suggest that Taliban have a strong presence in Deh Yak District especially around its Rabat village.
The militant group had earlier urged Rabat villagers to remove the Afghan Local Police (ALP) security post from their area if not then ready for consequences.
khaama.com/bomb-blast-kills-two-brothers-in-ghazni-4234
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Italian priest wounded in latest attack on foreigner in Bangladesh
AFP | Nov 18, 2015
DHAKA: Unidentified gunmen shot and wounded an Italian priest on Wednesday in northern Bangladesh, the latest in a spate of attacks on foreigners that have been blamed on hardline Islamists, police said.
The priest, identified only as "Piero", was riding his bicycle in the northern city of Dinajpur when gunmen on a motorbike shot him several times at close range before fleeing, a police inspector said.
"Riding a motorcycle, unidentified attackers shot an Italian near the Dinajpur bus station in the morning," inspector Robiul Alam told AFP by phone, adding that he was "seriously injured".
Aged in his 60s, the priest had been working as a doctor at a Catholic mission in Dinajpur for some time, according to another priest, Anthony Sen, who lives in the same city.
Sen said the priest was "riding a bicycle at around 8am (0200 GMT) when three attackers shot him at close range".
"One of the bullets hit his neck. He bled a lot," Sen said.
Alam also confirmed the man attacked is a priest working in Dinajpur, located 350 kilometres (217 miles) north of the capital Dhaka, close to the border with India.
The attack comes after an Italian aid worker was shot dead in September and a Japanese farmer killed days later in Dhaka, attacks claimed by the Islamic State group.
The Bangladesh government denied IS was behind the attacks, saying there is "no presence of (IS) militancy" in the Muslim-majority nation.
The country is also reeling from a series of murders of secular bloggers and a publisher of secular books, attacks claimed by a local banned hardline Islamist group.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/Italian-priest-wounded-in-latest-attack-on-foreigner-in-Bangladesh/articleshow/49826109.cms
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Bangladesh opposition leaders to hang for war crimes
Reuters —
DHAKA: Bangladesh's Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected final appeals from two opposition leaders against death sentences for atrocities committed during the 1971 war of independence, rulings that are likely to spark protests by their supporters.
Muslim-majority Bangladesh has seen a rise in Islamist violence in recent months, with two foreigners and five secular writers and a publisher killed this year.
Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, 67, secretary general of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, was found guilty of five charges including torture and the murders of intellectuals and minority Hindus while he commanded Al Badr, a militia active in the 1971 war.
Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury, 66, former legislator from former premier Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was convicted in October 2013 on charges of genocide, religious persecution, abduction and torture during the war.
The rulings mean the two could be hanged at any time.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina opened an inquiry into crimes committed during the war in 2010, paving the way for prosecutions by a war crimes tribunal that Islamists have denounced as part of a politically motivated campaign aimed at weakening Jamaat-e-Islami's leadership.
Two Jamaat leaders have been executed, one in December 2013 and another in April. International human rights groups say the tribunal's procedures fall short of international standards. The government denies the accusation.
East Pakistan broke away to become independent Bangladesh after the war between India and Pakistan, in which about three million people were killed.
dawn.com/news/1220498/bangladesh-opposition-leaders-to-hang-for-war-crimes
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Germany starts eight disaster prevention projects in Badakhsha’s remote areas
By Zabihullah Moosakhail - Wed Nov 18 2015
Germany has started eight disaster prevention projects in four remote districts of northeastern Badakhshan province.
The projects started last week include protection walls, irrigation canals and forestation measures which will protect the villagers and their land, orchards and houses from floods and other natural disasters of Shahr-i-Buzurg, Shukai, Kofab and Khowahan districts.
Funded by Germany’s AFG 16 million through the Badakhshan Natural Disaster Prevention (BNDP) programme, the eight projects were chosen and managed by the Community Development Councils (CDCs).
Full report at: khaama.com/germany-starts-eight-disaster-prevention-projects-in-badakhshas-remote-areas-4236
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NDS detains Taliban commander for Qala-i-Zal District of Kundoz
By Khaama Press - Tue Nov 17 2015
The National Directorate of Security (NDS) – Afghanistan’s intelligence agency has detained the military commander of Taliban for Qala-i-Zal District of northern Kundoz province.
Commander Qari Sharifullah was arrested along with his deputy Zia-ud-din after a brief clash with NDS personnel in Mazar-e-Sharif, the provincial capital of Balkh province.
A statement released by NDS on Tuesday states that the arrested Taliban were involved in armed clashes in Qala-e-Zal and Chahar Dara districts, and the provincial capital of Kundoz province.
Qari sharifullah was in Mazar-e-Sharif for treatment after sustaining injuries in Kundoz province.
The arrested Taliban admit to have planted several landmines for targeting security forces besides other terrorist activities.
Kundoz saw some of its worst security recently. Militants stormed the provincial capital and staged attacks against security forces in Qala-i-Zal, Chahar Dara and other areas.
However, Taliban soon lost most of the seized areas back to security forces with heavy casualties.
khaama.com/nds-detains-taliban-commander-for-qala-e-zal-district-of-kundoz-4231
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Europe
Two suspects killed, one blowing herself up, during raid in suburb of Paris
By Zabihullah Moosakhail - Wed Nov 18 2015
ParisTwo suspects have been killed including a female who reportedly blew herself up with own explosives north of Paris.
Reports suggest that two more suspects were arrested and a third one held up in an apartment in Saint Denis suburb of Paris which is surrounded by security forces.
Heavy gunfire and explosions have been heard in the area.
Four policemen have reportedly sustained injuries in the incident.
The anti-terrorism raid carried out on an apartment on suspension that Paris attacks mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud might be inside but officials have not so far confirmed his presence.
Earlier, officials said that two Air France flights on way from U.S to Paris were diverted because of a security incident.
The situation is still tense in the area and this story would be updated as more details come available.
khaama.com/two-suspects-killed-one-blowing-herself-up-during-raid-in-suburb-of-paris-4237
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Muslims good citizens of Europe, need to save them from backlash of far right: Austrian ambassador
Uday Rana,TNN | Nov 18, 2015
MEERUT: In the backdrop of the Paris attacks, Austrian ambassador to India Bernhard Wrabetz said on Tuesday that there was a need to protect European Muslims and Syrian refugees from the divisive politics of the emerging "far-right" in the continent.
Wrabetz, who was in Meerut to address students at the city's IIMT Management College, spoke exclusively to TOI on the sidelines of the event and said, "It would be wrong to label all Syrian refugees as terrorists after the Paris attacks. They are not terrorists; they are fleeing from the terrorists. The Paris attacks are sad but our policy towards the Syrian refugees will not change. Muslims are good citizens of Europe. They are as good as anybody else. The discourse of the far-right should not prevail in the Centre of society. Muslims and refugees need to be protected from hate crimes. However, the general sentiment in Europe does not place any blame on innocent Muslims. We must draw a distinction between the legitimate fears of the people and the act of labeling all Muslims as terrorists. Europe has many problems but the refugees are not one of them."
Full report at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Muslims-good-citizens-of-Europe-need-to-save-them-from-backlash-of-far-right-Austrian-ambassador/articleshow/49823757.cms
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Paris shootout: Three arrested as police operation continues
AFP | Nov 18, 2015
PARIS: Three people were arrested during a police assault in north Paris targeting the suspected mastermind of Friday's attacks, police said.
Two others were killed following the dawn raids, including a woman who blew herself up, as loud explosions and automatic weapon fire were heard in the centre of Saint-Denis just north of the capital.
The operation aimed at the suspected mastermind of Friday's deadly attacks in Paris, Belgian Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who has been active with the Islamic State group in Syria, the source said.
The raid began before dawn, at around 04:30 am (0330 GMT), on an apartment at the crossroads of Rue de la Republique and Rue Corbillon.
The area is home to the Stade de France, one of several places hit by gunmen and suicide bombers on Friday in the worst ever attack on French soil, which was claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group.
The coordinated assaults killed 129 people and injured more than 350, some of them critically.
A local resident who identified herself as Alexia told AFP she heard shots, "'booms like grenades and then intermittent bursts" of gunfire".
"I heard bursts of machine gun fire," said Reda, a taxi driver. "I got out (of the car), masked policemen stopped us and told us to leave."
The raid came as Europe was placed on high alert after footage from the scene of one of Friday's attacks revealed a ninth suspect may have taken part.
It was not clear if this ninth man was one of two suspected accomplices detained in Belgium or was on the run, potentially with 26-year-old fugitive Frenchman Salah Abdeslam who took part in the attacks with his suicide-bomber brother Brahim.
Police also carried out raids in southwestern France, in Ariege, Toulouse and the department of the Haute-Garonne.
Full report at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/europe/Paris-shootout-Three-arrested-as-police-operation-continues/articleshow/49828688.cms
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Syria's Assad says no intelligence sharing with France
IANS | Nov 18, 2015
Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
DAMASCUS: Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has ruled out collaborating with France and said his country is ready to share intelligence with it only if Paris changed its policy toward Syria.
"We are ready to exchange intelligence with France if Paris changed its policy toward Syria and we have repeatedly called for the necessity to form an international coalition against terrorism," Xinhua quoted Assad as saying during an interview with a French magazine.
"If the French government is not serious in its fight against terrorism, we will not waste our time collaborating with a country, government or an institution that supports terrorism," he said.
Full report at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Syrias-Assad-says-no-intelligence-sharing-with-France/articleshow/49827599.cms
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Paris attacks: Hating Muslims plays right into ISIS's hands
The Independent | Nov 18, 2015
Paris attacks raise US safety awarenessParis attacks raise US safety ...
Trump blames Paris death toll on gun lawsTrump blames Paris death toll ...
Paris attack: Police raids in France, Belgium to seek suspectsParis attack: Police raids in ...
Paris attack planned in Syria, executed by French nationalist: French PoliceParis attack planned in Syria,...
After the terror attacks Friday night in Paris, it did not take long for anti-Muslim forces to lash out around the world.
A mosque in Canada was deliberately set on fire Saturday, Ontario police say. In Oregon, anti-Muslim protesters held a rally outside the Portland Rizwan Mosque, one of them with a shirt that said "Proud to be an infidel. Islam is a LIE." In Florida, the Islamic Center of St. Petersburg received a bomb threat over voicemail: "We are tired of your [expletive] and I [expletive] personally have a militia that is going to come down to your Islamic Society of Pinellas County and firebomb you and shoot whoever is there in the head," the caller said, according to News 13.
Full report at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/europe/Paris-attacks-Hating-Muslims-plays-right-into-ISISs-hands/articleshow/49824355.cms
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We planned attacks on crusaders: Abdelhamid Abaaoud, suspected Paris attack mastermind
Written by Praveen Swami | Paris | Updated: November 18, 2015
Abdelhamid Abaaoud, named by French investigators as the commander who organised Friday’s terror strikes in Paris, spoke in February of his success in penetrating European border defences and obtaining weapons for a terrorist strike.
In an interview to Islamic State’s propaganda magazine, Dabiq, Abaaoud said, “We spent months trying to find a way into Europe, and by Allah’s strength, we succeeded in finally making our way to Belgium. We were then able to obtain weapons and set up a safe house while we planned to carry out operations against the crusaders.”
Born to Moroccan immigrant parents, the 27-year-old Belgian citizen is alleged to have organised an attempted attack on an Amsterdam-Paris high-speed train and a strike on a church in Paris earlier this year.
Full report at: http://indianexpress.com/article/world/world-news/paris-attacks-suspected-mastermind-we-planned-attacks-on-crusaders/
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Mideast
Iran Dismisses Allegations on Assisting Taliban
Wed Nov 18 2015
TEHRAN (FNA)- An expert at the Iranian foreign ministry rejected allegations about the country on assisting the Taliban extremist group.
"Such claims are unreal," the expert on West Asia affairs said on Wednesday in reaction to allegations raised by a security official in Afghanistan's Farah province on Iran's assistance to the Taliban.
Stressing Tehran's constructive role in Afghanistan, he said, "The Islamic Republic of Iran has always pursued the approach of supporting peace and stability in Afghanistan and this well shows the country's strategy of fighting against extremism and violence."
Iranian officials have always underlined full support for the establishment of sustainable peace and security in Afghanistan.
In relevant remarks in September, Iran's Ambassador to the United Nations in New York Gholam Ali Khoshrou underlined Tehran's determination to do its best to promote peace and tranquility in neighboring Afghanistan.
"Iran continues its full support for the promotion of security, stability and comprehensive and sustainable development in Afghanistan since we consider the security in Afghanistan to be the security of our borders and the Region," Khoshrou said in a statement presented to the UN Security Council (UNSC) on the situation in Afghanistan.
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940827000472
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Iraqi Kurdistan says will keep bypassing Baghdad to sell oil
A worker adjusts the valve of an oil pipe at West Qurna oilfield in Iraq’s southern province of Basra, Nov, 2010. (Photo: Reuters)
November 17, 2015
Iraq's semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan has for the first time detailed its secretive oil exports operations and said it plans to sell more, whether Baghdad likes it or not, as it needs money to survive and fight Islamic State.
The region's minister for natural resources, Ashti Hawrami, said that to avoid detection oil was often funneled through Israel, transferred directly between ships off the coast of Malta, and decoy ships used to make it harder for Baghdad to track. Kurdistan says it had been forced to bypass Baghdad and begin exporting oil directly because the latter refused to respect budgets in 2014 and 2015. The current and former Iraqi central governments have both said the Kurds have failed to respect deals to transfer agreed volumes of oil to Baghdad. Kurdistan is entitled to 17 percent of Iraqi's overall budget, and argued it needed stable revenues to pay its bills, support over a million of refugees fleeing the war in Syria and Iraq finance its Peshmerga army fighting against Islamist militants.
Full report at: todayszaman.com/business_iraqi-kurdistan-says-will-keep-bypassing-baghdad-to-sell-oil_404533.html
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Armed attack in France targets Turk
November 17, 2015
A man of Turkish origin was shot in the back by an assailant in the French commune of Cambrai late on Saturday, the French news magazine Nouvel Observateur has reported.
Remi Schwartz, state prosecutor in Cambrai, reportedly said the man was targeted because he had dark skin. The assailant fired the shot and then committed suicide; however, two other people who were in the car with the assailant were captured by police, Schwartz confirmed.
The prosecutor said the investigation into the incident is still ongoing; however, it is suspected that the attack was a reaction to attacks in Paris on Friday. Gunmen and bombers attacked restaurants, a concert hall and a sports stadium at locations across Paris on Friday night, killing more than 120 people.
The victim is reportedly not in critical condition.
todayszaman.com/national_armed-attack-in-france-targets-turk_404492.html
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Amano Confirms Iran's Cooperation with UN Nuclear Watchdog
Wed Nov 18 2015
TEHRAN (FNA)- Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano underlined progress in exchanging information on Iran's nuclear program.
"The IAEA has had another eventful year as important developments were made in relation to Iran's nuclear program," Amano said, addressing the Seventieth Regular Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday night.
"Since I last had the honor to address the General Assembly there were important developments in relation to Iran's nuclear issue," Amano said.
He reiterated that there have been important developments concerning the implementation of IAEA safeguards in Iran.
Full report at: http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940827000339
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Turkey, US to intensify drive to push ISIL from Syria border, Sinirlioğlu says
November 18, 2015
Turkey and the United States will intensify operations aimed at flushing Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) back from part of the Turkish-Syrian border in the coming days, Turkish Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioğlu was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
"We will not allow Daesh (ISIL) to continue its presence on our border," Sinirlioğlu was quoted as saying by the state-run Anadolu Agency.
"We have long continued air operations in that region with the United States ... We have certain plans to terminate the Daesh (ISIL) presence in our border. Once these plans are finalised, our operations will intensify. You will see this in the coming days," he said.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday his country would start an operation with Turkey to secure the northern Syrian border.
todayszaman.com/anasayfa_turkey-us-to-intensify-drive-to-push-isil-from-syria-border-sinirlioglu-says_404591.html
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2.2 mln Syrian refugees in Turkey struggling, demand better living conditions
November 17, 2015
About 2.2 million Syrian refugees who have taken shelter in Turkey to escape the ongoing civil war in Syria are suffering from significant problems in terms of the necessities of daily life, the lack of medical services and poor working conditions, as well as negative perceptions about them in Turkish society, and they demand that the Turkish authorities improve their conditions.
Turkey is the country currently hosting the largest number of Syrian refugees. According to an earlier statement from Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş, who is responsible for refugees, there are nearly 2.2 million Syrian refugees are currently living in Turkey. However, this figure only includes those Syrians who came to Turkey legally, but there are also Syrians who have entered Turkey illegally without being officially registered. Many unregistered Syrians are also believed to be in Turkey. According to official data, Turkey had spent $ 7.6 billion from the country's budget on Syrian refugees as of September 2015.
The question is where and under what conditions are those 2.2 million Syrian refugees living. When the crisis erupted in Syria, the Prime Ministry's Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate (AFAD) was tasked with establishing refugee camps in cities near Turkey's border with Syria. There are currently between 250,000 and 300,000 refugees living in 25 refugee camps in Turkey. The other refugees are dispersed throughout the country. Most reside in cities near the border, but nearly 1 million refugees are estimated to be living in İstanbul on their own.
Full report at: todayszaman.com/national_22-mln-syrian-refugees-in-turkey-struggling-demand-better-living-conditions_404561.html
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Pakistan
Defence cooperation dominates Gen Raheel's meetings with top US officials
Dawn.com — November 18th, 2015
WASHINGTON: Chief of Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif held meetings with top US defence officials at the Pentagon Tuesday, with defence cooperation between the two countries dominating the discussion.
According to a series of tweets posted by Director-General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lt-Gen Asim Bajwa, Gen Raheel on Tuesday met US Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter and Deputy Secretary of Defence Robert O. Work, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) Gen Joseph Dunford, Army Chief of Staff Gen Mark Milley and Centcom (Central Command) chief Gen Lloyd Austin.
During the meetings, Gen Raheel and American officials discussed defence cooperation between US and Pakistan and the need for enhanced defence coordination, said Lt-Gen Bajwa.
Full report at: dawn.com/news/1220487/defence-cooperation-dominates-gen-raheels-meetings-with-top-us-officials
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‘Paris attacks will not affect ties with Pakistan’
November 18th, 2015
ISLAMABAD: British High Commissioner Philip Barton has said the attacks on Paris will not affect relations between UK and Pakistan.
“The immigration process will also remain the same because our immigration policy is not based on religion,” Mr Barton said.
The high commissioner told participants of a public talk on ‘Pakistan-United Kingdom Relations’ on Tuesday that the UK has decided to increase resources to its intelligence agencies to make the country more secure.
He said: “We stand with France in this hard time and it reminds me that the people of Pakistan also went through a similar situation after the attack on Army Public School last year. We stand by Pakistan and have been working towards improvements in police and other law enforcement agencies.”
Full report at: dawn.com/news/1220401/paris-attacks-will-not-affect-ties-with-pakistan
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‘Maltreatment of Afghans peaked post-APS attack’
Hassan Belal Zaidi — November 18th, 2015
ISLAMABAD: Since the late 1970s, Pakistan has hosted over three million Afghan refugees – one of the largest displaced populations in the world. But despite a difficult past, never before have these refugees – many of whom have since raised families and put down roots in Pakistan – faced the kind of discrimination and abuse at the hands of law enforcement agencies as they did in the aftermath of the attack on the Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar, on December 16, 2014.
Through a series of interviews with refugees who had returned to Kabul, as well as Afghans still living in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Kashmir and Punjab, a new report by international watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) reveals that the use of harassment, threats and intimidation by law enforcement agencies had reached an all-time high in the wake of the APS attack.
Despite the fact that the investigation into the attack did not yield evidence of significant Afghan involvement, the Afghan population in the country continued to be targeted at the official level, the report claims.
Full report at: dawn.com/news/1220388/maltreatment-of-afghans-peaked-post-aps-attack
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Death toll from Jaffar Express accident climbs to 19
AFP | Syed Ali Shah — November 18th, 2015
QUETTA: The death toll from a deadly train accident in Balochistan's Bolan has risen to 19 and around a dozen people are still in critical condition, officials said on Wednesday.
The Jaffar Express, carrying around 300 passengers from the provincial capital Quetta to Rawalpindi, derailed on Tuesday, though the cause remains unknown.
Take a look: 14 killed, over 100 injured as Jaffar Express derails.
Officials said that three more people succumbed to their injuries overnight.
“The death toll has risen to 19 now. A total of 96 people are being treated in hospitals and around a dozen are still critical,” Akbar Hussain Durrani, home secretary of Balochistan, told AFP.
Full report at: dawn.com/news/1220505/death-toll-from-jaffar-express-accident-climbs-to-19
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Paris-like attacks can’t be ruled out in Punjab: CTD official
Amjad Mahmood — November 18th, 2015
LAHORE: The Punjab Counter Terrorism Department cannot rule out threat of Paris-like attacks in Lahore and elsewhere in the province, a senior CTD official has said.
Another senior official has said a seminary in south Punjab has been sealed for providing militant training to its students.
The two officials were briefing journalists on Tuesday about security arrangements being made for the coming local government elections in the province. Provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah was also present on the occasion.
Also read: Ulema issue fatwa against Paris attacks
There is no election-related threat from the Middle East-based Islamic State militant group, also known by its Arabic acronym Daesh, said CTD’s additional inspector general Rai Tahir. “But there are threats from the international terrorist organisation to Punjab,” he said.
As a precaution, he said, all the sensitive places and social media sites from where controversial messages could be spread were being monitored.
Mr Tahir said that details about the sensitive places and websites would be shared with the media at an appropriate time.
Full report at: dawn.com/news/1220473/paris-like-attacks-cant-be-ruled-out-in-punjab-ctd-official
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Potato to web: Internet outsourcing in Gilgit-Baltistan
AFP —
GULMIT: When a landslide created a huge, turquoise lake that cut them off from the world, the farmers of Gulmit were left destitute and unable to sell their potatoes. Their solution: to drag their Himalayan valley in Pakistan's far north into the Internet age.
In the village, which is nestled between two peaks approaching 8,000 metres (26,000 feet) high, farmers scrabble to grow the produce as their ancestors did. But just a few metres away Karim Aslam is hammering at a keyboard on a computer connected to a giant satellite dish.
Farmers harvesting potatoes in a field next to an e-facility center (L) in the village of Gulmit, Hunza valley, in northern Pakistan. — AFP
He downloads audio files sent from the US: English-language recordings of patients' diagnoses sent from Tennessee, which he transcribes before sending back, acting as a long-distance secretary.
Full report at: dawn.com/news/1220493/potato-to-web-internet-outsourcing-in-gilgit-baltistan
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North America
Police treating fire at Canada mosque as a hate crime
November 17, 2015
Police said Monday they are treating a fire that was deliberately set at an Ontario mosque as a hate crime.
Police are still searching for suspects in the Saturday night fire and say it is unclear if it was connected to the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris the previous day. But Police Chief Murray Rodd said that an injury to one of the city's ethnic communities is "an injury to us all."
The president of the Kawartha Muslim Religious Association, Kenzu Abdella, said the mosque was set ablaze at 11 p.m. on Saturday, about a half-hour after association members were in the building celebrating the birth of a baby.
Abdella said no one was injured in the fire but the building has been rendered unusable.
New Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was "deeply disturbed" by the fire and promised to protect the rights of worshippers at the mosque and catch those responsible for the fire.
Full report at: todayszaman.com/world_police-treating-fire-at-canada-mosque-as-a-hate-crime_404563.html
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Obama says Putin a 'constructive partner' in Syria talks
AFP | Nov 18, 2015
US President Barack Obama.US President Barack Obama.
MANILA: US President Barack Obama on Wednesday praised Russia's role in talks to end the Syria crisis and offered the prospect of better ties if Moscow focused military strikes on the Islamic State group.
Obama said Russia had been a "constructive partner in Vienna in trying to create a political transition," referring to international talks in Austria.
But, he said, there were still differences over the fate of Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, and Moscow's current military focus on defending him.
"There is obviously a catch, which is Moscow is still interested in keeping Assad in power," Obama said.
But he added: "Those differences have not prevented us at looking at how could we set up a cease fire."
Full report at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/Obama-says-Putin-a-constructive-partner-in-Syria-talks/articleshow/49825377.cms
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Paris attacks reshape US debate on immigration, security
Reuters | Nov 18, 2015
WASHINGTON: US lawmakers called on Tuesday for even tighter scrutiny of Syrian refugees fleeing to the United States as last week's deadly Paris attacks recast America's debate over immigration and national security, prompting a sharp rebuke from president Barack Obama, who said attempts to block entry were "offensive and contrary to American values".
Republican leaders in the US House of Representatives, worried about Islamist attacks following Friday's killings of 129 people in France, threatened to suspend the Obama administration's efforts to allow 10,000 more Syrian refugees into the country.
Democrats also called for close vetting of refugees from the four-year-old civil war in Syria in case they are linked to extremist groups such as Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for the Paris killings.
The attacks focused the spotlight in Washington on national security with the November 2016 presidential election campaign heating up and Obama in the final year of his presidency.
Full report at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Paris-attacks-reshape-US-debate-on-immigration-security/articleshow/49825187.cms
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US shouldn't sell nuclear-armed version of F-16 to Pak: Republican leadership
PTI | Nov 18, 2015
WASHINGTON : With the Obama administration contemplating selling F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, the top Republican leadership has expressed concern over it and said the US should not sell nuclear armed fighter jets to Pakistan.
"I think that (sale of F-16 to Pakistan) has to be reviewed carefully. I do not think that the nuclear armed version (of F-16) should be sold. That would exacerbate things," Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the US House of Representatives told Indian-Americans on the occasion of launch of Republican Hindu Coalition.
Full report at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/US-shouldnt-sell-nuclear-armed-version-of-F-16-to-Pak-Republican-leadership/articleshow/49826432.cms
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Obama hits out as Republicans seek to halt Syria refugee program
AFP — Nov 18, 2015
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama slammed Unites States "hysteria" about the security risks posed by Syrian refugees Tuesday as Republicans took steps aimed at freezing White House programs to resettle them in the wake of the Paris attacks.
In an unusually fierce rebuke, Obama struck out at his political foes, accusing them of demonising "widows and orphans."
Know more: Republicans oppose plan to resettle Syrian refugees in US
The discovery of a Syrian passport near the body of one assailant in the Paris attacks that killed 129 people last Friday has stirred fears among US lawmakers and governors that jihadists are seeking to blend in with refugee masses in order to strike later.
"We are not well served when in response to a terrorist attack we descend into fear and panic," Obama said.
Full report at: dawn.com/news/1220503/obama-hits-out-as-republicans-seek-to-halt-syria-refugee-program
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US Muslims face backlash after Paris attacks
AP — Nov 18, 2015
HARTFORD: Muslims around the United States are facing a backlash following the deadly attacks in Paris, including vandalism to mosques and Islamic centres, hate-filled phone and online messages and threats of violence.
Advocacy leaders say they have come to expect some anti-Muslim sentiment following such attacks, but they now see a spike that seems notable, stirred by anti-Muslim sentiment in the media.
"The picture is getting increasingly bleak," said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Washington, DC-based Council on American-Islamic Relations.
"There's been an accumulation of anti-Islamic rhetoric in our lives and that I think has trigged these overt acts of violence and vandalism."
Full report at: dawn.com/news/1220502/us-muslims-face-backlash-after-paris-attacks
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US man arrested for threatening to firebomb, shoot people at Florida Islamic centre
AP — Nov 18, 2015
MIAMI: The FBI on Tuesday arrested a man who allegedly made a threat against a Florida Islamic centre because he was angry about the Paris attacks, authorities said.
Shortly after learning of the attacks in the French capital that left at least 129 people dead, Martin Alan Schnitzler left a message late Friday with the Islamic Society of Pinellas County, according to the criminal complaint against him.
The Islamic State extremist group has claimed responsibility for the Paris carnage.
In his message, Schnitzler said his call was made in light of what happened in France, warning that he was “going to personally have a militia that is going to come down to your Islamic Society of Pinellas County, firebomb you, and shoot whoever is there".
Full report at: dawn.com/news/1220485/us-man-arrested-for-threatening-to-firebomb-shoot-people-at-florida-islamic-centre
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Man in Joker mask threatens to kill one Muslim or Arab in Quebec a week in online video
November 17, 2015
After an online threat against mosques in Montreal was made Monday, a video surfaced Tuesday that threatens Arabs and Muslims across Quebec.
The video, which was posted on YouTube, shows a man in a Joker mask expressing his frustration with Muslims and Arabs in Quebec, adding that if the government won’t do anything about them, he would. He added that he was not alone and that there was a group of people who would help him carry out his threat.
While brandishing what appears to be a pistol, the man threatens to kill one Muslim or Arab every week — starting next week.
Full report at: http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/man-in-joker-mask-threatens-to-kill-one-muslim-or-arab-in-quebec-a-week-in-online-video
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FBI investigating anti-Muslim threats against Dearborn
Niraj Warikoo
November 17, 2015
The head of Detroit's FBI office said today it's investigating hateful threats against the city of Dearborn and working to prevent any possible retaliation stemming from the Paris attacks.
On Saturday, a Michigan woman wrote in a tweet: "Dearborn, MI, has the highest Muslim population in the United States. Let's f--- that place up and send a message to ISIS. We're coming."
The tweet alarmed many in Dearborn, which has the highest concentration of Arab Americans in the U.S. and is known as a center of Islam. Dearborn attorney Majed Moughni then filed a police report with the city, asking for an investigation. Dearborn Police Chief Ron Haddad has said they are investigating the threat and have not arrested anyone.
In a statement, the FBI Detroit office said: "In response to recent threats in Dearborn, the FBI Detroit Field Office, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan, and the Dearborn Police Department have collaborated to ensure law abiding citizens are protected, and to deter those who would threaten them."
Full report at: freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/wayne/2015/11/17/fbi-anti-muslim-threats-dearborn/75951472/
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Survey: Christian Americans view Muslim values 'at odds' with those of America Experts say Islam incorrectly perceived
By Allan Turner
November 17, 2015
From white Protestants to Catholics, from Maine to Hawaii, a solid majority of American Christians believes Muslim values are at odds with American values and way of life, a national survey released Tuesday indicates.
In the Public Religion Research Institute poll, which seeks to elicit opinions on social, political, economic and religious issues, almost three of four white evangelical Protestants told researchers they believe Muslim values are out of sync with those of America.
More than 60 percent of white mainstream Protestants and Catholics agreed, as did 55 percent of African-American Protestants. Overall, the study found, 56 percent of Americans perceive an American-Muslim values divide - up from 47 percent in 2011 and 2014.
Full report at: houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Christian-Americans-view-Muslim-values-at-odds-6639386.php
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Pakistan
Defence cooperation dominates Gen Raheel's meetings with top US officials
Dawn.com — November 18th, 2015
WASHINGTON: Chief of Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif held meetings with top US defence officials at the Pentagon Tuesday, with defence cooperation between the two countries dominating the discussion.
According to a series of tweets posted by Director-General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lt-Gen Asim Bajwa, Gen Raheel on Tuesday met US Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter and Deputy Secretary of Defence Robert O. Work, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) Gen Joseph Dunford, Army Chief of Staff Gen Mark Milley and Centcom (Central Command) chief Gen Lloyd Austin.
During the meetings, Gen Raheel and American officials discussed defence cooperation between US and Pakistan and the need for enhanced defence coordination, said Lt-Gen Bajwa.
Full report at: dawn.com/news/1220487/defence-cooperation-dominates-gen-raheels-meetings-with-top-us-officials
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‘Paris attacks will not affect ties with Pakistan’
November 18th, 2015
ISLAMABAD: British High Commissioner Philip Barton has said the attacks on Paris will not affect relations between UK and Pakistan.
“The immigration process will also remain the same because our immigration policy is not based on religion,” Mr Barton said.
The high commissioner told participants of a public talk on ‘Pakistan-United Kingdom Relations’ on Tuesday that the UK has decided to increase resources to its intelligence agencies to make the country more secure.
He said: “We stand with France in this hard time and it reminds me that the people of Pakistan also went through a similar situation after the attack on Army Public School last year. We stand by Pakistan and have been working towards improvements in police and other law enforcement agencies.”
Full report at: dawn.com/news/1220401/paris-attacks-will-not-affect-ties-with-pakistan
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‘Maltreatment of Afghans peaked post-APS attack’
Hassan Belal Zaidi — November 18th, 2015
ISLAMABAD: Since the late 1970s, Pakistan has hosted over three million Afghan refugees – one of the largest displaced populations in the world. But despite a difficult past, never before have these refugees – many of whom have since raised families and put down roots in Pakistan – faced the kind of discrimination and abuse at the hands of law enforcement agencies as they did in the aftermath of the attack on the Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar, on December 16, 2014.
Through a series of interviews with refugees who had returned to Kabul, as well as Afghans still living in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Kashmir and Punjab, a new report by international watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) reveals that the use of harassment, threats and intimidation by law enforcement agencies had reached an all-time high in the wake of the APS attack.
Despite the fact that the investigation into the attack did not yield evidence of significant Afghan involvement, the Afghan population in the country continued to be targeted at the official level, the report claims.
“In the first week after the [APS] attack... intimidation intensified to unprecedented levels and included threats from police that Afghans should leave the country or face arrest,” the report noted.
Full report at: dawn.com/news/1220388/maltreatment-of-afghans-peaked-post-aps-attack
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Death toll from Jaffar Express accident climbs to 19
AFP | Syed Ali Shah — November 18th, 2015
QUETTA: The death toll from a deadly train accident in Balochistan's Bolan has risen to 19 and around a dozen people are still in critical condition, officials said on Wednesday.
The Jaffar Express, carrying around 300 passengers from the provincial capital Quetta to Rawalpindi, derailed on Tuesday, though the cause remains unknown.
Take a look: 14 killed, over 100 injured as Jaffar Express derails.
Officials said that three more people succumbed to their injuries overnight.
“The death toll has risen to 19 now. A total of 96 people are being treated in hospitals and around a dozen are still critical,” Akbar Hussain Durrani, home secretary of Balochistan, told AFP.
Full report at: dawn.com/news/1220505/death-toll-from-jaffar-express-accident-climbs-to-19
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Paris-like attacks can’t be ruled out in Punjab: CTD official
Amjad Mahmood — November 18th, 2015
LAHORE: The Punjab Counter Terrorism Department cannot rule out threat of Paris-like attacks in Lahore and elsewhere in the province, a senior CTD official has said.
Another senior official has said a seminary in south Punjab has been sealed for providing militant training to its students.
The two officials were briefing journalists on Tuesday about security arrangements being made for the coming local government elections in the province. Provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah was also present on the occasion.
Also read: Ulema issue fatwa against Paris attacks
There is no election-related threat from the Middle East-based Islamic State militant group, also known by its Arabic acronym Daesh, said CTD’s additional inspector general Rai Tahir. “But there are threats from the international terrorist organisation to Punjab,” he said.
Full report at: dawn.com/news/1220473/paris-like-attacks-cant-be-ruled-out-in-punjab-ctd-official
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Potato to web: Internet outsourcing in Gilgit-Baltistan
AFP —
GULMIT: When a landslide created a huge, turquoise lake that cut them off from the world, the farmers of Gulmit were left destitute and unable to sell their potatoes. Their solution: to drag their Himalayan valley in Pakistan's far north into the Internet age.
In the village, which is nestled between two peaks approaching 8,000 metres (26,000 feet) high, farmers scrabble to grow the produce as their ancestors did. But just a few metres away Karim Aslam is hammering at a keyboard on a computer connected to a giant satellite dish.
Farmers harvesting potatoes in a field next to an e-facility center (L) in the village of Gulmit, Hunza valley, in northern Pakistan. — AFP
He downloads audio files sent from the US: English-language recordings of patients' diagnoses sent from Tennessee, which he transcribes before sending back, acting as a long-distance secretary.
An online medical transcriber, downloading audio files at an e-facility center in the village of Gulmit, Hunza valley, in northern Pakistan. — AFP
It was a step change for Gulmit, an idyllic village of some 3,000 people with stone walls and potato crops that stretch out over the majestic fields of northern Pakistan, near the China border.
Full report at: dawn.com/news/1220493/potato-to-web-internet-outsourcing-in-gilgit-baltistan
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