Maldives Woman sentenced to one year for possession of 90 bottles of alcohol
'Toy bomb' kills child, grandfather in Pakistan
3 Indian-Americans Named by Obama for Top Science honours
In Pak media, war with America has been declared
Now, Swiss House votes to ban burqa in public
Fearing Change, Many Christians in Syria Back Assad
Iran: The mullahs prepare to execute a Christian for his faith
Indonesia’s only female sex therapist tackles myths about AIDS, pregnancy online
India's view on terrorism increasingly being believed: Nirupama Rao
With love from Sonia to Hasina
At UN, Pak again plays the victim
If you hit us, we will hit back, Pasha warned CIA chief: report
US is going to take tougher line against Pak: Admiral Mullen
US blacklists LeT men, but mum on Pak & ISI
UN veto system: Saudi Arabia calls for reforms
Libya's Gaddafi hiding near Algeria border: NTC official
Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam shown rallying Libyans-TV
Algerian authorities threaten to deport Gaddafi’s family if they speak to media
Maldives Islamic Minister dismisses party’s demand he resign
Pakistan: Two women shot dead over divorce
Muslim Insurgents kill 4 soldiers guarding school in southern Thailand
J&K encounter lasts third day, Army officer dead
J&K govt lets out names of rape victims
Cartoonist held for Modi sketch ‘insulting’ Islam
BJP- Cong ‘unite’ to stop Guru plea in J& K House
Afzal wife avoids media, in-laws say faith lost
NIA returns to Kishtwar to quiz jailed Hizbul man
Six killed as raids in Syria target dissidents
Eight Afghan Policemen Killed at Checkpoint
Roadside bomb kills 16 in western Afghanistan
Suicide bomber kills 2 in southern Afghanistan
Indonesian ferry fire kills 11
Car bomb at Baghdad restaurant kills 3
7 dead in riot following football match in Morocco
Kolkata Madrasa girl wins science innovation award, poverty stops from pursuing science
Bashir says would not negotiate with Sudan rebels
Yemen unrest: warplane shot down by tribesmen
Pakistan for resolving all issues with India: Hina Rabbani Khar
As ties with US sour, Pak cosies up to China, Saudi Arabia
US reviewing to designate Haqqani network as foreign terrorist organisation
US confronted Pak with evidence of ISI's terror links: Pentagon
Pakistani writer cleared for India visit after visa glitch
Pakistani painter's tribute to Mahatma Gandhi
LeJ chief Malik Ishaq jailed for 30 days
Taliban says US wants to weaken Pak
Pakistan arrests finance ministry employee on militant links
5 Algerians arrested in Spain for terror links
Revolutionary fighters capture Sirte’s port
Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike
Bahrain Upholds Life Sentences for Activists
Hundreds protest against killing of ex-Afghan president
Indonesian church bomber linked to radical Islamic group
EU powers drop UN Syria sanctions call
US tells court Osama bin Laden photos must stay secret
Uproar in J&K assembly over resolution for clemency to Afzal Guru
Intra-Kashmir women's meet begins at Gulmarg on Wednesday
Sanjiv Bhatt: ‘I was pressured to withdraw my report on Haren Pandya's murder'
As Thousands Leave Libya, and Jobs, Niger Feels Impact
Israel frees Al Jazeera's Kabul bureau chief
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
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Maldives Woman sentenced to one year for possession of 90 bottles of alcohol
By Ahmed Nazeer
September 28th, 2011
The Criminal Court has sentenced a woman to one year in prison after she was arrested in 2009 with 90 bottles of vodka. Alcohol is banned on inhabited islands in the Maldives.
The court identified the woman as Niuma Abdulhannan of Maamigili in South Ari Atoll.
On May 12 in 2009, police were informed that illegal narcotics were being traded inside the Kerinlight house in the Maafannu ward of Male’. Police attended the house and searched the room in which Niuma was living, the Criminal Court said.
The Criminal Court said that during the search, police discovered 90 bottles of vodka hidden in different places around the room.
The court said that the bottles were confiscated and tested positive for alcohol. Niuma was not able to convince the court that the alcohol bottles were legally imported and possessed according to the Trade Ministry’s regulations on importing alcohol.
The Criminal Court said the judge found her guilty of importing an item on the list of contraband. As it was the first time she was found guilty of such a crime, she was sentenced to one year imprisonment.
Alcohol is not mentioned in the current Drug Act, and the only Act that currently prohibits alcohol is the Import-Export Act.
http://minivannews.com/society/woman-sentenced-to-one-year-for-possession-of-90-bottles-of-alcohol-26203
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'Toy bomb' kills child, grandfather in Pakistan
Sep 29, 2011
ISLAMABAD: A five-year-old child and an elderly man were killed when an explosive device, construed as a "toy" by the kid, exploded in their house in northwest Pakistan, a media report said.
The kid had found the device in a nearby mountain and brought it home in Jawar area to play with it.
The bomb exploded when the grandfather tried to open it, killing the child and himself instantly, the news website Daily Times reported. Neighbours rushed out of their homes hearing the explosion.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Toy-bomb-kills-child-grandfather-in-Pakistan/articleshow/10164762.cms
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3 Indian-Americans named by Obama for top science honours
PTI
Three Indian-Americans figured among the 12 scientists named by U.S. President Barack Obama for the country’s top awards in the field of scientific research and innovation.
The Indian Americans are Srinivasa S.R. Varadhan from the New York University; Rakesh Agrawal from the Purdue University and B. Jayant Baliga from the North Carolina State University.
While Mr. Vardhan has been named for the National Medal of Science, the other two scientists have been selected for the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.
These are the highest honours bestowed by the U.S. government on scientists, engineers, and inventors.
“Each of these extraordinary scientists, engineers, and inventors is guided by a passion for innovation, a fearlessness even as they explore the very frontiers of human knowledge, and a desire to make the world a better place,” Mr. Obama said in a statement.
“Their ingenuity inspires us all to reach higher and try harder, no matter how difficult the challenges we face,” he said.
The recipients will receive their awards at a White House ceremony later this year.
The White House said Mr. Varadhan has been selected for his work in probability theory, especially his work on large deviations from expected random behaviour which has revolutionized this field of study during the second half of the 20th century and become a cornerstone of both pure and applied probability.
The mathematical insights he developed have been applied in diverse fields including quantum field theory, population dynamics, finance, econometrics, and traffic engineering, the White House said.
Mr. Rakesh Agrawal has been selected for an extraordinary record of innovations in improving the energy efficiency and reducing the cost of gas liquefaction and separation.
These innovations have had significant positive impacts on electronic device manufacturing, liquefied gas production, and the supply of industrial gases for diverse industries; the White House said.
Mr. Baliga has been selected by U.S. President for development and commercialisation of the Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor and other power semiconductor devices that are extensively used in transportation, lighting, medicine, defence, and renewable energy generation systems; the White House said.
The National Medal of Science was created by statute in 1959 and is administered for the White House by the National Science Foundation.
Awarded annually, the Medal recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to science and engineering.
Nominees are selected by a committee of Presidential appointees based on their extraordinary knowledge in and contributions to chemistry, engineering, computing, mathematics, and the biological, behavioural/social, and physical sciences.
The National Medal of Technology and Innovation was created by statute in 1980 and is administered for the White House by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Patent and Trademark Office.
The award recognizes those who have made lasting contributions to America’s competitiveness and quality of life and helped strengthen the Nation’s technological workforce.
Nominees are selected by a distinguished independent committee representing the private and public sectors.
The National Medal of Technology and Innovation was created by statute in 1980 and is administered for the White House by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Patent and Trademark Office.
The award recognizes those who have made lasting contributions to America’s competitiveness and quality of life and helped strengthen the Nation’s technological workforce.
Nominees are selected by a distinguished independent committee representing the private and public sectors.
http://www.mynews.in/News/3_indian_americans_named_by_obama_for_top_science_honours_N395392.html
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In Pak media, war with America has been declared
Sep 29 2011
Islamabad : Many politicians, retired army generals and popular TV talk show hosts in Pakistan have made up their minds that America is on the warpath with their country. News TV has been discussing possible scenarios of how Pakistan should react if the US attacks. One channel has aired a war anthem.
“Why cannot we snap diplomatic relations (with the US)?” asked Shuja Khanzada, a retired colonel, during a live talk show on Tuesday on Dunya TV.
On Monday, Hamid Mir, the host of ‘Capital Talk’, a talk show on Geo, started the show asking, “Is United States going to attack on the ground in Pakistan?”
Mir asked Asma Jahangir, the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, what would happen if, in response to an American attack, Pakistan blocked NATO supply lines to Afghanistan.
Jahangir shot back: “America hasn’t launched any attack yet, and you are talking this way.”
Another participant, Abdul Qayum, a retired lieutenant general, said that an American attack was a possibility. When columnist Farukh Saleem said the media had “put more fuel on the fire”, Qayum retorted that US statements were an insult to the whole nation. “You cannot trust Americans,” Qayum said. “There is a history of betrayal.”
In ‘Khari Baat’ on Dunya, Lt Gen. Hamid Gul, a former ISI chief, said that American threats were a blessing in disguise, as they had united the nation. The US, Gul said, wants to give India a “proxy role” in Afghanistan, but American actions risked the “dangers of a third world war”.
In an interview, former senator Enver Baig said: “US elections are approaching closer and Americans want a safe and respectable exit from Afghanistan and are scapegoating Pakistan.
“The majority of the public is anti-American despite the fact that the US is the biggest donor to Pakistan. The US has not been able to convert this into goodwill. American PR in Pakistan is very poor,” he said.SALMAN MASOOD
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/in-pak-media-war-has-been-declared/853268/
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Now, Swiss House votes to ban burqa in public
Sep 29 2011
Geneva : After France, Netherlands and Belgium, Switzerland is on its way to become the fourth country in Europe to impose a ban on the burqa. The lower chamber of the Swiss parliament today voted 101-77 for a far-right move to outlaw face veils in public.
The motion titled “Masks Off”, authored by SVP party lawmaker Oskar Freysinger, seeks to outlaw face-coverings on public transport as well.
The bill will become law if it gets majority support in the upper chamber as well.
As Switzerland goes to polls in three weeks, rightwing political groups have mounted a strong campaign on the emotional issue of immigration, demanding that foreigners abide by the values of naturalisation.
“At a time when insecurity is growing in our streets, more and more people are hiding their faces behind a balaclava, a mask or a burqa... This makes it impossible to identify these people, a fact that is particularly troublesome in case of violence or identity checks,” Freysinger said.
In 2009, Swiss voters approved a ban on the construction of mosque minarets despite the government’s opposition, drawing international condemnation.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Now--Swiss-House-votes-to-ban-burqa-in-public/853265/
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Fearing Change, Many Christians in Syria Back Assad
Sep 28 2011
SAYDNAYA, Syria — Abu Elias sat beneath the towering stairs leading from the Convent of Our Lady of Saydnaya, a church high up in the mountains outside Damascus, where Christians have worshiped for 1,400 years. “We are all scared of what will come next,” he said, turning to a man seated beside him, Robert, an Iraqi refugee who escaped the sectarian strife in his homeland.
“He fled Iraq and came here,” said Abu Elias, looking at his friend, who arrived just a year earlier. “Soon, we might find ourselves doing the same.”
Syria plunges deeper into unrest by the day. On Tuesday, government troops attacked the rebellious town of Rastan with tanks and machine guns, wounding at least 20 people. With the chaos growing, Christians visiting Saydnaya on a recent Sunday said they feared that a change of power could usher in a tyranny of the Sunni Muslim majority, depriving them of the semblance of protection the Assad family has provided for four decades.
Syria’s Christian minority is sizable, about 10 percent of the population, though some here say the share is actually lower these days. Though their sentiments are by no means monolithic — Christians are represented in the opposition, and loyalty to the government is often driven more by fear than fervor — the group’s fear helps explain how President Bashar al-Assad has held on to segments of his constituency, in spite of a brutal crackdown aimed at crushing a popular uprising.
Full report at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/28/world/middleeast/fearing-change-syria-christians-
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Iran: The mullahs prepare to execute a Christian for his faith
Sep 28 2011
Yousef Nadarkhani, a 34-year-old Christian cleric, is facing death for apostasy against a faith he never held. The Islamic Republic of Iran has accused Mr. Nadarkhani, a pastor of the evangelical Church of Iran, of the capital offense of forsaking Islam.
Mr. Nadarkhani was arrested in his home city of Rasht in October 2009 after he questioned Islamic control over religious instruction of Iranian children. He was charged initially with illegal protest, but that was raised to the more serious crimes of apostasy and evangelizing Muslims. He was convicted and sentenced to death. Mr. Nadarkhani’s wife was handed life in prison. His attorney, Iranian human rights lawyer Mohammed Ali Dadkhah, was convicted separately of “actions and propaganda against the Islamic regime,” sentenced to nine years in prison and barred from practicing law for a decade.
There are about 300,000 Christians in Iran, most of whom are Armenians. They trace their lineage back to the first century and the introduction of the faith by St. Jude the Apostle. St. Jude was martyred by the Romans in A.D. 65 and to Catholics is the patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes. Mr. Nadarkhani has maintained his equanimity in the face of adversity. “I announce the same as Jude,” he wrote in one of his prison epistles, “earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints. … What we are suffering today is difficult, but not unbearable.”
Full report at:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/sep/27/the-lamb-of-iran/
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Indonesia’s only female sex therapist tackles myths about AIDS, pregnancy online
September 28, 2011
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Zoya Amirin has come across every myth imaginable in her job as sex psychologist in Indonesia: An uncircumcised girl will become sex-crazed. Clove cigarettes increase virility. A gecko’s saliva can cure AIDS.
Knowing such misinformation can ruin relationships and even lives, Amirin — the only woman certified in her field in the world’s most populous Muslim nation — has decided to launch a weekly podcast to provide some frank, accurate talk about the bedroom.
Her 15-minute, debut episode of “In Bed with Zoya” will air on her website Thursday.
“People here really believe in myths ... that’s my biggest challenge,” said Amirin, adding she wants to make her show as cool as possible so people will tune in without feeling they’re being talked down to.
“It’s time to embrace our sexuality in a healthy way,” she said, “and to be mature in our understanding.”
Her job illustrates some of the changes taking place in Indonesia, which toppled its longtime dictator Gen. Suharto in a wave of pro-democracy street protests just over a decade ago.
The nation of 240 million remains socially conservative in most areas, including relationships, something old-style politicians are desperate to maintain. Yet these customs are coming under pressure from a more freewheeling approach to sex, in part due to increased wealth and more females living and working alone before marriage.
Full report at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/indonesias-only-female-sex-therapist-
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India's view on terrorism increasingly being believed: Nirupama Rao
Sep 28, 2011
WASHINGTON: India's view on terrorism in the region is increasingly being "believed and subscribed to", Indian Ambassador to the US, Nirupama Rao has said, even as the Obama Administration stepped up pressure on Pakistan to rein-in Haqqani network, which allegedly has links with ISI.
Rao said India has repeatedly said that one can't have segmented approach when it comes to applying pressure on any terrorist groups.
One has to deal with all the groups that threaten peace and stability in the region, she argued.
"India's point of view (on terrorism) is increasingly believed in and subscribed to," Rao said here at a panel discussion on India-US Strategic Relations organised jointly by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Brookings Institute, a Washington-based think-tank. peace and stability in the region, she argued.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Indias-view-on-terrorism-increasingly-being-
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With love from Sonia to Hasina
Sep 29 2011
CONGRESS president Sonia Gandhi is said to have sent a thanksgiving letter to Bangladesh Prime Minister and Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina last week.
Though Hasina is away in the US for the UN General Assembly meet, she replied promptly. A reciprocatory letter and an album containing photos of Sonia’s trip to Dhaka this July were sent to the Congress president.
The gesture comes after PM Manmohan Singh’s recent visit to Bangladesh which was marked by postponement in concluding the much expected accord to share waters of Teesta and transit rights with India.
Hasina and Gandhi share a close rapport. The Bangladesh PM had gifted Sonia a saree when the former was on an official visit to the nation in January 2010. In fact the Awami League and the Congress share a close bond, dating back to the days of the Indira- Mujib.
Mail Today
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At UN, Pak again plays the victim
Sep 29 2011
UNGA : As tensions remained high with the US on the ISI’s support to terrorists in Afghanistan, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar stood her ground in the UN on Tuesday, stoutly defending the record of Pakistani intelligence agencies in fighting terrorism, and repeating Islamabad’s line that no country has been ravaged as “brutally” by the “monster of terrorism” as Pakistan.
“If I began recounting Pakistan’s sacrifices and Pakistan’s suffering, I would keep you here till next September. We do not take terrorism lightly. We cannot to afford to take terrorism lightly, we have suffered far too much at its hand,” Khar told the 66th session of the general assembly.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/at-un-pak-again-plays-the-victim/853272/
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If you hit us, we will hit back, Pasha warned CIA chief: report
Sep 29 2011
Islamabad : Pakistan has told the US that it would be forced to retaliate if American forces launch unilateral strikes on the Taliban on Pakistani soil, according to a media report published today.
The message was personally delivered by ISI chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha to CIA head Gen David Petraeus during the former’s recent trip to the US, an official familiar with the development told The Express Tribune newspaper.
Pasha told Petraeus that the “Pakistani people will not tolerate any US misadventure” and the government would be left with no option but to retaliate if the US launched a unilateral raid, the report said.
A spokesman for the Inter-Services Public Relations said the report was “factually incorrect and misleading”. “Media should refrain from speculative reporting on sensitive issues related to national security,” he said.
According to the report, a senior ISI official had told a closed-door meeting of the Pakistan Senate Standing Committee on Defence yesterday that “we cannot be caught off guard this time,” referring to the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden and greatly embarrassed Pakistan. “This time, we will give them a surprise if they dare.” Rezaul H Laskar
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/if-you-hit-us-we-will-hit-back-pasha-warned-cia-chief-report/853269/
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US is going to take tougher line against Pak: Admiral Mullen
Sep 28 2011
Once considered a close mate of Pakistani generals, Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said that Americans are now going to have to take a tougher line in demanding Pakistan rein in terror groups.
"I am losing people, and I am just not going to stand for that. I have been Pakistan's best friend. What does it say when I am at that point? What does it say about where we are?" Mullen told 'The Wall Street Journal' in an interview.
Mullen who demits office by the end of this month said he was leaving with a muddled legacy on Pakistan, an area which he had made a top priority because its border region had been a haven for al-Qaeda and other militant groups intent on attacking US interest.
Explaining his switch, Mullen, said that the partnership approach with Islamabad, which he had long championed had fallen short and would be difficult to revive.
The Admiral took his conclusions to Congress last week where he declared publicly -- what until then had been confined to private remarks -- that Pakistan's military intelligence is collaborating with a militant group that US links for attack on Americans in Afghanistan, triggering a major rift between the two nations.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/us-is-going-to-take-tougher-line-against-pak-admiral-mullen/853064/
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US blacklists LeT men, but mum on Pak & ISI
Sep 29 2011
WASHINGTON — US officials on Wednesday imposed financial sanctions on two leaders of a Pakistan-based militant group with links to the Al-Qaeda network.
The US Treasury Department named Zafar Iqbal and Hafiz Abdul Salam Bhuttavi, leaders and founding members of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a group on the US terrorist list since 2001.
"Zafar Iqbal and Hafiz Abdul Salam Bhuttavi are two of LeT's most significant leaders," David Cohen, Treasury's under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement.
"Over the past 20 years, Iqbal and Bhuttavi have been responsible for fundraising, recruitment, and indoctrination of operatives," he said.
"By targeting the core of LeT's leadership, today's action aims to degrade its ability to facilitate its terrorist activities."
The sanctions bar US citizens from doing business with the two men and freeze any assets that they may hold under US jurisdiction.
According to the Treasury, Iqbal co-founded LeT in the late 1980s with its current emir, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed.
Full report at: Times of India
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UN veto system: Saudi Arabia calls for reforms
Sep 28, 2011
JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia has urged the United Nations to accept the Palestinians’ request for full membership in the international body and recognize it as an independent state. It also called for restricting the veto power of permanent Security Council members to help it play an effective role in reinforcing world peace and stability.
“As a result of the continued Israeli intransigence and disruption of the peace process, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia calls upon all member states of the UN to recognize the State of Palestine on the borders of June 4, 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital; and to grant it full membership of the United Nations,” Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said Monday.
The UN Security Council is meeting on Wednesday to hand the issue to a committee that will review and assess the Palestinian application.
The prince’s comments come after the US pledged to veto the Palestinian bid for full UN membership.
In a written statement distributed among delegates attending the UN General Assembly sessions in New York, a copy of which was obtained by Arab News, Prince Saud also touched on the Kingdom’s views on UN reforms.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article508001.ece
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Libya's Gaddafi hiding near Algeria border: NTC official
Sep 29 2011
SIRTE: Libya's new rulers said on Wednesday they believed fugitive ex-leader Muammar Gaddafi was being shielded by nomadic tribesmen in the desert near the Algerian border, while his followers fend off assaults on his hometown.
Intense sniper and artillery fire from pro-Gaddafi fighters has so far prevented National Transitional Council (NTC) forces from taking Sirte despite more than two weeks of fighting and two full-on assaults.
One of the last two bastions of support for the ousted strongman, it has withstood a siege by NTC fighters hitting it with tank and rocket fire as well as NATO airstrikes.
The United Nations and international aid agencies are worried over conditions for civilians trapped inside.
More than a month since NTC fighters captured the capital Tripoli, Gaddafi remains defiantly on the run pledging to lead a campaign of armed resistance against the new leaders.
Gaddafi himself could be holed up near the western town of Ghadames -- near the Algerian border -- under the protection of Tuareg tribesmen, a senior NTC military official said.
"There has been a fight between Tuareg tribesmen who are loyal to Gaddafi and Arabs living there (in the south). We are negotiating. The Gaddafi search is taking a different course," Hisham Buhagiar told Reuters, without elaborating.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Libyas-Gaddafi-hiding-near-Algeria-
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Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam shown rallying Libyans-TV
Sep 28, 2011
CAIRO: A television station on Tuesday broadcast footage of what it said was Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam dated Sept. 20, apparently rallying his forces in one of the last strongholds of the Libyan leader, now surrounded by rebels.
"This land is the land of your forefathers. Don't hand it over," Saif al-Islam, shouted to a crowd of followers, according to the footage broadcast by Arrai TV.
Saif al-Islam has not been since in public since Libyan capital Tripoli was overrun by rebels in August.
Brandishing an automatic rifle and wearing a military uniform, he said: "Brothers, you need to enter Tripoli today by force." It was not immediately possible to verify the footage.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Muammar-Gaddafis-son-Saif-al-
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Algerian authorities threaten to deport Gaddafi’s family if they speak to media
Sep 28 2011
Algiers : Algerian authorities have reportedly warned embattled Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's daughter and other relatives that they would be expelled from the country if they give interviews to the media.
The warning comes after recorded comments by Aisha Gaddafi were broadcast on Syrian-based TV, and an Algerian newspaper report that some of the deposed Libyan leader's relatives had flown to Egypt, CBS News reports.
Aisha said in an audio recording aired on Friday that her father was in high spirits and fighting alongside his supporters.
An Algerian foreign minister official has called such public comments “unacceptable.”
The official has also said that Gaddafi's relatives remain in Algeria. His wife, daughter Aisha and two sons fled to Algeria after Tripoli's fall late last month.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/algerian-authorities-threaten-to-deport-gaddafis-
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Maldives Islamic Minister dismisses party’s demand he resign
By Ahmed Nazeer
September 28th, 2011
State Islamic Minister and former President of the Adhaalath Party, Sheikh Hussain Rasheed Ahmed, has dismissed demands from the party’s council that he resign.
“You will know very well that I did not accept this position with the consent or with an approval of the consultation council, and therefore I do believe that there is a policy that allows the council to ask me to resign,” State Minister for Islamic Affairs Sheikh Hussain told the current President of the Adhaalath Sheikh Imran Abdulla, in a letter he send yesterday in response to the one demanding his resignation.
The Adhaalath Party decided this week to break off its coalition agreement with the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), after the party’s consultation council voted 32 to 2 to approve a resolution to leave the government.
In the letter Sheikh Hussein said that normally when a coalition agreement is terminated, the President withdraws the positions shared with the party, and President himself would ask the members of that political party to resign from their positions.
“Every citizen has a national responsibility, and the only time he should stop fulfilling those responsibilities are when they are inconsistent with the principles of Islam,” he told the Adhaalath Party president in the letter.
Full report at:
http://minivannews.com/politics/state-islamic-minister-dismisses-partys-demand-he-resign-26229
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Pakistan: Two women shot dead over divorce
Sep 28 2011
ISLAMABAD: Three persons, including a mother and her daughter, were shot dead by unidentified assailants on Tuesday in the provincial capital. The attackers managed to flee from the scene, a police source said.
Najma Bibi, 40, was returning by car from the Islamabad courts where she was seeking a divorce, when she was shot dead along with her 18-year-old daughter Sidra and a man Nazeer, 28, whose relationship to the two women was unclear.
The police said that Najma had lodged a complaint with the Shalimar Police in July this year against her husband under Section 324 for allegedly injuring her. Her husband, Amir Khan, however, did not show up in the court for the hearing.
“It is a matter of personal enmity. The woman was fighting a divorce case against her husband and we assume that he managed to kill them,” said police investigator Jamshed Khan. “We have yet to obtain further information about the gunmen. A witness told us they were speaking Punjabi but we don’t have more details,” he said. After getting information of the incident, the Shalimar Police reached the spot and rushed the victims to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) where they succumbed to their injuries.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\09\28\story_28-9-2011_pg11_5
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Muslim Insurgents kill 4 soldiers guarding school in southern Thailand
September 28, 2011
PATTANI, Thailand — Muslim insurgents disguised as paramilitary rangers attacked troops guarding a school in southern Thailand on Wednesday, killing four soldiers and wounding two others, police said. A 6-year-old boy was shot in the stomach during the assault.
Police Lt. Gen. Satanfah Wamasing said 15 assailants walked up to the school and began talking with soldiers assigned to guard teachers there. They opened fire at close range and fled with four of the soldiers’ M-16 automatic rifles.
The bloodshed in Narathiwat province’s Rue So district is the latest in a wave of violence in Thailand’s Muslim-dominated southernmost provinces since an Islamist insurgency flared in 2004.
Government soldiers are often designated to guard teachers and monks in the region.
Sunai Phasuk, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch, said in a tweet that the New York-based group has warned Thai authorities “that the simultaneous use of school for military and education purposes will put civilians at risk.”
Full report at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/thai-police-insurgents-kill-4-soldiers-in-
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J&K encounter lasts third day, Army officer dead
Sep 29 2011
Srinagar : The fierce gunbattle between security personnel and militants continued for the third consecutive day on Wednesday in the forests of Kupwara. An Army officer, two policemen and five militants have been killed during the last three days.
The Army and the police are finding it difficult to flush out the remaining militants who have taken positions in caves and behind huge boulders in the mountainous area.
“The terrain is difficult. It’s a hilly area and there are natural caves where the militants have barricaded themselves,” said Brigadier General Staff of Army’s 15 Corps, K L Chavan. “So far, five militants have been killed while two policemen and one of our officers have also died. We are yet to recover their (militant) bodies,” he said.
Brigadier Chavan identified the deceased Army officer as Lieutenant Sushil Khajuria.
He said the dead militants were part of a Lashkar-e-Toiba group that had recently infiltrated into the Valley. “We believe that two militants are still operating. It is a Lashkar group that had recently infiltrated from Keran (sector). There have been 24 infiltration attempts in this area (Keran) alone in which we have killed 26 militants,” he added.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/j&k-encounter-lasts-third-day-army-officer-dead/853368/
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J&K govt lets out names of rape victims
ep 29 2011
Srinagar : The Jammu and Kashmir government has made public the names of hundreds of rape victims from across the state — in contravention of a law that terms it a punishable offence.
Responding to a question in the Assembly seeking details of rape victims, the state Home Ministry, headed by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, not only gave tehsil-wise details of the rapes but also the names of the victims and their parents and residential addresses.
The publication of rape victims’ names is in contravention of Section 228 (A) of the Ranbir Penal Code that deals with the disclosure of the identity of the victim of certain offences.
“Whoever prints or publishes the name or any matter which may make known the identity of a person against whom an offence under section 376, 376 A, 376 B, 376 C and 376 D is alleged or found to have committed shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years and shall also be liable to fine,” the section reads. It says that the name can be made public only under certain conditions such as by the permission of the victim or his nearest relative in case of a dead victim or minor and a police officer.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/J-K-govt-lets-out-names-of-rape-victims/853366/
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Cartoonist held for Modi sketch ‘insulting’ Islam
Sep 29 2011
Bhopal : A cartoonist of an Indore-based afternoon paper was arrested late on Tuesday for allegedly insulting religious beliefs of Muslims. He had drawn a cartoon based on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s reported refusal to wear a skull cap during his fast in Ahmedabad.
Harish Yadav, who draws under the pseudonym Mussaveer in Prabhat Kiran, was released on bail on Wednesday. Indore SP S Sreenivas Varma said the minority community had objected, saying the cartoon denigrated Islam and was offensive. One Javed had filed a police complaint on September 20, the day the cartoon appeared, but police claimed they had not been able to trace Yadav.
Prabhat Kiran editor Prakash Purohit, however, said Yadav had been reporting to work for the first few days after the cartoon controversy. Though the paper carried a small apology on Wednesday, Purohit defended the cartoon saying Yadav wanted to show that Modi had squandered his last chance to resurrect his image by accepting the skull cap.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Cartoonist-held-for-Modi-sketch--insulting--Islam/853348/
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BJP- Cong ‘unite’ to stop Guru plea in J& K House
By Naseer Ganai
Sep 29 2011
AVIRTUAL slugfest between the Congress and the BJP ensured that a resolution seeking clemency for Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru could not be taken up for debate in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly on Wednesday.
In a move that seemed “ orchestrated”, the BJP legislators demanded that the resolution, moved by Independent MLA Engineer Rashid, be dropped as it was anti- national.
The Congress MLAs then rushed to the well of the House demanding that the seven BJP legislators — they were suspended by the party in April this year for cross- voting in the legislative council election — should not be allowed inside the assembly.
The ruckus that followed forced Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone to repeatedly adjourn the House. With neither of the sides relenting, the Speaker was left with no choice but to call it a day.
While the BJP and the Congress decided to have a go at each other, the ruling National Conference ( NC) and the Opposition Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) waited and watched, without trying to intervene.
Rashid described the slanging match between the Congress and the BJP as pre- planned and said the NC and the PDP were silent partners in “ the show”. Congress legislators Waqar Rasool and Sharief Niyaz denied the party had any role to play in scuppering the resolution. They felt they had raised a genuine issue in the assembly.
Full report at: Mail Today
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Afzal wife avoids media, in-laws say faith lost
Sep 29 2011
Baramulla : As Congress and BJP legislators raised slogans and stormed into the well of the House, a family, glued to a television set faraway, was watching in desperation and anger. And as the Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone announced the adjournment of House for the day, they broke down.
About 55 km from the J&K Assembly, in Baramulla, the Buhroo family — in-laws of Afzal Guru — was keenly watching the proceedings of the House. The only missing member was Tabassum, Afzal’s wife, who had left in the morning for the nursing home where she works.
“They (legislators) are playing politics,” said Ghulam Mohammad Buhroo, Afzal’s father-in-law. “We had lost faith in them (legislators) but today we were hopeful that they will vote in favour of the resolution. We wanted this resolution to be treated as a humanitarian case as in case of Nalini. We have left it to the Almighty.”
Though the family was anxiously watching all the developments in the Assembly, he said that Tabassum did not want to be there. “She left for the nursing home early in the morning,” said Buhroo. “She wanted to stay away from media.”
“My daughter was watching television at her work place,” he said. “She was hopeful that the legislators will listen to their conscience and support the resolution.”
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/afzal-wife-avoids-media-inlaws-say-faith-lost/853373/
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NIA returns to Kishtwar to quiz jailed Hizbul man
Sep 29 2011
Jammu : A weeK after having left Kishtwar along with two teenagers arrested in connection with the September 7 bomb blast outside the Delhi High Court, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) team on Wednesday returned to the town to question an “overground” worker of the Hizbul Mujahideen, who has been lodged in Kot Bhalwal jail since last year.
Identifying the detained man as Azhar Ali, son of Ghulam Mohammad Bhat of Paddar, sources said that NIA officials, led by an officer of the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police, appeared before Additional District Magistrate R K Shiwan at Kishtwar and sought permission for a meeting with him in jail. Though senior police officers remained tight lipped about the matter, sources said this followed revelations by two Kishtwar teenagers — Aamir Abbas and Abid Hussain — who were arrested in connection with the blast and taken to Delhi for interrogation.
The magistrate allowed the NIA to quiz Azhar in jail for three hours during the next two days, said sources.
About Azhar, sources said he was arrested along with Irshad Ahmed Akhoon after the police busted a recruitment module of Hizbul Mujahideen in the district. At that time, Azhar was working with Skyline Communications as a field distributor for Airtel SIM cards, and Irshad was a teacher appointed under Rehbar-e-Taleem programme at a government primary school in Lidri.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/nia-returns-to-kishtwar-to-quiz-jailed-hizbul-man/853332/
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Six killed as raids in Syria target dissidents
Sep 28, 2011
DAMASCUS: Syrian forces mounting raids on dissidents killed at least six civilians, rights groups said, as Damascus accused the West of trying to break up the country with “total chaos.”
And as China expressed its concern at the wider implications of the turbulence, the United States warned of signs that President Bashar Assad’s opponents were turning to violence.
“Three civilians were killed and seven others were injured during an assault by the army and security agents against the Homs district of Bayada,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The attack came after deserter soldiers burned a tank in the area, the Britain-based rights group said.
The forces killed two civilians during raids in the northern town of Jabal Al-Zawiya, and another civilian was killed and five wounded in a dawn operation in southern Daraa province, where the protests began in mid-March.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article507973.ece
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Eight Afghan Policemen Killed at Checkpoint
Sep 28 2011
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Eight policemen were killed in an attack early Wednesday near a southern city that is seen as a pioneer in transition from NATO to Afghan control over security, an Afghan police commander said.
Gen. Nabi Jan Mullahkhail, deputy regional commander in the south, said the pre-dawn attack targeted a police checkpoint near Lashkar Gah in Helmand province, where the insurgency has strongholds. Three police were wounded in the attack.
Mullahkhail said another policeman who was part of the group manning the checkpoint was missing, and that authorities were investigating whether he might have been involved in the attack.
On Tuesday, a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-packed vehicle into a police truck in Lashkar Gah, killing two civilians. The Taliban claimed responsibility for that attack.
Full report at:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/09/28/world/asia/AP-AS-
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Roadside bomb kills 16 in western Afghanistan
Sep 28 2011
HERAT, Afghanistan: Sixteen people, including 11 children, were killed when a roadside bomb detonated under a van carrying a group back from an engagement party in western Heart province, a local government official said.
The adult victims of the blast were four women and the driver, said Abdul Raoof Ahmadi, a spokesman for the provincial governor.
Four people were wounded, the provincial police chief’s office said in a statement.
http://arabnews.com/world/article507743.ece
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Suicide bomber kills 2 in southern Afghanistan
Sep 28 2011
KABUL: A suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a police truck outside a bakery in southern Afghanistan, killing at least two civilians, officials said.
The attacker apparently was waiting in the car at the gates of the police headquarters just outside a bakery where officers regularly buy bread in the morning in Lashkar Gah, the main city in Helmand province, said deputy provincial Police Chief Kamaluddin Sherzai. The bomber the slammed into a police truck that was parked at the shop, triggering the car’s explosives, he said.
Two civilians — one man and one young boy — were killed in the blast, said provincial government spokesman Daoud Ahmadi. Another 26 people were wounded, including 10 police officers and six children, he said.
Taleban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the attack, which came hours after the Taleban released a formal statement rejecting claims that the insurgency has become splintered or that the group or any of their allies have ties to the Pakistani government.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/world/article507646.ece
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Indonesian ferry fire kills 11
Sep 28 2011
A docked ferry has caught fire in central Indonesia, triggering a stampede that left at least eight people dead and dozens injured.
Brig Gen Edi Sumantri, deputy police chief in East Java province, says 500 passengers had already boarded the ferry at the Surabaya port when the fire broke out in a truck that was parked in the vessel early Wednesday.
Some passengers jumped into the sea and others caused a stampede as they tried to run down the loading ramps.
The ferry accident was Indonesia's second this week. On Monday, six people died and 15 others went missing when a ferry caught fire after colliding with a coal-laden ship off Borneo island.
Ferries are a main source of transportation in Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation of 235 million people.
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/latest_news.php?nid=32622
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Car bomb at Baghdad restaurant kills 3
Sep 28, 2011
BAGHDAD: Iraqi officials say a car bomb that went off near a Baghdad restaurant has killed three people and wounded 10.
A police official says the explosion took place late Tuesday near a popular restaurant in the Shiite neighborhood of Jisr Diyala in the southwest of the Iraqi capital.
A medical official at a nearby hospital confirmed the death toll on Wednesday. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to release the information.
Insurgents have stepped up attacks in Iraq recently as the US military prepares to withdraw from the country by the end of the year.
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article508225.ece
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7 dead in riot following football match in Morocco
Sep 28, 2011
RABAT, Morocco: Seven people were killed in a riot following a football match in Morocco’s disputed Western Sahara region, the state news agency reported.
Three people died after being run over by four-wheel drive vehicles and two of the others killed were policemen, the report stated, quoting local officials.
The riot in the town of Dakhla began after Mohammedia club Chebab, from just north of Casablanca, beat the local Mouloudia club 3-0.
Rival fans began throwing stones at each other and then “criminals” took advantage of the situation to attack people with knives and clubs, a statement from the Oued-Eddahab-Lagouira province said.
Initial reports put the toll from the incident at two dead and 27 wounded. Eight vehicles and local businesses were also burned in the rioting. The incident is under investigation.
Dakhla, which is about 1,830 kilometers (1,140 miles) southwest of the capital Rabat, is divided between residents originally from the area and those that arrived from the north following the Morocco’s 1975 annexation of the Western Sahara. There has been tension between the two communities.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article507756.ece
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Kolkata Madrasa girl wins science innovation award but poverty stops her from pursuing science
Sep 28 2011
Kolkata, September 27: Rahia Khatun, a madrasa student in West Bengal, has won a science innovation award from Government of India. The sole purpose of the award is to inspire youths to pursue science after Class X in higher studies but Rahia’s tragedy is that after winning the award as a Class X student of a madrasa in Birbhum district, she can’t pursue the subject any more. Thanks to poverty and no support from any quarter of the society, she has opted for Arts stream in Class XI at a local High School.
Rahia Khatun became State Champion (form West Bengal) of ‘National Level Exhibition and Project Competition’ as part of “Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research” – INSPIRE Award 2011. INSPIRE Award is an initiative of Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India. The aim of the initiative is to promote and inspire the students of schools to take-up science.
Rahia received the award from President of India, Pratibha Patil on 16th August 2011 in New Delhi. Rahia got a cash award of Rs 10000 along with the certificate for innovating a measuring balance.
Rahia, the student of Mahidapur High Madrasah near Bolpur in Birbhum district of West Bengal, has been awarded for her innovating a balance for blind persons who with this balance can correctly measure grocery items etc. When she was reading in Class X last year then she chalked out a plan to make a new balance for blind persons.
Full report at:
http://www.siasat.com/english/news/madrasa-girl-wins-science-innovation-award-poverty-stops-her-pursuing-science
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Yemen unrest: warplane shot down by tribesmen
Sep 28 2011
Armed tribesmen have shot down a Yemeni government warplane that was targeting their positions north of the capital, Sanaa, officials and witnesses say.
Anti-aircraft guns brought down the jet fighter near Arhab, where tribesmen are fighting the elite Republican Guard, tribal sources said.
Air strikes had targeted the area since Sunday, when seven soldiers were killed in a tribal raid on a military base.
Yemeni defence officials confirmed the plane was shot during a mission.
It crashed in the village of Beit Azar and the pilot - who had ejected - was captured by tribesmen, witnesses and tribal sources told AFP news agency.
"We saw the downed plane in flames on the ground," one said.
Weeks of intermittent fighting between the tribesmen and government forces culminated in the attack on the base at Nihm, about 40 miles (65km) from Sanaa.
The attack is understood to have resulted in the seizure of weapons including anti-aircraft guns.
The tribesmen are believed to be allied to leading dissident Gen Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar and are battling troops loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh for control of the area.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15089364
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Pakistan for resolving all issues with India: Hina Rabbani Khar
Sep 28 2011
Pakistan is willing to resolve all outstanding issues, including Kashmir with India, with which it is engaged in a “substantive dialogue” process that it hopes should be “uninterrupted”, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has said.
Ms. Khar was addressing the 193-member United Nations body on behalf of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani who could not attend the 66th session due to floods in Pakistan.
The Foreign Minister said Pakistan is reaching out to its “immediate neighbours” with a “sincere” desire to join hands and bring about “durable peace and development, by a win-win approach.
“I am happy to note that both Pakistan and India are now engaged in a substantive dialogue process. A dialogue process that we in Pakistan hope will be uninterrupted and uninterruptable. We certainly intend to make this engagement fruitful and premise it on the promise of a mutually rewarding enterprise that would enable us to optimally avail the complementarities that exist,” she said in her maiden speech.
Ms. Khar said Pakistan looks forward to “resolving all outstanding issues including Kashmir,” which is among the oldest on the United Nations agenda and has been the subject of several Security Council resolutions.
“A peaceful resolution that accords fully with the aspirations of the Kashmiris is indispensable for durable stability as is the need for safeguarding of their fundamental human rights,” she said, adding that Pakistan will “support” the human rights of Kashmiris.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article2492900.ece
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As ties with US sour, Pak cosies up to China, Saudi Arabia
Sep 28 2011
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is pulling out all stops to offset rising tensions with the US and possible economic and military sanctions by reaching out to its closest allies, Saudi Arabia and China. Days after the stinging accusation that the ISI was backing Afghan insurgents, Islamabad tried to please Beijing by vowing to root out Uighur militants holed up in its territory and staged war games with Saudi Arabia, besides sending and receiving top intelligence officials from the Gulf kingdom.
"China's enemy is Islamabad's enemy," interior minister Rehman Malik told visiting Chinese vice-prime minister Meng Jianzhu on Tuesday, and vowed to "strike very hard against" Uighur militants based in his country. Alongside, ISI chief Shuja Pasha was dispatched to Riyadh to hold talks with Saudi officials.
Malik said Pakistan had killed and extradited several Uighur militants responsible for attacks in China's western Xinjiang province. The Uighur rebels are known to be receiving training in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas. Earlier, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said the two countries were true friends and that they count on each other after. "Thank you once again...for (the) supportive statement in favour of Pakistan's sovereignty and integrity."
Analysts say Islamabad is trying to ensure that China fills any diplomatic and economic void if the US severs or downgrades ties. China and Pakistan have long enjoyed good ties and share wariness of India and a desire to prevent growing US influence in the region. Beijing had called Osama bin Laden's killing a "progressive development" but defended Islamabad on charges of failing to find the global fugitive.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/As-ties-with-US-sour-Pak-cosies-up-to-
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US reviewing to designate Haqqani network as foreign terrorist organisation
Sep 28, 2011
WASHINGTON: The US is reviewing whether to designate the entire Haqqani network as a foreign terrorist organisation, even as it has already slapped sanctions against seven of its top leaders, including Badruddin Haqqani who was designated as a global terrorist.
"We are continuing to review whether to designate the entire organisation. Quite a sizeable number of the Haqqani kingpins have been individually designated, but we are continuing to review the issue with regard to the whole organization," the State Department spokesperson, Victoria Nuland, told reporters.
The State department has carried out a number of Executive Order 13224 designations that target, essentially the kingpins of the Haqqani Network - financiers, leadership, as well as some of its most dangerous operatives.
In 2008 the US targeted Siraj Haqqani, in 2011 Badruddin Haqqani, Sangeen Zadran in 2011, and on the Treasury side, we designated Nasiruddin Haqqani in 2010, Khalil Haqqani in 2011, Ahmed Jan Zadran in 2011, as well as Fazl Rabi in 2011.
Badruddin is a top leader in the al-Qaida-linked Haqqani Network, has been designated by the US State Department as a terrorist in May this year.
"As we've looked at individual members of the Haqqani Network, we have made determinations, either on the State department side or on the Treasury side, to make designations against them, particularly when we had real smoking gun evidence against individuals.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/US-reviewing-to-designate-Haqqani-network-
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US confronted Pak with evidence of ISI's terror links: Pentagon
Sep 28 2011
Washington : The US confronted Pakistan with "concrete evidence" of links between the ISI and extremist organisations like the Haqqani network and LeT, before it launched a frontal attack on the spy agency for its terror ties, Pentagon officials have said.
"They (ISI) provide financial support (to extremist organisations). It provides technical support. It provides physical support. They (Pak officials) are allowing the safe heavens to operate," a defence official said on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media.
Another defence department official said that Pentagon has been providing such evidence to Pakistan "since ages" but it is only after the recent attack on a hotel in Kabul and the US Embassy in Kabul that this crossed all limits and the Defence Department decided to go public.
But the senior defence official maintained that these evidence gives concrete proof of the relationship between ISI and the extremist organisations including Haqqani network and LeT.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/us-confronted-pak-with-evidence-of-isis-terror-links-
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Pakistani writer cleared for India visit after visa glitch
Sep 28, 2011
NEW DELHI: Best-selling Pakistani writer Mohammed Hanif, whose visa file was reportedly misplaced by the home ministry, has been given the go-ahead to attend a literature festival in India, the event organisers said on Wednesday.
He is scheduled to take part in the Kovalam Lit Fest Oct 1-2 in Thiruvananthapuram.
Hanif was granted visa after a spell of confusion on Wednesday afternoon, director of the festival Binoo John said.
"But logistical problems are still there. Hanif's passport is in Islamabad and he is in Karachi. I am trying to work out the shortest possible way to fly him to Kerala before the festival," John said.
Writers from Pakistan who take part in Indian literature festivals are often denied visas or are granted one at the last moment, making their journeys logistical nightmares.
Hanif is expected to read from his new book "Our Lady of Alice Bhatti" and discuss it with the audience at the festival.
Earlier on Tuesday, Hanif had tweeted his displeasure with the loss of his visa file.
"After waiting for my Indian visa for four weeks, have been told my file is lost somewhere in home ministry. And this for a lit fest which is sponsored by Indian foreign min. So they invite you, then go ummm may be not (sic)," Hanif tweeted.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Pakistani-writer-cleared-for-India-visit-after-visa-glitch/articleshow/10158211.cms
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Pakistani painter's tribute to Mahatma Gandhi
ANITA JOSHUA
Sep 28 2011
A painting in blood might seem a bit of a contradiction when the image is that of Mahatma Gandhi. But for Lahore-based “painter babu”, Abdul Waseel, there was no better way to profess his admiration for the “apostle of peace” who evokes a rather mixed response in Pakistan where many have problems with some of the choices he made.
“In the past, people used to send letters written in blood to their beloved. I wanted to express my love for Gandhi and so I drew his portrait in blood. Too much of Indian and Pakistani blood has been wasted in mutual hostilities. I hope that Mahatma Gandhi’s portrait made with Pakistani blood will melt hearts,’’ Mr. Waseel – better known as Painter Babu – told The Hindu over telephone from his small shop on Lahore’s Allama Iqbal Road.
Essentially a calligrapher, Mr. Waseel made this portrait in 2009 by drawing blood from his veins with a syringe. Asked if he had copied any particular photograph of Gandhi, he claims to have made the portrait on the basis of the image etched in his mind; one that has been influenced by the official picture seen in a government building during his last India visit and often shown in Hindi films.
Gandhi’s is not the only portrait he has made with his blood; the others in the league include former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Nobel laureate Nelson Mandela, poet-philosopher Allama Iqbal and Shah Faisal of Saudi Arabia.
Now he is headed to India on Wednesday morning to present the portrait to Mahatma Gandhi’s grand-daughter and vice-chairperson of Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, Tara Gandhi Bhattacharjee, in the hope that it will find a pride of place in the collection of works on the Father of the Indian Nation in the house where he was martyred.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/article2490604.ece
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LeJ chief Malik Ishaq jailed for 30 days
By Asad Kharal
September 28, 2011
LAHORE: Founder of banned outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) Malik Ishaq was shifted late Tuesday night to a Rahim Yar Khan jail after being under house arrest for 10 days.
Ishaq has now been detained for more than 30 days to pre-empt sectarian strife, under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO), The Express Tribune has learnt.
According to an official of the security branch, the detention order was issued by the District Coordination Officer (DCO) Rahim Yar Khan late on Monday but due to the closure of the jail.
The former chief of the banned outfit was allegedly involved in 44 murder cases in which 70 people mostly belong to the Shia community.
He was released on bail from Kot Lakhpat Jail Lahore on July 14 in a case regarding the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team by the order of the Supreme Court.
Ishaq had been in jail since 1997 for allegedly killing 12 members of Fida Hussain Ghalvi’s family, in addition to being allegedly involved in killing 58 other people in various incidents of sectarian violence. He is one of the founders of the terrorist outfit LeJ, a key suspect in the attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore in 2009.
He was granted bail by the apex court after the prosecution failed to prove his involvement in the case.
Ishaq was acquitted in 34 out of 44 cases while in the remaining 10 he had already been granted bail, official documents revealed.
Intelligence and law enforcement agencies’ reports have revealed that the banned organization’s leader is engaged in highly objectionable activities which may spark sectarian violence in Punjab.
Ubaidullah Usmani, the media coordinator of Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) said that the chief of ASWJ Allama Muhammad Ahmad Ludhianvi has strongly condemned the detention of Malik Ishaq.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/262300/lej-chief-malik-ishaq-jailed-for-30-days/
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Taliban says US wants to weaken Pak
Sep 28 2011
In an unusual step, Afghan Taliban on Tuesday batted for Pakistan over the issue of ISI-backed terror strikes in Afghanistan, claiming that the US “wants to spread chaos in Pakistan” and weaken its Government.
In a statement issued in the name of ‘Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate’, the Afghan Taliban claimed US officials had launched a campaign of blaming Pakistan for an “uptick in the thunderous strikes” in Afghanistan in order to divert attention from their “ignominious defeat”.
“America wants to spread chaos in Pakistan through various means, weaken its Government and make it dependent upon them.
http://dailypioneer.com/world/9518-taliban-says-us-wants-to-weaken-pak.html
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Pakistan arrests finance ministry employee on militant links
28 September 2011
ISLAMABAD - Pakistani authorities have arrested an employee of the finance ministry on suspicion of links to militant groups, police said on Wednesday.
The suspect, identified as Sardar Ali Khattak, was on a hilltop near President Asif Ali Zardari’s residence in Islamabad when apprehended.
‘He is being interrogated. He was wanted in connection with a bomb blast in Rawalpindi a few months ago,’ police official Hakim Khan said, referring to the garrison city adjoining Islamabad.
Police raided Khattak’s house last week and recovered a suicide vest and other explosives, police said.
Finance Ministry officials said Khattak was an office boy and had been on leave for the past two years, and that they had no knowledge about his alleged links to any militant group.
Pakistan has seen a surge in violence by militants loyal to Al Qaeda and Taleban since Osama bin Laden was killed by US special forces in a secret raid in a Pakistani town in May. Militants have vowed revenge for bin Laden’s death.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/international/2011/September/international_September1111.xml§ion=international
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5 Algerians arrested in Spain for terror links
Sep 28 2011
MADRID: Spanish police arrested five Algerians suspected of helping finance an Al-Qaeda-linked terror group in North Africa.
The arrests took place in four towns in the northern Basque and Navarra regions, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
The five are suspected of giving logistical and financial support to members of the radical Islamist group Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, which operates in Algeria.
AQIM grew out of the armed groups fighting the Algerian government in the 1990s after elections were canceled by the military in 1991 to stave off a victory for an Islamist political party. The group declared allegiance to Al-Qaeda in 2006 and changed its name, starting a renewed campaign of bombings and kidnappings across the Sahara.
The group currently holds four French hostages and French officials have called it the biggest terror threat to France and its interests.
The Spanish statement said the five arrested also maintained contacts with other radical Islamists in France, Italy and Switzerland and seized a large amount of documents and computer material.
They were named as Mohamed Talbi, Hakim Anniche, Mounir Aoudache, Abdelghaffour Bensaoula and Ahmed Benchohra, between 36 and 49 years old.
Dozens of suspected radical Islamic militants have been arrested in Spain since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in New York and Washington, and again after the 2004 commuter train bombings in Madrid.
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article507658.ece
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Revolutionary fighters capture Sirte’s port
Sep 28, 2011
SIRTE: Anti-Qaddafi forces overran Sirte’s port on Tuesday, scoring a strategic victory in the battle for control of the ousted Libyan leader’s birthplace, as instense fighting carried on inside the city.
But in the other main redoubt of Bani Walid, Muammar Qaddafi’s forces went on the offensive after the fugitive ex-strongman broadcast a message rallying resistance to a weeks-long siege by National Transitional Council forces.
Meanwhile, a member of the NTC said formation of a transitional government, already delayed by squabbling over power-sharing, has been postponed until the entire country is liberated.
Revolutionary forces on Tuesday battled their way into the eastern outskirts of Sirte, commanders said, in a bid to link up with anti-Qaddafi fighters besieging the city from the west and seize control of the loyalist stronghold.
Revolutionary forces have staked out positions to the west and south of the city, and commanders said anti-Qaddafi forces advancing on Sirte from the east also pushed into the city’s outskirts Tuesday.
Abdel-Basit Haroun, a rebel field commander, said his fighters reached a roundabout less than 10 km east of the city center. He said the plan was for the forces from the east and west to meet inside Sirte.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article507974.ece
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Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike
Sep 28, 2011
RAMALLAH: The Palestinian Minister of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Issa Qaraqi’ said that Palestinian and Arab prisoners have gone on a hunger strike to protest the Israeli Prison Service’s (IPS) measures against them and their families.
Qaraqi’ said in a statement that the prisoners currently held in 23 prisons and detention camps in Israel and in the West Bank “returned their breakfast meals to protest deliberate violation of their basic rights by the IPS.” He added that the strike began after their representatives’ meeting with Israeli Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch in the Nafha (Rimon) prison to discuss the violation failed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided in June to revoke the prisoners’ privileges in order to pressure Hamas into releasing kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Qaraqi’ said the IPS is barring Palestinian prisoners, mainly those in solitary confinement, from family visits, access to education, telephones and satellite channels. The IPS, the minister said, blocks the entry of clothes into prisons and imposes financial fines on prisoners.
The minister said that the prisoners “are subjected to medical negligence and prevented from receiving appropriate medical treatment in hospitals.”
According to Qaraqi’, the strikers want better-quality food and cessation of strip searches of their relatives during the visits.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article507979.ece
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Bahrain Upholds Life Sentences for Activists
Sep 28 2011
MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Bahrain says a special security court has upheld sentences for 21 activists convicted for their roles in anti-government protests, including eight prominent political figures given life terms.
The state-run Bahrain News Agency says the court on Wednesday backed the verdicts, which were issued in June. International rights groups have denounced the verdicts.
The activists include eight well-known political figures sentenced to life in prison after being charged with trying to topple the Gulf kingdom's ruling Sunni dynasty. Thirteen others received lesser sentences. Some were sentenced in absentia.
Bahrain's majority Shiites began protests in February seeking greater rights. Authorities have responded with sweeping crackdowns, including hundreds of arrests.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/09/28/world/middleeast/AP-ML-
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Hundreds protest against killing of ex-Afghan president
Sep 28 2011
KABUL: Hundreds of protesters rallied in Afghanistan’s capital, vowing revenge for last week’s assassination of former President Burhanuddin Rabbani and accusing Pakistan’s powerful spy agency of involvement in his killing.
Under tight security, the three-hour protest passed without violence, but demonstrators vented their anger, holding up large posters of Rabbani, the government’s top peace negotiator, and chanting “death to Pakistan, death to the Taleban.”
They blamed Pakistan’s military-led Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for involvement in Rabbani’s killing and accused it of colluding with the Taleban to destabilize Afghanistan and derail a fledgling peace process.
“ISI and the Taleban are behind the killings of our leaders including the assassination of Professor Rabbani,” said university student Ahmad Tameem, 26.
“We will seek revenge and we want our government to break ties with Pakistan,” added Tameem, holding aloft a poster of Rabbani, who was the most prominent surviving leader of the ethnic Tajik-dominated Northern Alliance of fighters and politicians.
Rabbani was killed in his Kabul home last Tuesday by a suicide bomber posing as a Taleban envoy carrying a message of peace form the group’s senior leadership. The bomb was hidden in the man’s turban and was detonated when he embraced Rabbani with a hug.
Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS) said on Monday it had arrested a key figure in the assassination and suggested the Taleban’s senior leadership, the Quetta Shoura, may have been involved.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/world/article507669.ece
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Indonesian church bomber linked to radical Islamic group
Sep 28 2011
JAKARTA: A suicide bomber who blew himself up in a church in Indonesia’s Java island has links to a group founded by a leading radical Islamic cleric jailed this year for supporting a jihad training camp, authorities said.
DNA evidence showed Sunday’s attack at the Bethel Injil Protestant church that wounded 27 people was carried out by Ahmad Yosepa Hayat, one of the most-wanted fugitives from a group behind a similar blast at a police mosque in April.
National Police Spokesman Anton Bachrul Alam said Hayat, also known as Pino Damayanto, had links to Jema’ah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT), a group founded by Abu Bakar Bashir, an elderly cleric sentenced to 15 years in prison in June and regarded as a terrorist ideologue.
The blasts threaten Indonesia’s hard-won image for success in containing religion-related violence after a crackdown on Southeast Asian militant group Jemaah Islamiyah, which was behind deadly assaults including the killing of 202 people, mainly foreigners, in suicide attacks on Bali in 2002.
Despite the arrest and killings of high-profile militants in recent years, the world’s most populous Muslim country is facing low-level attacks that have raised questions over religious intolerance in a country known for its moderate Islam.
The unrest coincides with renewed violence between Muslims and Christians on the island of Ambon and attacks against the minority Ahmadi, a sect that considers itself Islamic but is regarded as heretic by mainstream Muslims.
“Radicalism and intolerance will always be here but the scale is shifting in the form of small groups acting independently rather than a bigger network,” said Noor Huda Ismail, an expert on Indonesian terrorist groups and director of the Institute for International Peace Building.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/world/article507735.ece
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EU powers drop UN Syria sanctions call
Sep 28 2011
European countries proposing a new UN resolution over Syria have dropped demands for immediate sanctions against President Bashar al-Assad's government.
The draft, proposed by the UK, France, Germany and Portugal and backed by the US, threatens sanctions only if the repression of protests does not end.
The scaled-back version is aimed at winning the support of China and Russia, which oppose sanctions.
Western diplomats say they are planning for a vote by the end of the week.
The draft resolution "demands an immediate end to all violence", according to copies obtained by news agencies.
It says the 15-nation Security Council "expresses its determination, in the event that Syria has not complied with this resolution, to adopt targeted measures, including sanctions".
Last month the US, Britain, France, Germany and Portugal put forward a draft resolution calling for sanctions against President Assad, members of his family and close associates.
But Russia and China have threatened to veto any sanctions resolution against Syria.
Others countries which oppose sanctions include a bloc of key emerging powers - India, South Africa, and Brazil.
Full report at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15085816
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US tells court Osama bin Laden photos must stay secret
Sep 28, 2011
WASHINGTON: Public disclosure of graphic photos and video taken of Osama bin Laden after US commandos killed him would damage national security and lead to attacks on American property and personnel, the Obama administration contends in a court documents.
In a response late Monday to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group seeking the imagery, Justice Department attorneys said the CIA has found 52 photographs and video recordings of the May 1 operation in Pakistan.
They argued the images of the deceased bin Laden are classified and are being withheld from the public to avoid inciting violence against Americans overseas and compromising secret systems and techniques used by the CIA and the military.
The Justice Department has asked the court to dismiss Judicial Watch's lawsuit because the records the group wants are "wholly exempt from disclosure," according to the filing.
Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, accused the Obama administration of making a "political decision" to keep the bin Laden imagery secret. "We shouldn't throw out our transparency laws because complying with them might offend terrorists," Fitton said in a statement. "The historical record of Osama bin Laden's death should be released to the American people as the law requires."
The Associated Press has filed Freedom of Information Act requests to review a range of materials, such as contingency plans for bin Laden's capture, reports on the performance of equipment during the assault on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and copies of DNA tests confirming the al-Qaida leader's identity. The AP also has asked for video and photographs taken from the mission, including photos made of bin Laden after he was killed.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/US-tells-court-Osama-bin-Laden-photos-must-
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Uproar in J&K assembly over resolution for clemency to Afzal Guru
Sep 28, 2011
SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir assembly was adjourned for half-an-hour on Wednesday after Opposition BJP members demanded that the Speaker drop the resolution seeking clemency for Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru from the list of the day's business.
BJP and National Panthers Party (NPP) MLAs took to their feet as soon as the House assembled for the day's proceedings.
They demanded that the resolution seeking clemency for Guru, which was listed in the business for today, be dropped from the list.
As the BJP and NPP MLAs disrupted the Question Hour proceedings, Congress MLAs including ministers also rose from their seats, demanding expulsion of the BJP MLAs who were allegedly involved in cross voting during the Legislative Council elections earlier this year.
While Congress ministers continued to stand at their seats, MLAs from the party stormed the Well of the House.
All pleas of Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone to restore order in the House failed and prompted him to adjourn proceedings for 30 minutes.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uproar-in-JK-assembly-over-resolution-for-
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Intra-Kashmir women's meet begins at Gulmarg on Wednesday
SHUJAAT BUKHARI
Sep 28 2011
“Women have borne the brunt of instability, armed conflict and violence”
A 16-member delegation from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, who arrived here on a five-day visit, will participate in an intra-Kashmir women's conference at Gulmarg.
The two-day event, beginning on Wednesday, has been organised by the Delhi-based Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation (CDR) in collaboration with the Srinagar-based Women for Peace (WIP).
Besides the 15 women and a male member from across the Line of Control, women leaders from Jammu, Srinagar and Ladakh are attending the conference on “Women's Roles in Society: Issues of Mutual Concern.”
“In all, 45 women are taking part in the conference” said CDR executive director Sushobha Barve.
The exchanges of ideas from the dialogue will be shared on September 30 in Srinagar, where a wider cross-section of women and men will join the participants and offer feedback and a greater engagement with the issues raised.
Full report at:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2491078.ece
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Sanjiv Bhatt: ‘I was pressured to withdraw my report on Haren Pandya's murder'
MANAS DASGUPTA
Sep 28 2011
Sanjiv Bhatt files affidavit in High Court against Narendra Modi and Amit Shah
Dropping yet another bombshell, suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt on Tuesday filed an affidavit in the Gujarat High Court alleging that Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his former Minister of State for Home, Amit Shah, had repeatedly tried to pressure him to withdraw his report and destroy the documentary evidence which he had placed on record regarding the murder of the former Minister, Haren Pandya.
“Failing to persuade me either to withdraw my report or destroy the very important documentary evidences regarding the role of certain highly placed State functionaries/politicians and senior police officers in the killing of Haren Pandya, I was removed from the post of Superintendent of Police in-charge of the Sabarmati central jail and was kept without a posting for over two-and-a-half months,” he said in the affidavit.
Mr. Bhatt, who had created a flutter by filing an affidavit in the Supreme Court on Mr. Modi's alleged “dubious role” in the 2002 communal riots, had earlier made a startling revelation that it was Tulsiram Prajapati, the close aide of the fake encounter victim Sohrabuddin Sheikh, who had actually pulled the trigger on Mr. Pandya, who was killed in the morning of March 26, 2003. He had maintained that Asgar Ali, the key accused from Hyderabad who recently was acquitted by the High Court, had informed him about Prajapati's role in the Pandya murder case in 2003, when he was lodged in the Sabarmati central jail, where Mr. Bhatt was the jail superintendent.
Full report at:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2491315.ece
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As Thousands Leave Libya, and Jobs, Niger Feels Impact
By ADAM NOSSITER
Sep 28 2011
NIAMEY, Niger — For tens of thousands of people from Niger, the downfall of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi has been an economic catastrophe, plunging them suddenly from a world of good pay in Libya back into the precarious universe of their home country, one of the poorest and most dependent nations on earth.
More than 200,000 Nigeriens have fled the fighting since March, according to the government here, laboriously traversing the desert from Libya, where they were earning unheard-of sums, by local standards, as tailors, security guards, cooks and drivers.
A majority of those who fled are now destitute, hungry and, along with the thousands of families dependent on remittances from Libya, without prospects. Officials in Niger estimate that at least 200 people continue to arrive daily, and that more probably come through the porous desert border crossings. The government admits that it does not have the resources to help them and is pleading with outside donors for help, as it did when a smattering of Qaddafi loyalists crossed into Niger as well.
By June, the forced migration had knocked an $80 million hole in Niger’s economy, the government here said. That figure has since grown, and it is disastrous in a country where the World Bank says more than 60 percent of people live in extreme poverty, where famine lurks when rains do not arrive and where half the national budget has in previous years come from donors.
Full report at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/28/world/africa/niger-feels-economic-impact-of-
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Israel frees Al Jazeera's Kabul bureau chief
Sep 28 2011
Samer Allawi released by military court after being arrested following a trip to his West Bank hometown.
Israel has freed Al Jazeera's Kabul bureau chief from custody, saying he has been given a suspended prison sentence for links to Hamas, the Palestinian group that controls the Gaza Strip.
Samer Allawi, a West Bank native and head of the network's Arabic news bureau in the Afghan capital, said after his release on Monday that his contacts with Palestinian Islamists were part of his work as a journalist.
Allawi, who was arrested on August 10 at the border crossing to Jordan after visiting family in the city of Nablus, accused Israel of using him to "extort" Al Jazeera.
The Qatar-based station's Jerusalem bureau has occasionally clashed with Israeli officials who accused it of bias.
Israel said Allawi was convicted by a military court of "conspiracy to provide a service for an outlawed organisation" but, under a plea bargain, received a suspended eight-month jail term.
The court ruled he was free to return to Afghanistan.
Hamas, which won a Palestinian legislative election in 2006 and seized control of Gaza in a brief civil war a year later, is designated a terrorist group by Israel, the United States and European Union.
Full report at:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/09/2011926124650861345.html
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/maldives-woman-sentenced-one-year/d/5571