S. Arabia Prevents HRW Team from Entering Yemen to Cover Up Crimes
New Age Islam News Bureau
26
Jun 2015
Aniruddh Kulkarni, organ transplant coordinator, with patients at Jupiter Hopsital. (Source: Express photo by Deepak Joshi)
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Arab World
• S. Arabia Prevents HRW Team from Entering Yemen to Cover Up Crimes
• Isis Attack on Syria’s Kobane Kills 146
• Is Launches Two-Pronged Offensive in Syria
• Syrian Army Units in Daraa Approach ISIL-Taken Military Base
• 5 ISIL Suicide Bombers Killed in Iraq's Mosul
• Syrian Fighter Jets Pound Rebels' Positions in Reef Latakia
• Amnesty urges UN to impose arms embargo against Syria
• ISIS Syria attack displaces 60,000 from Hasaka: U.N.
• U.S. Syria aid tops $4 billion with new pledges
• Egypt, U.S. to hold ‘strategic dialogue’ in July
• U.S.-led air strikes hit ISIS in Syria’s Hasaka, other cities
• Aid groups say funds for Syrian refugees ‘dangerously low’
• Rocket fired from Syria kills one in Jordan: govt source
• Egyptian fabric adorn homes in Ramadan
• Saudi Arabia rubbishes calls for gay rights
• UN Reemphasizes Iran's Key Role in Syria
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South Asia
• ISIS in Afghanistan A Rebrand of Militants Already In Battlefield
• Report: Extrajudicial killing, disappearance most significant problems of Bangladesh
• Bangladesh Minister: Ban Jamaat-e-Islami Immediately
• NATO and U.S committed to long term support for Afghan forces: Carter
• Myanmar Rohingya Treatment, China NGO Crackdown among Top US Rights Concerns: Report
• Khaleda Attends Jamaat-e-Islami Iftar
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India
• Transplant Coordinator’s Effort to Convince Muslims That Organ Donation Not Forbidden
• Prosecutor Says She Was Told To Go Soft On Hindu Extremists by the Modi Government
• UP to Take Muslims, Hindus Together for Pilgrimage
• AMU to set up English medium intermediate colleges in all districts
• Militant hideout busted in Jammu, arms recovered
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Mideast
• Israeli War Crimes Files Handed To ICC by Palestine
• Yemenis Hit Saudi Military Bases, Destroy Tank: Video
• FM Official Discloses Riyadh's Attempts to Improve Bahrain-Israel Ties
• Saudi Fighter Jets Continue Bombing Yemen
• Deputy FM Stresses Russia's Enthusiasm for Expansion of All-Out Ties with Iran
• Syrian TV: ISIL Reenters Kobani via Turkey
• Palestinian moves against Israel at ICC ‘counterproductive’: U.S.
• Turkey court limits Erdogan’s power over military trials
• U.N. urges peace talks and urgent aid delivery to Yemen
• U.S. blasts Iran for no improvement in human rights
• PKK attacks military base in south-eastern Turkey
• Ex-Iraqi National Security Advisor Highlights Iran's Experiences in Fighting against ISIL
• As factions fight, Yemenis suffer hunger, disease, fear
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North America
• Several Faiths Unite In New Haven to Break Muslim Fast
• Canadian PM Iftar Fails to Assure Muslims
• Home-Grown Extremists More Lethal For US than Muslim Militants: Study
• Nation of Islam leader screams, ‘Put the AMERICAN flag down!'; social media SLAMS back
• Muslims re-brand Islam during Ramadan
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Pakistan
• ‘Pakistani Forces At Times Operate Without Civilian Oversight’: US State Dept.
• Altaf Rejects BBC Report, Says It Is Media Trial
• Two Soldiers Killed In Kurram Blast
• Thoughts, sympathies go out to victims of Karachi heat wave: UN chief
• Parties ask MQM to clear its position over BBC report
• Sharif tasks diplomats to placate Washington
• Governor’s rule in Sindh not an option
• Pakistan pledges $1m for quake-hit Nepal
• Heat wave eases, but still claims 105 lives
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Southeast Asia
• Comments on Other Issues: Condemning China’s Ramadhan Restrictions
• East Jakarta Mosques Turning Down Volume
• Peace in Indonesia most improved in Asia-Pacific: survey
• In Exorcising Ills of Education System, Still No Silver Bullet
• Jakarta Looking Into Claim That IS Executed Indonesian Jihadist for ‘Spreading AIDS’
• Rohingyas mark Ramadan alongside fellow Muslims in Malaysia
• Facing a Changing World Balance, Obama Makes Odd Choices
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Africa
• Boko Haram-Like Sect Emerges In Kebbi
• Niger Army, Boko Haram Clash
• Tweeps react against Boko Haram’s activities
• Libya rivals back in Morocco for fresh peace talks
• Tunis sacks four policemen over Ramadan ‘abuse’
• Diaspora Eritreans to rally against human rights abuses
• Obama, Nigeria's Buhari to meet July 20, discuss Boko Haram
• Be ready to face Boko Haram – COAS charges student pilots
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Europe
• New UK Jewish Leader: I Want To Meet Muslims
• More Muslim outrage after supermarket sells pork next to Ramadan sticker
• Four charged in Germany with backing Syrian rebel organization
• Federica Mogherini’s remarks at “Call to Europe V: Islam in Europe”, FEPS conference"
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
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Arab World
S. Arabia Prevents HRW Team from Entering Yemen to Cover Up Crimes
Jun 25, 2015
According to Naba' news website, the Human Rights Watch committee in a statement blamed Saudi Arabia for troubling investigation into the aspects of crimes against the Yemeni people.
"Riyadh stands against anyone who is after finding the facts to prevent the disclosure of its crimes," the statement added.
Saudi Arabia has been striking Yemen for 92 days now to restore power to fugitive president Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.
Hadi stepped down in January and refused to reconsider the decision despite calls by Ansarullah revolutionaries of the Houthi movement.
Despite Riyadh's claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi warplanes are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures.
The Monarchy's attacks have so far claimed the lives of at least 4,717 civilians, mostly women and children.
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940404000431
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ISIS attack on Syria’s Kobane kills 146
26 June 2015
An attack by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters on the Syrian town of Kobane and a nearby village has so far killed at least 146 civilians, the second-biggest massacre by the hardline group in the country, a conflict monitor said on Friday.
Islamic State entered Kobane at the Turkish border on Thursday and clashes have continued with Kurdish YPG forces in the town, also known as Ayn al-Arab, said Rami Abdulrahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Abdulrahman, who tracks the conflict using sources on the ground, said it was the biggest single massacre of civilians by Islamic State since the killing of hundreds of members of the Sunni Muslim tribe Sheitaat tribe in eastern Syria last year.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/06/26/ISIS-attack-on-Syria-s-Kobane-kills-146-.html
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Syrian Army Units in Daraa Approach ISIL-Taken Military Base
25, 2015
The latest reports from the battleground said that the army is continuing its advances in Reef (countryside of) Daraa and is now only two kilometers away from the military base of Division 52 which has been surrounded by the terrorists in al-Harak town.
In another development earlier this month, Syrian government forces killed dozens of Takfiri militants in the area of al-Harak in Daraa countryside.
The Syrian army killed 40 terrorists, including a senior commander, in al-Harak.
The Syrian army also targeted the Takfiri militant groups in Homs, Aleppo, Idlib, Quneitra and other provinces, inflicting heavy losses on them.
The Syrian Army and government have defended their country against insurgents since 2011 when a huge number of foreign terrorists flocked to the Middle-Eastern country.
In spite of certain western states' military and financial supports for the militants, the Syrian troops have been able to push them back from many areas across the country.
Military estimates show the fall of militancy in Syria is not far.
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940404000269
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5 ISIL Suicide Bombers Killed in Iraq's Mosul
Jun 25, 2015
According to reports, the Peshmerga fighters repelled an ISIL attack in the area of al-Nouran in Eastern Mosul late on Wednesday and managed to claim the lives of 5 suicide bombers belonging to the Takfiri group.
Earlier, Kurdish forces destroyed a key compound of the ISIL terrorist group during a fierce exchange of fire in Mosul, a military official said.
Dalshad Mawlood, an official with Peshmerga forces, said that the Iraqi Kurds managed to destroy the general headquarters of the ISIL Takfiri group in Western Mosul in a surprise attack.
“Peshmerga forces conducted an attack on a site belonging to the ISIL militants in the village of Tashti in the area of Kesk, located in West of Mosul," he said.
Mawlood added, “The attack resulted in the destruction of the site and killing everyone inside it."
He concluded that dozens of artillery launchers were also destroyed in the operation
The ISIL Takfiri terrorists currently control shrinking swathes of Syria and Iraq. They have threatened all communities, including Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians, Ezadi Kurds and others, as they continue their atrocities in Iraq.
Senior Iraqi officials have blamed Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and some Persian Gulf Arab states for the growing terrorism in their country.
The ISIL has links with Saudi intelligence and is believed to be indirectly supported by the Israeli regime.
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940404000716
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Syrian Fighter Jets Pound Rebels' Positions in Reef Latakia
Jun 25, 2015
"Based on incredible intelligence gathered by the security and intelligence forces, the Syrian air force bombed a training center of terrorists in Reef Latakia," a Syrian military source said on Wednesday night.
The source also reported other operations against the al-Nusra Front terrorist groups in Kansaba, Shalaf, Wadi Basour, Wadi Salmi and al-Hamarat in the Northern Reef of Latakia.
Syria has been grappling with a deadly crisis since March 2011. The violence fuelled by Takfiri groups has so far claimed the lives of over 200,000 people, according to reports. New figures show that over 76,000 people, including thousands of children, lost their lives in Syria last year.
Over 7.2 million Syrians have also become internally displaced due to the ongoing crisis, according to the United Nations.
ISIL, with members from several western countries, controls parts of Syria and Iraq, and has been carrying out horrific acts of violence such as public decapitations and crucifixions against all communities such as Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds, and Christians.
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940404000340
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Amnesty urges UN to impose arms embargo against Syria
MASOOD HAIDER
June 26th, 2015
NEW YORK: The United Nations Security Council should impose an arms embargo on the Syrian government and targeted sanctions against individuals on all sides responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity, the Amnesty International said in a statement released on Thursday.
The organisation said such measures could help end barrel bomb attacks against civilians as well as any use of chlorine and other toxic chemicals as weapons.
Philip Luther, Director of the Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa Programme, noted that “a year and a half ago the Security Council made a commitment to take further steps if resolution 2139 is violated by parties to the conflict.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1190439/amnesty-urges-un-to-impose-arms-embargo-against-syria
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ISIS Syria attack displaces 60,000 from Hasaka: U.N.
26 June 2015
An Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) attack on the northeastern Syrian city of Hasaka is reported to have displaced 60,000 people, the United Nations office in Syria said on Friday, warning that up to 200,000 people may eventually try to flee.
ISIS launched an assault on government-held areas of Hasaka on Thursday, capturing at least one district in the southwest of the city, which lies close to the borders with Turkey and Iraq.
Hasaka is divided into zones run separately by the government of President Bashar al-Assad and a Kurdish administration. ISIS fighters also attacked the Kurdish-held town of Kobani, or Ayn al-Arab, in its twin offensive on Thursday.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said an estimated 50,000 people had been displaced within Hasaka city while 10,000 had left northwards towards Amuda town, close to the Turkish border.
Its report on developments on Thursday cited the Syrian government’s Department of Social Affairs and local partners. It said the estimated pre-war population in Hasaka was around 300,000 people.
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/06/26/ISIS-attack-in-NE-Syria-displace-60-000-U-N-.html
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U.S. Syria aid tops $4 billion with new pledges
26 June 2015
The United States will provide $360 million in “life-saving assistance” to victims of the Syrian civil war, the State Department said Thursday, bringing its total to $4 billion since the fighting began.
The money will partly support various United Nations programs and other non-governmental organizations in Syria, where more than 230,000 people have died since the conflict erupted with anti-government demonstrations in March 2011.
“The new funding will partially respond to the 2015 appeals of $8.4 billion from the United Nations for Syria and the region. Unfortunately, even with the contribution we are announcing today, the U.N. appeal remains severely unfunded,” the State Department said in a statement.
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/06/26/U-S-Syria-aid-tops-4-billion-with-new-pledges.html
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Egypt, U.S. to hold ‘strategic dialogue’ in July
25 June 2015
Egypt and the United States will hold a "strategic dialogue" in July, the presidency announced Thursday, amid a growing rapprochement in ties strained after the army ousted president Mohamed Morsi two years ago.
Following the overthrow of Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Washington froze $1.3 billion in annual military aid to Cairo.
While it resumed the assistance in March, it has continued to denounce the repression of Morsi’s Islamist supporters and what it says are human rights violations.
On Thursday, US Secretary of State John Kerry spoke by telephone with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to discuss holding a "strategic dialogue" between the two countries on July 28-29, Sisi’s office said.
The president welcomed that, saying he "expected the results to enrich the strategic relations between the two countries in different fields," a statement said.
Kerry was also keen to discuss new ideas with Sisi "to push peace efforts in the Middle East," the statement added.
He stressed "the pivotal role of Egypt in the Middle East and its deep expertise regarding the efforts to settle" the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Thursday’s statement comes three days after Egypt said it had taken delivery of two more US fast missile boats.
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/06/25/Egypt-U-S-to-hold-strategic-dialogue-in-July-.html
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U.S.-led air strikes hit ISIS in Syria’s Hasaka, other cities
25 June 2015
The United States and its allies hit Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group with an air strike in the Syrian city of al-Hasaka on Wednesday, among other targets in Syria and Iraq, the U.S. military said.
In a statement, the Combined Joint Task Force said the air strike in al-Hasaka, a city divided into Syrian government and Kurdish control where ISIS has been trying to retake the initiative, struck a unit of ISIS fighters and one of the militant group’s vehicles.
Two other strikes in Syria hit near Aleppo and Tel Abyad, according to the statement released on Thursday.
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/06/25/U-S-led-air-strikes-hit-ISIS-in-Hasaka-other-cities.html
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Aid groups say funds for Syrian refugees ‘dangerously low’
25 June 2015
More than 200 groups helping 3.9 million Syrian war refugees are calling on international donors to send promised aid, saying they are fast running out of funds to deliver basic services.
The groups said Thursday that just $1 billion out of $4.5 billion pledged for 2015 has been received.
The head of the U.N. refugee agency, Antonio Guterres, says the “massive crisis” requires far more international solidarity and that “dangerously low” funding levels mean basic needs of millions of refugees will likely go unmet.
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/06/25/Aid-groups-say-funds-for-Syrian-refugees-dangerously-low-.html
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Rocket fired from Syria kills one in Jordan: govt source
25 June 2015
A rocket fired from Syria hit a city in northern Jordan Thursday, killing one person and wounding four, an official, Bader al-Qadi, told Al Arabiya News.
Jordanian citizen Abdul Munem al-Hourani was killed and four others were injured after “a stray mortar shell” from Syria's Daraa hit a house in the northern city of Ramtha.
According to Ramtha’s District Governor al-Qadi, al- Hourani, 23, died in hospital after the shell hit his family home.
Hourani was an engineering student at the Jordan University of Science and Technology.
The health conditions of the injured are stable, al-Qadi told Al Arabiya News, adding that the house is in the center of the main market of Ramtha.
The Jordan News Agency, Petra, quoted unnamed officials as confirming that Ramtha, only some three kilometers north of Daraa, was the target of several mortar shells from Syria on Thursday.
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/06/25/Rocket-fired-from-Syria-kills-one-in-Jordan-govt-source-.html
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Egyptian fabric adorn homes in Ramadan
26 June 2015
JEDDAH: Many Saudis have over the years been using Egyptian-made tent fabric, with designs dating back to the Mamluk era, to adorn their homes in Ramadan.
Mohammad Ali Jaber, who sells these products in the Al-Balad area, said pilgrims from Egypt used to bring it to Makkah and Madinah to sell during Ramadan and the Haj.
“The fabrics have over the years become associated with the month of Ramadan and is seldom seen in other times of the year,” he was quoted as saying by a local publication recently.
Full report at:
http://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/news/767551
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Saudi Arabia rubbishes calls for gay rights
25 June 2015
JEDDAH: There would be no rights granted to gay people in the Kingdom, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.
In a post on its Twitter account, the ministry stated that it supports human rights principles proposed by international bodies as long as they are in line with Islamic law. It also slammed those questioning the Kingdom’s rights record.
It said that freedom of expression does not mean demeaning the beliefs of Muslims; and condemned those who continue to ridicule the Prophet, peace be upon him.
The ministry said it rejected terrorism and urged united international action to tackle all forms of extremism because these ideas violate the teachings of the world’s religions.
There has recently been intense debate on Twitter about gay rights in Saudi Arabia. One blogger said “all religions reject this perversion which is why God created man and woman.”
On Monday in Geneva at a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council, Faisal bin Hasan Trad, the Kingdom’s permanent representative to the UN, said Saudi Arabia would not tolerate criticism of its human rights record, and that it rejected a proposal to grant rights to gays.
Full report at:
http://www.arabnews.com/featured/news/767116
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UN Reemphasizes Iran's Key Role in Syria
Jun 25, 2015
"I think, ...Iran is one of the regional powers. They, like other regional powers, have influence at various parts — parties in this conflict. And I think the regional powers have a key role to play in putting the political dialogue back on track. So I think it's only normal that the Special Envoy consult with regional powers," Dujarric said, elaborating on goals of the UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura's upcoming trip to Iran.
During a telephone conversation on Tuesday night, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and de Mistura vowed to do their best to pave the ground for the peaceful settlement of the over 4-year-long crisis in Syria.
Amir Abdollahian and de Mistura discussed the latest developments in the crisis-hit Syria.
The UN envoy described as constructive his recent consultations in the Swiss city of Geneva with the Syrian sides as well as representatives from different countries on the foreign-backed crisis in Syria, which has plagued the Arab country for more than four years now.
De Mistura is also scheduled to pay a visit to Iran as part of a regional tour to discuss Syria's ongoing foreign-sponsored conflict.
In May, Amir Abdollahian renewed Iran's support for the Syrian government and nation in their fight against foreign-backed terrorists.
Full report at:
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940404000624
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South Asia
ISIS in Afghanistan a rebrand of militants already in battlefield
By KHAAMA PRESS - Thu Jun 25 2015
The US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said Thursday that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group is a rebrand of the militants already in the battlefield.
“What we see frequently in Afghanistan with ISIL is a rebranding of those already on the battlefield, now adopting this new name they regard as a better replacement for a name they had in the past,” Carter said.
Carter also added that “Other things are going on. After considerable encouragement from us, Pakistani security forces are more active on their side of their border, so some fighters have fled into Afghanistan.”
The remarks by Carter comes as a senior NATO official said earlier that the group does not pose a strategic threat to Afghanistan.
The official further added that both the Afghan government and the NATO take the issue regarding the alleged emergence of the terror group in Afghanistan as “very seriously”.
This comes as there have been growing concerns regarding the expansion of the activities by the terror group in parts of the country.
The social media have been rife with posts published by the pro-ISIS activists recently, which suggests the involvement of the terror group’s affiliates in atrocities, allegedly committed in Afghanistan.
Full report at:
http://www.khaama.com/isis-in-afghanistan-a-rebrand-of-militants-already-in-battlefield-1238
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Report: Extrajudicial killing, disappearance most significant problems of Bangladesh
June 26, 2015
The United States has said extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances, some restrictions on online speech and the press, and poor working conditions and labour rights are the most significant human rights problems in Bangladesh.
The government took limited measures to investigate and prosecute cases of security force abuse and killing, according to a report on human rights.
US Secretary of State John Kerry presented the 2014 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices at the US Department of State in Washington DC on June 25.
Quoting Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), the report said security forces, including the RAB, committed a total of 113 killings during the first eight months in 2014. The number of extrajudicial killings was 179 in 2013.
There were 35 disappearances allegedly involving security personnel from January through September of the year, it said quoting Odhikar.
The report also stated that politically motivated and intra-party violence remained serious problems in Bangladesh.
Instances of societal violence against religious and ethnic minorities persisted, says the report.
Full report at:
http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2015/jun/26/extrajudicial-killing-disappearance-most-significant-problems
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Bangladesh Minister: Ban Jamaat-e-Islami Immediately
june 26, 2015
Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon yesterday demanded an immediate ban on the Jamaat-e-Islami.
“The Jamaat is accused of terrorism and militancy at present… I am placing our party’s demand for a ban on the Jamaat,” she told the parliament participating in the budget discussion.
Menon also said the BNP now wants to reach a political compromise especially after failing to topple the government.
“If they want compromise, they will have to return to democratic ways leaving violence and they will have to sever ties with the Jamaat,” he told parliament.
He expressed his dissatisfaction over the government’s failure to ensure good governance and effective steps against recent incidents of sexual harassment of women.
“We could not take proper steps to this end. When a woman does not feel safe to move freely at night, a society cannot be called a civilized one.”
He also alleged that tender manipulation, violence, killing and forced disappearance was tarnishing the government image.
Full report at:
http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2015/jun/26/menon-ban-jamaat-immediately
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NATO and U.S committed to long term support for Afghan forces: Carter
Jun 25 2015
The US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said Thursday that the United States and NATO is committed to a long term support for the Afghan national security forces.
Speaking during a press conference following the conclusion of the NATO defense ministerial, Carter said “The US does intend, and NATO has pledged to both complete the Resolute Support mission and to have a continuing commitment to support the Afghan security forces after December 2016.”
Carter also added “I’ll tell you as I told Defence Ministers today that it’s my intention to put in the US defence budget for 2017 funding for Afghanistan. It’s not the case that the US or NATO is leaving Afghanistan. We intend to remain in a role of advice and assistance, and in support to the Afghan security forces which have shown themselves to be so brave and capable.”
Full report at:
http://www.khaama.com/nato-and-us-committed-to-long-term-support-for-afghan-forces-carter-1240
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Myanmar Rohingya Treatment, China NGO Crackdown Among Top US Rights Concerns: Report
2015-06-25
Human rights abuses against a Muslim minority group in Myanmar offset progress in other areas of reform during the last year, while China and other one-party authoritarian Asian states kept up a high degree of pressure on dissidents seeking change, the U.S. State Department said in an annual report on Thursday.
In Myanmar, the Southeast Asian country formerly known as Burma, authorities in northwestern Rakhine state made no meaningful efforts during the year “to help Rohingya and other Muslim minority persons displaced by violence to return to their homes,” the State Department’s “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2014” said.
The government of the formerly military-led country also failed to establish a “fair and nondiscriminatory” process for granting full citizenship rights to the often-persecuted Rohingya, more than 16,000 of whom fled Myanmar by boat in November to seek refuge in other countries, the report said.
Restrictions on press freedoms and widespread land confiscation also remained problems during the year, the report said, adding that “government security forces allegedly were responsible for cases of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions, torture and mistreatment in detention and [for] systematic denial of due process and fair trial rights.”
Repression, coercion 'routine'
In China, “repression and coercion were routine,” especially against Tibetans, Uyghurs, and other ethnic minorities, and against groups and individuals involved in civil and political rights advocacy, the State Department said.
And though China’s government made efforts to crack down on corruption during the year, “it also convicted civil society activists associated with the New Citizens Movement in retribution for their public campaign to expose official corruption,” Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Tom Malinowski told reporters on Thursday.
China has now also introduced draft laws on the regulation of foreign nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and on national security and terrorism “that appear to call into question its commitment to the path of opening to the world that has supported its transformation over the past three decades,” Malinowski said.
“We expressed our very serious concerns about these draft laws at the [U.S.-China] Strategic & Economic Dialogue this week and we will continue to do so,” Malinowski said.
Vietnam, too, moved to “sharply control the registration of NGOs, including human rights organizations” during the year, while the government also strictly limited the freedoms of assembly, association, and religious practice, the State Department noted.
Political dissent, press freedom, and online expression were also harshly suppressed, the report said, adding that “there was continued police mistreatment of suspects during arrest and detention.”
Full report at:
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/concerns-06252015175800.html
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Khaleda Attends Jamaat-e-Islami Iftar
June 26, 2015
Jamaat-e-Islami yesterday said the government's “conspiracy to ruin the party” through executing the death sentences of its leaders convicted of war crimes would not be successful.
Jamaat Nayeb-e-Ameer Mujibur Rahman made the comment at an Iftar party hosted by the organisation in a city hotel.
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia attended the programme as the chief guest.
After the iftar, Khaleda, also chief of the BNP-led 20-party alliance, was introduced to the Jamaat leaders who are now playing an important role in the party in the absence of its top brass who are behind bars on war crimes charges. Jamaat is a key component of the combine.
Earlier, in a written speech, Mujibur called upon people to “wage resistance against injustice and falsehood”.
Full report at:
http://www.thedailystar.net/backpage/khaleda-attends-jamaat-iftar-103360
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India
Transplant Coordinator’s Effort To Convince Muslims That Organ Donation Not Forbidden
By Tabassum Barnagarwala | Mumbai | Published on: June 26, 2015
On his desktop sits a bunch of Islamic texts and laws that he has read twice. Aniruddh Kulkarni, 37, organ transplant coordinator in Mumbai’s Jupiter Hospital, is trying to understand Islam first and then hoping to find in these texts a context that could encourage cadaver donation from among Muslims.
Cadaver donation is the donation of organs of patients who have suffered a brain-stem death, a condition in which organs such as the heart continue to work for a short duration after death.
In his seven years in the field of organ transplants, Kulkarni says, he has never been able to convince a Muslim family to donate the organs of dead relatives. Dr Rekha Barot, transplant coordinator at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, too says she has never come across a cadaver donation from any Muslim family. Data gathered from Zonal Transplant Coordination Centre, Mumbai, and shows that since 2011, not a single cadaver organ has been donated from the community. “It is a religious issue, we don’t delve further,” a ZTCC official says.
Kulkarni says he has come across certain Indian Muslims who feel organ donation leads to an incomplete transition into the next stage after life. “While organ donation is legal in Arab countries with a high Muslim population, in India the community has a different opinion,” he says.
Kulkarni is in touch with muftis and Maulanas in Mumbai, seeking their support in encouraging donation. Recently, he approached a Mumbra-based Maulana who had undergone transplantation at his hospital. “I can’t do it alone. People will follow what muftis say,” says Kulkarni, who is hopeful of a fatwa. “There has been no fatwa from Indian muftis.”
Full report at:
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/transplant-coordinators-effort-to-convince-muslims-that-organ-donation-not-forbidden/
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Prosecutor Says She Was Told To Go Soft On Hindu Extremists by the Modi Government
June 26th, 2015
NEW DELHI: The public prosecutor in right-wing Hindu terror cases, including the Samjhauta Express blasts, has accused the Modi government of asking her to go soft on the accused, the Indian Express reported on Thursday.
“Since this new government came, I have been told to go soft on accused (Hindu extremists),” Maharashtra state’s Special Public Prosecutor Rohini Salian said in an interview.
Ms Salian said she wanted the federal investigating body for terrorist cases (NIA) to officially denotify her from the case to which she was appointed in 2008, “so that I am free to take up other cases, against the NIA, if need be”.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1190441/prosecutor-says-she-was-told-to-go-soft-on-hindu-extremists
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UP to Take Muslims, Hindus Together for Pilgrimage
26th June 2015
LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government has chalked out a first-of-its-kind plan to take a group of Hindus and Muslims on a joint pilgrimage.
The 'dharmarth karya' department has issued a government order (GO) in which 10 Muslim and Hindu devouts from each district will be taken on a pilgrimage in a single trip, including a visit to Pushkar and Ajmer Sharif in Rajasthan.
Pushkar is holy for Hindus while Ajmer Sharif is venerated by Muslims as well as people of other faiths.
Principal Secretary (Religious Works) Navneet Sehgal told IANS that the process of receiving applications and subsequently sorting them out has begun in all the 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh.
"The idea is not only to provide better travel opprtunities to the residents of UP and the elderly but also to promote communal harmony," the official said.
The tour will be conducted by the state government, under the ongoing Samajwadi Shravan Yatra - a state sponsored pilgrimage started a few months back, with help of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC).
A special train with arrangement for 1,044 berths has been booked for the pilgrimage.
The proposed date for the pilgrimage is July 23 and the department is working to ensure that the 'yatra' takes off on time, officials say.
This time the state government has also made online registration facilities available for people. The devout will have to submit documents required for availing the trip along with an application.
Full report at:
http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/UP-to-Take-Muslims-Hindus-Together-for-Pilgrimage/2015/06/26/article2887294.ece
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AMU to set up English medium intermediate colleges in all districts
by Mohd Faisal Fareed | Lucknow | Published on:June 26, 2015
Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) is in the process of setting up English medium intermediate colleges on the lines of Christian missionary schools in every district of Uttar Pradesh. Like Christian missionaries, these schools will be open for all but will have reservation for Muslim students.
The first such school will begin functioning from August at Jaula village in Muzaffarnagar district, which had witnessed communal riots in 2013. Advertisement for appointment of teachers has already been published.
The schools will be recognised by Central Board of Secondary Education and will be managed by 129-year-old organisation — All India Muslim Educational Foundation — patronised by AMU.
“We have decided to set up one school in every district. These will be on pattern of schools run by Christian missionaries. I felt the need for such schools after my three-year experience as the vice-chancellor,” AMU V-C Lt Gen (retd) Zameeruddin Shah said.
“There is no point in opening engineering colleges and other higher institutions till our students are competent enough to earn their admissions in these institutions. We have to empower our students and equip them so that they can get admissions in higher institutions,” Shah added.
Full report at:
http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/lucknow/amu-to-set-up-english-medium-intermediate-colleges-in-all-districts/
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ilitant hideout busted in Jammu, arms recovered
PTI | Jun 26, 2015
JAMMU: Army has busted a militant hideout in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir and recovered a cache of arms and ammunition, a defence spokesperson said on Friday.
Acting on a tip off, troops of Rashtriya Rifles (RR) launched a search operation and busted a hideout in forest area of Deolmarg-Thinmarg in Mahore tehsil of Reasi district yesterday, he said.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Militant-hideout-busted-in-Jammu-arms-recovered/articleshow/47826832.cms
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Mideast
Israeli war crimes files handed to ICC by Palestine
26 June 2015
THE HAGUE, Netherlands: Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki handed International Criminal Court prosecutors a file Thursday detailing possible Israeli war crimes in Gaza and settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The file, based on findings by a Palestinian commission of inquiry and information from non-government groups, feeds into a preliminary investigation by ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda into possible crimes on Palestinian territory.
Bensouda’s initial probe aims to establish if there is enough evidence to merit opening a full-scale investigation that could ultimately lead to charges against both Israelis and Palestinians. It is not clear how long the process will take.
Malki said the information forms “a compelling case for the prompt opening of an investigation.”
He said it included details on Israel’s settlements and military offensive throughout the occupied Palestinian territories, particularly last year’s Gaza War, and also outlined allegations of crimes committed against Palestinian prisoners.
Full report at:
http://www.arabnews.com/middle-east/news/767426
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Yemenis hit Saudi military bases, destroy tank: Video
Jun 26, 2015
As part of retaliatory attacks against Riyadh's ongoing military aggression against their country, Yemeni forces have fired rockets deep into the Saudi Arabia territory, destroying a tank in a military base in the southern Najran Province.
The Yemeni army, backed by Houthi Ansarullah fighters as well as the country’s popular committees, on Friday hit two military bases in Zahran Al Janoub and Najran provinces deep inside Saudi Arabia.
Footage released by Yemen's al-Masirah television showed that a Yemeni anti-armored rocket destroyed a tank in al-Amoud military base in Najran Province.
The Yemenis also launched mortar shells at Alb border region in Zahran Al Janoub Province, inflicting damage on a military base and forcing Saudi forces to flee the base.
The rocket attacks by the Yemeni forces are in response to the Saudi aggression against the impoverished Arab country, which started on March 26. Yemenis have so far targeted several military bases in Saudi Arabia and killed dozens of Saudi troops.
A senior member of Yemen’s revolutionary council has promised more retaliatory attacks against Saudi Arabia.
Full report at:
http://www.presstv.in/Detail/2015/06/26/417559/Yemen-Saudi-Arabia-war-tank
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FM Official Discloses Riyadh's Attempts to Improve Bahrain-Israel Ties
Jun 25, 2015 6:32
TEHRAN (FNA)- An informed source in Bahrain's foreign ministry disclosed on Thursday that Saudi Arabia is attempting to bring Manama and Tel Aviv closer to each other.
The source told FNA that Bahraini King's son Prince Nasser Bin Hamad al-Khalifa has been chosen to take part in the talks to improve relations between Bahrain and Israel.
The source referred to the expanding ties between Riyadh and Tel Aviv, and said, "Saudi Arabia seeks to further suppress the Bahraini revolution through political relations between Bahrain and Israel."
The source added that the bilateral meeting between the Saudi, Bahraini and Israeli officials is due to be held in Riyadh in the next few days.
Anti-government protesters have been holding peaceful demonstrations across Bahrain since mid-February 2011, calling for an end to the al-Khalifa dynasty's over-40-year rule, end of discrimination, establishment of justice and a democratically-elected government as well as freedom of detained protesters.
Violence against the defenseless people escalated after a Saudi-led conglomerate of police, security and military forces from the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) member states - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar - were dispatched to the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom on March 13, 2011, to help Manama crack down on peaceful protests.
So far, hundreds of people have been killed, hundreds more have gone missing and thousands of others have been injured.
Saudi Arabia has been meddling in Bahrain's internal affairs for a long period of time.
One of the documents gained and released by the Yemen Cyber Army after its May hacking of the Saudi Foreign Ministry has disclosed the strong attempts made by Saudi Arabia to convince the western powers to supply the Bahraini regime with the needed weapons to crack down on the revolution in the Persian Gulf island state.
Full report at:
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940404000827
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Saudi Fighter Jets Continue Bombing Yemen
Jun 25, 2015
TEHRAN (FNA)- Saudi warplanes targeted residential areas in the province of Shabwah in their latest strikes against Yemen on Thursday, killing and injuring dozens of people.
According to reports, the kingdom's warplanes hit the Ataq district in the Southern province of Shabwah, leaving scores of people dead and injured.
On Wednesday, the monarchy's warplanes launched eight airstrikes on civilian targets in the Yemeni province of Sa'ada, and claimed the lives of large groups of people.
Earlier in the day, the Saudi fighter jets bombed a general hospital in the city of Harad, Hajjah province, inflicting heavy casualties on patients.
Saudi Arabia has been striking Yemen for 92 days now to restore power to fugitive president Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.
Full report at:
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940404000440
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Deputy FM Stresses Russia's Enthusiasm for Expansion of All-Out Ties with Iran
Jun 25, 2015
During the meeting in Moscow on Wednesday, Morgulov described ties with Iran as growing and profound, and said exchanging different political and economic delegations between the two countries is fruitful.
He underscored that his country is willing to further strengthen relations with Iran.
Sanayee, for his part, elaborated on both sides' efforts to increase political and economic cooperation, and emphasized on the further consolidation of bilateral, region and international ties between the two countries.
In the last several years, Iran and Russia have had vast cooperation in different fields, specially in political and economic spheres.
The two states also enjoy special positions on the international scene and have long had constant and regular consultations on key regional and global issues.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in April that Moscow and Tehran had started barter trade through supplying Iran with Russia's grains, equipment and construction materials in lieu of Iran's crude oil.
"I wanted to draw your attention to the rolling out of the oil-for-goods deal, which is on a very significant scale," Ryabkov told Russian senators.
"In exchange for Iranian crude oil supplies, we are delivering certain products. This is not banned or limited under the current sanctions regime," he added.
In December, Russian Minister of Economic Development Aleksey Valentinovich Ulyukayev announced that his country had proposed a framework for barter trade with Iran.
Full report at:
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940404000401
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Syrian TV: ISIL Reenters Kobani via Turkey
Jun 25, 2015
The report said that the terrorists reentered the Kurdish city through coordination with the Turkish intelligence-security apparatus.
The conflicts between the Kurdish forces of Kobani along with other Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the ISIL terrorists started again on Thursday morning.
The ISIL was forced out of Kobani and then the Kurdish peshmerga forces left the key Syrian town in April following a half-year deployment to fight terrorists.
The peshmerga, who had first deployed to Kobani in late October last year, successfully helped defeat the ISIL terrorists in the battle for the strategic town.
Syria has been grappling with a deadly crisis since March 2011. The violence fuelled by Takfiri groups has so far claimed the lives of over 200,000 people, according to reports. New figures show that over 76,000 people, including thousands of children, lost their lives in Syria last year.
Full report at:
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940404000495
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Palestinian moves against Israel at ICC ‘counterproductive’: U.S.
25 June 2015
The White House said Thursday that efforts to have Israel charged with war crimes at the International Criminal Court were “counterproductive” and would be opposed by Washington.
The United States has “made clear that we oppose actions against Israel at the ICC as counterproductive,” National Security Council spokesman Alistair Baskey told AFP.
The Palestinian Authority earlier presented a first batch of evidence to the court in support of its campaign to have Israel investigated for alleged war crimes.
ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda in January launched a preliminary probe to see whether there was enough evidence for a full-blown war crimes investigation, later warning that both sides may face charges.
The documents handed over on Thursday consist of two files.
One concerns alleged Israeli crimes committed in Gaza during the 50-day war in July and August last year that killed 2,200 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and 73 Israelis, mostly soldiers.
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/06/25/Palestinian-moves-against-Israel-at-ICC-counterproductive-U-S-.html
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Turkey court limits Erdogan’s power over military trials
25 June 2015
The constitutional court in the Turkish capital Ankara on Thursday limited the presidency’s powers over an upcoming series of military trials, in a fresh blow to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose ruling AK party lost its majority in a poll earlier this month.
According to the top court’s latest ruling, the Council of State will give the final decision on the suspension from the profession of commanders tried by the Supreme Court, rather than the president, Turkish paper Hurriyet reported.
The ruling came after an appeal by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) to an amended article inscribed in military law. The top court then cancelled the amendment, which gave the president the final say in such cases, by 10 to 6 votes on Jan. 14.
After the AK Party lost its parliamentary majority earlier this month, the prospect of coalition politics – considered by many Turks an unwelcome conclusion – looms.
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/06/25/Turkey-court-limits-Erdogan-s-power-over-military-trials.html
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U.N. urges peace talks and urgent aid delivery to Yemen
25 June 2015
The U.N. Security Council urged all parties in conflict-wracked Yemen on Thursday to attend future peace talks and facilitate the immediate delivery of humanitarian aid to the impoverished nation where the risk of famine is growing.
A press statement approved by all 15 council members endorsed Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s call for a humanitarian pause in the fighting. The U.N. special envoy on Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, warned the council on Wednesday that the country is “one step” from famine.
U.N. humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien said Thursday that the collapse of basic services and extreme shortages of food and fuel have had a “devastating impact” across the country.
“More than 21 million people – that’s 80 percent of the population - now need humanitarian assistance,” he told reporters by videoconference from Germany. “Health facilities report that over 2,800 people have been killed and 13,000 injured since the violence escalated in March. At least 1,400 civilians have lost their lives, and these numbers are likely to be significant underestimates.”
The fighting in Yemen pits Houthi militia and allied troops loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh against southern separatists, local and tribal militias, Sunni Islamic militants and loyalists of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who is now based in Saudi Arabia. The milita seized the capital, Sanaa, in September.
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/06/25/U-N-urges-peace-talks-and-urgent-aid-delivery-to-Yemen.html
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U.S. blasts Iran for no improvement in human rights
25 June 2015
Iran repressed freedoms and rights for its people last year, the United States said Thursday, adding that there has been no “meaningful improvement” since President Hassan Rowhani was elected in 2013.
“Iran continued to severely restrict civil liberties, including the freedoms of assembly, speech, religion, and press, and to execute citizens at the second highest rate in the world,” the US said in its annual human rights report.
On the eve of new high-level Iran-US talks on a nuclear deal, the lengthy section on Iran listed a catalogue of abuses such as “disappearances, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment” as well as “politically motivated violence and repression.”
Assistant Secretary for human rights Tom Malinowski said the United States has “not seen any meaningful improvement in the situation in Iran” since Rouhani took office in 2013.
But he stressed when asked about the nuclear negotiations with Iran, that “engagement is not the same thing as endorsement.”
The purpose of the talks, which resume in Vienna over the weekend, “is not to deal with human rights issues,” he insisted.
Secretary of State John Kerry is to leave Friday for the Austrian capital where he is due to meet with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif for a final push to seal a deal putting a nuclear bomb out of Tehran's reach.
Three American citizens remain in jail in Iran and one is missing, despite persistent US calls for them to be released.
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/06/25/U-S-blasts-Iran-for-no-improvement-in-human-rights.html
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PKK attacks military base in southeastern Turkey
25 June 2015
Members of the far-left banned group Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) on Thursday reportedly opened fire on a military base in Turkey, the Istanbul-based paper Daily Sabah reported, quoting a statement released by the Turkish General Staff.
The incident, which occurred in Turkey’s southeastern province of Siirt, started when members of the outlawed group attacked the base in the Eruh district.
No casualties were reported and the base was not damaged as security forces returned fire, according to the statement released online.
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/06/25/PKK-attacks-military-base-in-southeastern-Turkey-.html
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Ex-Iraqi National Security Advisor Highlights Iran's Experiences in Fighting against ISIL
Jun 25, 2015
TEHRAN (FNA)- Former Iraqi National Security Advisor and senior legislator Muwafaq al-Rubaie underlined the importance of using Iran's experiences in fighting terrorist groups, specially the ISIL, in the region.
Speaking to FNA on Thursday, Rubaie welcomed the upcoming trilateral security meeting among Iran, Iraq and Syria, and said, "We support the security coordination among Baghdad, Tehran and Damascus since we believe that we have a common enemy and fight in a common battle ground."
Expressing regret that the trilateral meeting should have been held earlier, he said, "It is an important meeting since Iran has a great experience in fighting terrorism."
Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli announced on Monday that Tehran, Damascus and Baghdad are due to hold a trilateral meeting to discuss ways to intensify campaign on terrorism.
"A trilateral meeting among Iran, Syria and Iraq is due to be held in Baghdad," Rahmani Fazli said in a joint press conference with his Syrian counterpart Mohammad Ibrahim al-Shaar in Tehran.
Noting that the three countries are pioneering in resistance against Israel and fighting against terrorism, violence and extremism, he stressed that they should further expand their cooperation.
"We hope that the trilateral meeting will be a prelude to the joint activities of the regional Islamic states on the issues that they share similar views and we will witness holding multilateral meeting among different Islamic countries," Rahmani Fazli said.
Iranian officials have always called for collective efforts of all countries to help resolve the ongoing crises in Iraq and Syria, and stressed Tehran's continued assistance to these states.
Earlier this month, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani underlined that the country's assistance to the regional states, including Iraq and Syria, in fighting the terrorist groups will save future generations from death and misery.
"We fight against terrorism in Iraq and Syria today but believe that this fight will have its fruits for the future of humanity since today the problem of terrorism is not merely related to one country and is an issue related to all humans," Larijani said in a joint press conference with Speaker of the Syrian People's Assembly Mohammad Jihad al-Laham in Tehran.
He expressed the hope that the Syrian government and nation would succeed in fighting the savage and adventurous streams, and said, "Of course Iran has always helped the regional states on their path of campaign against terrorism."
Full report at:
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940404000714
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As factions fight, Yemenis suffer hunger, disease, fear
June 26th, 2015
SANAA: Eight-year-old Abdullah Musleh lay screaming in pain in a Sanaa hospital on Wednesday as a doctor cleaned his torn face, the victim of a worsening war that threatens millions of Yemenis with starvation and homelessness.
“We were at home when air strikes hit the missile base on the mountain near our house,” Abdullah's father Ali said by his bedside, describing an air raid on an arms depot a month ago that sent missiles raining across part of Yemen's capital.
“Shells from the base started flying over the houses. We tried to make our escape but, when we were in the street, a piece of shrapnel hit my son. Thank God the doctors were able to remove it, but he needs more help.”
A country that was already by far the poorest and most unstable on the Arabian Peninsula is now, after three months of conflict, in the grip of a humanitarian disaster.
Cut off from the world, living under bombardment from a Saudi-led coalition and beset by fighting between multiple battalions and militias, Yemen's 25 million people are prey to hunger, disease and an ever-present fear of death.
“The most terrifying thing, worse than anything we've suffered in this war, is the indiscriminate shelling that falls on us every day,” said Saleh Hashem, a retired teacher from Aden.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1190371/as-factions-fight-yemenis-suffer-hunger-disease-fear
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North America
Several faiths unite in New Haven to break Muslim fast
06/25/15
NEW HAVEN >> Representatives of several different faiths said that given the heightened anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States, they felt like they were doing God’s work by attending Thursday night’s breaking of the Ramadan fast at Masjid Al-Islam.
Though there religions have differences, the gathering of about 40 Christian, Jews, Sihks and Muslims under a tent in the parking lot of the George Street house of worship was a celebration of the commonality between the faiths.
“Spiritually speaking, we’re cousins,” said Jimmy Jones, a New Haven resident who is a professor of world religions at Manhattanville College in New York and a member of the board of directors for the Council of American-Islam Relations told the crowd.
Jones, who is himself a Muslim, said that the “Jesus’ name is mentioned more frequently in the Quran than (the prophet) Muhammad.”
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“We all have a connection with Abraham,” he said. “And we all have common core of compassion.”
The religious leader of Masjid Al-Islam, Imam Abdul Hanan, described the Quran “a guide to living your life.” after reciting the prayers he gave before the start of the meal that broke Thursday’s fast.
A meal of salad, hummus, chicken shawarma and rice was served with baklava. The breaking of fast is referred to as Iftar in the Muslim faith.
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, during which Muslims worldwide observe a monthlong fast from dawn to sunset each day. The first day of fasting for the Muslim community in America was June 18th.
Charlie Pillsbury, a lawyer, community activist and member of the United Church of Christ, and his wife Allie Perry, were among those who attended the meal and observed the services that proceed it.
Full report at:
http://www.nhregister.com/lifestyle/20150625/several-faiths-unite-in-new-haven-to-break-muslim-fast
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Canadian PM Iftar Fails to Assure Muslims
25 June 2015
OTTAWA – Attending the first-ever Ramadan iftar with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, leaders of the Canadian Muslim community have expressed hope that the gesture would translate into a change in the government rhetoric about the religious community.
“This event certainly came as a surprise to many given the government’s record of action that has alienated, marginalized, many Canadian Muslim communities,” said Ihsaan Gardee, executive director of the National Council of Canadian Muslims, iPolitics reported on Wednesday, June 24.
“Given that it is election season, we hope that this event is not merely a vote-soliciting tactic but a real sign of change of tone and attitude.”
The iftar, held last Monday, is the first time Harper welcomed 40 members of the Muslim community into 24 Sussex to break their Ramadan fasts alongside members of his government.
The government’s relationship with Canadian Muslims has grown increasingly fraught over the past year over attempts to ban niqab or new security measures targeting the religious community.
The government policies received huge criticism for blaming Muslims for terrorism, with many critics seeing it as using anti-radicalization rhetoric to sow fear and prejudice against Muslims.
Full report at:
http://www.onislam.net/english/news/americas/488253-canadian-pm-iftar-fails-to-assure-muslims.html
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Home-grown extremists more lethal for US than Muslim militants: study
June 26th, 2015
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK: Since 9/11, America’s home-grown extremists have killed twice as many people in the United States as the jihadists have, says a report by a Washington think-tank, New America.
The report reveals that since Sept 11, 2001, white supremacists, anti-government fanatics and other non-Muslim extremists have killed 48 people while suspected Muslim jihadists have killed 26.
The report, which was highlighted by both The Washington Post and The New York Times, says that the slaying of nine African-Americans in a South Carolina church last week was only the latest in a string of lethal attacks.
All the attackers were Americans, most of them born and brought up here. New America identifies home-grown extremists as those motivated by racial hatred, hostility to government and theories such as those of the “sovereign citizen” movement, which denies the legitimacy of most statutory law.
The victims include police officers, members of racial or religious minorities and random civilians.
The report also shows that non-Muslim extremists have carried out 19 attacks since 9/11 but most of them were not listed as acts of terror. Muslim militants living in America carried out seven attacks in the last 14 years.
The surveyors asked 382 police and sheriff’s departments nationwide to rank the three biggest threats from violent extremism in their jurisdiction. About 74 per cent listed anti-government violence, while 39pc listed “Al Qaeda-inspired” violence.
“Law enforcement agencies around the country have told us the threat from Muslim extremists is not as great as the threat from right-wing extremists,” Charles Kurzman, whose study is to be published by the Triangle Centre on Terrorism and Homeland Security and the Police Executive Research Forum, told the Post.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1190449/home-grown-extremists-more-lethal-for-us-than-muslim-militants-study
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Nation of Islam leader screams, ‘Put the AMERICAN flag down!'; social media SLAMS back
June 25, 2015 | Michael Dorstewitz
Just as conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh predicted, the American flag is now under attack, and it’s coming from the radical, race-baiting head of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan.
And while attacking the flag, Farrakhan denounced the demonstrations of racial unity that followed last week’s murder of nine black worshippers at a church Bible study in Charleston, S.C.
“White folks march with you because they don’t want you upsetting the city, they don’t give a damn about them nine,” he said.
Farrakhan’s remarks were met with cheers and applause from the audience.
He also claimed — without evidence — that police officers praised Dylann Storm Roof, the accused shooter in last week’s mass murder, telling him when they took him to Burger King after arresting him that, “You did a good job. Kill all them [bleep.]”
Leaked Freddie Gray autopsy report shows why Mosby wanted it to stay secret!
Later into the speech he made reference to the American flag.
“I don’t know what the hell the fight is about over the Confederate flag. We need to put the American flag down,” he said. “Because we’ve caught as much hell under that as the Confederate flag.”
Full report at:
http://www.bizpacreview.com/2015/06/25/nation-of-islam-leader-screams-put-the-american-flag-down-social-media-slams-back-217559
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Muslims re-brand Islam during Ramadan
25.06.2015
The United States is home to about 6 million Muslims, and the recent terror attacks all around the world, has made Islam to be seen as a violent religion.
A media company, Dearborn has decided to change the negative perception, using the power of social media.
Full report at:
http://pulse.ng/religion/us-muslims-re-brand-islam-during-ramadan-id3908754.html
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Pakistan
‘Pakistani Forces At Times Operate Without Civilian Oversight’: US State Dept.
ANWAR IQBAL
WASHINGTON: In Pakistan, the military and intelligence services nominally reported to civilian authorities but at times operated without effective civilian oversight, the US State Department informed Congress on Thursday.
The department’s 2014 country reports on human rights identify extra-judicial and targeted killings, sectarian violence, disappearances, and torture as the most serious human rights problems in Pakistan.
Globally, governments continued crackdown on civil society and the freedoms of association and assembly and restrictions on free expression and press freedom increased.
Other problems included accountability deficits for security force abuses; lack of effective labour rights protections; and marginalisation of vulnerable groups, in particular: religious and ethnic minorities; women and children; and people with disabilities.
The State Department notes that the 2013 election marked the first time since independence in 1947 that one elected government completed its term and peacefully transferred power to another.
Independent observers and some political parties, however, raised concerns about election irregularities.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1190471/pakistani-forces-at-times-operate-without-civilian-oversight
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Altaf rejects BBC report, says it is media trial
June 26th, 2015
KARACHI: Under pressure from the establishment, government and political parties over its alleged link with India as claimed by the BBC in a recent report, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) vowed on Thursday ‘not to surrender’, calling the foreign media reports against and criticism of the party as part of ‘media trial’ and ‘conspiracy to remove Altaf Hussain from the party’s leadership.’
The resolve came direct from the party chief Altaf Hussain who in his address to workers at Lal Qila Ground near the party’s headquarters `Nine Zero’ also questioned the country’s security agencies if the BBC’s allegations against the MQM were considered truth.
“It was the same foreign media which in 2008 after Mumbai attack broadcast a detailed documentary and alleged that ISI facilitated Lashkar-e-Taiba militants to reach India,” he said. “But today the BBC report against MQM is being taken like the word of God and the ultimate truth. I demand the interior and defence ministers to come up with their versions over the BBC report.”
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1190495/altaf-rejects-bbc-report-says-it-is-media-trial
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Two soldiers killed in Kurram blast
June 26, 2015
PESHAWAR - At least two security persons were killed and two others sustained injuries in a landmine blast in Kurram Agency on Thursday.
According to details, a vehicle of security forces, carrying water to a nearby check post, suddenly hit a landmine planted by militants in the Ormagai area of the tribal agency. As a result, the landmine exploded with a bang, killing two men of security forces and injuring two others. The injured were shifted to a military hospital at Parachinar, the agency’s headquarters.
Official sources confirmed that two security persons had been killed in the blast near Ormagai locality of Kurram Agency, situated close to Khyber Agency. Following the incident, security forces launched a search operation in the area. They also exchanged fire with militants, with no report of any casualty.
Full report at:
http://nation.com.pk/national/26-Jun-2015/two-soldiers-killed-in-kurram-blast
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Thoughts, sympathies go out to victims of Karachi heat wave: UN chief
June 26th, 2015
UNITED NATIONS: Deputy Spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary General Farhan Haq in a press briefing on Thursday said Ban Ki-moon expressed sympathy for victims of the recent Karachi heatwave.
"Our thoughts and our sympathies go out to all the people who have been suffering. "It’s amazing to know that hundreds of people have died from this awful heatwave that has struck Karachi...we certainly hope that the situation there will be able to improve very swiftly," said the deputy spokesperson.
Haq said he was unsure whether Pakistan had requested any humanitarian assistance from the UN, but that the international body would respond if such a request had been made.
"I am not aware that we have received any actual request from humanitarian assistance. But if we’re called to do something, of course, we’ll respond, but I’ll need to check whether there’s been any such request," he said.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1190565/thoughts-sympathies-go-out-to-victims-of-karachi-heatwave-un-chief
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Parties ask MQM to clear its position over BBC report
SYED IRFAN RAZA
June 26th, 2015
ISLAMABAD: Mainstream political parties have asked the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) to clarify its position over a recent report of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and file a defamation suit against the media network if the report is fabricated.
PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said that since the UK had tough defamation laws, the BBC would find it difficult to defend itself if the report was not based on facts.
Talking to Dawn, he recalled that the PML-Q filed some years ago a defamation suit after a British newspaper, The Guardian, had published a baseless report about the party. “We won the case.
The newspaper published an apology on the front page and bore the expenses we had incurred on litigation,” he said.
The BBC has alleged in the report relating to the MQM that it had received funds from India and its activists were trained in the country.
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that although the MQM had rejected the report it was yet to be seen whether it intended to take legal action against the BBC.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1190490/parties-ask-mqm-to-clear-its-position-over-bbc-report
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Sharif tasks diplomats to placate Washington
June 26, 2015
ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has tasked his diplomatic corps led by Sartaj Aziz and Tariq Fatemi to engage in back channel talks to improve ties with the United States as growing ties with China have become an irritant in relations with United States, official sources said.
“The two top diplomats have been assigned the task to bring the ties back to normal. Pakistan’s diplomats in the US and UN have also been asked to use their offices and skills to improve confidence level with Washington,” a close aide of Prime Minister Sharif told The Nation.
“The US is seemingly not happy with the way Pakistan is engaging China. The contacts with Russia are also worrisome for them,” he said. The close aide of the premier said that in the coming days, the senior diplomats will work ‘on this assignment’ and try to bridge the gaps.
The fast growing US-India ties prompted Pakistan to remind Washington that it also has a powerful strategic ally in the region - China. Barrack Obama’s visit to India this year, his second since assuming the office, showered many favours on New Delhi.
The US’ guaranteeing nuclear concessions and NSG waiver to a non-signatory of NPT, gaining access to Indian market economy, offering $4 billion loans and investments, inking 10-year defence agreement and reiterating its support for India’s ambitions to seek permanent membership of UNSC clearly reflected discriminatory policy of US towards Pakistan, notwithstanding Pakistan’s enormous contribution to US led war on terror.
Pakistan is relying on China for its vast investment in energy, trade sector and its support on Kashmir issue at international forums. China deems Pakistan as an important ally to counterbalance Indian and US influence in the region. Besides this, China needs Pakistan to counter regional terrorism and to gain access to the Middle East and the Indian Ocean via Gwadar Port. Moreover, the Silk route running through Pakistan is suits China best to reach Central Asia and Europe.
Pakistan and China have been co-operating in sectors of defence, energy, infrastructure, health and technology. Both have joint ventures like Gwadar Port and the proposed Pak-China Economic Corridor. The US and India have always viewed the relations between the two countries with concern and suspicion. For US, the emergence of China as a global power is radiating serious threat to its national interests, the containment of which appears to be its core objective.
Full report at:
http://nation.com.pk/national/26-Jun-2015/sharif-tasks-diplomats-to-placate-washington
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Governor’s rule in Sindh not an option
June 26, 2015
ISLAMABAD - Despite serious governance issues in Sindh, ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz-led Federal Government seems little inclined to go for any extreme step, like imposition of Governor’s Rule in the province, to put the house in order, mainly due to the 18th Constitutional Amendment which has made things beyond the reach of ruling PML-N in the given situation, and secondly Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif’s firm stands on honouring the mandate of people where they have.
Background interviews with party leaders, constitutional experts and the information shared by the sources close to the ruling elite brought to fore the fact that Premier Sharif and his close aides as well as other stakeholders handling the things in restive and turbulent port city of Karachi are not happy the way people at the helms of affairs are running the province, but despite suggestions and proposals from many a sides to take some corrective measures, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is in no mood to go for taking some extreme steps like imposition of Governor’s Rule in Sindh and wants to bring things in order through the existing governance setup in the metropolis.
Sources in the party said the matter of Sindh Government’s failures came under discussion in the core group of the ruling PML-N but the proposal of clamping down Governor’s Rule never figured in these meetings keeping in view the constitutional limitation of the ruling PML-N which in given situation cannot get it approved from both houses of the Parliament.
These sources further informed that Prime Minister Sharif, though not happy with the way Pakistan People’s Party-led coalition government is running the governmental affairs in Karachi, but he is not in favour of taking any extreme step as he believes that such a move will have serious negative fallout on the overall political dispensation in the country.
A federal cabinet member, on condition of anonymity, said Premier Sharif will be the last person to approve such a move because he is of the view that political parties should respect each other’s mandate and should shun the politics of leg-pulling and undermining each other.
He further said that it is in the same spirit that Premier Sharif in the recent past has strictly rejected the party’s AJK chapter from playing any role in the dislodging of PPP-led government there, while under the same policy PML-N has not supported the idea of dislodging PTI government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa floated by JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman in the peak protest days of PTI against federal government.
Sources in the party said that Prime Minister Sharif wants to see the political governments completing their mandated terms as he believes that those who failed to deliver will be filtered out from the process of elections and that was the reason he just wants to see the incumbent political dispensation afloat and complete its mandated terms both in provinces and at federal level.
Full report at:
http://nation.com.pk/national/26-Jun-2015/governor-s-rule-in-sindh-not-an-option
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Pakistan pledges $1m for quake-hit Nepal
June 26, 2015
ISLAMABAD - The government of Pakistan has pledged $1 million as a contribution for utilization towards the reconstruction and rehabilitation process currently going on in Nepal after the devastating earthquakes that hit the country earlier this year.
According to Foreign Office, the announcement was made by the Acting Head of Mission of Pakistan in Nepal during the International Conference on Nepal’s Reconstruction, held in Kathmandu on Thursday.
Pakistan was among the first few countries to dispatch medical and search and rescue teams to Nepal within hours after the calamitous earthquake hit Nepal on 25 April 2015. Pakistan provided 30-bed field Hospital, 50-Member team of doctors, surgeons, paramedics and technicians, who treated 1200 affectees, and a 38-Member Urban Search & Rescue Team, equipped with state-of-the-art equipment, ground penetrating radars, concrete cutters, and other rescue equipment.
Full report at:
http://nation.com.pk/national/26-Jun-2015/pakistan-pledges-1m-for-quake-hit-nepal
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Heat wave eases, but still claims 105 lives
HASAN MANSOOR
June 26th, 2015
KARACHI: Another 105 people died of heatstroke on Thursday, bringing the death toll to 1,116 in Sindh, even though the harsh weather that has overwhelmed the province for a week subsided considerably.
Officials said the number of heatstroke patients arriving at hospitals had reduced significantly on Thursday because the weather was quite windy and, at times, cloudy, but it failed to completely stop the heatwave attacking them.
“On Thursday, at least 90 people died in Karachi and 15 in other districts of Sindh,” a government official said.
Hyderabad, Thatta, Matiari and Benazirabad were among the districts where these fatalities occurred.
According to official figures, 1,040 people have died in Karachi since Saturday and 76 in other parts of Sindh.
“We have admitted and treated heatstroke patients today as well, but their number was less than half of the daily average hitherto,” said Dr Seemin Jamali, joint executive director of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, which has recorded 329 deaths since Saturday evening.
Other large facilities, like Civil Hospital and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, also confirmed to have received fewer patients than the previous days.
Health experts said that prolonged power cuts, water shortage and fasting, especially by the elderly, made them vulnerable to heatstroke.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1190479/heatwave-eases-but-still-claims-105-lives
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Southeast Asia
Comments on other issues: Condemning China’s Ramadhan restrictions
June 26 201
June 19, Online/AFP
The leading Sunni Muslim seat of learning, Al-Azhar, condemned China on Friday for imposing restrictions on fasting in its mainly Muslim Xinjiang region during the holy month of Ramadhan.
China has banned civil servants, students and teachers in Xinjiang from fasting during Ramadhan, which began on Thursday, and ordered restaurants to stay open.
Your comments:
What a travesty it is when a majority belief system infringes on a minority one. Hopefully Al-Azhar and other major Sunni institutions in Indonesia can remember this simple fact next time a community of Ahmadiyah has to be relocated, or when a church gets terrorized and the cashed-up police do nothing, or even when an atheist gets put in jail for blasphemy just for expressing his opinions.
If you expect your complaints to be taken seriously by China, you must think they read the news as little as you do. Feel free to address the many infringements on minorities in Indonesia before you crow too loudly about those against your particular religion in China.
L Millar
In my time in China, including Xinjiang, I saw mosques, churches and temples operating pretty freely. I guess times have changed. It is sad.
Full report at:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/06/26/comments-other-issues-condemning-china-s-ramadhan-restrictions.html
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East Jakarta Mosques Turning Down Volume
Sita W. Dewi
June 26 2015
Until last year, Cahyo Sukaryo, 40, a Muslim resident of Kramat Jati, East Jakarta, was often irritated by mosques in his neighbourhood abusing their loudspeakers, particularly during Ramadhan.
“Some mosques used loudspeakers to wake up the neighbourhood for Suhur [pre-dawn meals] starting at 2 a.m.,” he said recently.
And that was not the worst of it.
“The mosque caretakers even called out all of our names one by one. For example, ‘Mrs. A, wake up and please prepare a good meal for sahur because your husband complained the other day!’ That’s really inappropriate and unnecessary,” Cahyo said.
However, he realized that something had changed this year.
“It feels quieter and they don’t do it anymore. Some of my neighbors and I had filed complaints in previous years. I think they decided to tone it down as per JK’s remarks, calling on mosques to limit loudspeaker use especially during Ramadhan,” he said, referring to Vice President Jusuf Kalla.
At a recent national Fatwa Commission meeting of the Indonesia Ulema Council in Tegal, Central Java, Kalla, who is also the chairman of the Indonesian Mosque Council (DMI), criticized the overuse of mosque loudspeakers during Ramadhan, saying that Muslims should also respect those who need to rest at night.
He also criticized mosque caretakers who often play recordings of Koran recitations an hour prior to the adzan (call to prayer), saying that it was unnecessary.
It was not his first time criticizing the exploitation of mosque loudspeakers. Last year, he even started a nationwide program aimed at reducing noise from amplified sermons. In his capacity as DMI chairman, he dispatched 50 cars, manned by more than 150 technicians, to help mosque caretakers improve the sound quality of their amplification systems.
However, not all Jakarta mosques exploit their loudspeakers. Caretakers of Al-Ihsan Mosque in Rawamangun, East Jakarta, have chosen to stay humble for decades for the sake of religious tolerance.
“Some Ulema say it’s okay to use loudspeakers to amplify sermons, thinking it as a syiar [spreading religious values]. However, we think that waking up neighbours for Suhur at 2 a.m., for example, can instead annoy people, including those who conduct solemn prayers at home,” Al-Ihsan Mosque caretaker Badruddin Noor, 48, said.
Full report at:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/06/26/mosques-turning-down-volume.html
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Peace in Indonesia most improved in Asia-Pacific: survey
June 26 2015
Indonesia is the most improved country in the Asia-Pasific region in terms of peace, according to the 2015 Global Peace Index (GPI) report.
Launched by a think tank called the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), the report shows that Indonesia jumped 12 places from 58th last year to 46th this year, with an overall GPI score of 1.768.
The report states that the country’s peace improvement is attributable to, among other things, the “reduced impact of terrorism”.
The report surveyed 162 countries and measured each nation's peacefulness with 23 indicators. Included on this list was the level of safety and security in a society, the number of international and domestic conflicts and the degree of militarization.
Overall, the report noted that the world’s peace remained stable over the year, yet it was still worse than in 2008, with escalations in civil strife and the refugee crisis among the key issues.
“[The year of] 2014 was marked by two contradictory trends: on the one hand, many countries in the OECD achieved historic levels of peace while on the other, strife-torn nations, especially in the Middle East, became more violent. This is a real concern,” IEP executive chairman Steve Killelea said in an official statement released recently.
Europe is listed as the most peaceful region in this year’s report, with 15 of the 20 most peaceful countries located in Europe.
Iceland ranks number one on the list this year; meanwhile, the Middle East and North Africa are noted as the world’s least peaceful regions, due to an increase in civil unrest and terrorist activity.
Full report at:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/06/26/peace-indonesia-most-improved-asia-pacific-survey.html
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In Exorcising Ills of Education System, Still No Silver Bullet
By Andreyka Natalegawa
Jun 26, 2015
Jakarta. Civil society organizations and education experts have called on the national government to employ a holistic plan of action in reforming the Indonesian education system.
“Indonesia has a very strong education system, and it has worked well in the past. The challenge is now to reform it, so that it meets the needs of Indonesians today,” said Nabendra Dahal, chief of education at the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) Indonesia.
“The system that has served us well up until now will not serve us well tomorrow. It needs redirecting,” Dahal said on Monday.
According to figures from Unicef, 97 percent of Indonesia’s children were enrolled in primary education programs in 2012.
Though major successes have been made in improving access to education, ensuring a standard of quality across the nation seems to be a stumbling block for reformers.
“If we look at the quality of education from any indicator, there seems to be no significant progress, even with budget increases,” said Sutarum Wiryono, education officer at the Indonesian resident mission of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
“If we look at the results of the PISA, there’s still no improvement in quality over time,” Sutarum added.
Launched by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a worldwide study which tests students’ aptitudes in various subjects.
The latest PISA report, released in 2012, found that Indonesian students performed dismally on the international level.
In mathematics, Indonesian students ranked 63rd out of the 64 PISA-participating countries. Indonesians students ranked 63rd in science and 59th in reading.
“Around 50 percent of Indonesia’s students do not meet the minimum international standard. There is a huge problem of quality, despite heavy investment in education,” Dahal said.
According to data from the World Bank, the Indonesian government spent 20 percent of its total government expenditure in 2012 on education, amounting to nearly Rp 310.8 trillion ($23.3 billion).
Full report at:
http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/excorcizing-ills-education-system-still-no-silver-bullet/
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Jakarta Looking Into Claim That Islamic State Executed Indonesian Jihadist for ‘Spreading AIDS’
By Hayat Indriyatno
Jun 25, 2015
Jakarta. Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry says it cannot verify a report that an Indonesian jihadist fighting for the Islamic State has been executed by the group for infecting some of its members with AIDS.
The initial report, carried on Tuesday by the Syrian human rights group Sound and Picture, quoted an IS member in the group’s stronghold of Al Shadadi, in northeastern Syria, as saying that the group had traced back a chain of positive tests to “the immigrant who carries the Indonesian nationality, and that happened when he was donating blood at one of the IS hospitals.”
The militant said that the Indonesian fighter was known to have given his 15-year-old Yazidi slave girl, presumably kept for sex purposes, to a fellow fighter from Egypt. An investigation by IS later confirmed that both the Egyptian jihadist and the girl were infected.
The militant who spoke with an undercover reporter for Sound and Picture said two Saudi fighters who visited the Egyptian’s house, again presumably to have sex with the girl, were also found to be infected.
The investigation into who else might have contracted the virus was stopped when it was revealed that an IS emir, or senior commander, had also had sex with the slave girl.
Sound and Picture reported that the Indonesian member was subsequently sentenced to death for knowingly harming other IS members.
The report did not specify whether the Indonesian had already been put to death, but Britain’s Daily Mail, citing the same report, said on Tuesday that he had been “brutally executed.”
Full report at:
http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/jakarta-looking-claim-islamic-state-executed-indonesian-jihadist-spreading-aids/
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Rohingyas mark Ramadan alongside fellow Muslims in Malaysia
26 Jun 2015
KUALA LUMPUR: The township of Ampang Tasik Permai, on the edge of downtown Kuala Lumpur, is one of the largest enclaves of Rohingyas in Malaysia.
Many have lived here for more than 20 years, having first arrived in Malaysia in the 1980s from Rakhine state in Myanmar. There are more than 150,000 refugees and asylum seekers in the country, and 90 per cent of them are from Myanmar.
While some have kept to their traditional way of life, others married ethnic Malays and grew accustomed to local culture. Many Rohingyas were also born here.
The holy month of Ramadan is when Rohingyas, like other Muslims around the world, gather to break their fast at sunset.
They like to do so with a traditional dish of noodles, which reminds them of home.
"We only get to eat this back home, it's prepared by our people and I come all the way for this,” said one man.
Local Malays have long accepted the presence of Rohingyas in their community even though they are refugees and work illegally in this country.
"They are here to make a living, they don't give us any trouble,” said a local woman.
"These are Rohingya children, they mix with Malays and Indonesian kids. There is no problem, they don't fight,” agreed another man.
For years, the Rohingyas have been living side by side ethnic Malay Muslims in Malaysia. They pray together and learn to speak the local Malay language.
For many, this is home and they hope to be given the right to work. For others, they long to return one day when the situation improves and the persecution stops for the Rohingyas.
"It's our ancestral land and it was peaceful. God willing, peace will return, that will be good,” said a Rohingya man living in the community.
Full report at:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/rohingyas-mark-ramadan/1941628.html
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Facing a Changing World Balance, Obama Makes Odd Choices
Michael Barone | Jun 26, 2015
Is the world back to where it was around the year 1800? One could come to that conclusion after reading British historian John Darwin's recent book "After Tamerlane," which assesses the rises and falls of empires after the death in 1405 of the famously bloodthirsty Muslim Mongol monarch.
From his Central Asian base, Tamerlane conquered Persia and lands from Egypt to India, destroying captured cities and piling up enormous piles of skulls. His fame has endured, from Christopher Marlowe's Elizabethan play to the first name of the slain Boston Marathon bomber.
Darwin's perspective is worldwide, with as much emphasis on East Asia, South Asia, the Islamic world and Russia as on Western Europe and its American offshoots. He argues that from the 1400s to about 1800, China, India and the Islamic world were about as economically and technologically advanced and culturally sophisticated as that little set of peninsulas at the western edge of the Eurasian land mass called Europe.
In this view, European traders and armies played only a small, mostly offshore role beyond their homelands. European dominance started not with Christopher Columbus and Vasco da Gama but when the British East India Company started conquering India and North American settlers started moving west of the Appalachians.
Today you could make the argument that the major regions of the world are reverting to the balance that prevailed until the 19th century, when Europe and the United States suddenly started dominating the world.
That's certainly the view of China's leaders and, as far as one can judge, of the Chinese people. China was riven by civil wars and foreign interventions between the Taiping Rebellion, which started in 1850, and the death of Mao Zedong in 1976. Its surging economic growth since then and its increasing military might, in this view, have simply restored it to the eminence it enjoyed at the time of the Qianlong emperor's death in 1799.
Full report at:
http://townhall.com/columnists/michaelbarone/2015/06/26/facing-a-changing-world-balance-obama-makes-odd-choices-n2017341/page/full
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Africa
Boko Haram-like sect emerges in Kebbi
By Sylvester Ugwuanyi
June 26, 2015
A religious sect identified as “Yanlabaiku, which preaches doctrines similar to those of Boko Haram is currently in its infancy with 100 members at its base in Gwadangwaji, near Birnin Kebbi, the capital of Kebbi state, Daily Trust reports.
While no violence has been associated with the activities of the group, it is reported to be against western education and is currently holding public preaching, meetings and processions to draw more converts to their cause.
According to the newspaper, members of the group are equally called “Yanlokoloko”, said to be one of the names of one of its leaders, Ismaila Lokoloko, who is assisted by one Bala Amadu.
Full report at:
http://dailypost.ng/2015/06/26/boko-haram-like-sect-emerges-in-kebbi/
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Niger army, Boko Haram clash
2015-06-26
Niamey - Niger's army has killed 15 Boko Haram Islamic extremists, captured 20 others and destroyed ammunition cars and motorcycles from the militants, a military spokesperson said.
The attack in Niger by its military came the night after Boko Haram members had attacked the village of Yebbi in the Diffa region on Tuesday night, killing five residents and burning more than 100 homes, army spokesperson Colonel Michel Moustapha Ledru said on state TV late on Wednesday night.
The Nigerian extremist group began launching cross border attacks this year after international forces, including Niger's army, began fighting the insurgency. Attacks last week in two villages in Niger left more than 40 people dead.
"We honour the defence and security forces who have proven their professionalism in the response against terrorist elements of Boko Haram," Ledru said.
Boko Haram's six-year-old uprising, which began in northeastern Nigeria, is blamed for the deaths of 13 000 people and the displacement of more than 1.5 million.
Boko Haram has stepped up attacks since Nigeria's new President Muhammadu Buhari announced the military command centre will be moved from the capital Abuja to Maiduguri in Borno State, the birthplace of the extremist group.
Full report at:
http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Niger-army-Boko-Haram-clash-20150626
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Tweeps react against Boko Haram’s activities
JUNE 25, 2015
Gunmen, suspected to be from Boko Haram have shot dead atleast 42 people in two attacks in in the remote villages of Debiro Hawul and Debiro Biu in Borno state, northeast Nigeria. The attacks took place on Monday and Tuesday. This came after 23 people were killed and more than 100 injured in suicide attacks in the Chadian capital N’Djamena on June 15.
Boko Haram, a militant group has been fighting to establish an extremist Islamic state in northeast Nigeria since 2009. It’s campaign of violence has intensified and they show no mercy targeting civilians. People on social media raised concern against the activities of the group.
Full report at:
http://gulfnews.com/your-say/your-view/tweeps-react-against-boko-haram-s-activities-1.1540752
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Libya rivals back in Morocco for fresh peace talks
26 June 2015
Libya's warring factions arrived Thursday in Morocco for a fresh round of U.N.-brokered peace talks aimed at putting an end to months of fighting in the stricken North African state.
The talks involving rival parliaments are expected to begin on Friday, as U.N. envoy Bernardino Leon struggles to bring the factions to agree steps aimed at forming a national unity government.
The U.N. has tried for months to broker a compromise in Libya, which descended into lawlessness after the 2011 NATO-backed overthrow of veteran autocrat Muammar Qaddafi.
The oil-rich nation has rival governments and parliaments, and jihadist groups and militants have seized on the chaos to make strategic gains.
The Tripoli-based parliament was set up by the Fajr Libya (Libya Dawn) militia alliance that seized the capital last year to contest the legitimacy of the Tobruk-based internationally recognized legislature.
"The delegation from Tripoli has arrived along with some independent figures. The one from Tobruk arrives tomorrow (Friday) and we will officially resume discussions," said United Nations Support Mission in Libya spokesman Samir Ghattas.
"We hope that this will be the final session," said Ghattas.
Leon told journalists in the Moroccan resort of Skhirat where the talks are to take place that the two sides were "getting closer to a solution".
Following the last round of talks in Morocco earlier this month, Leon presented both sides with a draft agreement -- the forth such proposal -- outlining plans to form a unity government in Libya.
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/06/26/Libya-rivals-back-in-Morocco-for-fresh-peace-talks.html
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Tunis sacks four policemen over Ramadan ‘abuse’
25 June 2015
Four Tunisian police who harassed coffee shop owners who stay open during daylight hours in the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan have been sacked, officials said Thursday.
The interior ministry said in a statement that the district chief for Monastir in central Tunisia and three policemen from Marsa, a northern suburb of Tunis, were sacked for “abuse of power”.
Ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui said their sacking was linked to “cases of coffee shops that stayed open during the time of fasting”.
He declined to give further details.
During the holy month of Ramadan, which started last week, believers must abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and having sex from dawn to dusk.
Mustapha Fares, a cafe owner in Monastir contacted by AFP, said that the district police chief stormed his establishment and then “insulted clients and brutalised them.”
“He also grabbed a chair and chased a waitress who ran outside the shop and struck her with it,” said Fares, adding that he had lodged a complaint against the officer.
A video posted online shows several people running out of a cafe in panic and a man in a suit running after a young woman in the street. He is seen shoving her, grabbing her cell phone and hitting her.
There is no law in Tunisia that prohibits people from eating or drinking in public during Ramadan.
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/06/25/Tunis-sacks-4-policemen-over-Ramadan-abuse-.html
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Diaspora Eritreans to rally against human rights abuses
26 Jun 2015
Diaspora Eritreans are set to demonstrate in front of the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.
The rally is in support of a recently released UN report that detailed widespread rights abuses in Eritrea.
Thousands of Eritreans from all over Europe, the US and Canada are expected to take part in the rally, which is scheduled to start at noon local time in Geneva.
Nagash Osman, a Sweden-based opposition figure and one of the organisers of the protest told Al Jazeera that he is in Geneva to say thank you to the Human Rights Council Commission of Inquiry, which conducted the investigation.
"There are people coming by buses from Sweden, the UK, Germany, France and the rest of Europe. A few representatives are also flying in from the US and Canada.
"It is the first time Eritreans feel that the world is finally listening to us. The findings of the report are not new to us, we already know this. But it feels like the world is starting to understand our suffering," said Osman.
The Commission of Inquiry presented their findings on Tuesday to the UN. A day earlier, a protest attended by thousands of Eritreans in the diaspora opposing the UN findings held a rally outside the UN headquarters in Geneva.
Crimes against humanity
Although the two opposing sides of Eritreans in the diaspora avoided holding their rally on the same day, some reported cyber harassment from the side opposing the report.
Salam Kidane, a human rights activist, based in the UK, told Al Jazeera that a lot of pestering has been reported on Twitter and Facebook.
Kidane arrived in Geneva on Tuesday and demanded accountability over the abuses outlined in the report.
Full report at:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/06/diaspora-eritreans-rally-human-rights-abuses-150626011455681.html
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Obama, Nigeria's Buhari to meet July 20, discuss Boko Haram
Jun 25, 2015
U.S. President Barack Obama will host Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari at the White House on July 20 to discuss fighting the Boko Haram militant group, among other issues, the White House said on Thursday.
"The visit will underscore the United States' ... commitment to strengthening and expanding our partnership with Nigeria’s new government," the White House said in a statement.
During the visit, Obama will discuss "a holistic, regional approach to combating Boko Haram" with President Buhari, who has led Africa's biggest economy and most populous country since being elected in March.
Full report at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/25/us-usa-nigeria-whitehouse-idUSKBN0P51NI20150625
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Be ready to face Boko Haram – COAS charges student pilots
By Daily Post Staff
June 25, 2015
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. General Kenneth Minimah has charged Nigerian Army student pilots to at all times be ready to work and live with troops wherever operational exigency demands without any thought of leaving their chosen line of flying combat helicopters.
The COAS gave the charge while addressing student pilots undergoing helicopter flying training at the International Helicopter Flying School, Enugu. In his words “You should all be ready to at all times live and work with troops where ever operational exigency demands. You should also banish all thoughts of leaving your chosen line of flying combat helicopters. The Nigerian Army will not train you and afterwards allow you to branch out to other arms or services on flimsy excuses.”
Speaking during his assessment visit to the 10 Nigerian Army student officers at the School, the COAS stated that he was pleased to hear that the students were doing well and encouraged them to put in their utmost best in all written and practical aspects of the course to ensure their graduation. He informed the students that they will form the nucleus of the newly established Nigerian Army Aviation Wing.
Full report at:
http://dailypost.ng/2015/06/25/be-ready-to-face-boko-haram-coas-charges-student-pilots/
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Europe
New UK Jewish leader: I want to meet Muslims
06/25/2015
The new leader of British Jewry, Jonathan Arkush, sees engaging in a dialogue with the British Muslim community at the top of his agenda.
“My first challenge, you may be surprised to hear me say, is engagement with the Muslim community,” Arkush, who was elected president of the Board of Deputies last month and is currently visiting Israel, told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday. “I want to meet Muslims and show them that Jews are actually human beings and you can combine being a good Muslim with being a good British citizen and hopefully take them away from being at risk of flirting with jihadi ideas.”
After serving as vice president of the Jewish community’s umbrella body for six years, the 60-year-old lawyer took over from Vivian Wineman, who was president since 2009.
Arkush said 5 percent of the British population – some 3 million people – are now Muslim, compared to just over 300,000 Jews.
Noting that many Muslims live in “ghettos” across towns in northern England and have no contact with Jews, Arkush said “they are not well-served by their leadership organizations and I am very worried that a significant proportion are turning away from the path of integration into British society. In the long term, that would spell a very bad situation.”
Arkush said he was worried that Muslim extremists could join a scheduled July 4 rally by British neo-Nazis in London’s Golders Green neighborhood, where many Jews live.
The protesters are reportedly planning to march through the neighborhood and burn Israeli flags and copies of the Talmud.
“I know the media will have a field day,” he said. “My concern is that this event will also attract other anti-Israel extremists to hold a counter demonstration.”
At the same time, however, Arkush said he did not see Britain “as an anti-Semitic place.”
“I don’t think it bears any comparison at all with places like France or Sweden or Hungary,” he said. “The Pew Report published a few months ago confirmed our view that Britain was one of the least anti-Semitic countries in the world, less anti-Semitic, in fact, than the United States of America.”
Full report at:
http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/New-UK-Jewish-leader-I-want-to-meet-Muslims-407127
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More Muslim outrage after supermarket sells pork next to Ramadan sticker
Jun 26, 2015
The Morrisons store was attacked by Shoaib Khan for the "disappointing gaffe" after he spotted the sticker on a freezer.
Muslims do not eat during daylight hours during Ramadan and many do not eat pork.
Khan said the ban was ignored by the west London shop.
On Wednesday, a Tesco store was left red-faced for selling smokey bacon-flavoured Pringles under a sign wishing Muslims a happy Ramadan.
Raza Hassan described the blunder as "hilarious" after she spotted it in the London store.
The fact the crisps do not contain any pork – but it still provoked a furious reaction from some on Twitter.
The supermarket accepted full responsibility for the blunder, with a spokesman admitting that the Pringles "weren't in the most suitable place".
Khan, who is currently observing Ramadan, spotted the sticker last month in the run-up to the festival, during which many Muslims do not consume food and drink during daylight hours.
The 32-year-old blamed an oblivious member of staff for the gaffe.
Full report at:
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/587010/Muslim-Ramadan-pork-Morrisons-Tesco-London
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Federica Mogherini’s remarks at “Call to Europe V: Islam in Europe”, FEPS conference"
25/06/2015
"The idea of a clash between Islam and “the West” – a word in which everything is put together and confused – has misled our policies and our narratives. Islam holds a place in our Western societies. Islam belongs in Europe. It holds a place in Europe's history, in our culture, in our food and – what matters most – in Europe's present and future."
"Some people are now trying to convince us that a Muslim cannot be a good European citizen, that more Muslims in Europe will be the end of Europe. These people are not just mistaken about Muslims: these people are mistaken about Europe, they have no clue what Europe and the European identity are."
Full report at:
http://eeas.europa.eu/statements-eeas/2015/150625_07_en.htm
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