Syria Rebels Kill 60 Shias; Missiles Hit Lebanon
New Age Islam News Bureau
12 Jun 2013
Photo: Many of Timbuktu's ancient manuscripts were burned and are unrecoverable
Arab World
• Syria rebels kill 60 Shias; missiles hit Lebanon
• Early, Forced Marriages Haunt Jordan's Syrian Refugees
• 1,000 Iraqi Kurdish soldiers desert army, officials say
• Syrian regime kills 26 attempting to break Ghouta siege
• Syria Islamists celebrate Shia deaths: Video
• Jordan passes Abu Qatada treaty
• Al Qaeda, Sunni insurgents exploit Iraq’s sectarian woes
• Gulf Shi'ites fear sectarian persecution as fallout of Syria civil war
• Copt teacher convicted of blasphemy in Egypt
• Rebels Linked to Al Qaeda Are Said to Kill a 14-Year-Old Boy for 'Insulting Islam'
• Saudi activists urge action over child abuse
• Top Egyptian cleric condemns ‘sectarian’ foes in Syria
• Hezbollah supporters to be thrown out of GCC countries
India
• India’s first Eidgah with water harvesting system, bulldozed
• Muslim Scholars: Modern Education Key to Muslims' Progress
• Imams Learning How to Make Sermons More Effective
• First Intelligence Officer Set to Be Arrested In Ishrat Case
• India Asks Saudi Arabia to Reconsider 20% Haj Quota Cut
• 3 Indians Accused Of Posing As Police Officers In UAE
• India disputes Pakistani’s claim on Roerich paintings
• India to support UN probe into Syrian use of chemical weapons
• No change in Indian passport rules regarding marital status: Embassy in Abu Dhabi
• Saudi Arabia to again hire Indian maids - on reduced salaries
Pakistan
• Of firsts: Shia delegation attends Tablighi Ijtema
• CII yet to make final recommendation on DNA tests
• Nawaz Sharif in clean-up mood, sacks official for praising his poll victory
• India, Pakistan could move ahead by promoting trade ties: Shahbaz Sharif
• Pakistan vows to end military atrocities in resource-rich Baluchistan
• Ahmadis face discrimination even in death
• Quetta police team in Islamabad to arrest Musharraf
• 3 more killed in targeted attacks in Karachi
• Sentence goes on for Pakistani detainees in Bagram
North America
• US General Dunford: 'Fight for Afghan rights not over'
• US civil rights group challenges NSA phone surveillance programme
• Judge Allows Suit on Border Questioning of Muslims to Move Forward
• Iran 'threat' to America's national security: Pentagon
• US congressmen call for end to surveillance programs
• Defeat in Afghanistan would lead to regional instability: US
• Online plea to pardon Snowden gains traction
• Venezuela unveils statue of former Egyptian president Abdel-Nasser
• Student pleads guilty to stabbing Muslim cabbie in New York
Europe
• Egypt replaces Waziristan as main training centre for militants: Report
• Embattled UN rights envoy for Palestinian areas vows to stay on
• UN expert rejects calls to quit over Israel criticism
• UN chief appeals for dialogue, reconciliation in Iraq
• Russia would consider asylum for US cyber leaker
• Scottish Parliament Condemns Worldwide Sectarian Violence against Shia Muslims
• UN officials pay tribute to Pakistani peacekeepers
South Asia
• Motorcycle bomb kills 2, wounds 15 in Afghanistan
• Maldives’ support for the “one-China policy”
• Protection for child domestic helps sought
• Myanmar Man Gets 26 Years for Attack That Caused Riots
• 160,000 Bangladesh workers get papers under amnesty
• Legal blackhole in Afghan jail leaves Pakistani prisoners trapped
• Myanmar Airlines cut fares to bring citizens home from Malaysia
• Bangladesh amends anti-terror law amid protests
Southeast Asia
• Indonesian Judge to Be Taken to Ethics Tribunal for extramarital affairs
• Next generation radicals in Indonesia
• Hard-liners, Police Interfere With Interfaith Dialogue
• Muslim rebels protest Philippine arrests
Mideast
• Al-Quds Dominates Muslim Donor Summit
• Uneasy calm in Turkey's riot square after violence
• Strange law in Israel bars Israeli Arabs from marrying Palestinians
• Iran 'verbally' invited for Syria peace conference
• Iran: Virtual Library of Islamic Philosophy Published
• Turkish PM to meet Taksim Square protestors
• Ban on Palestinians living with spouses in Israel
Africa
• Timbuktu damage to Mali historic sites 'underestimated'
• Mali's Tuareg rebels ready to sign peace deal: Source
• The concert that transformed Mandela from terrorist to icon
• Worries Grow As Child Labour Violations Increase in Somaliland
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
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Arab World
Syria Rebels Kill 60 Shias; Missiles Hit Lebanon
AP | Jun 12, 2013
BEIRUT: Syrian rebels have attacked a village in the country's east, killing dozens of local Shias, activists said Wednesday, highlighting the increasingly sectarian nature of Syria's more than two-year-old conflict. A Syrian government official denounced the attack, saying it was a "massacre" of civilians.
In another escalation, a Syrian government helicopter on Wednesday fired three missiles on a border town in Lebanon, lightly wounding one person. At least one of the missiles struck the center of Arsal, according to Lebanese security officials and residents.
The Arsal attack is the latest incident of Lebanon being pulled into the war next door. Scores of rebels and civilians who fled from the Syrian western town of Qusair last week in the last days of a government military offensive there have taken refuge in Arsal.
The town is predominantly Sunni Muslim, and support for the Syrian rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad runs high.
Milhem Hojeiri, a resident, said shrapnel from one of the missiles lightly wounded a schoolteacher in Arsal. He said the town's population has almost doubled in the past two years because of refugees and rebels from Syria who have taken shelter there.
"There is a lot of fear here, the town is fast becoming a casualty of the war in Syria," he said.
The Lebanese officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, did not provide more details on the Arsal attack.
Meanwhile, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 60 people, mostly Shiite fighters but also ordinary villagers, were killed on Tuesday in the Syrian village of Hatla in the oil-rich province of Deir el-Zour that borders Iraq.
It was the latest high casualty incident in Syria's conflict, which has killed more than 80,000 people so far, according to the U.N.
Thousands of rebels took part in the attack and at least 10 of them were killed in the fighting, said the Observatory.
In Damascus, a government official said the rebels "carried out a massacre against villagers in which older people and children were killed." The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The fighting in Deir el-Zour came a week after Syrian troops, backed by Lebanon's militant Shiite Hezbollah group, captured the strategic town of Qusair near the Lebanese border after nearly three weeks of fierce battles that killed dozens of troops, rebels and Hezbollah members.
Hezbollah's involvement in the Qusair battle underlined the group's commitment in support of Assad's regime and edged the civil war in Syria closer to a regional sectarian conflict pitting the Middle East's Iranian-backed Shiite axis against Sunnis.
Most of the armed rebels in Syria are from the country's Sunni majority, while Assad has retained core support among the minorities, including his own Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, along with Christians and Shiites.
An activist based in Deir el-Zour said the rebel attack was in retaliation for an attack Monday by Shiites from Hatla that killed four rebels.
Thaer al-Deiry, who identified himself only by his nickname for fear of government retaliation, said via Skype that rebels gathered and launched a counter attack Tuesday. He said some 150 Shiites from the village fled across the Euphrates River to the government-held village of Jafra.
"The situation in the village is quiet and the Free Syrian Army is in full control," al-Deiry said, referring to the rebels. He added that the village has been under opposition control for more than a year but some of its Shiite residents recently started collecting arms apparently to fight along government troops.
Also Wednesday, the Observatory reported heavy clashes in the central city of Homs, mostly in the neighborhood of Wadi Sayeh. The fighting appeared to be an attempt by government forces to separate two main rebel-held areas in the city, Khaldiyeh and the center of Homs.
Building on its victory in Qusair, the Syrian military has shifted its attention to try to clear rebel-held areas in Homs, a linchpin area linking Damascus with regime strongholds on the Mediterranean coast, and the northern city of Aleppo.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Syria-rebels-kill-60-Shias-missiles-hit-Lebanon/articleshow/20557265.cms
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Early, forced marriages haunt Jordan's Syrian refugees
By AFP
June 12, 2013
JORDAN: With no end in sight to Syria’s conflict, some refugees in Jordan are offering their daughters for early marriage in the hope of securing them protection as they face growing economic pressure.
Syrian refugee Abu Mohammad says he reluctantly opted to marry off his teenage daughter to a rich 40 year old Saudi man, hoping to give her a better life and ease his family’s financial hardships.
“It was the last thing I wanted to do,” Abu Mohammad, 50, told AFP outside his tent at the northern Zaatari refugee camp, home to more than 160,000 Syrians — equal in size to what would be Jordan’s fifth-largest city.
The father of six said that his daughter’s Saudi husband “promised to help us until the crisis ends and we go home,” after the marriage three months ago.
“God knows when this is going to happen,” he said.
Dominique Hyde, representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Jordan, told AFP that it was not clear how widely spread early marriages were, but that there were signs it was taking place.
“Information gathered during assessments and monitoring visits do reveal incidents of forced and early marriage,” she said.
“Forced and early marriage is a human rights and a public health problem.”
According to Interior Minister Hussein Majali, the authorities have recorded 1,029 marriages between Jordanian men and Syrian women since refugees started to flee to the kingdom in 2011.
“Non-Jordanian men have married 331 Syrian women. These figures are within normal range,” Majali said.
Jordan says it is hosting at least 500,000 Syrians. More than 70% of the refugees are women and children, according to the UN figures.
“Jordanians and other Arabs frequently come to ask me about Syrian refugee women to marry,” said Fares Hosha, a 42 year old former post office employee who now owns a shop selling household appliances.
“Two men from outside Zaatari recently asked the same question. One customer told them he has two daughters. The three left the shop together and I don’t know what happened later.”
Hosha thought that refugees accept such “urgent unconditional marriages because they fear the unknown and want to make sure their daughters are safe.”
Hidden slavery and sex trade
Said’s daughters, aged 15 and 16, got married a month ago.
“I am jobless, paraplegic and I cannot support my family,” said the father of 10.
“What can I do? The camp is a dangerous place and I feared for my daughters. I felt marriage was the solution.”
Jordanian law allows girls under the age of 18 to marry with court approval.
If the court rules the marriage is in the girl’s best interests, she may marry as young as 15, according to UNICEF, which encourages courts to uphold the minimum legal age of marriage at 18 for boys and girls.
Zayed Hammad, head of the Ketab and Sunna Society, which provides aid to tens of thousands of refugees, said his charity receives dozens of requests from men to help them find brides in Zaatari.
“We are a relief group and we want to focus on our job. We do not want to be involved in this issue, which could create problems,” he told AFP.
On the main street in Zaatari, Abu Ahmad opened a wedding shop six months ago.
“When I came here, I thought that opening the shop was a good idea,” the 40 year old bearded man said, as a couple looked at wedding dresses.
They refused to talk to AFP.
“Each day I rent at least one wedding dress for around $28.”
“In all emergencies we know that women and girls are at increased risk of exploitation,” she said.
“Syrians have reported that though early marriage was common in Syria prior to the crisis there have been changes in practises since their arrival in Jordan. Most notably, wide spousal age gaps.”
A group of Syrian activists, calling themselves the National Campaign for the Protection of Syrian Women are trying to fight these marriages, and have set up a Facebook page which has more than 20,000 followers.
“Syrian women are not slaves. We cannot remain silent about such hidden slavery and sex trade,” they said on their page.
“Calls for these marriages by Arabs from the Gulf and other regions are motivated by purely sexual instincts.”
Some Syrian refugees have defended early marriages.
Former security official Said Hariri, 60, said that early marriages are not unusual.
“In our traditions it is normal that a girl gets married at the age of 16. If a girl is 20 and still single, people will call her a spinster,” he said.
“I got married when I was 17. You should understand why some parents decide to marry off their daughters at young age, particularly under our current circumstances.”
But Hyde disagrees.
“Whatever the context, such exploitation is preying on the most vulnerable and is not acceptable,” she said.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/562211/early-forced-marriages-haunt-jordans-syrian-refugees/
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1,000 Iraqi Kurdish soldiers desert army, officials say
11 June 2013
More than 1,000 Kurdish career soldiers in the Iraqi army have deserted and want to be integrated into the Kurdish former rebel peshmerga militia, officials said on Tuesday.
The move comes after the Kurdish troops disobeyed orders to take part in an operation ordered by the Shiite-led government in Baghdad against a mainly Sunni Arab town.
If their request is fulfilled, such a mass defection would deal a heavy blow to Iraq’s stretched armed forces as they grapple with a surge in violence that has sparked fears of renewed sectarian bloodshed.
Two officials said the 1,070 Kurdish members of the Iraqi army’s 16th Brigade mutinied when gunmen took control of a northern town in April, and subsequently declined to attend disciplinary re-training.
The soldiers were no longer receiving salaries or rations from the Iraqi army, nor were they following any orders from federal forces, according to the mayor of the town where they are based and the spokesman for the Kurdish peshmerga ministry.
But the officials differed as to whether the soldiers’ request to join the Kurdish peshmerga had been met.
The troops had been assigned to the ethnically-mixed towns of Tuz Khurmatu and Sulaiman Bek, the latter of which briefly fell to gunmen in April.
According to Tuz Mayor Shallal Abdul, they stood accused of refusing to follow orders as Sulaiman Bek, a mostly-Arab town, was overrun. As punishment, they were ordered to attend re-training. Three senior Kurdish officers were also replaced with Arabs, Abdul said.
The troops did not follow orders to stay and defend the town against the Sunni Arab gunmen because they did not want to further raise tensions between Arabs and Kurds in what is a swathe of disputed territory claimed by both the central government and Kurdish authorities.
“The forces ... are still deployed to their positions, but they are receiving their salaries and orders from the peshmerga ministry,” Abdul told AFP.
Peshmerga ministry spokesman Halkurd Mullah Ali confirmed that the soldiers were not carrying out Baghdad’s orders, and added that Kurdish authorities were providing rations because officials “sympathized with them”.
But he denied that the soldiers were receiving either wages or orders from peshmerga commanders.
“We will discuss their situation with the joint security committee [of the Baghdad government and the autonomous Kurdish regional administration],” he said.
“If we do not reach an agreement with Baghdad about them, we are ready to integrate them into peshmerga forces.”
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/06/11/1-000-Iraqi-Kurdish-soldiers-desert-army-officials-say.html
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Syrian regime kills 26 attempting to break Ghouta siege
12 June 2013
The Syrian regime backed by the Lebanese Shiite group, Hezbollah, has killed 26 people in the area of Ghouta in eastern Damascus, the Syrian Military Council told Al Arabiya Tuesday.
Masaab Abu Qatada, head of the media office for the Syrian Military Council in Damascus said the Syrian regime with the support of Hezbollah killed 26 young men who tried to bring flour and other food aid.
Ghouta has been under siege by the regime for an extended period of time long time, Al Arabiya TV channel reported.
Abu Qatada said seven others were still missing, assuming that they have most likely been killed.
According to the United Nations at least 80,000 people have died in the war-torn country and up to 4 million people have been internally displaced.
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/06/12/Syrian-regime-kills-26-attempting-to-break-Ghouta-siege-.html
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Syria Islamists celebrate Shia deaths: Video
AFP | Jun 12, 2013
BEIRUT: Sunni Islamist rebels celebrated the killing of some 60 Shias, mostly pro-regime fighters, and burned their homes in eastern Syria, according to video distributed by a group monitoring the civil war.
The videos emerged on Wednesday, a day after a major clash in a village in Deir Ezzor province that pitted Shias against Sunnis, a fresh sign that the conflict is becoming increasingly sectarian.
"The Sadeq al-Amin (rebel) brigade is getting ready to assault the houses of Shias who support the regime of (President Bashar al-) Assad in the village of Hatlah," an unidentified cameraman who filmed one of the videos says.
A dozen men can be seen in the courtyard of a house, showing off a man's disfigured corpse.
"Look Shias, this is how you will end up, you dogs," cries one man.
"Sunnis, help your community," says another man, wearing a black bandana inscribed with the Islamic profession of faith.
The video was distributed by the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for human rights.
A second video also distributed by the Observatory showed a dozen armed men standing in what appears to be the outskirts of the village, while towers of grey smoke rise in the background.
"God is greatest. All the Shia houses have been burned down... Look at the fighters of the jihad (holy war) celebrating their entry into the Shia infidels' houses," says the man filming the video.
The majority of Syria's population is Sunni but has been ruled by more than 40 years by the Assad clan, who belong to the Alawite community, an offshoot of Shia Islam.
Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah's support for the Assad regime has further heightened sectarian hatred in Syria, particularly after rebels lost the central town of Qusayr to government forces aided by Hezbollah fighters last week.
Boosted by their victory in Qusayr, regime troops advanced on parts of the nearby city of Homs, the Observatory said.
The Britain-based group said the army's goal was to seize rebel-held pockets in the city, which have been totally besieged for a year.
"The regime forces took control of large areas of Wadi Sayeh," a Homs neighbourhood, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
"They are slowly advancing in the district. The neighbourhood is under bombardment, and it is the scene of fierce clashes," he added.
Should the army crush insurgents in Wadi Sayeh, they will come a step closer towards taking down rebel strongholds in Khaldiyeh and the Old City neighbourhood.
"The army is trying to take control of the whole of Homs city," dubbed the "capital of the revolution" by activists, said Abdel Rahman.
Meanwhile pro-regime daily Al-Watan said the army had taken over the whole of Wadi Sayeh.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Syria-Islamists-celebrate-Shia-deaths-Video/articleshow/20556966.cms
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Jordan passes Abu Qatada treaty
12 June 2013
Jordanian parliament approves treaty with UK designed to lead to deportation of radical cleric Abu Qatada from UK
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22876537
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Al Qaeda, Sunni insurgents exploit Iraq’s sectarian woes
11 June 2013
Masked gunmen stopped the bus full of Shi’ite Muslim police officers and families at what looked like an Iraqi army checkpoint on a western desert highway in the Sunni-dominated province of Anbar.
Two of the gunmen asked passengers one by one where they were from and then shot 14 dead in their seats, leaving one woman alive with a simple message: “Go back and tell them how we are killing you.”
Last week’s bus attack, whose details were recounted by local officials, strengthened fears that Iraq is edging back into sectarian mayhem, with al Qaeda again striking at will in a drive to provoke civil war.
Full report at:
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/perspective/analysis/2013/06/11/Al-Qaeda-Sunni-insurgents-exploit-Iraq-s-sectarian-woes.html
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Gulf Shi'ites fear sectarian persecution as a fallout of Syria civil war
Jun 12 2013
Dubai : Shi'ite Muslims in the Gulf, alarmed by the shrill sectarian rhetoric of some Sunni clerics after Lebanon's Hezbollah militia entered Syria's civil war, fear they will be blamed and may be victimised for the bloodshed.
"Hate language is on the rise, in the press, on social media and even at lectures in mosques. Shi'ites in general are being blamed for what's happening in Syria," said Waleed Sulais, a researcher at the Saudi Adalah Centre for Human Rights.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/gulf-shi-ites-fear-sectarian-persecution-as-a-fallout-of-syria-civil-war/1128092/
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Copt teacher convicted of blasphemy in Egypt
ASSOCIATED PRESS
12 June 2013
LUXOR, Egypt: An Egyptian court has convicted a Coptic Christian teacher of blasphemy but didn’t hand down a prison sentence and only imposed a fine on her.
The court yesterday ruled that elementary schoolteacher Dimyana Abdel-Nour had insulted Islam.
It ordered that she pay a fine of 100,000 Egyptian pounds ($14,000). Abdel-Nour was not in the courtroom for the verdict.
The case in the ancient southern city of Luxor began when three parents said their 10-year-olds complained at home, saying their teacher showed disgust when she spoke of Islam in class.
Angry Egyptians protested the verdict outside the courthouse.
http://www.arabnews.com/news/454717
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Rebels Linked to Al Qaeda Are Said to Kill a 14-Year-Old Boy for 'Insulting Islam'
12 June 2013
Video posted online shows an Aleppo woman who says that jihadists from a Qaeda-linked rebel group, including one Syrian and two foreigners, killed her 14-year-old son, Muhammad Qatta, after they accused him of insulting Islam. She says her son worked to feed the family, as well as several orphans they had adopted since the war began, and was working at the family store when he was killed. "They killed him in front of me," she says, in between anguished sobs. "His blood ran in front of me."
http://projects.nytimes.com/watching-syrias-war/jihadists-kill-boy-front-mother
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Saudi activists urge action over child abuse
11 June 2013
Saudi activists expressed disdain over a picture that showed a young child plastered against a wall with duct tape while an adult man slept on a couch underneath him “smiling.”
Saudi Arabia’s Human Rights Commission has urged citizens to cooperate with their search for the those behind the incident. The commission said the perpetrators should be punished for violating the child’s human rights.
Full report at:
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/06/11/Saudi-activists-urge-action-over-child-abuse.html
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Top Egyptian cleric condemns ‘sectarian’ foes in Syria
11 June 2013
Egypt's most senior Muslim cleric, a leading voice of mainstream Sunni Islam across the Middle East, has condemned Shi'ites for engaging in "hateful sectarian strife" in Syria.
In a statement that highlighted a deepening rift in the region since Hezbollah committed itself in the Syrian civil war, Grand Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb also condemned the Lebanese Shiite militia for turning away from its struggle against Israel.
Hezbollah fighters helped Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces retake the strategic town of Qusayr near Homs on the Lebanese border last week from rebels drawn mostly from Syria's Sunni majority and backed by Sunni powers like Saudi Arabia.
Full report at:
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/06/11/Top-Egypt-cleric-condemns-sectarian-foes-in-Syria.html
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Hezbollah supporters to be thrown out of GCC countries
12 June 2013
JEDDAH: Members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah who are residing in Gulf Cooperation Council states will pay the price for the Shiite movement’s military role in Syria against freedom fighters.
A GCC statement, citing a ministerial council decision, said the measures will affect Hezbollah members' “residency permits, and financial and commercial transactions.”
The statement urged the Lebanese government to “assume its responsibilities toward the behavior of Hezbollah and its illegal and inhumane practices in Syria and the region.”
The six-member bloc strongly condemned the flagrant intervention of Hezbollah in Syria and its participation in shedding the blood of Syrian people. The statement came after the Saudi Cabinet condemned Hezbollah’s “blatant intervention” in the Syrian crisis.
Full report at:
http://www.arabnews.com/news/454706
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India
India’s first Eidgah with water harvesting system, bulldozed
June 12, 2013
The news of the Palam Vihar Eidgah being bulldozed came as a rude shock to Suhel Khan and many. The beautiful park also a place of worship was left in a shambles on Monday morning.
Khan is the head of Chauma Masjid Intezamia Committee, which takes care of the Eidgah demolished by Huda on Monday morning. Khan rushed to the site soon after he heard of the demolition and requested the officers to stop razing the structure.
It is the first mosque of India to have a water harvesting system. It has a 0.8-kilometre walkway, which is open to all residents in its vicinity for two hours in the morning and evening. People had planted 80 Neem trees around the ground last year.
The incident has left Khan in despair. “I haven’t seen my father so helpless as today. He could have chosen to live a comfortable life in the US, but he dedicated his life to the community and this is what he has to see today,” says Khan’s daughter Farheen.
Full report at:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/gurgaon/It-was-India-s-first-Eidgah-with-water-harvesting-system/Article1-1074942.aspx#sthash.RVMr03q6.dpuf
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Muslim Scholars: Modern Education Key to Muslims' Progress
By Altaf Ahmad
June 12, 2013
For four years, Suhail Ajmal, 25, sat idly after graduating with a Maulvi Fazal degree in theology from a local madrasa. The only job he found was leading prayers in a mosque, with a meagre monthly salary of Rs 4,000 ($70).
Insufficient wages forced Ajmal, who hails from the district of Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, to quit after six months and look for another position. So far he has not met with success.
The narrow focus of his education has proved to be a significant barrier, he told Khabar South Asia.
"I have made up my mind to enrol myself in a three-year B.A. graduate course in a local college this coming academic session," Ajmal said. "Had I been an arts or science graduate, I would have landed a respectable teaching job in a government-run school in response to a few job advertisements by the education department during the past two years.
"The scope of the Maulvi Fazal degree is largely limited to imam jobs in mosques and low-paying teaching jobs in madrasas," he said.
Full report at:
http://khabarsouthasia.com/en_GB/articles/apwi/articles/features/2013/06/12/feature-01
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Imams Learning How to Make Sermons More Effective
By Akhtar Ali
June 11, 2013
Across most mosques in India, Khutbah (the sermon before Friday prayer) is delivered in Arabic, a language most devotees don't understand. Some believe the imams or Khateebs (preachers) rarely understand their own sermons.
The part of the Khutbah that is supposed to provide advice on life issues often fails to help the worshippers, many complain.
Now some Islamic scholars, who believe that Khutbah should be used to guide the community in the right direction, have launched a programme to train imams to make their sermons more comprehensive and useful.
The Zakat Foundation of India (ZFI), a non-profit organisation, has begun running a monthly three-day course to train imams at its Ashaab-as-Suffa Institute for Imams and Khateebs (ASIIK) in Delhi.
Full report at:
http://khabarsouthasia.com/en_GB/articles/apwi/articles/features/2013/06/11/feature-01
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First intelligence officer set to be arrested in Ishrat case
Dhananjay Mahapatra, TNN | Jun 12, 2013
NEW DELHI: Investigating possibilities of botching up of intelligence inputs resulting in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, the CBI on Tuesday appeared set to arrest P P Pandey, an additional DGP in the Gujarat Police who in 2004 had received the Intelligence Bureau (IB) inputs and passed it on to the police, as the Supreme Court refused to quash the FIR against him.
Pandey, a 1982-batch IPS officer, was Joint Commissioner of Police in charge of intelligence when he had received IB inputs about Ishrat and three others being alleged LeT operatives on a mission to kill Gujarat CM Narendra Modi. This led to the alleged fake encounter conducted by top cop D G Vanzara - now in custody - on June 15, 2004, in which Ishrat, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/First-intelligence-officer-set-to-be-arrested-in-Ishrat-case/articleshow/20549724.cms
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India asks Saudi Arabia to reconsider 20% Haj quota cut
TNN | Jun 12, 2013
NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday asked Saudi Arabia to reconsider its decision to reduce the number of overseas pilgrims to the country by 20%.
"We have been informed by the Saudi government that they intend to bring about reduction of 50% internal pilgrims from Saudi Arabia for the Haj and 20% from all pilgrims overseas. Given the fact that the processes for Haj pilgrimage have already been initiated, we have requested the Saudi authorities both in Delhi and in Riyadh to reconsider their decision taking into account the advanced stage of preparations. We are awaiting a response from them,'' said foreign ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-asks-Saudi-Arabia-to-reconsider-20-Haj-quota-cut/articleshow/20548858.cms
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3 Indians accused of posing as police officers in UAE
PTI | Jun 11, 2013
DUBAI: Three Indian men in the UAE have been accused of raiding a house posing as police officers and then kidnapping two persons for a ransom.
A Dubai court has heard that three Indian men, identified only by their initials FK, 23, IB, 29, and WB, 29, raided a house in Hor Al Anz on December 11 last year, claiming they were looking for a man who had swindled them in a car sale.
Prosecutors said the men presented the house's inhabitants cards identifying them as CID officers, The National reported.
"I asked to have a look at the ID card but they slapped me instead," recalled one of the victims, identified only as BM, a clerk from Pakistan.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/3-Indians-accused-of-posing-as-police-officers-in-UAE/articleshow/20544453.cms
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India to support UN probe into Syrian use of chemical weapons
Shubhajit Roy
Jun 12 2013
New Delhi : As the Syrian crisis worsens, India is ready to support a United Nations investigation into sarin gas use amid such reports in the country.
Government sources said India will support any investigation by the UN — based on a Security Council resolution — into the use of chemical weapons by the regime in the war-torn country.
Last week, France said it was “certain” that the nerve agent sarin had been used in Syria, underlining a United Nations report that said the civil war had reached “new levels of cruelty and brutality”.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/india-to-support-un-probe-into-syrian-use-of-chemical-weapons/1127972/
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No change in Indian passport rules regarding marital status: Embassy in Abu Dhabi
ANI | Jun 12, 2013
ABU DHABI: The Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi has said there is no change in rules regarding the process of updating marital status in Indian passports.
A press release issued by the embassy said applicants can update or change personal information, including marital status, after marriage or divorce in their passports by applying for inclusion or deletion of spouse's name.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/nri/middle-east-news/No-change-in-Indian-passport-rules-regarding-marital-status-Embassy-in-Abu-Dhabi/articleshow/20552352.cms
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Saudi Arabia to again hire Indian maids - on reduced salaries
IANS | Jun 12, 2013
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia will resume the hiring of Indian female domestic workers but on less salaries than before, Xinhua reported on Wednesday, citing the Al Hayat newspaper.
This is part of an agreement recently signed by the two countries' labour ministries, according to Ahmed Al Faheed, under secretary (international affairs) at the Saudi labour ministry.
He said that the hiring of Indian maids will be resumed soon after it was halted due to conditions imposed by the Indian government.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/nri/middle-east-news/Saudi-Arabia-to-again-hire-Indian-maids--on-reduced-salaries/articleshow/20554224.cms
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Pakistan
Of firsts: Shia delegation attends Tablighi Ijtema
By Shabbir Mir
June 11, 2013
GILGIT: Shia cleric Agha Rahat Hussaini and 200 adherents set an unforeseen precedent for religious tolerance as they attended a Deobandi scholar’s lecture in a Sunni congregation.
The Tablighi Ijtema, which started on June 9 in Gilgit, is attended by hundreds of thousands from across the country and is held under the banner of the Tablighi Jamaat, a Sunni organisation. The sermon was delivered by Deobandi preacher Maulana Tariq Jamil.
Hussaini, who is a top Shia cleric in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B), was also accompanied by the general secretary of Majlis Wahdat ul Muslimeen. The invitation to attend the Ijtema had been extended by Jamil after he addressed a congregation at the Central Imamia mosque on the request of Shia clerics.
Full report at:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/561819/of-firsts-shia-delegation-attends-tablighi-ijtima/
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CII yet to make final recommendation on DNA tests
Mian Saifur Rehman
June 11, 2013
Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) has not released any kind of recommendations as yet like, for instance, the trumpeted rejection of DNA tests for identifying perpetrators of rape.This was disclosed by CII member and chairman of All Pakistan Ulema Council, Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi, during an exclusive talk with The News Monday.
Talking on phone from Islamabad where the recent session of the Council concluded a day earlier, Ashrafi said that frivolous allegations were being leveled against the CII for “outright rejection of scientific DNA test as a reliable test for ascertainment of the identity of culprits involved in the heinous crime of rape”.
Full report at:
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-23416-CII-yet-to-make-final-recommendation-on-DNA-tests
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Nawaz Sharif in clean-up mood, sacks official for praising his poll victory
Jun 12 2013
Islamabad : Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today removed a senior Pakistani official from his post for issuing advertisements to the media to congratulate the PML-N on its victory in the May 11 general elections.
Sharif was not satisfied with an explanation submitted by National Highway and Motorway Police chief Zafar Abbas Luk regarding an advertisement he had issued to several dailies and removed him from his post today.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/nawaz-sharif-in-cleanup-mood-sacks-official-for-praising-his-poll-victory/1128193/
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India, Pakistan could move ahead by promoting trade ties: Shahbaz Sharif
Jun 12 2013
Lahore : Pakistani authorities will take practical steps to seek India's cooperation to control power outages across the country, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said.
Sharif, the younger brother of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and a member of the federal Cabinet Committee on Energy, made the remarks during a meeting with a visiting Indian energy delegation. He welcomed the interest shown by India in cooperating with Pakistan in the energy sector, saying the two countries could move ahead by promoting trade and economic relations.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/india-pakistan-could-move-ahead-by-promoting-trade-ties-shahbaz-sharif/1128124/
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Pakistan vows to end military atrocities in resource-rich Baluchistan
Jun 12 2013
Islamabad : Pakistan has pledged to rein in human rights abuses by security forces in the huge, resource-rich province of Baluchistan as a first step towards starting talks to end a long-running insurgency waged by guerrillas seeking an independent homeland.
The new chief minister of the province bordering Afghanistan and Iran urged security forces, who deny wrongdoing, to end a campaign of enforced disappearances to support his hopes of kindling dialogue.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/pakistan-vows-to-end-military-atrocities-in-resourcerich-baluchistan/1128081/
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Ahmadis face discrimination even in death
SHAHZAD RAZA
June 12, 2013
ISLAMABAD: Even in death, the Ahmadiyya community is discriminated against.
Jadeed Quabristan (graveyard) is located near Murree Road in the heart of the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
A signboard dangling outside the house of the gravedigger reads: “It’s prohibited to bury Mirzais here.” 'Mirzai' and 'Qadiyani' are derogatory terms used against the Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan. While taking a photo of the sign, one is greeted with suspicious stares.
For decades, Ahmadis have faced persecution at the hands of religious extremists and right wing forces. The state jumped into the fray in 1974, when the then Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto introduced a constitutional amendment declaring them non-Muslim to ward off pressure from right-wing forces.
Full report at:
http://beta.dawn.com/news/1017550/ahmadis-face-discrimination-even-in-death
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Quetta police team in Islamabad to arrest Musharraf
SYED ALI SHAH
June 12, 2013
QUETTA: A team from Crimes Branch Quetta reached Islamabad on Wednesday to arrest former president Pervez Musharraf in the Akbar Bugti murder case.
Sources in Crimes Branch Quetta investigating the case told Dawn.com that a police team comprising senior officials had reached the federal capital to arrest the former military ruler.
Earlier on Monday, an Anti-Terrorist Court in Quetta had issued non-bailable arrest warrants against Musharraf.
Full report at:
http://beta.dawn.com/news/1017757/bugti-murder-case-quetta-police-team-in-islamabad-to-arrest-musharraf
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3 more killed in targeted attacks in Karachi
June 12, 2013
KARACHI: In the ongoing spate of violence, another three people lost their lives in different incidents on Tuesday, police said.
A man belonging to Ahmadiyya community was shot dead and his son and a companion were wounded in a targeted attack in Soldier Bazaar locality.
Police said the victims were identified as Hamid Sami, 45, his eighteen-year-old son, Osama and a companion, Salman Zaman, 48. The victims were shot multiple times and were taken to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre where doctors pronounced Sami as dead.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2013\06\12\story_12-6-2013_pg7_12
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Sentence goes on for Pakistani detainees in Bagram
By AFP
June 12, 2013
FAISALABAD: The US handed over control of Afghanistan’s Bagram jail to the Kabul government three months ago. But nothing has changed for dozens of foreign inmates – mostly Pakistani citizens – still locked up inside “the Afghan Guantanamo”.
In what has been described as a “prison within a prison”, the US continues to operate within Bagram’s walls.
After years of imprisonment, some 60 non-Afghan detainees – Pakistanis, Saudis and Kuwaitis – are still denied face-to-face access to lawyers and have not been charged with any crime.
The foreigners were exempted from the US handover in March of more than 3,000 Bagram prisoners to Afghan authorities. Their situation has prompted comparisons with detainees at the US prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
Full report at:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/562220/sentence-goes-on-for-pakistani-detainees-in-bagram/
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North America
US General Dunford: 'Fight for Afghan rights not over'
12 June 2013
The commander of international forces in Afghanistan has warned the international community not to turn its back on Afghanistan.
Gen Joseph Dunford told the BBC democratic progress could be threatened by the end of international combat operations in Afghanistan in 2014.
He said talks with the Taliban would be essential, sooner or later.
And without continued support from foreign politicians, he said citizens' basic rights were in no way guaranteed.
Gen Dunford is the last commander of Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf), and is expected to remain in the post until the end of next year, when Nato combat troops are scheduled to leave.
'Complex insurgency'
Speaking to the BBC in Kunduz, in the north of the country, he said: "At this point we have made significant progress, but we are not yet at the point where it is completely sustainable."
"That really is the focus of effort over the next 18 months. That's why we need to start now - especially with the Afghan security forces - to talk about 2018, not 2014. That period of time will allow these gains to be sustainable."
Next week, the last districts in the country will be handed over to full Afghan government control, with some international troops remaining in a supporting role.
Gen Dunford said Afghan forces were "getting good enough" to fight the conflict, but stressed that talking to the Taliban was critical for the country's future.
They were not the only enemy, and many criminal groups had joined the complex insurgency, he added.
The warning comes amid a fresh wave of violence in Afghanistan, believed to have been carried out by the Taliban.
On Tuesday, a suicide bomb attack in Kabul killed at least 16 people and injured more than 40 others outside the Supreme Court.
The previous day, seven insurgents, including suicide bombers, laid siege to the city's main airport for four hours before they were killed.
The BBC's David Loyn, in Afghanistan, says the group appear to be demonstrating that they can still hit high-profile targets, despite a heightened alert in the run-up to the security handover next month.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22867205
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US civil rights group challenges NSA phone surveillance programme
Reuters | Jun 12, 2013
NEW YORK: The American Civil Liberties Union sued senior US government officials on Tuesday to strike down the National Security Agency's broad telephone surveillance, a challenge that may have improved chances of succeeding as a result of recent leaks about the programme.
The lawsuit filed in US District Court for the Southern District of New York claims the US government's collection of vast communications records violates rights to free speech and privacy as guaranteed by the US Constitution.
The suit was filed amid a furor over leaks by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who disclosed a massive government programme to collect and store phone and Internet records from major telecommunications companies.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/US-civil-rights-group-challenges-NSA-phone-surveillance-programme/articleshow/20548706.cms
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Judge Allows Suit on Border Questioning of Muslims to Move Forward
6/11/13
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 6/11/13) -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today announced that a federal judge in Michigan has allowed a lawsuit against U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the FBI over the repeated detention and questioning of Muslims at and inside the United States-Canada border and other ports of entry to move forward.
CAIR, which is co-counsel on the case with attorney Shereef Akeel, filed the lawsuit on behalf of four American citizens who reported that CBP and FBI agents detained and handcuffed them without evidence of wrongdoing and questioned them about their religious beliefs and worship habits.
Full report at:
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Iran 'threat' to America's national security: Pentagon
June 12, 2013
Describing Iran as a "threat" to America's national security, a top Pentagon official has told the lawmakers that the US is determined to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
"Iran is a threat to US national security in many ways, not simply their move toward the potential to develop a nuclear weapon," chairman of the joint chiefs of staff General Martin Dempsey said during a Congressional hearing on Wednesday.
Full report at:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/americas/Iran-threat-to-America-s-national-security-Pentagon/Article1-1075084.aspx
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US congressmen call for end to surveillance programs
June 12, 2013
Lawmakers voiced their confusion and concern, and some called for the end of sweeping surveillance programs by US spy agencies after receiving an unusual briefing on the government’s years-long collection of phone records and Internet usage.
The phalanx of FBI, legal and intelligence officials who briefed the entire House was the latest attempt to soothe outrage over National Security Agency programs that collect billions of Americans’ phone and Internet records. Since they were revealed last week, the programs have spurred distrust in the Obama administration from around the world.
Full report at:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/world/us-congressmen-call-for-end-to-surveillance-programs/article4806688.ece
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Defeat in Afghanistan would lead to regional instability: US
Jun 12 2013
Washington: An American loss in Afghanistan could result in instability in the region with re-emergence of extremist groups, a top Pentagon official has told lawmakers.
"The region will become unstable. I think there will be problems on Pakistan's border. Iran will be encouraged to become even more regionally aggressive," Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey told Senators.
"We could find a re-emergence of violent extremist groups," he said during a Congressional hearing yesterday.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/defeat-in-afghanistan-would-lead-to-regional-instability-us/1128097/
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Online plea to pardon Snowden gains traction
NARAYAN LAKSHMAN
June 12, 2013
Amid calls by officials to bring him to the book
Following the dramatic weekend unveiling of his identity, Edward Snowden (29), the former CIA technician and Booz Allen Hamilton contractor behind one of the biggest leaks of classified information in U.S. intelligence history, has become the centre of a visceral national argument on whether his actions have made him a hero or a traitor.
Last week, The Guardian and The Washington Post revealed in detail the U.S. National Security Agency’s PRISM and Boundless Informant data-mining tools, allegedly used by spies to covertly suck up vast amounts of data from the servers of major Internet companies such as Google, Apple and Facebook, and across nations worldwide, including India.
Full report at:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/world/online-plea-to-pardon-snowden-gains-traction/article4804413.ece
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Venezuela unveils statue of former Egyptian president Abdel-Nasser
11 Jun 2013
A statue of former Egyptian president Gamal Abdel-Nasser was unveiled in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas on Monday.
According to the Caracas-based news website Telesur, Venezuela's vice-minister for foreign affairs in Africa, Reinaldo Bolivar, recalled during the event that former Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has considered himself to be a “Nasserist,” identifying with the Egyptian leader’s pan-Arabism, pan-Africanism and his role as one of the founders of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).
Full report at:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/73755/Egypt/Politics-/Venezuela-unveils-statue-of-former-Egyptian-presid.aspx
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Student pleads guilty to stabbing Muslim cabbie in New York
By Reuters
June 12, 2013
NEW YORK: A film student pleaded guilty to attempted murder as a hate crime on Tuesday for stabbing a New York City taxi driver in what prosecutors said was an anti-Muslim attack.
Michael Enright, 24, faces 9.5 years in prison when he is sentenced later this month.
After hailing a taxi in Manhattan one evening in August 2010, Enright asked the driver, Ahmed Sharif, whether he was a Muslim, according to prosecutors.
When Sharif replied that he was, Enright slashed Sharif’s throat with a knife, stabbed at his face, arms and hands and yelled anti-Muslim comments, prosecutors said.
Full report at:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/562204/student-pleads-guilty-to-stabbing-muslim-cabbie-in-new-york/
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Europe
Egypt replaces Waziristan as main training centre for militants: Report
By AFP
June 11, 2013
BERLIN: A new German intelligence report presented on Tuesday showed that Egypt had replaced Waziristan as the main centre for the training of militants.
German intelligence voiced concern over the growing number of ultra-conservative Islamic extremists in the country, some of whom are swelling militant ranks abroad, while warning of an increasingly violent German extreme right.
“Salafism is a particularly rapidly growing and extremely worrying group within the extremist movement,” Hans-Georg Maassen, head of domestic intelligence, told a news conference as he presented his agency’s 2012 annual report.
Full report at:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/561866/egypt-replaces-waziristan-as-main-training-centre-for-militants-report/
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Embattled UN rights envoy for Palestinian areas vows to stay on
11 June 2013
The United Nations human rights investigator for the Palestinian territories said on Tuesday he would not resign and accused critics of calling him anti-Semitic to divert attention from his scrutiny of Israeli policies.
Richard Falk said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had “joined in the attacks.”
UN Watch, an activist group that Falk labels as a “pro-Israel lobbying organization,” and Israel’s main ally the United States have called for him to quit. US Ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe described him as “unfit to serve in his role as a UN special rapporteur.”
“I don’t intend to resign and there doesn’t seem to be any formal initiative that is seeking my dismissal,” he told a news briefing a day after addressing the UN Human Rights Council.
Full report at:
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/06/11/Embattled-UN-rights-envoy-for-Palestinian-areas-vows-to-stay-on.html
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UN expert rejects calls to quit over Israel criticsm
11 Jun 2013
An embattled UN rights expert who probes Israel's conduct towards Palestinians rejected calls to step down on Tuesday, saying his opponents were trying to silence his criticism of the Jewish state by labelling him anti-Semitic.
"I don't intend to resign, and there doesn't seem to be any formal initiative that is seeking my dismissal," Richard Falk told reporters, a day after calling for an international investigation of Israel's treatment of Palestinian prisoners.
Full report at:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/73751/World/Region/UN-expert-rejects-calls-to-quit-over-Israel-critic.aspx
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UN chief appeals for dialogue, reconciliation in Iraq
11 Jun 2013
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appealed Tuesday for dialogue and greater efforts at "national reconciliation" in Iraq after a wave of deadly attacks.
Ban "underscores the pressing need for dialogue between political blocs in order to overcome the current crisis," his spokesman Martin Nesirky said.
Full report at:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/73775/World/Region/UN-chief-appeals-for-dialogue,-reconciliation-in-I.aspx
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Russia would consider asylum for US cyber leaker
11 Jun 2013
Russia would consider granting asylum to the American who has exposed top-secret US surveillance programmes, if he were to ask for it, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said on Tuesday.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stopped short of saying Moscow would accept Edward Snowden, but pro-Kremlin lawmakers spoke out in favour of the idea, tapping into a lingering Cold War rivalry with the United States and a vein of anti-American sentiment Putin has often encouraged.
Full report at:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/9/73748/World/International/Russia-would-consider-asylum-for-US-cyber-leaker.aspx
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Scottish Parliament Condemns Worldwide Sectarian Violence Against Shia Muslims
June 12, 2013
(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - SNP MSP Sandra White said it was right to condemn all extremism and violence as she lead her member's debate on sectarian attacks against the Shia community on 28 May 2013.
Ms White highlighted a series of attacks on the Shia community in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Pakistan and beyond.
The SNP MSP for Glasgow Kelvin said the recent attack in Woolwich had brought home the terrible impact of attacks and called on the chamber to "remember all those who have lost their lives in these terrible acts of violence".
Full report at:
http://abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&Id=428500
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UN officials pay tribute to Pakistani peacekeepers
By APP
June 12, 2013
NEW YORK: Top UN officials on Tuesday paid high tributes to Pakistani peacekeepers for their service under the UN flag-in hot spots around the world, saying they had made valuable contribution in maintaining peace as also helping families and communities suffering from war.
Harve Ladsous, Undersecretary General for Peacekeeping, and Ameerah Haq, Undersecretary General for Field Support, also honoured the sacrifices of those Pakistani peacekeepers, who paid the ultimate price over the years in serving the cause of peace over the years. They were speaking at a largely-attended function held at the Pakistan Mission to the United Nations to commemorate Pakistan Peacekeepers Day. The day marks the June 5, 1993 incident in Somalia when 24 Pakistani peacekeepers laid down their lives while rescuing allied forces in Mogadishu.
Full report at:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/562231/un-officials-pay-tributes-to-pakistani-peacekeepers/
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South Asia
Motorcycle bomb kills 2, wounds 15 in Afghanistan
AP
June 12, 2013
Officials say a motorcycle bomb has exploded in southern Afghanistan, killing an Afghan soldier and a civilian.
Local police chief Ghulam Ali says Wednesday's blast near a market in Helmand province's heavily contested Sangin district also left 15 people wounded. Helmand
government spokesman Omar Zwak says the explosives in a parked motorcycle were remotely detonated as an army and police patrol passed by.
Full report at:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/restofasia/Motorcycle-bomb-kills-2-wounds-15-in-Afghanistan/Article1-1075121.aspx
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Maldives’ support for the “one-China policy”
By JJ Robinson | June 11th, 2013
The government has issued a statement denouncing Male’ City Council’s decision to become sister cities with Kaosiung City in Taiwan, and pledging the Maldives’ support for the “one-China policy”.
“The Government of Maldives reaffirms its commitment and support to China’s national unity and to the one-China Policy,” said the Foreign Ministry in a statement, shortly after the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) dominated Male City Council signed the sister city agreement with a Taiwanese delegation on Sunday.
Full report at:
http://minivannews.com/politics/government-scuttles-male-city-councils-taiwanese-sister-city-agreement-pledges-support-for-one-china-policy-59354
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Protection for child domestic helps sought
June 12, 2013
Although Bangladesh, like other countries, will observe World Day Against Child Labour today under the theme “No to child labour in domestic work”, its labour law does not recognise child domestic workers as labourers, said speakers yesterday.
Not even the labour ministry’s list of hazardous work for children includes domestic child labour, they said.
Full report at:
http://www.thedailystar.net/beta2/news/protection-for-child-domestic-helps-sought/
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Myanmar Man Gets 26 Years for Attack That Caused Riots
By Agence France-Presse
June 12, 2013
Yangon. Myanmar has sentenced a Muslim man to 26 years in prison for an attack on a Buddhist woman that sparked a fresh outbreak of religious violence last month in the former army-ruled nation, police said Wednesday.
The man, who has been described by state media as a 48-year-old drug addict, was convicted of intent to kill, assault and drug use by a court in Lashio in eastern Shan State on Tuesday, Police Major Moe Zaw Linn told AFP by telephone.
The 24-year-old victim, a petrol vendor, suffered burns in the attack, which triggered Buddhist-Muslim riots in the town that left at least one person dead and saw a mosque and orphanage burned.
Full report at:
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/international/headline-myanmar-man-gets-26-years-for-attack-that-caused-riots/
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160,000 Bangladesh workers get papers under amnesty
12 June 2013
Under amnesty, more than 160,000 Bangladesh expatriates have obtained their documents processed at their country’s missions in Riyadh and Jeddah, a senior diplomat from the Bangladesh Embassy told Arab News here yesterday. “To beat the deadline under the ongoing amnesty scheme, our embassy in Riyadh and its consulate in Jeddah work round the clock to help our countrymen to resolve their problems,” the official said, adding that the documents processed included issuance of new passport, renewal of passports, out passes and 20,000 travel permits.
Full report at:
http://www.arabnews.com/news/454761
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Legal blackhole in Afghan jail leaves Pakistani prisoners trapped
AFP
June 12, 2013
FAISALABAD: The US handed over control of Afghanistan's Bagram jail to the Kabul government three months ago. But nothing has changed for dozens of foreign inmates still locked up inside “the Afghan Guantanamo”.
In what has been described as a “prison within a prison”, the US continues to operate within Bagram's walls.
Full report at:
http://beta.dawn.com/news/1017756/legal-blackhole-in-afghan-jail-leaves-pakistani-prisoners-trapped
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Myanmar Airlines cut fares to bring citizens home from Malaysia
June 12, 2013
Clashes between overseas Myanmar Buddhist and Rohingya communities resulted in up to six deaths last week and hundreds of arrests, according to sources in Malaysia.
Myanmar’s national airline will halve ticket prices for workers who want to return from Malaysia where they face growing violence, it said on Tuesday.
Full report at:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/south-asia/myanmar-airlines-cut-fares-to-bring-citizens-home-from-malaysia/article4803232.ece
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Bangladesh amends anti-terror law amid protests
June 12, 2013
The law was first enacted in 2009 after the December 2008 elections while it was amended last year incorporating some provisions.
Bangladesh’s parliament amended the tough anti-terrorism law re-defining “terrorism” and allowing courts to accept internet materials as evidence, amid protests from opposition which feared it was designed to target them.
“The (anti-terror) bill suggests provisions to effectively control terrorism through inter-state cooperation. It offers the central bank the authority to freeze suspicious accounts without court orders,” Home minister Mahiuddin Khan Alamgir told the parliament as law was passed overnight.
Full report at:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/south-asia/bangladesh-amends-antiterror-law-amid-protests/article4806749.ece
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Southeast Asia
Indonesian Judge to Be Taken to Ethics Tribunal for extramarital affairs
By Jakarta Globe
June 11, 2013
The Supreme Court has ordered a West Kalimantan judge to attend an ethics tribunal for having extramarital affairs with at least four women, including members of his own staff.
“The date has been set for July 3, though we are waiting for some judges that are still abroad,” Ridwan Mansyur, a spokesman for the Supreme Court, said on Thursday as quoted by the state-run Antara news agency.
Full report at:
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/judge-to-be-taken-to-ethics-tribunal-for-love-affairs/
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Next generation radicals in Indonesia
By Jacob Zenn
June 12, 2013
JAKARTA - Driven by strong exports and buoyant domestic markets, Indonesia is projected to be among the world's top 10 economies by 2025. While the future looks bright for Southeast Asia's largest economy, a growing tide of religious intolerance threatens to undermine those gains. Where officials have in the past attributed religious violence and terrorism to foreign influenced groups, now the threats to stability are more clearly homegrown.
Full report at:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/SEA-01-120613.html
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Hard-liners, Police Interfere With Interfaith Dialogue
By Amir Tedjo
June 12, 2013
Surabaya. A small group of religious hard-liners backed up by police disrupted an interfaith dialogue on Tuesday night, claiming that the event was conducted without a permit.
At the end of Uli Abshar Abdalla and Bambang Noorsena’s “Islamic-Christian Theology Dialogue: Textual Criticism on Biblical and Koranic Text Variants,” eight people showed up and demanded to see the committee who planned the event. They then forced the organizers to go to the Surabaya Police station to be questioned.
Full report at:
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/hard-liners-police-interfere-with-interfaith-dialogue/
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Muslim rebels protest Philippine arrests
12 June 2013
Muslim rebels in the Philippines said Wednesday they had protested at the arrests of four guerrillas, warning it could affect talks aimed at ending the decades-long insurgency
The arrests come amid diminishing confidence within the Moro Islamic Liberation Front over the government's sincerity in trying quickly to seal a deal to end the rebellion which has left an estimated 150,000 people dead since the 1970s.
MILF vice-chairman for political affairs, Ghadzali Jaafar, said some rebel leaders believed the arrests were a deliberate attempt to target the group despite a ceasefire.
"We filed this protest to send a message to the government that we are not happy with what is going on and we are very much concerned about the situation," he said.
He said four MILF fighters were arrested recently for alleged illegal possession of ammunition in separate incidents in the southern island of Mindanao, home of the country's Muslim minority.
Jaafar told AFP that under the ceasefire, MILF fighters are allowed to keep their firearms and ammunition.
He also complained that the resumption of formal talks had been put off for too long, adding that the government might be deliberately delaying the negotiations.
The head of the government peace panel, Miriam Coronel, said in a statement she had asked the police to issue a complete report on the cases.
The peace talks are aimed at creating an autonomous region for the Muslim minority in Mindanao, the southern third of the mainly Catholic nation of 100 million.
However the group, which has about 12,000 armed followers, has recently complained about the slow progress of the talks which have fallen behind schedule.
President Benigno Aquino hopes to have the autonomous region in place before his term ends in 2016.
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2013/06/12/Muslim-rebels-protest-Philippine-arrests.html
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Mideast
Al-Quds Dominates Muslim Donor Summit
June 12, 2013
BAKU – Supporting the Palestinian cause against aggressive Israeli practices, Muslim donors are meeting in Azerbaijan to discuss ways of protecting Al-Quds (occupied East Jerusalem) against judaization policies.
"We condemn the policy of Israel against Palestine," Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), told the meeting on Tuesday, June 11 cited by Trend newspaper.
OIC member-states opened Tuesday a donor conference in Baku to discuss ways of protecting Al-Quds against Israeli policies of judaising the holy city.
Ihsanoglu said the conference aims to discuss means of financing a strategic plan of the sectoral development of the holy city.
He said the meeting is also meant to highlight that thousands of Palestinian children have no access to education, the public health sector is in a deplorable state, and the population of Al-Quds faces problems with obtaining medical care.
Full report at:
http://www.sahilonline.org/english/newsDetails.php?cid=6&nid=18575
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Uneasy calm in Turkey's riot square after violence
AFP
June 12, 2013
ISTANBUL: An uneasy calm returned to Istanbul's protest square early Wednesday after running clashes between riot police and protesters, as Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed zero tolerance for the mass demos.
Hours earlier, Taksim Square had resembled a battle scene, swathed in acrid smoke as police dispersed tens of thousands of protesters chanting “Erdogan, resign!” and “Resistance!” on the worst night of violence in 12 days of nationwide unrest.
After riot police sent the large crowd scrambling with tear gas and jets of water, cat-and-mouse games with smaller groups of demonstrators continued into the night.
Full report at:
http://beta.dawn.com/news/1017735/uneasy-calm-in-turkeys-riot-square-after-violence
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Strange law in Israel bars Israeli Arabs from marrying Palestinians
Jun 12 2013
Jerusalem : When Israeli Arabs search for a spouse, they don't just worry about looks, job prospects or future in-laws. They must think about whether their partner will be allowed to live with them.
The problem is many Israeli Arabs, who are ethnically Palestinians, want to marry Palestinians from the West Bank or Gaza Strip. But relations between the Palestinian territories and Israel are testy at best and violent at worst, resulting in limits that even love can't overcome.
For the past decade, Israel has largely restricted Palestinians from joining their spouses inside the Jewish state, citing security concerns like Palestinian militants using entry permits gained through marriage to carry out attacks in Israel.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/strange-law-in-israel-bars-israeli-arabs-from-marrying-palestinians/1128106/
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Iran 'verbally' invited for Syria peace conference
Jun 12 2013
Dubai : An Iranian deputy foreign ministry said his country had been invited to a planned international peace conference in Geneva aimed at ending the war in Syria, Iranian state television reported on Wednesday.
The United States and Russia want Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his foes to send delegates to the proposed talks, but disagree over whether Iran, an ally of Assad, should attend.
"We received a verbal invitation to take part in the second Geneva conference. Iran is a serious part of resolving the crisis in Syria," Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdullahian, told Iran's Press TV.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/iran--verbally--invited-for-syria-peace-conference/1128172/
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Iran: Virtual Library of Islamic Philosophy Published
June 12, 2013
(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - According to the website of the center, the library contains the full text of 210 books on philosophy until the time of Mulla Hadi Sabzawari.
The books are in 259 volumes in Persian and Arabic languages.
110 books and articles in English from Hellenic philosophers such as Aristotle, Plato, Plotinus, Neo-Platonic philosophers, and western philosophers like Kant, Descartes, Berkeley, Hume, Mill, Nietzsche, Smith, Hobbes, Bacon, and Augustine are also available in the library.
Full report at:
http://abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&Id=428689
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Turkish PM to meet Taksim Square protestors
June 12, 2013
Turkey’s Prime Minister is scheduled to meet with a group of activists protesting over re-development of Taksim park that has sparked the country’s biggest anti-government protests in decades.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s talks will come after clashes between police and protesters at Istanbul’s Taksim Square lasted into the early hours of Wednesday. Police also used tear gas to disperse protests in the capital, Ankara.
Mr. Erdogan has warned that he will put an end to the gatherings, which he says are hurting Turkey’s image and economy.
Full report at:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/world/turkish-pm-to-meet-taksim-square-protestors/article4806322.ece
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Ban on Palestinians living with spouses in Israel
AP | Jun 12, 2013
JERUSALEM: When Israeli Arabs search for a spouse, they don't just worry about looks, job prospects or future in-laws. They must think about whether their partner will be allowed to live with them.
The problem is - many Israeli Arabs, who are ethnically Palestinians, want to marry Palestinians from the West Bank or Gaza Strip. But relations between the Palestinian territories and Israel are testy at best and violent at worst, resulting in limits that even love can't overcome.
For the past decade, Israel has largely restricted Palestinians from joining their spouses inside the Jewish state, citing security concerns like Palestinian militants using entry permits gained through marriage to carry out attacks in Israel.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Ban-on-Palestinians-living-with-spouses-in-Israel/articleshow/20554985.cms
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Africa
Timbuktu damage to Mali historic sites 'underestimated'
12 June 2013
A team of experts in Mali says damage to Timbuktu's unique cultural heritage under rebel control is much worse than was first estimated.
The Unesco team travelled to the city for the first time since systematic attacks by Islamist militants who occupied it until early this year.
They say Timbuktu is completely degraded and that more of its famous mausoleums than previously thought are damaged.
Many more manuscripts are also missing.
The mission of the Unesco team was the first step towards reconstruction of Timbuktu and the safeguarding of its heritage.
'Razed to the ground'
"From the information that we received during the occupation, we thought only nine mausoleums from the World Heritage List were damaged," the head of the mission, Lazare Eloundou Assomo, told the BBC World Service.
"But actually, when we arrived on the site, we had 14 mausoleums damaged.
"What we also noted is that not only 2,000 to 3,000 manuscripts were lost. The estimation, today, is of 4,203 manuscripts that were completely lost," he said.
Mr Assomo said the emblematic El Farouk monument at the entrance city had been razed to the ground.
He also said he had fears for thousands of manuscripts that had been successfully smuggled out of Timbuktu, away from Islamist rebel forces.
They have been taken from air-conditioned rooms in Timbuktu to the capital, Bamako.
"We are entering the rainy season," he said, "and there is a lot of humidity there. So we will need to intervene as soon as possible to put them in boxes that can resist the humidity."
African symbol
From 28 May to 3 June, the team carried out extensive investigations in Timbuktu and consultations with the local community.
The results will be used to finalise an action plan which will include extensive reconstruction.
Mr Assomo stressed the importance of the plan, saying Timbuktu is "a symbol of African history".
"It is a place where many, many things happened since the 12th Century. A place of knowledge... a place that tells us a lot about how great the African people were and continue to be."
"We need to save Timbuktu," he said.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-22853765
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Mali's Tuareg rebels ready to sign peace deal: Source
11 Jun 2013
Rebels from Mali's minority Tuareg group are ready to sign a regionally brokered peace deal with the government paving the way for the conflict-torn country to hold elections, a source in their delegation said Tuesday.
"We won't obstruct the process," the source told AFP. "When the time comes, we'll sign no problem," he added in neighbouring Burkina Faso, where a source in the Malian government's delegation earlier said the other side was also ready to sign a deal but wanted some final changes made.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/9/73776/World/International/Malis-Tuareg-rebels-ready-to-sign-peace-deal-Sourc.aspx
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The concert that transformed Mandela from terrorist to icon
AFP
June 12, 2013
So revered is Nelson Mandela on Wednesday that it is easy to forget that for decades he was considered a terrorist by many foreign governments, and some of his now supporters.
The anti-apartheid hero was on a US terror watch list until 2008 and while still on Robben Island, Britain's late "Iron Lady" Margret Thatcher described his African National Congress as a "typical terrorist organisation."
That Mandela's image has been transformed so thoroughly is a testament to the man's achievements, but also, in part, to a concert that took place in London 25 years ago this week.
Full report at:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/worldsectionpage/chunk-ht-ui-common-dontmiss/The-concert-that-transformed-Mandela-from-terrorist-to-icon/Article1-1074998.aspx
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Worries Grow As Child Labour Violations Increase in Somaliland
BY BARKHAD DAHIR, 11 JUNE 2013
argeisa — Every day, dozens of children aged 7 to 14 shine shoes and wash cars in the front parking lot of the Adani Cafeteria in Hargeisa's June 26th district.
"I come very early in the morning from my home in Dami neighbourhood to support my family by working as a shoe-shiner," 9-year-old Ahmed Hassan said. "From [around 7:00 a.m.] to 8:00 p.m., I earn up to $3."
He said he works out of necessity but "would like to be sent to school". Hassan is among a growing number of Somaliland boys and girls caught up in the child labour market and whose rights are being violated, according to regional officials and children's rights advocates.
Child labour has escalated here because of the increase in the number of displaced people, recent droughts, urban migration and loss of livestock, said Ahmed Hassan Yusuf, who directs the Somaliland branch of the African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect.
Full report at:
http://allafrica.com/stories/201306120150.html?viewall=1
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