UK Islamic extremists launch poster campaign for 'Shariah law zones'
Germany's Muslims want an end to anti-Islamic websites
Saudi Islamist activists criticize anti-terrorism law
Australia: Shariah-Sanctioned Polygamy and Child Marriage
11 more killed in Karachi
Attack on government buildings in Afghanistan kills 18, wounds 35
King of Saudi Arabia tells ‘True’ Islam is not terrorism
Iranian guards kill more than 50 Kurdish rebels, assault to continue
Assad on the rampage: Syrian forces kill 11 people, including a child, near Damascus
Bomb Blasts Kill 12 in Iraq
British anti-Muslim group says no tie to Norwegian mass murderer
Human Rights Watch lauds law banning female genital mutilation in Iraqi Kurdistan
17 Indians on death row in UAE to walk free
Abu Sayyaf kills seven Philippine soldiers
Subcontinent scholars raise voice against dowry
Bnagladesh: Five Hizb ut-Tahrir men held in city
Khar prays for Indo-Pak peace at Nizamuddin shrine
Human rights group calls on governments to teach peace, not Islamophobic 'holy war'
Islamic Scholars of Nigeria Urge Preachers To Promote Unity
Breivik: Bad man from Scandinavian crime fiction?
Deoband slams Right to Education Act, to oppose it
Egyptian women demand equal rights in new constitution
Dhyan Chand Award for former Indian football captain Shabbir Ali
109 Afghan army personnel killed in one month
US soldier found guilty of killing Afghan civilian
Zawahiri releases first tape as Qaeda chief
ICC prosecutor says Libya obligated to arrest Qaddafi
Saudi Arabia to set minimum marriage age following surge in such weddings
Millionaire Arabs snub Paris and flock to UK
Never used Hindu outfit’s term in connection with 13/7 blasts: Digvijay
Talks back on track well and proper
Kashmir rape case: SIT detains man for instigating woman
Somalia's al Shabaab recruited dozens of Americans: US report
Al Qaeda leader Zawahiri hails Syrian protestors
Indonesia sends ‘chilling message’ in mob trial: HRW
Presidential hopeful apologizes for comments after meeting with Muslim leaders
Separatists, not Islamists, behind most of terror strikes in Europe
India ‘ goofs up’ again in statement with Pak ... this time over 26/ 11
Fai says he took money from ISI
'Uzbek charged with threatening to kill Obama'
Songwriter of Syria uprising meets gruesome death
Bush got ‘closure’ with Bin Laden death
From Today’s Zaman: Weddings, ethics and moral dilemmas
"Independence and Freedom" Meeting, the Product of Sacrifice and Martyrdom in Afghanistan
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
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UK Islamic extremists launch poster campaign for 'Sharia law zones'
Jul 28 2011
London : Islamic extremists in Britain have launched a poster campaign across the country proclaiming areas where ‘Sharia law enforcement zones’ have been set up.
The posters read, ‘You are entering a Sharia-controlled zone – Islamic rules enforced.’
The messages on the posters says that in the ‘zone’ there should be ‘no gambling’, ‘no music or concerts’, ‘no porn or prostitution’, ‘no drugs or smoking’ and ‘no alcohol’.
According to the Daily Mail, hate preacher Anjem Choudary has claimed responsibility for the scheme, saying he plans to flood specific Muslim and non-Muslim communities around the UK and ‘put the seeds down for an Islamic Emirate in the long term’.
“We now have hundreds if not thousands of people up and down the country willing to go out and patrol the streets for us and a print run of between 10,000 and 50,000 stickers ready for distribution,” Choudary said.
“There are 25 areas around the country which the Government has earmarked as areas where violent extremism is a problem. We are going to go to all these same areas and implement our own Sharia-controlled zones,” he said.
“This is the best way for dealing with drunkenness and loutishness, prostitution and the sort of thug life attitude you get in British cities,” he added.
In the past week, dozens of streets in the London boroughs of Waltham Forest, Tower Hamlets and Newham have been targeted, raising fears that local residents may be intimidated or threatened for flouting ‘Islamic rules’.
Choudary also said he was organizing a protest against the Far Right in Waltham Forest this weekend following last Friday’s killing spree in Norway by anti-Islamic gunman Anders Breivik.
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/823629/
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Germany's Muslims want an end to anti-Islamic websites
Jul 28, 2011
(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - A leading German Islamic activist, in the city of Munich, southern Germany, has urged the German government to further monitor the websites that insult the sacred religion of Islam, based upon Germany's Constitution.
The German Muslim activist has pointed out that the Islamic Center in Munich expects German officials to put an end to radical currents which threaten reconciliatory coexistence.
Meanwhile, a number of local German officials have said that based on the freedom of speech act, adoption of such measures against the said websites is impossible.
http://abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&Id=256091
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Saudi Islamist activists criticize anti-terrorism law
28 July 2011
Islamist activists in Saudi Arabia have condemned government plans to pass an anti-terrorism law which international rights groups fear will be used to crackdown on dissent in the kingdom.
The unofficial Islamic Umma party, which was set up in February, posted on its Website a call for religious scholars to speak out against what it called “laws that aim to seize the citizens’ right to criticize the government.”
Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy that rules in alliance with Islamic clerics and follows an austere version of Sunni Islam. A ruling circle including the king and senior princes maintains a system that bans political parties and public protests. It has an appointed body with limited legislative powers that acts as a quasi-parliament.
Amnesty International on Friday published smuggled copies of the Draft Penal Law for Terrorism Crimes and Financing Terrorism, saying it would allow extended detentions without charge or trial which can be used against peaceful opposition.
Saudi Arabia rejected the accusation, saying the law – if enacted -- will be used against militants. Al Qaeda launched a campaign against Riyadh in 2003 but it petered out in 2006 after a security crackdown in cooperation with Western security agencies.
The draft law imposes a minimum 10-year jail sentence for anyone who criticized the king or crown prince and would consider “endangering... national unity” and “harming the reputation of the state or its position” as terrorism crimes.
It also grants the Interior Minister wide-ranging powers to take action to protect internal security, without requiring judicial authorization or oversight.
“The penal law, which considers criticism of the government a terrorist crime, is not in accordance with Islamic sharia,” the Umma party said in a statement on its Website.
It urged scholars to speak out against it. Scholars in Saudi Arabia have a major influence. Almost no Saudis answered a call for protest on March 11 after religious scholars in the kingdom issued fatwas (religious edicts) banning protests.
The group’s leader, Abdelaziz Al Wohaiby, has been in detention since February, though other founding members were released after a few days in custody.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s leading oil exporter and a US ally, has reacted with concern to the spate of popular protests spreading throughout the Middle East.
It sent troops to Bahrain to help suppress protests, hosts exiled Tunisian leader Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali and is hosting Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh after he was seriously wounded in a bomb attack in June.
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/07/28/159681.html
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Australia: Sharia-Sanctioned Polygamy and Child Marriage
By Andrew Bostom
Jul 28, 2011
Despite an overall apologetic tone borne of transparent obeisance to cultural relativism, two legal academics, Dr Ann Black and Dr Kerrie Sadiq from The University of Queensland TC Beirne School of Law are “suggesting [2]” in their research publication, “Good & Bad Sharia: Australia’s mixed response to Islamic Law” (due to be published in the University of New South Wales Law Journal on Monday July 25, 2011) that,
Australia is right to act with caution in dealing with Sharia law.
Why are even these obviously [2] devout votaries of the academic social religion of cultural relativism concerned about the practice of Sharia in Australia at all, or what they term, with revealing euphemism, “legal pluralism?”
One reason was extracted from the forthcoming paper of Drs. Black and Sadiq, and cited by The Australian’s legal affairs editor, Chris Merrit [3]:
Valid Muslim polygynist marriages, lawfully entered into overseas, are recognised, with second and third wives and their children able to claim welfare and other benefits.
Merrit’s background article on Black and Sadiq’s findings also noted [3] how this practice of Muslim polygamy in Australia involved “marriages where one party is under the lawful marriage age.” And Merrit provided this additional context [3]:
The findings come soon after Ikebal Patel, president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, triggered a backlash inside the Islamic community when he called for Australia to compromise with Islam and embrace legal pluralism …The latest research has found that while polygamy is unlawful, mainstream law accommodates men who arrive in Australia with multiple wives and gives some legal standing to multiple partnerships that originate in Australia.
More alarming “context” not addressed by the report of Drs. Black and Sadiq, and in fact dismissed by Dr. Black [2] in these words, “The ‘foreignness’ of Sharia law is increased by media reports which highlight ‘differences’ and feed into fears about the Muslim presence in Australia,” was provided by The Australian Daily Telegraph [4]:
On Sunday, a recent convert to Islam in Sydney was allegedly lashed 40 times with electrical cable by men from his mosque, in a terrifying home invasion, as punishment for drinking alcohol – forbidden under Shariah law. Two people have been arrested in connection with the attack.
The staid report by two Australian cultural relativist academics should (but won’t) make our mainstream media talking heads curious about how mainstream Islamic opinion views polygamy in the United States. For example, what have the esteemed mainstream Islamic clerics of the Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America (AMJA) opined regarding polygamy? The AMJA [5]mission statement maintains:
[The AMJA was] founded to provide guidance for Muslims living in North America. … AMJA is a religious organization that does not exploit religion to achieve any political ends, but instead provides practical solutions within the guidelines of Islam and the nation’s laws to the various challenges experienced by Muslim communities.
A report in The Muslim Observer [6] published October 21, 2010, highlighting AMJA’s “seventh annual American conference of imams,” confirms that the organization is accepted [6] as such by the mainstream American Muslim community. AMJA and its recent “training” conference for American imams were described [6] in these banal terms:
The organization AMJA (Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America) has a list of scholars associated with it which stretches from Al-Azhar University to Virginia’s Open University, and back across the ocean to the professors at Saudi universities. Its website, amjaonline.com, provides fatawa on many issues and promises 24-hour access to scholars who can give legal opinions on the issues people face. AMJA focuses on providing fatwas to Americans, and believes it is able to provide culturally appropriate fatwas although many of their scholars are not American–because they have some American scholars and because of the technological ties that bind AMJA’s American scholars with those abroad. AMJA just had, in Houston, its seventh annual American conference of imams, and two local Michigan imams attended, namely Imam Musa of Bloomfield’s Muslim Unity Center, and Imam Ali of MCWS. Mr. Sadiqul Hassan of AMJA explained that “the event was the 7th annual imam workshop.” Mr. Hassan said that AMJA is “a fiqh council basically,” with “scholars who live abroad and inside the U.S.; we have experts in different fields to educate about life in the U.S. — fatwa are based on life in the U.S.”
Not only does AMJA extol polygamy in accordance with the Sharia, AMJA endorses its extra-legal (i.e, vis a vis US law) application here in America, as can be readily gleaned from these two “fatwas” or Islamic legal rulings:
Fatwa 2134 [7] Dr. Main Khalid Al-Qudah Date 2006-10-27
Polygamy in Islam is permissible for different reasons, like:
1- The sexual energy of men is more than that of women in general. So, in some cases, one wife is not enough to fulfill the conjugal desire of her husband
2- Pregnancy and delivery negatively affect the shape and physical attraction that women have.
3- World wide, the percentage of females is always more than that of males, eventually, there must be a solution, either to permit adultery and prostitution, or to allow polygamy
4- One husband could take care of more than one wife at the same time; socially, financially, and even sexually as I mentioned above. However, the opposite is not right because of the physical and psychological capability that Allah the all mighty gave men.
Fatwa 3370 [8] Scholar Dr. Hatem al-Haj Date 2007-08-08
Comment from Muslim questioner: We know that polygamy is against USA law. But I heard from my friend that as long as you don`t register your marriage to the registrar, it is okay to have more than one wife here in the states, i.e., all the wives are living here. The argument that he made was that the law that prohibits marrying more than one is against the shaariah so, it is okay for us to break it…There are some scholars in the USA are practicing polygamy without the knowledge of the authorities using that argument….
Dr. Hatem al-Haj’s response: Polygamy is halal in Islam and may be highly recommended when the number of females is bigger than that of males to afford all females a decent life that suffices their physiologic, emotional and other needs. The US law about polygamy is against the Islamic law, for no one can make prohibited that which Allah specifically made allowable.
http://www.redcounty.com/content/sharia-law-and-polygamy-america
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11 more killed in Karachi
Jul 28, 2011
KARACHI: The ongoing killing spree claimed at least eleven more lives, including that of an advocate and activist of defunct Peoples Aman Committee (PAC), in different parts of the metropolis on Wednesday. Meanwhile, police detained a dozen people from Shah Faisal Colony.
The city remained tense as law enforcement agencies failed to control the law and order situation. An advocate of Sindh High Court was shot dead outside his house in FB Area. The victim, 37-year-old Junaid, was parking his bike outside his home when unidentified armed men came there and shot him twice, killing him instantly. The Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat President, Aurangzaib Farooqi, said the victim was representing the cases of the group’ workers.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\07\28\story_28-7-2011_pg1_5
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Attack on government buildings in Afghanistan kills 18, wounds 35
Jul 28, 2011
KANDAHAR: Eighteen people were killed and 35 were wounded on Thursday during an insurgent attack on government buildings in Afghanistan's volatile southern Uruzgan province, a senior health official said.
"Up to now 18 people have been killed and 35 have been wounded, including military personnel and civilians. Unfortunately, one journalist is among the dead," said Khan Agha Nehakhil, head of Uruzgan's health department.
Up to six suicide bombers armed with guns attacked the governor's compound and the police chief's compound in Tirin Kot, capital of Uruzgan. Officials said at least three bombers had detonated their explosives and police security forces were locked in a gunfight with the remaining attackers.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/28/us-afghanistan-violence-
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King of Saudi Arabia tells ‘True’ Islam is not terrorism
By EMAN EL-SHENAWI
Jul 28, 2011
Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah has urged Islamic scholars to teach young people “true” Islamic principles and avoid extremism and fanaticism.
The king’s remarks were read out by Prince Khaled Al Faisal at an international Islamic conference in Saudi this week.
The king said that scholars should resolve problems facing the international Muslim community, such as the widespread association of Islam to terrorism, the Saudi Gazette reported.
“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia keeps a tab on the developments in the Muslim World, and pays special attention to the problems confronting the people,” the king said.
“Undoubtedly, terrorism was a product of ignorance of the Islamic principles which advocate moderation, flexibility and tolerance,” King Abdullah said.
Full report at:
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/07/24/159154.html
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Iranian guards kill more than 50 Kurdish rebels, assault to continue
Jul 28, 2011
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have killed more than 50 rebels from the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) since beginning an assault nearly two weeks ago and will continue the operation until Iraq takes control of the region, media reported on Wednesday.
“During the past weeks’ operations more than 50 anti-revolutionary elements were killed, around 100 wounded and a number were taken prisoner,” a top commander in northwestern Iran was quoted as saying.
“Our offensive against the American anti-revolutionaries of PJAK will continue along the Iranian border with Iraq in the north until the central government in Iraq and Kurdistan region ... deploy police and military forces along the mutual border,” the unnamed commander added.
He charged that for “years a 150 by 20 kilometer (93 by 12 mile) area has been allocated by the Kurdish region to the American anti-revolutionaries of PJAK without the central government’s knowledge.”
Full report at:
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/07/27/159614.html
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Assad on the rampage: Syrian forces kill 11 people, including a child, near Damascus
Jul 28, 2011
Syrian security forces shot dead at least 11 people, including a child aged seven, in a swoop on the town of Kanaker near Damascus early Wednesday, a human rights activist said.
“The security forces raided homes at dawn on Wednesday and during the operation 11 people were shot dead and more than 250 arrested,” said Ammar Qurabi, head of the National Organization for Human Rights, reached by telephone from Nicosia.
Mr. Qurabi provided AFP with the names of the victims.
He said the operation in Kanaker, a town of 25,000 people, was backed by “a bulldozer and army tanks” and targeted people aged between 15 and 40.
He added that at least 11 vehicles were used to carry away those arrested in the swoop.
According to Mr. Qurabi, the raid was an “act of vengeance” because inhabitants had supplied provisions to anti-regime protesters in the southern city of Daraa, the main hub of protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s hardline rule, when it was besieged by troops earlier this year.
The authorities have used deadly force to quell dissent, with at least 1,486 civilians reported killed since the uprising began mid-March, thousands arrested and thousands more fleeing the country, human rights groups say.
Some rights groups say at least 12,000 people have been detained since the anti-regime protests erupted, but it is unclear how many are still being held and how many have been released.
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/07/27/159596.html
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Bomb Blasts Kill 12 in Iraq
Jul 28, 2011
Iraqi officials say a pair of bombs have exploded in the city of Tikrit, killing at least 12 people and wounding 28 others.
Authorities said said the first explosion was a car bomb that went off outside a bank where policemen were picking up their monthly paychecks. As people gathered at the site, officials say a suicide bomber set off the second blast.
The attack comes as the U.S. moves ahead with plans to remove its forces from Iraq by the end of the year. Both U.S. and Iraqi officials have expressed concern about Iraq's ability to cope with security after the pull-out.
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Bomb-Blasts-Kill-12-in-Iraq-126312753.html
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British anti-Muslim group says no tie to Norwegian mass murderer
28 July 2011
Before he carried out the attacks that killed scores of people in Norway, Anders Behring Breivik wrote of his allegiance to the Knights Templar, which he described as a secret society created to carry out a crusade against Islam in Europe.
While law enforcement agencies said they had never heard of the group, a man named Paul Ray, who writes an anti-Muslim blog called “Lionheart,” has told The Associated Press that it indeed exists and he was one of the founders.
But he denies any contact with Breivik and is instead condemning his actions - if not his ideals.
In a 1,500-page manifesto, Breivik claimed the new group was created at a meeting in London in 2002 and said his mentor was a man called “Richard (the Lionhearted).”
He did not give Richard’s real name, but members of a right-wing English group identified him as Ray.
Full report at:
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/07/28/159698.html
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Human Rights Watch lauds law banning female genital mutilation in Iraqi Kurdistan
Jul 28, 2011
Human Rights Watch on Tuesday welcomed a draft law banning female genital mutilation by the regional government in Iraqi Kurdistan.
The Family Violence Bill approved June 21 by the autonomous government includes several provisions criminalizing the practice in Kurdistan, HRW, said, adding that prevalence of FGM among girls and women in Kurdistan “is at least 40 percent.”
“By passing this law, the Kurdistan regional government has shown its resolve to end female genital mutilation and to protect the rights of women and girls,” said Nadya Khalife, Middle East women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch.
“But the government needs a long-term strategy to deal with this harmful practice because criminalizing it is not enough,” she said in a statement.
The bill has to be ratified by the regional president, Massud Barzani.
Full report at:
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/07/26/159424.html
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17 Indians on death row in UAE to walk free
Jul 28, 2011
CHANDIGARH/SHARJAH: Seventeen Indian youth on a death row in the United Arab Emirates for the death of a Pakistani national could walk free October after members of the Indian community in Dubai deposited "blood money" in a court in Sharjah Wednesday to secure a pardon for them.
Community representatives, led by Dubai hotelier SP Singh Oberoi, deposited 3.4 million dirhams (Rs 40.8 million/Rs 4 crore) with the Sharjah court in the presence of Mohammed Ramzan, a representative of victim Misri Khan's family.
The 17 men, 16 from Punjab and one from Haryana, had been sentenced to death by a Shariat court in Sharjah March 2010. They were convicted of murdering Misri Khan, and injuring three others January 2009, following a fight over illegal liquor business.
The murder took place in Al Sajaa area of Sharjah. The victim, who died of stab wounds, had also suffered brain damage, police had said.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/17-Indians-on-death-row-in-UAE-to-walk-free/articleshow/9387382.cms
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Abu Sayyaf kills seven Philippine soldiers
Jul 28, 2011
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines: Seven Philippine soldiers were killed and 21 were wounded in fierce clashes with al Qaeda-linked Islamic militants in the southern Philippines on Thursday, the military said.
The soldiers encountered members of the Abu Sayyaf group in one of their hideouts in the forests of Jolo Island before dawn, local military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Randolf Cabangbang told reporters.
“The encounter was fierce and troops encountered a big group of the Abu Sayyaf,” he said, adding extra forces and air support had since been called into the area.
Cabangbang said it appeared the soldiers stumbled into a major Abu Sayyaf camp as they chased a small group of the militants.
“I think what happened was, the troops were on manoeuvres during the entire night, and in the morning that’s when they realised they were already in the (Abu Sayyaf) camp.
That explains why we have so many casualties,” he said.
Cabangbang said it was believed the militants were under the control of senior Abu Sayyaf figures wanted for previous kidnappings of Americans and Filipinos in the southern Philippines.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/2011/07/28/abu-sayyaf-kills-seven-philippine-soldiers-military.html
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Subcontinent scholars raise voice against dowry
Jul 28, 2011
JEDDAH: Scholars belonging to various Islamic schools of thought declared unanimously that the system of dowry prevailing in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh is not Islamic.
“It is corrupt and therefore illegitimate,” was the general consensus of the people who spoke against this social scourge.
Ahmeduddin Owaisi presided over the seminar organized by Socioreforms Society of Jeddah at Asian Delight Restaurant.
The scholars passed a resolution that “Wedding parties will be boycotted where dowry is accepted or if the wedding dinner is given wholly by the bride’s guardians.”
Aleem Khan Falaki said dowry and a wedding dinner are allowed in Islam if expenses are borne by the bridegroom. The system has been reversed, and now the bride’s parents are compelled to spend money on the nuptials, which is not legitimate.
Highlighting the consequences, he said people are crushed financially due to this extravagance. As a result, there is an alarming increase in divorces and immoral activities among youths.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article479094.ece
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Bangladesh: Five Hizb ut-Tahrir men held in city
Jul 28, 2011
Law-enforcers in separate drives in the capital on Wednesday arrested five people including four students on charge of being involved with the banned Islamic organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir Bangladesh.
A team of Rapid Action Battalion arrested Hizb ut-Tahrir Bangladesh chapter senior adviser Mahmudul Bari, 41, at Shahjalal International Airport at around 1pm, said RAB legal and media wing deputy director major Khurshid Alam.
Mahmudul Bari, managing director of Silver Sand Reality, a real estate firm, was scheduled to leave for Malaysia later in the afternoon.
Bari allegedly had been playing a key role in the organisation after the arrest of senior Hizb ut-Tahrir leaders including Mohiuddin Ahmed, Golam Moula, and Kazi Morshedul Huq, RAB officials claimed.
Earlier at about 6am, the Gulshan police arrested four students of Southeast University at Banani when they were pasting posters of Hizb ut-Tahrir on roadside walls in the area. The posters were inscribed with anti-government statements.
The arrested students were Anisur Rahman, 24, Sabbir Ahmed Bhuiyan, 21, Afzal Hossain, 21, and Maruf Islam Nadim, 20.
The police also recovered a large quantity of leaflets and other publications from their possession, said additional deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Masudur Rahman.
Earlier on October 22, 2009, the government banned the Hizb ut-Tahrir Bangladesh in the interest of public security.
http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/national/27833.html
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Khar prays for Indo-Pak peace at Nizamuddin shrine
28 July 2011
New Delhi: Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Thursday paid obeisance at the dargah of famous Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya and prayed for peace between the two countries. Wrapping up her three-day official visit, Khar along with foreign secretary Salman Bashir and other members of the delegation spent over 30 minutes at the dargah in Nizamuddin in south Delhi.
Dressed in a salwar kameez, the 34-year-old foreign minister was accorded a traditional welcome by the office bearers of the dargah and was taken to Amir Khusro's grave where she offered a chadar. Khar, who arrived here on Tuesday for talks with her counterpart SM Krishna, spent a few minutes there before proceeding to the shrine of Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya. Since women are not allowed inside the shrine, she touched the chadar with her hand and gave it to other members of the delegation and office bearers who went inside and placed it.
Khar, the youngest Pakistani foreign minister, then offered prayers at the mosque adjoining the dargah where the priests asked her to pray for "peace between India and Pakistan." "She prayed for peace between India and Pakistan and also for improvement of ties between the two countries. She was taken around the dargah by our nizamis and finally she also offered namaz," Diwan Syed Tahir Nizami, one of the office bearers of the dargah, said. He said they also prayed that Khar's purpose of the visit should be successful and "there should only be love" between the people of India and Pakistan.
http://www.newsbullet.in/india/34-more/14102--khar-prays-for-indo-pak-peace-at-nizamuddin-shrine
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Human rights group calls on governments to teach peace, not Islamophobic 'holy war'
Jul 28, 2011
Norway's mass killings of youth have heightened attention to extremist hate crimes including Islamophobia based crimes in the United States with analysts saying Monday that right winger neo-Nazis, anti-immigrant vigilantes and militia groups targeting individuals and groups are a primary domestic threat to security, people of "radical Islamic" ideologies a secondary terrorism threat, and extremist animal and Earth rights also posing threats, while Human Rights First’s Ten-Point Plan for Combating Hate Crimes calls on governments to combat all hate-motivated violence.
The alleged Norway murderer, Anders Behring Breivik, although pleading not guilty, admitted killing 76 people he believed to promote “multiculturalism” and enabled “the ongoing Islamic colonization of Europe.” Initial analysis of his 1,500 page testament shows he is a self-proclaimed Christian nationalist inspired to recreate a Knights Templar in Europe to fight a holy war.
Full report at:
http://www.examiner.com/human-rights-in-national/islamophobics-right-wingers-threaten-targeted-individuals-officials-say
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Islamic Scholar of Nigeria Urge Preachers To Promote Unity
Jul 28, 2011
JEGA (KEBBI STATE) -An Islamic scholar in Kebbi State, Shiekh Aliyu Jega, has advised Islamic clerics to propagate the values of peaceful co-existence, national unity, piety, tolerance and forgiveness in their sermons during the holy month of Ramadan.
He said during a pre-Ramadan sensitisation programme in Jega that Islamic clerics should avoid giving conflicting and controversial sermons that might run against the spirit of the holy month.
Jega also advised traders to shun increasing the cost of essential commodities and food stuffs during the period, stressing that the quest for material or financial enrichment during Ramadan was against the tenets of Islam.
He said it was unIslamic for true believers to take undue advantage of the Ramadan period to make excessive profits, and warned that traders who engaged in the act would not obtain divine grace and forgiveness.
Another prominent Islamic scholar, Shiekh Altine Kalgo, advised Muslims to shun any indulgence in violence and crisis during the period in preference to Islamic teachings.
A good Muslim, he stressed, was expected to shun all vices and give total submission to the teachings of the Holy Quar’an for eternal live.
http://nigerianobservernews.com/27072011/news/Other%20News/othernews11.html
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Breivik: Bad man from Scandinavian crime fiction?
MALINI NAIR
Jul 28, 2011
NEW DELHI: Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik would have been perfectly at home in a book of Scandinavian crime fiction. He is the archetype of the villains that infest this genre of books hugely popular for their realistic portrayal of modern-day evil - bloodlessly brutal, neo-Nazi , anti-immigrant and misogynist to boot.
For, ever since the leftleaning writer couple Pers Wahloo and Maj Sjowall set off the trend of strong, politically and socially loaded crime writing in Scandinavia, a bulk of the villains have been men like Breivik.
There are several instances of how unnervingly closely the writings of Scandinavian crime writers resemble real life and often ended up foretelling tragedies to come.
In Norwegian writer Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole series, one of the antagonists is the booted, violent, supremacist 'Prince' Tom Waaler. A trigger-happy vigilante cop, the agenda of his gun-running gang is to 'eliminate' the 'human detritus' . "Unfortunately we live in a country that is so rich at the moment that the politicians compete with each other to be the most open handed. We've become so soft and nice that no one dares take the responsibility for doing unpleasant things any more," he says of his plans to 'eliminate' the 'human detritus', sentiments that echo Breivik's right-wing rants.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/europe/Breivik-Bad-man-from-Scandinavian-crime-fiction/articleshow/9390774.cms
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Deoband slams Right to Education Act, to oppose it
Jul 28 2011
Lucknow : Terming the Right to Education Act as an "attack" on the sovereignty of madarsas and other minority institutions, Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband today said it will oppose it.
"The seminary will strongly protest the move to snatch rights of madarsas through RTE and it is with the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, which is already opposing it," newly-appointed vice-chancellor Maulana Abul Qasim Nomani said.
He said the Act poses a threat to the independence of madarsas and their education system.
"If minority institutions are not excluded from the Act then Deoband will lodge its protest whether on its own or under the banner of the AIMPLB," Nomani said.
He said during a programme organised by Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind in Delhi an year back when apprehension were raised in this regard, Union Human Resource Minister Kapil Sibal had assured them that such educational institutions would be kept out of the ambit of the act.
"But this has not been done," he said.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/deoband-slams-right-to-education-act-to-oppose-it/823585/
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Egyptian women demand equal rights in new constitution
Jul 28, 2011
Fifteen Egyptian groups called on Tuesday for women’s rights to be guaranteed in the new constitution, after a popular uprising that toppled the regime paved the way for a new charter.
“We are not proposing a new constitution, but we want women’s rights to be included,” Amina ElBendary, a professor of Arab and Islamic Civilization at the American University in Cairo, and one of the signatories, told a news conference.
“We have simply put forward some suggestions of clauses which could be included in the next constitution,” she said.
After eight weeks of research in various parts of Egypt, the 15 groups are calling for a women’s quota in parliament and in local councils, as well as equal rights for women at work and in education.
“The women we have met are very concerned about their rights, they want the law to protect them,” said Azza Soleiman, a long-time women’s rights activist.
“The women are not questioning the sharia,” the Islamic law on which personal status laws are based, “but they want the law clearly defined because the interpretations can vary,” she said.
Full report at:
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/07/26/159493.html
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Dhyan Chand Award for former Indian football captain Shabbir Ali
Jul 28, 2011
New Delhi: For former Indian captain Shabbir Ali it was better late than never as on Tuesday he became the first footballer to get the prestigious Dhyan Chand Award for lifetime achievement.
A prolific scorer in both club and international football, Shabbir has 35 goals from 100 international matches. He is the only footballer after P.K. Banerjee and Syed Nayeemuddin, both Arjuna Award winners, to have excelled as a player and coach.
While Banerjee is among the few footballers to be conferred with the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award, Nayeemuddin is the only to get both the Arjuna and the Dronacharya awards. Ali, however was never considered for either the Arjuna or the Dronacharya Award.
Shabbir was elated after being selected for the Dhyan Chand Award.
"It is a great honour for me. I always had faith in the government that my contributions to Indian football would be recognised one day. I thank Allah for the award," Shabbir told IANS over phone from Kolkata.
Full report at:
http://twocircles.net/2011jul27/dhyan_chand_award_former_indian_football_captain_
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109 Afghan army personnel killed in one month
Jul 28, 2011
KABUL, July 27 (Xinhua) -- A total of 109 personnel of the Afghan National Army (ANA) had been killed in one month period in the insurgency-hit country, a Defense Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday.
"Over one month period from June 22 to July 22, a total of 109 ANA personnel including officers and soldiers had been killed, with majority of them in roadside bomb and Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attacks throughout the country," General Zahir Azimi told reporters in a weekly press conference here.
The latest number announced by Azimi shows a sharp increase in Afghan army's casualties as one month back from May 22 to June 21, only 68 personnel of ANA had been killed during military operations and insurgent attacks in the war-torn country.
However, Azimi did not provide information about Taliban insurgent casualties, only saying "Army soldiers have also captured a total of 619 Taliban over the same time table besides finding and defusing dozens of roadside bomb and IEDs and destroying 144 kg of explosive materials all over the country."
Full report at:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-07/27/c_131013643.htm
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US soldier found guilty of killing Afghan civilian
Jul 28, 2011
NASHVILLE: A US National Guardsman who shot an Afghan electrician in the head at close range last year was found guilty of premeditated murder on Wednesday in his court-martial at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
Sgt. Derrick Miller will be sentenced in the near future, post spokesman Bob Jenkins said.
Prosecutors had argued that Miller shot and killed Atta Mohammed in September in Masamute Bala, Afghanistan, with a Beretta pistol. They said Miller took another soldier’s weapon, straddled the man on the ground and then shot him.
Miller’s attorney, Charles Gittins, had argued that Miller shot the Afghan civilian in self-defense and entered a plea of not guilty, saying his client had perceived the man a threat.
The slain man’s son told Reuters a few months ago that, while he wasn’t there at the time, his understanding was that his father was taken from his home by US and Afghan soldiers, beaten in a school bathroom and then shot in the head.
Details about the sentencing and where Miller is now will be released on Thursday, Jenkins said.
Miller is a member of a Connecticut National Guard unit that is attached to Fort Campbell, home to the 101st Airborne Division, which is now being rotated home from Afghanistan.
http://arabnews.com/world/article479265.ece
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Zawahiri releases first tape as Qaeda chief
28 July 2011
Washington: The new head of Al-Qaeda describes Syria's president as "the leader of criminal gangs, the protector of traitors," and applauds anti-government protesters seeking to topple him, in a video that appeared on extremist websites this week. Ayman al-Zawahiri's message is believed to be his first since he was named leader of the terror network.
In the video, the bespectacled 60-year-old dressed in a white robe gestures and points with his finger as he speaks. He uses the seven-minute video, which first appeared Wednesday, to discuss Syria and address the protesters seeking to oust President Bashar Al-Assad. The protests have sparked a bloody government crackdown in various cities including Daeel and Douma, according to witnesses. "Oh free people of Syria and its mujahideen," the terror leader said. "It is better for you not to ally yourself with the colonialist powers of the world and the new crusades."
Full report at:
http://www.newsbullet.in/world/52-more/14101-zawahiri-releases-first-tape-as-qaeda-chief
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ICC prosecutor says Libya obligated to arrest Qaddafi
28 July 2011
Libya has “an obligation” to arrest Col. Muammar Qaddafi, the world crimes court’s prosecutor’s office said Wednesday, after suggestions that the Libyan autocrat might be allowed to stay if he quits power.
“This is a legal issue,” prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s office said in a statement in The Hague, where the world crimes court is based.
“Libya is not a state party to the (court’s founding treaty) Rome Statute but it is a member of the United Nations. Therefore, according to Resolution 1970, the Libyan government has an obligation to implement the arrest warrants,” the statement said.
“Any future government will have the same obligation,” it added.
ICC judges on June 27 issued arrest warrants for the embattled Libyan leader, his son Seif Al Islam, 39, and Libyan spymaster Abdullah Al Senussi, 62, for crimes against humanity, committed since a bloody uprising started against Colonel Qaddafi’s regime in mid-February.
Full report at:
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/07/28/159673.html
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Saudi Arabia to set minimum marriage age following surge in such weddings
Jul 28, 2011
Saudi Arabia intends to set a minimum age for girls allowed to marry under a new law intended to curb child marriages following a surge in such a phenomenon in the conservative Gulf Kingdom.
The ministry of justice is working on a regulation banning the marriage of female minors, most of which are forced by their fathers to marry much older men for dowry or other personal purposes, newspapers said.
Ministry sources, quoted by Almadina and other local newspapers, said the law would be issued soon despite what they described as stiff opposition by some scholars who believe such a ruling violates Islamic law.
“The law to set a minimum age for marriage is being drafted and will be issued soon,” one source said, without elaborating on that age.
Officials in the world’s oil powerhouse said the law, the first in the region, would have to be endorsed by the country’s appointed parliament (Shura) and King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz before it is enforced.
Full report at:
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/07/25/159321.html
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Millionaire Arabs snub Paris and flock to UK
28 July 2011
WEALTHY Muslim shoppers are splashing the cash in Britain after the French burka ban.
They are snubbing Paris and flocking to our top stores after France outlawed women from covering their faces.
Selfridges, with branches in London, Manchester and Birmingham, has seen international visitors shoot up by 40% in a year
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/07/28/159669.html
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Never used Hindu outfits term in connection with 13/7 blasts: Digvijay
Jul 28 2011
Bhopal : Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh today maintained he had never asked for looking into the role of Hindu organisations in connection with the Mumbai serial blasts.
"I had only said that the role of all organisations should be looked into in connection with the Mumbai blasts and I had never used the term Hindu outfits," the Congress general secretary said.
Singh observed he had only said what the Union Home Minister P Chidambaram had stated regarding the Mumbai blasts.
Dismissing media reports, the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister, who has often courted controversies, said there was not a single 'byte' on any news channel which could show him using the term Hindu organisations in connection with the 13/7 blasts.
24 people have so far lost their lives in the triple blasts on July 13, while over 125 others were injured.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/never-used-hindu-outfits-term-in-connection-with-13-7-blasts-digvijay/823633/
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Talks back on track well and proper
Indrani Bagchi
Jul 28, 2011
New Delhi:India-Pakistan relations is off life-support.Its breathing on its own now. This observation by government sources captures the essence of the achievement of completing an entire A-Z round of talks between the two countries.
The modest deliverables of LoC trade and travel between the two Kashmirs should not be the focus.Instead,it is significant that since the resumption of dialogue,two terror attacks in India Pune on February 13,2010 and Mumbai on July 13,2011 did not derail the talks.On both occasions,India played a more mature game of not instantly assigning blame to Pakistan,which went a long way in smoothing the path between the two countries.
Pakistan therefore achieved a key tactical objective in its relations with India.The delinking of dialogue and terror attacks is almost complete,though the jury is still out on what India will do if a really big terror attack comes out of Pakistan-sponsored groups.This delinking was the core promise of the 2009 Sharm el-Sheikh joint statement which was overwhelmingly rejected by India then.Two years down the line,most of India is resigned to the fact that not talking to Pakistan does not mean less terror attacks.
Full report at: Times of India
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Kashmir rape case: SIT detains man for instigating woman
Jul 28, 2011
SRINAGAR: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged rape incident in Kulgam district of south Kashmir has detained a man on charges of instigating a woman to put the blame on Army.
A senior police official said a man identified as Ghulam Hassan was detained on Wednesday after it emerged that he had instigated 32-year-old Ruqaya Bano to blame the Army.
"We are trying to ascertain the motives of the man for instigating the woman but so far there is nothing to suggest that he might be linked to any separatist outfit," the officer said on condition of anonymity.
The officer said investigations have also revealed that there were some problems in the woman's martial life as she had not been able to conceive even after three years of marriage.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Kashmir-rape-case-SIT-detains-man-for-instigating-woman/articleshow/9393568.cms
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Somalia's al Shabaab recruited dozens of Americans
Jul 28, 2011
WASHINGTON: An al-Qaida-affiliated group in Somalia, al Shabaab, has recruited more than 40 Muslim Americans to its battle in the war-ravaged country and at least 15 have been killed, a congressional report said on Wednesday.
US officials have become increasingly worried about the group, particularly after capturing an al Shabaab commander who had allegedly been a liaison with al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, an active Yemeni group that has tried to strike the United States.
So far, al Shabaab has conducted only limited attacks outside of Somalia, notably the twin bombings in Uganda that killed 79 people watching the World Cup final last year. The group has waged a long, violent battle to control Somalia.
Republican Peter King of New York, chairman of the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, has been holding a series of hearings to probe concerns about Muslim Americans becoming radicalized and joining militant groups.
A report by his staff found that more than 40 Muslim Americans and 20 Canadians have been recruited to al Shabaab and at least 15 Americans were killed in fighting, including three suicide bombers.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Somalias-al-Shabaab-recruited-dozens-of-Americans-US-report/articleshow/9389822.cms
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Al Qaeda leader Zawahiri hails Syrian protestors
Jul 28, 2011
WASHINGTON: Al Qaeda’s new leader Ayman al-Zawahiri praised anti-regime protestors in Syria in a video released Wednesday claiming the United States is seeking regime change in Damascus, US-based monitors said.
Calling the pro-democracy activists “mujahideen,” or holy warriors, Zawahiri hailed their efforts in “teaching lessons to the aggressor, the oppressor, the traitor, the disloyal, and standing up against his oppression” in a video the SITE Intelligence Group said was posted on extremist online forums.
He also expressed regret that he and his fellow fighters could not join ordinary Syrians in their uprising against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which has responded with a brutal crackdown that has left at least 1,486 civilians dead since mid-March, according to rights groups.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/2011/07/28/al-qaeda-leader-zawahiri-hails-syrian-protestors.html
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Indonesia sends ‘chilling message’ in mob trial: HRW
Jul 28, 2011
SERANG: An Indonesian court on Thursday sentenced religious fanatics who killed three members of a minority Muslim sect in a frenzied mob attack to between three and six months in jail.
Dani bin Misra, a 17-year-old who smashed a victim’s skull with a stone, received three months for manslaughter.
Idris bin Mahdani, who led the mob of more than 1,000 Muslims in the February attack, was convicted of illegal possession of a machete and received five months and 15 days in jail.
Twelve people stood trial but none faced murder charges in what human rights activists said was a travesty of justice in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country.
The unprovoked violence against the Ahmadiyah sect members in Cikeusik, western Java, was one of the most horrific in a long line of attacks on the minority group in Indonesia in recent years.
A secretly filmed video of the attack brought religious violence in Indonesia under the international spotlight, and provoked condemnation from the United States, Italy and international rights groups.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/2011/07/28/indonesia-sends-%E2%80%98chilling-message%E2%80%99-in-mob-trial-hrw.html
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Presidential hopeful apologizes for comments after meeting with Muslim leaders
Jul 28, 2011
WASHINGTON — Republican Herman Cain is apologizing to Muslim leaders for vitriolic remarks he made about Islam while campaigning for the presidential nomination.
The former Godfather’s Pizza CEO has said communities have a right to ban Islamic mosques because Muslims are trying to inject sharia law into the U.S. He’s also said he would not want a Muslim bent on killing Americans in his administration.
On Wednesday, Cain met with four Muslim leaders in Sterling, Va. He said in a statement later he was “truly sorry” for comments that may have “betrayed” his commitment to the Constitution and the religious freedom it guarantees.
He also acknowledged that Muslims, “like all Americans,” have the right to practice freely their faith and that most Muslim Americans are peaceful and patriotic.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/presidential-hopeful-herman-cain-apologizes-for-comments-after-meeting-with-muslim-leaders/2011/07/27/gIQA0nfvdI_story.html
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Separatists, not Islamists, behind most of terror strikes in Europe
Subodh Varma
Jul 28, 2011
Contrary to popular impression that Europe is being over run by migrants and that this has opened the way for both Islamist fundamentalist terrorists to flourish, data collected by the European Police Organization (Europol) shows that they are very minor players in the terrorism stakes. Between 2007 and 2010, there were just 6 incidents of terrorist strikes by Islamist groups. While extreme rightwing groups like the neo-Nazis have gained some ground in Europe, there were only five terrorist acts carried out by them in the past four years.
Overall, there has been a declining trend in the number of terrorist acts in Europe, from 581 incidents in 2007 to 249 in 2010. The numbers include foiled and failed attempts also. Most of these incidents are bombings or gun strikes but the casualties were generally very low - till the Oslo bombing-cum-shooting.
The largest number of terror plots and acts were carried out by various separatist groups, and they were mostly concentrated in France and Spain. Since 2007, these groups carried out an astonishing 1326 different acts of terror.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/europe/Separatists-not-Islamists-behind-most-of-terror-strikes-in-Europe/articleshow/9390811.cms
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India ‘ goofs up’ again in statement with Pak ... this time over 26/ 11
By Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury and Aman Sharma
Jul 28, 2011
JOINT statements with Pakistan seem to be India’s Achilles’ heel.
After the Sharm- el- Sheikh statement caused embarrassment to the Manmohan Singh government over a reference to Balochistan, the latest one following S. M. Krishna’s meeting with Hina Rabbani Khar has also created a furore — this time over “ satisfaction on the holding of meetings on progress over the ( 26/ 11) trial”. The Mumbai attack figured prominently during talks between the two countries’ foreign ministers on Wednesday, just days after home minister P. Chidambaram had expressed dissatisfaction over the pace of the trial to his Pakistani counterpart in Thimphu.
India reiterated its dissatisfaction at the Krishna- Khar discussion but, surprisingly, the joint statement referred to India’s satisfaction over the meetings on 26/ 11.
“ The ministers reviewed the status of bilateral relations and expressed satisfaction on the holding of meetings on the issues of counter- terrorism ( including progress on the Mumbai trial)…,” the statement read.
Full report at: Mail Today
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Fai says he took money from ISI
Jul 28, 2011
KASHMIRI separatist Ghulam Nabi Fai has admitted to receiving funds from Pakistan’s ISI to influence law makers on Kashmir in a Virginia court.
The court on Wednesday released the 62- year- old on a bond of $ 100,000 ( ` 44lakh) but put him under house arrest with a radio tag around his ankle for electronic surveillance.
Fai, a Kashmir- born US citizen, was arrested by the FBI last week on charges of working for the Pakistan government — in particular its spy agency ISI — to lobby at the Capitol Hill and the Barack Obama administration on Kashmir.
During FBI questioning, Fai had lied to the federal agents that he had any connection with the ISI. This fact was acknowledged by Fai’s two attorneys — Nina J. Ginsberg and Khurram Wahid — but they argued that taking money from ISI does not mean that he toed their line.
At his detention hearing, magistrate judge Rawles Jones at the US district court in Alexandria, Virginia — a suburb of Washington — ordered that Fai be released from prison on a personal bond of $ 100,000 ( ` 44lakh) and put under house arrest with electronic surveillance.
Full report at: Mail Today
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'Uzbek charged with threatening to kill Obama'
Jul 28, 2011
An Uzbek national who overstayed his student visa was indicted on charges of threatening to kill President Barack Obama and illegal possession of weapons, officials said.
Ulugbek Kodirov, 21, was arrested July 13 at a motel in Leeds, Alabama after buying a machine gun from a US undercover agent, the Justice Department said.
A grand jury in Birmingham, Alabama yesterday indicted him on charges of threatening to kill Obama on four occasions in the week preceding his arrest, and illegal possession of an automatic weapon and a grenade, it said.
“Kodirov faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison on each count of threatening the president and a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison on each of the weapons counts,” the Justice Department said in a statement.
Kodirov entered the United States in June 2009 on a student visa, but it was revoked in April the following year because he was not enrolled in school.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/356371/Uzbek-charged-with-threatening-to-kill-Obama.html
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Songwriter of Syria uprising meets gruesome death
28 July 2011
BEIRUT — Ibrahim Qashoush’s lyrics moved thousands of protesters in Syria who sang his jaunty verses at rallies, telling President Bashar Assad, “Time to leave.”
So when his body was dumped in the river flowing through his hometown, his killers added an obvious message: His throat was carved out.
Qashoush’s slaying underlines how brutal Syria’s turmoil has become as authorities try to crush a persistent uprising. His fellow activists are convinced he was killed by security forces and fear it could mark a new campaign to liquidate protest leaders.
An estimated 1,600 civilians have died in the crackdown on the largely peaceful protests that have been raging around Syria for more than four months, most from shootings by troops on anti-Bashar rallies. Qashoush’s case was a rare, targeted killing of a prominent activist — made more chilling by the clear intention to send a bloody message.
The 42-year-old Qashoush, a father of three boys, was a fireman in the central Syrian city of Hama who wrote poetry in his spare time, said a close friend, Saleh Abu Yaman. Before the uprising began in mid-March, he’d write about love or hard economic times.
“All the poems and songs he wrote were by instinct. He used to be sitting with his friends and then start reciting a poem,” Abu Yaman said.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2011/July/middleeast_July570.xml§ion=middleeast&col=
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Bush got ‘closure’ with Bin Laden death
Jul 28, 2011
WASHINGTON: Former US president George W. Bush says in a new documentary on the 9/11 attacks that he felt “a sense of closure” when he learned of the death of Osama bin Laden, The Hollywood Reporter said Wednesday.
Bush said he was in a Dallas restaurant with his wife Laura on May 1 when President Barack Obama called him before addressing the nation to say bin Laden had been killed in a raid by US special forces on his compound in Pakistan.
“I didn’t… feel any great sense of happiness. Or jubilation,” Bush said in exclusive interviews with director Peter Schnall on May 2 and 3, which had been scheduled long before the dramatic announcement of Bin Laden’s death.
“I felt a sense of closure. And I felt a sense of gratitude that justice had been done,” he said, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Bush, who had been in office less than eight months when Al-Qaeda operatives attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, gives what the newspaper calls a “very personal account” of his experiences on September 11, 2001.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/2011/07/28/bush-got-%E2%80%98closure%E2%80%99-with-bin-laden-death-report.html
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From Today’s Zaman: Weddings, ethics and moral dilemmas
By MARION JAMES
28 July 2011
Summer is always wedding season, but it seems that this July I have more than my usual share of invitations to marriages and engagements.
Perhaps it is because, with Ramadan taking up most of August, couples either need to marry before the month of fasting starts, or wait until September.
The wedding I attended last Saturday was as delightful as it was different for Turkey. I have known Gizem for many years and watched her grow from a pretty young girl into the beautiful bride that walked down the aisle on her proud father’s arm. She met the groom, Dominik, in Switzerland, although he had grown up in Zeytinburnu in Istanbul. So the ceremony was all in Turkish.
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/07/28/159714.html
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"Independence and Freedom" Meeting, the Product of Sacrifice and Martyrdom in Afghanistan
Jul 28, 2011
The seminar ‘Independence and freedom; product of sacrifice and martyrdom’ will be held in Kabul, Afghanistan by presence of Ayatollah Taskhiri, the secretary General of the World Assembly of Islamic religious propinquity.
(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The seminar ‘Independence and freedom; product of sacrifice and martyrdom’ will be held in Kabul, Afghanistan by presence of Ayatollah Taskhiri, the secretary General of the World Assembly of Islamic religious propinquity.
The seminar of “Independence and freedom; product of sacrifice and martyrdom” will be held in Afghanistan.
The seminar of “Independence and freedom; product of sacrifice and martyrdom “will be held in Afghanistan in the presence of the Secretary General of the World Assembly of Islamic religious propinquity, Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Taskhiei.
Ayatollah Taskhiri is expected to deliver speech on the topic of “Belief and Jihad, the secret of Freedom and independence”.
This seminar aims at reviving the culture of Jihad in Afghanistan and commemoration of Afghan martyrs.
Introducing the martyrs of Jihad in Afghanistan, making the youths familiar with the concept of Jihad are among the topics to be discussed at the conference.
http://abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&Id=256181