West Bengal: Muslim student attacked, labelled “Bangladeshi” by Hindutva men in train

New Age Islam News Bureau

8 February 2025

Rezaul Islam Mondal, a final-year M.Tech student and a resident of Hooghly district’s Meshera village.

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·         West Bengal: Muslim student attacked, labelled “Bangladeshi” by Hindutva men in train

·         Feb 8 polls: Punjab bans public gatherings ahead of PTI’s protest

·         Zarif: Shias’ support for Sunni Palestinians refuted claims of sectarianism

·         Indian diaspora provides key link between India and Saudi Arabia, says former foreign minister

·         Swedish school shooting victims were seven women and three men

·         Dozens of countries back International Criminal Court after Trump sanctions

·         Sokoto police hunt gunmen for abducting 10 Muslim worshipers

·         Selangor Sultan Expresses Concern Over Muslims Being Misled By False Information

·         Attack in Gazipur: Anti-discrimination student movement to hold protest today

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India

·         Point Blank: Hamas leaders In PoK expose Pakistan's bid to turn J&K into Jihad theatre

·         Muslim man assaulted by VHP, Sanskriti Bachao Manch workers inside Bhopal court during marriage registration

·         Sambhal demolition: Supreme Court refuses to consider contempt action plea against authorities

·         Row over Waqf Board properties survey in MP; MLA Arif Masood claims wrong data presented

·         HC reserves order on Engineer Rashid’s plea for custody parole to attend Parliament

·         PDP leader Iltija Mufti claims she and her mother Mehbooba Mufti placed under house arrest

·         Kishan questions Muslims’ inclusion in BC list in caste survey

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Pakistan

·         Three terrorists killed in North Waziristan IBO: ISPR

·         Supreme Judicial Council examines complaints against judges

·         PM directs to complete power sector reforms on time

·         Path to climate adaptation to remain elusive without grant-based support: PM

·         Call for public-private partnerships to combat climate change

·         PHC seeks govt response to pleas against plan to dissolve tobacco board

·         10 more bunkers demolished in Kurram

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Mideast

·         Hamas, Israel to begin fifth hostage-prisoner exchange

·         Ten-Day Dawn: The Islamic Revolution of Iran

·         Khamenei warns against negotiating with US

·         Leader: One shall not negotiate with a perfidious U.S. government

·         Vigils in Al-Jawf in solidarity with Palestine & against Ansar Allah classification as terrorist organization

·         About 30,000 Palestinians perform Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque

·         Educational reform in Iran after Islamic revolution

·         Baghdad Imam condemns Amnesty Law suspension

·         Chemical weapons agency chief to meet Syrian officials in Damascus on Saturday, sources say

·         US State Department lays out plans for $7 billion-plus arms sale to Israel as Netanyahu visits DC

·         Hamas says Israeli block on diggers affecting extraction of hostages’ bodies

·         Scholz vows support for ‘free and safe’ Syria

·         Slain deputy chief of Hamas armed wing given Gaza burial

·         Jordan’s King Abdullah, Iraq’s president discuss regional developments

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Arab World

·         Saudi Arabia: Multiple options for airport arrivals to reach Grand Mosque

·         Saudi mining minister explores investment opportunities during trip to India

·         How Saudi Arabia is advancing clean combustion while meeting global energy demand

·         Saudi forces conclude military exercises

·         Renowned Ramsi tomatoes still a staple on Saudi tables

·         Kiswa on display at Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah

·         Jazan honey festival attracts customers

·         Saudi Arabia’s aid agency provides medical aid in Syria

·         Saudi Shoura Council speaker meets Thai senate speaker in Bangkok

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Europe

·         Russian military thwarts Ukrainian attack in Kursk Region (MOD VIDEO)

·         Moscow accuses EU state’s leaders of ‘whipping up war psychosis’

·         Bradford 2025 brings Ramadan Pavilion and Open Iftar to city

·         Oxford mosque stabbing: Man not guilty attempted murder

·         Cheaper China e-bikes 'kick in teeth' for UK firms

·         Free sandwiches for all after West Brom signing

·         Stars join the King for Italian-themed dinner

·         Andrew aide asks court to withhold testimony on alleged spy

·         UK demands Apple allow spying on users worldwide – WaPo

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North America

·         How Trump suddenly became a feminist champion

·         US bishops call for “prayer and action” against human trafficking

·         16 things Trump and his team did this week

·         Trump signs order freezing aid to South Africa over land law

·         Biden granted more acts of clemency than any prior president

·         Trump says he is revoking Biden's security clearance

·         Judge blocks Trump plan to put thousands of USAID staff on leave

·         Missing Alaska plane found with three confirmed dead - US Coast Guard

·         Trudeau says Trump threat to annex Canada 'is a real thing'

·         USAID corruption at ‘unexplainable’ level – Trump

·         Trump says he ‘will probably’ meet Zelensky next week

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Africa

·         Northern senators urge action after Zamfara Islamic school fire kills 17

·         AFC secures US$400 million Shariah-compliant Murabaha facility to boost Africa’s Infrastructure

·         Fulani community begs Tinubu to release Miyetti Allah leader

·         Adamawa community celebrates unity as Mosque attacked by hoodlums reopen

·         The Apostolic Church Nigeria elects new national leaders

·         Photos: Iyabo Ojo’s Daughter Ties The Knot With Tanzania Singer, Juma Jux At Islamic Ceremony

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Southeast Asia

·         Selangor Sultan reminds Muslims to not be influenced by deviant, superstitious teachings

·         Warning against Haj fraud, Tabung Haji tells Muslim pilgrims to use only approved operators

·         MOTAC Calls On Islamic Tourism Centre To Expand Muslim-Friendly Tourism

·         Selangor to establish AI centres to boost technology development - MB

·         Influencers must act responsibly, avoid sensationalising content for views - Fahmi

·         Foreign man arrested for attempted theft on board flight

·         Home Ministry bans three books over public morality concerns

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South Asia

·         Jamaat announces candidates for 19 constituencies in Sylhet division

·         ‘Govt bound to fail as it lacks spirit of uprising’

·         Long-Standing Feud in Nangarhar Ends after 50 Years

·         New Health Centre Inaugurated in Helmand Province

·         Weapons,Ammunition Depot Discovered in Kabul

Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau

URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/west-bengal-muslim-hindutva-student/d/134560

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West Bengal: Muslim student attacked, labelled “Bangladeshi” by Hindutva men in train

February 7, 2025

Rezaul Islam Mondal, a final-year M.Tech student and a resident of Hooghly district’s Meshera village.

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A 27-year-old Muslim student from Aliah University, Rezaul Islam Mondal, was assaulted by a group of 10–12 Hindutva men on a Sealdah-bound train in West Bengal. The attackers beat him, pulled his beard, and threatened to throw him off the train, accusing him of being a “Bangladeshi,” as reported by The Observer Post.

Rezaul, a final-year M.Tech student and a resident of Hooghly district’s Meshera village, was returning from the Bishwa Ijtema religious gathering in Bangladesh with four friends when the incident occurred on a train from Gede station to Sealdah.

The issue began when a passenger asked Rezaul to remove his trolley bag from the luggage rack. Though he complied, a group of men soon attempted to force him out of his seat. When he resisted, they hurled communal slurs, calling him a “Bangladeshi.”

For nearly an hour, a dozen people attacked him despite his repeated claims of being an Indian citizen. Rezaul was punched and kicked, his skullcap was removed, and his beard was pulled. Some attackers even encouraged others to throw him off the moving train. When his friend, Sajid Mirza, attempted to record the assault, he was threatened with being thrown off as well. “They accused us of being uneducated militants destroying the country,” Sajid later told the media.

After receiving medical treatment, Rezaul initially tried to file a complaint at Haripal police station, but the officers allegedly refused to register it. He then approached the Sealdah Government Railway Police (GRP) on February 5, where his complaint was officially recorded. A case has been filed under sections 115(2), 299, 351(2), and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and railway police have launched an investigation.

The incident has drawn strong political reactions. CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya linked it to the growing influence of RSS-backed politics in West Bengal, emphasizing the need for a strong secular movement to counter rising communal divisions.

ISF MLA Nawsad Siddique also condemned the attack, criticizing both the BJP’s Hindutva ideology and the Trinamool Congress government for its inaction.

Siddique questioned whether Rezaul’s beard and skullcap were the reasons behind the attack and accused both the BJP and TMC of fostering religious hatred.

He highlighted the increasing communal violence in Bengal and called for public awareness to combat such assaults. Demanding immediate action, he insisted that railway authorities and police must not remain inactive. — With Agencies Inputs

Source: muslimmirror.com

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https://muslimmirror.com/west-bengal-muslim-student-attacked-labeled-bangladeshi-by-hindutva-men-in-train/

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Feb 8 polls: Punjab bans public gatherings ahead of PTI’s protest

By Web Desk

February 07, 2025

The picture shows police personnel putting barriers on a road. — APP/File

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Ahead of the PTI’s protest against the February 8 “rigged” polls, the Punjab government on Friday imposed Section 144 in the province banning all political gathering and rallies.

Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is a legal provision that empowers district administrations to ban an assembly of four or more people in an area for a limited period.

Jailed Imran Khan-founded PTI is set to observe “Black Day" to mark the first anniversary of “rigged general elections” tomorrow (Saturday).

“Section 144 has been imposed to protect human lives and properties and maintain law and order situation [in the backdrop of PTI’s protests],” said a spokesperson of the home department.

The decision was made in light of the recommendation of the cabinet committee on law and order and the provincial intelligence committee, the spokesperson added.

A day earlier, the Lahore city district administration rejected PTI’s application to hold a public gathering at Minar-e-Pakistan on February 8.

The deputy commissioner denied permission citing security reasons.

The former ruling party, following its negotiations with the government fell apart announced protest rallies against 2024 polls dubbed by opposition parties as “heavily manipulated” elections.

The Imran Khan-founded party's ended negotiations after the latter's failure to form a judicial commission to probe the May 9 riots and November 2024 protests as per its charter of demands.

The dialogue process between the PML-N-led government and the PTI commenced in late December after months of heightened political tensions.

With the party also announcing a rally in Swabi on Feb 8 (tomorrow), PTI Khyber Pakhtunkhwa President Junaid Akbar warned of agitation against the ruling coalition, saying that the party's desire to hold dialogue with the government was misconstrued as its weakness.

Reacting to the PTI’s protest and Swabi Jalsa, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif accused the Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur-led government of using state machinery, resources and public wealth to stage a rally. He feared the provincial administration would force government servants to attend the rally and fill the venue.

“PTI is decrying rigging in KP, where they are in power,” he said and dared the former ruling party to stage protest demonstrations in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan, where the Khan-founded party claimed its mandate was stolen.

Taking a dig at CM Gandapur, the defence czar said PTI’s leadership used to vanish when it came to holding protests in other provinces.

Source:thenews.com.pk

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https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1280440-feb-8-polls-punjab-bans-public-gatherings-ahead-of-ptis-protest

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Zarif: Shias’ support for Sunni Palestinians refuted claims of sectarianism

Feb 7, 2025

Vice-President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad-Javad Zarif (4th from left)

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Tehran, IRNA – Vice-President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad-Javad Zarif says the Shias of the world showed with their support for the Sunni people in the Gaza Strip that any claim that they have sectarian inclinations is baseless.

Addressing a meeting dubbed “The Lovers of Ahl al-Bayt” in Baghdad on Friday, Zarif said that “We have sacrificed more for our Palestinian sisters and brothers than for anybody else, and nobody has sacrificed as much as we have for the sake of our Sunni brothers and sisters in Palestine.”

Source:irna.ir

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https://en.irna.ir/news/85743261/Zarif-Shias-support-for-Sunni-Palestinians-refuted-claims-of

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Indian diaspora provides key link between India and Saudi Arabia, says former foreign minister

RASHID HASSAN

February 08, 2025

Former Indian Foreign Minister and president of the India Islamic Cultural Center Salman Khurshid (4R), AIMIM Bihar president Akhtarul Iman (3R) in Riyadh during an interaction with the Indian diaspora. (Supplied)

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RIYADH: Salman Khurshid, president of the India Islamic Cultural Center and his country’s former foreign minister, said Indians living and working in Saudi Arabia play a key role in relations between the two countries.

He added that he and his team are working on implementing changes and reforms at the cultural center to improve the support and services it provides for all Indians, not only in India but in other countries.

Khurshid, who was elected president of the center in August last year, was visiting Riyadh for an event on Friday during which he discussed with Indian expatriates their experiences of living and working in the Kingdom.

“I am in here to interact with the Indian community and discuss the ground realities,” he said. “They are keen to know about the developments in India.

“I am very pleased that the IICC is in focus, people are looking at what possibilities there are, and how much we can develop the organization as a hub that links different parts in the world and connects with how important it is for that dimension of the Indian culture and the Indian society to be understood in the world.

“The Indian diaspora in Saudi Arabia can provide an important bridge between the people of India and the people of Saudi Arabia, and this has been an important aspect for successive governments in India.

“We will brainstorm on key issues and ground realities, we will talk about those issues and what positive contribution can be made by people who have left their homes and families to come out into the world and make a mark with their presence here in the Kingdom.”

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi laid the foundation stone of the center’s headquarters in New Delhi on Aug. 24, 1984. The aim of the organization was to promote understanding among people of different religions and aid the cause of national integration. It was inaugurated by Congress party president Sonia Gandhi on June 12, 2006.

Regarding possible changes and development of the organization, Khurshid said there are plans to establish branches in states across India, and beyond, to support the decentralization and democratization of the center.

“It’s not just about chapters in different parts of India but also in other countries, as IICC overseas chapters, (for example) in Saudi Arabia,” he added.

“My view is that there should be chapters and we should support those chapters, but if people want fully fledged centers to be set up in states, I would say they should be affiliated centers supported by local members. Members from Delhi cannot control centers in the states, it must be truly democratic.”

Khurshid was joined at Friday’s event by Akhtarul Iman, president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen party, who represents the constituency of Amour in the Bihar Legislative Assembly. He said it is the responsibility of the government and state authorities to protect the lives, property, honor and safety of all Indian citizens, yet Muslims have increasingly been targeted by those who wish to spread fear among them.

In the past decade, he added, there has been an increase in cases of injustice and atrocities committed against Muslims under the rule of Bharatiya Janata Party-led central and state governments, and the leaderships of both the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Janata Dal (United) parties have also failed to address these issues in an appropriate manner.

“They ask Muslims for support but fail to address their concerns,” Iman said, adding that his party is committed to ensuring that the grievances of all Indian Muslims who have faced problems since 2014 are addressed.

Source:arabnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2589425/saudi-arabia

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Swedish school shooting victims were seven women and three men

8th February

A picture of Salim Iskef, one of the victims of Tuesday's attack, at a memorial service for him held in Orebro this week.

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The victims of Sweden's worst mass shooting were seven women and three men aged between 28 and 68, police said on Friday after completing the identification process.

They were killed at an adult education centre in the city of Orebro on Tuesday, about 125 miles (200km) from Stockholm, in an attack that has sent shockwaves through Sweden.

All of the victims lived in Orebro, but so far authorities have declined to share their identities or any other details about them.

Police also confirmed on Friday that the suspected gunman was a 35-year-old man from the area. He has been named widely in Swedish media as Rickard Andersson.

Anna Bergkvist, the head of the police investigation, told the BBC on Thursday that suspect had killed himself inside the school.

Police have confirmed that the suspect owned four rifles legally, three of which were found inside the school after the attack alongside 10 empty magazines.

Sweden's coalition government on Friday announced plans to strengthen the country's laws, making it harder to purchase guns and restricting certain types of rifle.

Victims still not identified

In the absence of official confirmation of the victims' identities, information has come out instead through their families and communities.

Among them was Salim Isker, a 29-year-old man who fled the conflict in Syria in 2015 with his mother and sister after his father was killed there.

Isker was studying at the Risbergska centre, where the attack happened - a school popular with immigrants learning Swedish and other subjects.

Isker's fiancee Kareen Elia, 24, attended a memorial service in Orebro on Thursday night along with his mother and other members of his family.

Jacob Kasselia, the priest at the Syrian Orthodox church attended by Isker and his family, told the BBC he was a "simply a good man".

"He did not look for trouble. He showed only goodwill. He was a member of our community," Kasselia said.

Bassam Al Sheleh, a 48-year-old baker and cook and father of two, has also been named by Swedish media as one of the victims of the attack.

He was reportedly studying at the Risbergska centre to improve his English.

A national of Bosnia and Herzegovina was killed and another was injured, the Bosnian foreign ministry said, citing information shared by Orebro residents.

In a post on social media on Friday, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson acknowledged that the event had caused fear among immigrant communities, and urged people to "unite and stand behind all that we hold dear together".

"My thoughts are with the relatives who have now received the call that is the worst one can get. To you, I want to say: you are not alone. We stand beside you," he wrote.

The gunman's motive remains unknown. Video filmed inside the building during the attack and published by Swedish media appeared to record someone using anti-immigrant sentiments, but the footage has not been confirmed as accurate by the authorities.

Members of Orebro's Middle Eastern immigrant communities have told the BBC they are feeling vulnerable and have been taking additional precautions in the days since the attack.

Change to gun laws

Sweden's centre-right coalition, which relies on the support of the far-right Sweden Democrats party, said on Friday it would seek to increase vetting around gun purchases and ban certain types of weapon.

"There are certain types of weapons that are so dangerous that they should only be possessed for civilian purposes as an exception," the government said in a statement.

Prime Minister Kristersson, on a visit to Latvia, told reporters the government had to "ensure that only the right people have guns in Sweden".

The Sweden Democrats said that it agreed with proposals to amend the law, including greater restrictions on access to semi-automatic weapons.

"The horrific act of violence in Orebro raises several key questions about gun legislation," the party said in a statement.

The AR-15, a particular style of semi-automatic rifle that is both powerful and can carry large magazines, was singled out by the government as an example of weapons that could be restricted.

Under current Swedish gun laws, anyone over 18 who does not have a criminal record can apply for a permit for a shotgun, handgun or semi-automatic rifle.

They must justify to the police why they need a gun. People over 20 can apply for a special dispensation to own a fully automatic weapon.

Around 580,000 Swedes have a weapons licence out of a population of around 10.5 million, according to figures from Swedish broadcaster SVT.

A 2017 Swiss study found there were about 2.3 million guns held by civilians in Sweden. That is around 23 guns per 100 people, compared with 29 in Norway and 120 per 100 in the US.

To obtain a hunting licence in Sweden, a theory and practical test is required. About 280,000 Swedes have one.

Sweden has a relatively high level of gun ownership and gun crime, by European standards, though most weapons are legally owned and used for hunting.

Gun crime is mostly associated with gangs, who have also taken to using bombs to target one another.

Non-gang-related gun crime is less common, and Tuesday's attack the nation's first school shooting and its worst mass shooting. A total of four people were killed in two separate school stabbings in 2015 and 2022.

Source:bbc.com

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https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr7epd3mz0ro

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Dozens of countries back International Criminal Court after Trump sanctions

FEBRUARY 8, 2025

Dozens of countries have expressed "unwavering support" for the International Criminal Court (ICC) after US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on its staff.

A majority of member states, including the UK, Germany and France, said that the ICC was "a vital pillar of the international justice system".

Trump announced the sanctions after hosting Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - the first foreign leader to visit him since returning to power.

Last year, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza - which Israel denies - as well as a Hamas commander. The US has condemned the court's "shameful moral equivalency" between Israel and Hamas.

The US and Israel do not recognise the authority of the ICC, the only global court with powers to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. It has also previously launched investigations into US citizens.

The ICC counts 125 member states around the world, including the UK and many European nations.

The UK, France and Germany were among the 79 signatories to a joint statement issued on Friday to condemn Trump's executive order. Australia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Italy were among the absent.

Earlier on Friday, the ICC had called on its member states and global civil society to "stand united for justice and fundamental human rights."

It pledged to continue "providing justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities across the world".

The ICC last year issued arrest warrants for US-allied Israeli leaders, and a Hamas commander, over the war in Gaza.

ICC prosecutors have said there are "reasonable grounds" to suggest Netanyahu, his former defence minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas's Mohammed Deif - who was killed last year - bear "criminal responsibility for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity".

But a White House memo circulated on Thursday accused the ICC of creating a "shameful moral equivalency" between Hamas and Israel by issuing the warrants at the same time.

Trump's order said the ICC's recent actions "set a dangerous precedent" which threatened to "infringe upon the sovereignty of the United States". It argued the ICC "undermines" the national security and foreign policy work of Washington and its allies.

The order also said the US and Israel "are thriving democracies with militaries that strictly adhere to the laws of war".

The sanctions were announced while Netanyahu was on a visit to Washington.

The list of affected individuals has not yet been announced, but the sanctions could target people who work in ICC investigations. Sanctions could include financial and visa restrictions placed on individuals and their families.

The court's technical and IT operations - including evidence gathering - could also be affected. Observers have voiced fears that victims of alleged atrocities may hesitate to testify.

The court's inaugural chief prosecutor has told the BBC how the rest of the world responds will be most important.

"It's a challenge for the all the state parties - for all Europe, UK, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Japan, New Zealand, Australia - are they going to let Mr Trump to become the global president?" Luis Moreno Ocampo told the BBC Newshour programme.

The UN has called for the measure to be reversed, while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the ICC "must be able to freely pursue the fight against global impunity".

But Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said he "strongly" commended Trump's executive order.

He claimed the ICC's actions were "immoral and have no legal basis", accusing the court of not operating "in accordance with international law".

The US has repeatedly rejected any ICC jurisdiction over American officials or citizens, and has accused the court of placing constraints on Israel's right to self-defence, while ignoring Iran and anti-Israel groups.

During his first term in office, Trump imposed sanctions on ICC officials who were investigating whether US forces had committed war crimes in Afghanistan.

This included a travel ban and asset freezes against former chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.

Those sanctions were lifted by President Joe Biden's administration.

But during his last weeks in office, Biden also criticised the ICC's warrant for Netanyahu, calling the move "outrageous" and saying there was no equivalence between Israel and Hamas.

In response to efforts to what they described as attempts to challenge the ICC's authority, nine nations - including South Africa and Malaysia - launched the Hague Group last month in an effort to defend the court and its rulings.

Trump's signing of his latest executive order follows his announcement of a plan for the US to "take over" Gaza, resettle its Palestinian population and turn the territory into the "Riviera of the Middle East".

After Arab leaders and the UN condemned the idea, the US president restated it on his Truth Social social media platform on Thursday.

Source:bbc.com

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https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2p19l24g2o

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Sokoto police hunt gunmen for abducting 10 Muslim worshipers

8th February 2025

By Animashaun Salman

The Sokoto State Police Command has begun a manhunt for the gunmen who abducted 10 Muslim worshipers during an attack on a mosque at the Bushe community, Sabon Birni Local Government Area of the state.

The spokesman for the command, Ahmed Rufai, disclosed this while speaking with our correspondent on Friday.

According to Rufai, the worshippers were abducted during (Subhi) Muslim early morning prayer, stating that the police have launched a rescue operation to secure the release of the victims.

“I want to assure you that the Nigerian Police in conjunction with other security agencies are working tirelessly to ensure the immediate release of all the abductees,” Rufai said.

The gunmen had in the early hours of Thursday, January 6, 2025, attacked the mosque and abducted no fewer than 10 worshipers, including the Imam of the mosque.

A member of the state House of Assembly, representing the community, Sa’idu Ibrahim, also confirmed the attack.

He stated that the quick intervention of the troops of Operation Fasan Yamma, was the saving grace that helped in limiting the number of persons abducted.

A local source who spoke with our correspondent on the telephone said the gunmen had been molesting the people of the community even with the presence of security agents.

Source:punchng.com

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https://punchng.com/sokoto-police-hunt-gunmen-for-abducting-10-muslim-worshipers/

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Selangor Sultan Expresses Concern Over Muslims Being Misled By False Information

07/02/2025

SHAH ALAM, Feb 7 (Bernama) -- The Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah today expressed his regret and disappointment that more Muslims were being misled by misinformation, despite the availability of many Islamic books written and printed in Malay. The ruler said that Muslims were increasingly susceptible to misleading and deviant teachings spread by irresponsible parties. “Where have we gone wrong that cases of individuals following deviant beliefs are increasing in our country? “If we remain deceived by teachings based on superstition and falsehood, Muslims will fall behind in all areas of life,” His Royal Highness said during the closing ceremony of the Selangor State Quran Recitation and Memorisation Competition 2025 at the Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Mosque, here. Sultan Sharafuddin added that the spread of these misleading influences was causing division within the Muslim community and making them vulnerable to oppression by enemies of Islam. He emphasised that in today's modern world with its vast access to information, there are many ways to obtain accurate information, particularly about Islam based on the Ahli Sunnah Wal Jamaah teachings. He pointed out that unlike in the past, when Islamic texts were mainly in Indonesian and difficult to understand in this country, most Islamic books today are written and translated into Malay, making religious knowledge much more accessible. “Muslims now have it much easier to learn and understand the true teachings of Islam, as many religious books are now available in Malay, including online resources," he said. Sultan Sharafuddin also urged Muslims to consult religious authorities for guidance and to avoid being easily swayed by deviant teachings. "Unity should be the main core for the life of Muslims, especially Malays. Islam is a religion that is complete and beautiful and can be the foundation of a community's unity," the Sultan said. The Sultan also urged Islamic authorities to be more aware when tackling such issues and legal action and enforcement should be more effective so that deviant teachings would not affect Muslims till there is disunity. "I would like to encourage all Muslims to read the Quran more daily and to do more good deeds, may we always be protected by Allah SWT and be kept away from disasters. "I am very happy to see so many children who know the al-Quran well and are well-versed, especially in Selangor. May their presence in such an event be the cause and catalyst for us to always remain close to the al-Quran," the Sultan said. -- BERNAMA Source:bernama.com

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https://www.bernama.com/en/general/news.php?id=2390515

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Attack in Gazipur: Anti-discrimination student movement to hold protest today

Feb 8, 2025

The anti-discrimination student movement will hold a protest rally at Rajbari Field in Gazipur Sadar upazila this afternoon.

The central leaders of the platform are expected to attend the event at 1:30pm.

Around 4:00am today, the anti-discrimination student movement announced this programme through a post on its Facebook page.

In the post, the organisation said, "A massive protest rally will be held today (Saturday) in protest against the attack by Awami terrorists from the Mozammel-Jahangir group on the organisers of the anti-discrimination student movement in Gazipur."

"The rally will be attended by students and people from across the country, along with central leaders," the post said.

Around 9:00pm yesterday, a group of miscreants attacked the residence of former liberation war affairs minister AKM Mozammel Haque in Gazipur. During the attack, a section of locals physically assaulted them, injuring at least 15 people.

Doctors said that the condition of three of the injured is critical.

According to locals and police, a group of miscreants stormed into the house of Mozammel Haque in Southkhana, Dhirashram, in Gazipur city and vandalised the property.

At that time, an announcement was made via the mosque's loudspeaker, claiming that robbers had stormed into the minister's house, urging people to come forward. Hearing the announcement, a section of local people surrounded the house and assaulted several of those involved in the vandalism.

Later, army personnel arrived at the scene, rescued the injured, and sent them to the emergency department of Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Medical College Hospital in Gazipur.

Some of the critically injured individuals were later transferred to Dhaka for further treatment.

Source:thedailystar.net

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https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/attack-gazipur-anti-discrimination-student-movement-hold-protest-today-3818896

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India

 

Point Blank: Hamas leaders In PoK expose Pakistan's bid to turn J&K into Jihad theatre

Feb 07, 2025

Kashmir Solidarity Day is a calendar event celebrated in Pakistan on February 5 by both Rawalpindi and Islamabad, to keep up the delusion that the Islamic Republic will one day rule the Muslim-majority union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Since 2004, the day has been used by Pakistan politicians, generals, and jihadists to make inflammatory speeches against India and remind their supporters and pro-Pak jihadists in the Kashmir Valley, that their dream of uniting with Islamabad will bear fruit one day.

All in the name of Kashmiri independence and so what if the Narendra Modi government has thrown Article 370 and Article 35 A into the dustbin of history on August 5, 2019, and peace has been restored in the UT.

With law and order parameters in the Valley working outright in favour of the Modi government and the terror attacks by Pakistan-based terror groups on a decline, Pakistan decided to up the ante with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Army Chief Syed Asim Munir and terror leaders from Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiyeba, Hizbul Mujahideen and Kashmiri prop JKLF making a bee-line to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir on Wednesday.

But the piece de resistance on February 5 was the presence of Hamas Spokespersons Dr Khalid Qaddoumi, Dr Naji Zaheer apart from Hamas leaders Mufti Azam and Bilal Alsallat at a Rawalkot rally attended by JeM’s leader Masood Azhar brother Talha Saif, launching commander Asghar Khan Kashmiri, Masood Ilyas and top LeT terror commanders.

The conference titled "Kashmir Solidarity and Hamas Operation Al Aqsa Flood "was designed to convey that both Kashmir and Palestine were subjects for pan-Islamic jihad and also ask the Ummah to unite against India and Israel on the victimhood card.

While the Pakistan-based Punjabi terrorist groups have been responsible for the death of thousands in the Kashmir Valley since the 1990s, the Sunni Hamas terrorist group, backed by Shia Iran, was responsible for the October 7, 2023 butchery that took place in South Israel with 1200 massacred, hundreds maimed and over 200 captured as war booty.

India had openly condemned the October 7 attack by the Hamas terrorist group and also at the same time asked Israel to work towards the two-state solution.

On Wednesday, Pak PM Sharif and Army Chief Munir went to Muzaffarabad to communicate to India that its Kashmir agenda was still alive and boost the confidence of deployed troopers that Rawalpindi had enough military firepower to stand up to India.

It is quite evident that Pakistan this year chose to highlight the Kashmir Solidarity Day as more than often Pak PM sends a video message and the Army Chief often confines himself to a routine statement.

Behind the veneer of PM Sharif wanting a dialogue with India over Kashmir, the fact is that Indian intelligence is reporting no less than 80-100 foreign terrorists assembled on the launch pads in Jammu and Kashmir to create mayhem in India this summer.

With the counter-insurgency grid tight in Jammu and Kashmir, the Pakistani jihadists will make all efforts to infiltrate into the Valley and cause violent disruption but the Indian security forces are determined to neutralize them.

The other reason for jihadists, PM, and COAS to assemble in Occupied Kashmir with Hamas guests was to boost local jihadi recruitment in so-called Azad Kashmir in the name of Ummah and pan-Islamic cause.

The local recruitment has dried for Islamic jihad in Kashmir. Fact is that there has been serious unrest against Pakistan in the Occupied territory with the locals even willing to take on the Pakistan security forces with frequent protests being the order of the day.

That Hamas and Palestinian leaders were seen sharing a platform with Pakistani Sunni jihadists indicates that Palestine political leaders have decided to pitch their lot with the so-called Kashmir cause as they believe that India has gone the Israel way.

The joining of hands of Hamas and Pakistani Punjabi jihadists also brings clarity to the Modi government as a new tactic adopted by the pan-Islamic jihadists to draw more cannon fodder from Occupied Kashmir and Khyber Paktunkhwa region. The Hamas leaders in Rawalakot were expressing solidarity with Pakistani jihadists at the same time when President Donald Trump was advocating the US radical plan to take over Gaza with Palestinians sent to live in neighbouring Jordan and Egypt.

While both Jordan and Egypt have rejected the Trump Gaza proposal, the topic will be under the microscope when King Abdullah meets the US President on February 11.

The presence of Hamas leaders along with Jaish, Lashkar, and Hizbul terrorists in Rawalakot reinforces the stamp of the global terror factory in Pakistan as well as shoots down the Rawalpindi narrative that political struggle for self-determination was going on in the Valley. This is state-sponsored terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir with Islamabad still trying to complete the unfinished agenda of the bloody Partition of India.

Kashmiri carrot helps Pak politicians, generals to divert attention from inflation

The Kashmiri carrot also helps Pakistani politicians and generals to divert the mind of its citizens who are currently grappling with high food inflation, religious violence, terror attacks and deep political instability. Globally, Pakistan today stands as a symbol of Islamic jihad, political Islam, rabid clergy and violence.

Further, unlike in the UPA regime, Pakistan supporters in India and its Leftist media no longer have the clout to pressurise the Modi government to open a dialogue with Pakistan. Except its all-weather ally China, Pakistan hardly finds any political traction in the west as the US has no apetite for the cindering Af-Pak region after August 15,2021 capture of Kabul by the Taliban.

While New Delhi has taken note of Pakistan ramping up Raag Kashmiri again, it has no intentions of engaging with Islamabad till it turns off the terror tap against India and by bringing terror leaders like Masood Azhar and Hafiz Saeed to book for spilling the blood of innocents in India.

Given Pakistani hatred for India, one should not be surprised if the entire February 5 exercise was high-profiled to bring the Kashmir issue to the notice of the new Republican administration in Washington with President Trump scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 13 after co-chairing an artificial intelligence summit in France.

Simply put, while Pakistan is still stuck in the Kashmir illusion and pre-August 5, 2019 mindset, India has moved on to different levels economically, politically and militarily on the global map. Even Pakistan’s main weapon of terror has been blunted to a large extent by the Modi government as any Rawalpindi-sponsored terror strike in India will get a bigger and sharper response across the Radcliffe Line. Remember Surgical Strikes and Operation Bandar in Balakot.

Source:hindustantimes.com

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Muslim man assaulted by VHP, Sanskriti Bachao Manch workers inside Bhopal court during marriage registration

Anuraag Singh

07 Feb 2025

BHOPAL: A Muslim man was brutally attacked by right-wing Hindu outfits, including VHP and Sanskriti Bachao Manch inside Bhopal district court premises on Friday, while he was there for a court marriage with his Brahmin neighbour under the Special Marriage Act.

The couple from the Pipariya area of Narmadapuram district had reportedly come to the Bhopal district court for the legal procedure when the incident happened.

A video of the shocking incident shows the Muslim man lying on the ground, possibly in the court canteen, as he is being kicked on the face and beaten mercilessly.

In another video clip, shot possibly by men from the right-wing Hindu outfits, the man is seen bleeding near his right eyebrow while being questioned aggressively. The attackers can be heard asking him, “Why are you behind Hindu girls, tell us will you again indulge in Love Jihad? If you want to remain safe, marry a Muslim girl."

In yet another video, the man can be seen verbally abused, even while the police escort him towards a vehicle to take him to the local MP Nagar police station.

Chandrashekhar Tiwari, who represents the local outfit Sanskriti Bachao Manch, claimed that they had foiled the Muslim man’s bid to marry the Hindu woman "through trickery."

“He was indulging in Love Jihad, he had tricked the Hindu woman by chatting through a fake ID and then forced her into an illicit relationship for marriage and subsequent religious conversion. We’ll seek action against him under the Madhya Pradesh Religious Freedom Act," tiwari claimed.

A lawyer who was accompanying the men from the Hindu outfits’ said that the Muslim man was trying to marry the Hindu woman based on a fake affidavit.

“The woman, who is the daughter of a Hindu priest, has been tricked by the Muslim man for the sole purpose of religious conversion via Love Jihad. Before asking us about the assault on that man, ask him why he had brought the daughter of the Hindu priest with him for religious conversion through Love Jihad,” the lawyer stated.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (MP Nagar) Akshay Chaudhary said, “The police were informed by some advocates about a man and a woman from different religions coming to the court for marriage. We are recording the statements of the interfaith couple, and based on their account, appropriate action will be taken.”

Source: newindianexpress.com

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Sambhal demolition: Supreme Court refuses to consider contempt action plea against authorities

February 7, 2025

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to consider a plea seeking contempt proceedings against authorities in Sambhal for allegedly violating its verdict on property demolitions.

A bench comprising Justices B.R. Gavai and K. Vinod Chandran advised the petitioner, Mohammed Ghayoor, to approach the jurisdictional high court for relief.

“We find that the issue can be best addressed by the high court. We, therefore, dispose of the petition with liberty to the petitioner to approach the jurisdictional high court,” the bench stated.

Ghayoor’s counsel requested that no third-party interest be created in the disputed property during the proceedings. However, the court reiterated its previous directions, stating, “Go and file a prosecution. We had issued all necessary directions.”

The plea, filed through advocate Chand Qureshi, claimed that the authorities in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, violated the Supreme Court’s November 13, 2024, ruling. This ruling established nationwide guidelines prohibiting the demolition of properties without prior showcause notices and granting affected individuals 15 days to respond.

The petition alleged that, despite these directives, a part of Ghayoor’s property was demolished on January 10-11 without prior notice or an opportunity to present documentation.

“The petitioner and his family had all the necessary documents, approved maps, and other records of the property. However, the contemnors arrived at the premises and began demolishing the property,” the plea stated.

The Supreme Court had earlier clarified that its guidelines would not apply to unauthorized structures in public spaces such as roads, footpaths, railway lines, or water bodies, as well as cases where demolition was ordered by a court of law. Given this, the court directed Ghayoor to seek remedy from the appropriate high court. — With Agencies Inputs

Source: muslimmirror.com

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Row over Waqf Board properties survey in MP; MLA Arif Masood claims wrong data presented

February 7, 2025

A controversy has erupted over the survey of Waqf Board properties here in Madhya Pradesh after Congress MLA Arif Masood demanded that the ongoing physical survey be stopped.

Masood, who is an MLA from Bhopal Madhya Assembly seat, has written letters to Madhya Pradesh Chief Secretary Anurag Jain, expressing concern over the survey of Waqf Board properties in Madhya Pradesh.

In his letter, the Congress MLA said that the rules being followed for the Waqf Board properties could lead to a future dispute, claiming that documents of most of the properties are incomplete.

He also accused the state government of presenting “incorrect” data in the name of the survey.

“Documents of various properties of Waqf Board are incomplete, therefore, conducting a survey of such properties won’t be easy. This could lead to a major dispute on such properties. I have written a letter to the Chief Secretary of the Madhya Pradesh government and has demanded that the ongoing survey should be stopped,” Masood told IANS.

Meanwhile, the Congress MLA has also appealed to the representatives of Muslim organisations to come forward to oppose the survey of Waqf Board properties and register their complaints with district administrations.

Responding to Masood’s allegation, senior BJP leader and Madhya Pradesh Public Works Department (PWD) Minister, Rakesh Singh, said the survey is being conducted on the recommendation of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) and there should be no objection to it.

“Some people are in politics to create controversies only. They don’t want to get things settled. This step (survey) has been taken to make properties encroached-free and stop corruption in Waqf Boards. Some selective people are opposing it for their vested interest, otherwise majority of people of the minority community have welcomed the survey,” he added.

Notably, the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), has recently demanded details of Waqf Board properties in Madhya Pradesh.

There are 14,986 properties of the Waqf Board and the JPC has demanded details, including current status, khashra numbers, and other records.

State governments have also been asked to share details of cases where their authorities are engaged in a legal dispute with Waqf boards over ownership or possession of any property.

Madhya Pradesh Waqf Board Chairman Sanwar Patel has earlier said that JPC has demanded information on 15 heads and 12 out of them are related directly to the Waqf Board and the rest of the heads are related to the Collector and the Revenue Department.

According to sources, the Madhya Pradesh government had informed the JPC that the State Waqf Board oversees 14,921 registered properties spanning 52,752 acres, as documented in official records. –IANS

Source: muslimmirror.com

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HC reserves order on Engineer Rashid’s plea for custody parole to attend Parliament

February 7, 2025

The Delhi High Court on Friday reserved its order on a plea by jailed MP Rashid Engineer, who is facing trial in a terror funding case, seeking custody parole to attend the ongoing Parliament session. Justice Vikas Mahajan heard arguments from Rashid’s counsel and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) before stating, “Judgment reserved.”

The NIA opposed the plea, asserting that Rashid had no vested right to attend Parliament and had failed to show any specific purpose for seeking relief.

The agency also raised security concerns regarding his release. Rashid’s counsel, however, contended that his absence meant his constituency remained unrepresented in Parliament.

“I represent the largest constituency of J&K. Don’t prevent its representation when the process of inclusion has begun… Don’t stifle its voice,” argued Rashid’s counsel, emphasizing the importance of his participation in legislative proceedings.

Rashid’s petition claimed he had been left without any remedy after the NIA court handling his bail plea failed to take a decision following his election to the Lok Sabha last year. The delay was attributed to the fact that the NIA court is not a designated special MP/MLA court. As an interim measure, Rashid sought custody parole to attend the session.

Earlier, the NIA also opposed Rashid’s request for interim bail, reiterating that he had no inherent right to attend Parliament as a detained parliamentarian.

In his petition, Rashid urged the high court to either expedite the disposal of his pending bail plea before the NIA court or decide the matter itself.

Rashid has been lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail since 2019, following his arrest by the NIA under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in connection with a 2017 terror funding case.

The case has sparked debate over parliamentary representation and the rights of elected lawmakers under judicial custody. The high court’s impending ruling is expected to set a precedent regarding the participation of incarcerated legislators in parliamentary proceedings while facing trial under stringent anti-terror laws. — With Agencies Inputs

Source: muslimmirror.com

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PDP leader Iltija Mufti claims she and her mother Mehbooba Mufti placed under house arrest

08.02.25

PDP leader Iltija Mufti on Saturday claimed that she and her mother, party chief Mehbooba Mufti, had been placed under house arrest.

In a social media post, Iltija Mufti said she had intended to visit Kathua while People's Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti planned to visit Sopore to meet the bereaved family of the truck driver killed in army firing on Wednesday.

"My mother and I both have been placed under house arrest. Our gates have been locked up because she was meant to visit Sopore where Waseem Mir was shot dead by the army," Iltija Mufti said in a post on X.

"I intended to visit Kathua to meet Makhan Din's family and (I) am not being allowed to even move out. Nothing has changed in Kashmir even after elections. Now even comforting the families of victims is being criminalised," she added.

Source: telegraphindia.com

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Kishan questions Muslims’ inclusion in BC list in caste survey

Feb 7, 2025

Hyderabad: Union minister and BJP state president G Kishan Reddy has questioned the Congress govt's legal justification for inclusion of Muslims among backward classes (BCs) category in the caste survey. He said that it was fundamentally unconstitutional and sought a clarification from Rahul Gandhi.

In a media briefing in Delhi, he slammed the approach to the caste census, claiming that survey personnel failed to visit half of the households. He accused the Telangana govt of perpetrating injustice on BCs under the pretext of conducting a caste census, claiming that the BC population has diminished due to the govt's poorly execution.

The Union minister said that numerous BC organisations have voiced their objections to the survey.

He also accused the Congress and Rahul Gandhi of consistently fostering divisions among people based on caste and religion.

Source:indiatimes.com

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Pakistan

 

Three terrorists killed in North Waziristan IBO: ISPR

February 07, 2025

Security forces neutralised three terrorists during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in the North Waziristan district on Friday, a statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) read.

The military's media wing added that the terrorists were attempting to escape wearing women's attire (burqa) when they were engaged by security forces.

The IBO was conducted on the night of February 6 and 7 in the general area of Datta Khel on reported presence of terrorists.

"During the conduct of the operation, own troops effectively engaged the khwarij location as a result of which three khwarij were sent to hell, who were trying to escape wearing women attire (burqa)," the military's media wing said.

Personnel of the security forces also recovered weapons and ammunition from the killed terrorists, "who remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities in the area," it added.

"Sanitisation operation is being conducted to eliminate any other kharji found in the area, as security forces of Pakistan are determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country."

The country witnessed a sharp increase in terror attacks in January 2025, surging by 42% compared to the previous month, according to data released by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), a think tank.

The data revealed that at least 74 militant attacks were recorded nationwide, resulting in 91 fatalities, including 35 security personnel, 20 civilians, and 36 militants. Another 117 individuals sustained injuries, including 53 security forces personnel, 54 civilians, and 10 militants.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa remained the worst-affected province, followed by Balochistan. In KP's settled districts, militants carried out 27 attacks, resulting in 19 fatalities, including 11 security personnel, six civilians, and two militants.

The tribal districts of KP (erstwhile Fata) witnessed 19 attacks, leading to 46 deaths, including 13 security personnel, eight civilians, and 25 militants.

Source:thenews.com.pk

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Supreme Judicial Council examines complaints against judges

Nasir Iqbal

February 8, 2025

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) during the last two sittings examined as many as 46 complaints against constitutional office-holders under Article 209, disposed of 40 of them, sou­ght comments on five complaints and as­­ked for further information in one case.

In addition, the SJC is also actively considering amendments to its Code of Conduct and Procedure of Enquiry, 2005.

The information was shared by the Supreme Court office on completion of the first 100 days of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yah­­ya Afridi in office on Feb 6. He was sworn in as the 30th CJP on Oct 26, 2024.

The SJC also established a separate secretariat to enhance its operational capacity for judicial accountability. The appointment process for a regular/permanent SJC secretary was initiated and regular meetings were institutionalised for better oversight and faster case disposal, according to the SC office.

During the first 100 days, the judiciary also introduced significant reforms to enhance efficiency, transparency, accou­ntability and accessibility in the justice sector. The efforts focused on improving case management, facilitating litigants and lawyers and ensuring timely resolution of legal matters.

Swift resolution of complaints against constitutional office-holders, ensuring efficient functioning of the accountability mechanisms and upholding public confidence in the judiciary were key aspects of these reforms.

The SC office further explained that the Law and Justice Commis­sion of Pakistan (LJCP) introduced major reforms to strengthen judicial efficiency and legal representation by replacing retired judges and ensuring broader stakeholder participation.

The newly inducted bar representatives include Makhdoom Ali Khan (Ka­­rachi), Khawaja Haris (Punjab), Kamran Murtaza (Baloch­istan), Fazal-e-Haq (Pe­­sh­awar) and Munir Paracha (Islamabad) and one member jointly nominated by all bar councils of Pakistan.

The commission also initiated jail reforms, including regular prison visits and outreach to the farthest districts to assess conditions and ensure fair legal oversight.

The agenda preparation for the National Judicial Policy-Making Com­mittee (NJPMC) meeting expec­­­ted in the last week of February is in full swing. Likewise, the Federal Judicial Academy (FJA) launched an initiative for continuous legal education and professional development, the SC office announced.

Professional development

To strengthen the capacity of the district judiciary, foreign training programmes were introduced, enabling district judges to gain exposure to international best practices, the SC office said. The appointment of a new secretary to the commission would enhance administrative effectiveness, it added.

A dedicated WhatsApp Communi­­ty for Bar Councils and Bar Associations has been established, providing legal practitioners nationwide with free access to online courses and educational resources.

The initiative complements on-campus training, particularly benefiting lawyers from remote regions who may not have access to opportunities for professional development. These steps were taken to strengthen the legal fraternity by ensuring active participation of the bar in judicial reforms.

Besides, the bar is being consulted from conception to reforms implementation, the SC office said, adding that policy on early hearing was finalised in consultation with the bar and put to practice.

Additionally, training and capacity-building programmes have been introduced to equip legal professionals with contemporary legal knowledge, modern litigation techniques, and ethical best practices.

To build a more inclusive legal framework, the CJP engaged with the legal fraternity, development experts, and academia. Also, “Online Feedback Form — Stakeholders’ Engagement for Judicial Reform” — was made available on SC’s official website to gather insights and recommendations for strengthening the justice system.

Recognising the role of tax-related litigation in economic governance, the judiciary introduced categorisation measures to expedite the resolution of such cases and reduce the backlog.

Automation

These discussions have been instrumental in shaping policies that address systemic challenges and streamline legal processes through short-, mid- and long-term goals. A major step in this direction was the introduction of E-affidavits and instant certified copies.

Over the last 100 days, the SC decided 8,174 cases and received 4,963 new cases, reflecting a positive shift in workflow. This highlights the impact of recent reforms, including structured rulemaking, automation, and streamlined procedures, contributing to a more effective and responsive judicial system.

To enhance the effectiveness of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), the primary focus was on framing comprehensive rules through stakeholder consultation. The rules establish clear merit-based criteria, streamline evaluations, and integrate automation to ensure transparency and efficiency.

The appointment of 36 additional judges in all five high courts and the formation of constitutional benches at the Supreme Court of Pakistan and Sindh High Court were made.

In adherence to the constitutional mandate, steps were taken to ensure fair and equitable provincial representation in the Islamabad High Court, while merit-based appointment to the SC were reinforced, with the five senior-most judges from each high court being considered for elevation.

Source:dawn.com

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PM directs to complete power sector reforms on time

February 07, 2025

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that electricity tariff will further be reduced for domestic consumers and industries through reforms in the electricity sector.

Chairing a review meeting regarding power sector in Islamabad on Friday, he expressed satisfaction over the ongoing reforms in the power sector saying these are yielding positive results.

Shehbaz Sharif said that he had committed to ensuring the provision of low-cost and environmentally friendly electricity. He said revising agreements with IPPs is saving the national treasury and reducing electricity prices for consumers.

Alluding to the campaign against power pilferage, the Prime Minister expressed the commitment to further accelerate it to fully eliminate the losses of all distribution companies in this regard.

Shehbaz Sharif mentioned that appointment of well-reputed board members from the private sector in electricity distribution companies is improving their performance. He said the reduction in transmission losses of electricity is also a clear indication of the positive results of the reforms.

The meeting was informed that the recovery rate of distribution companies improved to 93.26 percent by December last year, as a result of reforms in the electricity sector and the anti-theft campaign.

The meeting was also briefed on the progress of the 500 kV Mitiari-Moro-Rahim Yar Khan and Ghazi Barotha-Faisalabad transmission line projects.

Additionally, the meeting was informed about the progress regarding the dissolution of the National Transmission and Dispatch Company and the establishment of the new company, Energy Infrastructure, Development and Management Company (EIDMC).

The Prime Minister directed to complete all reforms and projects within the stipulated timeframe.

Source:radio.gov.pk

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Path to climate adaptation to remain elusive without grant-based support: PM

February 07, 2025

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has emphasised that the path to climate adaptation and green transformation will remain elusive without grant-based financial support for developing nations which is essential to building resilient infrastructure and investing in sustainable development.

In a video message at a two-day international conference on Friday, the premier reiterated his call for more predictable and flexible mechanism to deliver financial assistance to the developing countries to tackle climate crisis.

He told the international gathering that Pakistan's climate story embodied a "cruel paradox" as its emissions were less than 1% and yet it was one of the most climate-affected countries with climate change-induced floods, glacial meltdown, blistering heatwaves and soil-cracking droughts.

He recalled that two years ago, one-third of Pakistan was submerged in floodwaters, displacing 33 million people and claiming 1,700 innocent lives. This tragedy transformed climate change from a distant threat to an urgent call to action, he added.

Lauding the organisers for hosting the conference to contemplate "one of the most pressing challenges of our times", the prime minister said that his government had inherited robust frameworks including the "National Climate Change Policy 2021" and the "National Adaptation Plan 2023" which alone were not enough.

He said that after recognising implementation gaps, the government prioritised governance reforms, policy execution, and capacity-building initiatives.

"The initiatives like the 5Es and 5Cs are rooted in our homegrown transformation plan, Uraan Pakistan. We are integrating climate resilience into energy, equity, connectivity, and development," he remarked.

PM Shehbaz concluded by emphasising making the event a resounding call to action to ensure a cleaner, greener, and more resilient Pakistan for generations to come.

Ranked among the top 10 most climate-vulnerable countries, Pakistan experienced a $30 billion loss in the 2022 floods, directly affecting 33 million people.

In November last year, Pakistan unveiled its first National Climate Finance Strategy (NCFS) to address the rising threats of global warming, with a focus on boosting climate-related investments.

The NCFS is a well-thought-out roadmap that focuses on climate-proofing policies, clarifying institutional roles, and enhancing our climate finance systems. Its three-pronged approach — whole-of-government alignment, diversified domestic resources, and innovative funding mechanisms — will be instrumental in unlocking climate finance at scale.

With transparency and accountability as core principles, a three-tiered monitoring system underpins the NCFS, ensuring every effort aligns with Pakistan's commitments and goals.

Source:thenews.com.pk

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Call for public-private partnerships to combat climate change

Kashif Abbasi

February 8, 2025

ISLAMABAD: Business leaders and government representatives on Friday urged joint efforts and public-private partnerships to tackle climate change, calling for a blended policy of shared responsibility during a panel discussion on the final day of the Breathe Pakistan conference in Islamabad.

Experts discussed strategies to address climate change during a two-part panel titled “Igniting a Dialogue Between Government & Corporate Sector on a New Blueprint for Climate Resilience in Pakistan”.

They talked about Pakistan’s status among the eight most vulnerable countries, facing human and financial losses annually.

Unilever Pakistan Chairman and CEO Amir Paracha talked about the need for a strong business model to attract private sector investment and advocated a blended policy of government incentives, international support, and private capital.

He warned that climate change spares no one, urging corporations to take collective action. “It is no longer just about token representation for climate change; every corporate company should come together for it.”

Speaking about the urgency of water conservation and the need for industries to minimise freshwater use by recycling it to prevent wastage, Syed Babar Ali, the founder of Lahore University of Management Sciences (Lums), said: “The industries can play a very important role in reducing the quantity of freshwater use and the freshwater they use should be recycled to make sure not a drop is wasted.”

Muneer Kamal, CEO and Secretary General of the Pakistan Banks Association, called the conference a “wake-up call” for the business sector and government, warning of severe financial risks from climate change. “Between 2023 and 2030, Pakistan needs $348bn. If we do not address this aspect now, Pakistan will have lost 18-20pc of its GDP by 2050,” he said.

During the discussion, Daud Munir, a senior government adviser for law and public policy, said that to tackle the issue of climate change, a fundamental shift of policy between the government and private sector was required.

“There is a need for a new kind of interaction, and if that approach is worked out, a solution will follow,” he said.

Wajeeha Qamar, Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Planning and Development, highlighted government efforts toward sustainability, saying that the electric vehicles (EV) policy has been revised and a public-private partnership framework established to boost clean transportation investment.

“Incentives have been developed to promote the adoption of low-emission vehicles and emission standards are also being developed to ensure compliance,” she added.

Danish Khaliq, Vice President of Sales and Strategy at BYD/Mega Motor Company, shed light on the emissions impact of EVs, noting a 70-80pc reduction compared to traditional vehicles and a 60pc reduction for plug-in hybrids.

Fakhar Ahmed, Chief Corporate and Regulatory Officer at Jazz, talked about the role of technology in pre- and post-disaster management, calling climate change a “major challenge”. He urged tech companies to advance early warning systems, disaster mitigation, and post-disaster response efforts.

The CEO of Sindh People’s Housing for Flood Affectees, while shedding light on post-flood rehabilitation in the province, said that against a target of reconstructing 2.1m houses, the government had rebuilt “900,000 houses, while 50,000 are being constructed every month”.

Sobiah Becker of Deutsche Gesel­ls­chaft Für Internationale Zusam­menarbeit (GIZ) GMBH called for compliance-driven adaptation, stating, “We must move away from the idea that sustainability is something that is being forced upon us and instead focus on the fact that sustainable, climate-resilient industries open up new markets.”

British High Commission Islam­abad Development Director Jo Moir stressed the need to assess the cost of inaction on climate adaptation. “When you know the cost, you can start prioritising what to do first,” she said.

Adding to the discussion, Zeeshan Sheikh, Country Manager at the International Finance Corporation, pointed out the risks of climate change to a country like Pakistan. “It is arguably one of the most important areas of engagement,” he said.

Aasim Wajid Jawad of Bank Alfal­­ah emphasised corporate social res­ponsibility. “We invested a lot in getting people sustainable housing as we are very conscious about the environment,” he said.

Nabila Yazdani, Head of Strategy, Com­m­u­nication and Sustainability at Zong CMPAK, said her company’s fo­­cus was on how “we invest in our in­­f­rastructure which is energy-suffic­ient and sustainable in the long run”.

Kate Wilson, DAI UK Climate and Environment Director, outlined key ways the private sector can address climate finance challenges: improving the environment for investment, developing quality bankable projects, and removing barriers for marginalised groups.

EBM Executive Director Shahzain Munir said: “Climate change is not everyone’s problem; it’s predominantly a problem for the poor. And we have to face the facts.”

He emphasised that while the private sector must lead, “the time for awareness and projects is over, and action is needed now”.

Source:dawn.com

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PHC seeks govt response to pleas against plan to dissolve tobacco board

February 8, 2025

PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court has issued notices to federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments seeking their response to pleas challenging the ongoing process to dissolve the Pakistan Tobacco Board (PTB) and it devolution to provinces.

A bench consisting of Justice Syed Mohammad Attique Shah and Justice Inamullah Khan directed that the principal secretary to the prime minister, secretaries of the establishment division and ministry of national food security and the KP chief secretary should file their comments within a fortnight in two identical petitions filed by former and present employees of the PTB.

The bench fixed Feb 19 for the next hearing of the petitions, also issuing notices to the respondents in the plea of the petitioners seeking a stay order against the impugned decision.

The petitioners have requested the court to declare as illegal and unconstitutional the decision of the federal cabinet of Jan 1, 2025, in respect of winding up of the PTB without legislation of the Parliament and concurrence of the Council of Common Interest (CCI).

They further requested the court to declare as illegal the process of transferring/entrusting essential functions of PTB and its devolution to provinces.

The petitioners also sought a declaration of the court to the effect that the PTB, being a self-generating and self-sustaining regulatory institution and receiving no federal grants etc, didn’t fall within the emblem of rightsizing and the terms of reference (ToRs) of the high powered committee on rightsizing constituted by the federal government.

One of the petitions was filed by PTB’s secretary Fakhruddin and 49 other employees. The other petition was filed by 50 former employees of the PTB including its ex-secretary Khan Faraz and others.

Advocate Aamir Javed and Barrister Saqib Raza appeared for the petitioners and stated that PTB had been established under the PTB Ordinance 1968 for promotion of the cultivation, manufacturing and export of tobacco and tobacco products and for matters ancillary thereof.

They stated that the said ordinance empowered the board to apply proceed of the cess paid to it for meeting the expenses which may be necessary for the performance of its functions.

They argued that it was evident from provisions of the law that PTB was a self-sustaining and self-generating federal regulatory entity that didn’t get any financial support from the federal exchequer rather it generated its own funds to meet its expenses.

They stated that the federal government in order to reduce its expenditure constituted a high-powered committee on rightsizing of the federal government through a notification on June 14, 2024.

They stated that the federal government in its impugned decision on Jan 1, 2025, considered and approved the proposal of the said rightsizing committee wherein it was proposed to transfer the essential functions of PTB to provinces and to wind up the PTB.

They added that a sub-committee of the rightsizing committee was tasked to oversee and supervise the expeditious implementation of the said decision.

Aamir Javed pointed out that Article 142 of the Constitution envisaged that the parliament should have exclusive power to make laws with respect to any matter in the Federal Legislative List to the Constitution. He added that the subject of tobacco had always remained a federal subject.

Moreover, he stated that under Article 154 of the Constitution CCI had been empowered to formulate and regulate policies in relation to matters in Part II of the Federal Legislative List.

He added that if any decision in respect of the PTB was to be undertaken, then the same was required under the law to be through the approval of CCI.

The respondents in the petition are: Federal government through principal secretary to the prime minister, secretaries of the cabinet, establishment, law and justice and finance divisions, federal finance minister, PTB through its chairman, secretary ministry of national food security and research and KP government through its chief secretary.

Source:dawn.com

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10 more bunkers demolished in Kurram

February 8, 2025

KURRAM: Ten more bunkers of rival groups were demolished in Lower and Upper Kurram areas on Friday, taking the structures razed since the recent signing of a peace agreement to 48.

Also, relief cheques were distributed by the Pakistan Disaster Management Authority among heirs of martyred people.

Parachinar tehsildar Nasir Abbas reported that a total of 48 bunkers have been demolished so far and work is underway for the demolition of more such bunkers.

Meanwhile, the routes for transportation in Kurram tribal district have been closed for the last four and a half months, to the suffering of residents.

Provincial assembly member Ali Hadi Irfani said that overseas individuals and students were stranded in the area, and due to a lack of medical treatment and hunger, the immediate opening of transportation routes was necessary to protect people from dying.

He urged the government to announce an emergency relief package for the trapped population of 500,000.

Mr Irfani emphasised that it was the government’s responsibility to protect the lives and property of the people.

Meanwhile, PDMA Kurram district coordinator Shiraz Bacha said that the process of distributing relief cheques among people affected by terrorism incidents is going on.

He said that on November 21, 2024, relief cheques amounting to Rs37 million were distributed to the heirs of 37 people who were martyred in a convoy attack in Ochat Charkhel area of Lower Kurram area recently.

DC Kurram Ashfaq Ahmed distributed relief cheques to the affected individuals at the Governor’s Cottage in Parachinar.

Additional deputy commissioner Maqsood Khan said that all affected people would receive relief after the necessary documentation.

He said that financial assistance would also be provided to those whose vehicles and goods were damaged in the convoy attack.

Mr Khan said that a survey of the damages suffered by people, including those from Bagan, was in progress.

Source:dawn.com

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Mideast

 

Hamas, Israel to begin fifth hostage-prisoner exchange

February 08, 2025

JERUSALEM: Hamas is set to release three Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for 183 prisoners held by Israel in the fifth exchange of a fragile Gaza ceasefire.

The exchange comes despite uproar in the region over a proposal by US President Donald Trump to clear out the Gaza Strip of its inhabitants and for the United States to take over the Palestinian territory.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed to AFP on Friday it had received a list of hostages for release from Gaza after Hamas published three names of captives to be freed.

The three men set to be released on Saturday are Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami, according to Hamas. Their names were confirmed by Netanyahu’s office.

Former hostage Yarden Bibas, who was freed last week by Hamas militants in Gaza, on Friday urged Netanyahu to help bring back his wife and two children from the Palestinian territory.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu, I’m now addressing you with my own words... bring my family back, bring my friends back, bring everyone home,” Bibas said in his first public message following his release.

Hamas previously said his wife Shiri and his two sons Ariel and Kfir – the youngest hostages – were dead, but Israel has not confirmed their deaths.

Netanyahu, who is in Washington, will “monitor this phase of the hostages’ release from the control center of the delegation in the US,” the premier’s office said in a separate statement.

The Hostage and Missing Families Forum urged the government on Friday to stick with the Gaza truce, even as Trump’s comments sparked uproar across the Middle East and beyond.

“An entire nation demands to see the hostages return home,” the Israeli campaign group said in a statement.

“Now is the time to ensure the agreement is completed – until the very last one,” it added.

Israel and Hamas have completed four swaps under the first stage of the ceasefire agreement.

Palestinian militants, led by Hamas, have so far freed 18 hostages in exchange for around 600 mostly Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails.

The ceasefire, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, aims to secure the release of 33 hostages during the first 42-day phase of the agreement.

Negotiations on the second stage of the ceasefire were set to begin on Monday, but there have been no details on the status of the talks.

The second stage aims to secure the release of more hostages and pave the way for a permanent end to the war, which began on October 7, 2023 with Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel.

During the attack, militants took 251 hostages to Gaza. Seventy-six remain in captivity, including 34 whom the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliation has killed at least 47,583 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.

Source:arabnews.com

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Ten-Day Dawn: The Islamic Revolution of Iran

Feb 7, 2025

Spanning 293 pages, the book contains nine chapters discussing the Islamic Revolution's root causes, a brief history of Iranian resistance against Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the realization of Islamic ideals, and criteria for supporting the Islamic Revolution, among other topics.

The book also addresses the “Second Phase of the Islamic Revolution” Statement issued in 2019, marking the fortieth anniversary of the Islamic Revolution's victory.

Led by Imam Khomeini, the Islamic Revolution is regarded as a significant contemporary event.

Understanding the Revolution requires more than statistics and political analysis; it demands a revolutionary and ideological perspective aligned with Khomeini's foundational thoughts.

Additionally, the book examines the social, economic, and cultural transformations resulting from the Revolution, illustrating their impact on Iranian society and politics.

It highlights the ideals that inspired the populace to rise against tyranny and the sacrifices made in the quest for justice and freedom.

The text also emphasizes the ideological foundations that set the Iranian Revolution apart from other historical uprisings, showcasing the unique blend of Islamic principles and national aspirations that forged a new identity for the Iranian people, resonating beyond their borders and inspiring global movements for change.

Ultimately, "The Islamic Revolution of Iran" serves as both a historical account and a philosophical discourse, prompting readers to contemplate the Revolution's enduring implications and its influence on contemporary political thought and action in Iran and beyond.

Source:mehrnews.com

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Khamenei warns against negotiating with US

February 07, 2025

TEHRAN: Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei said on Friday that there should not be negotiations with the US, days after US President Donald Trump called for a new nuclear deal.

“You should not negotiate with such a government. It is unwise, it is not intelligent, it is not honorable to negotiate,” Khamenei said during a meeting with army commanders. The US had previously “ruined, violated, and tore up” a 2015 nuclear deal, he said, adding that “the same person who is in power now tore up the treaty.”

On Wednesday, Trump suggested striking a “verified nuclear peace agreement” with Iran, adding in his social media post that Tehran “cannot have a nuclear weapon.”

Trump, who returned to the White House on Jan. 20, reinstated on Tuesday his “maximum pressure” policy toward Iran over allegations the country is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran insists its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes and denies any intention to develop atomic weapons.

Following the policy’s reinstatement, Washington on Thursday announced financial sanctions on entities and individuals accused of shipping hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Iranian crude oil to China.

Tehran on Friday condemned the sanctions as “illegal,” saying they were “categorically unjustified and contrary to international rules.”

“We must understand this correctly: they should not pretend that if we sit down at the negotiating table with that government (the US administration), problems will be solved,” Khamenei said.

“No problem will be solved by negotiating with America,” he said, citing previous “experience.”

Khamenei also warned of reciprocal measures if the US threatened or acted against Iran.

“If they threaten us, we will threaten them. If they carry out this threat, we will carry out our threat. If they attack the security of our nation, we will attack their security without hesitation,” he said.

During President Trump’s first term, which ended in 2021, Washington withdrew from the landmark nuclear deal that had imposed curbs on Iran’s nuclear program in return for sanctions relief.

Tehran adhered to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action deal until a year after Washington pulled out but then began rolling back its commitments. Efforts to revive the agreement have since faltered.

Khamenei said Iran was “very generous” during the negotiations culminating in the deal, but it “did not achieve the intended results.”

Iranian political expert Afifeh Abedi said Khamenei’s remarks highlight “a serious concern” that negotiations “will result in the US breaching its commitments.”

“Iran understands that Trump’s willingness to negotiate is a disingenuous, reactionary move driven by other objectives rather than a genuine commitment to reaching an agreement,” she said.

Iran has repeatedly expressed a willingness to revive the nuclear deal, and President Masoud Pezeshkian has called for an end to the country’s isolation.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi recently said that the new US administration should work to regain Tehran’s trust if it wants a new round of nuclear talks.

Western sanctions, especially since the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal, have taken a toll on millions of Iranians struggling to make ends meet amid high inflation and a plunging currency.

Khamenei acknowledged this on Friday, saying, “almost most segments of the population have some problems,” but adding they could be solved internally.

The current “respected government can reduce the people’s livelihood problems,” he said.

Without directly mentioning Gaza, Khamenei said on Friday the US administration was trying “to change the map of the world.”

“Of course, it is only on paper, it has no basis in reality,” he said.

Source:arabnews.com

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Leader: One shall not negotiate with a perfidious U.S. government

Feb 7, 2025,

Tehran, IRNA – Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says negotiating with the perfidious United States government is unwise.

“Negotiating with America will solve no problem. Proof? [Past] experience!” Ayatollah Khamenei said on Friday.

The Leader referred to Iran’s past experience in negotiating and making a deal with the United States and other governments back in the 2010s, and said that even though Iran offered generous concessions to the other side under that agreement, the U.S. reneged on its obligations.

“The Americans did not comply with that very agreement. The very same person who is now in office [in the United States] tore up the agreement,” he said. “The agreement was meant for America’s sanctions to be removed. They were not removed! America’s sanctions were not removed.”

That, Ayatollah Khamenei said, is Iran’s experience.

“One shall not negotiate with a government like this; negotiating [with it] is unwise, not intelligent, not honorable,” the Leader said.

Ayatollah Khamenei acknowledged that Iran faced certain economic difficulties.

“As for their livelihood, nearly most echelons of the population have certain afflictions…; however, what resolves those problems is a domestic element,” he said. “[And] the domestic element comprises of efforts by responsible officials and the cooperation of the nation united.”

The Leader said that officials were already busy working to solve those problems. “I am very hopeful that… this respectable administration will be able to at least ease people’s livelihood problems.”

Ayatollah Khamenei was speaking during a meeting with commanders, staff, and airmen from the Iranian Army’s Air Force and Air Defense Force in Tehran.

The Leader emphasized that Iran was not opposed to negotiations per se and that it was involved in negotiations with all countries in the world.

“The only exception here is America. Of course, we don’t count the Israeli regime as an exception — because that regime is not a government to begin with and is rather a criminal and land-usurping gang,” he said.

‘Iran to respond to threats accordingly’

“The Americans are sitting [behind their desks] changing the map of the world on paper. Of course, it is only on paper, it has no reality to it. They also opine about us, they talk about us, they threaten us,” Ayatollah Khamenei said elsewhere in his remarks.

“If they threaten us [verbally], we will threaten them. If they actuate that threat, we will actuate ours. If they violate our nation’s security, we will violate their security without a doubt,” the Leader added.

Source:irna.ir

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Vigils in Al-Jawf in solidarity with Palestine & against Ansar Allah classification as terrorist organization

07 Feb 2025

Following Friday prayers, solidarity vigils were held in Al-Hazm, Rajuza and Al-Marashi districts of Al-Jawf province in solidarity with our brothers in Gaza and in rejection of the expulsion decisions issued by US President Trump.

Participants expressed their rejection of Trump's decisions to expel Palestinians from their houses and lands in Gaza and the West Bank. They emphasized their absolute solidarity with the Palestinian people, supporting them and standing by their side no matter what the sacrifices.

A statement issued by the vigils affirmed their disapproval of the classification of Ansar Allah as a terrorist organization. It pointed out that this designation comes after the abject failure of America, Britain and Israel to confront the Yemeni armed forces, which prevented the passage of their ships from the Red and Arabian Seas, the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden.

The statement explained that the US classification will not deter Yemen's leadership and people from supporting the Palestinian people , cause and supporting Gaza.

The statement emphasized that Ansar Allah component is part of the authentic Yemeni people who defend Gaza and Palestine by all means.

Source:saba.ye

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About 30,000 Palestinians perform Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque

07 Feb 2025

Thousands of Palestinian citizens performed Friday prayers today at Al-Aqsa Mosque, in light of the strict military measures imposed by the Zionist enemy authorities on access to the mosque.

The Islamic Endowments Department in Quds stated that about 30,000 people performed Friday prayers in the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

For its part, the Palestinian News Agency confirmed that the enemy forces obstructed the worshipers from reaching Al-Aqsa Mosque to perform the prayer through Bab Al-Amoud and Bab Al-Asbat.

The Zionist enemy forces stopped a number of young men and prevented them from entering the mosque, and a number of Palestinians performed Friday prayers in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Mosque after the occupation prevented them from entering the courtyards of the mosque.

Source:saba.ye

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Educational reform in Iran after Islamic revolution

By Maryam Tavassoli

February 7, 2025

The literacy rate among those aged above 6 has risen from 47.5 percent before 1979 to 90.7 percent after the victory of the Islamic revolution, ranking Iran among the top countries in education coverage, ISNA reported.

During the 46-year period, the number of students has increased by 10 million, reaching 17 million, and eight schools have been constructed on a daily basis in underprivileged areas.

In 1976, the literacy rate amounted to 47.5 percent; the literacy rate for men and women aged 10 to 49 was 61.8 and 35.5 percent, respectively, indicating a big educational gap. However, in the Iranian calendar year 1402 (March 2023-March 2024), the literacy rate increased to 90.7 percent with 97.8 percent of men and 96.1 percent of women, aged 10 to 49, being literate. After the Islamic revolution, the rate of literacy among women has grown by 2.5 times.

In the past, literacy referred to the ability of being able to read and write, later it included mastering a foreign language. Currently, the term literacy has gone beyond these concepts, encompassing the ability to solve life problems, and this is what the country is trying to achieve.

Since 1979, school construction has experienced a three-hundred percent growth, rising from 33, 121 schools with 132,484 classrooms to 107,000 schools with 560,000 classrooms now.

Education space per student in Iran has increased from 1.8 square meters at the beginning of the revolution to 5.45 square meters in the current year. Currently, there are over 1,100 stone-made schools.

President Masoud Pezeshkian's administration is determined to eliminate and replace stone-made as well as pre-fabricated schools with new schools in a year.

One of the other recent achievements of the education system is preparing and implementing a reform plan, as a bedrock of development. After being reviewed and studied for 12 years, the plan is meant to act as a roadmap to further enhance the quality of education in the country.

It has been implemented in ten schools so far; it is scheduled to be implemented nationwide in three years and is expected to positively transform education.

The plan focuses on management, teachers, families, curriculum, and physical and cultural environment. It aims to help realize students’ personal, and social skills and improve educational quality among both students and teachers. It also helps families by enhancing their parenting skills training.

Educational equity is not a slogan

President Masoud Pezeshkian has said that the administration intends to transform the education system so that no student is deprived of the right to quality education, highlighting that educational equity is not a mere slogan but a fundamental goal.

It is not acceptable that students in public schools in underprivileged areas do not receive a good education while they have to compete with students in private schools that benefit from the best education, Pezeshkian stressed.

He made the remarks on Thursday in Bojnourd, the capital of North Khorasan province, Borna reported.

The president said providing vocational training alongside education is one of the key areas of transforming educational methods, through which the youth will develop skills needed for a profession after graduating from high school.

Referring to the extensive plans to solve the infrastructural challenges of schools, the president stressed, “We will overcome all school constructing challenges within a year. One of our main objectives is to turn public schools into the best education model.”

The president urged governor generals and all executive officials to cooperate with other sectors on a national plan to promote equity in educational spaces within the specified timeframe.

He went on to stress the necessity of public participation and the role of citizens in realizing the major national plan of building schools, saying, “We need to share our plans with the people to build not only schools for their children but also appropriate sports and recreational spaces for extracurricular activities.”

Pezeshkian further emphasized the importance of action instead of mere speeches, stating that his administration has prioritized solving the issue of educational space shortages, especially in deprived areas across the country within a year.

Source:tehrantimes.com

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Baghdad Imam condemns Amnesty Law suspension

2025-02-07

Shafaq News/ On Friday, the imam of Abu Hanifa Mosque in Baghdad, Abdul Sattar Abdul Jabbar, urged the Iraqi government to proceed with implementing the general amnesty law.

In his Friday sermon, Abdul Jabbar strongly denounced the Federal Supreme Court's decision to suspend the law as “allegiance to Satan.”

He also urged the government and parliament to legislate a Sunni personal status code, similar to amendments made to the Shiite personal status law, saying, “To preserve national unity, this code must be enacted.” Sunni clerics have previously advocated for this legislation in Iraq.

Despite the Supreme Court's opposition, courts across Iraq began implementing the amended general amnesty law on Thursday, following instructions from the Supreme Judicial Council.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court issued an order halting the implementation of three laws passed by parliament: amendments to the personal status law, the general amnesty law, and the property restitution law. The ruling sparked opposition from Sunni political factions and Kurdish groups.

During the January 21 parliamentary session, lawmakers approved these contentious laws. The session also saw efforts to collect signatures for the dismissal of Speaker Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani, with some MPs arguing the voting process violated constitutional procedures.

Source:shafaq.com

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Chemical weapons agency chief to meet Syrian officials in Damascus on Saturday, sources say

February 08, 2025

DAMASCUS: The head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), a global non-proliferation agency, will meet Syrian officials in Damascus on Saturday, three sources familiar with the visit told Reuters.

Director General Fernando Arias was expected to meet interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa and Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan Al-Shibani, two of the sources said, in a sign of Syrian willingness to cooperate with the agency after years of strained relations under now-toppled leader Bashar Assad.

The sudden fall of the Assad government in December brought hope that the country could be rid of chemical weapons.

Following a sarin gas attack that killed hundreds of people in 2013, Syria joined the OPCW under a US-Russian deal and 1,300 metric tons of chemical weapons and precursors were destroyed by the international community.

As part of membership, Damascus was supposed to be subjected to inspections. But for more than a decade the OPCW was prevented from uncovering the true scale of the chemical weapons program. Syria’s declared stockpile has never accurately reflected the situation on the ground, inspectors concluded.

When asked about contacts with the OPCW over chemical weapons still in Syria, the country’s new defense minister Murhaf Abu Qasra told Reuters in January that he “does not believe” that any remnants of Syria’s chemical weapons program remained intact.

“Even if there was anything left, it’s been bombed by the Israeli military,” Abu Qasra said, referring to a wave of Israeli strikes across Syria in the wake of Assad’s fall.

Details of the mission to Syria are still being worked out but its key aims will be finding and securing chemical stocks to prevent proliferation risk, identifying those responsible for their use and overseeing the destruction of remaining munitions.

The OPCW has asked the authorities in Syria to secure all relevant locations and safeguard any relevant documentation.

Three investigations — a joint UN-OPCW mechanism, the OPCW’s Investigation and Identification team, and a UN war crimes investigation — concluded that Syrian government forces used the nerve agent sarin and chlorine barrel bombs in attacks during the civil war that killed or injured thousands.

A French court issued an arrest warrant for Assad which was upheld on appeal over the use of banned chemical weapons against civilians. Syria and its military backer Russia always denied using chemical weapons.

The OPCW, a treaty-based agency in The Hague with 193 member countries, is tasked with implementing the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention. Egypt, North Korea, and South Sudan have neither signed nor acceded to the convention and Israel has signed but not ratified it.

Source:arabnews.com

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US State Department lays out plans for $7 billion-plus arms sale to Israel as Netanyahu visits DC

February 08, 2025

WASHINGTON: The State Department has formally told Congress that it plans to sell more than $7 billion in weapons to Israel, including thousands of bombs and missiles, just two days after President Donald Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.

The massive arms sale comes as a fragile ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas holds, even as Trump continues to tout his widely criticized proposal to move all Palestinians from Gaza and redevelop it as an international travel destination.

The sale is another step in Trump’s effort to bolster Israel’s weapons stocks. In late January, soon after he took office, he lifted the hold on sending 2,000-pound bombs to Israel. The Biden administration had paused a shipment of the bombs over concerns about civilian casualties, particularly during an assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Trump told reporters that he released them to Israel, “because they bought them.”

According to the State Department, two separate sales were sent to Congress on Friday. One is for $6.75 billion in an array of munitions, guidance kits and other related equipment. It includes 166 small diameter bombs, 2,800 500-pound bombs, and thousands of guidance kits, fuzes and other bomb components and support equipment. Those deliveries would begin this year.

The other arms package is for 3,000 Hellfire missiles and related equipment for an estimated cost of $660 million. Deliveries of the missiles are expected to begin in 2028.

Source:arabnews.com

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Hamas says Israeli block on diggers affecting extraction of hostages’ bodies

February 07, 2025

GAZA CITY: Hamas on Friday said Israel’s blocking of heavy machinery entering Gaza to clear rubble caused by war was affecting efforts to extract the bodies of hostages.

“Preventing the entry of heavy equipment and machinery needed to remove 55 million tonnes of rubble ... will undoubtedly affect the resistance’s ability to extract from under the rubble the dead prisoners (hostages),” said Salama Marouf, spokesman for Hamas’s media office in Gaza.

Hamas has repeatedly accused Israel of slowing down aid deliveries expected under the terms of the ongoing ceasefire in Gaza, including key items such as fuel, tents, and heavy machinery for clearing rubble.

The Israeli government and COGAT, the Israeli Defense Ministry body that oversees civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories, have rejected the accusation.

Of the 251 hostages Hamas seized in its unprecedented Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel, 76 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military has confirmed are dead.

Hamas’ armed wing released the names of three captives it said would be freed on Saturday in a fifth hostage-prisoner swap as part of an ongoing agreement with Israel.

“Within the framework of the Al-Aqsa Flood deal for the prisoner exchange, the (Ezzedine) Al-Qassam Brigades have decided to release” the three hostages, Abu Obeida, spokesman for the armed wing, said on Telegram.

Source:arabnews.com

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Scholz vows support for ‘free and safe’ Syria

February 07, 2025

BERLIN: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told Syria’s President Ahmed Al-Sharaa on Friday that Berlin was ready to support the transition to a “free and safe” future after the ouster of Bashar Assad.

Scholz expressed Berlin’s “willingness to support the reconstruction of Syria so that Syria can become a free and safe home for all” in an hour-long conversation with Al-Sharaa, the chancellor’s spokesman, Steffen Hebestreit, said in a statement.

In his first call with the new Syrian leader, Scholz “congratulated the Syrian people on their success in ending the Assad regime’s reign of terror.”

Al-Sharaa was appointed as Syria’s president at the end of January after militants toppled Assad, ending more than five decades of the family’s iron-fisted rule.

Scholz told the new Syrian leader he needed to lead an “inclusive political process ... that allows all Syrians, regardless of their ethnic or religious group,to participate.”

The chancellor also stressed “the ongoing importance of the fight against terrorism for security in Syria,” according to the statement.

Scholz said that Germany would work with European and international partners in this regard.

Al-Sharaa has been invited to visit Germany, his office said on Friday following the phone call.

The invitation came two days after Al-Sharaa’s office announced he had been invited to visit France.

Scholz and Al-Sharaa agreed on Syria’s need for an inclusive political process that allows the participation of all Syrians and provides rights and protection, the German spokesperson said.

“The Federal Chancellor underlined the ongoing importance of the fight against terrorism for security in Syria, the region and worldwide,” the spokesperson added.

Al-Sharaa has made a push to rebuild Syria’s diplomatic ties since his Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, or HTS, spearheaded the overthrow of Assad.

However, the country faces a difficult transition amid unresolved territorial and governance challenges. Armed forces in the south, including from the Druze minority, have responded cautiously to the new authority in Damascus.

Also on Friday, Human Rights Watch warned that US aid suspensions could worsen “life-threatening conditions” in camps holding relatives of suspected extremists in northeast Syria, urging Washington to maintain support.

Kurdish-run camps and prisons in the region still hold around 56,000 people with alleged or perceived links to Daesh, years after the extremists’ territorial defeat.

They include suspects locked up in prisons, as well as the wives and children of Daesh fighters held in the Al-Hol and Roj internment camps.

“The US government’s suspension of foreign aid to non-governmental organizations operating in these camps is exacerbating life-threatening conditions, risking further destabilization of a precarious security situation,” HRW said in a statement.

The rights group said the aid freeze could “limit the provision of essential services for camp residents,” citing international humanitarian workers.

Source:arabnews.com

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Slain deputy chief of Hamas armed wing given Gaza burial

February 07, 2025

BUREIJ, Palestinian Territories: Hundreds of Hamas fighters and onlookers gathered in the Gaza Strip’s Bureij refugee camp on Friday for the funeral of Marwan Issa, the slain deputy leader of the movement’s armed wing.

Brandishing assault rifles, their eyes the only visible feature behind black masks, fighters from the group’s armed Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades packed the narrow streets of the central Gaza camp for the funerary procession.

The Israeli military had said it had killed Issa in a March 2024 air strike, but his death was only confirmed by Hamas on January 30 amid an ongoing ceasefire with Israel in Gaza.

The group also announced the death of Al-Qassam’s military chief Mohammed Deif, who Israel had said it had killed in a July airstrike, as well as a number of other fighters and commanders.

Issa’s coffin, draped in the green Hamas and Palestinian flags and adorned with pictures of the slain deputy, was carried aloft by fighters during the procession. Friday prayers before the burial were held in a sports stadium in the camp.

“Do not think that the resistance has ended with the assassination of the great leader Marwan Issa,” said a fighter from the militant group Islamic Jihad, whose members were also out in force at the funeral.

“We have many resistance fighters and heroes, and we are constantly preparing for you,” he added.

Israel had accused Issa of being one of the organizers of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack, which started the Gaza war.

In a hostage handover on Saturday, as part of the terms of the ceasefire deal, scores of Hamas fighters carried pictures of the slain commanders in a show of strength in Gaza City’s port.

Source:arabnews.com

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Jordan’s King Abdullah, Iraq’s president discuss regional developments

February 07, 2025

AMMAN: Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Friday spoke on the phone with Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid, according to the Jordan News Agency.

During the call, the two leaders discussed the latest regional developments and ongoing coordination between their countries.

During the call, King Abdullah emphasized the need to intensify Arab efforts in supporting the Palestinian people in securing their full legitimate rights.

He reiterated Jordan’s firm rejection of any attempts to annex land or forcibly displace Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

The King also stressed the importance of maintaining the ceasefire in Gaza, increasing humanitarian aid, and preventing further escalation in the West Bank.

In addition to Palestinian concerns, the conversation highlighted the necessity of continued coordination between Jordan and Iraq in response to regional challenges. The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening bilateral ties and addressing shared security and political priorities.

Source:arabnews.com

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Arab World

 

Saudi Arabia: Multiple options for airport arrivals to reach Grand Mosque

February 07, 2025

Cairo: Saudi Arabia has emphasised the availability of several options for Muslims arriving by air in the port city of Jeddah to reach the Grand Mosque, Islam’s holiest in Mecca, to perform the Umrah or minor pilgrimage.

The Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah said the options for reaching the Grand Mosque from King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah have become more diverse, ensuring a smooth and comfortable journey for the pilgrims.

They include the high-speed Haramain rail service, and car rentals that provide freedom of movement and flexible transportation. Other options include smart transportation apps and licensed taxis.

Shuttle buses are also available with an integrated system to serve visitors.

Millions of Muslims from all over the world flock to the Grand Mosque, home to the Holy Kaaba that the faithful direct in their prayers.

Saudi authorities are ramping up preparations for coping with an expected influx of pilgrims during the upcoming holy month of Ramadan when the Umrah season usually peaks. The month is expected this year to begin on March 1.

The current season of Umrah, which can be undertaken around the year, began in late June after the end of the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

The main rituals of the Umrah are encircling the Holy Kaaba for seven times, a rite known as Tawaf, and likewise walking back and forth between the hills of Safa and Marwah, a rite called Sa’i in the Grand Mosque.

Source:gulfnews.com

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Saudi mining minister explores investment opportunities during trip to India

February 07, 2025

NEW DELHI: Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef held a series of high-level meetings with leaders of prominent Indian mining companies on Friday to discuss investment opportunities and strengthen cooperation in the mining sector.

During his official visit to India, Alkhorayef held discussions aimed at enhancing collaboration in exploration, production and processing of critical metals, as well as fostering knowledge exchange and innovation between the two nations, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The minister met representatives from Vedanta, an Indian multinational mining company headquartered in Mumbai, to explore investment opportunities in the copper value chain, with both parties expressing interest in advancing cooperation to support the development of this essential metal.

Additionally, he held talks with Bharat Forge — which specializes in forging, automotives, energy, construction and mining, railways, marine, aerospace and defense — to examine prospects in the iron sector.

In another meeting with Aditya Birla, a company specializing in copper and aluminum, discussions centered on potential collaboration in mineral exploration and processing.

The Indian firm expressed its intent to establish a framework for joint cooperation in the natural and mineral resources sectors, with aluminum manufacturing also identified as a key area of interest.

Alkhorayef also met representatives from Essar Company to review opportunities in the iron and steel industry, and get updates on Essar’s project in Saudi Arabia, which is focused on producing iron plates for construction applications.

Source:arabnews.com

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How Saudi Arabia is advancing clean combustion while meeting global energy demand

RAHAF JAMBI

February 07, 2025

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s oil and gas industry is increasingly adopting carbon capture technologies to reduce industrial emissions while enhancing oil recovery. This approach addresses environmental concerns while supporting global demand for cleaner, more reliable energy.

Carbon capture technologies are methods to trap and store carbon dioxide — or CO2 — emissions before they reach the atmosphere, helping to reduce greenhouse gases from industrial processes, power plants and other sources.

As a leading oil producer, Saudi Arabia acknowledges its responsibility to combat climate change while maintaining energy security. Its efforts align with Vision 2030, which prioritizes economic diversification and reducing reliance on oil, paving the way to net-zero emissions by 2060.

And in line with this target, the Kingdom aims to reach 44 million tonnes per annum of carbon capture, use and storage capacity by 2035.

To this end, institutions such as the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology are making significant advancs in carbon capture and storage, driving innovation in sustainable energy solutions.

“Saudi Arabia’s investment in carbon capture technologies is driven by its Vision 2030 strategy, which aims to diversify its economy and reduce its reliance on oil,” William L. Roberts, a professor of mechanical engineering at KAUST and director of the Clean Combustion Research Center, told Arab News.

“Carbon capture enables Saudi Arabia to reduce emissions from its hydrocarbon sector while supporting global demand for cleaner, affordable, reliable energy.”

KAUST has partnered with major industry stakeholders, including the Saudi Electricity Company, the Ministry of Energy and NEOM, to develop innovative carbon capture solutions, including a 30-tonne-per-day CO2 capture initiative at the Duba power plant.

The pilot project, launched in 2022, aims to capture 30 tonnes of CO2 daily from SEC’s Green Duba Integrated Solar Combined Cycle power plant at NEOM.

The integration of captured CO2 for enhanced oil recovery offers an important opportunity for the oil and gas sector. In this process, supercritical CO2 is injected into reservoirs, changing the physical properties of residual oil and making extraction easier.

This not only boosts production efficiency but also supports a more sustainable approach to energy extraction.

The Carbon Dioxide Enhanced Oil Recovery Demonstration Project at the Uthmaniyah oil field is a prime example of this technique. Located in the Eastern Province, the large-scale project captures and stores about 800,000 tonnes of CO2 annually from a natural gas production facility, with CO2 transported via a 85-km pipeline to the injection site.

Roberts of KAUST stressed the importance of careful management in these projects. “Monitoring CO2 injection to prevent leakage and optimizing injection rates is crucial for balancing production efficiency with environmental safety,” he said.

And although the potential benefits of carbon capture are clear, the industry faces significant challenges, including high costs and scalability.

A 2025 study published in the Carbon Capture Science and Technology journal shows that the average CO2 capture cost is $69 per tonne, with significant variability across industries. Ammonia production is the most cost-efficient, at $11 per tonne, due to its high CO2 concentration, while smaller-scale operations can face costs as high as $189 per tonne.

Emphasizing the need for a collective effort to overcome challenges, Roberts said that “collaborative research and pilot projects help to drive innovation and enable scalable, economically viable solutions for industrial carbon capture applications.”

Looking ahead, further advances in carbon capture technologies are on the horizon.

KAUST’s research group is actively exploring cryogenic carbon capture, a promising technology that removes CO2 at low temperatures, offering high efficiency and scalability.

Roberts said that relying on a single technology would not be enough to meet ambitious environmental goals.

“A diverse portfolio of solutions — including cryogenic capture, direct air capture, advanced membranes and chemical absorption — will be necessary to address emissions across various sectors,” he said.

This approach will lead to more flexible, cost-effective and sustainable carbon capture solutions, significantly reducing CO2 emissions.

KAUST plays a crucial role in educating the next generation of engineers and scientists to advance carbon capture technologies. The university offers specialized programs in sustainability and carbon capture, equipping students with the skills needed to address key challenges in CO2 capture, storage and use.

Roberts said that a holistic approach was key to fostering innovation and ensuring the successful implementation of carbon capture solutions.

“While carbon capture is essential for reducing industrial emissions, it must be part of a broader, multi-technology strategy to meet global emissions reduction targets,” he said.

Roberts advises policymakers and industry leaders to “focus on a technology-driven approach that prioritizes scalability, efficiency and cost-effectiveness.”

He also emphasized the need for investment in experimentation and predictive modeling to avoid potential pitfalls at large scale and called for continued support for research into innovative CO2 capture methods.

“There isn’t one answer, and we need to identify as many solutions as possible,” he said.

Roberts advocates using pilot projects as platforms to optimize technologies before large-scale implementation.

He stressed the need for collaboration between research institutions, industry and government to align policies with technological advancements.

In addition, he said that establishing clear regulatory frameworks that incentivized carbon capture deployment was crucial to making these technologies economically viable and integrating them into industrial practices.

Source:arabnews.com

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Saudi forces conclude military exercises

February 07, 2025

RIYADH: The Commander of the Royal Saudi Air Force Lt. Gen. Prince Turki bin Bandar attended the closing ceremony of the “Victory Spears 2025” exercise at the Air Warfare Center in Dhahran on Thursday.

The exercise involved the Saudi Armed Forces, Ministry of National Guard, Presidency of State Security, National Cybersecurity Authority, and forces from 15 nations.

Prince Turki also laid the foundation stone for the first expansion of the center, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The exercise included various air and maritime operations, demonstrating a high level of readiness in planning, preparation and execution by the armed forces, the SPA added.

Prince Turki highlighted that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman inaugurated the Air Warfare Center in 2019, with a vision to make it a world-class facility.

Prince Turki emphasized the inclusion of cyber warfare as a new dimension of the exercise, underscoring the air force’s commitment to developing the center.

He thanked Saud Arabia’s leadership for continuing to support initiatives that have enabled the Royal Saudi Air Force to achieve the highest levels of combat readiness.

Source:arabnews.com

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Renowned Ramsi tomatoes still a staple on Saudi tables

HIND ALKHUNAIZI

February 07, 2025

DHAHRAN: Nestled in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom, Qatif is celebrated for its fertile soil, inviting climate, and rich agricultural heritage.

One of the region’s most prized crops is the Ramsi tomato, which is native to Saudi Arabia.

It is also the main product of Mohammad Al-Ghawy’s Ramsi Tomato Farm, which spans 45,000 sq. meters in Al-Awamiyah and produces other seasonal delights including local watermelon and cantaloupe.

The succulent tomatoes are celebrated nationwide for their vibrant color, firm texture, and sweet-tangy flavor.

They are grown using traditional farming methods, which involve careful nurturing and attention to detail.

Saeed Sulail, a farmer from Qatif, told Arab News: “In terms of the harvest, the growing season lasts for more than three months, from December to the beginning of April.”

He added: “If we add the duration of planting seeds and nurseries (the greenhouses), it is approximately eight months. The soil in Qatif is enriched with nutrients and minerals that foster robust growth.”

He highlighted the importance of proper fertilization. “These are the industrial fertilizers that trees and plants need to grow well, but they must be in specific ratios for each stage of the plant’s life.”

The result of this labor of love is a delicious product packed with nutrients and antioxidants.

Ramsi tomatoes have been a staple in Qatif for centuries due to the region’s significant role as a major agricultural producer. Their popularity has spread throughout the Kingdom, making them a staple in many Saudi households.

Today, Qatif remains the primary producer of Ramsi tomatoes, with many local farms dedicating their land to their cultivation. Ramsi tomatoes hold a special place in Saudi culture, particularly during the summer months when they are in season.

They are often served as a refreshing side dish, sliced and dressed with olive oil, salt and pepper.

In many households, Ramsi tomatoes are used in traditional dishes including salads, stews and sauces, as well as the famous Saudi Arabia dish, Kabsa, which consists of meat, spices and vegetables.

Despite their popularity, production faces challenges, including climate change, desertification, water scarcity, and soil degradation.

Local farmers and authorities are working together to implement sustainable farming practices, such as drip irrigation and crop rotation.

Source:arabnews.com

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Kiswa on display at Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah

February 07, 2025

JEDDAH: The second edition of the Islamic Arts Biennale 2025, at King Abdul Aziz International Airport’s Western Hajj Terminal in Jeddah, is hosting a unique event where the Kaaba’s complete Kiswa is being displayed for the first time outside Makkah.

This exceptional experience at the biennale’s “Al-Bidaya” (The Beginning) section, offers visitors an opportunity to examine the aesthetics of Islamic craftsmanship, in particular the Kiswa’s gold and silver embroidery.

The display of the Kiswa is a part of the Diriyah Biennale Foundation’s efforts to promote awareness of the rich history and cultural legacy of Islamic art, the Saudi Press Agency reported recently.

The biennale offers an immersive journey in the making of the Kiswa, including the selection of the finest silk, hand-weaving, as well as the gold and silver embroidery.

Additionally, the biennale is screening a film outlining the evolution of the Kiswa across different eras and the artistic techniques used in its ornamentation, narrating a story of innovation and dedication over centuries, the SPA reported.

It also has a selection of rare artifacts from Makkah and Madinah, alongside contemporary artworks that highlight the spiritual aspects of Islamic art.

The “Al-Bidaya” section offers an interactive experience that blends visual and auditory elements, through light shows and soundscapes, that unveil the symbolic meanings behind the Kiswa’s inscriptions and ornamentation.

The display of the Kiswa not only showcases its artistic beauty but also highlights Saudi Arabia’s leading role in serving the two holy mosques.

This show serves as a significant milestone in the exploration of Islamic art, spreading cultural awareness and deepening appreciation for the craftsmanship behind the making of the Kiswa, the SPA reported.

Source:arabnews.com

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Jazan honey festival attracts customers

February 07, 2025

RIYADH: The 10th edition of the Jazan Honey Festival, held at the Cultural Center Square in Al-Edabi Governorate, gave local beekeepers the opportunity to display more than 50 tonnes of the finest honey varieties.

Organized by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture branch in the region in cooperation with Al-Edabi Governorate, the aim of the festival is to boost the local economy, develop the beekeeping and honey production sector, support the honey industry and preserve a long-standing profession in the region, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Visitors to the festival can choose from a wide variety of honeys, including sidr, qitad, salam, samra, doum, dhahyan, talh, marrar, majra, sahah and others.

The region is renowned for producing about 15 types of honey throughout the year, with an annual production exceeding 1,000 tonnes.

The festival is one of the most important events of the Jazan Winter Season 2025, with honey sales exceeding SR12 million ($3.2 million) over the past nine editions.

The SPA reported that the festival will run until Nov. 11 and is expected to attract a large number of visitors and shoppers, with sales this season expected to exceed SR3.5 million.

Source:arabnews.com

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Saudi Arabia’s aid agency provides medical aid in Syria

February 07, 2025

RIYADH: The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center launched three volunteer medical programs in Damascus on Thursday.

The programs cover cochlear implants, auditory rehabilitation, pediatric tumors, and osteoporosis and are part of the Saudi Amal Volunteer Program to help the Syrian people, which began Feb. 5 and will run until Feb. 12.

Within the first 48 hours, medical volunteers had successfully performed 22 oncology surgeries, 12 cochlear implant surgeries, four pediatric surgeries, five pediatric orthopedic surgeries, and six orthopedic and joint replacement surgeries.

Aside from medical care, the Saudi Amal Volunteer Program will also provide training and educational programs, and offer economic empowerment for people in need in several Syrian cities. More than 3,000 volunteers have signed up to help.

Source:arabnews.com

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Saudi Shoura Council speaker meets Thai senate speaker in Bangkok

February 07, 2025

BANGKOK: Saudi Shoura Council Speaker Dr. Abdullah bin Mohammed Al-Asheikh met Thailand’s Senate Speaker Mongkol Surasajja in Bangkok.

Surasajja welcomed Al-Asheikh and his accompanying delegation to the meeting and emphasized the importance of friendly relations between the countries.

Al-Asheikh congratulated Surasajja on assuming his role as speaker, wishing him success in fulfilling his responsibilities.

Al-Asheikh spoke of the Kingdom’s remarkable developmental advancement in various fields under the leadership of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and commended the qualitative shift being achieved by Saudi Vision 2030, which has driven economic diversification and sustainable growth across all sectors.

The two sides discussed bilateral relations and ways to enhance and develop them. They also focused on parliamentary cooperation between the countries.

Source:arabnews.com

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Europe

 

Russian military thwarts Ukrainian attack in Kursk Region (MOD VIDEO)

7 Feb, 2025

The Russian military has thwarted a Ukrainian effort to continue their offensive in Kursk Region, the country’s Defense Ministry said on Friday.

Combat in the area intensified on Thursday, when the Ukrainian military mounted a major attack to the northeast of the town of Sudzha, the largest settlement controlled by Kiev in the area. The attack involved dozens of armored vehicles and hundreds of troops.

A new video released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Friday shows one of the Ukrainian convoys, which appeared to largely consist of Western-supplied armored cars, come under artillery fire. The convoy deployed a smokescreen and attempted to hide in a wooded area, yet multiple vehicles were struck, the footage shows. 

The attack was concentrated around the villages of Ulanok and Cherkasskya Konopelka, located some 9km to the southeast of Sudzha. The Ukrainians apparently sought to push back Russian forces that have approached the town from the southeast, potentially threatening to cut off the last major cross border road under Ukrainian control.

Severing the road to Sudzha would jeopardize the logistics of the entire Kiev-controlled pocket in Kursk Region and possibly lead to the encirclement of the remaining forces there.

Ukrainian troops advanced in the open in large convoys, led by minesweeping and breacher vehicles. They were promptly detected and subjected to artillery and air strikes, and were also targeted by a multitude of assorted drones.

According to the latest estimates by the Russian military, the Ukraine lost over 200 servicemen during the unsuccessful attack on Ulanok and Cherkasskya Konopelka. At least eight tanks, five infantry fighting vehicles and over 30 other pieces of armor were destroyed. The attacking forces also lost three engineering breacher vehicles, a bridgelayer and other support equipment.

Source:rt.com

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https://www.rt.com/russia/612350-kursk-region-ukrainian-attack/

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Moscow accuses EU state’s leaders of ‘whipping up war psychosis’

7 Feb, 2025

The Finnish authorities have been churning up an atmosphere of “war psychosis” and urging people to prepare for a possible war with Russia, according to Moscow’s ambassador to the EU country, Pavel Kuznetsov.

In an interview with RIA Novosti published on Thursday, Kuznetsov said that Finland’s leadership is instilling fear in the population using claims of “Russia’s aggressive plans.”

Helsinki is promoting various initiatives to strengthen military preparedness among civilians, the envoy said.

“There is increased media coverage of bomb shelter renovations, the expansion of shooting club networks, and the extension of the maximum age for reservists,” Kuznetsov observed, adding that such measures are being “widely promoted.”

According to the ambassador, such actions are part of the Finnish government’s attempt to justify the country’s “hasty” NATO accession and increased defense spending.

Finland, which shares an almost 1,300-kilometer-long border with Russia, officially joined the US-led military bloc in April 2023 following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict. The Finnish government has since strengthened its defense policies, including expanding military training and civil preparedness programs.

Multiple outlets have reported a sharp rise in interest among Finns in weapons training. Shooting ranges have seen membership soar, and the government has announced plans to open more than 300 new shooting facilities to encourage the trend.

In November 2024, Finland issued guidance on how to prepare for an armed conflict, emphasizing the importance of readiness in the face of potential threats.

Several other Nordic countries have also published information advising their populations on how to prepare for a possible war or other unexpected crises.

Sweden has sent out millions of updated booklets entitled “In case of crisis or war,” while Norway has issued pamphlets urging people to be prepared to survive on their own for a week in the event of extreme weather, war, or other threats.

Denmark’s emergency management agency has informed the public how much water, food, and medicine individuals need to get through a crisis lasting three days. In December, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told a local broadcaster that she has been stocking canned food and other essentials in case of a Russian attack.

NATO has long declared Russia to be a direct threat, and Western officials have repeatedly claimed that if Moscow wins the Ukraine conflict, it could attack other European countries.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed any possibility of a military advance against NATO as “nonsense.”

Putin told US journalist Tucker Carlson last February that the bloc’s leaders are trying to scare their people with an imaginary threat from Moscow, but that “smart people understand perfectly well that this is a fake.”

At the same time, Russia has repeatedly warned against what it describes as NATO’s unprecedented military activity near its western borders in recent years.

Source:rt.com

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Bradford 2025 brings Ramadan Pavilion and Open Iftar to city

February 08, 2025

By Andrew Cunningham

Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture and the Ramadan Tent Project have partnered for the Muslim holy month.

The collaboration will bring the Ramadan Festival, Ramadan Pavilion, and two national Open Iftar events to Bradford.

The biennial Ramadan Pavilion, launched in 2023, will be hosted in Bradford's Centenary Square.

The structure, named Infinite Light, was designed by Fatima Mejbil , a Bradford-based architect, and Zarah Hussain, artist.

It will be unveiled on February 15.

The pavilion aims to highlight the core values and traditions of Ramadan through architectural expression.

Open Iftar, the flagship initiative of the Ramadan Tent Project, is the UK's largest community event during Ramadan.

Two Open Iftar events will take place on March 21 and 22 at One City Park, Bradford.

St George's Hall will host the Welcome Ramadan Conference on February 15.

The day-long event will feature discussions, panels, and speeches on the theme of 'Connection'.

Shanaz Gulzar, creative director of Bradford 2025, said: "Bradford 2025 is delighted to welcome the Ramadan Pavilion and Open Iftars to our city as part of our UK City of Culture celebrations.

"Ramadan is a time of reflection, community, and generosity—values that are deeply embedded in Bradford’s story.

"Our district is a vibrant mix of cultures and faiths, and this is a chance for people from all backgrounds to come together, share in the spirit of Ramadan, and experience its significance.

"Through our partnership with Ramadan Tent Project, we are embracing the rich diversity of our city, honouring traditions, and opening our doors to welcome everyone."

Omar Salha, founder and CEO of the Ramadan Tent Project, said: "For over a decade Ramadan Tent Project has connected and convened more than 1 million people from all backgrounds through the UK’s annual Ramadan Festival.

"We are excited to welcome people of all faiths and none, with a focus on this year’s Ramadan Festival theme of ‘Connection’.

"This year, we are delighted to partner with Bradford 2025 – the UK’s City of Culture, and feature some of our key activations, including the Welcome Ramadan Conference, Ramadan Pavilion and Open Iftar.

"We are proud to represent a pillar of Britain’s rich cultural ecology celebrating community, belonging and inclusion with Bradford 2025.

Mr Salha added: "We look forward to welcoming thousands of visitors, from all faith backgrounds and none, throughout Ramadan Festival 2025."

Source:thetelegraphandargus.co.uk

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https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/24919845.bradford-2025-brings-ramadan-pavilion-open-iftar-city/

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Oxford mosque stabbing: Man not guilty attempted murder

7th February

By Gee Harland

A jury has found a man not guilty of attempted murder but guilty of intent to cause grievous bodily harm instead.

Hassan Hussain, 25, was on trial at Oxford Crown Court accused of attempting to murder Kane Khan who was stabbed outside Oxford Central Mosque, off Manzil Way, on March 13 last year.

Mr Khan, who was attending an event at the mosque at the time, was hospitalised after running into back inside the gates to seek help.

He sustained a serious wound to his abdomen.

Hussain, of Nye Bevan Close, Oxford, was charged count each of attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

He was found not guilty on Friday (February 7) of attempted murder but guilty instead of causing grievous bodily harm.

Hussain will  be sentenced at the same court on April 4.

Two other men were also on trial - Shahroz Khan, 24, of Mortimer Road, and Bilal Khan, 25, of Abingdon Road – charged with one count each of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm.

Shahroz Khan had been accused of being a ‘spotter’ at the mosque, informing Hussain of Mr Khan’s movements.

Bilal Khan was accused of driving the trio away from Oxford following the incident.

Both men denied any involvement and were found not guilty on all counts.

However, Shahroz Khan will be sentenced on April 4 for unrelated offences.

Source:thisisoxfordshire.co.uk

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Cheaper China e-bikes 'kick in teeth' for UK firms

8th February

A government decision to scrap tariffs on Chinese e-bikes coming into the UK has been described as a "kick in the teeth for British manufacturing".

Border taxes were imposed on Chinese e-bikes following Brexit, keeping the UK in line with the EU, but the Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has accepted a recommendation to lift them on non-folding e-bikes from Friday.

The Trade Remedies Authority, the body responsible for reviewing tariffs, said the move allowing cheaper Chinese imports could save consumers £200.

But UK-based companies have called the decision "strange" saying it's a blow at a "very scary time" for the industry.

British based e-bike companies expressed concerns about the impact of a potential "flood" of cheap Chinese e-bikes entering the UK.

James Metcalfe and his brother Lyle run e-bike company Volt and have a factory in Milton Keynes.

They previously manufactured their bikes in China, before moving operations to a factory in Poland, and then shifting manufacturing to the UK following Brexit.

"I think this is an odd decision, and a kick in the teeth for UK manufacturing," Metcalfe told the BBC.

"We brought our manufacturing here with assurances that this [tariffs on Chinese bikes] was a long term change. We've invested a lot in it. We're a small business, family-owned, and trying to do the right thing by building a quality product," he said.

The UK was already a very competitively priced market for bikes, with little need to bring in cheaper bikes from China, he added.

"What's the benefit? I don't see any. The government are saying there'll be savings for the UK consumer, but for years we've been pushing government to put through alternative savings like grants and subsidies for customers."

"Why not do what everyone else has done across Europe? Provide grants and invest in bike infrastructure in the UK," he added.

Metcalfe also questioned why tariffs for folding e-bikes from China remained in place.

"I'm all for protecting the whole industry and I find it odd that they're protecting one small part of it," he said.

On Thursday, the government said it had accepted a recommendation from the Trade Remedies Authority to revoke anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese e-bikes of between 10.3% and 70.1%, and taxes designed to counteract subsidies of 3.9% to 17.2%.

A government spokesperson said: "Defending UK industry from unfair competition is important, which is why we've taken the decision to continue protecting UK folding e-bike producers based in the UK, whilst also lowering prices for consumers and importers of other products."

The spokesperson added that the government was "continuing to take action on unsafe e-bikes" and had recently launched a campaign "to raise awareness of the risks of dangerous e-bike batteries and scooters".

'A scary time for the industry'

The UK bike industry has endured a tough few years following a boom during the Covid pandemic, which saw an increase in outdoor exercise and many people choosing cycling over public transport.

Post-Covid sales dropped dramatically, and many companies were left with stock they struggled to shift. A number of companies struggled, including Mercian and Orange Mountain Bikes, or went bust, such as Islabikes.

David Miall, who runs e-bike company Wisper Bikes, said UK firms had been heavily discounting in recent years to try and attract new customers.

He said the latest move by the government, which he described as a "very strange decision", would bring a "flood" of cheaper Chinese imports to an already overstocked market.

"It's a very scary time for the industry right now, and this will cause a lot of trouble for a lot of companies," he said.

David's company designs its bikes in the UK, but manufactures them in Taiwan and Portugal.

He said he had already been contacted by Chinese bike manufacturers offering very low prices for their products.

"They've overstocked too, and they now see the UK as a place to dump their bikes," he said, adding that he may now consider focusing solely on fold up e-bikes.

"I think the government are thinking 'Let's give e-bikes a boost' but this has been badly thought-through by people who don't understand the industry," he said.

The Bicycle Association, which represents firms who make and sell standard and fold up bikes, said it was helping its members to respond to the new rules.

"This is a significant decision and it may take some time for the implications for the UK cycle industry and its supply chains to become clear," a spokesman said.

"We have for example already requested official clarification of the precise definition which HMRC will be using to identify 'folding e-bikes', which are still subject to these measures."

What is an e-bike?

Electric bikes - or 'e-bikes' - are an increasingly popular way to get around for hundreds of thousands of people in the UK.

The broad term 'e-bike' is commonly used for any electric-powered bike, but it can actually refer to very different types of equipment which are covered by different laws.

When most people think of an e-bike, they picture what is essentially a normal push bicycle with a small chargeable motor fitted to make it easier for the user to turn the pedals.

But there are also far more powerful electric-powered bikes on the market which are sometimes lumped in with e-bikes - for example, some models can hit 60mph and are designed for off-road riding in rugged terrain.

Source:bbc.com

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https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c75z9925lelo

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Free sandwiches for all after West Brom signing

8th February

When Ritchie Massey made a post on X on transfer deadline day promising free sausage sandwiches if West Bromwich Albion signed Adam Armstrong, he did not expect to be predicting the future.

The Oldbury cafe owner's post went viral after the football club's own account reposted his one and added "get the fryer on".

The deal for the Southampton striker was sealed 14 hours after the transfer window closed.

Mr Massey said the signing was a massive plus and would see the club have a goalscorer - "something that we've missed for a couple seasons now" - so what better way to celebrate than free sandwiches?

His post has been seen by more than 1.2 million people on X with more than 500 likes.

"It is absolutely unbelievable, our social media has gone bonkers," Mr Massey said.

"We've received lots of new followers and friends, it's amazing."

The Massey Cafe will give free sausage sandwiches to everyone who comes through their doors ahead of the Baggies home match against Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday - whether they are football fans or not.

"We've got extra staff working and I've ordered more sausages and bread to make sure we're all ready to go to meet the demands," Mr Massey said.

"I have to admit, preparations started around 11 o'clock on Monday evening."

Armstrong has scored three goals in 23 appearances for Southampton this season and his move to West Brom sees him reunited with boss Tony Mowbray.

He first played for Mowbray as an 18-year-old on loan at Coventry City and bagged 20 goals in a memorable season. Three years later, Mowbray had moved on to Blackburn Rovers and he again signed Armstrong, initially on loan but then for a fee of £1.75m.

The move went so well Mowbray was able to demand a fee of £15m when he sold Armstrong on to Southampton three years later.

"He reminds me of Kevin Phillips, a goalscorer, something that we've missed for a couple of seasons now," Mr Massey said.

"It is a massive plus that has given us fans a big boost."

Source:bbc.com

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Stars join the King for Italian-themed dinner

8th February

King Charles and Queen Camilla have hosted an Italian-themed dinner with dishes including crab, ravioli and pork, along with English and Italian wine.

Friday's dinner, with guests including David and Victoria Beckham, Dame Helen Mirren and Donatella Versace, was a culinary warm-up for the royal couple's state visit to Italy and the Vatican in early April, where they will meet Pope Francis.

The trip is expected to coincide with Charles and Camilla's 20th wedding anniversary and the King told dinner guests about his love of Italian food and culture.

"Good food brings people together and what we choose to eat helps to define us - as families, communities and nations," said the King.

The UK-Italy dinner, hosted by the King and Queen at their Highgrove estate in Gloucestershire, and with the Italian ambassador to the UK, Inigo Lambertini, was a celebration of "slow food", which uses fresh local food and traditional cooking methods.

Other guests included former British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful and chefs Raymond Blanc and Angela Hartnett.

The King hailed this "most splendid evening which brings together two things very dear to my heart - slow food and Italy".

"A nation's food culture is a priceless social and environmental asset, intimately bound up with its sense of identity and place," said the King.

An enthusiast for art, culture and religion, he spoke of his enthusiasm for the state visit, which will be his 18th official visit to the country.

"To say that we are looking forward to it would be to engage in a little British understatement," he joked to diners, including Stanley Tucci, who inspired the choice of food.

The reception and dinner menu, cooked by Calabrian chef Francesco Mazzei, featured Italian recipes with British ingredients. It was accompanied by English sparkling wine and Italian red and white wines.

Reception:

Rare and pasture salumi

Tuscan-style paté and coppa

Yorkshire pecorino cheese puffs

British vegetables caponata tartelletta

with Highgrove sparkling wine

Dinner:

Scottish crab panzanella

Westcombe ricotta and Highgrove fine herbs ravioli

Isle of Wight tomato passata

Suffolk Red porchetta

Pumpkin and sage mash, Tuscan kale

with white wine Gavi dei Gavi La Scolca Black label 2023 and red wine Barbaresco Gaja 2021

Zuppa Inglese and biscotti

with a red dessert wine, Recioto della Valpolicella Classico Zenato

Some of the British guests in attendance had strong links to Italy.

Dame Helen and her husband have a house in Puglia, in the south of the country, where they spend six months out of the year.

She previously told a local TV show that she is learning to speak Italian, and has found "nothing but kindness" in the area where she lives.

And it is sometimes forgotten that David Beckham played 29 matches for AC Milan in two loans spells in 2009 and 2010 as he sought to prove his match fitness to play for England in the 2010 World Cup. But it was a bittersweet experience as the second spell was cut short by an Achilles tendon injury that ultimately ruled him out of the World Cup in South Africa.

King Charles said of the combined culinary efforts of chef Mazzei and Tucci: "I can only hope they are still talking to each other at the end of it all!"

Cocktails were made by "mixologist" Alessandro Palazzi, using herbs from the gardens at Highgrove.

There was a toast made by the King in Italian, "alla eterna cultura italiana del buon cibo," meaning "to Italy's timeless food culture".

This dinner comes ahead of the state visit in early April, confirmed on Thursday by Buckingham Palace.

There will be engagements in Rome and Ravenna, with the King and Queen set to hold meetings with Pope Francis and Italian political leaders.

Source:bbc.com

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Andrew aide asks court to withhold testimony on alleged spy

8th February

A top aide to Prince Andrew is urging a court to withhold his account of the prince's relationship with an alleged Chinese spy because he did not realise it could become public.

Dominic Hampshire played a key role in the development of Yang Tengbo's relationship with the Duke of York - but the full details of what happened between the three men remain unclear.

Last month a court rejected Mr Yang's appeal against being banned from the UK, after an intelligence assessment that he could be secretly working for the Chinese state. Mr Yang has denied all wrongdoing.

Lawyers for the BBC and other media organisations argued at the Special Immigrations Appeal Commission (Siac) on Friday that Mr Hampshire could not keep his account private simply because he had lacked the "common sense" to find out if it might become public.

In December, the court said Mr Yang had formed an "unusual degree of trust" with the prince and had not disclosed his links to an arm of the Chinese Communist Party clandestinely involved in political interference.

It upheld the home secretary's conclusion that he was a threat to national security.

The BBC and other news organisations are now asking Siac to release a witness statement that Mr Hampshire wrote in support of Mr Yang after the aide had been first contacted by British intelligence.

In submissions on Friday, lawyers for Mr Hampshire said that he had sought assurances from Mr Yang's lawyers that the witness statement would remain private - and he had only realised it could become public when he arrived at the appeal hearing last July.

Mr Hampshire then withdrew the statement in an attempt to prevent it from becoming public.

"I was told that the information [in the statement] would be kept private and confidential," Mr Hampshire said to the court in written submissions on Friday.

"If there was any question of this being available in the public domain, I was not warned of it.

"If I had been, I would never have agreed to submit a witness statement, much less go into the level of confidential detail which I did.

"I wrote what I did in the statement with such candour – including about my own confidential commercial interests but also about the private interests of third parties – in the expectation it was for the private attention of one of the most senior ministries of state on a grave matter.

"I quite simply would not have volunteered to write about those matters had I known that there was any chance, however small, that it was for use in a forum which was or could become public."

Adam Wolanski KC, representing the media organisations, said there was an exceptionally strong public interest case to release Mr Hampshire's account to journalists, along with other documents that remain confidential.

"It is extraordinary that a person in Mr Hampshire's position, apparently charged with dealing with confidential and sensitive matters on behalf of the Duke of York, did not bother obtaining his own legal advice before agreeing to provide a witness statement to Mr Yang," said Mr Wolanski in written submissions.

"Mr Hampshire cannot now pray in aid his mystifying and unexplained decision to give a witness statement in this obviously highly contentious matter without seeking his own legal advice.

"He should not be permitted to benefit from his, to put it kindly, lack of common sense and his bad decision to proceed without legal advice.

"The court must instead proceed on the basis that he made this decision with his eyes open, knowing the risk that the evidence may become public."

Mr Yang became a highly trusted confidante of Prince Andrew following the duke's interview with the BBC's Newsnight programme in November 2019, which detailed the Duke's friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The fallout from the interview led to the prince withdrawing from public duties - and the end of his commercially successful Dragons Den-style investor events in the UK and China.

In March 2020, Mr Hampshire told Mr Yang in a letter that he had managed to salvage the prince's reputation in China.

Seven months later the businessman was authorised to represent the prince in China in a planned $3bn investment fund.

The "Eurasia Fund" scheme aimed to raise cash to invest in Chinese state projects in Africa and the Middle East.

Developing the regions is a cornerstone of the Chinese Communist Party's plan to expand its diplomatic and financial reach.

The discovery of the scheme, and the fear that the prince was being drawn into a complex Beijing plan to influence him, led the home secretary to ban Mr Yang from the UK.

He has denied all wrongdoing - saying he is a legitimate businessman who has worked for decades to improve links between China and the UK.

Mr Yang came to study in the UK in 2002 and later set up a series of China-related travel and business consultancy firms.

He met the Duke of York in 2014 and later took on a role in the China-based version of Prince Andrew's "Pitch@Palace" events, in which entrepreneurs sell their ideas to investors.

Siac will rule later on whether further documents from the case will be made public.

Source:bbc.com

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UK demands Apple allow spying on users worldwide – WaPo

7 Feb, 2025

The UK government has issued a “technical capability notice” to Apple, compelling the tech giant to create a backdoor to its encrypted iCloud service, the Washington Post reported on Friday. The move would enable UK law enforcement and security agencies to access encrypted data stored by Apple users worldwide, according to the newspaper.

The UK’s Investigatory Powers Act (IPA), referred to by critics as the “Snoopers’ Charter,” grants authorities the power to mandate that tech companies permit access to users’ data for investigative purposes. It also makes it a criminal offense to reveal that the government has made such a demand. The recent notice requires Apple to provide a means for decrypting user data. It is currently protected by end-to-end encryption, ensuring that only users can access their information.

Creating such backdoors could weaken overall security and set a dangerous precedent, according to Daniel Castro, vice-president of the US-based Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. In a statement on Friday, he has described the UK’s move as an “unjustified over-reach that threatens the security and privacy of individuals and businesses around the world.”

Last March, in a submission to the a parliamentary committee, Apple expressed concern that the IPA could be used to force companies to “break encryption by inserting backdoors into their software products.” Apple asserted that it “would never build a backdoor” and would rather withdraw “critical safety features” from the UK market affecting the security of British users’ data.

Ross McKenzie, a data protection partner at law firm Addleshaw Goddard, told the Guardian that the UK order could lead to a clash with the EU, potentially affecting agreements that allow the free flow of personal data between the UK and Europe.

UK security officials argue that encryption can hinder efforts to combat crime and terrorism. “Maintaining proportionate, lawful access to such communications in the face of ever-more prevalent encryption is sometimes our only means of detecting and understanding these threats,” Ken McCallum, head of the UK’s domestic intelligence agency MI5, stated last October. He believes that “privacy and exceptional lawful access can coexist if absolutist positions are avoided.”

The UK Home Office has declined to confirm or deny the existence of the notice, stating, “We do not comment on operational matters,” according to The Guardian.

Apple has long defended the encryption of its operating systems, notably challenging the FBI in court in 2016 over a demand for a “backdoor” to access the iPhone of a suspect in the San Bernardino, California, terrorist attack. In legal filings, Apple argued that the US government was requesting something it did not possess and that creating such a tool would be “too dangerous.”

The FBI eventually unlocked the phone using an Israeli spy tool, though it reportedly found nothing of value. Later revelations showed that other Israeli spyware, called Pegasus, had been used to hack tens of thousands of iPhones worldwide, targeting journalists, dissidents, and even heads of state.

Source:rt.com

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https://www.rt.com/news/612357-uk-apple-user-data-spying/

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North America

 

How Trump suddenly became a feminist champion

7 Feb, 2025

It was US President Donald Trump – a man who looked at Playboy founder, Hugh Hefner, and thought, “Now there’s a guy with life figured out” – who somehow became the only person in charge willing to pump the brakes on the surreal spectacle of born males bulldozing women on the rugby field, then waltzing right into the women’s locker room along with them. All while intersectional third-wave feminists are on the sidelines, basically acting like the hype squad… for the “dudes.”

After allowing a dude to smoke all the women in college swim championships, the NCAA American collegiate sports league announced on Thursday that it was suddenly putting an end to the practice, limiting the participation of transsexuals in women’s events to those whose assigned gender at birth was female.

The move came in the wake of Trump’s executive order earlier in the week withdrawing federal funding from institutions that allowed biological males to compete against women. “If you let men take over women’s sports teams or invade your locker rooms, you will be investigated for violations of Title IX and risk your federal funding,” Trump said.

Under this Title IX civil rights law, considered a major victory for 60’s and 70s-era second-wave feminist icons like Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, and tennis icon and activist Billie Jean King, colleges receiving federal funding couldn’t just have sports teams and scholarships exclusively reserved for men anymore. Sports suddenly became a social elevator and opportunity springboard for young women, too. But all of that was clawed back, mostly to deafening silence from feminists.

How on earth did Donald “grab her by the p***y” Trump end up being the one to reestablish due north on this issue?

One could argue that it’s feminism itself that has been ideologically corrupted by radical leftism, to the point where even the second-wave feminists – who were considered radical back when they were fighting for women to own property, have their own credit cards, or keep their own name in marriage – now seem almost conservative in comparison to this latest crop.

Feminism didn’t need intersectionality. That is, to get mixed up with causes that detract from the straightforward focus on improving the lives of women. There’s more than enough material to work with already when we still haven’t fully emerged from the turbulent wake of the MeToo movement, which shattered the long-standing omertà that mandated women’s silence about systemic second-class or abusive treatment as the price of fame and fortune in Western media and entertainment.

I was personally once told, despite supposedly being hired for my political acumen at a certain New York-based American cable news outfit, to just sit there and laugh at my co-host’s jokes, deferring to him while crossing and uncrossing my bare legs on camera. The message was clear: You either leave or comply, because if you don’t, then some other ambitious woman with equally decent legs will. And if you’re on the political right, good luck finding any feminists in your corner. Because leftist causes now take precedence over the defense of actual women, particularly if the woman in question doesn’t pass the ideological litmus test.

Rather than fighting the creeping, increasingly institutionalized corruption-driven brand of globalist leftism, today’s feminists have embraced it, confounding their struggle with all sorts of other causes that dilute their original mission. If one wanted to hijack the feminist movement, and render it totally useless in the actual defense of women, it’s hard to imagine a better way of going about it than by confusing it with issues like climate change and gender bending.

According to the United Nations’ “Feminist Climate Justice Framework for Action,” published in 2023, “economic hardship wrought by a heating planet is having additional knock-on effects for gender equality. Evidence shows that as communities are plunged into recurrent crises, tensions within families and between partners rise and gender-based violence escalates.” Ok, so when it gets hot outside, folks can get testy, and Mr. Hand can be inclined to become Mr. Fist. Do I have that right?

Lemme guess, the solution is just to give governments more of our tax money in an effort to stop the hot weather, right? Of course.

I seriously doubt that a single woman’s life has been spared by laundering tax cash into the elites’ climate change scam. Maybe if people were paying less of their own money into rackets like this, men and women alike would have more freedom to make decisions in their own best interests – including escaping any bad situation, whether that means leaving home or leaving a Spanish summer heatwave for the Edinburgh rain.

The kind of leftist causes that feminists have swallowed like they’re obligatory menu items included in a full meal deal are exactly the sort of issues that are relentlessly backed and promoted by corrupt institutional tools of regime change like USAID, which has funneled cash to NGOs messing around in the domestic affairs other countries, including under the pretext of promoting diversity.  So much for sticking it to the patriarchy when you’re actively helping to grease the skids for its regime change efforts. The kind that harm women around the world through displacement, insecurity, and death.

This systemic perversion has been such a detriment to the average woman that when Trump campaigned on the promise to take a wrecking ball to the costly corruption that was keeping the working and middle class impoverished, barefoot and in the kitchen in service of predatory special interests primarily serving the global financial class, he managed to get a higher percentage of the female vote than even Joe Biden did in 2020, despite Trump running against a woman: former Vice-President Kamala Harris. And Trump managed to score this support despite a clear lack of appetite in reclaiming the issue of women’s reproductive freedom from the states, several of which have outlawed abortion outright. Enough women apparently decided in the voting booth that their current lives are impacted by worse problems than just that one issue, which Harris and Biden themselves never promised to do anything about, either, opting instead to punt it to Congress and saying that they’ll sign a law protecting the right to access the procedure, if Congress can ever be bothered to give them one someday.

The same Democratic officials, hailed by today’s feminists, couldn’t be bothered to stand up for women against men who decided to identify as women – right before taking full advantage of the chance to dominate them on the playing field.

Second wave feminists who have been fighting for women’s equality of opportunity for decades by promoting the adoption of the Equal Rights Amendment, inexplicably failed to react, beyond actually cheering, when a key aspect of it that managed to make it into law – Title XI – was undermined. How exactly does allowing men to steal opportunities and financial benefits from women jibe with female advancement?

It doesn’t, and isn't it unfortunate that the lack of interest in addressing this issue, or even the outright support of this undermining of women’s rights, has ultimately resulted in a man unilaterally stepping in to get the job done?

The women who were speaking out against the injustice were typically dismissed as right-wing populists whose politics failed the feminist litmus test. But right-wing populist women can be feminists striving for equality and freedom, too. Such women consider the corrupt establishment status quo to be the primary existential oppressive force preventing social mobility by protecting “elite” special interests, including through the kind of Orwellian manipulations for which far too many leftist feminists have been keen to serve as handmaidens.

Wouldn’t it be just dandy if our sisters on the left could stop doing unpaid internships for the globalist overlords and their radical agenda? Imagine what we could accomplish if we stopped fighting each other for a hot minute and started fighting the actual final boss battle here.

Source:rt.com

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US bishops call for “prayer and action” against human trafficking

By John Lavenburg

Feb 8, 2025

NEW YORK – On the International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking, Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, TX, has called on Catholics to unite in prayer and action to combat what is referred to as “modern-day slavery,” and urge policymakers to act.

The International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking is observed by Catholics across the globe on Feb. 8. The day coincides with the feast day of St. Josephine Bakhita, patron saint of those impacted by the sin of human trafficking.

“Human trafficking is not only a serious crime – it is a rejection of the God-given dignity of every human being,” Seitz, chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Migration, said in a Feb. 6 statement.

Seitz said the U.S. bishops stand firmly alongside Pope Francis in shedding light on “this global injustice.” Globally, an estimated 27 million people – oftentimes marginalized and vulnerable individuals – are exploited for labor, services, and commercial sex, according to the U.S. State Department’s 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report.

“As Pope Francis reminds us, we must mobilize our resources in combating trafficking and accompanying those who have been exploited in this way,” Seitz said. “… As Catholics, we are called to face this issue with both courage and compassion, to initiate hard conversations, and to confront the harsh realities of trafficking and exploitation.”

Seitz also highlighted the need for Catholics and Catholic leaders to continue to urge policymakers at all levels of government to continue to act to stop human trafficking, including by bolstering existing protections and expanding services for survivors.

While he also touted the importance of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which was passed in 2000 and with a focus on prevention, protection, and prosecution, Seitz expressed concern that progress could be stymied, or negated, by potential policy actions of the Trump administration.

“Unfortunately, many of the proposals currently being discussed would weaken or eliminate decades of bipartisan progress on this issue. We must reject policies that lead to expanded opportunities for bad actors to prey on the vulnerable, whether within or beyond our country’s borders,” Seitz said.

He said St. Josephine’s life is a reminder that the fight against human trafficking is not just a social issue but a spiritual mission. As a survivor of human trafficking, St. Josephine’s journey “from captive to religious sister is a powerful testament to hope, healing, and unyielding resilience,” he added.

“We seek the intercession of Saint Josephine as we pray for an end to human trafficking and for the healing, protection, and safety of all victims and survivors alike, especially for children and those in our society who are afraid to seek help because they are marginalized,” Seitz said.

Source:cruxnow.com

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https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2025/02/us-bishops-call-for-prayer-and-action-against-human-trafficking

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16 things Trump and his team did this week

FEBRUARY 8, 2025

The third week of Donald Trump's second term has been marked by more major action from the US president and his team.

From announcing US goals on the future of Gaza and massively slashing the US agency for foreign aid to intervening in a golf dispute and banning transgender women from female sports competitions, Trump, his adviser Elon Musk and the rest of his team have pressed on with their agenda.

There's a lot to keep up with - so here's a reminder of 15 moves this week.

1. Proposed the US 'take over' Gaza

At a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday, Trump said the US would "take over" and "own" Gaza, resettling its Palestinian population in the process.

Trump proposed developing the territory, devastated after 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas, into the "Riviera of the Middle East".

"The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting," Trump repeated on social media on Thursday, reiterating the idea would mean resettling Palestinians who currently live there.

Trump suggested the displacement would be permanent, but administration officials later suggested any relocation would be only temporary.

Any forced deportation of civilians would be a violation of international law.

2. Planned to put thousands of USAID staff on leave

Thousands of employees at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the government's main foreign aid agency, are expected to be placed on leave at midnight on Friday.

The proposed cuts will affect the vast majority of the agency's workforce, leaving only a few hundred essential staff out of a total of about 10,000 employees globally.

The move comes after workers were asked to stay out of the agency's Washington DC headquarters earlier this week.

Cutbacks at the agency have upended the global aid system, with hundreds of programmes already frozen in countries around the world.

The Trump administration reportedly intends to merge the agency, which distributes billions of dollars in aid globally, with the state department, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters he was now the acting head of the agency.

3. Imposed tariffs on China and pulled back threats on neighbours

Trump imposed a 10% tariff on Chinese imports on Tuesday, but held off on his threat of implementing 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico for 30 days, after those countries' leaders pledged to beef up border security.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed to reinforce the US-Canada border to clamp down on migration and the flow of the deadly drug fentanyl.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum agreed to bolster the country's northern border with troops, and in return the US would limit the flow of guns into Mexico.

The tariffs, which some experts suggest could exacerbate inflation, were part of Trump's campaign platform ahead of November's election.

4. Pressed ahead with plan to incentivise federal workers to resign

The Trump administration had offered incentives to federal workers to voluntarily resign by a Thursday midnight deadline - part of an effort to slash the size of the government.

However, a US judge temporarily halted the plan hours before the deadline, pausing it until a hearing on Monday to determine the merits of a lawsuit filed by federal employee unions, CBS News, the BBC's US partner, reported.

Some of the federal government's more than two million civilian workers have voiced confusion about the terms of the deal, which the administration says would allow them to receive pay and benefits through September in exchange for resigning.

Critics have questioned the legality of the offer and some federal employee unions have advised members to exercise caution around accepting the deal.

5. Sanctioned the International Criminal Court

On Thursday, Trump signed an order to impose sanctions on some staff of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The sanctions place financial and visa restrictions on individuals and their families who assist in ICC investigations of American citizens or allies.

The Hague-based court brings global prosecutions for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Recently, it issued arrest warrants for a Hamas commander and Israel's Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza, which Israel denies.

Trump's announcement came as Netanyahu was visiting Washington DC.

More than 120 countries, including the UK, are members of the ICC, though the US and Israel are not.

6. Ordered strikes against the Islamic State group in Somalia

Trump said he ordered military air strikes on a senior attack planner and others from the Islamic State (IS) group in north-east Somalia on 1 February.

He said "many terrorists" were killed "without, in any way, harming civilians". The BBC could not independently verify reports of casualties.

The office of Somalia's president on social media welcomed the "unwavering support of the United States in the fight against international terrorism".

7. Withdrew from United Nations institutions

Trump also took action to end US involvement in several UN institutions.

On Tuesday, Trump signed an executive order withdrawing the US from the main UN agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, of which Israel has been highly critical.

The same order said the US would no longer participate in the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), and the US would conduct a review of its membership in the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) within 90 days.

8. Sent first plane of deportees to Guantanamo

The US sent the first group of migrants to Guantanamo Bay on Tuesday, after Trump announced plans to expand migrant detention at the US Navy base in Cuba.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the detainees were part of the Tren de Aragua - a gang that originated in Venezuela's prisons. Ten detainees were sent, CBS reported, citing multiple US officials.

The move came after Trump ordered that an existing migrant detention facility at the base be expanded to hold some 30,000 people.

The Naval base has been used to house a small number migrants - a few dozen at a time, in recent years - for decades.

Separately, nearly 800 people - most held on suspicions of terrorism - have been jailed at the base's detention centre since it opened in 2002. About 15 people are still held there now, according to US media.

Deportation flights also carried migrants back to India this week.

9. Demanded Ukraine provide rare earth resources

On Monday, Trump said he wanted Ukraine to guarantee the supply of more rare earth metals in exchange for $300bn (£240bn) to support its fight against Russia.

"We want what we put up to go in terms of a guarantee... we're looking to do a deal with Ukraine where we're going to secure what we're giving them with their rare earth (minerals) and other things," Trump said.

Ukraine has large deposits of uranium, lithium and titanium, which can be used for defence and electronics manufacturing, CBS reported.

In response, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country was open to investment by American companies.

10. Banned transgender competitors from women's sports

Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday that prevents transgender women from competing in female categories of sports.

The order outlines guidance, regulations and legal interpretations largely around high school, university and grassroots sports.

However, Trump said the order would include the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, adding he would deny visas for transgender Olympic athletes trying to visit the US to compete.

11. Released water from dams in California

Trump on Monday ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to release billions of gallons of water from two reservoirs in California's Central Valley after deadly wildfires in Los Angeles in January.

Trump had claimed California withheld water supplies that could have made a difference in fighting the fires, which the state's Governor Gavin Newsom and other officials disputed, CBS reported.

The water was released into a dry lakebed more than 100 miles (160km) away from the fires. Experts and officials told CBS the water could not flow to Los Angeles and would likely go to waste.

US Congressman Ted Lieu, a Democrat from California, said that before the water in the dams was released, it was being "saved for the farmers for the summer season when they needed the water" in the state's agricultural region.

12. Announced taskforce to tackle 'anti-Christian bias'

Trump on Thursday signed an executive order that aimed "to protect the religious freedoms of Americans and end the anti-Christian weaponization of government".

He appointed newly confirmed Attorney General Pam Bond to lead a task force to eradicate what he called "anti-Christian bias" in the federal government.

Trump signed the order after giving remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC.

13. Intervened in a dispute in the golf world

Trump, an avid golf player who owns courses around the world, reportedly intervened in a dispute between championship organiser PGA Tour and its rival series LIV Golf.

After the launch of LIV Golf led to a rift, the rivals entered negotiations and announced a "framework agreement" for a merger, but a deadline to complete that deal passed.

This week, PGA Tour said it was "closer to a deal" with LIV Golf after calling on Trump to step in.

"We asked the president to get involved for the good of the game, the good of the country, and for all the countries involved," said the statement. "We are grateful that his leadership has brought us closer to a final deal, paving the way for reunification of men's professional golf."

14. Removed climate change mentions from government websites

Starting last week, the Trump administration reportedly ordered some US government agency websites to remove references to climate change.

It has affected the websites of the departments of transportation, defence, state and agriculture, which manages the forest service, the Guardian reported.

Some climate content remained on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Nasa and energy department's sites.

This week, some employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) were also ordered to temporarily stop communicating with foreign nationals, US media reported.

The change came after reports that staff from Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) - which is not an official government department - entered the offices of NOAA and took over the agency's internal websites, removing pages devoted to diversity-focused employee affinity groups.

15. Increased access for Musk's Doge

President Donald Trump said on Friday that he had directed Musk's Doge, a cost-cutting initiative to shrink the federal government, to "check out" spending at the defence department among other agencies.

"Pentagon, education, just about everything," Trump said during a news conference with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

The Trump administration also gave members of Doge access to a US treasury department payments system that controls the flow of trillions of dollars in funds every year, US media reported.

Musk's newly created Doge, which is not an official federal department, has been heavily involved in government upheaval.

16. Trump revokes Joe Biden's security clearance

Trump revoked Joe Biden's security clearance and access to daily intelligence briefings on Friday - something Biden did to Trump four years ago.

"There is no need for Joe Biden to continue receiving access to classified information," Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform.

"JOE, YOU'RE FIRED," the Republican added in a reference to his catchphrase on the reality TV show, The Apprentice.

It came among a flurry of other announcements on Friday, which included an executive order freezing financial assistance to South Africa and announcing that he would fire the board of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC and name himself chairman.

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Trump signs order freezing aid to South Africa over land law

FEBRUARY 8, 2025

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order freezing financial aid to South Africa, after threatening to do so earlier this week.

Trump said he was bringing in the order because of South Africa's new land law, which he says is violating people's rights, and also because of its international court case accusing Israel of genocide.

It escalates a dispute between the two countries nearly a week after Trump threatened to cut funding without citing evidence, that "South Africa is confiscating land" and "certain classes of people" were being treated "very badly".

Trump's close adviser Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa, also joined in the criticism asking on X why Ramaphosa had "openly racist ownership laws".

President Cyril Ramaphosa has not yet commented but previously defended South Africa's land policy after Trump's threat on Sunday.

He said the government had not confiscated any land and the policy was aimed at ensuring equitable public access to land.

President Ramaphosa's law was signed last month, and allows land seizures without compensation in certain circumstances.

Land ownership has long been a contentious issue in South Africa with most private farmland owned by white people, 30 years after the end of the racist system of apartheid.

There have been continuous calls for the government to address land reform and deal with the past injustices of racial segregation.

South Africa's new law allows for expropriation without compensation only in circumstances where it is "just and equitable and in the public interest" to do so.

This includes if the property is not being used and there is no intention to either develop or make money from it, or when it poses a risk to people.

The order said the US "cannot support the government of South Africa's commission of rights violations in its country", and as long as it "continues these unjust and immoral practices" then the US will not provide aid or assistance.

The White House said Washington will also formulate a plan to resettle South African farmers and their families as refugees.

It said US officials will take steps to prioritise humanitarian relief, including admission and resettlement through the United States Refugee Admissions Program for Afrikaners in South Africa, who are mostly white descendants of early Dutch and French settlers.

The executive order also references South Africa's role in bringing accusations of genocide against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The order said: "In addition, South Africa has taken aggressive positions towards the United States and its allies, including accusing Israel, not Hamas, of genocide in the ICJ, and reinvigorating its relations with Iran to develop commercial, military, and nuclear arrangements."

On Sunday, Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social: "I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!"

He later said, in a briefing with journalists, that South Africa's "leadership is doing some terrible things, horrible things".

"So that's under investigation right now. We'll make a determination, and until such time as we find out what South Africa is doing - they're taking away land and confiscating land, and actually they're doing things that are perhaps far worse than that."

But, on Monday, Ramaphosa moved to defuse the row with Trump's new US administration over the new land law by speaking to Musk on the phone.

Ramaphosa's office said, in that call to Musk the president "reiterated South Africa's constitutionally embedded values of the respect for the rule of law, justice, fairness and equality".

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Biden granted more acts of clemency than any prior president

BY JOHN GRAMLICH

FEBRUARY 7, 2025

Former President Joe Biden granted more acts of clemency than any previous chief executive on record, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Overall, Biden granted 4,245 acts of clemency during his four-year tenure in the White House. That far exceeds the total of any other president since the beginning of the 20th century, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, who granted 3,796 such acts during his 12 years in office. It is also far ahead of the current total of President Donald Trump.

Looking at the Justice Department data another way, Biden granted 29% of the clemency requests he received. That was the highest percentage of any president since Richard Nixon, who granted 36% of the petitions he received. (Biden, however, received far more requests than Nixon – 14,867 versus 2,591.)

The clemency power is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and can refer to multiple forms of presidential mercy:

The Justice Department’s statistics do not count clemency granted to entire classes of people by proclamation, such as the actions taken by Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford to forgive thousands of Vietnam War-era draft dodgers. Biden granted clemency this way, too: In October 2022 and December 2023, he granted pardons by proclamation to people convicted of certain federal marijuana offenses. And in June 2024, he issued a proclamation granting pardons to former military service members convicted of violating a since-repealed ban on consensual gay sex.

A closer look at Biden’s pardons and commutations

Over four years, Biden issued 80 pardons and 4,165 commutations for a total of 4,245 acts of clemency.

The number of pardons Biden issued is the second lowest on record; only George H.W. Bush granted fewer (74). But the nature of some of Biden’s pardons is historically unique. Biden issued “preemptive pardons” to several prominent people who had not been convicted of, charged with or even investigated for any crimes. They include Dr. Anthony Fauci, the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; retired Gen. Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; several members of his own family; and members and staff of the U.S. House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, as well as police officers who testified before the panel. Biden said he issued the pardons preemptively to protect recipients against potential future prosecutions by the Trump administration.

Unlike his relatively infrequent use of pardons, Biden stands out for the sheer number of commutations he granted. His total was more than double the number granted by the next-closest president, Barack Obama, who issued 1,715 during his eight years in office.

Biden’s many commutations included a near-total emptying of the federal government’s death row. On Dec. 23, 2024, he commuted the sentences of 37 of 40 federal death row inmates to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The three death row inmates whose sentences Biden did not commute were convicted in cases involving terrorism or mass murder.

Biden also saved nearly all of his clemency acts until the final weeks of his presidency. While every president since Ford has issued pardons or commutations in his last days in office, Biden granted 96% of his acts of clemency in his final fiscal year – the period between Oct. 1, 2024, and his departure from the White House on Jan. 20. On Jan. 17 alone, he granted 2,490 commutations, more in a single day than any prior chief executive had granted over their entire presidency.

Biden’s expansive use of clemency contrasts with recent trends

Before Biden, presidents had generally become less forgiving over time, at least when looking at the share of clemency requests they granted. Every president from William McKinley to Carter granted at least 20% of the requests they received. But that percentage fell to 12% for Ronald Reagan and to single digits for every subsequent president – until Biden.

Obama’s clemency record tells a mixed story. In absolute numbers, Obama granted more acts of clemency than most recent presidents (1,927). But that still worked out to just 5% of all the clemency requests he received – among the lowest percentages of any president.

Obama’s low percentage was largely due to the fact that his administration encouraged federal prisoners to apply for leniency under a program known as the Clemency Initiative. The program, which launched in April 2014 and ended when Obama left office in 2017, established specific criteria that the administration would prioritize in clemency decisions. Overall, Obama received more than 36,000 clemency petitions during his time in office, by far the most of any president.

Acts of clemency have often been controversial

Several aspects of Biden’s clemency record – including his use of preemptive pardons and the pardons he issued to members of his own family – have drawn backlash. But Biden is far from the only president to spark controversy over his use of the clemency power.

In January, only hours after taking office for his second term, Trump issued a proclamation pardoning nearly all of the people who were convicted for their role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. He also commuted the sentences of several others who had been serving long prison terms for their part in the riot.

In his first term, Trump drew criticism for granting clemency to many people who had a “personal or political connection to the president,” and he often circumvented the formal process for considering clemency requests, according to analyses by the Lawfare blog. (Biden also circumvented this process at times, including when he pardoned his son Hunter.)

Obama’s frequent use of commutations, particularly for prisoners convicted of drug-related crimes, prompted objections from Republicans at the time. Critics said it infringed on the “lawmaking authority” of the legislative branch.

Bill Clinton drew bipartisan condemnation for pardoning a fugitive commodities trader, Marc Rich, on his last day in office in 2001. And Clinton, like Biden, also pardoned a family member. On the same day he pardoned Rich, he pardoned his half-brother Roger Clinton, who had been convicted of selling cocaine.

Perhaps the most famous act of clemency in U.S. history was a preemptive pardon for a former president himself. On Sept. 8, 1974, in the wake of the Watergate scandal, Ford pardoned Nixon for any federal crimes he “committed or may have committed,” even though Nixon hadn’t been charged with a crime at the time.

Source:pewresearch.org

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Trump says he is revoking Biden's security clearance

FEBRUARY 8, 2025

US President Donald Trump has said he is revoking Joe Biden's security clearance and access to daily intelligence briefings, after his predecessor did the same to him four years ago.

"There is no need for Joe Biden to continue receiving access to classified information," Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform.

"JOE, YOU'RE FIRED," the Republican added in a reference to his catchphrase on the reality TV show, The Apprentice.

Trump has already revoked the security clearance of more than four dozen former intelligence officials whom he accused of meddling in the 2020 election in Biden's favour.

Trump posted on Friday evening that Biden "set this precedent in 2021, when he instructed the Intelligence Community (IC) to stop the 45th President of the United States (ME!) from accessing details on National Security, a courtesy provided to former Presidents".

He said Biden "could not be trusted with sensitive information", citing a justice department inquiry into the Democrat's storage of classified files, which concluded that while there was no need to press criminal charges, Biden had a poor memory.

The investigation said Biden was unable to recall significant life events such as the year his son, Beau, died and when he served as vice-president to Barack Obama. Biden rejected that characterisation at the time.

The former president, who has taken some time away from the limelight since leaving his post last month, did not immediately respond to Trump's move on Friday.

The BBC contacted Biden's talent agency, which recently signed him, but no response was immediately forthcoming.

In 2021, Biden stopped Trump from receiving classified intelligence briefings, the first time an ex-president had ever been denied such information, which is traditionally given as a courtesy.

He justified the move by saying Trump could not be trusted because of his "erratic behaviour", even before the 2021 US Capitol riot, which Democrats accused Trump of inciting in the last days of his first term.

"What value is giving him an intelligence briefing?" Biden said at the time. "What impact does he have at all, other than the fact he might slip and say something?"

In 2022, federal agents discovered classified files in Trump's Florida home and he was charged with wilfully retaining defence information. He pleaded not guilty, and the case was ultimately dropped once he was re-elected.

Since returning to office, Trump has taken steps to revoke the security clearances and protections of other top officials linked to the Biden administration.

Among those whose security clearance and detail has been retracted is former top US military commander Mark Milley, a vocal critic of Trump.

The new Defence Secretary, Pete Hegseth, has also ordered Milley's "conduct" to be investigated, and his military grade to be reviewed.

Trump has also revoked the security detail of former chief medical adviser to the president, Anthony Fauci, who led the US response to Covid-19.

Trump said at the time the decision was "very standard" and that it was not possible for everyone to have security protection for the rest of their life because they worked for the government.

He ended security protection for his own former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Secret Service protection for his former National Security Adviser, John Bolton, last month.

The president has also ordered that the security clearance of dozens of former intelligence officials, including two ex-CIA directors, be revoked.

They signed a letter in 2020 suggesting that reports about a laptop owned by Joe Biden's son, Hunter, were a Russian hoax.

But the computer, whose trove of data contained evidence of drug abuse, prostitution and foreign business deals, was real.

Source:bbc.com

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Judge blocks Trump plan to put thousands of USAID staff on leave

FEBRUARY 8, 2025

A judge has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump from placing 2,200 workers at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) on paid leave, hours before it was due to happen.

Judge Carl Nichols issued a "limited" temporary restraining order, in response to a last-minute lawsuit filed by two unions trying to save the agency.

The order will remain in place for a week, until 14 February at midnight.

Trump has argued that USAID, the overseas aid agency, is not a valuable use of taxpayer money and wants to dismantle it - he plans to put nearly all of the agency's 10,000 employees on leave, except 611 workers.

Some 500 staff had already been put on administrative leave and another 2,200 were due to join them from midnight on Friday (05:00 GMT).

But the last-minute lawsuit on Friday argued the government was violating the US Constitution, and also that the workers were suffering harm.

Judge Nichols sided with the unions, saying they would suffer "irreparable harm" if the court did not intervene, while there would be "zero harm to the government".

"All USAID employees currently on administrative leave shall be reinstated until that date, and shall be given complete access to email, payment, and security notification systems until that date, and no additional employees shall be placed on administrative leave before that date," Nichols wrote.

The judge will also consider a request for a longer-term pause at a hearing on Wednesday.

It is unclear from the court order what will happen to the remaining staff's jobs.

As the ruling came, officials had been removing and covering USAID signs at the organisation's headquarters in Washington DC.

USAID is the world's biggest aid donor - with much of its budget spent on health programmes around the world. Two-thirds of its 10,000 staff work overseas.

It is one of many federal agencies his administration is targeting as it works to slash federal spending in the US.

The Republican campaigned on overhauling the government and formed an advisory body named the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) - led by tech billionaire Elon Musk - to slash the budget.

Friday's ruling by Judge Nichols came in response to an emergency petition by the American Foreign Service Association and American Federation of Government Employees - two unions representing employees of the agency.

During the hearing, Judge Nichols - who was nominated by Trump during his first term - did not seem likely to grant other requests as part of the lawsuit, including to restore grants and contracts or reopen USAID buildings.

The legal action argued that the president was violating the US Constitution and federal law by attempting to dismantle the agency.

"Not a single one of defendants' actions to dismantle USAID were taken pursuant to congressional authorization," it said.

"And pursuant to federal statute, Congress is the only entity that may lawfully dismantle the agency."

Representing the Trump administration, justice department official Brett Shumate told the judge that the president "has decided there is corruption and fraud at USAID".

Hours after Trump took office on 20 January, he signed an executive order halting all foreign assistance until such funds were vetted and aligned with his "America First" policy.

That led to a stop work order at USAID, which runs health and emergency programmes in around 120 countries, including in the world's poorest regions.

"USAID IS DRIVING THE RADICAL LEFT CRAZY," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

"THE CORRUPTION IS AT LEVELS RARELY SEEN BEFORE. CLOSE IT DOWN!"

But Samantha Power, who was USAID chief under former President Joe Biden, wrote in a scathing New York Times opinion piece: "We are witnessing one of the worst and most costly foreign policy blunders in US history."

The US is by far the biggest single provider of humanitarian aid around the world. USAID's budget amounts to around $40bn - about 0.6% of total US annual government spending of $6.75tn.

The head of the United Nations' programme for tackling HIV/AIDS told the BBC the cuts would have dire impacts across the globe.

"AIDS related deaths in the next five years will increase by 6.3 million" if funding is not restored, UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima said.

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Missing Alaska plane found with three confirmed dead - US Coast Guard

FEBRUARY 8, 2025

The US Coast Guard has said the wreckage of a small plane that went missing in Alaska on Thursday has been found, with three people confirmed dead.

The coastguard said seven other bodies are believed to be inside the aircraft, but are currently inaccessible because of the condition of the plane.

Ten people were on board the Cessna Caravan craft, operated by the airline Bering Air, when its position was lost about 12 miles (19km) offshore on Thursday afternoon, authorities said.

The coastguard said the aircraft wreckage was located 34 miles south-east of the city of Nome, where it had been headed from Unalakleet.

"Say a prayer tonight for the 10 souls who lost their lives on the Bering Air flight in Alaska," US Transport Secretary Sean Duffy said.

Duffy said the the National Transportation Safety Board is conducting an investigation into the incident, with the support of the Federal Aviation Administration.

Alaska State Troopers said it had been notified of an "overdue" aircraft at 16:00 local time on Thursday (01:00 GMT).

The Nome volunteer fire department said the pilot had told air traffic controllers that "he intended to enter a holding pattern while waiting for the runway to be cleared".

The coastguard later said the plane had experienced a rapid loss in altitude and speed before its location was lost.

Details of who was on board have not been released but the Nome Volunteer Fire Department said all families of the passengers have been notified.

The 10 people on board comprised of nine passengers and a pilot, the Alaska Department of Public Safety said.

Air search and rescue operations had been limited by difficult weather conditions, which hampered visibility, multiple parties involved in rescue efforts said.

Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski shared her condolences online following the incident.

"Alaska is a big small town. When tragedy strikes, we're never far removed from the Alaskans directly impacted," Murkowski said.

Alaska's Governor, Mike Dunleavy, said he was "heartbroken" by the disappearance of the flight.

"Our prayers are with the passengers, the pilot, and their loved ones during this difficult time," he said.

The two cities of Unakleet and Nome are some 146 miles from each other across the Norton Sound, an inlet of the Bering Sea on Alaska's western coast.

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Trudeau says Trump threat to annex Canada 'is a real thing'

FEBRUARY 8, 2025

Canada's outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has told a group of business leaders he believes President Donald Trump might be serious about annexing his country.

Trudeau suggested Trump has floated the idea of taking over Canada and making it the "51st state" because he wants to access the country's critical minerals.

"Mr Trump has it in mind that the easiest way to do it is absorbing our country and it is a real thing," the prime minister said.

His comments were made behind closed doors at a Canada-US Economic Summit in Toronto, but were captured in part by a microphone and were reported on by several Canadian media outlets.

The summit was attended by more than 100 business leaders and public policy experts, and was hosted by the Canadian government's newly created advisory council on Canada-US relations.

Trudeau's comments come after Trump threatened Canada with a 25% tariff on all its exports to the US, with the exception of energy exports that would be taxed at a lower rate of 10%.

The tariffs were to be imposed earlier this week, but Trump granted Canada - as well as Mexico, who had been threatened with similar tariffs - a last-minute reprieve for 30 days in exchange for more efforts to bolster security at their shared borders.

Trump had suggested repeatedly, both in posts on his social media platform Truth Social and in remarks to reporters, that Canada could become a US state instead to avoid the tariffs. He has also referred to the country's prime minister as "Governor Trudeau".

"What I'd like to see - Canada become our 51st state," Trump said earlier this week at the Oval Office, when asked about what concessions Canada could offer.

Trump first mentioned the idea of absorbing Canada at a dinner with Trudeau in December, shortly after he first threatened the tariffs. At the time, Canadian officials dismissed it as a joke.

But Trudeau's comments on Friday suggest a shift in how Canada might be perceiving Trump's remarks.

An Ipsos poll conducted in January shows that the majority of Canadians (80%) oppose their country becoming part of the US, and would never vote 'yes' in any referendum on the issue.

Such a move would also require the approval of both chambers of Congress in the US, and would need a supermajority of 60 votes to get through the Senate.

In Canada, Trump's threats have caused nationwide anxiety. Around three-quarters of Canadian exports are sold to the US, and steep tariffs on those goods could deeply hurt Canada's economy and risk thousands of job losses.

Some provincial politicians have been launching "buy local" campaigns to encourage Canadians to spend their money at home instead of the US. Some Canadians have cancelled trips to south of the border in protest.

But officials have also tried to push closer ties with the US in the wake of the tariffs, saying that Canada was open to establishing a Canada-US alliance on energy and critical minerals.

Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, who has been in Washington DC this week to meet his American counterparts, said closer collaboration would be a "win-win" for both countries.

At Friday's summit, Trudeau said Canada was facing the possibility of "a more challenging, long-term political situation with the United States", and must find ways to strengthen its own economy and trade ties in the years ahead.

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USAID corruption at ‘unexplainable’ level – Trump

8 Feb, 2025

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) is riddled with almost unprecedented levels of corruption, and should be shut down, President Donald Trump has said.

In one of the first executive orders after his inauguration, Trump suspended all US foreign aid, pending a three-month review, amid a wider push to cut government spending.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio subsequently halted a number of projects assigned to USAID, Washington’s main agency for administering funding to political projects abroad.

Elon Musk, leading the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) which is evaluating federal agencies’ spending, has branded USAID a “criminal organization.”

“USAID is driving the radical left crazy, and there is nothing they can do about it because the way in which the money has been spent, so much of it fraudulently, is totally unexplainable,” Trump wrote on his media site Truth Social on Friday.

“The corruption is at levels rarely seen before. Close it down!” he said.

The day before, the US president claimed that the agency had funneled billions of taxpayer dollars into media companies to foster positive media coverage of Democrats.

USAID stole billions of dollars, “much of it going to the fake news media as a ‘payoff’ for creating good stories about the Democrats. The left-wing ‘rag,’ known as ‘Politico,’ seems to have received $8,000,000,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday.

The decision reportedly followed findings by Musk's team that millions of taxpayer dollars were being spent on Politico Pro subscriptions. Subsequently, the White House directed the General Services Administration to terminate all media contracts funded by USAID, Axios wrote on Thursday, citing an internal email the outlet obtained as saying.

Politico has denied receiving direct funding from the government, explaining that their premium subscriptions service was being used by some US agencies.

According to Reuters, the administration plans to retain fewer than 300 of USAID's over 10,000 employees. This significant reduction has prompted a lawsuit from a major government workers' union, challenging the legality of the cuts. The American Federation of Government Employees and the American Foreign Service Association sued Trump, Rubio, as well as the Treasury and State departments, branding the crackdown on USAID “unconstitutional and illegal.”

Source:rt.com

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Trump says he ‘will probably’ meet Zelensky next week

7 Feb, 2025

US President Donald Trump has stated that he will likely have face-to-face talks with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky as early as next week, adding that he would like to talk with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin soon as well.

Since his inauguration last month, Trump’s administration has been sending signals regarding potential peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. However, no details have been forthcoming to date. Commenting on the prospect of such dialogue, officials in Moscow have expressed cautious optimism.

Addressing the press during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the White House on Friday, President Trump said: “I will probably be meeting with [Vladimir] Zelensky next week.” He added that talks would most likely take place on US soil, as “I’m not going there.”

“And I will probably be talking to President Putin. I’d like to see that war end,” Trump said, adding “President Putin and I have always had a good relationship.”

Trump reiterated his long-standing point that the conflict would never have started had he been in office in February 2022. 

The US president also said that he would like to discuss the “security” of Ukraine’s rare-earth deposits with Zelensky. On Monday, he similarly stated that “we are looking to do a deal with Ukraine where they are going to secure what we are giving to them with the rare earths and other things.”

Trump once again accused NATO’s European member states of expending far fewer resources than the US on supporting Ukraine, promising to “equalize” the situation.

Commenting on Trump’s latest remarks in a post on X, formerly Twitter, late on Friday, Zelensky wrote: “The coming weeks may be very intensive in diplomacy, and we will do what’s needed to make this time effective and productive.” 

“Right now Ukrainian and American teams are working out the details. A solid, lasting peace shall become closer,” he predicted. 

Source:rt.com

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Africa

 

Northern senators urge action after Zamfara Islamic school fire kills 17

By John Akubo

07 February 2025

The Northern Senators Forum has expressed profound sorrow over the tragic fire that swept through an Islamic school in Kaura Namoda, Zamfara State, claiming the lives of several young students.

Describing the incident as a heartbreaking loss, the forum extended its deepest condolences to the bereaved families and the wider Zamfara community.

In a statement signed by Sen. Abdulaziz Musa Yar’adua, Chairman of the Northern Senators Forum, the lawmakers not only mourned the victims but also called for immediate and decisive action to prevent such tragedies from recurring.

“This is a devastating loss that touches every heart in our region,” the statement read. “We stand with the people of Zamfara in this time of grief and urge the relevant authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into the cause of this fire.”

Beyond the immediate mourning, the Northern Senators Forum stressed the need for systemic changes in how schools are regulated and managed.

The senators urged state Ministries of Education to implement strict supervision and accreditation processes to ensure all educational institutions meet basic safety standards.

“This tragedy must serve as a wake-up call,” Sen. Yar’adua stated. “No school should operate without adhering to stringent safety guidelines. The lives of our children depend on it.”

The forum also called on the Zamfara State Government to step up support for the affected families, recommending not only financial compensation but also counselling services to help them cope with the loss.

“As we mourn, we pray that Almighty Allah grants eternal rest to the souls of the departed and gives their families the strength to bear this painful loss,” the statement continued. “But prayers alone are not enough—we must ensure that such a tragedy never happens again.”

The forum assured the public that it remains committed to pushing for legislative reforms aimed at safeguarding Nigerian schools.

They added, “We will continue to monitor this situation closely and work towards strengthening policies that prioritise the safety and well-being of our children. It is our responsibility to create an environment where students can learn without fear.”

The Kaura Namoda fire has reignited national conversations about the safety conditions of schools, particularly in northern Nigeria, where infrastructural challenges and regulatory gaps often leave institutions vulnerable to disasters. As the investigation unfolds, all eyes will be on both the Zamfara State Government and the Federal Ministry of Education to implement the necessary reforms to prevent future tragedies.

Source:guardian.ng

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AFC secures US$400 million Shariah-compliant Murabaha facility to boost Africa’s Infrastructure

February 8, 2025

by Olalekan Adigun

Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) has closed a US$400 million Shariah-compliant Commodity Murabaha facility, marking its return to the Islamic finance market for the first time in eight years. 

The Chief Executive Officer of AFC, Samaila Zubairu said in a Bloomberg TV interview on Friday.

Initially launched at US$300 million, the facility was upsized to US$400 million due to overwhelming investor demand, with a 47% oversubscription.

The transaction attracted participation from eleven leading Islamic financial institutions, including first-time partnerships with Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank PJSC, Al Rajhi Bank, and Emirates Islamic Bank.

“This transaction reaffirms AFC’s role as a bridge between global capital and Africa’s most urgent infrastructure needs,” said Zubairu.

“The overwhelming demand demonstrates strong confidence in our investment strategy and Africa’s increasing importance in the Islamic finance landscape. By expanding our international funding sources, we continue to create innovative financial solutions to drive impactful and sustainable development across the continent.”

Emirates NBD Capital Limited, First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC, and SMBC Bank International Plc acted as Joint Lead Arrangers and Bookrunners for the transaction, reinforcing AFC’s strong relationships with leading global financial institutions.

AFC’s Expanding Footprint in Islamic Finance

The transaction builds on AFC’s track record in Islamic finance, including its US$230 million Sukuk—the first-ever by an African supranational entity—issued in 2017. AFC continues to broaden its funding portfolio with innovative transactions that attract global investors to African infrastructure projects.

In January 2025, AFC raised US$500 million from its first perpetual hybrid bond, further solidifying its financial strength. Additionally, the corporation received the highest possible credit ratings from S&P Global (China) Ratings and China Chengxin International Credit Rating Co. Ltd (CCXI) ahead of a potential panda bond issue, showcasing its credibility in global capital markets.

Ensuring Compliance with Global Islamic Finance Principles

This financing facility was structured in accordance with standards set by the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI), ensuring full compliance with global Islamic finance principles.

Islamic finance, including Murabaha structures, is widely regarded as ethical and sustainable due to its emphasis on asset-backed financing, risk-sharing, and the prohibition of speculative practices. These principles align with AFC’s mission to foster responsible investment that promotes long-term infrastructure development and economic stability in Africa.

AFC’s Vision for the Future

“Islamic finance plays a growing role in our funding strategy, helping us tap into a diverse pool of investors who share AFC’s commitment to sustainable and responsible investing,” said Banji Fehintola, Executive Board Member and Head of Financial Services at AFC. “The success of this Murabaha facility highlights the strong appetite for African infrastructure investments and underscores AFC’s ability to structure transactions that meet global investor expectations.”

With this latest financing success, AFC continues to strengthen its position as Africa’s premier infrastructure finance institution, leveraging diversified funding sources to drive sustainable economic growth across the continent.

Source:nairametrics.com

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Fulani community petitions Tinubu, seeks immediate release of detained Miyetti Allah leader

February 7, 2025     

By Chris Johnson

The Fulani community in Nigeria has formally appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene in the detention of their leader, Alhaji Abdullahi Bello Bodejo, who is currently in the custody of the Department of State Services, DSS.

In an open letter signed by Mohammed Tasiu Suleiman, the Publicity Secretary of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, the community expressed concern over what they described as the “illegal and unconstitutional” detention of Bodejo, who serves as the National President of the Fulani socio-cultural group.

According to the letter, Bodejo was initially arrested on December 9, 2024, by personnel of the Nigerian Army’s 177 Battalion in Keffi, Nasarawa State, before being transferred to the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) and subsequently to the DSS.

The community stated that despite previous detentions, no formal charges had been brought against him.

A ruling by Justice Mohammed Zubairu of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court on December 30, 2024, had declared Bodejo’s detention illegal and ordered his immediate release.

However, the Fulani leaders claim that he was re-arrested on December 31, 2024, and has remained in detention since, in violation of the court’s decision.

The letter pointed out Bodejo’s role in mobilizing support for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) during the 2023 elections, questioning why a key supporter of the government was being treated in such a manner.

It also raised concerns about his deteriorating health, noting that he had previously been hospitalized abroad and required urgent medical attention.

The Fulani community urged President Tinubu to use his authority to ensure Bodejo’s immediate and unconditional release, citing the need to uphold the rule of law and constitutional democracy.

The letter further referenced the recent arrest of persons allegedly involved in a violent incident against a retired general and the seizure of their cattle by the military, questioning why Bodejo was being implicated despite his reputation as a peace advocate and philanthropist.

The Miyetti Allah group reaffirmed its support for Tinubu’s administration but warned that the continued detention of their leader could lead to growing discontent within the Fulani community.

They expressed optimism that the establishment of the new Ministry of Livestock Development would address their concerns and called on the president to take swift action to resolve the matter.

“We are hopeful that the establishment and creation of the Ministry of Livestock Development will bring positive change.

“The entire Fulani community in Nigeria has confidence in your Renewed Hope Agenda.

“Thank you for your attention to this matter,” the statement added.

Source:dailypost.ng

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https://dailypost.ng/2025/02/07/fulani-community-petitions-tinubu-seeks-immediate-release-of-detained-miyetti-allah-leader/

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Adamawa community celebrates unity as Mosque attacked by hoodlums reopen

February 7, 2025

By Jim Ochetenwu

The Borong Jumat Mosque in Demsa Local Government Area of Adamawa State has reopened.

The reopening on Friday stirred celebration of unity in the mixed-faith community long after an attack by hoodlums forced Muslims to halt worship activities in the mosque and to rehabilitate it.

Routine Jumat service began on Friday at the mosque after successful completion of its rehabilitation.

The mosque which was set ablaze by hoodlums has thus been fully restored, gladdening the hearts of the local Muslim population and all peace-loving members of the Borong community.

The official reopening during the Jumat prayers was attended by the state Commissioner of Local Government Affairs, Alhaji Ibrahim Mijinyawa Yayaji who represented Governor Ahmadu Fintiri.

Other dignitaries at the event included the Commissioner of Housing and Urban Development, Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu Pirambe; the Amna (paramount ruler of) Shelleng; Alhaji Abdullahi Isah Dasong; and the State Chairman of the Muslim Council, Alhaji Gambo Jika.

The reopening of the mosque is widely seen as symbolizing return of peace and unity in Borong after the attack by hoodlums, an incident which caused much tension at the time.

Source:dailypost.ng

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The Apostolic Church Nigeria elects new national leaders

February 7, 2025

The Apostolic Church Nigeria has elected new national leaders for the church.

The church which is one of the a Pentecostal Christian denomination in Nigeria with its national headquarters in Lagos and international headquarters in Penygroes, United Kingdom, is divided into territories within Nigeria.

The election which was held yesterday, Thursday, February 06  was conducted at the National Headquarters of the Church in Lagos.

According to the results of election as presented by the Chief Returning Officer, Pastor David Ajibade, Pastor Dr. Lawrence .O. Oladele from LAWNA Territory emerged as the new National President of the church with 388 votes, while Pastor Jude O. D Ekele came distant second having garnered 196 votes.

Pastor E. U. Johnson from Akwa-Ibom State Territory, was also elected as Vice-President with 297 votes, defeating his close contestant Pastor Prof N.E. George who polled 278 votes.

In the race for the position of National Secretary, Pastor Prof. Benjamin Fakae from the Maritime Territory emerged winner after polling 323 votes to defeat Pastor I.B. Zorzor, who garnered 155 votes.

Pastor Prof B.B. Fakae was a former Rector of the Rivers State Polytechnic, Bori, before he later became the Vice-Chancellor of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST), Port Harcourt.

Pastor Dr. Isaac G. Awotanmi of LAWNA Territory was also victories having been elected as the new Deputy National Secretary, after securing 301 votes to triumph over Pastor Dr. Titus O. Akinbami, who polled 171 votes.

Pastor O.A. Nyong from Cross Rivers State Territory emerged victorious in the race for National Finance Secretary, garnering 304 votes to defeat Pastor W. U. Ikpi, who got 134 votes.

However, Pastor S.A. Ogu from LAWNA Territory was nominated as the National Deputy Finance Secretary.

The election result was announced by the incumbent President of the church, Pastor S.E. Igwe who is set for retirement.

It was gathered that the newly elected leaders would be officially inducted in August 2025.

Welcoming the election result, the President-elect of the church Pastor Oladele appreciated the incumbentt leadership of the church for laying exemplary leadership.

He said: “We want to appreciate our father, the National President whose his exemplary leadership we are all benefitting from. Our father the Vice-President/LAWNA Territorial Chairman, we appreciate you so much. All National officers and all the NEC members, we thank you and we appreciate you all. We want to tell our fathers that we shall humbly learn from them. We shall patiently submit ourselves for their Christ-like mind to be poured into us before we assumed office.

“May I say this to the fathers whom we contest together that there is no victor and there is vanquish. We have not won and you have not lost. We are the same, we need you, we need to cooperate together, the Church must move forward, and we are one. So, I thank you and I thank our fathers. God bless you all.”

The incumbent leadership of the church began operation on the 30th of July 2017.

Source:thenationonlineng.net

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Photos: Iyabo Ojo’s Daughter Ties The Knot With Tanzania Singer, Juma Jux At Islamic Ceremony

7 February 2025

The daughter of Nollywood actress, Iyabo Ojo, Priscilla, has tied the knot with Tanzanian singer, Juma Jux, at an Islamic ceremony.

Naija News reports that the Nikka was held in Tanzania on Friday and attended by close friends and family, including social media influencer, Enioluwa Adeoluwa, Tanzanian singer, Diamond Platinumz, and his wife.

Many believe the Islamic ceremony is the first planned event, and fans eagerly await a celebration in Nigeria.

In September 2024, Iyabo Ojo confirmed Priscilla’s engagement to Juma Jux, with photos and videos of the pair circulating online at the time.

The artist had also visited Nigeria to spend time with the thespian’s family, during which he joined Priscilla to embrace the Yoruba culture by donning matching traditional attire for a photo shoot.

Meanwhile, Nollywood Box office queen, Funke Akindele, has acknowledged the massive roles her colleagues, Sikiratu Sindodo and Iyabo Ojo, played in her rise to fame.

Naija News reports that the movie star made this known in a video via her Snapchat.

Funke, who is currently on vacation in Ghana with her friend, Eniola Badmus, and content creator, Kamo, revealed her decision to use her career challenges to encourage others.

Recounting the challenges she faced before her breakthrough in the film industry, Funke stated that she used to borrow clothes from Sindodo to look classy on movie sets.

The thespian added that Iyabo Ojo was very nice to her and would fight for her on movie sets.

Source:naijanews.com

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Southeast Asia

 

Selangor Sultan reminds Muslims to not be influenced by deviant, superstitious teachings

08 Feb 2025

SHAH ALAM, Feb 8 — The Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah yesterday expressed his regret and disappointment that more Muslims were being misled by misinformation, despite the availability of many Islamic books written and printed in Malay.

The ruler said that Muslims were increasingly susceptible to misleading and deviant teachings spread by irresponsible parties.

“Where have we gone wrong that cases of individuals following deviant beliefs are increasing in our country?

“If we remain deceived by teachings based on superstition and falsehood, Muslims will fall behind in all areas of life,” His Royal Highness said during the closing ceremony of the Selangor State Quran Recitation and Memorisation Competition 2025 at the Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Mosque, here.

Sultan Sharafuddin added that the spread of these misleading influences was causing divisions within the Muslim community and making them vulnerable to oppression by enemies of Islam.

He emphasised that in today’s modern world with its vast access to information, there are many ways to obtain accurate information, particularly about Islam based on the Ahli Sunnah Wal Jamaah teachings.

He pointed out that unlike in the past, when Islamic texts were mainly in Indonesian and difficult to understand in this country, most Islamic books today are written and translated into Malay, making religious knowledge much more accessible.

“Muslims now have it much easier to learn and understand the true teachings of Islam, as many religious books are now available in Malay, including online resources,” he said.

Sultan Sharafuddin also urged Muslims to consult religious authorities for guidance and to avoid being easily swayed by deviant teachings.

“Unity should be the main core for the life of Muslims, especially Malays. Islam is a religion that is complete and beautiful and can be the foundation of a community’s unity,” the Sultan said.

The Sultan also urged Islamic authorities to be more aware when tackling such issues and legal action and enforcement should be more effective so that deviant teachings would not affect Muslims till there is disunity.

“I would like to encourage all Muslims to read the Quran more daily and to do more good deeds, may we always be protected by Allah SWT and be kept away from disasters.

“I am very happy to see so many children who know the al-Quran well and are well-versed, especially in Selangor. May their presence in such an event be the cause and catalyst for us to always remain close to the al-Quran,” the Sultan said. — Bernama

Source:malaymail.com

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Warning against Haj fraud, Tabung Haji tells Muslim pilgrims to use only approved operators

08 Feb 2025

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 8 — Malaysian pilgrims who obtain a Furada Visa or Mujamalah Visa are advised to use the services of Pilgrimage Operators (PJH) licensed by Tabung Haji (TH).

TH Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Syed Hamadah Syed Othman said that a total of 37 PJH companies held Tourism Operator Licences issued by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC).

He said these companies had strong financial standing, expertise, and sufficient experience to ensure the welfare of pilgrims.

“TH continuously monitors all PJH from the planning stage to implementation to ensure that all pilgrims receive the best services and to prevent any fraud,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Syed Hamadah explained that the issuance of Furada and Mujamalah Visas for specific groups was the exclusive right of the Saudi Arabian government and fell outside the official national haj quota.

He said the Saudi Arabian government was actively introducing various initiatives to enhance the efficiency of haj procedures to facilitate the pilgrimage process and ensure the safety of pilgrims from around the world.

According to him, Saudi Arabia will also implement stricter security measures during the peak Haj period with a more efficient verification system to check every pilgrim entering the Masyair area.

“Any use of an unauthorised visa will result in legal action and heavy fines,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said TH fully supported the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) advisory for the public to be cautious of Haj fraud syndicates and not to be easily deceived by offers of visas and haj packages outside the national Haj quota.

He stressed that any individual or travel agency offering Haj packages without a licence from TH was committing an offence and could face legal action under the Tabung Haji Act 1995 (Act 535).

Yesterday, PDRM, through its Commercial Crime Investigation Department, revealed that 44 cases of Haj and umrah fraud were investigated in 2024, involving losses amounting to RM890,810.53. — Bernama

Source:malaymail.com

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MOTAC Calls On Islamic Tourism Centre To Expand Muslim-Friendly Tourism

07/02/2025

PETALING JAYA, Feb 7 (Bernama) -- The Islamic Tourism Centre (ITC) has been urged to take proactive measures in developing innovative and competitive Muslim-friendly tourism products, as Malaysia seeks to deepen its tourism and cultural ties with China. Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing said Malaysia and China share a rich Muslim heritage, which should be leveraged to enhance cultural and artistic exchanges between the two nations. With Visit Malaysia Year 2026 on the horizon, he said Malaysia aims to use the opportunity to enhance its strategic tourism partnership with China, which remains a key market.“ITC should continue adopting proactive measures to diversify and strengthen Muslim-friendly tourism offerings with more programmes that promote Islamic cultural and artistic exchanges between Malaysia and China “The efforts to promote Malaysia’s beauty and cultural diversity should include art exhibitions, food festivals, and traditional celebrations, showcasing the country’s vibrant tourism landscape,” he said. Tiong said this in his opening speech at The Malaysian Inbound Chinese Association (MICA) 10th Anniversary Annual Dinner in conjunction with China Muslim Cultural Exchange Familiarisation Trip near here today. Also present were his deputy Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan, ITC acting Director-General Nur Alyssa Coraline Yussin and MICA President Datuk Dr Angie Ng. Meanwhile, Nur Alyssa said ITC will continue to strengthen the Muslim-friendly tourism ecosystem in the country to attract more international Muslim tourists to visit Malaysia. Citing the success of the Chinese Muslim Cultural Exchange Internationalisation Programme which is in its second year, he said the programme has become a bridge in strengthening cultural understanding, opening up economic opportunities, and strengthening traditional ties between the two countries. "Apart from the collaboration with MICA, we are also expanding our collaboration with several other parties to explore more opportunities to attract Muslim tourists from all over the world," he said. According to Nur Alyssa, this year's programme recorded an increase in participation, with 77 Muslim representatives from China representing 23 provinces, with a focus on visits to culture, tourism, education and investment exchange, involving major destinations such as Kuala Lumpur, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Putrajaya, and Selangor. -- BERNAMA

Source:bernama.com

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Selangor to establish AI centres to boost technology development - MB

BERNAMA

08-02- 2025

KUALA LUMPUR: The state government will establish several Artificial Intelligence (AI) centres next year to support the rapid advancement of technology and strengthen the state’s position as a digital leader, Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari said.

He said these AI centres will play a key role in the state’s efforts to transform Selangor into a smart state while complementing the National Information Dissemination Centre (NADI) initiative.

He added that NADI, introduced by the federal government, aims to bridge the digital divide by improving accessibility and technology adoption, particularly for online transactions, communication, and access to vital information.

“Besides providing internet access and connectivity, NADI centres offer comprehensive support programmes in areas such as entrepreneurship, lifelong learning, personal well-being, and health awareness.

“This proves that NADI is not just a digital access point but a hub that empowers communities in various aspects of life,” he said during the launch of the NADI Centre in Sungai Tua, Selayang Baru, today.

Amirudin highlighted that the NADI Centre in Sungai Tua is the 76th of its kind in Selangor, with eight more centres set to be completed by the end of March, bringing the total to 84.

As of late January, 107,194 users have benefited from NADI centres across the state.

“NADI has significant potential to serve as an active communication platform, helping the public access key information from both the federal and state governments.

“I plan to fully utilise these centres as strategic communication hubs for the people after further discussions with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and the federal government,” he added.

Source:thesun.my

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Influencers must act responsibly, avoid sensationalising content for views - Fahmi

BERNAMA

08-02- 2025

KUALA LUMPUR: Social media influencers should exercise restraint and avoid sensationalising content merely for views, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said.

He was responding to a recent case involving a local influencer who created social media content claiming that a friend had ‘gone missing’ in a forest in Indonesia.

Fahmi, who is also spokesperson for the Unity Government, said the matter has been handed over to the relevant authorities for further action.

“Since this incident occurred abroad, I urge media representatives to refer to Wisma Putra for official updates. For influencers who create content for their audience, my advice is to be mindful and responsible. Do not go overboard. Let this serve as a lesson for us all to improve our approach.

“Sometimes, the content presented may not reflect the actual situation, but netizens are quick to conduct their investigations.

“I observed that some influencers had obtained verification (about this case), but if this issue involves enforcement authorities, we should leave it to them to conduct the investigation,” he said.

He was asked whether the government had received any reports regarding the influencer and whether the ministry planned to take any action.

Fahmi also noted that while influencers are not subject to licensing, they should still uphold ethical standards in their content.

“My reminder is that although we do not license influencers or content creators, we must learn from this situation and avoid producing (such content) or engaging in such actions,” he said.

Source:thesun.my

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https://thesun.my/malaysia-news/influencers-must-act-responsibly-avoid-sensationalising-content-for-views-fahmi-GA13646264

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Foreign man arrested for attempted theft on board flight

BERNAMA

08-02- 2025

GEORGE TOWN: A 52-year-old foreign national was arrested yesterday for allegedly attempting to steal from a fellow passenger on board a flight from Subang to Penang.

The Southwest District Police, in a statement today, said the incident occurred at around noon when a passenger noticed an unidentified man rummaging through their luggage.

The complainant immediately alerted the flight crew, who took swift action. A police report was later lodged at the Penang International Airport Police Station in Bayan Lepas,” the statement read.

Investigations confirmed that no valuable items were missing. However, the suspect was taken into custody for further questioning.

A remand order will be sought at the Balik Pulau Magistrate’s Court to facilitate investigations under Section 379/511 of the Penal Code for attempted theft.

Source:thesun.my

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https://thesun.my/malaysia-news/foreign-man-arrested-for-attempted-theft-on-board-flight-AA13646161

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Home Ministry bans three books over public morality concerns

BERNAMA

08-02- 2025

PUTRAJAYA: The government has issued a prohibition order against three books deemed potentially harmful to public morality in Malaysia.

The Home Ministry (KDN), in a statement today, announced that the ban was officially gazetted under the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 [Act 301] and took effect on Jan 21 and 22.

The three banned titles are ‘My Shadow Is Purple’ by Scott Stuart, ‘Koleksi Puisi Masturbasi’ by Amir Hamzah bin Akal Ali (Benz Ali), and ‘All That’s Left In The World’ by Erik J. Brown.

“This prohibition order under Act 301 serves as a preventive measure to curb potential threats or harm before they arise. At the same time, it raises public awareness about undesirable publications that are deemed inappropriate for general readership,” the statement read.

According to KDN, the ban is in line with Section 7(1) of Act 301, which prohibits the printing, importation, reproduction, publication, sale, distribution or possession of materials that could compromise public morality in Malaysia.

“Under Section 8(2) of Act 301, any individual found printing, importing, producing, reproducing, publishing, selling, distributing, offering for sale or possessing prohibited publications for any purpose is committing an offence.

“If convicted, they may face up to three years in prison, a fine of up to RM20,000, or both,” the statement added.

Source:thesun.my

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https://thesun.my/malaysia-news/home-ministry-bans-three-books-over-public-morality-concerns-GA13646101

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South Asia

 

Jamaat announces candidates for 19 constituencies in Sylhet division

Feb 7, 2025

Jamaat-e-Islami announced candidates for all 19 parliamentary constituencies in Sylhet division including four in Moulvibazar.

The announcement was made last evening by Jamaat's Assistant Secretary General Ehsanul Mahbub Zubair during a regional meeting.

Mahbub Zubair said that Jamaat has intensified its organisational activities nationwide in preparation for the upcoming national election.

As part of these preparations, the party has finalised and declared candidates for the 19 parliamentary constituencies in Sylhet division, he said.

The candidates for Moulvibazar's four constituencies are Aminul Islam (Moulvibazar 1, Barlekha-Juri), M Shahed Ali who is also the district's Jamaat chief (Moulvibazar 2, Kulaura), Abdul Mannan, former district chief of Jamaat (Moulvibazar 3, Sadar-Rajnagar), and Abdur Rob (Moulvibazar 4, Srimangal-Kamalganj).

The candidates of Sunamganj's five constituencies are Maulana Tofail Ahmed Khan, chief of Jamaat's Sunamganj District unit (Sunamganj-1), Muhammad Shishir Monir, lawyer, Appellate Division, Bangladesh Supreme Court (Sunamganj-2), Yasin Khan, lawyer, APP, Judge Court, Sylhet (Sunamganj-3), Muhammad Shamsuddin, lawyer, Judge Court, Sunamganj (Sunamganj-4), and Maulana Abdus Salam Al Madani, retired principal, Gobindanagar Fazil Madrasa (Sunamganj-5).

The candidates of Habiganj's four constituencies are Md Shahjahan Ali, secretary of Jamaat's Sylhet Metropolitan unit (Habiganj-1), Sheikh Zillur Rahman Azmi, Dhaka Metropolitan North Jamaat member and former president of Habiganj District Chhatra Shibir (Habiganj-2), Kazi Mohsin Ahmed, secretary of Habiganj District Jamaat unit (Habiganj-3), and Kazi Maulana Mukhlisur Rahman, chief of Habiganj District Jamaat unit (Habiganj-4).

However, the names of Jamaat candidates for Sylhet district constituencies could not be known immediately.

Source:thedailystar.net

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‘Govt bound to fail as it lacks spirit of uprising’

Feb 8, 2025

The interim government is bound to fail as it does not have the spirit of the July uprising in it, said columnist and writer Farhad Mazhar yesterday.

"Dr Yunus is bound to fail. This government, which may have emerged from the mass uprising, is destined to fail as well. This is because the spirit of the uprising is absent within this government, it is not built upon the essence of the movement," he said at an event of the Jatiya Nagorik Committee.

The upazila-level representative meeting of the Dhaka south metropolitan unit of the committee was held at the Institute of Diploma Engineers in Kakrail.

Criticising the members of reform commissions, Mazhar said, "If you form a commission by bringing in elite and privileged individuals, who previously benefited under the Awami League regime or in the international arena, what will you achieve?"

"Bangladesh needs to be rebuilt. The correct term is 'restructuring,' not reform. We haven't even gotten our language right yet," he said.

Addressing the Nagorik Committee and student leaders, he said if they are aiming to build an election-centric party, that will eventually fail.

"Now that you have started the process of forming a party, I must ask -- are you creating another BNP, or are you truly building the revolutionary force needed to complete the mass uprising we could not finish? If you are planning to rise again with full organisational strength to complete the uprising, then you are welcome."

"But if you are merely forming another so-called liberal party, one that exists only for elections... If your goal is only to protect  a government or build a new state through elections, it is nothing but a delusion," he added.

Mazhar said it is unfortunate that the Hindus of the country are being  labelled as agents of Delhi just for demanding their fundamental rights. "Is this fair? The people have not yet freed themselves  from this habit of labeling others," he said.

In the final segment, Nasiruddin Patwary, convener of Nagorik Committee, its member secretary Akhtar Hossain, spokesperson Samanta Shermeen, and chief organiser Sarjis Alam also spoke.

Responding to a question regarding proportional representation in elections, Patwary said they have proposed a hybrid electoral system.

"It can be implemented experimentally in a certain number of constituencies, perhaps 100 or slightly more. This can be tested in the next election through discussions with all parties," he said.

Sarjis said both the Nagorik Committee and the Anti-discrimination Student Movement will hold councils at regular intervals, where representatives will be elected through direct voting by council members.

In response to a question as to why the party is not expanding, Sarjis said, "We already have committees covering half of Bangladesh's administrative regions. By February, we will reach every thana and upazila. A new party will officially be launched within this month."

Akhtar Hossain said they would finalise the party's name, symbol, and core principles through nationwide consultations by late February.

The session was moderated by the committee's joint convener Ariful Islam Adib.

Source:thedailystar.net

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https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/politics/news/govt-bound-fail-it-lacks-spirit-uprising-3818671

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Long-Standing Feud in Nangarhar Ends After 50 Years

2025-02-08

NANGARHAR(BNA): A 50-year feud between two families in Mamli village has finally come to an end, thanks to the dedicated efforts of the Department of Information and Culture and local tribal elders.

Qari Ehsanullah Sajid, head of Nangarhar’s Department of Information and Culture, confirmed to the Bakhtar News Agency that this longstanding enmity, which had claimed the lives of two individuals from both sides, has been resolved.

Members of the families involved expressed their joy at the resolution of the conflict and pledged to foster a future of harmony and cooperation.

This resolution is part of a broader trend observed since the rise of the Islamic Emirate, where numerous cases of hostility across the country have similarly been addressed, leading to renewed relationships built on peace and mutual respect.

Source:bakhtarnews.af

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.bakhtarnews.af/en/long-standing-feud-in-nangarhar-ends-after-50-years/

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New Health Center Inaugurated in Helmand Province

2025-02-08

KABUL(BNA): Mawlawi Noor Jalal Jalali, the Acting Minister of the Ministry of Public Health, announced the inauguration of a new health center in Sangin district during his recent visit to Helmand province.

The facility, valued at approximately 26 million Afghanis, aims to enhance healthcare services for local residents.

In his remarks, Minister Jalali expressed his satisfaction with the construction of the health center, emphasizing its significance in improving health services in the area. “We are striving to provide quality services to every citizen and to work in a way that addresses the needs of the people,” he stated.

The Ministry of Public Health is committed to expanding and developing the healthcare system across the country. This initiative is part of a broader effort to create a self-sufficient and standardized health system that meets the needs of all citizens.

Source:bakhtarnews.af

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.bakhtarnews.af/en/new-health-center-inaugurated-in-helmand-province-2/

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Weapons,Ammunition Depot Discovered in Kabul

2025-02-07

KABUL(BNA): Weapons and ammunition depot was uncovered in the Qala-e-Fathullah area of Kabul. The operation, which took place along the seventh road, resulted in the arrest of one individual connected to the warehouse.

According to a statement from the Ministry of National Defense, the raid yielded a substantial cache of weaponry, including six Kalashnikov rifles, three additional rifles, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Authorities also reported the recovery of 11 rounds of ammunition.

Source:bakhtarnews.af

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.bakhtarnews.af/en/weaponsammunition-depot-discovered-in-kabul/

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