Lebanese immigrant becomes first Muslim woman to be crowned Miss U.S.A
Indo-Pak
trade moot in Delhi on 18-19 May to boost ties
Sufis gave message of interfaith
harmony
Muslim rocker wields guitar in rock’n’roll
jihad
Senator defends marriage to teenager
Pay hike for Kashmir terrorists
Painting exhibition: Impact of terrorism on human psyche
documented
Plane crashes in Afghanistan with 43 on board
Pakistani military kills 58 suspected
militants
Somali fighting kills 24, chaos in parliament
Ajmer blast: ATS detains 2 more suspects
Mauritania starts trials of Al-Qaeda
suspects
Saudis warned against hiring maids locally
Af-Pak terrorism a common challenge to India, Iran:
Larjani
India declares ban on 100 global terror
outfits
Police offer Rs 5 lakh reward for SIMI’s
Viqaruddin
Cops fail to get any lead from Bhatkal call
records
Kashmiri leader Mirwaiz to offer Saudi Arabia mediator
role
NY bomber wanted to join Afghan war
French academic leaves Iran after 10 months
Thousands flock to Vatican to back pope over
abuse
Asharq Al-Awsat to be printed in Doha
Filipina rape victim rescued in Taif
RIYADH: Women teachers welcome ‘fairer
pay’
Israeli coalition wobbly on peace terms
Iran to ship uranium to Turkey in nuclear
deal
60 militants taken out, 25 held in Orakzai
4 women killed in Balochistan violence
Conspiracy against Pakistani students should be stopped, says
Saifullah
‘Private US spy network still operating in Pakistan,
Afghanistan’
Saudi journalist who interviewed bin Laden
resigns
94-year-old woman earns college diploma
Compiled by Asit Kumar
Photo: Rima Fakih, a 24-year-old Arab-American, won the Miss USA 2010
title in Las Vegas
-------
Arab-American Rima Fakih crowned 2010 Miss
USA
May 17, 2010
ONE glance at Donald Trump was all it took for America's
newly-crowned Miss USA to know she'd been "hired".
Rima Fakih, a 24-year-old Arab-American, won the 2010 title in Las
Vegas on Sunday after strutting confidently in an orange and gold bikini,
wearing a strapless white gown that resembled a wedding dress and saying health
insurance should cover birth control pills.
Fakih, from Dearborn, Michigan, nearly stumbled in her evening gown,
but she said she believed she had the title after glancing at pageant owner
Donald Trump as she awaited the results with the first runner-up, Miss Oklahoma
USA Morgan Elizabeth Woolard.
"That's the same look that he gives them when he says, 'you're
hired'," she said, referring to Trump's catchphrase from his reality show The
Apprentice.
"She's a great girl," said Trump, who owns the pageant with the NBC
television network in a joint venture.
In a moment that was replayed during the broadcast, Fakih nearly fell
while finishing her walk in her gown because of the length of its train. But she
made it without a spill and went on to win.
"I did it here, I better not do it at Miss Universe," she
said.
"Modelling does help, after all."
When asked how she felt about winning the crown, Fakih said, "Ask me
after I've had a pizza."
The pageant, held at Vegas' Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino on
Sunday night, was hosted by Australian celebrity chef Curtis Stone and NBC
correspondent Natalie Morales.
Fakih, a Lebanese immigrant, moved to the United States as a baby and
was raised in New York, where she attended a Catholic school. Her family moved
to Michigan in 2003.
She told pageant organisers her family celebrated both Muslim and
Christian faiths.
Pageant officials said historical pageant records were not detailed
enough to show whether Fakih was the first Arab American, Muslim or immigrant to
win the Miss USA title.
The pageant started in 1952 as a local swimsuit competition in Long
Beach, California.
Fakih told reporters she sold her car after graduating from
university in Michigan to help pay for her run in the Miss Michigan USA
pageant.
Fakih replaces Miss USA 2009 Kristen Dalton and won a spot
representing the United States later this year in the 2010 Miss Universe
pageant.
She also gets a one-year lease in a New York apartment with living
expenses, an undisclosed salary and various health, professional and beauty
services.
During the interview portion, Fakih was asked whether she thought
birth control should be paid for by health insurance, and she said she believed
it should because it was costly.
"I believe that birth control is just like every other medication
even though it's a controlled substance," Fakih said.
First runner-up Woolard handled the night's toughest question, about
Arizona's strict new immigration law.
Woolard said she supported the law, which requires police enforcing
another law to verify a person's immigration status if there's "reasonable
suspicion" that the person is in the country illegally.
She said she was against illegal immigration but was also against
racial profiling.
"I'm a huge believer in states' rights. I think that's what's so
wonderful about America," Woolard said.
"So I think it's perfectly fine for Arizona to create that
law."
http://timesofindia.hotklix.com/Hotklix/link/News/World/Arab-American-Rima-Fakih-crowned-2010-Miss-USA
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Partners for Peace and Progress: Indo-Pak trade moot
in Delhi to boost ties
KARACHI:
Top Pakistani and Indian businesspersons are due to meet in New Delhi, May
17-19, 2010, for a major two-day business meet titled 'Partners for Peace and
Progress,' under the auspices of Aman ki Asha, a joint initiative for peace
launched at the start of this year by the Jang Group of Pakistan and the Times
of India Group (TOI) of India.
The
organisers expect that the meeting, which they are working to make an annual
event, will enhance ties and boost bi-lateral trade. Official trade between
India and Pakistan accounted for $1.34 billion in 2007-8, far less than the
unofficial and third country trade volume which is estimated at $2-3 billion.
Some
of the top entrepreneurs, industrialists and CEOs, representing the largest
business houses in India and Pakistan will participate in the conference. They
include businessmen and women looking to explore the tremendous untapped
business potential between the two countries. Over fifty delegates from Pakistan
are expected to attend while more than 200 Indian delegates have registered for
this conference to explore avenues of opportunities and ways in which
businesspersons of both countries can work together.
A
small group of delegates from both sides will also participate in two
pre-conference roundtable discussions on Information Technology (IT) and
Textiles on 17th May at the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) House, New
Delhi.
"Opening
of each other's markets will benefit both countries. It is a myth that Pakistani
business community is apprehensive about it," said Amin Hashwani, President of
the Pakistan-India CEOs Business Forum and one of the driving forces behind the
Conference. "If we can compete with imports from China, I am sure we can do that
with Indian goods as well. The main concern is that there should be a level
playing field where Pakistani goods should also get access into Indian domestic
markets, especially in the textile sector, where we can get a potentially eight
times bigger market."
Speakers
and panelists from Pakistan include former Vice President World Bank and former
Finance Minister; Shahid Jawed Burki; Dean IBA and former Governor State Bank of
Pakistan Dr Ishrat Hussain; President & CEO Engro Asad Umar, CEO Renfro
Crescent Group Tariq Shafi; Chairman Atlas Group Yousuf Hussain Shirazi;
Director Arfeen International (Pvt) Ltd Shahid Firoz; Chairman, Agrimall Pvt
Ltd. Afaq Tiwana; President Heart Life, Dr Sania Nishtar and others.
Prominent
Indian speakers include Chairman Infosys Technologies Ltd N R Narayana Murthy;
President NASSCOM Som Mittal; Chairman CII National Committee on Agriculture
& Vice Chairman Bharti Enterprises Rakesh Bharti Mittal; Director General,
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Chandrajit Banerjee; Chairman and
Managing Director, Medanta - The Medicity - Dr Naresh Trehan; Chairman Hero
Honda Motors Ltd. Brijmohan Lall Munjal; and others.
Aman
ki Asha believes that the people of Pakistan and India desire peaceful
relations, a goal for which trade and investment are powerful vehicles.
"We
truly believe that this peace campaign, as well as the annual economic
conference, is history in the making," said Shahrukh Hasan, Group Managing
Director of the Jang Group who sent invitations to the Pakistani business
persons.
Thursday,
May 13, 2010
---
Sufis gave message of interfaith harmony
By Jonaid Iqbal
17 May, 2010
ISLAMABAD, May 16: A Lahore-based writer and intellectual has said
that Sufis and mystics of the subcontinent gave the message of interfaith
harmony, love and peace, deviating from the traditional organised religious
practices.
Giving a talk on “The unholy trinity of love: Kabir, Bulleh Shah and
Lalon Shah,” at the Kuch Khaas Centre of Culture and Dialogue here on Saturday,
Raza Rumi said though the three lived in different periods of history, all of
them preached the message of harmony and love through their poetry and rejected
organised religion.
“They rejected doctrinaire division between adherents of one or
another religion, believed in tolerance and were a sort of three savants in the
path of what we now call ‘interfaith diplomacy’. In one way or the other, they
were members of the same stream of Sufi tradition,” he added.
Mr Rumi said the 15th century India witnessed the coming of age of a
process that began with the arrival of Central Asian Sufis in India with the
message of Islam and mystic love. When Sufi thought, an offshore spiritual
undercurrent to the rise of Islam, met its local hosts, the results were
extraordinary. There was no shortage of fundamentalists and communalists in that
cultural landscape and the gulf between alien rulers and the native subjects was
a stark reality as well.
He explored the common ground that has been nurtured by mystic poets
from various parts of the subcontinent that now comprise India, Pakistan and
Bangladesh. The powerful and soulful voices of Kabir, Bulleh Shah and Lalon Shah
sing a shared tune of love, rejection of formal identities based on caste,
religion and class. In doing so, these mystics unleashed a process of interfaith
dialogue and understanding and the triumph of humanism even in most adverse
political and economic circumstances.
Mr Rumi said the interest in Sufi traditions of the subcontinent owed
itself to the revival of Hazrat Jalaluddin Rumi in the West, particularly after
9/11.
That notwithstanding, Kabir, Bulleh Shah and Lalon Shah are loved by
the people because they conversed with them. Their messages are so similar in
tone and tenor that there seems to be a thread - like Kabir’s weave or Bulleh’s
dance or Lalon’s rustic songs - that continued from the 15th to the 19th
centuries and, of course, even today.
Kuchh Khas is a new organisation promising new space for dialogue,
discourse and intellectual pursuits. According to the guest speaker, it would
play the same role in throwing up ideas as Pak Tea House of
Lahore.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/national/sufis-gave-message-of-interfaith-harmony-750
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Muslim rocker wields guitar in rock’n’roll
jihad
Richard Kerbaj
17 May 2010
Salman Ahmad, lead singer of renowned Pakistani rock band Junoon,
performs in Srinagar (REUTERS / Fayaz Kabli)
HE IS a long-haired rocker who plays a mean riff and cites Led
Zeppelin among his influences — and now he has been unveiled as the government’s
latest weapon in the fight against Al-Qaeda.
Salman Ahmad, a Pakistani musician whose band has sold more than 30m
albums, is to urge Muslim students to choose an electric guitar over
extremism.
The self-proclaimed “rock’n’roll jihadist” will this week take his
message to students at Oxford University, Imperial College and the London School
of Economics, which all have sizeable Islamic societies.
“You counter radicalisation through telling the truth and if that
comes from the power of a guitar then do that,” said Ahmad, who has worked with
the Obama administration to tackle extremism on American college
campuses.
The number of British students linked to terrorist plots has caused
serious concern, with fears that some UK campuses have become recruitment
grounds for Al-Qaeda-inspired groups. The most recent case involved Umar Farouk
Abdulmutallab, an engineering graduate of University College London, who is
accused of trying to blow up a passenger jet over Detroit with a bomb hidden in
his underpants.
“I have seen at first hand young Muslims being radicalised by the
distorted message of Islam,” said Ahmad, 46, a practising Muslim who was born in
Lahore but spends most of his time in New York where he is a part-time lecturer
in Islamic music and poetry. “They’re fed this guilt narrative that in order to
be a good Muslim you have to give up the electric guitar, or you can’t wear
jeans, or you have to cut your hair.”
He said he would discredit radical interpretations of Islam by
showing that it encouraged creative flair and his aim was to prevent students
being brainwashed by “murderous thugs masquerading as holy
men”.
Ahmad, frontman of the band Junoon, added: “Rock musicians and
extremists have the same target market — the youth.” His tour of UK campuses is
funded by the Home Office via the Quilliam Foundation, a think
tank.
Ahmad, who has faced death threats from hardliners accusing him of
being “un-Islamic”, said young Muslims who rail against perceived injustices in
countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine need an alternative outlet to
channel their frustrations: “Talking about Islam through arts and culture [could
fulfil that role] and open up minds to another point of
view.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article7127684.ece
-------
Nigerian Senator defends marriage to
teenager
17 May 2010
Nigerian Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima, under fire for marrying a
13-year-old Egyptian girl, justified his actions by saying he was following in
the footsteps of Islam's Prophet Mohammed, notes a report on the IoL site.
'I am only following Prophet Mohammed's footsteps who married a
nine-year-old girl, Aishatu,' said Yerima shortly after his opposition ANPP
party paid a visit to President Goodluck Jonathan. Yerima, who was governor of
Nigeria's north-western state of Zamfara when it became the first of 12
Muslim-dominated northern states to introduce Sharia law in 2000, spurned
Nigeria's Child Rights Act of 2003 which forbids marriage with anyone under
18.
http://www.legalbrief.co.za/article.php?story=20100517144558175
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Pay hike for Kashmir terrorists
Josy Joseph
May 17, 2010
NEW DELHI: Kashmiri terrorists and refugees from Jammu and Kashmir in
PoK have both received a pay hike. According to the latest inputs from various
agencies, Pakistani authorities are now offering terrorists coming to fight in
J&K a monthly salary in the range of Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000. This is a huge
jump from the average pay of Rs 5,000 they were getting earlier.
The reason for this benevolence is not hard to imagine. There has
been a drastic drop in violence levels in J&K and militancy needs a
desperate revival if the separatist agenda has to continue to grab global
attention. The number of terrorists operating in J&K is now hovering around
700, an all-time low since militancy erupted in the state in the late 80s.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Kashmir-terrorists-get-pay-hike/articleshow/5938412.cms
-------
Painting exhibition at Nomad: Impact of terrorism on human psyche
documented
By Mahtab Bashir
17 May, 2010
ISLAMABAD: Artworks by three experienced artists of the country went
on display at the Nomad Art Gallery (NAG) Saidpur on Sunday with the aim to
document the impact of terrorist attacks on human psyche.
Dr Ijaz Anwar, Ghalib Baqar and Dr Ghulam Shabbir put on display a
collection of 22 contemporary paintings titled ‘Mera Sheher – My City’ and
compared the life of yesteryears with today, which is marked by insecurity and
fear.
In the labyrinth of conflicting views and contrasting positions, all
three artists Anwar from Lahore, Shabbir from Peshawar and Baqar from Karachi
feel a sense of disorientation.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\05\17\story_17-5-2010_pg11_10
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Plane crashes in Afghanistan with 43 on board:
Ministry
May 17, 2010
KABUL: A commercial passenger plane crashed in northern Afghanistan
today with 43 people on board, including foreigners, the interior ministry said.
The plane lost radio contact while flying between the capital Kabul
and the northern town of Kunduz. It was carrying 38 passengers and five crew,
interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said.
"We can confrim that a... plane has crashed over the Salang mountains
with 38 passengers and five crew members on board," Bashary said.
There were foreigners travelling on the aircraft, he said. The fate
of those on board was not immediately clear.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/Plane-crashes-in-Afghanistan-with-43-on-board-Ministry/articleshow/5940689.cms
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Pakistani military kills 58 suspected militants
By HUSSAIN AFZAL
May 17, 2010
PARACHINAR: The military killed 58 suspected militants in
northwestern Pakistan on Sunday with a mix of airstrikes and ground combat, the
latest violence in a months-long campaign to rout Taliban fighters from a
mountainous area near the Afghan border.
The Pakistani military launched the ongoing offensive in the Orakzai
tribal region in mid-March to flush out militants who last year fled an army
offensive in nearby South Waziristan. Persistent artillery and aircraft attacks
have killed hundreds of insurgents over the past two months, the military
says.
Fighter jets and helicopter gunships attacked militant sanctuaries
Sunday in the villages of Dabori, Gojar and Kamer Mela in Orakzai, killing 40
suspected insurgents, said Samiullah Khan, a senior government administrator in
Orakzai.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/world/article54384.ece
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Somali fighting kills 24, chaos in parliament
16 May 2010
MOGADISHU - Heavy shelling pounded Somalia’s capital on Sunday,
killing at least 24 people and wounding dozens, as parliament’s speaker said
lawmakers had passed a vote of no confidence in
government.
Speaker Sheikh Aden Madobe said he had called on the country’s
president to form a new government. A member of the parliament secretariat who
did not want to be identified confirmed the vote’s
outcome.
“280 voted against the government, 30 in favour and eight remained
silent. Therefore we will request President Sheikh Sharif to form a government
urgently,” Madobe told Reuters by telephone.
But events remained unclear, as some parliamentarians contradicted
the speaker and said the vote never took place, and they would in fact be voting
shortly on Madobe’s own position.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2010/May/middleeast_May269.xml§ion=middleeast&col=
-------
Ajmer blast: ATS detains 2 more suspects
May 17, 2010
JAIPUR: Rajasthan ATS on Sunday detained another person for suspected
involvement in the 2007 Ajmer blast. Lokesh Sharma had been detained for
interrogation at Lasudia in Madhya Pradesh's Chindwara district on Thursday
night.
On Sunday, an Ajmer court remanded him in police custody till May 21.
The Rajasthan ATS has also detained Rajesh Mishra, an industrialist from MP's
Dhar district. He is close to Sharma, said sources. A joint team of Rajasthan
ATS and CBI had already interrogated him in October, 2009. So far, three persons
have been arrested in connection with the Ajmer blasts which killed three and
injured 30 on October 11, 2007.
The ATS claimed that Sharma was close to the other accused —
Chandrashekhar Barod and Devendra Gupta — arrested earlier in the case. Sharma
is suspected of plotting the blast. Police are probing if he was directly
involved.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Ajmer-blast-ATS-detains-2-more-suspects/articleshow/5938512.cms
-------
Mauritania starts trials of Al-Qaeda suspects
By LAURENT PRIEUR
May 17, 2010
NOUAKCHOTT: A Mauritanian court on Sunday began the trials of 19
suspected members of Al-Qaeda's north African wing, including three men
suspected of the killing of four French tourists in 2007.
The trials come amid growing efforts by the governments of Algeria,
Mauritania, Mali and Niger to counter a wave of recent desert kidnappings of
foreigners claimed by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or
AQIM.
The three men -- Sidi Ould Sidna, Mohamed Ould Chabarnou, and Maarouf
Ould Haiba -- are accused of having shot five French tourists in the town of
Aleg in December 2007, leaving four dead and one seriously
injured.
Nine other suspects are being tried in the Aleg case for their
complicity. Six other trials for other incidents are scheduled for the remaining
AQIM suspects.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article54330.ece
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Saudis warned against hiring maids locally
May 17, 2010
RIYADH: Saudis who want to hire maids locally are being warned to be
wary of unlicensed and unscrupulous recruitment offices in the
Kingdom.
The National Recruitment Committee, under the Council of the Saudi
Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said a large number of recruitment offices
have begun the illegal practice of giving shelter to maids, mainly those who
runaway, and then hiring them on to Saudis.
These offices also act as middlemen between the maids’ sponsors and
people looking to hire maids locally, Al-Riyadh newspaper reported on
Sunday.
Munief Al-Dhahmishi, deputy chairman of the National Recruitment
Committee, urged citizens to ignore attractive advertisements that appear in
some local newspapers.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article54459.ece
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Af-Pak terrorism a common challenge to India, Iran:
Larjani
Sandeep Dikshit
May 17 2010
TEHRAN: India and Iran on Sunday discussed the Af-Pak situation with
the influential Majlis Speaker, Ali Larjani, noting that terrorism emanating
from these two countries was a “common challenge” and both New Delhi and Tehran
shared a commonality of outlook on the issue.
India and Iran also agreed to hold a meeting of the Joint Commission
(JC), described by officials as the “most important instrument to review and
give an impetus” to bilateral ties. Its last meeting was held about 18 months
ago here. The next meeting of the JC, which covers the entire gamut of issues
including the gas pipeline, will be held shortly and the dates are being
finalised, said Foreign Office spokesperson Vishnu
Prakash.
The meeting between Mr. Larjani and External Affairs Minister S.M.
Krishna recalled that the JC meeting held during the then Foreign Minister
Pranab Mukherjee's visit in October-November 2008 covered a lot of ground and
played a role in stepping up bilateral trade to almost $ 14
billion.
Full report at:
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/17/stories/2010051761501200.htm
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Govt declares ban on 100 global terror outfits
May 17 2010
New Delhi : The government has declared more than a hundred terrorist
outfits linked to al-Qaeda from across the globe as banned by terming them as
"terrorist organisations" in India.
Terror outfits like Jemaah Islamiyah (involved in Bali bombing) of
Indonesia, Islamic Jihad Group of Libya, the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group,
the Egyptian Islamic Jihad were declared as terrorist organisations by the
United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
The government has now declared these more than 100 entities as
outlawed in India by putting their names along with 33 other outfits in the list
of banned organisations of Ministry of Home Affairs.
The Ministry has put these entities together (at entry number 33) in
its 'revised' list of banned outfits as "Organisations listed in the Schedule to
the UN Prevention and
Suppression of Terrorism (Implementation of Security Council
Resolutions) Order, 2007".
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/govt-declares-ban-on-100-global-terror-outfits/619517/
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Police offer Rs 5 lakh reward for Vikaruddin
SREENIVAS JANYALA
May 17 2010
A FORMER SIMI activist and member of radical social outfit Darsgah
Jehad O Shahadat (DJS) has the Hyderabad Police at their wits' end, making
daring attacks on police pickets and mocking the city police's anti-terror
preparedness.
Vikaruddin Ahmed, who has foxed police several times, is suspected to
be behind Friday's attack on a police picket. In the first attack on May 18 last
year, a Home Guard was killed while on Friday a constable of AP State Police
died. In another incident in December 2008, Vikaruddin had opened fire on three
policemen who had gone to arrest him at Santhoshinagar. He fled from the scene,
but not before injuring one policeman.
Since December 2008, a manhunt has been launched by the Special
Investigation Team (SIT) but Vikaruddin remains elusive. He keeps surfacing in
the city with im punity to launch attacks on the police and rattle the city for
a few hours.
Full report at: The Indian Express
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Cops fail to get any lead from Bhatkal call
records
May 17 2010
THE Indian Mujahideen man now in focus for his alleged role in Pune’s
February 13 German Bakery blast, Ya sin Bhatkal alias Ahmed Ya sin was adept at
covering his tracks, leaving little physical evidence in the form of his
contacts with associates and suggesting possible advanced training in terrorist
activities, say investigators.
Attempts to find details of people who have been in contact with him
on the basis of a mobile phone connection he is believed to have used prior to
October 2008 when the police first got on his trail have yielded no results,
sources say.
“Call records for the number he used until 2008 have shown that his
received and dialled numbers list only feature numbers for service providers or
telephone booths. He seems to have camouflaged his telephone trail,” sources
add.
Full report at: The Indian Express
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Mirwaiz to offer Saudi mediator role
RIYAZ WANI
May 17 2010
Move aims to consolidate on PM's recent visit to the
country
ITH China visit already on cards, moderate Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz
Umar Farooq will soon be leading a delegation to Saudi Arabia. His mission: to
consolidate on the recent visit of the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the
country early this year by urging the Saudi government to mediate in the
resolution of Kashmir dispute.
The visit, Mirwaiz said, will also be about creating awareness in the
country of the Kashmiri dimension of the Indo-Pak dispute over the state. And to
do this, Hurriyat is enlisting the services of OIC office in Jeddah, The Muslim
World League and World Assembly of Muslim Yo uth.
Full report at:The Indian Express
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NY bomber wanted to join Afghan war
May 17 2010
New York : On February 25, 2006, Faisal Shahzad sent an e-mail
message to a group of friends. The trials of his fellow Muslims weighed on him —
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the plight of Palestinians, the publication in
Denmark of cartoons lampooning the Prophet Muhammad.
Shahzad understood the notion that Islam forbids the killing of
innocents, he wrote. But to those who insist on “peaceful protest,” he asked:
“Can you tell me a way to save the oppressed? And a way to fight back when
rockets are fired at us and Muslim blood flows?”
Yet, Shahzad — a Pakistani immigrant then 26-years-old — seemed to be
thriving in the West. He worked as a financial analyst at Elizabeth Arden. He
had just received his green card. He owned house in Shelton,
Connecticut.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/ny-bomber-wanted-to-join-afghan-war/619785/
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French academic leaves Iran after 10 months
By ANGELA DOLAND
May 17, 2010
PARIS: A young French academic who battled spying charges in Iran for
more than 10 months returned to France on Sunday and thanked President Nicolas
Sarkozy and other officials for insisting on her innocence and pressing for her
release.
Clotilde Reiss, 24, was accused of joining protests, gathering
information, taking photos and sending them abroad during unrest that broke out
after June's disputed presidential elections in Iran. Her support committee said
she was targeted for an innocuous e-mail to friends describing the events
unfolding around her.
Reiss was convicted of provoking unrest and spying, but her lawyer
said the 10-year jail term was commuted to a fine of 3 billion rials ($300,000).
He said he paid the fine Saturday.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/world/article54383.ece
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Thousands flock to Vatican to back pope over
abuse
By NICOLE WINFIELD
May 17, 2010
VATICAN CITY: More than 100,000 people filled St. Peter's Square on
Sunday in a major show of support for Pope Benedict XVI over the clerical sex
abuse scandal.
Benedict said he was comforted by such a "beautiful and spontaneous
show of faith and solidarity" and again denounced what he called the "sin" that
has infected the church and needs to be purified.
Citing estimates from Vatican police, the Vatican press office said
150,000 people had turned out for the demonstration organized by an association
of 68 Italian lay groups.
Despite a drizzling rain, the balloon- and banner-toting faithful
from around Italy overflowed from the piazza.
"We are here to show both to other people and to ourselves our
solidarity with the church in this difficult time," said Simone Pleticos, a
24-year-old student who traveled from Milan for the
occasion.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/world/article54380.ece
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Asharq Al-Awsat to be printed in Doha
May 17, 2010
RIYADH: The Saudi Research & Marketing Group (SRMG) will start
printing its Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper in Qatar by the end of this month
following an agreement with the Doha-based Dar Al-Sharq.
Dr. Azzam Al-Dakhil, executive president and a member of the SRMG
board, signed the agreement for Saudi Research & Publishing Company with
Abdullatif Al-Mahmoud, general manager of Dar Al-Sharq.
Asharq Al-Awsat, an international daily newspaper, intends to
strengthen its position in Qatar to benefit from the country's rapid development
in recent years. Doha will be the 16th place where the daily is
printed.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article54458.ece
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Filipina rape victim rescued in Taif
By RODOLFO C. ESTIMO JR.
May 17, 2010
RIYADH: The Philippine Consulate General accompanied by police
rescued a Filipina housemaid who was repeatedly raped by her sponsor in Taif on
Saturday.
The woman told police that she was being raped at least twice a month
since arriving in the Kingdom to work for her sponsor nearly a year
ago.
The woman contacted the consulate for help and so consulate officials
put her in touch with its coordinator in Taif.
The woman had been in contact with the consulate’s coordinator since
January, but was unable to explain the exact place where she was being kept. The
coordinator eventually asked her to escape, which she did on
Saturday.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article54438.ece
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Women teachers welcome ‘fairer pay’
By WALAA HAWARI
May 17, 2010
RIYADH: A Ministry of Education decision to implement a fairer pay
scale for men and women teachers has been welcomed by
campaigners.
A group of women teachers had started campaigning for the same rights
as their male counterparts.
Campaign spokeswoman Mona Abdul Aziz said the decision was just the
first step toward equality in schools.
“The committee that was formed to study the discrepancies in wages
between men and women teachers and also among teachers of the same gender and
grade were astonished by their findings,” said Abdul Aziz.
She added that the committee also recommended that all teachers be
paid equal wages, regardless of their
position and whether they had obtained a specialist degree in education or
not.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article54085.ece
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Israeli coalition wobbly on peace terms -
minister
By DOUGLAS HAMILTON
May 17, 2010
JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's six-party,
center-right coalition is divided as Israel heads into indirect peace talks with
the Palestinians, a cabinet minister said on Sunday.
"I can't say the coalition is united. That would be a lie if I told
you that," said Trade and Industry Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer of the Labour
Party — the only left-wing group in the government and an advocate of conceding
land for peace.
US President Barack Obama's envoy George Mitchell, who is mediating
in the "proximity talks," is to resume meetings on Tuesday, in the first
substantive sessions since the Palestinians agreed to the indirect negotiations,
which have been given a maximum of four months to produce
results.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article54487.ece
-------
Iran to ship uranium to Turkey in nuclear deal
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
May 17, 2010
TEHRAN: Iran agreed Monday to ship most of its enriched uranium to
Turkey in a nuclear fuel swap deal that could ease the international standoff
over the country's disputed nuclear program, just as pressure mounts for tougher
sanctions.
The deal was reached in talks with Brazil and Turkey, elevating a new
group of mediators for the first time in the dispute over Iran's nuclear
activities. There was no immediate comment from the United States and the other
world powers that have led earlier negotiations as to whether the new deal would
satisfy them and stave off a fourth round of UN sanctions.
Washington and allies have been pressing Iran for more than six
months to accept a UN-drafted plan to send their low-enriched uranium stockpiles
out of the country in exchange for reactor-ready fuel rods. Backers of the plan
want to keep Iran from expanding its own enrichment capabilities, which some
fear could serve as the backbone for a nuclear weapons
program.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article54577.ece
-------
60 militants taken out, 25 held in Orakzai
17 May, 2010
PESHAWAR: Security forces
offensive in Orakzai Agency eliminated sixty militants while 25 were apprehended
with injuries, Geo News reported Sunday.
The security forces targeted militants positions in Khadezai, Ghaljo,
Dabori and Koal, killing 60 militants while 25 militants were held with injuries
during a clash with security forces in Koal area, sources
said.
A vehicle full of explosives and a number of hideouts of militants
were destroyed during the offensive.
http://www.thenews.jang.com.pk/5-16-2010/65028.htm
-------
4 women killed in Balochistan violence
17 May, 2010
QUETTA: Four women were killed and at least seven people were injured
in various incidents of violence across Balochistan on
Sunday.
A man killed his mother-in-law and sister-in-law and injured his wife
and her friend in an incident that the deputy commissioner of Kachhi district
called “a result of domestic dispute”.
The incident occurred at Peer Ghaib area of Kachhi when Mohammad Arif
took his wife, mother-in-law, sister-in-law and his wife’s friend for an
excursion to Peer Gayab. Arif opened indiscriminate fire on the women, killing
Nagina and Humaira and injuring his wife Sana and her friend Rani. Sana said her
husband and his brother, Nanay, tied the women up before opening fire, and
“escaped with our two children”.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\05\17\story_17-5-2010_pg7_21
-------
Conspiracy against Pakistani students should be stopped, says
Saifullah
By Muhammad Ali Malik
17 May, 2010
ISLAMABAD—The Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan and President PML (Likeminded) Senator Salim
Suaifulah Khan has strongly condemned the arrest of Pakistani student in Chili
saying that conspiracy against Pakistani students should be stopped.
In his statement issued on Sunday, Salim Saifullah Khan said that in
past months, particularly Pakistani students were being targeted. He warned the
USA and Britain to stop leveling allegations on Pakistani students of their
involvement in terrorism activities.
He said that if any country continues this kind of behavior towards
Pakistani students, it could increase abhorrence between two countries.
Full report at:
http://dailymailnews.com/0510/17/CityPage/CityPages3.php
-------
‘Private US spy network still operating in Pakistan,
Afghanistan’
May 17, 2010
WASHINGTON: Despite official denials, a secret network of private
spies set up by a US Defence Department official continues to operate in
Afghanistan and Pakistan, The New York Times reported.
Citing unnamed US officials and businessmen, the newspaper said the
network was still operating. Its reports on the Taliban activities, especially
in Pakistan, were submitted almost daily to top US commanders in the
region.
The Times reported in March that Defence Department official Michael
Furlong had set up a network of private contractors in Afghanistan and Pakistan
to help track and kill suspected militants.
He did this under the cover of a benign government
information-gathering programme. In the wake of those reports, US government
officials said it was a rogue operation that had been shut down once an
investigation had begun.
Full report at:
http://thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=28884
-------
Saudi journalist who interviewed bin Laden
resigns
17 May 2010
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - A
prominent Saudi journalist who conducted several interviews with Osama bin Laden
and once tried to persuade him to reconcile with the Saudi royal family resigned
Sunday as editor of the nation’s leading newspaper.
Several Arab news websites said Jamal Khashoggi was fired because of
articles in Al-Watan criticizing Saudi Arabia’s conservative application of
Islam and the religious police who enforce adherence to it. But the newspaper
said Khashoggi resigned to pursue other personal plans.
The journalist could not be reached for comment
Sunday.
Khashoggi interviewed and traveled with bin Laden at times between
1987 and 1995, including in Afghanistan where he wrote about the battle against
the Soviets.
Full report at:
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94-year-old woman earns college diploma
17 May, 2010
OAKLAND (USA), May 16: It’s
never too late to earn your college degree. Just ask 94-year-old Hazel
Soares.
The woman was one of about 500 students to pick up diplomas on
Saturday during a commencement ceremony at Mills College, an all-women’s school
in Oakland.
’’It’s taken me quite a long time because I’ve had a busy life,’’
said Soares. ‘’I’m finally achieving it, and it makes me feel really
good.’’
Soares, who has six children and more than 40 grandchildren and
great-grandchildren, is believed to be the world’s second oldest person to
graduate from college.
Nola Ochs of Kansas became the oldest when she graduated from Fort
Hays State University three years ago at age 95, according to the Guinness Book
of World Records. Ochs, now 98, topped that academic feat on Saturday, when she
received her master’s degree in liberal studies from Fort
Hays.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/international/94yearold-woman-earns-college-diploma-750
9:28 PM
Sultan Shahin
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