Mughal palace a
haunt of drug addicts now
Indonesian province to hand out 'Islamic' skirts to
women
Miss USA is not the only role model for Muslim
women
Terrorism: What’s faith got to do with it?
Grant death for blasphemy: Islamists to UN
‘70 pct of people in Pak want Facebook ban’
'ISI backing attacks in Afghanistan'
Baghdad thieves kill 14 in jewellery shop
raids
Sex & The City 2 'anti-Muslim': say critics
Hindus raise money for Muslim girl's
wedding
Curse of dowry claims one more life, father seeks
justice
Pak, China Agree To Joint Military Games
Anywhere but US, say Pak emigrants
No proof against Hafiz Saeed in 26/11 case: Pak
SC
Israel denies 'nuclear exchange' talks with S
Africa
PM laments poor participation of Muslims in
education
UK Strives For United Voice On Afghan
American Center attack: SC stays death sentence of Aftab
Ansari
The first YouTube war
Iran Proposes Fuel Swap Offer To IAEA
In Baghdad ruins, remains of a cultural bridge
Pakistan muddying Indus water
Nato charting a new course
Militants linked to Indian Embassy attack in Kabul
nabbed
2 Pakistanis held while sneaking into India
Would-be jihadis make devious journey to reach training areas in
Pak
Iran executes brother of Sunni rebel leader
Rigi
7 Afghans Held For Attack On Indian Mission, Other
Attacks
Good ties with Pakistan vital to realise development potential:
Manmohan
Times Square: A very long engagement
Bhatkal prime suspect in Pune blast:
Chidambaram
Forgetting nothing, learning nothing
At least two killed and 14 injured in Quetta
blast
Pakistani student didn't want to fight US troops:
Attorney
Compiled by: Asit Kumar
Photo: Mughal ruler Bahadur Shah Zafars summer palace in Mehrauli
Zafar Mahal
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Saudi government eyes 12,600 jobs for women
By P.K. ABDUL GHAFOUR
May 25, 2010
JEDDAH: The Council of Ministers decided Monday to create 12,600 jobs
for graduates of the now-defunct secondary women teachers’
institutes.
The Cabinet decision is good news for more than 60,000 Saudi women
who remain jobless after graduating 15 years ago.
The weekly Cabinet meeting, chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy
Mosques King Abdullah, has set up a ministerial committee to finalize procedures
to appoint graduates of these institutes, which were closed several years
ago.
Culture and Information Minister Abdul Aziz Khoja said 12,600
graduates of those institutes would be given fourth grade administrative jobs at
girls schools within three years, beginning academic year 2011-12. Every year
4,200 graduates will be employed under the plan.
Priority will be given to candidates who have waited the longest and
secured the highest marks. They will be given jobs near their
homes.
The secondary women teachers’ institutes were established in 1976 to
train teachers to work in primary schools. There were 81 such institutes in 1982
with 7,637 students.
According to a statement issued by former Education Minister Abdullah
Al-Obaid, about 60,000 institute graduates are jobless as university graduates
are preferred over them because of their higher
qualification.
Suhaila Hammad, member of the National Society for Human Rights,
welcomed the government decision and hoped it would ease the plight of thousands
of women. “It is the duty of the government to create jobs for graduates of
these institutes as well as those of intermediate colleges,” she told Arab
News.
Hammad said the government should allow these graduates to improve
their skills to help them land better jobs. She claimed there were more than
300,000 unemployed women graduates in the Kingdom.
She wants the Human Resource Development Fund to provide these
graduates with necessary training to improve their chances of employment in
various fields.
Deputy Labor Minister Mufrej Al-Haqabani told a seminar in Abha
recently that 65 percent of qualified Saudi women are unemployed. Around 95
percent of working Saudi women are in the public sector, the bulk of them in
education.
The Cabinet meeting referred to the 29th anniversary of the Gulf
Cooperation Council (GCC) and said Saudi Arabia was looking forward to more GCC
achievements and integration in the coming years.
It commended the resolutions taken by the GCC Ministerial Council,
comprising foreign ministers, during a meeting in Jeddah on Sunday. The council
had backed the efforts of Turkey and Brazil to find a peaceful solution to
Iran’s nuclear standoff with the West. It had also urged Tehran to abide by the
principles of international legitimacy.
Khoja said the Cabinet approved the executive bylaw for combating
drugs and narcotics, decided to establish diplomatic relations with Montenegro,
sign agreements with Brazil and Uzbekistan for cooperation in sports and youth
affairs and endorsed agreements with Belarus for investment promotion and
protection and for the avoidance of double taxation and prevention of tax
evasion.
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article57275.ece
-------
Mughal palace a haunt of drug addicts now
Richi Verma
May 25th, 2010
New Delhi: As the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) shifts its
full attention to the 46 monuments selected for conservation and upkeep before
the Commonwealth Games,protected structures that are not on the list are crying
out for muchneeded attention.
Mughal ruler Bahadur Shah Zafars summer palace in Mehrauli Zafar
Mahal serves as a favourite haunt for drug peddlers and vagabonds.Any time a
rare visitor comes to the monument,he will find a group of people sitting inside
the monument complex and taking drugs.A lone ASI guard will usually be found
sleeping inside the mahal and the entry gate of the monument is usually blocked
by vehicles which are parked right up to the gate.
Inside the palace,neglect and misuse can be seen in every quarter.The
biggest threat to the monument is that the structures courtyard seems to have
been taken over by adjacent private buildings,with their owners having built
additional floors over the monuments boundary wall.Conservationists say the
original boundary wall was knocked down by private builders and a new one
constructed several feet inside the monument to make space for the buildings
around the monument.Graffiti,decaying plaster and broken rubble can also be seen
all over the monument,the result of years of neglect.
Archaeological officers admit Zafar Mahal is one of the citys
protected but poorlymaintained monuments. Most of the encroachments here came up
in the 1980s.To take action against the encroachments by the neighbouring
buildings,we will need to acquire the structures and then start the demolition
process.That is a long procedure, said an official.The ASI is proposing to start
a museum dedicated to Bahadur Shah Zafar and freedom fighters here. But the only
way to keep vagabonds and anti-social elements out is to make the monument
ticketed, said officials.
The move will serve two big purposes,reasoned officials.First,more
and more visitors will come to Zafar Mahal and it could be promoted as a tourist
destination and second,the monument would be protected against anti-social
elements. Most of the displays we might put up inside Zafar Mahal are currently
at Swatantrata Sanghralya museum at Red Fort.Since the monument is an integral
part of Mughal history,it could be used as a tribute to the Mughal rulers, said
the official.
An intriguing fact about Zafar Mahal is that Bahadar Shah Zafar
wished to be buried here.But in the aftermath of the revolt of 1857,he was
exiled to Burma and died in Rangoon five years later where he lies buried.In
fact,an empty grave can still be seen in the graveyard inside the mahal.Several
members of the Mughal family like Shah Alam Bahadur Shah I (second son of
Aurangzeb),and Shah Alam II (son of Alamgir) are buried
here.
Several historians have sent proposals to the government asking
Bahadur Shah Zafars grave be brought back from Rangoon.The mahal was originally
built by Akbar II but it was his son Bahadur Shah Zafar who constructed the
grand gate and added it to the palace in the mid 1800s.
The Times of India
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Indonesian province to hand out 'Islamic' skirts to
women
May 25, 2010
MEULABOH, May 25 (AFP) - Islamic police in Indonesia's Aceh province
have been issued with 20,000 long skirts and ordered to cover up women deemed to
have broken Muslim dress codes, an official said Tuesday.
The province on northern Sumatra island has banned Muslim women from
wearing figure-hugging clothing such as tight trousers, under Islamic by-laws
that have outraged less conservative parts of the mainly Muslim
archipelago.
Vice and virtue officers in West Aceh district have been told that
from Wednesday they should ask women wearing the wrong clothes to put on the
government-issue skirts on the spot.
"Starting tomorrow morning, I will hand over some 20,000 skirts to
the sharia police in West Aceh," West Aceh district chief Ramli Mansur
said.
"Female offenders can then immediately change their tight pants to
the long, loose skirts if the sharia police catch them."
Mansur said that one day he would have to answer to God about what he
did to enforce sharia or Islamic laws, so residents should expect increased
vigilance and "raids" by the morality squad, known as the "wilayatul
hisbah".
"We'll increase raids on sharia offenders here. In the hereafter, God
will ask me to be responsible for what I've done during my term in West Aceh,"
he said.
Vice and virtue officers stopped and interrogated 30 women over their
clothes as they entered a village in West Aceh on Tuesday.
"What's wrong with the way I'm dressed? What law did I break? Am I a
terrorist that I'm being asked to show my identity card?" 40-year-old woman
Fatimah asked officers who stopped her.
Her protests fell on deaf ears and she eventually covered her jeans
with a skirt she had brought from home.
The "Islamic police" do not have the power to arrest women for
violations of the dress codes but they regularly stop them and demand they
change their clothing.
The force can however arrest people for other religious offences such
as gambling, adultery and drinking alcohol, for which the punishment is
caning.
Last year the outgoing provincial parliament passed a bill allowing
adulterers and homosexuals to be put to death by stoning, but it has not been
signed into law by Governor Irwandi Yusuf.
Human rights groups say the vice and virtue squad has no legal
standing under the country's secular constitution, disproportionately targets
women and encourages vigilantism.
http://www.mysinchew.com/node/39532
-------
Miss USA is not the only role model for Muslim
women
Khaled Diab
25 May 2010
From the Prophet's first wife to a Lebanese diva, here's my top 10
most inspirational women in the Muslim world of all time
It surprised me last week that my article about Rima Fakih becoming
the first Arab-American and Muslim to win the Miss USA beauty contest turned out
to be Cif's most-read item of the day.
But quite a number of readers thought that Fakih, dependent as she is
on her looks, is not the most rousing role model for Muslim female empowerment.
They asked why no similar attention was accorded all those successful and
inspirational Muslim women who have made inroads into what is still largely a
man's world.
So, in tribute to the many remarkable women in the Muslim world
(including non-Muslims) throughout the centuries – both remembered and
forgotten, loved or ridiculed – here's my personal selection of 10
mould-breaking women. They appear in chronological order.
Full report at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/may/25/role-model-muslim-women
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Terrorism: What’s faith got to do with it?
Claude Salhani
25 May 2010
It may have taken a while for
the moderate Muslims to begin taking the upper hand but led by former Soviet
republics of Central Asia, principally by Kazakhstan, one of the world’s most
respected Muslim organisation has re-written its charter, condemning terrorism
in all its form.
Meeting in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, for three days last week 56
foreign ministers representing the member countries of the Organisation of
Islamic Conference unanimously accepted the conference’s new charter, one which
specifically calls for the rejection of terrorism in all its forms. What is
interesting in this new development is the acceptance of the term rejecting
“terrorism in all its forms,” a clause by all to which no one here objected too,
including the foreign ministers of Iran and Syria, among
others.
“We have to fight this devilish phenomenon,” said Kanat Saudabayev,
foreign minister of Kazakhstan and acting chairman of this year’s
conference.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=/data/opinion/2010/May/opinion_May154.xml§ion=opinion
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Grant death for blasphemy: Islamists to UN
May 25 2010
Lahore : Demanding a permanent ban on Facebook, over two dozen
Pakistani religious groups working under the umbrella of the JuD have decided to
contact the UN for enacting a global law "against blasphemy of prophets and
awarding death penalty to violators."
The decision to contact the UN and envoys from Muslims and non-Muslim
states was made at a meeting of clerics belonging to the JuD, Jamaat-e-Islami,
Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan, Tanzeem-e-Islami, Markaz-e-Ahlesunnat, Muslim
Conference, Jamat-e-Ahlehadis, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, Pakistan Ulema Council and
International Katham-e-Nabuwat.
The meeting, held yesterday at the JuD's headquarters Markaz
Alqaadsia in Chawburji, was presided over by JuD chief Hafiz Mohd
Saeed.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/grant-death-for-blasphemy-islamists-to-un/623435/
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‘70 pct of people in Pak want Facebook ban’
May 25 2010
Karachi : 70 percent people in Pakistan want a permanent ban on the
social networking website Facebook, while another 15 percent support the Lahore
High Court’s order to ban the website till May 31, indicates a
poll.
According to the ‘ProPakistani.pk’ poll, the participants expressed
their sheer anger on Facebook for displaying blasphemous drawings of Prophet
Muhammad.
In the first three days of the poll, which is still running, eight
percent participants were of the opinion that a single URL ban was enough, while
the remaining seven percent said they did not want ban on Facebook at
all.
Acting on the court’s decision the Pakistan Telecommunication
Authority (PTA) had earlier directed all Internet service providers in the
country to shut down Facebook, as protests over the Prophet Muhammad issue had
intensified across the country.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/70-pct-of-in-pak-want-facebook-ban/623461/
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'ISI backing attacks in Afghanistan'
May 25 2010
New York : Afghanistan has accused Pakistan's ISI of plotting all
explosions and terror attacks on its soil, including a recent suicide bombing
that killed 18 people, six of them NATO soldiers.
"All the explosions and terrorist attacks by these people
(terrorists) were plotted from the other side of the border and most of the
explosives and materials used for the attacks were brought from the other side
to Afghanistan," Afghanistan's Intelligence spokesperson Saeed Ansari was quoted
as saying by 'The New York Times'.
"Of course, when we say that those attacks were plotted from the
other side of the border, the intelligence service of our neighbouring country
has definitely had its role in equipping and training of this group (Taliban),"
he said, referring to Pakistan's ISI.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/isi-backing-attacks-in-afghanistan/623354/
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Baghdad thieves kill 14 in jewellery shop raids
25 May 2010
At least 14 people have been killed in a mass raid by gunmen on
jewellers' shops in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
About 10 gunmen rampaged through a busy street lined with gold shops
in the Bayaa district in the south-west of the city, interior ministry officials
said.
They threw grenades and then made off with gold and money after
shooting some of the shop-keepers, says the BBC's Jim Muir in
Baghdad.
One of the robbers was killed by security forces, police
said.
Four policemen were injured in the shootout.
"I heard an explosion and then I saw four dead bodies on the ground
close to the gold shops," one witness told Reuters news
agency.
Full report at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/10153376.stm
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Sex & The City 2 'anti-Muslim': say critics
May 25 2010
Los Angeles : Carrie Bradshaw is in trouble and it has got nothing to
do with Mr Big. The much awaited sequel 'Sex And The City 2' has been accused of
being "anti-Muslim" by critics who have also panned the film for lacking "script
and soul."
The sequel to the 2008 hit sees the four New Yorker girlfriends
travelling to the far-flung sand dunes of Abu Dhabi, but reviews say that the
sojourn conjures up a "scathing portrayal of Muslim society", according to
industry bible 'Hollywood Reporter'.
The Manolo-wearing, Chanel-loving fashionistas get caught up in some
outrageous moments while in the Middle East, and the region's culture is
depicted as "puritanical and misogynistic".
"The rather scathing portrayal of Muslim society no doubt will stir
controversy, especially in a frothy summer entertainment," read the review by
Hollywood Reporter.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/sex-&-the-city-2-antimuslim-say-critics/623406/
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Hindus raise money for Muslim girl's wedding
2010-05-24
It was more than a wedding since it also symbolised celebration of
unity and communal harmony when Hindus in an Uttar Pradesh village raised money
for a poor Muslim girl's marriage.
Hindus in Sunhera village in Baghpat district, some 400 km from here,
performed the marriage Sunday. They are proud of their action, which they say
will go a long way in fostering relations between the two
communities.
Asma, 21, lost her father Aziz in a road accident when she was six
years old. Her mother Mehrunissa, somehow managed to take care of her daughter
by doing menial jobs. But her limited resources were not enough to fulfil her
husband's last wish -- Asma's wedding which he hoped would be conducted with
fanfare.
Full report at:
http://sify.com/news/hindus-raise-money-for-muslim-girl-s-wedding-news-national-kfypacdifgb.html
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Curse of dowry claims one more life, father seeks
justice
May 25, 2010
New Age Islam News Bureau
Kairana: Yasin Ansari of Mohalla Darbar has written letters to the
police captain and other higher police officials seeking the arrest of the
killlers of his daughter. It should be remembered that on the night of May 16
Furqana's husband and his family members had strangled her to death and set the
dead body on fire. They then dumped the dead body in the Mamur
forest.
The relatives of the victim had identified the dead body with the
help of photographs and clothes and requested the Kairana police to hand the
deady body over to them. The inspector had told them to get the dead body from
Muzaffar Nagar Civil Hospital. When they reached hospital and asked the doctors
about the dead body they were told that the police had already taken the body
after the post mortem. The parents came back to Kairana and contacted the police
again. This time the police said that the dead body had been cremated. Hearing
this the victim's kin were very worried and some of them started wailing at the
police station. They said that the police had dumped the dead body of Furqana
after post mortem over night in connivance with the
killers.
To avoid controversy, the police cunningly asked Yasin Ansari to file
complaints. The police registered cases of murder under 498 A/ 304 B IPC/201 IPC
against Furqana's husband Nayeem Quraishi, Mursalin, Nasim, Kalu and Nayeem's wife Afsana on 7-5-2010 and sent the
victim's kin home after giving assurances. But even after 24 days, the police
has not been able to arrest the accused. On the other hand the killers are
openly moving around and threatening the vicitim's family members with dire
consequences from a mobile no.9837240029. Another complaint has also been filed
regarding the threats. But no action has been taken as yet. In the complaint it
is mentioned that Furqana was married to Nayeem six months ago. But barely a
month had passed before the in-laws started demanding Rs one lakh and a motor
cycle and threatened to kill Furqana in case of non-fulfillment of their demand.
It should be noted that two months later, Nayeem's parents had married him off a
second time with a girl from Kandhla named Afsana. They murdered Furqana to
remove her from their path.
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Pak, China Agree To Joint Military Games
May 25th, 2010
Pakistan and China on Monday agreed to hold joint military exercises,
an official statement said. A Chinese delegation called on the federal defence
minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar and discussed with him the bilateral issues. It
was decided during the meeting that all the armed forces of both Pakistan and
China will jointly launch military exercises,” said the
statement.
A 16-member Chinese defence delegation, headed by Chinese state
councillor and minister for national defence General Liang Guangile is currently
in Pakistan on a two-day visit.
Both the countries are discussing boosting up of defence cooperation
in order to maintain the existing momentum. According to the statement, the
Chinese defence minister will also hold meetings with senior local military
leadership, which would further strengthen the relationship between the two
countries.
Full report at:
http://www.asianage.com/international/pak-china-agree-joint-military-games-781
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Anywhere but US, say Pak emigrants
Tara Bahrampour & Pamela
May 25 2010
Many of them are looking beyond the States for jobs, travel and
education INCREASED SCRUTINY OF VISAS AND STRINGENT AIRPORT CHECKS HAVE
EXACERBATED FEELINGS
A series of international
terrorism incidents linked to Pakistanis, including a failed car bombing this
month in Times Square, has prompted many Pakistanis who once had deep ties to
the US to look elsewhere for work, education and travel. It has also left some
Pakistani Americans feeling uneasy in their adopted
homeland.
The stress of living under suspicion has had a palpable effect,
Pakistani American community leaders say.
Travel agents say bookings between Pakistan and the United States are
down, and U.S. visa applications for trav- el from Pakistan appear to be
dwindling.
Full report at: Hindustan Times
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No proof against Hafiz Saeed in 26/11 case: Pak
SC
May 25, 2010
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed appeals
filed by authorities challenging the release of JuD chief Hafiz Muhammed Saeed,
blamed by India for masterminding the Mumbai attacks, from house arrest.
The appeals against the Lahore High Court's order to release Saeed
were filed by the federal and Punjab governments last year but could not be
taken up earlier for various technical reasons.
When the matter came up for hearing today, a three-judge bench headed
by Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk dismissed the appeals. Further details were not
immediately available.
Saeed, also the founder of the banned Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT), was put
under house arrest in December 2008 in the wake of the Mumbai attacks after the
UN Security Council declared the JuD a front for the LeT.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Pakistan/No-proof-against-Hafiz-Saeed-in-26/11-case-Pak-SC/articleshow/5972386.cms
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Israel denies 'nuclear exchange' talks with S
Africa
May 25 2010
Israel never "negotiated the exchange" of nuclear weapons with South
Africa, President Shimon Peres said on Monday, denying a report that he
personally offered missiles to the apartheid regime in
1975.
The report, published by Britain's Guardian newspaper, quoted minutes
from a series of top secret meetings in which Peres, who was then defence
minister, allegedly offered his then South African counterpart PW Botha warheads
"in three different sizes."
If the minutes were proven to be authentic, it would be the first
documentary evidence of Israel's possession of nuclear weapons -- a fact which
is widely accepted but which the Jewish state has neither confirmed nor
denied.
The allegation prompted a strongly worded response from Peres'
office.
"There exists no basis in reality for the claims published this
morning by The Guardian that in 1975 Israel negotiated with South Africa the
exchange of nuclear weapons," it said.
Full report at:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/restofasia/Israel-denies-nuclear-talks-with-SAfrica/Article1-547920.aspx
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PM laments poor participation of Muslims in
education
May 25 2010
New Delhi : Lamenting the poor participation of Muslims in the field
of education and training, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said his
government is committed to take ‘sincere’ steps to improve the
scenario.
"Muslims have not participated in education and training in the
country to the extent they should have been involved," Singh told a press
conference.
He said a committee under Justice Rajindar Sachar has given stress on
education and training of Muslims. The Prime Minister's 15-point programmes has
been launched which stresses, among other things, on improving the education
standards of the Muslims, Singh said.
"Lot more has to be done. We will proceed with full sincerity and
honesty in this direction," he said.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/pm-laments-poor-participation-of-muslims-in-education/622928/
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UK Strives For United Voice On Afghan
May 25th, 2010
Britain is struggling to present a united front within its coalition
Cabinet on Afghanistan after the weekend visit to the war-torn country by
foreign secretary William Hague, defence secretary Liam Fox and international
development secretary Andrew Mitchell led to contradictory statements. Mr Hague,
senior Tory leader, had to intervene to sort out contradictory statements by the
defence and international development secretary. Dr Fox described Afghanistan as
a “broken 13th-century country” in an interview with the
Times.
“We are not in Afghanistan for the sake of the education policy in a
broken 13th-century country. We are there so the people of Britain and our
global interests are not threatened,” Dr Fox said. On the other hand, Mr
Mitchell said that development, including education, was absolutely crucial in
Afghanistan. “We need to ensure that we help the Afghan people to build a
functioning state,” he said.
Full report at:
http://www.asianage.com/international/uk-strives-united-voice-afghan-777
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American Center attack: SC stays death sentence of Aftab
Ansari
May 25, 2010
NW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the death sentence
awarded to underworld don Aftab Ahmed Ansari for the attack on the American
Center in Kolkata in 2002.
A vacation bench comprising Justices G S Singhvi and C K Prasad asked
the West Bengal government to respond within four months to a petition filed by
Ansari challenging his conviction and death sentence in the case.
Two motorcycle-borne men had indiscriminately fired with a AK-47
assault rifle at policemen outside the American Center on Jawaharlal Nehru Road
early in the morning of January 22, 2002 killing six of them and injuring 14
others.
A division bench of the Calcutta High Court had in February 2010
upheld the death sentence of Ansari along with co-accused Jamiluddin Nasir but
commuted the capital punishment awarded to three others to seven years
imprisonment after a hearing lasting 77 days.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/American-Center-attack-SC-stays-death-sentence-of-Aftab-Ansari/articleshow/5971652.cms
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The first YouTube war
May 25 2010
When the whistle-blower site WikiLeaks released a classified video
taken in 2007 showing an American Apache helicopter crew killing 12 civilians in
Iraq, including two Reuters journalists, it rang a bell with Hayden
Hewitt.
The familiarity was not just because it was yet another “Apache
video”, thousands of which are available on LiveLeak.com, the video-sharing site
Hewitt helped to found in 2006.
Videos taken from Apache helicopters can indeed be as stylistically
consistent as dollar bills: there is the bird’s-eye view of an Iraqi city
captured in infrared “negative”, accompanied by the clipped banter of the crew
members. Everything usually ends with “a group of people on a FLIR camera being
killed,” Hewitt said, referring to infrared equipment. But in this case, Hewitt
meant there was something familiar about that exact WikiLeaks video, which
documented 38 minutes of flying above Baghdad punctuated by gun bursts that
ended in carnage, including the deaths of the two journalists, whose cameras
were mistaken as weapons.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-first-youtube-war/623216/
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Iran Proposes Fuel Swap Offer to IAEA
May 25th, 2010
Seeking to evade new UN sanctions, Iran on Monday formally submitted
its plan to swap some of its enriched uranium for reactor fuel and said the onus
was on world powers to defuse tensions by accepting the
deal.
The development was unlikely to deter the US, Russia, China, Britain
and France — the five permanent UN Security Council members — which last week
agreed on a draft outlining the fourth set of sanctions against Tehran for
refusing to give up uranium enrichment.
But Turkey and Brazil support Tehran. They are co-sponsors of the
fuel swap deal, and Iranian officials told the Associated Press that diplomats
from both countries joined with an Iranian representative in handing the
proposal on Monday to Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy
Agency.
http://www.asianage.com/international/iran-proposes-fuel-swap-offer-iaea-798
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In Baghdad ruins, remains of a cultural bridge
May 25 2010
Baghdad : Report No. 25, dated April 4 and written by Colonel Qais
Hussein, was clinical, the anonymous survey of an explosion in a city where
explosions are ordinary. “Material damage: significant,” it declared of the car
bomb that was detonated last month near the Egyptian Embassy, killing 17 people.
“The burning of 10 cars + the burning of a house, which was in front of the
embassy, with moderate damage to 10 surrounding houses.”
Colonel Hussein’s report didn’t mention the hundreds of books, from
plays of Chekhov to novels of the Palestinian writer Ghassan Kanafani, stored in
bags, boxes and a stairwell. It didn’t speak of the paintings there of Shaker
Hassan, one of Iraq’s greatest, or the sculptures of his compatriot, Mohammed
Ghani Hikmat. There was no note of the stone brought from an exile’s birthplace
in Bethlehem that helped build the house as a cosmopolitan refuge bridging West
and East.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/in-baghdad-ruins-remains-of-a-cultural-bridge/623215/
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Pakistan muddying Indus water
May 25, 2010
Politicians in Pakistan take recourse to anti-India rhetoric whenever
they are faced with crisis at home. Manufacturing a river water dispute is part
of that rhetoric, says Sripathi Naryanan.
The heavy dependence of South Asia on its rivers to meet its need for
fresh water hangs over the region as a Damocles’ sword. The primary issue that
could trigger a regional crisis is the water of the Indus river. If it will
trigger a war is the real question.
The Indus flows into Pakistan from India. Both countries have
systematically brought up the issue of water in their bilateral relations. The
dispute is regarding the flow of the Indus and its tributaries. The Indus water
dispute originates from the provision of the Indus Water Treaty which came into
force in 1960. The IWT was meant to end disputes regarding the Indus river
within a framework of an institutional mechanism, but it has now triggered new
quarrels arising from its clauses.
Full report at:
http://www.dailypioneer.com/258015/Pakistan-muddying-Indus-water.html
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Nato charting a new course
Andrei Fedyashin
May 25 2010
But its new strategic concept doesn’t sound like that of a military
alliance
Nato comes out with a new strategic concept once every 10 years, like
a child that outgrows its old clothes and needs new ones. The great paradox of
these regular changes is that Nato’s original “zone of hostility” has been
shrinking geographically over the past 20 years while its zone of activity has
continued to expand. In fact, all of Nato’s past concepts simply provided a
formal rationale for what it had been doing for a few years anyway, even if this
extended beyond Nato’s official competence.
But that is beside the point, really. Sometimes military alliances do
have to adapt to volatile times in ways their founders could not have
envisioned. However, one needs to distinguish between a single deviation from
the mission and a consistent policy of expanding one’s
authority.
Full report at:
http://www.dailypioneer.com/257712/Nato-charting-a-new-course.html
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Militants linked to Indian Embassy attack in Kabul
nabbed
May 25 2010
Seven suspected Afghan terrorists responsible for the Indian embassy
bombing and several other attacks in Kabul have been arrested, the Afghan
intelligence agency said on Monday, pointing out their links in
Pakistan.
The seven suspected militants having links to Afghan Taliban leaders
currently based in Pakistan, are responsible for a series of attacks in Kabul,
including one on the Indian Embassy last year and on a guest house frequented by
Indians.
The men arrested over the past one week received training in
Pakistan, according to the Afghan National Security Directorate (NSD) spokesman
Seyd Ansari.
During the past year the group organised about eight bombings that
together killed 37 people before their arrest, Ansari
said.
Full report at:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/afghanistan/Militants-linked-to-Indian-Embassy-attack-nabbed/Article1-547975.aspx
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2 Pakistanis held while sneaking into India
May 25 2010
Gurdaspur (Punjab) : Two Pakistani nationals have been arrested by
the BSF while trying to sneak into the India, officials
said.
The duo, who were in their 20s, were also carrying Rs 6,000 in
Pakistani currency, they said.
BSF DIG SS Chatrath said the two Pakistani nationals were nabbed
while crossing over to Indian side from Dera Baba Nanak
sector.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/2-pakistanis-held-while-sneaking-into-india/622999
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Would-be jihadis make devious journey to reach training areas in
Pak
May 25 2010
The path to terrorist training in Pakistan is well worn, developed
and maintained by established militant groups that have operated for decades.
They are open to those, Americans included, with enough determination and savvy
to navigate both the extremist networks and the dangerous
borderlands.
Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani-American charged in the failed Times
Square bombing, is among those to make the journey, US prosecutors allege. Five
young American Muslims tried to link up with extremists with less success,
officials say: They now face trial in Pakistan.
Retired Brig. Mahmood Shah, the military's former point-man in the
tribal regions, said the numbers of would-be jihadis are dropping because
Pakistani military operations and two years of US drone air-strikes have made
Somalia and Yemen more attractive destinations. Full report
at:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/world/Would-be-jihadis-make-devious-journey-to-reach-training-areas-in-Pakistan/Article1-547745.aspx
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Iran executes brother of Sunni rebel leader
Rigi
May 25 2010
Iran on Monday executed a brother of the detained leader of a Sunni
Muslim rebel group behind the deadliest bomb attack in the Islamic Republic in
years, official media reported.
Abdolhamid Rigi, a convicted member of Jundollah (God's Soldiers),
was hanged in a prison in the southeastern city of Zahedan, after his execution
was postponed last July and again in December in order to get more information
from him.
Predominantly Shi'ite Muslim Iran seized his brother, Jundollah
leader Abdolmalek Rigi, in February -- four months after the group claimed a
bombing which killed dozens of people, including senior officers of the elite
Revolutionary Guards.
Iranian officials say Jundollah has links to Sunni Islamist al Qaeda
and support from Pakistan, Britain and the United States. London, Washington and
Islamabad deny backing it.
Full report at:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/restofasia/Iran-executes-brother-of-Sunni-rebel-leader-Rigi/Article1-547836.aspx
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7 Afghans Held For Attack On Indian Mission, Other
Attacks
May 25th, 2010
Seven suspected Afghan terrorists responsible for the Indian embassy
bombing and several other attacks in Kabul have been arrested, the Afghan
intelligence agency said on Monday, pointing out their links in
Pakistan.
The seven suspected militants having links to Afghan Taliban leaders
currently based in Pakistan are responsible for a series of attacks in Kabul,
including one on the Indian embassy last year and on a guesthouse frequented by
Indians. The men arrested over the past one week received training in Pakistan,
according to Afghan National Security Directorate spokesman Seyd
Ansari.
During the past year the group organised about eight bombings that
together killed 37 people before their arrest, Mr Ansari
said.
Full report at:
http://www.asianage.com/international/7-afghans-held-attack-indian-mission-other-attacks-706
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Good ties with Pakistan vital to realise development potential:
Manmohan
Sandeep Dikshit
May 25th, 2010
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said India would
be unable to realise its full development potential unless it had the “best
possible” relations with its neighbours, especially
Pakistan.
Addressing his first national conference marking the first
anniversary of the United Progressive Alliance government's second term in
office, the Prime Minister dwelt at length on the rationale for opening talks
with Pakistan. In the seven questions on India-Pakistan ties posed to him, Dr.
Singh explained the recent background, the inevitability of dialogue and the
road ahead.
“The composite dialogue had been suspended soon after the attacks in
Mumbai. Subsequently, the process has not moved forward. I am hopeful that this
process can move forward. That was, at least, the message I got from talking to
the Prime Minister of Pakistan [during their April 29 meeting on the sidelines
of the SAARC summit in Thimphu],'' he said.
Full report at:
http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/25/stories/2010052555491400.htm
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Times Square: A very long engagement
Ejaz Haider
May 25 2010
The would-be Times Square bomber and US citizen Faisal Shahzad is
said to have told his US interrogators that he went to North Waziristan and was
trained by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. The US media, barring some exceptions,
has since gone berserk. North Waziristan is where the Pakistani army must go
now; the assumption being it is not deployed to the area or has left it
unattended. Consider some facts.
First, for now, there is no solid evidence that Shahzad went to North
Waziristan. Two, the Tehrik says it does not know him, but they support his
actions. But no, Pakistan’s stretched-thin military must focus on the restive
agency, and is accused of always finding reasons not to. Reason: the deadliest
militant groups holed up there only target Afghans, Indians, and
Westerners.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/a-very-long-engagement/623208/0
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Bhatkal prime suspect in Pune blast:
Chidambaram
May 25, 2010
NEW DELHI: Abdul Samad Bhatkal, who was arrested from Mangalore
airport, is the prime suspect in the February 13 Pune blast, home minister P
Chidambaram said on Tuesday.
"ATS Maharashtra along with Pune Police were able to identify the
prime suspect in the German Bakery Blast. Central agencies traced the suspect.
He was apprehended on Monday," he said in a statement.
Chidambaram said the suspect has been identified as Abdul Samad from
Bhatkal.
ATS Maharahstra has taken him into custody and will produce him
before a magistrate today, the home minister said.
Samad hails from Bhatkal in Uttarkannada district in
Karnataka.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/Bhatkal-prime-suspect-in-Pune-blast-Chidambaram/articleshow/5971339.cms
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War in Afghanistan: Forgetting nothing, learning
nothing
May 25, 2010
The rocket attacks on Kandahar, which forced the Foreign Secretary,
William Hague, and the Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, to change their itineraries
in Afghanistan, are another humiliating reminder of the West's failure to bring
peace to that country. The Afghan conflict just goes on and on. The President,
Hamid Karzai, is holed up in Kabul while the resurgent Taliban roams the terrain
beyond. Almost 10 years on from the start of the invasion by Western forces,
with 10,000 British troops still in the country, little more is being
perpetuated than an endless stalemate.
It is to be hoped that the exposure of Messrs Hague and Fox to the
sight and sound of Taliban rocket power reminded both men of the need for fresh
thinking on the realistic limits of Britain's military capabilities. In
different ways, Afghanistan and Iraq should provide a warning of the folly of
engaging in ideologically driven military adventures that are conducted
essentially at the behest of another power and in the name of abstract
principles that mean little to people on the ground.
Full report at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-moving-on-from-afghanistan-1981151.html
-------
At least two killed and 14 injured in Quetta
blast
May 25, 2010
QUETTA: Two people were killed and a dozen wounded, including several
wedding party guests, when a bomb exploded in a rickshaw in Pakistan’s
southwestern Balochistan province, police said.
“It was an improvised
explosive device which went off in a rickshaw,”senior police officer Shabbir
Sheikh told AFP, adding that the rickshaw heading to the airport in
Quetta.
Another police officer,
Mohammad Riaz, said two people -- the rickshaw driver and a passenger -- were
killed while about a dozen people travelling in a passenger van were
wounded.
The injured included women
and children who were going to a wedding party, Riaz said.
“It is possible the passenger
in the rickshaw, who died in the blast, was carrying the bomb which exploded
prematurely,” he added
Mohammad Noor, a medical
officer at Quetta’s Civil Hospital, confirmed the
casualties.
Full report
at:
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/provinces/22-three-injured-in-quetta-blast-aj-02
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Pakistani student didn't want to fight US troops:
Attorney
25 May, 2010
HOUSTON: A Pakistani student accused of conspiring to aid the Taliban
and undergoing training to fight US troops never intended to commit “battlefield
Jihad” or help a terrorist group, his attorney told jurors Monday, reports
AP.
But a prosecutor said during opening statements in the trial of Adnan
Babar Mirza that the student collected money for the Taliban and went through
weapons training so he could fight US soldiers in
Afghanistan.
Mirza, 33, was one of four men arrested in 2006, accused by
authorities of taking part in paramilitary training exercises at camp sites
around the Houston area so they could engage in a holy war. He was indicted on
nine counts, including conspiracy to help the Taliban and federal charges
related to being an illegal immigrant in possession of a
firearm.
Prosecutors said Mirza was in the country illegally because he
violated his student visa by working.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/16-attorney-pakistani-didnt-want-to-fight-us-troops-02-sa
9:42 PM
Sultan Shahin
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