Saudi clerics battle over adult-breastfeeding, music fatwas
In London, Husain Pays Tribute To Mother TeresaAmarnath Pilgrimage Begins In Tense Kashmir
In Maldives, cabinet quits en masse over prez-oppn tiff
93,000 banned from getting out of Kuwait
Top UN nuclear inspector resigns: IAEA
Haneef sues Australian govt for unlawful arrest
20 militants killed in Orakzai
Iran missing scientist says he escaped US agents
Ambush in Sahara kills 11 Algerian police – report
Dubai police report sharp rise in drug smuggling arrests
45 BDR men charged with mutiny at Srimangal
Sufi shrines can be interconnected like the Buddhist circuit: Tourism minister
Muslim Front demands reservations for Muslims
Centre committed to protecting Wakf properties: Salman Khurshid
Kashmir Democratic Forum head writes to PM over law & order situation in state
Scholar of Urdu and Arabic Prof. Mukhtaruddin Arzoo passes away
Pak trashes Musharraf's Kashmir plan
Prayer carpets take mosques to Saudi World Cup fans
Local press in Madina: Marriage through installments
155TH SANTAL REBELLION DAY: Ethnic minority groups demand constitutional recognition
Fake degree holders are traitors, deserve 80 lashes: Afgan
Bangladesh: Jamaat leaders remanded for 16 days
Netanyahu invites Palestinian leader to Jerusalem AFP
Bomber in Russia's Chechnya strikes near leader
Hannity And Gabriel Grasp At Straws To Fear Monger That Sharia Law Has Invaded US
Opposition grows to Indonesia's hardline FPI Islamists
At Tea Party HD Sharia Law Expert Opens Pandora's Box as Both Conservatives and Liberals Discuss the Constitution & the Koran
Chairing the Council of Islamic Ideology
Largescale bypolls loom as Pak targets MPs with fake degrees
Saudi clerics battle over adult-breastfeeding, music fatwas
Imran Khan files petition in SC to protest US drone attacks
Pak may extradite Mullah Baradar and other top Taliban leaders
Govt sees LeT behind Kashmir protests
India urges Intl engagement in Afghanistan
Pakistan refutes India’s assertion on 40 terror camps in PoK
Kashmir: Forces Told To Show Restraint
Civil-military nexus to make media fall in line
Zardari smells a rat in dodgy degree row timing
Pakistan needs nuclear deterrence, says US
Balochistan wants full utilisation of Gwadar port, says CM
Obama movie set for debut in Indonesia
Drone attacks have increased terror acts: LHC CJ
Egypt finds ancient tomb
Taliban threaten to attack NGOs
Iran told to comply with UN
EU envoys to focus on Riyadh ties
Israel’s Barak to confer with Palestine PM
E. Jerusalem demolitions a peace obstacle, says EU
Iraq eyes opening new border crossings with Turkey
Mothers of jailed Americans appeal to Iran leader
Sudan releases Islamist opposition head Turabi — staff
Palestinian reconciliation panel dissolved after failing to bridge gaps
Four Turkish soldiers wounded in blast blamed on PKK
Al Jazeera launches free TV service in Britain
Al Qaeda launches English propaganda magazine
Obama to sign Iran sanctions bill
Al Qaeda operative tied to NY plot: US
Compiled by New Age Islam Bureau
Photo: M. F. Husain with his painting
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Saudi clerics battle over adult-breastfeeding, music fatwas
AFP, Jun 30, 2010, 08.53am IST
RIYADH: One cleric's endorsement of breastfeeding for grown men and another's saying music is not un-Islamic have opened up a pitched battle in Saudi Arabia over who can issue fatwas, or Islamic religious edicts.
Hardline and progressive religious scholars, judges and clerics have taken the fight public in what some describe as outright "chaos" in the once ivory-tower world of setting the rules that govern much of life in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom.
Much of the fight in the past week has focused on a fatwa endorsing music issued by Adel al-Kalbani, a Riyadh cleric famed as the first black imam at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Islam's holiest city.
Kalbani, popular for his soulful baritone delivery of Koranic readings, said he found nothing in Islamic scripture that makes music haram, or forbidden.
But, aside from some folk music, public music performance is banned in Saudi Arabia, and conservatives say it is haram even in the home.
"There is no clear text or ruling in Islam that singing and music are haram," Kalbani said.
Also in recent weeks, a much more senior cleric, Sheikh Abdul Mohsen al-Obeikan, raised hackles with two of his opinions, both of which could be considered fatwas.
First, he endorsed the idea that a grown man could be considered as a son of a woman if she breast-feeds him.
The issue, based on an ancient story from Islamic texts and source of a furore last year in Egypt, is seen by some as a way of getting around the Saudi religious ban on mixing by unrelated men and women.
It brought ridicule and condemnation from women activists and Saudi critics around the world.
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Amarnath Pilgrimage Begins In Tense Kashmir
01 july 2010
The Amarnath pilgrimage began yesterday, with thousands of armed forces protecting Hindu devotees at a time of heightened tensions in Kashmir.
There are two routes for the pilgrimage to a 5,000-year-old cave shrine dedicated to Shiva. The one from Srinagar is relatively untroubled. But the other route from Jammu passes through the southern Kashmir Valley town of Anantnag where fighting between security forces an anti-India protesters has been on the boil in recent days.
Eleven civilians have died in Jammu and Kashmir state since June 11, when a boy was killed by a tear gas cannister fired by police. On Tuesday, three teenagers were killed in Anantnag by security forces. The government has imposed a curfew in the town, which remains tense. The pilgrims will be protected by a number of troops, including 3,000 extra Border Security Force personnel flown in Wednesday to beef up security on the pilgrimage routes.
For now, there is no sign of any problems. Much of Kashmir remains under curfew and tens of thousands of security forces are patrolling towns and roads on the look out for potential trouble. Shops, schools and colleges remain closed.
The annual pilgrimage of Hindus in India’s only Muslim majority state has spawned controversy in recent years and remains a sensitive subject. Last month, Kashmiri separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, urged the government to curtail the pilgrimage season to 15 days from the current two months. The pilgrimage had been extended to two months from 15 days in 2004 to accommodate a growing number of visitors.
Ostensibly, Mr. Geelani cited potential environmental damage due to the passage of thousands of pilgrims. But in such a charged atmosphere, calls for a restriction to the pilgrimage have caused an outcry among Hindu nationalist politicians from the BJP. Mr. Geelani, meanwhile, is currently under one of his frequent periods of house arrest.
Other pro-India state politicians have backed the Amarnath pilgrimage and promised to ensure the safety of those taking part. Still, it remains unclear whether the same number of devotees will come this time given the violence. That will only be known in coming days as more pilgrims make their way to the cave, at least a day’s hike from the nearest town.
http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2010/07/01/amarnath-begins-in-tense-kashmir/
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In London, Husain Pays Tribute To Mother Teresa
Jul 01st, 2010 -- SARJU KAUL
Mother Teresa’s birth centenary celebrations were launched in London with a Twenty20 exhibition of paintings on the Nobel peace laureate by Maqbool Fida Husain and Sunita Kumar at the Victoria & Albert Museum on Wednesday.
The one-day exclusive show of 40 portraits of Mother Teresa by Husain and Kumar, who was a close associate and friend of Mother Teresa’s for over 30 years, will move to Singapore and then to Kolkata from mid-November for six weeks. The gallery for Kolkata show has not been finalised as yet, but the exhibition will continue past Christmas there, Kumar said. Talks are also on to take the exhibition, which comprises of 20 paintings on Mother by Sunita Kumar, 18 silk screen prints measuring seven by four feet and two paintings by Husain, to Hong Kong. The joint exhibition came together by happy coincidence, Kumar told this newspaper. “Husain Saab is an old friend and he always keeps in touch with us,” said Sunita Kumar, who is married to former David Cup tennis player and Indian captain Naresh Kumar.
“He said, why don’t we do a Twenty20 show while we were chatting generally,” revealed Kumar, who was Mother Teresa’s biographer and official spokesperson and still continues to be the spokesperson for the Missionaries of Charity.
“I replied, ‘It sounds more like cricket,’ but he said that he was very serious about doing a show on Mother Teresa together,” Kumar said, adding that she has held joint shows with Husain earlier. “Husain’s only condition was that the show, which will be a travelling show, should open in London and that too in V&A Museum,” Kumar said.
http://www.asianage.com/newsmakers/london-husain-pays-tribute-mother-teresa-937
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In Maldives, cabinet quits en masse over prez-oppn tiff
Jul 1, 2010
COLOMBO: The Maldives was without a government on Wednesday, after the cabinet resigned en masse amid a worsening power struggle between President Mohamed Nasheed and the opposition-controlled parliament.
Nasheed's 13-member group of ministers quit on Tuesday, saying parliament was blocking all its efforts to govern the Indian Ocean atoll nation and undermining the authority of the executive.
Officials said Nasheed, 43, who came to power in 2008 as the Maldives' first democratically elected leader, would hold off on re-naming a cabinet. "There is no point in having a new cabinet unless the crisis in parliament is resolved. What we now have is a political deadlock," an official close to the president said.
Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party enjoys the support of 32 lawmakers in the 77-member national assembly, while the opposition Maldivian People's Party has the backing of more than 40 MPs. Nasheed said that the opposition was using its parliamentary superiority to bring the process of government to a standstill, by blocking numerous policy initiatives.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/In-Maldives-cabinet-quits-en-masse-over-prez-oppn-tiff/articleshow/6112293.cms
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93,000 banned from getting out of Kuwait
July 1, 2010
DUBAI: Over 93,000 Kuwaitis and Kuwait-based foreigners have been banned from getting out of the country after they failed to pay their debts, a news report has said.
Out of the 93,099 people, 30,970 are Kuwaitis who owe 785 million Kuwaiti dinars to people or establishments and the rest are expatriates who reportedly owe 543 million dinars, Ali Al Dhubaha, the chairman of the Sentences Enforcement Department Counsellor, told Kuwait's Arab Times daily.
Under the law, Kuwaiti citizens who are banned from travel are allowed to go overseas for treatment only once.
Al Dhubabai said that 60,000 people have been issued summons.
The Sentences Enforcement Department issues at least 300 summons every day throughout the country, he said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/93000-banned-from-getting-out-of-Kuwait/articleshow/6114062.cms
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Top UN nuclear inspector resigns: IAEA
July 1, 2010
VIENNA: The UN nuclear watchdog said on Thursday its top investigator Olli Heinonen, head of the agency's long-running investigations into Iran and Syria, would step down next month for personal reasons.
"We confirm that Mr Heinonen informed the Director General of his resignation for personal reasons to take effect at the end of August," said International Atomic Energy Agency spokeswoman Gill Tudor.
"The DG has decided to respect his intention, with high appreciation for his long contribution to the agency.
"As for Mr Heinonen's successor, nothing has yet been decided. But this post should be filled without delay through the normal practices."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Top-UN-nuclear-inspector-resigns-IAEA/articleshow/6114809.cms
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Haneef sues Australian govt for unlawful arrest
July 1, 2010
Melbourne: Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef, who was wrongly accused of involvement in a botched 2007 UK terror attack, on Thursday sued the Australian government for unlawful arrest and abuse of power and launched defamation proceedings against former Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews.
30-year-old Haneef's lawyer Maurice Blackburn said the suit was lodged on behalf of Haneef in the Brisbane Supreme Court.
He said a claim has been made for unlawful arrest and abuse of power against the Commonwealth government.
The doctor's legal team also launched defamation proceedings against the then John Howard government's Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews, AAP reported.
Full report at:
http://www.zeenews.com/news637874.html
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20 militants killed in Orakzai
Thursday, 01 Jul, 2010
PARACHINAR, June 30: A government official says fighter jets have bombed suspected militant hideouts in a new assault on a tribal region where the army had previously declared victory. He says at least 20 people have died.
Samiullah Khan, a deputy administrator in the Orakzai tribal region, says the aerial bombings on Wednesday destroyed six Taliban hideouts in the region.
He says field informants confirmed the killing of 20 suspected militants.
The army has been bombing Orakzai for months, believing it to be a hiding place for Taliban fighters fleeing another offensive further south in the tribal belt.
It declared victory there in early June, but violence persists.—AP
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/20-militants-killed-in-orakzai-170
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Iran missing scientist says he escaped US agents
Jun 30, 2010
TEHRAN: Iran's state television aired what it said was footage of a missing nuclear scientist on Tuesday, the third video to emerge in weeks giving conflicting accounts of the fate of a man Tehran says was kidnapped by the CIA.
Shahram Amiri, a university researcher working for Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, disappeared during a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia a year ago and Tehran accused Riyadh of handing him over to the United States, which Saudi Arabia has denied.
Earlier this month Iranian television showed a first video of a man it said was Amiri. In the footage, Amiri said he had been kidnapped, taken to the United States and tortured.
However shortly after that footage, a second video appeared on the Internet, also purporting to be Amiri, in which he said he was actually studying in the United States.
In Tuesday's video, the man described as Amiri said he had fled from US "agents" and was in hiding. He rejected the Internet footage as "a sheer lie", and urged human rights groups to help him return to Iran.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Iran-missing-scientist-says-he-escaped-US-agents/articleshow/6108996.cms
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Ambush in Sahara kills 11 Algerian police - report
Jul 1, 2010
ALGIERS: Insurgents killed 11 Algerian paramilitary police in an ambush deep in the Sahara desert, Algeria's El Watan newspaper reported on Wednesday.
There was no official confirmation of the attack. The newspaper said on its Internet site www.elwatan.dz that the attack happened at dawn in the Tamanrasset region, near Algeria's border with Mali.
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article76403.ece
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Dubai police report sharp rise in drug smuggling arrests
By ADAM GONN -
Jun 30, 2010
DUBAI: Drug smugglers have taken advantage of Dubai’s strategic location and international trade to make the city a major transit center for global drug smuggling, local police have claimed.
Police and customs officials in the United Arab Emirates say new statistics show the country’s economic powerhouse has seen a dramatic increase in the number of people arrested and charged on drug related crimes.
“Traffickers use the modern and accessible facilities in the emirate, such as the airports and ports, trying to move narcotics from their home countries to their destinations,” Gen. Abdul Jalil Mahdi, director of Dubai Police’s anti-narcotics department told The National, an Emirates-based newspaper.
According to the police data there was an increase of 39 percent in the number of drug arrests in 2009 when compared with the previous year. So far in 2010 close to 500 people have been arrested and 172 pounds of narcotics have been confiscated.
Full report at: http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article76273.ece
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45 BDR men charged with mutiny at Srimangal
July 1, 2010
A special court on Wednesday began BDR mutiny trial, framing charges against 45 BDR personnel, at the Rifles Battalion Headquarters, Srimangal in Maulvibazaar.
Chaired by BDR director general Major General Rafiqul Islam, the member judges of the special court no-3 included, Lt Col Md Aktaruzzaman and Major Md Maksudul Alam.
The deputy attorney general Md Selim led the prosecution team, assisted by two special prosecutors, advocates Gazi Zillur Rahman and Belayet Hussain.
Lt Col Md Nurul Huda, commander of 14 Rifle Battalion, Srimongal also appeared as a prosecutor.
The court framed mutiny charges against 11 absconding BDR personnel and ordered for their arrest.
Of the 43 BDR personnel, detained immediately after the mutiny, five were civilian employees of BDR.
The court, however, did not frame mutiny charges against the civilian personnel.
http://www.newagebd.com/2010/jul/01/nat.html
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Sufi shrines can be interconnected like the Buddhist circuit: Tourism minister
New Age Islam News Bureau
1 July, 2010
New Delhi: India’s Minister of State for Tourism Sultan Ahmad said that all the sufi shrines and monasteries could be linked to form a sufi ciruit in the same way as the Buddhist circuit. He was responding to the observation of the sajjada nashin of a dargah of Patna that the Buddhists had formed a circuit connecting all the Buddhist places in the country, but a similar circuit could not be built to connect the important dargahs of the country. Mr Ahmd urged the authorities to open schools, colleges and universities under the dargahs.
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Muslim Front demands reservations for Muslims
New Age Islam News Bureau
1 July, 2010
Rampur: The Muslim Reservation Front said that the Ranganathan Mishra Commission had recommended 10% reservation for Muslims in educational institutions and government jobs. The front has demanded to extend the dalit status to Muslims and Chirsitians. According to the Front, Mondal Commission recommended only 27% reservation for backward castes whereas they were in majority in most states. A spokesman of the Front said that there was no census on the basis of castes after 1931 according to which there were 3743 castes in Hindus and 133 in Muslims. He further said that as per the National Sample Survey Organisation, Muslim OBC population was 40.7 of the total Muslim population. In UP, their proportion was 62 per cent but out of 27% OBC quota there was no quota for Muslim OBC. Muslim presence in government jobs was less than 1 per cent, he said. He alleged that despite Mulisms forming 20 per cent of the population of Uttar Pradesh, both the political parties of the state were silent on the issue of reservations to Muslims.
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Centre committed to protecting Wakf properties: Salman Khurshid
New Age Islam News Bureau
1 July, 2010
New Delhi July 1, 2010: Central Minister for Corporate and Minority Affairs, Salman Khurshid said that the government was putting all its effort to protect the wakf properties from illegal possession and urged the Muslims to extend their support in this endeavour. He was speaking at the Khwaja Gharib Nawaz Conference. He further said that the new Act passed with the purpose to protect the Wakf properties barred them from being sold or gifted. He said that though the government had extended the lease period of the Wakf properties for the construction of hospitals or schools from 3 years to at least 20 years with a view to protecting them but there was unnecessary concern over the matter among the Muslims. He emphasised on the need to study the issue from an objective point of view instead of raising false alarms.
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Kashmir Democratic Forum head writes to PM over law & order situation in state
New Age Islam News Bureau
1 July, 2010
New Delhi: The head of Kashmir Democratic Forum Pandit Bhushan Bazaz has written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expression deep concern over the deteriorating law and order situation in Kashmir and appealed to him to take immediate steps to bring the situation back to normal. Expressing his deepest grief over the death of 7 persons killed in police firing he said that the death of a nine year old was the most painful incident. He further said that during curfews in the Jammu region, many big demonstrations had been witnessed in the past but no one died in firing by the army or the security forces there whereas in Kashmir more than six people died in six days, terming it as disturbing. Under these circumstances, he felt, there was a need to hold an inquiry into the matter. Towards the end of his letter, Mr Bazaz has suggested to the Prime Minister to hold meaningful talks with the Hurriyat leaders to help bring back normalcy in the valley and stop the daily killings as, he felt, the cause of the current unrest was depriving the people of justice.
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Scholar of Urdu and Arabic Prof. Mukhtaruddin Arzoo passes away
New Age Islam News Bureau
1 July, 2010
New Delhi: The eminent scholar and litterateur of Urdu and Arabic, Prof Mukhtaruddin Arzoo died in Aligarh yesterday. He was 68. He became a joined the Department of Arabic of the Aligarh Muslim University in 1953 as a lecturer and later went on to become the head of the department. He retired in 1984.
The Vice-Chairman of the Delhi Urdu Academy, Prof. Akhtarul Wasey expressed his grief and shock at his demise and said that his contribution to Arabic and Urdu language and literature was immense. His critique of Mirza Ghalib was appreciated all over the world, he said. He further added he wrote many books and articles in Arabic.
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Pak trashes Musharraf's Kashmir plan
New Age Islam News Bureau
Jul 1, 2010
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government has trashed former President Pervez Musharraf's four-point formula to resolve the Kashmir issue, saying it was "his thinking" which did not have the endorsement of Parliament or cabinet and suggested a fresh approach to address the vexed problem.
Foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who will be meeting external affairs minister S M Krishna here on July 15, said the two countries should build on progress made in any area and look at ways to make progress where it has not been done.
"Any issue, whether it is Kashmir, Siachen, Sir Creek, water, any issue where progress can be made, should be made. Where it hasn't been made, we should look at ways and means how to make progress.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Pak-trashes-Musharrafs-Kashmir-plan/articleshow/6112656.cms
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Prayer carpets take mosques to Saudi World Cup fans
Jul 1, 2010
RIYADH: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em: Saudi Arabia's religious police, who once used staves to prod people to the mosque at prayer time, are taking the mosque to football fans for the World Cup.
The Islamic morality cops began rolling out prayer carpets this week in front of popular coffee shops on Riyadh's central Tahlia street, where Saudi men are turning out nightly for the matches broadcast from South Africa. The "mobile mosques," as they are called, make sure the faithful don't miss the sunset mahgrib prayer, which by chance falls just at the end of regulation time of the daily first match in the World Cup's current round of 16.
On the other hand, on Tuesday the call to prayer began just as Japan and Paraguay entered extra-time. Abiding by Saudi religious rules that require all commercial establishments to close for prayers, the big-screen TVs were shut off in La Caverna coffee shop and customers herded outside.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Prayer-carpets-take-mosques-to-Saudi-World-Cup-fans/articleshow/6112275.cms
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Local press: Marriage through installments
Jul 1, 2010
Some years ago, one of my colleagues was arranging for his brother to marry the daughter of a car dealership owner who specialized in selling vehicles through installments. Because my colleague and his brother needed cash to pay the dowry and meet other wedding costs, we would joke with the groom and tell him to ask his father-in-law to allow him to pay for the wedding on installments at a low interest rate.
What would you say if this joke actually became real? Banks have imprisoned people by giving out loans and then taking returns through installments. What if these banks came up with the idea of organizing marriages through installments? This program could only proceed with the approval of Shariah bodies, which are always willing to give their blessings.
Banks could secure a number of possible brides through matchmakers and include different types of women that suit all tastes and ages. They could also offer different genres of marriages such as conventional marriages and Misyar marriages.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article76356.ece
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155TH SANTAL REBELLION DAY: Ethnic minority groups demand constitutional recognition
July 1, 2010
Representatives of different ethnic minority groups on Wednesday urged the government to give them constitutional recognition as citizens of Bangladesh with equality of rights.
They criticised the government’s recent decision of making a law, which has defined them as ‘small, ethnic minority groups’ and demanded that they should be called ‘adivasi’ or aboriginals.
Their demand came at a discussion organised by Jatiya Adivasi Parishad at Shilpakala Academy to observe the 155th anniversary of Santal rebellion that occurred in four northern villages in 1855.
Politicians, educationists, economists and development activists there demanded implementation of international treaties
and conventions to uphold the rights of ethnic people.
The demand for formation of a land commission for northern region’s ethnic groups was also reiterated.
Full report at:
http://www.newagebd.com/2010/jul/01/nat.html
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Fake degree holders are traitors, deserve 80 lashes: Afgan
July 01, 2010
By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: Former law minister and constitutional expert Sher Afgan Niazi has said a member of parliament having a fake degree not only faces disqualification but is also liable to be tried for committing high treason under Article 6 of the Constitution, awarded 80 lashes under the Islamic law for lying, and proceeded against under sections 420, 467 and 471 of the Pakistan Penal Code for defrauding the people.
Afgan told The News that the latest Supreme Court judgment on the issue of fake degrees, provided for punishment for three years, which in his opinion is the least and the most lenient view of the apex court. “The fake degree holders have also broken the oath of the Constitution as given in its Third Schedule,” he said, adding that while taking the oath of his membership, a MP commits that he would perform his functions honestly to the best of his ability, faithfully in accordance with the Constitution, law and the rules of the assembly.
He also commits that he would preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. “Getting into parliament on the basis of a fake degree is a clear violation of the constitutional oath which amounts to a criminal offence and can be tried under Article 6 of the Constitution,” he said, arguing that the chief minister Balochistan has also violated his oath as member of the provincial assembly as well as the chief minister while ridiculing the Constitution and the law.
Full report at:
http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=29772
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Bangladesh: Jamaat leaders remanded for 16 days
July 1, 2010
The detained Jamaat-e-Islami amir, Motiur Rahman Nizami, secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed and nayeb-e-amir Delwar Hossain Saydee, arrested on Wednesday, were remanded in police custody for 16 days for questioning in five cases.
The police arrested about 165 other leaders and activists of Jamaat and Islami Chhatra Shibir, the Jamaat-backed student organisation, across the country when they tried to demonstrate against the arrest of their three top leaders.
Nizami, Mojaheed and Saydee were arrested on Tuesday, following an order from a Dhaka court, on the charge of hurting religious sentiments of Muslims.
The party on Tuesday had announced the countrywide demonstration for Wednesday.
The home minister, Shahara Khatun, after inaugurating a training course of a National Women Organisation, told reporters that the law-enforcement agencies were alerted against possible violence following the arrest of the top Jamaat leaders.
Full report at: http://www.newagebd.com/2010/jul/01/nat.html
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Netanyahu invites Palestinian leader to Jerusalem AFP
1 July 2010
JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday intensified calls for face-to-face peace talks with the Palestinians, pledging to visit Ramallah if Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas would come to Jerusalem.
Netanyahu spoke to reporters after talks with visiting US Middle East envoy George Mitchell and one week ahead of a visit to the White House for a meeting with US President Barack Obama.
“I call on president Abu Mazen to come to Jerusalem,” he said, using a familiar name for Abbas. “I’m prepared to go to Ramallah.”
Israel’s declared capital of Jerusalem is just a short drive from Ramallah, the occupied West Bank’s political capital and Abbas’s seat of power. But since May the two sides have been negotiating through Mitchell, who shuttles between them.
The Palestinians froze direct negotiations in December 2008, when Israel launched a deadly offensive against Gaza to halt rocket attacks.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2010/July/middleeast_July5.xml§ion=middleeast
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Bomber in Russia's Chechnya strikes near leader
1 July 2010
Investigators work at the site of a bomb explosion in central Grozny on Wednesday. A suicide bomb blast ripped though the center of the capital of Russia's Chechnya region and was believed to have caused at least one death. (Reuters)
By REUTERS
Published: Jul 1, 2010 00:24 Updated: Jul 1, 2010 00:41
GROZNY, Russia: A suicide bomber detonated explosives near a music hall where the leader of Russia's Chechnya region was attending a concert, leaving him unharmed but injuring five servicemen.
"Those bandits cannot destroy the peace in the Chechen republic," Kremlin-backed Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov told reporters after leaving the concert hall in the provincial capital, Grozny, following the explosion. He did not say if he believed he had been a target.
The blast is the first suicide bomb in Grozny in almost a year. Russia is fighting an insurgency in Chechnya — where separatist rebels have fought two devastating wars with Moscow since the mid-1990s — and neighboring provinces in the mainly Muslim North Caucasus.
Full report at: http://arabnews.com/world/article76378.ece
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Hannity And Gabriel Grasp At Straws To Fear Monger That Sharia Law Has Invaded US
July 1, 2010
Sean Hannity is keeping up the recent Fox News meme of alleging that Sharia law has invaded or is about to invade and supplant the United States Constitution. Seriously. Hannity’s fear mongering discussion Tuesday night (6/29/10) about this “threat” was at least the fifth time we’ve seen it discussed on Fox and the fourth time on Hannity. But this time, he chose the most far-fetched “evidence” yet: legislation in Europe banning burkas. How banning burkas in France or Belgium signifies the imminent or past arrival of Sharia law on our shores, he never explained. But his guest, Islamophobe Brigitte Gabriel, quickly agreed that it was so.
Full report at:
http://www.newshounds.us/2010/07/01/hannity_and_gabriel_grasp_at_straws_to_fear_monger_that_sharia_law_has_invaded_us.php
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Opposition grows to Indonesia's hardline FPI Islamists
By Olivia Rondonuwu and Sunanda Creagh
Wed Jun 30, 2010
Indonesian lawmakers have called on the government to disband a vigilante Islamist group known for smashing bars and attacking transvestites, but the militants on Wednesday said their critics were part of a liberal conspiracy.
The controversy highlights the problem Indonesia's government faces in balancing the desires of an increasingly affluent population with its need to not be seen restricting Islamic organisations in the world's most populous Muslim country.
The Islamic Defenders Front -- known locally as the Front Pembela Islam (FPI) -- attracts limited support in moderate, majority Muslim Indonesia, but fear of being seen as defending vice means politicians and police often turn a blind eye to their attacks on targets, such as transvestites, which are deemed un-Islamic.
An attack on a meeting of legislators accused by the fringe group of being Communists has prompted calls by a group of legislators for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to shut it down.
Full report at:
http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-49777620100630
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At Tea Party HD Sharia Law Expert Opens Pandora's Box as Both Conservatives and Liberals Discuss the Constitution & the Koran
July 1, 2010
NASHVILLE,- Today on TeaPartyHD.com, author and Sharia Law expert Bill Warner will be analyzing Tuesday's interview of Sheikh Ossama Bahloul of Murfreesboro, TN and his research on Sharia Law including Muslims beliefs about non-Muslims (kafirs). "Each and every demand that Muslims make is based on the idea of implementing Sharia Law in America," states Bill Warner, author of Sharia Law For Non-Muslims.
In the 6th District of Tennessee (Murfreesboro), a Republican candidate for Congress Lou Ann Zelenik is arguing against the building of a mosque in a Nashville suburb because it poses a "threat to her state's moral and political foundation." She describes the planned mosque as an "Islamic training center," and stands "with those who oppose" building it. In an interview by Tea Party HD on Tuesday, Imam stated "I cannot find any part of Sharia Law that conflicts with the Constitution. I wish all countries would adopt the Constitution." Bill Warner told Tea Party HD after watching the interview, "you need to dig deeper into the Takiya, the sacred deceit and into the dualism of Sharia Law -- one law for Muslims and one law for kafirs."
Full report at:
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/At-Tea-Party-HD-Sharia-Law-Expert-Opens-Pandoras-Box-as-Both-Conservatives-Liberals-1284443.htm
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Chairing the Council of Islamic Ideology
Nazish Brohi
July 1, 2010
That the political party that drafts and proposes a law that the Supreme Court finds in conflict with other laws to be given leadership of an institution with the power to review all laws is a systemic short circuit
Pakistan has witnessed accelerated Saudiisation and all discourse seems increasingly legitimised only through religious inferences, so what difference does handing of the chairmanship of an Islamic review body, the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), to a deputy of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) make?
The JUI-F is a political player whose influence is far wider than is reflected by its narrow vote share. While coalition acrobatics compel barters such as the nomination of Maulana Sherani to the CII, civil society groups such as Women’s Action Forum (WAF) and Insani Jamhoori Ittihad have cautioned against such utilitarian decisions. The alarm stems as much from the history of the CII rulings as from the track record of the JUI-F, providing a legitimate cause of concern at the conflation of the two.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\07\01\story_1-7-2010_pg3_3
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Largescale bypolls loom as Pak targets MPs with fake degrees
Jul 1, 2010
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani education authorities are checking the academic credentials of parliamentarians amid fears that scores could be disqualified for holding fake degrees, leading to large-scale by-elections.
A spate of elections could raise political tensions in the country, which is confronted with a growing threat of Islamist militancy and is struggling to bolster a weak economy.
"The Higher Education Commission (HEC) is verifying the degrees of all parliamentarians in line with the orders of the Supreme Court," an official of the Election Commission said. He said the HEC has learned of at least 35 members of parliament who had not filed their university degrees along with their nomination papers, while the diplomas of 138 members were illegible.
Pakistan's increasingly assertive supreme court last week ordered election authorities to take action against legislators who were found guilty of forging their diplomas to contest the 2008 general elections.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Largescale-bypolls-loom-as-Pak-targets-MPs-with-fake-degrees/articleshow/6112288.cms
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Saudi clerics battle over adult-breastfeeding, music fatwas
Jun 30, 2010
RIYADH: One cleric's endorsement of breastfeeding for grown men and another's saying music is not un-Islamic have opened up a pitched battle in Saudi Arabia over who can issue fatwas, or Islamic religious edicts.
Hardline and progressive religious scholars, judges and clerics have taken the fight public in what some describe as outright "chaos" in the once ivory-tower world of setting the rules that govern much of life in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom.
Much of the fight in the past week has focused on a fatwa endorsing music issued by Adel al-Kalbani, a Riyadh cleric famed as the first black imam at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Islam's holiest city.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Saudi-clerics-battle-over-adult-breastfeeding-music-fatwas/articleshow/6109013.cms
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Imran Khan files petition in SC to protest US drone attacks
Jun 30, 2010
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan on Wednesday filed a petition in the Supreme Court asking it to declare US drone attacks inside the country as illegal and unconstitutional.
Khan filed the petition through advocate Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui under article 184(3) of the constitution, under which the apex court is empowered to take action to enforce the fundamental rights of citizens.
The government and several top officials, including the Defence Secretary, the Secretary of the cabinet division, Interior Secretary, Foreign Secretary and Home Secretaries of all provinces, were made respondents in the case.
"It is further prayed that respondents may be called upon to explain that under which authority of law they are allowing/facilitating operation of drones from the soil of Pakistan for attacks inside its territory," the petition said.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Imran-Khan-files-petition-in-SC-to-protest-US-drone-attacks/articleshow/6111434.cms
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Pak may extradite Mullah Baradar and other top Taliban leaders
Jun 30, 2010
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has indicated it may extradite Mullah Baradar and other top Afghan militant commanders to Afghanistan as part of its efforts to help President Hamid Karzai reach a negotiated settlement with the Taliban, according to a media report on Wednesday.
"We are working with Afghanistan's government to come up with a mutually acceptable arrangement for Mullah Baradar's extradition," a security official was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper.
Afghanistan recently made a renewed call for the extradition of Baradar and other Taliban commanders detained in Pakistan earlier this year.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Pak-may-extradite-Mullah-Baradar-and-other-top-Taliban-leaders/articleshow/6110149.cms
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Govt sees LeT behind Kashmir protests
Jul 1, 2010
The Government said on Wednesday a Pakistan-based militant group blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks was behind violent anti-India protests sweeping the disputed Kashmir region in which 11 people have been killed.
The anti-India demonstrations over nearly three weeks are among the biggest in two years and have spread to many parts of Kashmir, including Sopore, known as the stronghold of a hardline separatist leader.
"We think it is the LeT which is active in Sopore," Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram told reporters after a meeting called by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the spiralling street violence.
Full report at:
http://www.dailypioneer.com/266284/Govt-sees-LeT-behind-Kashmir-protests.html
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India urges Intl engagement in Afghanistan
Jul 1, 2010
India has told the UN that the international community should remain engaged in Afghanistan for security and stability, as any development in the war-ravaged country would have an "impact" on it.
"The security of Afghanistan and what happens there impacts us, as a country in the region, as a close neighbour and a civilisational partner whose ties with the Afghan people stretch into antiquity," Permanent Representative to the UN, Hardeep Singh Puri, told the Security Council yesterday.
Puri said this in his address to the Security Council during an open debate on Afghanistan.
"A stable and settled Afghanistan, where the rank and file of the Taliban has given up violence against the government, and the people, cut all links with terrorism, subscribe to the values of the Afghan Constitution and its laws, and where development is the hard rationale, is what we seek and quest for," he said.
Full report at:
http://www.dailypioneer.com/266066/India-urges-Intl-engagement-in-Afghanistan.html
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Pakistan refutes India’s assertion on 40 terror camps in PoK
Rezaul H Laskar | Islamabad
Pakistan on Wednesday described as “baseless” the Indian Army chief’s assertion that over 40 terrorist camps were operational in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and said both countries need to address terrorism in a cooperative and pragmatic manner.
Reacting to Gen VK Singh’s assertion that “active” and “holding” terror training camp are operational in PoK, Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit described his comments as “baseless and self-serving.”
Basit said terrorism was a “global and regional issue” and that “Pakistan’s own concerns vis-a-vis India in this regard had been amply conveyed”.
“Both sides had agreed to discuss the issue of terrorism and to address this matter in a cooperative and pragmatic manner,” he said.
Full report at:
http://www.dailypioneer.com/266090/Pakistan-refutes-India%E2%80%99s-assertion-on-40-terror-camps-in-PoK.html
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Kashmir: Forces Told To Show Restraint
Jul 01st, 2010
The Centre on Wednesday sought to put a lid on the seemingly unending cycle of violence in the Kashmir Valley in recent weeks involving security forces and the civilian population by once again instructing the former to exercise “maximum rest-raint” while dealing with rioters and stone-pelters.
The Centre also enunciated more clearly on Wednesday who it believes are the “anti-national elements” fomenting trouble in the Valley by blaming the Laskhar-e-Tayyaba (LeT), an outfit believed to be active in the Sopore area. Intelligence agencies have already indicated that violence in the Valley is being stoked by elements from across the border.
This should come as a shot in the arm for Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah, whose government has been unable to contain the escalating violence. Mr Chida-mbaram said, “Beginning June 11, eleven civilian lives have been lost. In the same period, 53 CRPF personnel have been injured, many of them seriously. An inspector and a jawan of the CRPF have received bullet injuries.”
Full report at:
http://www.asianage.com/india/forces-told-show-restraint-838
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Civil-military nexus to make media fall in line
By Amir Wasim
Thursday, 01 Jul, 2010
Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira played down the significance of the “media coordination committee on defence planning” meeting, saying “these are routine matters”. -File Photo
ISLAMABAD: The government has thrashed out “policy guidelines” for private media organisations so that their news coverage does not hurt “national interests”, sources in the information ministry told Dawn.
Federal Information Secretary Sohail Mansoor has slated a meeting of an unheard of “media coordination committee on defence planning” for Thursday to discuss formulation of guidelines for electronic and print media, preparing SOP (standard operating procedure) for grant of permission to foreign media for reporting and making documentaries and “evolving a policy for tuning in the private media to national outlook and securing core national security interests”.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/06-civil-military-nexus-to-make-media-fall-in-line-170-rs-03
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Zardari smells a rat in dodgy degree row timing
By Syed Irfan Raza
Thursday, 01 Jul, 2010
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari went on the offensive on Wednesday over the matter of legislators’ degrees, ruling out their disqualification and accusing “anti-democracy forces” of conspiring against the government.
In a speech loaded with innuendos against his political rivals, Zardari left little doubt that he saw the degree issue as nothing but a smokescreen behind which a plot was being hatched against him.
“I will once again survive attempts to dislodge me from the Presidency and go on to complete my term,” the president said in a speech at a ballot for the Waseela-i-Haq scheme of the Benazir Income Support Programme.
“Sometime back when there was a law on the statute book requiring representatives to produce bachelors’ degree, no one asked questions about academic qualifications of elected members.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/06-zardari-smells-a-rat-in-dodgy-degree-row-timing-170-rs-01
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Pakistan needs nuclear deterrence, says US
By Anwar Iqbal
Thursday, 01 Jul, 2010
US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen. -File Photo
WASHINGTON: A person no less than the US military chief has conceded that Pakistan’s nuclear programme is different from those of Iran and North Korea because it makes ‘extraordinary efforts’ to protect its nuclear weapons while there’s no reason to trust those two countries.
US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen’s statement at a public forum in Aspen, Colorado, follows a meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group in New Zealand last week where the United States, contrary to media speculations, did not raise a Chinese plan to build two nuclear reactors in Pakistan.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/06-pakistan-needs-nuclear-deterrence,-says-us-170-rs-02
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Balochistan wants full utilisation of Gwadar port, says CM
By Saleem Shahid
Thursday, 01 Jul, 2010
QUETTA, June 30: Chief Minister Nawab Mohammad Aslam Khan Raisani has said that people of Balochistan in general and those of Gwadar in particular have pinned lots of hopes on the country’s first deep sea port.
He said this while attending a meeting held on Wednesday to discuss problems being faced in the operation of the Gwadar port. Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Babar Khan Ghauri, federal Minister for Communications Dr Arbab Alamgir Khan and provincial Finance Minister Mir Asim Kurd Gailu were present on the occasion.
Mr Raisani said that so long as the port’s facilities remained under-utilised desired economic results would be difficult to achieve.
He said keeping in view the fishing community’s woes the provincial government had prepared a plan to build two alternative fish harbours, one each at Sur-Bandar and Pishukan. He said PC1s of these projects had been sent to the Planning Commission for approval.
Expressing dissatisfaction over the performance of Port of Singapore Authority, the firm that has been leased out the Gwadar port for 40 years, Mr Raisani said the Balochistan government had reservations on the contract awarded by the Musharraf government.
“The Balochistan government would like to run the port itself,” the chief minister said. The federal minister for ports and shipping said that his ministry had no objection to the suggestion.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/national/balochistan-wants-full-utilisation-of-gwadar-port,-says-cm-170
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Obama movie set for debut in Indonesia
Thursday, 01 Jul, 2010
JAKARTA, June 30: A film about US President Barack Obama’s childhood days in Indonesia debuts in Jakarta on Wednesday, promising a very different perspective on the man in the White House.
The film, “Obama Anak Menteng” or “Obama the Menteng Kid”, is set in the upscale Jakarta neighbourhood of Menteng where Obama lived from 1967 to 1971 with his mother and Indonesian stepfather.
Co-director Damien Dematra said it would show the US president in a light that Americans might find strange. “Viewers, especially westerners, will see a different world. They’ll see Obama eating chicken satay, not hamburgers. They’ll see his neighbours and friends wearing chequered sarongs and Muslim caps,” he said.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/international/obama-movie-set-for-debut-in-indonesia-170
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Drone attacks have increased terror acts: LHC CJ
Thursday, July 01, 2010
Says if government is not party to these attacks, it should take steps to stop them; disposes of petition
By our correspondent
LAHORE: The chief justice of the Lahore High Court ON Wednesday remarked that drone attacks are against the integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan, and if these are not being carried out with the government consent, it should take measures to stop them.
The CJ said, “Through the media, it is known to everyone that people of Fata are being killed by America in drone attacks. I, being chief justice of Punjab and a citizen of Pakistan, am of considered view that due to drone attacks, terrorist activities are being increased in the whole of Pakistan, and the citizens are killed in suicide attacks.”
Full report at:
http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=29771
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Egypt finds ancient tomb
July 01, 2010
CAIRO: Egyptian archaeologists who have completed excavations on an unfinished ancient tunnel believe it was meant to connect a 3,300-year-old pharaoh’s tomb with a secret burial site, the antiquities department said Wednesday.
Egyptian chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass said it has taken three years to excavate the 570-foot (174 meter) long tunnel in Pharaoh Seti I’s ornate tomb in southern Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. The pharaoh died before the project was finished.
First discovered in 1960, the tunnel has only now been completely cleared and archaeologists discovered ancient figurines, shards of pottery and instructions left by the architect for the workmen.
“Move the door jamb up and make the passage wider,” read an inscription on a decorative false door in the passage. It was written in hieratic, a simplified cursive version of hieroglyphics.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=248123
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Taliban threaten to attack NGOs
July 01, 2010
By Mazhar Tufail
ISLAMABAD: Ruling out possibility of talks with the Karzai regime or the occupation forces, the Taliban movement of Afghanistan has said that it would now also target the NGOs and other organisations that are spreading alien culture in the war-ravaged country and advancing their hidden agenda under the garb of development work.
“The operation commanders of the Islamic Emirate (as Taliban movement calls itself) are going to meet shortly to finalise a new war strategy under which the foreigners working on their national agendas, particularly Indians, will be targeted,” said Qari Ziaur Rehman, a Taliban commander, while talking to The News via telephone from an undisclosed location in Afghanistan.
Full report at:
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=248240
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Iran told to comply with UN
Jul 1, 2010
WASHINGTON: Saudi Arabia and the United States have urged Iran to comply with the resolutions taken by the UN Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regarding its controversial nuclear program.
“Iran should abide by its international commitment,” a White House statement said on Wednesday following talks between Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and President Barack Obama.
The two leaders expressed their hope that indirect talks between the Israelis and Palestinians would lead to direct talks to establish a Palestinian state that would live peacefully with Israel. They also emphasized the need to start negotiations on the Syrian and Lebanese tracks in order to reach a comprehensive Middle East peace settlement. Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article76392.ece
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EU envoys to focus on Riyadh ties
By GHAZANFAR ALI KHAN
Jul 1, 2010
RIYADH: In what can be called a historic moment for Saudi Arabia and Europe, the European Commission’s office in Riyadh will host the first meeting of European ambassadors to discuss foreign policy matters with special reference to Saudi-EU relations on July 4.
The meeting will be held for the first time at the premises of the Commission’s office as per the provisions of the Lisbon Treaty and not at the embassy of Belgium, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency from July 1 (today).
“All of the 134 EC’s delegations worldwide will have more teeth on foreign policy issues following the implementation of the treaty,” said Ambassador Luigi Narbone, chief of the EC delegation in Riyadh, on Wednesday. He pointed out that the ambassadors of all 19 member states of the European Union currently posted in Saudi Arabia would attend the meeting.
Narbone spoke on Saudi-EU relations and regional issues affecting the Middle East region, and predicted more intensive partnership between the EU and the region. He said that the EU was seeking a larger role on regional issues affecting the Middle East, including Saudi-EU issues and GCC-EU relations.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article76340.ece
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Israel’s Barak to confer with Palestine PM
Jul 1, 2010
JERUSALEM: Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak is to meet with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in the coming days for a rare high-level meeting between the two sides.
Barak confirmed the meeting after talks with US Middle East envoy George Mitchell, but did not say when it would take place.
“We are due to meet in the next few days. This is not the first time we are meeting and we will talk, I assume, about the situation on the ground, about security coordination,” Barak told reporters after the meeting.
“We will talk about economic issues, issues they want to raise and where we have things we want to raise, like confiscating goods (from settlements) or attempts to stop (Palestinian) workers from working in the settlements,” he said.
Barak said he would also raise the issue of the Palestinian “activities against us in the international arena.”
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article76276.ece
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E. Jerusalem demolitions a peace obstacle, says EU
By MOHAMMAD MAR’I
Jul 1, 2010
BRUSSELS/RAMALLAH: The planned demolition of Palestinian houses in East Jerusalem, as part of an archaeological project, is “an obstacle to peace,” EU Foreign Affairs chief Catherine Ashton said on Wednesday.
Jewish “settlements and the demolition of homes are illegal under international law, constitute an obstacle to peace and threaten to make a two-state solution impossible,” Ashton warned in a statement.
The European Union’s High Representative stressed that the EU has never recognized Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem. “If there is to be genuine peace, a way must be found through negotiations to resolve the status of Jerusalem as the future capital of two states,” Ashton added.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article76394.ece
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Iraq eyes opening new border crossings with Turkey
By SHAMAL AQRAWI
Jul 1, 2010
ARBIL, Iraq: Iraq hopes to open two new border crossings with Turkey to boost bilateral trade to $20 billion a year, despite renewed fighting between Turkish forces and Turkish Kurd rebels along the frontier, officials said.
Turkey is one of Baghdad's main trading partners and has been one of the largest investors in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein. There is only one border crossing point now.
"Iraq is looking to open two new border crossings with Turkey and to set up an industrial and commercial area inside Iraqi land on the border with Turkey," the prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Barham Salih, said on Tuesday during a visit by the Turkish trade minister.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article76342.ece
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Mothers of jailed Americans appeal to Iran leader
Jul 1, 2010
MINNEAPOLIS: The mothers of three Americans held in Iran are marking 11 months of their captivity with a letter to the country's supreme leader pleading for their release.
The letter sent Wednesday to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is signed by the mothers of Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal. Iranian officials have accused the three of espionage after they were taken into captivity along the Iran-Iraq border last July during what their families say was a hiking trip.
Cindy Hickey, Nora Shourd and Laura Fattal appealed to Khamenei to "bring the cruel injustice of their continued detention to an end." The mothers say their children should either be tried immediately or released.
The mothers unsuccessfully sought a meeting with Khamenei when they traveled to Iran last month.
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article76345.ece
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Sudan releases Islamist opposition head Turabi — staff
Jul 1, 2010
Published: Jul 1, 2010 00:04 Updated: Jul 1, 2010 00:04
KHARTOUM: Sudanese authorities on Wednesday released Islamist opposition leader Hassan Al-Turabi 1-1/2 months after arresting him in Khartoum and closing his party's newspaper, his secretary said.
"Dr. Turabi has arrived at his home...We do not know why he has been released," secretary Awad Babiker told Reuters.
Turabi, who was close to President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir before a bitter power struggle and split in 1999/2000, has been in and out of jail since he formed his Popular Congress Party.
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article76404.ece
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Palestinian reconciliation panel dissolved after failing to bridge gaps
By MOHAMMED MAR'I
Jul 1, 2010
RAMALLAH: A high ranking Palestinian reconciliation committee dissolved itself after it failed to bridge gaps between the rival Fatah and Hamas movements, a committee member said.
In June, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas decided to send a high ranking delegation from the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the Fatah's Central Committee and independent figures to finalize the unity deal with Hamas. The committee was headed by Palestinian billionaire Munib Al-Masri, who heads the Palestinian National Coalition of independent figures Al-Mustaqbal.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article76194.ece
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Four Turkish soldiers wounded in blast blamed on PKK
Jul 1, 2010
TUNCELI, Turkey: Four Turkish soldiers were wounded on Wednesday in an explosion in the province of Van in southeast Turkey amid escalating violence that has followed the end of a Kurdish rebel group's unilateral cease-fire.
In a separate incident, security forces killed two members of a far-left militant group in a clash in Tunceli province late on Tuesday, security sources said on condition of anonymity.
The soldiers who were wounded were on foot patrol in Van province when members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) detonated an explosive by remote control, the sources said.
A PKK spokesman reached by telephone in northern Iraq did not have information on the attack.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article76152.ece
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Al Jazeera launches free TV service in Britain
Jul 1, 2010
LONDON: Arabic news network Al Jazeera will begin broadcasting its English news channel on Britain's Freeview free digital platform on Thursday, making the UK its biggest English-speaking market for free TV.
The network, which has branched out into several channels and the Web since its foundation as an independent Arabic news channel in 1996, will be able to reach 80 percent of Britain's 25 million households.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article76005.ece
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Al Qaeda launches English propaganda magazine
1 July 2010
NEW YORK — Al Qaeda launched its first online propaganda magazine in English on Tuesday, a move that could help the terror group recruit inside the US and Europe.
The magazine, called Inspire, is being run by Al Qaeda ’s branch in Yemen, which has been linked to the failed Christmas Day bombing attempt of a U.S.-bound airliner.
The launch suggests that, as Al Qaeda ’s core has been weakened by CIA drone airstrikes, the group hopes to broaden its reach inside the U.S., where officials have seen a spate of homegrown terrorists.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2010/July/middleeast_July10.xml§ion=middleeast
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Obama to sign Iran sanctions bill
1 July 2010
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will sign legislation on Thursday imposing tough new sanctions against Iran as further punishment for the country’s unwillingness to give up its ambitions of becoming a nuclear power.
The House and Senate acted in quick succession last week to overwhelmingly approve the penalties targeting Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard and its imports of gas and other refined energy products. The action followed a fourth round of U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iran.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2010/July/middleeast_July8.xml§ion=middleeast
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Al Qaeda operative tied to NY plot: US
1 July 2010,
NEW YORK — U.S. counterterrorism officials have linked one of the nation’s most wanted terrorists to last year’s thwarted plot to bomb the New York City subway system, authorities said Wednesday.
Current and former counterterrorism officials said top Al Qaeda operative Adnan Shukrijumah met with one of the would-be suicide bombers in a plot that Attorney General Eric Holder called one of the most dangerous since the 9/11 terror attacks.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have named Shukrijumah in a draft terrorism indictment but on Wednesday the Justice Department was still discussing whether to cite his role. Some officials feared that the extra attention might hinder efforts to capture him.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2010/July/middleeast_July7.xml§ion=middleeast
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