Bangladesh election body to recognise sex workers
US Service Member Killed in Southern Afghanistan
In Afghanistan, More Attacks on Officials and a Protest Over a Deadly NATO Raid
Civilians to Take U.S. Lead After Military Leaves Iraq
US urges Pak to accept Indian aid; hardliners blame India, US for floods
WikiLeaks and Pentagon Disagree About Talks
BJP Kashmir touch scalds
Poll shows more Americans think Obama is a Muslim
ISI: Islamist militants, not India, main threat to Pak
10 militants killed in Afghanistan
Three NATO soldiers among dozens killed in Afghan unrest
Car bombing wounds 23 in Russia’s south
Militant groups LeT, JeM, HuJI set up relief camps in Pak for flood victims
Father Zakaria Botros:”Jesus loves Muslims."
Iftar gatherings at Prophet’s Mosque exhilarating
Pak, India ‘cyber war’ intensifies
Obama in firing line over mosque comments
Obama said undaunted by furore over mosque remarks
A million copies of the Holy Qur’an inside the Grand Mosque
Pak Takes Indian Potato Aid
Pro-Pak Eclipses Pro-Freedom In J&K
Dubai International Holy Quran Award begins today
‘Fear of Small Numbers’ translated into Arabic by Abu Dhabi-based Kalima
Former US president Bush mum on mosque furor
‘Memories’ enthral Pakistani, Indian audience in Oman
Bahrain cracks down on Shiite activists
Russia to host Afghan, Pakistani leaders
Iraq owes Kuwait $22.3 bn in reparations: report
Taliban call for joint panel with UN, Nato
Pakistan needs $15bn Marshall Plan for reconstruction
ALJCI to create 45,000 new jobs
Two suicide bombers arrested from Peshawar
5thC Buddhist site found near Kabul
Israeli ex-soldier defends ‘shameful’ Facebook snaps
NY Gov. to discuss relocating Muslim center
Key personalities on terrorists’ hit list: IG
UN General Assembly to meet on Pak floods; Clinton, Qureshi to attend
International Burn A Quran Day video: Muslim response from UK
India’s Vice-President to confer 'Life Time' awards on four photo journalists
CM Omar pardons shoe chucker in Ramzan spirit
20 Hurt In Clashes In J&K
Hostage crisis grips Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv
Hezbollah gives to Lebanon judiciary
Lebanon law gives Palestinians few civil rights
Asylum seeker holding hostages at Turk Embassy
Govt to free 1,000 prisoners to ease pressure on jails
State hand was in Aug 17 series bombing: PM
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
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Bangladesh election body to recognise sex workers
Aug 18, 2010
DHAKA: Bangladesh’s election commission said on Tuesday that prostitution – legal in the Muslim-majority nation – would be recognised as a job title on new voter identity cards. The commission recognised just 25 professions when voter ID cards were first introduced, but had decided to add 15 more jobs, including journalist, tailor and priest, said Election Commissioner Shakhawat Hossain. “If anyone wants to put sex work as a profession, we will recognise that. There is nothing wrong with it. After all, it’s one of the oldest professions on earth. We honour the human rights of all professionals,” he told AFP. Charities say an estimated 200,000 people work in the booming sex trade in the country of 146 million people.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\08\18\story_18-8-2010_pg4_5
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US Service Member Killed in Southern Afghanistan
19 Aug. 10
KABUL, Afghanistan-- NATO forces say a US service member has died from a bomb attack in southern Afghanistan.
A statement Thursday from the military alliance said the service member died Wednesday. It did not provide further details.
Including the latest death, at least 17 American troops have been killed so far this month. July was the deadliest month for American forces in the nearly nine-year war, with 66 killed.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/08/19/world/AP-AS-Afghanistan.html?hp
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In Afghanistan, More Attacks on Officials and a Protest Over a Deadly NATO Raid
By ALISSA J. RUBIN
KABUL, Afghanistan — Violence struck southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, with attacks on government and security officials. There were also allegations that NATO forces had killed two civilians in a night raid in the northeast, although the military sharply disputed that.
In Kandahar Province, a district police commander and three officers were killed when a suicide bomber exploded near a police patrol in the early evening.
In Zabul Province, gunmen assassinated Atta Khan Qadir Wal, 50, the director of the province’s office of tribal affairs, as he returned from evening prayers at a mosque in Qalat, the provincial capital. He was a highly respected elder, said Mohammad Jan Rasool Yar, a spokesman for the Zabul governor.
The disputed raid occurred early Wednesday in the Surkh Rod district of Nangarhar Province, about nine miles from Jalalabad, the largest city in eastern Afghanistan. It was at least the third raid in the district in four months, and in each, the military’s account and that of local people have been sharply at odds, with local residents insisting that those killed were civilians and the military asserting that there were Taliban present.
Hundreds of suburban residents of Jalalabad blocked its main east-west highway on Wednesday to protest the killings.
Local residents said that the two men killed were both civilians, while a NATO military spokesman said that they had been shot by American troops only after opening fire themselves.
The troops were searching for a known Taliban commander living in the area, said Maj. Steven Cole, the NATO spokesman.
“The force received AK-47 fire from the compound courtyard,” he said. “Our force entered the courtyard and returned fire at one man firing the AK-47, killing him.”
When a second man tried to pick up his gun, he was also killed, Major Cole said, adding: “At least one person living in the compound on the scene identified one of the men killed as an insurgent commander.”
Three other men were detained, the military said; women and children in the compound were unharmed.
The Nangarhar provincial police complained that they had not been consulted, nor had the Afghan national security forces, and said that there was no evidence that those killed were combatants.
“The dead and captured were not armed members of the governmental opposition,” said Col. Ghafour Khan, the spokesman for the provincial police chief.
“They were father and son,” he said. “They were innocent civilians. The father was a farmer, and the son sold vegetables in the bazaar.” He added that the NATO forces should be held accountable “for the subsequent consequences.”
Major Cole said that all NATO operations were coordinated with Afghan security forces, but that did not mean that the provincial or district police were informed ahead of time. The coordination can be with Afghan military leaders at the national level or those who work for another Afghan security agency, he said.
A member of Parliament from Nangarhar Province, Safia Sidiqi, owns a house in the district where an elderly civilian man was killed in a raid on April 28. She denounced the latest raid as an unwarranted attack on civilians. She also accused the soldiers of beating the two men before they were shot to death.
“The Americans say that ‘We were looking for a Taliban commander by the name of Yusuf,’ ” she said. “This is just an excuse and in the name of these things, they go to people’s houses and kill innocent people.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/19/world/asia/19afghan.html?ref=world
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Civilians to Take U.S. Lead After Military Leaves Iraq
By MICHAEL R. GORDON
WASHINGTON — As the United States military prepares to leave Iraq by the end of 2011, the Obama administration is planning a remarkable civilian effort, buttressed by a small army of contractors, to fill the void.
By October 2011, the State Department will assume responsibility for training the Iraqi police, a task that will largely be carried out by contractors. With no American soldiers to defuse sectarian tensions in northern Iraq, it will be up to American diplomats in two new $100 million outposts to head off potential confrontations between the Iraqi Army and Kurdish pesh merga forces.
To protect the civilians in a country that is still home to insurgents with Al Qaeda and Iranian-backed militias, the State Department is planning to more than double its private security guards, up to as many as 7,000, according to administration officials who disclosed new details of the plan. Defending five fortified compounds across the country, the security contractors would operate radars to warn of enemy rocket attacks, search for roadside bombs, fly reconnaissance drones and even staff quick reaction forces to aid civilians in distress, the officials said.
“I don’t think State has ever operated on its own, independent of the U.S. military, in an environment that is quite as threatening on such a large scale,” said James Dobbins, a former ambassador who has seen his share of trouble spots as a special envoy for Afghanistan, Bosnia, Haiti, Kosovo and Somalia. “It is unprecedented in scale.”
White House officials expressed confidence that the transfer to civilians — about 2,400 people who would work at the Baghdad embassy and other diplomatic sites — would be carried out on schedule, and that they could fulfill their mission of helping bring stability to Iraq.
“The really big picture that we have seen in Iraq over the last year and a half to two years is this: the number of violent incidents is significantly down, the competence of Iraqi security forces is significantly up, and politics has emerged as the basic way of doing business in Iraq,” said Antony J. Blinken, the national security adviser to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. “If that trend continues, and I acknowledge it is an ‘if,’ that creates a much better context for dealing with the very significant and serious problems that remain in Iraq.”
But the tiny military presence under the Obama administration’s plan — limited to several dozen to several hundred officers in an embassy office who would help the Iraqis purchase and field new American military equipment — and the civilians’ growing portfolio have led some veteran Iraq hands to suggest that thousands of additional troops will be needed after 2011.
“We need strategic patience here,” Ryan C. Crocker, who served as ambassador in Iraq from 2007 until early 2009, said in an interview. “Our timetables are getting out ahead of Iraqi reality. We do have an Iraqi partner in this. We certainly are not the ones making unilateral decisions anymore. But if they come to us later on this year requesting that we jointly relook at the post-2011 period, it is going to be in our strategic interest to be responsive.”
The array of tasks for which American troops are likely to be needed, military experts and some Iraqi officials say, include training Iraqi forces to operate and logistically support new M-1 tanks, artillery and F-16s they intend to acquire from the Americans; protecting Iraq’s airspace until the country can rebuild its air force; and perhaps assisting Iraq’s special operations units in carrying out counterterrorism operations.
Such an arrangement would need to be negotiated with Iraqi officials, who insisted on the 2011 deadline in the agreement with the Bush administration for removing American forces. With the Obama administration in campaign mode for the coming midterm elections and Iraqi politicians yet to form a government, the question of what future military presence might be needed has been all but banished from public discussion.
“The administration does not want to touch this question right now,” said one administration official involved in Iraq issues, adding that military officers had suggested that 5,000 to 10,000 troops might be needed. “It runs counter to their political argument that we are getting out of these messy places,” the official, speaking only on condition of anonymity, added. “And it would be quite counterproductive to talk this way in front of the Iraqis. If the Iraqis want us, they should be the demandeur.”
The Obama administration had already committed itself to reducing American troops in Iraq to 50,000 by the end of August, a goal the White House on Wednesday said would be met. Administration officials and experts outside government say, however, that carrying out the agreement that calls for removing all American forces by the end of 2011 will be far more challenging.
The progress or difficulties in transferring responsibility to the civilians will not only influence events in Iraq but will also provide something of a test case for the Obama administration’s longer-term strategy in Afghanistan.
The preparations for the civilian mission have been under way for months. One American official said that more than 1,200 specific tasks carried out by the American military in Iraq had been identified to be handed over to the civilians, transferred to the Iraqis or phased out.
To move around Iraq without United States troops, the State Department plans to acquire 60 mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles, called MRAPs, from the Pentagon; expand its inventory of armored cars to 1,320; and create a mini-air fleet by buying three planes to add to its lone aircraft. Its helicopter fleet, which will be piloted by contractors, will grow to 29 choppers from 17.
The department’s plans to rely on 6,000 to 7,000 security contractors, who are also expected to form “quick reaction forces” to rescue civilians in trouble, is a sensitive issue, given Iraqi fury about shootings of civilians by American private guards in recent years. Administration officials said that security contractors would have no special immunity and would be required to register with the Iraqi government. In addition, one of the State Department’s regional security officers, agents who oversee security at diplomatic outposts, will be required to approve and accompany every civilian convoy, providing additional oversight.
The startup cost of building and sustaining two embassy branch offices — one in Kirkuk and the other in Mosul — and of hiring security contractors, buying new equipment and setting up two consulates in Basra and Erbil is about $1 billion. It will cost another $500 million or so to make the two consulates permanent. And getting the police training program under way will cost about $800 million.
Among the trickiest missions for the civilians will be dealing with lingering Kurdish and Arab tensions. To tamp down potential conflicts in disputed areas, Gen. Ray Odierno, the senior American commander in Iraq, established a series of checkpoints made up of American soldiers, Iraqi Army troops and pesh merga fighters.
But those checkpoints may be phased out when the American troops leave. Instead, the United States is counting on the new embassy branch offices in Mosul and Kirkuk. Administration officials had planned to have another embassy branch office in Baquba, but dropped that idea because of spending constraints.
“They will be eyes and ears on the ground to see if progress is being made or problems are developing,” Mr. Blinken said.
But Daniel P. Serwer, a vice president of the United States Institute of Peace, a Congressionally financed research center, questioned whether this would be sufficient. “There is a risk it will open the door to real problems. Our soldiers have been out there in the field with the Kurds and Arabs. Now they are talking about two embassy branch offices, and the officials there may need to stay around the quad if it is not safe enough to be outside.”
Another area that has prompted concern is police training, which the civilians are to take over by October 2011. That will primarily be done by contractors with State Department oversight and is to be carried out at three main hubs with visits to other sites. Administration officials say the program has been set up with Iraqi input and will help Iraqi police officers develop the skills to move from counterinsurgency operations to crime solving. The aim is to “focus on the higher-end skill set,” Colin Kahl, a deputy assistant secretary of defense, told reporters this week.
But James M. Dubik, a retired Army three-star general who oversaw the training of Iraqi security forces in 2007 and 2008, questioned whether the State Department was fully up to the mission. “The task is much more than just developing skills,” he said. “It is developing the Ministry of Interior and law enforcement systems at the national to local levels, and the State Department has little experience in doing that.”
Mr. Crocker said that however capable the State Department was in carrying out its tasks, it was important for the American military to keep enough of a presence in Iraq to encourage Iraq’s generals to stay out of politics.
“We need an intense, sustained military-to-military engagement,” he said. “If military commanders start asking themselves, ‘Why are we fighting and dying to hold this country together while the civilians fiddle away our future?’, that can get dangerous.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/19/world/middleeast/19withdrawal.html?ref=world
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US urges Pak to accept Indian aid; hardliners blame India, US for floods
Chidanand Rajghatta
Aug 19, 2010
WASHINGTON: The Obama administration has urged Pakistan to accept India's aid offer even as hardline elements in the flood-ravaged country have begun a vicious campaign to blame India, the United States, and Afghanistan for the calamity, a charge Washington has simply dismissed.
Amid mounting international attention and concern for Pakistan's future in the face of the tragedy, US officials on Wednesday called on Islamabad to abjure politics and accept India's help, including an initial $ 5 million offer it has sat on saying it is under consideration, even as it is begging for international aid.
"I think the priority is to use offers of assistance to help the Pakistani people, so we would encourage Government of Pakistan to accept that (Indian) offer," Frank Ruggiero, Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan said on Wednesday. Separately, state department spokesman P J Crowley said, "In terms of responding to a disaster, politics should play no role. You have a country (India) that's willing to help (Pakistan), and...we expect that Pakistan will accept."
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/US-urges-Pak-to-accept-Indian-aid-hardliners-blame-India-US-for-floods/articleshow/6335115.cms#ixzz0x1pGeGYt
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WikiLeaks and Pentagon Disagree About Talks
By THOM SHANKER
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon on Wednesday rebutted statements by the WikiLeaks organization that the Defense Department had expressed a willingness to discuss reviewing a trove of classified documents before public release.
“The Department of Defense will not negotiate some ‘minimized’ or ‘sanitized’ version of a release by WikiLeaks of additional U.S. government classified documents,” Jeh C. Johnson, the Pentagon general counsel, wrote in a letter to a lawyer representing WikiLeaks, the online whistle-blowing organization. The letter was dated Monday but was provided by Defense Department officials on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks.org, was quoted by The Associated Press as having said the Pentagon had agreed to negotiations over how to redact the files to remove names and information that might harm individuals, in a process leading to the eventual release of more documents by his organization.
Full report at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/19/world/19wiki.html?ref=world
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BJP Kashmir touch scalds
IMRAN AHMED SIDDIQUI
New Delhi, Aug. 18: A BJP initiative to reach out to Muslims in Kashmir faltered after a Valley student delegation objected to Pandits being invited to the interactive session organised by the party today.
The session, hosted by leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, turned into a duel with the Pandits angrily rebutting the students’ argument that Independence was the only solution to Kashmir’s problems.
“We have come here to express the aspirations and the frustration of the youths of the Valley and also try to find ways to restore peace.
But the party (the BJP) seems more interested in digressing from the real issues by inviting Kashmiri Pandits,” said Kashmir University’s Aasma Rashid.
The BJP has traditionally espoused the cause of the Pandits, many of whom had to flee the Valley after militancy began in the early 1990s.
Full report at:
http://www.telegraphindia.com//1100819/jsp/nation/story_12828490.jsp
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Poll shows more Americans think Obama is a Muslim
By Jon Cohen and Michael D. Shear
August 19, 2010
The number of Americans who believe -- wrongly -- that President Obama is a Muslim has increased significantly since his inauguration and now account for nearly 20 percent of the nation's population.
Those results, from a new Pew Research Center survey, were drawn from interviews done before the president's comments about the construction of an Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero, and they suggest that there could be serious political danger for the White House as the debate continues.
The president's religion, like his place of birth, has been the subject of Internet-spread rumors and falsehoods since before he began his presidential campaign, and the poll indicates that those rumors have gained currency since Obama took office. The number of people who now correctly identify Obama as a Christian has dropped to 34 percent, down from nearly half when he took office.
Full report at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/18/AR2010081806913.html?hpid=topnews
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ISI: Islamist militants, not India, main threat to Pak
Lalit K Jha
Aug 18, 2010
Shedding its India-centric phobia, Pakistan’s main spy agency ISI has in its new threat assessment determined that Islamist militants, and not India, pose the main threat to Pakistan.
In a recent internal assessment of security, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s most powerful military spy service has determined for the first time in 63 years that it expects a majority of threats to come from Islamist militants, Wall Street Journal reported quoting a senior ISI officer. The assessment, WSJ said, a regular review of national security allocated a two-thirds likelihood of a major threat to Pakistan coming from militants rather from India or elsewhere.
“It’s earth shattering. That’s a remarkable change,” Bruce Hoffman, a counter-terrorism specialist and professor at Georgetown University was quoted as saying. “It’s yet another ratcheting up of the Pakistanis' recognition of not only their own internal problems but cooperation in the war on terrorism,” he said.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/276754/ISI-Islamist-militants-not-India-main-threat-to-Pak.html
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10 militants killed in Afghanistan
2010-08-18
Afghan and NATO-led forces killed 10 Taliban militants in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan, the military alliance said Wednesday.
'Afghan and coalition forces killed 10 Taliban insurgents in Kandahar Tuesday while in pursuit of a Taliban commander responsible for weapons deliveries,' the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.
Kandahar and neighbouring Helmand province are regarded as Taliban strongholds.
http://sify.com/news/10-militants-killed-in-afghanistan-news-international-kispEfaehei.html?scategory=international
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Three NATO soldiers among dozens killed in Afghan unrest
Aug 18, 2010
KABUL: Three NATO soldiers and more than two dozen other people were killed in Afghanistan on Tuesday. The soldiers and eight civilians, including three women and a child, lost their lives in bomb explosions late on Monday, the alliance and Afghan officials said. Afghan officials said two civilians were killed and another five wounded when a bomb placed on a motorcycle went off in the Ghazni province. The blast took place just as a police convoy was about to pass. In the Kandahar province, an influential pro-government tribal chieftain Zakaria Khan was killed in a blast at his timber shop in Spin Boldak town on the Pakistan border. Seventeen Taliban were killed during an operation in the remote northwestern province of Badghis, said an army spokesman. Ten other rebels were injured in the raids on the Taliban hideouts, he said. afp
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\08\18\story_18-8-2010_pg7_17
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Car bombing wounds 23 in Russia’s south
Aug 18, 2010
ROSTOV-ON-DON: A car bomb exploded outside a cafe in southern Russia on Tuesday, injuring 23 people, police said.
The explosion occurred just outside the cafe in downtown Pyatigorsk, a city in Russia’s North Caucasus, said Stanislav Belyayev, a spokesman for the Stavropol regional police. The wounded were cafe customers and passers-by, and all were hospitalized, three of them in serious condition.
Belyayev said a powerful homemade explosive blew up in a Russian-made Lada, which was parked outside the cafe.
Investigators were treating it as a terrorist attack.
Bombings and other attacks occur regularly in the North Caucasus, where violence has spread following two separatist wars in Chechnya. While most attacks are carried out by militants targeting police and other officials, some are the result of business disputes.
Tuesday’s car bombing drew the immediate attention of the Kremlin. President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the Federal Security Service and the Prosecutor General’s Office to do everything possible to identify and capture those responsible.
Hours earlier Tuesday, a suicide bomber killed a police officer and wounded two others in the neighboring North Caucasus province of North Ossetia.
The attacker blew himself up at a police checkpoint on the outskirts of the provincial capital, Vladikavkaz, regional police spokesman Aslan Dzgoyev said. The bomber, who died in the explosion, was accompanied by two other men. One of them was captured after police shot and wounded him, while the other escaped.
Elsewhere, Romania’s foreign ministry on Tuesday told Russia it would expel a top diplomat, a day after Moscow detained a Romanian diplomat accusing him of spying.
Without naming the diplomat, the Foreign Ministry said that it had communicated to the Russian Embassy in Bucharest that its first secretary must leave Romania in 48 hours.
The tit for tat statement came a day after Russia’s Federal Security Service said it had detained a Romanian diplomat suspected of spying and seized espionage equipment from him.
Romania’s foreign ministry condemned the detention of Gabriel Grecu, first secretary in the political department.
http://arabnews.com/world/article105144.ece
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Militant groups LeT, JeM, HuJI set up relief camps in Pak for flood victims
Aug 18, 2010
ISLAMABAD: Banned militant groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Muhammad and Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami, blamed for terror strikes in India, have set up camps in Karachi to raise funds to help victims of the worst ever deluge sweeping Pakistan.
Office-bearers of the groups said the ban imposed on them has compelled them to work under different names.
The work of these groups is reminiscent of their activities during the 2005 earthquake, when they had more resources than the government itself.
The groups claim they have collected millions of rupees for the flood victims and that they are engaged in relief and rescue operations in affected areas, a newspaper reported.
The groups have given food and medical facilities to the survivors. Other militant groups engaged in relief operations are the Jamaat-ud-Dawah, blamed by India for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Sipah-e-Sahaba, Harkatul Mujahideen, Hizbut Tahrir and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Militant-groups-LeT-JeM-HuJI-set-up-relief-camps-in-Pak-for-flood-victims/articleshow/6330834.cms#ixzz0wxJDepPu
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Father Zakaria Botros:”Jesus loves Muslims."
BY CHERYL CHAN
August 18, 2010
In this story from Canada we see yet again the intolerance of Islam for any critique, any questioning, any challenge. Father Zakaria is a wonderful Christian. We also admire his courage and great love for the lost. Below the article is a video of his work.
Anti-Islam cleric with $60m bounty in Langley
A controversial Christian cleric with a $60-million bounty on his head is in Vancouver.
Sources have told The Province that Father Zakaria Botros, a retired Coptic priest from Egypt, arrived at Vancouver International Airport Wednesday afternoon to little public fanfare -- but an RCMP presence.
Although he lives in exile in the U.S., Botros is little known in the West.
But he is the target of a fatwa and has been named Islam's "public enemy No. 1" by an Arabic newspaper for his fiery critiques of Islam, the Koran and the prophet Muhammad in a television show broadcast weekly on the Arabic-Christian channel al- Hayat or The Life.
Full report at:
http://www.islamisofthedevil.com/blog/2010/08/father-zakaria-botros-has-60m-bounty-his-head-i-love-jesus-more-my-life-and-because-jes?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+iiotd+(Islam+is+of+the+Devil)
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Iftar gatherings at Prophet’s Mosque exhilarating
Aug 18, 2010
MADINAH: More than 250,000 Muslims are breaking their fast every day at the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah.
Shades built in the outside courtyards of the mosque have reduced the heat there tremendously. This has encouraged people to hold their iftar in those particular areas. The shades have been particularly useful because of rising temperatures in Madinah.
A number of visitors told Arab News of their happiness in paying homage to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and praying in his mosque.
“I am very thankful to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah for the great and distinct services we have been enjoying since we first set foot in this country,” said Amin Al-Saddiq, a pilgrim from Sudan.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article105241.ece
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Pak, India ‘cyber war’ intensifies
Aug 18, 2010
Mumbai—The ‘cyberwar’ between India and Pakistan has claimed another victim, with the hacking of a high-profile lawmaker’s website that experts say highlights the woeful lack of Internet security in South Asia.A group calling itself the Pakistan Cyber Army said it hacked into the website of independent Indian MP Vijay Mallya, a flamboyant liquor baron, who is also head of Kingfisher Airlines and the Force One Formula One racing team. “This is payback from Pak Cyber Army in return to the defacements of Pakistan sites!” the message on www.mallyainparliament.com said, according to Indian media. “You are playing with fire! This is not a game kids.“We are warning you one last time. Don’t think that you are secure in this Cyber Space. We will turn your Cyber Space into Hell,” the message added, warning of “revenge” if Indians hack any Pakistani websites in retaliation. Mallya, who also owns Indian Premier League cricket outfit the Royal Challengers Bangalore, has vowed to take up the matter with the government in New Delhi and police.
Full report at:
http://dailymailnews.com/0810/18/FrontPage/index.php?id=12
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Obama in firing line over mosque comments
Narayan Lakshman
Aug 18, 2010
Mahdi Bray of the Muslim American Society (MAS) holds up a copy of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence as he speaks about religious freedom and President Barack Obama's comments in Washington on Tuesday.
Washington: The latest political casualty of the sizzling controversy around the Ground Zero mosque, as it has come to be known, might be none other than President Barack Obama.
After he broke months of silence on the issue last week and threw his weight behind the proponents of the Cordoba House community centre, planned two blocks away from the site of the 9/11 attacks, he has found himself lacking the support of Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, and watched as Republicans began to attack his position on the subject.
Local laws
Full report at:
http://www.hindu.com/2010/08/18/stories/2010081856711700.htm
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Obama said undaunted by furore over mosque remarks
Aug 18, 2010
He is also not dismayed that the Senate's top Democrat, Majority Leader Harry Reid, now opposes the idea, deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton said.
"This is an issue people are going to come to with strongly held convictions," Burton told reporters aboard Air Force One as Obama flew to an appearance in Seattle.
"He's happy our thriving democracy is continuing to produce vigorous debate."
On Monday, Reid became the highest profile Democrat to call for the mosque to be built someplace else. Current plans are to locate it two blocks from the site of the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks.
On Friday, at a White House dinner marking the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Obama declared Muslims "have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances." A day later, however, he told reporters that was not an endorsement of the specifics of the mosque plan.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/world/article105147.ece
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A million copies of the Holy Qur’an inside the Grand Mosque.
Aug 18, 2010
MAKKAH: As part of its efforts to provide complete comfort to pilgrims and worshippers, the General Presidency of Holy Mosques Affairs has made available more than a million copies of the Holy Qur’an inside the Grand Mosque.
The presidency said all the copies, of different sizes, were printed at King Fahd Qur’an Printing Complex in Madinah. It added that the copies are being kept in 2,200 copper and 850 wooden safes and 733 wooden shelves all over the Grand Mosque.
According to the presidency, the Holy Book has been translated into more than 12 languages, including English, French, Urdu, Turkish and Spanish. It added that special copies of the Qur’an are also printed in Braille for the blind.
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article104152.ece
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Pak Takes Indian Potato Aid
Aug 18th, 2010
Islamabad, Aug. 17: Pakistan has started importing potatoes from India after floods in the country destroyed the crops, raising fears of acute shortage of the vegetable in the coming days, Xinhua reported on Tuesday.
The first consignment of about 25 trucks arrived at the Wagah border checkpoint in the Punjab province on Monday.
Potato prices have already soared in the wholesale and retail markets. The import is likely to help stabilise the prices. Potatoes have a longer shelf life than other vegetrables, and form a main ingredient in many subcontinental dishes.
Prices of other vegetables also surged due to flooding in major vegetable producing areas of Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan provinces. Potatoes are being imported from India to curb rising prices. More consignments would reach the country this week.
http://www.asianage.com/international/pak-takes-indian-potato-aid-411
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Pro-Pak Eclipses Pro-Freedom In J&K
Aug 18th, 2010
The news of far-reaching significance in Kashmir is the vice-like grip over the current anti-government agitation established by the relatively small but determined group of pro-Pakistan separatists, now guided by a younger leadership in the main.
The new hegemony appears to have come into its own, comprehensively eclipsing the pro-independence outfits. The pro-Pakistan parties had played a key part in creating disturbance over the question of facilities for Amarnath pilgrims two years ago, but on that occasion the other parties and groups had been no less dynamic.
Remarkably, the Congress Working Committee, which met here on Monday to review recent developments in the Valley, missed the point entirely.
Full report at:
http://www.asianage.com/india/pro-pak-eclipses-pro-freedom-jk-500
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Dubai International Holy Quran Award begins today
Ahmed Shaaban
18 August 2010
DUBAI — Contestants from 78 countries will participate in the Dubai International Holy Quran Award which is set to open today at the Dubai Chamber of Commerce.
Ahmed Al Zahid, head of the Media Unit, said around 140 countries and communities from around the world were contacted to take part in the competition, but only 78 have arrived yet.
“This is seven participants lesser to the 85 contestants in the 13th session. This is mainly due to lack of memorisation, poor performance and holiday time,” he said. Contestants will sit for initial tests to check on their memorisation and performance, and will then go through final tests in two shifts; the first at 1.30pm and the second at 10.30pm,” Zahid told Khaleej Times.
“The 11-day competition from Ramadan 8 to 18 (August 18-28) will see the youngest ever participants, a 9-year-old boy from Rwanda, and a 10-year-old boy from Australia.”
Meanwhile, the five members of the judging panel were briefed on Tuesday on the rules of the award.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/theuae/2010/August/theuae_August489.xml§ion=theuae&col=
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‘Fear of Small Numbers’ translated into Arabic by Abu Dhabi-based Kalima
Aug 18, 2010
ABU DHABI — Kalima, the translation project of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH), published the Arabic translation of the book ‘Fear of Small Numbers: An Essay on the Geography of Anger’ written by Arjun Appadurai.
The book was translated by Mufida Mnakiri Labyadh, a professor of English at the National Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology at the University of Carthage in Tunisia. She is a researcher in Applied Linguistics and an expert translator at legal and international bodies.
Appadurai is a specialist in social sciences, a professor at the New School University, and Senior Advisor for Global Initiatives. He is one of the founding editors of the journal ‘Public Culture’. He has worked as a consultant for a wide range of public and private organisations, including UNESCO, the World Bank and the National Science Foundation.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/theuae/2010/August/theuae_August463.xml§ion=theuae&col=
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Former US president Bush mum on mosque furore
Aug 18, 2010
WASHINGTON — Former US president George W. Bush, who worked hard for years to convince fellow Americans that Islam is a “religion of peace,” declined comment Tuesday about a controversial mosque-building project.
Bush, through spokesman David Sherzer, stayed out of the political dispute over plans to build an Islamic community center that would include a mosque near the site of the September 11, 2001 terrorist strikes in New York.
Some of Bush’s fellow Republicans, including former vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin and other potential 2012 White House hopefuls have sharply assailed plans to build the center two city blocks away from the site of the former World Trade Center, an urban scar commonly called “Ground Zero”
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/international/2010/August/international_August891.xml§ion=international&col=
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‘Memories’ enthral Pakistani, Indian audience in Oman
18 August 2010
MUSCAT — Literature lovers from the Indian and Pakistani communities living in Oman got together here for an evening of poetry and prose, coinciding with the Independence Day celebrations of the two countries.
The event, aptly titled Haseen Yaadain (Golden Memories), featured many prominent poets and speakers who took the audience down the memory lane.
Poets who recited their works included Azra Aleem, Qazi Mohammad Yousuf, Noman Abdul Majeed, Tufail Ahmed, Murawwat Ahmad, Jagmohan Sangha, Shahzad Raza, Dr Sanjay Dalal and Shazia Safdar, who also presided over the poetry session.
The speakers who shared their golden memories at the prose session were Syed Jameel Zaidi, Kakul Agha
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2010/August/middleeast_August315.xml§ion=middleeast&col=
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Bahrain cracks down on Shiite activists
Aug 18, 2010
MANAMA, Bahrain: A Bahraini lawyer says security forces have detained six more opposition members in a crackdown on the Gulf kingdom's majority Shiites who complain of being disenfranchised.
Lawyer Mohammed Al-Tajir said Tuesday a total of 10 activists, including eight leading members of the opposition, have been detained since Saturday.
Al-Tajir said the detained have not been charged and their whereabouts are unknown.
Security officials said they are targeting opposition figures seeking to harm national stability. The crackdown follows a series of violent Shiite-led protests accusing the government of discrimination.
Shiites are a majority in Bahrain, but the island nation, home to the US Fifth Fleet, is ruled by a Sunni royal family.
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article105281.ece
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Russia to host Afghan, Pakistani leaders
18 August 2010
Russia hosts the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan on Wednesday, a sign the nations are seeking closer ties ahead of any eventual U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Moscow has sought to regain regional influence it lost after the 1989 Soviet withdrawal following a disastrous 10-year war in Afghanistan, and Russian analysts say Afghanistan and Pakistan are looking to Russia as a source of support.
Russia traditionally has had far warmer ties with India than with Pakistan, but the Kremlin has been broadening its contacts across Asia and the Middle East as it seeks more clout.
Medvedev is to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Ali Asif Zardari in the Black Sea resort of Sochi for talks on security and drug trafficking — issues on which Moscow has found fault with the U.S. approach.
Tajikistan’s President Imomali Rakhmon, whose impoverished country is a major route for Afghan drugs, is also to attend.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle09.asp?xfile=data/international/2010/August/international_August914.xml§ion=international
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Iraq owes Kuwait $22.3 bn in reparations: report
Aug 18, 2010
KUWAIT: Iraq still owes Kuwait $22.3 billion in reparations from its invasion of the Gulf Arab state two decades ago and the Gulf War that liberated it, a Kuwaiti official said in remarks published on Tuesday.
Mansour Hayat, of the state committee that is coordinating the claims with a UN compensation commission, told Al-Seyassah daily in an interview all of the outstanding payments were due to the government and the oil sector.
He said individuals and companies had received a total of $18.78 billion.
Iraq is seeking forgiveness of outstanding compensation, or a reduction in the amount of annual oil revenue it has been setting aside to pay war reparations to Kuwait and other countries affected by the 1990-1991 Gulf crisis.
Baghdad argues it needs the extra cash to help fund rebuilding after the 2003 US invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Kuwait resumed diplomatic ties with Iraq after the invasion but has so far opposed forgiving the reparations.
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article104881.ece
Taliban call for joint panel with UN, Nato
Aug 18, 2010
Nato and the United Nations are cautiously considering a Taliban proposal to set up a joint commission to investigate allegations of civilians being killed in the conflict in Afghanistan, diplomats in Kabul said.
The Taliban overture, which was posted on its site, will revive a debate about conducting any formal talks with the insurgents.
The Taliban statement called for setting up of a body including members from the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, UN human rights investigators, Nato and the Taliban.
“The stated committee should [be] given a free hand to survey the affected areas as well as people in order to collect the precise information...“ the Taliban said.
The UN and Nato are treading carefully, but western diplomats say the proposal is being considered. One said that some officers at the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force were keen on the idea but that no steps could be taken until it was considered “at the highest political level“.
Hindustan Times
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Pakistan needs $15bn Marshall Plan for reconstruction
Aug 18, 2010
LONDON/GENEVA: The cost of rebuilding in the flood-hit areas could reach $15 billion and a Marshall Plan will be needed to meet the challenge, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Britain Wajid Shamsul Hasan said on Monday.
He said this was a rough estimate because an assessment of the extent of the damage caused by the floods – which have affected 20 million people – had yet to be carried out. But the number gave an indication of the scale of the reconstruction needed after the floods swept away roads, bridges, telecommunication infrastructure and destroyed crops.
“It will take at least five years,” Hasan told Reuters in an interview. Asked about the cost of rebuilding, he said, “I think more than $10 to $15 billion”. Pakistan is appealing for international aid to help it cope with one of the worst natural disasters in its history. The United Nations says only a quarter of the estimated $459 million in international aid needed just for immediate relief has arrived so far.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\08\18\story_18-8-2010_pg1_4
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ALJCI to create 45,000 new jobs
Aug 18, 2010
JEDDAH: Abdul Latif Jameel Community Services launched its new identity on Tuesday to become Abdul Latif Jameel Community Initiatives (ALJCI) with its Executive Director Ibrahim M. Badawood announcing that ALJCI will create 45,000 new jobs by the year’s end.
“Since our inception seven years ago, we have created 135,000 jobs and we plan to create thousands of new job opportunities by 2015,” Badawood told a press conference.
He added that the new identity has been launched in order to unify and strengthen the social programs provided by the Abdul Latif Jameel Group locally and internationally. Its new programs are being introduced under its new identity.
“This new identity, ALJCI, will unite all existing and new initiatives under one banner locally and internationally and allow us to accommodate the widest possible range of programs in our continued effort to help give back to the societies where we live and work,” said Badawood.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article105190.ece
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Two suicide bombers arrested from Peshawar
By Ali Hazrat Bacha
18 Aug, 2010
PESHAWAR: Peshawar police claimed on Tuesday to have arrested two young would-be suicide bombers, with suicide vests around their waists.
Jahanzeb Khan of Mathra police station told Dawn that the two militants, identified as Jangriz and Sameen and residents of Michini area along the Mohmand tribal area, were arrested while they were trying to enter Peshawar.
He said that police had cordoned off the Mohmand-Peshawar road at Mathra after receiving a tip-off and arrested the militants.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/national/two-suicide-bombers-arrested-880
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5thC Buddhist site found near Kabul
Aug 18, 2010
KABUL: Archaeologists in Afghanistan, where Taliban Islamists are fighting the Western-backed government, have uncovered Buddhist-era remains in an area south of Kabul, an official said on Tuesday.
"There is a temple, stupas, beautiful rooms, big and small statues, two with the length of seven and nine meters, colorful frescos ornamented with gold and some coins," said Mohammad Rasouli, head of the Afghan archaeological department. "Some of the relics date back to the 5th century AD. We have come across signs that there are items maybe going back to the era before Christ or prehistory," he said.
The excavation site extends over 12km in the Aynak region of Logar province just south of Kabul. Rasouli said smugglers managed to loot and destroy some relics before the government excavation work began last year.
The Taliban have destroyed Buddhist statues at Bamiyan during its five-year control of the country from 1996 to 2001.
Rasouli said the government did not have the resources to move the relics from the remote area, which has seen some clashes during the insurgency.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/5thC-Buddhist-site-found-near-Kabul/articleshow/6327419.cms#ixzz0ww9Gm2X5
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Israeli ex-soldier defends ‘shameful’ Facebook snaps
18 Aug, 2010
JERUSALEM: A former Israeli soldier who sparked outrage by posting pictures on Facebook of herself posed smirking next to blindfolded and handcuffed Palestinian prisoners insisted on Tuesday she has done nothing wrong.
In local media interviews Eden Abergil, aged about 20, seemed mystified by the uproar over the photographs taken at an army base near the Gaza Strip and uploaded to the social networking website.
“What’s wrong with that? I don’t understand,” she told Israel’s army radio.
“There was no violence in the pictures, there was no disrespect,” she said, insisting she had been caught on camera with the Palestinians merely “in the background.” It was not clear whether the men in the pictures had been detained for security reasons or for trying to work illegally in Israel.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/international/israeli-exsoldier-defends-shameful-facebook-snaps-880
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NY Gov. to discuss relocating Muslim center
18 August 2010
NEW YORK - New York Governor David Paterson plans to discuss relocating a proposed Muslim cultural center and mosque to a less emotionally charged location farther from New York City’s “Ground Zero” site of the Sept. 11 attacks.
“We are working with the developers,” Paterson’s spokeswoman Maggie McKeon said. “There have not been any formal discussions between the governor, the imam or the developer. However, we expect to have a meeting scheduled in the near future.”
U.S. Representative Peter King of New York said he discussed the issue with Paterson on Tuesday and the governor told him he would meet this week with Muslim officials to discuss providing state funds to help the center find another location.
A spokesman for the project, Oz Sultan, said: “To the best of our knowledge, a meeting has not been scheduled.
“We appreciate the governor’s interest as we continue to have conversations with many officials,” Sultan said.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/international/2010/August/international_August913.xml§ion=international
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Key personalities on terrorists’ hit list: IG
Aug 18, 2010
ISLAMABAD—Inspector General (IG) Islamabad Police, Syed Kaleem Imam has said that terrorists have put on their hit list key personalities from judiciary, army and political leadership and security has been beefed up at several points after the reports by intelligence agencies in this connection.
He said that terrorist outfits are planning to target politicians, judiciary and military personalities in the federal capital.
Talking to media persons here on Tuesday, Syed Kaleem Imam said that intelligence agencies have reported that terrorists have planned to kill key officials including senior judges, parliamentarians and high officials of the three services.
He said that in the wake of the possible terror attacks security of important institutions, government installations and key personalities has been beefed up further.
Full report at:
http://dailymailnews.com/0810/18/CityPage/index.php?id=1
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UN General Assembly to meet on Pak floods; Clinton, Qureshi to attend
Aug 18, 2010
UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations has called a special meeting of the General Assembly on Wednesday to discuss the situation in flood-hit Pakistan and ask the member states to contribute expeditiously to help the affected people.
US Secretary of States Hillary Clinton and Pakistan's Foreign MinisterShah Mahmood Qureshi will attend the special meeting tomorrow in which UN Secretary GeneralBan Ki-Moon will ask the member states to make donations in order to provide humanitarian aid to the 15 million flood-affected Pakistanis.
At least 14,000 people have died so far. "The Thursday meeting is not a pledging conference," said Farhan Haq, UN associate spokesperson. "Although member states are welcome to take the opportunity to describe what they intend to contribute."
The UN has said that contributions have been slow. The world body has received only USD 161 million out of USD 460 million appeal made last week, which is about 35 per cent of the total needed.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/UN-General-Assembly-to-meet-on-Pak-floods-Clinton-Qureshi-to-attend/articleshow/6328477.cms#ixzz0wwBEBQBO
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International Burn A Quran Day video: Muslim response from UK
August 18, 2010
This video was made by a woman. Why are the men on the streets protesting while the women are at home, but a woman made this video? Strange. But there is nothing new here. While the US Moslems claim to be peaceful we see from Europe and around the world this is not so. She says, "Islam is on the way to dominate the world," that it is already the "great superpower of the world, the great Islamic State." Eaxctly what we are warning the world about. She says, "Rise oh Muslims, people of the Ummah." Which confirms our claim that Muslims' allegiance is first to Islam, not to the country they are living in currently. She also confirms that the Koran is the "electricity that charges the Moslems," to take revenge and make war. And reminds us that with our Kroan Burning event we are "digging our own grave." Very 'peaceful' !
http://www.islamisofthedevil.com/blog/2010/08/international-burn-quran-day-video-muslim-response-uk?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+iiotd+(Islam+is+of+the+Devil)
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Ansari to confer 'Life Time' awards on four photo journalists
2010-08-18
Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari will confer 'Life Time Achievement' awards on four eminent photo journalists at a special function at Vigyan Bhavan here on Thursday to commemorate the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Photo Division, a unit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Homai Vyarawalla, S. Paul, Benu Sen and K.G. Maheshwari will get the awards, which include a cash prize of Rs.1.50 lakh, a shawl, a memento and a citation.
Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni and Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting C.M. Jatua will be present on the occasion.
The first category of awards shall honour two eminent photo journalists. The first being 97-year-old Homai Vyarawalla of Vadodara, popularly known as the First Indian Lady photo-journalist in the country.
Full report at:
http://sify.com/news/ansari-to-confer-life-time-awards-on-four-photo-journalists-news-national-kisp4cfhadj.html
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CM Omar pardons shoe chucker in Ramzan spirit
By Naseer Ganai in Srinagar
Aug 18, 2010
J& K CHIEF minister Omar Abdullah has forgiven the man who threw a shoe at him on August 15.
In a goodwill gesture, Omar met suspended head constable Abdul Ahad Jan and directed the police to release him.
The state government spokesperson said Jan was released on compassionate grounds. “ Omar called Jan to his residence and gave him a patient hearing after which he directed the police authorities to release him immediately,” he said.
Omar said: “ The holy month of Ramzan teaches us to be compassionate and to forgive everyone.
My steps are in conformity with the teachings of Islam, which does not teach hatred but only love and brotherhood.” An overwhelmed Jan was in tears as he walked out of the CM’s private office at his residence and thanked him for his kind gesture.
Full report at: Mail Today
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20 Hurt In Clashes In J&K
Aug 18th, 2010
At least 20 persons, including eight security personnel, were injured on Tuesday as fresh clashes erupted in parts of the Valley, where curfew remained in force in three towns as a precautionary measure following the death of an injured person at a hospital here.
The clashes took place at Palhallan-Pattan in Baramulla district, Habbkadal, Bemina and Batmaloo in Srinagar, Pulwama and Bandipora district towns even as normal activities resumed for the day as authorities eased restrictions coinciding with a break in strikes called by separatists.
Mohammad Abbas Dobi, who was injured during a clash between a stone pelting mob and security forces in Mattan town of Anantnag district, 70 km from here, on August 13, succumbed to his wounds in the Soura Medical Institute this morning, a police spokesman said. He said a retired assistant sub-inspector of J&K police Mohammad Yousuf Khan was killed on the spot when an “unknown” vehicle hit him at Nund Reshi colony in the jurisdiction of police station Batmaloo during a demonstration in the area around 3 pm.
http://www.asianage.com/india/20-hurt-clashes-jk-495
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Hostage crisis grips Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv
Aug 18, 2010
Jerusalem: A man has taken hostages in the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv on Tuesday after shots were fired outside,Israeli police and a foreign ministry official said.
A newspaper identified the attacker as a Palestinian who tried to seek asylum at another embassy four years earlier.This is a hostage situation, Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said.
A lawyer told Israel Radio that the hostages,the consul and his wife,escaped.The radio report said Turkish officials were not allowing Israeli police or rescue workers to enter the embassy.
The Turkish Anatolia news agency reported that security guards at the embassy captured the attacker who is believed to have been wounded in a gunfire.
The man identified himself as Nadim Injaz,a Palestinian who sought asylum at the British embassy in 2006.He said he had a flammable liquid and threatened,I will kill any Jew that enters.
Times of India
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Hezbollah gives Hariri evidence to Lebanon judiciary
Aug 18, 2010
BEIRUT - Lebanon’s Hezbollah submitted a dossier to a state prosecutor on Tuesday after a U.N. court requested the Shi’ite group provide the evidence it said it had of Israel’s involvement in the 2005 killing of Rafik al-Hariri.
Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah last week displayed what he said was Israeli surveillance footage of routes used by Hariri, saying this pointed to Israel carrying out the suicide bombing which killed the former prime minister and 22 others.
Nasrallah displayed the footage a few weeks after he was told the Special Tribunal for Lebanon may indict some of the group’s members over the Hariri killing, an allegation he categorically rejects.
He has strongly criticised the U.N. tribunal and attacked it as an “Israeli project”, raising fears of renewed potential conflict between the Iranian-backed militant group and the U.S.- and Saudi-backed Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, Rafik’s son.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2010/August/middleeast_August310.xml§ion=middleeast
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Lebanon law gives Palestinians few civil rights
18 August 2010
BEIRUT - Lebanon’s parliament passed a law on Tuesday granting Palestinian refugees basic civil rights and rights campaigners said more needed to be done.
Palestinians have long been marginalised in Lebanon, where the 1975-90 civil war was sparked by a conflict between Palestinian and Lebanese Christian factions.
More than 425,000 registered refugees, most of them Sunni Muslims, now live in 12 overcrowded and unsanitary camps.
The latest law enables Palestinians to be engaged in entrepreneurial business, but maintains a bar on professions such as practicing medicine and the law.
“Its a step in the right direction,” said Nadim Houri, head of Human Rights Watch in Lebanon. “It needs to be accompanied with administrative reforms, awareness campaigns among employers that they can hire Palestinians.”
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2010/August/middleeast_August317.xml§ion=middleeast
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Asylum seeker holding hostages at Turk Embassy
18 August 2010
JERUSALEM — A man has taken hostages in the Turkish Embassy in Tel Aviv Tuesday after shots were fired outside, Israeli police and a Foreign Ministry official said.
A newspaper identified the attacker as a Palestinian who tried to seek asylum at another embassy four years earlier.
“This is a hostage situation,” Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told The Associated Press.
A lawyer told Israel Radio that the hostages, the consul and his wife, escaped.
Israel Radio reported from the scene that rescue workers with stretchers tried to enter the seaside embassy compound but left without bringing out any wounded.
The radio report said Turkish officials were not allowing Israeli police or rescue workers to enter the embassy.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2010/August/middleeast_August316.xml§ion=middleeast&col=
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Govt to free 1,000 prisoners to ease pressure on jails
Mustafizur Rahman and FM Masum
18 August 2010
In a bid ease pressure on the overcrowded jails, the government is expected to release by this week 1,000 prisoners who have already served over 20 years of prison terms.
The home affairs ministry on Tuesday ordered the jail authorities to take steps immediately to release the prisoners as per the jail code, said officials.
‘We are expecting a home ministry order on Wednesday. Measures will be taken in a day or two to release the prisoners under some specific categories,’ inspector general of prisons brigadier general Md Ashraful Islam Khan told New Age on Tuesday.
He said that the jail authorities had earlier prepared a list of 1,000 prisoners after a thorough scrutiny and sent it to the home ministry for approval.
Full report at:
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State hand was in Aug 17 series bombing: PM
18 August 2010
The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has said all the culprits behind the countrywide serial bomb blasts of August 17, 2005 will be found out and brought to book.
‘Militancy will be rooted out from Bangladesh,’ she said, reiterating her government’s strong stand against militancy and all types of terrorism.
The prime minister made the remarks while addressing a function at the National Academy for Educational Management Monday morning.
Hasina said there was patronisation by the state itself behind the August 17 serial bomb blasts across the country. ‘Such massive and unusual bomb attack is not possible without patronisation from the state.’
She asked: ‘If there was no state patronisation, how the terrorists could explode some 500 bombs within just 30 minutes?’
Full report at:
http://www.newagebd.com/2010/aug/18/nat.html
12:30 AM
Sultan Shahin
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