18 Oct 2010, NewAgeIslam.Com
No let-up in Karachi killings; toll 33
Kashmiri Pandits await job letters
Muslims no to Sangh’s academic hub offer
Bangladesh: 6 cops suspended for attacking puja mandap
Hasina extols secularism amid violence
Iraq's Maliki in Iran as election deadlock continues
Pentagon braces for new Iraq war Wikileaks publication
'Taliban' kill woman accused of murdering mother-in-law
Suicide attack foiled in Pak, 15 hurt
Sand passed off as RDX in Jammu?
Balancing love & tradition: Pak man to marry 2 brides in 24 hrs
With statehood, Palestine ready to end all claims: Mahmoud Abbas
Prisoner swap talks on: Israel
Don't insult the office of Prime Minister, says Gilani
Iran approves resumption of nuclear talks
Headley was working with US while training in Pak
With statehood, Palestine ready to end all claims
‘US never gave us alert on Headley’
Kasab death penalty case in Bombay HC today
Five killed in Balochistan
Militants kill peace activists, put heads on display
Seven Afghan military men held in Iran
Syrian, Saudi leaders discuss tension in Lebanon, Iraq
Turkey relaxes scarf ban in quiet revolution
Pakistan feels US has let it down
Nawaz blames Zardari for crisis
Headley was US mole in LeT
Federal govt owes Rs 110 billion to Pakistan Army
Taliban a threat in FR Peshawar despite operation
World powers have no option but talk with Iran: Ahmadinejad
Abdullah, Assad discuss key Mideast issues
Afghan system on military ops not working
12 killed in Iraq jewelry heist
Pro-US Iraqi fighters switch allegiance to Al-Qaeda
Yemeni planes bomb militant positions in south
Jordan promises support to Iraq reconciliation
Abbas warns against rise in extremism
US says Chinese firms ignoring Iran sanctions
Saudis say Al Qaeda targeting France
American visits Iran blast site under freedom deal (AP)
Rush hour bomb kills three in Afghan city
No prospect of row with judges: Pakistan PM
Bin Laden living comfortably in Pakistan: CNN
Militants torch Nato tanker in Quetta
Fiza 'egg tantrum' lands her in jail
Australian in Egypt still held over insulting religion
Worldwide hatred of Israel
New opportunities on horizon for JIB
38 new aircraft to boost Saudia service
Over 4 million visit Saudi pavilion at Shanghai expo
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
Photo: The site of the Karachi violence
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No let-up in Karachi killings; toll 33
By S. Raza Hassan
18 Oct, 2010
KARACHI: As many as 33 people lost their lives and 50 were injured in incidents of violence in different parts of the city in 30 hours till Sunday midnight.
Five vehicles, including a car belonging to the DawnNews, were set ablaze at Safoora Chowk on late Saturday night. City Police Chief Fayyaz Ahmed Leghari said around 30 people had fallen victims to targeted killings.
In reply to a question about ethnic profiles of the victims, the CCPO said they belonged to different groups.
The fresh spate of killings coincided with by-elections for the PS-94, Orangi Town, which fell vacant after the assassination of MQM MPA Raza Haider.
According to unofficial results, MQM’s candidate Saifuddin Khalid won the seat comfortably.
The Awami National Party announced on Saturday that it was boycotting the election because its demand to deploy troops had not been met.
The polling was held with no major incident of violence or terror attack despite fears expressed by Commander of the Sachal Rangers. However, three people were killed in targeted attacks in Orangi Town, police said.
Till a little after midnight, 13 people had been killed in the city.
A man sitting with friends by the roadside was killed by unknown gunmen in Kharadar area.
Later, bodies of two people were found dumped near Timber Market. The bodies were trussed up and blind-folded and had 19 and 16 gunshot wounds, Saddar Town SSP Javed Akbar Riaz said.
Shortly afterwards, a rickshaw driver was shot dead in the Husainabad area under the Azizabad police station. Orangi Town SP Haseeb Baig said that three bodies with gunshot wounds were found in parts of Orangi Town.
Police said that two of the bodies were found in Babae-Khaybar Gate area and the third at the Frontier Mor.
In Lyari, three bodies with gunshot wounds were found. SP Lyari Rana Pervez said that unidentified bodies of two young men were found in the jurisdiction of Kalakot police station.
The third body of a man of around 32 years old was found in Kalri police station area. Police took the bodies to Civil Hospital for legal formalities.
In the limits of Jackson police station area, the body of a 55-year-old man was found with gunshot wounds.
Four people were shot dead in Malir area on Sunday. Two people were killed and one was injured when gunmen opened fire on a group of youths sitting in ‘Chatai Compound’ near Malir 15.
Sources at the JPMC said that two victims had been brought dead.
In an earlier incident, a boy was killed in Shadman Town near Malir Kalaboard.
Earlier the body of a 17-year-old youth was found in Ghazi town graveyard. He had been shot in the head, Edhi sources said. The body was taken to the JPMC for post-mortem.
Armed men came to Babar Market in Landhi and sprayed people sitting in a carpet shop with bullets and escaped.
Landhi SP Nasir Aftab said that three people died in the incident.
Later, in Sharafi Goth police station area, four men on two motorcycles offered a lift to Saeed Badshah, a 40-year-old man with a disabled leg.
“They took him on the motorcycle and shot him dead at a deserted place, dumped his body and fled,” SP Landhi said.
A boy was going home when two gunmen shot him dead near the Rufi Shopping Centre near Met Office.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/no-letup-in-karachi-killings-toll-33-800
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Kashmiri Pandits await job letters
October 18, 2010
Mohit Kandhari
Over four months after being shortlisted to receive benefits under the Prime Minister’s special job package, more than 3,000 Kashmiri Pandits are clueless about their fate, as they are yet to receive the joining letters from the State Government.
The upset youth believe they have been deprived of the last opportunity to make thei lives better after being forced to migrate from their home State due to the rising militancy.
They have accused Chief Minister Omar Abdullah of shuttling between New Delhi and Srinagar for getting jobs package for the unemployed youth in the Valley but failing to issue joining letters to those who have been already selected.
Questioning the Chief Minister’s wisdom, RK Bhat, president of the Youth all-India Kashmiri Samaj, told The Pioneer, “We are going to meet Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in Srinagar and ask him, how long it will take to issue us a joining letter?”
Bhat claimed that the State Government was taking refuge by saying that due to poor law and order situation in the Valley, they had been unable to issue the letters. “We have already wasted precious time of our career and now the State Government is unnecessarily delaying our joining,” Bhat said, demanding if the situation was not conducive for Kashmiri pandits to join services in the Valley, they may be given the option to join the services at any other place across the State.
It may be mentioned that 3,000 Kashmiri pandit youth were given jobs under the Prime Minister’s special package. The package was designed to facilitate return of Kashmiri pandits to the Valley, and an undertaking was extracted from all the candidates who had applied for the jobs scheme to serve in Kashmir without seeking transfer out of Kashmir.
Meanwhile, when activists of the organisation were proceeding towards the Valley to meet the Chief Minister, they were stopped at Ramban by the police without ascribing any reason. “We have been told that they will not allow us to proceed to Kashmir valley,” Bhat told The Pioneer.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/290379/Kashmiri-Pandits-await-job-letters.html
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Muslims’ no to Sangh’s academic hub offer
By Piyush Srivastava in Lucknow
THE SANGH Parivar is soft- peddling its Ayodhya stand with Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP) MP Vinay Katiyar saying Muslims could be allowed to build an Islamic educational centre in the area acquired by the central government.
This was in sharp contrast to the All India Muslim Personal Law Board ( AIMPLB) and the Sunni Central Waqf Board ( SCWB)’ s tough stand. The two Muslim organisations have declared that compromise talks would be possible only within the framework of the Sharia, which doesn’t allow giving or gifting a mosque to anybody.
Katiyar’s rhetoric didn’t cut ice with the Muslim leaders. They rejected the “ offer” saying it was a new trick of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad ( VHP) to stop the waqf board from challenging the September 30 verdict of the Allahabad High Court in the Supreme Court.
It was the first time the Muslim boards invoked the Islamic law to stress that a masjid could not be sacrificed at any cost.
Earlier, they used to cite the high court’s “ faith- based” verdict, which ordered trifurcation of the disputed 67 acre of land and give the makeshift temple area to Ram Lalla Virajman ( a party in the case), Chabutara ( platform) and Sita Rasoi ( kitchen of Sita) to Nirmohi Akhara and an unspecified onethird to the SCWB. On the other hand, it was also the first time that the Sangh Parivar proposed the construction of an Islamic structure in Ayodhya.
Earlier, VHP chief Ashok Singhal said they needed the entire land for a grand Ram temple.
Triloki Nath Pandey, the “ friend” of Ram Lala Virajman, seconded him saying there was no question of giving a single inch of land to the Muslims.
Following the AIMPLB’s unanimous decision to move the SC, Katiyar said in Ayodhya on Saturday evening: “ We don’t withdraw our claim over the Ram temple. We will move the SC and appeal to the masses to stand by us. But we can agree to the construction of an Islamic educational centre within the 67 acres.” Sources said this new offer would be discussed elaborately by the members of the Ram Janmabhoomi Trust and a committee of sadhus, formed by the VHP, to be held in Ayodhya on Wednesday.
Zafaryab Jilani, counsel for the SCWB, rejected the offer. He said it was necessary to explain to the community that they were keeping the Sharia in mind.
“ We decided at the meeting of the AIMPLB on Saturday that since the Sharia doesn’t permit the transfer of a masjid or its land to anybody, we cannot accept any compromise formula without a mention of the fact that a masjid would be there at the same place where Babri Masjid stood before December 6, 1992. Since the Sharia is acceptable to all the Muslims of the country, we need to give it topmost priority,” he said.
Substantiating Jilani’s claim, 90- yearold Mohamad Hashim Ansari, the oldest plaintiff, said: “ There is no question of giving up our claim over Babri Masjid.
I trust Gyan Das ( chief of the Akhara Parishad) and hold talks with him because he never agrees to the demand of the VHP that there shouldn’t be a masjid in Ayodhya. The talks will continue even after we move the SC.” Khalid Rashid Firangimahli, a member of the AIMPLB, agreed: “ While there are many Hindu religious leaders who are interested in respecting the demand of the Muslim community, the VHP, a religious wing of the Sangh Parivar, is trying every trick to stop us from moving the SC.” “ This was the reason that Bhaskar Das of Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Vilas Vedanti of the VHP had said they wanted to hold a meeting with us. But since we have declared our intention to move the SC, now they are trying to lure us with a new offer. But we reject such offers. Even Ansari understands the game- plan of the VHP,” he added.
Mail Today
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Bangladesh: 6 cops suspended for attacking puja mandap
Oct 18, 2010
Six policemen including a subinspector have been withdrawn from a Sunamganj police station for attacking devotees at a temple in Tahirpur upazila. The district’s police superintendent ordered SI Khalil, constables Sirajul Islam, Rashed Mia, Habib Mia, ‘Manik’, and ‘Khurshed’, back to the police lines after relieving them of their duties. Tahirpur police station officer-in-charge Mamun-ur-Rashid told bdnews24.com that six cops including a subinspector were withdrawn following allegations of conducting the attack on Khalahati Sarbojanin Puja mandap on Thursday night. They attacked the temple claiming that the devotees were drinking alcohol. At least 10 people were injured in the attack. Two arrested for attacking puja mandap The police have arrested two persons for vandalism, loot and attack on a puja pavilion at Tanbazar in Narayanganj. The arrestees are Imran Bangali, 18, and ‘Arif’, 22. Witnesses said at least 10 people were injured when about 15 drunkards attacked the Hindus, who were dancing at a pavilion in Minabazar area of Tanbazar early Saturday. They stabbed organising secretary of the puja celebration committee of the area, Ankan Saha Rana, 35, and member Sumon Das, 24, when they attempted to stop the drunkards. The other injured persons are Partha Das, Masudur Rahman Kaiser, Sanjay Roy, ‘Ranjan.’ The visitors became panicky when these men went on the rampage. They also allegedly took away a cell phone and Tk 3,000 from Sumon and Tk 1,900 from Partha. The police reached the spot immediately and arrested Imran and Arif. A case was filed over the incident with Narayanganj sadar police station against 10-15 unidentified men and Apu Hossain, ‘Jewel’, ‘Kawsar’, ‘Apu’ (2), ‘Jobaer’, ‘Raju’ and ‘Hossain’. Leaders of the puja committee said the attackers were from the town’s Rally Garden, Nimtali and Sutarpara area. They are supporters of former BNP MP Sirajul Islam’s nephew and local ward councillor Azhar Hossain’s son ‘Samrat’. Officier-in-charge of the police station, Akter Hossain said, ‘We have arrested two persons over the incident.’
Bdnews24.com. Narayanganj
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Hasina extols secularism amid violence
Oct 18, 2010
Even as the prime minister speaks of secularism and thanks her law enforcers for ensuring a peaceful environment, there are reports of attacks, even by cops, on puja mandaps across the country. The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has said everyone in Bangladesh is at liberty to practice their religion. ‘Secularism is one of the four pillars of the country’s constitution and has no meaning if people cannot practice their religions,’ she said during her visit to the Dhakeshwari Temple on Saturday, which marked the Mahanabami, a high point of the largest Hindu festival in Bangladesh. On the same day six cops were suspended in Sunamganj for attacking Hindu devotees at a puja mandap. Full report at: Bdnews24.com. Dhaka
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Iraq's Maliki in Iran as election deadlock continues
18 October 2010
Mr Maliki's rival for the post of PM has accused Iran of political interference
The Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki is in Iran, on one of several visits to neighbouring countries as he tries to secure a second term.
Mr Maliki is struggling to keep his job after inconclusive general elections in March.
He is expected to meet President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other members of the Iranian leadership.
Mr Maliki's chief rival Ayad Allawi has accused Iran of interfering and trying to impose its will on Iraq.
The visit is bound to be overshadowed by the political struggle back home to form a new government, our Baghdad correspondent Jim Muir says.
Earlier this month the political parties broke the world record for the amount of time taken to form a new administration.
Full report at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11564343
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Pentagon braces for new Iraq war Wikileaks publication
18 October 2010
Mr Assange founded the Wikileaks whistleblower website in 2006
The US military has assembled a 120-member team to prepare for the expected publication of some 400,000 Iraq war documents on the Wikileaks website.
The documents are thought to concern battle activity, Iraqi security forces and civilian casualties.
The Pentagon said it wants the documents back to avoid potentially damaging information being released.
The timing is unclear but it would dwarf Wikileaks' July publication of more than 70,000 Afghan war files.
Pentagon spokesman Col Dave Lapan said the team was reviewing the files on the Iraq war to discover what the possible impact of the Wikileaks release could be.
Col Lapan said the files were from an Iraq-based database that contained "significant acts, unit-level reporting, tactical reports, things of that nature".
He said the Pentagon did not know the timing of the leak but they were preparing for it to be as early as Monday or Tuesday.
Other sources said it may come later in the month.
'Smear campaign'
Full report at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11562494
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'Taliban' kill woman accused of murdering mother-in-law
By Bilal Sarwary
17 October 2010
A woman accused of murdering her mother-in-law has been killed by Taliban in the eastern Afghan province of Ghazni, local officials say.
The mother-in-law was pushed into a bread oven by two of her daughters-in-law after a spat on Monday, they say.
The incident took place in the remote Abe Band district, 60km (37 miles) east of the provincial capital Ghazni City.
Officials say the Taliban have so far spared the life of the second daughter-in-law, as she is pregnant.
The names of the three women have not been released.
"There was a verbal clash between the daughters-in-law and the mother-in-law. The daughters-in-law threw her into the oven. She died of serious burns,'' one Afghan official told the BBC.
He said it appears that the family approached the Taliban after the incident.
A local intelligence official said it is suspected the Taliban gave an AK-47 assault rifle to the brother of the dead woman and asked him to shoot one of the daughters-in-law in public.
Full report at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11558254
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Suicide attack foiled in Pak, 15 hurt
Oct 18, 2010
ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR: Pakistani police on Monday averted a suicide attack in the country's restive northwest while three militants were gunned down in a clash in Swat district, security officials said.
An explosives-laden vehicle blew up when police fired at it in Lakki Marwat in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province this morning. The would-be suicide bomber was killed and 15 people were injured.
Following reports that a suicide bomber in a pick-up truck would target key installations in Lakki Marwat, police were put on alert on Monday morning. They set up road blocks and began checking all vehicles.
Full report at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Suicide-attack-foiled-in-Pak-15-hurt/articleshow/6768366.cms#ixzz12hWqx2hR
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Sand passed off as RDX in Jammu?
Oct 18, 2010
NEW DELHI/JAMMU: Barely four months after an Army colonel and six others were chargesheeted for carrying out fake encounters in Jammu and Kashmir, Military Intelligence officials are now accused of playing along with an ex-Army personnel in planting sand and passing it off as RDX explosives to earn cash rewards.
The alleged involvement of Army officials from the Northern and Western Commands emerged when police recovered a consignment of apple boxes near the MLAs' hostel in Jammu on October 8. A cavity had been created to store some black material which was being passed off as explosives. The boxes had detonators attached, further triggering panic.
After detailed forensic analysis, however, the "explosive material" turned out to be sand which was attached to wires and detonators brought from stone quarries -- ending in what closely resembled an improvised explosive device (IED), sources in the Union home ministry said, quoting interrogation of three of the accused arrested by the police.
Full report at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Sand-passed-off-as-RDX-in-Jammu/articleshow/6765958.cms#ixzz12gOxAvj3
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Balancing love & tradition: Pak man to marry 2 brides in 24 hrs
Oct 18, 2010
MULTAN: A 23-year-old Pakistani man plans to marry two women in 24 hours, gaining national attention for his novel solution to a dilemma over wedding the woman he loves or going ahead with the marriage his family arranged.
Pakistani law allows polygamy based on the concept that Islam, the main religion in the country, allows up to four wives.
But men who take multiple wives usually do so years apart and must also get approval from their first wife prior to a second marriage.
Azhar Haidri initially refused to marry 28-year-old Humaira Qasim – the woman to whom he has been engaged since childhood – because he wanted to marry the woman with whom he had fallen in love, 21-yearold Rumana Aslam.
But the decision threatened to split his family apart since arranged marriages are often customary in Pakistan.
Full report at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Balancing-love-tradition-Pak-man-to-marry-2-brides-in-24-hrs/articleshow/6766604.cms#ixzz12gPKU0cl
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With statehood, Palestine ready to end all claims: Mahmoud Abbas
Oct 18, 2010
RAMALLAH: The Palestinians are ready to end all historic claims against Israel once they establish their state in the lands Israel occupied in the 1967 Mideast War, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday, addressing a long-standing Israeli demand.
In an interview with Israel TV, Abbas also said negotiations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remain his preferred choice, but that he will consider other options if talks break down over Israel's continued settlement expansion.
Negotiations were relaunched by the Obama administration last month, but quickly faltered over Israel's refusal to extend a curb on Jewish settlement construction. Abbas says there's no point negotiating as long as settlements take over more land claimed by the Palestinians.
The Palestinians want to establish a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967. Israel has withdrawn from Gaza, but about half a million Israelis have settled in the other war-won areas.
Full report at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/With-statehood-Palestine-ready-to-end-all-claims-Mahmoud-Abbas/articleshow/6766728.cms#ixzz12gPl5LPs
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Prisoner swap talks on: Israel
Oct 18, 2010
JERUSALEM: Israel said on Sunday it had resumed indirect talks with the Hamas rulers of Gaza on swapping hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for a captive soldier held for more than four years.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the German mediator who had been working to broker a deal to bring home the soldier for about a year has returned to the region.
“We are operating at all times, in different and various ways to bring him back. One of these ways, even the main way, is this negotiation, which indeed resumed a few weeks ago,” Mr. Netanyahu told Israel Army Radio on Sunday.
The announcement was the latest twist in a saga that has gripped the country's attention since Hamas-linked militants captured Sgt. Gilad Schalit in a June 2006 raid across the Gaza-Israeli border.Secret negotiations over a swap, mediated by Egypt and more recently by Germany, have repeatedly broken down, and talks have been stalled for months.
Full report at: http://www.hindu.com/2010/10/18/stories/2010101855000900.htm
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Don't insult the office of Prime Minister, says Gilani
Anita Joshua
ISLAMABAD: Amid animated speculation of a clash between the executive and the judiciary over allegations of a bid by the government to remove the Chief Justice of Pakistan and the entire Bench, Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Sunday said it does not augur well for the nation that rumours are given precedence over his statements.
In an address to the nation late on Sunday evening, Mr. Gilani said: “If a false news is given preference over the words of the Prime Minister, then it would be an insult to the office of the Prime Minister.''
Pointing out that the higher judiciary had been restored last year on his verbal instructions, he underlined: “If as Leader of the House, the Prime Minister announces the restoration of judges and it is accepted, then when he denies a news item, so also it should be accepted by all fora.''
This observation by Mr. Gilani came a little over 12 hours before the Attorney General is to present to the Supreme Court a written statement from the Prime Minister stating that there was no attempt on the part of the government to dismiss the higher judiciary.
Though Mr. Gilani had issued a press statement late on Thursday night as television channels put out reports on such a bid, the Supreme Court — which took suo motu notice and heard the matter first thing on Friday morning —sought a signed explanation from the Prime Minister by Monday.
Responding to this controversy, the Prime Minister in his address sought to drive home the point that reconciliation was the cornerstone of his dispensation.
The government's effort, he said, was not to confront but work with all institutions of the State and carry all voices of opinion with it even if they are from the Opposition.
http://www.hindu.com/2010/10/18/stories/2010101861850900.htm
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Iran approves resumption of nuclear talks
October 18, 2010
Iran's President on Sunday endorsed the resumption of talks with the international community about his country's nuclear program, the latest in Tehran's recently intensified push to get those negotiations going again. The talks foundered a year ago and months later, a fourth round of UN sanctions was imposed on Iran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment — a program the West is concerned masks Iranian ambitions for making nuclear weapons.
Iran denies the charge and says its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes. It insists it wants to enrich uranium to make fuel for a planned reactor network and denies accusations that it will use the program to make fissile warhead material. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran is ready to resume the talks and added that the West had made the first step.
"They have come and said, 'We will negotiate,"' Ahmadinejad told a crowd of supporters in the northwestern city of Ardebil, about 370 miles (600 kilometres) northwest of Tehran. "We say, 'All right, we will negotiate with you."
Full report at: http://www.dailypioneer.com/290362/Iran-approves-resumption-of-nuclear-talks.html
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Headley was working with US while training in Pak
Oct 18 2010
Washington : David Headley, who confessed his involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks, may have been a double agent who worked for both al-Qaeda, through LeT, and American intelligence agencies while he was receiving training at terrorist camps in Pakistan.
By letting Headley maintain contacts with Lashkar-e-Toiba and other al-Qaeda leaders in Pakistan — as reflected in the court papers submitted by the FBI — US authorities said that they hoped to reach the top al-Qaeda leaders. But Headley went rogue and slipped out of their hands.
Those handling Headley’s account in the American intelligence agencies said that a decision to arrest him was taken only after he shifted his attention from India to Europe and Headley’s Pakistani handlers started using him for a Mumbai-type attack in European cities.
Full report at: http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/698905/
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With statehood, Palestine ready to end all claims
Oct 18 2010
Ramallah (West Bank) : The Palestinians are ready to end all historic claims against Israel once they establish their state in the lands Israel occupied in the 1967 Mideast War, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said, addressing a long-standing Israeli demand.
In an interview with Israel TV, Abbas also said negotiations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remain his preferred choice, but that he will consider other options if talks break down over Israel's continued settlement expansion.
Negotiations were relaunched by the Obama administration last month, but quickly faltered over Israel's refusal to extend a curb on Jewish settlement construction. Abbas says there's no point negotiating as long as settlements take over more land claimed by the Palestinians.
The Palestinians want to establish a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967. Israel has withdrawn from Gaza, but about half a million Israelis have settled in the other war-won areas.
Netanyahu wants the Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, and said earlier this week he might extend a curb on settlement construction in exchange for such recognition. A 10-month-old moratorium on West Bank housing starts expired in late September, and Abbas has said he will not return to negotiations without an extension.
he Palestinians argue that it's not up to them to determine the nature of the state of Israel. Abbas noted that Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization recognized each other in 1993, saying this should be sufficient. Abbas heads the PLO.
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/698982/
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‘US never gave us alert on Headley’
By Krishna Kumar in Mumbai
Mumbai police could have nipped 26/ 11 plan in the bud
EVEN a non- specific or vague intelligence input on Daood Gilani alias David Coleman Headley from the US could have landed him in an Indian jail, Maharashtra Police officers said.
They refuted the US claim that it had alerted Indian agencies about Headley.
“ Had the US alerted us about Headley, we would have detained him when he landed in India and the 26/ 11 plot could have been nipped in the bud,” a senior police officer said.
Union government sources also confirmed that there was a US alert in September 2008 about a terror attack on Mumbai. But it wasn’t specific.
“ The Intelligence Bureau warned the Mumbai Police on September 24, 2008 that the Lashkar- e- Tayyeba ( LeT) was showing interest in certain targets like the Taj Mahal hotel. The security was beefed up, but the attack was conducted a couple of months later,” a source said.
Later, 26/ 11 convict Mohammed Ajmal Amir Iman aka Qasab also confessed that the Mumbai attacks were planned for September, but had to be aborted because of rough seas.
Full report at: Mail Today
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Kasab death penalty case in Bombay HC today
Oct 18, 2010
MUMBAI: The confirmation hearing of the death sentence awarded to Pakistani gunman Amir Ajmal Kasab is set to commence in the Bombay high court amidst unprecedented security on Monday.
The court will hear the three applications-the plea to confirm the death sentence, the appeal filed by Kasab against his conviction and the appeals filed by the state government challenging the acquittal of two co-accused in the 26/11 case, Faheem Ansari and Sabahuddin Ahmed.
A division bench of Justice Ranjana Desai and Justice R V More will hear the arguments, which will be opened by special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.
Kasab will not be present in person but participate in the proceedings through video-conferencing in view of the threat perceptions against him.
Full report at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Kasab-death-penalty-case-in-Bombay-HC-today/articleshow/6767713.cms#ixzz12hQ0WoPl
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Five killed in Balochistan
By Saleem Shahid
Monday, 18 Oct, 2010
QUETTA, Oct 17: Five people were killed in different incidents in Quetta and Dera Bugti districts on Sunday, police said.
Armed men opened fire at a hair-dressers shop in Kaechi Baig area, killing the owner.
Deceased Muhammad Arif belonged to Toba Tek Singh in Punjab.
Gunmen killed Haji Wali Mohammad on Arbab Karam Khan Road. According to the police, old enmity was the cause of the murder.
ARMED CLASH: Three Bugti tribesmen were killed and four others injured in an armed clash between two groups in Sui area of Dera Bugti district.
Heavy weapons were used by both sides, the sources said.
“Three tribesmen were killed in the armed clash,” official sources said, adding that four others were brought to hospital with bullet wounds.
Those killed were identified as Kala Khan, Niaz and Mohammad Shafi, and the injured were Barkat, Ali Nawaz, Dur Mohammad and Kalo Mandrani.
OFFICE ATTACKED: Unidentified men on Sunday attacked a population planning office in Khuzdar and torched official vehicles.
Police said the attackers ransacked the office, destroyed the record and set three vehicles on fire.
Police have launched an investigation into the incident.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/national/five-killed-in-balochistan-800
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Militants kill peace activists, put heads on display
18 Oct, 2010
KALAYA: Militants gunned down a peace committee chief in Doaba Bazaar of Hangu district on Sunday and put the heads of two other persons on display in Orakzai agency as a warning against resisting the militants.
Eyewitnesses said two motocyclists shot dead peace committee chief Mumtaz Mithakhel while he was visiting Doaba Bazaar and escaped. He died on the spot.
The same day, militants left the decapitated heads of two unidentified persons in Saiful Darra Bazaar in the central tehsil of Orakzai Agency. Residents said a chit attached to the heads warned that people who form lashkars against Taliban, would meet the same fate. The victims had been slaughtered at some undisclosed place before displaying their heads in the bazaar.
A lashkar of Meshti tribe had taken action against Taliban militants operating in the area a couple of days ago. At least eight people had been killed and 11 others wounded in the action.
KHAR: A boy was injured when he stepped on a landmine in Salarzai tehsil of Bajaur tribal region on Sunday.
Residents said that Ishaq was working along with his father in the fields when he stepped on a landmine. The device went off with a big bang and injured the boy. He was shifted to a hospital in Khar where doctors amputated him.
Meanwhile, authorities set on fire the houses of five persons for their alleged links with militants in Mandal area. They were accused of providing shelter to militants.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/national/militants-kill-peace-activists,-put-heads-on-display-800
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Seven Afghan military men held in Iran
18 Oct, 2010
TEHRAN, Oct 17: Iran arrested six Afghan military officers and a soldier who said they were hunting for Taliban militants in the border province of Sistan-Baluchestan, ISNA news agency reported on Sunday.
Border police arrested the seven Afghan military personnel 50 metres inside Iranian territory, border police commander Hossein Zolfaghari said, quoted by ISNA, without giving a date.
Mr Zolfaghari said the arrested group said they were “patrolling the area and hunting for Taliban (militants), and that they had no intention to enter Iranian soil”.
Sistan-Baluchestan in southeast Iran bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan is an area rife with a Baluchi insurgency against Tehran, tribal unrest and drug smuggling. “The case of the arrested people is being investigated by the judiciary,” Mr Zolfaghari said, adding that border police had confiscated a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and six rifles from the group.
Full report at: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/international/seven-afghan-military-men-held-in-iran-800
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Syrian, Saudi leaders discuss tension in Lebanon, Iraq
18 Oct, 2010
RIYADH, Oct 17: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad held on Sunday talks with Saudi King Abdullah that analysts and diplomats had expected to tackle tension in Lebanon over a UN-backed tribunal and the political void in Iraq.
Assad’s second trip to the world’s top oil exporting country this year is the latest sign of a thaw in bilateral relations.
Saudi state news agency SPA only said in a brief report the meeting at Riyadh airport covered Arab, Islamic and international themes, including the Palestinian issue.
The meeting came a few days after a state visit to Lebanon by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, whose disputed atomic energy programme Riyadh fears could lead to Tehran becoming a nuclear-weapons state.
The Saudis have been trying to convince Syria to loosen its alliance with Iran and adopt a more Arab-focused foreign policy with the kingdom, dangling the prospect of stronger economic cooperation.
Full report at: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/international/syrian,-saudi-leaders-discuss-tension-in-lebanon,-iraq-800
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Turkey relaxes scarf ban in quiet revolution
By Ece Toksabay and Ibon Villelabeitia
18 Oct, 2010
ISTANBUL: Freshman Busra Gungor won’t have to wear a wig to cover her Islamic headscarf, as many pious relatives and friends did to avoid getting kicked off campus.
In a landmark decision, Turkey’s Higher Education Board earlier this month ordered Istanbul University, one of the country’s biggest, to stop teachers from expelling from classrooms female students who do not comply with a ban on the headscarf.
It was the latest twist in a long political and legal tussle in Turkey between those who see the garment as a symbol of their Muslim faith and those who view it as a challenge to the country’s secular constitution.
“I was ready to wear the wig, just like my cousin did,” said Gungor, a 18-year-old student wearing a pastel-coloured headscarf. “This is about my freedom. I don’t see why my headscarf should be seen as a threat to anybody.”
The debate is not unique to Turkey — France and Kosovo, for example, ban headscarves in public schools, and parts of Germany bar teachers from wearing them.
But it goes to the heart of national identity in this country of 75 million Muslims whose modern state was founded as a radical secular republic after World War One.
Disputes over the headscarf and other public symbols of Islam are part of a wider debate over how to reconcile modernity and tradition as Turkey tries to achieve its decades-old ambition to join the European Union.
Full report at: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/international/turkey-relaxes-scarf-ban-in-quiet-revolution-800
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Pakistan feels US has let it down
By Khaleeq Kiani
18 Oct, 2010
ISLAMABAD: In the run-up to the third round of strategic dialogue, Pakistani authorities are getting irritated over the lack of US interest in resolving the country’s long-term regional issues and in providing economic support despite publicly declaring it a key ally in the war on terror and appreciating its sacrifices.
The authorities are also dissatisfied with the ‘triple accounting’ by the United States of its economic assistance to Pakistan, although the overall assistance remained less than $1.5 billion in a year. They also grumble that Pakistan has not been given market access for its products they believe it deserves in comparison to other countries.
“Since our engagement with US after 9/11 about more than nine years ago, the United States has made wide-ranging trading arrangements with Latin American countries, African nations and even some states in the Middle East but greater market access to Pakistan still remains far off,” said a government official.
Officials said that these were some of the issues Pakistani delegation led by Army Chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani would raise again with the US authorities as part of the Pakistan-US strategic dialogue to be held in Washington next week.
Full report at: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/pakistan-feels-us-has-let-it-down-800
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Nawaz blames Zardari for crisis
18 Oct, 2010
LAHORE: PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif has held President Asif Ali Zardari responsible for the current political crisis in the country and said that had looters of national wealth been taken to task, neither Mr Zardari nor the country would have been in the situation they are now facing.
“Had looters of public wealth been held accountable and judiciary restored on the very first day (when the Pakistan People’s Party assumed powers), the situation today would have been different,” he said at a press conference in London on Sunday.
He said that Balochistan was burning because the killers of Nawab Akbar Bugti had not been brought to book “Justice should be done in the Akbar Bugti assassination case for the sake of peace in Balochistan.”
The PML-N chief warned the PPP co-chairperson not to harm national interests in order to cover up his ‘personal weaknesses’ and protect ‘vested interests’.
Full report at: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/nawaz-blames-zardari-for-crisis-800
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Headley was US mole in LeT
By Anwar Iqbal
18 Oct, 2010
WASHINGTON, Oct 17: US federal officials have acknowledged that David Coleman Headley, who confessed to his involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks, was a mole of American intelligence agencies in Lashkar-e-Taiba and other terrorist outfits.
In court papers submitted by the FBI, US federal authorities have said that they hoped to reach top Al Qaeda leaders through him but Headley went rogue and slipped out of their hands.
Headley is a US citizen who had a Pakistani father and an American mother.
Evidence from the court papers, reported by prominent US media outlets like The Washington Post, showed that he became an informant for the US Drug Enforcement Agency in the late 1990s after he was arrested on heroin charges. His American wife told investigators that he started training with the Lashkar in early 2002 as part of a secret mission for the US government.
Headley’s American handlers had hoped that once he made inroads into the terrorist network, they would be able to get access to the top Al Qaeda leaders inside Pakistan.
But one official told the media that the Lashkar gradually succeeded in brainwashing Headley who then started leaking out only selective information to the US.
Full report at: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/headley-was-us-mole-in-let-800
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Federal govt owes Rs 110 billion to Pakistan Army
By Razi Syed
KARACHI: The federal government owes Rs 110 billion to the Pakistan Army, meant for different arsenal and civilian development projects, a Finance Ministry official revealed on Sunday.
“The army has been asking for money since July, but the government is reluctant to release such a big amount on the plea that it has been spent on other heads,” he maintained.
He said, “The army has only received Rs 9.2 billion for administrative purposes while another amount of Rs 3.23 billion for development projects.” He said it was astonishing that more than Rs 4 billion was also pending with the government, which had been granted to the army by the UN to provide services as peacekeeping forces in different states. He said the army had so far received Rs 6.3 billion out of the total UN grant of more than Rs 10 billion.
Full report at: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\10\18\story_18-10-2010_pg7_2
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Taliban a threat in FR Peshawar despite operation
By Akhtar Amin
PESHAWAR: The recent operation in Peshawar FR has started to eliminate Taliban presence in the region, but the operation has left little hope for the locals and those living in Peshawar, as earlier operations had also ended in a similar way and the Taliban had regained control of the area.
In answer to an operation by security forces in the Peshawar Frontier Regions (FR), the Taliban are threatening people and warning them against cooperation with the security forces.
The locals, on condition of anonymity, said that subordinates of Tariq Afridi, who was leading the Taliban in the Peshawar FR had still been threatening people and warning them against cooperating with the security forces.
On September 19, the security forces launched an operation in the area in which more than 52 terrorists had been killed.
Due to fear of the Taliban’s return to the area, about 65 percent of the displaced people had been unwilling to return to their homes, saying that the government had yet to establish permanent checkposts.
Full report at: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\10\18\story_18-10-2010_pg7_3
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World powers have no option but talk with Iran: Ahmadinejad
Oct 17, 2010
TEHRAN: World powers have no option but to talk with Iran over its nuclear programme, hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday in defiant comments ahead of next month's negotiations.
"We said from the start that the best way is to talk to Iran. You don't have any other option. All other ways are blocked," said Ahmadinejad, commenting for the first time since the dates for the negotiations between the six world powers and Iran were fixed.
The six world powers -- the United States, Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany -- are to hold talks with Iran from November 15 to 18 to address Western concerns over Tehran's nuclear programme.
The powers led by Washington suspect Iran is masking a weapons drive under the guise of what it says is a purely civilian atomic programme.
The talks have been deadlocked since October 2009 when the two groups met in Geneva.
Full report at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/World-powers-have-no-option-but-talk-with-Iran-madinejad/articleshow/6763976.cms#ixzz12hYO7Sdp
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Abdullah, Assad discuss key Mideast issues
By GHAZANFAR ALI KHAN
Oct 18, 2010
RIYADH: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah held wide-ranging talks Sunday with Syrian President Bashar Assad which touched a range of bilateral and regional issues with special reference to the fate of the UN probe into the assassination of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri, the political void in Iraq and an Arab response to the continued Israeli settlement.
The meeting also discussed ways and means to settle the internal bickering of Palestinian factions, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The talks, which also covered major regional and international issues, were held at the Royal Terminal of the Riyadh Air Base.
“The summit-level talks here on Sunday were focused on how to step up efforts to ease the political crisis in Lebanon over the UN probe," said a Syrian diplomat, adding that the talks also covered many other issues of common concern.
President Assad, he said, was in Riyadh just three days after the visit of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Lebanon, where the Iranian leader pledged support for Hezbollah. The visit of the Iranian president raised many questions at the regional political and diplomatic levels.
Full report at: http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article163360.ece
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Afghan system on military ops not working
Oct 18, 2010
KABUL: A system meant to ensure Afghan officials are consulted on sensitive international military operations has been “ineffective,” the Afghan government said.
Officials from the Defense Ministry, Interior Ministry and the Afghan intelligence agency are stationed at Bagram Air Field as part of an effort to ensure the Afghan government is included in military decisions, particularly on issues such as night raids and house searches, presidential spokesman Waheed Omar said.
But the country’s National Security Council ruled in a meeting Sunday that this system — called the Joint Operations Command — is not working. “The results of the work of the Joint Operations Command has been ineffective,” the group said in statement, explaining that ministeries were not involved enough in operational decisions.
It’s a judgment that calls into question the claim by the US-led international military coalition that a large number of its operations are “Afghan-led.” While there are many high-level Afghan officials involved in military strategy in the country, it has been difficult to determine how much the claim of Afghan leadership is genuine and how much involves Afghan commanders as figureheads.
Full report at: http://arabnews.com/world/article163228.ece
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12 killed in Iraq jewelry heist
Oct 18, 2010
BAGHDAD: At least 12 people died when gunmen swooped on a row of goldsmiths' shops in a brazen robbery in the Iraqi capital on Sunday and ended up in a gunfight with security forces, police and military sources said.
The gunmen used hand grenades and small arms to kill three gold shop owners in a market in the Mansour district of western Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.
When the attackers emerged from the shops they were met by soldiers and police. Two gunmen, two police officers, a soldier and four civilians died in the shootout, two security sources said.
Security officials say some of the insurgent groups that took up arms after the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein have turned to crime to finance their operations, attacking banks, gold markets and jewelry shops.
Authorities said they did not yet know whether the Mansour suspects were insurgents or a criminal gang.
Iraq has seen a big drop in violence since Washington sent thousands of extra troops and built alliances with tribal leaders to battle a stubborn insurgency but attacks are still common in Baghdad and ethnically and religiously mixed areas north of the capital.
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article163153.ece
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Pro-US Iraqi fighters switch allegiance to Al-Qaeda
Oct 17, 2010
WASHINGTON: Hundreds of members of Iraq's Awakening Councils, a group affiliated with the US military, have switched their loyalty to Al-Qaeda, The New York Times reported Sunday.
Citing unnamed Iraqi government officials, current and former members of the Awakening Councils and insurgents, the newspaper said that although there were no firm figures, hundreds of fighters appear to have rejoined Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia in recent months. Many of them would have gained extensive knowledge about the US military, it said.
Officials also said that possibly thousands of Awakening fighters still on the Iraqi government payroll covertly aid the insurgency.
The defections have been driven in part by frustration with the Shiite-led government, which Awakening members say is intent on destroying them, as well as by pressure from Al-Qaeda, the paper said.
The defections have accelerated since Iraq's inconclusive parliamentary elections in March, which have left Sunnis uncertain of retaining what little political influence they have in the country.
Full report at: http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article163367.ece
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Yemeni planes bomb militant positions in south
By REUTERS
Oct 17, 2010
ADEN: Yemeni aircraft bombed Al-Qaeda positions in southern Yemen on Sunday, a government official said, after militants ambushed a tank column, killing four soldiers.
Three suspected members of Al-Qaeda’s regional wing were also killed in the clashes on Sunday in the Mudiyah district in Abyan province on the Arabian Sea coast, where the army has battled militants in recent months, the official said.
On Saturday, a car bomb wounded a senior intelligence officer and his assistant in Abyan, a security source said, and a government website said two militants died in a botched suicide attack with a car on a security patrol in Mudiyah.
Mudiyah’s police chief was killed in a suspected Al-Qaeda attack last week and the provincial governor survived an assassination attempt.
Yemen is trying to quell a resurgent branch of Al-Qaeda that has increased attacks on Western and regional targets in the country.
It is also trying to cement a truce with Shiite rebels to end a civil war in the north that has raged on and off since 2004, and to end a separatist rebellion in the south.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), an arm of Al-Qaeda, has stepped up attacks on Yemeni and Western targets since it claimed a failed US airliner bombing in December.
The government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been under pressure since then to go after Al-Qaeda more vigorously, with US help. Occasional American missile strikes to back the crackdown have sometimes killed civilians as well as militants.
France urged spouses and children of its citizens last week to leave following a rocket attack targeting a British diplomat in Sanaa and the death of a Frenchman after a security guard an an Austrian oil and gas firm opened fire.
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article163107.ece
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Jordan promises support to Iraq reconciliation
By ABDUL JALIL MUSTAFA
Oct 17, 2010
AMMAN: Jordan ’s King Abdallah conferred on Sunday with the incumbent Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki and called for the formation of a new Iraqi government that leads to reconciliation among various components of the Iraqi people.
“King Abdallah underscored the importance of forming an Iraqi government that reflects aspirations of the Iraqi people and effectively contributes to building up a better future for the country,” a royal court statement said.
The monarch also expresed backing to all steps taken by Iraqi politicians “to shore up national reconciliation and unity inside Iraq ” as well as the country’s stability and security.
Al-Maliki arrived in Jordan in the course of a regional tour to muster support for endeavors by his State of Law gathering to form a new Iraqi government under his leadership.
In addition to Jordan, he planned to visit Egypt, Turkey and Iran. He visited Damascus last week in a bid to mend fences with Syria, which he earlier accused of supporting terrorist attacks inside Iraq.
Al-Maliki is struggling to remain in power since his Shiite alliance narrowly lost the March 7 vote to a rival’s Sunni-backed bloc.
Maliki's office said in a statement that his meetings with top Jordanian officials addressed "the development of economic and security ties."
"The movement of citizens between the two countries and cooperation on military training in order to develop a professional Iraqi army were also discussed."
After seeing the king, Maliki also met his Jordanian counterpart Samir Rifai before returning to Baghdad.
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article163117.ece
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Abbas warns against rise in extremism
18 October 2010
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas warned against a rise in extremism if the ongoing peace process failed, in an interview to Israeli public television.
“Desperation will feed extremism,” Abbas said in the exclusive interview aired Sunday, adding that he hoped that US efforts to end a deadlock in peace talks would succeed.
Israel and the Palestinians began face-to-face negotiations six weeks ago, but the talks look set to collapse following the end of an Israeli ban on settlement building which expired on September 26.
Israel has refused to reimpose the moratorium, while the Palestinians say they will not talk while settlers build on occupied Palestinian land, prompting a flurry of US diplomatic efforts to resolve the deadlock.
Abbas also reaffirmed that the Palestinians did not have to recognise Israel as a “Jewish state,” as demanded by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in return for a possible settlement halt.
He said the Palestine Liberation Organisation had recognised Israel’s right to exist in 1993 in the Oslo accords where both sides mutually recognised each other.
“It’s enough that we have recognised Israel... but do not ask us to recognise it as a Jewish state,” he said, adding: “Every day you (the Israelis) come up with a new demand. It’s enough.”
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle09.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2010/October/middleeast_October253.xml§ion=middleeast
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US says Chinese firms ignoring Iran sanctions
18 October 2010
WASHINGTON — The United States believes some Chinese firms are helping Iran improve its missile technology and develop nuclear weapons and has asked Beijing to prevent such activity, The Washington Post reported late Sunday.
Citing an unnamed senior US official, the newspaper said the request was conveyed during a visit to Beijing last month by a US delegation led by Robert Einhorn, the State Department’s special adviser for nonproliferation and arms control.
Einhorn gave his Chinese counterparts a “significant list” of companies and banks that the United States thinks are violating UN sanctions against Iran without authorization from the Chinese government, the report said.
US intelligence believes that several Chinese companies have been providing restricted technology and materials to Iran’s military programs while some Chinese banks were backing these deals, the paper noted.
Most of the deals concerned Iran’s missile program, according to The Post.
A senior official from a Western intelligence agency said Chinese firms were also discovered selling high-quality carbon fiber to Iran to help it build better centrifuges, which are used in enriching uranium, the paper noted.
In 2008, for example, Iran obtained 108 pressure gauges, which are critical to the functioning of a centrifuge, from one Chinese company, The Post said.
The report said a year earlier, a small company in the Chinese port city of Dalian provided Iran with a range of sensitive materials, including graphite, tungsten copper, tungsten powder, high-strength aluminum alloys and high-strength steel, again for its nuclear program.
That firm allegedly received payment from Iran via US banks, the paper said.
“My government will investigate the issues raised by the US side,” The Post quoted Wang Baodong, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, as saying.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2010/October/middleeast_October256.xml§ion=middleeast
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Saudis say Al Qaeda targeting France
18 October 2010
PARIS - Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said on Sunday that French had been warned by Saudi Arabia that al Qaeda was targeting Europe and especially France.
“Several hours or days ago, there was a new message from the Saudis that said al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was without doubt active or planning to be active in Europe, especially France,” he told French radio RTL.
“This is not about overestimating the threat or underestimating it,” he said. “I am indicating, based on all these elements, that the threat is real.”
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), an arm of al Qaeda thought to include Yemenis and Saudis, has stepped up attacks on Yemeni and Western targets since it claimed a failed USairliner bombing in December.
Impoverished Yemen, which is struggling to end a civil war in the north and a separatist rebellion in the south, is trying with US help to crush AQAP, which has been based in Yemen since 2006, when Saudi Arabia mounted a counter-terrorism drive against its Saudi arm.
Hortefeux’s remarks indicated that the new warning was not connected with the heightened alert in France in late September based on a tip-off that a female suicide bomber was planning to attack its transport system.
A police source told Reuters at that time that the information about the threatened attack had come from Algeria.
France has not suffered a major attack since 1995 when the Algerian Armed Islamic Group killed eight people and wounded dozens bombing a Paris metro station.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2010/October/middleeast_October255.xml§ion=middleeast
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American visits Iran blast site under freedom deal (AP)
18 October 2010,
TEHRAN — An Iranian-American businessman freed after more than two years in Tehran’s main prison visited survivors of a deadly 2008 mosque bombing as a condition of his release in a scripted event Sunday that could carry propaganda value at home.
Iranian authorities did not immediately explain their demand for 71-year-old Reza Taghavi to pay homage in the southern city of Shiraz — and personally acknowledge an attack in which he denies having any connection. But it would fit neatly into possible Iranian attempts to squeeze multiple messages from Taghavi’s release on Saturday after 29 months in custody.
It can easily score political points at home for the ruling clerics at a time when international sanctions are hurting Iran’s economy.
Iran is pressing to resume talks on its nuclear program with the United States and other world powers after a yearlong standoff. The European Union’s foreign affairs and security chief, Catherine Ashton, suggested last week after meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that talks could be held as early as next month.
Full report at: http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2010/October/middleeast_October254.xml§ion=middleeast
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Rush hour bomb kills three in Afghan city
18 October 2010
HERAT — A bomb attack at rush hour on Monday killed at least three civilians and wounded eight other people in Afghanistan’s western city of Herat, an official said.
An improvised explosive device (IED), the weapon of choice for Taliban militants fighting against the government and foreign troops, detonated close to a police checkpost, provincial spokesman Naqeebullah Arween told AFP.
“Three civilians were killed and another eight civilians, including one policeman, were wounded in the blast today,” Arween told AFP.
Herat is one of the most prosperous cities in Afghanistan and the west is relatively peaceful compared to the south, where the Taliban are in control of several districts and where there has been heavy fighting.
But violence has increasingly spread from the south to more peaceful areas in the west and north this year.
The United States and NATO have more than 150,000 troops in Afghanistan, including 30,000 Americans who recently deployed as part of a counter-insurgency surge aimed at speeding an end to the nine-year war.
Taliban and other insurgents — who rely largely on suicide bombers and remote-controlled IEDs — have killed a record of almost 600 foreign soldiers this year, compared to 521 in 2009.
The United Nations said that more than 1,000 civilians died as a result of the violence in the first half of this year, mostly at the hands of insurgents.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/international/2010/October/international_October767.xml§ion=international
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No prospect of row with judges: Pakistan PM
17 October 2010
Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza on Sunday played down fears of growing tension between the government and judiciary.
Speculation has swirled for weeks that Pakistan’s Supreme Court would uphold the scrapping of an amnesty law, possibly opening the door to attempts to prosecute government leaders including President Asif Ali Zardari.
The amnesty law allowed some current politicians including Zardari to return after years of exile. It was thrown out in December 2009 by the Supreme Court, which must now pronounce on a government attempt to overturn that ruling.
‘Nobody should expect that there will be any confrontation between (state) institutions as long as we (the government) are here,’ Gilani said in a televised address to the nation.
Full report at: http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/international/2010/October/international_October760.xml§ion=international
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Bin Laden living comfortably in Pakistan: CNN
18 Oct, 2010
KABUL: Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden is living comfortably in northwest Pakistan close to his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, CNN on Monday quoted a Nato official as saying.
The Saudi-born militant wanted for the September 11 attacks on the United States nine years ago was being protected by local people and “some members of the Pakistani intelligence services,” CNN said.
“Nobody in al-Qaeda is living in a cave,” the unnamed senior Nato official reportedly told the network.
“The official also confirmed the US assessment that Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban, has moved between the cities of Quetta and Karachi in Pakistan over the last several months,” said the report on CNN's website.
It said the Nato official could not be named “because of the sensitivity of the intelligence matters involved”. — AFP
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/04-bin-laden-pakistan-cnn-qs-04
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Militants torch Nato tanker in Quetta
18 Oct, 2010
QUETTA: Unknown assailants torched a tanker carrying fuel for Nato forces in Afghanistan on Monday in Akhterabad, gutting the vehicle in an inferno.
According to witnesses, the assailants were on motorbikes and fled the scene after the attack.
More than 20 tankers were previously set on fire in the same area. –DawnNews
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/14-nato-tanker-torched-in-quetta-zj-04
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Fiza 'egg tantrum' lands her in jail
Oct 18, 2010
MOHALI: Fiza Mohammed alias Anuradha Bali, estranged second wife of former Haryana deputy chief minister Chander Mohan, was arrested on Sunday for allegedly throwing eggs and garbage in her neighbour's house in Mohali.
She was later released on bail by Mohali SDM on a bail bond of Rs 10,000. A case was registered against her following a complaint by Ram Krishan, a resident of Mohali's Sector 48C. He alleged that earlier Fiza would throw garbage in his backyard. On Saturday, she threw eggs.
Fiza, however, denied the allegations. She said CCTV cameras at her house would prove who is guilty.
"We arrested Fiza on the basis of the complaint of her neighbour Ram Krishen, who lives at the back of her house in Mohali," Mohali's deputy superintendent of police Rajwinder Singh Sohal said.
Full report at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Fiza-egg-tantrum-lands-her-in-jail/articleshow/6766230.cms#ixzz12gOsmTFy
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Australian in Egypt still held over insulting religion
Oct 18th, 2010
CAIRO: An Australian man arrested earlier this month over allegedly insulting religion, has not yet been charged by an Egyptian prosecutor, but remains in detention, sources confirmed to Bikya Masr on Monday. Safaa al-Awadi was charged with insulting religion and denying the foundation of Islam following a television debate.
Authorities have said that he would be notified within two weeks on whether or not he would be charged with a criminal offense.
Awadi was arrested with two dozen others on similar charges. All the men are Shiite Muslims, a minority in the predominantly Sunni Egypt. Security officials reported that the Shia men were part of a group of 24 that were rounded up in early October in Cairo. According to the police, most have been released, but it is still unclear how many remain behind bars.
The Australian man’s family alerted the Australian authorities after Safaa al-Awadi, 44, did not return to Perth when scheduled.
The Australian Embassy told Bikya Masr that they could not comment on internal Egyptian security matters, but added they were “closely monitoring the situation.”
For Shia Muslims in Egypt, they are often the brunt of police crackdowns. Ali is a 34-year-old Egyptian citizen, but he says daily life in the country is extremely arduous for a man outside the majority.
Full report at: http://bikyamasr.com/wordpress/?p=18842
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Worldwide hatred of Israel
Oct 18th, 2010
Many perpetrators from very diverse backgrounds are heavily involved in the ongoing de-legitimization of Israel, without any one being dominant. This is different from the build up of extreme anti-Semitism before the Holocaust. Then most of the overwhelming demonization of the Jews came from a single source: Hitler and his followers and allies. They built on an infrastructure laid over many centuries, mainly by the Catholic Church and certain factions of Protestantism.
On Sunday and Monday of the past week Boston-based CAMERA – which combats media distortion of information about Israel – held a conference on Israel’s de-legitimization. The lecturers were experts who have studied various sources of demonization. This gave an audience of about 1,000 people an overview of this frightening phenomenon. Many had come from other parts of the United States and Canada.
Full report at: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3970798,00.html
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New opportunities on horizon for JIB
By MUSHTAK PARKER
Oct 17, 2010
From being a small and unimportant Islamic bank established in 1978 and under the loyal and unbroken stewardship of the seasoned General Manager Musa Shihadeh, Jordan Islamic Bank (JIB) has, over the last three decades transformed itself into the largest Islamic lender and the third largest domestic bank in Jordan. This is by all standards impressive given that JIB’s main competitor in the market is the mighty Arab Bank Group, one of the largest banks in the Middle East and which has its own dedicated Arab International Islamic Bank.
Had it not being for the fact that JIB operates exclusively in Jordan which is a relatively conservative market, the bank could have moved to even greater heights. Not surprisingly this has impacted on the rating of JIB. In fact, Standard & Poor’s (S&P), the international rating agency, in its latest counterparty credit ratings assigned to JIB of BB/Stable/B in September confirmed that JIB’s ratings “are primarily constrained by the fact that bank operates in Jordan, which in S&P’s view creates high credit risk.”
The strengths of JIB is that it has a strong retail franchise with a satisfactory financing and liquidity profile, and has shown great resilience in its asset quality and in sustainable profitability through the economic downturn precipitated inter alia by the global financial crisis. However, the bank would have to expand greatly especially in its capital strength and adequacy to even aspire to an investment-grade rating.
Full report at: http://arabnews.com/economy/islamicfinance/article163325.ece
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38 new aircraft to boost Saudia service
By P.K. ABDUL GHAFOUR
Oct 17, 2010
JEDDAH: Saudi Arabian Airlines will receive 38 new Airbus planes by the end of this year, said Khaled Al-Molhem, its director general, on Saturday. “The new planes will strengthen the airline’s capability to meet growing passenger traffic requirements,” he said.
“It’s a big achievement for Saudi Arabian Airlines because it is for the first time such a large number of new aircraft join the fleet of an airline in a single year,” he told reporters after arriving on board Saudia’s new Airbus 321 aircraft at King Abdulaziz International Airport.
He said Saudia would continue its investment toward modernizing its infrastructure. “We’ll apply an integrated automatic system linking all the organization’s activities. We’ll also develop automatic service systems at airports,” he said.
Asked about new aircraft to be received in 2011, Al-Molhem said: “We expect to have 50 new aircraft from Airbus next year. We’ll start receiving new Boeing 777s by 2013,” he said. The airline has so far received 26 A320s, five A330s and one A321 bringing the total to 32.
Full report at: http://arabnews.com/economy/article163292.ece
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Over 4 million visit Saudi pavilion at Shanghai expo
Oct 18, 2010
JEDDAH: More than four million people have visited the Saudi pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010, Saudi Press Agency reported on Sunday.
The majority of visitors were Chinese. “I have heard a lot about the beautiful Saudi pavilion at the expo and I came from the Kan-sun province to visit it,” said Lai Shia-ron, who won a prize for becoming the 4 millionth visitor. He said he was happy to visit the pavilion after waiting about three hours in the queue. “I was quite sure that the pavilion is worth waiting for. I never expected that I would get a prize. It was a pleasant surprise.”
Lai, who is a Muslim, won two air tickets from Al-Tayyar Travel to visit the Kingdom. “The tickets will allow me to visit the holy places in the Kingdom with my mother to perform Haj. It was my long dream.”
The organizers believed that one more million people would visit the pavilion before the end of the exhibition on Oct. 31. Last month, Ma-john, a visitor from a nearby town, won the prize for being the 3 millionth visitor. He also received two air tickets.
More than 30,000 people visit Saudi Arabia's pavilion at Shanghai World Expo 2010 every day to learn about Islam, its holy places in Makkah and Madinah and the Kingdom's remarkable progress in various sectors.
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article163322.ece
URL: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamIslamicWorldNews_1.aspx?ArticleID=3545
12:01 AM
Moderate Islamist here
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