| Islamic World News | |
| 04 Apr 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com |
| 8 killed in Lower Dir suicide blast | ||
Terrorists can’t dent govt resolve to fight terror: Zardari Two killed in new Afghan protests against desecration At least 250 injured as Yemen police disperse protestors Quran burning creates new Afghan dangers: Petraeus Suicide attacks on Maulana Fazlur Rehman not minor issue: Shujaat Karzai calls on US Congress to slate burning of Qur’an Karzai gov’t lets Christians print Malay Bibles Israel passes a law facilitating citizenship cancellation for "terrorists" Libyan envoy takes Gaddafi message to Greece Terror attack plot foiled on Bhutto’s grave, suspect arrested in Karachi 'Western plot' behind Gulf region tensions: Iran Al-Qaeda members hide in Brazil Pakistani militant group tagged as a global terror threat Bahraini activist dies in custody; newspaper suspended Christian cleric dodges assault in Turkey's west Fighting rages in Ivory Coast, 800 dead in west Gaddafi forces shell town as rebels name ‘crisis team’ What steps should we take to protect sanctity of holy Quran? 2 Qaddafi sons Are Said to Offer Plan to Push Father Out Twin blasts at Pakistan shrine kill 42 Rebels fight see-saw battle with Qaddafi forces in key oil town UK diplomats in Libya to engage with rebels Burqa dilemma for Afghanistan’s women skiers 1001 inventions: exhibit helps people discover Muslim heritage throughout our world Saleh rejects fresh opposition offer 5,080 people charged with terrorism Al-Romaidan takes place of Al-Ghamdi as Makkah Haia chief UAE forces storm hijacked ship, detain pirates Goldstone has succumbed to Israeli pressure’ Four Iranian police killed in border attack Syrian president appoints ex-minister to form govt Israel urges UN to cancel Gaza war crimes report Libyan rebels seek more coalition air strikes despite mistaken attack Qaddafi's foes seek democracy, say official Libyan rebels reorganize ranks amid setbacks GCC denounces Iran’s meddling Coalition 'friendly fire' kills 13 Libyan rebels Egypt revolution fortunes swing back up despite Brotherhood backtracking Violence threatens Egyptian League resumption Egypt's army rulers to meet Palestinian president Israel considered Mubarak a "treasure", says foreign minister Israel to deploy four more 'Iron Dome' anti-rocket defences UN's Gaza war report 'should be buried': Israel British boots on the ground in Libya strike Yemen police 'shoot dead protester' Path of radiation leak at Japan plant unclear Yemeni president urges opposition to end protest Gaddafi forces shell town as rebels name ‘crisis team’ Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau Photo: A teenage suicide bomber killed a Pakistani anti-Taliban militia leader and seven other people on Monday. | ||
Zardari vows to rectify wrong in Zulfikar Ali Bhutto case--------
8 killed in Lower Dir suicide blast
APR 04 2011
A teenage suicide bomber killed a Pakistani anti-Taliban militia leader and seven other people on Monday. The bomber killed his apparent target as he sipped tea with relatives at a car showroom near a bus terminal in the small town of Jandol in the district of Lower Dir.
Police said the bomber exploded himself on foot at a bus terminal close to the car showroom, where three people were among the dead and several vehicles were also damaged. The overall death toll had risen to eight by mid-afternoon.
"We have found the head of the bomber. He appears to be a teenager, a 15- to 16-year-old boy," said Dir district police chief Saleem Marwat.
"The death toll is eight as one more person died of his injuries," Doctor Mohammad Karim told AFP by telephone from the district hospital in Timargarah, the main town in Dir and about 28 kilometres southwest of the blast site.
Police said the target of the suicide attack was Mohammad Akbar, head of a lashkar, or tribal militia, set up by the government to fight Taliban militants.
Akbar, 55, had survived previous attempts on his life, but was in the show room run by his family members when the bomber hit.
"Malik Akbar died in the blast," Qazi Jamil ur-Rehman, the regional deputy inspector general of police said. "Apparently he was the target," he added.
Residents said local authorities declared a curfew and that the emergency response had been sluggish in the remote town.
"I was in a shop a few blocks away," Mohammad Irshad, a 30-year-old labourer, told AFP. "I saw a young boy entering the car showroom where tribal elder Malik Akbar was having tea with his relatives. Soon there was a huge blast.
"The boy disappeared in the smoke that filled the area. His body parts were later seen littered near the show room," he said.
Local resident Israr Uddin said it took time for ambulances to arrive from nearby towns, so people used private cars to rush the wounded to Timargarah.
More than 4,200 people have been killed across Pakistan in attacks since government troops stormed a radical mosque in Islamabad in 2007.
Monday's bombing was the sixth in six days. On Sunday, two suicide bombers killed 50 people, unleashing carnage at a Sufi shrine in the central province of Punjab where hundreds had gathered for a religious ceremony.
That attack on the shrine of 13th century Sufi saint Ahmed Sultan, popularly known as Sakhi Sarwar, was the deadliest in Pakistan since a mosque bombing killed 68 people on November 5 in the northwest area of Darra Adam Khel.
Since last Wednesday, 29 other people have been killed in suicide attacks targeting a tribal elder in Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan and two assaults on an Islamic party chief in the northwest.
http://nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online//Politics/04-Apr-2011/8-killed-in-Lower-Dir-suicide-blast
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Zardari vows to rectify wrong in Zulfikar Ali Bhutto case
APR 04 2011
GARHI KHUDA: President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday vowed to rectify the 'historical wrong' of the 'judicial murder' of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and said now it was the obligation of the judiciary to clear its record.
He was addressing a large gathering here at the mausoleum of the Shaheeds of the Bhutto family on the 32nd Death Anniversary of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
"We are not like Cromwell. We are not seeking revenge. We want the history to record that a wrong was committed and it needs to be corrected."
President Zardari said the judicial murder of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto needs to be rectified. He said a reference in this regard has been sent.
Those who committed the judicial murder of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto thought that they had buried him in the dead of the night and thrown her daughter in the jail, but they never could have imagined that they were in fact making him immortal, he remarked.
It has been the success of the mandate of the people of Pakistan that Bhutto lives in the hearts and minds of the people, he added.
"We do not want clash of institutions, we want to strengthen them. That's why we have sent you a reference to clear the wrong that you had done," the President said.
He said in one year time the government has successfully transferred all powers to the Parliament. "We do not believe in making headlines, we prefer making history with our blood, like the Shaheeds of the Bhutto family did."
The President also invited all political leaders to come and sit together to find out a solution to the grave economic challenges the country was facing and to find a way out.
He said he believed in policy of reconciliation and offered the 'political actors' to sit with them and find solution to their problems.
The President said Shaheed Benazir Bhutto had taken revenge of her father's murder, through democracy.
"I am proud to say that I am sitting at a position due to the blood of the Shaheeds of Bhutto and at a place that has in the past always worked against us."
The Chairperson of Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and other senior party leadership were present on the occasion.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=13604
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Terrorists can’t dent govt resolve to fight terror: Zardari
APR 04 2011
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has condemned the bomb blasts at the shrine of Hazrat Sakhi Sarwar in Dera Ghazi Khan on Sunday. At least 41 people were killed and another 100 injured in the attack. The president in his message expressed deep grief and shock over the loss of precious human lives caused by the heinous act of terrorism. He said such acts of terrorism couldn’t dent government’s resolve to fight the menace of terrorism and militancy to the end. The president said the attack on a religious place and targeting of devotees clearly shows that terrorists have no respect or consideration for any religion and faith. The president conveyed his condolences to the bereaved families and prayed to Almighty Allah to shower His blessings on the departed souls. He directed the concerned authorities to ensure the provision of best medical care to those injured in the blasts. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani also condemned the bomb blast at the shrine of sufi saint. In a statement, the prime minister said such cowardly acts of terrorism clearly demonstrate that the culprits involved neither have any faith nor any belief in human values. The killing of innocent and helpless people exhibits the mindset of coward and evil nature of the terrorists, he added. The prime minister said such violent acts are a conspiracy to divide society and create fear. The nation, he said, is determined and united to fight this menace and eliminate it permanently. The prime minister directed the law enforcement agencies concerned to investigate into the incident and apprehend the terrorists. He also asked the officials concerned to take care of the injured. He expressed condolences with the affected families. The United States embassy in Islamabad also condemned the terrorist bombing at the shrine. “Our hearts go out to the families and friends of the victims. No one is safe from the fanatic hatred of terrorists. They target political leaders, devout pilgrims, and school children. Nothing can justify their slaughter of innocents,” a statement issued by the embassy on Sunday said. “The United States expresses solidarity with the people and government of Pakistan in their struggle for a peaceful and prosperous country,” it added. agencies
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\04\04\story_4-4-2011_pg1_2
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Two killed in new Afghan protests against desecration
APR 04 2011
KABUL: Two people were killed and dozens were injured on Sunday as demonstrations erupted for a third day in Afghanistan over the burning of the holy Quran in the United States, officials said.
President Hamid Karzai repeated his call to the White House, Senate and United Nations to bring to justice Terry Jones, the pastor who masterminded the burning of the holy Quran, his office said.
One person was killed and 20 injured in what officials described as an accidental explosion that ripped through crowds of protesters in the southern city of Kandahar.
Hundreds of people had taken to the streets to protest against the burning of the holy Quran overseen by Jones at an evangelical church in Florida last month.
Violent protests that began in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Friday have claimed the lives of at least 22 people including seven foreign UN staff.
“The protesters set ablaze a traffic police booth. Inside there was a gas bottle which exploded,” interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told newsmen, calling it “accidental”.
On Saturday, 10 people were killed and more than 80 injured in clashes with security forces during day-long protests in the southern city.
The fresh wave of protests began in Kandahar city and two adjoining districts on a third day of violent demonstrations sparked by the holy Quran burning.
The United Nations vowed that the attack on Friday that left seven of its staff dead would not derail its work in Afghanistan during a “crucial period” for the war-torn nation.
US President Barack Obama condemned the attack and also described the holy Quran burning as an act of “extreme intolerance and bigotry”.
Casualties were reported on Sunday at demonstrations in Kandahar city and the neighbouring districts of Panjwayi and Dand.
At least one person was killed, a government official said on condition of anonymity, though it was not clear where the death occurred.
Kandahar provincial government spokesman Zalmai Ayoubi told newsmen, the situation was “under control”.
Elsewhere, about 500 university students protested in the eastern city of Jalalabad and blocked a key road for several hours, while hundreds of men poured onto the streets in Charikar, capital of Parwan province, north of Kabul, local television reported.
The wave of protests erupted on Friday in the usually quiet northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif where seven staff at the UN mission were killed by a mob angered by the holy Quran burning.
During a security meeting attended by US ambassador Karl Eikenberry and General David Petraeus, commander of the US-led force, Karzai repeated his call for the US administration and Senate to “condemn the act in strong words and bring those responsible to justice”, his office said in a statement. afp
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\04\04\story_4-4-2011_pg1_
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At least 250 injured as Yemen police disperse protest
APR 04 2011
Yemen police fired tear gas and live bullets at protesters holding an anti-regime demonstration in the city of Taez on Sunday, injuring at least 250 and shooting a protester dead, witnesses said.
"Between 250 and 300 protesters were injured, some with live bullets, as police opened fire to disperse a protest heading to the governorate headquarters," in the city that lies 200 kilometres (125 miles) south of the capital Sanaa, a witness said.
Full report at:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/9173/World/Region/At-least--injured-as-Yemen-police-disperse-protest.aspx
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Quran burning creates new Afghan dangers: Petraeus
APR 04 2011
WASHINGTON: The burning of the Quran at a small Florida church — an event that resulted in a third day of deadly riots in Afghanistan — creates new dangers for the US-led mission against the Taliban, US General David Petraeus told the Wall Street Journal.
In the interview, which was posted on the newspaper’s website late Sunday, Petraeus said the March 20 burning “was a surprise.”
Petraeus, commander of the US-led international force in Afghanistan, deplored the burning as “hateful, extremely disrespectful and enormously intolerant.”
“Every security force leader’s worst nightmare is being confronted by essentially a mob, if you will, especially one that can be influenced by individuals that want to incite violence, who want to try to hijack passions, in this case, perhaps understandable passions,” Petraeus told the Journal.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/2011/04/04/quran-burning-creates-new-afghan-dangers-petraeus.html
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Suicide attacks on Maulana Fazlur Rehman not minor issue: Shujaat
APR 04 2011
ISLAMABAD: PML-Q Chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has said that two consecutive suicide attacks on JUI-F leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman were not a minor issue, Geo News reported on Sunday.
Full report at:
http://www.thenews.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=13574
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Karzai calls on US Congress to slate burning of Qur’an
APR 04 2011
KANDAHAR: Two policemen were killed and more than 30 people wounded in Kandahar on Sunday during the third day of protests across Afghanistan against the burning of a Qur’an by a militant fundamentalist Christian US pastor, officials said.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who last week drew Afghan public attention to the burning, an event that initially gained little media coverage, on Sunday called on the US Houses of Congress to join in the condemnation and prevent a repeat incident. He made the request at a meeting with US ambassador Karl Eikenberry and General Petraeus, his office said in a statement.
Violence at earlier demonstrations claimed more than 20 lives. Ten people were killed and more than 80 wounded in Kandahar on Saturday. Seven foreign UN staff and five Afghan protesters were killed on Friday after demonstrators overran an office in normally peaceful Mazar-i-Sharif city in the north.
A senior Interior Ministry investigator said on Sunday the killers of the UN staff appear to have been “reintegrated” Taleban — fighters who had formally laid down arms — although the insurgents have denied any role in the attack.
Over 30 people have been arrested, from areas as far afield as southern Kandahar, western Herat and central Baghlan province, said Munir Ahmad Farhad, a spokesman for the provincial governor.
With little sign of widespread anger fading, the governor also issued an order banning sermons which might “provoke the public.” The violence in Mazar began after Friday prayers.
In Kandahar on Sunday, hundreds of people marched toward another UN office, again denouncing the actions of US preacher Terry Jones, who supervised the burning of a Qur’an in front of about 50 people at a church in Florida on March 20. The governor had promised a strong police presence and it initially appeared the march would end peacefully; many of the morning’s demonstrators had drifted away before violence began.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/world/article342372.ece
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Malaysia gov’t lets Christians print Malay Bibles
APR 04 2011
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Malaysia’s government said it would allow Malay-language Bibles to be printed locally, in a major concession to the country’s minority Christian community to soothe anger over seized shipments of their holy books.
The government’s announcement late Saturday comes ahead of an April 16 election in Sarawak state on Borneo island, where Christians account for more than 40 percent of the population. The poll is seen as a crucial barometer of support for Muslim-majority Malaysia’s ruling coalition that may determine whether it will call early general elections.
Christians have been angered over the seizures of tens of thousands of imported Malay-language Bibles by Malaysian customs authorities, some since 2009.
The seized Bibles violate a government ban on non-Muslim texts that use the word “Allah” as a translation for God amid concern it could confuse Muslims or be used to convert them. Malaysian Christians say the ban is unfair because the Arabic word is a common reference for God that predates Islam.
Idris Jala, a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, said in a statement that Bibles in all languages, including Malay, can now be printed locally. The move extends an olive branch to Christians, who previously had to import Malay-language Bibles from Indonesia.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/world/article341584.ece
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Israel passes a law facilitating citizenship cancellation for "terrorists"
APR 04 2011
Israel has passed a law facilitating the process of cancelling citizenship, in a move condemned as a threat to the Arab minority in Israel. This amendment is the so-called "Law of Nationality", the latest move in a list of recent parliamentary procedures that have been denounced by civil rights advocates as non-democratic, but which Israeli jurists believe are necessary to defend the "Jewish state."
Full report at:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/8860/World/Region/Israel-passes-a-law-facilitating-citizenship-cance.aspx
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Libyan envoy takes Gaddafi message to Greece
APR 04 2011
Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Abdelati Obeidi flew to Athens carrying a personal message from Gaddafi to Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou that Libya wanted the fighting to end, a Greek government official told Reuters.
“It seems that the Libyan authorities are seeking a solution,” Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas told reporters.
But there was no indication on what Tripoli might be ready to offer — beyond a willingness to negotiate — to end a war that has become bogged down on a frontline in the eastern oil town of Brega, while leaving civilians trapped by Gaddafi’s forces in the west.
Underlining the plight of civilians in western Libya, a Turkish ship that sailed into the besieged city of Misrata to rescue some 250 wounded had to leave in a hurry after crowds pressed forward on the dockside hoping to escape.
“It’s a very hard situation ... We had to leave early,” said Turkish consular official Ali Akin after the ship stopped to pick up more wounded in the eastern rebel stronghold Benghazi.
Turkey’s foreign minister ordered the ship into Misrata after it spent four days waiting in vain for permission to dock.
It arrived under cover from 10 Turkish air force F-16 fighter planes and two navy frigates, Akin said.
The U.N.-mandated military intervention that began on March 19 was meant to protect civilians caught up in fighting between Gaddafi’s forces and the rebels.
Stalemate in Brega
Neither Gaddafi’s troops nor the disorganised rebel force have been able to gain the upper hand on the frontline in eastern Libya, despite Western air power in effect aiding the insurgents.
After chasing each other up and down the coastal road linking the oil ports of eastern Libya with Gaddafi’s tribal heartland further west, both sides have become bogged down in Brega, a sparsely populated settlement spread over more than 25 km (15 miles).
Yet Western countries, wary of becoming too entangled in another war after campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, have ruled out sending ground troops to help the rebels.
The United States, which has handed over command of the operation to NATO, said it had agreed to extend the use of its strike aircraft into Monday because of poor weather last week.
But it has stressed its desire to end its own involvement in combat missions, and shift instead to a support role in areas such as surveillance, electronic warfare and refuelling.
The combination of stalemate on the frontline and the plight of civilians caught in fighting or facing food and fuel shortages has prompted a flurry of diplomatic contacts to find a way out.
Greece said Obeidi would travel to Malta and Turkey after his talks in Greece, which has enjoyed good relations with Gaddafi for a number of years.
Papandreou had been talking by phone with officials in Tripoli as well as the leaders of Qatar, Turkey and Britain over the last two days.
One diplomat cautioned, however, that any diplomatic compromise — for example one in which Gaddafi handed over power to one of his sons — could lead to the partition of Libya.
That was a possibility ruled out by western countries before the air strikes were launched.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle09.asp?xfile=data/international/2011/April/international_April153.xml§ion=international
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Terror attack plot foiled on Bhutto’s grave, suspect arrested in Karachi
APR 04 2011
KARACHI — Police claimed here on Sunday to have foiled a possible a planned terrorist attack on the mausoleum of Pakistan People’s Party’s founding leader and former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh on Monday and arrested a wanted terrorist.
Addressing a Press conference, Chief City Police Officer Karachi Saud Mirza said the police have arrested an alleged member of the outlawed Lashkar-e-Balochistan terrorist group who has been identified as Abdul Qadir.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/international/2011/April/international_April150.xml§ion=international&col=
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'Western plot' behind Gulf region tensions: Iran
APR 04 2011
Tensions between Iran and the Gulf Arab countries are the result of a "Western and Zionist conspiracy", the foreign ministry in Tehran said on Sunday.
"Sowing discord between Islamic countries, especially between Iran and the countries of the region, is a Western and Zionist conspiracy," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparst was quoted as saying on the website of state television.
"We advise regional governments to heed the demands of their people in order to stop such conspiracies," he said, while insisting that "unity" among Muslims was the key issue for Iran.
Tehran's comments come as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is slated to meet in Riyadh later Sunday to discuss "Iran's interference" in the region.
Relations between Iran and its neighbours have been strained in recent weeks, as Tehran insists on supporting the uprisings in the Arab world.
"The stance of the Islamic Republic of Iran is to support popular movements, halt repression and acts of violence, and interference of foreigners in the region," Mehmanparast said.
Full report at:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/9186/World/Region/Western-plot-behind-Gulf-region-tensions-Iran-.aspx
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Al-Qaeda members hide in Brazil
APR 04 2011
BRASILIA, April 2 : Al-Qaeda operatives are in Brazil planning attacks, raising money and recruiting followers, a leading news magazine reported on Saturday, renewing concerns about the nation serving as a hide-out for militants.
Veja magazine, in its online edition, reported that at least 20 people affiliated with Al-Qaeda as well as the Lebanese Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah, the Palestinian group Hamas and two other organizations have been hiding out in the South American country.
The magazine said these operatives have been raising money and working to incite attacks abroad. The magazine cited Brazilian police and US government reports, but did not give details on specific targets or operations.
The United States has said Islamic militants have been operating in the border region between Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. Brazil has denied this, while saying it is aware that some members of Brazil’s Lebanese community legally transferred funds to the Middle East.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/world/article341641.ece
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Pakistani militant group tagged as a global terror threat
APR 04 2011
ISLAMABAD: Created by Pakistan to wage a proxy war against India, the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group has moved its jihad onto the global stage and could match Al-Qaeda in strength and organization, according to officials, experts and group members.
Blamed for the 2008 Mumbai massacre, Lashkar-e-Taiba has developed its own distinct networks worldwide, found global funding sources and established links with groups that refused to hook up with Al-Qaeda, fearing Osama Bin Laden’s group would hijack their causes, say analysts who have followed the organization.
According to interviews with analysts, intelligence officials and anti-terrorism investigators on three continents, the group also known as LeT could be poised to expand its reach beyond South Asia.
US court documents and an internal Indian government dossier on the Mumbai massacre acquired by The Associated Press show that Lashkar-e-Taiba (pronounced LAHSH-kar eh TAY-eh-ba) operatives have turned up in Australia, Europe, East Asia and the United States.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/world/article341952.ece
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Bahraini activist dies in custody; newspaper suspended
APR 04 2011
MANAMA: A detainee held in connection with anti-regime protests in Bahrain died in prison on Sunday as the government suspended the main opposition newspaper.
"A detainee who was a sickle cell patient died Sunday morning at the detention center," an Interior Ministry statement said. He was identified as Hasan Jasem Makki, 39.
A ministry official said a prison doctor "gave him the required medicine for sickle cell," a genetic blood disorder, but Makki fell unconscious and was "immediately taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead."
Makki was arrested on March 28.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article342375.ece
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Christian cleric dodges assault in Turkey's west
APR 04 2011
A foreign pastor in Izmir escaped possible harm Friday after a Turkish man shouting ultranationalist slogans fired blank shots into the air before being subdued by bystanders when he allegedly reached for a concealed BB gun.
Andrew Craig Brunson, the general-secretary of the Dirilis (Resurrection) Church Association in the Aegean province, was standing in front of the organization’s building when the suspect, identified only as M.A.E., approached and started shouting anti-missionary slogans. Brunson and passersby helped restrain the would-be assailant after he tried to extract an extra gun hidden in a bag.
“I have been living in Turkey for years,” said Brunson, whose nationality was not released. “My children were born here and they are growing up [here]. This is the first time I have experienced anything like this. I love Turkey, we have good relations with our neighbors.”
Full report at:
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=anti-missionary-man-attacks-priest-from-western-turkey-2011-04-03
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Fighting rages in Ivory Coast, 800 dead in west
APR 04 2011
Soldiers of Ivory Coast's rival leaders battled for the presidential palace, military bases and state TV in the main city Abidjan on Saturday, in a conflict so brutal that 800 people have been killed in just one town.
Advancing soldiers backing Alassane Ouattara, who U.N.-certified results show won a Nov. 28 presidential election, met stiff resistance from fighters remaining loyal to incumbent Laurent Gbagbo, who has refused to step down.
State television came back on air after fighting took it down for a day, showing Gbagbo drinking tea, saying the pictures were from his city residence on Saturday. It was not possible to verify if the images were recent recordings.
Full report at:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/9/9188/World/International/Fighting-rages-in-Ivory-Coast,--dead-in-west.aspx
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What steps should we take to protect sanctity of holy Quran?
APR 04 2011
KARACHI: A small town’s unknown pastor Terry Jones, who heads the Dove World Outreach Centre, a fringe fundamentalist Christian church in Gainesville, Florida received lot of media attention last year when he initiated a face book campaign ‘Burn the Koran Day’ to commemorate 9/11’s ninth anniversary.
After protests by Muslim groups in the US and in some Muslim countries, General David Patreaus weighed in against the campaign by claiming that it would threaten the lives of US soldiers deployed in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Afterwards, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates reached out to Jones and managed to persuade him to abandon his plan.
Barely six months into the row, Terry Jones supervised a ceremony in which another priest Wayne Sapp burned the holy Quran after a mock trial attended by 30 or so members of the church. An imam of a local mosque acted as the defence lawyer. In Pakistan the reaction was one of shock and dismay. The Balochistan Assembly unanimously passed a resolution recently, condemning the act. Likewise, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly too unanimously passed a resolution afterwards, condemning the desecration of the holy Quran and demanded of the federal government to call the US ambassador to lodge a protest against the incident.
However, no member of the house elaborated as to how the US federal government be held accountable for a private act of one of its citizen, especially when the alleged blasphemer appeared to have not broken any law of the US land. Unlike Pakistan, America does not have any blasphemy law and it is a country where rule of law prevails.
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and other religio-political groups also organised protest rallies across the country recently to show their outrage. Even lawyers on the call of Karachi Bar Association protested at Raja Riaz Shaheed Road on Saturday and demanded that blasphemer be tried in a court of law. Again none of the religio-political parties or civil society organisations bothered to explain to the public as to how a US court could prosecute someone for exercising his Constitutional right.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\04\04\story_4-4-2011_pg12_11
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2 Qaddafi Sons Are Said to Offer Plan to Push Father Out
APR 04 2011
TRIPOLi, Libya — At least two sons of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi are proposing a resolution to the Libyan conflict that would entail pushing their father aside to make way for a transition to a constitutional democracy under the direction of his son Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, a diplomat and a Libyan official briefed on the plan said Sunday.
A Turkish ferry, acting as a hospital boat, carried hundreds of casualties from Misurata, Libya, to Benghazi on Sunday, among them a badly burned young man.
The rebels challenging Colonel Qaddafi as well as the American and European powers supporting them with air strikes have so far insisted on a more radical break with his 40 years of rule. And it is not clear whether Colonel Qaddafi, 68, has signed on to the reported proposal backed by his sons, Seif and Saadi el-Qaddafi, although one person close to the sons said the father appeared willing to go along.
Speaking in Rome, a representative of the rebels, Ali al-Essawi, the former Libyan ambassador to India, said on Monday that it was unacceptable to replace Colonel Qaddafi with one of his sons. “Any political initiative which does not include the departure of Qaddafi is not acceptable,” he said.
But the proposal offers a new window into the dynamics of the Qaddafi family at a time when the colonel, who has seven sons, is relying heavily on them. Stripped of one of his closest confidantes by the defection of Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa and isolated by decades of attempted coups and internal purges, he is leaning on his sons as trusted aides and military commanders.
Full report at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/05/world/africa/05libya.html?_r=1&hp
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Twin blasts at Pakistan shrine kill 42
APR 04 2011
ISLAMABAD: Two Taleban bombers struck one of Pakistan's most important Sufi shrines on Sunday, killing 42 people and wounding 100 who were celebrating the anniversary of its founder's death with music, meditation and other practices abhorred by militant groups.
Several thousand people were marking the 942nd anniversary of the death of the saint Ahmad Sultan, better known as Sakhi Sarwar, at his shrine in the Dera Ghazi Khan district of Punjab province when the bombers struck, government administrator Iftikhar Sahu said.
He said one of the attackers namely Fida Hussain was arrested after his explosive vest partially detonated.
He was arrested along with a fourth militant who was seized before the attack. Sahu said most of the injured were shifted to the district hospital in Dera Ghazi Khan.
Taleban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan called a Western news agency to claim responsibility for the assault.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/world/article342369.ece
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Rebels fight see-saw battle with Qaddafi forces in key oil town
APR 04 2011
BENGHAZI, Libya: Libyan rebels skirmished with government forces around the strategic oil town of Brega on Sunday, making incremental gains backed by international air strikes in the see-saw desert battle for the country.
In contrast to the rapid gains and losses of territory that characterized the fighting over the past few weeks, the conflict has stabilized recently around the oil facilities of Brega, as better trained rebel soldiers join the fight and airstrikes blunt the government advantages in weapons and training.
“There have been skirmishes in Brega,” confirmed Rabia Al-Ahwat, 48, a rebel fighter, who was also a 30-year-veteran of the Libyan army. He said there were heavy airstrikes overnight as well against government forces. Those strikes have been key in halting the previously unstoppable government advances.
One of those airstrikes went awry late on Friday, however, and mistakenly killed 13 rebel fighters. Significantly, however, the opposition blamed mistakes within their own ranks for the incident in a sign of the importance of the international air campaign to their war effort.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article341591.ece
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UK diplomats in Libya to engage with rebels
APR 04 2011
LONDON - Britain said on Sunday it has sent a team of diplomats to Libya to meet with rebel leaders in the eastern town of Benghazi.
The delegation arrived on Saturday and is headed up by Christopher Prentice, Britain’s ambassador to Rome who also has served as the top British diplomat in Baghdad.
“It will build on the work of the previous team and seek to establish further information about the Interim National Council, its aims and more broadly what is happening in Libya,” the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said in a statement.
A team of British diplomats, which was reported to have included special forces soldiers, was captured by rebels in Benghazi in early March before being released and returned to Britain.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/international/2011/April/international_April142.xml§ion=international&col=
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Burqa dilemma for Afghanistan’s women skiers
APR 04 2011
KHOSHKAK: Villagers in a tiny mountain hamlet in Afghanistan’s Bamiyan Valley saw a remarkable thing recently — a group of women putting on skis.
The men and children of Khoshak, tucked at the snow-covered foot of the Koh-e-Baba peaks, could hardly tear their eyes off the 10 women in headscarves and long coats laughing as they wrestled with their poles and bindings.
Here most women won’t even leave the house without a full veil covering their faces.
“Women skiing? I’m against it if they do it without the burqa,” declared Afzal, as he fingered his prayer beads, clearly unconvinced by what he called this “Western thing”.
Nando Rollando, an Italian instructor charged by the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) with running the first skiing lessons the area has ever seen, expected this kind of resistance.
He had no trouble finding a dozen or so local boys keen to tackle the slopes, but when he suggested doing a special lesson for women with the local UN mission, he was met with reluctance, even among his colleagues.
“One of them told me he would send his son to ski but not his daughter.
That dampened my enthusiasm,” he said.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/2011/04/03/burqa-dilemma-for-afghanistans-women-skiers.html
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1001 inventions: exhibit helps people discover muslim heritage throughout our world
APR 04 2011
The story of “One Thousand and One Nights” helped shape a certain stereotypical understanding of Islamic culture here in the West. Now an exhibition called “1001 Inventions: Muslim Heritage in Our World,” which opened in December 2010 in New York Hall of Science, focuses on the reality — the period when Muslims’ sphere of influence stretched from China to Spain for hundreds of centuries.
Highlighting what organizers say is a forgotten period of history, “1001 Inventions” is a global educational initiative that promotes awareness of a thousand years of scientific and cultural achievements from Muslim civilization from the 7th century onwards, and shows how those contributions helped build the foundations of our modern world.
Originally launched in the United Kingdom in March 2006, 1001 Inventions was created by the Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilization, FSTC, a British based non-profit, non-religious and academic organization.
Its focus is to connect with the viewing public through educational media and interactive global exhibitions, and to focus on the shared cultural and technological inheritance of humanity between the West and the Muslim world, Peter Fell, Senior Adviser to the Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilization, told Arab News in a phone interview from New York.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/world/article342094.ece
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Saleh rejects fresh opposition offer
APR 04 2011
SANAA: Yemen’s defiant leader Ali Abdullah Saleh rejected a fresh offer from the opposition for a peaceful transition of power to end the current crisis as two people were killed and hundreds injured when police used live rounds, tear gas and batons to try to break up protests on Sunday.
The two dead were among around 10 people hit by bullets in the violence in Taiz, south of the capital, where doctors said dozens were wounded. Hundreds were treated for tear gas inhalation.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article342405.ece
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5,080 people charged with terrorism
APR 04 2011
RIYADH: Five thousand and eighty people have been charged with terrorism-related crimes and 1,612 of them sentenced to several years in prison by a Saudi court, the Ministry of Interior announced Saturday.
"The fair judicial process in these cases reflects the Kingdom's resolve to root out terrorism from its soil, and it also reflects the strong pledge made by Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior Prince Naif to eliminate this evil," said Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, adding that those convicted belonged to "deviant groups' and were involved in "terror acts or in inciting terrorist acts."
Commenting on the reports released by the Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution (BIP), Al-Turki said another 2,215 cases of suspects have been sent to court for trial. Six hundred and sixteen cases are still under investigation, he added.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article340986.ece
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Al-Romaidan takes place of Al-Ghamdi as Makkah Haia chief
APR 04 2011
JEDDAH: Makkah chief of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Haia) Sheikh Ahmad Al-Ghamdi has been sacked and on Saturday was replaced by Sheikh Abdullah Al-Romaidan.
The members of the Haia office learned about the change only when the new chairman came to the office as the new chief, according to reliable sources.
Al-Ghamdi said he received the dismissal order by telephone from an official of the Haia head office in Riyadh.
He said he did not know why he was harassed by dismissal orders and reports of suspension and arrest over the past year.
Al-Ghamdi triggered a public outcry in the conservative Saudi society when he wrote a research paper on the hotly debated issue of gender mixing. He said that it is not against Islam for men and women to mix.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article340948.ece
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UAE forces storm hijacked ship, detain pirates
APR 04 2011
DUBAI: United Arab Emirates special forces stormed a cargo ship hijacked in the Arabian Sea, freeing the crew and detaining the pirates on Saturday, the official news agency WAM said.
The bulk carrier MV Arrilah-1 came under attack at dawn Friday while en route from Australia to Dubai’s Jebel Ali port, according to the WAM news agency.
The agency said Saturday the UAE’s special forces, backed by the air force, regained control of the ship off the coast of neighboring Oman. The pirates surrendered as the troops boarded the UAE-flagged ship, which is owned by the Abu Dhabi National Tanker Company.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article340875.ece
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Goldstone has succumbed to Israeli pressure’
APR 04 2011
RAMALLAH: The Palestinian political echelon on Sunday criticized the regret expressed by Judge Richard Goldstone over the critical report he authored on the 2008-2009 Israeli large scale military operation on Gaza Strip.
Nabil Shaath, a member of Fatah’s Central Committee, said that Goldstone apparently succumbed to pressure because he could no longer bear the terror directed against him. “You cannot exempt Israel from the crimes it committed in Gaza,” Shaath said.
Hamas dismissed Goldstone’s “regrets” expressed in a Friday Washington Post op-ed article.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article342317.ece
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Four Iranian police killed in border attack
APR 04 2011
TEHRAN: Four Iranian border guards were killed and five wounded by a grenade attack on their post at a city in the Kurdistan region that borders Iraq, state television reported late on Saturday.
The report said the attack happened on Friday night in the city of Marivan. “Unidentified armed people threw a grenade into the police office,” it said.
On March 25, news agencies reported two policemen were shot dead and three other people wounded in two “terrorist” shootings in the nearby city of Sanandaj.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article341657.ece
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Syrian president appoints ex-minister to form govt
APR 04 2011
BEIRUT: State-run Syrian television says the president has appointed a former minister to form a new government.
President Bashar Assad issued a decree Sunday appointing Adel Safar, the agricultural minister in the resigned government, to form a new Cabinet.
Assad fired his Cabinet last week in an attempt to appease protesters demanding reforms.
An extraordinary wave of protests has proved the most serious challenge yet to Assad’s 11-year rule.
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article341709.ece
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Israel urges UN to cancel Gaza war crimes report
APR 04 2011
JERUSALEM: Israel on Saturday called on the UN to cancel a report which said it had committed war crimes during its December 2008-January 2009 Gaza offensive, after its author said he may have been wrong.
South African jurist Richard Goldstone chaired a fact-finding mission which in a 2009 report to the UN Human Rights Council said both Israel and Hamas were guilty of war crimes in the conflict.
Goldstone wrote in a Washington Post column published on Friday: “If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a different document.” About 1,400 Palestinians, including hundreds of civilians, and 13 Israelis were killed in the devastating war that was launched with Israel’s declared aim of ending cross-border rocket fire from Palestinian fighters.
Israel refused to cooperate with Goldstone’s mission and condemned his report as distorted and biased.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article340897.ece
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Libyan rebels seek more coalition air strikes despite mistaken attack
APR 04 2011
EAST OF BREGA/BENGHAZI, Libya: A NATO-led air strike killed 13 Libyan rebels, a rebel spokesman said on Saturday, but their leaders called for continued raids on Muammar Qaddafi’s forces despite the “regrettable incident.”
In the rebel capital of Benghazi the anti-Qaddafi council also named a “crisis team,” including the former Libyan interior minister as the armed forces chief of staff, to run parts of the country it holds in its struggle to topple Qaddafi.
The 13 fighters died on Friday night in an increasingly chaotic battle over the oil town of Brega with Qaddafi’s troops, who have reversed a rebel advance on the coastal road linking their eastern stronghold with western Libya.
Hundreds of mostly young, inexperienced volunteers were seen fleeing east from Brega toward the town of Ajdabiyah after coming under heavy mortar and machinegun fire.
A contingent of more experienced and better organized rebel units initially held their ground in Brega, but with most journalists forced east, it was unclear whether they had remained inside the town or had pulled back into the desert.
A Reuters correspondent visiting the scene of the air strike saw at least four burnt-out vehicles including an ambulance by the side of the road near the eastern entrance to the town.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article340342.ece
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Qaddafi's foes seek democracy, say official
APR 04 2011
BENGHAZI, Libya: The Libyan rebel movement that controls the country’s eastern half wants to install a parliamentary democracy across the country once they topple the regime of longtime ruler Muammar Qaddafi, a top rebel official said Sunday.
Abdel-Hafidh Ghoga, vice chairman of the National Provisional Council told The Associated Press that the government established after Qaddafi’s fall would reject all forms of terrorism and extremism.
“The Libyans as a whole, and I am one of them, want a civilian democracy, not dictatorship, not tribalism and not one based on violence or terrorism,” he said.
The council was formed to represent the opposition the cities of the east shook off control of the central government in a series of popular uprisings.
Rebel forces — defected army units and armed civilians — have since seized much of Libya’s eastern coast, but have been unable to push westward in the face of Qaddafi’s superior forces.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article341869.ece
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Libyan rebels reorganize ranks amid setbacks
APR 04 2011
BREGA, Libya: Libyan rebels put their best troops in to battle Muammar Qaddafi’s forces for the eastern oil town of Brega on Sunday while Western warplanes flew overhead and the sound of explosions ripped through the air.
Libya’s civil war is in danger of getting bogged down in a stalemate as neither Qaddafi’s troops, tanks and artillery, nor the chaotic rebel force is able to gain the upper hand, despite Western air power effectively aiding the insurgents.
The rebels are attempting to put their house in order, naming a “crisis team” with the former interior minister as the armed forces chief of staff, to try to run parts of Libya it holds and reorganizing their military forces.
Outside Brega, better rebel discipline was already in evidence on Sunday with the less disciplined volunteers, and journalists, kept several kilometers east of the front. The insurgents have also deployed heavier weapons.
The sound of explosions and machinegun fire came from the town, a sparsely populated settlement spread over more than 25 km (15 miles), as warplanes flew over, but it was not clear if the jets had launched air strikes on Qaddafi’s positions.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article341924.ece
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GCC denounces Iran’s meddling
APR 04 2011
RIYADH - The GCC Ministerial Council has expressed concern over Iran’s ongoing interference in the GCC countries’ internal affairs by conspiring against their national security and sowing communal sedition among their citizens, in an apparent violation of these countries’ sovereignty and independence good neighbourliness principles, international laws and conventions and the UN and OIC charters.
The Council also denounced Iran’s flagrant interference in the internal affairs of Kuwait by planting espionage networks in its territories and attempting to undermine its security, stability and interests of its citizens. It praised the efficiency of Kuwait’s security forces and pledged support to all measures Kuwait had taken to protect its national security.
The Council also welcomed the return to calm in Bahrain and lauded the wisdom of its leadership. It condemned the Iranian interference in the Kingdom’s internal affairs and reiterated legitimacy of the Peninsula Shield forces presence there, on the basis of joint defence treaty among the GCC countries which forms the legal foundation for that presence.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle09.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2011/April/middleeast_April49.xml§ion=middleeast
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Coalition 'friendly fire' kills 13 Libyan rebels
APR 04 2011
EAST OF BREGA/BENGHAZI - A NATO-led air strike killed 13 Libyan rebels, a rebel spokesman said on Saturday, but their leaders called for continued raids on Muammar Gaddafi’s forces despite the “regrettable incident”.
In the rebel capital of Benghazi the anti-Gaddafi council also named a “crisis team”, including the former Libyan interior minister as the armed forces chief of staff, to run parts of the country it holds in its struggle to topple Gaddafi.
The 13 fighters died on Friday night in an increasingly chaotic battle over the oil town of Brega with Gaddafi’s troops, who have reversed a rebel advance on the coastal road linking their eastern stronghold with western Libya.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/international/2011/April/international_April120.xml§ion=international&col=
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Egypt revolution fortunes swing back up despite Brotherhood backtracking
APR 04 2011
After the success of the “Save the Revolution” Friday on April 1, revolutionaries have given the government one week to fulfill their demands and warned that if they don’t things will “escalate,’ next Friday.
“I don’t want to reveal exactly what we are planning, but we will take matters to another level and the situation will definitely escalate,” says Amr Aly, a member of the 6th of April Movement.
Last Friday, an estimated 100,000 protesters demonstrated in Tahrir Square. The protest was considered the first large scale demonstration since the armed forces emptied the square on March 9, followed by an anti-protest law on March 20, which banned protests, strikes and sit-ins.
A subsequent call by a number of opposition movements for a million person march to protest the law on Friday, March 22, failed to gain momentum with only a few thousand protesters making it to Tahrir Square and the Radio and TV headquarters in Maspero. This led many to question if the revolution has finally lost steam. But with the appearance of thousands of protesters in Tahrir last Friday, revolutionaries feel that they are gaining the upper hand once again.
Full report at:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/9204/Egypt/Politics-/Egypt-revolution-fortunes-swing-back-up-despite-Br.aspx
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Violence threatens Egyptian League resumption
APR 04 2011
Local team Zamalek were leading Tunisian visitors Club Africain 2-1 as the second round, second leg qualifier drew to a close and needed another goal to squeeze through on the away-goal rule, having lost 4-2 in Tunis two weeks ago.
The five-time African champions thought they had gotten that goal when an Ahmed Gaafar header landed in the net, only for the Egyptian to be ruled offside by the Algerian match officials, with television replays backing the decision.
This sparked a pitch invasion, initially, by a few Zamalek fans, but soon followed by several hundred. Track-suited security officials successfully raced in to protect the referee and his assistants before escorting them from the field.
African Champions League organisers seem likely to award the tie to Club Africain while Zamalek could face a variety of punishments, including a fine and being forced to stage African fixtures outside Cairo and behind closed doors, locking fans out.
Egypt had hoped to resume the 16-club national championship on 15 April after a three-month stoppage caused by the revolt that ousted long-time authoritarian ruler, Hosni Mubarak.
However, national football association president Samir Zaher announced that the decision would have to be reconsidered after what happened at the 75,000-seat Cairo Stadium late Saturday.
Full report at:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/~/NewsContent/6/51/9182/Sports/Egyptian-League/Violence-threatens-Egyptian-League-resumption.aspx
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Egypt's army rulers to meet Palestinian president
APR 04 2011
Egypt's military rulers will meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Thursday to seek ways to ease tension between his Fatah movement and its rival Hamas, Egypt's state news agency said Saturday.
Reconciling the rival movements running Palestinian affairs is seen as vital to any prospect of Palestinian statehood based on peace with Israel.
Abbas will hold "important talks" with Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Egyptian state news agency MENA said.
Fatah took part in US-sponsored direct talks with Israel last year, drawing condemnation from Hamas which seized Gaza from Fatah in 2007 and is hostile to the Jewish state.
Israel tightened a blockade on Gaza after Hamas took control there.
Egypt sponsored six months of talks between Hamas and Fatah in 2009 that led to a draft pact to form a national unity government.
Full report at:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/~/NewsContent/2/8/9157/World/Region/Egypts-army-rulers-to-meet-Palestinian-president-.aspx
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Israel considered Mubarak a "treasure", says foreign minister
APR 04 2011
Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil El-Araby says that Israel considered former President Mubarak a “treasure”.
El-Araby, speaking on the Ten PM programme with host Mona El-Shazly, yesterday evening, said that during the Mubarak era Israel felt that it could do as it pleased. He pointed out that this is no longer the case.
El-Araby added that the peace treaty Egypt has signed with Israel does not stipulate that the Jewish state should be given special treatment. He added that the Camp David Accords do not say that Egypt is obliged to sell petrol or gas to Israel at below market prices, adding that those who said they do either misunderstood the conditions of the accords or chose to misunderstand them to serve their personal interests.
Regarding Sinai, El-Araby assured Egyptians that it is not a demilitarised zone and that Egypt has forces in various sectors of the peninsula and that the area adjacent to Israel is protected by police forces.
Full report at:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/9148/Egypt/Politics-/Israel-considered-Mubarak-a-treasure,-says-foreign.aspx
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Israel to deploy four more 'Iron Dome' anti-rocket defences
APR 04 2011
Israel is planning to deploy four more batteries of its "Iron Dome" short-range missile defence system, Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Sunday.
Speaking on military radio, Barak said: "With the financial help of the Americans, we hope to equip ourselves with four new 'Iron Dome' batteries so we will have six in operation in the next two years."
He added that a second battery would soon be operational on the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip.
The first battery of the unique multi-million dollar system came into operation a week ago, stationed outside the southern city of Beersheva, in the Negev desert, just days after it was hit by several Grad rockets fired from the Gaza Strip amid a rise in tensions and tit-for-tat violence.
Full report at:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/9150/World/Region/Israel-to-deploy-four-more-Iron-Dome-antirocket-de.aspx
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UN's Gaza war report 'should be buried': Israel
APR 04 2011
Israel has called on the UN to cancel a report that said it possibly committed war crimes during its 2008-2009 military offensives in Gaza.
The report's author, South African judge Richard Goldstone, said on Friday that new accounts indicated Israel had not deliberately targeted civilians.
He said that if he had known what he knew now, "the Goldstone Report would have been a different document".
Israel's prime minister said the remark meant the report "should be buried".
Operation Cast Lead killed some 1,400 Palestinians, including hundreds of civilians, as well as 13 Israelis.
he Goldstone Report, published in September 2009, concluded that both the Israeli military and militants from the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which controls Gaza, had committed potential war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during the offensive.
The UN-appointed expert panel led by Mr Goldstone accused Israel of using disproportionate force, deliberately targeting civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure, and using people as human shields.
The report also accused Hamas of deliberately targeting civilians and trying to spread terror through by firing rockets at Israeli towns and cities.
Israel refused to co-operate with the investigation, accusing the panel of being biased, and rejected its accusations. It did, however, conduct independent investigations into more than 400 allegations of misconduct.
Full report at:
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=180425
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British boots on the ground in Libya strike
APR 04 2011
The United Kingdom will send a Royal Navy taskforce of 600 marines and at least six ships to Libya this week as part of a humanitarian mission to provide medical and food aid to rebel-held towns, the London-based Times reported on Sunday, without disclosing where it got the information.
The marines, who are due to fly out to Gibraltar later this week, will be used to protect ports where supplies will be unloaded, the newspaper reported in its paper edition. The ships in the taskforce, which are due to leave in the next two days, will include the landing platform Albion, the type-42 destroyer Liverpool and four support ships, the Times said.
Britain is also under pressure to double the number of Royal Air Force planes available to attack the Libyan army after Saturday’s withdrawal of U.S. combat aircraft, the newspaper reported, without citing anyone.
Full report at:
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=britain-to-send-600-navy-marines-to-libya-says-report-2011-04-03
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Yemen police 'shoot dead protester'
APR 04 2011
Yemeni police killed one protester and wounded scores of others when they opened fire on anti-government demonstrators in the city of Taez on Sunday, witnesses said.
"The man was shot in the chest while tearing up a poster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh," one witness said.
Others said that at least 250 protesters were injured, some with live bullets, when police fired tear gas and gunfire to disperse a protest heading to the governorate headquarters in Taez, some 200 kilometers south of the capital Sanaa.
Police continued to fire as security forces pushed back demonstrators to a square where they have been holding a sit-in as part of nationwide protests demanding that Saleh step down, witnesses said.
A member of parliament who did not want to be named charged that police were "attempting to storm the sit-in square."
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=yemen-police-shoot-dead-protester-2011-04-03
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Path of radiation leak at Japan plant unclear
APR 04 2011
Workers used a milky white dye Monday as they frantically tried to trace the path of highly radioactive water that is gushing from a tsunami-damaged Japanese nuclear plant and leaking into the ocean.
A crack in a maintenance pit was found over the weekend - the latest confirmation that radioactivity continues to spill into the environment. The leak is a symptom of the primary difficulty at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex: Radioactive water is pooling around the plant and preventing workers from powering up cooling systems that would stabilize overheating reactors.
Government officials conceded Sunday that it will likely be several months before the cooling systems are completely restored. And even after that happens, there will be years of work ahead to clean up the area around the complex and figure out what to do with it.
Full report at:
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=path-of-radiation-leak-at-japan-plant-unclear-2011-04-04
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Yemeni president urges opposition to end protest
APR 04 2011
Embattled Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh urged opposition yesterday to end protests demanding his departure, saying he was “willing" to discuss a peaceful transition of power.
Saleh called on the Common Forum opposition coalition to "end the crisis through calling off protests and removing roadblocks", in a meeting with representatives from the province of Taez.
"We are ready to discuss transferring power, but in peaceful and constitutional framework," he added to chants of "No concessions after today!"
His ruling party also said it had not received a proposed transition plan from opposition parties that envisages Saleh handing power to a vice president while steps are taken toward a national unity government and new elections.
"We haven't got it yet," an official said.
Saleh has received sustenance from the United States, which has talked openly of its concern over who might succeed a man they view as an ally who helped them contain al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a Yemen-based wing of the militant group.
Meanwhile, two Yemenis died and hundreds were hurt yesterday when police used live rounds, tear gas and batons to try to break up protests.
The two dead were among around 10 people hit by bullets in the violence in Taiz, south of the capital, where doctors said dozens were wounded, and that they were treating hundreds suffering tear gas inhalation.
Full report at:
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=180315
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Gaddafi forces shell town as rebels name ‘crisis team’
APR 04 2011
BREGA: Libyan rebels put their best troops in to battle Muammar Gaddafi’s forces for the eastern oil town of Brega on Sunday while Western warplanes flew overhead and the sound of explosions ripped through the air.
Libya’s civil war is in danger of getting bogged down in a stalemate as neither Gaddafi’s troops, tanks and artillery, nor the chaotic rebel force is able to gain the upper hand, despite Western air power effectively aiding the insurgents.
The rebels are, however, attempting to put their house in order, naming a ‘crisis team’ with the former interior minister as the armed forces chief of staff, to try to run parts of Libya it holds and reorganising their military forces.
Outside Brega, better rebel discipline was already in evidence on Sunday with the less disciplined volunteers, and journalists, kept several kilometers east of the front. The insurgents have also deployed heavier weapons.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\04\04\story_4-4-2011_pg7_6
URL: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamIslamicWorldNews_1.aspx?ArticleID=4394
10:06 PM
Moderate Islamist here
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