French ban on face-covering Islamic veil met with protests
Woman arrested over defying veil ban
French cops fear ban will be impossible to enforce
Libya 'risks becoming new Somalia'
India releases 39 Pakistani prisoners
Kandahar hijack money man Abdul Rauf caught in Chile?
US committed to improving ties with Pakistan: Munter
Pakistani-American sentenced for plotting US subway bombings
ISI chief meets CIA head and leaves Washington
Musharraf says his comeback plan is intact
El-Feki frontrunner to succeed Moussa for top Arab League post
Israeli FM: Ceasefire a mistake
Turkey considers Afghan peace role
African leaders in rebel talks after Gaddafi backs plan
No ceasefire without Gaddafi pullback: Libya rebels
Gaddafi forces flout international law
Anti-Qaddafi forces reject African cease-fire proposal
Libyan fighting goes on after peace bid fails
Libyan rebels clean up eastern battlefront town
Clinton urges Kadhafi to leave Libya
Rebels resort to guerrilla tactics in western Libya
NATO airstrikes help break attack on east Libya town
Palestinians to tell West they are ready for statehood
New Gaza flotilla ‘must be stopped’: Israel
Hamas can't set terms of truce,
Islamic enclave in Yemen shows militant risk
Mubarak to be questioned over violence, corruption
US disembarks 350 on terror suspicion
Protesters reject Gulf exit plan
Tensions cloud relations between Egypt's revolution and army
Egypt presents candidate for Arab League chief
President Sleiman: Taif needs some amendments
First five Lebanese deported from Bahrain
Safadi: Entire Lebanese view Israel as sole enemy
Russian envoy: We support Tribunal, Arab reforms
Cairo's pro-Gaza protests herald shifting attitude towards Israel
'Iron Dome' facilitates escalation of Israeli military operations
New Gaza flotilla 'must be stopped,' Israeli PM says
Hamas gives its conditions for Istanbul meeting with al-Fatah
Talks continue over Taliban office in Istanbul
Iranian students hurl firebombs at Saudi embassy
Bahrain frees 86 protesters
Yemen Saleh ready for power-transfer
Israeli travellers to India warned of possible terror attack
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
Photo: A armoured Pakistani police vehicle is seen on patrol in Peshawar.
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Gunfight in Pakistan kills 4: police
April 12, 2011
Three militants and a policeman were killed in a pre-dawn gunfight in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar on Monday, police said. More than 4,200 people have been killed across Pakistan in attacks blamed on Taliban and other Islamist extremist networks, concentrated in the northwest, since gove
rnment troops stormed a radical mosque in Islamabad in 2007.
Monday's clashes took place in the wealthy suburb of Hayatabad when a group of five militants attacked a police patrol with small machine guns and Kalashnikovs, police said.
"Three militants were killed during the exchange of fire. We also lost one of our policemen," Shafiullah Khan, a senior police officer, said.
Two militants managed to flee the scene, Khan added.
Khan said that police recovered five grenades, two Kalashnikovs, two small machine guns and explosives from the scene.
Mohammad Ijaz Khan, another senior police official, confirmed the incident and casualties.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/pakistan/Gunfight-in-Pakistan-kills-4-police/Article1-683820.aspx
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French ban on face-covering Islamic veil met with protests
April 12, 2011
France’s new ban on Islamic face veils was met with a burst of defiance Monday, as several women appeared veiled in front of Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral and two were detained for participating in an unauthorized protest.
The country on Monday became the world’s first to ban the veils anywhere in public, from outdoor marketplaces to the sidewalks and boutiques of the Champs-Elysees.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy set the wheels in motion for the ban nearly two years ago, saying the veils imprison women and contradict the secular nation’s values of dignity and equality. The ban enjoyed wide public support when it was approved by parliament last year.
Though only a very small minority of France’s at least 5 million Muslims wears the veil, many Muslims see the ban as a stigma against the country’s No. 2 religion. About a dozen people, including three women wearing niqab veils with just a slit for the eyes, staged a protest in front of Notre Dame on Monday, saying the ban is an affront to their freedom of expression and religion. Much larger crowds of police, journalists and tourists filled the square.
In theory at least, French officials can now slap fines on Muslim women who refuse orders to expose their faces when in public. “Today was not about arresting people because of wearing the veil. It was for not having respected the requirement to declare a demonstration,” said police spokesman Alexis Marsan.
Two women in niqabs, a woman wearing an Islamic headscarf that did not cover her face and a protest organizer were arrested, Marsan said.
Separately, businessman and activist Rachid Nekkaz said that he and a female friend wearing the niqab were arrested by police in front of Sarkozy’s Elysee Palace. “We wanted to be fined for wearing the niqab, but the police didn’t want to issue a fine,” said Nekkaz, who has promised to auction off a 2-million-euro property to start a fund to pay fines issued to veil-wearers.
It was unclear whether the women were fined for wearing a veil. The law says veiled women risk a 150-euro ($215) fine or having to take special citizenship classes, though not jail time. People who force women to don a veil are subject to up to a year in prison and a 30,000-euro ($43,000) fine – possibly twice that if the veiled person is a minor.
Authorities estimate at most 2,000 women in France wear the outlawed veils. France’s Muslims number at least 5 million, the largest such population in Western Europe. The ban affects women who wear the niqab, which has just a slit for the eyes, and the burqa, which has a mesh screen over the eyes.
The new law was immediately broken by a young woman from the southern city of Avignon, who has become the media symbol of France’s tiny community of niqab wearers.
“I had been invited to take part in a television program, which I am going to, and I find that today is April 11, the first day of the application of the ban,” Kenza Drider, 32, told reporters before boarding a train for Paris. Drider called the ban racist and said she was planning to attend Monday’s protest. Right before the ban came into effect, she said she would continue to go “shopping, to the post office and to city hall if necessary. I will under no circumstance stop wearing my veil.”
“If I am warned verbally and must appear before the local prosecutor.... I will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights,” she said, calling the veil, for her, “a submission to God.”
The ban had strong support from leading parties on the left and right in a country that separated church and state with a 1905 law but has struggled in recent years to integrate a growing Muslim population.
Police on Saturday arrested 61 people – including 19 women – for attempting to hold an outlawed Paris protest against the pending ban on face-covering Islamic veils. Many Muslims have also felt stigmatized by a 2004 law that banned Islamic headscarves in classrooms.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=france-bans-face-covering-islamic-veil-2011-04-11
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Woman arrested over defying veil ban
April 12, 2011
AVIGNON: A young woman left the southern French city of Avignon for Paris wearing a niqab to defy a ban on full-face veils in public places on the first day it came into force.
"I had been invited to take part in a television programme which I am going for and I find that today is April 11, the first day of the application of the ban," Kenza Drider, 32, told reporters before boarding a train for Paris on Monday.
"This law infringes my European rights, I cannot but defend them that is to say my freedom to come and go and my religious freedom," the voluntary worker said.
"This law breaches these rights," the mother of four said.
France -- home to Europe's biggest Muslim population -- is the first European country to risk stirring social tensions by putting one into practice ban on the burqa and the niqab.
Drider's husband Allal said: "According to this law, my wife would have to remain cloistered at home, do you find that normal?
"She has been wearing a veil for 13 years and it has not shocked anyone," he added.
The law comes into effect at an already fraught moment in relations between the state and France's Muslim minority, with President Nicolas Sarkozy accused of stigmatising Islam to win back votes from a resurgent far right.
French officials estimate that only around 2, 000 women, from a total Muslim population estimated at between four and six million, wear the full-face veils that are traditional in parts of Arabia and South Asia.
http://www.thenews.jang.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=14013
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French cops fear ban will be impossible to enforce
April 12, 2011
PARIS: Protesters turned up in niqabs and burqas after the French ban on full-face face coverings came into effect on Monday. One of those arrested in front of Notre Dame was 32-year-old Kenza Drider from the southern city of Avignon, who was due to appear on television and has become a symbol of France's tiny community of niqab wearers.
"This law infringes my European rights, I cannot but defend them, that is to say my freedom to come and go and my religious freedom," Drider told reporters as she boarded a train for Paris before the protest. Many French police fear the law will be impossible to enforce, since they have not been empowered to use force to remove head coverings, and could face resistance in already tense immigrant districts.
"The law will be infinitely difficult to enforce, and will be infinitely rarely enforced," said Manuel Roux, deputy head of a union representing local police chiefs. "It's not for the police to demonstrate zeal," he said, predicting that when patrol officers meet veiled women they will simply try to explain the law to them and to persuade them to remove their face covering.
"If they refuse, that's when things get complicated. We have no power to force them," he said. "I can't begin to imagine we're going to pay any attention to a veiled woman in a sensitive area, where men are proud."
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Libya 'risks becoming new Somalia'
April 12, 2011
Moussa Koussa
The most high-profile minister to flee Libya has warned against the risks of civil war and the possibility of his country becoming "a new Somalia".
Speaking publicly for the first time since coming to the UK, Moussa Koussa told the BBC that the unity of Libya was essential to any settlement.
His comments came after rebels rejected an African Union ceasefire proposal.
The AU says Col Muammar Gaddafi has accepted the plan, but on Monday his forces attacked the city of Misrata.
After eight weeks of fighting, pro-Gaddafi forces have recently pushed rebels back towards the east along Libya's northern coast, but Nato has thwarted their advance.
Koussa was Col Muammar Gaddafi's foreign minister until 12 days ago, when he fled to London.
BBC's security correspondent Gordon Corera said he was told Koussa was not ready to be interviewed, but would give a prepared statement.
Full report at:
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/latest_news.php?nid=29313
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India releases 39 Pakistani prisoners
April 12, 2011
A group of 39 Pakistani prisoners held in India returned home yesterday, the second high-profile prisoner release in days that underscores an easing of tensions between the two rivals.
"We have received 39 Pakistani prisoners from India," a spokesman for Pakistan's paramilitary Rangers, Mehboob Hussain, told AFP.
"We are checking their documents and will send them to their respective places," he added, describing the releases as a "goodwill gesture".
Indian authorities earlier escorted the Pakistanis, who include two women, to a border transit post in the northern city of Amritsar from where they left for home
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=181440
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Kandahar hijack money man Abdul Rauf caught in Chile?
April 12, 2011
A man suspected to be Pakistani national Abdul Rauf, accused of financing and coordinating the December 24, 1999 hijacking of an Indian Airlines aircraft IC-814, was detained in Chile last week for possessing a fake visa. Alerted by Interpol, the CBI will send a team to Chile on Tuesday to verify wh
ether the man is Rauf, alias Rauf Alvi. Interpol issued a red-corner notice against Rauf in 2000 and declared a cash award of Rs 10 lakh on information leading to his arrest.
The Indian agencies, however, don’t have any photograph or fingerprints to identify Rauf, according to sources in the CBI.
Full report at:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Kandahar-hijack-money-man-Abdul-Rauf-caught-in-Chile/H1-Article1-683974.aspx
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US committed to improving ties with Pakistan: Munter
April 12, 2011
ISLAMABAD: The United States is committed to improving its relationship with Pakistan, despite tensions over the shooting deaths of two Pakistanis by a CIA contractor, said US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter in a public speech on Monday. Speaking at a seminar titled “Pakistan-US: A Way Forward”, jointly organised by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) and the US embassy, Munter spoke of a “renewal” in Pakistan-US relations and noted America’s many humanitarian programmes in the country. “We are committed to working together in partnership with Pakistan in the short, medium, and long-term to achieve a strong and successful Pakistan.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\04\12\story_12-4-2011_pg1_5
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Pakistani-American sentenced for plotting US subway bombings
April 12, 2011
WASHINGTON: A Pakistani-American man was sentenced Monday to 23 years in prison for plotting attacks on subway stations around the US capital with people he believed were Al-Qaeda affiliates.
Farooque Ahmed, a naturalised US citizen who lived in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, admitted photographing stations in 2010 to plan simultaneous bomb attacks.
The 35-year-old pleaded guilty to charges of attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organisation and collecting information to assist in planning a terrorist attack, US officials said.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/2011/04/12/pakistani-american-sentenced-for-plotting-us-subway-bombings.html
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ISI chief meets CIA head and leaves Washington
April 12, 2011
WASHINGTON: Pakistan's ISI chief Lt General Ahmed Shuja Pasha held an important meeting with the CIA chief on Monday but apparently cut short his visit and was leaving the US capital on Monday night.
A Pakistan Embassy official confirmed that Gen Pasha was scheduled to leave Monday night although earlier reports had indicated he may be staying in Washington for three days and leave on April 13.
There was no official word from the Pakistani side but the New York Times quoted a CIA spokesman, George Little, saying that the two spy chiefs had held "productive" meetings and that the relationship between the two services "remains on solid footing."
Political analysts were, however, a little surprised that Gen Pasha, who had arrived on Sunday evening, was leaving the US capital in just about 24 hours. There was no word of his meetings, if any, with other senior US leaders, including the Defence Secretary.
"The United States and Pakistan share a wide range of mutual interests," the CIA spokesman said, "and today's exchange emphasized the need to continue to work closely together, including on our common fight against terrorist networks that threaten both countries."
Full report at:
http://www.thenews.jang.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=14021
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Musharraf says his comeback plan is intact
April 12, 2011
Rezaul H Laskar
Dismissing reports that he has dropped plans to return to Pakistan after the military here refused to provide him extra security, former President Pervez Musharraf has said he had never made such a request to the Army and insisted that his plans to come back were intact.
“My comeback plans are very much intact. I don’t need any extra measures for my protection and the Government, not the Army, is responsible for that,” Musharraf, who lives in self-exile in Britain, told The Express Tribune newspaper.
Full report at:
http://www.dailypioneer.com/330945/Musharraf-says-his-comeback-plan-is-intact.html
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El-Feki frontrunner to succeed Moussa for top Arab League post
April 12, 2011
Egypt’s foreign ministry announced that Mostafa El-Feki has been nominated for the ??post of secretary-general of the Arab League. The elections are set to take place mid-?May.?
Amr Moussa currently holds the prestigious post but has confirmed he will not run for another term as he has declared his intent to run in Egypt’s upcoming presidential elections.
Full report at:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/~/NewsContent/1/64/9800/Egypt/Politics-/ElFeki-frontrunner-to-succeed-Moussa-for-top-Arab-.aspx
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Israeli FM: Ceasefire a mistake
April 12, 2011
Israel's foreign minister says that working toward a cease fire with Hamas is a "grave mistake" and that his country should try to topple the militant Gaza governors instead.
Avigdor Lieberman's remarks come as international mediators try to halt new fighting between Israel and Gaza that escalated dramatically last week to the most intense confrontation between the two since Israel's war in the strip in late December 2008.
After a lull overnight, Lieberman told Israel Radio on Monday that Hamas exploits calm to build its fighting force and smuggle in weapons to use against Israel.
The military says Palestinians have fired more than 130 rockets and mortar shells into southern Israel, most of which have landed in empty spaces, since Thursday. Israeli offensives have killed at least 19 Palestinians.
The Israeli press was on Monday pessimistic about the durability of the unwritten ceasefire between the Israelis and Hamas which appeared to have taken hold.
"Until the next time..." was the headline of a commentary piece in the liberal Haaretz newspaper which saw the situation as still volatile, compared with the truce that followed Israel's bloody 22-day offensive on Gaza which began at the end of December 2008.
"Calm may be restored gradually since mutual deterrence appears to be working, at least partially," wrote Amos Harel. "However an informal ceasefire, even if it is achieved, will be less stable than the situation that dominated relations between the two sides after Operation Cast Lead in early 2009."
A ceasefire was floated by both sides on Sunday and by the end of the day, the situation had calmed significantly for the first time since Thursday, when an anti-tank missile slammed into an Israeli school bus prompting a wave of retaliatory air strikes.
Full report at:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/9773/World/Region/Israeli-FM-Ceasefire-a-mistake.aspx
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Turkey considers Afghan peace role
April 12, 2011
ANKARA – Turkey said Monday it is willing to host a political office for Taliban militants from Afghanistan in order to promote talks to end the war there, and an Afghan official said Turkish planning is already in progress.
Turkey contributes troops to NATO's Afghan operation, albeit in a noncombat role, and it has sought to mediate as a regional power in a variety of conflicts beyond its borders. However, hardline elements of the Taliban, whose leaders are based in southwest Pakistan, have publicly derided Afghan government efforts to promote peace and say no talks are possible until foreign forces leave Afghan soil.
A possible role for Turkey, the largest Muslim voice in NATO, in Afghan peace efforts would fit U.S.-backed initiatives to seek a political solution to the nearly decade-old insurgency amid a realization that military force alone is unlikely to end it.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that he talked last month about hosting a Taliban office with Burhanuddin Rabbani, a visiting former president of Afghanistan who leads a peace council set up by the Afghan government to work toward a political solution.
Full report at:
http://dailymailnews.com/0411/12/FrontPage/index.php?id=8
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African leaders in rebel talks after Gaddafi backs plan
April 12, 2011
A delegation of African heads of state met Libyan rebel leaders in their stronghold of Benghazi on Monday to try to sell a peace plan already accepted by Moamer Kadhafi's regime.
But the rebels were demanding that any ceasefire should require the withdrawal of government troops from the streets and freedom of expression.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Kadhafi and his sons should play no role in Libyan politics when a resolution is found to the current conflict.
In Ajbadiya, rebels buried the bodies of the last of at least 35 Kadhafi loyalists as they consolidated their hold on the key crossroads town, recaptured in fierce fighting at the weekend.
Full report at:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/~/NewsContent/2/8/9791/World/Region/African-leaders-in-rebel-talks-after-Gaddafi-backs.aspx
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No ceasefire without Gaddafi pullback: Libya rebels
April 12, 2011
Libyan rebels said Monday that any ceasefire would require the withdrawal of government troops from the streets and freedom of expression, as African mediators were due in their stronghold.
"The people must be allowed to go into the streets to express their opinion and the soldiers must return to their barracks," Shamsiddin Abdulmolah, a spokesman for the rebels' Transitional National Council, told AFP. "If people are free to come out and demonstrate in Tripoli, then that's it. I imagine all of Libya will be liberated within moments."
He also demanded the release of hundreds of people who have gone missing since the outbreak of the popular uprising and are believed to be held by Gaddafi's forces.
He said high-level African Union mediators, who met government officials in the capital the day before, were expected to arrive in the rebel stronghold city of Benghazi within hours.
Full report at:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/9762/World/Region/No-ceasefire-without-Gaddafi-pullback-Libya-rebels.aspx
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Gaddafi forces flout international law
April 12, 2011
Human Rights Watch said on Monday indiscriminate attacks on civilians trapped in the Libyan city of Misrata by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi violate international law.
Hospitals in Libya's third city had documented about 250 deaths over the past month, most of them civilians, as government troops fight for control of the last big rebel stronghold in the west of Libya, the group said.
"We've heard disturbing accounts of shelling and shooting at a clinic and in populated areas, killing civilians where no battle was raging," Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
Under international law, warring factions are not allowed to target civilians or carry out assaults that do not discriminate between civilians and combatants, the New York-based organisation said.
Full report at:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/9805/World/Region/Gaddafi-forces-flout-international-law.aspx
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Anti-Qaddafi forces reject African cease-fire proposal
April 12, 2011
BENGHAZI, Libya: Libyan rebels, backed forcefully by European leaders, rejected a cease-fire proposal by African mediators on Monday because it did not insist that Muammar Qaddafi relinquish power.
A day after an announcement that the Libyan leader had accepted the truce, a doctor in rebel-held Misrata said Qaddafi’s forces battered that western city and its Mediterranean port with artillery fire that killed six people.
“He is the biggest lie in the history of Libya,” said Jilal Tajouri, 42, who joined more than 1,000 flag-waving protesters in the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi as the African Union delegation arrived.
“All the people in Libya agree on this: Qaddafi and all his sons must leave Libya so we can have democracy,” Tajouri said, echoing the opposition of other demonstrators to any dealmaking while Qaddafi remains in power.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article354548.ece
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Libyan fighting goes on after peace bid fails
12 April 2011
TRIPOLI - An African Union plan to halt Libya’s civil war collapsed, and rebels said the increasingly bloody siege of the city of Misrata by Muammar Gaddafi’s troops made talk of a ceasefire meaningless.
The Red Cross said it was opening a Tripoli office and would send a team to Misrata to help civilians trapped by fighting, but one of Gaddafi’s ministers warned any aid operation involving foreign troops would be seen as a declaration of war.
Rebel leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil said after talks with the AU delegation in Benghazi in the rebel-held east on Monday:
“The African Union initiative does not include the departure of Gaddafi and his sons from the Libyan political scene, therefore it is outdated.” Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s son Saif quickly dismissed the idea of his father stepping down.
“We want new blood, that’s what we want for Libya’s future. But to talk of (Gaddafi) leaving, that’s truly ridiculous,” he told French news channel BFM TV.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle09.asp?xfile=data/international/2011/April/international_April521.xml§ion=international
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Libyan rebels clean up eastern battlefront town
April 12, 2011
AJDABIYAH, Libya - Libyan rebels cleared charred bodies and the shells of pick-up trucks from the strategic eastern town of Ajdabiyah on Monday, a day after they pushed out troops loyal to Muammar Gaddafi in a fierce battle.
Helped by NATO air strikes, opposition fighters took full control of the town, about 150 km (90 miles) from their coastal stronghold of Benghazi, after battling Gaddafi loyalists with rockets and machine guns on Saturday and Sunday.
NATO says it destroyed 11 of Gaddafi’s tanks outside Ajdabiyah on Libya’s Mediterranean coast.
The rebels are now upbeat about the air support from NATO after previously complaining it was taking too long to respond to government attacks. “We have been able to advance because of the air strikes,” said rebel Belgassim El-Awami.
After Sunday’s pitched battle for Ajdabiyah there were only light skirmishes on Monday on the road to the oil port of Brega, 70 km (45 miles) further west.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle09.asp?xfile=data/international/2011/April/international_April506.xml§ion=international
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Clinton urges Kadhafi to leave Libya
April 12, 2011
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton renewed calls Monday for Colonel Moamer Kadhafi to step down from power and leave Libya but stopped short of making it a non-negotiable demand.
Clinton also appeared open to a peace deal that the African Union (AU) said it has reached with Colonel Kadhafi, saying it needed full details of the plan before commenting further.
Full report at:
http://www.thenews.jang.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=14016
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Rebels resort to guerrilla tactics in western Libya
April 12, 2011
TRIPOLI - Overwhelmed by the superior firepower of Muammar Gaddafi’s troops, opposition fighters in western Libya are resorting increasingly to guerrilla tactics in their campaign to topple the veteran leader.
Unlike eastern Libya, where rebels hold many coastal cities, the west of the country remains firmly under Gaddafi’s control.
The proximity to the nerve centre of Gaddafi’s powerful military apparatus in the capital Tripoli makes it hard for fragmented dissenters to organise their actions into a movement.
But that may now be changing. Tripoli residents said there have been several attacks on army checkpoints and a police station in the past week, and gunfights can be heard at night.
Full report at:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle09.asp?xfile=data/international/2011/April/international_April500.xml§ion=international
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NATO airstrikes help break attack on east Libya town
April 12, 2011
AJDABIYAH: NATO airstrikes helped stop a major assault by Libyan forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi on the rebel-held town of Ajdabiyah on Sunday.
NATO said it had hit 11 tanks outside the eastern town and six burned-out hulks could be seen on its western approaches. A reporter saw 15 charred bodies scattered around two sites about 300 metres apart.
NATO said it also destroyed 14 Gaddafi tanks on the outskirts of Misrata, a lone rebel bastion in western Libya, which has been under siege for six weeks and where conditions for civilians are said to be desperate.
Earlier on Sunday, the rebels seemed to be losing control of Ajdabiyah after the heaviest government assault for at least a week. The attack, which began on Saturday, included a fierce artillery and rocket bombardment while some of Gaddafi�s forces, including snipers, penetrated the town. Rebels had for several hours cowered in alleyways in the town, which is gateway to their stronghold city of Benghazi 150 kilometres up the Mediterranean coast to the north.
Full report at:
http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?238110
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Palestinians to tell West they are ready for statehood
April 12, 2011
RAMALLAH, West Bank: The Palestinians are ready for statehood, according to a report to be presented to major aid donor countries in Brussels this week by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
He will present facts and figures to show how his Palestinian Authority has used hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign assistance over the past two years to create justice, education, energy, health, water, security and housing services.
“I believe that our governing institutions have now reached a high state of readiness to assume all the responsibilities that will come with full sovereignty on the entire Palestinian occupied territory,” Fayyad says in the 63-page document.
But he underlines that unless Israel's military occupation comes to an end, these accomplishments can only achieve so much.
“Without a change to the status quo, the positive impact of internal reforms to build a strong and healthy economy will be limited in both scope and sustainability,” the report says.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article354729.ece
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New Gaza flotilla ‘must be stopped’: Israel
April 12, 2011
JERUSALEM: The planned dispatch of a flotilla of ships attempting to break the blockade on Gaza “must be stopped,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a group of European representatives on Monday.
Speaking at a lunch with EU heads of mission in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said stopping the flotilla from heading to the coastal territory was a “common interest” for Israel and Europe.
“We are aware that there is an attempted provocation in May, possibly early June of a another so-called flotilla, not a peace flotilla but a provocation, a deliberate provocation to seek to ignite this part of the Middle East,” he said.
“I think it’s in your and our common interest, and I think it’s something that you should… transmit to your governments, that this flotilla must be stopped.” Activists from 25 countries plan to sail around 15 ships to Gaza in May to mark the first anniversary of a smaller flotilla that attempted to sail to the territory last year but was intercepted by Israeli troops.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/2011/04/11/new-gaza-flotilla-%E2%80%98must-be-stopped%E2%80%99-israel.html
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Hamas can't set terms of truce,
April 12, 2011
Israel must not let the Gaza Strip's Islamist Hamas rulers dictate terms of a ceasefire after a recent escalation of fighting, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said yesterday.
Calm returned to Gaza Strip and southern Israel overnight after four days of cross-border violence in which 19 Palestinians died, with United Nations and Egyptian mediators having helped to negotiate a truce.
Lieberman, who leads the ultranationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party, a main coalition partner in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, told Israel Radio that Hamas would use any lull to regroup before another round of fighting.
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=181448
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Islamic enclave in Yemen shows militant risk
April 12, 2011
SANAA: Islamic radicals have long held sway in the southern Yemeni town of Jaar. They turned it into a Taliban-style microstate, where the movie theater was converted into a mosque, men and women are banned from mingling in public and drinking alcohol is punishable by 100 lashes.
In recent weeks, they consolidated their authority in Jaar. As Yemen was thrown into turmoil by protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, armed Islamic radicals pushed out the military units based in the mountain town of 50,000 people and took over without a shot, seizing a neighboring town as well.
The situation in Jaar offers a worst case scenario of what could happen if Saleh’s rule crumbles: Islamic militants will become bolder and move to take advantage of the vacuum of power in the Arab world’s poorest country.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/2011/04/11/islamic-enclave-in-yemen-shows-militant-risk.html
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Mubarak to be questioned over violence, corruption
April 12, 2011
CAIRO: Bowing to demands by protesters that ousted president Hosni Mubarak be put on trial, Egyptian prosecutors on Monday ordered the former head of state and his two sons be questioned on violence against pro-democracy rallyists and embezzlement.
The summons for appearance for the former Egyptian ironman came just 24-hour after Mubarak came out of his self-imposed seclusion to decry what he termed as an "unjust campaign against him and declared that he did not own any assets abroad".
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Mubarak-to-be-questioned-over-violence-corruption/articleshow/7955726.cms
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US disembarks 350 on terror suspicion
April 12, 2011
WASHINGTON – The U.S. government has prevented more than 350 people suspected of ties to al-Qaida and other terrorist groups from boarding U.S.-bound commercial flights since the end of 2009, The Associated Press has learned.
The tighter security rules — imposed after the attempted bombing of an airliner on Christmas 2009 — reveal a security threat that persisted for more than seven years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Until then, even as commercial passengers were forced to remove their shoes, limit the amount of shampoo in their carry-on luggage and endure pat downs, hundreds of foreigners with known or suspected ties to terrorism passed through security and successfully flew to the United States each year, U.S. officials told the AP. The government said these foreigners typically told Customs officers they were flying to the U.S. for legitimate reasons such as vacations or business.
Full report at:
http://dailymailnews.com/0411/12/FrontPage/index.php?id=7
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Protesters reject Gulf exit plan
April 12, 2011
Yemen anti-regime protest movement rejected a proposal from mediating Gulf states that embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh should pass power to his deputy, an offer welcomed by the mainstream opposition.
"We are not concerned by any solution negotiated between the regime and the opposition that does not answer our main demand: the fall of the regime and its figures," said leading activist Adel al-Rabyi, from the Youth for Change coalition of protest groups that have led demonstrations across the country since late January.
Foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council urged Saleh on Sunday to step down and ensure a peaceful transition of power to his deputy, Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi.
Following a meeting in Riyadh, they also called for the formation of a national unity government led by the opposition.
Full report at:
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=181437
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Tensions cloud relations between Egypt's revolution and army
April 12, 2011
The violence used by the army in dispersing last Friday's sit-in in Tahrir Square was widely condemned in intellectual and political circles in the country. Activists also view the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces’s denial of the excessive violence used in breaking up the sit-in as an added reason for concern.
In an earlier incident in which the army used force to disperse a sit-in in the square, the military council issued a strong apology the very next morning.
In a joint press release, around ten Egyptian Human rights organisations slammed the forced eviction of Tahrir Square on 9 April by the Armed Forces and called for an immediate investigation into the excessive violence and shootings and demanded that all those detained in the raid be released, and the identities of those killed made public. The statement included a list of over 40 names of civilians arrested in Tahrir that night.
For its part, Egypt's Revolutionary Youth Coalition released a statement at a press conference on Sunday condemning the violence used by the military in Tahrir Square and declared that their dialogue with the military council will be suspended until a full investigation into the violence is conducted, and a number of other demands are met. Full report at:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/9774/Egypt/Politics-/Tensions-cloud-relations-between-Egypts-revolution.aspx
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Egypt presents candidate for Arab League chief
April 12, 2011
CAIRO: Egypt has nominated a top member of the former ruling party to be the new head of the Arab League. Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Elaraby told reporters Monday that Egypt nominated Mustafa el-Fiqqi for the post.
Current Secretary-General Amr Moussa plans to run in Egypt’s presidential election set for later this year.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article354760.ece
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President Sleiman: Taif needs some amendments
April 12, 2011
BEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman said in an interview published Tuesday that some amendments to the Taif Accord were required.
He urged political leaders in Lebanon to continue to implement the Taif Accord reached in the Saudi city of Taif in 1989.
“Political forces are required to implement the Taif Accord and all its provisions,” Suleiman told An-Nahar newspaper, stressing that “dialogue” was the only way to resolve controversial issues.
He also urged the various leaders in Lebanon to exert efforts to “correct clauses in the Constitution which have emerged as problematic during implementation [of the accord]."
Full report at:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/Apr/12/Suleiman-We-need-to-amend-certain-articles-in-Taif-Accord.ashx
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First five Lebanese deported from Bahrain
April 12, 2011
Patrick Galey
BEIRUT: At least five Lebanese have been deported from Bahrain amid ongoing social unrest and as many as 20 others are expected to be expelled in the coming days, a senior diplomat told The Daily Star Monday.
Lebanon’s Ambassador to Manama, Aziz Azzi, confirmed that five Lebanese citizens had already been removed from the Gulf island state.
“We are trying to stop the expulsions but as of today 20 people have been asked to leave Bahrain as soon as possible,” he told The Daily Star via telephone from Manama. “I have no idea why, but we are trying to put an end to it. There is no information about this but we are being told it is for security reasons and people who are being told to leave are not involved [in any protest action].”
Full report at:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Apr/12/First-five-Lebanese-deported-from-Bahrain.ashx
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Safadi: Entire Lebanese view Israel as sole enemy
April 12, 2011
BEIRUT: Caretaker Economy and Trade Minister Mohammad Safadi said Monday that all Lebanese considered Israel as the sole enemy of Lebanon.
“Lebanese of different [political factions] unanimously view Israel as the enemy of Lebanon, Palestinians and Arabs,” Safadi said during talks with Palestine’s Ambassador to Lebanon, Abdullah Abdullah.
Full report at:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/Apr/12/Safadi-Lebanese-all-view-Israel-as-sole-enemy.ashx
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Russian envoy: We support Tribunal, Arab reforms
April 12, 2011
BEIRUT: Russian ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Zasypkin reiterated Russia’s support for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is probing the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Monday.
Zasypkin held talks with caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri at the latter’s residence in Downtown Beirut. The ambassador said Russia supported the STL, “a thorough, fair and non-politicized investigation, in the interest of Lebanon as an independent state.”
Full report at:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/Apr/12/Russian-envoy-We-support-Tribunal-Arab-reforms.ashx
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Cairo's pro-Gaza protests herald shifting attitude towards Israel
April 12, 2011
Former Mossad director Efraim Halevy said that protests organised in front of the Israeli embassy in Cairo to demonstrate against Israeli air raids on Gaza undeniably signal a change in Israel’s strategic environment.
In an article published Monday in Israel’s daily Yediot Ahronot, Halevy said that these protests and the new position taken by the current rulers of Egypt are proof that Israel’s freedom of action in Gaza is now restrained.
Full report at:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/~/NewsContent/2/8/9796/World/Region/Mossad-former-head-Cairos-proGaza-protests-herald-.aspx
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'Iron Dome' facilitates escalation of Israeli military operations
April 12, 2011
Israel’s Channel 2 reported Sunday a government official's claims that the new anti-missile system’s success in taking down Palestinian rockets targeting Israel allows decision makers in Tel Aviv to proceed with their military operation against Hamas.
The Israeli military source asserted that the state’s main concern was the possibility of the operation leaving “thousands of settlers” living in the vicinity under the mercy of Palestinian rockets.
Full report at:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/9701/World/Region/Iron-Dome-facilitates-escalation-of-Israeli-milita.aspx
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New Gaza flotilla 'must be stopped,' Israeli PM says
April 12, 2011
The planned dispatch of a flotilla of ships attempting to break the blockade on Gaza “must be stopped,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a group of European representatives Monday.
Speaking at a lunch with EU heads of mission in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said stopping the flotilla from heading to the coastal territory was a “common interest” for Israel and Europe.
“We are aware that there is an attempted provocation in May, possibly early June, of another so-called flotilla, not a peace flotilla but a provocation, a deliberate provocation to seek to ignite this part of the Middle East,” he said.
“I think it’s in your and our common interest, and I think it’s something that you should... transmit to your governments, that this flotilla must be stopped,” Netanyahu said.
Full report at:
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=new-gaza-flotilla-must-be-stopped-2011-04-11
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Hamas gives its conditions for Istanbul meeting with al-Fatah
April 12, 2011
Turkish mediation between rival Palestinian groups appeared even more unlikely Monday after Hamas announced its conditions for talks following a parallel move by al-Fatah.
Hamas will only meet with rival group al-Fatah if it can hold the presidency post in a potential Palestinian unity government, a senior Turkish diplomat told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Monday.
An envoy from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had said Friday that Hamas would have to agree to join a unity government for al-Fatah to sit down for talks, potentially mediated by Turkey.
“We will contribute if Hamas and al-Fatah want to talk. Yet the parties seem to be far away from reconciliation,” the Turkish diplomat said.
Full report at:
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=meshaal-subjects-meeting-abbas-to-condition-of--taking-palestinian-presidency-2011-04-11
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Talks continue over Taliban office in Istanbul
April 12, 2011
Potential U.S. support to the idea of Turkey hosting a political office for Taliban militants from Afghanistan has given a boost to the initiative, first suggested late last year.
Former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, who heads the Afghan High Peace Council, discussed the issue during a visit to Turkey last month, a member of the council told the Associated Press.
“Turkey didn’t say no,” Arsala Rahmani was quoted as saying. “It is a key issue for resolving the situation in Afghanistan. It’s important for the Taliban to have a political address – a place – to talk to the world face-to-face. We have said in the past that without an address, solving the problem will be difficult.”
Full report at:
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=turkey-mulls-idea-of-opening-office-for-taliban-2011-04-11
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Iranian students hurl firebombs at Saudi embassy
April 12, 2011
TEHRAN: Scores of Iranian students have attacked the Saudi Arabian embassy with firebombs to protest the Kingdom’s support for Bahrain's rulers amid anti-government protests.
The official IRNA news agency says protesters tried to attach a flag of the Lebanese group Hezbollah to the embassy’s gate Monday, but were prevented by police.
Protesters chanted slogans against Saudi and Bahraini leaders.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article354743.ece
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Bahrain frees 86 protesters
April 12, 2011
DUBAI: Bahrain has released 86 people arrested during anti-regime protests that rocked the Gulf state for nearly a month, the Interior Ministry said Monday.
"An official has announced the release of 86 detainees after legal steps have been taken against them," the ministry said in a post on Twitter.
The opposition said that around 400 people were arrested during protests that erupted in the kingdom on Feb. 14.
The government has said that 24 people were killed during the protests, four of them policemen, while three other activists have died in custody.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article354618.ece
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Yemen Saleh ready for power-transfer
April 12, 2011
Embattled Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh on Monday welcomed Gulf ‘efforts’ to end his country’s political crisis, saying he was ready for a ‘peaceful’ transfer of power in a constitutional way, according to a statement from his office.
‘In compliance with statements (he) made several times ... his excellency the president has no reservation against transferring power peacefully and smoothly within the framework of the constitution,’ said the statement.
The statement said that Yemeni president again ‘welcomes efforts exerted by brothers in the Gulf Cooperation Council to help in finding a solution for the current crisis in Yemen.’
But it fell short of saying clearly whether he accepted a direct GCC proposal calling on Saleh to step down and ensure a peaceful transition of power to his deputy, Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi.
Full report at:
http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/international/15056.html
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Israeli travellers to India warned of possible terror attack
April 12, 2011
Israel’s counter-terrorism bureau has warned Israelis travelling to India and some other countries of a possible terror attack which can target them and Jewish facilities during the ‘Passover’ festival holidays.
“Due to what is happening in the Gaza Strip (where violence has escalated between Israelis and Palestinians), terrorists intend to carry out attacks against Israelis and against Jewish targets abroad” during holidays for the week-long Passover festival which begins on April 18, the bureau’s warning said.
Full report at:
http://www.dailypioneer.com/330943/Israeli-travellers-to-India-warned-of-possible-terror-attack.html
URL: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamIslamicWorldNews_1.aspx?ArticleID=4440
11:18 PM
Moderate Islamist here
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