‘The Truths’ Behind The Lockerbie Bombing: Will the Truth ever be known?, Current affairs, NewAgeIslam.com

Current affairs

‘The Truths’ Behind The Lockerbie Bombing: Will the Truth ever be known?

August 14, 2009

Megrahi, the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, has applied to abandon his second appeal against his conviction, his lawyers said on 14 August 2009.

(BBC NEWS: UK Scotland Lockerbie bomber withdraws appeal)

South of Scotland SNP MSP Christine Grahame said:

“I know from the lengthy discussions I had with him that he was desperate to clear his name, so I believe that the decision is not entirely his own.

“There are a number of vested interests who have been deeply opposed to this appeal continuing as they know it would go a considerable way towards exposing the truth behind Lockerbie.

“Some serious scrutiny will be required to determine exactly why Mr Megrahi is now dropping his appeal and examination of what pressure he has come under.

“In the next days, weeks and months new information will be placed in the public domain that will make it clear that Mr Megrahi had nothing to do with the bombing of Pan Am 103.”

http://newageislam.com/%E2%80%98the-truths%E2%80%99-behind-the-lockerbie-bombing--will-the-truth-ever-be-known?/current-affairs/d/1825

Jammu housewife kills jihadi with axe, Islamic World News, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic World News

Jammu housewife kills jihadi with axe

AMMU: As the country bid farewell to goddess Durga, the demon-slayer, on Dashami and witnessed the evil king Ravana being vanquished on Dussehra, a humble Muslim woman in a remote Jammu village slew a dreaded Lashkar terrorist single-handedly.

Exhibiting astonishing, raw courage, Rashida Begum took on the two terrorists who had barged into her home late Sunday night in Thana Mandi village in Rajouri district. The woman, in her early forties, grabbed an axe and swung it wildly, killing one of the armed terrorists and injuring the other. Seeing his partner meet a bloody end, the other terrorist fled in sheer dread.

A Rajouri-based police officer said the two terrorists of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based group that carried out the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, had entered Noor Ahmad's home around 9pm with the intention of holding the family hostage.

Police said the two also wanted information on some local targets that Noor and his family members refused to provide. Angered by the resistance, the two began beating them up, threatening to eliminate the family, when Noor's wife, Rashida, took them by surprise, pouncing on one of them from behind. She brought down an axe in powerful blows, killing the terrorist on the spot.

http://newageislam.com/jammu-housewife-kills-jihadi-with-axe-/islamic-world-news/d/1817

Pakistan and Bangladesh: Same Religion, Different Destinies, Islam and Politics, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and Politics

Pakistan and Bangladesh: Same Religion, Different Destinies

Different Neighbours

TOI EDITORIAL COMMENT

2 Jan 2009, 0004 hrs IST

Despite mounting international pressure on Pakistan to move against Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists responsible for 26/11, operation cover-up proceeds relentlessly in Islamabad.

Even though a Pakistani official has confirmed to US and UK newspapers that Zarar Shah, an LeT kingpin picked up after 26/11, has confessed that he helped plan the attacks, and his account matches that of Ajmal Amir Kasab, the terrorist in Indian custody, Islamabad's official stonewallers haven't missed a beat.

Information minister Sherry Rehman has said that Pakistan isn't aware of anyone in its custody making such a confession, while Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman of President Asif Ali Zardari, has described Zarar Shah's confession as "far-fetched".

What makes the denial by official quarters of LeT's role in 26/11 itself far-fetched is that it continues despite the US having provided Pakistani authorities with a tape of an intercepted phone call from Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, another LeT kingpin, to terrorists holed up in Mumbai's Taj Mahal hotel. Such all-encompassing denial and information scarcity leads to an atmosphere rife with conspiracy theories, which is conducive for terrorism to grow.

This can be a recipe for disaster even from the point of view of those responsible for denial of information, because rumours cannot be controlled and there is no saying who they will target next.

http://newageislam.com/pakistan-and-bangladesh--same-religion,-different-destinies/islam-and-politics/d/1090

US terror list harasses innocents, leaves out terrorists: Civil rights group, War on Terror, NewAgeIslam.com

War on Terror

US terror list harasses innocents, leaves out terrorists: Civil rights group

22 July 2008

The ACLU said it derived that figure from a justice department report on the FBI's Terrorist Screening Centre, which consolidates terrorist watch list information.

The Centre "had over 700,000 names in its database as of April 2007 and the list was growing by 20,000 records per month," says a report by the justice department.

But Leonard Boyle, director of the Centre, said there are not one million names on the list. Boyle also denied that thousands of Americans are detained and inconvenienced daily as their names are on the list.

Roman Catholic nun, Sister Glenn Anne McPhee was on the list - apparently because an Afghan man used McPhee as an alias.

A flight from London with Cat Stevens on board - the singer who converted to Islam and changed his name to Yusuf Islam - was diverted and forced to land in Maine when US officials became aware that Islam, or Stevens, was on board.

http://newageislam.com/us-terror-list-harasses-innocents,-leaves-out-terrorists--civil-rights-group/war-on-terror/d/293

Even spies are afraid of Big Brother now: Orwell was right--The Big Brother State has arrived, even if it has come 20 years late, Current affairs

Current affairs

Even spies are afraid of Big Brother now: Orwell was right--The Big Brother State has arrived, even if it has come 20 years late

BY WILLIAM REES-MOGG

The United States and Europe are our main allies, but both also have to be regarded as threats to British liberty: Europe because the whole system of the European Union is lacking in openness and democracy. European laws, secretly arrived at, have replaced our open parliamentary democracy. That is a great tragedy. And America is a threat because it is the information superpower, with more data about British people than would ever have been authorised by statute.

Now the United States is being given access to European information on private individuals under a secret agreement that has never been before Parliament. That gives Big Brother an even tighter grip. One has to accept the legitimacy of the US campaign against terrorism, but we must understand the extraordinary power over individuals that data collection has given.

http://newageislam.com/even-spies-are-afraid-of-big-brother-now--orwell-was-right--the-big-brother-state-has-arrived,-even-if-it-has-come-20-years-late/current-affairs/d/252

269,000 people died in Bangladesh war, says new study, Current affairs, NewAgeIslam.com

Current affairs

269,000 people died in Bangladesh war, says new study

Between 1975 and 2002, the study says that the ongoing ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka between the government and Tamil Tigers accounted for the death of 215,000 people, while earlier estimates put the figure at around 61,000.

"Accurate estimates of war mortality are crucial for planning on several different levels. Political, military, and public health leaders must have credible information on the number of deaths to plan properly before, during, and after wars.

"The public must also be aware of the human cost of wars. Information on war deaths is useful in the investigation of the scope of war crimes, as in the Nuremburg Trials after the second world war or the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia," the study says.

http://newageislam.com/269,000-people-died-in-bangladesh-war,-says-new-study/current-affairs/d/111