http://hvk.org/archive/2006/0706/main.html vivekanand kendra
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Ahmadiyyas’ Quran exhibition cut short by protests, Bukhari detained
Three-day exhibition of Quran in 53 languages closed on Day 2, 56 detained at Daryaganj police station
The three-day Quran exhibition put up by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat-Delhi at the Constitution Club was cut short on Saturday, the second day of exhibition, after protests by Muslims.
The exhibition showcased the Holy Quran in 53 languages, translated by Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat. It was scheduled to be held from September 23 to 25, between 11 am and 8 pm daily. The organisers put up a board reading ‘Exhibition Closed’ outside the main entry around 2.15 pm on Saturday.
A contingent of police, some in riot gear, was also deployed at the spot.
As the protests grew, police took a few persons, including the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid and his younger brother, in preventive custody.
According to police, at least 56 people were detained from the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Marg in Daryaganj. “They were planning a rally towards the Constitution Club. We took them into preventive custody so that law and order is not disturbed,” said a senior police officer.
The exhibition faced stiff opposition from all Muslims groups in Delhi, including members of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board. On Friday, Kamaal Farooqui, a member of the Board, had camped outside the venue “educating people walking out of the exhibition that Ahmadiyya are not Muslims, and that they have no right to meddle with Quran”.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat has been ostracised by Muslims in countries like Iran, Iraq and Pakistan and declared “non-Muslims” for their different and allegedly “faulty” understanding and interpretation of the Quran.
Shahi Imam Syed Ahmad Bukhari, who was detained at the Daryaganj police station, told Newsline over the phone: “I will not leave jail till the exhibition of Quran is closed.”
“Scholars across the world and in India have given a collective verdict that Ahmadiyyas are not Muslims. Musalmanon ke libaas mein yeh exhibition kar rahein hain. Apna literature distribute kar rahein hain... bhole bhalay musalmanon ko gumrah kar rahein hain (They are posing as true Muslims, but are distributing their own literature. They are misleading innocent Muslims),” he said.
He alleged that Ahmadiyyas, also known as Qadiani, have made changes in the Quran. “We are saying that they can do whatever they want, but they should stop using the name of Islam/Muslims and Quran for their propaganda,” he said.
Imam Bukhari also blamed the Congress. “The hall for the exhibition has been booked by Congress MP Pratap Singh Bajwa. When we asked him to cancel the booking, he refused,” he said.
Bajwa is MP of Gurdaspur in Punjab, the base of Ahmadiyyas in India.
Syed Tanvir, Secretary of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat-India, told Newsline, “This is an unfortunate incident. We were trying to raise awareness on the teachings of the Quran among all. This is a propanganda against us. It was a good opportunity for everybody to see and know for themselves what Quran teaches.
“We are true Muslims; we follow all the basic tenets of Islam... We do not require a certificate of being a Muslim from anyone,” he said.
For the exhibition, the community had sent invites to embassies, colleges and schools. On display were translations of Quran in Kashmiri, Russain, Telugu, Igbo, Sarieki, Jula, Kikamba, Spanish, Fijian, Mende, Deutsch, etc.
Hameedah Habibullah, mother of former Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah, who had come to see the exhibition on Saturday, expressed happiness over the display and dismay at the protests.
The Ahmadiyyas
The Ahmadiyya movement in India was founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad on March 23, 1889, in Qadian, Punjab. This group believes that Ahmad was the “divine reformer” of Muslims. In fact, many leaders of the group call it the “revisionist” form of Islam. In India, they claim there are 2.5 to 3 lakh Ahmadiyyas.
The world-wide head of the Ahmadiyyas is Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, who is from Pakistan but based in London. Newsline has learnt that Masroor Ahmad had advised Ahmadiyyas across the world to hold exhibitions of the Quran after a pastor allegedly called for Quran burning in Florida, US.
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Islamic World News (11 Apr 2012 NewAgeIslam.Com)
Pakistan: Veil a protection for students against harassment
Muslims in France Waiting for the Backlash
Berlin’s largest mosque targeted in hate crime attack
NATO relic of the Cold War: Vladimir Putin
Forced conversions, marriages: Pak SC bars parents, husbands from meeting girls
Afghans in Iran face discrimination, Iranians Condemn Racism On Facebook
Ideology is rarely a main reason for acts of mass brutality
Duracell public intellectual: Pak President's religion is money
Egypt: All panic as Muslim Brotherhood flexes muscles
Libya snubs ICC, unveils courtroom ahead of Qaddafi son trial
Seven bodies recovered from Khyber Agency
Indonesian President: No deaths or tsunami after quake
Tayyip Erdogan slams Assad for killing dozens “every day“
Child pornographer replaces Osama on FBI's 'Most Wanted' list
India liberalises visas for Pakistani spouses
Iraq Vice-President Hashemi's guards 'die in custody'
Pakistan: Mother-in-law, 90, suspected in murder
Daghestan’s Mufti Slams 'Indiscriminate' Violence By Security Forces
Cleric Metin Mekhtiyev from banned Islamic group stabbed to death in Moscow
Curfew continues in Gilgit Kidnappers free 34 hostages
New report finds Norway killer not insane
Envoy to Syria Seeks Iranian Help as Cease-fire Deadline Nears
Clash between militants and FC in Dera Bugti kills four
Yemen Army Kills 25 Militants in Fresh Clashes: Officials
Syrian opposition says 1,000 killed in last 8 days
Bus bombing in southern Philippines kills 10
Ailing Pakistani scientist, Chisti released from Ajmer jail
Pakistan rapidly developing its nuclear arsenal: Report
Pak PM House rejects change in FM Hina Rabbani Khar's portfolio
Pak PM's son flees abroad after SC notice over scam
No Public rallies in Islamabad red zone, Pak Minister
Gilgit Baltistan violence: ‘We are all Muslims; no harm will come to me’
Special Forces to counter Taliban’s deadliest weapon
Afghan Force Will Be Cut After Taking Leading Role
Syria clashes dim ceasefire hopes
Kofi Annan urges UN council to push for Syria truce by Thursday
Iran arrests 'major terrorist group' linked to Israel
University Ban for Iranian Protestors Of 2009
Tunisia Marks 10 Years Since Bloody Synagogue Bomb
Ukrainian Former Prime Minister Tymoshenko Faces Murder Accusations
Indonesia Sets New Tsunami Warning as Aftershock Hits
Sudan Halts S. Sudan Talks After Fresh Border Fighting
Gujarat: Real fight begins now, says Zakia
Indian Court asks J&K government to give compensation to displaced Kashmiri
Osama's wives, kids seen in new video
JEDDAH: Children urged to pursue career path with determination
Afghan Education Not Making The Grade
Complied by New Age Islam News Bureau
Photo: Shahi Imam, Jama Masjid, New Delhi
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Don’t Offer Namaz with Shahi Imam; His Beard is not Long Enough: Bareilwi Mullahs too Mock Islam
By Mail Today Bureau in Lucknow
11th April 2012
MUFTI Ubaidur Rahman of Darul Uloom Mazhar- e- Islam of Bareilly Sharif (the Barelvi sect) has barred Muslims from offering Namaz with Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari.
The fatwa comes at a time when Bukhari is locked in a political battle with Azam Khan, a minister in Akhilesh Yadav’s cabinet.
In a decree issued on Tuesday, the mufti said offering Namaz with Bukhari was un- Islamic.
“Those with trimmed beards are not allowed to lead a session of Namaz. According to the Islamic law, one should have a handful of beard.” “Otherwise too, his activities are against Islam. Instead of thinking for the community, he prefers giving benefits to his relatives.” Arshad Faruqi, chairman of the fatwa department of Darul Uloom Deoband, said: “As far as the beard is concerned, it is true that it should be at least four inches long. It is said in Islam that one should be able to hold it in his hand. Bukhari should keep this in mind.” Faruqi did not comment on the fatwa but had words of advice for Bukhari. “ What Bukhari is doing is against the ethics of Islam. His first duty is to do religious work, which he is not doing. If there is any dispute with the Samajwadi Party, he should sit with Mulayam and Akhilesh and solve it instead of tarnishing other Muslim leaders.” Faruqi was referring to the ongoing spat between Bukhari and Azam, which escalated as the SP MLA from Rampur targeted his party brass for going out of their way to woo the Shahi Imam.
Without naming Bukhari, Azam said in Lucknow on Tuesday that neither the party nor the government came out in his defence when he was attacked by “ outsiders”. “ While outsiders are making wild allegations against me and some individuals are trying to tarnish my image, the government and the party have left me alone to defend myself. This is unfortunate,” Azam said.
Bukhari had earlier said the Muslims of UP hated Azam because he was an “ enemy of Islam”. He had also said Azam was a non- entity in politics.
Reacting sharply to the criticism, Azam said in Rampur on Sunday that the Shahi Imam was only a “ servant of the Delhi Waqf Board” and that he was involved in blackmailing governments to allot petrol pumps to his kin.
Discontent against the Shahi Imam is also growing among other Muslims leaders in Uttar Pradesh. Mushtaqin Rana, an SP leader from Saharanpur, said: “ He blackmailed Mulayam and got a ticket for his son- in- law Umar in the assembly election.” Imran Masood, a Congress leader, said: “ The Imam should stay away from party politics if he wants to maintain the dignity of the Jama Masjid. But our past experiences suggest that he can sacrifice the interest of the community for his personal gains.”
Mail Today
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Pakistan: Veil a protection for students against harassment
Apr 11, 2012
PESHAWAR: More and more female students of University of Peshawar are veiling themselves from head to toe to evade eve-teasers, who stalk and harass them on campus without let or hindrance.
A visit to this government-run university, one of the biggest in the province and background interviews with female students has revealed to Dawn that majority of girls face harassment inside the varsity quite often but lack courage to file a complaint with police on campus for fear of stigma.
Representing a few, a student said: “We don’t know how and where to file a complaint.”
The law to protect women from harassment at workplace was enacted in March 2010. Thereafter, Higher Education Commission issued guidelines to all universities in the country to set up committees to address such complaints but many female students, who face eve-teasing on campus, call it a huge discouragement. They also lack courage to file a complaint with the campus police station.
“Eve-teasing is one of the burning issues on campus but girls do not come forward to file a complaint. They prefer to ignore such incidents,” said Inspector Abdus Salam Khalid when asked if they ever got a complaint against eve-teasers.
With the eve-teasing incidents on campus growing, use of veil by female students has grown.
“Whether a girl is pretty or not or whether she is wearing a veil or just covered her head, boys would tease her just for fun,” said a female student.
Most of female students are unaware of the existence of ethics committee, any other body or law to protect them against harassment. They say they stay quiet when someone teases them and don’t even tell their parents about it.
“We don’t tell our parents because they would get worried and stop us from coming to university,” said a veiled girl.
According to female students, in the end, it is a girl, who suffers as taunts and jeer mentally tortures her.
No girl has the courage to file a complaint with campus police station for fear of stigma.
“I don’t know if such guys have any respect for their sisters and mothers,” said another female student.
According to her, the university should make security arrangements so that at least girls feel safe on campus.
Last year, an MPA raised the issue of the female students’ alleged harassment at University of Peshawar by their teachers, including some seniors, on the floor of the House.
Ironically, only one teacher was suspended for harassment before the matter was hushed up on the pretext that the relevant female student did not file a complaint.
A source in UoP said when the inquiry into the said case of harassment began, it was held in the open so no one came forward.
http://dawn.com/2012/04/10/veil-a-protection-for-students-against-harassment-fm/
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Muslims in France Waiting for the Backlash
Apr 11, 2012
PARIS — The attacks in France committed by Mohammed Merah, a French-born Muslim whose parents migrated from Algeria, have millions of Muslims living in the West worried about the potential consequences. In particular, women worry that they will become the focus of campaign politics.
Many friends who wear the hijab and live in Europe reported getting angry looks after the attacks, said Malika, 29, a German of Moroccan background who works in a bank and declined to have her last name published.
Mr. Merah, 23, had traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan and claimed affiliation with Al Qaeda. He killed seven people, three of them children.
“It is terrible what he has done, and there is nothing in Islam that justifies the killing of innocents, especially children,” said Naima, 26, who also spoke on the condition that her full identity be withheld.
“But will we Muslims, and especially Muslim women, have to pay the price now?”
Naima cited the debate in France over where Mr. Merah was to be buried — in the end, Algeria refused his body, and he was buried in Toulouse — as evidence of double standards about who is embraced as French and who remains firmly Muslim.
“When someone is like Zidane, a great sportsman, they say he’s French, and when one like Merah, who is a child of this society, runs nuts and kills people, they say he’s not one of us,” she said.
Naima’s parents, like Mr. Merha’s, came from Algeria. She grew up in the suburbs of Paris.
Naima and many other Muslims in Europe wonder whether they are caught in a vicious cycle in which increasing xenophobia helps radicalize a generation of Muslims born in France, and they ask whether attacks like Mr. Merah’s will further increase Islamophobia.
Mahvish Rukhsana Khan, an American lawyer living in Los Angeles and the author of the book “My Guantánamo Diary,” asserted that “French politics have generated anti-Islamic sentiment,” but that clearly Mr. Merah “needed his head checked.”
“Nothing justifies his heinous attacks,” she said.
Mr. Merah also stated that France had become increasingly anti-Muslim, citing the ban of the niqab, the veil over women’s faces.
“I don’t wear the veil, nor do I want to wear it, but I know other women think differently,” said Naima, expressing surprise that “so-called jihadists care about women so much.”
In fact, for some time Al Qaeda and the Taliban have threatened Western countries because of laws banning niqabs and over imprisonment of Muslim women. Password-protected forums used by Al Qaeda and its affiliates are full of comments about female Muslim prisoners.
Recently Al Qaeda’s North African branch, known as Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, asked for the release of Feliz Gelowicz, the wife of the leader of a group that had planned attacks against U.S. facilities in Germany. They threatened to kill a German hostage if Ms. Gelowicz was not released.
For months, jihadists have also sought the release of Malika El Aroud, a Belgian of Moroccan decent, who is serving a jail sentence in Belgium.
The case garnering the most attention over the years in the forums is that of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani woman who had lived in the United States, where she received a doctorate in neuroscience and was married with three children. The F.B.I. suspected her of having links to key Qaeda operatives.
She traveled in 2003 to Pakistan, where she and her children disappeared for five years. Mrs. Khan, the lawyer in Los Angeles, asserted that Ms. Siddiqui has been held in secret U.S. detention facilities for years. Mrs. Khan and Yvonne Ridley, a journalist based in London and vice president of the European Muslim League, have researched the case and said it had generated intense anger among Muslims.
Mrs. Ridley knows how it feels to be detained. After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, she went to Afghanistan as a journalist for a British newspaper and was held by the Taliban. She said that she was treated with respect and converted to Islam after her release.
In many statements made in password-protected Internet forums, members say that the jailing of women and campaigns against the full veil turn Muslims against the West.
The Muslim women interviewed for this article stressed that such policies in no way justify what happened in Toulouse, and more closely compare with Anders Behring Breivik, a far-right Norwegian who last July killed 77 people, most of them teenagers.
Yet all the women also fear that Western governments are not probing the causes for anger among young Muslims. All three cite increasing Islamophobia and failed foreign policy with regard to Afghanistan, Iraq and the Palestinian territories as sources for that ire.
“Between having entire families massacred in Kandahar by a sociopath U.S. soldier, drones wiping out entire families or bombs dropping on weddings,” Mrs. Khan said, “there are multiple sources to anger toward Western countries.”
Mrs. Ridley said: “Western governments must start to take responsibility for their actions abroad, and these actions are not usually with the consent or in the agreement of their own citizens who elected them.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/11/world/europe/11iht-letter11.html?ref=world
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Berlin’s largest mosque targeted in hate crime attack
Apr 11, 2012
Berlin’s largest mosque has been targeted in an Islamophobic attack in the German capital’s predominantly migrant district of Neukölln.
Unknown assailants threw several paint bombs at the Sehitlik mosque Saturday night. They also placed an insulting anti-Islam picture at the entrance to the building.
Berlin police said that a threatening letter had been sent to the mosque recently.
The Sehitlik mosque has been the target of four arson attacks over the past three years. Berlin mosques have been the scene of at least seven fire bombings since June 2010.
German Muslim leaders have time and again called for stepped up security measures for the country’s mosques and Islamic centers.
They also accuse the center-right government of Chancellor Angela Merkel of trying to downplay the danger of anti-Muslim crimes caused by the wave of Islamophobia in Germany.
http://www.loonwatch.com/2012/04/berlins-largest-mosque-targeted-in-hate-crime-attack/
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NATO relic of the Cold War: Vladimir Putin
Apr 11 2012
Moscow : Russia's president-elect Vladimir Putin has called NATO a ''relic of the Cold War era.''
Putin said Wednesday during a question and answer session in Parliament he does not understand why NATO still exists decades after the end of the Cold War, but said Russia still needs to cooperate with it.
Putin also defended the Kremlin's decision to provide airbase facilities for the alliance's operations in Afghanistan, but said it will not be a military base.
Relations between Russia, the United States and NATO have soured over US-led NATO missile defense plan that Washington says is aimed at deflecting a potential Iranian threat. Moscow fears it will eventually become powerful enough to undermine Russia's nuclear deterrent.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/nato-relic-of-the-cold-war-vladimir-putin/935464/
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Forced conversions, marriages: SC bars parents, husbands from meeting girls
Apr 11, 2012
ISLAMABAD: Parents and husbands both lost out before the Supreme Court on Tuesday, when the court rejected pleas in two separate cases to meet Hindu girls allegedly forced to convert to Islam and marry Muslims.
The court observed that both girls should make a decision about their future and whom they wanted to return to – parents or husbands – with ‘free will’, and it will take up the matter in this regard on April 18.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, heading a three-judge bench, took up two separate applications seeking permission to hold a meeting with the Hindu girls at a shelter in Karachi.
Naveed Shah, the husband of Faryal (Rinkle Kumari), moved an application through his counsel Abdul Mujeeb Pirzada. Pirzada said that Faryal was being kept like a prisoner but the bench dismissed the argument, saying Majida Rizwi’s shelter home was not a prison.
Full report at:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/362862/forced-conversions-marriages-sc-bars-parents-husbands-from-meeting-girls/
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Afghans in Iran face discrimination, Iranians Condemn Racism On Facebook
Apr 11, 2012
Afghans living in Isfahan were banned from a mountainous park in the city on April 1, the 13th day of Norouz festivities, which Iranian tradition says should be spent outdoors.
The decision was announced on March 30 by Isfahan’s Committee to Facilitate Travel, which said Afghans were banned from Sofeh Park in order "to ensure citizens' welfare."
Ahmad Reza Shafiei, an official with Travel Committee's police department, was quoted as saying that the reason for the move was "the extensive presence of Afghans" at the park in previous years and "the creation of insecurities for families." By that, he meant Iranian families.
But it was Iranians who quickly condemned the decision on Facebook and other social media.
Full report at:
http://www.rferl.org/content/iran_afghan_racism/24535458.html
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Ideology is rarely a main reason for acts of mass brutality
By Ian Buruma
April 11, 2012
What possessed the young French Muslim Mohamed Merah to murder three Jewish schoolchildren, a rabbi and three soldiers, two of them fellow Muslims? What possessed another man, Anders Breivik, to gun down more than 60 teenagers in a Norwegian summer camp last year? These murder sprees are so unusual that people demand explanations.
To call these killers “monsters,” as some were quick to do, sheds little light on the problem. They were not monsters; they were young men. And to dismiss them as madmen is equally evasive. If they were clinically insane, nothing more would need to be explained.
Two accounts, both broadly socio-political, stand out. One was put forward by the controversial Muslim activist Tariq Ramadan. He blames French society. More specifically, he blames the fact that young Frenchmen of Muslim origin are marginalized on the grounds of their faith and the color of their skin.
Full report at:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Commentary/2012/Apr-11/169839-ideology-is-rarely-a-main-reason--for-acts-of-mass-brutality.ashx#ixzz1rjZUgNSv
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Duracell public intellectual: Pak President's religion is money
Apr 11, 2012
NEW DELHI: The Soviet Union is gone. The Berlin Wall has crumbled. And, in his own words, the most dynamic force for capitalism today is the Chinese Communist Party. But Tariq Ali still keeps the faith.
At 68, the Duracell public intellectual may not be in his fiery, street-fighting years any longer; but he remains a believer in Marxism - not as a state religion but as a grand idea to change the world - even though talking about it gives him the feeling of discussing "a lost, submerged continent like the Atlantis." Ali was delivering the Faiz Memorial lecture here on Monday. The moustache is more salt than pepper now and the hair has thinned over the decades. Like a deft DJ of political history, the Lahore-born, Oxford-educated Leftist shuffled one theme after another - the lost tradition of mushaira in Pakistan, the economic crisis in Europe ("Greece and Italy today are run by bankers appointed by the German government"), the Occupation movement in the USA and the difficulties of coming to Delhi if you are a Pakistani. He also found time for Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari, who donated Rs 5 crore to the Ajmer shrine on Sunday.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Tradition-of-poetry-wont-die/articleshow/12616378.cms
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Egypt: All panic as Muslim Brotherhood flexes muscles
Apr 11, 2012
In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood has decided now is a good time to forget all that fluffy talk about unity and reconciliation and start showing who's really the boss. It's hijacking the constitutional assembly, forcing through its own presidential candidate and behaving obnoxiously. This is all within its right, but it's making everyone else very nervous. By SIMON ALLISON.
One almost feels sorry for Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood (MB). Despite the fact that during the long decades of Hosni Mubarak's rule the MB provided the only real opposition, it has very few friends either in Egypt or internationally. The liberal, secular revolutionaries think they're going to turn Egypt into a theocracy
at the first opportunity, other Islamist groups think MB isn't Muslim enough, Christians fear persecution on an unprecedented scale and western countries struggle to disguise their largely unfounded suspicions that the MB is somehow linked to al Qaeda.
Full report at:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/ND12Dj01.html
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Libya snubs ICC, unveils courtroom ahead of Qaddafi son trial
Apr 11, 2012
TRIPOLI: Libya’s government showcased a freshly painted courtroom in Tripoli on Tuesday in an attempt to demonstrate that it is fit to try one of Muammar Qaddafi’s most prominent sons instead of handing him over to the International Criminal Court.
Seif Al-Islam has been in a secret prison since fighters caught him last year. Libya has resisted handing him over to The Hague, saying he has to face justice on Libyan soil.
“We will respect the international law but we do have a lot of respect for our Libyan law and I guarantee you there will be no problem,” Prime Minister Abdurrahim El-Keib told reporters after touring the venue, a former military school.
The school had been newly painted in the tricolor post-Qaddafi flag and soldiers lined up neatly to pose for television cameras. Inside, a small courtroom smelled of fresh paint, adorned with newly fitted wall-to-wall carpeting and furniture.
The tour was part of the government’s efforts to highlight its preparedness for the trial of former Qaddafi aides, yet, ironically, the government spokesman said Seif Al-Islam’s trial could end up taking place in a different venue altogether.
On Tuesday, the war crimes court said Libya had asked the ICC to postpone its order to surrender Seif Al-Islam so that it could formally appeal and hold the trial in Tripoli.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article609566.ece
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Seven bodies recovered from Khyber Agency
Apr 11, 2012
PESHAWAR: Seven bodies have been recovered on Wednesday from Bara tehsil of the Khyber tribal region, DawnNews reported.
Official sources said the bodies were found dumped in the Sipah area of Bara.
Sources said the deceased were former members of a banned militant organisation Lahskar-e-Islam (LI) and had gone missing two days earlier.
A key militant commander named Hazrat was also among the dead.
Moreover, security forces had carried out a search operation in Bara’s Akakhel area and taken into custody 12 suspects.
http://dawn.com/2012/04/11/seven-bodies-recovered-from-khyber-agency/
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Indonesian President: No deaths or tsunami after quake
April 11, 2012
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said there were no reports of fatalities or a tsunami following Wednesday’s 8.5-magnitude quake off Sumatra.
“Praise be to God, so far there have been no fatalities or damage related to the earthquake,” which the U.S. Geological Survey measured at a magnitude of 8.7, Mr. Yudhoyono said.
“We are in coordination with authorities in Aceh and things are under control,” he added.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article3303567.ece
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Tayyip Erdogan slams Assad for killing dozens “every day“
Apr 11, 2012
ANKARA: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan accused Syrian President Bashar Assad of personal responsibility for killing civilians and said on Tuesday he would take unspecified steps after Syrian troops shot at refugees inside Turkey.
“He is continuing to kill 60, 70, 80, 100 every day,” Erdogan said of Assad, whom he once called a friend but whose troops were now, the Turkish premier said, “mercilessly” shooting fleeing women and children in the back.
Speaking in China before heading back to the region for talks with Arab power Saudi Arabia, another force pressing for Assad’s removal, Erdogan condemned the shooting on Monday which wounded three Syrians and two Turks in a frontier refugee camp.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article609498.ece
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Child pornographer replaces Osama on FBI's 'Most Wanted' list
Apr 11, 2012
WASHINGTON: Eric Justin Toth, a suspected child pornographer, has replaced Osama bin Laden on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitive list after the al-Qaida leader was killed in Abbottabad last year.
According to reports, Toth, 30, who is a former private schoolteacher, was previously accused of child pornography in 2008 in Maryland.
His case has been filed in the federal court in Washington, D.C., which has charged him with possessing a video that includes an image of child pornography and illegally transporting it across state lines, the Telegraph reports.
The FBI has reportedly found pornographic images on a camera in his possession.
They said that putting Toth on the list was the result of a lengthy process which included surveying its 56 field offices for candidates and needed approval of top FBI officials.
The FBI also revealed that Eric may advertise himself on the internet as a tutor or a male nanny and was believed to have lived in Arizona in 2009.
The police authorities are offering 100,000 dollars (63,000 pounds) as reward for receiving any information to nab him.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Child-pornographer-replaces-Osama-on-FBIs-Most-Wanted-list/articleshow/12620918.cms
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India liberalises visas for Pakistani spouses
Apr 11, 2012
In a major initiative to build close ties with Pakistan, the government has decided to liberalise the visa regime which will benefit those persons who are married and living in each other’s countries. Such spouses may soon be allowed to get a visa for upto two years with multiple entries.
The move comes close on the heels of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari’s visit to India where he stressed on the need for a relaxed visa regime. Both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Pakistan President have agreed that a liberalised visa regime between the two countries should be put in place soon.
The liberal visa regime, agreed upon in 2011, will now be inked during the forthcoming home secretary level talks between India and Pakistan to be held in Islamabad soon.
Full report at:
http://www.asianage.com/india/liberal-visas-pakistani-spouses-952
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Iraq Vice-President Hashemi's guards 'die in custody'
11th April 2012
Iraq's fugitive vice-president says two more of his bodyguards have been tortured to death by security forces during a terrorism investigation.
A statement by Tariq al-Hashemi cited "reliable sources" as saying they died during interrogation as investigators tried to extract false confessions.
But the Iraqi judiciary denied there had been any new deaths in detention.
A warrant was issued in December for Mr Hashemi, accusing him of financing death squads - a claim he has denied.
He has avoided arrest by seeking refuge in Iraqi Kurdistan, where he is effectively out of reach of security forces loyal to Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.
Earlier this month, Mr Hashemi flew to Qatar and Saudi Arabia for what the two Gulf states described as "official visits", much to the anger of the Iraqi government.
He is currently in Turkey on the third stop of his regional tour.
Investigation demand
Full report at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17675666
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Pakistan: Mother-in-law, 90, suspected in murder
11th April 2012
LAHORE: A woman was doused with petrol and burned alive in a dispute with her husband’s family, police said on Wednesday, with her 90-year-old mother-in-law among those named as suspects.
Mother-of-one Sobia Bibi, 25, died after she was attacked while watching television in the house she shared with her in-laws, investigating officer Sub-Inspector Muhammad Hussain said.
Hussain said a case had been registered against four people over the March 27 attack in a village in Narowal district, northeast of the eastern city of Lahore, including the victim’s 90-year-old mother-in-law.
Sobia Bibi had a good relationship with her husband, who was working in Karachi at the time of the attack, Hussain said, but had frequently quarreled with his family.
http://dawn.com/2012/04/11/mother-in-law-90-suspected-in-murder-wa/
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Daghestan’s Mufti Slams 'Indiscriminate' Violence By Security Forces
Apr 11, 2012
Akhmed-hadji Abdullayev, the head of the Spiritual Board of Muslims of Daghestan (DUMD), has released a cautiously-worded statement condemning two of the factors that have in no small measure contributed to the evolution of the Islamic insurgency into a major political and ideological force: denunciations of suspected militants and support personnel, and brutal reprisals by police and security personnel against the persons thus identified.
Nonetheless, in light of Abdullayev’s lack of authority among believers, especially within the police and security forces, his appeal is unlikely to have the desired effect.
Although Abdullayev did not spell out explicitly the connection between the two phenomena he condemned, the first directly facilitates the second, insofar as police routinely target persons denounced as suspects without investigating whether or not they have any connection with the insurgency.
Killings Based On 'Misgivings And Suspicions'
Full report at:
http://www.rferl.org/content/daghestan_mufti_condemns_indiscriminate_violence_by_law_enforcement_agencies/24543246.html
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Cleric Metin Mekhtiyev from banned Islamic group stabbed to death in Moscow
Wednesday, April 11
MOSCOW — Russian police say a cleric from a banned Islamic group has been stabbed to death in Moscow in what his colleagues called an apparent hate crime.
Moscow city police said Wednesday that the body of Metin Mekhtiyev was found late Tuesday with severe knife wounds near his apartment building in central Moscow.
The 33-year-old worked at the Islamic Culture Center, one of the oldest Islamic groups in Russia, which was banned by Russia’s Supreme Court last year. The group claimed the ban was instigated by the Federal Security Service, Russia’s man KGB successor agency.
The group’s chairman Abdul-Wakhed Niyazov told the online Gazeta.ru that Mekhtiyev’s killing was similar to hate crimes committed by radical ultranationalist groups.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/cleric-from-banned-islamic-group-stabbed-to-death-in-moscow/2012/04/11/gIQAGfqs9S_story.html
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Curfew continues in Gilgit Kidnappers free 34 hostages
By Farooq Ahmed Khan
Apr 11, 2012
GILGIT, April 10: Thirty-four people kidnapped from Hunza on April 3 in the wake of violence and bloodshed in Gilgit and Chilas were released on Tuesday as a result of successful talks between kidnappers and cleric Aga Rahat ul Hussain, police said.
Member of the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly Deedar Ali Shah said the 34 hostages had been released unconditionally.
The kidnapped men — the district health officer, a civil judge, truck drivers, cleaners and labourers working in flour mills — had been taken to Nagar valley.
On Tuesday, they were brought to Gilgit where they were received by the deputy speaker of the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly, home secretary, finance secretary and the DIG.
Police said Aga Rahat, accompanied by Sheikh Mirza Ali and a number of other religious scholars, went to Nagar valley after the kidnappers had said that they would hand over the hostages only to him.
A team earlier constituted by the Gilgit-Baltistan chief minister had failed to persuade the kidnappers to free the hostages.
The hostages were first taken to the Chief Minister’s House where they met the CM and later transferred to a hotel. They are expected to go to their homes on Wednesday.
Full report at:
http://dawn.com/2012/04/11/curfew-continues-in-gilgit-kidnappers-free-34-hostages/
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New report finds Norway killer not insane
Apr 11, 2012
The right-wing extremist who confessed to killing 77 people in a bomb and shooting rampage in Norway is not criminally insane, a psychiatric assessment found on Tuesday, contradicting an earlier assessment.
The new conclusion comes just six days before Anders Behring Breivik is scheduled to go on trial on terror charges for the massacre on July 22, 2012.
It conflicts with an earlier examination that diagnosed Mr. Breivik as psychotic and prompted prosecutors to say he should be committed to a mental institution instead of prison if convicted.
The new assessment was made by psychiatrists Terje Toerrissen and Agnar Aspaas on a request from the court after widespread criticism against the first diagnosis.
“The main conclusion of the experts is that Anders Behring Breivik is found to be not psychotic during the time of his actions on July 22, 2011,” the Oslo court said in a statement.
Mr. Breivik has confessed to setting off the bomb in downtown Oslo, killing eight, and opening fire at a youth camp outside the Norwegian capital, killing 69. But he denies criminal guilt, saying the attacks were necessary in what he calls a civil war against Islam in Europe.
The court will take both psychiatric assessments into account during the trial which starts on Monday and is scheduled to last 10 weeks. If Mr. Breivik is found guilty but ruled psychotic, he will subjected to compulsory psychiatric care instead of imprisonment.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article3300265.ece
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Envoy to Syria Seeks Iranian Help as Cease-fire Deadline Nears
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR, RICK GLADSTONE and ALAN COWELL
Apr 11, 2012
BEIRUT, Lebanon — With the deadline for a cease-fire in Syria less than a day away, Kofi Annan, the high-profile special envoy who devised the timetable for a truce, on Wednesday urged Iran, Syria’s main regional ally, to support the peace effort, saying that “any further militarization of the conflict would be disastrous.”
Mr. Annan, appointed by the Arab League and the United Nations, said Syria’s plight could be “much improved” by daybreak on Thursday if the combatants — Syrian government forces and a ragtag collection of armed rebels and army defectors on the other — respected his proposal to stop fighting by then.
“I have received government assurances they will respect the cease-fire,” he said, referring to the Syrian authorities.
“If everyone respects, I think by six o’clock on Thursday the 12th — six o’clock in the morning on Thursday the 12th — we should see a much improved situation on the ground,” he said, saying it was still possible for both sides to make progress toward a cease-fire.
Full report at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/12/world/middleeast/kofi-annan-seeks-iranian-help-with-syria-cease-fire.html?ref=global-home
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Clash between militants and FC in Dera Bugti kills four
Apr 11, 2012
DERA BUGTI: A fierce gun battle erupted between militants and Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel in Sangsila area of Dera Bugti, killing four militants, DawnNews reported.
According to FC sources, a contingent of paramilitary personnel was on routine patrol in the area when it was ambushed by armed men.
The FC patrol unit engaged in retaliatory firing which resulted in the deaths of four militants, whereas six militants were arrested.
A huge quantity of weapons and mortar was recovered from the arrested persons.
Investigation was under way in the area as the arrested militants were interrogated by FC personnel.
http://dawn.com/2012/04/11/clash-between-militants-and-fc-in-dera-bugti-kills-four/
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Yemen Army Kills 25 Militants in Fresh Clashes: Officials
Apr 11, 2012
ADEN (Reuters) - At least 25 suspected al Qaeda-linked militants were killed on Wednesday in a third day of fighting with Yemeni troops in the south of the country, residents and local officials said.
Officials said the clashes took place at Jebel Yasuf, some 10 km (6 miles) from the town of Lawdar, where dozens of people have been killed since Monday, when fighters from Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law) group attacked a military camp there.
At least a further eight people were killed in continued fighting in the vicinity on Tuesday.
Militants emboldened by a year of political upheaval in Yemen are trying to exploit weakened security forces to extend their control over the country's south, particularly Abyan province, where they already hold large swathes of territory. Lawdar is located in Abyan.
Full report at:
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2012/04/11/world/middleeast/11reuters-yemen-militants.html?ref=africa&gwh=C3917EFDC897024326BFC4B355962AEC
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Syrian opposition says 1,000 killed in last 8 days
Apr 11, 2012
GENEVA (AP) — Syria's main opposition group says 1,000 people have been killed by government forces in the last eight days.
A spokeswoman for the Syrian National Council says troops loyal to President Bashar Assad have intensified their onslaught in opposition areas despite saying it would accept a U.N. peace plan.
SNC spokeswoman Bassma Kodmani says 160 people were killed in Syria on Monday alone.
Kodmani told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday that regime forces have used heavy weapons including anti-aircraft guns against civilians in apparent defiance of an agreement to begin a cease-fire April 10.
She says the humanitarian situation on the ground is "dramatically deteriorating"
Full report at:
to defend its sovereignty against any violation of this sovereignty."
http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-opposition-says-1-000-killed-last-8-123740517.html
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Bus bombing in southern Philippines kills 10
April 11, 2012
The Philippine military says a bus bomb in the restive southern region has killed 10 passengers and wounded two others.
Regional commander Col. Leopoldo Galon says the bomb went off on the bus on Wednesday as it pulled into a terminal in Carmen town in North Cotabato province. He
says extortion gangs linked to Muslim rebels have been suspected in previous such attacks in the region.
A long-running Muslim rebellion and criminal gangs are behind decades-long unrest in the southern Philippines, home to minority Muslims in the predominantly Christian nation.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/RestOfAsia/Bus-bombing-in-southern-Philippines-kills-10/Article1-838788.aspx
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Ailing Pakistani scientist, Chisti released from Ajmer jail
April 11, 2012
After spending over 14 months in jail, 80-year-old ailing Pakistani scientist Mohammed Khalil Chisti was on Wednesday released on bail from Ajmer jail in a two-decade-old murder case and said he wanted to return to his homeland soon.
“I am happy to be out of the jail. I believe in God and thank him. My wish is to see my family members in Pakistan as soon as possible,” Dr. Chisti, who was granted bail by the Supreme Court on Monday, said as his brother Jamil Chisti and cousin Aaiyad Anwar-ul-Haq along with others gave him a warm welcome on stepping out of Ajmer central jail.
Speaking in English, Dr. Chisti said, “I would also thank President Asif Ali Zardari for making efforts for me and for visiting Ajmer.”
Dr. Chisti was granted bail on humanitarian grounds a day after his case was discussed between the authorities of the two countries during Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari’s visit to India. Activists in India and Pakistan have been demanding his release.
Full report at:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3303786.ece
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Pakistan rapidly developing its nuclear arsenal: Report
Apr 11, 2012
WASHINGTON: Estimated to have more nuclear weapons than India, Pakistan is rapidly developing and expanding its atomic arsenal, spending about $2.5 billion a year to develop such weapons, a report has said.
"Pakistan has been rapidly developing and expanding its nuclear arsenal, increasing its capacity to produce plutonium, and testing and deploying a diverse array of nuclear-capable ballistic and cruise missiles," said the report 'Assuring Destruction Forever: Nuclear Modernisation Around the World'.
"Pakistan is moving from an arsenal based wholly on HEU to greater reliance on lighter and more compact plutonium-based weapons, which is made possible by a rapid expansion in plutonium production capacity," said the 150-page report by Reaching Critical Will of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.
"Pakistan is also moving from aircraft-delivered nuclear bombs to nuclear-armed ballistic and cruise missiles and from liquid-fueled to solid-fueled medium-range missile. Pakistan also has a growing nuclear weapons research, development, and production infrastructure," it said.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Pakistan-rapidly-developing-its-nuclear-arsenal-Report/articleshow/12619636.cms
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PM House rejects change in FM Hina Rabbani Khar's portfolio
Apr 11, 2012
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister House has rejected reports doing rounds in the media regarding Hina Rabbani Khar’s probable removal as foreign minister, Geo News reported.
In statement issued here, PM House termed the speculations as baseless in all respects.
Earlier Hina Rabbani Khar’s absence from President Asif Ali Zardari's entourage in India raised many eyebrows forcing analysts to surmise that something was not right and may be she was on her way out.
On Tuesday, media was rife with reports that Khar maybe given a new portfolio in an upcoming cabinet reshuffle and a new foreign minister would lead talks with New Delhi were.
Khar, who was just 34 when she was sworn in as the foreign minister last year, was missing when Zardari and his delegation spent a day in India Sunday.
In July last year, Khar had visited India and held talks with her Indian counterpart S.M. Krishna.
Full report at:
http://www.geo.tv/GeoDetail.aspx?ID=43805
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Pak PM's son flees abroad after SC notice over scam
Apr 11 2012
Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's son Ali Musa has left Pakistan after the Supreme Court issued him a notice in a case related to alleged irregularities in the import of a large amount of the chemical Ephedrine, commonly known as "poor man's cocaine".
Media reports said Ali Musa's move could be related to efforts by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) to put his name on the Exit Control List, which has the names of people barred from travelling outside Pakistan.
Ali Musa, who was recently elected to the National Assembly or lower house of parliament, has left for South Africa and is also expected to travel to Britain, his personal secretary told The Express Tribune.
The secretary said it was a "scheduled visit" and Ali Musa was likely to return on May 2.
Full report at:
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/935439/
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No Public rallies in Islamabad red zone, warns Rehman Malik
Apr 11, 2012
ISLAMABAD: Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Wednesday said the permission will not be granted to hold public rallies in the red-zone of Islamabad.
Addressing a meeting on security situation of Islamabad, Malik said that if in future any public rally is held in the red-zone of Islamabad, the Superintendent Police (SP) and the Station House Officer (SHO) of that area will be responsible for it.
“Those who take law in their hands will be dealt strictly,” the interior minister added.
http://dawn.com/2012/04/11/no-public-rallies-in-the-red-zone-warns-malik-hasanali/
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Gilgit baltistan violence: ‘We are all Muslims, no harm will come to me’
Apr 11, 2012
LAHORE: Hundreds from the Shia community protested against the killings in Gilgit baltistan outside Lahore Press Club on Tuesday. Organized by the Majlis-e-Wahdat-ul-Muslimeen (MWM), the speakers called for action to be taken by the Chief Justice of Pakistan regarding the G-B incident.
Women and children from the Shia community, students from Imamia Students Organizations and students from Gilgit-Baltistan participated in the 3 hours long sit-in, which blocked part of Davis road.
Muhammad Ali Johri was at the protest, grieving for his nephew who was killed on April 2 at Chilas. Johri said his nephew Ruhullah Razvi had left him in Islamabad last week and insisting on traveling to Skardu via road and told his uncle “Everything will be fine, we are all Muslims, no harm will come to me.”
Johri said, eye witnesses told him that Ruhullah was stoned and then thrown in the river. The young man’s body was recovered from the river yesterday.
Chanting slogans against government, judiciary and the media, emotionally charged protesters tried to forcibly enter the Lahore Press Club. Speaking to The Express Tribune Sakina Mehdvi from the MWM questioned media silence on the issue.
Full report at:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/362698/g-b-violence-we-are-all-muslims-no-harm-will-come-to-me/
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Special forces to counter Taliban’s deadliest weapon
By Irfan Ghauri
April 11, 2012
ISLAMABAD: To counter the use of homemade landmines – the weapon that causes the most troop and civilian casualties on both sides of the border – Pakistan is to deploy specially trained Counter-Improvised Explosive Devices (C-IED) forces at 820 border posts along the Pak-Afghan border.
“Special instructions are being passed to all agencies to enhance vigilance on the Pak-Afghan border. Pakistan has deployed 23 wings of the Frontier Corps (FC) for border control. The manpower deployed on approximately 820 posts established by the Pakistan Army/FC along the international border are being trained to monitor the movement of Calcium Ammonium Nitrate (CAN),” said an official document available with The Express Tribune.
CAN and Ammonium Nitrate (AN) are used to manufacture fertilisers but simultaneously function as key ingredients in making homemade mines called IEDs.
The FC has trained their personnel in basic Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) to undertake search and disposal operations, while specialised police units have been established to undertake EOD tasks which will be used not only on border points but during raids on IED manufacturing sites on its side of the border.
Full report at:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/362779/special-forces-to-counter-talibans-deadliest-weapon/
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Afghan Force Will Be Cut After Taking Leading Role
Apr 11, 2012
WASHINGTON — Afghanistan’s defense minister said Tuesday that his government and the international coalition paying for the war effort had agreed in principle that Afghan security forces would undergo a significant reduction to about 230,000 personnel after the NATO mission ends in 2014.
Under current plans, Afghan security forces are to reach a peak of 352,000 by late this year. Afghan and alliance officials agree that it would be unwise to begin reducing that number before the end of 2014, because in the coming months the number of foreign forces will be reduced and Afghans will be taking over the leading role in defending their nation.
The defense minister, Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak, noted that the projected reductions beyond 2014 were the result of “a conceptual model for planning purposes” of an army, police and border-protection force sufficient to defend Afghanistan. But it also must be sustainable in the future with decreasing foreign contributions.
Full report at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/11/world/asia/afghan-force-will-be-cut-as-nato-ends-mission-in-2014.html?ref=asia&gwh=1D745DC3201621578B2C30B46FA071E9
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Syria clashes dim ceasefire hopes
Apr 11, 2012
BEIRUT: Syrian troops killed 31 people on Tuesday, pursuing a fierce assault on president Bashar al-Assad's opponents instead of silencing their guns and leaving towns as promised under a fraying international peace plan.
UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan said it was "a bit too early" to dismiss as a failure his attempt to halt 13 months of conflict. "The plan is still on the table," he after visiting Syrian refugee camps in Turkey.
The former UN chief's plan, which calls for Syrian troops to pull back by the end of Tuesday, won backing from Assad's friends in Russia and China, as well as from Western, Arab and other nations struggling to find a way to deflect the Syrian leader from his bloody crackdown on a popular uprising.
Opposition activists say hundreds of Syrians have been killed since Assad accepted Annan's proposals on March 27.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Syria-clashes-dim-ceasefire-hopes/articleshow/12618035.cms
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Kofi Annan urges UN council to push for Syria truce by Thursday
Apr 11, 2012
UNITED NATIONS: UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan appealed to the Security Council on Tuesday to use its leverage to prevent the collapse of his efforts to end Syria's year-long conflict after Damascus ignored a deadline to withdraw troops from Syrian towns.
Several Western diplomats complained privately that Damascus appeared to have won a two-day extension after flouting its first deadline under Annan's peace plan. But they said it was vital to keep the 15-nation body, which has faced deep rifts over Syria, united in order to maintain pressure on Damascus.
"Every effort must be made to achieve a cessation of violence in all its forms on 12 April at 0600 (0300 GMT)," Annan told the council in a letter, obtained by Reuters.
"There is no more time to lose," Annan said in a statement to the press. "We must all push for an end to the bloodshed before Syria plunges into the abyss."
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, president of the council this month, said all council members voiced "deep concern" at Damascus' level of commitment to its truce pledges. She was speaking to reporters after Annan's deputy Jean-Marie Guehenno briefed the council via video link from Geneva.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Kofi-Annan-urges-UN-council-to-push-for-Syria-truce-by-Thursday/articleshow/12616385.cms
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Iran arrests 'major terrorist group' linked to Israel
Apr 11, 2012
TEHRAN: Iran's intelligence ministry said it has broken an Israeli-linked "terror and sabotage" network which had its headquarters in an unspecified nearby country, media reports said on Tuesday.
"One of the Zionist regime's biggest terror and sabotage networks and some of its agents have been identified. A group of criminal terrorists and mercenaries cooperating with them has been arrested," the ministry said in a statement picked up by the Iranian outlets.
"A number of the operatives were arrested as they were preparing to carry out a terrorist operation," it said.
"Heavy bombs," machineguns, pistols, silencers, military communications gear and "other terrorist equipment" were seized in operations "in border and central provinces" inside Iran, the ministry said without being specific.
The operations led to "identifying the Zionists' regional headquarters in one of the regional countries," it said, without naming the country concerned.
Iran from time to time announces the arrest of suspects alleged to be working for US, British or Israeli espionage services. It rarely provides any evidence to substantiate such claims.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Iran-arrests-major-terrorist-group-linked-to-Israel/articleshow/12613020.cms
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University Ban For Iranian Protestors Of 2009
Apr 11, 2012
It has been reported that any Iranians who took part in 2009 protests against the reelection of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad will be banned from studying at university.
Quoted by the official IRNA news agency, Iran’s Science and Education Minister Kamran Daneshjou said that if Tehran did not take such action, the government would find it difficult to explain how antigovernment protesters had been admitted to Iranian universities.
In recent years, reform-minded university professors and students critical of the Iranian establishment have come under increasing pressure.
A number of liberal professors are said to have been forced to retire and dozens of student activists have been banned from classes and sentenced to prison.
http://www.rferl.org/content/protesters_banned_from_iranian_universities/24544243.html
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Tunisia Marks 10 Years Since Bloody Synagogue Bomb
Apr 11, 2012
TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisia's president is set to mark on Wednesday 10 years since an al-Qaida truck bomb killed 21 people at a synagogue on the island of Djerba.
President Moncef Marzouki will fly to the island accompanied by Tunisia's grand rabbi, Haim Bitan, to lay a wreath and observe a moment of silence to remember the victims of the truck bombing, that included 14 German and two French tourists. The ambassadors of France and Germany will be in attendance, along with the families of the victims.
It comes at a time when Tunisia's small, 1,500-strong, Jewish community is facing pressure from ultraconservative Muslim groups, after an uprising last year overthrew Tunisia's decades-old secular dictatorship.
The head of the Jewish community, Roger Bismuth filed suit last month against a Salafi religious leader seen chanting anti-Semitic slogans at a demonstration in March.
Full report at:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2012/04/11/world/middleeast/ap-ml-tunisia-jews.html?ref=global-home&gwh=EF11646D20233ADCE179FBD4B12060FB
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Ukrainian Former Prime Minister Tymoshenko Faces Murder Accusations
Apr 11, 2012
Ukrainian prosecutors announced last week that former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko (2005; 2007-2010) and former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko (1996-1997) were suspected of commissioning several murders in the 1990s. This looks like a last-ditch attempt to influence public opinion – both at home, ahead of the October parliamentary election, and in the West, where opposition leader Tymoshenko is regarded as a political prisoner – that she is a monster who deserves to be in jail. A court in Kyiv last October imprisoned Tymoshenko for seven years for exceeding her authority in preparing the controversial January 2009 contracts with Russia’s Gazprom, while Lazarenko, who is Tymoshenko’s former ally, is serving a prison sentence for money-laundering in the US.
First Deputy Prosecutor-General Renat Kuzmin spoke last fall about Tymoshenko’s possible involvement in the 1998 murder of Yevhen Shcherban, who was an influential people’s deputy and businessman from Donetsk. Kuzmin admitted then that the prosecutors lacked evidence (Ukrainska Pravda, October 31). It has since become obvious that public opinion and Western policymakers do not trust Ukrainian prosecutors on Tymoshenko, which has been jeopardizing Ukraine’s European integration. The EU has made it clear that the association and free trade agreement with Ukraine will not be signed if Kyiv does not change its attitude to justice in general and Tymoshenko in particular (see EDM, March 28, April 2). What is more, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych himself admitted in Davos this year that Tymoshenko had been indicted under an outdated Soviet law (Ukrainska Pravda, January 27). The ruling team has apparently decided that it is now time for more serious charges against Tymoshenko to influence Western opinion.
Full report at: Jamestown Foundation
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Indonesia Sets New Tsunami Warning as Aftershock Hits
Apr 11, 2012
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia has issued a fresh tsunami warning after an aftershock with a preliminary magnitude of 8.2 shook its western coast.
The first 8.6-magnitude quake off Aceh province, hours earlier, spawned a wave around 30 inches (80 centimeters) high but caused no serious damage.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the strong temblor that followed was centered 10 miles (16 kilometers) beneath the ocean around 380 miles (615 kilometers) from the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.
Harjadi, a local official who goes by only one name, said the new tsunami warning was for residents living along the western coast of the country.
It included Sumatra island and the Mentawai islands.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — A massive earthquake off Indonesia's western coast triggered a tsunami watch for countries across the Indian Ocean on Wednesday, clogging streets with traffic as residents fled to high ground in cars and on the backs of motorcycles.
Full report at:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2012/04/11/world/asia/ap-as-indonesia-earthquake.html?ref=global-home&gwh=0D2B4C639570E4A39DF093D7B51141CD
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Sudan Halts S.Sudan Talks After Fresh Border Fighting
Apr 11, 2012
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan has stopped all talks with South Sudan on ending a row over oil payments and other disputes after new fighting broke out in the oil-producing border area, Sudan's state radio said on Wednesday.
Khartoum would immediately withdraw its negotiating team from talks sponsored by the African Union in Addis Ababa and also order a general army mobilization, the radio said. It gave no further details.
Sudan earlier accused Juba of having attacked the disputed Heglig border area where Sudan controls a large oil field vital to its economy. South Sudan said its army had acted in self defence after being attacked by Sudanese forces from Heglig.
(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Ulf Laessing)
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2012/04/11/world/africa/11reuters-sudan-talks.html?ref=global-home&gwh=54A2759D8E3A0B5FC246564AECD21D63
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Real fight begins now, says Zakia
Apr 11 2012
Surat : Zakia Jafri, the 74-year-old widow the former Congress MP Ahsan Jafri who was killed in the 2002 Gulbarg Society massacre, said Tuesday that her fight had not ended with the SIT giving a clean chit to Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
Zakia, who had filed a petition accusing Modi and 61 others of playing a role in the 2002 riots, said she was happy over the court’s decision to provide her with a copy of the report by the SIT (special investigation team), which was appointed by the Supreme Court to further probe some key cases related to the 2002 riots. “Thank God that we will finally get a copy of the SIT report. We have come to know that SIT’s closure reports clears Modi and others, but we have full faith in the judicial,” she said.
“We have consulted our legal advisers. Now, the real fight will begin. The court will have to listen to us before coming to any conclusion,” Zakia said.
Her Zakia’s son Tanveer said they were waiting to see if the SIT’s closure report contained the submissions made by Raju Ramchandran, who was appointed amicus curiae in the case by the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, SIT chairman R K Raghvan said in Ahmedabad it was now for the court to judge the closure report submitted by them. He said a copy of the report would also be handed over to Zakia Jafri.
http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/935341/
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HC asks J&K government to give compensation to displaced Kashmiri
Apr 11, 2012
NEW DELHI: Allowing a plea of a displaced Kashmiri man, the Delhi High Court today directed J&K government to pay him Rs two lakh compensation for his house which he had abandoned following outbreak of militancy in 1989 and was burned down after being occupied by army and police.
Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw also imposed a cost of Rs 10,000 on the state government and directed it to pay the amount to Omkar Nath Bhat, who hails from Anantnag district.
Directing the state government to pay the amount with 7 per cent rate of interest since November 2005 till date, the court made it clear that if Bhat had already received Rs 25,000 earlier, the government would deduct the amount and pay the rest Rs 1.75 lakh to him.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/HC-asks-JK-government-to-give-compensation-to-displaced-Kashmiri/articleshow/12612413.cms
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Osama's wives, kids seen in new video
Apr 11, 2012
LONDON: A new video on Osama bin Laden's widows in a Pakistani prison shows a boy stacking teddy bears on a chair while another grabs a cricket bat. Three women dressed in black veils look on, while another kneels on a prayer mat to read from the Quran.
The footage obtained by Al Arabiya television shows the tight security surrounding the family of the terror mastermind as they serve 45-day sentences for illegally entering Pakistan, the Telegraph reported.
Another of bin Laden's wives is seen feeding a toddler.
The women and children have been in Pakistani custody ever since bin Laden was shot dead by US Navy Seals in May last year.
Pakistani authorities fear the widows may carry valuable information about who helped the family evade capture.
The daily said Pakistan will also want assurances that their home countries -- Yemen and Saudi Arabia -- will keep the family from public view.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Osamas-wives-kids-seen-in-new-video/articleshow/12613827.cms
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JEDDAH: Children urged to pursue career path with determination
Apr 11, 2012
“Career guidance is very important as it helps in choosing the right career that suits the talents and skills of students,” ACCESS facilitator Ismail Hassan said.
He was interacting with a large group of students from X, XI and XII standard at the Royal Plaza auditorium during the Career Guidance Program organized by India Fraternity Forum in association with ACCESS India.
ACCESS (Advanced Center for Career Education and Social Service) helps students to figure out their own capability and strength, and identify opportunity to pursue a suitable professional and educational stream and ways to enroll in them.
Hassan, who has been associated with ACCESS since its inception in 2004, urged parents to give due consideration to the talents and capabilities of students while selecting courses and future profession. Using multimedia presentations, Hassan spoke about various higher education options in today’s competitive world.
"Taking the right decision at the right time would give a satisfying profession to our younger generation," he said. However, in some cases parental pressure forces children to pursue courses that do not match their aptitude. Some parents do not to give due consideration to their financial background when choosing courses and the children end up in failure.
Full report at:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article609704.ece
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Afghan Education Not Making The Grade
By Frud Bezhan
Apr 11, 2012
Afghan education officials have found themselves embroiled in controversy after a record number of students failed in national university entry exams last week.
Afghan students accuse the Higher Education Ministry, which determines university placement, of fraud and discrimination, insisting that as many as 60,000 of them failed purely on the basis of their ethnicity and mother language.
Many say the majority of the students who failed come from the country's south and east, a tribal region dominated by Pashtuns.
Unlike many of the country's other ethnicities who speak Dari, a Persian dialect, the Pashtuns speak their own language, Pashto.
Students from rural areas claim that they received sufficient grades to pass but have been failed by examiners, who have refused to explain their reasons or marking criteria.
Others students are adamant that their test scores were higher than some students in urban centers who were granted university places -- leading to allegations of special treatment and corruption.
"Everybody that participates in an exam hopes to pass," says Nilufar, a female student from southern Ghazni Province. "But the chance of passing [this exam] is very low. There's no way we can pass because those people that will pass have already been determined. It's completely unfair."
Calls For Investigation
Full report at:
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