Uzbekistan Introduces Love Poetry of Babur to Replace ‘Alien’ Valentine’s
Anti-Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the West (PEGIDA) demonstrators gather during a demonstration in Vienna February 2, 2015. (Photo: Reuters)
Europe
Uzbekistan Introduces Love Poetry of Babur to Replace ‘Alien’ Valentine’s
First 'Anti-Islamisation' March Planned In Britain
Italy 'Ready to Fight' in Libya if Needed, Foreign Minister Says
Assad 'part of the solution' in Syria: UN envoy
Prince Charles has a date with Saudi history
U.N. chief appeals to Indonesia to stop death row executions
Arab World
ISIL Chops Three Women's Hands Off, Whips Five Men for Using Cellphones
Air Strikes in Syria Kill At Least 20 Islamic State Fighters: Monitor
Hezbollah: Wherever Resistance Exists, ISIL, Nusra Collapse
Iraqi Source: 14 ISIL Terrorists Killed in Salahuddin
Iraqi Yazidis take revenge as Islamic State atrocities unearthed
Fate of Egyptians kidnapped in Libya remains unknown: PM
Watch out parents, children abusing clothes spray: Riyadh police
Islamic State: Smoking will kill you, one way or another
Pakistan
Religious, Political Schools Of Thought Observe Condemn Day: Pakistan Ulema Council
Worshippers under Attack: Suicide Bombers Storm Peshawar Mosque
ISI cultivated Taliban to counter Indian action: Pervez Musharraf
Jamaat-e-Islami urges EC to stop use of money in Senate election
War against Terrorism Will Be Won At Any Cost: Shahbaz Sharif
Fighting Terrorism: ‘Half of 12,000 Madrasas In The Punjab Are Unregistered’
Oregon man admits helping people linked to Pakistan suicide bombing
Gunmen kill driver, wound polio worker in Khyber
Mideast
Yemen Clashes Kill 26 As Embassy Closures Continue
Prosecutor Describes Gülenist Police As Terror Organization
Turkish students, teachers protest govt religious education
Senior Cleric: West Trying to Deceive Iran with Two-Phased Agreement
IRGC Commander: Obama Perplexed at ISIL's Defeat against Iran
Israeli house strikes killed mostly civilians
South Asia
6 ANA Martyred, 89 Insurgents Killed In Military Operations
Awami League: BNP to Eventually End Up As Militant Outfit
Ghazni Adviser was IS spokesman for Afghanistan: Sources
North America
Canadian Police Foil Plot to Kill People at Mall on Valentine’s Day
Anti-Terrorism Summit Reinforces 'Fear and Hate' Towards Muslims, Critics Warn
Michiana Muslim community reacts to Obama asking for war on ISIS
Family of Slain Muslims: Chapel Hill Shooting Domestic Terrorism
Obama denounces 'outrageous murders' of three U.S. Muslims
Colombia detains 16 Pakistanis trying to reach US
Fund set up by slain US Muslim raises money for refugees
Islamic institute on fire in southeast Houston, U.S
Africa
Villagers Accuse Sudan Military of Intense Bombing Campaign
Thousands flee from misery and death brought by relentless Boko Haram
India
Voter Lists In Hand, Hindu Mahasabha Looks for Christians, Muslims on Valentine’s Day
ISIS Group to Be Banned In India
Pakistani Smugglers Try Innovative Ways to Push Narcotics Into India
‘Terror attack rumour’ triggers panic in schools in Jammu
Southeast Asia
Hadi Vows to Press Ahead with Hudud, To Continue ‘Nik Aziz’s Struggle’
Islamic spiritual leader and key politician who united the opposition mourned
Explain ban on non-Muslim activities in MRSM, says education group
Seventy-one RI migrant workers repatriated from Syria
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
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Europe
Uzbekistan introduces love poetry of Babur to replace ‘alien’ Valentine’s
Feb 14 2015
ASHKENT: Uzbekistan is urging young people to shun “alien” Valentine’s Day traditions such as sending cards, saying they should instead enjoy the love poetry of a 15th-century warrior-prince.
The Central Asian country has turned February 14 into “national poetry day,” as the government attempts to combat what it calls the “pernicious influence” of Western mass culture.
Uzbekistan’s authorities began to discourage celebrations of Valentine’s Day in 2012. Before then, the exchange of lovers’ messages on commercial radio and television stations was a growing trend in the secular country where most people are Muslim.
Now, although there is no official ban on Valentine’s Day, universities in the landlocked nation of about 30 million have ordered their students not to mention it. Students have also been urged not to exchange Valentine’s cards.
‘Alien culture’
The authorities do not want young people “to follow alien mass culture blindly” said Ikbol Mirzo, the deputy chairman for youth issues at Uzbekistan’s state-sponsored Writer’s Union.
“So, we are turning Feb 14 into Babur Day — a day of courtly love and faithfulness,” Ikbol said.
The date was chosen because it is the birthday of Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur, who ruled part of present-day Uzbekistan before founding the three-century Mughal dynasty in India. He also had a passion for prose and poetry.
“We are not against love, not against sweethearts or exchanging gifts on this day. This is all about the symbols that are used on this occasion,” Ikbol said.
He quoted a line of Babur’s love poetry: “When I bend down to the earth to kiss her foot, I feel my head is in the heavens.”
“I don’t know any other poet who glorified women and raised themes of lovesickness, homesickness and fidelity so evocatively as Babur,” Ikbol said.
‘Holiday from the devil’
Uzbekistan has planned poetry festivals throughout the country for Feb 14 including an event in Tashkent’s biggest shopping centre.
It has also released an album of songs based on Babur’s verses by a popular singer, Ozodbek Nazarbekov.
Babur’s poetry is a source of pride for ordinary people in Uzbekistan, many of whom can recite his lines by heart.
One political analyst, who asked to remain anonymous, said the government’s efforts to push Babur Day instead of Valentine’s Day are likely to have more impact in the conservative provinces than in more cosmopolitan Tashkent.
“Our officials love to ban something first, and only later think about the consequences. This is what happened with rap and rock,” said the political analyst.
In 2011 Uzbek state television condemned rap and rock as “Satanic” and a source of evil. However, officials were later forced to back down and say rap was acceptable as long as singers picked patriotic themes.
The government’s policy on Valentine’s Day could gain significant support “especially from the older generation, who fear Western culture may undermine local values”, the political analyst said.
Uzbekistan is not the only Central Asian state to frown on celebrating Western holidays.
In neighbouring Kyrgyzstan, a conservative lawmaker last year called for a ban on Valentine’s celebrations in schools, calling it the “holiday from the devil”, although no ban was adopted.
In Tajikistan, which also borders Uzbekistan, police reportedly broke up Halloween parties in 2013 and 2014, although there is no law against celebrating the holiday.
http://www.dawn.com/news/1163428/uzbekistan-introduces-love-poetry-of-babur-to-replace-alien-valentines
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First 'anti-Islamisation' march planned in Britain
Feb 14 2015
British supporters of Germany's PEGIDA movement, which protests against what it calls the "Islamisation" of Europe, are planning their first demonstration on February 28, police said.
A Facebook group calling itself PEGIDA UK, which has the slogan "United Against Extremism", has called for a march to take place in the northeastern English city of Newcastle.
In a statement, local police said: "We have spoken to the organisers and they have informed us they plan to hold their event in Newcastle on February 28.
"We are aware there are also plans in place for counter events to be held in the city on the same day.
"We will now speak to all of those involved, our partners and our local communities and over the coming days agree on plans for the events."
PEGIDA is a right-wing populist group that rails against Islam and "criminal asylum seekers", and drew 25,000 people to a march in the German city of Dresden last month.
It has since seen its numbers fall off, although PEGIDA-inspired protests have also taken place in Austria and Sweden in the past week. The small crowds drawn to each one were dwarfed by counter-demonstrations.
A homegrown British group that protested against the perceived threat from extremist Islam, the English Defence League, held a number of protests throughout 2013, which often ended in clashes with anti-fascist demonstrators.
But the group has lost momentum since its leader Tommy Robinson quit in October that year, saying he could not longer keep "extremist elements" in the group at bay.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/9/122965/World/International/First-antiIslamisation-march-planned-in-Britain.aspx
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Italy 'Ready to Fight' in Libya if Needed, Foreign Minister Says
14 Feb, 2015
ROME— Italy would be ready to join a U.N.-led force to battle "an active terrorist threat'' after recent advances by a faction in Libya that has sworn loyalty to Islamic State militants, Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Friday.
In an interview with SkyTG24 television, Gentiloni said Italy backed efforts by U.N. special envoy Bernardino Leon to bring warring factions to the table to try to broker a cease-fire.
But he said should talks fail, Italy "is ready to fight naturally in the context of an international mission.''
"We cannot accept the idea that there's an active terrorist threat only a few hours from Italy by boat,'' he said.
The situation in Libya, already chaotic, "is deteriorating,'' Gentiloni said, adding that Italy "cannot underestimate'' the possibility of an attack by Islamic State militants.
In recent days, Italian officials have made generic statements about being willing to lead a U.N. force in Libya, but Gentiloni's comments Friday marked a more aggressive stance.
Gentiloni spoke after media reports Friday that fighters claiming allegiance to Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria had taken control of radio and television stations in Sirte, a coastal city halfway between Tripoli and Benghazi.
Until recently, the Islamic State faction appeared to have limited power and to be confined mostly to the city of Derna, he said.
The main power struggle in Libya, which has been the focus of the U.N. talks, is between an internationally recognized government and a rival administration set up in Tripoli after an armed faction seized the capital last summer.
Both are backed by brigades of fighters who helped oust veteran leader Moammar Gadhafi in 2011 but have since turned against one another in a complex conflict involving tribes, former Gadhafi troops, Islamist militants and federalist forces.
Traffickers there have taken advantage of the chaos to send tens of thousands of refugees and migrants in small, overcrowded boats toward Italy.
More than 300 migrants died trying to reach Italy from Libya in stormy seas this week. The U.N. refugee organization said at least 218,000 migrants crossed the Mediterranean by boat last year and 3,500 died.
http://www.voanews.com/content/reu-italy-ready-to-fight-in-libya-if-needed/2643899.html
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Assad 'part of the solution' in Syria: UN envoy
Feb 14 2015
Any resolution to the fighting in Syria must involve President Bashar al-Assad, the United Nations envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura said on Feb. 13 in the first such acknowledgement by the UN.
"President Assad is part of the solution," de Mistura told a joint press conference with Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz in Vienna.
"I will continue to have very important discussions with him," he added, noting that "the only solution is a political solution."
This was the first time a UN envoy on Syria explicitly named Assad as part of a peaceful solution after nearly four years of fighting between government troops and rebels seeking the leader's overthrow.
De Mistura, who was in Damascus this week meeting with Assad, is due to deliver a report on his mission to the UN Security Council on February 17.
If no solution to the conflict is found, "the only one who takes advantage of it is (the Islamic State group) ISIS Daesh," de Mistura said, referring to the jihadists who have taken over parts of Syria and Iraq.
The group is a "monster waiting for this conflict to take place in order to be able to take advantage," he said.
Kurz meanwhile agreed that "in the fight against IS it can be necessary to fight on the same side" but insisted that "Assad will never be a friend or even a partner."
Human rights groups have accused Syria's government of indiscriminate bombardment of civilians in rebel-held areas, including with crude "barrel bombs" -- allegations Assad denied in a BBC interview this week.
In the interview, he also complained that in the fight against IS, "there is no dialogue" with the US-led coalition, which began airstrikes in September.
"There's, let's say, information, but not dialogue," the embattled leader said.
In a poll on Thursday, 53 percent of residents in opposition-held areas of Syria's second city of Aleppo -- which has seen some of the country's worst violence since July 2012 -- said they favoured de Mistura's October proposal of a "freeze" in fighting.
But a great majority also said they were sceptical that a truce would hold.
The Syrian conflict began as peaceful protests in March 2011, before descending into war that has since killed more than 210,000 people, with regime troops shelling rebel-held areas almost daily.
Several rounds of talks have ended in failure.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/assad-part-of-the-solution-in-syria-un-envoy-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=78322&NewsCatID=352
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Prince Charles has a date with Saudi history
Feb 14 2015
During a recent visit to the Kingdom, the heir to the British throne, Charles, Prince of Wales and his entourage, were deeply impressed by their trip to the archaeological sites at Al-Ula and Madain Saleh. The British Crown Prince emphasized the beauty of the sites, coining them as outstanding tourist attractions, and a milestone on the world tourism map.
The Prince of Wales was escorted by Saudi royalty, with President of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) Prince Sultan bin Salman, and Madinah Gov. Prince Faisal bin Salman at his side. The party also visited the archaeological sites of Khuraymah and the historical oasis of Dadan as well and Mount Akmah. Prince Charles was also briefed on various features of these spots, so rich in heritage and tradition, while guests toured around the facades of Nabatean buildings.
Tourism experts expressed their satisfaction that Prince Charles’ visit to Al-Ula and Madain Saleh underscored the uniqueness and historical significance of the tourist site.
“The uniqueness of the sites lies in the fact that they date back to the sixth millennium BC. Al-Ula, lying on the ancient caravan route of spice traders, also served as a meeting point of several ancient civilizations which left indelible marks on the site,” Madinah historian and researcher Tnaidib Al-Fayedi, told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Another history researcher, Muhammad Al-Harbi, also highlighted the area’s rich tradition and archaeology. “The diversity of the monuments at Madain Saleh and Al-Ula makes them a remarkable tourist attraction. The repository of heritage and archaeological uniqueness of rock facades of Madain Saleh, historical monuments at the Khuraybah and architectural heritage of the old town in Al-Ula, are all features of this diversity,” Al-Harbi pointed out.
Former chief at SCTA’s Al-Ula branch, Motleq Al-Motleq, believed one of the main factors contributing to make these archaeological sites stand out, is their international recognition. “The efforts made by the SCTA to preserve the historical sites of Al-Ula and Madain Saleh, including their introduction and registration on the list of World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organization, has contributed a lot to making them major tourist attractions,” Al-Motleq said.
The Madain Saleh (Hijr) area is a sweet spot on the eternal passage of time, that will take away the visitor’s breath. Any passer-by would be enticed by the rich history filled with features of antiquity and the elegance of the ancient past.
In Madain Saleh the lineament of time is concealed by lofty mountains painted with brilliant colors. It is on the sides of those mountains that visitors can read what the men of the ancient Arabian peninsula noted down.
http://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/news/704081
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U.N. chief appeals to Indonesia to stop death row executions
World Bulletin / News Desk
Feb 14, 2015
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed to Indonesia on Friday not to execute prisoners on death row for drug crimes, including citizens of Australia, Brazil, France, Ghana,Indonesia, Nigeria and the Philippines.
Indonesia has harsh penalties for drug trafficking and resumed executions in 2013 after a five-year gap. Five foreigners were among six people executed last month, the first executions since President Joko Widodo took office in October.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Ban had spoken with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi on Thursday "to express his concern at the recent application of capital punishment in Indonesia."
"The United Nations opposes the death penalty under all circumstances," Dujarric said in a statement on Friday. "The Secretary-General appeals to the Indonesian authorities that the executions of the remaining prisoners on death row for drug-related offenses not be carried out."
Indonesia's Attorney General H.M. Prasetyo said this month that two Australians - Myuran Sukumaran, 33, andAndrew Chan, 31 - are among eight prisoners due to be executed after Widodo rejected their clemency pleas in January.
Nationals of Brazil, Malawi, the Netherlands, Nigeria and Vietnam were executed by firing squad in January.
The case of the two Australian men threatens to strain already fragile relations between Australia and Indonesia.
The two were identified as leaders of the so-called Bali Nine, a group of nine arrested on the resort island in 2005 and convicted of attempting to smuggle some 18 lb (8 kg) of heroin to Australia. Other members of the group have been sentenced to long prison terms.
Indonesia's foreign ministry spokesman said the death penalty was in accordance with Indonesian law and did not conflict with respect for human rights as governed by the constitution.
"The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states that the death penalty can be imposed for the most serious crimes," spokesman Armanatha Nasir said by text message.
"Indonesia is of the view that drug crimes constitute most serious crimes that have indiscriminately made millions of victims suffer and caused many deaths."
Australia is pursuing a last-ditch deal with Indonesia to save its citizens, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said on Thursday. She said last month she would not rule out recalling Australia's envoy if the executions went ahead.
Brazil and the Netherlands recalled their ambassadors in Indonesia, and Nigeria summoned Indonesia's ambassador in Abuja, after last month's executions.
http://www.worldbulletin.net/todays-news/154989/un-chief-appeals-to-indonesia-to-stop-death-row-executions
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Arab World
Air strikes in Syria kill at least 20 Islamic State fighters: Monitor
Feb 14 2015
US-led air strikes killed at least 20 Islamic State fighters in northeastern Syria near the border with Iraq, an organisation monitoring the conflict said.
Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said 19 explosions were heard during the air strikes in al-Shadadi in the northeastern province of Hasaka on Thursday. One civilian was also killed in the air strikes, he said.
The US-led alliance started bombing Islamic State targets in Syria in September as part of a strategy aimed at rolling back the group's territorial gains in Syria and Iraq.
Jordanian war planes participating in the alliance carried out bombing raids against Islamic State targets on Thursday, Jordanian state TV reported, without giving the location of the air strikes.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/122938/World/Region/Air-strikes-in-Syria-kill-at-least--Islamic-State-.aspx
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ISIL Chops Three Women's Hands Off, Whips Five Men for Using Cellphones
Feb 14 2015
Terrorists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group have cut off the hands of three women for unknown reasons and whipped five men for using cellphones to call their relatives in the ISIL-controlled Iraqi city of Mosul, a local resident said.
The resident told Iraqi News agency on conditions of anonymity that the ISIL threatened people in Mosul, which is the largest Iraqi city to be held by Takfiris, that they would give 30 lashes to anyone caught using phones in the city, RIA Novosti reported.
An earlier report said the militants had shut down all phone lines in the city for fear that residents might tip off enemies about ISIL positions. A coalition of some 60 countries has been launching air strikes against ISIL targets since last August.
In July, Iraqi News also cited a source as saying that the ISIL forced the local population to wear uniforms and pulled all clothes from stores.
The ISIL Takfiri terrorists currently control a shrinking part of Syria and Iraq. They have threatened all communities, including Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians, Ezadi Kurds and others, as they continue their atrocities in Iraq.
Senior Iraqi officials have blamed Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and some Persian Gulf Arab states for the growing terrorism in their country.
The ISIL has links with Saudi intelligence and is believed to be indirectly supported by the Israeli regime.
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13931125000185
http://sputniknews.com/asia/20150214/1018248871.html
http://www.ibtimes.co.in/isis-lashes-five-iraqis-using-cellphones-cuts-off-hands-3-women-623499
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Hezbollah: Wherever Resistance Exists, ISIL, Nusra Collapse
Feb 14 2015
Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General stressed that what is going on in Quneitra against the Israeli traitors of al-Nusra terrorists will contrive major achievements in the region.
Sheikh Qassem added that wherever the resistance functions powerfully, Al-Qaeda terrorist group as well as its ramifications, including ISIL as well as al-Nusra Front, collapses, and the Israeli scheme gets exposed, Al-Manar reported.
His eminence noted that the Israeli concern over the Syrian army's battlefield achievements in Quneitra confirms that the terrorist groups in the bordering province serve the Zionist entity's interests and plots.
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13931125000226
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Iraqi Source: 14 ISIL Terrorists Killed in Salahuddin
Feb 14 2015
At least 14 terrorists were killed in heavy fighting between the Iraqi army and ISIL Takfiri group in Salahuddin province, a military source said.
A senior Iraqi official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the army troops continued to make gains in their fight against the ISIL terrorist group in Dijla district, North of Samarra, and managed to claim the lives of more than 14 militants.
The source added the Iraqi forces also targeted two vehicles belonging to the Takfiri group during the clashes.
The ISIL Takfiri terrorists currently control a shrinking part of Syria and Iraq. They have threatened all communities, including Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians, Ezadi Kurds and others, as they continue their atrocities in Iraq.
Senior Iraqi officials have blamed Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and some Persian Gulf Arab states for the growing terrorism in their country.
The ISIL has links with Saudi intelligence and is believed to be indirectly supported by the Israeli regime.
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13931124000278
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Iraqi Yazidis take revenge as Islamic State atrocities unearthed
14 Feb, 2015
Iraq (Reuters) - Some members of Iraq's Yazidi minority are turning on their Arab neighbours, staging deadly reprisals against Sunni villagers they believe collaborated in atrocities inflicted by Islamic State on their community.
Yazidis returning to their northern home area of Sinjar are uncovering one mass grave after another, evidence of Islamic State's rule from last August until its fighters were driven back there late last year.
Now some are striking back. More than a dozen Sunni Arab residents told Reuters that armed groups of Yazidis raided four of their villages in Sinjar two weeks ago, killing at least 21 people. A further 17 went missing.
"It was an act of revenge by the Yazidis," said 41-year-old Dhafer Ali Hussein from Sibaya, one of the affected villages. "The aim is to expel Arabs from the area so that only Yazidis remain: they want to change the map."
Full report at:
http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/news/nation/3676753-iraqi-yazidis-take-revenge-islamic-state-atrocities-unearthed
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Fate of Egyptians kidnapped in Libya remains unknown: PM
Feb 14 2015
Egypt's Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab said that the fate of 21 Coptic Egyptians kidnapped in Libya remains unknown, following the surfacing of photos showing they are hostages of Islamic State fighters.
Mahlab, in a press conference, said the Egyptian authorities are monitoring the situation minute-by-minute, heeding the instructions of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.
"Egyptian blood is precious to all of us," Mahlab stated.
The undated photos published in the latest edition of a magazine affiliated to the extremist group and dated December-January showed captive workers handcuffed and wearing orange-colored jumpsuits often donned by Islamic State (IS) prisoners about to be executed by the jihadists.
Full report at:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/122970/Egypt/Politics-/Fate-of-Egyptians-kidnapped-in-Libya-remains-unkno.aspx
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Families of Egyptian hostages in Libya urge action from state as IS kidnapping photos emerge
Feb 14 2015
Families of almost two dozen Coptic Egyptians taken hostages in Libya staged a rally in Cairo to urge action from authorities after Islamic State fighters claimed the kidnapping of the men.
Fears have heightened over the fate of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians after the ultra-hardline group published a report purportedly showing photos of the men, claiming they had been captured to avenge the Muslim women "tortured and murdered by the Coptic church of Egypt".
The undated photos published in the latest edition of a magazine affiliated to the extremist group and dated December-January showed captive workers handcuffed, and wearing orange-colored jumpsuits often donned by Islamic State prisoners about to be executed by the jihadists.
Dozens protested on Friday outside Egypt's Journalist Syndicate in downtown Cairo, holding photos of the kidnapped and shouting slogans lamenting the government's perceived "inaction."
"We either want them back or at least learn if they had been killed," one of the participants in the rally said.
Full report at:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/122949/Egypt/Politics-/Families-of-Egyptian-hostages-in-Libya-urge-action.aspx
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Watch out parents, children abusing clothes spray:Riyadh police
Feb 14 2015
In the wake of a number of casualties due to inhaling of spray used to remove stains from clothes, the Riyadh police issued a severe warning to parents to keep a close watch on their children to prevent such incidents.
Col. Fawaz Al-Maiman, media spokesman for the Riyadh police, said that some adolescents have used this spray to get intoxicated and have ended up in hospitals with serious consequences.
Al-Maiman said that those who have fallen victims of this type of addiction are mainly teenagers. “Such activities would lead to serious health problems,” he said.
He pointed out that the sprays are not meant for human consumption.
A drug is a chemical substance that can change how one's body and mind works.
Drugs of abuse are substances that people use to get high and change how they feel.
They may be illegal drugs like pot, cocaine, or heroin. Or they may be legal for adults only, like tobacco.
Medicines that treat illnesses can also be abused as drugs when some people take them to get high — not because they're sick and following their doctors’ advice.
Cough or cold medicines can also be abused if they are taken too much at a time.
http://www.arabnews.com/featured/news/704151
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Islamic State: Smoking will kill you, one way or another
14 Feb, 2015
Beheadings have become commonplace in the territories held by the militant Islamic State, but the severed head reportedly found last month in the eastern Syrian city of Al-Mayadeen was nevertheless unusual.
It had a cigarette placed between its lips.
“This is not permissible, Sheikh,” someone had scrawled in Arabic on the decapitated corpse lying nearby, according to an account from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-opposition monitoring group. The body and head belonged to an Islamic State official, a deputy police chief.
From consuming alcohol to cursing, vices of all types are frowned upon by Islamic State.
But it is the militants' injunction on smoking, in a region rife with chain-smokers and water-pipe aficionados, that may be the hardest habit to kick. (About half of Syrian men and one in 10 women smoke, according to the World Health Organization.)
Shortly after the group's takeover of large swaths of Deir Elzur province in eastern Syria, Islamic State began to close tobacco shops and shutter the ubiquitous water-pipe cafes.
Although smoking is allowed under Islam, some ultraconservative variations of Sharia law condemn the practice as a slow form of suicide, and therefore haram -- forbidden.
It's an interpretation that Islamic State has taken seriously: The group's supporters regularly upload images depicting cigarettes literally going up in smoke as black-clad, bearded men toss cartons into blazing pyres. Other footage show fighters displaying caches of smoking accessories, a stern hand pointing at the contraband.
Full report at:
http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-islamic-state-smoking-ban-20150212-story.html
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Pakistan
Religious, Political Schools Of Thought Observe Condemn Day: Pakistan Ulema Council
Feb 14, 2015
LAHORE: Pakistan Ulema Council Central Chairman Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi has said that all religious and political schools of thought observed “Condemn Day” against terrorism, extremism and sectarian torture which proved that all political and religious parties are united for peace in the country.
Addressing a Juma congregation at Jamia Masjid Khulafa e Rashedin here, he said that terrorism and extremism could not be eliminated until a unanimous national thinking was not developed among the nation.
“ All social and religious schools of thought are being gathered from the platform of National Reconciliation Council,” he added.
He said it should be known to every one that regardless of his religion or sect a victim of terrorism was a human and Pakistani.
Ashrafi said that only punishments could not overcome terrorism, extremism and torturing attitude, adding that ideological work would be needed in this regard.
After, Juma Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi lead the protest demonstration where Maulana Mushtaq Ahmad, Mulana Abdulqayyum, Maulana M Aslam and Maulana Islam ud Din also addressed.
They said that role of Madaras e Arbia, Masajid and Ulema for peace, love and tolerance was clear and they were working under Wafaqul Masajid and Tahafuz e Madaras e Dinya with the efforts of the PUC.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/punjab/14-Feb-2015/religious-political-schools-of-thought-observe-condemn-day
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Worshippers under Attack: Suicide Bombers Storm Peshawar Mosque
February 14, 2015
KARACHI / PESHAWAR: The grisly images of the January 30 bombing at a Shikarpur Imambargah were still fresh when terrorists struck at another mosque on Friday – this time in an upscale residential neighbourhood of Peshawar. At least 20 worshippers were killed and 59 injured in a gun and suicide attack at Imamia Masjid in Phase 5 of Hyatabad.
The outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed credit for the deadly attack which was reminiscent of the December 16, 2014 methodical killing of students and staff at the Army Public School in Peshawar.
Three terrorists, fitted with suicide vests and armed with hand grenades and AK-47 assault rifles, entered the mosque and started shooting indiscriminately at the worshippers, a senior police official said. They also lobbed hand grenades before triggering the explosives strapped to their bodies, he added.
Full report at:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/838136/worshippers-under-attack-suicide-bombers-storm-peshawar-mosque/
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ISI cultivated Taliban to counter Indian action: Pervez Musharraf
February 14, 2015 4:43 am
Pervez Musharraf has said that under his regime, Pakistan had tried to undermine the Afghan government led by ex-president Hamid Karzai for helping “India stab Pakistan in the back”.
“In President Karzai’s times, yes, indeed, he was damaging Pakistan and, therefore, we were working against his interest. Obviously, we had to protect our own interest,” the former military ruler said in an interview published on Friday.
Spies in Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) had given birth to the Taliban after 2001 because the Karzai- government had an overwhelming number of non-Pashtuns and officials who were said to favour India, Musharraf said.
“Obviously, we were looking for some groups to counter this Indian action against Pakistan.
“That is where the intelligence work comes in. Intelligence being in contact with Taliban groups. Definitely they were in contact, and they should be,” the 71-year-old former dictator told The Guardian in his luxurious home here.
Musharraf – who suffered a setback in his political career as he has been ensnared by a series of legal cases, including one murder and one treason charge – admitted that when he was in power, Pakistan sought to undermine Karzai’s government because the former Afghan president had “helped India stab Pakistan in the back”.
Full report at:
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/isi-cultivated-taliban-to-counter-indian-action-pervez-musharraf/
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Jamaat-e-Islami Urges EC to Stop Use of Money in Senate Election
Feb 14, 2015
LAHORE - Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq called upon the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to explain what measures it was taking to prevent the use of money in the upcoming Senate elections.
Talking to journalist after filing his nomination papers for the Senate seat in Peshawar on Friday, he said that the Senate elections had been made a trade and a game of the feudal lords and capitalist. He said that it was the responsibility of the ECP to hold fair, free and transparent elections and to stop the use of money for purchasing votes.
Referring to the joint investigation team's (JIT) report on the Baldia Town factory tragedy, Siraj said that this was the report of Pakistan’s most responsible agencies that had been field before the court, and it had clearly named the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) for the factory fire, and had mentioned that the factory owner had been asked to pay Rs 200 million as extortion.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/national/13-Feb-2015/ji-urges-ec-to-stop-use-of-money-in-senate-election
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War against terrorism will be won at any cost: Shahbaz Sharif
Feb 14, 2015
LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has strongly condemned the attack on a mosque in Hayatabad, Peshawar. He expressed deep sense of sorrow and grief over the loss of precious human lives and sympathised with the bereaved families.
The Chief Minister also prayed for the early recovery of the injured persons. Shahbaz Sharif said that brutal elements which target innocent citizens cannot be called humans.
He said that cowardly terrorist activities cannot weaken the resolve of the nation which has united against terrorism. He said that government is fully determined to root out the menace of terrorism from the country.
Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif presided over a high-level meeting which reviewed overall law and order situation in the province and the steps taken under National Action Plan. The Chief Minister directed concerned authorities to ensure effective implementation of the National Action Plan as the steps taken in this regard are proving very effective.
Full report at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/punjab/14-Feb-2015/war-against-terrorism-will-be-won-at-any-cost-shahbaz
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Fighting Terrorism: ‘Half of 12,000 Madrasas in the Punjab Are Unregistered’
February 14, 2015
LAHORE: The government has referred 40 “high profile” cases to military courts that would become functional in the province within a month, Home Minister Shuja Khanzada said on Friday.
“Of the 12,000 madrasas in the province, half are unregistered. We have started a campaign to register the seminaries,” he told a press conference.
He said more than 170 teams had been mobilised to register madrassas in collaboration with the Counter-Terrorism Department and the Punjab Information Technology Board. Nearly 2,000 madrasas have been registered over the last few days, he said.
Khanzada said the government was also carrying out biometric registration of Afghan citizens settled in the Punjab. The data would be included in the national database, he said.
The minister said the National Action Plan against terrorism would be implemented in three phases. He said the government had launched a crackdown on the unlawful use of loudspeakers and wall chalking promoting hatred. He said 106 cases had been registered over wall chalking and 70 arrests made in this regard. “Wall chalking is still seen at some places… we will get rid of the problem,” he said.
Full report at:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/838025/fighting-terrorism-half-of-12000-madrassas-in-the-punjab-are-unregistered/
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Oregon Man Admits Helping People Linked To Pakistan Suicide Bombing
By Reuters
February 14, 2015
OREGON: An Oregon man pleaded guilty on Friday to being an accessory after the fact for helping people linked to a suicide bomb attack on the headquarters of Pakistan’s intelligence service in 2009 that killed about 30 people, court records showed.
Reaz Qadir Khan, a naturalized US citizen living in Portland, admitted in a plea entered in US District Court that he provided advice and financial aid to the suicide bomber’s Maldives-based wives following the attack, knowing that such assistance would hinder and prevent their capture.
Khan, a 51-year-old wastewater treatment plant operator and married father-of-three originally from Pakistan, was arrested in 2013 on an indictment which accused him of using email and intermediaries to consult with and provide financial support to the Maldivian bomber, Ali Jaleel, and his family.
Full report at:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/838259/oregon-man-admits-helping-people-linked-to-pakistan-suicide-bombing/
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Gunmen kill driver, wound polio worker in Khyber
Feb 14 2015
PESHAWAR: Unknown gunmen on Saturday opened fire at a vehicle carrying a team of polio workers in Landi Kotal's Lowi Shalman area of Khyber Agency, killing the driver and leaving one polio volunteer injured.
According to security officials, the polio workers were being driven to a session in the morning when they came under attack. Subsequently, the driver of the vehicle Ziarat Gul was killed and a polio worker was injured.
Security forces cordoned off the area after the incident.
Pakistan is one of only three countries in the world where polio remains endemic, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria. Efforts to eradicate it have been seriously hampered by the deadly targeting of vaccination teams in recent years.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1163563/gunmen-kill-driver-wound-polio-worker-in-khyber
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Mideast
Yemen clashes kill 26 as embassy closures continue
Feb 14 2015
Clashes between Shi'ite Houthi militiamen and Sunni tribesmen fighting alongside Al Qaeda militants killed 26 people in Yemen, local officials said, as the United Arab Emirates joined Saudi Arabia and Western countries in closing its embassy in the country.
Heavy fighting was ongoing in the southern mountainous province of al-Bayda, leading to the death of 16 Houthi rebels along with 10 Sunni tribesmen and militants, security officials and tribal sources told Reuters.
The state faces collapse in Yemen two weeks after the Houthi group took formal control of the country and continued an armed push southward.
France, the United States, Britain, Germany, Italy and Saudi Arabia have closed their missions in the capital Sanaa and withdrawn staff, citing security concerns.
The United Arab Emirates announced the closure of its embassy in Sanaa on Saturday, state news agency WAM said.
It cited "the increasing deterioration of the political and security situation Yemen is witnessing and the tragic events after the Houthis undermined the legitimate authority."
Yemen's rich Sunni Gulf neighbours loathe the Iranian-backed rebels and have called their rise to power a "coup."
Full report at:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/122982/World/Region/Yemen-clashes-kill--as-embassy-closures-continue.aspx
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Prosecutor describes Gülenist police as terror organization
Feb 14 2015
A Turkish prosecutor has described the “parallel structure” led by U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen as an “armed terror organization,” citing the Balyoz (Sledgehammer) case, in which allegedly Gülenist police and judiciary members had cracked down on army officers with the same accusation.
Prosecutor İrfan Fidan sent the official “transfer document,” which included a request for the arrest of 21 policemen who were previously detained for illegal wiretapping, to the Istanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan on Feb. 12.
The 39-page document cited the Court of Appeal verdict in 2013 that upheld the conviction of 36 Sledgehammer case suspects, arguing that the suspected policemen could be described as members of an armed terror organization, like the army members had once been accused.
The transfer document also cited a report that the General Security Directorate’s Anti-Terrorism Presidency prepared about Gülen and his followers in the state bureaucracy, which the government describes as the “parallel structure.”
In the document, Gülen is accusing of leading an “official hierarchy” founded to “create an alternative system to the state” to ultimately seize control of all public institutions and becoming an international economic power.
The detained policemen are accused by the prosecutor of being a part of the plot, in which Gülenist judiciary members also took a role, fabricating evidence, producing fake informant letters, engaging in the illegal wiretappings of officials and espionage.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/prosecutor-describes-gulenist-police-as-terror-organization.aspx?pageID=238&nID=78349&NewsCatID=338
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Turkish students, teachers protest govt religious education
AP | Reuters
14 Feb, 2015
ANKARA: Hundreds of students and teachers across Turkey have boycotted school to protest the government's moves to increase Islamic teachings in education.
Thousands more marched in several Turkish cities holding up banners demanding a secular and science-based education system. Proponents of Turkey's secular traditions claim that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is building a more Islam-focused education, to realise his goal of raising “pious generations.”
The government has in recent years loosened a headscarf ban and increased the number of religious schools and classes.
Turkish police used water cannon in the city of Izmir and Ankara to disperse scores of protesters boycotting schools over the growing influence of religion in the classroom, local media reported.
Education is the latest flashpoint between the administration of President Tayyip Erdogan, and secularist Turks who accuse him of overseeing creeping 'Islamisation' in the Nato member state.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1163392
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Senior Cleric: West Trying to Deceive Iran with Two-Phased Agreement
Feb 14 2015
Tehran's Provisional Friday Prayers leader Ayatollah Seyed Ahmad Khatami warned against the repercussions of striking a two-phased agreement with the western powers, saying the US-led West is trying to deceive Iran through the move.
Addressing a large and fervent congregation of people on Tehran University campus on Friday, Ayatollah Khatami said, "The Group 5+1, specially the US, intended to deceive the Iranian team of negotiators by trying to clinch a two-phased agreement instead of a single-phased deal."
Ayatollah Khatami pointed to the recent statements of Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei who said no deal is better than a bad deal, and said, "We thank God for having such a wise leader who foiled the enemies' plots."
On Sunday, the Supreme Leader underlined that Iran would never accept a bad agreement with the world powers, adding that the country is in favor of a single-phase comprehensive deal which would respect the Iranian nation's inalienable rights and entail all details.
"I agree with an agreement if it can be struck, but I disagree with a bad agreement," the Supreme Leader said in a meeting with the commanders and personnel of the Iranian Air Force and Air Defense in Tehran.
He pointed to the US officials' remarks that "disagreement is better than a bad agreement", and said, "We believe the same and we believe that not agreement is better than striking an agreement that would harm the national interests and pave the way for humiliating the great Iranian nation."
Full report at:
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13931124000728
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IRGC Commander: Obama Perplexed at ISIL's Defeat against Iran
Feb 14 2015
Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari underlined Iran's influential role in the region, and said even US President Barack Obama is surprised at Tehran's victory over the ISIL terrorist group in Iraq.
"The only country which helped and supported the Muslim states in Islamic Awakening developments was Iran, and when the ISIL emerged in Iraq, no country but Iran helped with its destruction," Jafari said, addressing the Basij (volunteer) forces in Tehran on Saturday.
"The world, even Obama, is astonished to see that the ISIL, with its plan to remain in Iraq for years, was defeated and Iran has turned into a plague for the ISIL in Iraq," he added.
In relevant remarks late January, Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi lauded Iran's assistance to his country in fighting terrorism, describing Tehran as a reliable military partner.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, al-Abadi said that while the West was slow to deliver help to Iraq, Iran was filling the gap.
Full report at:
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13931125000486
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Israeli house strikes killed mostly civilians
AP | Feb 14, 2015
RAFAH, Gaza Strip: The youngest to die was a 4-day-old girl, the oldest a 92-year-old man.
They were among at least 844 Palestinians killed as a result of airstrikes on Gaza homes during Israel's summer war with the Islamic militant group, Hamas.
Under the rules of war, homes are protected civilian sites unless used for military purposes. Israel says it attacked only legitimate targets, alleging militants used the houses to hide weapons, fighters and command centers. Palestinians say Israel's warplanes often struck without regard for civilians.
The Associated Press examined 247 airstrikes, interviewing witnesses, visiting attack sites and compiling a detailed casualty count.
The review found that 508 of the dead — just over 60 percent — were children, women and older men, all presumed to be civilians. Hamas says it did not use women as fighters in the war, and an Israel-based research group, the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, which tracks militants among the war dead, said it has no evidence women participated in combat.
In addition:
Children younger than 16 made up one-third of the total: 280 killed, including 19 babies and 108 preschoolers between the ages of 1 and 5.
In 83 strikes, three or more members of one family died.
Among those killed were 96 confirmed or suspected militants — just over 11 per cent of the total — though the actual number could be higher since armed groups have not released detailed casualty lists.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/Israeli-house-strikes-killed-mostly-civilians/articleshow/46238897.cms
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South Asia
6 ANA martyred, 89 insurgents killed in military operations
Feb 14 2015
Six Afghan National Army soldiers have embraced martyrdom in a roadside landmine explosion while 89 insurgents killed in separate military operations across the country in past 48 hours, statements issued Tuesday by the ministries of Defense and Interior states.
Statement issued by the Defense Ministry does not contain the exact location of the explosion where Afghan National Army soldiers embraced martyrdom.
Defense Ministry statement adds that 79 insurgents were killed, 23 injured and six others arrested during military operations in six provinces.
Over 100 different types of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were also defused by Army soldiers during the past 48 hours, the statement adds.
In the meantime, statement issued by the Interior Ministry states that 10 insurgents have been killed in past 24 hours in police operations.
Statement adds that the operations were also assisted by Afghan National Army and personnel from the National Directorate of Security (NDS).
One insurgent was also injured following a confrontation with the Afghan National Security Forces while 10 of them arrested, the statement states.
The statement further adds that the operations were carried out in Farah, Helmand, Kunar, Logar and Ghazni provinces where weapons and ammunition was also seized from the insurgents.
http://www.khaama.com/45886-29061
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Awami League: BNP to eventually end up as militant outfit
February 14 2015
Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif yesterday said BNP will eventually turn into a militant outfit like Jamaat if it keeps on unleashing subversive activities in the same vein it is carrying out now.
He made the remark while replying to questions from local journalists during a views-exchange meeting with party leaders at his Kushtia residence.
Noting that the subversive activities BNP is carrying out in the name of politics is not part of politics, Hanif said general people are worried and upset over their activities.
Asked about the concerns voiced by the international community, he said it is natural that the outside world would express their worries about the anarchy.
Hanif also wondered saying it is beyond their imagination that a political party which had been in power several times in the past can directly be involved in criminal activities.
Asked why the government has failed to curb the violence, he said if a party which has lakhs of activists and which enjoys 30 percent vote turns out to be a militant organisation, it would take time to “uproot” them.
District Awami League President Sadar Uddin Khan, General Secretary Azgar Ali and town unit President Taijul Ali Khan were present, among others, at the meeting.
http://www.dhakatribune.com/politics/2015/feb/14/hanif-bnp-eventually-end-militant-outfit#sthash.12F0kWcD.dpuf
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Ghazni Adviser was IS spokesman for Afghanistan: Sources
Feb 14 2015
Sources related to the National Directorate of Security (NDS) say that adviser to the acting governor of Ghazni province who was arrested a while back by NDS has accepted during investigation that he was spokesman of Islamic States (IS) in Afghanistan.
According to the sources Abdul Qadir Wahidi who was adviser to the acting governor of Ghazni Province was arrested by NDS in Deh Afghanan area of Kabul Province about two month before.
Sources further say that Abdul Qadir Wahidi was nick named Abu Ibrahim Khurasani.
In the meantime, Musa Khan Akbarzada, acting governor of Ghazni Province reject reports if Wahidi had relationship with IS or was bearing any governmental post.
He said “The man arrested did not have any relations with DAESH, Arabic name for IS, we have proof that this person had hand in occupying land.”
He further said “If he had relations with DAESH then NDS would have already announced this.”
However, Wahidi has claimed to NDS that he was DAESH spokesman for Afghanistan and was monitoring projects in Ghazni Province.
Wahidi has also said that he and governor Ghani would receive 20 percent benefit from each project.
Wahidi has further said that during Taliban government he was working with the intelligence agency of Taliban.
http://www.khaama.com/ghazni-advisor-was-is-spokesman-for-afghanistan-29058
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North America
Canadian police foil plot to kill people at mall on Valentine’s Day
February 14, 2015
A senior police official said police foiled a plot by two suspects who were planning on going to a mall and killing as many people as they could before killing themselves on Valentine’s Day in Halifax.
The official told The Associated Press the suspects were on a chat stream and were apparently obsessed with killing and death and had many photos of mass killings. Police and other officials said it was not related to Islamic terrorism.
The official said one of the two suspects, a 23-year-old American woman from Geneva, Illinois, was arrested at Halifax’s airport and confessed to the plot. The official said she prewrote a number of pronouncements to be tweeted after her death.
Police said the suspects had access to firearms, but did not elaborate.
The official said the 19-year-old male shot himself to death after police surrounded his parent’s home. The official said after police were tipped off about the plot they surrounded his home. Police saw two people leave the house who they later determined were his parents. The official stopped the parents on a traffic check before calling the man. As the man told police that he didn’t have any guns and he was on his way out of the house he shot himself, the official said.
Full report at:
http://indianexpress.com/article/world/americas/canadian-police-foil-plot-to-kill-people-at-mall-on-valentines-day/
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Anti-terrorism summit reinforces 'fear and hate' towards Muslims, critics warn
14 Feb, 2015
Muslim leaders say White House conference to ‘counter violent extremism’ is well intentioned but risks stigmatizing and endangering Muslims in America
As Barack Obama prepares to host a summit on preventing homegrown terrorism, he faces a backlash from those he says he wants to empower: American Muslim community leaders, who warn that the summit risks stigmatizing and even endangering them.
Hanging over the “countering violent extremism” (CVE) summit, to be held Tuesday through Thursday at the White House and State Department, is Wednesday’s brutal murder of three Muslim students in North Carolina.
In the wake of the killings, Muslim leaders, some of whom met with Obama recently, say that whatever the summit’s intentions, it will reinforce a message that American Muslims are to be hated and feared, a spark in what they consider to be a powder-keg of Islamophobia in the media and online.
Full report at:
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/13/muslim-anti-terrorism-summit-white-house-critics
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Michiana Muslim community reacts to Obama asking for war on ISIS
14 Feb, 2015
SOUTH BEND - "It's just sad and it's...not fair." Hala Alkattan said.
Alkattan is a South Bend Native, an IUSB student, and a follower of Islam..
"We're just humans and I'm an American citizen just like everybody else. And so I really hope people realize that despite what they see on TV." she said.
Alkattan says she is just as confused and upset that ISIS is giving Muslims a bad name.
"These aren't Muslims. They've taken the name of my religion and they've completely made it into something that's definitely not what Islam is." she said.
"We are Americans as anybody else." Imam Mohammad Sirajuddin said.
Sirajuddin is an imam at the Islamic Society of Michiana.
He says his faith deplores all violence.
"It is very sad to see any American, any human being killed needlessly." he said.
Both Alkatan and Surajadeen say it's the media that's at least partly to blame for negative stereotypes about Muslims.
"When Muslims are in the news, it's when they do something bad." Alkattan said.
"Media can be more fair in giving the news, also not projecting that all Muslims are extremists or terrorists." Sirajuddin said.
It's a religion of peace, hoping for an end to violence that appears to have no end in sight.
http://www.fox28.com/story/28086668/2015/02/11/michiana-muslim-community-reacts-to-obama-asking-for-war-on-isis
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Family of Slain Muslims: Chapel Hill Shooting Domestic Terrorism
Feb 14 2015
The families of the three Muslims murdered in North Carolina described the tragic event as 'domestic terrorism', calling attention to discrepancies in coverage when Muslims are the victims of terrorism.
Linda Sarsour, a family spokeswoman and executive director of the Arab American Association of New York, spoke to RT’s Ben Swann about the tragic events on Monday when Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23; his wife, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21; and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, were gunned down in their Chapel Hill home.
“The family is absolutely convinced that this is a hate crime, based on conversations that the father had with his daughter about a very hateful neighbor,” Sarsour said. “She told her father, ‘I know that he hates me for who I am and what I’m wearing.’”
"(Hicks) used to see them walking into the apartment complex and have his hand on a very visible gun in a holster,” she added. “And that plus very interesting social media posts, seems he’s a very extremist anti-theist, so he’s very anti- any religion or anti-religious people.”
Hicks is a self-described atheist who regularly posted content critical of religion on his Facebook account.
The father of the two women killed, psychiatrist Dr. Mohammad Abu-Salha, told the Raleigh News & Observer that one of his daughters had told the family a week ago that she had a “hateful neighbor.”
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13931124000198
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Obama denounces 'outrageous murders' of three U.S. Muslims
World Bulletin / News Desk
Feb 14, 2015
U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday described the deaths of three young Muslims gunned down in North Carolina this week as "brutal and outrageous murders" and said no one in theUnited States should be targeted for their religion.
The president's statement came as the U.S. Justice Department said it would join the FBI's preliminary inquiry to determine whether the man accused in the Chapel Hill shooting on Tuesday broke any federal laws, including hate crime laws.
"No one in the United States of America should ever be targeted because of who they are, what they look like, or how they worship," Obama said in a statement, offering his condolences to the victims' families.
The families had called on Obama to insist that federal authorities investigate whether the murder suspect, 46-year-old paralegal student Craig Stephen Hicks, was motivated by hatred toward the victims because they were Muslim.
Full report at:
http://www.worldbulletin.net/haber/154995/obama-denounces-outrageous-murders-of-three-us-muslims
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Colombia detains 16 Pakistanis trying to reach US
February 14, 2015
BOGOTA: Colombian authorities detained 16 Pakistanis who illegally entered the country and were trying to reach the United States, immigration officials said on Friday.
Initial investigations found the Pakistanis had come from Brazil and planned to travel more than 3,200 kilometers to the US via Panama and then through Central America, immigration spokesperson Juan Caicedo told AFP.
The group, picked up in the Colombian city of Medellin as they were boarding a bus to another town, were being led by a “guide” who had been paid to get them through the country.
He was accused of being a people smuggler, and the other 15 nationals of Pakistan were taken to a humanitarian center.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/838247/colombia-detains-16-pakistanis-trying-to-reach-us/
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Fund set up by slain US Muslim raises money for refugees
Agence France-Presse, Washington
February 14 2015
A charity fund set up by one of the three Muslim students murdered in North Carolina has been flooded with donations in the days since the brutal attack.
University of North Carolina dentistry student Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, had been hoping to raise US$20,000 so he and other dentists could provide dental care at a Syrian refugee camp in Turkey.
Barakat was killed along with his wife Yusor Mohammad, 21, and her sister Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, when they were shot execution-style on Tuesday in the peaceful North Carolina university town of Chapel Hill.
In the days since the attack, donations dwarfed Barakat's original goal, with nearly $330,000 raised by Friday afternoon.
"Have you ever felt helpless about the situation in Syria and felt like you can't do anything about it? This is your opportunity to help," Barakat says in a video presentation on the YouCaring.com site.
A description adds that the dental situation in Syria and at refugee camps is desperate.
"Hundreds of students are currently in need of urgent dental care, mainly consisting of fillings and extractions," the site says.
Full report at:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/02/14/fund-set-slain-us-muslim-raises-money-refugees.html#sthash.Sm2OPAfM.dpuf
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Islamic institute on fire in southeast Houston, U.S
World Bulletin / News Desk
Feb 14, 2015
A massive blaze has ripped through an Islamic community center in Houston, Texas, on Friday.
Fire has damaged an Islamic community and education center in Houston at a time when the religious complex was unoccupied.
The Houston Fire Department says nobody was hurt in the fire around 5:30 a.m. CST Friday at the Quba (KOH'-buh) Islamic Institute.
The fire at Islamic center in southeast Houston left the facility's faithful wondering if what appears to be an intentionally set fire was tied to their religion.
"I hope it's not a hate crime," said Ahsan Zahid, one of the imam's son's. "Preliminary results say it's arson."
Fire officials now say an accelerant was used in a fire that broke out at an Islamic community and education center in southeast Houston early Friday morning, and now a group is calling for an investigation into whether the fire was the result of a possible hate crime.
Houston fire officials say the fire at the Quba Islamic Institute started around 5am. The cause of the fire is under investigation, but we've learned HFD says the accelerant was used, which usually points to a purposeful act. Those same investigators met with leaders at another Islamic center just miles away, letting them know that this was an act of arson and to be on alert.
Full report at:
http://www.worldbulletin.net/headlines/154997/islamic-institute-on-fire-in-southeast-houston-us
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Africa
Villagers Accuse Sudan Military of Intense Bombing Campaign
14 Feb, 2015
UM SERDIBA, SOUTH KORDOFAN, SUDAN— Sudan’s military has subjected villagers in the country’s rebel-controlled Nuba Mountains to an intensifying bombing campaign, beleaguered villagers say.
Residents of Um Serdiba, a front-line village in the war-torn state of South Kordofan, report stepped-up shelling and bombings since late December – soon after Sudan’s armed forces were pushed back in ground battles with rebels from the banned Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) party.
The Khartoum government, which has been battling the rebels since 2011, has increased its attacks in the past two weeks, residents say.
An estimated 185,000 civilians live within range of Sudanese military guns, and shelling has become a daily occurrence.
As this journalist’s vehicle sped toward Um Serdiba recently, a bomb from an Antonov warplane fell less than a kilometer away. Children from the local primary school stood and watched.
Um Serdiba residents say they have suffered more than 130 civilian casualties since the beginning of the year.
Full report at:
http://www.voanews.com/content/villagers-accuse-sudan-of-intense-bombing-campaign/2643332.html
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Flight from Boko Haram: Thousands flee from misery and death brought by relentless Islamic extremists
14 Feb, 2015
BAGA SOLA, Chad — Women and children, limp with exhaustion, were the first to disembark from the ancient wooden barge. Then came the men, splashing their way through shallow water.
In the next few minutes, 86 tense and bewildered people stumbled ashore on the eastern edge of Lake Chad. They were following in the footsteps of 17,000 Nigerian refugees who have already fled to Chad. Behind them, on the far side of the lake, lay the domain of Boko Haram.
This bloodstained Islamist movement is advancing remorselessly, inflicting a human calamity on one of Africa’s most remote regions. Boko Haram now dominates the Nigerian shore of this verdant oasis on the southern fringe of the Sahara, pillaging and burning entire towns at will.
Nigeria’s army, outgunned and outfought, has lost control of thousands of square kilometres, abandoning locals to their fate. Almost 180,000 have responded by fleeing to neighbouring countries.
Most have gone to Niger, Cameroon and Chad. Friday, the Islamists invaded Chad for the first time, attacking Ngouboua, a village about 16 kilometres from the border.
In Baga Sola, Shamsia Umaru, 13, stepped ashore clasping her baby sister, Fatima, and her four-year-old brother, Yahya. But they arrived without their father.
Full report at:
http://news.nationalpost.com/2015/02/14/flight-from-boko-haram-thousands-flee-from-misery-and-death-brought-by-relentless-islamic-extremists/
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India
Voter lists in hand, Hindu Mahasabha looks for Christians, Muslims on Valentine’s Day
February 14, 2015
Right-wing outfit Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha has claimed that it has scanned Delhi’s electoral rolls to “identify Muslim and Christian men” who they suspect could sway Hindu girls. With Valentine’s Day approaching, it said it has been keeping an eye on them for the past one week.
Om Ji, the convener of the outfit who contested against Arvind Kejriwal, said his party has “thoroughly examined” Delhi’s electoral rolls. “We have our own ways. We examined the electoral list to mobilise the Hindu vote during elections. This is a common thing,” he said. “However, in the process, we systematically examined the number of Muslim and Christian men. We will use it on those who we suspect could sway our Hindu girls. This data is as accurate as even the census data. It is more accurate than even the data with the intelligence units.”
The outfit, which has threatened to forcefully get couples married on Valentine’s Day if they are caught together, claimed that the process of identification was done “well in advance” and that a constant “vigil” is being kept. On plans for Valentine’s Day, a member said, “Based on our data, we know the places with higher density of non-Hindu men. In these areas, our men will be deployed at public places like malls, multiplexes and restaurants.”
However, when asked, to give out the list of men they have identified, the member said, “We will not give the list today, we cannot spoil our plans. But I can tell you that the families of these boys know that we are keeping a vigil on them.”
The outfit also conceded that the “ghar wapsi” programme of the right-wing groups backfired in the Delhi elections. “We made the mistake of informing the media about our programme whether in Agra or Kanpur. The Delhi results show it backfired. Hence, now this will be done secretively, without any media glare, so that our aim of ghar wapsi is achieved,” said a member.
The members said they will first ask the Muslim and Christian men to convert “with love”, after which they will be “kidnapped” and forcefully married — according to “Hindu rituals”.
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/voter-lists-in-hand-hindu-mahasabha-looks-for-christians-muslims-on-valentines-day/
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ISIS group to be banned in India
February 14, 2015
The dreaded terror group ISIS and all its affiliate organisations will be banned by India under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act soon. A notification declaring ISIS and its affiliates ISIL and IS as proscribed organisations will be issued very soon, official sources said.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh had said in Parliament on December 16, 2014 that the Middle-East group had been declared ban in India under a United Nations Schedule.
Singh had said the group has been proscribed under the provisions related to organisations listed in the Schedule to the U N Prevention and Suppression of Terrorism (Implementation of Security Council Resolutions) Order, 2007 made under section two of the United Nations (Security Council) Act, 1947.
Four Mumbai youth had gone to Iraq-Syria in May 2014 to join ISIS. One of them returned late last year while the whereabouts of the remaining three are yet to be known.
A Bangalore-based executive of a multi-national company was arrested in December last year for allegedly running a pro-ISIS twitter handle. Last month, another person from Hyderabad was barred from travelling to Syria, ostensibly to join ISIS.
Recently, retired Intelligence Bureau chief Asif Ibrahim had said there was an imminent danger of Indian youths moving to the conflict zone (Iraq-Syria), emerging as a role model, and such developments may directly or indirectly pose a threat to the country.
“The threat potential is accentuated with some lower rung elements returning from conflict zone,” he had said.
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/isis-to-be-banned-in-india/
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Pakistani smugglers try innovative ways to push narcotics into India
Yudhvir Rana,TNN | Feb 14, 2015
DAOKE: Cross-border narcotics smugglers are resorting to innovative ways to push forward their trade. On Friday, heroin smugglers threw a pair of old sandals into the Indian territory with narcotics concealed in their soles.
Border Security Force (BSF) deputy inspector general, Amritsar sector, M F Farooqui told TOI that each sandal contained 300g of highly concentrated intoxicant powder. Most probably, their Indian counterpart was to wear these sandals and walk back to his village, he said.
"It is a new mode of smuggling. We believe the smugglers may have changed their strategy of smuggling small but highly concentrated form of heroin which can be mixed here with some powder to make large quantities of narcotics," said Farooqui.
The DIG said when BSF came to know about "strange" objects thrown across the border fence, they laid a trap and kept a watch on the border gate to see who would come and wear the sandals. "Strangely, no one came from to cross the border gate and go to fields, which makes us believe that Indian smugglers also keep an eye on the movement of BSF," he added.
Cross-border smugglers remain in touch using SIM cards from Pakistan to avoid detection by the Indian security agencies. Sources informed that besides staying in touch over mobile phones, many smugglers used internet. The other common method of smuggling is "conceal and clear" in which heroin packets are slipped into the Indian territory through a pipe and throwing over fence.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Pakistani-smugglers-try-innovative-ways-to-push-narcotics-into-India/articleshow/46239753.cms
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‘Terror attack rumour’ triggers panic in schools in Jammu
February 14, 2015
Several panic stricken schools in Jammu called it a holiday while parents rushed to collect their children after a rumour spread that militants had attacked a prestigious school along the India-Pakistan border on Friday.
The rumours spread after the news that a Christian school had been vandalised in Delhi was flashed in the media.
“There was panic after the rumours spread and several schools in the area had to call it a holiday on Friday. First, there was a rumour that a school in Miran Sahab was attacked, then in Bishnah and then R S Pura,” a police officer said.
He said that police also reached there, but there was no threat to any school.
“As a precautionary measure, police teams reached the spots, but found that there was nothing to worry about,” he said.
“The rumour spread soon after some parents saw the news that a school was attacked. Actually it was a school in Delhi that was vandalised, but the rumour spread that our school was under attack,” said a member of a school management.
He said that several parents rushed to the school and took away their children and the school had to close down for the day.
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/terror-attack-rumour-triggers-panic-in-schools-in-jammu/
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Southeast Asia
Hadi vows to press ahead with hudud, to continue ‘Nik Aziz’s struggle’
14 Feb, 2015
PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang has pledged to press ahead with the implementation of hudud in Kelantan, saying it was to continue the struggle of its late spiritual leader Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat who died on Thursday.
Hadi said the party would go ahead with the proposal to amend the Shariah Criminal Code II 1993 to enable hudud to be enforced in the PAS-ruled east coast state.
"His passing left us a solid foundation and his service must be emulated by the Muslim generation of today.
"Among them is implementing the Shariah enactment in Kelantan, a task and legacy entrusted to us to follow through," he said in a Facebook posting last night, rejecting its Pakatan Rakyat ally DAP's call for the Islamic law to be deferred to 2023.
Hadi described Nik Aziz as a leader, teacher, father and friend "who embraced Allah and enslaved himself to continue the work of Prophet Muhammad and the other prophets to uphold the religion".
"The world and people of this age have witnessed how Nik Aziz put Kelantan, 'Serambi Makkah' (Veranda of Mecca) on the world map through his tireless efforts to lift and preserve the dignity of Islam in the state.
"He was also a statesman who made history to fight together with PAS to create within this nation a society and administration based on the values of Islam and its laws, as stated in our party constitution," he said.
Hadi's statement may not go down well with DAP, which has never supported PAS's hudud agenda.
Hadi and top DAP leaders have in recent weeks engaged in an open spat in the media after he claimed that the local government elections championed by DAP could cause racial polarisation and spark another May 13 racial riot.
On Thursday, DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang proposed that local government elections and hudud should be deferred until 2023 in order to prevent PR from splitting up ahead of the 14th general election.
"I suggest that we put the issues we cannot agree about for another eight years.
"Regardless whether the issues are raised by PAS, DAP or PKR, we should defer them if we cannot reach an agreement," Lim said.
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/hadi-vows-to-press-ahead-with-hudud-to-continue-nik-azizs-struggle
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Islamic spiritual leader and key politician who united the opposition mourned
14 Feb, 2015
Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, a revered Islamic spiritual leader who helped bolster unity in Malaysia's opposition bloc and was a key advocate of Islamic law, has died. He was 84.
His son Nik Mohamad Abduh Nik Aziz said his father, who was battling prostate cancer, died on Thursday at his home in northeastern Kelantan state. Thousands of people attended a sombre funeral yesterday in Kelantan for the wiry and bearded Nik Aziz, popularly known as "Tok Guru" or "the teacher".
"The angels came to escort my father's soul back to his creator at 9.40pm. May my father be happy alongside Allah," Nik Abduh said on Facebook.
Nik Aziz, the spiritual leader of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, or PAS, helped keep his party in an opposition alliance amid calls from conservative members to leave the bloc.
His death is the second big blow to the opposition this week, with alliance leader Anwar Ibrahim jailed for five years on Tuesday for sodomy. Analysts say the incidents increase the risk of a split in the three-party alliance, which has been beset by infighting and ideological differences.
Full report at:
http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1712445/islamic-spiritual-leader-and-key-politician-who-united-opposition-mourned
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Explain ban on non-Muslim activities in MRSM, says education group
14 Feb, 2015
A coalition of NGOs mooting educational reform wants those responsible over the ban on non-Muslim religious activities on campuses of the Mara junior science college (MRSM) in Sarawak to be held accountable.
National Education Reform Initiative (Neri) exco member Tan Yew Sing told The Malaysian Insider today that this was among the reasons an independent monitoring body was needed to monitor the implementation of the Malaysian Education Blueprint (Higher Education) 2015-2025 to ensure it met its objectives.
"We find that these decisions go against what the government wants to achieve in terms of fostering national unity and social integration.
"Those who make such decisions should be held responsible and that is why we are saying there is a need for an independent monitoring body to track the implementation of the education blueprint," he said.
Tan, who represents The Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, was speaking on the sidelines of the press conference by Neri which presented recommendations and feedback on the blueprint.
Full report at:
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/set-up-independent-panel-to-monitor-education-blueprint-goals-says-group#sthash.56RTntF7.dpuf
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Seventy-one RI migrant workers repatriated from Syria
February 14 2015
Seventy-one female Indonesian migrant workers (locally called TKW) have been repatriated from conflict-ridden Syria, a diplomat said on Friday.
The Indonesian Embassy in Beirut's head of information and sociocultural affairs, Wendi Budi Raharjo, said that the workers arrived safely in Beirut on Thursday night after taking alternative roads to avoid blockades caused by bad weather.
"They are the first batch to arrive in Beirut in 2015," Wendi told the Antara news agency in Cairo, adding that the convoy of two buses had to avoid a fierce storm that was lashing Lebanon since Wednesday.
The embassy temporarily accommodated the TKWs in a shelter, pending the procurement of plane tickets to Indonesia from the Foreign Ministry, Wendi said.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/02/14/seventy-one-ri-migrant-workers-repatriated-syria.html#sthash.J13xZiT1.dpuf
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