Islamic World

Riyadh, July 09: Saudi Arabian special security courts have convicted more than 300 people for al-Qaida terrorist activities in the first known trials of members of the group in Osama bin Laden’s ancestral homeland.

Al-Arabiya, a privately-owned Saudi TV station, reported today that 331 people in 179 cases had been tried and one given the death sentence. It quoted a justice ministry official as saying there had also been prison terms, travel bans, fines and house arrests, with an unspecified number of defendants acquitted.

Ankara, July 08: Pirates on Wednesday seized a Turkish cargo ship with 23 people on board off the coast of Somalia, the Turkish all-news television station NTV reported.

The ship was seized at around 1100 IST, it said, while the Anatolia news agency said the vessel identified as the Horizon 1 was sailing from Saudi Arabia to Jordan.

Pirate attacks on shipping off Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean have escalated since last year, with several Turkish vessels among those being targeted for ransom.

Dar es Salaam, July 08: Thirteen bodies and debris suspected to be from Yemenia jet that crashed off the Comoros last week have been found on a Tanzanian island, authorities said on Wednesday.

The bodies were found on the shores of Mafia isle and an investigation has started, Said Nguba, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said.

“We have reports from the Mafia District Ccommissioner that 13 bodies were found last night and some pieces of a plane which had markings indicating that they could be from the Yemania jet,” Nguba said.

Tehran, July 08: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sought to disperse the clouds of doubt surrounding his re-election in his first major television address. But even as he spoke, opponents went to their rooftops shouting “death to the dictator” — a sign of continuing defiance.

In his half-hour address late Tuesday, Ahmadinejad insisted that the June 12 elections were fair and that his government was legitimate. His staunch line gave no ground to opponents who claim the vote results were fraudulent and launched a wave of mass protests in recent weeks.

Dubai, July 08: An Air India plane headed for Thiruvananthapuram was grounded in Sharjah after its tyre burst seconds before taking off, sending the 172 passengers on board into panic.

The Boeing 737-800 Air India Express flight LX536, which was scheduled to leave at 12.10 pm (local time) on Tuesday, was delayed by nine hours after the “tyre glitch” forced the pilot to abort the take-off.

While no injuries were reported, the passengers were sent into panic by the incident. They were evacuated and transferred to the waiting lounge, officials at the airport said.

Bangalore, July 08: French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s recent declaration that the Islamic burqa was not welcome in France since it was a symbol of subservience has sparked off a near-riot on the blogosphere.

Paul Taylor blogged on the Reuters site:

Israel, July 08: An Israeli newspaper reported on Wednesday Israel had won agreement from the United States for the continued construction of 2,500 housing units in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, despite U.S. calls for a freeze.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said the United States and Israel have been trying to find common ground on the sensitive settlement issue, but he had no comment on the unsourced front-page report of a deal in the Maariv daily.

Belgrade, July 07: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was Tuesday to begin an official visit to Serbia, the first by a Palestinian leader in 20 years. Abbas, who was invited by Serbian counterpart Boris Tadic, would meet senior officials, including Tadic and Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic.

Serbian media reported that Abbas’ two-day visit was a form of “resetting” relations between Serbia and the Palestinians.

Abbas and his hosts would discuss the conflict in the Middle East, the plight of the Palestinians and the situation in the Balkans and the world.

Riyadh, July 07: A Saudi businessman has been waiting for more than four years for a visit visa to the US even though Riyadh and Washington have stepped up efforts to boost political and commercial relations as well as people-to-people contacts.

Jamal Abdulmajeed M. Al-Ali’s application has been pending since April 27, 2005, when he was first interviewed for a visa at the US Embassy in Riyadh.

“For businessmen like me, such harassment in the name of visas reveals how the US State Department’s highhandedness is harming people-to-people contact,” said Al-Ali, 50.

Baghdad, July 07: Allegations that British soldiers murdered and mutilated 20 Iraqis are to be fully investigated after it emerged that ministers had attempted to warn Tony Blair about damaging evidence of the ill-treatment of battlefield prisoners five years ago.

The startling revelation in the High Court yesterday led to the Government withdrawing its objection to a judicial inquiry into the alleged massacre after the battle of “Danny Boy” involving British forces near Basra in May 2004.

Israel, July 07: Israeli president arrives in Cairo for peace talksCairo – Israeli President Shimon Peres arrived in Cairo on Tuesday for talks with his Egyptian counterpart Hosny Mubarak on among other matters, the Middle East peace process, the official MENA news agency reported.

The two would discuss “ways to promote a regional peace agreement between Israel and Arab states,” Peres’ office said in a statement. They would also discuss “at length” the issue of the Israeli soldier held captive in Gaza, Gilad Shalit.

The Nobel laureate’s visit was expected to last only a few hours.

Rome July 07: Leaders of the Group of Eight will push for common positions on promoting democracy in Iran, combatting climate change and coordinating their exits from huge government stimulus measures _ even amid a growing sense that the group’s pre-eminence may be fading.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the host, boasts that 90 percent of the world economy will be represented by 39 nations at the G-8’s annual three-day summit, which was moved from sun-drenched Sardinia to quake-stricken L’Aquila to boost the local economy and reconstruction efforts.

Yemen, July 07: A Yemeni court sentenced three more rebels from a Shi’ite Muslim sect to death on Tuesday after convicting them of causing deaths in clashes with the army in 2008.

The state security court also jailed six other rebels, accused of seeking to install Shi’ite Islamic rule, to jail terms of 5-15 years for taking part in the clashes.

Hundreds of people have died and thousands have fled their homes in battles between government forces and the rebels in the north which have raged on and off since 2004.

Kabul, July 07: A hand grenade thrown at a police vehicle in eastern Afghanistan exploded in a crowd Tuesday, killing one civilian and wounding 28 others, officials said, a day after 10 foreign troops died amid escalating violence across the country.

The grenade attack in Khost province targeted policemen passing through the provincial capital, but the victims were mostly civilians, said Tahir Khan Sabari, the provincial deputy governor.

Four police and five children were among those wounded, said Abdul Majid Mangal, the deputy hospital director.

Tehran, July 07: Iran closed many government offices and state firms and cancelled some flights on Tuesday because of wind-blown dust caused by sandstorms in neighbouring Iraq, official media reported.

State industries will be shut for two days in the central Tehran province and medical authorities advised people with heart or respiratory problems to stay indoors.

“Dust pollution closes down Tehran,” state said on its website.

Tehran, July 07:Iran’s opposition called for an immediate release of all prisoners detained after the June 12 presidential election, the website of losing candidate Mir-Hossein Moussavi said Tuesday.

In a meeting Monday between Moussavi, ex-president Mohammad Khatami and former parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi, the three main opposition leaders agreed to pressure the government to release the prisoners.

Baghdad, July 07: An Iraq-based Shi’ite insurgent group rejoiced at the U.S. government’s decision to designate it a foreign terror organisation, calling it a point of pride, a U.S. militant monitor said on Monday.

Just days after Kata’ib Hizballah was designated a foreign terror group by U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration, the group posted a triumphant message on a Shi’ite jihadist forum praising the move, according to SITE Intelligence.

Abu dhabi, July 07: The Health Authority-Abu Dhabi (HAAD) issued on Monday two new health insurance cards for free medical treatment for people with special needs, orphans and prisoners following a generous gesture from the Abu Dhabi leadership.

According to a press statement 
issued by HAAD, the first card ‘Aonak, is for people with special needs, orphans and their foster mothers, while the second card ‘Riaaya’ is for prisoners, detainees and inmates at correctional institutions.

Kandhar, July 07: A suicide car bomber killed at least two civilians in an attack outside a major international military base on Monday in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province, a Taliban stronghold, Army officials said.

The bomber apparently targeted a group of Afghan soldiers and truck drivers providing supplies for foreign troops at the sprawling Kandahar air field south of Kandahar city.

“It was a suicide car attack which killed two truck drivers and wounded 10 more of them, along with two (Afghan) Army soldiers,” said General Sher Mohammad Zazai in Kandahar.

London, July 07: The Ministry of Defence said on Monday there were grounds for an inquiry into the deaths of up to 20 Iraqis whose relatives say they were tortured and killed by British troops in 2004.

In a submission to the High Court delivered by government lawyers, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth said he “profoundly regretted” a failure to make documents in the case available to the court and conceded a public inquiry should be held.

Dubai, July 07: Local steel manufacturers in Saudi Arabia have received licenses to export the metal after a ban was lifted this month, a Ministry of Trade and Industry spokesman said yesterday. But a ban on exporting scrap metals remained in place because the ministry believed local demand was still unfulfilled, the spokesman said. Saudi Arabia, the largest Arab economy, imposed a ban on steel exports last year to protect local consumers in the kingdom as domestic prices of the metal soared from $650 to $1,300 per ton in July last year, traders said.

Singapore, July 07: Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, will slash gasoline imports by 40 percent in July as new domestic production capacity comes online, traders said yesterday. The world’s top oil exporter is expected to import around 34,100 barrels per day (bpd) of the motor fuel in July, because of the start-up of a gasoline production unit at its $10.3 billion Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co.

Jeddah, July 07: Haj agencies have registered a steep drop in pilgrims going to Saudi Arabia for Umrah (or the lesser pilgrimage) because of the H1N1 scare.

A religious authority in the UAE has also advised the elderly, pregnant women and asthmatics not to travel to Makkah for Umrah or the annual Haj following guidelines from Saudi Arabia.

“Families are dropping out, especially those with children and the elderly,” said Abdul Rashid of Al Hamar Haj services. “Compared to last year, the drop is 75 per cent this year,” he said.

Kuwait, July 07: The Teachers’ Association with the Public Authority of Applied Education and Training (PAAET) has criticized the installation of a closed-circuit TV (CCTV) camera in the PAAET’s Faculty of Medical Sciences to monitor one of the professors while he delivered a lecture to students there.

SANAA, July 07: A Yemeni man was executed by firing squad in a public square yesterday after being convicted of raping and murdering a boy last year. Yahia Al-Raghwa, 22, was found guilty of raping and murdering Hamdi Abdullah, 11, at his barber shop in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, last December. He was shot by a firing squad in a public square in the capital, in the presence of hundreds of people including the family of the victim.