Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood wants govt sacked

 

Egypt s Muslim Brotherhood has called on the ruling generals to sack the military-appointed government, saying it has failed to manage the deteriorating security and economic situation in the country.

 

The Islamic fundamentalist Brotherhood controls nearly 50 percent of the seats in the new parliament, by far the single largest bloc to emerge from Egypt s freest and fairest elections in decades. Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan said on Thursday the military should appoint a Brotherhood representative as prime minister, who would then form a new government.

 

The calls for sacking the Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri, come after deadly soccer riot that sparked days of clashes between protesters and the police. At least 74 were killed in the riot on Feb. 1 and at least 15 more died in the clashes that followed.

 

“We call on the military council to sack this government that has failed to handle this big event and to form another government,” said Ghozlan. “If there is a government in place that is really backed by the choice of the people, it will act without regard for any pressure from anyone. It will seek to reassure the people and provide it with security,” he added.

 

There have been periodic bursts of protests and deadly clashes since the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak a year ago. There has also been a wave of crime, notably a spate of bank heists, over the past few weeks.

 

Military troops deployed around the country starting Wednesday in an attempt to restore some security, and as state media said, “restore the state s prestige.” Mobile patrols roved main roads and squares, and other troops guarded government ministries, banks and other public buildings.

 

Many blame police for the failure to stop the deadly riots and criticize the police for excessive use of force to break up ensuing protests. The deadly week renewed accusations that the ruling military council had mismanaged what was supposed to be a transition to democracy and revived calls for the generals to step down.

 

The security surge comes just days before a general strike starting Feb. 11 the one year anniversary of Mubarak s ouster to demand the quick transfer to civilian rule. The call has gained traction, and was widely criticized by the military and the Brotherhood as an attempt to destabilize the country.Adding to the precarious security situation, tribesmen briefly kidnapped 18 Egyptian border guards along the frontier with Israel in the Sinai Peninsula before releasing them.

 

Security officials said the Bedouin tribesmen snatched the guards from positions along the border to protest the killing of one of their members, a smuggler, as he tried to sneak into Israel days ago.

 

After holding negotiations with tribal leaders, the kidnappers freed the guards, one of the security officials said.
The Brotherhood calls for forming a new government appear to be partially in response to growing dissent.

 

Essam el-Erian, a leading Brotherhood lawmaker, said negotiations to form such a government have not begun yet, and could only happen with the approval of the military council.

 

“We are a considerable bloc that can create an agreement over such a government,” he said. “The country needs an effective government.”

 

Military generals had previously said they would not be opposed to a government formed by the parliament majority. The legislature s primary task remains selecting the 100-member constituent assembly which will be entrusted with writing the country s new constitution.

 

Many among Egypt s liberal and secular revolutionary groups have grown critical of the Brotherhood, accusing it of attempting to monopolize the political scene and of working closely with the ruling generals. The youth-dominated groups fear the Brotherhood may strike a deal with the military council giving the military a future say in politics to ensure the Brotherhood s hold on authority and influence the writing of a new constitution.

 

The deputy chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood, Khairat el-Shater, told the Arabic TV network Al-Jazeera that a wide-based coalition government should reflect the sizes of the respective political groups in parliament, but also include technocrats and public figures.

 

He said he expected it to be led by a member of the Brotherhood s political arm, the Freedom and Justice party.
“We will not monopolize the government,” el-Shater told Al-Jazeera late Wednesday.

 

Emad Gad, a lawmaker from the liberal Egyptian Democratic Socialist Party, which has 25 seats in the parliament, said his party won t join a coalition government but will remain in the opposition bloc.

 

“Didn t they win the majority? Let them manage the country and put up with the responsibility,” Gad said.

 

The domestic tension comes amid a growing rift between Egyptian rulers and the country s longtime strategic ally, the U.S. Egyptian officials have cracked down on foreign nonprofit pro-democracy groups, including four American organizations, accusing them of using foreign funds to foment protests in the country.

 

Judges referred 16 Americans and 27 others, including Europeans and Egyptians, to trial on these charges, in an escalation that threatens to rock Cairo s once-solid relations with Washington.

 

Just days before a general strike called by protesters goes into effect, another U.S.-affiliated institution, the American University in Cairo, came under scrutiny and accusation by the military rulers as an instigator of unrest.

 

A Facebook page affiliated with the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces hinted that the university, operating in Egypt since 1919, was the latest tool of the U.S. administration and its security agencies to weaken Egypt. The site is not the official page of the council, but often reflects its views.

 

AUC students had announced they will be taking part in the rolling general strike starting Saturday. The Facebook page said university students are campaigning for the strike, implementing a foreign plot with Egyptian hands. Most of the university students are upper class Egyptians.

 

“Is the American University in Cairo one of the tools of the U.S. administration and its different security agencies to work inside the country and take part in the plot to topple Egypt and occupy it by 2015,” the statement said.
 

Iran launches observation satellite

 

Iran on Friday launched an observation satellite into orbit above Earth, its Arabic satellite television channel Al-Alam reported.

 

“The Navid satellite was launched successfully…. It will be placed into an orbit (at an altitude) between 250 and 370 kilometres,” the head of Iran s Space Organisation, Hamid Fazeli, was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.
 

Magazine Inspired Terror Suspects in UK

LONDON: Nine terror suspects arrested in England found inspiration and bomb-making tips in an online English-language magazine.

The magazine is published by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. In contrast to most terrorist Web sites, which are published in heavily theological Arabic, the magazine Inspire is published in easily accessible English.

A first issue in July included the article “Making a bomb in the kitchen of your mom,” was followed by a second issue in October.

British police said this week that between Oct. 1 and Dec. 20, the day the suspects were arrested in raids, the nine men had researched and discussed carrying out reconnaissance on potential targets. The U.S. State Department said the U.S. Embassy in London was among the targets.

Twin Blasts in Stockholm Leave one Dead

STOCKHOLM: Twin blasts in central Stockholm killed one person and injured two others, in what Sweden’s foreign minister said was a “terrorist” attack that could have had “catastrophic” consequences.

The explosions on Saturday, in a busy part of the capital packed with Christmas shoppers, came minutes after a Swedish news agency received a message denouncing Sweden’s military presence in Afghanistan and threatening deadly attacks.

One of the blasts killed the suspected bomber, Sweden television reported, although neither police nor the intelligence service would confirm that it was an attack.

But Bildt’s comments, sent from his Twitter account, were unequivocal.

“Most worrying attempt at terrorist attack in crowded part of central Stockholm,” wrote Bildt. “Failed — but could have been truly catastrophic…” he added.

The first blast hit at around 4:50 pm (1550 GMT) when a parked car packed with gas canisters exploded, police said.

That explosion left two people in need of hospital treatment for minor injuries, said emergency services spokesman Bengt Norberg.

The second blast was about 200 metres (650 feet) away, he added.

Police spokeswoman Petra Sjolandero said one person had been found dead at the site of this explosion.

“I cannot confirm that the death is linked to the explosion of the car but I cannot deny it either,” she added.

But media reported that a bag filled with nails had been found near the body of the man who, it said, was thought to be the bomber.

And witnesses cited by Dagens Nyheter newspaper said the dead man had a large wound to his stomach as if something had exploded there.

Swedish news agency reported that it had received messages about 10 minutes before the first blast in Arabic and Swedish, warning of unspecified “action.”

Egypt blogger released after 4 years in jail

CAIRO: An Egyptian blogger has been released after serving four years in prison on charges of insulting Islam and the president, a human rights group and an interior ministry source said on Wednesday.

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) said blogger Abdel Kareem Nabil, 26, known as Kareem Amer, was in bad health and was beaten by security officers before his release on Tuesday.

A Cairo-based source from the Interior Ministry confirmed Amer had been release on Tuesday but denied the blogger was beaten by officers.

A student at the state-run religious al-Azhar University, Amer was arrested in 2006 on charges of insulting Islam and President Hosni Mubarak in his blog posts. He was sentenced to four years in prison and expelled from the university.

“Kareem was released on Tuesday morning and his health is bad but he is safe now,”

Dancing Israeli soldier video goes viral

JERUSALEM: Two years after it was posted on YouTube, a video that appears to show an Israeli soldier dancing around a blindfolded and bound Palestinian woman detainee has gone viral on the Internet.

The incident, whose authenticity could not be determined independently, has drawn more than 400,000 views on YouTube over the past two days.

In the blurry, 75-second video, which might have been filmed on a cellphone, a man wearing sunglasses and the uniform of an Israeli sergeant dances to Arabic music around a blindfolded and bound woman in a Muslim headscarf and black robe.

The clip shows a mocking dance, seemingly aimed at humiliating the detainee.

According to a Palestinian woman who told Reuters on Wednesday she was the prisoner, it happened in 2007 at an army camp in the occupied West Bank, at the start of a two-year detention for membership in the

Iran denies report of seven US troops detained–TV

TEHRAN: Iran denied on Sunday that border guards had detained seven U.S. troops, calling the report “unfounded”, the state-run English language Press TV said.

The country’s Arabic language television al-Alam also quoted Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, in charge of Iran’s border security, as denying that any such incident had happened in the southeastern province of Sistan Baluchestan, as earlier reported by a semi-official news agency. AGENCIES

Babar puts question mark on his qualifications

ISLAMABAD: Law Minister Babar Awan had declared under oath in his nomination papers submitted to the Election Commission for his election as senator in Feb 2006 that he is a PhD from “Monty Cello (Monticello) University, USA” but did not submit the copy of his doctorate degree.

Awan’s nomination papers alongwith enclosures, formally obtained from the Election Commission of Pakistan, show that the law minister has provided the photocopies of his certificates/degrees of his Matriculation, Intermediate, Bachelors (B.A), Masters in Economics and LLB.

Awan also disclosed under oath to have done his D.A.L from King Saud University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and PhD from “Monty Cello” University but none of these two foreign “degrees” are attached with his nomination papers. He also wrote his full name as “Dr. Zaheer Uddin Babar Awan”.

There is no explanation as to why Awan avoided to provide to the Election Commission these two foreign “degrees” one of which has already proved to be fake for the reason that the Monticello University, which issued Babar the PhD degree was never authorised to do so. For being a fraud, the university was not only fined a sum of US$1.7 million by a US court but also faced closure besides being directed by the court to return the fee of those defrauded.

Awan, who continues to use the title of Dr. with his name, interestingly mis-spelled the fake Monticello university in his nomination papers as “Monty Cello” from where he affirmed to have done his doctorate degree. He claimed to have done his PhD in Criminal Law from “Monty Cello University USA” in 1998.

In his declaration given under oath as required by the Election Commission of Pakistan’s nomination papers, “Dr Zaheer Uddin Babar Awan” disclosed that he did his Matric in Science in 1971 from Board of Sargodha; Intermediate in Humanities from Board of Sargodha in 1973; BA in Arts from the University of Punjab in 1975; Masters in Economics from the University of Punjab in 1978; D.A.L in Arabic Islamic Law from King Saud University, KSA in 1982; LLB from University of Karachi in 1986; and PhD in Criminal Law from the “Monty Cello University USA” in 1998 session.

He also informed the Election Commission to have paid Rs66,107, Rs44,950 and Rs42,850 as income tax for the fiscal year 2004-05, 2003-04 and 2002-03 respectively.

Regarding his assets, he declared to have Rs15 million worth house in F-8/4 sector of Islamabad; Rs0.4m worth office in Hashim Plaza F-8 Islamabad; Rs0.65m worth office at Sadiq Plaza in Lahore; Rs2m worth office in Blue Area Islamabad; Rs0.62m paid as down payment for apartment in Lahore; Rs1m worth office in Satellite Town Rawalpindi; partial payment of Rs11m for property at Spain; Rs1.4m business capital; Rs0.45m worth Pajero 1990 model; Rs1m worth Toyota Corolla 2004 model; Rs0.5m cash in hand; Rs11m in bank; and Rs135,000 worth furniture, fittings and articles. The value of all the above assets was declared as it was in 2006.

When approached on his mobile number as is also reflected in his nomination paper, the minister did not receive the call from this correspondent but responded, “I’m busy right now. I’ll call you later.” He neither called back nor picked up the phone again to explain his reasons for not submitting the copies of two of his foreign degrees though he chose to provide to the Election Commission the copies of his master degrees and LLB.

Farooq Awan advocate, brother of the federal law minister, however, when approached by a staffer of The News Investigations Wing to inquire as to why did not Babar Awan attach his foreign degrees like D.A.L and PhD with the nomination papers filed for the Senate seat, Farooq replied that only graduation degree was mandatory to be attached with the nomination papers and not the rest. Farooq perhaps did not know that despite not required the copies of the degrees of Awan’s MA Economics and LLB were too submitted in addition to his BA degree and the certificates of Matric and Intermediate.

Panda in Chinese zoo crushes its cub

BEIJING: A panda at the Beijing Zoo accidentally crushed her new cub to death after abandoning its twin, Chinese state media said Tuesday.

Original post: 
Panda in Chinese zoo crushes its cub

Saudi Prince to launch TV news channel

RIYADH: The Kingdom Holding company headed by the Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal which says it plans to launch a new Arabic television news channel in partnership with the Fox network.

Read more here: 
Saudi Prince to launch TV news channel

Next Page »