NEW DELHI: Just days after India's external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj visited Pakistan, Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed has dared India to prove his involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. In a video posted on his Twitter account, Saeed is seen saying, “Our government remained silent, but let me respond to Sushma. It's been seven years but they could not probe who was behind the Mumbai attacks and Insha Allah they will never be able to prove it until eternity.” “India has failed to provide any evidence of Mumbai attacks, while on the other hand Modi has confessed for worst terrorism of #1971”, he said in a tweet. He also slammed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for holding a meeting with his Indian counterpart in Paris.
US Army allows Sikh to keep beard, turban
Washington: The US army has allowed a Sikh captain to keep his beard and turban in a temporary relaxation of service rules - the first time in decades the military has granted a religious accommodation to an active combat soldier. “It is wonderful. I was living a double life, wearing a turban only at home,” Capt Simratpal Singh, who led engineers to clear roadside bombs in Afghanistan and was awarded a Bronze Star, said. “My two worlds have finally come together.”
The army is to decide by the year-end whether to do away with the “no-beard” policy even as political temperatures over minority loyalty to America is heating up, thanks to incendiary rhetoric from the likes of Donald Trump. For Sikhs in America, the US military's move to allow Capt. Simratpal Singh to keep his beard and turban is somewhat of an emollient in these trying times
Hajj stampede tragedy was the deadliest ever
RIYADH: A new count has shown three times the number of deaths acknowledged by Saudi Arabia in the Hajj stampede in September that claimed the lives of at least 2,411 pilgrims. The latest figures establish the crush on Sept 24 as the deadliest in the history of the annual pilgrimage. The official Saudi death toll of 769 people has not changed since Sept 26, and officials have yet to address the discrepancy. While an investigation was ordered almost immediately, few details have been made public since, and hundreds of pilgrims still remain missing.
Pakistan tests N-capable Shaheen-III missile
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has successfully test-fired their medium-range Shaheen-III surface-to-surface ballistic missile which can carry nuclear warheads up to 2,750 km, bringing many Indian cities within its range. The test flight of the missile was aimed at validating various design and technical parameters of the weapon system, as per a statement release from the military's Inter-Services Public Relations. Director general, Strategic Plans Division, Lieutenant General Mazhar Jamil said the country had achieved a “significant milestone” in complementing the deterrence capability. He said Pakistan desires peaceful co-existence in the region for which nuclear deterrence would further strengthen strategic stability in South Asia. Pakistan had testfired the Shaheen-I and Shaheen-II missiles last year.
LeJ attack in Pak leaves 24 dead
PARACHINAR (Pakistan): A blast killed 24 people and injured 70 in the northwerstern Pakistani city of Parachinar, which houses a large Shi'ite population. The responsibility of the attack has been claimed by a banned Sunni Islamist group. Spokesman of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Ali bin Sufyan said, “This is revenge for the killing of Muslims by the Syrian president and Iran.”
Saudi Arabia to have its first cinema theatre
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's committee has announced the construction of the first ever cinema theatre in the conservative Islamic kingdom. The panel signed an initial agreement to build the theatre hall in the capital of Riyadh, a report said, adding that the activities in the cinema theatre will be committed to the Islamic and traditional values of Saudi Arabia. The country has no cinema halls for religious reasons, and there were many youth campaigns calling for such facility. The announcement came as the people voted 17 women into public office in municipal, a state-aligned news site reported.
ISIS finance chief Abu Saleh confirmed killed in air strike: US
WASHINGTON: US officials have confirmed the death of the Islamic State group's finance chief in a coalition air strike last month. Colonel Steve Warren, in a video-conference from Baghdad, said Abu Saleh was killed in late November, calling him “one of the most senior and experienced members” of the group's financial network. Saleh's real name is Muwaffaq Mustafa Muhammad al-Karmush, as described in a State Department terrorist blacklist. “Killing him and his predecessors exhausts the knowledge and talent needed to coordinate funding within the organisation,” Warren said. The military spokesmen said two other figures in IS fundraising networks also were killed in coalition air strikes in late November.
Kim says N Korea has hydrogen bomb, but world sceptical
SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong un has claimed the country has developed a hydrogen bomb, however, experts remain sceptical. He made the comments as he toured the Phyongchon Revolutionary Site, which marks the feats of his father and, grandfather, state founder and eternal president, Kim Il sung, official KCNA news agency said. The work of Kim Il sung “turned the DPRK into a powerful nuclear weapons state ready to detonate a self-reliant A-bomb and H-bomb to reliably defend its sovereignty and the dignity of the nation,” KCNA quoted Kim Jong un as saying. A hydrogen bomb is also known as a thermonuclear bomb, and uses more advanced technology to produce a significantly more powerful blast than an atomic bomb.
Mom helps identify 3rd Paris attacker
PARIS: The third gunman who opened fire at Paris' Bataclan concert hall before being killed last month in the attack, has been identified as a Frenchman who left for Syria in 2013. The information came after his mother received a message announcing his death, and gave a DNA sample to the police. The information further confirmed that the Paris attacks were carried out largely, if not entirely, by Europeans trained by the IS. Foued Mohamed-Aggad left Strasbourg for Syria in late 2013, a French judicial official said, at a time when about a dozen young men from the eastern French city headed to the war zone. His mother received a text message announcing her son's death “as a martyr”. She then gave the a DNA sample to the police which showed that one of her sons was killed inside the Bataclan, his brother's lawyer Francoise Cotta said.
46 killed in Taliban siege at Afghan airport
Kandahar: At least 46 people were killed when Taliban insurgents wearing military uniforms stormed Kandahar airport, triggering pitched gun battles in a lengthy siege as President Ashraf Ghani sought to revive peace talks at a regional conference. The raid on the sprawling complex, which also houses a joint NATO-Afghan base, is seen as the most serious attack on the largest military installation in southern Afghanistan in 14 years of war. With final mopping up operations, 24 hours after Taliban insurgents attacked its airport, 46 people were killed, including members of Afghan security forces and nine Taliban men. One security official said the assailants held some civilians as “human shields”, which had complicated their operation.
