Today's Top Islamic News (DAILY)

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Revelations by the brother of Jundullah leader Abdolmalek Rigi confirm reports that the US helped the armed separatist ring carry out terror activities in Iran.

In a recent interview conducted prior to his execution, Abdulhamid Rigi told Press TV that since 2005, his brother had repeatedly met with US agents in Islamabad and Karachi and communicated with them through a common link.

"In Pakistan, Malek [Abdolmalek Rigi] contacted an individual that resided in the US who then put him through to the FBI. So, Malek said that he would go to Islamabad and meet with the Americans," he explained.

"A few days after he returned from his first meeting, we asked him about it. God knows what really passed, but according to what he told us, he said he met with the Americans. As Malik was involved with al-Qaeda and the Americans knew about it, they had questioned him about it," he added.

"Malik had told them that since 2002 he had no links with al-Qaeda any more. He said he had told them that he is only against Iran and only fights against Iran. He said that he had asked the American for financial support and they had replied by asking him to meet with them again."

Abdulhamid, who blames his brother for his eventual arrest, then went on to talk about his brother's second meeting with US agents. He said that Abdolmalek had gone to the meeting alone.

He added that the militant leader did not meet again with the Americans till 2006, when he contacted them through a link in New Jersey, who went by the name of Amanollah.

Abdulhamid Rigi said that in 2005 he himself had met with the Americans once in Islamabad, where they had asked about the activities Jundullah was carrying out in Iran, their numbers, their positions and their requests.

After the meeting, he added, Malek had called the Americans to only contact him not any other ring members.

Abdulhamid said that from 2005 onwards Malik had held several "confidential" meeting with FBI and CIA agents in Karachi and Islamabad.

He added that during one of the meetings in the Pakistani capital, two female US agents had offered weapons, safe bases in Afghanistan, and professional trainers, while inquiring about how many people the group could gather for military training.

"We said we could bring two to three thousand, but we can't fund them," said Abdulhamid Rigi, adding that they had finally accepted the US proposal.

Abdolhamid Rigi, who was arrested and handed over to Iranian officials last year along with three other Jundullah members, was executed on Saturday for his key role in a series of terrorist attacks against civilians.

Jundullah is a Pakistan-based terror group closely affiliated with the notorious al-Qaeda organization and made up of disgruntled members of the Baluch ethnic minority.

A 2007 Sunday Telegraph report revealed that Jundullah was a CIA creation designed to achieve "regime change in Iran". The report said it was the CIA that had tried to destabilize Iran by "supplying arms-length support, supplying money and weapons" to Jundullah.

An ABC report also indicted that officials in Washington had ordered Jundullah terrorists to "stage deadly guerrilla raids inside the Islamic Republic, kidnap Iranian officials and execute them on camera" all as part of a "programmatic objective to overthrow the Iranian government."

Jundullah has orchestrated a chain of deadly bombings and violent attacks in Iran. So far, it has accepted responsibility for killing at least 16 Iranian police officers in a 2008 attack, nine Iranian security guards in 2005, and another 11 in a 2007 bombing.

The militants group also claimed responsibility for a recent mosque bombing that left at least 25 Iranians dead in the southeastern city of Zahedan.

MJ/SME/HAR

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A new global audit reveals that governments around the world have boosted their military expenditures despite current economic woes.

The Sweden-based auditor, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), published its latest findings on military spending on Monday in which the figures demonstrate a 45 percent hike in global expenses on war related issues over the past decade.

The recent SIPRI figure has pegged the figure of global military spending for 2008 at a record USD 1,464 trillion which is 4 percent higher than the 2007 figures.

With a 10 percent growth rate in defense expenditures, US and China have respectively become number one and two in spending on their military machines.

"So far the global arms industry, booming from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and from spending increases by many developing countries, has shown few signs of suffering from the crisis," the SIPRI report notes.

The US expended USD 607b on military equipment while China spent USD 84.9b.

France ranked third amongst the big defense spenders, with around USD 65.8b allotted to its military budget, while Britain trailed with USD 65.3b in defense expenses.

Commenting on the growing numbers, the head of SIPRI's Military Expenditure Project, Sam Perlo-Freeman, said, "The idea of the 'war on terror' has encouraged many countries to see their problems through a highly militarized lens, using this to justify high military spending."

"Meanwhile, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost USD 903b in additional military spending by the USA alone," he went on to say.

Furthermore, SIPRI estimates indicate that over 8,400 operational nuclear warheads are held worldwide, of which 2,000 are ready to be deployed 'within minutes'.

The report adds that the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France, India, Pakistan and Israel have altogether stockpiled around 23,300 nuclear bombs.

Accordingly, US defense spending exceeds that of the following 20 nations' military costs combined.

The news of the ongoing trend in global military expenditures comes in the wake of the world's economic recession said to be the worst since the Great Depression of 1929.

Experts maintain that the projected decline of over 1.5 percent in the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP), driven by crumbling businesses, has already triggered radicalism and an inclination toward adversarial approaches around the world.

ARQN/SME/HAR

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Senators Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham have announced plans to forestall efforts meant to publish torture photos taken from US military prisons.

In a joint statement on Monday, the two senators said that US Congress members need to prevent the release of photos that threaten US troops' security overseas.

They resorted to US President Barack Obama's earlier remarks in which he opined against the exposure of photos depicting military personnel administering torture techniques on detainees held indefinitely without charge in US custody.

"The president has said that the release of the photos of detainees in US custody would 'put our troops and civilians serving our nation abroad in greater danger'. We agree with the Commander in Chief."

"The release of the photos will serve as propaganda and a recruiting tool for terrorists who seek to attack American citizens at home and abroad. We should strive to have as open a government as possible, but the behavior depicted in the photos has been prohibited and is being investigated..."

"Transparency, and in this case needless transparency, should not be paid for with the lives of American citizens, let alone the lives of our men and women in uniform fighting on our behalf in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere," they argued.

They went on to conclude, "Let it clearly be understood that without this legislation the photos in question are likely to be released. Such a release would be tantamount to a death sentence to some who are serving our nation in the most dangerous and difficult spots like Iraq and Afghanistan."

"It is this certain knowledge of these consequences of having the photos released that will cause us to vote against the supplemental and continue our push to turn our important amendment into law."

The United States has kept and tortured hundreds of prisoners at the infamous Guantanamo Bay detention facility, Bagram air base in Afghanistan and secret jails known as black sites around the world.

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The US Defense Department confirms that American troops made significant errors in carrying out airstrikes in Afghanistan in May that killed 150 civilians.

Pentagon Spokesman Geoff Morrell said on Monday that Defense Secretary Robert Gates was briefed on the investigation into the incident.

"There were some problems with some tactics, techniques and procedures or ... the way in which close air support was supposed to have been executed in this case," Morrell said at a news conference in Washington.

Nearly 150 civilians, including 95 children were killed on May 4 when US warplanes dropped bombs on two villages in the Bala Baluk district of the western province of Farah.

Medics told a Press TV correspondent that some of those wounded could have been hit by the chemical white phosphorus known by its trademark continuously burning wounds.

The deadly strikes also sparked days of protests in Kabul and other major cities across Afghanistan. The Afghan President Hamid Karzai has demanded --as he has done serially in the past-- a halt to Washington's airstrikes in his country following the latest deadly incident.

Washington says it will not stop the airstrikes in Afghanistan which have frequently led to major civilian casualties across the country.

This is while Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in mid-May that his forces would press ahead with airstrikes. He has also said that an influx of more than 21,000 US troops would not reduce the demand for these actions across Afghanistan.

"We need to protect our troops," Gates said while explaining his review of the controversial air operations.

The killing of civilians by US-led forces continues nearly eight years after the US invaded the country to allegedly destroy the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

JR/SME/HAR

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US President Barack Obama says he would do everything within his power and would use all possible leverages to release two American journalists jailed in North Korea.

The White House spokesman Bill Burton told reporters early on Monday that "The [US] president [Barack Obama] is deeply concerned by the reported sentencing of the two American citizen journalists by North Korean authorities, and we are engaged through all possible channels to secure their release," said AFP.

North Korea, following a five-day trial, sentenced Laura Ling and Euna Lee to twelve years of hard labor on Monday after they were convicted of 'committing hostilities against the Korean nation'.

The two were also convicted of illegally entering the country.

Earlier, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said that the US government's "thoughts are with the families of the two detained journalists at this difficult time."

"We once again urge North Korea to grant the immediate release of the two American citizen journalists on humanitarian grounds," Kelly added.

The two reporters, both in their thirties, were working for former Vice President Al Gore's California-based Current Affairs TV when detained.

The US State Department last week did not rule out the possibility that Gore might travel to Pyongyang to personally intervene and help releasing the two journalists.

North Korea has in the past freed captured Americans but only after personal interventions.

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US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says alleged Cuban espionage activities have prompted her to order a review into State Department security practices.

"I have directed our security personnel to review every possible security program we have, every form of vetting and clearance that we employ in the State Department, to determine what more we can do to guard against this kind of outrageous violation," Clinton told reporters at a news conference with Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda.

The probe order comes after Walter Kendall Myers, 72, and his wife Gwendolyn Myers, 71, were arrested for using top secret security clearance allegedly to send classified information to the Cuban government.

Court documents released on Friday pin Myers to the issue by making reference to a meeting between him and Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

The US Justice Department announced on Friday that Myers and his wife were charged with conspiracy to act as illegal agents of the Cuban government and to communicate classified information to Havana.

The elderly couple, who have pleaded not guilty, is also facing charges of wire fraud and could face up to 35 years in prison.

Cuba has responded over the charges pushed against the two American seniors, describing the issue as an "espionage comic strip".

"Doesn't this Cuban espionage comic strip seem pretty ridiculous?" Castro asked in an article on Saturday.

He did not refute accusations that the retired State Department official and his wife had spied for Cuba for almost 30 years but suggested that the timing of their arrests imply that the row is political.

The story emerged just 24 hours after "the defeat suffered" by US diplomacy when the Organization of American States (OAS) cleared the way for Cuba to rejoin the body, Castro wrote.

Myers and his wife -- under suspicion since 1995 -- were finally arrested on Thursday in Washington after a three-year FBI investigation that began in 2006, one year before his retirement from the State Department in 2007.

MRS/AA

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Media mogul Rupert Murdoch says that the US President Barack Obama's policies are 'dangerous' for the future of the United States.

Speaking on the US television network Fox Business Network, the Australian-born media magnate said that Obama's policies favoring enhanced government involvement in financial affairs would harm America's free market system.

"I think he (Obama) sees himself as a president for change and that involves bigger government. He's made no secret of that. I think that's dangerous," said the 78-year-old tycoon.

However, the influential billionaire stopped short of dubbing the US president a radical individual for his regulatory approach to economy issues, noting, "I think Barack Obama would describe himself as a pragmatic leftist but he's not an extremist."

Obama vows of regulating the unduly-free US economy have drawn fierce criticisms from capitalism advocates since he assumed office earlier this year.

Rupert Murdoch has thus become the latest opponent to hammer Obama's 'pro-socialist' stance.

ARQN/SME/HAR

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Gunmen open fire with automatic weapons on worshippers in a mosque in southern Thailand, killing at least 10 and wounding 13 others.

Police sources said the attack by five armed men occurred during the evening prayers in the mosque on Monday in the village of Ibaye in Narathiwat province.

"They opened fire indiscriminately at about 50 worshippers inside the mosque," a local police official said, adding that "Ten people were killed, including the local imam."

The death toll is expected to rise as some of the seriously wounded were said to be in a critical condition.

Narathiwat province is one of the three mainly Muslim provinces where thousands of people have died in five years of persistent attacks.

No group has made a credible claim of responsibility for any of the gun and bomb killings in the troubled region. The incident is the worst in the restive south in recent months.

The vast majority of people in Thai's southern provinces are Muslim and speak a Malay dialect, in contrast to the Buddhist Thai speakers in the rest of the country.

The shooting has followed discussions in Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok about working more closely together to try to stem the violence on their shared border.

The region was an independent Muslim sultanate until annexed by predominantly Buddhist Thailand in 1902.

Thailand's southern region has been plagued by insurgency, with more than 3,500 people killed since January 2004.

JR/SME/HAR

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The Sunday Telegraph revealed in 2007 that Jundullah is in fact a CIA brainchild designed to achieve the Bush-era goal of “regime change in Iran”.

According to the report, the CIA had attempted to destabilize Iran by “supplying arms-length support, supplying money and weapons” to Jundullah terrorists.

An investigative ABC report has also exposed that political heavyweights in the US had ordered Jundullah terrorists to “stage deadly guerrilla raids inside the Islamic Republic, kidnap Iranian officials and execute them on camera” all as part of a “programmatic objective to overthrow the Iranian government”.

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KANPUR: If you are a girl in Kanpur, you can’t wear jeans to college. You can’t even carry a mobile phone. Joining ranks with a number of
colleges that have dress code for their students, Dayanand Girl’s College, affiliated to Kanpur University, began moral policing by restricting its students from wearing western outfits on the campus. A notice to this effect was issued before the start of the academic session.

Other such colleges are Juhari Devi Degree College, S N Sen College and Acharya Narendra Dev College already have dress code in some form or the other.

The move, said principal Meeta Jamal, was taken to check eve-teasing and ensuring discipline. ‘‘Western dresses, including body-hugging tops and tight-fitting jeans, don’t indicate a disciplined atmosphere and attract comments from eve-teasers. We can’t overlook the safety of students. A dress code would check eve-teasing to some extent and also ensure that girls don’t waste their time selecting what clothes to wear,’’ Jamal said.
TOI

But an angry student said, ‘‘The decision taken by the college authorities is ludicrous. If they want to check eve-teasing, they must approach the police and not punish the girls.’’ Another student said, ‘‘I can understand a ban short skirts and tank tops, but jeans?’’