Exclusive: Cairo at war - under siege inside the Al-Fath Mosque
An eyewitness report from the only Western journalist trapped inside: With Islamists barricaded in a back room and the army outside, the fear and anxiety were palpable
Yasmine Ahmed's two brothers had been trapped in the siege for over 12 hours. Packed into a sweltering back room barricaded with chairs and wooden tables, they had been cooped up alongside hundreds of panicking Islamists and the decomposing corpses from another weekend of violence.
Away from the besieged protesters, down a corridor and inside the main prayer hall of the mosque, an army commander huddled in a circle with his troops. Standing on the grubby carpet littered with discarded shreds of cotton wool and surgical pads, his face was slick with sweat.
Hundreds of locals were crammed against the pointed steel gates of the mosque courtyard. Many were in no mood to forgive those trapped inside; in the minds of some Egyptians, the Morsi supporters have become little more than "terrorist" outlaws.
Pakistan acquits cleric in blasphemy case
August 18, 2013 - 10:08AM
A Pakistan court has acquitted a Muslim cleric who accused a Christian girl of blasphemy before he himself was arrested on similar charges.
The girl, Rimsha Masih, was arrested in August 2012 for allegedly burning pages containing Koranic verses but the case against her, which drew widespread international condemnation, was quashed.
Hafiz Mohammed Khalid Chishti, the cleric who made the allegations, was accused of desecrating the Koran and tampering with the evidence against Rimsha.
But his lawyer, Wajid Ali Gilani, told AFP: "The court has dismissed all charges against Khalid Chishti and has acquitted him in this case."
Somalia executes man for murder of journalist
This is the first such execution in a country where those who kill media workers often evade justice.
Colonel Abdullahi Muse Keyse, a spokesman for Somalia's military court said the execution by firing squad of Aden Sheikh Abdi took place early on Saturdayin Mogadishu. "His execution is a new chapter for Somalia," he said.
Last month a Mogadishu military tribunal found Abdi guilty of the murder of reporter Hassan Yusuf Absuge late last year, who worked for Radio Maanta in Mogadishu. During his trial Abdi was accused of belonging to the al-Qaeda-linked extremist rebels, al-Shabab, who have staged multiple terrorist attacks across Somalia in a bloody campaign to seize political power.
The rebels were pushed out of Mogadishu in August 2011, but they continue to carry out targeted killings there and elsewhere in Somalia. The Abdi case was the first to be actively prosecuted by the Somali government, coming after years of condemnations from rights groups who urged Somali authorities to do more to establish the rule of law and end the killings of journalists.
Refugee concerns loom ahead of Australia vote |
Plan to send asylum-seekers to Papua New Guinea is part of the political tough talk two weeks ahead of national polls. |
There was no coincidence in the announcement of Australia’s agreement for the resettlement of refugees in Papua New Guinea (PNG) coming two weeks before the start of a national election campaign.
Under the deal, announced on July 19, all asylum-seekers arriving in Australian territory by boat are to be flown to PNG for processing and resettlement, in return for additional foreign aid. A similar agreement with Nauru, a Pacific island with a population of 10,000, was reached on August 3.
Opinion polls comparing public approval of the country’s major political parties’ handling of asylum seeker policy showed the announcement had improved the ruling Labor Party’s figures from 17 percent in mid-June to 25 percent on July 29. During the same period, support for the Liberal-National coalition of opposition parties had fallen from 33 percent to 25 percent. Twenty-eight percent preferred none of the political parties - the highest figure recorded.
18 August 2013 Last updated at 09:00 GMT
North Korea agrees to family reunions with South
North Korea has agreed to a South Korean proposal to resume reunions of families separated since the 1950-1953 war, official media in Pyongyang say.
The reunion meetings would take place in the Chuseok holiday on 19 September.
South Korea's President Park Geun-hye called last week for the resumption of the reunions, last held in 2010.
Her appeal followed an agreement to reopen a joint industrial plant, the latest step in the easing of tension between the two countries.
Young Mexicans embrace the seductive charms of the dance that Cuba forgot
Danzón has all but died out on the island where it was born. But across the Yucatán Channel, the precise, elegant style thrives in classes and festivals
Every weekend, hundreds of couples descend on Mexico City's Plaza de la Ciudadela to gently seduce each other in the elegant dance known asdanzón. The dancers converge in the pretty square, known locally as the Plaza de Danzón, to dance to classic Cuban melodies in what could be mistaken for a scene from a 1940s film.
In fact, it is part of an extraordinary effort to help danzón thrive in Mexico, while it has effectively vanished in Cuba, where it originated almost 150 years ago. The effort is working, as growing numbers of children and young Mexicans flock to festivals and join classes to learn the elegant steps and dress up in the flamboyant costumes of danzón.
No comments:
Post a Comment