'Oldest' Koran fragments found in Birmingham University
- 22 July 2015
- Education & Family
What may be the world's oldest fragments of the Koran have been found by the University of Birmingham.
Radiocarbon dating found the manuscript to be at least 1,370 years old, making it among the earliest in existence.
The pages of the Muslim holy text had remained unrecognised in the university library for almost a century.
The British Library's expert on such manuscripts, Dr Muhammad Isa Waley, said this "exciting discovery" would make Muslims "rejoice".
The manuscript had been kept with a collection of other Middle Eastern books and documents, without being identified as one of the oldest fragments of the Koran in the world.
China feared CIA worked with Sheldon Adelson's Macau casinos to snare officials
A report commissioned by Adelson’s company, uncovered from among documents filed as part of an ongoing lawsuit, shows Beijing was concerned officials were gambling with public money, leaving them vulnerable to blackmail
China feared that casinos in Macau owned by the billionaire gambling magnate and Republican party funder Sheldon Adelson were used by US intelligence agents to entrap and blackmail Chinese officials, according to a “highly confidential” report for the gambling industry.
The report, by a private investigator in 2010, said that Beijing believed US-owned establishments in the former Portuguese colony were working in league with the CIA.
“Many of the (Chinese) officials we contacted were of the view that US intelligence agencies are very active in Macao and that they have penetrated and utilised the US casinos to support their operations,” it said.
The investigation was commissioned by the Macau branch of Adelson’s company, SandsChina, amid concern that the enclave’s government was increasingly hostile to the gambling industry in general and Sands in particular.
Twitter blocked by Erdogan government as Turkey bans images of deadly suicide bombing in Suruc
The news agency also claimed that officials were trying to stop Twitter users from calling for protests against the government for not doing more to prevent the bombing, CTV News reported.
A backlash - with the hashtag #TwitterBlockInTurkey - has already begun, amid claims that it has only made those inside Turkey more determined to spread news of what is going on.
Pakistan court stays execution of Asia Bibi in blasphemy case
Pakistan's Supreme Court has stayed the execution of Asia Bibi, who had been convicted of blasphemy. The court also granted the Christian woman leave to appeal.
Asia Bibi, a Christian woman from Pakistan's Punjab region, was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death by hanging in 2010.
On Wednesday, Pakistan's highest court in Lahore stayed the execution and admitted a full hearing of the 50-year-old prisoner's appeal, which her husband had helped her launch.
Bibi allegedly insulted the Prophet Muhammad during an argument with some women she worked with on a berry farm. Bibi has denied the allegations, insisting that they were the result of a personal feud.
The verdict sparked mostly positive reaction on Twitter, under the hashtags #AsiaBibi and #FreeAsiaBibi.
Human rights activists are regularly calling for the Pakistan's blasphemy laws to be reformed. Former military dictator Zia ul-Haq introduced the blasphemy laws in the 1980s to appease religious parties, but they are seen as being regularly misused to settle personal scores.
Could it be that Islamic State is transforming into a functioning state?
July 22, 2015 - 4:09PM
Tim Arango
Istanbul: The Islamic State uses terror to force obedience and frighten enemies. It has seized territory, destroyed antiquities, slaughtered minorities, forced women into sexual slavery and turned children into killers.
But its officials are apparently resistant to bribes, and in that way, at least, it has outdone the corrupt Syrian and Iraqi governments it routed, residents and experts say.
"You can travel from Raqqa to Mosul and no one will dare to stop you even if you carry $1 million," said Bilal, who lives in Raqqa, the Islamic State's de facto capital in Syria, and out of fear insisted on being identified only by his first name.
Increasingly, as IS consolidates its hold on territory, the group is transforming into a functioning state that uses extreme violence as a tool while filling a vacuum left by governments that also employed violence - arrest, torture and detention.
Yet the group is also issuing identification cards for residents, promulgating fishing guidelines to preserve stocks and requiring that cars carry tool kits for emergencies.
Secret South African orphanage cares for baby rhinos
The Rhino Orphanage takes extreme measures to protect its rhinos from poachers, barring all but selected visitors and not advertising its exact location.
ENTABENI SAFARI CONSERVANCY, SOUTH AFRICA — They are the most vulnerable victims of South Africa's rhino poaching scourge, the baby rhinos that survive the shooting deaths of their mothers.
Many probably die of dehydration or other perils in the wild, but some lucky ones end up at The Rhino Orphanage, where workers become mothers to the traumatized young ones, feeding, walking, and comforting them until they are ready to return to the bush. They learn to recognize voices, sleep in a stable, feed on a milk substitute, roll in the mud, and play with each other and their human minders, who try not to get knocked over by these big, rambunctious babies.
The orphanage takes extreme measures to protect its rhinos from poachers, barring all but selected visitors and not advertising its exact location. Managers say only that it is near a golf and safari resort at the Entabeni wildlife park in Limpopo Province, about a three-hour drive north of Johannesburg.
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