Pakistan rape acquittals rejected

Pakistan's Supreme Court has suspended the acquittals of five men in a notorious gang rape case that has sparked worldwide outrage.
The Supreme Court said it would retry the men convicted and then acquitted of raping Mukhtar Mai in 2002, allegedly on the orders of a village council.

Ms Mai, who had appealed against the acquittals, said she was delighted with the decision.

The court ordered the men be detained in judicial custody until the trial.

Trial of 14

The acquittals had earlier been ordered by the Lahore High Court in March on the grounds of lack of evidence.


The Supreme Court will now try a total of 14 men - the five acquitted by the Lahore court, a sixth man whose death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by that court and another eight men acquitted at the original trial.

The date of the new trial has yet to be fixed.

Ms Mai, who was in court with human rights activists to hear the ruling, said she hoped she would finally get justice.

"I am very happy. I am feeling highly satisfied," Ms Mai, 33, said.

A village council allegedly ordered the rape because her younger brother was seen with a woman from a more influential tribe.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry said in the ruling: "The inspector general of Punjab police is directed to arrest them and hand them over to judicial custody, pending final disposal of the appeals."

The arrest order is a legal mechanism as all 14 men are already in custody.

'Three choices'

The case acquired political overtones after President Pervez Musharraf barred Ms Mai from travelling abroad, fearing she might undermine Pakistan's image.

The government has stationed police at her home in Meerwala, in central Punjab province, saying she needs protection.

But she has complained that she is under virtual house arrest.

On Monday Ms Mai confirmed she had now been given back her passport.

Critics of Pakistan's judicial and social systems say the Mukhtar Mai case is an example of appalling treatment often handed out to women, particularly in feudal, rural areas.

President Musharraf says the case is not representative.

"We are no worse than any other developing country," he said earlier this month during a tour of New Zealand.

Ms Mai spoke of her ordeal in an interview with the Christian Science Monitor on Monday.

She said: "I had three choices. Either to commit suicide by jumping in a well or shed tears all my life like any other victim in such cases, or challenge the cruel feudal and tribal system and harsh attitudes of society."

She also said she had been flooded with marriage proposals but believed most were motivated by greed.

"I could see dollars flashing in their eyes. I tell them if you want to marry me then live with me in the village and serve the people. Then they don't return."

PAKISTAN RAPE STATISTICS
320 reported rapes in first nine months of 2004
350 reported gang rapes in same period
39 people arrested
Police cases registered in only a third of reported rapes
Source: Human Rights Commission of Pakistan

Nabi Palsu dari Korea

Selasa , 21/06/2005 - Mufti Palestin, Sheikh Ekrema Sabri, berkata semalam tentang satu gerakan yang bahaya di bawa oleh 'ulama' dari Korea bernama Muyong Moon yang mengaku menjadi Nabi.

Sheikh Sabri membongkar akan Nabi Palsu yang mengatakan bahawa sebelum Rasulullah dan para Sahabat , beliau terlebih dahulu telah menerima wahyu.

Moon berjaya menarik jutaan pengikut seluruh dunia dan telah membuka pejabatnya di Gaza dan Ramallah. Beliau boleh mempergunakan pemuda-pemuda muslim atas tiket aktivis keamanan.

Moon akan melawat Palestin dalam masa terdekat atas tiket keamanan. Sabri akan mengajukan perkara ini kepada PA dengan laporan lengkap kegiatan sesat tersebut yang sama sekali membahayakan rakyat Palestin.


Note: http://www.palestine-info.net "

Demonstrasi Anti-Tembok

"Selasa , 21/06/2005 -Penduduk di pecan Al-Samo dengan disertai oleh komiti anti-tembok Israel mengadakan duduk beramai-ramai di kawasan "Ras Wadi Hunaihen", timur pekan tersebut di mana tentera penjajah Israel (TPI) cuba berebut dan merampasnya dari penduduk Palestin. Berlaku pertempuran kecil dengan penduduk yang cuba membuat provokasi. Namun begitu, tidak ada kecederaan dilaporkan

TPI dengan serta merta mengumumkan bahawa kawasan tersebut adalah kawasan tertutup dan mula menendang mereka yang sedang duduk di situ dan memerintahkan mereka keluar dari tanah tersebut.

Kami tidak akan menyerahkan tanah kami. Kami akan meneruskan aktiviti protes ini bagi menunjukkan penolakan kami terhadap apa yang sedang dilakukan oleh tentera Israel terhadap tanah air kami yang tercinta ini” Ujar Khalil Al-Khalaileh, salah seorang penduduk setempat di situ.

Menurut Azmi Al-Shuyokhi, setiausaha umum komiti Palestin Popular, berkata bahawa Al-Khalil adalah daerah yang paling teruk terdedah dengan kejadian rampasan tanah yang pernah disaksikan oleh mana-mana kawasan lain.

Dalam masa yang sama TPI, disokong oleh kenderaan tentera menyerbu masuk ke dalam Bandar Beit Foreek, di selatan bandar Nablus, dan mengenakan perintah berkurung di kawasan tersebut.

Pertempuran meletus di antara rakyat Palestin yang membaling batu dengan askar yang bersenjata lengkap dan kejam yang menembak peluru hidup dan peluru getah dengan disertai gas pemedih mata ke arah penduduk yang tidak bersenjata. Namun begitu tidak ada kecederaan dilaporkan.

Note: http://www.palestine-info.net
penterjemah : abu raudah "

Turkey sentences Caliph of Cologne to life in prison

Leading Turkish militant known as the Caliph of Cologne, Metin Kaplan (C) is escorted by Turkish gendarmes to a court in Istanbul. A Turkish court sentenced Kaplan to life in prison for plotting to overthrow Turkey's strictly secular system.

ISTANBUL (AFP) - A Turkish court sentenced Muslim extremist Metin Kaplan, alias "The Caliph of Cologne", to imprisonment for the rest of his life for plotting to overthrow Turkey's strictly secular system. Announcing the verdict at the end of a high-profile trial, judge Metin Cetinbas said Kaplan and his extremist group, based in Cologne in Germany, were "terrorists".

"Terrorism, whoever commits it and for whatever reason, is a crime against humanity," Cetinbas said. "Reactionaries will never be given a chance".

He announced that the court would not allow Kaplan to benefit from a reduction in his sentence because he showed no remorse during the trial and added that the cleric would be confined "until the day he dies".

Kaplan -- leader of the Union of Islamic Communities, also known as "Hilafet Devleti" (Caliphate State, in Turkish) -- had been on trial since December following his expulsion from Germany on charges linked to his role as the leader of the group, which aspires to set up a state in Turkey based on Islamic law.

Among them was an alleged 1998 bid to use an explosives-laden plane to blow up the mausoleum in Ankara of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the secular Turkish republic.

Kaplan's lawyer said they would appeal against the verdict, which he denounced as unfair. "We were expecting this verdict.

A fair verdict would have been an exception," attorney Husnu Tuna told AFP outside the courtroom. He charged that the court had decided beforehand to pronounce his client guilty without taking into account the arguments of the defence team.

"The text (of the verdict) contains elements which show that it has been prepared in advance," Tuna said.

Throughout the trial, Kaplan rejected the accusations directed against him but spoke out in favour installing the rule of Islam -- which he described as the best system in the world -- in Turkey.

"I never pushed people towards violence, hatred or terrorism," Kaplan told the tribunal in his final defence speech earlier Monday, denying that he was behind the plot to blow up Ataturk's mausoleum. "We are not separatists. We are not terrorists or anarchists. We want Muslims to gather around the Koran," he added.

"I want a Turkey where the Koran is the constitution, the Sharia is the law and Islam is the state." "You might not like my ideas, but you do not have the right to call me a terrorist," he charged.

Kaplan moved to Germany in 1983, where he was granted political asylum in 1992. He took over the leadership of Hilafet Devleti after the death in 1995 of his father, Cemaleddin Kaplan, a preacher known in Turkey as "The Voice of Darkness" for his ultra-radical Islamist views.

In Germany, Metin Kaplan and his family lived on welfare payments despite official estimates that his organisation had earned millions of dollars (euros) from donations and property deals.

He was jailed in Germany for four years from 1999 to 2003 for having ordered the killing of a rival during the struggle for his father's succession as leader of the organisation.

His group, which launched hate campaigns against Israel and Turkey, was banned in Germany in 2001 under legislation passed in the wake of the September 11 2001 attacks in the United States to crack down on Islamist extremists.

He was expelled to Turkey in October after a long legal battle. - AFP

CIA 'knows Bin Laden whereabouts'

The US has offered $25m for Bin Laden's capture The head of the US Central Intelligence Agency has said he has an "excellent idea" where Osama Bin Laden is hiding.

But CIA director Porter Goss did not say when the world's most wanted man would be caught, nor his location.

He told Time magazine there were "weak links" in the US-led war on terror. His remarks follow recent US criticism of Pakistan's role in hunting suspects.

Bin Laden, wanted for the 9/11 attacks, is widely believed to be in Pakistan's tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

He has eluded capture ever since the 11 September, 2001 airliner attacks in the United States for which al-Qaeda is blamed.

Thousands of US-led troops have been deployed to find the Saudi-born billionaire, who has a $25m bounty on his head.

'Sanctuaries'

Mr Goss said it was unlikely Bin Laden would be brought to justice until "we strengthen all the links" in the chain in the US-led hunt for terror suspects.

"When you go to the very difficult question of dealing with sanctuaries in sovereign states, you're dealing with a problem of our sense of international obligation, fair play.

"We have to find a way to work in a conventional world in unconventional ways that are acceptable to the international community."

Asked if he had a good idea where Bin Laden is, he said: "I have an excellent idea of where he is. What's the next question?"

'Irresponsible'

The CIA chief did not mention Pakistan by name in his interview with Time.

But his comments come after a row between Islamabad and the departing US ambassador to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, who has frequently accused Pakistan of sheltering terror suspects.

The US envoy was angered last week after Pakistani television station Geo interviewed a senior Taleban commander in Afghanistan, who said both Bin Laden and Taleban leader Mullah Omar were alive and well.

"If a TV station can get in touch with them, how can the intelligence service of a country which has nuclear bombs and a lot of security and military forces not find them?" asked Mr Khalilzad in an interview with an Afghan television station.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman called Mr Khalilzad's remarks "irresponsible".

Pakistan was the main backer of Afghanistan's hardline former Taleban rulers until President Musharraf joined the war on terror in late 2001.

Hundreds of terror suspects, including a string of men alleged to be senior al-Qaeda figures, have been arrested in Pakistan since then.

'Intent high'

Mr Goss, a critic of the CIA's former tactics, said he was giving the agency a thorough shake-up, and it was doing a "pretty good job" staying ahead of al-Qaeda's capability.

On the possibility of more al-Qaeda attacks on US targets, he said: "Certainly the intent is very high."

Jenayah AS, Britain: Kempen di Iraq cabul undang-undang antarabangsa

LONDON: Penasihat undang-undang Kementerian Luar Britain sudah mengingatkan kerajaannya dan Amerika Syarikat yang tindakan mengebom Iraq beberapa bulan sebelum bermulanya serangan itu memangnya salah mengikut undang-undang antarabangsa.

Akhbar The Sunday Times melaporkan, 10 tahun sebelum serangan ke atas Iraq pada Mac 2003, AS dan Britain memastikan pasukan tentera Saddam Hussein terpinggir dengan melaksanakan langkah zon larangan terbang di utara dan selatan Iraq.

Maklumat kerajaan Britain menunjukkan, hampir setahun sebelum serangan itu bermula, mereka melancarkan serangan yang kerap, termasuk tindakan menggugurkan bahan letupan yang meningkat daripada 0.3 tan pada April 2002 kepada 10.4 tan pada Jun dan diikuti 54.6 tan pada September tahun sama.

Malah, maklumat dokumen bocor pada 23 Julai, 2002, membabitkan mesyuarat Perdana Menteri Tony Blair dengan pegawai kanan kerajaan, memetik Setiausaha Pertahanan AS, Donald Rumsfeld sebagai berkata:

“AS sudah memulakan ‘beberapa aktiviti’ bagi memberi tekanan ke atas kerajaan Saddam.”

Namun, penasihat undang-undang Kementerian Luar Britain ketika itu mengingatkan yang pesawat tentera negara itu hanya boleh meronda di kawasan zon larangan terbang.

Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (PBB) ketika itu belum meluluskan Ketetapan 1441 yang digunakan bagi menghalalkan serangan tentera itu dan Kongres AS sendiri tidak membenarkan penggunaan tindakan kekerasan itu sehingga Oktober 2002.

Akhbar Sunday Times itu memetik kenyataan Lord Goodhart, Naib Presiden Suruhanjaya Pakar Undang-Undang Antarabangsa yang menyokong pendapat penasihat undang-undang kementerian berkenaan.

“Tindakan mereka jelas bercanggah undang-undang jika tujuannya untuk melembutkan pendirian kerajaan bagi tujuan penaklukan di masa depan atau pun untuk mengkucar kacirkan Iraq,” katanya dalam rencana yang ditulis wartawan terkemuka Britain, Michael Smith, yang sebelum ini pernah mendedahkan beberapa siri maklumat bocor beberapa bulan sebelum serangan itu.

Sementara itu, sebuah pergerakan Sunnah dan kumpulan al-Qaeda di Iraq menafikan serangan tentera Amerika kelmarin menyebabkan kematian lebih 50 orang pejuang.

Sebaliknya, mereka berkata, serangan itu yang digelar ‘Operation Spear,’ hanya membunuh wanita dan kanak-kanak selain memusnahkan rumah, sekolah dan bangunan awam lain di sekitar Karabila dan Qaim dekat sempadan Syria.

“Operasi itu akan mencetuskan perpecahan di kalangan penduduk,” menurut kenyataan Persatuan Pemimpin Agama Islam yang marah dengan taktik tentera penjajah.

Ketua doktor hospital utama di Qaim, Hamdi al-Alusi, berkata dia melihat 10 mayat dan merawat 17 orang yang cedera, kebanyakannya wanita dan kanak-kanak.

Pergerakan al Qaeda di Iraq pula berkata tiada pejuang maut kerana serangan tentera musuh itu.

“Mereka berbohong. Bom mereka mengenai orang awam,” menurut kenyataan kumpulan itu. – Agensi

8 maut askar Korea Selatan mengamuk kerana dibuli

SEOUL: Lapan askar Korea Selatan terbunuh manakala dua lagi cedera parah semalam apabila seorang askar mengamuk dengan melepaskan tembakan liar di kem dekat sempadan Korea Utara, menurut kementerian pertahanan.

Askar yang dikenali sebagai prebet kelas pertama Kim, 22, membaling bom tangan dan menembak dengan raifalnya ke arah berek tentera sewaktu rakannya sedang tidur di timur laut Yeoncheon awal semalam, kata kementerian.

Kim, yang disiasat selepas menyerah diri berkata dia mengamuk dan melepaskan tembakan kerana askar itu membulinya, menurut kementerian.

“Lapan askar terbunuh dan dua lagi cedera parah dalam insiden membabitkan bom tangan serta raifel di pos kawalan pada jam 2:30 pagi semalam,” kata kementerian dalam kenyataan mereka. Kira-kira 25 askar berusia 20-an sedang tidur dalam berek pada masa kejadian.

Selain bom tangan, Kim juga menggunakan 40 pusingan peluru, menyebabkan ketua platun Leftenan Kim Jong-Myung dan tujuh lagi askar terbunuh.

Dua askar lagi cedera di kaki dan segera dibawa melalui udara ke hospital berdekatan untuk dirawat. Mangsa cedera parah tetapi keadaan mereka tidak kritikal.

Menteri Pertahanan, Yoon Kwang-Woong, memohon maaf berhubung kejadian terbabit.

Presiden Roh Moo-Hyun pula mengarahkan beliau supaya menyiasat sepenuhnya kes itu bagi mencegahnya daripada berlaku lagi pada masa akan datang.

Pegawai kementerian tidak mengulas lanjut mengenai kejadian itu yang menurut mereka masih disiasat. Bagaimanapun, ia mungkin disebabkan oleh tekanan dalam kehidupan sebagai anggota tentera.

“Dia naik berang kerana dicerca oleh askar lain. Butiran lanjut sedang disiasat,” Brigadier Jeneral Jang Seok-Kyu, jurucakap tentera memberitahu sidang akhbar.

Kim didapati tidak mempunyai sejarah sakit mental, kata Jang.

Setiap lelaki warga Korea Selatan wajib menjalani latihan tentera selama dua tahun.

Tentera Korea Selatan diberitakan selalu melancarkan kempen bagi mengurangkan penganiayaan atau gangguan askar kanan terhadap tentera yang baru memulakan tugas.

Setiap serangan secara fizikal boleh dikenakan hukuman terhadap pesalah. – AFP

India: Heat Wave Claims 10 More Lives; Monsoon Hits North-East Region

NEW DELHI, June 18 (Bernama) -- After a fortnight's delay, the monsoon hit the entire North-East region of India Friday as Talchar in eastern state of Orissa baked at 50 degrees celsius with the heat wave claiming ten more lives, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported late Friday.

All the 10 deaths were reported from West Bengal pushing the toll from the blistering heat wave in the state to 20, official sources said in eastern metropolis of Kolkata.

Five fatalities occurred in Asansol colliery belt in Bardhaman district where temperatures hovered between 48 degrees celsius and 51 degrees celsius.

Another five succumbed to the blazing sun in neighbouring Birbhum district, a heat wave belt in West Bengal, said PTI.

As the scorching heat showed no signs of let up, Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee asked authorities to extend summer vacation in schools.

Gruelling heat wave persisted in Orissa with mercury zooming to 50 degrees celsius in the coal town of Talchar and 46.2 degrees in capital city Bhubaneswar.

The mid-day temperature in Talcher was this summer's highest, almost equalling the record of 50.1 degrees registered at Titilagarh on June five, 2003.

The sizzling heat in the state hit normal life with shops and business establishments downing shutters afternoon and people confining themselves indoors.

Ending the dry spell, the monsoon Friday hit the North-East with rainfall fairly distributed in the entire region.

The monsoon had already reached sub-himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim and was likely to advance into Orissa in the next few days, Met office said.

There was no let up in the heat wave sweeping North India with Hisar in Haryana turning out to be the hottest zone with a high of 44.7 degrees celsius.

Ambala recorded a maximum temperature of 43.4 degrees celsius while Karnal reeled at 41.7 degrees.

In Punjab, the holy town Amritsar sizzled at 43 degrees celsius, Ludhiana at 43.1 degrees celsius and Patiala at 42.4 degrees.

Mercury stayed above normal in Jammu which recorded a high of 42.5 degrees celsius. The maximum mid-day temperature in Srinagar settled at 30.7 degrees which was two degrees above normal.

Himachal capital Shimla had a pleasant day with mercury climbing to 27 degrees celsius during the day.- BERNAMA

Up to 40m credit cards 'hacked'

A computer hacker may have broken into more than 40 million credit card accounts, US company officials say.
MasterCard International said the breach was traced to a company in Atlanta which processes transactions for banks and merchants.

All brands of credit cards could be affected, it warned.

The company, CardSystems Solutions, said it identified the breach last month and immediately contacted the FBI, which was investigating.

MasterCard announced the breach in a news release on Friday, saying security "vulnerabilities" had allowed an unauthorised individual to infiltrate the network of CardSystems and access the cardholder data.

It said 14 million of its customers may have been exposed to fraud. Another 22 million were Visa cards, said a spokeswoman for the Visa company.

MasterCard spokeswoman Sharon Gamsin told the Associated Press news agency the data - names, banks and account numbers - could be used to steal funds, but not identities. The company was notifying banks that issue MasterCards.

In its own press release, CardSystems Solutions said it had identified a "potential security incident" on 22 May and contacted the FBI a day later.

The company said it was installing extra security procedures.

Spanish protest gay marriage

MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Hundreds of thousands of people led by 20 Roman Catholic bishops and conservative opposition leaders clogged downtown Madrid on Saturday in a demonstration against the Socialist government's bill to legalize gay marriage and permit gay couples to adopt children.

Chanting in favor of the family and children's rights, the demonstration, called by a lay Catholic group, the Spanish Forum for the Family, was held in a festive atmosphere with participants waving colorful balloons and Spanish and regional flags.

A half hour into the demonstration, organizers were claiming 1.5 million people had attended. But media eyewitnesses found the estimate difficult to believe, with most putting the crowd size at some 500,000. No police figure was immediately available.

Madrid's Cardinal Jose Antonio Maria Rouco Varela was among 20 bishops at the head of the rally, along with the opposition Popular Party's leaders, Angel Acebes and Eduardo Zaplana.

Earlier Saturday, Deputy Socialist Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega defended the law and accused protesters of discrimination, saying their actions meant they wanted the rights they enjoyed to be denied to others. The new law "does not oblige anyone to do anything they don't want to do," she said.

Although the protest was backed by Spain's Episcopal Conference and the Popular Party, there appeared to be serious divisions over the issue within both groups. Neither the bishops' conference president, Ricardo Blazquez, nor Popular Party leader Mariano Rajoy were present.

Also noticeable by their absence were the Popular Party's leaders in Madrid -- regional government president Esperanza Aguirre and city mayor Alberto Ruiz Gallardon.

The gay marriage bill is expected to become law in a matter of weeks. It has been passed by the lower chamber of Parliament and will be voted on next week by the Senate.

Opinion polls indicate a majority of Spaniards support the bill.

But demonstrators were angry at what they called the degradation of the institution of marriage and the fact that gay couples may adopt.

"Marriage can only be between man and a woman," said Agustin Cruz, 41. "It's a divine and natural law. Marriage of homosexuals is a lie. You have to call things by their name. The first lie begins when you start calling queers 'gays.' They're queers, it's not an insult, it's the definition of that race of people."

Banners reading "Family=Man+Woman" and "A mother and father for every child" could be seen up and down the demonstration, which was attended by families and individuals of all ages. Handfuls of priests and nuns mixed with lay protesters.

Chants for Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to resign resounded continuously.

"This demonstration is the people's response to the government's provocations," said Fr. Jose Ramon Velasco. We're not against homosexuals but allowing them to marry degrades matrimony.

"And they shouldn't have the right to adopt because if those children turn out to be homosexual, who will be to blame, the government?"

Velasco compared the bill to the beginnings of Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

"Back then the majority of people also backed Hitler just like the majority back this law," he said. "I'm serious, give it time and it will destroy the moral fiber of Spain and the West."

The Bishops' Conference last week said the gay marriage bill was the biggest challenge to the church and its values in 2,000 years.

It was the first time the church has given such a display of anti-government activism in more than 20 years.

Some 500 buses transported people to the protest from around country while special flights brought people from the Canary Islands and Spain's enclaves in Morocco.

The gay marriage bill is one of several controversial measures introduced by Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist government since it ousted the Popular Party from office in elections in March, 2004. Others included withdrawing Spanish troops from Iraq, halting an education bill that would have made religion obligatory in schools and scrapping a national water plan that envisaged hundreds of dams and major water transfer construction projects.

The demonstration forced a complete halt to above-ground traffic in most of central Madrid.

Empat lelaki disoal siasat

SIEM REAP, Kemboja 17 Jun - Polis hari ini menyoal siasat empat lelaki yang menahan berpuluh-puluh kanak-kanak tadika sebagai tebusan di sebuah sekolah antarabangsa di sini dan menembak mati seorang kanak-kanak lelaki Kanada berusia dua tahun.

Polis juga turut menahan seorang lelaki berusia 29 tahun yang merupakan dalang kejadian itu walaupun beliau tidak terlibat secara langsung dalam serangan tersebut.

Beberapa kaunselor Eropah turut memberi khidmat nasihat dengan bantuan beberapa pekerja kesihatan Kemboja untuk membantu mangsa-mangsa berkenaan dan keluarga mereka mengatasi trauma yang dialami dalam krisis tebusan tersebut.

Keempat-empat lelaki bertopeng itu menyerbu ke sekolah antarabangsa itu di bandar Siem Reap di barat laut Kemboja pagi semalam dan menahan seorang guru dan kira-kira 30 kanak-kanak berusia di antara dua hingga enam tahun dalam sebuah bilik darjah.

Kanak-kanak daripada kira-kira 15 negara belajar sekolah itu. Berpuluh-puluh lagi sempat menyelamatkan diri dengan bersembunyi atau melarikan diri dari kawasan sekolah tersebut.

Kumpulan itu menuntut wang tebusan, senjata dan sebuah kenderaan.

Kumpulan berempat itu keluar dari bangunan sekolah selepas polis menyediakan sebuah van dan juga wang tunai sebanyak AS$30,000 (RM114,000) kepada mereka.

Apabila kumpulan berempat itu masuk ke dalam kenderaan tersebut bersama-sama empat kanak-kanak, pasukan keselamatan segera menutup pintu pagar sekolah dan menyerang van itu dengan memecahkan cermin tingkap dan mengheret mereka keluar.

Beberapa pasangan ibu bapa dilihat segera menerkam untuk mengambil anak mereka dan terus beredar dari situ manakala yang lainnya bertindak mengepung kumpulan berempat itu dan memukul serta menendang mereka sebelum polis sempat menghalang, kata Prak Chanthoeun.

Polis menggambarkan kumpulan berempat itu, yang berusia dalam lingkungan 20-an sebagai sebuah kumpulan gengster bandar yang datang dari sebuah daerah dekat Phnom Penh untuk bekerja di Siem Reap.

``Mereka mendapat tahu bahawa sekolah itu dihadiri oleh anak orang-orang kaya,'' kata Timbalan Panglima Polis Tentera Siem Reap, Prak Chanthoeun.

Ketua kumpulan itu yang berusia 23 tahun dikatakan bertindak membunuh kanak-kanak Kanada tersebut kerana dia tidak berhenti menangis. - AP

Israel bina benteng di laut

BAITULMAQDIS - Israel sedang membina benteng melalui laut dari sempadannya dengan Gaza untuk menghalang pencerobohan Palestin sebagai sebahagian daripada rancangan pengundurannya dari wilayah itu, menurut laporan sebuah akhbar.

Jerusalem Post melaporkan secara terperinci tanpa menyebut sumbernya bahawa benteng itu yang sebahagiannya konkrit dan sebahagian lagi dalam bentuk pagar terapung, akan dibina sepanjang 950 meter memasuki kawasan Mediterranean dari sempadan Israel dengan bahagian utara Genting Gaza.

Tujuan pembinaan benteng itu adalah untuk menghalang puak militan yang berpangkalan di Gaza daripada melancarkan serangan ke Israel melalui laut selepas kerajaan Israel melaksanakan rancangan pengundurannya dari kesemua 21 kawasan penempatan Yahudi di wilayah yang diduduki itu mulai pertengahan Ogos.

Tentera Israel enggan membuat sebarang ulasan mengenai laporan itu, yang menyebut pembinaan benteng tersebut sudah bermula.

Menurut laporan itu lagi, pembinaan untuk 150 meter yang pertama telah dimulakan dengan menanam cerucuk ke dalam dasar laut manakala baki 800 meter lagi dirancangkan dibina dalam bentuk `pagar terapung.'

Bagaimanapun, butir-butir terperinci mengenai pagar terapung itu tidak dinyatakan.

Israel sudah pun membina tembok melalui darat di Tebing Barat sepanjang 600 kilometer apabila pembinaannya siap sepenuhnya.

Tembok berkenaan dibina untuk menghalang pengebom-pengebom berani mati Palestin daripada menyusup masuk ke negara Yahudi itu.

Para penduduk Palestin menyifatkan pembinaan tembok itu sebagai satu tindakan untuk merampas tanah mereka.

Mahkamah Keadilan Antarabangsa telah mengisytiharkan pembinaan tembok itu sebagai tidak sah. - Reuters

Jewish state idea mired in confusion

By Khalid Amayreh

Since the collapse of the Oslo accords nearly five years ago, Israeli leaders have been demanding that the Palestinian Authority recognise Israel as a Jewish state in any prospective settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Some Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, have even used the concept of "state of the Jewish people", with the connotation that Israel belongs not only to its citizens, but to Jews all over the world, including potential future converts.

The idea, Israeli academics and intellectuals say, occupies "centre-stage" in Israel's Zionist collective thinking.

Last year, former Israeli prime minister Benyamin Netanyahu openly called for the adoption of policies aimed specifically at reducing or at least neutralising Arab demographic growth in Israel.

The growing demographic weight of Israeli Arabs, who constitute up to 20% of Israel's overall population, was more serious and more dangerous for Israel than threats posed by the Palestinians, he said.

Netanyahu's remarks triggered no outcry in Israel.

Three opinions

But what exactly is meant by "Jewish state" in practical terms, and what are the long-term ramifications for a Palestinian and Arab recognition of Israel as a Jewish state?

This question was put recently to three intellectuals: an Israeli professor, an Arab Knesset member and a Palestinian political scientist.

Palestinian advocates argue that given what they consider Israel's discriminatory policies, the world, let alone the Palestinians and Arabs, are under no more of a legal obligation to maintain Zionism in Israel than it was to maintain apartheid in the Republic of South Africa.

The concept of Jewish state (or, for that matter, Christian state) has no origin in international law.

This is the view of Azmi Bishara, an Arab legislator in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, and an outspoken critic of Israeli treatment of its large Arab minority.

Israel, he said, wants the Arabs to recognise Israel's political legitimacy but also "Zionism's moral legitimacy".

Historical score

"Israel is interested in settling a historical score with the Palestinians and the Arabs. They want the Arabs to recognise Zionism and all that it did retroactively," Bishara told Aljazeera.net.

He cited two main reasons for Israel's insistence that the Palestinians recognise it as a Jewish state:

First, the negation and cancellation of the Palestinian right of return on the ground that Israel is a Jewish state, and since the estimated 4.5 million Palestinian refugees are not Jews, they have no right to return to their hometowns from which they were expelled or forced to flee amid war when Israel was created in 1948.

Second, a formal recognition of the Jewishness of Israel would lend "legitimacy" and "legality" to institutionalised policies and measures aimed at maintaining a Jewish majority.

These policies and measures, Bishara says, include encouraging Israel's Arab citizens to emigrate, preventing them for intermarrying with Palestinians, and seeing to it that their numbers remain within the "safe zone".

Asked if Israel would ever contemplate expelling at least some of its non-Jewish citizens in order to maintain an overwhelming Jewish majority, Bishara said Israel would first seek to exhaust all other "non-dramatic means".

Most Israelis, save probably a few marginal leftist intellectuals such as Illan Pappe of the University of Haifa, don't see any fault in insisting that their state be recognised as a Jewish state, rather than just merely another "nation state".

No special status

"We have been a Jewish state since 1948. This is reality. We are also a state for all its citizens, just as Jordan is an Arab state and a state for all its citizens and France is a French state," argues Ira Sharkansky, a professor of political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Sharkansky argues that Israel should not be treated as any other normal nation state because of the Holocaust.

"I don't want to play the Holocaust card, but it is clear that the 'Jewish state' is viewed as a sort of guarantee against the recurrence of the Holocaust."

This is strongly rejected by Bishara, who argues that the "Jewishness" of Israel doesn't correspond to the "Americanness" of the US or the Frenchness of France.

"France, for example, is a state for all its citizens. France doesn't define itself as a Catholic state or the US as Protestant state. Israel can't be Jewish and democratic at the same time. The two are oxymoron."

Palestinian political scientist Atef Odwan, a professor of political science at Gaza's Islamic University, believes that Israel's insistence that other nations recognise it as a "Jewish state" is attributable first and foremost to undeclared Israeli designs against its sizeable Arab minority.

"Zionism has two sides - settling Jews in Palestine and uprooting non-Jews from it. Israel's long-term strategy is to ethnically cleanse and deport its non-Jewish citizens," he says.

Doomsday scenario

Odwan says: "They don't say this now because it is politically incorrect and the timing is wrong, but at one point in the future, they will tell the Arabs of Israel 'we are a Jewish state, you are not Jews, therefore you should leave'."

Odwan believes racist policies are adopted by successive Israeli governments. "Look at what they are doing to the Palestinians in the West Bank, where every act and every move is calculated to benefit Jews and harm non-Jews."

Sharkansky strongly rejects this "doomsday scenario", arguing that while there are indeed Jewish racists, the vast bulk of Israelis won't allow the occurrence of such a thing.

"Listen, we had Meir Kahane (the American rabbi founder of the extremist Kach group which advocates the collective deportation of Palestinians), and we outlawed his party. I would say Israel deals with its racists much more stringently than the Palestinians deal with their racists." - AlJazeera

Iranians surprised by election run-off

By Firas Al-Atraqchi

Iranian voters woke up a day after pivotal elections to find their country facing a run-off following results which defied all predictions.

Mohammed Ali Saki, political editor of the English-language daily Tehran Times said the runoff surprised not only the Iranian voters but the government of the Islamic Republic itself.

"All the polls and predictions must have been wrong," he told Aljazeera.net.

"Given these results, it is hard to predict who will emerge as the winner in the second round next week."

Early on Saturday, a spokesman for the Guardian Council supervising the elections said all candidates had failed to garner the needed 50% of votes required to avoid a run-off.

Former Iranian President and influential cleric Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani managed nearly 21%, with his closest rival, Tehran mayor Mahmood Ahmadinejad - considered a hardliner - coming in a close second just with over 20%.

Western analysts closely monitoring the Iranian elections had predicted a win for Rafsanjani.

"They were all wrong," says Saki.

"It was always too close to call … close competition between all camps – the conservatives, the moderates, and the reformists."

But Mansour Siraty of Iran's popular Sharbe newspaper believed Ahmadinejad's gains would likely mean Rafsanjani could very well lose next week.

"No, I do not think Rafsanjani will win. I think … Ahmadinejad," he told Aljazeera.net.

Above-average turnout

While Iranian media touted the higher than expected turnout – some 65% of the electorate voted in Friday’s elections – government officials were thumbing their noses at what they called "Western nations".

"This run-off is proof that we don’t tamper with election results, we don't suppress the voice of the people, and we don’t bow to foreign interests," said a government official on the condition of anonymity.

"Iran is democratic. What is happening in Iran proves it."

Saki agreed saying the Unites States should stop "making noise".

Both were reacting to White House statements on Thursday criticising the Islamic Republic for "suppress(ing) liberty at home and spread(ing) terror across the world".

Iranian media quoted officials saying the deadline for polling stations to close was extended by two hours in most districts throughout the Islamic Republic to account for the large turnout.

Early Saturday figures showed 32 million Iranians had voted.

Victory for Iran

Whether a conservative, reform party member or moderate emerges a winner next week, the government is calling the elections a victory for the Islamic Republic.

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, considered one of the more conservative of the influential clerics in Iran, said any vote on Friday indicated faith in the Islamic system and the electoral process.

"Some of our enemies do not like to see an Islamic system which can both maintain its religious nature and rely on the votes of its people at the same time," Khamenei told reporters shortly after casting his vote.

Reformist cleric Mehdi Karoubi came in third place with 17.57% of the vote.

Mostafa Moin, also a reformist once touted as Rafsanjani’s most determined challenger was in fourth place on Friday evening, but was slightly overtaken by Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf early on Saturday.-AlJazeera

Rice in fresh Middle East peace drive

US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, embarking on her first comprehensive Middle East tour, is expected to deliver stern messages to Israel and the Palestinians to work together on the upcoming withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Rice, who headed straight to Jerusalem after landing at Tel Aviv's international airport on Saturday, was due to hold talks later in the day with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank town of Ram Allah.

She will then return to Jerusalem overnight before holding talks with a string of Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his new Chief of Staff, Dan Halutz.

It is the first leg of a six-day trip that will also take her to Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia before she attends international conferences in Brussels and London.

The chief US diplomat was travelling to the region at the behest of President George Bush to help nail down details of Israel's plan to pull its troops and settlers from Gaza and parts of the West Bank starting in mid-August.

Rice said her main concern was coordination of what started out as a unilateral Israeli move. She said "six or seven" issues had to be made clear, including security, the handover to Palestinian institutions, distribution of assets and freedom of movement.

"There needs to be clarity between the two sides about what to expect," she told reporters aboard her plane.

"That I think will lead to less confusion in what is likely to be under the best of circumstances a pretty complicated set of days."

Road map

But the secretary also expected the parties to live up to their obligations to make the pullout a success and move on to implement an internationally drafted "roadmap" to end nearly five years of bloodshed.

She praised the Palestinians for making a start in streamlining and professionalizing their security services, saying, "I think they are making progress on that."

But she added, "In terms of their ability to fight terror, what they do on a day to day basis, frankly I do think more can be done."

"I'm certainly going to talk with President (Mahmoud) Abbas about the need for the Palestinians to play a critical role in providing a secure environment, which the Gaza disengagement can take place," Rice said.

"Obviously that means that the calm he has discussed with the various Palestinian factions is going to have to hold." She also called on the Palestinians to end "revolving-door arrests" of militants and deal with the stockpiling of weapons by the militant group Hamas.

Warning to Israel

Rice also had tough words for Israeli plans to expand Jewish settlements, east of Jerusalem, that have drawn vocal protests from the Palestinians.

"We don't intend that the Israelis try to create facts on the ground," she said. "They simply cannot engage in activities that are supposed to somehow pre-judge a final status outcome."

The Palestinians will use their own sessions with Rice on Saturday to urge her to pressure Sharon on a range of issues such as prisoners and settlements.

Ahmed Majdalani, a Palestinian cabinet minister without portfolio, said it was in Washington's interests to halt Israel's settlement activity in the West Bank and construction of a separation barrier across the territory.

"These issues are the main obstacles to the realisation of President Bush's two-state vision," he told AFP.

Abbas, who met Bush last month, has been pressing for reassurances that Gaza was not the ultimate concession by Israel and the roadmap process would go forward afterward.

Rice said: "We've been clear with the Israelis that it cannot be Gaza only, that there has to be a day after the successful withdrawal from the Gaza."

Rice said a successful Gaza handover would "lead to greater confidence between the parties, greater trust between the parties and, I believe, an ability to accelerate progress on the roadmap."

Rebuilding Iraq

The trip was Rice's first big swing through the Middle East since becoming secretary of state in January. She made a brief stop in Israel and the West Bank in February and a lightning trip to Iraq in May.

Rice's talks in Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia were expected to focus on the Bush administration's drive for democratic reforms. She was to deliver a policy speech on the subject on Monday in Cairo.

Rice will move on to Brussels on Wednesday for a meeting co-sponsored with the European Union on boosting efforts to stabilize and rebuild Iraq.

She will wind up her trip in London to attend a ministerial meeting ahead of the Group of Eight summit in Gleneagles, Scotland on 6-8 July. The meeting is expected to be dominated by aid to Africa.

Khartoum signs deal with opposition

Khartoum and Sudan's largest opposition bloc have signed a landmark reconciliation agreement that officials say will boost efforts to bring peace to Africa's largest country.

Mohammed Osman al-Mirghani, who chairs the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA), and Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha signed the document during a ceremony in Cairo on Saturday.

"We are starting a new era where Sudan is free of struggle ... Let us work hand in hand to offer the Sudanese the prosperity they have been lacking," Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir said.

"This latest agreement clinched today will be the backbone of Sudanese unity," he added after the signing, which was attended by his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak.

The agreement is widely seen as the most significant development in Sudan since the 9 January North-South peace deal, and comes amid growing international pressure for a solution in war-torn Darfur.

"The Sudanese people are the main beneficiary of this agreement which heralds a new era in which all of us have to cooperate to achieve global peace, strengthen the march towards real democracy," Mirghani said.

Northern grievances

Vice President Taha said: "A sense of trust has been regained between the different partners in Sudan ... . This is a historical day for the Sudanese people."

Aljazeera's Hussain Abd al-Ghani said the agreement is the first deal which addresses the grievances of northern groups who have opposed Khartoum since al-Bashir's military coup in 1989.

An opposition leader cautioned, however, that all issues had not been resolved and negotiators would remain in Cairo to iron out the final details of the agreement.

NDA vice-chairman General Abdel Rahman Saeed said "two problems remain on the fate of NDA forces and the power-sharing quota granted to the opposition in the interim institutions".

The NDA came to Cairo hoping to have its forces assimilated in the regular army and the share of power it was granted in the January North-South agreement increased significantly from its current level of 14%.

"We have an agreement on the fact that the reconciliation agreement signed today will only be effective when a written deal is reached on both these issues," Saeed said.

Civil war

Saturday's signing ceremony comes less than six months after Khartoum signed a peace agreement with southern rebel leader John Garang, ending 21 years of civil war that killed and displaced millions.

Garang, whose Sudan People's Liberation Movement is also an NDA member, praised Egypt's role in brokering Saturday's deal and urged the Arab world to assist reconstruction efforts.

All the participants also voiced their hope that the end of the 16-year feud between the NDA and al-Bashir's government would boost chances of a breakthrough in ongoing talks to solve the crisis in Darfur.

"We are very hopeful that efforts under way in Abuja will now be crowned with an agreement for the stability and security of the people in Darfur," al-Bashir said.

The main Darfur rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Army/Movement, is officially a member of the NDA but has been engaged in its own round of stop-and-start negotiations with the government in Nigeria.

The movement welcomed the Cairo agreement but warned Sudanese unity will not be achieved until the conflict in Darfur is solved.

Darfur reaction

The NDA was formed by 13 parties that united in 1989 to oppose the government only weeks after Beshir seized power in a military coup.

"We welcome the signing of this agreement but we stress that there can be no global peace in Sudan unless our people in the East, in Darfur and in Kordofan obtain their fair share of the country's power and resources"

Abdel Wahed Mohammed,
SLA/M chairman

Besides the SPLM, the NDA includes al-Mirghani's Democratic Unionist Party, one of Sudan's oldest political movements which draws support from the powerful Khatmiya brotherhood, as well as the Communist Party.

Saturday's agreement involves the subsequent dissolution of the NDA in its current form and will eventually bring some of its members into the interim executive.

The current parliament, dominated by al-Bashir's National Congress party, is due to be dissolved in the coming days, after it ratifies the North-South peace agreement.

While members of the future interim parliament and government will be appointed in accordance with quotas still to be finalised, the political process mapped out in January provides for free elections in three years.

Taliban capture Afghan district

A senior police officer in Kandahar has said the main government building in Mian Nishin, headquarters of the district by the same name, is under Taliban control after a Friday night attack.

Afghan police said on Saturday that Taliban fighters had attacked a district capital for a second straight night and took 18 policemen prisoner, a day after detaining more than a dozen.

"Right now, the district headquarters is under the control of the Taliban, "said the officer, who declined to be named.

"The Taliban surrounded the district headquarters and captured 18 officers," he added.

Mian Nishin, in Kandahar province, was the scene of joint operations by Afghan and US-led forces early this week in which government officials said nine fighters were killed.

On Thursday, the Taliban had captured 11 police officers, the district police chief and a senior local government official in Mian Nishin.

The Taliban said Their fate would be decided by its leadership.

Election fears

Taliban-linked violence has been surging in the south and east, raising fears for the security of parliamentary elections due to be held on 18 September. Much of the violence has been in Kandahar.

On Saturday, fighters attacked government posts in the Dai Chopan district of Zabul province, adjoining Kandahar, Gulab Shah Alikhail, a spokesman for the province said. He said four fighters were killed, but there were no government casualties.

Taliban spokesman Abd al-Latif Hakimi said the fighters had killed three policemen in the attack, which also killed one of their own.

On Friday, a roadside bomb exploded in neighbouring Helmand province, killing a soldier and wounding three policemen, including a district police chief.

On Monday, four US soldiers were wounded in an attack outside Kandahar city.

Taliban threats

The Taliban have threatened more violence, while the government says the fighters are likely to step up attacks ahead of the elections.

More than 150 fighters have been killed this year, according to US military and Afghan government sources.

Dozens of government troops and 29 US soldiers from the 20,000-strong US-led foreign force have died since March, including 18 in a helicopter crash.

US-led forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001 due to what the US said the Taliban's refusal to hand over Osama bin Laden. - AlJazeera

Tentera AS lancar Operation Spear

BAGHDAD 17 Jun - Tentera Amerika Syarikat (AS) hari ini melancarkan operasi ketenteraan secara besar-besaran bersama-sama dengan 1,000 anggota tentera laut dan tentera Iraq di barat laut negara itu dalam usaha menghentikan siri keganasan yang melanda negara ini sejak dua tahun lepas.

Operasi yang diberi nama Operation Spear bermula pada waktu subuh di wilayah Anbar dalam usaha menangkap anggota pemberontak dan pejuang-pejuang asing.

Wilayah Anbar yang terletak merentangi sempadan Syria turut menyaksikan satu serangan udara oleh tentera AS minggu lalu yang mana ia berjaya membunuh kira-kira 40 anggota pemberontak.

Pelancaran operasi itu bermula sehari selepas Brigadier Jeneral Don Alston dari tentera Udara menyifatkan kawasan di sempadan Syria sebagai kawasan paling bermasalah khususnya dalam konteks untuk mengawal kemasukan pejuang-pejuang asing ke Iraq.

Sepanjang minggu lepas, tentera Laut AS sudah kehilangan 11 anggota dan dua kelasi dalam beberapa siri keganasan di wilayah Anbar.

Kerajaan Syria kini menerima tekanan yang hebat dari Washington dan Baghdad untuk mengetatkan kawasan sempadannya sepanjang 611 kilometer itu.

Pada 11 Jun yang lalu, tentera laut AS bertempur dengan kumpulan pemberontak selepas pemberontak berjaya menguasai Karabilah berhampiran dengan bandar Qaim yang terletak kira-kira 320 kilometer ke barat Baghdad. - AP

Omar Suleiman Naib Presiden Mesir?

KAHERAH 17 Jun - Presiden Mesir, Hosni Mubarak akan bertanding mempertahankan jawatannya bagi penggal kelima dan akan melantik naibnya sendiri, kata jurucakapnya, Suleiman Awad.

Suleiman berkata, beliau akan mengumumkan sendiri pencalonan melalui ucapan di televisyen sebaik sahaja Dewan Rendah meluluskan undang-undang pilihan raya yang baru.

Speaker Parlimen, Fathi Srour memberitahu, undang-undang itu dijangka diluluskan esok.

Beliau menambah, Parlimen juga menolak cadangan membenarkan calon yang mempunyai dua kewarganegaraan sebagai calon pilihan raya Presiden atas permintaan Hosni.

Menurut Suleiman, ia merupakan penggal terakhir bagi Hosni, 77, yang mahukan pilihan raya yang adil, bebas dan demokratik.

Sepanjang 23 tahun pentadbirannya, Hosni tidak pernah melantik Naib Presiden.

Empat orang Presiden Mesir selepas kejatuhan monarki adalah anggota tentera.

Para penganalisis berkata, presiden baru daripada orang awam mungkin sukar mentadbir jika tidak mendapat pengiktirafan tentera.

Beliau dijangka melantik seorang bekas pegawai tentera yang juga ketua perisikan, Omar Suleiman sebagai Naib Presiden.

Minggu lalu, Omar dilihat mengadakan pertemuan dengan para pegawai Palestin sebelum berlepas ke Israel bagi mengadakan pertemuan dengan Perdana Menteri Israel, Ariel Sharon. - Agensi

Bekas Menteri Agama turut disiasat

JAKARTA 17 Jun - Seorang bekas menteri Agama Indonesia telah dinamakan sebagai suspek dalam kes menyalahgunakan wang untuk menguruskan jemaah menunaikan ibadat haji ke Mekah.

Pendakwa antirasuah tertinggi Indonesia, Hendarman Supandji memberitahu pemberita, suspek terbabit ialah Said Agil Munawar, seorang cendekiawan Islam yang pernah menjadi Menteri Agama dari tahun 1999 hingga 2004.

Said ialah suspek kedua yang dikaitkan dengan tindakan menyalahgunakan wang lebihan daripada ibadat haji yang dianggarkan berjumlah 680 bilion Rupiah (RM272 juta).

Penamaan Said yang terlibat dalam skandal rasuah itu timbul ketika kepimpinan negara, Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono bertekad untuk menghapuskan masalah rasuah di negara tersebut.

Hendarman bagaimanapun tidak memberikan sebarang maklumat lanjut mengenai kes terbabit dan memberitahu satu sidang akhbar akan diadakan lewat hari ini.

Ketika ini, Said tidak dapat dihubungi untuk memberi sebarang komen tetapi sebelum ini, beliau sudah menafikan yang dirinya terlibat dalam kes tersebut.

Dalam perkembangan berkaitan, pihak polis memberitahu, hasil siasatan yang dijalankan mendapati dana tabung haji itu telah disalurkan kepada 22 akaun bank berasingan dan bukannya kepada satu akaun sahaja.

Menyedari hakikat itu, pihak polis telah membekukan semua akaun tersebut.

Setiap tahun, kerajaan Indonesia menghantar kira-kira 230,000 jemaah ke Arab Saudi untuk menunaikan ibadat haji dengan kebanyakan mereka dikenakan bayaran sebanyak AS$2,700 (RM10,260) setiap seorang.

Bagaimanapun, kebanyakan jemaah mengadu kualiti penginapan dan makanan yang disediakan tidak mencapai tahap yang ditetapkan. - Reuters

Myanmar perlu nyatakan pendiriannya

SINGAPURA 17 Jun - Myanmar perlu menyatakan pendirian mengenai keputusan pengambilalihan jawatan Pengerusi ASEAN 2006 kepada negara-negara anggota pada Mesyuarat Peringkat Menteri ASEAN (AMM) di Vientiane, Laos Julai ini.

Setiausaha Agung ASEAN, Ong Keng Yong berkata, beberapa negara anggota ASEAN telah memberikan pendapat secara terbuka mengenai kemungkinan ASEAN diketuai oleh Myanmar.

``Tetapi, secara keseluruhannya, kita percaya proses ini melibatkan hanya sebuah negara sahaja.

``Sekiranya Myanmar tidak mahu menerima penggiliran Pengerusi ASEAN pada tahun depan, negara berkenaan perlu menyatakan keputusan mereka semasa mesyuarat AMM nanti,'' katanya dalam rakaman wawancara dengan stesen televisyen CNBC Asia.

Menurut Keng Yong, walaupun secara tradisional negara-negara anggota ASEAN mengamalkan prinsip tidak campur tangan, tetapi sesetengah perkara sensitif sering dibincangkan dalam peringkat dalaman.

Amerika Syarikat (AS) dan Kesatuan Eropah (EU) mengancam untuk memulaukan mesyuarat peringkat tertinggi dengan ASEAN jika Myanmar mengambil alih jawatan Pengerusi tahun depan tanpa mencapai kemajuan berhubung hak asasi manusia termasuk membebaskan pemimpin pembangkang, Aung San Suu Kyi. - AFP

Polis Israel hina al-Quran - Mufti

BAITULMAQDIS 11 Jun - Mufti Baitulmaqdis, Sheikh Ekremah Sabri hari ini mendedahkan bahawa polis Israel telah menghina kitab suci al-Quran di dalam sebuah penjara.

Ketika mendedahkan perkara tersebut kepada para jemaah yang menghadiri sembahyang mingguan di Masjid Al-Aqsa, Ekremah berkata, sikap biadap Amerika Syarikat (AS) menghina al-Quran kini diamalkan pula oleh Israel.

Berita mengenai tindakan polis Israel menghina al-Quran telah mencetuskan kemarahan rakyat Palestin apabila ratusan daripada mereka menganjurkan tunjuk perasaan di sini.

``Kami mempunyai bukti kukuh untuk menyokong dakwaan bahawa anggota polis Israel bertindak mengoyakkan al-Quran di hadapan banduan-banduan penjara di penjara Meggido.

``Mereka melakukan tindakan itu semata-mata untuk membangkitkan kemarahan banduan-banduan terbabit,'' katanya.

Awal minggu ini, sekumpulan tahanan penjara Palestin di penjara Meggido, utara Israel mendakwa pihak polis mengoyakkan kitab suci al-Quran semasa menjalankan operasi menyerbu sel penjara.

Bagaimanapun, tuduhan tersebut dinafikan sekeras-kerasnya oleh Perkhidmatan Penjara Israel.

Kira-kira 900 banduan di penjara Meggido mengadakan mogok lapar selama tiga hari bermula Rabu lalu sebagai membantah tindakan polis Israel menghina al-Quran.

Puluhan polis Israel dikerahkan ke timur Baitulmaqdis dan kawasan di sekitar masjid Al-Aqsa berikutan terdapat kebimbangan keganasan akan meletus.

Dalam perkembangan berkaitan, seramai 100 rakyat Palestin bertindak membakar bendera AS dan Israel selepas menghadiri solat Jumaat, semalam.

Tindakan menghina oleh polis Israel turut mendorong wakil kumpulan Hamas untuk menyampaikan ucapan kepada penunjuk perasaan di kem penempatan El-Hilweh dekat bandar Sidon.

``Saya memanggil semua rakan-rakan kita dalam Briged Al-Kassam dan kumpulan lain supaya bersedia untuk menentang segala serangan oleh orang Yahudi dan anggota polis mereka ke atas al-Quran mahupun Masjid Al-Aqsa,'' tegas Abu Ahmed Al-Fadl dalam satu faks yang dihantar kepada AP di Beirut. - AP

G8 mansuh hutang negara miskin

LONDON: Kumpulan negara maju dunia menandatangani perjanjian bersejarah semalam untuk serta merta melupuskan semua hutang negara termiskin dunia, kebanyakannya di Afrika berjumlah lebih AS$ 40 bilion (RM 152 bilion).

Mesyuarat Menteri KewanganKumpulan Lapan (G8) di London turut bersetuju memasukkan sembilan lagi negara untuk layak mendapat pelupusan 100 peratus hutang membabitkan AS$ 11 bilion dalam tempoh 12 hingga 18 bulan lagi, kata Menteri Kewangan Britain, Gordon Brown.

Menteri kewangan itu yang membuat persiapan untuk sidang kemuncak di Scotland pada 6 dan 7 Julai depan, membentangkan kenyataan paling menyeluruh berkaitan isu hutang, pembangunan, kesihatan dan kemiskinan. – AFP

Kaki judi, penzina Aceh berdepan hukuman sebat

JAKARTA: Pihak berkuasa di Aceh akan mula menguatkuasakan hukuman rotan ke atas kaki judi yang didapati bersalah dalam usaha terbaru melaksanakan undang-undang Islam di wilayah itu, kata seorang pegawai kerajaan semalam.

Datuk Bandar Aceh Timur di bandar Bireuen, Mustofa Gelanggang, berkata bermula Jumaat ini, pihak berkuasa akan merotan 20 kaki judi dengan tujuh sebatan menggunakan rotan sepanjang 2 meter sebelum solat Jumaat.

Tarikh itu ditetapkan oleh Pemangku Datuk Bandar Aceh, Azwar Abubakar yang menandatangani undang-undang berkenaan.

Undang-undang itu mula dirangka sejak dua tahun lalu selepas Aceh menjadi wilayah pertama di Indonesia mewujudkan mahkamah syariah yang membenarkan undangundang Islam berdasarkan al-Quran dan ajaran Nabi Muhammad SAW dikenakan ke atas pesalah.

Azwar dijangka akan menandatangani undang- undang tambahan dalam tempoh beberapa minggu lagi untuk merotan mereka yang berzina dan kesalahan lain, kata Mustofa.

Penduduk Kristian dan fahaman lain di wilayah berkenaan bagaimanapun tidak akan dikenakan undang-undang berkenaan atau didakwa di mahkamah syariah.

Aceh adalah wilayah yang mengamalkan undang-undang Islam di Indonesia. Pegawai berkata usaha orang Islam untuk melaksanakan undang-undang di wilayah lain di republik itu pasti tidak akan berjaya.

Kejadian tsunami yang melanda Aceh pada 26 Disember lalu mengorbankan 128,000 orang memusnahkan banyak kemudahan asas di wilayah itu dan menyebabkan undangundang Islam termasuk mewajibkan wanita bertudung, tidak dapat dilaksanakan buat seketika.

Namun dalam beberapa minggu kebelakangan ini, mahkamah syariah sudah mula berfungsi dan saksi berkata polis menahan wanita yang berpakaian mencolok mata.

Bas guna air kencing atasi pencemaran

LONDON: Seorang pengusaha bas Britain menjalankan ujian menggunakan air kencing biri-biri sebagai kaedah berkesan untuk mengelak pencemaran udara, lapor akhbar Guardian.

Syarikat bas Stagecoach South memasang sebuah tangki yang mengandungi air kencing biri-biri pada basnya dan air kencing berkenaan digunakan untuk menyemburkan ke bahagian ekzos supaya mengurangkan pengeluaran nitrus oksida bas berkenaan di Winchester, selatan England.

“Walaupun tindakan ini ialah cara baru dalam mengelakkan pencemaran udara, namun kami percaya cara ini mampu mendatangkan manfaat.

“Tiada apa yang perlu dirisaukan, pihak kami tidak akan membawa biri-biri di bahagian belakang bas, tetapi kami menggunakan bahan buangan ternakan yang telah ditapis menjadi baja.

“Baja yang mengandungi ammonia akan menukarkan nitrus oksida kepada gas nitrogen dan air,” kata pengarah urusan syarikat bas berkenaan, Andrew Dyer.

Bas yang dipasang tangki air kencing itu sudah pun beroperasi mengangkut penumpang di sekitar Winchester sejak bulan lalu.

“Saya diketawakan ketika bermesyuarat di Birmingham kerana mengatakan air kencing biri-biri boleh digunakan untuk ‘membersihkan’ gas kotor yang dikeluarkan oleh kenderaan, namun perkara ini sudah menjadi kenyataan,” katanya.

Kaedah ini adalah yang terbaru dalam usaha memelihara alam sekitar dan ia mampu membantu dalam mewujudkan suasana yang bersih dan sihat bagi masyarakat kita, katanya. – AFP