12-year-old from Gabon shines at Qur’an competition after converting to Islam

Mahdi, a 12-year-old boy from Gabon, and his mentior Zakaria. (SPA)

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Updated 12 August 2024

Arab News

August 12, 2024 22:20

12-year-old from Gabon shines at Qur’an competition after converting to Islam

Imam’s praise for boy’s extraordinary dedication

Updated 12 August 2024

Arab News

August 12, 2024 22:20

RIYADH: Mahdi, a 12-year-old boy from Gabon, has made a remarkable impression at the 44th King Abdulaziz International Qur’an Competition in Makkah, competing just two years after embracing Islam, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Monday.

Mahdi is currently the only Muslim in his family and his mentor Zakaria, an imam at a nearby mosque, told of his surprise when Mahdi first approached him, accompanied by his younger brother, to express his desire to embrace Islam.

“At first I thought he was joking,” Zakaria admitted, recalling how unexpected it was given Mahdi’s young age.

“I asked if he knew anything about Islam, and he kept insisting that he wanted to follow the religion of Allah. In my heart I said ‘This is a gift from Allah’.”

Zakaria guided Mahdi through the Shahada, the Islamic declaration of faith, and felt profound gratitude for being part of Mahdi’s spiritual journey.

He then began teaching Mahdi the Arabic alphabet, gradually progressing to short Qur’anic surahs (chapters) until Mahdi had memorized a quarter of the Qur’an.

“I noticed how quickly he memorized and understood the Qur’an,” Zakaria said, highlighting that Mahdi was memorizing a page a day just a week after his conversion.

Alongside his Qur’anic studies, Mahdi has also memorized various Islamic texts, showcasing his aptitude for learning.

“He is truly a unique young man, unlike any I have ever seen,” Zakaria said, praising Mahdi’s extraordinary dedication.

Topics: King Abdulaziz International Qur’an Competition

HRW accuses Sudan paramilitaries of widespread sexual violence

Updated 1 min 4 sec ago

AFP

December 16, 2024 05:00

HRW accuses Sudan paramilitaries of widespread sexual violence

It is the latest such report by international monitors alleging sexual violence during Sudan’s 20-month war
HRW said it had documented dozens of cases since September 2023 involving women and girls

Updated 1 min 4 sec ago

AFP

December 16, 2024 05:00

NAIROBI: Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday accused the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias, at war with the army, of committing widespread sexual violence in southern Sudan.
It is the latest such report by international monitors alleging sexual violence during Sudan’s 20-month war which has led to what the United States called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
In its new report, HRW said it had documented dozens of cases since September 2023 involving women and girls aged between seven and 50 who were subjected to sexual violence, including gang rape and sexual slavery, in South Kordofan state.
The latest details follow a separate report last week from the New York-based watchdog which more broadly accused the RSF and allied Arab militias of carrying out numerous abuses, mainly against ethnic Nuba civilians, in South Kordofan state from December 2023 to March 2024.
These attacks, it said, “had not been widely reported” and constituted “war crimes.”
Parts of South Kordofan and parts of Blue Nile state are controlled by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), a rebel group.
The SPLM-N faction led by Abdelaziz Al-Hilu refused to join other Sudan rebels in signing a 2020 peace deal with the government, as Hilu sought a secular state as a prerequisite.
Many South Kordofan residents are members of Sudan’s Christian minority.
Hilu also at that time refused talks with RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, linking him with atrocities.
SPLM-N has clashed with both the army and RSF in parts of South Kordofan since April, 2023 when the war between the paramilitaries and Sudanese Armed Forces began, HRW said.
The conflict has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people, internally displaced more than eight million, according to the UN, and forced more than three million others to seek safety in neighboring countries.
According to the HRW report, many of the victims were gang-raped at their or their neighbors’ homes, often in front of families while some were abducted and held in conditions of enslavement.
One survivor, a 35-year-old Nuba woman, described being gang-raped by six RSF fighters who stormed her family compound and killed her husband and son when they tried to intervene.
“They kept raping me, all six of them,” she said.
Another survivor, aged 18, recounted being taken in February with 17 others to a base where they joined 33 detained women and girls.
“On a daily basis for three months, the fighters raped and beat the women and girls, including the 18-year-old survivor, crimes that also constitute sexual slavery,” HRW said.
At times, the captives were even chained together, it said.
“These acts of sexual violence, which constitute war crimes... underscore the urgent need for meaningful international action to protect civilians and deliver justice,” HRW said in its report.
The UN’s humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher raised the alarm late in November over an “epidemic of sexual violence” against women in Sudan, saying that the world “must do better.”
In October, the United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan said both sides have committed abuses including torture and sexual violence. But it accused the paramilitaries, in particular, of “sexual violence on a large scale.”
These included “gang rapes and abducting and detaining victims in conditions that amount to sexual slavery,” the mission said.
In its initial report last week, HRW urged the UN and African Union to “urgently deploy a mission to protect civilians in Sudan.”

Bangladesh to hold elections in late 2025 or early 2026: Yunus

Updated 30 min 45 sec ago

AFP

December 16, 2024 04:25

Bangladesh to hold elections in late 2025 or early 2026: Yunus

Interim leader says that general elections would be held late next year or in early 2026

Updated 30 min 45 sec ago

AFP

December 16, 2024 04:25

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus, who heads the caretaker government installed after an August revolution, said Monday that general elections would be held late next year or in early 2026.

Pressure has been growing on Nobel Peace Prize winner Yunus – appointed the country’s “chief adviser” after the student-led uprising that toppled ex-premier Sheikh Hasina in August – to set a date.

The 84-year-old microfinance pioneer is leading a temporary administration to tackle what he has called the “extremely tough” challenge of restoring democratic institutions in the South Asian nation of some 170 million people.

“Election dates could be fixed by the end of 2025 or the first half of 2026,” he said in a broadcast on state television.

Hasina, 77, fled by helicopter to neighboring India as thousands of protesters stormed the prime minister’s palace in Dhaka.

Her government was also accused of politicizing courts and the civil service, as well as staging lopsided elections, to dismantle democratic checks on its power.

Hasina’s 15-year rule saw widespread human rights abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killings of her political opponents.

Yunus has launched commissions to oversee a raft of reforms he says are needed, and setting an election date depends on what political parties agree.

“Throughout, I have emphasized that reforms should take place first before the arrangements for an election,” he said.

“If the political parties agree to hold the election on an earlier date with minimum reforms, such as having a flawless voter list, the election could be held by the end of November,” he added.

But including the full list of electoral reforms would delay polls by a few months, he said.

Topics: Bangladesh Muhammad Yunus

Taiwan receives first batch of US-made Abrams tanks

Updated 16 December 2024

AFP

December 16, 2024 03:57

Taiwan receives first batch of US-made Abrams tanks

Washington has long been Taipei’s most important ally and biggest arms supplier, angering Beijing
The M1A2 tanks, the first batch of 108 ordered in 2019, arrived in Taiwan late Sunday

Updated 16 December 2024

AFP

December 16, 2024 03:57

TAIPEI: Taiwan has received 38 advanced Abrams battle tanks from the United States, the defense ministry said Monday, as the island boosts its military capabilities against a potential Chinese attack.
Washington has long been Taipei’s most important ally and biggest arms supplier — angering Beijing, which claims Taiwan as part of its own territory.
The M1A2 tanks — the first batch of 108 ordered in 2019 — arrived in Taiwan late Sunday and were transferred to an army training base in Hsinchu, south of the capital Taipei, the defense ministry said.
Abrams tanks, which are among the heaviest in the world, are a mainstay of the US military.
The M1A2s are the first new tanks to be delivered to Taiwan in 30 years, the semi-official Central News Agency said.
Taiwan’s current tank force consists of around 1,000 Taiwan-made CM 11 Brave Tiger and US-made M60A3 tanks, technology that is increasingly obsolete.
The government previously allocated the equivalent of more than $1.2 billion for the 108 Abrams.
Taiwan faces the constant threat of an invasion by China, which has refused to rule out using force to bring the self-ruled island under its control.
While it has a home-grown defense industry and has been upgrading its equipment, Taiwan relies heavily on US arms sales to bolster its security capabilities.
Taiwan requested the state-of-the-art M1A2 tanks in 2019. The rest of the order is expected to be delivered in 2025 and 2026, an army official said.
While US arms supplies to Taiwan are enshrined into law, a massive backlog caused by Covid-19 supply chain disruptions and US weapons shipments to Ukraine and Israel have slowed deliveries to Taiwan.
The backlog now exceeds $21 billion, according to Washington think tank Cato Institute.
Taiwan would be massively outgunned in terms of troop numbers and firepower in any war with China and in recent years has increased spending on its military.
Taipei allocated a record $19 billion for 2024 and next year’s budget is set to hit a new high, as it seeks to bolster a more agile defense approach.
China has increased military pressure on Taiwan in recent years, regularly deploying fighter jets and warships around the island.
Taiwanese authorities said last week that China had held its biggest maritime drills in years, with around 90 ships deployed from near the southern islands of Japan to the South China Sea.
The vessels simulated attacks on foreign ships and practiced blockading sea routes, a Taiwan security official said previously.

Topics: Taiwan US

US agencies should use advanced technology to identify mysterious drones, Schumer says

Updated 16 December 2024

December 16, 2024 03:00

US agencies should use advanced technology to identify mysterious drones, Schumer says

The radio wave detector can be attached to a drone or airplane and can determine whether another flying object is a bird or a drone, read its electronic registration, and follow it back to its landing place

Updated 16 December 2024

December 16, 2024 03:00

BOSTON: After weeks of fear and bewilderment about the drones buzzing over parts of New York and New Jersey, elected officials are urging action to identify and stop the mysterious flights.
“There’s a lot of us who are pretty frustrated right now,” Rep. Jim Himes, D-Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said on “Fox News Sunday.”
“’We don’t know’ is not a good enough answer,” he said.
National security officials have said the drones don’t appear to be a sign of foreign interference or a public safety threat. But because they can’t say with certainty who is responsible for the sudden swarms of drones over parts of New Jersey, New York and other eastern parts of the US — or how they can be stopped — has led leaders of both political parties to demand better technology and powers to deal with the drones.
Sen. Chuck Schumer called Sunday for the US Department of Homeland Security to deploy better drone-tracking technology to identify the drones and their operators.
“New Yorkers have tremendous questions about it,” Schumer, the Senate Majority leader, told reporters about the drone sightings. “We are going to get the answers for them.”
The federal government did little to answer those questions in its own media briefings Sunday morning. “There’s no question that people are seeing drones,” US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. “But I want to assure the American public that we are on it. We are working in close coordination with state and local authorities.”
Some of the drones reported above parts of New York and New Jersey have turned out to be “manned aircraft that are commonly mistaken for drones,” Mayorkas said. “We know of no foreign involvement with respect to the sightings in the Northeast. And we are vigilant in investigating this matter.”
Last year, federal aviation rules began requiring certain drones to broadcast their remote identification, including the location of their operators. It’s not clear whether that information has been used to determine who is behind the drones plaguing locations over New York and New Jersey. Mayorkas’ office didn’t respond to questions about whether they’ve been able to identify drones using this capability.
Schumer wants the federal government to use a recently declassified radio wave technology in New York and New Jersey. The radio wave detector can be attached to a drone or airplane and can determine whether another flying object is a bird or a drone, read its electronic registration, and follow it back to its landing place. Schumer said state and local authorities do not have the authority to track drones.
On Sunday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said federal officials were sending a drone detection system to the state.
“This system will support state and federal law enforcement in their investigations,” Hochul said in a statement. The governor did not immediately provide additional details, including where the system will be deployed.
Dozens of mysterious nighttime flights started last month over parts of New Jersey, raising concerns among residents and officials. Part of the worry stems from the flying objects initially being spotted near the Picatinny Arsenal, a US military research and manufacturing facility and over President-elect Donald Trump’s golf course in Bedminster. Drones are legal in New Jersey for recreational and commercial use, but they are subject to local and Federal Aviation Administration regulations and flight restrictions. Operators must be FAA certified.
Drones are now being reported all along the northern East Coast, with suspicious sightings in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia, according to news reports.
Some US political leaders, including Trump, have called for much stronger action against these drones, including shooting them down.
Certain agencies within the Department of Homeland Security have the power to “incapacitate” drones, Mayorkas said Sunday. “But we need those authorities expanded,” he said.
A bill before the US Senate would enhance some federal agencies’ authority and give new abilities to local and state agencies to track drones. It would also start a pilot program allowing states and local authorities to disrupt, disable or seize a drone without prior consent of the operator.
“What the drone issue points out are gaps in our agencies, gaps in our authorities between the Department of Homeland Security, local law enforcement, the Defense Department.,” said Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., Trump’s pick to be his national security adviser, speaking on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “Americans are finding it hard to believe we can’t figure out where these are coming from.’’

Topics: Chuck Schumer drones New Jersey

German Chancellor Scholz to ask parliament to clear way for new elections

Updated 16 December 2024

Reuters

December 15, 2024 23:00

German Chancellor Scholz to ask parliament to clear way for new elections

Lost confidence vote opens path to snap elections
Scholz hopes to be acting chancellor until new government formed

Updated 16 December 2024

Reuters

December 15, 2024 23:00

BERLIN: Chancellor Olaf Scholz will call on Germany’s parliament on Monday to declare it has no confidence in him, taking the first formal step toward securing early elections following his government’s collapse.
The departure last month of the neoliberal Free Democrats from the three-way coalition left Scholz’s Social Democrats and the Greens governing without a parliamentary majority just when Germany faces its deepest economic crisis in a generation.
Rules drawn up to prevent the series of short-lived and unstable governments that played an important role in helping the Nazis rise to power in the 1930s mean that the path to new elections is long and largely controlled by the chancellor.
“If legislators follow the path I am recommending, I will suggest to the President that he dissolve parliament,” Scholz told reporters on Wednesday after requesting the motion.
President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has said he will act accordingly after Monday’s vote and agreed with parliamentary parties on Feb. 23 as the date for early elections.
Assuming the no-confidence vote passes, Scholz and his ministers will remain in office in an acting capacity until a new government is formed, which could take months if coalition negotiations prove lengthy.
Scholz has outlined a list of measures that could pass with opposition support during that period, including 11 billion euros ($11.55 billion) of tax cuts and an increase in child benefits already agreed on by former coalition partners.
Measures to better protect the Constitutional Court from the machinations of a future populist or anti-democratic government, to cut energy prices and to extend a popular subsidised transport ticket are also under discussion.
The outcome of the vote is not certain, with Scholz’s SPD likely to vote that they have confidence in their Chancellor, while opposition conservatives, far ahead in the polls, and the Free Democrats expected not to.
The far-right Alternative for Germany, with whom all other parties refuse to work, could surprise legislators by voting that they do have confidence in Scholz.
If both the SPD and the Greens also back Scholz, that would leave him in the awkward position of remaining in office with the support of a party that he rejects as anti-democratic. In that case, most observers expect he would resign, which itself would trigger elections.
To avoid that scenario, many legislators expect the Greens to abstain from the vote.

Topics: Germany Olaf Scholz

12-year-old from Gabon shines at Qur’an competition after converting to Islam

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12-year-old from Gabon shines at Qur’an competition after converting to Islam

12-year-old from Gabon shines at Qur’an competition after converting to Islam

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