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International Events |
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By InFocus News Staff
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Yusuf Islam sings for peace (News Sources) LONDON – Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, joined a stellar line-up for the Peace One Day celebrations at the Royal Albert Hall on Sept. 21. The concert also featured live performances from Annie Lennox, Corinne Bailey Rae, James Morrison and Kate Nash. In 2006 Islam released a new album entitled "An Other Cup", his first new release since "Back To Earth" in 1978. Bishops protest blasphemous ad (IslamOnline.net and News Agencies) BRUSSELS — Catholic bishops in Belgium have protested a blasphemous TV ad depicting a pot-bellied, hippy Jesus Christ performing miracles and picking up scantily-clad girls up in a nightclub. "To see Jesus depicted as a good-for-nothing, backwards adolescent, that crosses the limits of respectability," church spokesman Father Eric de Beukelaer told Agence France-Presse. He said the Catholic church has demanded the RTL, one of the biggest media groups in Europe, to withdraw the offensive ad. The ad ends with God admonishing Jesus for demanding a subscription to Plug TV. Plug TV and RTL-TVI claim that the ad contained a message about a "laid-back Jesus addressing youth." De Beukelaer said neither RTL nor the ethics panel responded to a letter from the bishops. Amnesty condemns Egypt (Agence France-Presse) — LONDON— Amnesty International said it was "greatly concerned" by the arrest of two Egyptian lawmakers, Ragab Abu Zeid and Saber Amer, from the banned Muslim Brotherhood in August. "Amnesty International is greatly concerned by the recent arrests, detention and prosecution on terrorism-related charges of leading members of the Muslim Brotherhood, apparently because of their peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of association and assembly," it said in a statement on Aug. 31. Amnesty said the crackdown on the movement, which has more than one fifth of the seats in Egypt’s parliament, coincided with the trial of 40 other Muslim Brotherhood members. It added that more than 500 members are currently detained, many without charge or trial. Amnesty called on Egyptian authorities to release prisoners held "for their non-violent expression of their political beliefs" and to stop holding civilian trials in military courts. Astronaut won’t ignore faith (The Associated Press) — STAR CITY, Russia — Among the things Malaysia’s first astronaut will be worrying about in October: How does an observant Muslim pray toward Mecca while soaring hundreds of miles above the Earth? Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor will blast off aboard a Russian-built Soyuz space craft en route to the international space station on Oct. 10, along with Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and U.S. astronaut Peggy Whitson. Speaking at a news conference on Sept. 20, Shukor said during his 10 days in space, he hoped to perform life science and other research, but said he would not ignore the responsibilities of his faith. However, with the space station circling the Earth 16 times a day, kneeling in zero gravity to pray — or facing toward Mecca for that matter — makes fulfilling those religious obligations difficult. Malaysia’s National Fatwa Council ruled that Muslim astronauts will not be required to kneel to pray if the absence of gravity makes it too hard. ‘Neo-Nazi’ gang arrested in Israel (Agencies) — TEL AVIV – Israeli police have arrested eight suspected members of a neo-Nazi cell responsible for painting swastikas and assaulting religious Jews and foreign workers. All eight are immigrants from the former Soviet Union, police said on Sept. 8. The suspects denied, during a court hearing, involvement in any neo-Nazi activity. None of the suspects were born to a Jewish mother, the Orthodox definition of a Jew, but qualified for citizenship in Israel under civil law because each had at least one Jewish grandparent, said Micky Rosenfeld, a police spokesman. "The cell members adopted Hitler’s ideology and created their own unique language that includes music, video clips, insignia, graffiti and tattoos all depicting Nazi ideology," a police statement said. "Members of the group would document attacks in which they beat innocent and helpless people who belonged to different minorities," read the statement. Foreign workers, homosexuals, Orthodox Jews and drug addicts were the main victims of attacks in the Tel Aviv area in the past year. Man marching for freedom (IslamOnline.net and News Agencies) SRINAGAR, Kashmir — Yasin Malik, a former independence fighter, is touring villages and towns across India-controlled Kashmir for a popular mandate to set on the negotiation table with India and Pakistan to determine the fate of the Himalayan region. The thin, bearded former militant, who suffers from chronic heart problems, travels in a truck emblazoned with pro-independence photographs, Agence France Presse reported. Since the launch of his "journey for freedom" on May 20, he has covered nearly 1,600 villages and major towns. En route, Malik stops to address roadside gatherings, usually showering him with petals. The message of the former fighter who laid down arms in 1994 and turned his pro-independence Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) into a political party is the same every where. "I am here to seek your support, support for freedom and to take forward the mission of martyrs," Malik tells crowds who turned out to greet him. A recent poll by Delhi’s Centre for the Study of Developing Societies showed that nearly 90 percent of Srinagar residents want independence, while only 3 percent think Kashmir should become part of Pakistan. It also found that 95 percent of residents in Hindu-dominated Jammu think Kashmir should be part of India.
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