Misc news items - IwantbustyKim

[IwantbustyKim]

Shocking that former Umno leader mastermind of ‘red shirt’ rally, says Kit Siang

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/shocking-f...095850580.html

It is shocking that a former top Umno leader is the main organiser of the controversial red-shirt rally on September 16, said Lim Kit Siang, who claimed that the Malay party is sponsoring the gathering.

The DAP parliamentary leader questioned how former Malacca Chief Minister Senator Tan Sri Mohd Ali Mohd Rustam could be the mastermind of the rally, whose critics say has sparked fears it could create communal tensions.

“It is simply shocking and outrageous that a former top vote-getter as Umno Vice President, one-time aspirant for Prime Minister ... could be so insensitive as to be the mastermind behind the Sept. 16 rally, repudiating the very import and meaning of Malaysia Day.”

Lim said the rally in Kuala Lumpur would seriously undermine the unity, integrity and cause of Malaysia at such a fragile period in the country’s history.

“In fact, rally by Umno or to be more exact the forces (of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak) may be the first step to cause the disintegration of Malaysia,” Lim said in a statement today.

Najib, who is Umno president, said the party did not endorse the rally, but it won’t stop party members from attending. Some of the rally’s organisers are also Umno grassroots leaders at the division level.

The “red shirt” rally or “Himpunan Rakyat Bersatu” is said to be held to counter last month's Bersih 4 rally, which had called for Najib's resignation over alleged financial scandals.

The gathering is also being held to express anger over footage of Bersih 4 participants stomping on pictures of Najib and PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.

Lim said, unlike the racial overtones of the red shirt rally, Bersih 4 only had political demands such as free and fair elections, a transparent government and strengthening parliamentary democracy.

“One was a peaceful rally to celebrate diversity and to dream of a better Malaysia for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region, age, gender or politics,” Lim said.

“The other was a provocative rally to threaten racial confrontation and divide Malaysians, when it was actually a gross abuse of the name of Malays as it was not intended to protect the “maruah” (honour) of Malays, but only to protect UMNO or to be more exact, Najib himself!”

The rally’s organisers claim it is not a racist get-together, but critics have pointed out that they use slogans such as “Kebangkitan maruah melayu” (rise of Malay honour), which have communal sentiments.

The rally is also supposed to march through Bukit Bintang and Petaling Street, two well known and busy Chinese business enclaves popular with tourists.

Lim said if the organisers truly wanted the rally to not be racist, they could have used the slogan “Kebangkitan maruah Malaysia”, (rise of Malaysia’s honour). – September 13, 2015.

[IwantbustyKim]

[IwantbustyKim]

Traumatised pilgrims ask how Mecca crane collapsed due to 'winds'

http://m.hindustantimes.com/world-ne...1-1390173.aspx

Yup, cos "God" will protect you... Right... The crane that caused this horrible accident is incidentally owned by the BinLadin family. Karma if real is a bitch....

Jumaa Ibrahim and his wife Hasnaa Karam, a Syrian couple in their early 60s, arrived in Mecca on Friday and headed straight to Islam's holiest site, the cube-shaped Kaaba.


It had begun to rain in the ancient desert city. Karam, who had waited a lifetime to make the pilgrimage to stand before the Kaaba, stood with her palms facing toward the sky in prayer. Ibrahim stood a few feet to her side, quietly reading verses from the Quran.

Suddenly, a loud boom echoed. Karam found herself surrounded by carnage -- body parts were scattered everywhere amid pools of blood on the white marble floor of the mosque.

The kingdom's Civil Defense says unusually strong winds tipped over one of the massive cranes around the Grand Mosque that houses the Kaaba. The crane crashed through part of the mosque's roof and upper floors, sending concrete slabs  crashing down.

"I saw a head, legs, blood, dead people," Karam said on Sunday, interviewed at her husband's bedside in Mecca's Al-Noor Specialist Hospital. "We started saying 'Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar' as the rain poured down."

She escaped injury, but her husband was among the hundreds injured, his leg broken in two parts. The death toll reached 111 on Sunday as more of the injured died. The health ministry on Sunday said 394 people were treated at medical facilities after the crane collapse and 158 of the injured remain hospitalised.

Ayman Shaaban, the owner of a hajj tour company in Egypt, was praying on the ground floor of the Grand Mosque when the crane collapsed. He says he was tossed some 20 metres (66 feet). He was immediately rushed into a large room with other injured people, the right side of his face broken, bloodied and swollen, unable to open his left eye.

Saudi media reported that a committee has been established to investigate the incident. It is unclear how the kingdom's Civil Defense, which led rescue operations, was able to determine that winds caused the crane's collapse. The spokesperson for Civil Defense could not be reached immediately for comment.

Shaaban has questions about the cause of the accident.

"Logically speaking, for a crane to fall from wind, even if there were strong winds, something doesn't add up," Shaaban said from his hospital bed. "If there is negligence, because of these souls lost, someone must be held accountable."

These concerns indicate the sensitivity of the incident for Saudi King Salman, whose title is Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques -- the Grand Mosque in Mecca and the first mosque built by Prophet Muhammad in Medina. The king visited the Grand Mosque on Saturday and later met with some of the injured being treated at the government-run hospital.

The Al Saud royal family's legitimacy is rooted, in part, in its claim to be the protectors of Islam's two most sacred sites that are at the center of the hajj, the pilgrimage that all Muslims are required to perform at least once in their lifetime if they are able to do so.

The accident comes just over a week before this year's hajj, which is expected to start around September 21 and last for four to five days. It will draw between 2 to 3 million Muslims from around the world for a series of rites in Mecca and surrounding areas that are believed to trace the footsteps of prophets Ibrahim and Ismail.

An Associated Press journalist saw the Liebherr crane on Sunday, its base tipped forward and its superstructure leaning into the mosque where it struck. The Liebherr Group, a large equipment manufacturer, makes many of its cranes at a plant in Biberach an der Riss, Germany, and has its global headquarters in Switzerland.

Liebherr spokesperson Kristian Kueppers said in an email to The Associated Press that the company is doing everything in its power "to help bring the accident investigation to a speedy and logical conclusion". The company said it had issued clear instructions on how the crane was to be installed and secured to protect it from winds. The company also expressed its deep sympathy for the families of victims.

Over the years, the Grand Mosque has undergone several expansions to accommodate growing numbers of pilgrims but in the last decade, the kingdom launched its most ambitious overhaul ever.

Historic sites significant for Islam have been demolished to make way for hotels, causing an outcry among some Muslims. Saudi officials say the overhaul is needed as the number of pilgrims during hajj is projected to reach 7 million by 2040.

The current $60-billion Grand Mosque expansion will almost double the area for pilgrims to pray at the Kaaba. The Grand Mosque is now surrounded by dozens of cranes, part of the massive construction effort headed by the Saudi Binladin Group. The Binladin family has been close to Saudi Arabia's ruling family for decades and runs major building projects around the country. Al Qaida's late leader Osama bin Laden was a renegade son disowned by the family in the 1990s.

The Binladin Group has not released any statements to the press about the crane collapse and its representatives have not been made available for comment. The company's chairman or a top representative is likely a member of the investigating committee, according to several Saudis familiar with the process.

On Sunday, the imam of the Grand Mosque, Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al Sudais, also visited the injured. Flanked by a team of assistants, he gave patients bags that included a copy of the Quran, a vial of traditional Arab fragrance called oud and bottles of water from the sacred underground Zamzam well in Mecca believed to have healing properties.

He told patients that that there was great reward for them in being at the Kaaba, just before the hajj.

"This is God's will," he told each patient as he passed by their bed. "The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, may God protect him, is very concerned with your well-being."

Dr Salem Bajuifer, medical director at Al-Noor, said his team received around 120 patients, many of them with serious injuries requiring amputations.

The injured at the hospital come from a range of countries, including Germany, Canada, Turkey, Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan, Syria and Iran.

The Indian mission in Saudi Arabia says two of its citizens were killed although the Saudi government has not released details about the nationalities or ages of the dead since many are still being identified. Several children are believed to have died in the accident too.

"It is a big trauma," Bajuifer said, when asked about the emotional toll on patients and their relatives. "Of course everybody is traumatised, not only the patients. Even we are traumatised."

Karam, whose husband has been in and out of surgery for his leg, says she's too traumatised to think about what comes next. She fled barrel bombs and the civil war in Syria to live in Turkey, never expecting to be so close to death at Islam's most sacred site.

"I am still feeling terrified," she said, as she broke into tears.

[IwantbustyKim]

For the safety of everyone, please try to stay away from KL if you can.



http://www.channelnewsasia.com/mobil...o/2125078.html

KUALA LUMPUR: A"red shirt" rally that has sparked fears of ethnic clashes is expected to go ahead on Wednesday (Sep 16) amid a high police presence, after organisers confirmed a venue.

The National Silat Federation (Pesaka) received the green light from the Kuala Lumpur City Council to hold the "anti-Bersih" Himpunan Rakyat Bersatu (United Citzens Rally) at Padang Merbok on Malaysia Day, a day to mark the formation of the Malaysian federation in 1963.

Some 250 Malay NGOs pledged support for the rally, which they said was aimed at countering last month's Bersih protest, where tens of thousands hit the streets of Kuala Lumpur calling for institutional reform and the resignation of Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Malay groups said the rally disrespected Malay leaders and ethnic Malays, who make up the majority of the population in peninsular Malaysia,  and they want to teach minority "Chinese from opposition party DAP" a lesson.

Malaysia's Inspector General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said that the rally's organisers have complied with legal requirements so it is permitted to go ahead but there will be a high police presence to ensure public safety and order.

Messages have been circulating on social media and messaging services warning non-Malays to stay away from the city centre over fears of ethnic clashes.

But the police chief said the public should not worry as authorities will be on standby and will be monitoring the speeches for seditious content. 

Last week, Prime Minister Najib acknowledged that some leaders and members of his party UMNO planned to participate in the rally, though they were not organising it.

He said UMNO did not support anything of a racist nature but he would not be directing members to not participate.

[IwantbustyKim]

Kota Baru Umno burn effigies of DAP leaders in run-up to ‘red shirt’ rally





With two days to go before the “red shirt” rally commences, the Kota Baru Umno division has burnt effigies of DAP leaders donning Bersih 4 t-shirts in a run-up programme to the planned gathering on Wednesday.

In a video clip uploaded on YouTube yesterday, Umno members, led by Kota Baru division head Datuk Mohd Fatmi Che Salleh, were seen burning effigies of DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang and its secretary-general Lim Guan Eng.

The programme reportedly took place in Kota Baru on Sunday.



Fatmi, who is Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's former political secretary, was seen giving a fiery speech urging party members to participate in the September 16 gathering to “uphold the dignity of Malays” in the video.
"The people of Kota Baru must fight, fight for our religion, race and country."

He also criticised the two DAP leaders and organisers of Bersih 4, who he added were out to break up the Malay race.

"Burning their effigies is a symbol of our protest, we are against everything about Bersih which are just lies.

"Do you agree?

"They are evil, and want to break up the Malay race and this country," Fatmi said in the video.

The “red shirt” rally is said to be held to counter last month's Bersih 4 rally, which had called for Najib's resignation over alleged financial scandals.

The gathering is also being held to express anger over footage of Bersih 4 participants stomping on pictures of Najib and PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.

Meanwhile, the Umno headquarters is understood to have issued a notice to its divisions to mobilise members to attend the “red shirt” rally on September 16, despite official statements that the Malay party has not endorsed the controversial gathering. – September 14, 2015.

- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/m....3tpWwPqe.dpuf

[IwantbustyKim]

Bangkok Shrine bombing suspect was at Delhi IGI airport for few hours

http:// http://indianexpress.com/art...for-few-hours/

The Chinese national, suspected to be responsible for last month’s bombing outside a temple in Thailand’s capital Bangkok, was in Delhi for few hours on transit from Dhaka to Abu Dhabi last month.
The accused Abudusataer Abudureheman alias Ishan, who is alleged to have organised the bombing outside Brahma temple in which killed 20 people, had taken a flight on August 30 from Dhaka to Abu Dhabi, official sources said.
He had to change flight at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport where he was in transit for a few hours, the sources said.

The transit passengers are not supposed to undergo any immigration check and, moreover, there was no alert about the accused either through Interpol or Thailand authorities, the sources said, explaining why he could not be apprehended.
The 27-year-old accused from China’s Xinjiang province took the flight from New Delhi and left for Abu Dhabi on August 30, the sources said, adding from there he travelled to Istanbul on the next day.
The sources said once the information was shared in the second week of this month, central security agencies carried out a random check of flight manifest and also searched the CCTV footage of that day.
Thai police had also sought help from Bangladesh through Interpol to help locate the mastermind behind the country’s deadliest bombing after investigations indicated that the Chinese man might have fled there.
The Bangkok police had come to know about the departure of accused to Dhaka after testimony from witnesses.
The accused left Thailand via Suvarnabhumi International Airport on August 16, a day before the bombing, to China and then headed to Bangladesh.
Bangkok police was also tracing money channelled from foreign countries to see whether it was used in funding the attacks.

[IwantbustyKim]

I am racist and my racism based on Islam, says Umno’s Annuar Musa
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/m...os-annuar-musa
Well at least these equines are honest about their stupidy



Umno Supreme Council member Tan Sri Annuar Musa says today the ‘red shirt’ rally in Kuala Lumpur is justified on grounds of Islam. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, September 16, 2015.

“I am racist,” said Umno Supreme Council member Tan Sri Annuar Musa, when trying to justify the racial overtones of today’s “red shirt” rally in Kuala Lumpur. 

However, he stressed that his “racism was based on Islam”.

Anuar, who was the last speaker at today’s “Himpunan Rakyat Bersatu”, said racism was allowed in Islam, except when it involved oppressing others.


The Malay community in Malaysia was the most tolerant ethnic group in the world, Anuar said, adding that in Indonesia, ethnic Chinese Indonesians were not even allowed to use Chinese names. 

“I am racist but it’s racism based on Islam. Racism is allowed in Islam,” Annuar told reporters at the end of the rally at Padang Merbok, which he claimed attracted 250,000 people. 

Annuar then quoted a hadith (a saying of the Prophet) on assobiyah (Arabic term for pride in one's tribe) which he interpreted as justifying racism.

Critics of today's rally have said it could incite ethnic tensions for its insistence on defending Malay supremacy and honour.

Annuar also admitted that some of the rally participants were sponsored but claimed that Bersih 4's organisers also paid people to attend  their rally on the Merdeka weekend. – September 16, 2015.

Racism is allowed in Islam says this idiot!

[IwantbustyKim]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ilonline&hl=en

At rally’s end, protesters say came out of fear of Chinese ‘black magic’ and stolen rights



KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 16 — Many among the thousands who painted the city’s streets red today said they were there to defend the country against purported Chinese domination, with some expressing anger against the minority group for allegedly insulting their Malay-Muslim leaders and stealing their rights.

Although organisers of the Himpunan Rakyat Bersatu rally previously said the event was not meant to be racially-tinged, some participants openly admitted their objectives were to fight for the rights they claimed were trampled on by the “big-headed” Chinese.

One attendee, Muhamad Ridzuan Sulaiman, said the Malays now play too small a role in the economy, which he alleged is Chinese-controlled.

“For instance, if I wanted to open a shop next to a Chinese owned shop, they would use black magic to curse my shop,” he told Malay Mail Online as rally participants began packing up to leave Padang Merbok this evening.

The 21-year-old said although he believed the rally was not expressly anti-Chinese, it was organised due to Malay frustration over certain actions by the country’s ethnic minorities.


“The other races are just waiting for the Malays to fall,” lamented the youth who expressed interest in joining Malay nationalist party Umno.

The sentiment was echoed by another rally participant, 62-year-old Che Hassan from Pasir Puteh, Kelantan.

“We’re not exactly angry at the Chinese. But we’re so angry at the DAP. They are insulting our Malay-Muslim leaders.

“They are messing around with the rights of the Malays, like what they did in Bersih 4. They insulted our leaders there, but here, we have done nothing. We didn’t stir up any issues like they did,” the man said.

City dweller Aziah Mat Dohun told Malay Mail Online that when given the opportunity, the Chinese would “grab the rights of the Malays”.

Asked to explain, the 57-year-old said: “They insulted our ministers. They had the gall to do that because we let them, and because we let the illegal rally Bersih happened.”

She said today’s rally was not meant to pick a fight as it was hoped that the event would result in some positive changes for Malaysia.

“The Chinese must not be ‘besar kepala’ (big-headed),” she said.


Participants of the Himpunan Rakyat Bersatu rally head to Padang Merbok, September 16, 2015. ― Picture by Yusof Mat Isa

Most of the thousands who had earlier swarmed the streets of the capital have now left Padang Merbok, although a sizeable crowd is still lingering at Petaling Street where riot police had earlier fired water cannons to disperse protesters.

The mass event organised by silat group Pesaka had turned chaotic at intervals earlier in the afternoon when protesters stormed past police barricades to march through the streets. 

[IwantbustyKim]

Annuar Musa: ‘I am racist, Islamically’

http://m.themalaymailonline.com/mala...st-islamically



KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 16 — An Umno leader today admitted that he, along with today’s “Himpunan Rakyat Bersatu” was “racist” in nature, but insisted that this was still in line with Islamic teachings.

Tan Sri Annuar Musa maintained that acting in defence of Malay honour was permitted in Islam so long as other races were not oppressed in the process.

“Being racial is endorsed in Islam as long as you are not cruel towards other people. This rally if you say is racist, yes. What are you scared of? Islam has put in place guidelines, what is not allowed is racism that is cruel towards other races.

“In Indonesia, you cannot have a Chinese name but in Malaysia you can. If that is considered racial, then yes, I am racial. But my being racial is guided by religion. I am racist, Islamically,” he said after the rally ended at Padang Merbok today.

He added that the Malays have done the other races a great service by sharing the country and its resources them.


“And when has the Malays even behaved cruelly towards other races? We share this country, we shared citizenship. We share all our rights. Who was the one who made thus county open to other races? It was the Malays,” he added.

Thousands of red-shirted people were bussed into the federal capital this morning to take part in a rally officially called “Himpunan Rakyat Bersatu” or the United People’s Assembly, but which drew concern among traders in the city centre and ethnic Chinese business leaders.

The protest was marred by sporadic outbreaks of racism, however, with one attendee recorded calling a reporter “Crazy Chinese pig”, among other insults.

The “red shirts” first gathered at several points in the city, including Kompleks Kraf Malaysia in Jalan Conlay, the Putra World Trade Centre and the National Mosque before marching through major roads to converge at Padang Merbok near Parliament.

The rally, said to be in support of Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s leadership, was to counter to last month’s two-day Bersih 4 gathering calling for the prime minister’s resignation.

The ruling Malay party has insisted that it does not endorse the event, which has also been alternately called “Himpunan Maruah Melayu”, but has not prohibited its members from participating in today’s demonstration organised by martial arts group Pesaka. 

[IwantbustyKim]

Facebook users tell Bank Negara scholarship winner to don tudung

http://m.themalaymailonline.com/mala...-to-don-tudung



KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 18 ― Hajar Nur Asyiqin Abdul Zubir, an 18-year-old who dreams of studying in Oxford University, is the winner of a prestigious Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) scholarship but to some on Facebook, the young Malay girl’s achievement has been shadowed by her failure to don the tudung (Muslim headscarf).

On the social media site, the chemistry student, upon winning the Kijang Emas Scholarship 2015 that allows her to pursue any field of study at top universities across the world, was told that her father would bear the sins of her not covering her “aurat”.

“Congratulations..but it’s a pity that the ‘aurat’ is not covered. Her father bears the sin,” a Facebook user called Rozaidi Jai commented on Friends of BN ― Barisan Nasional’s Facebook post Wednesday announcing Hajar Nur Asyiqin’s win.

Facebook user named Nazri Toushirou even called for conditions of the scholarship interview to mandate covering the “aurat”

“Don’t think it’s wrong, right?” he said.


Facebook user Mohd Sabri Hussien said: “Pretty looks, good at studies. It’ll be better if she wore a tudung”.

Another Facebook user, called Mohd Khairudzaman Bahaudin, said: “All right, congratulations, Allah hates His servants who do not cover their ‘aurat’, we succeed not because we’re clever”.

Other Facebook users, however, have since come to the 18-year-old’s defence, with one named Ag Sha saying: “It doesn’t necessarily mean that not wearing a tudung means you’re not religious..congratulations..prove to them that you’re not shallow in your religious knowledge”.

Islam as is practised in Malaysia is beginning to show signs of increasing conservatism, illustrated among others by the local boom in the tudung industry that was a rarity just several decades ago.

Friday sermons sanctioned by the government also repeatedly tell women to cover their aurat, with a Malay-Muslim gymnast recently getting backlash for wearing a leotard. 

Local daily New Straits Times reported Monday that Hajar Nur Asyiqin ― who went to SMK Abdul Rahman Talib in Kuantan, Pahang, and is now doing her A-Levels at Tuanku Ja’afar College in Mantin, Negri Sembilan ― wants to study chemistry at Oxford University in the UK, one of the top universities in the world.

The paper reported that she scored 9A+s in SPM last year and that she had undergone group and individual assessments by Bank Negara before she was announced last April as one of four recipients of the Kijang Emas Scholarship.

According to Bank Negara governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz’s speech at the Kijang Emas Scholarship award ceremony last April, the central bank had received 212 applications for the 2015 Kijang Emas Scholarship and shortlisted the top 24 based on their SPM results and involvement in sports and co-curricular activities.

“The students then underwent a rigorous evaluation process under the Bank’s ‘Kijang Academy’ which assessed their technical and leadership competencies, as well as their values,” Zeti said in the speech made available on Bank Negara’s website.

[IwantbustyKim]

Iran women’s soccer team captain to miss tournament after husband refuses to let her travel

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...et-a-passport/


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Early Lead
Iran women’s soccer team captain to miss tournament after husband refuses to let her travel
Resize Text Print Article Comments 50
By Marissa Payne September 16

Niloufar Ardalan, left, views for the ball during a match in 2006. (AP)
The Iranian women’s soccer team will be short one player when it travels to Malaysia to compete in an indoor soccer championship next week. That’s because, according to local reports, the team captain doesn’t have a passport — her husband refused to sign papers to allow his wife to renew it.

Niloufar Ardalan, 30, is married to sports journalist Mahdi Toutounchi, who under Iranian law has the right to keep his wife from leaving the country. His reason for keeping Ardalan at home, according to reports, is that he did not want Ardalan to miss their 7-year-old son’s first day of school on Sept. 23. The Asian Football Confederation Futsal Championship is set to run from Sept. 21-26.

[Hiker: “I was imprisoned in Iran for two years."]

Ardulan expressed dismay over her husband’s decision and called on the country to revise its laws when it comes to allowing women to leave the country.

“These games were very important to me,” she told Nasimonline (via news.com.au). “As a Muslim woman, I wanted to work for my country’s flag to be raised [at the games], rather than traveling for leisure and fun.”

She added: “I wish authorities would create [measures] that would allow female athletes to defend their rights in such situations.”

Ardulan, who has been heralded as Iran’s best female player, is a longtime advocate for women’s rights in Iran, especially when it comes to equal treatment in sports. In 2005, she made headlines for being one of the first women to attend a men’s national team match. She had to petition Iran’s soccer governing body for permission, however.

Unfortunately, not much has changed in Iran in the last 10 years. Despite promises to ease restrictions, women are still banned from attending men’s sporting events in the country. In some cases, the country has even arrested women who tried to do so. The most famous example came last year when Ghoncheh Ghavami went to jail for five months after attempting to attend a men’s volleyball game.

[FIFA President Sepp Blatter calls on Iran to end ban of women from soccer stadiums]

While Ardulan won’t end up in jail — without her passport, she has no choice but to follow the law and remain in the country — women’s rights advocates hope her case will raise awareness to bring change.

“This just shows to what extent this law can impact a woman’s life,” Shadi Sadr, the director of the human rights group Justice for Iran, told Radio Free Europe earlier this week. “Even if a woman reaches the highest ranks in politics, sports, or culture, she still needs her husband’s consent for one of her most basic rights — traveling abroad.”


Sadr continued: “[Ardulan] broke the silence, and this could lead to other women taking the courage to detail and shed light on other similar cases.”

[IwantbustyKim]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/25/wo...pede.html?_r=0

Hajj Stampede Near Mecca Leaves Over 700 Dead

Such a sad tragedy, just hope the SA govt with all their ill-gotten oil money spend more next Hajj on security and making sure this never ever happens again.



BEIRUT, Lebanon — In streaming ribbons of white, great masses of Muslim pilgrims made their way between cities of air-conditioned tents toward the next stop on their holy tour of Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

Then something went disastrously wrong, trapping the crowds in narrow streets and touching off a mass panic and crushing stampede that left the asphalt covered with lost sandals, crumpled wheelchairs and piles of white-robed bodies.

It was the deadliest accident during the hajj pilgrimage in a quarter-century, with at least 717 pilgrims from around the world killed and more than 850 injured. And it posed yet another challenge for the country’s new leader, King Salman, who is already coping with low oil prices, a war in Yemen and an increasingly fierce rivalry with Iran.

[IwantbustyKim]

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/...-crime-n433366

Member of Saudi Royal Family Arrested in L.A. for Alleged Sex Crime

A member of the Saudi royal family was arrested in Los Angeles on suspicion of trying to force a woman to perform a sex act on him, police said Thursday.

Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Drake Madison said Majed Abdulaziz Al-Saud, 29, was arrested Wednesday afternoon on three counts, with the main charge being forced oral sex of an adult. Al-Saud is a member of the royal family, according to the LAPD.

Police said the alleged assault occurred in the Beverly Glen area in West Los Angeles, and the alleged victim was a worker at the property.

Officers were sent to a Wallingford Drive home Wednesday afternoon on a report of a disturbance, but when they investigated further Al-Saud was arrested on suspicion of the alleged sex crime as well as on suspicion of battery and false imprisonment, police said.

Jail records show Al-Saud was booked Wednesday and was freed on $300,000 bail Thursday. His next court date is Oct. 19, according to records.

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Authorities said it was not immediately clear if the suspect would claim diplomatic immunity, or whether it could be applied in the case.

There was no immediate comment from the Saudi royal family. NBC News was not able to reach a lawyer for Al-Saud.

[IwantbustyKim]

http://www.nst.com.my/news/2015/09/3...jalan-alor?m=1

3 suspected terrorists nabbed near Jalan Alor



KUALA LUMPUR: Police nabbed three suspected terrorists in connection with a recent security threats made against the US Embassy and tourist hotspot Jalan Alor in Bukit Bintang.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Noor Rashid Ibrahim said the men are a Malaysian, a Syrian and an Indonesian.

They were arrested in a raid carried out by the federal police Special Branch's Counter-Terrorism Division near Jalan Alor about 6pm Thursday.

Noor Rashid said the arrests were made based on tip-off received by the division from their international intelligence network and surveillance.

He said police believed that the suspects were involved in terrorism activities, and had the intention to launch terror attacks on Malaysian soil.

They are being detained to facilitate investigations under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012.

On Thursday, the US Embassy here issued a security notification warning its citizens of a potential terrorist act, and advised its nationals to avoid Jalan Alor and its surrounding areas.

This move was then followed by the Australian and UK embassies here.

[IwantbustyKim]

Today Saudi Arabia Will Crucify This Teenager for Protesting the Government

http://usuncut.com/world/today-saudi...ng-government/

Saudi Arabia, which was just admitted to the UN’s Human Rights Council days ago, will imminently behead and then crucify Ali Mohammed al-Nimr — a young man who encouraged pro-democracy demonstrations during the Arab Spring in 2012, when he was just 17 years old. In protest, the hacktivist collective Anonymous apparently shut down a number of Saudi government websites yesterday. Activists subsequently took to Twitter using the hashtag #OpNimr to oppose Saudi Arabia’s execution of al-Nimr.

Hacktivists aren’t the only ones in Al-Nimr’s corner: other figures to voice support include heads of state and celebrities like comedian Bill Maher, who last week tweeted his support for al-Nimr. Both France’s president and its prime minister have called on Saudi Arabia to abandon the execution. The UK’s newly-minted opposition leader, Jeremy Corbyn, wrote a scathing letter to prime minister David Cameron demanding that he call on Saudi Arabia to “commute the unjust and horrific sentence”.



No prominent American official has spoken out against the Saudi government’s sentence. When press asked the US State Department’s spokesman for his thoughts on al-Nimr’s case, he claimed that he was “not aware of the trial” despite international outrage. When asked about Saudi Arabia’s controversial appointment to head a key UN human rights panel, the US spokesman replied, “We would welcome it. We’re close allies.”

The US and Saudi Arabia have been close allies for decades — the US has approved over $90 billion in weapons sales to Saudi Arabia since 2010. In 2014 alone, the US approved over $2.2 billion in weapons sales to Saudi Arabia.

Many of these weapons are now being used by Saudi Arabia in its invasion of Yemen — and is committing the attacks with intelligence and logistical support from the US. Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have accused Saudi Arabia of committing war crimes in its invasion.

Saudi Arabia’s campaign in Yemen has killed over 2,100 civilians and displaced over 1.4 million people, with 13 million Yemenis now food insecure. The invasion has caused 21 million people to be denied life-sustaining goods and services. Saudi Arabia further exacerbates Yemen’s humanitarian crisis with its naval blockade, which restricts access to humanitarian aid.

Al-Nimr’s execution would be far from Saudi Arabia’s first: according to Amnesty International, Saudi Arabia ranks #3 among the world’s top 5 executioners in 2014 (the US ranked #5). Since 1985, Saudi Arabia has executed over 2,200 people for “crimes” including sorcery, witchcraft, adultery, and drug possession. Most of these executions were carried out in the form of a public beheading, though some were carried out by firing squad.

The Leahy Law prohibits the US government from providing military aid to countries guilty of “a gross violation of human rights”; however, the US continues to arm Saudi Arabia in clear violation of this prohibition.