Gunmen have launched simultaneous raids on two mosques of the minority Ahmadi Islamic sect in Lahore, killing more than 80 people, Pakistani police say. The attackers fired guns and threw grenades at worshippers during Friday prayers. Three militants later blew themselves up with suicide vests. Pakistani forces have secured both buildings, but are still searching for militants who fled the scene.
Lahore has been the scene of a string of brazen attacks. It is unclear who carried out the attacks, but suspicion has fallen on the Pakistani Taliban, Ali Dayan Hassan of Human Rights Watch told the BBC. Mr Hassan said the worshippers were "easy targets" for militant Sunni groups who consider the Ahmadis to be infidels. The attacks come as controversy rages in Pakistan over a competition on Facebook which invited people to draw cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
Police say most of the worshippers who had been taken hostage inside the mosque in the heavily built-up Garhi Shahu area have managed to get out, the BBC's Aleem Maqbool reports from Islamabad. Pakistani forces are going room-to-room at the mosque and combing buildings in the area in the search for militants, our correspondent says. The police have warned that some of the militants managed to flee and could be at large with their suicide belts, he adds. Police took control of the other mosque in the nearby ModelTown area after a two-hour gunfight. Gunmen opened fire indiscriminately at the mosque, before security forces managed to kill one militant and capture two others, eyewitnesses told the BBC. They were said to be armed with AK-47 rifles, shotguns, grenades and possibly other explosive devices.
Police said some of the attackers took up position on top of the minarets, and fired assault rifles at police engaged in gunfights with militants below. Some of them blew themselves up afterwards inside the mosques. A dozen ambulances have taken the dead and injured to hospitals. The attacks come after at least 45 people were killed in March when two suicide bombers attacked a crowded residential area.
Sectarian attacks have been carried out by various militant groups in Punjab province, and across Pakistan in the past. While the Ahmadis consider themselves Muslim and follow all Islamic rituals, they were declared non-Muslim in Pakistan in 1973, and in 1984 they were legally barred from proselytising or identifying themselves as Muslims.
Members of the community have often been mobbed, or gunned down in targeted attacks, says the BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad. But this is the first time their places of worship have suffered daring and well co-ordinated attacks that bear the mark of Taliban militants, our correspondent adds. The London-based Ahmadi association issued a statement condemning the attacks. "The attacks are the culmination of years of unpoliced persecution of the [Ahmadis]... Today's attack is the most cruel and barbaric," the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community UK said in a statement. The Chief Minister of Pakistan's Punjab region, Shahbaz Sharif, also condemned the violence. "The entire nation of Pakistan feels heartfelt sorrow over the shootings in places of worship. No condemnation, however strong, will be enough for these incidents."
Source: BBC
Turkey silent on nuclear stockpile
As a month-long Nuclear Non-Proliferation summit in New York draws to a close, participants are still debating how best to achieve a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East. The problem at the heart of it all is Israel, a country with an undisclosed but known nuclear-weapons capability. Israel decided not to come to the US meeting, knowing it would face scrutiny and criticism.
Meanwhile, while it is still not clear whether Iran really wants or intends to militarise its fledgling nuclear industry, the potential has already increased tension throughout the Middle East and led to warnings of a new arms race there. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, has been among the most outspoken on the issue, saying many times that it is unreasonable to call just for restraints on Iran, while not dealing with the nuclear capability of Israel.
But the one issue that Erdogan never mentions is Turkey's own nuclear weapons stockpile. As a founding member of Nato, and a strategically-located state, Turkey is one of five Nato countries with nuclear weapons stationed on its soil. And as many domestic analysts are now observing, this evident contradiction is no longer helpful for Ankara's newly neighbourly and avowedly peaceful foreign policy.
Relations between North and South Korea have plunged to their lowest levels in years following the sinking of the South Korean warship, the Cheonan, on March 26, which killed 46 South Korean sailors.
Most analysts agree that neither side will move to deliberately start a war – the implications in terms of lives and economic impact are simply too great. South Korea has said the North will pay the price for sinking the Cheonan. North Korea has reportedly put its forces on combat alert, but despite the bellicose rhetoric Pyongyang has said it would only go to war in response to an attack from the South. South Korea meanwhile has said it will not retaliate militarily for the sinking of the Cheonan, and will instead take its case to the UN Security Council. However, the South has also warned that it will not tolerate further provocations and reserves the right to defend itself. North Korea has said much the same.
The big worry then is that another incident takes place, throwing fuel onto one of the world's most volatile potential flashpoints. At a time of elevated tensions, another North-South spat - even a relatively minor diplomatic affront - could easily spiral into something far more serious.
With hundreds of thousands of military personnel based along either side of the heavily-fortified Korean border, the potential for confrontation is huge. North and South Korea never signed a peace treaty ending the Korean War. North and South Korea never signed a peace treaty ending the 1950-53 Korean War, meaning the two countries remain officially at war. As a result both sides retain large standing armies ready to resume fighting at a moment's notice.
One of the many potential flashpoints could be South Korea's decision to restart propaganda loudspeakers strung out along the frontier. North Korea has threatened to shoot at the equipment, but that could also lead to South Korean personnel being killed or wounded. At the same time North Korea has said it is cutting all communications links with the South, including possibly the military-to-military hotlines that were set up to prevent the kind of misunderstandings that could trigger an unintended war.
North Korea has been increasingly angry at the South since the accession of Lee Myung-bak to the South Korean presidency in 2008. South Korea has recovered the remains of a torpedo it says sank the Cheonan. Lee's suspension of unconditional aid to the North deepened its economic problems, while international sanctions imposed after last year's nuclear test have added to the squeeze on its finances. In addition officials in Seoul have said the attack on the Cheonan may have been in retaliation for the North's humiliation during a brief naval skirmish near the same area of the Yellow Sea last November.
Pyongyang also has a history of raising regional tensions in an effort to distract attention from domestic troubles. A recent effort to revalue the country's currency was reportedly so badly handled that it sparked almost unheard of protests against the government. At the same time analysts say Kim Jong-il, the North Korean leader, is trying to assert his family's authority over the country to ensure the leadership succession goes to his youngest son.
Most of what is "known" about the form and size of North Korea's nuclear weapons arsenal is at best an educated guess. North Korea has a large army but its equipment is outdated and poorly maintained. North Korea claims to possess what it calls a nuclear deterrent, but whether its nuclear devices are in the form of useable weapons remains far from clear. Even if they were in "weaponised" form, a nuclear attack would almost certainly invite devastating retaliation, and most observers agree that the North Korean leadership would only consider such a scenario if the very future of the North Korean state was seen to be under threat. Nonetheless North Korea has made a specialty of playing its cards very close to its chest and trying to interpret the North's next move is a process fraught with risk.
China is the closest North Korea has to an ally. China is North Korea's closest ally but it is not clear how much influence it has. Chinese forces fought alongside North Korea in the Korean War and, whilst ideologically much has changed between the two, today Beijing is the North's principal economic backer providing much needed aid.
But the latest standoff has put China in a delicate position, since Beijing is also eager to avoid damaging important economic relations with South Korea. Beijing has held back from supporting the findings of an international panel which blamed North Korea for sinking the Cheonan, and has instead called for both sides to exercise calm and restraint. "Frankly China is caught in the middle of all this and they are in the situation of having to prioritize one Korea over the other," John Park, director of the Korea working group at the Washington DC-based United States Institute of peace, told Al Jazeera. "And history has shown that when China does that it usually leads to a period of instability."
The US has about 28,000 troops stationed in South Korea and has given its full support to Seoul following the attack on the Cheonan. However, Washington has said it is also working hard to prevent the rising tensions on the peninsula escalating out of hand. Doing that will require support from regional players like Japan and China. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, visited China this week and pressed Beijing to use what influence it has over North Korea. During her visit she said stability on the Korean peninsula was the "shared responsibility" of Beijing and Washington.
Source: Al Jazeera
'Top kill' method 'slows BP oil leak' in Gulf of Mexico
BP has slowed the flow of oil and gas from a ruptured well into the Gulf of Mexico, a US official told local media. The company's "top kill" effort has "stabilized the wellhead", Coast Guard commander Admiral Thad Allen said. But he cautioned it was too early to declare success. This is the first step in BP's plan to seal the well for good.
Meanwhile, a panel of US scientists said the oil leak was much worse than previously estimated, making it the nation's worst spill. US Geological Survey Director Marcia McNutt said government teams estimated the flow ranges from 12,000 barrels (504,000 gallons or 1.9 million liters) to 25,000 barrels per day. Up to now, BP had estimated the leak at 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) per day, while cautioning that figure was unreliable. If the new estimates are confirmed, it would mean the leak has far eclipsed the previous worst oil spill in US history - the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster.
Later on Thursday, President Barack Obama is expected to extend a moratorium on deep-water offshore drilling for six months, the White House has said. The move comes as his administration faces criticism of its handling of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Hours before Mr. Obama was due to speak; US officials announced the resignation of the head of the Minerals Management Service (MMS), the US agency which oversees drilling operations. Elizabeth "Liz" Birnbaum, who had run the MMS since July 2009, has endured criticism in the weeks since the oil spill over alleged lax oversight of drilling and what President Obama has called an overly cozy relationship with industry.
Adm Allen told US media the "top kill" procedure, which began on Wednesday, has pumped enough drilling fluid to block some of the oil and gas escaping from the well. Adm Allen told National Public Radio that BP engineers had "been able to force mud down and not allow any hydrocarbons to come up." It was the first positive official assessment of BP's latest attempt to plug the well, after previous efforts failed. BP shares were up more than 5% in London trading following the announcement. BP has not yet commented in detail on the situation, saying merely that its "sub sea efforts were advancing on several fronts".
The company did not know how long the operation would take, a BP official said. Also on Thursday, US officials warned that the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season may be one of the worst on record. The forecast sparked fears that it could complicate efforts to combat the environmental disaster from the gushing oil well.
North Korea is to cut all relations with South Korea, Pyongyang's official news agency has reported. KCNA said this would include all the North's communications with the South. The move comes after an international report blamed North Korea for sinking a South Korean warship.Pyongyang angrily denies it torpedoed the Cheonan near the inter-Korean maritime border on 26 March, killing 46 sailors.
Source: BBC
Lifting the veil on Europe
The wearing of headscarves and face veils has generated much controversy in Europe in recent years. Here in France, the government this week approved a draft law to ban the wearing of full face veils in public spaces, opening the way for the text to go before parliament in July. The bill calls for $185 fines and, in some cases, citizenship classes for women who do not comply with the ban. Anyone convicted of forcing a woman to wear a veil could face a year in prison and a $18,555 fine.
Similar legal processes are being considered in other European countries. Many consider the targeting of face veils to be part of the same cynical and populist anti-Muslim campaign that has also taken aim at the wearing of headscarves, the building of minarets and Muslim reactions to 'blasphemous' cartoons. They suspect that a populist European Right will continue to exploit the 'Muslim card' regardless of the actions of Arabs and Muslims.
But while this may be true to a large extent, the face veil is not the same as the headscarf and banning new minarets is nothing like rendition, torture and the invasion and occupation of Arab and Muslim nations. The challenge now facing Muslim and non-Muslim European social activists is to win over a majority by NOT playing into the hands of the xenophobic Right.
When the French government decided back in 2003 to devise a law which took aim at headscarves I wrote the following in the International Herald Tribune:
In a landmark speech on secularism, President Jacques Chirac has called for a ban on "conspicuous" religious signs in schools, thus putting the country's five million Muslim citizens, the largest such community in Europe, on notice.
France's Muslim problem is not necessarily French nor is it particularly religious. It is also a Western phenomenon that requires the utmost cultural sensibility. Actions taken by Paris will influence how its neighbors deal with tens of millions of their own Muslims and other ethnic groups. France needs to address the culture of despair that is infecting its urban areas - the infamous "banlieue" mentality that has grown out of the decay of the belts of poverty surrounding many of its cities.
Sadly, the interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, has only deployed more police to deal with these problems. The result - slightly less crime but much more tension and hostility. This is taking its toll on French Muslim women in more ways than one. The banlieue is witnessing an increasing number of attacks and rape by young Muslim men against unveiled teenage girls, who are seen as outside the community and hence permissible targets.
The sense of being rejected among French Muslims is galvanising a new 'politics of identity' that expresses itself, among other ways, in the headscarf. That's why France must go beyond the use of coercive state tools in dealing with identity politics. As an influential shaper of the European Union, it must work hard to end all discrimination against Muslims across the continent.
After touring and speaking in two dozen French cities over the last two years, I have felt firsthand the bitterness and alienation of many French Muslims. But I have also witnessed the sophistication and commitment of France's civil society in dealing with the social and economic disparities that cause them. The French government would do better to concentrate its efforts on empowering parents' associations and educators to deal with the identity politics of a minority of their students and their families, instead of distributing and enforcing school manuals on how to measure ostensible religious symbols.
As president, Nicolas Sarkozy has continued on the same path - warning against the threat that Muslim extremism and fundamentalism pose to France. Several months ago, he began the process by making grandiose speeches in which he targeted the wearing of burqas/niqabs (face veils). By doing so, France has followed in the footsteps of Belgium and the Netherlands. More countries are likely to follow. After the draft law passed, Sarkozy said: "Nobody should feel hurt or stigmatised. I'm thinking in particular of our Muslim compatriots, who have their place in the republic and should feel respected."
But in reality very few women in France wear the face veil - just a couple of hundred or so - and this hardly justifies a protracted nationwide campaign as if the country was besieged by some imminent threat, when, in fact, there is little evidence of extremism among French and European Muslims.
Rather Muslims are increasingly demonstrating greater awareness of their status, rights and freedom of expression - political, religious and social. While much of this takes the shape of social and political activism, some also takes the form of a 'politics of identity' - which results at times in ghetto-like attitudes. While it underlines a cultural almost folkloric distinction of sorts at times, it de-emphasises or sets back the central struggle for social and political equal rights in Europe.
But that does not deter populist French and European politicians from practicing a 'politics of fear' by continually warning against the spread of radical Islam and refer to Muslim Europeans as foreigners, when in reality a new generation of Muslims are either secular or integrated into their communities.
It is clear that the fight for the right to wear the face veil per se is neither considered desirable by most Muslims nor winnable among most Europeans. Unlike the headscarf, it is too difficult to defend covering the face on security, civic and even religious grounds. I am no religious scholar, but it is clear from my reading that the absolute majority of Muslim scholars and citizens consider the face veil a matter of personal choice not religious duty.
Instead of concentrating their energies on defending the right to wear the face veil - which is hardly defensible in Europe - Muslims and non-Muslim Europeans alike need to prioritise and realign their energies and activities towards the bigger questions affecting their common future on the continent.
Reducing continent-wide challenges of coexistence, equality, development and freedom to the right of wearing the face veil will prove self-defeating at best. Only cynical populists from both sides would stand to benefit.
For those trying to veil discrimination, battles over face veils are paramount.
Up to 103 people have been killed in a plane crash at the airport in the Libyan capital, Tripoli. The Libyan transport minister said an eight-year-old Dutch national was the sole survivor after Afriqiyah Airways' Airbus-330 arriving from South Africa crashed on Wednesday morning. Mohamed Ali Zidan said the boy was being treated in hospital but did not have life-threatening injuries. "There were 104 people on board - 93 passengers and 11 crew members," Zidan told a news conference, adding that the remains of 96 victims had already been recovered. He said Libyans, Africans and Europeans had been on board. "We have definitely ruled out the theory that the crash was the result of an act of terrorism," Zidan said. Libya's Afriqiyah Airways said the aircraft was coming in to land when it crashed just one metre off the runway. Libyan state television showed footage of a large field scattered with small and large pieces of plane debris and dozens of police and rescue workers with surgical masks and gloves. Jan Peter Balkenende, the Dutch prime minister, said "several dozen" Dutch citizens died in the accident. The Dutch tourism federation said 61 Dutch nationals had been on board the plane. Afriqiyah has posted a telephone number on its website for anyone seeking information about passengers. Al Jazeera's Haru Mutasa, reporting from Johannesburg, where the aircraft departed from, said several South Africans appeared to have been on the plane. "The airport authority is struggling to get a call centre in place but right now information is sketchy." Amr El-Kahky, in Al Jazeera's Cairo office, said the weather conditions had been perfect when the aircraft tried to touch down, with little wind and good visibility. "[The plane] did not explode. There was no fire when it came into pieces. It just came down and crashed," he said. He also said Afriqiyah had a new fleet of aircraft which was said to be maintained "very well". Daniel Hoeltgen, a spokesman for the European Aviation Safety Agency, said Afriqiyah had undergone 10 recent safety inspections at European airports, with no significant safety findings. French investigators travelled to Tripoli on Wednesday to take part in the probe of the accident, the BEA air accident investigation agency said. European plane-maker Airbus, which built the aircraft, also said it would dispatch experts as part of the French investigating team, the French-based firm said. "Airbus will provide full technical assistance to the authorities responsible for the investigation into the accident through the BEA," the company said in a statement.
Source: Al Jazeera
David Cameron hails 'new era' as coalition sets to work
The new UK Prime Minister David Cameron is shaping his government, after his Conservative Party formed an historic coalition with the Liberal Democrats.
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg is to be the new deputy prime minister, with four colleagues also getting cabinet jobs. George Osborne is chancellor, William Hague is foreign secretary and Theresa May is the new home secretary.
In a message to supporters, Mr Cameron said it marked a "new era for Britain" adding: "Now let's get to work." The coalition is the first time the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have had a power-sharing deal at Westminster and the first coalition in the UK since the Second World War. Mr Cameron's arrival in Downing Street marks the end of 13 years of Labour rule. The Conservative leader, who is six months younger than Tony Blair was when he won power in 1997, is the youngest prime minister since 1812 and the first Old Etonian to hold the office since the early 1960s. The Conservatives won the most seats in last week's general election, but not enough to secure an overall Commons majority, resulting in a hung Parliament. The Lib Dems, the UK's third biggest party, held days of talks with the Conservatives and the Labour Party - who won the second highest number of seats. A deal with the Tories was reached on Tuesday that resulted in Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown resigning. Mr Cameron has begun appointing his first cabinet, with appointments also including Ken Clarke as Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary, Mrs May as minister for women, as well as being home secretary, Liam Fox as Defence Secretary and Andrew Lansley as Health Secretary. Mr Clegg's chief of staff, Danny Alexander, who was part of the party's negotiating team, is to be Scottish Secretary, the BBC understands. Lib Dem Treasury spokesman Vince Cable has been given responsibility for "business and banks" but it is not known if his title will be chief secretary to the Treasury, a senior Lib Dem source said. There are expected to be about 20 Lib Dems - more than a third of their MPs - in government jobs in total. Meanwhile, details have been emerging about the new government's programme:
There will be a "significant acceleration" of efforts to reduce the budget deficit - including £6bn of spending reductions this year. An emergency Budget will take place within 50 days
Plans for five-year, fixed-term parliaments, meaning the next election would not take place until May 2015. The coalition would last for a full parliament.
The Lib Dems have agreed to drop plans for a "mansion tax" on properties costing more than £2m, while the Conservatives have ditched their pledge to raise the inheritance tax threshold to £1m
The BBC's Robert Peston says the Lib Dem policy of taxing planes, rather than passengers, has been adopted and there will be a commitment to a new tax or levy on banks. He also says there will be a "significant move" towards raising the income tax threshold to £10,000 in the first budget,
The new administration will scrap part of Labour's planned rise in National Insurance
A pledge to have a referendum on any further transfer of powers to the EU and a commitment from the Lib Dems not to adopt the euro for the lifetime of the next Parliament
The Lib Dems have agreed to Tory proposals for a cap on non-EU migration
The Conservatives will recognise marriage in the tax system, but Lib Dems will abstain in Commons vote
The Lib Dems will drop opposition to a replacement for Britain's Trident nuclear missiles but the programme will be scrutinised for value for money
There will be a referendum on moving to the Alternative Vote system and enhanced "pupil premium" for deprived children as Lib Dems demanded
In a message to Conservative supporters, Mr Cameron said there would be "compromise" but "key elements" of the Conservative manifesto were part of the deal - including cutting £6bn of "government waste" in this financial year and protecting the Trident nuclear missile system. Key Lib Dem aims on reforming education funding, fairer taxes and political reform were also included, he said. "But the past few days have not just been about compromise. What was clear as talks progressed is the common ground between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. And that is displayed in this agreement, with our commitment to building a green economy, decentralising power and protecting civil liberties - including scrapping ID cards." He added: "I am confident that the coming together of two political parties to form one strong government marks a new era for Britain and for British politics. Now, let's get down to work." The Lib Dem parliamentary party and its federal executive endorsed the coalition agreement by the required three-quarters majority shortly after midnight. Mr Clegg said: "I hope this is the start of the new politics I have always believed in - diverse, plural, where politicians of different persuasions come together, overcome their differences in order to deliver good government for the sake of the whole country." He acknowledged there would be "glitches" and acknowledged Lib Dem voters would have "many questions, maybe many doubts". "But I want to assure you that I wouldn't have entered into this agreement unless I was genuinely convinced that it offers a unique opportunity to deliver the kind of changes you and I believe in." Mr Hague told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the coalition amounted to "an important realignment of politics with a practical programme". Asked whether it could provide stable government, he said, by introducing a five-year fixed-term parliament: "We have done everything possible to lock ourselves together to avoid the dangers of instability and haggling that are of course present in any hung parliament." US President Barack Obama was the first foreign leader to congratulate Mr Cameron in a brief telephone call while German Chancellor Angela Merkel also offered her congratulations. After it became clear Labour's talks with the Lib Dems had failed, Mr Brown tendered his resignation, saying it had been a privilege to serve "this country I love". He stepped down as Labour leader with immediate effect - deputy leader Harriet Harman will take over until a leadership contest is held. Former home secretary Alan Johnson has already ruled himself out and said he will support David Miliband, who he described as Labour's "greatest talent".
The ambassador reportedly got into a confrontation as he went to a gym
Pakistan's ambassador to Iran has been injured in an attack by an Afghan on his car in Tehran, officials say. The suspect was arrested, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman quoted by state-run al-Alam TV said.Mohammad Bakhsh Abbasi was taken to hospital after the incident in the Iranian capital, although he was not reported to have been seriously hurt.The envoy was travelling without bodyguards or a driver, the foreign ministry spokesman said.An earlier report from Dubai-based al-Arabiya TV said two bodyguards had been killed."The Pakistan ambassador's car has been attacked by an Afghan," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted as saying."The ambassador has been injured and he is in hospital. The Afghan has been arrested."A Tehran police chief reportedly said the ambassador had got into a confrontation as he went to a leisure centre he frequents."He had a clash with a 21-year-old Afghan; he was injured on the head and fell," police chief Hossein Sajedi-Nia told Iran's Isna news agency.
Cameron, right, and Clegg, left, are expected to form the new government [Reuters]
Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, has resigned as prime minister and will ask Queen Elizabeth II to invite David Cameron, the leader of the main opposition Conservative party, to form a government. Earlier on Tuesday, talks between Brown's Labour party and the Liberal Democrats on forming a government broke down, leaving the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats to agree the final details of creating a coalition.
Cameron had said on Tuesday that it was "decision time" for the Liberal Democrats about whether to share power with his party or Labour. Charlie Whelan, a former advisor to Brown, said it was "a sad day" and that there would be no rush to elect a new Labour leader.
Emotional statement
"I've informed the Queen's private secretary that it is my intention to tender my resignation to the Queen," Brown said in an emotional statement outside Downing Street alongside his wife Sarah.
special report
Final results Conservative: 306 Labour: 258 Liberal Democrat: 57 Other: 28
"In the event that the Queen accepts, I shall advise her to invite the leader of the opposition to seek to form a government. "I wish the next prime minister well as he makes the important choices for the future." Brown's two young sons emerged after his comments and then Brown and his wife were driven to Buckingham Palace where he will formally tender his resignation to the queen. The Conservatives took the most seats in the May 6 election but had failed to secure an outright majority leading to a hung parliament for the past five days.
