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Stop Yakub Memon’s Hanging: PUDR

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Yakub Memon

by People’s Union For Demoratic Rights

On 15th July, the Maharashtra government announced that it has initiated the process for hanging Yakub Memon. On 30th July, 2015 ‘he is to be hung by the neck till dead’. The announcement seemed inevitable after the Supreme Court had rejected his review petition on 10th April this year. Except that Yakub Memon has still not exhausted all legal remedies as he has a curative petition due to be heard in the Supreme Court on 21st July. While the state government is treating the matter as already dried and dusted and making a mockery of the justice system, there are some very valid reasons for drawing attention to Yakub’s case for upholding our faith in the judicial process:

1. Controversial arrest: The police claimed to pick Yakub up from the New Delhi Railway Station on 5th August 1994. In a letter written to the Supreme Court in 1999, Yakub stated that he came to India on 28th July 1994. He had been detained on 24th July at Kathmandu airport and then handed over to the Indian agencies.

2. Implicated and sentenced for trying to help: Yakub has maintained all along that he had no foreknowledge of and had no hand in the conspiracy leading to the Mumbai blasts of 1993. He was working towards voluntarily returning to India to clear his name. He co-operated with the investigating agencies and provided vital leads which have been acknowledged. However, the Court never regarded these as mitigating factors.

3. No justice under TADA: The Supreme Court in its 2013 judgement confirming death sentence awarded by the TADA court in 2007, held that Yakub officiated for Tiger Memon in Mumbai in the planning of the attacks in the latter’s absence. The Court accepted that Yakub was nowhere directly involved in the execution of the blasts, but his responsibility was greater as he was one of the planners. It said that he “was constantly present at the Al Husseini building, where the major part of the plan was made and executed”, interacted with ‘Tiger’s men’, managed Tiger’s “ill-gotten money,” arranged for air tickets to Dubai and vehicles which were used in the attacks. He was convicted under TADA (now lapsed), IPC, Arms Act, Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, and under sections of the Explosive Substances Act on retracted confessions, on the statements of approvers and on the confession of co-accused.

4. “Special Stigmatizing”: Yakub had returned in 1994 believing that there would be a fair trial. He was proved wrong. The judgement decreed capital punishment for him because of his “position of dominance” and the “gravity of the crime”. Significantly, the Court commuted the sentences of the 10 others who had been awarded capital punishment by the trial court.

5. Rejection of mitigating factors: The Supreme Court deliberated on the aggravating and mitigating circumstances while awarding the quantum of punishment to all the death row convicts. Notably, in Yakub’s case, the Court noted none other than the fact that he did not have a prior criminal record. However, in the case of the other 10 others sentenced to death, the Court noted several other mitigating factors like lengthy incarceration, good behaviour, co-operating in the investigation, dependent family members etc. which were equally applicable to him. In Yakub’s case, the beginning and end of his being awarded death penalty then is clearly his relationship with Tiger Memon.

6. A discriminated convict: While confirming the death sentence on Yakub, the Court disregarded the fact that he suffered from depression from 1996. Ironically, a year later, while commuting the death penalty of 15 death row convicts in 2014, the same Court noted: “incarceration, in addition to the reasonable time necessary for adjudication of mercy petitions and preparation for execution, flouts the due process guaranteed to the convict under Article 21 which inheres in every prisoner till his last breath.”

7. Incarcerated for 21 years: For 21 years Yakub has lived with the “brooding horror” which “haunts” a condemned prisoner. To hang him now is neither fair nor just as it is punishing him twice over. It is plain vengeance which the state shows towards a condemned and defenceless man.

8. Denial of reform: A chartered accountant by profession, Yakub was known to be a silent observer during court proceedings. In 21 years of which he has spent 8 years in the death row, he has completed two MAs, one in English and the other in Political Science from IGNOU. Several recent judgments have emphasised the importance of reform and rehabilitation based on conduct. However, Yakub’s efforts have never been recognized.

9. A political hanging: The judicial process through which Yakub has been pronounced guilty and deserving of capital punishment has failed to bring to justice the main perpetrators of anti-Muslim carnage in December 1992 and January 1993, despite the Srikrishna Commission of Inquiry identifying a host of police officers and politicians belonging to Shiv Sena for their role. In the last one year, a similar trend is observable in the investigations into attacks committed by Hindu terror groups. 15 witnesses have turned hostile in the Ajmer Dargah blast (2007), the NIA has closed the Modasa case (2008) and has pressured the special prosecutor to ‘go soft’ on the investigations into the Malegeon blasts (2008).

The impending hanging of Yakub Memon raises certain very significant concerns regarding the role of the state and rights of people. As the above points illustrate, Yakub’s ‘crime’ is that of guilt by association and he is a scapegoat who has been conveniently caught and convicted as ‘most guilty’. Yakub Memon returned as a conscientious Indian citizen, albeit with a ‘criminal’ family background. If he is now hanged, the government must take responsibility for sending out the message that a Muslim cannot be a good citizen.

It is also imperative to ask as to what justice will be served through such an execution? Such regressive judicial pronouncement yet again convinces us that death penalty is not only prejudiced but also irrational. Fraught with the possibility of judicial error, the irreversibility of the punishment makes it totally condemnable. Globally, there is a move within countries to progressively do away with this regressive form of punishment. PUDR therefore urges the authorities including the judiciary in this case that in the interests of justice to commute his sentence, and in light of his 21 year-long incarceration to release him.

Megha Bahl, Sharmila Purkayastha

Secretaries, PUDR

World’s oceans could rise higher, sooner, faster than most thought possible

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New research shows that consensus estimates of sea level increases may be underestimating threat; new predictions would see major coastal cities left uninhabitable by next century

'Roughly 10 feet of sea level rise—well beyond previous estimates—would render coastal cities such as New York, London, and Shanghai uninhabitable.' (Image: Woodbine)

‘Roughly 10 feet of sea level rise—well beyond previous estimates—would render coastal cities such as New York, London, and Shanghai uninhabitable.’ (Image: Woodbine)

by Jon Queally, Common Dreams

If a new scientific paper is proven accurate, the international target of limiting global temperatures to a 2°C rise this century will not be nearly enough to prevent catastrophic melting of ice sheets that would raise sea levels much higher and much faster than previously thought possible.

According to the new study—which has not yet been peer-reviewed, but was written by former NASA scientist James Hansen and 16 other prominent climate researchers—current predictions about the catastrophic impacts of global warming, the melting of vast ice sheets, and sea level rise do not take into account the feedback loop implications of what will occur if large sections of Greenland and the Antarctic are consumed by the world’s oceans.

A summarized draft of the full report was released to journalists on Monday, with the shocking warning that such glacial melting will “likely” occur this century and could cause as much as a ten foot sea-level rise in as little as fifty years. Such a prediction is much more severe than current estimates contained in reports issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)—the UN-sponsored body that represents the official global consensus of the scientific community.

“If the ocean continues to accumulate heat and increase melting of marine-terminating ice shelves of Antarctica and Greenland, a point will be reached at which it is impossible to avoid large scale ice sheet disintegration with sea level rise of at least several meters,” the paper states.

Separately, the researchers conclude that “continued high emissions will make multi-meter sea level rise practically unavoidable and likely to occur this century. Social disruption and economic consequences of such large sea level rise could be devastating. It is not difficult to imagine that conflicts arising from forced migrations and economic collapse might make the planet ungovernable, threatening the fabric of civilization.”

The Daily Beast‘s Mark Hertsgaard, who attended a press call with Dr. Hansen on Monday, reports that the work presented by the researchers is

warning that humanity could confront “sea level rise of several meters” before the end of the century unless greenhouse gas emissions are slashed much faster than currently contemplated.

This roughly 10 feet of sea level rise—well beyond previous estimates—would render coastal cities such as New York, London, and Shanghai uninhabitable.  “Parts of [our coastal cities] would still be sticking above the water,” Hansen said, “but you couldn’t live there.”

This apocalyptic scenario illustrates why the goal of limiting temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius is not the safe “guardrail” most politicians and media coverage imply it is, argue Hansen and 16 colleagues in a blockbuster study they are publishing this week in the peer-reviewed journal Atmospheric Physics and Chemistry. On the contrary, a 2C future would be “highly dangerous.”

If Hansen is right—and he has been right, sooner, about the big issues in climate science longer than anyone—the implications are vast and profound.

In the call with reporters, Hansen explained that time is of the essence, given the upcoming climate talks in Paris this year and the grave consequences the world faces if bold, collective action is not taken immediately. “We have a global crisis that calls for international cooperation to reduce emissions as rapidly as practical,” the paper states.

Hansen said he has long believed that many of the existing models were under-estimating the potential impacts of ice sheet melting, and told the Daily Beast: “Now we have evidence to make that statement based on much more than suspicion.”

Though he acknowledged the publication of the paper was unorthodox, Hansen told reporters that the research itself is “substantially more persuasive than anything previously published.”

For his part, Eric Holthaus, a meteorologist who writes about weather and climate for Slate, said the “bombshell” findings are both credible and terrifying. Holthaus writes:

To come to their findings, the authors used a mixture of paleoclimate records, computer models, and observations of current rates of sea level rise, but “the real world is moving somewhat faster than the model,” Hansen says.

[…] The implications are mindboggling: In the study’s likely scenario, New York City—and every other coastal city on the planet—may only have a few more decades of habitability left. That dire prediction, in Hansen’s view, requires “emergency cooperation among nations.”

In response to the paper, climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer of Princeton University affirmed: “If we cook the planet long enough at about two degrees warming, there is likely to be a staggering amount of sea level rise. Key questions are when would greenhouse-gas emissions lock in this sea level rise and how fast would it happen? The latter point is critical to understanding whether and how we would be able to deal with such a threat.”

The new research, Oppenheimer added, “takes a stab at answering the ‘how soon?’ question but we remain largely in the dark.  Giving the state of uncertainty and the high risk, humanity better get its collective foot off the accelerator.”

And as the Daily Beast‘s Hertsgaard notes, Hansen’s track record on making climate predictions should command respect from people around the world. The larger question, however, is whether humanity has the capacity to act.

“The climate challenge has long amounted to a race between the imperatives of science and the contingencies of politics,” Hertsgaard concludes. “With Hansen’s paper, the science has gotten harsher, even as the Nature Climate Change study affirms that humanity can still choose life, if it will. The question now is how the politics will respond—now, at Paris in December, and beyond.”

Bomb kills at least ten civilians in northern Afghanistan

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At least 10 were killed and scores wounded in a bombing attack at a market. Image used for illustrative purposes. (AFP/File)

At least 10 were killed and scores wounded in a bombing attack at a market. Image used for illustrative purposes. (AFP/File)

by Press TV

At least 10 civilians have been killed and scores of others wounded in a bombing attack at a market in Afghanistan’s north, police say.

Deputy provincial police chief Baryalia Basharyar said that the attack took place when a bomber blew himself up among a crowd of shoppers in Almar district in Faryab Province on Wednesday.

The police official said that the death toll is expected to rise.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.

The blast comes less than a week after a powerful explosion claimed the lives of four children in the province of Maidan Wardak in the east-central region of Afghanistan.

The incident took place on July 16 as the children were playing in the area.

Afghanistan is witnessing growing violence despite the presence of thousands of foreign forces in the war-ravaged country.

The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001 as part of Washington’s war on terror. The offensive removed Taliban from power, but insecurity still remains in several areas across the country.

The US-led combat mission in Afghanistan officially ended on December 31, 2014, but thousands offoreign forces have remained in the country.

Curfew imposed in Jamshedpur after clashes

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Jamshedpur-riots

Ranchi: A curfew has been imposed in Jharkhand’s Jamshedpur city, the home town of Chief Minister Raghubar Das, after two communities clashed over the alleged harassment of a girl, police said on Wednesday.

The curfew was imposed on Tuesday night. Trouble started on Monday evening when a girl of one community was allegedly harassed by boys of another community. The incident took place near Gandhi maidan area of city.

A mob burnt tyres following which members of the two communities clashed. Police said both the communities resorted to violence at many places and burnt vehicles.

On Monday, prohibitory orders were imposed. But as the situation continued to be tense, authorities imposed a curfew in many parts of the district.

More than 100 people have been arrested so far.

Das has set up a two-member committee to probe the incident and appealed to the people to maintain calm.

(IANS)

SIT makes first arrest in Lokayukta scam

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Lokayukta scam

Bengaluru: Bangalore-based businessman Ashok Kumar was arrested and produced before the Lokayukta special court by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), who is investigating the case of corruption in anti-graft ombudsman, on Tuesday.

This is the first arrest made in the case.

The 30-year-old businessman, who is into real estate and sand transportation business, was the one who made calls to executive engineer M N Krishnamurthy of Bengaluru Zilla Panchayat.

As per the FIR registered against Ashwin (son of Lokayukta Justice Bhaskar Rao), the accused had called Krishnamurthy to the office of Lokayukta PRO Syed Riyas, saying that the Lokayukta wanted to see them. At the office, Ashwin introduced himself as Krishna Rao and demanded a bribe of Rs one crore to avoid a Lokayukta police raid.

However, Krishnamurthy had refused to pay and had orally complained about the incident to Bengaluru Urban Division SP Sonia Narang last May.

The investigation team found that Ashok, a resident of Rajajinagar, was the one who had talked to Krishnamurthy on phone.  Thus finding out, Ashok’s role in the particular case.

The special court sent Ashok to SIT custody for 10 days.

(Agencies)

Compulsory Yoga for CBSE students of Classes XI, XII

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yoga-school-india

New Delhi: Yoga has been made compulsory in CBSE curricula for Classes XI and XII while for students of other classes it should be held “at least” twice a week as part of their physical activity programme, the government today said.

Informing this in a written reply in Rajya Sabha, AYUSH Minister Shripad Yasso Naik said yoga education has also been made a compulsory part of study and practice by National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE).

“The HRD Ministry has further informed that there are 15,962 schools affiliated to the CBSE who have already been advised to provide compulsory 40-45 minutes of physical activities or games to the students of Classes I-X every day…

“…and that students of Classes XI-XII should participate in physical activity/ games/mass physical training/yoga for at least two periods per week (90-120 minutes/ week). The board offers physical and health education for classes XI and XII and yoga is compulsory part of its curriculum,” Naik said.

Naik said NCTE has already developed modules on yoga education for diploma in elementary education and master of education.

“These will be used by more than 18,000 teacher education institutions and also 14 lakh student – teachers and teacher educators who are studying or teaching in these institutions,” Naik said.

The Minister said that HRD Ministry has informed that the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2005 which is a policy document for the country, recommended Yoga as an integral part of health and physical education.

He said that the government has laid down the national policy on Indian Systems of Medicine and Homoeopathy-2002 which envisages overall growth and development of Yoga.

The Government has formulated the programmes and operational measures for promotion of yoga through centrally sponsored scheme of National AYUSH Mission (NAM) and various central sector schemes.

“Further, a task force has been constituted by the Ministry to deliberate and make recommendations on various important issues concerning the AYUSH Ministry, including the preferred option for promotion, development and regulation of Yoga and Naturopathy for education and practice,” Naik said.

(PTI)

Fragments of what could be world’s oldest Quran have been found in the U.K.

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The university's academics were "startled" when the radiocarbon dating tests showed it was so old

The university’s academics were “startled” when the radiocarbon dating tests showed it was so old.

by Sean Coughlan, BBC

What may be the world’s oldest fragments of the Koran have been found by the University of Birmingham.

Radiocarbon dating found the manuscript to be at least 1,370 years old, making it among the earliest in existence.

The pages of the Muslim holy text had remained unrecognised in the university library for almost a century.

The British Library’s expert on such manuscripts, Dr Muhammad Isa Waley, said this “exciting discovery” would make Muslims “rejoice”.

The manuscript had been kept with a collection of other Middle Eastern books and documents, without being identified as one of the oldest fragments of the Koran in the world.

Oldest texts

When a PhD researcher, Alba Fedeli, looked more closely at these pages it was decided to carry out a radiocarbon dating test and the results were “startling”.

The university’s director of special collections, Susan Worrall, said researchers had not expected “in our wildest dreams” that it would be so old.

“Finding out we had one of the oldest fragments of the Koran in the whole world has been fantastically exciting.”

The University of Birmingham’s manuscript was in a collection brought back from the Middle East

The tests, carried out by the Oxford University Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, showed that the fragments, written on sheep or goat skin, were among the very oldest surviving texts of the Koran.

These tests provide a range of dates, showing that, with a probability of more than 95%, the parchment was from between 568 and 645.

“They could well take us back to within a few years of the actual founding of Islam,” said David Thomas, the university’s professor of Christianity and Islam.

“According to Muslim tradition, the Prophet Muhammad received the revelations that form the Koran, the scripture of Islam, between the years 610 and 632, the year of his death.”

Prof Thomas says the dating of the Birmingham folios would mean it was quite possible that the person who had written them would have been alive at the time of the Prophet Muhammad.

“The person who actually wrote it could well have known the Prophet Muhammad. He would have seen him probably, he would maybe have heard him preach. He may have known him personally – and that really is quite a thought to conjure with,” he says.

First-hand witness

Prof Thomas says that some of the passages of the Koran were written down on parchment, stone, palm leaves and the shoulder blades of camels – and a final version, collected in book form, was completed in about 650.

Prof Thomas says the writer of this manuscript could have heard the Prophet Muhammad preach

He says that “the parts of the Koran that are written on this parchment can, with a degree of confidence, be dated to less than two decades after Muhammad’s death”.

“These portions must have been in a form that is very close to the form of the Koran read today, supporting the view that the text has undergone little or no alteration and that it can be dated to a point very close to the time it was believed to be revealed.”

Susan Worrall says the university wants to put this internationally significant discovery on public display

The manuscript, written in “Hijazi script”, an early form of written Arabic, becomes one of the oldest known fragments of the Koran.

Because radiocarbon dating creates a range of possible ages, there is a handful of other manuscripts in public and private collections which overlap. So this makes it impossible to say that any is definitively the oldest.

But the latest possible date of the Birmingham discovery – 645 – would put it among the very oldest.

‘Precious survivor’

Dr Waley, curator for such manuscripts at the British Library, said “these two folios, in a beautiful and surprisingly legible Hijazi hand, almost certainly date from the time of the first three caliphs”.

The first three caliphs were leaders in the Muslim community between about 632 and 656.

Dr Waley says that under the third caliph, Uthman ibn Affan, copies of the “definitive edition” were distributed.

“The Muslim community was not wealthy enough to stockpile animal skins for decades, and to produce a complete Mushaf, or copy, of the Holy Koran required a great many of them.”

Dr Waley suggests that the manuscript found by Birmingham is a “precious survivor” of a copy from that era or could be even earlier.

“In any case, this – along with the sheer beauty of the content and the surprisingly clear Hijazi script – is news to rejoice Muslim hearts.”

Muhammad Afzal of Birmingham Central Mosque said he was very moved to see the manuscript

The manuscript is part of the Mingana Collection of more than 3,000 Middle Eastern documents gathered in the 1920s by Alphonse Mingana, a Chaldean priest born near Mosul in modern-day Iraq.

He was sponsored to take collecting trips to the Middle East by Edward Cadbury, who was part of the chocolate-making dynasty.

The local Muslim community has already expressed its delight at the discovery in their city and the university says the manuscript will be put on public display.

“When I saw these pages I was very moved. There were tears of joy and emotion in my eyes. And I’m sure people from all over the UK will come to Birmingham to have a glimpse of these pages,” said Muhammad Afzal, chairman of Birmingham Central Mosque.

The university says the Koran fragments will go on display in the Barber Institute in Birmingham in October.

Prof Thomas says it will show people in Birmingham that they have a “treasure that is second to none”.

Zimbabwe down India by 10 runs, level series 1-1

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Zimbabwe

Harare: A gritty Zimbabwe overcame a below-par India by 10 runs to draw their two-match Twenty20 International (T20I) series at the Harare Sports Club here on Sunday.

Opener Chamu Chibhabha’s fighting knock of a 51-ball 67 lifted Zimbabwe to 145/7 in 20 overs. In reply, India managed only 135/9 in the allotted 20 overs to lose their second T20I match.

Robin Uthappa’s breezy knock of a 25-ball 42 gave India immense impetus but the visitors were reduced to 69/5 in nine overs. Stuart Binny (25), debutant Sanju Samson (19) and Axar Patel (13) gave India a lot of hopes but their contributions were not enough.

Zimbabwe came into the match desperate to salvage some pride as they were blanked 0-3 in the One-Day International (ODI) series and also lost the first T20I by 54 runs.

They found their hero in right-hander Chibhabha, who registered his fourth T20I fifty and waged a lone battle as Indian bowlers took wickets at regular intervals to keep the hosts in check. The 28-year-old in-form batsman completed his half-century in 38 deliveries and hit nine fours during his stay.

Chibhabha, who scored two fifties in the three-match One-Day International (ODI) series, and Hamilton Masakadza (19) started positively. But India drew the first blood when Masakadza edged a medium-pacer Sandeep Sharma-delivery to wicketkeeper Robin Uthappa off the second ball of the third over.

Later, medium pacer Mohit Sharma reduced Zimbabwe to 2/48 in the sixth over by getting rid of Sikandar Raza (8), who captained the hosts after regular skipper Elton Chigumbura got injured. The right-handed batsman played but not with enough force to beat Samson at deep third man.

Chibhabha found support from Sean Williams (17) and they managed a 37-run third-wicket partnership that ended when the left-hander offered a return catch to young left-arm spinner Axar Patel.

The hosts’ innings struggled even in the death overs with Charles Conventry (4) failing to trouble the Indians as he was ruled leg before wicket (LBW) against all-rounder Binny. Chibhabha also perished, being bowled by medium fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Bhuvneshwar repeated his act when he dismantled the stumps of Craig Ervine (7). Lower-order bat Prosper Utseya (1) was dismissed by Mohit.

For India, Bhuvneshwar and Mohit took two wickets each, while Binny, Sandeep and Axar picked a wicket apiece that helped the visitors restrict Zimbabwe to 145/7.

In reply, India got off to a poor start, losing openers Ajinkya Rahane (4) and Murali Vijay (13) early. While skipper Rahane ran himself out, Tamil Nadu star Vijay was bowled by leg-spinner Graeme Cremer, who also removed Manish Pandey (0).

Karnataka batsman Uthappa found boundaries at will even though others were failing. He hit nine fours before offering a return catch to left-arm spinner Williams. Middle-order batsman Kedar Jadhav (5) found himself short of the crease at the bowler’s end while taking a Binny’s double. Taurai Muzarabani’s direct throw from deep mid-wicket forced India to slump to 69/5 in ninth over.

Thereafter, Binny (24) and young Kerala wicketkeeper-batsman Samson (19) forged a 36-run stand for the sixth wicket to revive India’s hopes.

But Cremer struck again, taking his third wicket as Binny offered a catch to Chibhabha. Axar and Samson did their best but it was not enough.

For Zimbabwe, Cremer was the pick of the bowlers as he gave away only 18 runs while taking three wickets in four overs. Christopher Mpofu, Williams and Muzarabani picked up a wicket apiece that forced India to complete the tour with a solitary loss.

(IANS)

Just a ‘Mistake’: US airstrikes kill allied soldiers in Afghanistan

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Helicopters attack outpost in broad daylight in what could be worst such incident in nearly 14 years of war

U.S.-led coalition has "made a very big mistake," said one official, after an attack on an Afghan outpost left at least ten soldiers dead. (Photo: File/Wikimedia Commons)

U.S.-led coalition has “made a very big mistake,” said one official, after an attack on an Afghan outpost left at least ten soldiers dead. (Photo: File/Wikimedia Commons)

by Jon Queally, Common Dreams

In what may be the worst “friendly fire” incident of the U.S. war in Afghanistan since it began in 2001, reports on Monday indicate that at least ten Afghan soldiers were killed and others wounded after their compound was fired on by U.S. military helicopters.

According to initial reports citing Afghan officials, a pair of U.S. gunships attacked the outpost in Logar Province in the morning hours. Pentagon officials have confirmed there was an “incident” in the area which is now under investigation.

Agence France-Presse reports:

The early morning raid in Baraki Barak district of Logar province comes as coalition forces increase air strikes on potential militant targets despite a drawdown of NATO forces after 13 years of war.

The bombing marked the second such incident in the area since last December when a NATO air strike killed five civilians and wounded six others.

“At 6am (0130 GMT) today, two US helicopters attacked a checkpoint in Baraki Barak,” district governor Mohammad Rahim Amin told reporters. “The checkpoint caught fire … and 10 Afghan army soldiers were killed,” he added, revising down a previous estimate that 14 soldiers were killed.

A statement by Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense said that helicopters belonging to the U.S.-led military coalition had come under enemy attack in the area and returned fire, mistakenly hitting the army post.

Despite that statement, the Afghan army corps commander for the region, Sharif Yaftali, told the Washington Post that the U.S.-led coalition had “made a very big mistake” because the strike was during the daytime, and the outpost was perched on a hill top, making it visible for U.S. forces to determine that it was controlled by its allies.

“The Afghanistan flag was waving on our post, when we came under attack,” said Yaftali.

UN endorses Iran nuclear agreement

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Measure unanimously adopted by Security Council to clear path for lifting of international sanctions on Iran’s economy.

UN

by Al Jazeera

The UN Security Council has unanimously adopted a resolution that will clear a path for international sanctions on Iran’s economy to be lifted.

On condition that Iran respects the agreement to the letter, seven UN resolutions passed since 2006 to sanction Iran will be gradually terminated, according to the resolution’s text.

“The draft resolution has been adopted unanimously,” Gerard van Bohemen, ambassador of New Zealand, which holds the current presidency of the Security Council, announced after Monday’s vote.

(AFP)

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