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Archives for 2015

Nation remembers Indira Gandhi on her 98th birth anniversary

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Indira Gandhi was cremated at 'Shakti Sthal' after she was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.

Indira Gandhi was cremated at ‘Shakti Sthal’ after she was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.

New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari and top leaders of the Congress today paid rich tributes to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on her 98th birth anniversary.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi, party Vice President Rahul Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh were among the Congress leaders, who paid floral tributes to the leader at her memorial ‘Shakti Sthal’ on the banks of river Yamuna.

Indira Gandhi was cremated at ‘Shakti Sthal’ after she was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.

Other Congress leaders to pay floral tributes to Indira Gandhi, included MS Bitta, Ashok Gehlot and Motilal Vora, among others.

While no one from the NDA government was present at ‘Shakti Sthal’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to pay homage to Indira Gandhi.

“Tributes to Indira ji on her birth anniversary,” he tweeted.

A recorded speech by Indira Gandhi was played on the occasion, following which tri-colour balloons were released by the leaders.

Devotional music was played during the programme and an all-religion prayer was also organised.

Indira Gandhi was born on November 19, 1917 in the politically influential Nehru family.

The first female Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi served as PM from 1966 to 1977 and then again from 1980 until her assassination in 1984.

She is also the second-longest-serving Prime Minister of India.

(PTI)

Hindu Mahasabha leader, 2 others misbehave with airhostess

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Hindu Mahasabha airhostess

Coimbatore: A Hindu Mahasabha leader and two other lawyers, who were allegedly in an inebriated state, have been arrested on charges of harassing the crew and passengers of a Chennai-bound flight before it was to take off from here last night.

The three, Senthel Kumar, Raja, both from Perundurai, and Subhash Swaminathan from Trichy, who is Vice President of Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha’s Tamil Nadu unit, were today remanded in judicial custody for 14 days by a court, police said here.

They boarded an Indigo flight at 10 PM last night. The trouble started before the plane took off when one of the three lawyers allegedly took photograph of an air hostess from his mobile phone which was objected to by the woman. Other passengers also protested against the behaviour and later the pilot stepped in and asked the accused to behave.

After an argument, the passengers threatened to get down from the plane if the lawyers were not deboarded from the aircraft, they said.

Finally, the matter was reported to airport authorities who alerted the police. The three lawyers were detained by CISF personnel.

They were taken to a police station and put under arrest after questioning. The flight was delayed by one hour due to the incident.

An FIR was filed in the wee hours today against the three lawyers under IPC Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 268 (public nuisance) and under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, police said.

The three accused were produced today in VI Judicial magistrate court which remanded them in judicial custody for 14 days.

(Agencies)

Delhi’s AAP government clears Jan Lokpal Bill

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Jan Lokpal bill

New Delhi: Under attack for delaying the tabling of the Jan Lokpal bill in the Delhi legislative assembly, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday cleared the anti-graft legislation an issue on which the party was formed three years ago.

“There was a big movement in the country to bring a strict Lokpal. There was a need for a strict Lokpal which would be more than a slogan and a mere formality,” Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said.

“The bill which Anna (Hazare)-ji had talked about has been cleared by the Delhi cabinet as the Delhi Jan Lokpal Bill 2015. There is no change to the bill which Anna-ji had proposed,” he told reporters after the cabinet meeting.

Sisodia was referring to the anti-graft legislation envisaged and vociferously demanded by social activist Hazare who was supported by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was then an activist in 2011.

However, Kejrwal went on to set up the AAP in November 2012, when the Congress-led central government did not concede to Hazare’s version of the bill. Hazare did not approve of Kejriwal’s move.

The bill was cleared by the cabinet on the first day of the winter session of the Delhi assembly, which got off to a stormy start with the BJP demanding tabling of the bill.

Asked when the legislation will be tabled in the assembly, Sisodia said the date would be decided by the Business Advisory Committee.

Until Tuesday, the government was considering pushing amendments to the existing Delhi Lokayukta Act rather than moving for the much-awaited Jan Lokpal Bill, it was learnt.

The bill, which envisages a strong institution of ombudsman, is unlikely to become law soon since it needs the approval of the central government with which the AAP government is locked in a bitter battle.

Officials said the bill was on the lines of the Lokayukta Act in Uttarakhand which Kejriwal had helped to draft in 2011.

The chief minister will come under the purview of the ombudsman under the Delhi Jan Lokpal Bill, they said.

“Time-bound investigation in six months, and attachment of property and assets are some of the key features of this legislation. All other provisions are similar to the Uttarakhand Lokayukta Act,” an official said.

In February 2014, Arvind Kejriwal resigned as the chief minister as the Congress and the BJP opposed the tabling of the Jan Lokpal Bill, citing that the legislation needed the Centre’s approval first.

With the promise of bringing the bill, the AAP again stormed to power in February this year, winning 67 of the 70 seats.

Kejriwal had promised to bring the legislation in the first session of the fresh assembly.

(Agencies)

Research scholar with 95 % disability gets his Phd

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Akshansh-Gupta

New Delhi: A research scholar with 95% disability, for whom even getting admitted to a school was a challenge, has been awarded a doctorate in Computer Science by Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in a special ceremony.

Akshansh Gupta, fondly called as Bunty Dada, was awarded Phd for his thesis ‘Brain Computer Interface’ by VC S K Sopory ahead of the formal convocation ceremony scheduled to be held next year, reports TOI.

Indeed, it’s a rare feat achieved by a 32-year-old man who grew up with cerebral palsy.

He is grateful to his mother and his school teacher Meera Sahu for shaping his destiny and rickshaw-puller Mahajan who used to take him to the Umanath Singh Institute of Engineering and Technology in Jaunpur.

Akshansh wishes to start his professional life at JNU if the university is ready to accommodate him.

(Agencies)

Abolishing Planning Commission has been harmful for India: Manmohan Singh

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manmohan singh

New Delhi: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said that the country’s economic policy has “no sense of direction” after the Modi government decided to scrap the Planning Commission.

Singh also dismissed as “malicious” propaganda that no development had taken place during previous Congress regimes.

“Economic policy has no sense of direction and this is largely because Planning Commission, with all its deficiencies….was a positive dynamic instrument of steering the country’s economy,” Singh, known as the architect of economic reforms in the country, said.

He was speaking at the inauguration of a National Convention here organised by the Indian Youth Congress on the occasion of Indira Gandhi’s 98th birth anniversary.

Singh asked his party workers to tell people how government’s decision to abolish the planning body has been “harmful” for the country.

The senior Congress leader said that as Indira Gandhi followed Jawaharlal Nehru’s path of planned development, she always emphasised the need of Planning Commission for a country as diverse as India and one which faced multifarious challenges.

Recalling her contribution in various fields, including the Green revolution and the birth of Bangladesh, he said that Indira Gandhi believed that the plan body was necessary to address the development needs of all the parts of the country with a strong sense of vision and commitment.

Singh dubbed as “malicious” propaganda that nothing was done for the development of the country during the Congress regimes, including those of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.

The former Prime Minister asked the Youth Congress and the Seva Dal to work together in reaching out to people when the party will be facing several state elections followed by the Lok Sabha polls in 2019.

(Agencies)

A medley of films at IFFI 2015

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IFFI 2015

The International Film Festival of India (IFFI Goa 2015) begins from 20th Nov, 2015 and it will be curtains down on the festival on 30th Nov, 2015. This year the bouquet of International competition section of IFFI Goa 2015 seems to be very attractive and appealing. The fest is all set to screen almost 15 films helmed by world – class filmmakers.

And the films to be screened in the competition section are Kaushik Ganguly’s Cinemawala and Debesh Chatterjee’s Natoker Moto are the 2 Indian Films selected in this section. Besides the International Competition section at IFFI brings forth the cinematic vibrancy of the world cinema. The section is so popular amongst the world film fraternity that this year it has attracted films and filmmakers even from unconventional film regions like Argentina, Venezuela, Serbia, Bolivia, Jordan among others. Traversing through various languages and countries, the films in this section are nothing short of a masterpiece envisioned by the world – class filmmakers.

Appreciating films and the art of film making by talented filmmakers from the world, the International Competition section will offer a unique opportunity to showcase the most spectacular films to film enthusiasts and film makers from India and across the world.

A brief insight into some of the exceptional films, which will be competing for the prestigious awards this year at IFFI Goa 2015 include:-

1. 3000 Nights (Mai Masri) from Palestine, France, Jordan, Lebanon / 2015 / Arabic, Hebrew / 103 minutes / colour. It’s about Layal, a young newlywed Palestinian school teacher who is arrested after being falsely accused and sentenced to & years of prison. She is transferred to a high security Israeli women’s prison where she encounters a terrifying world in which Palestinian political prisoners are incarcerated with Israeli criminal inmates.

2. Embrace Of The Serpent (Ciro Guerra) Colombia / Venezuela / Argentina / 2015 / Spanish / Portuguese / German / Catalan / Latin / 122 minutes / colour. : It is an epic story of the 1st contact, encounter, approach, betrayal and eventually, life – transcending friendship, between Karamakate, an Amazonian shaman, last survivor of his people & above all 2 scientists.

3. Enclave (Goran Radovanovic) Serbia / Germany / 2015 / Serbian / 92 minutes / colour. The movie traces the story of Nenad, a 10 year old Christian boy from a Serbian enclave who crosses enemy lines in order to ensure a proper community burial for his late grandfather.

4. Filosofi Kopi (Angga Dwimas Sasongko) Indonesia / 2015 / Indonesian / 117 minutes / colour. The movie is a tale about soul – searching and making peace with the past through coffee. Ben and Jody are 2 friends and owners of ‘Filosofi Kopi’, a sophisticated coffee shop known for serving the best coffee in the country.

5. Journey To The Shore (Kiyoshi Kurosawa) Japan, France / 2015 / Japanese/ 128 minutes / colour. The movie is a tale about Mizuki’s husband Yusuke drowned at sea 3 years ago. When he suddenly comes back home, she is not that surprised. Instead, Mizuki is wondering what took him so long. She agrees to let Yusuke take her on a journey.

6. Kapo In Jerusalem (Uri Barbash) Israel / 2015 / Hebrew / 98 minutes / colour. It is the tale of a pair of Auschwitz survivors who arrive in Jerusalem. Bruno is a doctor and Sarah a pianist. They are trying to rehabilitate their lives and love in a city under siege during the War of Independence.

7. Labyrinth Of Lies (Giulio Ricciarelli) Germany / 2014 / German / 121 minutes / colour. The movie is a tale of the economic miracle which is changing the life of Germans in post war Germany. Most of them are sick of the war and prefer to push their guilt to the back of their mind. When a journalist identifies a teacher in the playground as a former guard from Auschwitz.

8. Eisenstein In Guanajuato (Peter Greenaway) Netherlands / Mexico / 2015 / English, Spanish / 105 minutes / colour. The movie unfolds in 1931, at the height of the artistic powers. Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein travels to Mexico to shoot a new film to be titled Que Viva Mexico. Freshly rejected by Hollywood and under increasing pressure to return to Stalinist Russia, Eisenstein arrives at the city of Guanajuato.

9. The Man Who Became A Horse (Amir – Hossein Saghafi) Iran / 2015 / Farsi / 110 minutes / colour. A father and his daughter live together. The mother has passed away. There is just one white horse left for their daughter. The father prevents his daughter from leaving him though she is married. The father is even planning to kill his son – in – law but the girl leaves him and he goes crazy.

10. The Measure Of A Man) (La Loi Du Marche – Stephane Brize) France / 2015 / French / 93 minutes / colour. It is the tale of Thierry who at the age of 51 and after 20 months of unemployment starts a new job that soon brings him face to face with a moral dilemma. How much is he willing to accept to keep his job?

11. Mustang (Deniz Gamze Erguven) Turkey / 2015 / Turkish / 97 minutes / colour. The movie unfolds in the beginning of the summer. In a village in the north of Turkey, Lale and her 4 sisters come home from school, innocently playing with boys. The supposed debauchery of their games causes a scandal with unintended consequences.

12. Rams (Grimur Hakonarson) Iceland / 2015 / Icelandic / 93 minutes / Colour. The movie unfolds in a secluded valley in Iceland, Gummi & Kiddi live side by side, tending to their sheep. Their ancestral sheep – stock is considered one of the country’s best and the 2 brothers are repeatedly awarded for their prized rams that carry an ancient lineage.

13. Sealed Cargo (Julia Vargas) Bolivia, Mexico, Venezuela, France 2015 / Spanish / 107 minutes / colour. The movie opens when somewhere in the Andes half buried containers of suspicious minerals are found. The villagers demand their police to get rid of them. The government decides to send them to the border by any means, and the only available train is a steam locomotive whose anarchist driver, Augustin, is retired

14. Natoker Moto (Debesh Chatterjee) India / 2015 / 121 minutes / colour. It is the story of a journey of a female theatre artist and her multi -dimensional conflicting experience as a girl, as a woman and even as an artist. It is more so when especially a woman is of maverick capability and of excellence beyond her time.

15. Cinemawala (Kaushik Ganguly) India / 2015 / colour). Pranabendu Das is a retired film exhibitor from a small town in West Bengal. He owns a movie theatre ‘Kamalini’ named after his separated wife. This old man never retired on his own wish. He was forced to take up this decision.

The 46th edition of International Film Festival of India – IFFI Goa 2015 will be held from 20th Nov, 2015 to 30th Nov, 2015 in Goa where film luminaries across the world will witness a mélange of National as well as international cinema.

Bangalore Literature Festival returns with its 4th Edition

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The flagship event on the Indian and International literary circuit will be held on 5th & 6th December, 2015.

Bangalore Literature Festival

Bengaluru: Bangalore Literature Festival (BLF), the flagship literary event on the cultural calendar of Bangalore city, is all set to roll out its fourth edition on 5th & 6th December, 2015 at the Hotel Royal Orchid, Old Airport Road. The BLF has emerged as the second largest literary conclave in the country that brings the best of minds in the world of literature to Bengaluru. Building on the success of the earlier editions, this time the festival brings together nearly a hundred stalwarts from the world of literature, in various languages, both from India and abroad.

This edition has multiple focus themes. The recent debates across the country on intolerance, the returning of awards by writers and artists, refashioning of history and appropriation of historical characters by political parties of all hues will find a resonance in the festival’s deliberations. The centenary of the World War 1 and the lessons it holds for world peace, as also the centenary of the Nightingale of India, Bharat Ratna M S Subbulakshmi will be discussed. A Carnatic classical concert of MSS’ trademark songs presented by her granddaughter Aishwarya Srinivasan, graced by MS Subbulakshmi’s daughter Radha Vishwanathan, will be an added attraction. Other themes will include mythology, advertising, history and biography, the Partition, contemporary politics, young adult literature, cinema, poetry and crime. This edition will feature an eclectic range of authors and speakers, including several distinguished names like Javed Akhtar, Chandrashekhara Kambara, Shashi Deshpande, Sarah Joseph, Upamanyu Chatterjee, M J Akbar, Devdutt Pattanaik, Barkha Dutt, Nandan Nilekani, Jairam Ramesh, Ashutosh, Piyush Pandey, Ramya, Padma Rao Sundarji, Prakash Belawadi, Anuj Dhar, Lakshmi Vishwanathan, Radhavallabh Tripathi, Jaishree Misra, Sambit Patra, Maya Mirchandani, Shatavadhani R Ganesh, Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi and others.

A sizeable contingent of Kannada voices will discuss and debate the state of the language, its future and also various aspects of the rich linguistic and literary traditions of Kannada. Notable among them are Narahalli Balasubramanya, Dayanand TK, Arif Raja, KN Ganeshaiah, Diwakar S, Kanaka Ha. Ma., Tulasi Venugopal, Prajna Mattihalli etc.

True to the festival’s moorings, several city-based writers like Jahnavi Barua, Zac O’ Yeah, Preeti Shenoy, Andaleeb Wajid, Rachna Singh, Poile Sengupta, Shoba Narayan, Milan Vohra, Sharath Komarraju, Mani Rao, Asha Francis, Nandita Bose and others are participating, as also are young voices of Indian Writing in English like Durjoy Dutta, Ravinder Singh, Manu Pillai, Aanchal Malhotra, Viral Shah, Rupa Gulab, Mona Verma, Manju Jaidka, Manjiri Prabhu and others.

In association with the Sahitya Akademi, the Festival brings to Bangalore compelling voices from the rich world of Indian languages –Dr. Radhavallabh Tripathi (Sanskrit), Dr. Subodh Sarkar (Bengali), Dr. Mohammad Zaman Azurdah (Kashmiri), Dr. Mridula Garg (Hindi), Vaasanthi (Tamil), Madhurantakam Narendra (Telugu), Sarah Joseph, Sangeetha Srinivasan and Janaky Sreedharan (Malayalam), Paramita Satpathy (Odia), Rakshanda Jalil (Urdu) and several others.

The international authors/speakers include Haroon Khalid and Anam Zakaria (Pakistan), Stephen Kopetzky (Germany), Joao Tordo (Portugal), Emily Holleman (USA), Anne-Marie Kenessey (Switzerland), Giles Hazelgrove (UK), Neal Hall (USA), Per Bloch (Denmark) and others.

As the only literature festival that has structured sessions for children and young adults as part of the ‘Makkala Koota’, BLF continues to wow the younger ones in the audience with interesting activities like writing workshop, mythology quiz, audio-visual storytelling with live sketching, cooking your story using puppets and doodle your wall. With Amar Chitra Katha, Pratham, Duckbill and Bookalore, performance storyteller Vikram Sridhar brings together a treat for children of all ages.

Languages are scarily getting endandered in an increasingly gloablised world. Being alive to this problem, BLF in associaiton with film makers Jenny Pinto and Ratnottama Sengupta will be curating a round-the-clock screening of national award-winning films in various endangered languages: ‘Byari’ (in language Byari, Director: Suveeran), ‘Orong’ (in Rabha/ Dir: Suraj Kumar Swarth), ‘Nachom-ia Kumpasar’ (in Konkani/ Dir: Bardroy Baretto), ‘Qissa’ (in Punjabi/ Dir: Anup Singh), ‘Ri’ (in Khasi/ Dir: Pradip Kurbah), ‘Crossing the Bridge’ (in Sherdukpen), ‘Pagdi – The Honour’ (in Haryanvi/ Dir: Rajeev Bhatia) and others. There will also be a panel discussion on ‘Why Speak of Little Languages In a Globalized World?’ featuring filmmakers, dancers, theatre persons and writers.

Buoyed by the success of the unique concept of ‘Lit-Mart’ where aspiring authors got to make crisp three minute pitches of their manuscripts to an array of literary agents, commissioning editors and publishers, Lit Mart returns this year. Entries are to be made by aspiring authors on our website and social media page and the shortlisted candidates will be asked to make their final pitches to the panel of Jayapriya Vasudevan, Deepthi Talwar, Rashmi Menon, Ajitja GS during the festival.

For the first time, BLF is coming up with a Literary Award in conjunction with Atta Galatta, the city-based bookstore and art-literature space brought to life by Subodh Sankar and Lakshmi Subodh. Atta Galatta is also the Official Festival Bookstore. The awards carry a total purse of Rs 2 lakhs under the 3 categories of -Best Fiction (English), Best Non-Fiction (English) and a Literary Achievement Award in Kannada. The judges are eminent writers Usha KR, Vivek Shanbhag and Harish Bijoor.

A main attraction in this year’s festival is a unique installation on World War 1 by Elke Falat from Germany. Based on a combination of historical material and a concentrated selection of artworks from Germany and India, it focuses on the effects, reception and historical narrative of the First World War and provides the opportunity for a re-positioning. In the process, diverse historical strands are taken up and carried to the here and now. Alongside the special prisoner-of-war camps, the exhibition focuses its attention on the search for traces in India and Bangalore. While most of the soldiers came from Northern India, men from Bangalore also took part in the war as members of the Mysore Imperial Service Troops. It should be noted that Bangalore was decidedly influenced by the British military and is still an armaments production site. The so-called “Bangalore Torpedo” was manufactured here during the First World War.

Vikram Sampath, Author/historian and Co-Founder of Bangalore Literature Festival, says, “Over the last three years, BLF has made a distinctive mark not only in the city, but also the country as a festival that is serious about issues concerning literature. Each year we have attempted to bring something new to the fore and engage our spirited audience with panel discussions, workshops and cultural programmes. This year too, we are pleased to host an exciting lineup of established and emerging authors and speakers who will discuss diverse topics. The idea is to make the festival a must-visit event in the country.”

Shinie Antony, author/co-founder BLF, says: ‘One can browse through multi-lingual books, attend book launches and author signing sessions, participate in workshops on detective writing by Zac O’Yeah, short-story writing by Indira Chandrashekhar and book-binding by Jenny Pinto, taste local and international cuisine – all in the true tradition of ‘Literature in the Park’.’

Partners this year include the Government of Karnataka- Departments of Tourism and Kannada and Culture, Microlabs, Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore, Sahitya Akademi and Symbiosis School of Media and Communication.

The Festival opens at 9.30 am on both days with sessions going on through the day across two parallel sessions on the green lawns the charming Royal Orchid Hotel. Entry is free and open to all via registration on the website www.bangaloreliteraturefestival.org and via Facebook and Twitter on #BlrLitFest. Pre-registration is highly recommended.

BJP and JD(S) seek Lokayukta’s removal

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Bhaskar-Rao

Bengaluru: Taking the first step for the removal of Justice Y Bhaskar Rao from the post of the Karnataka Lokayukta, the Opposition BJP and JD(S) have submitted separate petitions to State Legislative Speaker KagoduThimmappa for initiating the process of conducting an inquiry into alleged charges of corruption in the office of Lokayukta on Tuesday.

The two opposition parties have also submitted similar petitions to State Legislative Council Chairman DH Shankaramurthy.
A total 46 BJP members and 37 JD(S) members in the Assembly have signed the petition.

After receiving the petition, the Speaker said he would write to the Chief Justice of Karnataka and request for constituting a committee of retired judges to probe into alleged charges of corruption in the office of the Lokayukta.

Lokayukta Justice Bhaskar Rao’s son Ashwin is at the centre of a controversy for allegedly being a key player in the racket in collusion with some officials of the body.

For the removal of the Lokayuka, one third of the total members of either House or both Houses of the Legislature must sign a notice of a motion for the removal on the ground of proved mis-behaviour or incapacity.

The Speaker said he would refer the petition to the Chief Justice of the High Court for investigation in two or three days.

The State amended the Karnataka Lokayukta Act during last session of the state legislature in July last and simplified the removal procedure of the anti-graft ombudsman.

Once the Speaker or the Chairman (or both) refer the petition to the Chief Justice, the Lokayukta would be precluded from discharging duties during the pendency of the motion.

Justice Bhaskar Rao has been continuously on leave since July and the institution of the Lokayukta has become virtually non-functional.

The State Government can appoint an Advocate to conduct the case.

Terming the entire issue as a “legally complicated matter,” Thimmappa said: “I want to have an unanimous opinion on this.”

“The three members, consisting two members appointed by Chief Justice and one member appointed by us will inquire and come out with a finding which will be placed before the Legislature and a final decision will be taken,” the Speaker explained.

(Agencies)

Mosques vandalised as US states reject Syria refugees

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Suspected hate crimes targeting Muslims carried out as anti-Islam rhetoric swells in the US following Paris attacks.

More than 4.2 million Syrians have fled their country as the civil war continues [Santi Palacios/AP]

More than 4.2 million Syrians have fled their country as the civil war continues [Santi Palacios/AP]

by Patrick Strickland, Al Jazeera

Several mosques have been vandalised and a number of suspected hate crimes targeting Muslims carried out after dozens of United States governors announced they would not accept Syrian refugees in their states.

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a civil rights organisation, said on Monday that it has documented recent “vandalism, threats and hate [incidents]” in Massachusetts, Florida, Texas, Kentucky, Virginia, Nebraska, Tennessee, Ohio and New York, among other states.

The wave of incidents follows declarations by at least 27 state governors – 26 from the right-wing Republican party and a Democrat – saying they will block Syrian refugees, citing last Friday’s deadly attacks in Paris, claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

In one incident, officials at the Islamic Centre in Omaha, Nebraska, said that an image of the Eiffel Tower was spray-painted on the wall of a local mosque overnight on Monday, CAIR said.

In Pflugerville, Texas, worshippers arrived at their local mosque on Monday morning to find faeces smeared on the door and a torn-up copy of the Quran on the doorstep.

The Islamic Center of St Petersburg, Florida, received threatening voicemails just hours after news of the Paris attacks broke.

The caller said that they have “a militia that is going to come down to your Islamic Society of Pinellas County and firebomb you and shoot whoever is there in the head”.

According to CAIR, another Florida mosque, the location of which has not been made public, received similar threats. A caller vowed to “bomb” the mosque and “shoot people at will”.

In Portland, Oregon, protesters gathered outside a local and taunted worshippers as they arrived for prayer. They called members of the local Ahmadiyya Muslim community “cowards” and told them they are “going to hell”.

On Tuesday, an Uber driver in Charlotte, North Carolina, said he was punched and threatened with death by a passenger who mistook him as a Muslim, according to local media.

And a Muslim family in Orlando, Florida, said their family home was shot at by an unknown assailant on Monday. Speaking to local media, the Elmasri family and their neighbours said they were targeted because of their faith.

‘Clear uptick in anti-Islam rhetoric’

Corey Saylor, spokesperson at CAIR, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that the governors’ refusal to accept Syrian refugees has encouraged Islamophobic sentiment.

“It gives people a license to put into action the uglier things they may be thinking” about Muslims, he said.

“After any incident like the Paris attack, we see a clear uptick in anti-Islam rhetoric.”

The Syrian uprising started in March 2011 and quickly devolved into a full-scale civil war. More than 250,000 people have been killed throughout the conflict, according to United Nations estimates.

More than 4.2 million Syrians have become refugees, while about 7.6 million are internally displaced within the country’s borders.

“Closing the doors on people fleeing war zones is not a message that America should send to the world,” Saylor said. “Rather than values, the [governors] are projecting fear.”

Some legislators called for US President Barack Obama’s administration to accept Christian refugees and reject Muslims.

Saylor says such calls are misinformed because ” ISIL’s number one victims are Muslims.”

Human rights groups have slammed the governors’ anti-refugee measures.

While governors are not able to ban Syrian refugees from residing in their states, they can suspend cooperation between state programmes and the federal government.

The federal government is the sole authority for refugee resettlement. But states can cut their own funding to local refugee programmes, placing the full weight the financial burden on the federal government.

“That can make it more difficult,” Angelita Baeyens, programmes director for the Robert F Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, told Al Jazeera. “But it also sends a message of extreme intolerance and Islamophobia.”

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said on Monday that the US should not allow any Syrian refugees, including orphaned children, into the country.

“I don’t think orphans under five are being, you know, should be admitted into the United States at this point,” Christie said.

Baeyens said that Christie’s comments and others like it “create a climate of fear and suspicion”.

“In the face of the worst refugee crisis in recent history, this rhetoric is really appalling,” she added. “It is collective hysteria.”

Presidential candidates have also chimed in. Writing on Twitter, Republican Donald Trump claimed that “some” Syrian refugees may be ISIL members.

Mike Huckabee, presidential candidate and former Arkansas governor, made similar anti-refugee comments during an interview with Fox News on Monday.

“Can you imagine bringing in a bunch of Syrian refugees who’ve lived in the desert their whole lives that are suddenly thrown into an English speaking community? Where it’s maybe in Minnesota where it is 20 degrees below zero?”

According to CAIR, Trump and Huckabee are among more than a dozen presidential hopefuls for the 2016 elections who have employed Islamophobic rhetoric during their campaigns.

While only 1,500 Syrians have been resettled in the US to date, the Obama administration announced earlier this year that 10,000 more will be accepted throughout a one-year span.

Speaking of the governors’ declarations, Human Rights Watch said Syrian refugees were being used as a “scapegoat”.

“Resettled refugees from Syria have fled persecution and violence, and undergone rigorous security screening by the US government,” Alison Parker, codirector of HRW’s US programme, said in a statement.

“The governors’ announcements amount to fearmongering attempts to block Syrians from joining the generous religious groups and communities who step forward to welcome them.”

Two suspects killed in Paris police raid

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Deaths in Saint-Denis suburb police operation include female suicide bomber who blew herself up, prosecutor says.

Paris police raid

by Al Jazeera

Two suspects linked to the deadly attacks in Paris died after police raided an apartment in a northern suburb of the French capital, a prosecutor said. Police declared the operation was now over.

Forensic experts were examining the apartment after female suspect killed herself by detonating a vest rigged with explosives at the start of the operation in Saint-Denis early Wednesday, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said.

A second suspect was shot during the raid, police said.

The identity of the casualties was not immediately released. However, French media said the target of the raid was Belgian national Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a key suspect in Friday’s attacks, in which at least 129 people were killed. His fate remains unclear.

Heavily armed police were seen hauling away a naked man from the building at the centre of the raid in Saint-Denis.

Earlier, Molins said in a statement that three men holed up inside the apartment were arrested, while a man and woman were detained near the location of the raid.

Three police officers and a passer-by were wounded in an initial shootout at the apartment, sources told Al Jazeera.

Hollande defiant

Speaking at an assembly of French mayors, President François Hollande called for a larger coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which has claimed the attacks in Paris.

Hollande also confirmed that a “dangerous and heavy” police operation had ended with the deaths and arrests.

“It was aimed at neutralising last night the terrorists based in Saint-Denis who are linked to the authors of the attacks and awful crimes of Friday night,” Hollande said.

“Two of the terrorists have died in the raid. There have been arrests. I can imagine the anguish which took hold of the residents of Saint-Denis in the early hours of the morning and I salute their calmness.

“I want to also express all my solidarity with the guards of the Mayor of Saint-Denis who already experienced the attack close to Stade de France on Friday.”

Residents of the area in northern Paris first reported hearing bursts of gunfire at 4:30am (3:30 GMT) as police exchanged fire with the suspects.

After a short lull in the operation, at least seven explosions were heard at 6:30 GMT, with more blasts reported later in the morning as a standoff ensued.

French soldiers secured the area as shots were exchanged in Saint-Denis in an operation to catch suspects [Jacky Naegelen/Reuters]

About 50 soldiers, heavily armed special police units, and ambulances gathered at the scene as a helicopter hovered overhead.

“Saint-Denis is a relatively poor area, housing many immigrants. It is near the area of the national stadium Stade de France, where suicide bombers claimed several lives during Friday’s attacks,” Al Jazeera’s Jacky Rowland reported from the scene.

Police also detained a man who said the suspects were staying in his flat.

“I found out that it’s at my house, and that the people are holed up at my flat. I didn’t know they were terrorists,” Jawad Ben Dow told Reuters news agency.

“Someone asked me to put two people up for three days and I did them a favour, it’s normal. I don’t know where they came from I don’t know anything. If I’d known do you think I’d have done it?” he said.

Police ordered onlookers to clear the vicinity as ambulances and fire engines lined street.

Friday night’s attacks in the French capital raised security concerns around the world.

Two Air France flights from the United States diverted for emergency landings on Tuesday because of bomb threats. All passengers were reported safe and no explosives were found on the flights.

Hollande on Wednesday held a meeting to discuss proposals to extend by three months the state of emergency declared after attacks, the worst in France since World War II.

It will then be put to vote by lawmakers on Thursday and Friday.

In a sign of the nervousness gripping Europe after Friday’s carnage, a football match between Germany and the Netherlands was cancelled on Tuesday and the crowd evacuated after police acted on a “serious” bomb threat.

As police stepped up the hunt for the fugitives, French and Russian jets pounded ISIL targets in the group’s self-proclaimed capital of Raqqa in Syria for a third consecutive day.

France and Russia have vowed retaliation for the Paris attacks and last month’s bombing of a Russian airliner, also claimed by ISIL, which have galvanised international resolve to destroy the group and end Syria’s more than four-year civil war.

“It’s necessary to establish direct contact with the French and work with them as allies,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said as France prepared to send an aircraft carrier to the eastern Mediterranean.

Hollande will meet Putin in Moscow on November 26, two days after seeing US President Barack Obama in Washington.

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