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US air strike kills top Al Qaeda commander in Afghanistan

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Al Qaeda commander in Afghanistan

Baghdad: A US air strike in Afghanistan killed a senior Al Qaeda commander in charge of suicide bombing and two other militants, the Pentagon said Friday.

The attack, which occurred in Paktika province on July 11, killed Abu Khalil al-Sudani, a “high-ranking Al-Qaeda operational commander”, the Pentagon said in a statement released to reporters in Iraq who were travelling with US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter.

“Al-Sudani was one of three known violent extremists killed in the strike. The death of al-Sudani will further degrade Al Qaeda operations across the globe,” the statement said.

The Pentagon described Sudani as a senior shura member and head of Al Qaeda’s suicide and explosive operations, and said he was directly linked to plotting attacks against the United States.

“He also directed operations against Coalition, Afghan and Pakistani forces, and maintained a close association with Aymar al-Zawahiri, Al Qaeda’s leader,” the statement said.

In the statement, Carter said the killing of Sudani underscored the work done by General John Campbell, the commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, and his troops “to take the fight to Al Qaeda”.

“We will continue to counter violent extremism in the region and the world,” Carter said

(AFP)

Muslim inventions shaped the modern world: CNN Report

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Al Zahwari

by Olivia Sterns, CNN

London: Think of the origins of that staple of modern life, the cup of coffee, and Italy often springs to mind.

But in fact, Yemen is where the ubiquitous brew has its true origins.

Along with the first university, and even the toothbrush, it is among surprising Muslim inventions that have shaped the world we live in today.

The origins of these fundamental ideas and objects — the basis of everything from the bicycle to musical scales — are the focus of “1001 Inventions,” a book celebrating “the forgotten” history of 1,000 years of Muslim heritage.

“There’s a hole in our knowledge, we leap frog from the Renaissance to the Greeks,” professor Salim al-Hassani, Chairman of the Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation, and editor of the book told CNN.

“1001 Inventions” is now an exhibition at London’s Science Museum. Hassani hopes the exhibition will highlight the contributions of non-Western cultures — like the Muslim empire that once covered Spain and Portugal, Southern Italy and stretched as far as parts of China — to present day civilization.

Here Hassani shares his top 10 outstanding Muslim inventions:

1. Surgery

Around the year 1,000, the celebrated doctor Al Zahrawi published a 1,500 page illustrated encyclopedia of surgery that was used in Europe as a medical reference for the next 500 years. Among his many inventions, Zahrawi discovered the use of dissolving cat gut to stitch wounds — beforehand a second surgery had to be performed to remove sutures. He also reportedly performed the first caesarean operation and created the first pair of forceps.

2. Coffee

Now the Western world’s drink du jour, coffee was first brewed in Yemen around the 9th century. In its earliest days, coffee helped Sufis stay up during late nights of devotion. Later brought to Cairo by a group of students, the coffee buzz soon caught on around the empire. By the 13th century it reached Turkey, but not until the 16th century did the beans start boiling in Europe, brought to Italy by a Venetian trader.

3. Flying machine

“Abbas ibn Firnas was the first person to make a real attempt to construct a flying machine and fly,” said Hassani. In the 9th century he designed a winged apparatus, roughly resembling a bird costume. In his most famous trial near Cordoba in Spain, Firnas flew upward for a few moments, before falling to the ground and partially breaking his back. His designs would undoubtedly have been an inspiration for famed Italian artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci’s hundreds of years later, said Hassani.

4. University

In 859 a young princess named Fatima al-Firhi founded the first degree-granting university in Fez, Morocco. Her sister Miriam founded an adjacent mosque and together the complex became the al-Qarawiyyin Mosque and University. Still operating almost 1,200 years later, Hassani says he hopes the center will remind people that learning is at the core of the Islamic tradition and that the story of the al-Firhi sisters will inspire young Muslim women around the world today.

5. Algebra

The word algebra comes from the title of a Persian mathematician’s famous 9th century treatise “Kitab al-Jabr Wa l-Mugabala” which translates roughly as “The Book of Reasoning and Balancing.” Built on the roots of Greek and Hindu systems, the new algebraic order was a unifying system for rational numbers, irrational numbers and geometrical magnitudes. The same mathematician, Al-Khwarizmi, was also the first to introduce the concept of raising a number to a power.

6. Optics

“Many of the most important advances in the study of optics come from the Muslim world,” says Hassani. Around the year 1000 Ibn al-Haitham proved that humans see objects by light reflecting off of them and entering the eye, dismissing Euclid and Ptolemy’s theories that light was emitted from the eye itself. This great Muslim physicist also discovered the camera obscura phenomenon, which explains how the eye sees images upright due to the connection between the optic nerve and the brain.

7. Music

Muslim musicians have had a profound impact on Europe, dating back to Charlemagne tried to compete with the music of Baghdad and Cordoba, according to Hassani. Among many instruments that arrived in Europe through the Middle East are the lute and the rahab, an ancestor of the violin. Modern musical scales are also said to derive from the Arabic alphabet.

8. Toothbrush

According to Hassani, the Prophet Mohammed popularized the use of the first toothbrush in around 600. Using a twig from the Meswak tree, he cleaned his teeth and freshened his breath. Substances similar to Meswak are used in modern toothpaste.

9. The crank

Many of the basics of modern automatics were first put to use in the Muslim world, including the revolutionary crank-connecting rod system. By converting rotary motion to linear motion, the crank enables the lifting of heavy objects with relative ease. This technology, discovered by Al-Jazari in the 12th century, exploded across the globe, leading to everything from the bicycle to the internal combustion engine.

10. Hospitals

“Hospitals as we know them today, with wards and teaching centers, come from 9th century Egypt,” explained Hassani. The first such medical center was the Ahmad ibn Tulun Hospital, founded in 872 in Cairo. Tulun hospital provided free care for anyone who needed it — a policy based on the Muslim tradition of caring for all who are sick. From Cairo, such hospitals spread around the Muslim world.

For more information on muslim inventions go to: muslimheritage.com.

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.

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)

Rouhani says nuclear deal ‘political victory’ for Iran

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Dubbing it a proud moment for Iranians, President says Tehran will no longer be regarded as an international threat.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, right, who led the negotiations, is now back in Tehran [AP]

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, right, who led the negotiations, is now back in Tehran [AP]

by Al Jazeera

The nuclear deal with world powers is a political victory for Iran, President Hassan Rouhani has said, adding that the agreement meant Tehran would no longer be regarded as an international threat.

Rouhani’s comment came on Wednesday, a day after Iran and six world powers reached the deal, capping more than a decade of negotiations with a landmark agreement.

“No one can say Iran surrendered,” Rouhani said. “The deal is a legal, technical and political victory for Iran. It’s an achievement that Iran won’t be called a world threat any more.”

Under the deal, sanctions imposed by the United States, the European Union and the United Nations will be lifted in return for Iran agreeing long-term curbs on a nuclear programme that the West has suspected was aimed at creating a nuclear bomb.

Rouhani said the deal was not “perfect” but it was necessary to compromise.

“It was really difficult to preserve some of our red lines,” he said. “There was a time we doubted there could be a deal. It’s a historic deal and Iranians will be proud of it for generations to come.”

Among Iran’s main conditions, or “red lines”, at the talks were a refusal to accept a long freeze on nuclear research and development and a demand for a rapid lifting of sanctions.

Thousands of Iranians gathered in the capital, Tehran, to celebrate the deal following the end of Ramadan fast on Tuesday. They waved Iranian flags from their cars, while drivers honked their car horns.

“My personal opinion is that I wish they had done this sooner so people wouldn’t have to go through all these difficulties,” Masumeh Momeni, a resident of Tehran, told Al Jazeera.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, is now back in Tehran following the 18-day negotiations in the Austrian capital, Vienna.

Arab concern

On Tuesday, Obama said the agreement offered a chance to reset strained relations with Tehran.

“Every pathway to a nuclear weapon is cut off,” he said, adding that the deal “offers an opportunity to move in a new direction. We should seize it.”

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised the “honest and hard endeavours” of the country’s nuclear negotiating team just after the deal was clinched.

But not everyone is happy with the deal. Arab countries have deep fears of Iran gaining a nuclear weapon, and some have been skeptical that a deal will prevent that from happening.

But equally high for key Sunni-dominated Gulf allies of the United States is the worry that a deal gives Iran the means and an implicit green light to push influence in the region.

Saudi Arabia issued a pointed warning, saying Iran must use any economic gains from the lifting of sanctions to improve the lives of Iranians, “rather than using them to cause turmoil in the region, a matter that will meet a decisive reaction from the nations of the region,” in a statement carried on the state news agency late on Tuesday.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, criticised the deal calling the decision “a historic mistake for the world”.

In a second statement on Tuesday afternoon, Netanyahu said the deal gives Iran incentives “not to change” and said “the world is a much more dangerous place today than it was yesterday”.

Iranians gather for celebrations following a landmark nuclear deal in Tehran [AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi]

Iran and world powers clinch historic nuclear deal

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Tehran agrees to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief after lengthy negotiations.

irannuclear

by Al Jazeera

World powers and Iran have reached a landmark deal to curb Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief after an 18-day marathon negotiations in Vienna.

The accord was announced on Tuesday by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the European Union’s policy chief Federica Mogherini in a joint statement in the Austrian capital.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called the deal a “win-win” solution to end “an unnecessary crisis and open new horizons for dealing with serious problems that affect our international community.”

“I believe this is a historic moment. We are reaching an agreement that is not perfect for everybody but it is what we could accomplish and it is an important achievement for all of us,” said Zarif.

“Today could have been the end of hope on this issue, but now we are starting a new chapter of hope.”

Mogherini said the decision demonstrated that “diplomacy, coordination, cooperation can overcome decades of tensions and confrontations”.

“It is a decision that openned a way to a new chapter in international relations,” she said.

Al Jazeera’s James Bays, reporting from Vienna, said that for the presidents of the United States and Iran “it is a historic deal that would serve some kind of a re-set after decades of mistrust.”

Hassan Rouhani, the president of Iran, commented on the deal on Twitter:

Addressing the Iranian nation, Rouhani said: “We didn’t ask for charity. We asked for fair, just and win-win negotiations.”

He said that “a new chapter has started” and now the government could now focus on other issues of the country.

Barack Obama, the US president, said the American people and legislators should “consider the world without this deal” before making their mind about it.

“I will veto any vote taken against this deal,” he said. “Simply no deal means a greater chance of more war in the Middle East. Our security depends on preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.”

“This deal is not built on trust. It is built on verification,” said Obama.

Meanwhile, Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, who sees major threat in the deal called the decision “a historic mistake for the world”.

“Iran will get hundreds of billions of dollars with which it will be able to fuel its terror machine,” he said, referring to the expected lifting of crippling Western sanctions on its oil and banking sectors.

The accord seeks to end nearly 12 years of nuclear stand off between Iran and the western powers led by the US.

The accord will keep Iran from producing enough material for a nuclear weapon for at least 10 years and impose new provisions for inspections of Iranian facilities, including military sites.

Iran was resisting the probe in the country’s alleged work on nuclear weapons and demanding that a United Nations arms embargo to be lifted.

It also demanded that any UN Security Council resolution approving the broader deal no longer describe Iran’s nuclear activities as illegal.

Major powers accused Islamic Republic of seeking to build nuclear weapons, an aim it denied, under the guise of a civilian programme.

Iran will slash by abour two-thirds the number of centrifuges from about 19,000 to 6,104 under the deal announced on Tuesday.

A total of 1,044 of these centrifuges will be used for other purposes than uranium enrichment.

Iran and world powers inch towards nuclear deal

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Iran and West say historic deal could be signed by Monday as John Kerry says “major issues” remain to be resolved.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said "major issues" remain to be solved [Reuters]

US Secretary of State John Kerry said “major issues” remain to be solved [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Iran and six world powers are close to signing a historic nuclear deal that will bring sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on Tehran’s atomic programme, officials say.

After more than two weeks of negotiations in Vienna, Iranian and Western officials said on Sunday that an agreement could be ready on Monday, the self-imposed deadline for clinching the deal, though that could be extended again.

“We still have got work to do tomorrow,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters on Sunday from his hotel balcony. “No deal today [Sunday].”

US Secretary of State John Kerry has cautioned that “major issues” remain to be resolved, and comments from both senior Republican and Democrat Senators on Sunday suggested that any final deal would also face tough scrutiny in the US Congress.

Alireza Miryousefi, a spokesman for the Iranian delegation, said on Twitter that the draft agreement Iran and the powers – the US, France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China – were working on was “a 100-page document”.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday further measures were still needed to overcome the remaining obstacles in the Vienna negotiations, ISNA news agency reported.

“It might seem we have reached the top of the mountain. But no, there are still steps needed to be taken,” ISNA quoted him as saying. “Even if we fail … we have performed our duty.”

A senior Iranian official said 99 percent of the issues had been resolved, adding: “With political will we can finish the work late tonight and announce it tomorrow.”

Arms embargo

Among the biggest sticking points in the past week has been Iran’s insistence that a United Nations Security Council arms embargo and ban on its ballistic missile programme dating from 2006 be lifted immediately if an agreement is reached.

Russia, which sells weapons to Iran, has publicly supported Tehran on the issue.

Other problematic issues in the talks are access for inspectors to military sites in Iran, answers from Tehran over past activity and the overall speed of sanctions relief.

Kerry and Zarif have met nearly every day since Kerry arrived in Vienna more than two weeks ago for what was intended to be the final phase in a negotiation process that began with an interim nuclear deal clinched in November 2013.

Stampede at Bangladesh clothes handout kills 23

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Stampede erupts when hundreds try forcing their way into factory in northern city of Mymensingh to collect free clothes.

Rich Bangladeshis often distribute free clothes to poor people during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan [EPA]

Rich Bangladeshis often distribute free clothes to poor people during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan [EPA]

by Al Jazeera

At least 23 people have been killed in a stampede during a handout of free clothes in the northern Bangladeshi city of Mymensingh, police said.

The stampede erupted on Friday when hundreds of people tried to force their way into a factory compound through a small gate after massing outside the building before dawn, local police chiefs told the AFP news agency.

“We have so far recovered 23 bodies. Most of the dead are poor and emaciated women,” Mymensingh police chief Moinul Haque said, putting the number of injured at more than 50.

Kamrul Islam, the senior officer at a police station near the factory, said the death toll could rise.

“Some people had taken the bodies of their relatives before police arrived at the scene,” he said.

The owner of the factory and six others have been arrested, Islam added.

Police said up to 1,500 people had massed outside the chewing tobacco factory at around 4:45am after the plant owners had announced they would distribute free clothes to poor people in accordance with Islamic ritual.

Rich Bangladeshis often distribute free clothes to poor people during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Former Saudi foreign minister Saud al-Faisal dies

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Prince Saud, appointed in 1975, was the world’s longest serving foreign minister when he retired in April.

saud al-faisal

by Al Jazeera

Former Saudi foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal has died, two months after he retired following 40 years in the job.

A statement from the Royal Court on Thursday said Prince Saud, who was born in 1940, died in the United States. No cause was given for his death, but he had faced many health problems.

Prince Saud, who was appointed in 1975, was the world’s longest serving foreign minister when he was replaced on April 29 by Adel al-Jubeir, the then ambassador to Washington.

His tenure saw Israel invade Lebanon in 1978, 1982 and 2006, the eruption of Palestinian intifadas in 1987 and 2000, Iraq’s invasions of Iran in 1980 and Kuwait in 1990, and the occupation of Iraq by a US-led coalition in 2003.

Prince Saud served under four Saudi kings, advancing the kingdom’s foreign policy, especially after the attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States.

He was also part of Saudi Arabia’s efforts to lessen Iran’s influence in the region, including the continuing conflict in Syria, where Saudi Arabia has been supporting several rebel groups.

Asked in early 2012 if it would be a good idea to arm Syria’s rebels, he said briskly: “I think it’s an excellent idea.”

‘Well liked and respected’

Prince Saud, a son of King Faisal, was born in Taif near Mecca, where in 1989 he helped negotiate the agreement that ended Lebanon’s 15-year civil war.

A degree at Princeton in the 1960s was followed by years at the Petroleum Ministry, where he was taken under the wing of his father’s canny and charismatic oil minister Ahmed Zaki Yamani.

His career as a diplomat began traumatically: the new King Khaled named him as foreign minister following the assassination of Prince Saud’s father Faisal, who had retained the foreign affairs portfolio after being made king in 1962.

As the foreign minister of an important political and economic US ally in the region, Prince Saud was reported to have been well liked and respected in diplomatic circles.

Barack Obama, the US president, expressed his condolences to the deceased’s family and described him as “a committed and accomplished diplomat”.  The US embassy in Saudi Arabia quoted Secretary of State John Kerry on Twitter as saying that “Saud was not only the longest-serving foreign minister, but was also one of the wisest”.

He was often described as a charismatic leader, willing to talk to reporters, and with a sense of humour.

With age, Prince Saud faced many health problems. In the last few years, despite suffering from chronic back pain and having various surgeries, he maintained his challenging role.

Witness of history

When he was appointed in October 1975, the region was dominated by Cold War rivalries, and secular pan-Arab nationalism seemed to be the future.

Egypt and Israel had not yet made peace, and Yasser Arafat led the Palestine Liberation Organisation from refugee camps in Lebanon. The shah still ruled Iran, while in Iraq a young Saddam Hussein was plotting his path to power.

Riyadh’s relationship with Saddam, which went from wary support during the Iran-Iraq war to fierce enmity after the invasion of Kuwait, dominated foreign policy for long periods during Prince Saud’s tenure.

But despite that complicated history, Prince Saud publicly argued against the 2003 invasion, presciently warning of a chaotic aftermath that could destabilise the region.

“If change of regime comes with the destruction of Iraq, then you are solving one problem and creating five more problems,” he said in a British television interview.

In 2002, he launched King Abdullah’s biggest foreign policy initiative, an Arab plan for peace with Israel in return for a withdrawal from all occupied land and a resolution of the refugee problem.

“All the neighbourhood, if you will, will be at peace with Israel, will recognise their right to exist. If this doesn’t provide security of Israel, I assure you the muzzle of a gun is not going to provide that security,” he said at the time.

Israel never agreed to the plan and Prince Saud said frequently that the failure to help create a Palestinian state was the biggest disappointment of his career.

Asked in early 2012 if it would be a good idea to arm Syria’s rebels, Prince Saud said briskly: ‘I think it’s an excellent idea’ [Reuters]

Gaza still in ruins, a year after the war

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Besieged territory struggles to recover from last summer’s war with Israel, as pledges of aid fail to materialise.

Many families in Gaza have been living in the ruins of their homes [EPA]

Many families in Gaza have been living in the ruins of their homes [EPA]

by Al Jazeera

The people of Gaza are marking a year since the Israeli air raids that heralded the start of a war that left 2,251 Palestinians dead and thousands more wounded.

The anniversary on Wednesday of last summer’s war comes as the besieged territory struggles to rebuild its infrastructure, and tens of thousands of its people struggle to access basic amenities.

Al Jazeera spoke to Palestinians who said little was being done to help them recover and go on with their lives.

One survivor, Ibrahim Abdeldaem, lost his legs in an Israeli air strike while his family was sheltering at a UN school in Gaza City. His father and brother were killed in the attack and one year later he said he had no hope that his life would get any better.

“I am completely destroyed. I’ve lost my legs. I’ve lost my job. I can’t leave Gaza because we are under siege on all sides. All I want is at least one artificial limb to feel like a normal person again,” Abdeldaem said.

Continuing siege

More than 12,000 homes were destroyed in the war and 100,000 damaged.

International donors including the US and Arab Gulf countries have pledged more than $5bn to help rebuild Gaza.

The director of The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Robert Turner, criticised the blockade, calling on Israel to end immediately.

“The blockade remains in place and its crippling effect on Gaza is undeniable, inexcusable,” Turner said during a press conference in the territory on Wednesday.

“I see a real willingness on the part of Israel to address some of its worst impact.”

Israel’s economic siege, which has lasted for years, means badly needed construction materials like cement have not been allowed in, despite offers by the United Nations to oversee the process.

Around 20,000 Palestinians still live in temporary shelters ranging from cargo containers to makeshift tents in what is left of their bombed-out homes.

Two-thirds of the 1.8 million population are recipients of UN aid in one form or another.

Turner said that help is needed for more than 7,000 homes to be rebuilt.

The UN official said payments would be issued for the first time on Wednesday for a limited number of families whose homes were destroyed, while repairs for damaged houses have occurred.

Seventeen hospitals, 56 primary health facilities, and 45 ambulances were either damaged or completely destroyed during the conflict, costing Gaza’s healthcare system an estimated $50m.

In addition to the Palestinian casualties, at least 73 people, including 67 soldiers, were killed on the Israeli side of the conflict.

Israel said it was conducting the campaign to put an end to rocket attacks launched by Hamas and other Palestinian factions, which together fired 4,881 rockets and 1,753 mortars during the war.

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