Forum Topics

CIA operating drone base in Saudi Arabia

 

The US Central Intelligence Agency has been operating a secret airbase for unmanned drones in Saudi Arabia for the past two years.

The facility was established to hunt for members of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which is based in Yemen.

A drone flown from there was used in September 2011 to kill Anwar al-Awlaki, a US-born cleric who was alleged to be AQAP's external operations chief.

US media have known of its existence since then, but have not reported it.

Senior government officials had said they were concerned that disclosure would undermine operations against AQAP, as well as potentially damage counter-terrorism collaboration with Saudi Arabia.

3 dead in Kashmir protests

 

SRINAGAR, India — Three young people have died in violence in Indian-controlled Kashmir despite a curfew that continued for a third day Monday following the execution of a Kashmiri man convicted in a deadly 2001 attack on India’s Parliament.

Mohammed Afzal Guru was hanged in New Delhi early Saturday. Ahead of the execution, authorities ordered people in most of the Indian-held part of the disputed Kashmir region to remain indoors indefinitely in anticipation of anti-India protests.

 

Despite the curfew, protests and clashes between troops and demonstrators broke out at a dozen places in the region Monday. Police and paramilitary soldiers fired tear gas and used batons to chase away rock-throwing protesters, police said.

Acid Attack in London

 

Naomi Oni, Dagenham acid attack victim, 'wanted to die'

Naomi Oni after acid attack

A woman has said she did not want to live when she saw herself for the first time after having acid thrown in her face near her home in east London.

Naomi Oni, 20, said she was attacked by a person wearing a veil covering their face after getting off a bus in Lodge Avenue, Dagenham, on 30 December.

She said: "I've never been so scared in my life. I just knew it was acid.

"The first time I looked I was shocked. I didn't want to live after I saw my face."

Rabbi al-Awal

 

[center][b]Assalaamu Alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh![/b]

[b][color=indigo]As salaatu was salaamu 'alayk Ya Sayyidina Ya RasoolAllah, Wa Ala Aalika Wa Ashabika Ya HabeebAllah! [/b][/color]

[color=green]*~ Allaahumma Salli 'ala Sayyedina wa Mowlana Muhammadin-nin-Nabiyyil Ummi wa 'ala Aalihi wa Sahbihi wa Barik wa Salim ~*[/color]

[size=24][color=green][b]Rabbi al-Awal Mubarak![/b][/color][/size]

[color=red]“Say: Because of the (fadl) Blessings of Allah and His (rahma) Mercy you should celebrate (with happiness and pleasure). That is better than what (wealth) they amass.”[/color] Surah Yunus, (10:58)

[/center]

Shias refuse to bury the killed

 

Quote:
About 1,000 Pakistani Shia Muslims are protesting in the southwest for a second day, blocking a main road with the bodies of relatives killed in a bombing to demand the government provide better security. 

The bombings in Quetta on Thursday were the worst in a series of attacks across Pakistan that have killed 120 people. Most of the dead were Shias killed in twin bombings at a billiards hall. Sunni extremists are increasingly targeting members of the beleaguered minority sect.

The Gossip Box

The gossip and backibiting* box

Idea

So you put a money box your living room or something, and everytime someone starts to gossip/backbite you remind them and make them put some money in the box. Not coppers though, cuz despite every penny making a pound, no one really cares about coppers so it wouldn't have the desired effect. The money would be counted as sadaqah. 

It should work in two ways

1) Charity is charity. That's always useful. Also giving to charity is a form of purifying ourselves from our sins

But that doesn't mean you should just carry on backbiting, since you're giving to charity. It doesn't work like that, obviously.

2) Once people keep having to put money in the box, it should be a deterant, no?

Limitations

What freedom are we calling for?

There is a call for 'freedom' in the Middle East, both from citizens within its troubled borders, and from our own Western supporters of democracy overseas. This is, of course, with good intention. However, the call seems remarkably simplistic. There is a formulaic image being created of Arab heroes rushing to the streets only to be suppressed, injured, or killed by stubborn, iron-fisted regimes that wish to thwart political freedom. We in the West show our support for our fellow brothers and sisters in humanity under these dictatorships, arguing too that they deserve the right to democratic elections and to other civil liberties that we enjoy here in the West. And so the alleged struggle of freedom vs. oppression / "good vs. evil" continues.

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