Iran’s nuclear power plant a step closer to operation
Posted in Islam, News, Tech, economy on August 21st, 2010 by admin – Comments Off
Engineers began loading the fuel roads into a Russian-built nuclear power reactor on Iran’s southern Persian Gulf coast Saturday morning, a relatively important milestone in the construction and operation of the long-delayed plant, Iran’s state television reported.
The plant has become the center of an international controversy. Iranians, Russians and Americans have invested the reactor with a symbolic significance beyond its ability to produce electricity and advance Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
The Bush administration’s former U.N. envoy, John Bolton, made waves and set off war jitters this week after he said in a television appearance that Israel had days to bomb the plant before the fuel cells were loaded or risk creating a radioactive cloud that would harm too many civilians. Iran countered with its own threat. “In that case we will lose a power plant, but Israel’s existence will be in danger,” Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahdi said.
Muslims fear backlash as festival falls near Sept. 11
Posted in Celeb, Crime, Islam, News, Politics, economy, religion, what on August 21st, 2010 by admin – Comments OffFor nearly a decade, the Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno has held a carnival on the Saturday following the end of Ramadan, during a festival that has been called the Muslim equivalent of Christmas. With pony rides, carnival attractions, games and Middle Eastern food, it’s a popular event for the community’s children.
This year, the center’s leaders had a sense of foreboding when they noticed the date on which the carnival would fall: Sept. 11.
This week, after listening to escalating rhetoric over plans for an Islamic community center within blocks of the destroyed World Trade Center site in New York, the Fresno center canceled the carnival.
Pakistan says militants exploiting flood chaos
Posted in Crime, Islam, News, Politics, what on August 20th, 2010 by admin – Comments Off
Islamic militants are exploiting the strain this summer’s monsoon floods placed on the military and government by regrouping their forces in northwest Pakistan, provincial officials warned Thursday.
Sen. John Kerry, who is in Islamabad, also expressed concern about a strengthening insurgency as he announced that the United States would ramp up its flood relief package to $150 million.
As the crisis nears its fourth week, officials in Islamabad and Washington are increasingly worried that Taliban militants and other Islamic extremist groups will take advantage of a disaster that has forced 60,000 Pakistani troops into flood relief work and diverted police resources across the country.
U.N. chief says Pakistan flooding is epic, urges aid for victims
Posted in Crime, Health, Islam, News, Politics, economy, what on August 16th, 2010 by admin – Comments OffU.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Sunday that the floods ravaging Pakistan are the worst disaster he has witnessed, and urged the international community to speed up delivery of food, medicine and shelter to millions of people — many of whom have yet to receive anything.
The Pakistani government and international relief organizations have been overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster, which has killed more than 1,600 people and damaged or destroyed more than 722,000 houses from the country’s mountainous northwest to its central agricultural heartland and the flatlands of Sindh province in the south.
Obama supports plan for mosque near ground zero
Posted in Celeb, Islam, News, Politics, religion on August 14th, 2010 by admin – Comments OffPresident Obama on Friday took a strong stand in favor of building a mosque near the site where Muslim terrorists flew airplanes into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, breaking his silence on a political tempest that has left the country divided.
Speaking at a White House dinner celebrating Ramadan, Obama framed the issue as one of religious freedom.
Muslims “have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country,” Obama said, according to a White House transcript. “That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in Lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances.”
Kenya votes in new constitution, early results show
Posted in Education, Islam, News on August 5th, 2010 by admin – Comments OffKenyan voters have approved a new constitution, according to preliminary results released Thursday, with almost 70% in favor. Leaders of the anti-constitution camp conceded defeat before the final result, expected to be announced by the Interim Independent Electoral Commission late Thursday.
According to the preliminary results, about 5.2 million of the country’s 12.7 million voters voted in favor of the constitution, which proponents said could end decades of poor governance and corruption, and 2.3 million opposed the draft. Ninety-two of the 210 constituencies had been counted.
William Ruto, minister of higher education, one of the main opponents of the draft, said the “no” camp accepted the result. But he said the constitution had not passed by an overwhelming majority and called on government leaders who pushed the draft to meet with its opponents to amend the most contentious issues and bring more Kenyans on board.
Pakistan police commander killed by suicide bomber
Posted in Islam, News, Politics on August 4th, 2010 by admin – Comments OffA suicide bomb attack killed four people in the northwest Pakistan city of Peshawar on Wednesday, including a top national police official who appeared to be the target of the blast.
Sifwat Ghayoor, commander of a paramilitary police force called the Frontier Constabulary, was killed when a lone suicide bomber on foot approached his car at a traffic light and detonated explosives, authorities in Peshawar said. Two of Ghayoor’s bodyguards and a passerby were also killed. Eleven people were injured.
The attack occurred amid a relative lull in militant violence in recent months in Peshawar, a city of 3 million perched on the edge of Pakistan’s largely lawless tribal areas along the Afghan border. Late last year, the city was hit by a devastating series of suicide bombings that killed hundreds of people.
Death toll in Pakistan floods tops 800
Posted in Islam, News, Politics on July 31st, 2010 by admin – Comments OffAs the death toll from this week’s flash floods rose to at least 800 Saturday, authorities tried desperately to rescue thousands of stranded villagers from rooftops and deliver emergency relief to stricken areas.
The country’s hardest-hit region was the northwest province of Khyber-Pakhtunkwha, where provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said at least 800 people had died in flooding caused by record-breaking monsoon rains. Hussain said that although the threat of further flooding had subsided in many areas in the northwest, authorities were struggling to provide relief to thousands of victims, many of whom were in dire need of food, drinking water and medicine.
“All of the government’s attention should be directed at combating this calamity,” Hussain said.
‘Black box’ found in Pakistan plane crash wreckage
Posted in Islam, News, Tech on July 31st, 2010 by admin – Comments OffRecovery workers found the “black box” flight data recorder Saturday in the wreckage of Pakistan’s worst-ever plane crash, and it appeared to be in good condition, officials said.
An analysis of the data on the recorder could provide clues as to why the Airblue flight crashed Wednesday into the hills overlooking the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, killing all 152 people onboard, including two Americans. The recorder’s decoding may take weeks, however.
The black box was found during a difficult recovery effort hampered by rain, mud and a lack of proper roads in the heavily forested Margalla Hills. It has been handed to aviation officials, said Ramzan Sajid, a spokesman for the Capital Development Authority, a government agency. He said the box was found in wreckage of the plane’s tail section.
Jet carrying 152 crashes in Pakistan
Posted in Islam, News on July 28th, 2010 by admin – Comments OffA Pakistani passenger jet with 152 people aboard crashed Wednesday in a forested ridge outside Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad. It was not known whether there were any survivors.
The Airblue airliner, on its way from Karachi to the capital, had been flying through heavy fog and rain when it lost contact with air traffic control and crashed about 10 a.m. local time in the Margalla Hills region, authorities said.
Rescuers were trying to reach the scene amid heavy rain and difficult roads.
