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| Blast hits Pakistan volleyball game A suspected suicide bomber strikes at a volleyball pitch in north-west Pakistan, killing at least 60 people, officials say. news.bbc.co.uk |
Malaysian churches firebombed Three churches in Kuala Lumpur attacked after court reverses ban on Christians using the word 'Allah' to mean 'God'Three Malaysian churches were attacked with firebombs, causing extensive damage to one, as Muslims pledged today to prevent Christians from using the word "Allah", escalating religious tensions in the multiracial country.Many Malay Muslims, who make up 60% of the population, are incensed by a recent high court decision to overturn a ban on Roman Catholics using Allah as a translation for God in the Malay-language edition of their main newspaper, the Herald.The government had said that Allah, an Arabic word that predates Islam, was exclusive to the faith. It refused to make an exception, even though the Herald's Malay edition is read only by Christian indigenous tribes in the remote states of Sabah and Sarawak.At Friday prayers at two main mosques in downtown Kuala Lumpur, young worshippers carried banners and vowed to defend Islam."We will not allow the word Allah to be inscribed in your churches," one shouted into a loudspeaker at the Kampung Bahru mosque. About 50 other people carried posters reading "Heresy arises from words wrongly used" and "Allah is only for us"."Islam is above all. Every citizen must respect that," said Ahmad Johari, who attended prayers at the National Mosque. "I hope the court will understand the feeling of the majority Muslims of Malaysia. We can fight to the death over this issue."The demonstrations were held inside the mosque compounds to follow a police order against protests on the streets. Participants dispersed peacefully afterward.Malaysia is often held up as a model for other Islamic countries because of its economic development, progressive society and generally peaceful coexistence between the Malay majority and the ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities who are mostly Christians, Buddhists and Hindus.The Allah controversy has the potential to shatter that carefully nurtured harmony, drive a deep racial wedge and scare away foreign investment as the country struggles to emerge from the global financial crisis.The prime minister, Najib Razak, condemned the attacks on the churches by unidentified assailants, who struck before dawn in different suburbs of Kuala Lumpur. He said the government would "take whatever steps it can to prevent such acts".The home minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, said the country's leaders were very concerned about the situation. "We don't want this to spread out into something else … I am not only assuring the minorities, I am assuring all Malaysians – anybody who is in Malaysia – that they are safe," he told reporters.In the first attack, the ground-level office of the three-story Metro Tabernacle church was destroyed in a blaze set off by a firebomb thrown by attackers on motorcycles soon after midnight, police said. The worship areas on the upper two floors were undamaged and there were no injuries.Two other churches were attacked hours later, with one sustaining minor damage while the other was not damaged.The tribespeople of Sabah and Sarawak, who speak only Malay, have always referred to God as "Allah," an Arabic word used not only by Muslims but also by Christians in Muslim-majority countries such as Egypt, Syria and Indonesia.Many Malaysian Muslims say its use by others could mislead people, tempting them to convert to Christianity.Since the verdict, threats against Christians have been posted widely on the internet.The backlash against the court verdict has reinforced complaints by minorities that they face institutional discrimination. They say it is almost impossible to get permission to build new churches and temples. Some Hindu temples have been demolished in the past. Court verdicts in religious disputes usually favour Muslims.MalaysiaIslamChristianityguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Suicide bomb kills 20 in Afghan market Speculation that bomber responsible for deadliest attack against civilians for three months may have been targeting Nato meetingA suicide bomber today blew himself up in a busy market district in central Afghanistan, killing at least 20 people, officials said.The bomber was thought to have been planning to attack a meeting of Nato and tribal officials being held nearby.The bombing – the deadliest attack against Afghan civilians in more than three months – came a day after the UN released a report which revealed that the number of civilians killed in war-related violence reached its highest level last year.Suicide bombings and other attacks blamed on insurgents were the main cause of death.The blast tore through shops in the town of Dihrawud, in Uruzgan province. The area was packed with people who had gathered for the weekly bazaar.District police chief Omar Khan, who was at the meeting in a nearby building, said Nato forces had surrounded the structure during the talks, which are held on a regular basis.Lieutenant Nico Melendez, a Nato spokesman in Kabul, said he had no indication of any Nato connection to the blast.The conflicting theories could not immediately be reconciled, and the Afghan interior ministry said the target was unclear.Nato said initial reports indicated that at least 20 Afghan civilians had been killed and 13 injured.Those killed included three children, General Juma Gul Himat, the provincial police chief, said. Several shops were destroyed.Another suicide bomber targeted a police patrol in the southern town of Musa Qala, killing an Afghan police officer and wounding four civilians, officials said.Daoud Ahmadi, a provincial spokesman, said the bomber had been on foot, but Nato said he had been in a vehicle packed with explosives.Police said four would-be suicide bombers had died in a premature explosion near Kandahar last night.The suspects had been travelling from the Panjway district to Kandahar when the blast occurred happened, the deputy provincial police chief, Fazel Ahmad Sharzad, said.He said the men had been planning an attack in Kandahar, but explosives in the car detonated before they reached the city.AfghanistanNatoguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Republicans take Ted Kennedy's seat Democrats lose Senate seat in Massachusetts, throwing Obama's health reform plan into doubtReform of US healthcare, a centrepiece of the Obama presidency, was in danger today of being derailed after the Republicans produced one of the biggest political upsets of recent US history by winning Ted Kennedy's Senate seat in Massachusetts.The victory against the odds came on the eve of the anniversary today of Barack Obama's inauguration, a heady time for the Democrats when they entertained hopes of a prolonged period of dominance.The win robs the Democrats of their filibuster-proof 60-40 majority in the Senate and throws into doubt the future of Obama's health reform plan. Obama and the Democratic leadership will have to decide whether to take another look at the bill.Scott Brown, a truck-driving National Guardsman who was virtually unknown even in Massachusetts a few weeks ago, beat Martha Coakley, the state attorney general who had expected to inherit the seat, by 52% to 47%.Brown, in his victory speech, referred to one of the decisive moments of the campaign, when in a debate Coakley referred to "Ted Kennedy's seat". Brown said: "This Senate seat belongs to no one person, to no political party … This is the people's seat."Coakley, in her concession speech, said: "I am heartbroken at the result, as I know you are, and I know we will get up together tomorrow and continue this fight, even with this result tonight."It is a huge psychological blow to the Democrats: the seat of John F Kennedy and then Edward Kennedy until his death last year is now in Republican hands. If a seat regarded by Democrats as one of the safest in the country can fall, then scores of Democrats standing in the congressional mid-term elections in November will see themselves as also vulnerable."It is a shock, a total shock," said David Hadas, 37, one of more than 1,000 Coakley supporters at a Boston hotel for what they hoped would be a celebration."It is only a year ago everyone was very upset with the Republican party and we swept Obama into office."Voters, citing reasons for the shift to the Republicans, repeatedly expressed hostility towards the healthcare bill but also a belief that Obama represented too much government interference, was too leftwing and was spending too much.The Democrats have several Plan Bs for the health bill, none of which they regard as satisfactory. One was to vote on the bill before Brown takes up his seat but Jim Webb, a Democratic senator, appeared to block that last night by saying the election had been both about healthcare and the integrity of the government process.More than 2,000 Republicans turned up at another Boston hotel last night to noisily celebrate a rare victory after heavy defeats in the 2006 congressional elections and again in 2008 for the White House."I pray this will be the start of a bloodless revolution, the start of the campaign against the Obama agenda, in which the silent majority are heard," David Knight, 43, a Republican from neighbouring Rhode Island, said. "We hope this is the end of the health bill but they could still ram it through."Michael Nicolazzo, 26, who was also at the party, was a Democrat until two years ago but felt Obama was too leftwing. "This was a referendum on Obama. For the bluest of all states to elect a Republican, it really sends a message that people do not want extravagant spending." He, too, hoped the health bill would be killed.Brown received a lot of backing from Republicans who had travelled to join him from all round the US, and also from grassroots groups that have grown up in opposition to Obama's agenda, particularly on health, such as the Tea Party.At the Boston hotel where the Democrats held their wake, some began crying as the first results came through. Most headed home early."We are all in shock," said Addrienne Walker, 40, who was still carrying a Coakley poster. "We have not had a Republican in that seat since 1952." She hoped Obama would not back off on health reform but admitted that the November elections would be tough. "It is not looking good. Obama is going to have a fight on his hands."Even before polling closed, the Democrats were engaged in a blame game. The White House and the national leadership hinted that Coakley had been responsible because she had fought too low-key a campaign.Obama issued a relatively terse statement, thanking Coakley for her hard work.Local Democrats blamed the national leadership, saying they had been too slow in recognising the danger and providing the necessary campaign cash and staff. They accused the national leadership of having pushed for the negative ads in the final days and claimed this had alienated independents.A third candidate, Joe Kennedy, representing the Libertarians, took only 1%. He is no relation to the late senator.US CongressEdward KennedyUS healthcareBarack ObamaUS politicsRepublicansDemocratsJohn F KennedyUnited StatesMassachusettsEwen MacAskillguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Argentina Bars Banker From Office The battle for control over Argentina's Central Bank moved to the country's Congress, capping a weekend drama in which police barred Martín Redrado from entering his office. online.wsj.com |