ESTHER'S ROUND UP

Taliban suffocate Pakistan Buddhist heritage

AFP - Archaeologists warn that the Taliban are destroying Pakistan's ancient Gandhara heritage and rich Buddhist legacy as pilgrimage and foreign research dries up in the country's northwest.

"Militants are the enemies of culture," said Abdul Nasir Khan, curator of Taxila Museum, one of the premier archaeological collections in Pakistan.

Sister of UN 'suicide' scientist who died in mysterious fall rescues potential evidence from destruction

The sister of a British scientist who died in a mysterious fall has told how she rescued potential evidence from being destroyed by police.

Beverley Hall, 49, said she has been forced to store the clothes her brother wore on the night he died after officers revealed they were due to be burned.

She is now campaigning for police to investigate properly the death of Timothy Hampton, who plunged from the 17th floor of a UN building in Vienna last month.

Austrian detectives have insisted that Mr Hampton, a 47-year-old scientist involved in monitoring nuclear activity, committed suicide.

But Mrs Hall, who runs a caravan park in Newbury, Berkshire, believes there is enough evidence – including signs of bruising around her brother’s neck consistent with strangulation – to suggest he did not kill himself.

Sleiman seeks abolition of religion in Lebanese politics

President Michel Sleiman called in a television speech on Saturday for the establishment of a committee to work towards the abolition of religion-based politics in Lebanon.

"To encourage vast participation (in political life), a national committee should be established and charged with abolishing confessionalism in politics," he said in a speech marking Sunday's 66th anniversary of independence.

Sleiman also proposed "changing the electoral law relating to general elections in order to obtain better representation and restore to expatriates their rights, including nationality and the right to vote."

Islam In Europe - The premier source for news about the Muslim community in Europe.