Esther's round up

Afghan governor asks Dutch troops not to pull out

The governor of Uruzgan pleads with the Dutch government to reverse its decision and not to leave their jobs half-finished, reports the Financial Times.

London – The governor of an Afghan province pleaded Tuesday with the Netherlands not to withdraw troops from the region next year, warning its job is "only half finished," a report said.

Asadullah Hamdam, the governor of Uruzgan, said he has been asking the Dutch government to reverse its decision, amid fears a pullout will create instability in the region undergoing critical economic development.

"The people of Uruzgan are very familiar with the Dutch - they have spent a lot of time here - and they are asking them to stay," he told the Financial Times newspaper.

German Afghan Troop Decisions Await Obama Strategy

Germany will wait for U.S. President Barack Obama's decision regarding the strategy for Afghanistan before weighing options on its troop levels, Germany's minister of defense, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, said Nov. 19 in Washington.

"We are all eagerly awaiting for the announcement the president is to make over here," Guttenberg told a packed room at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a foreign policy think tank in Washington.

Barack Obama's delay in troop decision 'hitting UK public support for Afghan mission'

Barack Obama's delay in deciding whether to send more US troops to Afghanistan has contributed to falling public support in the UK for the mission, according to Bob Ainsworth, the British Defence Secretary.

He said the ''hiatus'' caused by President Obama's lengthy consideration of the call for reinforcements and the rising death toll had made it harder to make the case for the action.

And he also called on MPs of all parties not to exploit the war for political gain in the run-up to the election - accusing the Tories of ''undermining'' the operation with false claims.

President Obama summoned his war council on Monday, with an announcement on a potential surge of fighters in the region expected after Thanksgiving in the US, probably next week.

It is more than three months since he began deliberating a call by the top US commander on the ground, General Stanley McChrystal, for an additional 40,000 troops.

Secret U.S. plan to support Afghan militias echoes Canadian general's ideas

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A secret U.S. plan to support anti-Taliban militias, which is raising concerns about further destabilizing Afghanistan, echoes similar ideas being voiced by the head of Canada's army.

Lt. Gen. Andrew Leslie, chief of land staff, has been arguing in recent interviews that tribal militias should be factored into Afghanistan's security architecture.

Over the weekend, reports emerged that the U.S. is doing just that with a program dubbed the Community Defense Initiative.

Said to have the support of NATO's Afghanistan commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the program aims to provide resources to encourage tribal groups to fight the Taliban.

Supporting militias is a tactic that was debated by a group of international advisers early after the fall of the Taliban in 2001, but was ruled out because warlords were considered too strong, Leslie said.

Now, it seems, things have changed.

"The Afghan National Army now is a powerful entity, and so there is no longer the same danger of arming tribal auxiliaries," Leslie said in an interview last week before news of the U.S. initiative emerged in weekend media reports.

'No intention to convert children in shelters'

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 24, 2009) : Muslim welfare homes and shelters have never intended to convert children under their care, Muslim Welfare Organisation Malaysia secretary-general Tan Sri Dr Abdul Hamid Othman said today.

"It is never our intention to convert the children who come to our welfare homes. We do have shelters with multiracial children and we allow them to practice their own religions," he told a press conference at a special law briefing on amendments to the Islamic family Law at Masjid Wilayah Persekutuan here today.

Dutch anti-Islam MP unwelcome in Turkey

The government of Turkey is unwilling to meet a delegation of Dutch MPs if anti-Islam campaigner Geert Wilders is among them. Turkish daily Aksam reports that the Ankara government is worried that Mr Wilders will use the visit to challenge Islam.

Geert Wilders, leader of the opposition Freedom Party, has said he is determined to travel to Turkey in January. He said he wants to explain to the Turkish people why their country does not belong in the European Union.

Ethnic tensions boil over

Members of the outlawed paramilitary group, the Magyar Gárda (Hungarian Guard), are to be prosecuted for allegedly disregarding a court ban in the wake of a tense standoff with members of a local Roma community in a town in northeast Hungary.

According to evidence gathered, “persons were witnessed acting in a leadership capacity towards the civic group legally disbanded by the courts,” said Éva Novodonszki Egyed, spokeswoman for Borsod County police. As of Thursday last week, a further six people had been arrested in connection with unrest over the preceding weekend.

Japan accuses Russia of “illegal occupation”

The Japanese government has adopted a document claiming that Russia “illegally occupies the South Kuril Islands.”

It is a response to a suggestion by a Japanese parliamentarian concerning Japan’s more active involvement in economic projects in the South Kurils – even if it requires “temporarily agreeing” with Russia’s right to govern the islands.

The government’s answer was not equivocal.

“The Russian Federation illegally occupies four northern islands,” Itar-Tass quotes the document it received from Japan’s Foreign Ministry. “Under these circumstances, our citizens cannot travel to these islands, because of Russia’s territorial claims. Russia’s position does not coincide with our position on the northern territories, and there is no change in this situation.”

Swedish author awarded 2009 August Prize for Jewish ghetto tale

A novel detailing the heartache and hope of a World War II Jewish ghetto in the Polish city of Łódź has earned author Steve Sem-Sandberg Sweden’s most prestigious prize for literature.

The book, De fattiga i Łódź (‘The poor of Łódź’), received widespread critical acclaim when it was published by Albert Bonniers Förlag in mid-September.

And just over two months later, novelist and literary critic Sem-Sandberg found himself accepting the 2009 August Prize (Augustpriset) for fiction.

“I’m absolutely overwhelmed,” Sem-Sandberg said as he accepted the 100,000 kronor ($14,400) prize at a ceremony in Stockholm on Monday.

OIC Secretary General calls on Islamic world to examine Convention on the Rights of the Child to surmount hurdles impeding implementation

The Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, delivered a speech before the opening session of the International Conference on the Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in the OIC Member States held over 23th and 25th November 2009 in Cairo, the Arab Republic of Egypt with the participation of H.E. Ms. Suzanne Mubarak, Egypt's First Lady.

Ihsanoglu emphatically mentioned that the adoption of the CRC by the UN General Assembly in 1989 implies that the OIC member States commit to the CRC stipulations and turn them into concrete action by articulating proper laws and policy programs. He also emphasized that this commitment entails examination of the commitment to the CRC at the meetings scheduled to take place as part of the ongoing conference in order to pinpoint and exchange views on the hurdles that hinder adequate implementation and discuss the ways and means of surmounting existing obstacles.

Turkish Cypriots, police clash over austerity plan in breakaway state

In a rare sign of civil unrest in breakaway northern Cyprus, Turkish Cypriot police fired tear gas to disperse thousands of protestors demanding that an economic austerity package be scrapped.

Sixteen people were arrested during the demonstration outside the Turkish Cypriot parliament, organisers said.

Demonstrators were public servants who claim that planned salary cuts will result in mass emigration.

Authorities say the measures are necessary to offset the effects of the global economic downturn and bring public sector wages more in line with those in the private sector.

Merkel expects 'thank you' as GM repays loans

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday she was expecting a "thank-you letter" from General Motors after the US firm paid Berlin back for huge loans to keep its Opel unit afloat.

"I can tell you that the last funds (received by) General Motors have been paid back, which means that the Opel operation has not cost the German taxpayer a cent," Merkel said in a speech in Berlin.

She added that she expected "a comprehensive thank-you letter from General Motors in a few years" and defended her decision to offer the €1.5-billion ($2.2-billion) loan to the Detroit-based car giant, saying: "It was absolutely right ... to build a bridge."

The loan was due to be repaid by November 30.

Pilgrims flock to Nepalese temple as 200,000 animals are slaughtered to honour Hindu goddess

Animal welfare protesters have staged mass demonstrations as thousands of Hindus gathered at a temple in southern Nepal for a ceremony involving the slaughter of more than 200,000 animals.

Thousands of buffaloes, goats, chickens and pigeons will be killed today and tomorrow at the temple in the jungles of Bara district, about 100 miles south of Katmandu, to honour the Hindu goddess Gadhimai.

Activists and other religious groups say the killings, which are carried out by slitting the animals' throats with swords, are barbaric and conducted in a cruel manner.

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