Saudi sets start of hajj pilgrimage for November 15

Al-Arabiya

Officials estimate a total of about two million will take part in this year's hajj

RIYADH (Agencies)
The annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca will begin on November 15 after Saudi authorities on Saturday set November 16 for the Eid al-Adha holy day and festival, following the sighting of the crescent moon.

The kingdom's official SPA news agency says the court confirmed the sighting of the new moon Saturday. According to the lunar calendar, hajj begins nine days into the 12th month of the year - making the start Nov. 15 this year in the Gregorian calendar.

The ruling means the annual hajj will now start on November 15.

More than 1.5 million Muslims from all over the world have already converged on the holy cities of Mecca and Medina in western Saudi Arabia for the hajj, the world's largest annual gathering.

Officials estimate a total of about two million will take part in this year's hajj.

Eid al-Adha, which commemorates biblical patriarch Ibrahim's (or Abraham's) acceptance of God's command to sacrifice his son Ismail (or Ishmael), always falls on the 10th of Dhul al-Hijja on the Islamic calendar.

As Ibrahim was allowed to sacrifice a ram instead, Muslim families mark the day by ritually sacrificing sheep, goats, cows and other livestock, the meat of which is also shared with the needy.

Woolas facing new vote for Islamic extremism smears

JC

By Marcus Dysch and Jennifer Lipman

A Labour MP who claimed his Liberal Democrat opponent was involved with Islamic extremists is facing a by-election after a judge found that he knowingly made false accusations.

During the 2010 campaign, shadow immigration minister Phil Woolas, fighting for reelection to his Oldham East seat, accused his opponent of wooing extremist Muslims.

Mr Woolas won the seat with 103 more votes than Elwyn Watkins for the Liberal Democrats.

But a special election court has now ruled that the MP breached election regulations by making false claims and there must now be another poll.

Mr Woolas said he will now seek a judicial review, but if he is unsuccessful he will be barred from parliament for three years.

He will also have to step down from the Labour frontbench while the matter is settled.

One email sent around Mr Woolas' campaign staff before the election contained a comment about getting "the white folk angry" in order to secure a victory.

An election result has not been challenged in this way for 99 years.

Ahead of May's election, the candidates clashed over arms sales to Israel. Mr Woolas wrote to Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg questioning his party's views on the matter after Mr Watkins wrote to Muslim supporters condemning Israel's "disproportionate use of force" during the Gaza conflict.

Mr Woolas noted that his opponent worked as an adviser to Sheikh Abdullah Alhamrani, co-owner of one of Saudi Arabia's largest companies.

At the time, Mr Watkins told the JC: "Woolas is trying to portray this as me being antisemitic. I'm not antisemitic at all. He has taken something and tried to make it something it's not."

He said his comments were "supported by quite a few million people. It's not an anti-Israel thing. I would not sell rockets to Hamas either. I was following the party line. I would equally condemn Hamas, Hizbollah or whoever targets civilians."

Barack Obama India trip: Pervez Musharraf disappointed Barack Obama not in Pakistan

Telegraph

Pakistan's former president Pervez Musharraf on Friday voiced disappointment that US President Barack Obama was not stopping in his country on the sidelines of his maiden visit to India.

Pervez Musharraf also criticised Barack Obama for not speaking about Kashmir "I would take it as a disappointment, yes, indeed," Mr Musharraf, a military leader who stepped down in 2008, told MSNBC television.

Mr Musharraf also criticised Mr Obama for not speaking about Kashmir, the Himalayan region disputed between Pakistan and India, saying: "It doesn't resonate well with the people of Pakistan."

"They take it that the United States or the president of the United States is not that concerned about Pakistan's own sensitivities and interests," he said.

Mr Obama was en route on Friday for Mumbai and New Delhi on a trip aimed at convincing India that he wants to push ahead relations between the world's two largest democracies after an early focus on Pakistan and China.

For many US policy-makers, it would be unthinkable for Mr Obama to visit Pakistan on the sidelines of the long-promoted trip as Mr Obama is hoping to show India that he sees it as a global power and not simply as a regional player.

But Mr Obama has a delicate balancing act as he has also tried to convince Pakistan that he sees the country as more than simply a conduit into Afghanistan for war operations.

Ahead of the India trip, Mr Obama invited Mr Musharraf's civilian successor, President Asif Ali Zardari, for a future visit to Washington and announced that he would travel to Pakistan next year.

The United States has tried to dent Pakistan's rampant anti-Americanism by last year approving a 7.5 billion-dollar aid package aimed at building schools, infrastructure and democratic institutions.

Last month, the Obama administration also proposed an additional two billion dollars for Pakistan in military assistance, despite misgivings in India.

US criticized for rights violations

Press TV

The Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council called on the White House to 'investigate allegations of torture in US detention centers abroad.'The US has faced much criticism at the UN top human rights assembly over allegations of torture and delays in the closure of Guantanamo Bay Detention Center.

The Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council called on the White House to investigate allegations of torture in US detention centers abroad.

The ambassadors of 47 member-states urged the swift closure of US detention centers in Guantanamo in Cuba and Bagram airbase in Afghanistan.

European countries including Britain, as well as Australia, recommended a moratorium or abolition of the death penalty

France urged President Barack Obama to "honor his promise" in 2009 to close Guantanamo where a total of 172 of the 242 detainees, from when Obama took office in 2008, are kept. France insist on the need for help from Congress, the courts and US allies willing to host ex-detainees.

Cuban ambassador Rodolfo Reyes Rodriguez called on the US to "halt war crimes and the killing of civilians." Venezuela's German Mundarain Hernandez recommended that Washington "put to trial those responsible for victims of torture."

The Washington Post reported on Thursday that former US president George W. Bush wrote in his new memoir that he personally gave the go-ahead for CIA officers to waterboard alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

The 36-member US delegation tried to downplay the human rights violations committed by Washington, but recognized that the US record was "not perfect."

"While there were some politically-motivated conversations, overall the conversation was constructive dialogue on international human rights," delegation chief and assistant secretary at the US State Department, Esther Brimmer told reporters afterwards.

Although no action is taken in the four-yearly "Universal Periodic Review" it exposes governments to examination by their peers and the UN. The US had refused to join the UN council under the Bush administration.

A Plan B for Obama

Foreign Policy

A stagnant economy. Declining American influence. Dictators on the march abroad. And a more Republican Congress coming soon. Barack Obama is in big trouble. But it's never too late. Foreign Policy has a plan, 14 in fact, for how the president can find his mojo again.

Nearly two years ago, Obama swept into office promising to defeat terrorism, withdraw "responsibly" from Iraq, make peace in Afghanistan, forge "greater cooperation and understanding between nations," pursue a world without nuclear weapons, and "roll back the specter of a warming planet." And that was just one paragraph of his inaugural address.
"Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions -- who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans," the new U.S. president declared. "Their memories are short."

If Obama's optimism wasn't immediately tempered by his predecessor's daunting legacy -- two inconclusive wars, an economy in free fall, soaring deficits -- it soon became evident that his vision might have exceeded his grasp.

Twenty-two months later, Obama has notched a few significant achievements, and he remains popular around the world. But he faces rising discontent at home and a much less supportive Congress after midterm elections as economists warn ominously of a "double-dip" recession. Progress on issues ranging from climate change to Middle East peace to Iranian nukes has been scant -- and it's hard to find an autocrat who has unclenched his fist.

In other words, it's time for a fresh approach. Take it from a president who knows a thing or two about missteps: "If you live long enough, you'll make mistakes," wrote Bill Clinton. "It's how you handle adversity, not how it affects you. The main thing is never quit, never quit, never quit." So read on for Foreign Policy's Presidential Plan B: 10 things Obama should do now, so that the next two years don't go to waste. From a politically savvy idea for raising taxes -- really! -- to a serious antidote for our oil addiction to unorthodox new ways to speak to Muslims around the world, here's how the president can get back on track.

EU ministers to scrap visas for Bosnia and Albania - grudgingly

M&C

Brussels - European Union interior ministers are expected to agree next week to scrap visa requirements for Bosnian and Albanian citizens, but only grudgingly, officials said on Friday.

France and the Netherlands were the countries singled out by several diplomats as having the strongest reservations over the move.

'We are not satisfied with the procedure as a whole,' a diplomat from the sceptic group said, arguing that the European Commission had been too rash in judging that the two countries have met EU standards on border controls.

'We are looking at the intentions more than at the results,' he added.

Concerns have been fueled by a sudden influx of asylum seekers from Serbia and Macedonia after they - together with Montenegro - were granted free access to the EU's border-free Schengen area last December.

Ministers - due to decide by majority voting - were nevertheless expected to give a positive opinion on Bosnia and Albania, to be implemented as from the end of the year. The European Parliament already approved the move last month.

However, in a bid to address some member states' concerns, the decision will be accompanied by a written pledge from the European Commission to keep a close eye on migration flows from all Western Balkan countries.

Officials say there is growing unease among interior ministers about the EU using migration policy as a tool to extend its soft power, with little consideration over the practical repercussions on law and order.

'Visas have a tendency to become diplomatic gifts,' one diplomat said, stressing that recent commission proposals to start visa talks with Moldova have been successfully watered down by EU governments.

Diplomats also warned that growing hostility towards loosening border controls in some of the EU's biggest members does not bode well for Romania and Bulgaria's bid to join the Schengen area in March.

The border-free zone currently encompasses all EU states except Britain, Ireland, Romania and Bulgaria, plus Switzerland, Norway and Iceland.

Cherie Blair defends Muslim women after half-sister turns to Islam

Evening Standard

Martin Bentham, Home Affairs Editor

Cherie Blair has defended Muslim women who wear a veil and insisted that it is wrong to see them as a threat - weeks after her half-sister announced her conversion to the religion.

The former Prime Minister's wife also claimed that it was "not true" that women who covered up were oppressed and "incapable" of thinking for themselves. Her comments, in an interview with a Spanish newspaper, follow Lauren Booth's claims that the religion has given her "a new sense of respect".

Mrs Blair has previously claimed that full-face veils could prevent women from expressing their personality, but today struck a more positive tone.

"We use the appearance of women as a metaphor of our fear of a supposed Islamic threat," she told the El Pais newspaper. "There are thousands of Muslims in Europe who participate in our way of life and intend continuing to do so and if they want to dress in a certain way because of their beliefs, we shouldn't feel threatened. It's important to fight against certain stereotypes that affect above all Muslim women. We tend to believe they're oppressed, insecure and incapable of thinking for themselves and that is not true.

"One of the things I try to do is help to explain that Islam is an open religion in which women have influence, whether they hide their hair or not." Asked about Miss Booth's conversion, she replied: "It's her choice."

Mrs Blair's comments come amid increasing debate about the veiling of women and follow France's decision to ban full-face veils in public.