Category: FOREIGN

Foreign Blogs is a network of global affairs blogs and a supplement to the Foreign Policy Association’s Great Decisions program.

  • France: Woman beheaded inside church; two others dead, several injured

    France: Woman beheaded inside church; two others dead, several injured

    A knifeman on Thursday beheaded a woman besides killing two others and injuring dozens of worshippers in an attack inside a church in Nice on the Côte d’Azur — the Mediterranean coast of southeastern France.

    According to reports, the killings happened at 9 am inside the Notre-Dame basilica in the city centre. There were unconfirmed reports in the French media that at least one of the victims had been beheaded.

    Police described the scene as a “vision of horror”.

    The attacker was shot and injured by police and was taken to hospital.

    READ: France urges Muslims to stop boycott of French products over blasphemous cartoons

    The mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, said the attacker had repeated “Allahu Akbar” several times while he was being arrested and handcuffed by police.

    He said a woman victim had been decapitated but he had no details of how the two others were killed.

    The attack comes less than two weeks after history teacher Samuel Paty, 47, was beheaded outside his high school after showing his class blasphemous caricatures, including one of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) during a discussion on free speech.

    READ: Blasphemy protests: Qureshi wants non-existent Pakistani envoy back from France

    Police confirmed that three people had died in the attack.

    France’s anti-terrorist prosecutor has been brought in to investigate charges of “killing linked to a terrorist organisation”.

    President Emmanuel Macron is heading to Nice.

  • Australian special forces killed Afghan prisoner to make room on plane: US marine

    Australian special forces killed Afghan prisoner to make room on plane: US marine

    A United States Marine Corps (USMC) helicopter crew chief accused Australian special forces of killing a hog-tied Afghan prisoner after being told he would not fit on the US aircraft coming to pick them up.

    The marine told ABC Investigations he was a door gunner providing aerial covering fire for the Australian soldiers of the 2nd Commando Regiment during a night raid in mid-2012. The operation took place north of the HMLA-469 base at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province.

    It was part of a wider joint Australian special forces-US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) campaign targeting illicit drug operations that were financing the Taliban insurgency. “We had done the drug raid, the Aussies actually did a pretty impressive job, wrangling all the prisoners up,” Josh said.

    “We just watched them tackle and hogtie these guys and we knew their hands were tied behind their backs.”

    He says the commandos then called up the US aircraft to pick them and about seven prisoners up. He says the Americans only had room on the aircraft for six. “And the pilot said, ‘That’s too many people, we can’t carry that many passengers.’ And you just heard this silence and then we heard a pop. And then they said, ‘OK, we have six prisoners’.

    “So it was pretty apparent to everybody involved in that mission that they had just killed a prisoner that we had just watched them catch and hogtie,” he said.

    Josh says neither he nor any of his crew spoke about what had just happened.

    “We were all being recorded on our comms,” he said.

    “All of us were pretty aware of what we just witnessed, and kind of didn’t want to be involved in whatever came next.”

    Josh says he later discussed the incident with his crewmates after returning to Camp Bastion.

    “This was the first time we saw something we couldn’t morally justify, because we knew somebody was already cuffed up, ready to go, taken prisoner and we just witnessed them kill a prisoner,” he said.

    “This isn’t like a heat of the moment call where you’re trying to make a decision. It was a very deliberate decision to break the rules of war.

    “I think that was the first thing that happened that didn’t quite sit right with us, where we were like, ‘OK, there’s no excuse, there’s no ambiguity, there’s no going around this one’.”

  • At least 15 dead in stampede near Pakistan consulate in Afghanistan

    At least 15 dead in stampede near Pakistan consulate in Afghanistan

    At least 15 people were killed in a stampede among thousands of Afghans gathered outside Pakistan’s consulate on Tuesday as jostling broke out between people applying for visas, officials in the eastern city of Jalalabad said.

    An estimated 3,000 Afghans had congregated on the open ground outside the consulate, waiting to collect tokens needed to apply for a visa, two provincial officials told Reuters a day after the tragedy.

    The people had gathered to secure a permit after Pakistan introduced a new visa policy for Afghanistan to facilitate business and people-to-people contacts between the two countries. According to officials, the travel document, approved by the cabinet, will make it easy for Afghan citizens to acquire multiple entry visit visas, including those for long-term business, as well as investment and student visas.

    Sohrab Qaderi, a provincial council member in eastern Jalalabad city, where the incident occurred said of the 15 people dead, 11 were women and several senior citizens were wounded.

    “The visa applicants jostled to secure their token from the consulate officials […] the crowd got out of control, leading to a stampede,” said an official in Jalalabad said.

    Tens of thousands of Afghans every year travel to neighbouring Pakistan to secure medical treatment, education and jobs. The two countries share a nearly 2,600-kilometre border.

    Pakistan hosts about 3 million Afghan refugees and economic migrants, who have fled violence, religious persecution and poverty in their war-torn country.

    Officials in the Pakistan embassy in Kabul were not immediately available for comment.

  • Dhoni’s 5-year-old daughter gets rape threats

    Dhoni’s 5-year-old daughter gets rape threats

    In a disturbing development, Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s five-year-old daughter has received rape threats from social media trolls following Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) loss to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Tuesday night match of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

    CSK failed to chase a 168-run target, losing the game by 10 runs. Dhoni’s wife, Sakshi, got the threats on her Instagram account.

    The threats created an outrage on social media, especially from women, as support poured in for the Dhonis, especially little Ziva.

    Actor-turned-politician Nagma tweeted, “Where are we headed as a Nation? It’s disgusting Dhoni’s 5-Year-Old Daughter Ziva is Getting Rape Threats after CSK Lost IPL Match to KKR. Mr #PM what is this happening In our country?? [sic]”

    Sowmya Reddy, member of the legislative assembly (MLA) from Karnataka, said, “This is just nasty! What’s happening to our country? Where are we heading?”

    Rajya Sabha [upper house of the bicameral Indian parliament] lawmaker Priyanka Chaturvedi tweeted, “This has to be the most disgusting example of how social media platforms are being misused.”

    Fans have often taken out their ire on the players. In earlier days, they have even pelted stones at players’ homes, burnt posters and shouted abuses.

    However, targeting the daughter of a player in such a way has been unheard of before.

  • VIDEO: Joe Biden says ‘InshaAllah’ to mock Trump during first presidential debate?

    VIDEO: Joe Biden says ‘InshaAllah’ to mock Trump during first presidential debate?

    Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden cast doubt during Tuesday night’s debate on whether United States (US) President Donald Trump would ever release his tax returns. 

    “You’ll get to see it,” Trump said repeatedly as moderator Chris Wallace pressed him to commit to a firm timeline. Biden retorted, “When? InshaAllah?”

    While the Arabic language phrase literally means “God Willing,” it also has colloquial connotations of ambiguous commitment.

    As Muslims, especially Arabs, pointed out the phrase used by Biden, many wondered if they had mistaken something for InshaAllah.

    Until journalist Asma Khalid of US-based National Public Radio (NPR), who is covering the 2020 presidential campaign, confirmed it.

    Biden earlier released his personal income taxes, which show the former vice president and his wife Jill Biden paid about 30% of their $985,000 gross personal income.

    Trump has refused to voluntarily release his income taxes, which had been a presidential custom stretching back decades.

    READ MORE: ‘Will you shut up, man?’ and much more from Trump vs Biden presidential debate

    The New York Times reported Monday that Trump did not pay any federal income taxes in 10 of the last 15 years. It said the former businessman paid just $750 in federal income tax in 2016 and another $750 in 2017, the year he took office.

    Trump disputed the report during Tuesday night’s debate, saying he has “paid millions of dollars in taxes, millions of dollars of income tax.”

  • VIDEO: Pangong Lake of ‘3 Idiots’ fame now a part of China?

    VIDEO: Pangong Lake of ‘3 Idiots’ fame now a part of China?

    Amid the ongoing border standoff between Chinese and Indian soldiers in Ladakh, it is being speculated that the Pangong Tso area under Indian control, and of Bollywood flick ‘3 Idiots’ fame, has been taken over by China.

    As per the details, a video clip of Chinese tourists enjoying a boat ride purportedly at the Pangong Tso Lake, which among many others was also shared by Indian National Congress (INC) leader Salman Nizami, has gone viral.

    Pangong Tso is an endorheic lake in the Himalayas. Situated at an elevation of 4,225 metres, it is 134 kilometres long and extends from Ladakh in India to the Tibetan Autonomous Region in China. Line of Actual Control (LAC) between China and India also passes through the Pangong Lake, effectively dividing it into two parts.

    India controls the 45 km-long western portions of the 135 km-long lake while the rest is under Chinese control. The picture-perfect lake is also the place where 3 Idiots’ ending with Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor and co was shot.

    “Chinese tourists in Ladakh’s Pangong Lake. Can someone ask ’56 inch’ Chowkidar [offensive comment apparently against Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi] if Indians now need a visa to visit Pangong Lake?” Nizami tweeted.

    National convener of INC’s social media department, Saral Patel, also shared the video.

    It was retweeted by INC spokesperson Shama Mohamed with the comment, “Chinese tourists are apparently vacationing at Pangong Tso & PM [Narendra] Modi is still in agreement with China’s lie that there have been no incursions or annexation of Indian territory.”

    While there have been no official statements over the status of the lake from Beijing or New Delhi, it is likely that the videos being circulated have been shot on the Chinese side of the lake, which is reportedly open for tourists.

    Earlier, an advertisement video shared by some Twitter users had claimed that China will facilitate the return of international tourists to Pangong Tso.

    The 45-second footage on Twitter showed the scenic landscape of the Pangong Tso.

    The ad video, which has received several retweets, was uploaded by users who used both Mandarin and Chinese as the medium of communication. Although they appeared to be handles managed by Chinese nationals, it could not be confirmed as none of the accounts were verified by Twitter.

    https://twitter.com/evazhengll/status/1301555381810991111

    “You only need to take a Chinese visa to enjoy cold air, flocks of birds and blue water. We have also placed a monument on a place where movie 3 idiots was made. Come, visit and enjoy China,” one of the users tweeted.

    https://twitter.com/CNPakWW/status/1301557920472141828

    Even though the video appears to have been produced in China, it could not be ascertained whether the clip is new or old.

    However, Shen Shiwei, a Chinese journalist working for state-owned CGTN, tweeted that the lake was open for tourists for quite a long time.

    “Pangong Tso in China is open to tourists at home and abroad for quite a long time. The lake is near the Chinese national highway and is a good place for self-driving travel. We have a resort on the lake here,” he said.

  • Imame Kaaba wants Muslims to make peace with Jews; hints at normalisation of Saudi-Israel ties

    Imame Kaaba wants Muslims to make peace with Jews; hints at normalisation of Saudi-Israel ties

    A debate is continuing on social media ever since Abdulrahman al-Sudais, the Imam of the Grand Mosque of Makkah, hinted at possible normalisation of ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel during the Friday sermon.

    Imam Sudais is a senior religious leader in Saudi Arabia and is also the president of the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques.

    In his Friday sermon, Imam Sudais spoke of peace and kindness with non-Muslims, making specific reference to Jews. He highlighted the importance of Muslims respecting other faiths and underlined several stories about interactions between Jewish people and Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).

    He mentioned how the Prophet (PBUH) dealt with a Jewish neighbour who eventually converted to Islam and also advised people to remain loyal and obedient towards the leaders and authorities and to stay away from the “misguided factions and groups”.

    The Imam’s remarks about peaceful coexistence are not controversial in any way but the timing of the sermon amid geopolitical changes in the region has sparked an online debate as they came less than a month after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — a close ally of the Kingdom in the Gulf — recognised Israel, leaving questions on Saudi Arabia’s next move in this regard.

    The statements have caused unrest among Muslims on social media who blame the cleric for exploiting the platform of Islam’s holiest mosque to make ground for the Saudi government.

    Here’s what Twitterati have to say about it:

    While one user said that the sermon was against Imam Sudais’ traditional stance on the Al-Aqsa Mosque, another one shared the videos of two contrasting sermons of the Imam — one, in which he calls to save Al-Aqsa Mosque from the abomination of aggressors, and the second, which prepares the ground for acceptance of Israel.

    https://twitter.com/be4after/status/1302223008199774209

    Muhammad al-Mukhtar al-Shinqiti, a Mauritanian author, saw the sermon as a misuse of the Grand Mosque to promote normalisation and call for the obedience of the “murderous rulers”.

    Have anything to add to this story? Let The Current know in the comments below.

  • Pakistan condemns burning of Holy Quran at anti-Islam protests in Sweden, Norway

    Pakistan condemns burning of Holy Quran at anti-Islam protests in Sweden, Norway

    The Foreign Office on Sunday strongly condemned recent incidents in Sweden and Norway in which copies of the Holy Quran were reportedly burnt, saying that “freedom of speech can’t justify religious hatred”, Dawn reported.

    In a statement issued on Twitter, FO spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri further said:

    “The rise of such Islamophobic occurrences goes against the spirit of any religion.”

    “Ensuring respect for religious beliefs of others is a collective responsibility and is absolutely critical for global peace and prosperity,” Chaudhri added.

    A day earlier, a riot broke out in the southern Swedish town of Malmo, where at least 300 people had gathered to protest against anti-Islam activities, police said.

    Protesters were throwing objects at police officers and car tyres had been set on fire, a police spokesman said. Earlier in the day, a copy of the Quran had been burned in Malmo by right-wing extremists.

    The demonstrations had escalated in the same place where the Quran had been burned, the spokesman added.

    Daily Aftonbladet said several anti-Islam activities had taken place in Malmo on Friday, including three men kicking a copy of the Quran between them in a public square.

    Meanwhile, at an anti-Islam protest on Saturday in Oslo, Sweden — held by the far-right group Stop the Islamisation of Norway (SION) — a protester tore out pages of the Quran and spat on them, Anadolu Agency reported.

  • UAE dispatches fighter jets to support allies against Turkey

    UAE dispatches fighter jets to support allies against Turkey

    The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is once again deploying its air force in support of allied countries that share its strong opposition to Turkey’s attempts to extend its military reach in the Eastern Mediterranean and Libya.

    The UAE is sending between two and four warplanes to the Greek island of Crete for joint training exercises with the Hellenic Air Force following talks between senior Greek and Emirati military officials. 

    The UAE’s air force previously participated in military exercises in Greece in 2019, with Emirati pilots flying alongside their Israeli counterparts, among others. 

    What’s notable about this deployment, however, is its timing. France has also just sent two Dassault Rafale jets to Crete in a show of support to Greece as its dispute with Turkey over gas and oil exploration and drilling rights in the Eastern Mediterranean and the delineation of maritime boundaries escalates.

    Turkey recently sent warships to escort a research ship for a drilling survey in waters claimed exclusively by Greece.

    On August 14, one of these warships suffered a minor collision with a Hellenic Navy warship that the Greek side said was an accident. On August 22, Turkish air and naval forces carried out exercises in the Aegean Sea that included F-16 jets in a show of force. 

    Turkey has a significantly larger air force than the UAE, as well as Greece, that consists of over 200 F-16s and 40 F-4 Phantoms. The UAE has over 70 F-16s and about 60 French-built Mirage 2000s. While smaller, the Emirati fleet flies more advanced F-16s than the Turks: the Block 60 one-seater E and two-seater F variants built especially for the UAE air force.

    Turkey and the UAE have been locked in an increasingly bitter cold war in recent years.

    Turkey’s incumbent ruling party, alongside its close ally Qatar, is a strong supporter and patron of Muslim Brotherhood groups across the region. The UAE and Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, strongly oppose the Brotherhood and support regimes that suppress it, such as President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s regime in Egypt. Both countries also began blockading Qatar in July 2017. Turkey and the UAE have also been on the polar opposite sides of regional proxy conflicts, most notably the one in Libya. 

    The UAE’s decision to send some fighter jets to demonstrate its support of Greece in its dispute with Turkey is another example of Abu Dhabi’s consistent opposition to Ankara’s regional policies in this multi-front cold war. 

    UAE allies Egypt and France also strongly oppose Turkey’s policies in the Eastern Mediterranean and support Greece. These policies also include Turkey’s drilling for natural gas in the Republic of Cyprus’ economic exclusion zone (EEZ) and its agreement with Libya’s UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) to create an EEZ that claims huge swathes of the Mediterranean between their two distant coasts.

    Today, it’s still highly unlikely Turkey and the UAE jets will clash. Nevertheless, such a possibility cannot be totally dismissed out of hand so long as both rivals continuously find themselves facing each other down in tense flashpoints like the Eastern Mediterranean and volatile conflict zones like Libya.

    The article originally appeared on Forbes.

  • PM Imran declared Muslim world’s ‘Man of the Year’ by Jordanian institute

    PM Imran declared Muslim world’s ‘Man of the Year’ by Jordanian institute

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has been declared as “Man of the Year” from the Muslim world, by the Jordan based Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre, an official said. “Jordan’s Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre named Prime Minister Imran Khan as ‘Man of the Year’ in its recent list of the most persuasive Muslims in the World”.

    In its latest edition “The World’s 500 Most Influential Muslims, 2020″ the center also named American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib as “Woman of the Year”.

    Abdallah Schleifer, who is chief editor of “The Muslim 500” project, while declaring Khan as “Man of the year”, wrote that his quest for peace with neighboring India and his philanthropist work entitled him for the honor. Schleifer is Professor Emeritus of Journalism at the American University in Cairo.

    He added that he was impressed by Khan, launching a successful fund-raising campaign to establish a hospital devoted to treating cancer victims and research.

    Recalling Khan’s first address to the nation as prime minister in August 2018, the author said he genuinely wanted to normalise relations through trade, and settle the Kashmir dispute with India.

    “Khan also wrote three letters to India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling for dialogue and lasting peace. Modi did not respond,” Schleifer noted.

    The centre also declared the US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, as the most prominent “Muslim Woman of the Year”.

    “American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (Democrat, Michigan) is this year’s Muslim 500 Woman of the Year,” the centre announced.

    She is the first Palestinian-American woman elected to the American Congress, as member of the House of Representatives, Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre said.

    The centre also included other top 50 influential Muslims personalities in its edition. They are Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamid Al-Thani, President Joko Widodo President of Indonesia, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al-Saud King of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah II Ibn Al-Hussein King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, King Mohammed VI King of Morocco and others.

    Eminent religious scholars Mufti Taqi Usmani and Maulana Tariq Jameel have also been named among the most influential Muslims.

    Maulana Tariq Jameel’s sermons focus on ‘self-purification, avoidance of violence, observance of Allah’s orders and pursuing the way of Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him).’ He has been named continuously as one of the 500 most influential Muslims in the world by the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought in Jordan from 2013 to 2019.

    In 2019, the religious scholar stood 40th of a list ranking the world’s most “influential” Muslims. The annual publication was compiled by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre in Jordan and highlights people who are influential as Muslims. The publication defines influential as meaning “any person who has the power to make a change that will have a significant impact on the Muslim World”.