'Buddhist bin Laden' or man of peace? Monk leads anti-Muslim campaign in Myanmar

Paula Bronstein / Getty Images, file

Wirathu is the leader of a Buddhist extremist movement known as 969. He was once jailed for anti-Muslim violence and believes it is vital that Buddhist people keep their business, relationships and land dealings away from followers of Islam.

By Fiona MacGregor, NBC News contributor

YANGON, Myanmar -- A monk has been dubbed the "Buddhist bin Laden" and the "face of Buddhist terror" after launching a campaign against Muslims.

U Wirathu has been accused of inciting violence against Myanmar's Muslim minority with fiery sermons claiming the growth of Islam is putting Buddhism and Burmese culture at risk.

About 200 people have been killed by violence since religious riots erupted in June 2012 and tens of thousands fled after homes owned were burned by mobs.

Wirathu, who says he once compared himself to the al Qaeda leader as "a joke," claims Islamic beliefs can encourage people to have "bad characters." As a key figure in a movement that encourages people to boycott Muslim businesses, Wirathu espouses a form of radical Buddhism which seems incongruous to those in the West who associate the religion with peace and acceptance.

However, the 46-year-old  monk insists he does not advocate violence against Muslims, who make up just 5 percent of the country's 60 million people.

Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters, file

A Buddhist monk and other protesters demonstrate against TIME magazine in Yangon, Myanmar, on June 30.

"I believe Islam is a threat not just for Buddhism, but for the people and the country and the religion," he said.

According to Wirathu, it doesn't matter that Muslims make up a small proportion of Myanmar's population. 

"When someone went into a school in Virginia armed and killed people there, it didn't matter that the teacher and the pupils were the majority," he offers as an illustration.

Last month, TIME magazine's portrayal of Wirathu as "The Face of Buddhist Terror" sparked widespread protests across the country.

But Wirathu laughs at reports that he even branded himself the "Buddhist bin Laden."

"People used to write things like that about me on Facebook, call me that, and the 'bald Bin Laden,' all sorts of names," he said. "I ended up calling myself that as a joke ... and it got reported from there."

In Myanmar, Buddhist religion and culture means monks are generally seen as beyond question because of their holy status, yet at the same time their role has long been political as well as spiritual.

Wirathu's notoriety has grown amid deadly violence between Buddhists and Muslims in Myanmar, which is in its second year on "the road to democracy" after decades of military rule.

Tensions are highest in the western state of Rakhine, which borders predominantly Muslim Bangladesh. Rakhine has long been the scene of conflict between rival ethnic groups but sectarian violence has increasingly been breaking out in other parts of the country. In May, Buddhist mobs burned Muslim homes in the northern city of Lashio.

Human Rights Watch noted that violence in June and October 2012 "resulted in countless deaths, destruction to property, large scale internal displacement and segregation within Rakhine state of Myanmar."

Other organizations have recorded incidents of mosques and Muslims being attacked in Rakhine state and elsewhere. Tens of thousands of Muslims have been effectively trapped in displacement camps after clashes saw an estimated 200 people killed and 

Wirathu is behind a pro-Buddhist movement, known as 969. Its badge has been appearing on businesses keen to promote their Buddhist credentials, and encourage other Buddhists to choose theirs over Muslim-run ones. The logo also increasingly appears at rallies and on pamphlets issued by religious and nationalist organizations describing Muslims as a threat.

Wirathu claims he came up with the idea of 969, numbers which represent Buddhist virtues.

He insists it is vital that Buddhist people keep their business, relationships and land dealings away from Muslims because he fears "their population will get bigger than ours" and "shariah law will take over."

Wirathu and others operating under the 969 umbrella highlight videos and images of butchered monks, violent crowds of people in Muslim dress and destroyed temples which they allege show attacks by Islamists targeting Buddhists.

Wirathu insisted he "does not believe that violence will solve the problems" and suggested many of the more inflammatory quotes attributed to him have either been taken out of context or are simply wrong.

"I don't believe that violence is the way forward and I do not want to see Buddhist people ganging up and taking revenge on Muslims," Wirathu said. 

To most Buddhists in Myanmar, the idea that a monk could be responsible for inciting violence is almost incomprehensible, yet many seem happy enough to accept his message of intolerance.

"The monk Wirathu is peaceful person and he is not a terrorist. Look around the world, at Afghanistan, Indonesia, who are the main culprits when it comes to terrorism?" asked Htway Maung Kyaw, an elderly Yangon bookseller, who having studied in the U.K. in his youth is proud to describe himself as "Philologist (London)"

Niels Huby

The Venerable Ashinkumara believes Muslims are plotting to take over Myanmar.

"It is true he was in prison," he said of Wirathu's detention in 2003 under the junta, reportedly for incitiing violence against Muslims. "However, that was under the military regime [when many people were imprisoned]. He was struggling on behalf of humanity."

The Venerable Ashinkumara, a fellow monk and member of the 969 movement, said his controversial friend has "a tender heart."

Ashinkumara, who believes that Muslims are plotting to take over Burma and "are the ones who started all the fights," added: "I don't believe Wirathu has called for violence."

This view that Wirathu is somehow "misunderstood" is expressed by businessman and Buddhist charity founder Ko Moe whose maternal grandfather was Muslim and whose grandmother was he says "forced" to convert from Buddhism.

"Wirathu never told people to fight against Islam," Moe said. "He is trying to give the message that people should protect their own religion and race.

"Not to fight, but there is a big concern that the Muslim population is growing faster than the Burmese people, because they can have many wives and are told not to use birth control," he says, echoing a view heard over and over again in Burma's tea-houses.

Moe points to Indonesia, Malaysia and southern Thailand, which are now predominantly Muslim, as examples of what many in Myanmar fear is their country's future.

Many also express the feeling that they are a minority in their region: a nation of 60 million, dwarved by neighbors India at 1.2 billion and China at 1.3 billion, and conscious of the growing influence of Islam in other Asian nations.

Moe's Piti (Light of Truth) charity helps orphans and people living with HIV, but he has clear religious aims and the organization also works to promote "a proper understanding of Buddhism".

"What Wirathu talks about is patriotism," he said. "It is about protecting our nationality, our race and our religion."

For Muslims born in Myanmar, that is a hard view of patriotism to swallow. 

At a central mosque in Yangon, it's not something people like to discuss publicly, but they feel the discrimination against them is about more than religion.

"I don't believe this is really about religion," one imam said. "It is about certain people trying to gain political power. We Muslims have been here for 1,000 years and are Burmese too."

Bollywood Actress Mamta Kulkarni embraces Islam

June 9, 2013in Indian Muslim, Women 

Mamta Kulkarni

By Muslim Mirror news,

Former beautiful and sizzling Indian actress Mamta Kulkarni has accepted Islam as best religion. She converted to Islam recently and is living with her husband ‘Vicky Goswami’, who has already converted to Islam. Mamta Kulkarni got married on 10th May, 2013 and is living in Nairobi, Kenya with her husband.

In this modern age, the non-Muslims are converting to Islam considering it the best religion in the world. The Indian Bollywood Actress, who got fame due to her movie ‘Ghatak’ has converted to Islam. Mamta Kulkarni’s husband Vicky Goswami was arrested by the UAE police in 1997 in drug smuggling case. Vicky Goswami was sentenced 25 years in jail, but released in November 2012. His conversion to Islam was the main reason of major reduction in his punishment.

Mamta Kulkarni got married with Goswami, when he was in jail. She was managing her husband’s hotel business outside during his punishment. She was in a relationship with Goswami, and their relation has turned into a long lasting relation, as the couple has got married.

In 90′s Mamta Kulkarni came up as a hot and bold actress of Indian film industry. Her bold and hot pictures were published in several magazines and fashion tabloids. She worked in Bollywood movies for almost 11 years, and after that she left the showbiz and Indian film industry i.e. Bollywood. She has rejected a lot of film offers from several directors and producers. She has also received many offers from the dance programs and reality shows, but she has decided to keep herself out of this business.

Egyptian Foreign Minister: Obama Told Me Himself, “I Am A Muslim.”

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said he had a one-on-one meeting with Obama, in which President Obama told him that he was still a Muslim, the son of a Muslim father, the stepson of Muslim stepfather, that his half brothers in Kenya are Muslims, and that he was sympathetic towards the Muslim agenda.

“Finally, during the week of 14-18th of January 2010, just on the eve of my winter tour to the US, Rachel picked up a Nile TV broadcast in which Egyptian Foreign Minister Abul Gheit said on the “Round Table Show” that he had had a one on one meeting with Obama who swore to him that he was a Moslem, the son of a Moslem father and step-son of Moslem step-father, that his half-brothers in Kenya were Moslems, and that he was loyal to the Moslem agenda. He asked that the Moslem world show patience. Obama promised that once he overcame some domestic American problems (Healthcare), that he would show the Moslem world what he would do with Israel.”
This is according to Israel Today here. Here is the passage from the May 2010 issue of “Israel Today.” It is on page 3 in an article titled “Obama, a ‘Strategic Catastrophe,’” by Aviel Schneider:
“The feeling among the Israeli public is that Obama is appeasing the Muslim world at the expense of Israel. “The American President told me in confidence that he is a Muslim,” said Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Nile TV.”

Iran Calls for Immediate Solution to Myanmar Crisis

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Mohammad Khazayee called on the international community and the regional countries to take immediate action to resolve the current crisis in the Southeast Asian country of Myanmar.

The Iranian envoy to the UN made the remarks in a meeting with the ambassadors of the member states of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in New York on Friday.

"At a time when Muslim countries are concerned about the situation in Myanmar, the political whim of certain Western states to establish better relations with Myanmar's government has weakened the process of looking into the situation of Muslims in the country, and Muslim countries, unfortunately, are not using all their means (to push for an end to the violence)," Khazayee said.

The Iranian envoy also voiced Iran's deep concern over the escalating violence and cases of human rights violations against Muslims in Myanmar.

Meantime, Khazayee called on the OIC member states to prepare a resolution against the barbaric acts currently underway against Muslims in Myanmar.

Earlier this month, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast renewed Tehran's call for an immediate halt to extreme violence in Myanmar.

Mehman-Parast strongly criticized extreme ethnic violence in Myanmar that has also destroyed holy places buildings in Muslim residential areas.

He said conflicts in Myanmar hurts the feelings of the whole Islamic world, stressing that such acts will also put the Myanmar political and economic situation in danger.

Mehman-Parast further stressed the need to take serious action against the agents of such violence in Myanmar.

He then urged the Myanmar government to cooperate root and branch with the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and contact group as well to prevent occurrence of such extremist actions and systematic conflicts in that country.

Earlier in April, a leading rights watchdog, citing evidence of mass graves and forced displacement, said Myanmar has waged "a campaign of ethnic cleansing" against Rohingya Muslims.

The Rohingya, who are denied citizenship by the country also known as Burma, have faced crimes against humanity including murder, persecution, deportation and forced transfer, New York-based Human Rights Watch said.

Myanmar officials, community leaders and Buddhist monks organized and encouraged mobs backed by state security forces to conduct coordinated attacks on Muslim villages in October in the Western state of Rakhine, HRW said.

"The Burmese government engaged in a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya that continues today through the denial of aid and restrictions on movement," said HRW deputy Asia director Phil Robertson.

HRW noted that while ethnic cleansing was not a formal legal term, it was generally defined as a policy by one ethnic or religious group to remove another such group from certain areas by violent and terror-inspiring means.

In Rakhine, more than 125,000 Rohingya and other Muslims have been forcibly displaced, denied access to humanitarian aid and are unable to return home, the group said.

At least 180 people died in two outbreaks of Buddhist violence against Muslim in Rakhine since June 2012, according to the official toll, but rights groups believe the real figure is much higher.

In a report based on more than 100 interviews, HRW said that it had uncovered evidence of four mass-grave sites in Rakhine, accusing the security forces of trying to destroy evidence of crimes.

Malaysia's Ruling Coalition Wins Election

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia--Malaysia's ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Najib Razak won an election by what appeared would be a comfortable margin Sunday over the opposition led by the charismatic Anwar Ibrahim in a hard-fought election to form the next government following a record turnout.
Shortly after midnight in Kuala Lumpur, the National Front coalition, which has governed the Southeast Asian country since independence from Britain in 1957, had captured 112 of the 222 parliamentary seats as stake, the Election Commission announced. The opposition alliance was at 56, with 54 seats still outstanding.
The tally left Mr. Najib within striking distance of seizing a milestone two-thirds majority of 148, a margin that analysts had thought him unlikely to get anywhere near going into Sunday's vote. Around 80% of country's 13.3 million eligible voters cast their ballots in an election that will also determine who will govern 12 of the country's 13 states for the next five years. The turnout was higher than the 76% of voters who voted in previous election in 2008.
Mr. Anwar kept his parliamentary seat while his coalition retained the third-richest state of Penang, where Mr. Anwar contested. But he generated early confusion--and insinuated that his opponents and the election apparatus were not to be trusted--by tweeting a claim of victory for his People's Alliance coalition less than two hours into the count and before a single official result was released, a move that irked the commission.
"We urge UMNO and the EC to not attempt to hijack the results," the tweet said. The United Malays National Organization, or UMNO, is at the core of the ruling coalition. The tweet came without the benefit of public exit polls.
"He is bluffing and talking nonsense," Mr. Wan Ahmad of the Election Commission, said in a text message to The Wall Street Journal. "How can Anwar claim PR had won?" he said, referring to the Malay name for the opposition alliance. At the time Mr. Anwar took to Twitter, only 300 out of 52,000 ballot boxes had been opened, he said.
It was unclear whether Malaysians would be consider the result to be untainted. "Voter turnout has averaged between 70% and 75% (in the past); 80% is a very good number, but the question remains how many of them are legitimate voters," said Andrew Aeria, who teaches political science at University Malaysia Sarawak.
Some citizens said the ink applied to a voter's index finger to safeguard against repeat voting could be scrubbed off, a charge the Election Commission denied. "Those who tried hard to wash the ink off, it will not be completely washed," Election Commission Deputy Chairman Wan Ahmad Wan Omar told The Wall Street Journal.
The electorate was choosing to either extend the National Front's rule since independence from Britain in 1957 amid strong economic growth or to give the opposition a chance to make good on its pledges to root out corruption and boost wages and living conditions.
The stakes were high for Mr. Najib, a British-educated son of a former prime minister who seeks a clear mandate to push through his ambitious $444 billion Economic Transformation Program aimed at lifting Malaysia to rank alongside wealthier rival Singapore by 2020, and for Mr. Anwar, who says he is taking his last shot at wresting power.
"I believe the people will make a wise decision," Mr. Najib was quoted as saying by state-run news agency Bernama after he cast his ballot to defend his parliamentary seat in the eastern Pahang state.
A former student firebrand, Mr. Anwar rose through the ranks of UMNO to become deputy prime minister until he fell out with former premier Mahathir Mohamad. He was accused and convicted of sodomy and later acquitted after spending six years in detention. Last year, he was cleared of similar charges that he said were trumped up to destroy his career.
In opposition, Mr. Anwar, now 65, campaigned relentlessly, tapping into a desire for swifter reform among younger Malaysians by pledging more transparency and plans to eliminate the affirmative-action policies that gives preferences to ethnic Malay Muslims in everything from education to government jobs.
Since taking office four year ago, Mr. Najib, 59 years old, rolled out some reforms aimed at outflanking Mr. Anwar's supporters and containing a growing clamor for greater accountability in a more democratic Malaysia. He scrapped a decades-old law enabling security forces to detain critics without trial, and began chipping away at the sprawling affirmative-action program while accelerating state-asset sales to reduce government's hold on business.
Mr. Najib maintained that only the National Front can maintain stability in multiracial, Muslim-majority Malaysia, which has increasingly raised its appeal as a model democracy to the Islamic world as well as the West. Foreign investors hold close to half of Malaysia's government debt, a testament of trust in the steady economic progress that has helped lift millions out of poverty.
Some analysts warned that the financial markets will be hurt by short-term jitters nonetheless.

Iran blasts extremist attack against Myanmar Muslims

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has denounced the recent attack by extremists on Muslims in the city of Okkan in Myanmar that led to the destruction of the community’s houses and holy sites.

Hundreds of extremist Buddhists armed with bricks stormed a group of Muslim villages in Okkan, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) north of Yangon, on Wednesday. The Buddhist mob targeted Muslim shops and destroyed at least two mosques that left one man dead and ten others injured.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said the clashes in Myanmar would lacerate the feelings of the people in the Islamic world and put at stake the achievements made through political and economic reforms in the country.

He lamented the destruction of the holy sites as well as threats against Muslims’ lives, and expressed deep concern over the continuation of such inhumane acts in Myanmar.

The Iranian official underlined the need to take firm action against the perpetrators of the incident.

He also expressed hope that Myanmar’s government would cooperate with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and its Contact Group to prevent the repetition of extremist acts and systematic clashes in the country.

Rohingya Muslims are facing torture, neglect, and repression in Myanmar.

Hundreds of Rohingyas are believed to have been killed and thousands displaced in recent attacks by extremist Buddhists.

Myanmar’s government has been accused of failing to protect the Muslim minority.

Source: http://bit.ly/14YUXEW

White House says chemical weapons likely used in Syria

In a letter to Congress, the White House said that U.S. intelligence agencies had assessed "with varying degrees of confidence" that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons -- in particular, the nerve agent sarin. However, it also said that more conclusive evidence would be needed before the U.S. makes a decision to intervene. President Barack Obama had previously described the use of chemical weapons as a "red line," that would cause him to reconsider his stance on military intervention.

Officials say the attacks in question took place last month near Aleppo and in the outskirts of Damascus. “Fortunately the deaths have not been high, but there have been deaths,” said Senator Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

U.S. officials had cast doubt earlier this week on claims made by the Israeli government about chemical weapons. The British and French government have also reported that they believe the weapons have been used. British Prime Minister David Cameron repeated his assertion on Friday, saying, “there’s growing evidence that we have seen, too, of the use of chemical weapons, probably by the regime. It is extremely serious, this is a war crime, and we should take it very seriously.” However, Cameron also said more information was needed before a decision could be made on intervention.

Meanwhile on the ground, the Syrian regime reported on Friday that it had captured the strategic town of Otaiba, east of Damascus. A pro-government newspaper reported that troops had found tunnels "utilized by the terrorists for transport and hiding and to store weapons and ammunition." Opposition activists disputed these accounts.

‘Myanmar waging ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslim’

Wednesday, 24 April 2013 00:08

Bangkok, Apr 23: Myanmar has waged a campaign of "ethnic cleansing" against Rohingya Muslims, a leading human rights group said, appealing to India to press its eastern neighbour to put an immediate stop to the abuses.

"Burmese authorities and members of Arakanese groups have committed crimes against humanity in a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslims in Arakan State since June 2012," Human Rights Watch said in a new report released on Tuesday.

The 153-page report titled "'All You Can Do is Pray': Crimes Against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Burma's Arakan State" describes the role of the Burmese government and local authorities in the forcible displacement of more than 125,000 Rohingya and other Muslims.

"The Burmese government engaged in a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya that continues today through the denial of aid and restrictions on movement," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at the HRW.

"Now that it is clear that crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing are being perpetrated in Arakan state, New Delhi must press upon the Burmese government to put an immediate stop to the abuses against the Rohingya and hold the perpetrators accountable," Meenakshi Ganguly, HRW South Asia director, said in a statement.

Ganguly also urged India to ask Myanmar to "amend the Citizenship Act to eliminate discriminatory provisions that have placed the Rohingya at risk of becoming stateless".

The HRW said that following sectarian violence between Arakanese and Rohingya in June 2012, government authorities destroyed mosques, conducted violent mass arrests, and blocked aid to displaced Muslims.

The "mobs attacked Muslim communities in nine townships, razing villages and killing residents while security forces stood aside or assisted the assailants," it alleged.

The rights group said it has uncovered evidence of four mass-grave sites in Arakan State – three dating from the immediate aftermath of the June violence and one from the October violence.

"Security forces actively impeded accountability and justice by digging mass graves to destroy evidence of crimes," the HRW accused.

"The government needs to put an immediate stop to the abuses and hold the perpetrators accountable or it will be responsible for further violence against ethnic and religious minorities in the country," Robertson warned in a statement.

အင္ဒိုနီးရွားသမၼတ မနက္ျဖန္(April 23) ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံလာမည္

ေနာက္ဆုံးေရးသားခ်ိန္ 22 April 2013, အင္ဒိုနီးရွားသမၼတ Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono က မနက္ဖန္က်ရင္ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံထဲကို သြားေရာက္ လည္ပတ္ဖို႔ရွိတယ္လို႔သိရပါတယ္။

အခုသြားေရာက္ လည္ပတ္မယ္႔ ခရီးစဥ္ဟာ စကၤာပူႏိုင္ငံ ကို သြားေရာက္လည္ပတ္အၿပီးမွာ သြားေရာက္မွာျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ သမၼတ Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ဟာ စကၤာပူႏိုင္ငံကို ဒီကေန႔ပဲထြက္ခြါမွာသြားမွာျဖစ္ပါတယ္လို႔ တရုတ္ႏိုင္ငံက Xinhua သတင္းဌာနထဲမွာေဖာ္ျပထားပါတယ္။

စကၤာပူႏိုင္ငံခရီးစဥ္အတြင္း စကၤာပူႏိုင္ငံ ၀န္ၾကီးခ်ဳပ္ Lee Hsien Loong နဲ႔ေတြ႕ဆံုမွာျဖစ္ၿပီး ရင္းႏွီးျမဳပ္ႏွံမႈ၊ ေလေၾကာင္းသယ္ယူပို႔ေဆာင္ေရး လုပ္ငန္း၊ ခရီးသြားလုပ္ငန္း၊ လူ႔စြမ္းရည္ျမင္႔တင္ေရးနဲ႔ စိုက္ပ်ဳိးေရးစီးပြားေရးလုပ္ငန္း၊ အၾကမ္းဖက္သမားေတြကိုႏွိမ္ႏွင္းဖို႔အေၾကာင္းေတြနဲ႔ စီးပြားေရးလုပ္ငန္းဖြ႔ံၿဖိဳး တိုးတက္ဖို႔အေၾကာင္းေတြကို အတူပူးတြဲလုပ္ေဆာင္ဖို႔အတြက္ ေဆြးေႏြးၾကမွာျဖစ္လို႔ ဆိုပါတယ္။

သမၼတ Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ဟာ စကၤာပူႏိုင္ငံ Rajaratnam တကၠသိုလ္ ႏိုင္ငံတကာ ဘာသာဌာနကေပးအပ္တဲ႔ ဂုဏ္ျပဳဘြဲ႔ကိုလည္း လက္ခံရရွိမွာျဖစ္ပါတယ္။

အဲဒီေနာက္ပိုင္းမွာေတာ့ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံကိုႏွစ္ရက္ၾကာ သြားေရာက္လည္ပတ္မွာျဖစ္ၿပီး သမၼတ ဦးသိန္းစိန္ နဲ႔ ေတြ႕ဆံုမွာျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ အင္ဒိုနီးရွားသမၼတနဲ႔ သမၼတ ဦးသိန္းစိန္တို႔ဟာ ကုန္သြယ္ေရး၊ အရည္အေသြးျမင္တင္ေရးနဲ႔ ရင္းႏွီးျမဳပ္ႏွံမႈနဲ႔ပတ္သက္တဲ႔ ႏွစ္ႏိုင္ငံ သေဘာတူညီမႈစာခ်ဳပ္ ခ်ဳပ္ဆိုပြဲေတြကို မ်က္ျမင္သက္ေသအျဖစ္ တက္ေရာက္ၾကမွာျဖစ္တယ္လို႔လည္း ဆိုပါတယ္။

ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံကိုသြားေရာက္အၿပီး အင္ဒိုနီးရွားသမၼတ Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono အေနနဲ႔ ဘရူႏိုင္းႏိုင္ငံမွာက်င္းပမဲ႔ ႏွစ္ဆယ့္ႏွစ္ၾကိမ္ေျမာက္ အေရွ႕ေတာင္အာရွႏိုင္ငံမ်ားအသင္း အစည္းအေ၀းကို သြားတက္ေရာက္မွာျဖစ္တယ္လို႔လည္း သိရပါတယ္

US, Israel, Turkey share security interests in ME : John Kerry

US Secretary of State John Kerry says his country shares mutual security interests in the Middle East with Turkey and Israel.

On Sunday, Kerry urged Turkey to speed up an improvement in its relationship with Israel.

The remarks by the US secretary of state came as he was answering questions regarding the necessity of rapprochement between Tel Aviv and Ankara during a visit to Turkey.

Kerry also said the current unrest in Syria and Iran's nuclear energy program are major threats to security of Washington, Tel Aviv, and Turkey in the region.

He declined to comment on a recent report by the British Sunday Times saying Israel is discussing with Turkey the use of a base outside the Turkish capital, Ankara, to launch a possible attack against Iran.

During a trip to Tel Aviv last month, US President Barack Obama secured a pledge from Turkish and Israeli leaders to normalize relations.

Tensions increased between Ankara and Tel Aviv after a 2010 Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, which claimed the lives of nine Turkish activists.

Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a full resumption of ties with Turkey after saying that he had finally apologized for the deaths of the Turkish activists.

In a deal brokered by Obama, the Israeli premier also accepted Turkey's demands for compensation to be paid to the families of the nine activists who were killed. However, the rapprochement has been slow in moving forward.

SZH/SS

BREAKING NEWS. OVER 170 HOSPITALIZED, 24 IN CRITICAL CONDITION IN WEST, TEXAS EXPLOSION

Massive blast rocks Texas fertilizer plant: LIVE UPDATES

Published time: April 18, 2013 03:34 
Edited time: April 18, 2013 06:51

A vehicl06:49 GMT: High winds in Waco, Texas, make it difficult for helicopter landings and take-offs needed for delivering patients for medical treatment, according to NBC News.

06:47 GMT: Dept of Public Safety concerned with one unexploded tank that is venting gas from fertilizer plant in West, Texas, local media reported.

06:35 GMT: 172 people confirmed hospitalized, 24 people in critical condition, 38-40 people in serious condition and 23 more people en route to be admitted to local hospitals, ABC News reported. 

06:29 GMT: Over 100 patients are being treated in two local hospitals, according to media reports. 

06:20 GMT: All roads around the impact zone are blocked off, except to emergency vehicles, NBC reported.

06:10 GMT: Fire is believed to have started in an anhydrous ammonia tank before it spread to the rest of the plant buildings, local media reported. 

06:06 GMT: Mayor of West Tommy Muska told residents to stay inside because of the hydrous gas in the air.

05:56 GMT:

05:25 GMT: “Probably over 100 injuries,” while the number of fatalities remains unknown, says DPS' DL Wilson.

05:21 GMT: According to the DPS, they may have to evacuate the other side of town when the north wind comes through.

05:17 GMT: USGS registered the fertilizer plant explosion as a 2.1 magnitude quake.

05:15 GMT: Rescue services request that no more volunteers come to the scene to join the effort, since they would only impede the operation.

05:06 GMT: Plant is still smoldering, firefighters have difficulties getting to it to extinguish the remaining fires. Toxic fumes are rising from the site, says Departme

05:06 GMT: The apartment complex most affected by the disaster is “a skeleton” with 50 to 75 residences damaged. Rescuers are doing house-to-house search for victims, DPS says.

05:04 GMT: The 133 people from the nursing home were evacuated and taken to local hospitals, Department of Public Safety reports.

04:58 GMT: Most of the firefighter team that immediately responded to the fire at the chemical plant is unaccounted for, West’s mayor says. Four to five of them are missing.

04:55 GMT: The Texas explosion injured at least 200 people, 40 of them critically, Department of Public Safety spokesperson says, according to ABC.

04:43 GMT: HazMat squads have been deployed in the area to analyze the environment for possible toxins.

04:42 GMT: A nursing home and a middle school reportedly caught on fire. Thankfully, the school was out of session.

04:34 GMT: People are coordinating the relief effort over Twitter, compiling a list of those willing toprovide housing to those who lost their homes in the explosion. There are also calls to donate bloodto local hospitals.

4:21 GMT: "It was like a bomb went off" - West Mayor.

4:20 GMT: Approximately 50 homes, one school, an apartment complex and a nursing home have been completely leveled.

4:18 GMT: KWTX reporter tells KHOU that the town of West is being evacuated partly for fear of toxic fumes currently spread around the area.

4:15 GMT: The Mayor of West says the fire is under control.

4:10 GMT:   @Newyorkist says Houston's KHOU station removed its tweet claiming that 70 people were confirmed dead in the Texas explosion. 

4:08 GMT: West, Texas Mayor Tommy Muska tells NBC he had no information on exact casualty numbers as of 12:05 EST, but that the plant was "fully engulfed" in flames before it exploded.

4:00 GMT: Sixty-one people have been admitted to the Hilcrest Hospital in Waco. Twelve currently are in critical condition, said Hiclrest's CEO to CNN.

3:48 GMT: Law enforcement is advising residents in West to leave town immediately for fear of secondary explosion at fertilizer plant.

3:40 GMT: 70 people are believed to be be dead, including five firefighters and one police officer. The FAA has placed a temporary flight restriction over the surrounding airspace.

3:35 GMT: Dr. George Smith, Director of West EMS, told KWTX he believes there are between 60 and 70 people dead.

3:34 GMT: Between 75-100 homes and businesses have been completely destroyed with the number injured exceeding 200, as per ABC News.

3:30 GMT: The football field that was being used as an emergency command center and helicopter landing pad has been evacuated due to fears of a second explosion.

Breaking News: Earthquake shakes UAE, other countries; buildings, hospitals evacuated

Published Tuesday, April 16, 2013

This happen two days ago Earthquake shook UAE on Tuesday afternoon for the second time in April.Residential and commercial buildings and hospitals in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi have been evacuated. People have been standing outside their buildings fearing aftershocks.

According to Emirates 24l7 reporters, Al Garhoud hospital has been evacuated and buildings in Jumeirah Lake Towers and Dubai Marina have been evacuated.

Eyewitnesses said MBC office in Media City have also been evacuated after the tremors.

There have also been reports of mobile phone lines going down.

Tremors were felt for around 15-20 second. There have been three aftershocks.

There have been also been reports of earthquake in different cities of Pakistan, India and Latin

Iran military ready for a swift response to any attempted attack by the Israeli regime.

An Iranian Navy ship fires a Mehrab (Altar) missile during the Velayat-90 naval drills in the Strait of Hormuz in southern Iran on January 1, 2012.

Mon Apr 15, 2013 4:11PM GMT

11

In his message on the occasion of Nowruz (Iranian new year) on March 21, Ayatollah Khamenei said Iran will raze Tel Aviv to the ground if Israel launches a military strike against the Islamic Republic.

A deputy chief of staff of Iran's Armed Forces says the Iranian military is prepared to deliver a swift response to any attempted attack by the Israeli regime.

“The Armed Forces are completely ready to act according to what the Leader [of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei] said in his remarks in the shortest possible time,” Brigadier General Mohammad Hejazi said Monday.

The commander expressed hope that the Israeli regime would not commit such a folly.

In his message on the occasion of Nowruz (Persian New Year) on March 21, Ayatollah Khamenei said Iran would raze Tel Aviv to the ground if Israel attempts a military strike against the Islamic Republic.

“Israel’s leaders sometimes threaten Iran, but they know that if they do a damn thing, the Islamic Republic will raze Tel Aviv and [the occupied city of] Haifa to the ground,” the Leader stated.

Israel has threatened to attack Iran's nuclear facilities based on the unfounded allegation that the Iranian nuclear energy program has been diverted towards military purposes.

Iran rejects the allegations against its nuclear energy program, arguing that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

SF/HGH/SL

OIC and UN discussed the situation of Rohingya

Friday, February 15, 2013 Arab_News,
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation intends to establish a secure financial network to support the Palestinians, OIC Secretary-General Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said yesterday.

Ihsanoglu made this announcement during a meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York. The two also discussed the developments in Syria and Mali as well as the situation of Rohingya in Myanmar. The OIC chief told the UN secretary-general the need to take necessary measures for protecting the Muslim minority in Myanmar and putting an end to the violence against them. Ihsanoglu met Ban to inform him about the resolutions taken by the recently concluded OIC summit in Cairo, which had instructed him to take necessary steps to solve the issues of Palestine, Syria, Mali and Myanmar with the support of the United Nations.

Speaking about the financial network, the OIC chief said it aims at meeting major needs of the Palestinian people in response to Israel’s scaling up of measures against them, imposing new taxes and making their life difficult.

Earlier addressing a meeting of the UN Security Council, the OIC chief said the powerful international body has a big responsibility in protecting civilians in Syria and finding a peaceful solution to the crisis. “The Security Council and the international community has so far failed in the test of protecting civilians in Syria,” the OIC chief said.

“The seizure of Palestinian lands and construction of more settlements in occupied territories by Israel have affected the council’s credibility,” Ihsanoglu said while reiterating the Palestinians right to have an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.