Morocco’s king on Friday appointed a new prime minister to end a political deadlock that left the North African country without a government for five months, the royal court said. King Mohammed VI named Saad-Eddine El Othmani, a former foreign minister who belongs to the Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD), to form a new … Read more
The king of Morocco is to appoint a new prime minister, the royal palace announced, after an unprecedented five months of talks on forming a coalition government ended in failure. “To break the current deadlock, the king has decided to appoint another member of the PJD (Justice and Development Party) to lead the government within … Read more
Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Friday denounced planned Israeli legislation that would quieten mosques, warning such a law would face stiff resistance. The Israeli parliament on Wednesday gave preliminary approval to two controversial measures that would limit calls to prayers from mosques in Israel and occupied east Jerusalem, including one prohibiting the use of loudspeakers … Read more
Suspected Islamist militants hurled bombs at a prison van in a daring attempt to free Bangladesh’s most-wanted militant leader from death row, police said Tuesday. Police arrested a 24-year-old man at the scene and launched a hunt for his accomplices after the gang threw bombs at the van carrying Mufti Abdul Hannan in the town … Read more
Bangladesh on Sunday outlawed a group which claims links to Al-Qaeda and is blamed for the machete murders of nearly a dozen atheist bloggers, foreigners and gay rights activists. “The government thinks the activities of Ansar al Islam, a militant group and organisation, is detrimental to the country’s peace and order,” the home ministry said … Read more
Bangladesh police said Friday they had arrested the “spiritual leader” of a banned Islamist outfit alleged to have carried out a series of deadly attacks in the country. Police detained Maolana Abul Kashem, 60, from a hideout in the capital on Thursday night after an investigation linked him to the Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) group. … Read more
Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, whose novel “2084” depicted a dystopian state governed by religious law, says writers and artists need to join the fight against Islamic extremism. “Literature and the arts are not playing a big role in this struggle against barbarism,” he said. In an interview with AFP, the 67-year-old elder statesman of Algerian … Read more
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Wednesday appointed a top aide as prime minister, reinstating a post he had abolished after coming to power in a 1989 coup, an official said. Bakri Hassan Saleh was named prime minister by the executive bureau of Bashir’s National Congress Party (NCP). “He will take the oath as prime minister … Read more
Leading Muslim and Christian clerics in the Middle East issued a statement Wednesday urging against linking Islam to terrorism, following a conference in Cairo on co-existence. The conference, hosted by the prestigious Sunni Muslim Al-Azhar institute, comes as sectarian conflict continues to ravage the region and after a spate of jihadist attacks on Christians in … Read more
The head of an Indonesian Muslim hardline group insisted Tuesday that Jakarta’s Christian governor had committed blasphemy as he gave evidence at the city leader’s trial. Rizieq Shihab, leader of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), helped organise mass protests in the Indonesian capital last year over claims that governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama had insulted the … Read more
An Australian was charged Tuesday with helping the Islamic State group develop high-tech weapons, including long-range guided missile capabilities. Haisem Zahab, a 42-year-old electrician, was working alone and there was no domestic-related terror threat, said Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin. “We will allege he has utilised the internet to perform services for ISIL,” Colvin … Read more
A Sudanese female journalist and critic of government policies said Sunday that she is under fire from hardliners who have accused her of “insulting Islam” in one of her columns. Shamael al-Nur said she has become a target of a radical Islamist and a section of Sudan’s hardline media for criticising government public health policies … Read more
An Egyptian girl holds a portrait of Omar Abdel Rahman, who died serving a life sentence for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York, during a sit-in to call for his release at the U. S. Embassy in Cairo in August 2011 Omar Abdel Rahman, the Egyptian jihadist spiritual leader … Read more
The state of emergency has been in place since a November 2015 bombing A state of emergency imposed in Tunisia in 2015 to curb attacks by militant Islamists has been extended by three months, the president’s office has said. Defence Minister Farhat Horchani told local radio that there had been a “major improvement” in security … Read more
President Donald Trump’s national security adviser Michael Flynn, who resigned late Monday over his controversial contacts with Russia, is a former military intelligence chief who saw militant Islam as the main threat to global stability. The 58 year-old retired three-star general — a slim, energetic figure with sharp facial features — however had accommodating views … Read more
The Trump administration wants to revamp and rename a U. S. government program designed to counter all violent ideologies so that it focuses solely on Islamist extremism, five people briefed on the matter told Reuters. The program, “Countering Violent Extremism,” or CVE, would be changed to “Countering Islamic Extremism” or “Countering Radical Islamic Extremism,” the … Read more
Clearly something has gone horribly wrong and this reinforces my belief that the amalglamation of the northern and southern regions of Nigeria in 1914 was not just a mistake but a demonically-inspired, craftily- contrived and premeditated satanic conspiracy by the British to destroy the greatness and enormous human potentials of the people of the south … Read more
No doubt that Turkey’s Schindler’s List today involves members of the Gülen movement who have done nothing wrong other than volunteering their time, money and expertise to improve the lives of people around themselves with a special focus on science education, eradication of poverty and reconciliation efforts. They are viciously being demonized and vilified by … Read more
General James ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis, the famous ex-Marine and the hero of countless conflicts and wars, has been nominated by President-elect Donald Trump as his Secretary of Defence. And what an extraordinary man and colorful figure Mattis is. Here are some of the things that he has said over the years. 1. “I’m going to … Read more
An employee of the German intelligence agency (BfV) has been arrested after making Islamist statements and sharing agency material, German media report. A BfV spokesman quoted by Reuters news agency did not confirm a report in Die Welt newspaper that the man was suspected of planning a bomb attack on the BfV’s Cologne office. “There … Read more