‘Father of Taliban' backs polio vaccines in Pak
Peshawar: A radical Pakistani religious scholar known as the "Father of the Taliban" has issued a fatwa urging parents to immunise their children against polio and other fatal diseases, adding that vaccinations comply with Islamic law. The edict by Maulana Sami-ul-Haq, who heads the hardline Dar-ul-Uloom Haqqania seminary, comes more than a year after Pakistani Taliban banned polio immunisation following a fake CIA vaccination programme meant to track Osama Bin laden.
Afghan cops rescue woman from Taliban stoning
Kunduz(Afghanistan): Police in a remote northern Afghan village rescued a woman from being stoned to death after she was condemned by the Taliban for allegedly cheating on her husband, officials said on Tuesday. Taliban militants, who often run informal justice systems in rural Afghanistan, handed down the death penalty on the woman after her husband accused her of having an affair.
Putin orders military to boost Arctic presence
Moscow: President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia's military on Tuesday to step up its presence in the Arctic after Canada signalled its intention to claim the North Pole and surrounding waters. “I would like you to devote special attention to deploying infrastructure and military units in the Arctic,” Putin told a Russian Defence Ministry meeting in televised remarks. Canada last week filed a claim with the UN Commission on the limits of the Continental Shelf concerning the outer limits of its continental shelf in the Atlantic Ocean.
Attacks on Shias kill 18 in Iraq
Baquba(Iraq): A suicide bomber attacked a Shia shrine in Iraq on Tuesday, killing 11 people, including some mourning seven who were shot dead earlier on Tuesday, police and a doctor said. The blast at the Abu Idris shrine in Baquba, northeast of Baghdad in the religiously and ethnically mixed province of Diyala, also wounded 19 people, the sources said. Victims included people who were mourning the deaths of 7 Shia shepherds gunned down northeast of Baquba earlier Tuesday.
cleric Abu Qatada denies guilt, Jordan trial begins
Amman: Radical Islamist cleric Abu Qatada, deported by Britain in July after a near decade-long legal battle, pleaded not guilty as his trial in Jordan on terrorism charges opened today. "You know full well I am not guilty and that this accusation is false," Abu Qatada, in prison overalls, told the state security court in Amman.
Nepal poll panel extends deadline for candidates
Kathmandu: Nepal's Election Commission on Tuesday extended till December 18 the deadline for political parties to submit their list of proportional representation candidates chosen on the basis of results of the recent Constituent Assembly polls. The deadline was due to end on Tuesday. Election Commission Deputy Secretary laxmidevi Humagai announced the extension in a statement issued here.