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In the early hours of Monday, on a train bound for Mumbai, India’s commercial capital, a police officer took up his service rifle, fatally shot his superior and then killed three unarmed passengers. All three of the passengers were Muslim men, according to Indian news reports. The violence occurred on the same day as a march led by a Hindu nationalist organization in one of the few northern Indian districts in which Muslims are a majority. The rally, which a Hindu vigilante wanted in the murders of several Muslims had promised to join, dissolved into street fighting, which then gave way to a full-blown riot that spread toward Delhi. As shops, vehicles and a mosque were set ablaze, at least five people were killed, including the mosque’s junior imam, the police said.

Persons: Chetan Singh, Modi, Yogi, Narendra Modi, Yogi Adityanath, Modi’s, —, Washington — Organizations: Mr, State Department Locations: Mumbai, Hindustan, South Asia, Delhi, India, New Delhi, Paris, Washington

☆ Iran's drones could reach a new South American market as Bolivia expresses interest
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Here's what's ahead for defense stocks "Latin American countries are of special significance in Iran's foreign and defense policy based on the importance of [the] very sensitive South American region," Iran's Defense Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani was quoted as saying. Iran's drones have made "considerable impact on any battlefield they have appeared in," according to Farzin Nadimi, an arms expert at The Washington Institute said. The U.S.' concerns center on Iran's deepening foreign alliances and dissemination of its lethal drones, analysts say. It added that a former Revolutionary Guard Corps commander, "boasted in October 2022 that 22 countries — including Algeria, Armenia, Serbia, Tajikistan, and Venezuela — had submitted formal requests for Iranian drones." Iran has previously provided drones to African countries including Sudan and Ethiopia, which the latter used against Tigrayan rebels.

Persons: Oleksii Samsonov, Mohammad Reza Ashtiani, Edmundo Novillo, Novillo, Farzin, Nadimi, Novillo's, John Kirby, Biden, Ebrahim Raisi, Kirby, Annika Ganzeveld, Asad, Khomeini, Majid Asgaripour, Venezuela —, Raisi, ISW Organizations: Kyiv, Getty, Iran's, Bolivian, Bolivia's, CNBC, U.S . Defense Intelligence Agency, The Washington Institute, U.S . Institute for Peace, The U.S, U.S . National Security Council, Sepah, Anadolu Agency, American Enterprise Institute, Associated Press, U.S, Missiles, WANA, REUTERS, for, Revolutionary Guard Corps Locations: Russia, Kyiv, Ukraine, Iran, Washington, South America, Tehran, Fars, Bolivia, The, U.S, Europe, Africa, Latin America, Asia, America, Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, U.S Ayn, REUTERS Washington, Algeria, Armenia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Iranian, Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Ethiopia

"I was a little hesitant coming as a American, like 'Oh my god my government did really bad things here. Tourists "are messengers who tell these states that Iraq has returned to being a safe country and is not a red line as some say. 'DO NOT TRAVEL'The U.S. and European countries still warn against any travel to Iraq due to security concerns. The U.S. State Department website says: "Do not travel to Iraq due to terrorism, kidnapping, armed conflict, civil unrest". Few of the ancient ruins that dot the country have signs describing their significance, nor accredited tour guides.

Persons: Anna Nikolaevna, Jacob Nemec, Imam Ali, Alaa, Marjani, Jacob Nemec's, Nemec, Ahmed Fakak Al, Badrani, Al, General Abdel, Karim Sudani, Ali Hilal, Hilal, Timour Azhari, Maher Nazeh, Ahmed Saeed, Khalid al, Ros Russell Organizations: REUTERS, Islamic, Tourism, Reuters, Foreign, U.S . State Department, Thomson Locations: Russian, American, Najaf, Iraq, Marjani BAGHDAD, Reno , Nevada, Iran, U.S, Baghdad, Europe, United States, British, Babylon, Mosul, West, Al Qaeda, Islamic State, Ali, Canada, Babil, Mousily

☆ Nigeria's cost-of-living crisis is getting worse daily after an 'abrupt' fuel hike
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Nimi Princewill | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

“The hike in fuel price has caused a scarcity of passengers,” Hanwa, 50, added. “Before the hike in fuel price, Abuja to Kano was 5,500 ($7.26) but is now 8,500 ($11.22),” he said. Successive governments had carried on with fuel subsidy since its introduction in the 1970s but had also mooted deregulating the country’s oil sector. Along with soaring transport fares, food prices and costs for other essentials have skyrocketed across the country. Economist Bismarck Rewane agrees that halting fuel subsidy “makes economic sense,” but mentions that the saved proceeds from the scheme must be ploughed back into bettering the lives of Nigerians.

Persons: Hanwa, ”, ” Hanwa, Jume Hanwa, Nimi Princewill, Bola Tinubu, Tinubu, Usman Imam, “, Sam Amadi, ” Amadi, ” Fabian Grace, Grace, who’s, Fabian Grace, ” Grace, “ I’ve, I’m, Bismarck Rewane, ” Rewane Organizations: Nigeria CNN —, CNN, CNN Transport, National Petroleum Corporation, ” Travelers, Usman, Abuja School of Social Locations: Abuja, Nigeria, Nigeria’s, Nimi, Kano, Africa’s, Maraba, Nasarawa State, Edo State

☆ Hannibal Gaddafi moved to hospital in 'critical condition' in Lebanon, Al-Hadath TV reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

CAIRO, July 2 (Reuters) - Hannibal Gaddafi, son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, has been moved from a Lebanese prison to hospital in "critical condition", Dubai-based Al-Hadath TV reported on Sunday. Gaddafi went on hunger strike last month in protest at his incarceration without trial since 2015. Citing unidentified sources, Al-Hadath said he had suffered a sharp drop in his blood sugar level. Gaddafi has been charged in Lebanon with concealing information about the fate of Imam Musa al-Sadr, a Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim cleric who disappeared while on a trip to Libya in 1978. Reporting by Hatem Maher, Writing by Muhammad Al Gebaly, Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Kevin LiffeyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Hannibal Gaddafi, Muammar Gaddafi, Gaddafi, Hadath, Imam Musa al, Hatem Maher, Muhammad Al Gebaly, Andrew Cawthorne, Kevin Liffey Organizations: Sunday, Thomson Locations: CAIRO, Dubai, Lebanon, Sadr, Lebanese, Libya

[1/5] Police officers intervene after people's reaction as demonstrators burn the Koran (not pictured) outside Stockholm's central mosque in Stockholm, Sweden June 28, 2023. "It's legal but not appropriate," he said, adding that it was up to the police to make decisions on Koran burnings. Representatives of the mosque were disappointed by the police decision to grant permission for the protest on the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, mosque director and Imam Mahmoud Khalfi said on Wednesday. Up to 10,000 visitors attend Stockholm's mosque for the Eid celebrations every year, according to Khalfi. Turkey in late January suspended talks with Sweden on its NATO application after a Danish far-right politician burned a copy of the Koran near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.

Persons: Stefan Jerrevang, Hakan Fidan, Ulf Kristersson, Momika, Eid, Imam Mahmoud Khalfi, Khalfi, Louise Breusch Rasmussen, Marie Mannes, Johan Ahlander, Burcu Karakas, Terje Solsvik, Peter Graff, Angus MacSwan, William Maclean Organizations: Police, TT News Agency, REUTERS, NATO, Swedish, Islam, Atlantic Treaty Organization, Thomson Locations: Stockholm's, Stockholm, Sweden, REUTERS STOCKHOLM, Turkey, Ankara, Ukraine, Khalfi, Danish, Turkish, Copenhagen, Istanbul

☆ Bulldozers tear into Cairo's historic Islamic cemeteries
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( Hatem Maher | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] A view shows the City of the Dead, where tombs and historic cemeteries have been demolished due to a new construction project underway on the Salah Salem road, in the capital city of Cairo, Egypt, June 13, 2023. Known as the City of the Dead, the cemeteries along the eastern edge of Historic Cairo have been a resting place for Egypt's deceased since the arrival of Islam in the seventh century A.D. Some tomb owners who want to transfer the bodies of their family members say they are given little time beforehand. But only 102 sites among more than 2.5 million tombs in the area have received this designation, conservationists say. "I imagine that in five years' time, we won't find anything except maybe 20% of the current City of the Dead," Lafi said.

Persons: Salah, Hadeer Mahmoud, Sisi, Egypt's, Hisham Kassem, Abdel Fattah al, Ahmed Urabi, Hossam Abdel Azeem, Amr ibn, Moaaz, Lafi, Patrick Werr, Aidan Lewis, Emma Rumney Organizations: REUTERS, UNESCO, Thomson Locations: Salah Salem, Cairo, Egypt, CAIRO, Historic Cairo, el

☆ India train crash: Family hopes DNA test will help claim for body
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Francis Mascarenhas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Four days after the disaster, Haq has found no trace of his brother, who was travelling with the boys. "We are left with no option but to do a DNA test to determine whose body it is. The whole process takes really long," a distraught Haq told Reuters at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), one of the main hospitals in Odisha's capital of Bhubaneswar. Authorities had taken DNA samples from all the dead bodies in hospitals across the state, senior police official Prateek Singh told reporters on Tuesday. "In cases where there are multiple claimants, we have taken DNA samples from family members and we will preserve the bodies until the DNA matches," Singh told local media.

Persons: Imam Ul Haq, Tavseer Ansari, Francis Mascarenhas, Mohammed Imam Ul Haq, Haq, Prateek Singh, Singh, Francis Mascerenhas, Shilpa Jamkhandikar, Bernadette Baum, Simon Cameron, Moore Organizations: REUTERS, Francis Mascarenhas BHUBANESWAR, Reuters, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Authorities, Thomson Locations: Balasore, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India, Odisha's, Bihar, Assam, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh

☆ The Taliban promised to provide security to Afghans. New data shows threat from ISIS is growing
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Eliza Mackintosh Ehsan Popalzai Antonio Jarne Lou Robinson | Eliza Mackintosh | Ehsan Popalzai | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +19 min

“Currently we don’t have security in Afghanistan at all, whenever we go out we don’t know if we will come home alive or not,” he added. Taliban security forces guard a checkpoint near the foreign ministry in Kabul on March 27, after an ISIS-K suicide bomber struck the site. The data, which is available in a live map, includes 367 pieces of open-source evidence — largely videos and images shared on social media — about 70 ISIS-K attacks since August 2021. As the Taliban try to minimize the threat ISIS-K poses, attacks on civilians continue. Taliban security forces have been waging ongoing operations and night raids against ISIS-K.

☆ Khartoum region under bombardment as Sudan's rivals talk
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

KHARTOUM, May 14 (Reuters) - Shelling and air strikes pounded parts of Sudan's capital on Sunday with little sign that warring military factions were ready to back down in a conflict that has killed hundreds despite ceasefire talks in Saudi Arabia. Shelling struck Bahri and air strikes hit Omdurman early on Sunday, according to a Reuters reporter and witnesses. "There were heavy air strikes near us in Saliha that shook the doors of the house," said Salma Yassin, a teacher in Omdurman. The fighting has killed hundreds of people, sent 200,000 into neighbouring countries as refugees, displaced another 700,000 inside Sudan triggering a humanitarian catastrophe and threatens to draw in outside powers and destabilise the region. The house became unsafe and we don't have enough money to travel out of Khartoum.

All agreed there was a marked increase in awareness among Indian Muslims about birth control and family planning. The 2021 census has been delayed but the United Nations has projected India's population will touch 1.42 billion this month. "There is a misconception among Muslims that Islam doesn’t allow the use of birth control measures," said Maulana Khalid Rasheed, the imam of the Lucknow Eidgah in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state. [1/5] FILE PHOTO-Members of a Muslim family sit down for a meal in an old quarter of Delhi, India March 3, 2023. Experts say the public health system is now unable to keep up with the demand for birth control services from people who are aware about their usefulness, also called an unmet need.

By Tuesday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced it would prohibit non-Muslims from entering the holy site for the rest of Ramadan. “I see these visits as a raid on our holy site,” he said. That status quo is slowly being chipped away, says Sheikh Rani Abusibr, an Imam of nearly twenty-years at Al-Aqsa. There was a heightened security presence at the holy site when Easter, Ramadan, and Passover celebrations overlapped. Without the status quo arrangement being enforced, there are fears that an already tumultuous region could spiral out of control.

The HDP, parliament's third-biggest party, wants the opposition to back demands for Kurdish rights and other issues. The Kurdish party held talks with Kilicdaroglu on Monday and is expected to announce this week whether it will back him. HDP lawmaker Imam Tascier said Kilicdaroglu had acknowledged the "Kurdish problem", terms reminiscent of language used by Erdogan in earlier years when he was seeking Kurdish support. Now, he said, Erdogan "pushed freedoms, democracy, human rights and the Kurdish problem away with the back of his hand". Yet, legal challenges could derail the role of HDP, which also won almost 12% of the national vote in 2018.

☆ U.S.-led Iraq war ushered in years of chaos and conflict
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/5] A general view of Tahrir square as demonstrators take part during the ongoing anti-government protests in Baghdad, Iraq November 5, 2019. Here is a look at some of the violence, including suicide bombings and beheadings, that has plagued Iraq, a major OPEC oil producer and key U.S. ally, since the 2003 war. * March 20, 2003 - U.S.-led forces invade Iraq from Kuwait to oust Saddam Hussein. * October 2004 - Al Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi starts waging bloody attacks designed to turn majority Shi’ite Muslims against minority Sunnis in a civil war. * January 2007 - Bush announces a new war strategy including a “surge” of U.S. troops into Iraq to combat the insurgency.

☆ How a senior manager at Amazon made the mid-career switch to tech and why she still encourages others to do the same despite recent layoffs
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Despite layoffs across the industry, she says there are a lot of options for aspiring tech workers. But a rude awakening over the past year has disrupted the tech industry. "You were convinced that it's for the greater good, so you have to sacrifice your own life for work," she said. "I think moving over to this job and tech has helped me set better boundaries about my work life and my personal life." A few years into her career switch, Imam reflected that transitioning from one field to another was humbling.

The area, part of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, is a hotbed for fighters of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella organisation of Sunni Islamist groups. A TTP spokesman, Muhammad Khurasani, told Reuters its main target was Pakistan's military, but the police were standing in the way. "Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa pays a greater price for that" because of its exposure to the Islamist militants, he said. The TTP ended the ceasefire in November 2022, and regrouped militants restarted attacks in Pakistan soon after. Reporting by Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam and Jibran Ahmad in Bara, Pakistan; additional reporting by Saud Mehsud in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan; editing by David Crawshaw.

☆ Ukraine 'Art Weapon' show draws crowds in Berlin
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( James Imam | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] A person stands in front of a video installation at the Art Weapon Festival, which showcase contemporary Ukrainian culture and various performances, created during the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the "Alte Muenze" in Berlin, Germany February 25, 2023. REUTERS/Annegret HilseBERLIN, Feb 25 (Reuters) - In a converted former mint in Berlin on Saturday, crowds danced in a blaze of strobe light as a rapper hollered Ukrainian lyrics to punchy beats. The 'Art Weapon' event - which opened at Berlin's sprawling Alte Muenze complex on Saturday - also featured live painting by Ukrainian artists, Ukrainian-language theatre and the chance to sit for a Ukrainian tattoo artist. He decided to apply for funding through a German organisation supporting cultural initiatives, allowing him to organise "Art Weapon" in Berlin. "The invasion has definitely changed art in Ukraine," he added.

It's big what happens to Jules," Freeman told Reuters of the film, which premiered at the Berlinale film festival last Sunday. For George MacKay, playing the role of Preston was a chance to tap into currents in his own personality. While the film will especially appeal to LGBTQ+ viewers, its moving human story and racy plot has something for everyone, Freeman said. "This is a film that is for queer audiences, but it's also a film for all audiences," he said. "The queer is a label that we proudly attach to it, but it's not all that it is."

☆ Telekom reports Q4 growth, forecasts slightly higher earnings in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BERLIN, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Deutsche Telekom's (DTEGn.DE) fourth-quarter earnings came in slightly above consensus on Thursday as the German telecomms operator issued guidance for slightly higher earnings this year. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation after leases (EBITDA AL) stood at 9.96 billion euros ($10.58 billion) for the quarter, beating consensus estimates of 9.9 billion euros in a poll of analysts published by the company. The telecoms operator's quarterly revenue increased by 4.0% to 29.8 billion euros, below consensus estimates of 30.0 billion euros. For the full year 2022, Telekom reported revenue of 114.4 billion euros, up 6.1% from the previous year, and EBITDA AL of 40.2 billion euros, up 7.7%. The group said it now expected adjusted EBITDA AL of more than 40.8 billion euros in the 2023 financial year.

☆ Berlinale film marks Chinese star Fan Bingbing's return to cinema
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( James Imam | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/4] Cast member Fan Bingbing attends a news conference during the promotion of 'Green Night' at the 73rd Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin, Germany, February 23, 2023. Her reappearance also spotlighted the return of Chinese-language film to the international stage, as mainland China and Hong Kong have eased zero-COVID policies, allowing for international travel. Featuring both Mandarin and Korean dialogue, the film is one of several from China and Hong Kong receiving world premieres at the Berlinale. In "Green Night", Fan plays the role of Jin Xia, a Chinese immigrant working as a security guard at Seoul airport. Chinese cinema is showing signs of thriving in Berlin, Fan said.

☆ Film offers close-up of Ukraine's bloody Eastern Front
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( James Imam | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] Directors Vitaly Mansky and Yehven Titarenko speak about the movie 'Eastern Front' during a Reuters interview during the 73rd Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin, Germany, February 22, 2023. "I think people usually get some romantic ideas about war from the books, from movies," Yevhen Titarenko, a Ukrainian filmmaker who co-directed the film, told Reuters. The film premieres at the Berlin Film Festival on Friday, the first anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, celebrating the resilience of the Ukrainian people while providing a grisly portrait of the devastation of war. Lviv-born filmmaker Vitaly Mansky co-directed the film with Titarenko, providing additional scenes recorded in Western Ukraine. "The message is not to give anybody the chance to think they can hide from this war," Mansky said.

☆ Fact Check-Photo of ‘Imam kissing a dog’s paw’ is digitally altered and was not taken after Turkey-Syria earthquake
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

An image allegedly showing an Imam kissing the paw of a dog has been digitally altered. It was captured at least 11 years ago and is unrelated to the events of the 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake. This is Imam e Jamia mosque in Turkey kissing hand of the dog which rescued and saved lives of 3 people tangled in debris. However, the original photo is more than 11 years old and has been edited to include the ‘Imam’ instead of a man dressed in Catholic clothing. The photo is more than a decade old and has been edited to include the ‘Imam’.

☆ Iranian foundation offers land to Salman Rushdie's attacker - state media
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

DUBAI, Feb 21 (Reuters) - An Iranian foundation has praised the man who attacked novelist Salman Rushdie last year, leaving him severely injured, and said it will reward him with 1,000 square metres of agricultural land, state TV reported on Tuesday through its Telegram channel. Some Muslims saw passages in the novel about the Prophet Muhammad as blasphemous. Khomeini's successor, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was suspended from Twitter in 2019 for saying the fatwa against Rushdie was "irrevocable." The man accused of attacking the novelist has pleaded not guilty to second-degree attempted murder and assault charges. Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Michael Georgy and Raju GopalakrishnanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Virginia Woolf´s 'Orlando' inspires transgender film at Berlinale
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( James Imam | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"Orlando: My Political Biography", Preciado's playful debut film, explores the struggles of trans and binary people through Woolf's novel "Orlando". In its opening scene, two young non-binary people sit reading a book in the woods. I didn't want to go into that tradition, but I didn't want to go into the victim setting either," Preciado said of his film, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival on Saturday. Woolf's 1928 novel tells the story of Orlando, a young Elizabethan-era nobleman, who one night turns into a woman living three-hundred years later. Preciado says Woolf's vision resonates in the contemporary West, where people are only now beginning to accept the notion of non-binary categories.

☆ Banned Iranian filmmaker portrays her version of Iran-Iraq war
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( James Imam | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BERLIN Feb 17 (Reuters) - Iranian filmmaker Sepideh Farsi's debut animation aims to counter what she says is the traditional narrative of the Iran-Iraq War as her contribution to supporting protests at home. Farsi was determined to tell another story from what she said governments in Iran had done by glorifying the war with films honouring martyrs. Protests rocked Iran overnight after a seeming slowdown in recent weeks, with marchers calling for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic, online videos purported to show on Friday. Iranians from all walks of life have taken part, marking one of the boldest challenges to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution. Making the film as an animation allowed Farsi to evoke the city of Abadan, which was razed during the war.

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