CentrePoint News News That Matters

By BBC

Burma’s military rulers have issued a law which will bar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from participating in planned elections.

The new law prohibits anyone with a a criminal conviction from taking part.

Ms Suu Kyi was already excluded from political office by a clause in the constitution which bars people with foreign spouses.

She has been detained for most of the past 20 years on various charges, after winning the last elections in 1988.

The Political Parties Registration Law was published in official newspapers, in a series of daily announcements of laws intended to guide the elections. No date has yet been set for polls which the military intends to hold.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8559048.stm

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By NTA/Fox News

Jihad Jane – A Pennsylvania woman known to authorities online as “JihadJane”  has been charged in federal court with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, making false statements to a government official and attempted identity theft according to a Fox News report.

The indictment, unsealed Monday, charges that Colleen R. LaRose and five unindicted co-conspirators recruited men on the Internet to wage violent jihad in South Asia and Europe, and recruited women on the Internet who had passports and the ability to travel to and around Europe in support of violent jihad.

The accused co-conspirators are located in South Asia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe and the United States.

In June of 2008, LaRose posted a comment on YouTube under the username “JihadJane,” stating that she is “desperate to do something somehow to help” the suffering Muslim people, according to the indictment.

She was also know to authorities as “Fatima LaRose.” The indictment describes LaRose as in her 40s.

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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,588627,00.html

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By David Virtue

There is a growing and intensifying attack on Christians around the world.

It is not just confined to the Middle East and Islamic countries.

Christians from Egypt to Iraq, from Pakistan to Nigeria are being attacked and killed by Muslims and Hindus.

For all its vaunted advances in technology, there is a growing hatred and intolerance of Christians by Hindus in India, a country whose laws, civil service, roads and military were established by Christians over a century ago.

Hindu hatred of Christians is growing around the country and you can witness this in the state of Orissa.

In India, where these videos were shot, you can see Hindus attacking and killing Christians with clubs while the Police look on and do nothing.

Please note these tapes are gruesome and should not be watched by children or young adults.

These are not tapes you will see at so-called interfaith gatherings or groups of high level clergy gabfests meeting in Washington DC where everybody talks pleasantries about “niceness” and “friendship”.

These are brutal attacks of Christians that occur on streets far from the halls of power.

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http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=12232

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By Dan Wooding

ISFAHAN, IRAN (ANS) – Compass Direct News (CDN) is reporting that an Assyrian pastor the Iranian government had accused of “converting Muslims” is being tortured in prison and threatened with execution, sources close to the case said.

The CDN story said that State Security agents on Feb. 2 arrested the Rev. Wilson Issavi, 65, shortly after he finished a house meeting at a friend’s home in Isfahan, 208 miles (335 kilometers) south of Tehran.

According to Farsi Christian News Network, Issavi’s wife, Medline Nazanin, recently visited her husband in prison, where she saw that he had obvious signs of torture. Iranian intelligence officials told Nazanin that her husband might be executed for his alleged activities.

“Issavi is the pastor of The Evangelical Church of Kermanshah in Isfahan, a 50-year-old church body affiliated with The Assemblies of God that caters to the local Assyrian population,” said the CDN story. “One regional analyst, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the Iranian government is set on crushing religious freedom within the country.

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http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2010/s10030039.htm

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By AINA

(AINA) — Fear has gripped the inhabitants of the upper Egyptian village of Sheikh Telada in Samalout, 250 kilometers south of Cairo, as they anticipate collective punishment against them by the village Muslims, in the wake of two sectarian incidents which took place in the village during February. They fear their fate would be similar to that of Farshout, Nag Hamadi and Bahgoura, where Muslims destroyed, burnt and looted Coptic homes and properties prompted by incidents provoked by Muslims against only one Copt.

State security forces have forced the Coptic villagers to remain indoors, and place a news blackout on the village. The presence of state security in the area is viewed with suspicion. Activist Mariam Ragy of the advocacy group Katibatibia sees in their presence “a way to keep Copts prisoners in their own homes and not for their own protection.” Rafaat Samir of the Egyptian Union Human Rights Organization sees in it a slow death for the Coptic villagers. “Is the state security incapable of protecting the Copts so as to force them to remain indoors and abandon their work and schools?” asks Coptic activist Wagih Yacoub. “Is security so powerless every time the Copts are placed under siege by a mob imposing collective punishment on all village Copts?”

The first incident took place on February 2, 2010, when Coptic Zarif Elia and his wife were driving along the agricultural road, when they were followed by three men who stopped them and tried to rape his wife, after beating them both with batons. During the altercation, Zarif hit one of the perpetrators on the nose, and fled with his wife. A few hours later Zarif was accused of killing Basem Abul-Eid, one of the Muslim attackers.

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http://www.aina.org/news/20100308205359.htm

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By CBC

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has defended the role of Canada’s spy service in the questioning of Afghan prisoners, saying the agency respects its “international obligations at all times.”

The prime minister’s defence of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service came in response to fresh calls from opposition leaders for a public inquiry into Afghan detainee transfers amid media reports detailing CSIS’s previously undisclosed role in the interrogation of suspected Taliban fighters.

During Monday’s question period, Harper chided the opposition for unfairly accusing “public servants” of concealing documents related to the Afghan detainee affair and said his government is providing further assurances with the appointment of retired Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci to review the documents.

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http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2010/03/08/politics-question-period.html

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By Michael Ireland

LAGOS, NIGERIA (ANS) – An uneasy calm prevailed in Plateau state, Nigeria today following the killing of hundreds of Christians early yesterday morning in three farming villages near Jos by ethnic Fulani Muslims.

According to Compass Direct News, the mostly ethnic Berom victims included many women and children killed with machetes by rampaging Fulani herdsmen. About 75 houses were also burned.

Compass Direct News says that State Information Commissioner Gregory Yenlong confirmed that about 500 persons were killed in the attacks, which took place mainly in Dogo Nahawa, Zot and Rastat villages.

The assailants reportedly came on foot from a neighboring state to beat security forces that had been alerted of a possible attack on the villages but did not act beforehand.

Compass Direct News says the attack on Sunday is the latest in several religious clashes in the state in recent months that have claimed lives and property. Plateau state is a predominantly Christian state in a country almost evenly divided between Christians and Muslims. The Muslim minority has been contesting ownership of some parts of the state, leading to frequent clashes.

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http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2010/s10030032.htm

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By UK Telegraph

The French-based organization says it issued red notices, its highest-level alert, for a 16-strong team accused of shadowing Mahmoud al-Mabhouh before his killing. The total number of people sought by Interpol notices in the case is now 27.

Of the newly listed suspects, only one had never before been identified by Dubai police. Interpol revealed his face and alias for the first time, releasing a photo of a smiling, dark-haired young man and listing his alias as Joshua Aaron Krycer. It did not give his age or nationality.

The group of 16 is believed to have assisted another team, which Interpol described as a “smaller core group alleged to have carried out the killing” and whose members already were sought through Interpol notices.

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/dubai/7401691/Interpol-issues-alert-for-16-more-suspects-in-Dubai-hotel-room-assassination.html

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By UNPO

Addis Ababa,(Qarannews):- The Somaliland Foreign Minister, Mr. Abdillahi Mohamed Duale met with with senior United States Diplomats led by Mr. Karl E. Wycoff, Deputy Assistant Secretary for East and Central Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The meeting was held to discuss areas of mutual interest between the two countries relating to the peace, security and stability in the region, as well as, the continued democratic process in Somaliland.

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http://www.unpo.org/content/view/10815/142/

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By CBS News

Two Pakistani officers and a government official said Sunday that an American charged with treason for working with al Qaeda had been captured, a development that could deliver another significant blow in the U.S.-led battle against the terror network.

U.S. defense, intelligence and law enforcement officials could not immediately verify the reported detention of Adam Gadahn, a 31-year-old spokesman for al Qaeda who has appeared on videos threatening the West, including one that emerged earlier Sunday.

The reported arrest of Gadahn follows the recent detention of several Afghan Taliban commanders in Karachi, including the group’s No. 2. Those detentions have been seen as a sign that Pakistan, which has been criticized as an untrustworthy ally, was cooperating more fully with Washington.

Some observers were cautious about giving credence to the claim that Gadahn was in custody as reports emerged that the man arrested might instead be a Taliban militant leader. There was no way of independently verifying the arrest or identity, and detentions of terror suspects in Pakistan are often surrounded by conflicting reports.

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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/07/world/main6275953.shtml

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