Muslim firefighter sues

A Muslim firefighter cannot wear a beard on the job because of the safety risk that facial hair poses, a judge ruled yesterday.

Curtis De Veaux sued the city on grounds that the ban infringed on his Muslim faith, which generally requires men to grow beards. But the state judge sided with the city, calling safety a compelling interest that warrants an exception under the Pennsylvania Religious Freedom Protection Act.

The city had argued that beards interfere with the tight seal firefighters need on their respiratory masks, which deliver oxygen and keep out dangerous toxins.

The American Civil Liberties Union's local chapter (wankers), which represented De Veaux, plans to appeal the ruling to Commonwealth Court, lawyer Mary Catherine Roper said.

I'm a muslim, I can do what I like.

Islamic tenets ban use of nuclear arms

Tehran's substitute Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani on Friday stressed that Islamic tenets ban use of any kind of arms being harmful for mankind.

Kashani made his remark in his Friday Prayers sermons which were delivered before thousands of worshipers gathered at Tehran University campus here Friday. According to IRNA, he dubbed as "a big lie" the US claim that Iran is developing nuclear arms.

Regretting that the US leaders have for centuries been indulged in deceiving world people by their lies, Kashani stressed that "Iran is an Islamic state where everything is based on principles of sincerity and truth."

He further noted that the Americans were shameful enough to accuse Iran of seeking nuclear arms and supporting terrorism while they themselves were undertaking numerous crimes worldwide.

Israeli forces kill three Islamic Jihad activists

Israeli forces killed three Islamic Jihad activists in a West Bank raid early Friday. Occupation forces moved into the village of Ilar in the Tulkarem area after midnight, Palestinians and Israeli military officials said. There they clashed with three Palestinian fighters.

Two of the Palestinians were killed in an open area outside the village. Later in the day, a third Palestinian fighter was killed in an exchange of fire in the nearby Saida village.

Palestinian sources in Ilar identified two of the victims as Jamil Nazih Jamil Abu Saada, 25, and Seed Taleb al-Ashqar, 23. The victim in Saida was identified as Raed Ahmed Mahmoud Ajaj, 31.

Militants join Thailand insurgency

veteran leader of Thailand's insurgency has issued a warning: militants from Indonesia and Arab nations might join the fight for a separate homeland if the Thai government continues a crackdown that's provoking a new generation of Muslim fighters.

In his first interview with a news organization, Lukman B. Lima told The Associated Press that violence could spread from Thailand's southern provinces to the capital unless the government accepts an offer to negotiate an end to the conflict.

Although he suggested peace talks, Lukman lashed out at the government of Thaksin Shinawatra, likening the prime minister to Stalin and Hitler.

"If the government opts to kill and kill without reason, perhaps fighters from Indonesia and Arab countries will help us because, according to Islam, real Muslims cannot just stand by when their brother Muslims are being slain," he said.

AP

Somaliland arrests al-Qaida suspects

Authorities in Somalia's breakaway region of Somaliland say they have arrested a senior al-Qaida operative allegedly in the region to organise attacks on local leaders and foreigners.


Somaliland Interior Minister Ishmael Aden said on Friday that police had arrested "an internationally known", Afghan-trained leader of Osama bin Ladin's network along with a second al-Qaida member after an overnight shootout in the capital Hargeisa.

"We have captured two members of al-Qaida and about four others fled the area," he said.

"Their leader, who was among those we arrested, is an internationally known fighter for al-Qaida who has been in Pakistan and Afghanistan."

He and other officials declined to name either suspect for security reasons but Aden said he planned to call a news conference on Saturday to announce details of the operation, including the identities of those arrested.

AJ

Taliban commander surrounded

U.S. and Afghan forces have surrounded a Taliban commander in a central province, an Afghan official said on Friday, after fighting in which the U.S. military said 10 insurgents and an Afghan soldier were killed.

Uruzgan governor Jan Mohammad Khan said Afghan and U.S. forces launched an operation on Thursday after learning that Mullah Dadullah, a top commander and member of the Taliban leadership council, was in the area.

But a guerrilla spokesman denied Dadullah was in the area and spokesmen for the U.S. military and the Afghan Defense Ministry said they had no information he was there.

U.S. military spokesman Colonel Jim Yonts said 10 Taliban had been killed in fighting after insurgents ambushed a patrol. It was the bloodiest clash since Sunday's nationwide elections, which passed off largely peacefully.

Khan said fighting was continuing. "We have information that Dadullah has come and is here," he said.

Reuters

Palestinians killed in Gaza blast

At least 10 Palestinians have been killed and scores injured in a blast during a parade by the militant Hamas group in the Gaza Strip, reports say.
Witnesses said a truck carrying gunmen and home-made weapons blew up during the rally in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza.

Hamas has blamed Israel, but Israel has denied any involvement.

It is the deadliest incident in Gaza since Israel pulled its troops and settlers out earlier this month.

Hours earlier, Palestinians fired rockets into Israel from Gaza after Israel killed three militants in a raid in the West Bank town of Tulkarm.

Palestinian witnesses said a crowd, including many children, swarmed round the truck moments before the explosion.

Video filmed during the rally showed a large cloud of white smoke rising into the sky, as hundreds of people ran from the scene of the blast.

The pictures also show several badly injured bodies on the ground.

"There was smoke all over, and then we saw people in pieces, but we couldn't make out what really happened," eyewitness Hazem Abu Rashad was quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying.

The agency quoted another man, who gave his name as Hussam, as saying he helped pull three men out of the truck, two dead and one alive but with a severed leg.

Earlier, Islamic jihad militants fired a volley of rockets into Israel in what they said was retaliation after Israel killed three militants in Tulkarm.

Israel said the militants were killed after opening fire on troops who were trying to arrest them.

BBC

Baghdad bus bomb

Five Iraqi civilians have been killed and 17 injured in a suicide bomb attack on a public minibus in Baghdad.

The explosion in central Baghdad took place in the Tayaran Square as many people were heading to Friday prayers.

Police said the man had detonated a belt of explosives strapped to his body beneath his clothes.

The target of the attack was apparently heading for the predominantly Shia area of Sadr City.

BBC

British Muslim Jailed

Andrew Rowe, 34, a Muslim convert from west London, had instructions on firing a mortar and a secret terrorism code.

The court heard an al-Qaeda tape was found at his former home, and that he had spent years travelling, "furthering the cause of Muslim fundamentalism".

The judge said Rowe had been on the verge of an act of terror when he was arrested at the Channel Tunnel in 2003.

He was arrested at the French end of the tunnel while returning to the UK from Germany.

Rowe, a father of four from Maida Vale who is estranged from his wife, was jailed for seven and a half years on the two charges, making a total of 15 years.


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