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Muslim religious leaders to visit Auschwitz

Agence France-PresseMay 17, 2013 15:31

Fourteen Muslim clerics from across the globe will visit the former Nazi German Auschwitz death camp in southern Poland next week as part of a Holocaust awareness and anti-genocide program, organisers said Friday. "This is an opportunity for imams who are influential in their communities to look at the Holocaust first hand and to go to Auschwitz, to see what that kind of hatred led to," Poland's Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich told AFP on Friday. "It's to make sure that civilisation doesn't fail again."

Tunisia slaps ban on Salafist congress

Agence France-PresseMay 17, 2013 15:31

The Tunisian government has definitively banned hardline Salafist group Ansar al-Sharia from holding its annual congress at the weekend, the interior ministry announced on Friday. "We have decided to prohibit this gathering, which would be in violation of the law and because of the threat it represents to public order," a statement said. Earlier, Interior Minister Lotfi Ben Jeddou said Ansar al-Sharia, which does not recognise the authority of the state, had not submitted a request for authorisation to hold the meeting, planned for Sunday.

Argentina 'Dirty War' dictator Videla dies

Agence France-PresseMay 17, 2013 15:00

General Jorge Videla, Argentina's dictator at the height of its "Dirty War" against leftist activists, died Friday in prison while serving time for crimes against humanity. He was 87. Videla launched a ferocious crackdown on leftists and suspected supporters when he took power in 1976. As many as 30,000 people were kidnapped and "disappeared" by the military and suspected regime opponents were swept into secret prisons, tortured and murdered.

U.S. contractor jailed in Cuba settles suit against employer

Agencia EFEMay 17, 2013 14:15

Washington, May 17 (EFE).- Alan Gross, the U.S. contractor serving a 15-sentence in Cuba for subversion, has settled a lawsuit against the firm that hired him for a project on the Communist-ruled island, his lawyers said Friday. The terms of the settlement, filed Thursday with the U.S. District Court in Washington, are confidential and subject to a non-disclosure agreement, a spokeswoman for the Scott Gilbert law firm said.

Tunisia definitively bans Salafist congress

Agence France-PresseMay 17, 2013 14:01

The Tunisian government has definitively banned hardline Salafist group Ansar al-Sharia from holding its annual congress at the weekend, the interior ministry announced on Friday. "We have decided to prohibit this gathering, which would be in violation of the law and because of the threat it represents to public order," a statement said. Earlier, Interior Minister Lofti Ben Jeddou said Ansar al-Sharia, which does not recognise the authority of the state, had not submitted a request for authorisation to hold the meeting, planned for Sunday.

Hidden drawings from Nazi concentration camp on display

Agence France-PresseMay 17, 2013 13:17

Secret drawings and sketches that a Czech artist produced and kept hidden from his Nazi captors inside a World War II concentration camp went on display at the Jewish Museum in Berlin on Friday. Bedrich Fritta was 35 years old when he was imprisoned with his wife and baby son at the Theresienstadt Ghetto near Prague, which the Hitler propaganda machine vaunted as a "model camp" by hiding the true fate of Europe's Jews.

'No:' Elijah Harper, who helped scuttle Meech Lake, dies at age 64

The Canadian PressMay 17, 2013 13:03

WINNIPEG - Elijah Harper, the Cree politician who inspired Canadian aboriginals by blocking the Meech Lake constitutional accord while clutching an eagle feather in the Manitoba legislature, has died. Harper's family said he died Friday morning in an Ottawa hospital of cardiac failure due to diabetes complications. He was 64. "Elijah was a wonderful man, father, partner," the family said in a statement. "He will have a place in Canadian history forever for his devotion to public service and uniting his fellow First Nations with pride, determination and resolve."

Pet lovers take blogging to the next level

Agence France-PresseMay 17, 2013 09:01

When Dexter the cocker spaniel tore a ligament in his hind leg a few weeks ago, he didn't suffer in silence. Instead, his owner wrote a blog post. "The vet told me my dog needed surgery, and I thought, 'You know, there's got to be something else'," said Carol Bryant, who writes a "canine-centric online magazine" called A Fidose of Reality. Responding to her blog entries, readers told Bryant that Dexter didn't have to go under the knife. He had options, like laser therapy and a leg brace he'll be wearing for the next six months.

Pakistan mosque bombs kill 13

Agence France-PresseMay 17, 2013 07:16

Twin bomb attacks on Friday killed at least 13 people outside mosques in northwest Pakistan, where the party of cricket star Imran Khan is forming a coalition government, officials said. The blasts targeted the two mosques in the Baazdara area of northwestern Malakand region, senior local administration official Amjad Ali Khan told AFP. "The two blasts killed at least 13 people and wounded 48 others," Khan said. "Eight of the injured people are in a critical condition," he added.

Tunisia Salafists vow to meet in defiance of ban

Agence France-PresseMay 16, 2013 15:16

Tunisia's hardline Salafist movement Ansar al-Sharia vowed on Thursday to go ahead with its annual congress at the weekend in defiance of a government ban on the controversial gathering. "We are not asking permission from the government to preach the word of God and we warn against any police intervention to prevent the congress from taking place," spokesman Seifeddine Rais told a news conference in Tunis.