FOREIGN NEWS 09
Sunday, 20 March, 2016
ChRiStian pERSECution by hinDuS haS RiSEn in inDia: humanitaRian gRoupS
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NEWS DESK
XTREMIST attacks against Christians in India, in 2016 alone has once again brought the country under fire for religious intolerance. For over a decade, Christians have reportedly been under attack in places like Iraq, Syria and Africa but the minority group in India has seen about 30 incidents of religiously motivated violence cases in just over two months. Fox News stated that 26 incidents of religiously motivated violence against Christians were reported in India since January 1, 2016. Earlier, such cases were limited to a particular region or issue, however, the violence has now become more widespread with Hindu radicals enjoying immunity for their actions. “They are wolves in sheep’s clothing,” Jeff King, president of the International Christian Concern, told Fox News. “There has been an increase in attacks because nationalists feel emboldened with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in power. More often than not, Indian police failed to take action against the aggressors. One such event was when a mob of over 30 radicals on January 29 in the southeastern state of Tamil Nadu, attacked a Catholic priest and three other church officials dragging them
trump’s ‘obsession’ with anchorwoman Kelly is ‘deplorable’: fox
out of their car and beating them up. The men tried to escape from the mob but failed. Meanwhile, local police did not intervene as the mob beat the priest and church officials. As a result of the attack, all four Christians were hospitalised.
Referring to another attack which left a local pastor and members of his congregation severely injured, Pastor Nitin Kumar said, “It was [a] very scary scene.” “They tore my cassock and I received blows, punches, [and] kicks
from all directions as I was their prime target. [Our] Bibles were snatched from us and were tore and trampled. [Other] believers ran to all directions as they were chased by the mob,” he told humanitarian group International Christian Concern.
Dead Brussels gunman sought IS suicide mission ALGERIAN GUNMAN NEWLY LINKED TO THE NOV. 13 ATTACKS JOINED THE ISLAMIC STATE GROUP IN 2014 AND SAID HE WANTED TO DIE AS A SUICIDE BOMBER, BYPASSING THE CHOICE TO BE A FIGHTER PARIS AGENCIES
The Algerian gunman newly linked to the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris joined the Islamic State group in 2014 and told the extremists he wanted to die as a sui-
cide bomber, bypassing the choice to be a fighter. He was instead shot to death by a police sniper in the raid that led authorities to Europe’s most wanted fugitive. Previously unknown to authorities, Mohamed Belkaid died Tuesday in the apartment, firing on police
BrUSSeLS: Police officers secure a street during a raid in the Molenbeek neighbourhood of Brussels, Belgium, on Friday.
while accomplices fled. Salah Abdeslam, the fugitive from the Nov. 13 attacks, had left behind a fingerprint. Belkaid’s Kalashnikov assault rifle was found near his body along with an Islamic State flag. According to exclusive documents given to The Associated Press by the Syrian opposition news site Zaman alWasl, Belkaid told the extremists he had traveled throughout Europe — including to Spain, Germany and France — and listed his residence as Sweden. He provided a passport to the group and a phone number for a close relative, which on Friday rang as a non-functioning line. In the document, he said he had no experience as a jihadi and no one to vouch for him as he crossed the border on April 19, 2014. Islamic State prizes the growth of its networks abroad, and having a sponsor is seen as both a sign of credibility and a way to measure the extent of its reach.
Belkaid listed his occupation as a candy maker. German intelligence authorities say they also have a copy of some of the same documents as the Syrian opposition site, and that they are believed to be authentic. Belkaid’s “application” to the Islamic State group and his subsequent ties to the Nov. 13 attackers, many of whom met and trained together in Syria, highlights the difficulty in uncovering the extent of the plot that led to 130 deaths in Paris. In two years, Belkaid transformed from an aspiring jihadi into a Kalashnikov-toting fighter linked to a cell that carried out the deadliest attack in France since World War II. “There was a certain organization that allowed the people at large to pass from hideout to hideout,” said Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Thierry Werts. In a statement, the office said the investigation continues “day and night.”
WaSHInGTon: Fox News on Friday issued a harsh condemnation to Donald Trump in defense of one of the network’s most popular reporters, calling the Republican frontrunner’s “obsession” unfit for a presidential candidate. “Donald Trump’s vitriolic attacks against Megyn Kelly and his extreme, sick obsession with her is beneath the dignity of a presidential candidate,” the conservative cable news network wrote in a statement. “Megyn is an exemplary journalist and one of the leading anchors in America — we’re extremely proud of her phenomenal work and continue to fully support her throughout every day of Trump’s endless barrage of crude and sexist verbal assaults.” The statement from Fox, which is part of the Rupert Murdoch-controlled Twenty-First Century Fox Inc, comes in response to a recent onslaught of negative comments from Trump to Kelly, resparking a months-long feud between the two. The quarrel began in August when, during a Fox News-hosted Republican debate, Trump blasted Kelly over questions she posed to him regarding his history with women, including his references to some women he didn’t like as “dogs” and “fat pigs.” Trump upped the ante shortly thereafter, saying that Kelly had become so incensed, “you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her – wherever,” which many viewed as Trump insinuating that Kelly was menstruating. The Trump campaign later issued a statement saying that by “her wherever,” Trump meant Kelly’s nose. Still, the damage had been done, and the relationship between the billionaire businessman and the longtime Fox News anchor has remained strained. Beginning Tuesday, Trump took to Twitter to blast Kelly, tweeting and retweeting a series of messages referring to her as “Crazy Megyn,” and calling for supporters to boycott her weeknight news program, “The Kelly File.” “Everybody should boycott the @megynkelly show. Never worth watching. Always a hit on Trump! She is sick, & the most overrated person on tv,” Trump tweeted on Friday. Fox News responded by saying: “As the mother of three young children, with a successful law career and the second highest rated show in cable news, it’s especially deplorable for (Kelly)to be repeatedly abused just for doing her job.” The Trump campaign stood by the negative tweets, calling Kelly “highly overrated” in a statement, and accusing her of biased reporting. “Unlike Megyn Kelly, who resorts to putting out statements via FOX News, Mr. Trump will continue to defend himself against the inordinate amount of unfair and inaccurate coverage he receives on her second-rate show each night,” the campaign said. AGENCIES
Facebook’s Zuckerberg meets propaganda czar in China charm drive BEIJING AGENCIES
Facebook’s co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg met China’s propaganda tsar Liu Yunshan in Beijing on Saturday as part of a charm offensive in one of the few markets where the social network cannot be accessed. The rare meeting, reported by China’s state news agency Xinhua, suggests warming relations between Facebook and the Chinese government, even as Beijing steps up censorship of and control over the Internet. Liu, who sits on the Communist Party’s Politburo Standing Committee which is the apex of power in China, praised Facebook’s technology and management methods, Xinhua said. Zuckerberg was in Beijing for the China Development Forum, a government-sponsored conference bringing together top business executives and the country’s ruling elite. China “hopes (Facebook) can strengthen exchanges, share experiences
and improve mutual understanding with China’s Internet companies”, Xinhua quoted Liu as telling Zuckerberg. Earlier this year, Beijing introduced new rules on online publication, which analysts say may place further curbs on foreign internet businesses trying to operate in China. Online content publishers should “promote core socialist values” and spread ideas, morals and knowledge that improve the quality of the nation and promote economic development. Foreign companies in China, especially in media, face political pressure from a range of regulations. The country’s military newspaper calls the Internet the most important front in an ideological battle against “Western anti-China forces”. China, the world’s second largest economy, has the biggest Internet population, numbering almost 700 million people. On Friday, Zuckerberg posted an image of himself running through smog in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, past the portrait of the late Chairman Mao Zedong hanging over the Forbidden City.
The 31-year-old has achieved celebrity status in China, one of the few markets where Facebook and other for-
eign Internet platforms, including Alphabet Inc’s Google services and Twitter Inc, are not available due to tight government
controls. He has long sought to improve his company’s relationship with the Chinese authorities, and now sits on the advisory board of the School of Economics and Management at China’s elite Tsinghua University. Zuckerberg began his remarks to the forum in Mandarin, speaking about the promise of artificial intelligence, particularly devices such as self-driving cars and medical diagnostics. He sidestepped sensitive issues, talking instead about technology and his family. “The one thing I am extremely optimistic about for China is the emphasis on engineering,” Zuckerberg said. He did not respond to a question from Reuters about Facebook’s plans to do business in China. During the forum, Alibaba Group Holdings’s Executive Chairman Jack Ma praised Zuckerberg, saying he respected Chinese culture and ran a “great company”. “He respects the Chinese and Oriental culture by instinct,” Ma said. “Not because he wants to make money.”