Muslims celebrate Eid in Assam, northeast

By IANS

Guwahati: Muslims in Assam and other northeastern states Saturday celebrated Eid amid heavy rains in most part of the region.

In Assam, people thronged mosques and other community halls to offer the Eid prayers as incessant rains lashed the state since the morning.

"No matter the weather conditions, Eid today was very special and the rains have failed to dampen the spirits," said Iftikhar Alam, a college student.

People of other faiths joined Muslims in the Eid festivities and exchanged sweets with them.

"Let Eid help in fostering universal brotherhood and amity among all communities," Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said in his greetings on the festival.

Eid was also celebrated with traditional fervour by Muslims in Manipur, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.

Orthodox Jews burn hundreds of bibles in Israel, world media silent

by Associated Press
Source: Haaretz



Sept 11 2010

Orthodox Jews have set fire to hundreds of copies of the New Testament in the latest act of violence against Christian missionaries in the Holy Land.

Or Yehuda Deputy Mayor Uzi Aharon said missionaries recently entered a neighborhood in the predominantly religious town of 34,000 in central Israel, distributing hundreds of New Testaments and missionary material.

After receiving complaints, Aharon said, he got into a loudspeaker car last Thursday and drove through the neighborhood, urging people to turn over the material to Jewish religious students who went door to door to collect it.

“The books were dumped into a pile and set afire in a lot near a synagogue,” he said.

The newspaper Maariv reported Tuesday that hundreds of yeshiva students took part in the book-burning. But Aharon told The Associated Press that only a few students were present, and that he was not there when the books were torched.

“Not all of the New Testaments that were collected were burned, but hundreds were,” he said.

He said he regretted the burning of the books, but called it a commandment to burn materials that urge Jews to convert.

“I certainly don’t denounce the burning of the booklets, he said. I denounce those who distributed the booklets.”

Jews worship from the Old Testament, including the Five Books of Moses and the writings of the ancient prophets. Christians revere the Old Testament as well as the New Testament, which contains the ministry of Jesus.

Calev Myers, an attorney who represents Messianic Jews, or Jews who accept Jesus as their savior, demanded in an interview with Army Radio that all those involved be put on trial. He estimated there were 10,000 Messianic Jews, who are also known as Jews for Jesus, in Israel.

Police had no immediate comment.

Israeli authorities and Orthodox Jews frown on missionary activity aimed at Jews, though in most cases it is not illegal. Still, the concept of a Jew burning books is abhorrent to many in Israel because of the association with Nazis torching piles of Jewish books during the Holocaust of World War II.

Earlier this year, the teenage son of a prominent Christian missionary was seriously wounded when a package bomb delivered to the family’s West Bank home went off in his hands.

Last year, arsonists burst into a Jerusalem church used by Messianic Jews and set the building on fire, raising suspicions that Jewish extremists were behind the attack. No one claimed responsibility, but the same church was burned down 25 years ago by ultra-Orthodox Jewish extremists.

One killed, thousands displaced in Assam floods

By IANS,

Guwahati : At least one person was killed and 30,000 displaced in flash floods triggered by heavy rains in Assam’s Lakhimpur district. A vast stretch of the internationally-famed Kaziranga National Park has been inundated, officials said Friday.

A government spokesperson said floodwaters of Drupang and Sessa rivers, both tributaries of the Brahmaputra river, entered at least 40 villages and forced residents to take shelter on higher ground and railway tracks.

"There has been a breach of about 20 to 30 metres in two embankments and that led to floodwaters entering settlements," a district official said.

"One person drowned while trying to escape the surging floodwaters," he added.

Measures are being taken to plug the breaches in the mud embankments.

"We have sounded maximum alert and have already kept disaster management teams on standby. We are also taking stock of essentials and other commodities in the district," the official added.

The 2,906-km-long Brahmaputra is one of Asia's largest rivers and traverses its first stretch of 1,625 km in China's Tibet region, the next 918 km in India and the remaining 363 km through neighbouring Bangladesh before flowing into the Bay of Bengal.

Haryana approves setting up of cow commission

By IANS,

Chandigarh : The cow may be an important political and religious issue for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), but the ruling Congress in Haryana Tuesday took a lead in setting up a cow commission in the state.

The Haryana Gau Seva Aayog Bill, 2010, was passed by the Haryana assembly here Tuesday, on the concluding day of its monsoon session. The bill was moved by Animal Husbandry Minister Paramvir Singh.

A state government spokesman said a cow commission is being set up for the preservation, welfare and development of cow species in the state on modern and scientific lines, besides managing the use of bio-products generated by the cattle.

It will also help in maximisng the use of organic manure in agriculture.

The commission will have 12 non-official members, including its chairperson and vice-person. The chairperson will be nominated by the government, and he non-official members will be chosen from among people engaged in cow welfare.

The commission will work for proper implementation of laws for prohibition of slaughter and cruelty to cows and suggest improvement in existing laws for making them more effective.

It will also supervise work of the institutions for scientific use of cow dung and urine to enhance their utility in agriculture, including soil fertility, bio-energy, bio-gas, bio-fertilizer, bio-pesticide and domestic use, the spokesman added.

The commission will take into custody the abandoned, stray, confiscated or seized cows from local organisations to maintain them.

Over 550 people embrace Islam in Abu Dhabi

By IANS,

Abu Dhabi : A total of 559 people from various nations including India living in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) embraced Islam in 2010.

The number of new converts increased by 25 percent in the first half of 2010 compared to the like period last year, the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department (ADJD) said in a statement.

There were 486 people who embraced Islam in the first six months of 2009.

People from the Philippines topped the list, which also includes India, US, Finland, Italy, Sweden, Belgium, Australia, France, Mexico, Poland, Romania, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Russia, Britain, Spain and Norway, among others.

BJP hints at fighting Assam polls on its own

By IANS,

Guwahati : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday hinted at fighting next year's assembly elections in Assam on its own and claimed it would put up a better performance compared to the past.

"We are keen on going alone and putting up a good show in the elections with the help of the youth of Assam," party MP and newly-appointed election in-charge for Assam, Varun Gandhi told journalists.

Gandhi arrived in Guwahati on a three-day visit, aimed at chalking out strategies for the 2011 assembly polls.

"Definitely broad strategies would be worked out during his stay," BJP MP from Guwahati Bijoya Chakraborty told IANS.

Gandhi addressed a training camp of BJP youth leaders soon after his arrival.

"I want to take the youth of Assam along with me to bolster the party's prospects," he said.

"Varun Gandhi's visit would surely inspire and attract the younger generation towards the BJP. The enthusiasm of the youths was evident the moment he landed here," Chakraborty said.

Meanwhile, Assam's main opposition Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) Tuesday claimed to have finalised a regional front comprising smaller parties to fight the poll.

"We have almost concluded discussions for a regional front comprising smaller regional parties, although we are keeping options open for seat adjustments with some national parties (meaning Left parties)," AGP president Chandra Mohan Patowary told IANS.

The AGP had pre-poll understanding with the BJP in the 2001 assembly polls and again in the parliamentary elections last year - the AGP-BJP combine was routed by the Congress party in 2001, while in the parliamentary elections, the AGP fared poorly although the BJP managed to up its tally at the expense of the regional party.

"We are committed to working towards overall development of the state if given the mandate," Patowary said.