Author: admin

{{French Muslims were thrown into confusion on Tuesday after the country’s top Islamic authority and officials at the leading mosque in Paris failed to agree on the official start date of the holy month of Ramadan.}}

The French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), the official Islamic representative body, had insisted that according to its calculations, Ramadan began on Tuesday.

But the theological council at the Great Mosque of Paris said the month of daytime fasting would not start until Wednesday, the same day that many Arab countries are due to begin the observance.

“The CFCM’s decision has thrown everyone into confusion,” said Hassen Farsadou, head of the Seine-Saint-Denis [northern Parisian suburbs] Union of Muslim Associations, which has called on its followers to start their Ramadan fast on Wednesday.

“A very large number of French mosques have taken the same decision,” he told local media. According to French Muslim websites, more than 131 mosques, including the Great Mosque of Paris, had followed this lead.

france24

An Italian judge has ordered 49 suspected Latin American gang members to stand trial for allegedly using dogs to smuggle cocaine into the country.

A vet in Mexico forced large dogs to swallow drug packages before they were flown into Milan, police say.

On arrival, they were killed and dismembered to retrieve the cocaine in a case which has outraged animal rights activists.

The Ecuadorean, Peruvian and Salvadoran nationals will face trial in Italy.

The suspected gang members, between 19 and 37 years old, are thought to be part of youth drug gangs known as “pandillas”.

The gangs go under the names Trebol, Neta, Latin King Luzbel and Latin King Chicago, according to the investigative judge Fabrizio D’Arcangelo.

Mr D’Arcangelo told reporters the armed gangs were involved in several crimes in and around Milan.

The drug trafficking operation was first uncovered in March, when 75 suspects were arrested.

BBC

{{North and South Korea have started in-depth talks on reopening a jointly-run industrial zone in Kaesong.}}

The two sides agreed in principle to restart operations at the Kaesong Industrial Complex after marathon negotiations over the weekend.

South Korea says it wants assurances that Pyongyang will not unilaterally close the factory zone again.

Work at the Kaesong zone has been suspended since mid-April, when North Korea withdrew its workers.

The move came amid high tensions after Pyongyang’s 12 February nuclear test.

The Kaesong complex, which is located just inside North Korea, is home to more than 120 South Korean factories which employ some 53,000 North Korean workers.

The joint project is both a symbol of inter-Korean co-operation and a key source of revenue for Pyongyang.

Sun Ho, a director-general in South Korea’s Unification Ministry, said the delegation would strive to accomplish “developmental normalisation” of the complex “in accordance with common sense and international rules”.

Another official at the Unification Ministry said: “The weekend marked the first step, but the difficult part starts now.”

BBC

The United Nations chief has said that the grounding of the Bolivian president’s plane in Vienna on suspicion that NSA leaker Edward Snowden was aboard was “unfortunate”.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said on Tuesday that “it was important to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future.”

“A head of state and his or her aircraft enjoy immunity and inviolability.”

Snowden is believed to be still at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport where he landed on June 23 after fleeing Hong Kong.

Some European countries refused to allow Bolivian President Evo Morales to fly through their airspace on his way home from Moscow on July 2 because of suspicions that Snowden had boarded his plane.

Ban spoke after meeting the ambassadors of Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Venezuela to hear their concerns.

Bolivia has accused Spain, France, Portugal and Italy of closing their skies to President Evo Morales’ plane last week after being told it was carrying the former US spy agency contractor from Moscow to Bolivia, and demanded to know who gave them that information.

Spain has acknowledged on Tuesday that a US request had led it to delay approving an overflight by Bolivia’s president, but said it had given the go-ahead after receiving an assurance from Bolivia that US fugitive Edward Snowden was not on the plane.

{agencies}

{{Russia has presented evidence to the UN it says shows Syrian rebels attacked regime forces with sarin gas that was produced in “cottage industry” conditions.}}

Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Russian experts had been to the scene of the attack at Khan al-Assal near Aleppo and gathered firsthand evidence.

Churkin said the attack killed 26 people, including 16 military personnel, and injured 86 others. Rebels have blamed government forces for the attack.

The samples taken from the impact site of the gas-laden projectile were analysed at a Russian laboratory certified by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Churkin said.

He said the analysis showed that the unguided Basha’ir-3 rocket that hit Khan al-Assal was not a military-standard chemical weapon. He said the samples indicated the sarin and the projectile were produced in makeshift “cottage industry” conditions, and the projectile was “not a standard one for chemical use”.

He added that, according to information gathered by Russia, production of the projectiles started in February by the “Basha’ir al-Nasr’ brigade”, which is affiliated with the Free Syrian Army.

The Russian action risks reigniting an international dispute over the use of chemical weapons in the 26-month-old war, in which the United Nations says up to 100,000 people have been killed.

aljazeera