Headlines 04/11/2016

Headlines

• Muslims Stage Mass Prayer in Protest Over Closure of Mosques in Italy

• Egypt Central Bank Devalues Currency by 48 Percent

• Saudi Ambassador Gives Bizarre Answer to Illegal Yemen Cluster Bombing Question: 'It's like asking if you’ll stop beating your wife’

Details

Muslims Stage Mass Prayer in Protest Over Closure of Mosques in Italy

Hundreds of Muslims have staged a mass prayer outside the Rome's Colosseum in protest against the closure of mosques in Italy. Children attended the demonstration holding signs saying, “peace”, “love” and “open the mosques”. Many in Italy’s Muslim community believe the closures were a response to attacks by Islamic extremists in Europe.

According to the demonstrators, some of the reasons cited for closing the mosques – such as the number of toilets on a premises – could have been easily resolved. "We feel people are pointing the finger at us," Francesco Tieri, a convert to Islam told AFP. "There is no political will to recognise that we are here and that we are a peaceful community. An estimated 1.6 million Muslims live in Italy, meaning it has the fourth largest Muslim population in Europe. Yet there are only eight official mosques in the country. It is thought to be the second most followed faith in the Roman Catholic country. But it is not recognised as an official religion, unlike Judaism and Mormonism. State recognition affords protection to places of worship, access to opening schools and observance of religious holidays.

Police confirmed the closure of some places of prayer in a statement and said the authorities would guarantee freedom of thought, but only within a certain legal framework. Italian local councils can oppose new builds for reasons ranging from the proposed parking facilities to how well they think it would fit in with the architectural aesthetic of a neighbourhood. They have repeatedly opposed proposals to construct traditional mosques. [Source: Independent]

Europe’s crusade against Muslims continues unabated.

Religious freedoms are conveniently side stepped by European authorities to suppress Muslims from worshipping their faith in public places. Italy now joins a chorus of European countries implementing drastic measures to curb Islam in public life. Many Muslims living in Europe now wonder how long before mass expulsion of Muslims takes place.

Egypt Central Bank Devalues Currency by 48 Percent

Egypt has devalued its currency by 48 percent, meeting an important demand set by the International Monetary Fund in exchange for a $13bn loan over three years to overhaul the country's economy. Thursday's much anticipated decision by the Egyptian Central Bank followed a sharp and sudden decline this week in the value of the dollar in the unofficial market, dropping from an all-time high of 18.25 pounds to around 13 to the US currency. The devaluation pegs the Egyptian pound at 13 to the dollar, up from nearly nine pounds on the official market. The IMF's executive board has yet to ratify the $12bn loan provisionally agreed by Egypt and the IMF in August.

Egypt's central bank increased interest rates by 3 percent to rebalance currency markets following weeks of turbulence. A shortage of dollars in the economy had put the currency under intense downward pressure in recent months. A rapid slide on the black market to 18 earlier this week pushed the importers to cease buying, with the rate strengthening to 13 late on Wednesday, creating a rare opportunity for the central bank to devalue. The central bank said the new exchange rate was non-binding and would serve as "soft guidance to jump-start the market". Devaluation was always a goal of the government and was necessary for long-term economic growth as the pound was unnaturally overvalued. In terms of monetary policy since 2011, the government has attempted to support the Egyptian pound against the dollar, a policy the central bank governor [who was appointed in November 2015] labelled a "grave mistake". Already, Egyptians face capital controls, including limits on transferring currency abroad and the amount they can withdraw to travel overseas. In a country in which 27 percent of the population lives below the poverty limit, Egypt's poor will bear the brunt of the devaluation. [Source: Al Jazeera]

It appears that America used both Saudi Arabia and IMF to force Egypt to send some troops into Syria. First, the Saudi’s withdrew their support for sending cheap oil to Egypt. This created pressure on the foreign exchange reserves and forced Egypt into the clutches of the IMF’s structural reform programmes. In exchange for IMF’s aid, various news agencies have reported the arrival of Egyptian troops in Syria. America is investing a lot of political capital to broker a deal and honour Obama’s exit from the Whitehouse.

Saudi Ambassador Gives Bizarre Answer to Illegal Yemen Cluster Bombing Question: 'It's like asking if you’ll stop beating your wife’

Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the US has evaded answering a question about Saudi Arabia’s alleged use of cluster munitions in the Yemeni civil war by answering, “This is like the question, ‘Will you stop beating your wife?’”

“Will you continue to use cluster weapons in Yemen?” a reporter from The Intercept asked Prince Abdullah Al-Saud, the Kingdom’s ambassador to the US, at the annual Arab-US Policymakers Conference in Washington DC last week. “This is like the question, ‘Will you stop beating your wife?’” Mr Saud replied, laughing. When pressed on the same point, the prince said, “You are political operators... I’m not a politician.” Mr Saud went on to say that the Kingdom would continue bombing Houthi rebels in Yemen “no matter what it takes.” “If anyone attacks human lives, and disturbs the border, in whatever region, we’re going to continue hitting them, no matter what,” he said. “Anyone who wants to solve the Yemen problem should understand who is making all the problems.” A Saudi-led coalition of Middle Eastern states began bombing Shiite Houti rebels in Yemen at the request of the exiled internationally recognized government in March 2015. [Source: The Independent].

The ambassador’s incongruent remarks clearly underscore that the Saudi regime considers Yemen a poor bride that deserves punishment and humiliation. It also demonstrates, that the Saudi’s are unfit to govern, and are only interested in the preservation of their rule. Hence, their utmost priority is to secure the neighborhood, and they do not care if Yemen is destroyed beyond recognition to accomplish this feat.