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Volume 10 Issue 274 Muharram 25, 1432 AH / December 31, 2010 - $1

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Denmark 'foils terror attack'

Surrey Jamiah Masjid at 72nd Ave & 124th Street project almost paid off and complete British Columbia Muslims Association (BCMA) will be conducting the final fundraising for Surrey Jamiah Masjid on January 1, 2011. This project has been completed with the dedication, hardship and generosity of BC Muslims as well as non-BC residents.

Details on Page 12.

Photo by: M.N.Pirzada

Harper preparing for minor cabinet shuffle, opposition-triggered election Prime Minister Stephen Harper is poised to conduct a minor shuffle of his cabinet as he revs up the Conservative machine for a possible spring election. A government insider says the shuffle will involve six or fewer ministers and will take place before Parliament returns on Jan. 31 from its extended Christmas break. It will be aimed primarily at filling the environment post left vacant by Jim Prentice's surprise exit from politics last month. It will also give Harper a chance to inject some fresh blood into his cabinet as his team prepares for

a potential spring election. Harper has vowed not to call or deliberately provoke an election. But some year-end sabre rattling by Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has convinced Tory strategists that opposition parties will use the next federal budget in February or March to pull the plug on Harper's minority government.

Consequently, all political staff have been ordered to cut short their Christmas holidays and be back at work next week. And ministers have been instructed to embark

Danish and Swedish authorities have arrested five people suspected of planning a "Mumbai-style" attack in Copenhagen against a newspaper that printed controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Three of the four people arrested in Denmark were residents of Sweden. The Danish Security and Intelligence service (PET) said the suspects had entered the country overnight on Tuesday. The men were arrested in Greve, south of Copenhagen, and Herlev, west of the Danish capital. During the raids, police found an automatic weapon, a silencer, live ammunition and plastic strips that could be used as handcuffs, PET said. A fifth man was arrested in Sweden, according to the Swedish security police (SAPO). Jakob Scharf, the head of PET, said that an "imminent terror attack has been foiled". He described some of the suspects as "militant Islamists" and said that more arrests were possible. The group was planning to enter the building where the JyllandsPosten daily newspaper has its Copenhagen office, and wanted to "kill as many of the people present as possible", according to PET. Scharf said the arrests were made after close co-operation with Swedish police. Reports indicate that the Danish and Swedish police had been aware of the plot and had kept the men under surveillance for some time. Alan Fisher, Al Jazeera's correspon-

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Issue 274 - Muharram 25, 1432 / December 31, 2010 THE

Drone technology should be given to us: Gilani ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday condemned drone attacks conducted by the United States in Pakistan’s tribal areas and said these were counter-productive.

“Our military and political leadership had very ably alienated local tribesmen from the militants, but when a drone attack is carried out they get reunited again. This shows these (drone attacks) are counter productive, therefore we condemn it and we are against it,” he said while speaking in the National Assembly.

“We have told the world and the United States that this technology must be given to us so we take actions on our own,” the prime minister said.

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“I agree with the member from FATA that the drone attacks are counter-productive” he said.

Referring to the arrest of Shahzain Bugti, the prime minister said “I gave assurance that I would talk to the Chief Minister of Balochistan who accompanied me during my visit to Oman.

“I sought a detailed report on the matter from the Chief Minister of Balochistan and the Interior Minister. The report has been sent to the interior minister and he has given a policy statement in the House.”

He said the interior minister has assured that he would review the report if someone considers that there are faults in the report.

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The most controversial figure and a close confidant of President Asif Ali Zardari, Sindh Home Minister Zulifqar Mirza, may be given another post, sources said.

An important meeting between President Asif Ali Zardari and Sindh Governor Dr Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan yesterday night proved fruitful and the MQM was assured that the PPP was ready to address their grievances.

Governor Sindh Dr. Ishrat-ul-Ebad held meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari here at Bilawal House late on Wednesday. According to preliminary reports, President again assured the leader of MQM of finding solutions to his party’s reservations soon.

The meeting was also attended by Federal Interior Minister Abdul Rehman Malik and Federal Minister Khursheed Shah, which mulled over resolutions to MQM’s worries on various national issues.President assured Ebad of elimination of MQM’s reservations, adding that his party, PPP, would take MQM along.

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SBP Governor for increasing tax revenue through RGST Governor of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Shahid H. Kardar on Wednesday called for raising tax revenue by implementing Reformed General Sales Tax (RGST) for the economic prosperity of the country. “The country desperately needs a tax structure in order to improve its economy. The RGST can be the best option but unfortunately our politicians are not convinced enough to pass it into a law”, Mr. Kardar said adding that the RGST was a very progressive one and it would benefit most segments of the society. He stated this while chairing a session of a three-day annual general meeting and conference of Pakistan Society of Development Economists (PSDE) here at a local hotel in which renowned economists from across the world participated.

The conference has been organized by Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE). The SBP Governor also expressed his concern over low collection of the property taxes specially by the provinces which was affecting the overall collection of the tax revenue. He said that the provincial governments were not doing well in collection of tax from different sectors especially in property and agriculture sectors.

Meanwhile, addressing the gathering, Paul Ross, mission chief

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President assures MQM to address worries

Pakistan People's Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has decided to go another mile to remove the reservations of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and a 'surprising' move was expected from the president in a day or two, Geo News reported Wednesday.

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of International Monetary Fund, Islamabad said that the government must have to raise the level of its national savings which could generate resources for the development of the country. He expressed his resentments over the low tax revenue in the country and said that the government should raise the tax revenue by introducing an equity based taxation system.

Paul said that decentralization of the tax collection system could achieve more success and without cooperation between provinces and federal government the country could not generate significant tax revenues.

Professor Vito Tanzi, former Director of International Monetary Fund, USA said, the responsibility of tax collection should be assigned to the local governments. In this regard, he said, the local governments should be given enough power and authority to impose the taxes.

Dr. Hafeez A.Pasha, Dean Beaconhouse National University, stressed on the need of equal distribution of funds on the inter-region as well as intra region level. He said that unfortunately in the country there was a clear disparity in resources distribution in the provinces.

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Issue 274 - Muharram 25, 1432 / December 31, 2010 THE

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Israeli authorities deny Palestinian prisoners access to lawyers Palestinian detainees are systematically denied the right to meet a lawyer during interrogations by Shin Bet, the Israeli internal security service, according to a report published today by an Israeli and a Palestinian rights group.

The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) and the Palestinian Prisoners' Club say detainees from the occupied West Bank are cut off from the rest of the world in Israeli detention facilities. The report also cited cases of "systematic violence" and torture.

Between 70% and 90% of the detainees in the years 2005 to 2007 were not allowed to meet a lawyer able to provide advice and assistance prior to signing a confession, say the organisations. The average time prisoners represented by the group were isolated from the outside world was 16.7 days. Irit

Ballas, a lawyer and one of the report's authors, said the situation has remained the same for the past three years. "The information we receive from our lawyers tells us that the incommunicado detention has not decreased," he said.

Shin Bet refuses to reveal the number of detainees who had no access to legal services. Asked about the report, the agency said: "One of the tools, used in accordance with the law, is the authority to prevent meetings with a lawyer for a period of time established within the law." Shin Bet added: "The accusation that denying access to lawyers was being used to prevent the monitoring of 'mental and physical abuse' is completely baseless."

In Israel, the legal period for detention in isolation is 48 hours for so-called regular violations and up to 21 days for "security"

violations. In cases where military law applies, it can reach 90 days.

"All the detainees who testified reported grave negative consequences of being held incommunicado, emphasising the feelings of fear, helplessness, confusion and despair," says the 67-page report.

The document lists other forms of ill-treatment during the interrogation: "painful and prolonged shackling to a chair, painful cuffing of the hands, sleep deprivation, repeated threats to harm the detainee and his family, the conditioning of meeting an attorney with confession, giving of false information to the detainee and intentional deception of the detainee".

The report reproduces, among others, the testimony of Ziad Shanti, 32, from Qalqilya in the West Bank, who was arrested in October 2006 while walking down the

street with his friends. He was seriously injured during the arrest by two bullets. He was forbidden contact with his family or with a lawyer for 40 days, even during his stay in hospital and later while in a cell with no windows.

"I asked [repeatedly] for them to inform my mother that I am alive. The interrogator said he would allow this only after I confess ‌ the interrogator took me to the interrogation room and shackled me to the chair with handcuffs. I stayed until 3am and was then returned to the isolation cell.

Around 8am I was taken to interrogation."

The sessions were repeated for several days.

Shanti confessed. He was sentenced to five and a half years in prison for stealing a truck and harbouring activists from the alAqsa Martyrs' Brigades.

Heavy snowfall in the eastern United States eastern United States is struggling to return roads and airports to normal after blizzards blanketed the region and stranded thousands during the busy holiday season reported by CBC. The heavy snowfall and fierce winter conditions have prompted officials in six U.S. coastal states stretching from North Carolina to Maine to declare a state of emergency.

As of Wednesday morning, most flights from the New York City area's three airports were taking off and landing as scheduled as the city continues to dig out from the weekend's heavy snowfall.Meanwhile, the number of flights into and out of airports in Boston and Philadelphia have also resumed to normal levels. But officials at the airports warned weary travellers lined up for flights home that the backlog could last several days.

As many as 10,000 flights have been cancelled in the northeast region since Saturday, according to airline officials.

Cathay Pacific said it is looking into why passengers were stuck for hours on the tarmac at JFK International Airport in New York after arriving early Tuesday. Passengers on one flight from Vancouver did not deplane until about 12 hours after the flight had landed.Other travellers at New York's LaGuardia Airport complained of having to wait several hours for their luggage to be unloaded from aircraft because the weather prevented baggage handlers from coming to work, the CBC's David Common reported from the airport.

New York City residents have expressed frustration over what they say was a slow and haphazard snow-clearing operation that rendered some city streets impassable for ambulances and other emergency services.

City officials, while not making any promises, said they hoped to have streets cleared by later in the day Wednesday.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg asked residents to be patient with the snow-clearing operations, but also said he was "extremely dissatisfied" with the performance of the city's emergency system in the wake of the blizzard.

"It's just a fact of life that for the less sparsely populated areas, it is going to take longer," Bloomberg told reporters on Wednesday.

"It isn't that we don't care; it's just that you have to do as much good as you can with the resources you have."

Some 1,000 stuck vehicles had been towed from three major New York City-area expressways alone, the mayor added.

Iraq war deaths 'drop in 2010' Group monitoring civilian deaths says total is less than 2009 but warns of lingering, low-level conflict in years ahead. The UK-based Iraq Body Count said in its year-end study released on Thursday that 3,976 civilians have been killed this year as of December 25, compared with 4,680 in 2009. Source: Al-Jazeera

Power politics in the Pacific China's growing military assertiveness has alarmed its neighbours and prompted the US to keep a high profile on Asian waters. It has been pressing claims on disputed waters and seeking new weapons and warships. Liang Guanglie, the Chinese defence minister, said on Wednesday that the country's booming economy is driving its military might.

"In the next five years, our economy and society will develop faster, boosting comprehensive national power," Liang said. "We will take the opportunity and speed up modernisation of the military."

Liang said China's military would continue to advance its capability to fight and win high-tech wars, while also boosting its conventional arsenal.

He said the the 2.3-million-strong People's Liberation Army plans to do this all without foreign aid.

"We will stand on our own feet to solve the problem and develop our equipment," Liange said, "The modernisation of the Chinese military cannot depend on others, and cannot be bought."

China's increasing military spending has generated concern among its neighbours, but Chinese officials insist that they are only interested in peace and that its naval build-up is not a threat.

The US, however, sees Beijing as a potential threat to its once unrivalled dominance of the Pacific.

China ended military relations with Washington a year ago in protest against a multi-billion-dollar US arms package for rival Taiwan.

The two nations have since resumed low-level military contacts at a technical level, but Liange has invited his US counterpart, Robert Gates, for talks in Beijing from January 9-12 agains a backdrop of increased tensions in Northeast Asia.

ER patient attacked B.C. hospital with SUV KELOWNA, B.C. — RCMP in Kelowna, B.C., have arrested a man who rammed his SUV through the doors of the emergency ward at Kelowna General Hospital Tuesday night, apparently upset at having to wait for medical attention.

"Investigation revealed that an adult male had attended KGH Emergency earlier to see a doctor. He waited to be examined and left the hospital before being seen by a physician," said RCMP in a statement.

"He returned to express his frustration with hospital staff over having to wait 45 minutes and threatened to drive his vehicle through the doors if he didn't get attention," it continued.

"The male left the hospital and moments later, drove his vehicle through the emergency double door (person door) of the hospital, coming to a stop inside the hallway of the hospital."

There were no injuries in the incident although there was

extensive damage to both the building and to a 1987 Chevrolet Blazer.

A man, 41, has arrested and charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, mischief over $5,000 and uttering threats. He was to appear in a Kelowna court Wednesday.

Police said the man does not have a criminal record and was co-operative after the incident. He does, however, face charges of possessing a weapon pending from an incident in March.

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Issue 274 - Muharram 25, 1432 / December 31, 2010 THE

Cote d'Ivoire on 'edge of genocide Cote d'Ivoire is "on the brink of genocide," according to the country's new UN ambassador appointed by Alassane Ouattara, who is viewed by the UN, European Union, US and African Union as the winner over incumbent Laurent Gbagbo following last month's presidential election.

Youssoufou Bamba made the remarks after presenting his credentials to Ban Ki-Moon, the UN secretary-general, on Wednesday, making him the first Ouattara government envoy to assume a diplomatic post since the November 28 poll. Bamba warned that the tug-of-war over the presidency was pushing the West African country to "the brink of genocide". The EU has said that it will tighten sanctions next month against Gbagbo, expanding a list of his supporters to be targeted, diplomats said on Wednesday.

Representatives of the 27 EU governments meeting in Brussels agreed to impose additional measures and to expand the number of Gbagbo supporters targeted by travel restrictions and asset freezes from 19 to 61. Efforts to settle the dispute in Cote d'Ivoire diplomatically continued on Wednesday, with Jorge Borges, the Cape Verde foreign affairs secretary, saying that the option of a military intervention by the West African regional bloc ECOWAS was off the table for the moment. His statement came after the presidents of Benin, Sierra Leone and Cape Verde briefed Goodluck Jonathan, the Nigerian president and current ECOWAS chairman, on their talks with Gbagbo on Tuesday. The presidential delegation had delivered an ultimatum to Gbagbo to step down as leader or face removal by force. Gbagbo has until January 3, the date of the next meeting, to respond. Meanwhile, military chiefs of West African countries continued their talks on the crisis in Cote d'Ivoire on Wednesday, Abde-Fatau-Musah, the ECOWAS director for external relations, said. The talks covered "the military planning ... and the logistics" of any military operation, he said. Last week, the 15-nation ECOWAS group vowed to use "legitimate force," if necessary, to ensure that Gbagbo steps down. While Gbagbo's government had initially adopted a conciliatory tone ahead of the meeting with the three West African presidents on Tuesday, that message seems to have changed.

Charles Ble Goude, Gbagbo's minister for youth and employment, vowed on Wednesday to "liberate the Golf Hotel [Ouattara's headquarters] with our bare hands" on

January 1. Shortly after Tuesday's meeting, a Gbagbo government spokesman asserted that international intervention by force would not be tolerated. Nevertheless, a Ouattara adviser told the AP news agency that Gbagbo had demanded a vote recount during the meeting with the presidential delegation, as well as amnesty should he leave office. Post-election violence has killed more than 200 people and threatens to tip the country back into civil war.

In a sign of mounting tensions, a crowd attacked a UN convoy on Tuesday, wounding one peacekeeper with a machete and setting fire to a vehicle, according to a statement issued by the UN mission in Cote d'Ivoire. On Wednesday, the US state department said that a small US military team was in the commercial capital of Abidjan, studying the possibility of evacuating US citizens should the unrest in the country worsen. Gbagbo has been in power since 2000 and had already overstayed his mandate by five years when the long-delayed presidential election was finally held in October. The vote was intended to help reunify the country, which was divided by the 2002-2003 civil war into a rebel-controlled north and a loyalist south.

Instead, the election has renewed divisions that threaten to plunge the country back into civil war. While Cote d'Ivoire was officially reunited in a 2007 peace deal, Ouattara still draws his support from the northern half of the country, where many residents feel they are often treated as foreigners within their own country by southerners.

Source: Al-Jazeera

Insulated Beverage Containers to Undergo Extra Security at Airports Travelers toting thermoses and insulated beverage containers through the nation's airports today might face heightened security measures, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

"The possible tactics terrorists might use include the concealment of explosives inside insulated beverage containers, so in the coming days, passengers flying within and to the U.S. may notice additional security measures related to insulated beverage containers," the TSA said in a statement released early today.

According to the TSA, while no specific threats have been reported, agents at airports have been trained to "detect a variety of threats, including the concealment of explosives in common items.

"Passengers traveling with insulated beverage containers can expect to see additional screening of these items using procedures currently in place, including X-ray screening, physical inspection and the use of explosives trace detection technology," read the statement.

Adm. James Winnefeld, head of the U.S. Northern Command, told The Associated Press that the TSA is "always trying to think ahead."

While little news has emerged from the nation's airports so far, a man in West Palm Beach, Fla., was arrested after the TSA found a loaded gun in his fanny pack, according to ABC News' affiliate WPLG. Juan Manuel Baldoquin, 48, was arrested

after screeners spotted a 25-caliber semiautomatic pistol while operating the X-ray machine, and then found the gun during a hand search of his fanny pack, according to the TV report. There was one bullet loaded in the gun, which Baldoquin insisted he'd forgotten about.

The latest warning from the TSA follows a stronger one from the White House, which called for extra vigilant this holiday season, warning of a possible -- though unspecified -- terror threat from al Qaeda.

The caution echoed a weeks' worth of warnings from law enforcement authorities.

"We remain vigilant to attempts by al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations to carry out cowardly attacks against innocent men, women and children, and we are working very closely with other governments to share all threat information immediately and to coordinate closely our counterterrorism and security activities," John Brennan, the White House counterterrorism chief, said in a statement earlier this week.

Attorney General Eric Holder, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security also alerted the public to a possible attack, citing a year's worth of thwarted attempts, beginning with 2009's Christmas Day "underwear" plot. It was a year ago that a suspected al Qaeda operative tried to detonate explosives packed in his briefs, onboard a flight bound from Amsterdam to Detroit. Source: ABC News

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Iran halts oil sales to India An oil trading dispute between India and Iran has further escalated, with Tehran refusing to sell oil to India under new rules instituted by New Delhi. The Reserve Bank of India has said that deals with Iran must be settled outside the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) system used by it and other member nations' central banks to settle bilateral trades. Iran's state-owned oil company has refused to accept payments for oil sales to India without guarantees from India's central bank. Iranian sources have confirmed the dispute and Indian sources said officials from the central banks of the two countries are set to meet on Friday to further discuss the matter. Iran, which is under UN sanctions over its nuclear programme, is likely to want to rescue a trade that is worth about $12bn a year. While the UN sanctions do not forbid buying Iranian oil, the US has been pressing governments and companies to stop dealing with Tehran. On Wednesday, two Indian industry sources said National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) had turned down Indian oil firms' requests for payment outside the ACU. "Indian firms had asked Iran to immediately nominate a bank in Europe through which payment can be made. But NIOC refused," said one of the sources. A NIOC source said any mechanism outside the ACU "is not acceptable" because "this exercise is in place for so many years". "How can India unilaterally decide to halt it without any alternative mechanism? How can you demolish a building without renting out an apartment?" the source added. The ACU includes the central banks of India, Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar, Iran, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. India is the biggest buyer of Iranian crude in the group, consuming around 400,000 barrels per day between two state-owned refiners and privately-owned Essar Oil. Iran defends its nuclear programme, saying it is for civilian purposes and that it is not trying to build a nuclear weapon.

Source: Al-Jazeera

Sudan under anti-war satellite surveillance The Satellite Sentinel Project, launched today, will be monitoring Sudan from above and sharing information with the world in near real-time in an effort to deter violence.

The oil-rich southern region of Sudan is poised to hold a referendum on January 9 that could decide whether Sudan remains one country, or becomes politically divided into north and south entities. Many expect that there will be violence leading up to the vote, as well as after it, and that the Sudan could once again descend into chaos as it did during its 20-year war in which an estimated 2 million people were killed as of 2005.

The Satellite Sentinel Project aims to deter that violence--or at the very least act as a recorder of war crimes should they occur-by pointing cameras aboard commercial satellites at the region starting today.

Through satellite imagery analysis and crowd-sourced mapping, which can be viewed via programs using Google Maps and Google Earth, the eyes of anyone with an Internet connection will be able to watch what is happening in the border region of northern and southern Sudan in the coming weeks.

The project is being conducted through a partnership with the Operational Satellite Applications Program (Unosat) from the the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (Unitar), Harvard University's Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Google, Internet software company Trellon, and the Enough Project anti-genocide organization.

It's being funded by the aptly named Not On Our Watch, a humanitarian advocacy organization whose founding members include numerous Hollywood actors including George Clooney, and human rights lawyer and former State Department aide David

Pressman.

Clooney and John Prendergast, a journalist, human rights activist and Enough Project co-founder, have been acting as spokesmen for the Satellite Sentinel Project. Through interviews with national publications, opens letters to newspapers, and press statements, the two launched a media campaign today to draw attention to the satellite mission.

"Previously, when mass atrocities occurred in Darfur, the Government of Sudan denied its involvement. Since photographers could not get access, it took years to amass evidence of genocide. But now we can witness in near real-time and put all parties on notice that if they commit war crimes, we will all be watching, and pressuring policymakers to take action," Clooney and Prendergast said in a joint statement today.

"We want to cast a spotlight - literally - on the hot spots along the border to record any actions that might escalate the chances of conflict. We hope that if many eyes are on the potential spoilers, we can all help detect, deter and interdict actions that could lead to a return to deadly violence. At the very least, if war crimes do occur, we'll have plenty of evidence of the actions of the perpetrators to share with the International Criminal Court and the UN Security Council," Clooney and Prendergast said in their statement.

Commercial satellites have been tapped to collect visual data of the region and have the ability to capture incidents like village burnings or razings, large movements of people, and bombings. Each organization involved has a specific role in how that data is used in the coming months, according to the Satellite Sentinel Project.

Source: Cnet news

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Issue 274 - Muharram 25, 1432 / December 31, 2010 THE

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VULNERABILITY OF CANADA’S ECONOMIC RECOVERY Although UN suggests that the global economy is not likely to improve significantly in 2011, yet the situation varies from country to country. In fact, Canada is going through an extremely painful ‘deficit spending mode,’ simply because Mr. Harper’s government committed itself to frivolous spending programs without any strategic merit that are only enhancing the outflow of cash from nation’s treasury. The official programs aggravated the financial health of Canada further by severely restricting the inflow of revenue to the treasury.

Resultantly, we have an enormous debt load now. Unlike the US debt clock, which is dangerously getting closer to $14 trillion mark soon, whereas the Canadian debt clock is a little over $0.5 trillion.

Beyond a doubt, the bank bailouts in Canada were not necessary, because high ratio mortgage loan defaults are insured by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). Many of the mortgages arising during 2007/2008/2009/2010 were CMHC insured; therefore, mortgage defaults in Canada are automatically going to be transferred to this crown corporation.

This means the defaulted loans are transferred to the Canadian tax payers.

That is how our Corporations ultimately transfer all their risk to the taxpayers; hence making our 'public system' pay for it. This clearly indicates that each and every Canadian resident regardless of age, health, or financial condition currently owes $16,407 for his or her share of Canada’s public debt.

On the other hand, Canada enjoys one of the best levels of economic prosperity in the world. As of mid-2010, its level of national unemployment rate stands at 8.1%, and the economy continues recovering from the effects of prolonged global recession for more than three years. In

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May 2010, provincial unemployment rates varied from a low of 5.0% in Saskatchewan to a high of 13.8% in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Furthermore, our country is the 9th largest economy in the world being one of the world's wealthiest nations. Being a member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), it enjoys being positioned in the Group of Eight (G8).

Nevertheless, like other developed nations, its economy is dominated by the service industry, employing about 75% of Canadians. Yet, it closely resembles the U.S. in its 'market oriented economic system.'

During the present global recession, other economic giants couldn’t escape without faltering, and the emerging economies are continuously experiencing rough times of fragility. Fortunately, Canada has withstood its harsh impact.

Canada is unusual among developed countries due to its importance of the primary sector, with the logging and oil industries; also has a sizable manufacturing sector centered in Central Canada especially with the automobile industry.

As per 2008 assessment sixty nine companies were Canadian and its debt burden was lowest among the G8 countries.

Nevertheless, there is a questionable democracy in Canada, because the corporatization of our way of life will leave adverse effects for our future generations. Conservatives have been governing Canada without a 'mandate' for the Canadian electorate for a few years, and they have had too many 180 degree turns in policy direction which is detrimental to our national interest in the long run.

Furthermore, the economic fundamentals behind Canada's housing market undeniably point toward a major crash in the spring of 2011. The main reason is

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I was reading the Miracle this week (Friday 18th) and something troubled me so much that I just had to write about it. What troubled me is that the Miracle is supposedly a newspaper which caters to the Muslim community, yet I found there to be minimal articles actually pertaining to Muslims and majority of the content was information which could be found in local based newspapers. I like reading the Miracle and al-Ameen because this is supposed to cater to me as a Muslim, and I would like to remind you that I can always read about Vancouver’s gang violence and sports in other newspapers too. Please put in some information coming

We have always made our best efforts to represent the Muslim world in all our sections, including articles centered on Muslim politics and contemporary Islamic issues, sports involving Muslim nations and Muslim athletes etc. However, we believe articles representing the general population are also worth publishing from time to time as they educate the readers about universal issues such as health problems facing Canadians, increase in gang violence in youth--issues that affect Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

Nevertheless, we appreciate your criticism about the newspaper and encourage other readers to do the same so your concerns may be addressed by the editorial board.

Founder : Nusrat Hussain

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Managing Editor: M. Naseer Pirzada Sub-Editors: Misbah & Sabeeh Hon. Chief Editor & Urdu Editor Mohammad Rafiq Advertising Ph: 604-690-0400 Email: naseer@telus.net

ling to every region of every province.

The insider says Harper is generally satisfied with the way his current roster of ministers is working and doesn't want to make any wholesale changes. But he needs to find a permanent minister for the environment portfolio, a slot Government House Leader John Baird has been filling temporarily since Prentice departed for the boardroom at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. There has been speculation that the departure of Prentice, a Calgary MP, opens the cabinet door for another Albertan, such as backbenchers Ted Menzies or James Rajotte. There's also been plenty of speculation that star recruit Julian

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to be extra careful and wide awake while borrowing. The best thing to do is pay off any outstanding debts as soon as possible because building empires on borrowed money only brings an artificial happiness for the time being followed by a total collapse in many cases. It is much better to skillfully organize your finances, as there is a rough road ahead irrespective of any political party affiliation. Under the present circumstances of budget restraints, the federal government should ensure that any money being dispersed is being spent exactly as it is originally intended for. Moreover, if the federal government intends to redirect taxpayers’ money to any group, there should be reasonable salary limitations set, as to how much a head of some charitable non-profit organization or lobby group that is federally funded can be paid. It is suggested that smaller cabinets at the provincial, federal levels and downsizing municipally is urgently needed to control the unnecessary expenditure loaded onto taxpayers’ shoulders. The prime minister should be able to think and act rationally.

Ridiculous expense accounts, unlimited travel expenses, liquor allowances, all other wastefulness prevalent in this country should be controlled to give some relief to the taxpayers. Most importantly, In view of the growing severity of the crisis, the government must re-evaluate its existing fiscal plan and find ways to generate a credible strategy and chalk out an effective policy for coordination with major economies as well.

Waan laysa lil insani illa ma’ sa’aa That man can have nothing but what he strives for.

Fantino could be on the fast track to cabinet. Fantino, Ontario's former top cop, scored a byelection upset over the Liberals last month in the north Toronto riding of Vaughan.

But if Harper does inject some fresh blood into his cabinet, it apparently won't come in the form of newlyminted Senator Larry Smith. The chances of the former CFL commissioner and Montreal Alouettes president being named to cabinet are "none, zero," according to the insider, who said Smith must first win election to the House of Commons before he'd be considered for cabinet. Smith, appointed to the Senate last week, has vowed to run in the next election in the Montreal riding of Lac-Saint-Louis. Source: Canadian Press

Canada : Continued from pg 1

Editor’s Note

By Arooba Haq

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from the Muslim World, something that is not easily found in the local newspapers.

Muslim newspaper’s role

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that an army of baby boomers is about to turn 65 soon, and panic refinancing or selling their homes to fund retirement at the same time would certainly be negative scenario. Any restrictions on mortgage lending such as elimination of options like 5% down/35 years amortization and the volatile interest rates would be disastrous as soon as the bond bubble bursts. Any bubble burst is likely to trigger a negative chain reaction leading to rates fluctuations followed by the increased public or private debt, and destroying equity markets. And, the shaky job market hinging on global factors will be out of Canada’s control. Our economy, in the coming days is more likely to be crippled unless damage control measures are in place well in advance. Experts have been warning of the consequences of the inflated housing market. Furthermore, baby boomers have lost too much money and are retiring, whereas the youth have no job security or enough income to afford these houses. Ironically, self-employed immigrants including many house flippers are easily approved to enjoy such mortgages unaware of any likelihood of a big burst of housing in the days ahead.

It is worth mentioning that Canada's future is linked to other booming countries now. We genuinely depend on our rich natural resources and agricultural sector. Yet much of the growth will be on North and Western side in this great country as we are fortunate enough to have Potassium, oil, gas, uranium, rare metals, metals, industrial coal, timber, diamonds, and agricultural products.

However, Canadian stability will likely depend on our ability to sell into markets like Asia. Although the bank expects interest rates to stay low, unemployment is still high and income growth isn’t particularly strong.

There is a way out: The Canadians need

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Issue 274 - Muharram 25, 1432 / December 31, 2010 THE

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Islam and other Religions By: Sachiko Murata and William C. Chttick Prophecy is the means whereby God offers guidance to human beings through human intermediaries. Just as God's mercy takes precedence over his wrath and thereby determines the nature of wrath, so also God's guidance takes precedence over his misguidance. Guidance itself demands the existence of misguidance. Without the misguidance that is embodied by Satan, the prophetic messages would be meaningless. Without distance, there can be no nearness; without wrong, no right; without darkness, no perception of light. All the distinctions that allow for a cosmos to exist depend upon the diversification and differentiation of the divine qualities. On the moral and spiritual level, this diversification becomes manifest through the paths of guidance and misguidance, represented by the prophets and the satans. Wherever there have been prophets, there have been satans. The Koran uses the word satans to refer both to some of the jinn and to some human beings. To be a satan is to be an enemy of the prophets and an embodiment of misguidance: We have appointed to every prophet an enemy-satans from among mankind and jinn, revealing fancy words to each other as delusion. Yet, had thy Lord willed, they would never have done it. So leave them with what they are fabricating. (Quran 6:112). Just as Adam, our father and the first prophet, was faced with Iblis, so also we are faced with Iblis, his offspring, and their followers. Misguidance is a universal phenomenon, found in the outside world and within ourselves. In the same way, guidance is a universal phenomenon. In other words, the human race is inconceivable without both prophets and satans, because human beings are defined by the freedom they received when they were made in the divine form. They are able to choose among the divine attributes, because all the divine attributes are found within themselves. Just as they can choose God's right hand by following guidance, so also they can choose his left hand by following misguidance. Without that choice, they would not have been free to accept the Trust. As we have seen, the fundamental message of the prophets is tawhid. In the Islamic perspective, all prophets have brought the first Shahadah: "We never sent a messenger before thee save that We revealed to him, saying, There is no god but I, so worship Me'" (Quran 21:25). In contrast to the first Shahadah, which designates a divine guidance that is embodied by all prophets, the second Shahadah refers to the domain of the specific message brought by Muhammad.

Other prophets had their own messages that correspond to the second Shahadah: Every nation has its messenger. (Quran 10:47) We have sent no messenger save with the tongue of his people. (Quran 14:4).To every one of you [messengers] We have appointed a right way and an open road.

(Quran 5:48). The Koran insists that Muslims should not differentiate among the prophets of God. Each prophet, after all, was sent by God with guidance, and the primary message of each is the same: Say: We have faith in God, and in that which has been sent down on Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, and Jacob, and the Tribes, and that which was given to Moses and Jesus and the prophets by their Lord. We make no distinction among any of them, and to Him we have submitted. (Quran 2:136; cf. 2:285, 3:84). The Koran tells us in several verses that the later prophets came to confirm the messages of the earlier prophets: And when Jesus son of Mary said, "Children of Israel, I am indeed God's messenger to you, confirming the Torah that has gone before me... ."(Quran 61:6) He has sent down upon thee the Book with the truth, confirming what was before it, and He sent down the Torah and the Gospel aforetime, as guidance to the people. (Quran 3:3). At the same time, the Koran makes clear

that the details of the messages differ. Any distinction that can be made among the messengers has to be made on the basis of the difference in their messages: And those messengers-some We have preferred above others. Among them was he to whom God spoke, and He raised some in degrees. And We gave Jesus son of Mary the clear explications, and We confirmed him with the Holy Spirit. (Quran 2:253). And We have preferred some prophets over others, and We gave David the Psalms. (Quran 17:55). The idea that every messenger comes with a message that is specific to the people to whom he was sent and that differs in details from other messages is deeply rooted in the Islamic consciousness and is reflected in the titles that are customarily given to the great messengers in Islamic texts. Each title designates the special quality of the messenger that distinguishes him from other messengers. Thus, one of the verses just quoted refers to him "to whom God spoke." Most commentators think that this is a reference to Moses, to whom Islamic sources give the title kalim (speaking companion), because God spoke to him from the burning bush without the intermediary of Gabriel, and because the Koran says, "And unto Moses We spoke directly" (Quran 4:164). But the commentators add that it may also refer to Adam, to whom God spoke in the Garden, and to Muhammad, to whom God spoke during Muhammad's ascent to God (the mir'aj).

In Islamic countries, especially among people untouched by modern education, there is a common belief that all religions accept the first Shahadah, but that each religion has a specific second Shahadah that differs from that of the Muslims. Thus it is thought that the Christians say, 'There is no god but God and Jesus is the spirit of God," while the Jews say, 'There is no god but God and Moses is God's speaking companion."The Koran recognizes explicitly that, although the first Shahadah never changes, the domain covered by the second Shahadah differs from message to message. Hence, all the laws that are proper to Jews, for example, are not necessarily proper for Christians, nor do the rulings of the Muslim Shariah have any universality (despite the claims of some Muslims). For example, in the following verse, God explains that the Jews have prohibitions that do not apply to Muslims: And to the Jewry We have forbidden every beast with claws; and of oxen and sheep . We have forbidden them the fat of them, save what their backs carry, or their entrails, or what is mingled with the bone. (Quran 6:145).

Similarly, the Koran places the following words, which are directed at the Children of Israel, in Jesus' mouth, thus indicating that his Shariah differs from that of Moses. [I have been sent] to Muharam confirm the truth of the 25 Torah that is before me, and 26 to make lawful to you cer27 tain things that before were 28 forbidden unto you. (Quran 3:50) 29 An often recited prayer at 30 the end of Sura 2 of the Safar 01 Koran says, "Our Lord ..., 2 charge us not with a burden such as Thou didst lay upon 3 those before us" (Quran 4 2:286). The commentators 5 say that this refers to the 6 Torah, which is a heavy burden, in contrast to the 7 Muslim Shariah, which, in 8 the words of a hadith, is 9 "easy, congenial" (sahl samh).

One of the most delightful expressions of the differing

messages entrusted to the prophets is found in the standard accounts of the Prophet's ascent to God, the mi'raj. Muhammad met a number of prophets on his way up through the heavens. When he met God, God gave him instructions for his community. On the way back down, Muhammad stopped in each heaven to bid farewell to the prophets. In the sixth heaven, right below the seventh, he met Moses. Moses asked him what sort of acts of worship God had given him for his community. He replied that God had given him fifty salats per day. Moses told him that he had better go back and ask God to lighten the burden. He knew from sorry experience that the people would not be able to carry out such difficult instructions. The Prophet continues: I went back, and when He had reduced them by ten, I returned to Moses. Moses said the same as before, so I went back, and when He had reduced them by ten more, I returned to Moses....Finally, after Muhammad had moved back and forth between God and Moses several times, God reduced the salats to five.

Moses then said to Muhammad: Your people are not capable of observing five salats. I have tested people before your time and have labored earnestly to prevail over the Children of Israel. So go back to your Lord and ask Him to make things lighter for your people.But by this point, the Prophet was too embarrassed to continue asking for reductions. Hence he said: "I have asked my Lord till I am ashamed, but now I am satisfied and I submit."

Nowadays, discussion of Islamic teachings about prophecy can quickly raise emotions among Muslims. Probably the main reason for this is that in many Islamic countries, religion plays a far greater role in daily life than it does in Europe and America. Hence, generally speaking, political positions are posed in religious terms, and opposition to the policies of other countries can take the form of criticism of other religions.

A second factor that helps keep emotions high in discussions of prophecy is that modernized Muslims commonly take the attitude - as do many people in the West as well - that it is not they who are at fault. Shortcomings must belong to other people, and so whatever the problem may be, the blame must lie in the opponent's court. This attitude is common throughout the world. For those who recognize the truth of myth, it is highly significant that Iblis was the first person to put the blame in the other's court. It is he who said, "Now, because You have led me astray . .

Volume 1, Book 3, Number 57: Narrated 'Abdullah bin 'Amr: Once the Prophet remained behind us in a journey. He joined us while we were performing ablution for the prayer which was over-due. We were just passing wet hands over our feet (and not washing them properly) so the Prophet addressed us in a loud voice and said twice or thrice: "Save your heels from the fire." ." (Quran 7:16). If people followed the example of Adam and Eve, they would look more closely at themselves and find room to recognize that "We have wronged ourselves" (Quran 7:23).

Do not think that Iblis's position is found only in politics. It is an everyday reality for all of us. For example, think about the way in which students react when they receive their grades. It is not uncommon to hear someone say, "I got an A in physics, but that lousy English teacher gave me a C-." This is Iblis's reaction-the light is mine, but he led me astray. I did good, but any evil is someone else's fault. The reaction of Adam and Eve would be the following: "How kind of that physics teacher to give me an A, but I really messed up in English and received a C-, so I will have to work much harder to make up for my own shortcomings."

In short, in the contemporary political situation, ideology is often posed in terms of the war of good against evil. In such a situation, those who would stress the universality of the Koranic message rarely meet with much success. It is too easy to think that the other guy is at fault and we are fine. And in order to think that way, it is necessary to forget that God's mercy extends to all creatures. If people did remember that God's mercy takes precedence over his wrath, they might have to start searching for faults in themselves and to leave the others to God. They might have to accept that the C- was a gift and that they should have flunked.

Excerpted from the book "The Vision of Islam"

by Sachiko Murata and William C. Chittick.

From Dec 31 - Jan 14, 2011 (Muharrum 25 - Safar 9, 1432H) Jan Dec 31 Jan 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14

Day Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri

Fajar Sunrise Zawal Dhuhr 8:06 12:15 6:15 12:22 12:16 6:15 8:06 12:23 6:16 8:06 12:17 12:24 6:16 8:06 12:17 12:24 8:05 12:17 6:16 12:24 8:05 12:18 6:15 12:25 12:18 6:15 8:05 12:25 6:15 8:05 12:19 12:26 6:15 8:04 12:19 12:26 8:04 12:20 6:15 12:27 6:14 8:03 12:20 12:27 12:20 6:14 8:03 12:27 6:14 8:02 12:21 12:28 6:13 8:02 12:21 12:28 8:01 12:22 6:13 12:29

Asr Maghrib 4:28 2:40 4:29 2:41 4:30 2:42 4:32 2:43 4:33 2:44 4:34 2:45 4:35 2:47 4:36 2:48 4:37 2:49 4:39 2:50 4:40 2:51 4:41 2:53 4:43 2:54 4:44 2:55 4:46 2:57

Isha 6:10 6:11 6:12 6:13 6:14 6:15 6:16 6:17 6:18 6:19 6:20 6:21 6:22 6:23 6:25

Source: Masjid Al Noor

AQEEM USS SALAAT(Establish Prayer)

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By: Soondas Zahid

January January 1 – A suicide bombing occurs at a volleyball game in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least 95, and injuring over 100.

January 8 – The Togo national football team is involved in an attack in Angola, and as a result withdraws from the Africa Cup of Nations.

January 12 – A 7.0-magnitude earthquake occurs in Haiti, devastating the nation's capital, Port-au-Prince. With a confirmed

death toll over 230,000 it is one of the deadliest on record.

January 22- Toyota Canada recalls 200,000 vehicles on stalling risk.

January 25 – Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 crashes into the Mediterranean Sea shortly after take-off from Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport, killing all 90 people on-board.

February February 3 – The sculpture L'Homme qui marche I by Alberto Giacometti sells in London for £65 million (US$103.7 million), setting a new world record for a work of art sold at auction.

February 12–28 – The 2010 Winter Olympics are held in Vancouver and

Issue 274 - Muharram 25, 1432 / December 31, 2010 THE

Kaczyn´ski, is among 96 killed when their airplane crashes in western Russia.

April 13 – A 6.9-magnitude earthquake occurs in Qinghai, China, killing at least 2,000 and injuring more than 10,000.

April 14 – Volcanic ash from one of several eruptions beneath Eyjafjallajökull, an ice cap in Iceland, begins to disrupt air traffic across northern and western Europe.

April 16 -The Iceland volcano ash problem:

June 26-A massive protest aimed at the G20 summit in Toronto turned violent Saturday afternoon as radical demonstrators clashed with riot police and lit cruisers on fire in the heart of the downtown core.

July 8 – The first 24-hour flight by a solar powered plane is completed by the Solar Impulse.

July 25 – Wikileaks, an online publisher of anonymous, covert, and classified material, leaks to the public over 90,000 internal reports about the United States-led involvement in the War in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2010.

July 29 – Flood in Pakistan, Heavy monsoon rains begin to cause widespread flooding in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Over 1,600 are killed, and more than one million are displaced by the floods.

May August August 10 – The World Health Organization declares the H1N1 influenza pandemic over, saying worldwide flu activity has returned to typical seasonal patterns.

August 31- Obama Marks End of U.S. Combat Mission in Iraq.

April April 10 – The President of Poland, Lech

and leaving 8 survivors.

May 31 – Nine activists are killed in a clash with soldiers when Israeli Navy forces raid and capture a flotilla of ships attempting to break the Gaza blockade.

June June 9 – Ethnic riots in Kyrgyzstan between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks results in the deaths of hundreds.

June 11 – July 11 – The 2010 FIFA World Cup is held in South Africa, and is won by Spain.

November 4 – Aero Caribbean Flight 883 crashes in central Cuba, killing all 68 people on board.

November 17 – Researchers at CERN trap 38 antihydrogen atoms for a sixth of a second, marking the first time in history that humans have trapped antimatter.

November 21 – Eurozone countries agree to a rescue package for the Republic of Ireland from the European Financial Stability Facility in response to the country's financial crisis.

November 23 – North Korea shells Yeonpyeong Island, prompting a military response by South Korea. The incident caused an escalation of tension on the Korean Peninsula and prompted widespread international condemnation. The United Nations declared it to be one of the most serious incidents since the end of the Korean War. November 28 – WikiLeaks releases a collection of more than 250,000 American diplomatic cables, including 100,000 marked "secret"or "confidential."

September 28 – Seven people are reported to have been killed and around 100 are missing after a landslide in Oaxaca, Mexico.

October

Whistler, Canada.

February 27 – An 8.8-magnitude earthquake occurs in Chile, triggering a tsunami over the Pacific and killing 497. The earthquake is one of the largest in recorded history.

March 16 – The Kasubi Tombs, Uganda's only cultural World Heritage Site, are destroyed by fire.

March 23 – The ROKS Cheonan, a South Korean Navy ship carrying 104 personnel, sinks off the country's west coast, killing 46.

In May, an independent investigation blames North Korea, which denies the allegations.

November 3- B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell resigns.

September

October 13 – Thirty-three miners near Copiapó, Chile, trapped 700 meters underground in a mining accident in San José Mine, are brought back to the surface after

March

November

July

European flight disruption April 20 – The Deepwater Horizon oil platform explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, killing eleven workers. The resulting oil spill, one of the largest in history, spreads for several months, damaging the waters and the United States coastline, and prompting international debate and doubt about the practice and procedures of offshore drilling.

May 7 – Scientists conducting the Neanderthal genome project announce that they have sequenced enough of the Neanderthal genome to suggest that Neanderthals and humans may have interbred.

May 12 – Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771 crashes at runway at Tripoli International Airport in Libya, killing 103 of the 104 people on board.

May 20 – Scientists announce that they have created a functional synthetic genome.

May 22 – Air India Express Flight 812 overshoots the runway at Mangalore International Airport in India, killing 158

MIR A LE

surviving for a record 69 days.

October 25 – An earthquake and consequent tsunami off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, kills over 400 people and leave hundreds missing.

October 26 – ongoing – Repeated eruptions of Mount Merapi in Central Java, Indonesia, have killed at least 240 people and forced hundreds of thousands of residents to evacuate.

December December 2 – NASA announces the discovery of a new arsenic-based life form in California.

December 5- December 6: BC NDP leader Carole James resigns as party leader after 13 NDP MLAs voice their concerns about her leadership.

December 21 – The first total lunar eclipse to occur on the day of the northern winter solstice/southern summer solstice since 1638, takes place.

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Forum about Jesus the Son of Mary (Issa A.S) held at Fleetwood Centre On December 25, Ahle Sunnah Muslim Forum-Canada in collaboration with Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, Minhaj Ul Quran, World Islamic Mission, Zawiyah Foundation & Bullay Shah Academy of Canada organized a program about Jesus, the son of Mary (Issa A.S) in light of Quran & Sunnah at Fleetwood Islamic Centre Surrey.

Mr.Irshad Mohammad was the master of ceremony. The program started with the recitation of the Holy Quran. Some Naat-e-rasool Maqbools and Manajats were recited by the local Naat-Khuwans included Mr. Mohammad Sharif, Mr. Salim Khan, Imam Mustafa and Mr. Naseer Pirzada.

In the first session, the Imam of

Fleetwood Islamic Centre Br. Mustafa explained life details of Jesus (A.S) with references from Holy Quran and Sunnah. He also took the opportunity to highlight the significance of 10th of Muharam in Islamic history.

The Head Imam of Zawiyah Foundation, Imam Fode Drame expressed his thoughts on the topic of “Jesus the son of Mary” in his spiritual speech. He recited some verses of the Holy Quran and the Hadiths. He also mentioned the generosity of Allah (SWT) who has offered rewards for simple acts such as saying Assaalmu Elik Kum, doing Tahajud prayer, Zikar Allah and his messenger beloved Mohammad (PBUH). Imam Fode then explained

many incidents about birth of Jesus (AS) and life history of Jesus and Mary.

Imam Fode quoted and explained verses from Sura 19 (Maryum), specifically 19-26. He explained the story of the birth of Jesus as described in the holy Quran and the incidents leading up to the birth.

After the explanation of Sura Maryum by Imam Fode, Irshad thanked all the guests and community members who joined this spiritual gathering. At the end Darood-o-Salam was recited and Duaa made

by Syed Affian.

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Issue 274 - Muharram 25, 1432 / December 31, 2010 THE

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Muslims of Greater Vancouver area show great support for Masjid Al-Iman rebuilding project in Victoria By: Waheed Chaudhry Muslim community of greater Vancouver area do care about paradise as it was evident by their large presence in the fundraising dinner for the reconstruction of the house of Allah (SWA). Muslim community of

Victoria, the capital city of BC, is in the process of rebuilding its Masjid AlIman. This will be first ever properly designed Masjid being build in the city and will include various features of Islamic architecture to showcase a vibrant and active Muslim community. This event was held on Sunday December 19, 2010 at Crystal at York banquet Hall in Surrey to raise funds for rebuilding of the Masjid and more than 550 brothers and sisters from various parts of greater Vancouver and Victoria were on hand.

Br. Irfan Sheikh was master of ceremonies for the evening and conducted the program very well. Two young local brothers from Surrey, Hafiz Mueez & Affan, started the program with the recitation from the Holy Quran followed by English translation.

Br. Musa Ismail, VP of BCMA, highlighted some of the current project undertaken by BCMA. He assured BCMA's full support for this rebuilding project and encouraged everyone to donate generously.

Sheikh Afraz Baksh, imam of Masjid Al-Iman, explained the rebuilding project with the help of various power-point slides. He mentioned the great need for rebuilding the Masjid due to sharp increase of Muslim population in Victoria. He mentioned that local Victoria Muslim community have already raised close to $650000 and is inching closer towards the short term goal of raising 1.0 Million to start the construction process. Total cost of the

rebuilding project is 1.6 Million. The proposed new Masjid will expand the building's capacity, will have a separate sisters prayer hall and will also add additional parking spaces. It will also include a multipurpose activity hall and space for funeral arrangements.

Sheikh Dr. Abdullah Idris Ali, a very dynamic speaker and well known fundraiser, was chief speaker of the evening. He emphasized of giving for the sake of Allah (SWA).

Donating to build a Masjid for the sake of Allah (SWA) is a sadaqah jariah (continuous charity), meaning the reward will continue to reach the donor even after death. He further explained that charity does not in any way decrease the wealth. Sheikh Idris kept the audience involved with his motivated speech and constantly encouraged them to donate for the Masjid rebuilding project.

A gourmet buffet dinner was served at the end of the program. There were kids activities along with a separate kids friendly buffet. Some paintings of Islamic calligraphy were also auctioned off during the dinner.

The rebuilding project moved one step closer to start of construction with the help of this successful fundraising dinner. With the help of Almighty Allah (SWA) and generous support from the community members the total collections for the evening were $155000 (One Hundred and Fifty Five Thousand). This include collected donations of $80000 (Eighty thousand) and pledges of $75000 (Seventy five thousand).

Fundraising committee will like to extend their appreciation and thank the Muslim community of greater Vancouver area, Br. Sikandar Khan, BCMA executives, Council members, Branches and Masajid, Non-BCMA Masajid and their management, Local Media and Newspapers, Dr. Adbullah Idris Ali, Br. Irfan Sheikh, Br. Anwer Bhandakya, Br. Ali Haider, Br. Hashmat Ali of Surrey Branch, Br.

Shahid Chaudhry of Crystal at York, volunteers and all others who participated in making this event a success.

May Almighty Allah (SWA) rewards them all. Inshallah.

Total cost of rebuilding the Masjid Aliman is 1.6 Million, and after this fundraising dinner, fundraising committee have already raised close to $800000. They still need community's support to quickly collect another $200000 to achieve the milestone of 1.0 Million to start the construction process on this project. Please visit www.masjidal-iman.com <http://www.masjidal-iman.com/> where you will find more information and different ways to help build this Masjid. Alternatively you can make your donation check payable to â&#x20AC;&#x153;BCMA VICTORIA BRANCHâ&#x20AC;? and mail them to PO Box 8618, Victoria, BC. V8W 3S2. Canada. Please note that BCMA Victoria branch is a registered charitable organization and issues income-tax deductible receipts for all donations. Jazaakum ul-Laahu Khairan.

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Issue 274 - Muharram 25, 1432 / December 31, 2010 THE

Martyrs of Karbala remembered at Masjid Anwar-e- Madina On December 24, Ghausia International Foundation of Canada, in collaboration with Masjid Anwar-eMadina, organized a program in the memory of Martyrs of Karbala (Yaad -e-Shohada-e-Karbala) in Surrey. Hafiz Mohammad Saleem Patel was the master of ceremony. The program started with the recitation of the Holy Quran by Hafiz Farooq. Some Naat-erasool Maqbools and Manajats were recited by the local Naat-Khuwans.

While conducting the program, Hafiz Mohammad explained many incidents according to the topic of the evening with references from Holy Quran and Sunnah and he also recited poetry written about the personality of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA) by different poets.

Maulana Imroze Dean, the local speaker of Masjid Anwar e Madina, expressed his thoughts on the topic of martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussain (R.A) and presented his spiritual speech in Urdu language in the light of the Holy Quran and Sunnah.

After the speech by Syed Imroze Dean, Hafiz Saleem

spoke on the topic. He recited some verses of the Holy Quran and the Hadiths and emphasized that the month of Muharram is very important and well-recognized in Islamic literature, especially the 10th of Muharam which is called Yom-e-Ashura. This is the date of the unbelievable sacrifice offered by the members of the family of Holy Prophet (Ahl-e-baat -eAthaar) (RA). He defined the hardship and difficulties during their life time of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA) and with the courage given by Allah SWT; he went through all difficult tests and received the blessing of shahadat as he sacrificed his life for Islam. He was the beloved grandson of Hazrat Mohammad (PBUH). His greatness was not only significant because of his parents, Hazrat Ali (RA) and Hazrat Fatima -Az -Zahara (RA). He was great because of his sacrifice. He offered his life for the sake of Allah without thinking twice.

Hafiz Saleem thanked all the guests and community members who joined this spiritual gathering. At the end Duaa made and then Darood-o-Salam was recited.

We would like to thank all the Hajjaj Karams who traveled with us during past years to perform Hajj. May Allah (SWT) accept their Hajj.

In 1432 Hijri year the Hajj will fall on November 6 or 7, 2011 Inshallah.

We are accepting booking for Hajj 1432 H / 2011 The special offers from Airlines is going to be ending on April 30, 2011

$5895 / person You can pay in three easy installments â&#x20AC;˘ We are sorry that we are not accepting the applications from women without Mehram and those individuals who are unable to walk. â&#x20AC;˘ We provide the Hajj services in English, Urdu, Punjabi & Arabic

Please contact for further information for booking.

Maulana Al Hajj A.L.Naumani : 604-589-7860 Br. Suliman Fauzy: 604-240-1486

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Muslim Women Gain Higher Profile in U.S. By: Brian Knowlton (New York Times*) Around Sept. 11, 2001, not long after she founded the Islamic Speakers Bureau of Atlanta, Soumaya Khalifa heard from a group whose name sounded like "Bakers Club." It wanted a presentation. The address was unfamiliar, but she went anyway. The group turned out to be the Bickerers Club, whose members love to argue. Islam was their topic du jour and their venue was a tavern. Ms. Khalifa laughed, and made the best of it. Ms. Khalifa, who was born in Egypt and raised in Texas, wears a head scarf but also juggles, comfortably, the demands of American suburbia: crowded schedule, minivan and all.

She is one of a type now found in most sizable U.S. cities: vocal Muslim women wary of the predominantly male leadership of their community and increasingly weary of suspicions of non-Muslims about Islam.

These women have achieved a level of success and visibility unmatched elsewhere.

They say they are molded by the freedoms of the United States - indeed, many unabashedly sing its praises - and by the intellectual ferment stirred when American-born and immigrant Muslims mix.

"What we're seeing now in America is what

has been sort of a quiet or informal empowerment of women," said Shireen Zaman, executive director of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, a nonprofit research institute founded after the 2001 attacks to provide research on American Muslims. "In many of our home countries, socially or politically it would've been harder for Muslim women to take a leadership role. It's actually quite empowering to be Muslim in America."

As Najah Bazzy, a American-born nurse and founder of several charities in Michigan, put it: "Yeah I'm Arab, yeah I'm very American, and yeah I'm very Islamic, but you put those things in the blender and I'm no longer just a thing. I'm a new thing."

It is not always easy. Several of the Muslim women interviewed for this article said they had been the object of abusive letters, e-mails or blog posts.

Yet in their quest to break stereotypes, America's Muslim women have advantages. They are better educated than counterparts in Western Europe, and also than the average American, according to a Gallup survey in March 2009. In contrast to their sisters in countries like Egypt and Saudi Arabia, they are just as likely as their menfolk to attend religious services, which equates to greater influence. And Gallup

found that Muslim American women, often entrepreneurial, come closer than women of any other faith to earning what their menfolk do.

"Muslims coming to North America are often seeking an egalitarian version of Islam," said Ebrahim Moosa, an associate professor of Islamic studies at Duke University. "That forces women onto the agenda and makes them much more visible than, say, in Western Europe."

Besides her speakers' bureau, which advertises itself as "a bridge between Islam and Americans of other faiths," Ms. Khalifa heads a consultancy working with students, executives, soldiers and even the F.B.I. to overcome stereotypes. Some people she addresses have never met a Muslim.

Some look askance at head scarves.

Ms. Khalifa, who has degrees in chemistry and human resources, began wearing a head scarf in her mid-30s, about 15 years ago. At first, she said, people looked at her "like I was different, Muslim, un-American, stupid."

But she is quietly persistent. When a smalltown newspaper refused to run Ms. Khalifa's ad listing the hours of a nearby mosque, she organized a successful boycott by local churchmen.

Perhaps the most noticed figure among American

Muslim women is Ingrid Mattson. In a bright-red jumper and multicolored head scarf, she stood out among the gray-haired clerics in black who gathered in Washington in September to try and defuse the anger over the planned mosque near the World Trade Center site in New York.

Ms. Mattson, who is 47 and teaches at the Hartford Seminary in Connecticut, became the first woman to head the Islamic Society of North America, one of the largest Muslim associations on the continent.

She was first elected vice president on Sept.

4, 2001, then president in 2006, a position she held until September; those years were so full of sound and fury over all things Muslim that gender took a back seat.

"But what happened on Sept. 11 and after has led American Muslims to be more involved in civic society," Ms. Mattson said, "and Muslim women were finding that a very rich area for activity."

"The only area where there's a limitation is religious leadership - the imam," she added, predicting that "we will have some communities in the future that have female imams."

Historically, Muslim women have wielded power from behind the scenes, with

Continued on pg 26

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ALLAH ALONE KNOWS THE TRUTH [#9] ALLAH REVEALS: "This (which) We recite unto you is a revelation and a wise reminder.

Verily, the likeness of Jesus with Allah is as the likeness of Adam. He created him of dust, and then He said unto him: Be! and he is. (This is) the truth from your Creator, so be not you of those who doubt."

Qur'an 3: 58-60 THESE VERSES OF THE QUR’AN REVEAL THAT THE CREATION OF JESUS WAS “UNIQUE”. THE TRUTH IS; THE AUTHOR OF JOHN’S GOSPEL IN GREEK ALSO WROTE “UNIQUE”.

IN 4TH CENTURY, WHEN THIS GREEK TEXT WAS TRANSLATED INTO LATIN BY JEROME, HE INTENTIONALLY CHANGED IT INTO “BEGOTTEN” SO AS TO REFUTE THE CLAIM BY ARIUS (C. 260-336). IN 318, ARIUS QUARRELED WITH BISHOP OF ALEXANDER AND HE DENIED DIVINITY OF JESUS, AS WELL AS JESUS’ DIVINE SONSHIP AND SUBSTANCE. During my bible study I wrote a letter to department of the New Testament, at the George Washington University, Washington, D.C., USA. My request was to elucidate the popular term from John's Gospel, the "only begotten son", in relation to the original Greek text written by the Apostle of that Gospel.

Below is a copy of their response: FOLLOWING IS AN AUTHORATATIVE EVIDENCE FOR DOING DAW’AH

Dr. Duff now enjoys the privileged position of Chair, Department of Religion at the George Washington University and is a member of THE JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE EDITORIAL BOARD. He wrote to me that his response was based upon the work of a scholar of international repute, Dr. Raymond Brown in 'Anchor Bible' Volume 29, 'The Gospel according to John published by Doubleday Inc., Garden City, N.Y. (1966), p. 13-14.

ALLAH REVEALS “Say: He is Allah the One and Only; Allah the Eternal Absolute; He begetteth not nor is He begotten; And there is none like unto Him

ALLAH HAS SPOKEN THE TRUTH

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Issue 274 - Muharram 25, 1432 / December 31, 2010 THE

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ALLAH ALONE KNOWS THE TRUTH [#10] ALLAH REVEALS: Lo! God said: “O Jesus! Verily, I shall cause thee to die, and shall exalt thee unto Me, and cleanse thee of [the presence of] those who are bent on denying the truth; and I shall place those who follow thee [far] above those who are bent on denying the truth, unto the Day of Resurrection. In the end, unto Me you all must return, and I shall judge between you with regard to all on which you were wont to differ. And as for those who are bent on denying the truth, I shall cause them to suffer a suffering severe in this world and in the life to come, and they shall have none to succour them.”

Qur’an 3: 55-56 Translation by Muhammad Asad.

Critical Notes: (a) The Truth revealed by Allah in Verse Number 55 for Jesus is so critical that Allah has warned us in the next Verse Number 56, that if we disbelieve this revealed Truth, we will suffer a suffering severe in this world and after the Judgment also in next life to come. (b) Anyone who claims that Jesus was raised up to Heaven with his physical body and will DIE after his return from Heaven to this world, HAS DISBELIEVED AND MOVED THE REVEALED SEQUENCE, FIRST EVENT TO HAPPEN, WITH JESUS AS PER THIS VERSE 3: 55. (c) The Arabic Text translated by Muhammad Asad as; “cause to die”, is “mutawaffi” = one who takes in full and nothing is left, causes to die {active participle from tawaffa} form V of root wafa. The word “wafat” means Death, the life term of a person if completed (d) Below are cited a few references from the Arabic-English Dictionaries that support the above translation by Muhammad Asad; “I shall cause thee to die”.

1. AL-MAWRID Arabic-English Dictionary, Dr. ROHI BAALBAKI, DAR EL-ILM LILMALAYIN see Pages 391 and 1240.

2. Dr. ABDULLAH ABBAS NADWI, VOCABULARY OF THE HOLY QUR’AN, Published by IQRA International Education Foundation, Chicago, USA, on page 733, 3:55 is translated: “O ‘Isa ! Verily I shall make thee die...”

The Verse

3. A Dictionary and Glossary of The Koran by John Penrice, Delhi. see page161.

4. A WORD FOR WORD MEANING OF THE QUR’AN by MUHAMMAD MOHAR ALI, Volume 1, JAM’IYAT IHYAA MINHAAJ AL-SUNNAH, Ipswich.

UK, translates, “causes to die” p. 177. (e) Qur’an reveals: He (Jesus from cradle) said: "I am indeed a servant of Allah: He has given me revelation and made me a Prophet; And He has made me Blessed wheresoever, I may be and has enjoined on me Salaat and Zakat as long as I live.” Qur’an 19: 30-31.

The question that needs to be answered by the advocates of Jesus is living in the Heaven is, Are there Orphans, Poor and Needy people in Heaven to whom Jesus is paying Zakat? (f) It makes one THINK; There are dozens of re-narrated orally transmitted Hadiths for the Return of Jesus from the Heaven, but not One Revealed Verse! “Say: (O Muhammad) The knowledge of time is with Allah only, and I am but a plain warner.” Qur’an 67 26.

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Issue 274 - Muharram 25, 1432 / December 31, 2010 THE

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THINGS WE LEARNED IN 2010 Writers and experts from UK’s the Observer chart the concepts, trends and buzz words that defined the past year and are likely to shape the next on.e WikiLeaks suggests that secrets are no more For a long time now, since digital media became the defining characteristic of our age, a revolution in information and secrecy has been predicted. WikiLeaks, and in particular the continuing exposure of US embassy cables, allows us for the first time to see the contours of that revolution – and some of the implications.

Chief among them seems to be the fact that even the best resourced and most confidential of organisations can no longer rely on a properly secure intelligence network. What once could be stamped "top secret" and locked away in a filing cabinet now becomes digitised and potentially accessible to any number of people with a keyboard and a broadband connection.

Diplomats, politicians and business leaders around the world will no doubt overnight become more circumspect about expressing any for-your-eyes-only opinion.

mood and triggered a youth movement that would keep going, a great force unleashed by a response to a policy about fees that came alongside the largest cuts to public services in a generation. From then on, the students kept on coming, from organised marches in Westminster to impromptu rallies elsewhere.

Some events were dominated by anarchists and the far left, but often it was the students leading the way, unmasked and angry as they waved their placards and hollered that their dreams were being destroyed.

There was even a return of the student occupation, with lecture theatres taken over across the country. The passion of the young, it seems, had not gone away – it was just waiting to be reignited.

The iPad promises to transform publishing

Billionaires can be highly generous In May, America's two wealthiest citizens, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, arranged three separate dinners with those who occupied the positions directly below them in the US rich list: Michael Bloomberg, George Soros, Oprah Winfrey and the rest.

One result was that Buffett and Gates went public in June with what they called the Giving Pledge, an appeal to the conscience of their fellow billionaires that now was the time to donate half their wealth to solving some of the world's problems. So far, 40 have signed up. Buffett had set the ball rolling by pledging 99% of his $70bn (£45.5bn) fortune to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Sceptics say charity and aid never transformed societies. Gates and Buffett, though, point to the fact that in a few short years of their targeted health policies they have eradicated polio from all but three countries; they now have their sights on malaria.

Students are leading the way in social protest Students demonstrate against higher tuition fees. Photograph: Geoffrey Robinson/Rex Features In an interview with the Observer, Aaron Porter, president of the National Union of Students, described the level of youth activism in 2010 as "unprecedented", or at least not seen since the 1960s.

It began with a march that saw 50,000 students, lecturers, schoolchildren, anarchists and more pour on to the streets of London in protest at the prospect of tuition fees being almost trebled to £9,000 a year. A peaceful march turned violent, with protesters breaking into the Conservative headquarters at Millbank. Soon recriminations were flying. But one thing was clear: the events of November tapped into a

Publishers are racing to design services for Apple's iPad. Photograph: ABACA/PA With all the hyperbole and bunting of a quasi-religious experience, Apple unleashed its touchscreen tablet computer on the world in April 2010. After the hollow promise of digital revenues on the web, news, magazine and book publishers embraced the iPad from the start, reassured by Apple's locked-down payment system and a covetable device pitched firmly at a small but wealthy demographic.

Apps, they discovered, might only dress content up in a different way, but with some clever customisation consumers perceive enough value to pay for it. After giving away content for years in the name of audience building, and then charging pennies for tentative iPhone apps, publishers found they could charge anything up to £4.99 for iPad apps, resulting in digital, at last, paying something like the same as print.

Even Rupert Murdoch made no attempt to disguise his enthusiasm for what he described as a "game-changing device".

News Corp has reportedly been working with Apple on The Daily, a dedicated iPad newspaper to be launched in January – complete with video and 3D content.

But publishers are unwise to rely too heavily on the iPad for salvation. An expensive and niche device, it can only supplement rather than replace the desktop screen.

Publishers still need to find a way to make the internet pay – and on a platform that doesn't involve handing a 30% cut to Apple with every sale.

Facebook seeks to outgoogle Google Many people may now be feeling that they have underestimated Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's fresh-faced founder and chief executive. "Until a year ago, he thought this might be the next Google, but he wasn't sure," a friend of his told the FT in December. "Now he's sure. The fear is gone."

The subject of David Fincher's film The Social Network this year, Zuckerberg now strikes terror into the hearts of his com-

mercial rivals. Google clearly views Apple and Facebook, rather than Microsoft, as the enemy – certainly in terms of the advertising that generates 97% of Google's revenues, $22.89bn (£14.87bn) for 2009.

Social media is the one key area where Google has largely failed, and Facebook has proved there is money to be made. More worrying for Google, Facebook is also having some success in convincing consumers that the best way to navigate the web is through the opinions and recommendations of a network of friends and contacts.

Facebook is rapidly translating that behaviour into advertising revenue, delivering personalised, cost-effective targeting.

Estimates put Facebook's revenues at $2bn for 2010.

The last straw for Google may prove to be a draining away of talent. Facebook is fast siphoning off the best engineers. With around a tenth of Google's 23,300 employees, Facebook is smaller, lighter and crucially faster. And with Facebook "almost guaranteed" to reach a billion users, according to Zuckerberg, Google will have to get used to sharing the limelight.

American politics is almost broken The founding fathers of the US were anxious to limit the power of government – hence the famous checks and balances in the constitution. In fact, the US is so checked and balanced it is a small miracle that government happens at all – which, if you think government is the source of all evil, means the constitution is doing its job. What made the US system work in the last resort was the power of reason and loyalty to a common set of core values.

Both have disappeared.

Today's US government is almost completely gridlocked – and astonishingly vulnerable to vested interests. President Obama and Congress cannot get to grips with the scale of the budget deficit, nor the need to contain the threat of a new financial crisis. Corporations write the law. The public realm is hollowed out, and most public institutions, from education to the transport infrastructure, are decaying – there seems little hope of turning the tide.

Reason is close to impossible with the Tea party. And adherence to common values is disintegrating. The American centre is crumbling, and with it economic, social and political power.

Deepwater drilling is a complex business On 20 April, a surge in pressure sent oil

China is chasing the US for global supremacy Two years ago, with the global financial system on the brink of meltdown, the

world's leading powers managed to coordinate their response at summits of the G20 group of nations. In 2010, that cooperative spirit died. The main reason was an epic rivalry between China and the US – the G2. In August, China edged past Japan to take second place behind the US in the league of large economies, with gross domestic product of around $1.3 trillion.

But the new superpower's growth relies on pumping cheap exports into consumer markets abroad. Battered by recession, US manufacturers see subsidised Chinese exports as tools of economic aggression. In November, a G20 summit resulted in a tepid agreement by all nations to try to "resist protectionist measures". That was code for an uneasy truce between Washington and Beijing – but neither is in any doubt that the race for supremacy is now on. RB

spurting up a drill pipe below BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig, 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico.

The pressure dislodged a column of sludge intended to keep the oil underground, causing an explosion that killed 11 workers and injured 17.

The disaster caused an underwater rupture that left oil gushing into the ocean for almost three months. Just how much oil polluted the water is still fiercely debated – the US government says it was 5m barrels' worth. BP, which has to pay a fine of at least $1,100 per barrel spilled, insists the true figure was 20% to 50% lower. Either way, it was an enormous quantity, scarring delicate wetland wildernesses and suspending the livelihoods of thousands along America's coast. The spill prompted the Obama administration to impose an embargo on deepwater drilling as engineers struggled to understand how several failsafe mechanisms had failed – including a sophisticated blowout preventer intended to slam shut the pipe. Initially, BP alone was blamed by the White House. More recently, investigators have suggested Britain's biggest company shared responsibility with two US subcontractors – Transocean, which owned the rig, and Halliburton, accused of botching a cement job intended to seal the well. For BP and the rest of the oil industry, the consequences of a human and environmental tragedy will reverberate for years to come.

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Intolerance of Africans, Orthodox and Arabs growing in Israel

By ARIEH O'SULLIVAN A tsunami of intolerance and discrimination against Arabs, ultra-Orthodox Jews and African refugees has washed over Israel in recent weeks, causing concern among many that it may be undermining Israel's democratic character.

The past week has seen an explosion of street protests calling to deport Africans who have congregated in neighborhoods in south Tel Aviv and against Israeli Arabs moving to the cities. A group of municipal rabbis signed a letter earlier this month declaring that it was forbidden by religious law to rent or sell homes to non-Jews.

"We see it as a racist call," Ron Gerlitz, the co-executive director of Sikkuy â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the Association for the Advancement of Civic Equality in Israel, told The Media Line. "If someone says we should not rent to some people just because of their nationality then this is racism."

There are an estimated quarter of a million foreign workers in Israel, about half of these in the country illegally. This doesn't include the estimated 30,000 Africans who have flooded into the country by foot over the past few years, mostly from war-torn Eritrea, and Sudan. While these numbers are small compared to more than seven million Israelis, the foreigners tend to live in a limited number of neighborhoods where their presence is felt especially strongly.

Gerlitz said the attacks on Israel's Arab minority, which makes up some 20 percent of the population, was an "attack against democracy, because there is no democracy without uncompromising protection of the rights of the minority."

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, head of the nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party, has also fanned the flames of incitement against Arabs. "Every day, every week, you have another case of Israeli Arabs that are talking part in terrorist activity," he said in an interview with Newsweek published last week.

Some demonstrators advocating for the expulsion of African migrants from south Tel Aviv last week held placards saying: "Lieberman, where are you when we need you?"

Intolerance has grown to encompass Israelis Jews as well, with ultra-Orthodox Jews targeted for their refusal to serve in the army or join the job market, enjoying government allowances that enable them to engage in religious studies well into adulthood.

Eli Yishai, head of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, protested what he called the "witch hunt" being waged by the secular Israelis against ultra-Orthodox. But, in fact, the ultra-Orthodox have traditionally disparaged secular Israelis and many of their political leaders have taken on the fight against Africans.

"I call on all the leaders of all the parties to stop this wave of incitement. It creates rifts within the nation, and is completely unnecessary," Yishai said last week.

He was referring to the repeated headlines against the government stipends given to yeshiva students and angry protests by mainly secular Israelis.

Yair Lapid, a popular on-air personality on the Channel 2 television network â&#x20AC;&#x201D; who has been toying with following the political footsteps of his father, the secularist champion, Yosef (Tommy) Lapid â&#x20AC;&#x201D; published a frontpage editorial in the nation's largest daily lambasting the burden that tens of thousands of African migrants were putting on the economy. He has also been a leading voice in curtailing government funding to ultra-Orthodox.

Nahum Barnea, one of the country's most

influential columnists, opined that the arguments about foreigners were the byproduct of the failed peace process with the Palestinians, which has left politicians looking fro something to quarrel about.

And yet, in an unprecedented appeal, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week addressed the incitement against illegal migrants in a video message posted on his Facebook and YouTube pages.

"We are a country run by the rule of law, we are a country that respects all peoples, whoever they are," Netanyahu said. "I insist that citizens of Israel not take the law into their own hands, not through violence nor through incitement."

Earlier this month, Israel police arrested a gang of Jewish teenagers in occupied Jerusalem on suspicion of attacking Arabs for nationalist reasons. No arrests have yet been made, however, in the case of a burning tire being tossed into building housing Sudanese refugees in Ashdod two weeks ago.

The newspaper Ha'aretz appealed to President Shimon Peres to step in and express compassion for the illegal migrants and victims of hate crimes.

It also called on him to show the Arab inhabitants that they are equal citizens and Israel values them.

Netanyanhu has vowed to put an end to the wave of African migrants flooding the country and his government is building an impermeable security barrier along portions of the 240km border with the Egyptian Sinai.

Israel is also mulling building a detention camp for those who do manage to cross, until they can be returned to their countries.

A recent poll by the Institute for Immigration and Social Integration found increasing apprehension among low-income and religious Israelis that foreign workers would take their jobs and threaten the Jewish character of the state.

On the other hand, the poll also found that a majority believed that once an African made it into the country, the state should provide them with social benefits.

"Israel is going in a direction which understands that

the margins of society should be included into society. We are talking about foreign workers, about people who cross the border illegally, about people who are married to immigrants and other parts of society who start to become a part of society," Gerlitz said.

"But this creates a counter effect in which the people who were inside the mainstream of society want a society that will be exclusive. They don't want those parts to be part of the society. I would agree that the fact that new groups want to join in Israeli society caused this effect and people end up saying 'We don't want the Arabs in our cities. We don't want the illegal immigrants. We don't want the foreign workers.'"

Gerlitz added that the solution was to create a shared society "where all the people who live in this society believe it belongs to all its members, to Jews and Arabs alike."

Yohannes Bayu, director of the African

Refugee Development Center, which helps refugees in Tel Aviv, said nationalists and ultra-Orthodox in Israel were fanning the flames of hatred for political gain.

"They are trying to create fear in the minds of the people," Bayu said. "They're not talking about these people as refugees, but are saying things like they are bringing diseases threaten the Jewish demographics."

Bayu, who isn't Jewish, was taken in by Israel as a refugee 15 years ago, when he was forced to flee his native Ethiopia. He said he has never seen the animosity against Africans so bad as it today.

"It's like when the Germans started attacking Jews. They didn't start all of a sudden. They brought all sorts of excuses and tried to raise the fear among the public that (Jews) were taking from them and were a demographic threat. And that turned into violence. It's the same here now. It's very scary," Bayu said.

Source :http://arabnews.com

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Issue 274 - Muharram 25, 1432 / December 31, 2010 THE

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NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR KINDERGARTEN 2011/2012 Due to the high demand from our community, we encourage parents and guardians who are interested in registering their children to contact our school.

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Issue 274 - Muharram 25, 1432 / December 31, 2010 THE

MIR A LE

Canadians embrace web like no others The Canadian Press Canadians were curating their Facebook profiles long before the rest of the world got hooked, many were experimenting with the limitations of writing in 140-character snippets at Twitter's launch in 2006, and we watch online video more than any other web surfers.

There aren't many theories as to why exactly, but Canadians rank among the most enthusiastic users of the web and all its various offshoots. The Canadian Press talked to a few of the internet's biggest properties about what Canadians are doing online.

Canadians spend more time online than users in any of the countries tracked by measurement company comScore, which also said Canada had the highest penetration of internet access. About 68 per cent of the Canadian population is online, comScore estimated in April, compared to 62 per cent in France and the United Kingdom, 60 per cent in Germany, 59 per cent in the United States, 57 per cent in Japan, and 36 per cent in Italy.

Canada was the only country in which users logged an average of more than 2,500 minutes online a month, which is almost 42 hours. Israel was second with an average of around 2,300 minutes, while a few other countries were around the 2,000-minute

mark.

A passion for YouTube "In Canada, YouTube per capita consumption of video is No. 1 in the world. It's just absolutely crazy in terms of how passionate Canadians are about YouTube," said Chris O'Neill, Canada's country director for Google.

It's estimated that about 21 million Canadians visit YouTube each month, compared to 147 million Americans. But considering the U.S. has 10 times Canada's population, Canadians are way ahead on a per capita basis.

Canadian users also view more videos, with an average of 147 watched each month compared to 100 per U.S. viewer. In terms of most minutes watched, 18-to-24 is the biggest demographic with a monthly average of 244 videos viewed over the course of 1,095 minutes, or 18.25 hours.

Canadians were among the eager early adopters of Facebook and at one point trailed just the U.S. in overall numbers of users. But Canadians no longer dominate on the site. According to socialbakers.com, Canada has more than 17 million users, and is neck and neck with India for 9th and 10th on the list of the countries with the most Facebook accounts. But Canada's penetration rate of about 51.2 per cent of the population, or 65.9 per cent of the

online population, is still one of the most significant on Facebook.

Twitter still has a long way to go before it even comes close to nearing Facebook's user base — Twitter is believed to be around 200 million, a far cry from Facebook's 575 million — but it did add more than 100 million accounts worldwide in the last year.

"What we can share is that the number of Twitter accounts in Canada has increased by 75 per cent since the beginning of the year, and the number of daily tweets more than doubled," a Twitter spokesperson said in an email.

Bieber meets Twitter Vancouver-based company Hootsuite Media, which has a popular Twitter app with more than one million users, saw 250 per cent growth in usage among its Canadian users in 2010. About 5.5 per cent of its daily traffic, 55,000 tweets, comes from Canadian users.

According to an analysis of traffic by measurement company Trendrr, Canadian female Twitter users are more active than male Twitter users. And one Canadian user is among the most influential of them all.

Justin Bieber, with more than 6.4 million followers, gets mentioned in about 200,000 tweets daily, Trenddr estimates.

The average Canadian web surfer reads 16

Wikipedia pages a month, which is the most in the world — one more than German users, two more than Polish users and four more than Americans. Canadian users generate about 217,000 edits a month, which ranks 8th among the most productive countries.

Canadian e-book readers are supporting homegrown talent, says e-tailer Kobo. Ever since being announced as the winner of this year's Scotiabank Giller Prize on Nov. 9, The Sentimentalists by Johanna Skibsrud has been the consistent top seller.

And they like Jane Austen too. In the free section of the website, works by the British novelist are the most downloaded "by a wide, wide margin."

If there's one thing that separates Canadian and American customers it's the romance and erotica category, which is very big down south and sells 50 per cent better than in Canada. Canadians go more for contemporary fiction, Kobo says. Freedom

by Jonathan Franzen got a big boost after being featured on Oprah but sales were twice as big in Canada, on a proportional basis.

Source:www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/ 12/28/tech-facebook-twitter-online-internet-

Flu season kicks in with deaths in U.K. Number of cases rises in Prairies, Ontario, Quebec Health authorities are reminding people about personal hygiene measures like handwashing during flu season. (CBC) Flu activity is on the rise in Britain, where it has killed 27 people since October, say health officials tracking increases across Europe.

Britain has experienced a surge in cases during December as swine flu appears to be the dominant flu strain circulating.

Britain's Health Protection Agency (HPA) said 24 people died with the H1N1 strain and three with a type B flu strain, including 10 deaths this week.

"The level of flu activity we are currently seeing is at levels often seen during the winter flu seasons, but due to the fact that H1N1 is one of the predominant strains circulating at the moment, we are seeing more severe illness in people under the age of 65 than we would normally expect," said Prof. John Watson, head of the respiratory diseases department at the HPA. The U.K. agency noted a very large outbreak was "not likely."

Cases have been highest among children aged five and 14, followed by children under four.

"We have seen some flu outbreaks in school-aged children as well as serious cases in pregnant women. We are working throughout the public health system and [National Health Service] to protect and treat people at risk of serious illness," the interim chief medical officer for England, Prof. Sally Davies, said in a release.

Visits to doctors for flu-like illness also rose, more than doubling to 87.1 per 100,000 in the past week in the U.K. from 34.6 per 100,000, a rate that exceeds baseline levels.

More flu activity in Europe The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said influenza transmission is now picking up

across the European Union.

"During the influenza season — and especially while influenza cases are occurring in your community — citizens should adopt preventative measures recommended by their national authorities; these may include: personal hygiene measures and vaccination for those recommended," ECDC director Marc Sprenger said in a statement.

In Canada, this year's vaccine covers three flu strains: a new one known as H3N2, an influenza B component and H1N1.

Canada's flu season Last week's influenza update from the World Health Organization also reported increased influenza activity across parts of Europe, "indicating the start of wintertime influenza epidemics in several countries.

"Influenza activity is also increasing in other temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, including East Asia and North America where there is evidence of the beginnings of the local winter influenza season."

In Canada, flu illness "has been geographically variable, but overall within seasonal baseline levels," WHO said.

Both the number of influenza virus detections and the proportion of respiratory specimens testing positive for influenza viruses, predominantly Influenza A(H3N2), have increased substantially in Canada, the UN health agency said.

The Public Health Agency of Canada's latest FluWatch report, posted Dec. 17, said overall flu activity in Canada increased from the previous week, particularly across the Prairies, Ontario and Quebec.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said flu activity was increasing for the week ended Dec. 18 in the country.

Influenza-like illness remained relatively low nationally, but is up from the previous week.

Source: http://www.cbc.ca

Our Goal is to help our children become confident and practicing Muslims according to the teaching of Quran and Sunnah.

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Issue 274 - Muharram 25, 1432 / December 31, 2010 THE

MIR A LE

Expect more extreme winters thanks to global warming, say scientists

By Steve Connor Scientists have established a link between the cold, snowy winters in Britain and melting sea ice in the Arctic and have warned that long periods of freezing weather are likely to become more frequent in years to come.

An analysis of the ice-free regions of the Arctic Ocean has found that the higher temperatures there caused by global warming, which have melted the sea ice in the summer months, have paradoxically increased the chances of colder winters in Britain and the rest of northern Europe.

The findings are being assessed by British climate scientists, who have been asked by ministers for advice on whether the past two cold winters are part of a wider pattern of climate change that will cause further damaging disruption to the nation's creaking transport infrastructure.

Some climate scientists believe that the dramatic retreat of the Arctic sea ice over the past 30 years has begun to change the wind patterns over much of the northern hemisphere, causing cold, Arctic air to be funnelled over Britain during winter, replacing the mild westerly airstream that normally dominates the UK's weather.

The study was carried out in 2009, before last year's harsh winter started to bite, and is all the more prescient because of its prediction that cold, snowy winters will be about three times more frequent in the coming years compared to previous decades.

The researchers used computer models to assess the impact of the disappearing Arctic sea ice, particularly in the area of the Barents and Kara seas north of Scandinavia and Russia, which have experienced unprecedented losses of sea ice during summer.

Their models found that, as the ice cap over the ocean disappeared, this allowed the heat of the relatively warm seawater to escape into the much colder atmosphere above, creating an area of high pressure surrounded by clockwise-moving winds that sweep down from the polar region over Europe and the British Isles. Vladimir Petoukhov, who carried out the study at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, said the computer simulations showed that the disappearing sea ice is likely to have widespread and unpredictable impacts on the climate of the northern hemisphere.

One of the principal predictions of the study was that the warming of the air over the icefree seas is likely to bring bitterly cold air to Europe during the winter months, Dr Petoukhov said. "This is not what one would expect. Whoever thinks that the shrinking of some far away sea-ice won't bother him could be wrong. There are complex interconnections in the climate system, and in the Barents-Kara Sea we might have discovered a powerful feedback mechanism," he said.

In the paper, submitted in November 2009 but published last month in the Journal of Geophysical Research, Dr Petoukhov and his

Fail Only To Succeed

By Shabnam Khan M.P.C.P., R.P.C Family Counsellor It is natural for people to lose heart when faced with failures.

When we encounter failures, they dampen our determination and leave incredible scars in our life. Just remember, failure does not emotionally disturb some. Their success towers over all the failures. We are led to believe that successful people never fail in any of their attempts.

Let us not be under the impression that successful people have had a smooth life.

The fact is that people succeed only after making mistakes, learning from them and by avoiding recurrence of the same mistakes. It is important that one should learn from failures and try to overcome one’s shortcomings.

When we watch a tree with it’s sprawling branches and a massive trunk, we are taken in by it’s grandeur and majesty. We don’t see the hidden roots that have stuck deep into the soil. The roots that are responsible for nourishment and strength of the tree. We

often notice the fruits of success of a person and not the struggle behind it. We often mistake success as fortune and failure as misfortune.

All success is the result of hard work and ceaseless effort, while failure is a product of sluggishness, miscalculations and sometimes unforeseen accidents. Every failure can be a stepping stone to success provided we understand the cause of failure and overcome it.

Failures are lessons in life. Life is a series of trails and errors and it is impossible for anyone to avoid errors and wish away trails.

Don’t grieve over failures. Make every failure an experience and learn the right lessons from it. When you start grieving over failures you miss the lesson they teach you.

Every failure has a cause and instead of ruminating over failure, analyse the cause.

Therein lies the lesson. The lesson you learn is positive advantage. Failures need not frighten you. A positive approach to failure will work as a springboard for you to leap towards success. “ In this limitless universe, you can never be stuck.”

For any further enquiries regarding the services, please contact The Miracle.

Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji'un May this message find you in the best of health and true Islamic Spirit by the Grace of Almighty Allah (S.W.T.). It is with great sadness in my heart to inform you that Br. Abu Bakr who was a pillar of our Muslim community, has passed away. He has helped many people for many years and played a key role in the Funeral services of the BC Muslim Association. He has volunteered his time, effort and passed on his knowledge in regards to ghouls for many years and he will be greatly missed.

Once he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, he wished to go back to his home land in Gambia and be with his family for the final duration of his life. He went back to Gambia in October 2010 and I was informed today that he has passed away. I humbly request all brothers and sisters to make dua for this Brother, a Brother who dedicated his life to Islam, spreading Islam, and performed good deeds like doing ghouls for many of our brothers who have passed away. He was a person the BC Muslim Association funeral services relied on and his void will be felt not just by me, but also my burial administrator and my funeral committee, I know he will surely be deeply missed by the whole Muslim community at large.

We pray to Almighty Allah (S.W.T) for his mercy, to forgive all his sins and reward him with the best place in paradise, Janaatul Firdous and to give patience to the family, Ameen.

Mohammed Asin Bakridi , Vice President - Funeral Services

------------------------Request for Duaa : Dr. Mohamad Saleh, ex principal of BC Muslim School, was taken to Surrey Memorial Hospital and was in emergency ward last night. You are requested to make dua for his recovery.

colleague Vladimir Semenov write: "Our results imply that several recent severe winters do not conflict with the global warming picture but rather supplement it."

Arctic sea ice has been in retreat over recent decades, with record lows recorded in September 2007. The normal recovery of the sea ice during winter has also been affected, especially in the Barents and Kara seas which have seen significant losses of ice cover over the past decade.

Stefan Rahmstorf, professor of physics of the oceans at the Potsdam Institute, said the floating sea ice in winter insulates the relatively warm seawater from the bitterly cold temperatures of the air above it, which can be around -20C or -30C. "The Arctic sea ice is shrinking and at the moment it is at a record low for mid-to-late December, which provides a big heat source for the atmosphere," Professor Rahmstorf said. "The open ocean actually heats the atmosphere above because the ocean in the Arctic is about 0C, and that's much warmer than the atmosphere about it. This is a massive change compared with an ice-covered ocean, where the ice operates like a lid. You don't get that heating from below.

"The model simulations show that, when you don't get ice on the Barents and Kara seas, that promotes the formation of a high-pressure system there, and, because the airflow is clockwise around the high, it brings cold, polar air right into Europe, which leads to cold conditions here while it is unusually warm elsewhere, especially in the Arctic," he explained.

The scientists emphasised that the climate is complex and there were other factors at play.

It is, they said, too early to be sure if the past two cold winters are due to the ice-free Arctic.

"I want to be cautious, but basically in the past couple of months the sea ice cover has been low and so, according to the model simulations, that would encourage this kind of weather pattern," Professor Rahmstorf said.

"The last winter of 2009-10 turned out to be fitting that pattern very well, and perhaps this winter as well, so that is three data points. I would say it's not definite confirmation of the mechanism, but it certainly fits the pattern," he said.

The computer model used by the scientists also predicted that, as the ice cover continues to be lost, the weather pattern is likely to shift back into a phase of warmer-than-usual winters. Global warming will also continue to warm the Arctic air mass, Professor Rahmstorf said.

"If you look ahead 40 or 50 years, these cold winters will be getting warmer because, even though you are getting an inflow of cold polar air, that air mass is getting warmer because of the greenhouse effect," he said.

"So it's a transient phenomenon. In the long run, global warming wins out."

OPEN HOLIDAY in MLA Bruce Ralston and Hashmi & Company Offices

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Issue 274 - Muharram 25, 1432 / December 31, 2010 THE

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Chuck Liddell retires from fighting

After months of indecisiveness, former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell officially announced his retirement Wednesday. Liddell took the podium at a news conference seconds after UFC president Dana White broke the news to reporters and fans in the lobby of the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. It was a very difficult decision for the 41-year-old

Liddell, who struggled for months to figure out what his next move should be. After Rich Franklin knocked him out in the first round on June 12, White vowed not to promote another Liddell fight. It was the third fight in a row that Liddell suffered a knockout. Chuck Liddell announces his retirement from fighting at the UFC 125 news conference Wednesday at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino Las Vegas. But Liddell refused to announce his retirement, preferring instead to say he was taking time off. The past couple of months, Liddell began giving serious consideration to never stepping into the Octagon again as a fighter. With the support of those closest to him, Liddell concluded it was time to call it quits. "I've been fighting for a long time," Liddell told

Nathan McCullum stars in series win New Zealand performances have often been noted for being greater than the sum of their parts, and all the parts were on display at Seddon Park, where the hosts sealed the series with a dominant allround display. Martin Guptill, James Franklin, Scott Styris and Ross Taylor all contributed with the bat, but Peter McGlashan stole the show with a 10-ball 26 that featured some scintillating stroke play.

Nathan McCullum then produced a tight spell to asphyxiate the Pakistan chase, with support from Luke Woodcock, and he finished with 4 for 16.

Kyle Mills, Tim Southee and Ian Butler were also among the wickets as Pakistan fell 39 runs short of New Zealand's 185. Pakistan were in no mood to wait as Mohammad Hafeez lofted Franklin over cover for four off the first ball of the innings before hitting him over square leg two balls later this time for six. Kyle Mills was welcomed into the attack with two sixes, but took the wicket of Shahid Afridi as the batsman made room, only to watch his middle stump cartwheel after missing a slower full toss. Hafeez wasn't about to ease up, though, finding boundaries with regularity and scampering between the wickets with Ahmed Shehzad, as they stayed in touch with the required-rate with.

They rode their luck too: Ross Taylor dropped a sitter off Hafeez on 44, and aerial mis-hits found their way into vacant areas more than once. Shehzad was dismissed attempting an ambitious inside-out wallop, as Styris ran around the extra-cover boundary to complete a running catch, and when Hafeez and Younis Khan were dismissed soon after, Pakistan looked poised for a trademark capitulation. But it was the choke, not the collapse, that did for Pakistan as New Zealand applied the squeeze through McCullum and Woodcock.

Umar Akmal's slog over midwicket in the 13th over, an oddity in an otherwise docile period replete with singles and dot-balls as the asking-rate rose steadily. The strangle brought wickets for the hosts, as Asad Shafiq perished attempting to hit out, and the pressure was increased when Abdul Razzaq departed for 14. Umar Gul attempted to launch his first delivery off McCullum over the longest boundary of the ground, but was caught on the line. Akmal was left to perform a miracle with the tail, the required run-rate already tipping 20 and three wickets remaining. Tim Southee almost had two hat-tricks in two games as Akmal and Riaz were dismissed off consecutive deliveries in the final over, but the game was long over by that stage.

Source: Cricinfo

ESPN.com. "I talked to my family and friends about it. In this last fight [against Franklin], it seemed I wasn't able to take a shot like I used to. And I just haven't been able to put together wins. "If I can't compete with the best or if I'm not fighting for a title, then I have nothing to prove."

While Liddell's days as a fighter appear over, he will remain active in UFC. White introduced Liddell as the promotion's vice president of business development. That White would offer Liddell an executive position in UFC comes as little surprise.

The two have worked together professionally for many years. "Chuck Liddell has been with us from day one," White told ESPN.com. "And before that I managed him. We've been together for like 13 years.

"He's probably going to be doing a lot of stuff with the legislation, the sanctioning end and other forms of business development. And he will be traveling to other

countries with [UFC CEO] Lorenzo [Fertitta]." Liddell began his mixed martial arts career under the UFC banner in May 1998. He defeated Noe Hernandez by unanimous decision. A former Division I wrestler at California Polytechnic State University, Liddell would fight 28 more times, compiling a 21-8-0 record. Thirteen of Liddell's wins came via knockout. It was his aggressive, power-punching style that endeared him to fight fans and led to the nickname "Iceman." But in the past three years, Liddell too often found himself on the receiving end of punches. He lost five of his last six fights. In four of those losses, Liddell failed to make it out of the second round. Despite the recent setbacks, Liddell never lost his desire to compete. Even after the announcement, he found it difficult to completely shut the door on his fighting career.

Source: ESPN

India level series with 87-run win India reiterated that they are no longer poor travellers by pulling off a series-levelling win in Durban, the scene of one of their worst Test defeats in 1996.

Monday's victory at Kingsmead, after a humiliating loss in Centurion, joined other famous successes over the past decade on some of the world's fastest tracks Headingley, Jamaica, Nottingham, Johannesburg and Perth. The match was even at the start of the fourth day but India's bowlers barely sent down a bad ball in the morning session to seize control of the Test. A Sreesanth snorter to Jacques Kallis started South Africa's slide, before two lbws - one a marginal decision and the other a howler, both sure to refuel the UDRS debate - hurt them further. Ashwell Prince tried to resist but India plugged away to remove the tail an hour into the second session and set up a decider in Cape Town next week. The ebb and flow of the match was matched by Sreesanth's bowling form. The wayward, antic-loving Sreesanth was missing in the morning as he sent down an accurate spell of sustained hostility. The highlight was in the day's seventh over - an unplayable bouncer that reared up sharply and jagged in towards Kallis, who had no way of avoiding it. He jumped and arched his back in an attempt to get out of the way but could only glove it to gully. It was the snorter needed to remove the kingpin of South Africa's batting. There was no over-thetop Sreesanth celebration either, just a fist pump before getting back to business. That wicket put India slightly ahead, and there was no doubt who the frontrunners were when AB de Villiers offered a half-hearted forward defensive against a Harbhajan Singh delivery from round the wicket. He was struck in front of middle, looked lbw and the umpire agreed, though Hawk-Eye suggested the ball would have bounced well over the stumps. Mark Boucher has, over a decade in international cricket, built his reputation as a scrapper and, with Prince also around, it wasn't yet lights out for South Africa. Boucher, though, made only 1 before he was given lbw to a delivery that was angling across him and comfortably missing off stump. South Africa had lost three wickets, and there

was still no boundary in the morning, a testament to the scarcity of bad deliveries. When the first four did come, from Dale Steyn, it was an edge to third man.

Steyn had pinged Zaheer Khan on the helmet with a quick bouncer on Tuesday, and was the target of a string of short balls. After three of those, Zaheer slipped in a fuller delivery, which Steyn duly nicked to slip. India came into this Test with their No. 1 status questioned after the clobbering in Centurion and doubts over whether they had the bowling to take 20 wickets. They provided answers to both in Durban, handing South Africa their third straight defeat at the venue.

Source: Cricinfo

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Issue 274 - Muharram 25, 1432 / December 31, 2010 THE

MIR A LE

Bride Wanted

BCMA – Burial Notices

MATRIMONIAL

If you would like your contact information to be added on the burial notice mailing list, please reply to burial@thebcma.com

BCMA Social Service To all newly arrived brothers and sisters of immigrants, refugees or moving from other province into B.C. we welcome you among us and would like to connect with you. Please introduce yourself to the bcma@shawcable.com or reach us on this number (604 270 2522) and leave a message in English or in your own language. We will get in touch with you as soon as possible.

Letter : Continued from pg 7 notable exceptions like Benazir Bhutto, the late former prime minister of Pakistan. A 2009 survey of the world's most influential Muslims by Georgetown University and the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center listed just 2 women in the top 50: a Syrian religious leader and Queen Rania, wife of the Jordanian king. Ms. Mattson received an honorable mention. Muslim women in the United States reflect the country's diversity: white converts like Ms. Mattson, women of Middle Eastern background like Ms. Khalifa, or Tayyibah Taylor, a convert of Caribbean descent in Atlanta who founded a glossy magazine, Azizah, to celebrate Muslim women of achievement. The magazine may profile "America's first all-Muslim, all-female law group" or a hijab-wearing flight attendant, but it also takes up issues like AIDS and spousal abuse. Despite its struggles, Azizah, with a circulation of 45,000, recently celebrated its 10th birthday.

"I didn't see Islam as taking my freedoms as a woman," said Ms. Taylor, who is 57 and studied the Koran in Jidda for six years. "It really opened up worlds for me."

The Muslim population in Atlanta, now estimated at 80,000, has its roots in the 1950s, when a small group of Nation of Islam worshipers, mostly black men, met in a grubby building shared with a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. Waves of immigrants from South Asia, the Middle East or, most recently, Bosnia and Herzegovina, swelled its ranks.

The metropolitan area, with 5.5 million people, now has 40 mosques.

But while Muslim women have gained prominence, much of their activity remains outside the mosque.

"There is a missing link in terms of what the Muslim religion teaches about gender equality," Ms. Khalifa said. "The leadership in our mosques is not reflective of our population there are hardly any women."

Imam Plemon T. el-Amin, a retired leader of the Atlanta Masjid of Al-Islam, talked of "a slow move - really an indecisiveness - about getting women fully involved in day-to-day Islamic activities." That, he said, is changing.

One issue is gender separation at prayer, imposed to reflect Islamic notions of modesty. In some mosques, women are relegated to separate rooms. But, Imam el-Amin said, "I'm seeing mosques do much better at trying to make those separate accommodations equal."

Ms. Mattson's election to lead the Islamic Society of North America, or ISNA, was a signal moment.

Her election "broke a barrier and made it much more acceptable for women to take a

27 Years old, fair and 5ft 11 inch, tall boy, landed immigrant, having Master degree in Biology, employed as Researcher/Professor, earning $3000 per month, Permanent Resident, speaks Urdu and Punjabi, family settled in Pakistan ----------------------------------Matrimonial ads in Miracle 25 Years old, fair and six feet tall boy, Newspaper are for Muslim and Bachelors of Engineering-Electronics from SFU, presently working in Qatar as a Project Non Muslim community, where they serve as a facilitating process Engineer, Urdu Speaking, Syed family settled in BC for arranged marriages. They are ----------------------------------essentially dialogues between famFor 42 Years Fiji-born man ilies, using the medium of newsSunni Muslim, fair color, height 6 ft, divorced papers, where particulars of the having 2 kids’ boy (13Y) and girl (14Y) reside part time with him, earning looking 32-39 individual to be married and the years old women. family are detailed, as well as the

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Advertise in our classifieds sections for two issues and receive the third ad FREE! Call now to book your space: 604-690-0400 leading role as leaders of the entire community, not just women," said Dalia Mogahed, executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies and a former adviser on faith issues in the Obama White House.

Imam el-Amin added, "That's exactly what ISNA and many of the Muslim organizations needed to see."

Source: The New York Times - Brian Knowlton

Denmark : Continued from pg 27 dent in London, said that while the police were not making the basis of their investigation public, "what we can deduce from what we're being told is that this was an ongoing operation, something that obviously had been carried out over a number of weeks".

"It involved both the Danish intelligence services and their Swedish counterparts.

Clearly the police thought that the attack was imminent, that is why they made the move when they did," said Fisher. Scharf said that as the attempt had been thwarted, there was "no need to raise the terror threat alert level" in Denmark. The three suspects arrested in Denmark, who were living in Sweden, were identified as a 44-year-old Tunisian citizen, a 29-year-old Lebaneseborn man and a 30-year-old Swedish resident whose origin was not immediately known. The fourth suspect is a 26-year-old Iraqi asylum seeker living in Copenhagen.

The man arrested in Sweden is a 37-year-old Swedish citizen from Tunisia. Fisher said the Danish intelligence service had described the men as "Islamic militants with links to international terror networks". Our correspondent said that Lars Barfoed, the Danish justice minister, had described the plot as the "most serious attempt in Denmark so far". The four men in Danish custody face preliminary charges of attempting to carry out an act of terrorism. They will face a custody hearing on Thursday. The man arrested in Sweden will face similar charges, according to Anders Danielsson, the head of Sweden's security police. Swedish police have said that the suspects are not linked to an attempted suicide bombing in Stockholm on December 11, when a man blew himself up as he was preparing to set off the bombs.

Condemning the planned attack, Loekke Rasmussen, the Danish prime minister, said he was "shocked that a group of people have concrete plans to commit a serious terrorist attack in this country".

Source: Al-Jazeera

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naseer@telus.net

NOW MIRACLE IS AVAILABLE AT ALL BCMA MASAJID LOCATIONS PICK UP YOUR COPY OF THE MIRACLE AT: BURNABY: Masjid As Salaam, Sarpino’s Pizzeria

VANCOUVER: Samosa Garden, Collingwood community centre, Hafiz Halal Meat , Golden Video, Raja Cinema Masjid ul Haqq, Red Fort Restaurant, House of Dosas, Jamea Masjid Vancouver, Best Burrito, and Tandoori Restaurant ,Mecca Market

Main Street: Jasmine Halal Meats, Good Morning Paan, Jubilee Halal Meats, Aryan Conv. Store , Main Kabab Hut, Tasleem Video, India Restaurant Hamalaya Restaurant, Main Paan, Main Video Punjab Food, Fruiticana, New Dehli Paan, Gaba Travel, Dosas & Restaurant

Fraser Street: Al-Mansoor Video, Salam Fraser Restaurant and Sweets, Fruiticana, Bains Travel, Fraser Musallah, Vancouver Public Library, Al-Watan Restaurant, Az -Zawiah Musallah, Dhaka Bazaar, Noor Jahan Halal Meat, Chicago Deep Dish Pizza, Fraser Kabab RICHMOND; Richmond Jamiah Masjid, Himalaya Sweets, Paan Shop, Fruiticana, Zam Zam Restaurant, Gurdawahra Sahib, Az Zahara Islamic Centre

NEW WESTMINSTER: Islamic Education Centre

SURREY: Masjid Al-Huda, Sizzling Pizzaria, Gourmet Noodles, Fleetwood Islamic Centre, Sofi’s Shawarma & Donair, Al-Hussainia Centre, Masjid Al Noor, Pak Punjab Samoosa, Chicken World, Chili Pepper House, Sabzi Mandi, Shaista Halal Meat, Asian Spice, Delta Mussallah, AL-Madina Pizza, Aisha Islamic Centre, Diamond Sweets, Singapore Restaurant, Express Conv. Store, PICS- Seniors Homes, Islamic Academy of Canada, Afghan Chopan, Fiji Islamic Centre, Afghan Chopan Restaurant & Banquet Hall, Calgary Sweets, Best Paan & Flower Shop, Zabiah Foods , 777 Pizza, HSN Accountings, Biryani Garden, South Asian Meats , Pak Bazzar, Galaxy Travel, Masjid Al Rahmah, Gulberg Market, Instant Photo Copier, Sabzi Mandi, Shiraz Electronics, Haji Hair Cut, Tibisti Halal Meats, Surrey Jamea Masjid, Newton Public Library, Newton Arena , Lahore Say Restaurant, Barney’s Pizza & Chicken, Paan Palace *Also available at many other Indian Grocery stores, Restaurants, Banks, King George Sky Train Station, Abbotsford, Coquitlum and major Offices lobbies,

E.Mails: miraclenews@telus.net & naseer@telus.net Call for more info:

604-690-0400

ALLIED INSURANCE SERVICES INC.

Fast Efficient And Friendly Service For All Your Insurance Needs

Home • Tenants • Condominium • Business • Travel • Medical • Life • Accident • Sickness We’ve Got You Covered!

DELTA / SURREY Nordel Annex #105 – 12025 Nordel Way (x Scott Rd)

604-596-4588 FLEETWOOD Fleetwood Town Square #103-15988 Fraser Hwy., Surrey

604-572-3311 GUILDFORD Guildford Plaza #60-10330-152nd St., Surrey

604-582-8644 NEWTON Newton Town Centre #121-7135-138th St., Surrey

Open 7 days 9am to 9pm

604-572-9292

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NEW WEST/BURNABY

WHALLEY

Burnaby Square #106 – 7885 6th Street, Burnaby

Plaza 102 10235 King George Hwy., Surrey

604-523-0900

604-582-8699

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THE QURAN Translation by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, India "I shall cause you to die"

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Ask For Holidays Special

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www.alwatantandoori.com

BCMA approved ~ Halal Meat Shop