W O R L D

Won’t amend blasphemy law, says PM Gilani
Islamabad, January 17
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani today said his government would not amend the blasphemy law, which has been at the centre of a raging controversy since the assassination of Governor Salman Taseer over his opposition to the statute.

Supporters of Pakistani religious parties raise slogans against recent statements by Pope Benedict XVI on blasphemy laws at a rally in Lahore on Sunday. — AP/PTI

18 killed in bomb attack on minibus
Peshawar, January 17
A powerful time bomb ripped apart a minibus in Pakistan’s restive northwest today, killing 18 persons and injuring 11 others in escalating violence in the province. “It was a terrorist attack,” Hangu district police chief said, revising an earlier report that the powerful blast had been caused by exploding gas cylinder.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange holds a CD containing data given by former Swiss banker Rudolf Elmer at a press conference in London on Monday. Elmer handed over two CDs to Assange containing data of around 2,000 bank clients who may have been evading taxes. — AFP

Tunisia-like immolations in 3 African countries
Cairo/Algiers, January 17
The self-immolation that set off the protest wave which toppled Tunisia’s leader has led to apparent copycat protests in other north African states, with four men setting themselves on fire in Algeria and one each in Egypt and Mauritania.

‘Ben Ali clan fled Tunisia with 1.5 tonne of gold’
Paris: Relatives of the ousted Tunisian leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali are thought to have fled the country with 1.5 tonnes in gold, Le Monde reported on Monday, citing French intelligence sources.

Jim Carrey’s Ganesha act upsets Hindus
Nevada, January 17
Hindus are disturbed over the portrayal of Lord Ganesha in a sex act on NBC's Saturday Night Live (SNL) and want apologies from all those responsible for it, including actor Jim Carrey and NBC.

Won’t amend blasphemy law, says PM Gilani

Islamabad, January 17
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani today said his government would not amend the blasphemy law, which has been at the centre of a raging controversy since the assassination of Governor Salman Taseer over his opposition to the statute.

“Neither have we thought of it nor are we going to do it,” Gilani said while addressing a gathering after inaugurating the campuses of two universities at Dera Ghazi Khan.

Those who were saying a committee had been formed by the government to amend the blasphemy law were wrong, he said. “No such committee was formed. However, a committee was formed by the Pakistan People’s Party to discuss proposed legislations moved by lawmakers and this committee had rejected the amendment of the blasphemy law,” he said.

Gilani said: “I cannot think of amendment in the blasphemy law.” However, he said the government believes that no law should be misused.

Punjab Governor Taseer, a leader of the ruling PPP and a confidant of President Asif Ali Zardari, was gunned in Islamabad on January 4 by a police guard who said he was angered by the politician’s criticism of the blasphemy law.

Pakistani liberals, rights activists and minority community leaders have demanded the repeal or amendment of the law in the wake of the murder. — PTI

18 killed in bomb attack on minibus

Peshawar, January 17
A powerful time bomb ripped apart a minibus in Pakistan’s restive northwest today, killing 18 persons and injuring 11 others in escalating violence in the province. “It was a terrorist attack,” Hangu district police chief said, revising an earlier report that the powerful blast had been caused by exploding gas cylinder.

The police chief in Jozara near Hangu, a key city in Khyber-Pakhtunnkhwa province, said that suspected militants had planted 10 kg explosives on board the bus.

All the 18 passengers on board the bus were killed and more people have been wounded critically in the high intensity explosion. — PTI

Tunisia-like immolations in 3 African countries

Cairo/Algiers, January 17
The self-immolation that set off the protest wave which toppled Tunisia’s leader has led to apparent copycat protests in other north African states, with four men setting themselves on fire in Algeria and one each in Egypt and Mauritania.

In Cairo, a man set himself ablaze on Monday near parliament in a protest against poor living conditions.

In Algeria, where riots over the last few weeks have broken out in parallel to the unrest in Tunisia, newspapers gave their first reports on Sunday and Monday of at least four men who set themselves on fire in provincial towns in the last five days.

And in Mauritania’s capital Nouakchott, police sources said Yacoub Ould Dahoud, 40, a company director and member of a wealthy family, staged a self-immolation protest on Monday against alleged government mistreatment of his tribe.

Witnesses said he doused himself in gasoline while sitting in his locked car in front of the presidential palace, and set himself on fire. Security forces and passers-by broke the windows to remove him. He was sent to hospital with severe burns.

“Are we seeing a new trend?” wrote Blake Hounshell, who covers the Middle East at foreignpolicy. com, in a blog on Monday after the Egyptian and Algerian protests.

“There is something horrifying and, in a way, moving about these suicide attempts. It’s a shocking, desperate tactic that instantly attracts attention, revulsion, but also sympathy.”

Activists throughout the Arab world say they have been inspired by the example of Tunisia, the first country in generations where an Arab leader was toppled by public protests. — AFP

‘Ben Ali clan fled Tunisia with 1.5 tonne of gold’

Paris: Relatives of the ousted Tunisian leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali are thought to have fled the country with 1.5 tonnes in gold, Le Monde reported on Monday, citing French intelligence sources.

At today’s prices 1.5 tonnes in gold would fetch $65 million on the open market. According to Le Monde, President Nicolas Sarkozy’s office has been briefed by French intelligence that Leila Trabelsi, Ben Ali’s second wife, withdrew gold ingots from the Tunisian central bank last week. — AFP

Jim Carrey’s Ganesha act upsets Hindus

Nevada, January 17
Hindus are disturbed over the portrayal of Lord Ganesha in a sex act on NBC's Saturday Night Live (SNL) and want apologies from all those responsible for it, including actor Jim Carrey and NBC.

In a skit on NBC's SNL (January 8) titled "The Wrath of Ganesha", Jim Carrey (as erotic shaman Lee Licious) and Kenan Thomson (as Grady Wilson) demonstrate a sexual technique, mocking elephant-headed Lord Ganesha and his trunk in the process. Grady has travelled the world to find new sexual techniques to spice up the bedroom, the tagline of the episode (1587) "Grady Wilson's Tantric N'Tasty" says.

Such trivialisation of Lord Ganesha was disturbing and offensive to the one billion Hindus world over, Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, said and requested NBC to immediately remove it from all its websites and other links. — ANI