News Watch

CAIRO — Top Egyptian cleric Sheik Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, whose moderate views angered conservative Muslims, died of a heart attack Wednesday during a visit to Saudi Arabia, the state-owned news agency reported. He was 81. Tantawi was the grand sheik of Cairo's Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's pre-eminent theological institute. Sunni Islam is the faith's mainstream sect, to which the majority of Eg [ ... ]

The US defence secretary has cautioned against over-optimism in Afghanistan, despite recent gains on the battlefield for international forces there, warning of more "dark days" ahead. Robert Gates made his comments during a visit to Afghanistan on Monday, his first since Barack Obama, the US president, ordered an increase of 30,000 troops US troops to Afghanistan. "There is still much f [ ... ]

A new report from the New America Foundation states that one of every three people killed in the U.S.’s not-so-secret drone war in Pakistan is a civilian. The report also discloses that none of the strikes in 2009 targeted Bin Laden, and that they have had little impact on the Taliban’s ability to plan operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan. To the contrary, the drone strikes serve as a p [ ... ]

Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia said Sunday it would deploy 5,000 supporters to stage a rally against the visit of US President Barrack Obama to Indonesia later this month. The protest will be held in front of the U.S. consulate general on Jl. Dokter Soetomo, Surabaya. East Java HTI chairman Khoiri Sulaiman said his organization hoped that the government would not to accept Obama visit. "This pr [ ... ]