Algeria to build world's third largest mosque

Grand Mosque of Algiers could cost several billion dollars

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ALGIERS:  Algeria on Tuesday called for offers to build a Grand Mosque of Algiers, which would be the third largest mosque in the world after those of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.

Candidate companies should have an annual turnover of at least one billion euros ($1.48 billion) and have a permanent staff of more than 2,000 engineers, technicians and office staff, the national agency for the building of the Djamaa El Dzajair (Algiers mosque) specified in a communique.

The Grand Mosque of Algiers, which could cost several billion dollars, will stand on a terrain of about 20 hectares (49 acres) at Mohammadia opposite the bay of Algiers to the east of the capital, where its minaret will be 270 meters (885 feet) high.

The main prayer hall will be large enough for 36,000 people, and the complex will also include an inner court, an esplanade, a large auditorium, a library for 2,000 people, a school for Quranic studies and an underground car park with space for 6,000 vehicles.

Algiers currently has three historic mosques: Djamaa el-Djedid, on which the building work began in 1660, Djamaa el-Kebir, built in the 11th century, and the Ketchaoua below the Casbah (the old town), which was constructed under the Turks from 1794. The Ketchaoua was converted into a cathedral under French colonial rule (1830-1962), and restored to Islam after independence.

Car bomb kills 90 in Pakistan as Hillary Clinton visits

ISLAMABAD:  A car bomb ripped through a crowded market killing 90 people in Pakistan's city of Peshawar on Wednesday, just hours after Washington's top diplomat arrived pledging a fresh start in sometimes strained relations.

Wednesday's bomb, the latest urban attack since the army launched a major assault on rural Taliban strongholds two weeks ago, was the deadliest since 2007 when around 140 died at a procession to welcome home former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated just weeks later.

The bomb went off in the busy Peepal Mandi market street in a city that for years served as the headquarters of the Pakistan- and U.S.- backed mujahideen war against the Soviet Union's occupation of Afghanistan.

Although nobody claimed responsibility, suspicion immediately fell on Pakistani Taliban militants who are the target of the army offensive.

The rugged landscape between Afghanistan and Pakistan has become a haven for Taliban militants fighting on both sides of the border as well as many hundreds of al Qaeda operatives and other foreign Islamist insurgents.

Hours after the blast, visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a news conference that Washington fully supported Pakistan's battle.

"I want you to know that this fight is not Pakistan's alone," she said.

"So this is our struggle as well and we commend the Pakistani military for their courageous fight and we commit to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Pakistani people in your fight for peace and security.

Sahib Gul, a doctor at Peshawar's main hospital, said the dead from Wednesday's bomb were mostly women and children.

"Several buildings and a mosque have been badly damaged while a fire has engulfed buildings," witness Aqueel-ur-Rehman told Reuters from the market, which mostly deals in groceries and household goods.

Defiant Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told a news conference with Clinton that the militants would be crushed.

"We are facing this on a daily basis but the resolve and determination will not be shaken," he said.

Addressing those responsible, he added: "We will not buckle. We will fight you. We will fight you because we want stability and peace in Pakistan.