US envoy 'in angry Karzai talks'

The US special envoy to Afghanistan has held an "explosive" meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai over the country's election, the BBC has learnt.
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KABUL: Richard Holbrooke raised concerns about ballot-stuffing and fraud, by a number of candidates' teams, sources say.
The US envoy also said a second-round run-off could make the election process more credible, the sources said.
Concerns have already been raised about Afghanistan's election, although final results are not due until September.
A number of senior sources have confirmed the details of a meeting between Mr Holbrooke and Mr Karzai held on 21 August, one day after the election.
The meeting was described as "explosive" and "a dramatic bust-up".
Mr Holbrooke is said to have twice raised the idea of holding a second round run-off because of concerns about the voting process.
He is believed to have complained about the use of fraud and ballot stuffing by some members of the president's campaign team, as well as other candidates.
Mr Karzai reacted very angrily and the meeting ended shortly afterwards, the sources said.
However, a spokeswoman for the US embassy in Kabul denied there had been any shouting or that Mr Holbrooke had stormed out.
She refused to discuss the details of the meeting.
A spokesman for the presidential palace denied the account of the conversation.
There have been many doubts raised about the Afghan presidential election, about the turnout and irregularities.
But this is the first time that a leading Western official has apparently expressed it quite so openly.
It will raise more uestions about the credibility of the whole process and could well make the plan to establish a meaningful government in a stable country all the harder to achieve.

Sex braggart trial may net others

JEDDAH: Investigations in the case of Mazen Abdul Jawad, the Saudi who appeared on LBC’s “Bold Red Line” last month bragging about his sex life, may lead to charges against other individuals, an anonymous source at the Investigation and Prosecution Commission (IPC) told Arab News on Thursday.
Already three other men who appeared in the segment and whose names have not been released have been detained as accomplices.
“This has led to the delay in taking suspects to the court for trial,” said the source, adding that the four men are probably going to spend Ramadan and Eid behind bars. “They cannot be taken to court before sometime in October.”
The source would not elaborate on who else if anyone would be facing charges, but it has been suggested in previous reports that the producers of the program could become involved. Saudi authorities recently shuttered LBC’s Saudi offices. LBC is a major Saudi-owned, Lebanon-based broadcaster.
For his part, Abdul Jawad claims that the show’s producers took four hours of footage of him talking about sex and reduced it to a few minutes of the most extreme off-the-cuff comments where, among other things, Abdul Jawad claims he engaged in pre-marital sex at 14 and regularly cruises the streets of Jeddah looking for hook-ups with women via his mobile phone’s Bluetooth application. He could face charges of promoting sinful behavior (publicizing vice), which is considered a crime in Shariah law.
The IPC has brought in voice experts to prove that the video footage wasn’t dubbed or creatively edited and LBC producers have been subpoenaed to verify that Abdul Jawad participated in the program and that it was he who made the incriminating comments.

Pokhran II not fully successful: Indian scientist

NEW DELHI: The 1998 Pokhran II nuclear tests might have been far from the success they have been claimed to be. The yield of the thermonuclear explosions was actually much below expectations and the tests were perhaps more a fizzle rather than a big bang.
The controversy over the yield of the tests, previously questioned by foreign agencies, has been given a fresh lease of life with K Santhanam, senior scientist and DRDO representative at Pokhran II, admitting for the first time that the only thermonuclear device tested was a "fizzle". In nuclear parlance, a test is described as a fizzle when it fails to meet the desired yield.
Santhanam, who was director for 1998 test site preparations, said that the yield for the thermonuclear test, or hydrogen bomb in popular usage, was much lower than what was claimed. Santhanam, who was DRDO's chief advisor, could well have opened up the debate on whether or not India should sign CTBT as claims that India has all the data required and can manage with simulations is bound to be called into question.
``Based upon the seismic measurements and expert opinion from world over, it is clear that the yield in the thermonuclear device test was much lower than what was claimed. I think it is well documented and that is why I assert that India should not rush into signing the CTBT,'' said Santhanam.
He emphasized the need for India to conduct more tests to improve its nuclear weapon programme.
The test was said to have yielded 45 kilotons (KT) but was challenged by western experts who said it was not more than 20 KT.
The exact yield of the thermonuclear explosion is important as during the heated debate on the India.

US students under fire for anti-Islam shirts

Church prints "Islam is of the Devil" shirts for members
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Gainesville, FLORIDA: A handful of school students in the American state of Florida were sent home this week for wearing t-shirts with the words "Islam is of the Devil" printed on the back in red and refusing to change out of them or cover the message.
The controversy started after members of a local church, the Dove World Outreach Center, which printed the shirts, showed up for the first day of school wearing the controversial t-shirts, which officials said violated a ban on clothing that may offend or distract other students and "disrupt the learning process."
"Students have a right of free speech, and we have allowed students to come to school wearing clothes with messages," school district staff attorney Tom Wittmer told Florida's the Gainesville Sun newspaper, adding "but this message is a divisive message that is likely to offend students."
"The next kid might show up with a shirt saying 'Christianity is of the Devil,'" Wittmer said, which Dove church members said they would not like but said every student has the right to do as they please.
Dove's Senior pastor, Terry Jones, said he believed spreading the church's message was more important than education and told the paper no local company "had the guts" to print the shirts, forcing him to go online to have them made.
"People can be saved"
Gainesville High student, 15-year-old Emily Sapp, was sent home after she refused to change her clothes.
Sapp said she wore the shirt to promote her Christian beliefs, when asked about the offensive statement Sapp said it was aimed at the religion and not its members.
"The people are fine," the paper quoted her as saying. "The people are people. They can be saved like anyone else."
The front of the controversial shirts are emblazoned with "Jesus answered I am the way and the truth and the life; no one goes to the Father except through me," coupled with "I stand in trust with Dove Outreach Center."
The anti-Islam message "Islam is of the Devil" is written on the back in bold red letters.
For the president of the Muslim Association of North Central Florida, Saeed R. Khan, the offensive shirts should not be accepted "particularly in a school setting where you are trying to create an atmosphere where people are supposed to respect each other and live with each other, where we have people of every ethnicity and every religion."

Child bride turned over to 80-year-old husband

AL-LAITH: A 10-year-old bride was returned last Sunday to her 80-year-old husband by her father who discovered her at the home of her aunt with whom she has been hiding for around 10 days.
A local newspaper said the husband, who denies he is 80 in spite of claims by the girl’s family, accused the aunt of meddling in his affairs. “My marriage is not against Shariah. It included the elements of acceptance and response by the father of the bride,” he said.
He added that he had been engaged to his wife’s elder sister and that this broke off as she wanted to continue with her education. “In light of this, her father offered his younger daughter. I was allowed to have a look at her according to Shariah and found her acceptable,” he said.
Maatouq Al-Abdullah, a member of the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), said there is no system in place regulating the marriage of young girls, something that he said results in adverse psychological, health and social effects.
“Such marriages are considered a gross violation of charters on the rights of children, which the Kingdom has signed and which set the age of adulthood at 18,” he added.