#Saudi Arabia Religious Police Say Twitter Is the Path to Hell

Hell is other Twitter users — according to the head of Saudi Arabia's religious police force, anyway.

Sheikh Abdul Latif Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh said Wednesday that Muslims who use Twitter or other social media have "lost this world and his afterlife," as quoted by BBC News.

Saudi Arabia has a complicated relationship with social media as its usage skyrockets in the country. However, the Saudi government is worried social media could help the political opposition in the country organize in spread, similar to the ways it has been used throughout the Middle East and elsewhere.

"The Kingdom is particularly concerned with how Twitter has been used to keep people informed of human rights activists who have been tried for the crime of free speech," writes Jonathan Turley, professor of law at The George Washington University Law School. "Leaders on the web have been detained while others have been charged with apostasy and other crimes for statements made on these sites."

Software engineer Moxie Marlinspike recently alleged in a blog post that Saudi Arabia wants the ability to spy on Twitter and such popular messaging services as Viber and WhatsApp.

Several years ago, Saudi Arabia threatened to ban BlackBerry devices unless the company made it easier for the government to read users' messages. The company reportedly decided to comply with those demands.

Other religious figures, including the Dalai Lama and the Pope, have embraced social media to varying degrees as a way to spread their message or connect with those inside and outside their faith. Can religion and social media mix? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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I, Robot Maker: Making robots to interact with humans

Would you be comfortable being surrounded by robots?

A British manufacturing firm is trying to make robots that share more human characteristics, to make interaction with them more natural and intuitive than ever before.

Cornwall's Engineered Arts is in the vanguard of this area of research, which aims to make robots' facial expressions, body language and way of moving more recognisable to real people.

Founder Will Jackson gave a tour of his robot factory to the BBC, and explained how he and his team of a dozen people are looking to expand the frontiers of robot technology.

Video journalist: Dougal Shaw

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Raw power of the Sun

 Flare on 12 May Solar filament and flare on 3 May 2013  Between 12 and 14 May, the Sun unleashed four intense bursts of radiation, or flares. These X-class flares - the most intense type - represent the strongest activity on the Sun so far in 2013. This picture from Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the first of these on 12 May.

  

 Flares are associated with eruptions known as coronal mass ejections, or CMEs. These can release billions of solar particles into space in the form of charged gas and other material. This picture from the Stereo spacecraft shows a CME earlier this year. The black disc blocks out the Sun so that fainter features can be seen.

 Flares and CMEs originate around active regions known as sunspots. These are temporary dark patches on the Sun caused by magnetic activity. The recent flares were released from a sunspot called AR1748; this picture, taken in 2010 by the New Solar Telescope in New Jersey shows a different feature.

 

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Syria’s lung-eating rebel explains himself

 

The shocking video of a Syrian rebel eating the lung of a pro-Assad fighter spread like wildfire across the Internet earlier this week. The rebel, who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Sakkar, has filmed a YouTube video explaining his actions. 

"I am willing to face trial for my actions if Bashar and his shabeeha [militiamen] stand trial for their atrocities," he says. "My message to the world is if the bloodshed in Syria doesn't stop, all of Syria will become like Abu Sakkar."

The Syrian rebel, whose real name is Khalid al-Hamad, goes on to explain that he did what he did because of atrocities committed by pro-Assad fighters. He said that evidence taken from their cell phones showed how they raped women, killed children, and tortured men. In an article published this week by TIME magazine, the rebel fighter explained that he had a sectarian hatred of Alawites, and that he had made another video where he cuts up a pro-Assad fighter's body with a saw.

Abu Sakkar's actions not only created controversy among observers of the conflict, but also prompted the Syrian rebel leadership to take action. The Free Syrian Army's Military Council released a statement condemning Abu Sakkar's "monstrous act," and instructed field commanders to being an investigation "in which the perpetrator will be brought to justice."

So far, however, Abu Sakkar appears to still be on the battlefield. At the end of the video, the cameraman asks him whether he will continue fighting after this controversy. "Victory or martyrdom, I will fight to the death," he replies, then walks off down the road. 

Posted By David Kenner

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#KFC comes to #Gaza, but only via its #tunnel network

Fast-food takes on an entirely different meaning in the Gaza Strip, where some Gazans are willing to wait up to four hours for a delivery of KFC

Unlike the West Bank, the 25-mile long coastal strip does not have any trademark fast-food outlets. But that has not stopped Khalil Efrangi, a 31-year-old Palestinian business owner, from providing the much craved and internationally renowned brand of fried chicken.

The lengthy process, in which KFC meals travel roughly 50 miles, begins in Gaza, where orders are taken. According to Yamama’s Facebook page—which issues regular reminders of upcoming deliveries and contact details for placing orders—there are usually two or three deliveries a week, each consisting of dozens of individual orders. After various phone calls and wire transfers, the chicken is prepared in neighboring Egypt at the KFC franchise store in El-Arish, nearly 30 miles from the Rafah border crossing.

Once the orders are made, they are taken by taxi to one of the many tunnels used for smuggling a plethora of items into the Gaza Strip, particularly as the territory has been subject to a restrictive blockade—imposed by Israel and Egypt—since June 2007. At this point, the food is taken underground into the tunnels, which are controlled and overseen by Hamas. Roughly 7,000 people are estimated to work in the network of over 1,000 tunnels, which are responsible for bringing an estimated 30% of Gaza’s imports.

The work is dangerous as the tunnels “could collapse any time and kill you,” as one eighteen-year-old smuggler told BBC News last year. Gazan human rights groups estimate that 233 individuals have died working in tunnels since 2007. Furthermore, Israeli air strikes have targeted the tunnels, which are also used to smuggle weapons and personnel. Egyptian authorities have likewise sought to prevent illegal activities, such as in February of this year, when they flooded the tunnels in response to the deteriorating security situation in the Sinai province.

While the food is being transported through the prearranged tunnel, a Palestinian taxi driver waits at the entrance, ready to transport the meals to Yamama’s store in Gaza city. Once there, the buckets of chicken and other food items are divided into the separate orders and delivered by their fleet of motorbikes.

They offer anything that is available at the store in El-Arish by ordering online, according to the delivery service’s Facebook page, although more specific items are subject to discussion where payment is concerned. “It’s our right to enjoy that taste the other people all over the world enjoy,” Mr. Efrangi told the New York Times.

Despite involving four separate payments, Mr. Erfangi’s latest business venture appears profitable. A 21-piece family box costs EGP 124.32 or USD 17.80 at Egyptian KFC stores. However after the extensive transportation process, it is sold by Yamama for ILS 135 or USD 37.00. The cost of moving the goods through the tunnels is USD 16.50, according to a New York Times reporter who witnessed the process, meaning that Yamama makes roughly USD 6 profit per delivery.

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Saving the South of #Yemen from Itself

Mr. Hassan al-Yafa'ei, head of the secessionist "Hirak" in al-Houtta South of Yemen, spoke with passion and grief about his region. He is filled with indignation over the unfair discrimination of the South. He is completely convinced, however, that the 1986 civil war is a historical incident that will not be repeated. In his view, the almost 10,000 deaths that occurred in a single month is just an "aberrant phenomenon." Al-Yafa'ei, just like many other Southerners, underplays the possibility of violence occurring if a Southern secession should take place. Such incessant denial of the possibility of the past repeating itself is convenient for many Southerners who want to become an independent Southern nation -- putting the chapter of "Unity gone bad" behind them.

The question of "What will happen to the South if a secession takes place?" has rarely been probed by Hirak. The mechanisms of this desired disunion are left to the same politicians who plunged the South of Yemen to its previous fate of wars and instability. And once again, sentiments of people in the streets are high on "self-determination" rhetoric, without adequately thinking through how this step would resolve their political differences and leaders' penchant for popular exploitation. 

Meanwhile, in their attempt to find "reasonable" voices to represent the Southern interest in the National Dialogue, the dialogue committee wasn't able to capture the essence of the street in its selection. The dichotomy between the street movement, which is calling for secession, and the National Dialogue, which is contemplating federalism, should be worrying for the capital. Violence is more likely to erupt at the end of the dialogue because the most influential factions controlling the Southern street are not directly involved. It is expected that these factions will revoke any agenda that doesn't reconcile with their own.

Struggles for representation over Southern politics have already begun, yielding a plethora of actors with divergent interests. The clearest view of this political fragmentation can be seen through the lens of the Yemeni diaspora: Haidar Abu Bakr al-Attas, Ali Salem al-Beidh, and Ali Nasser who are attempting to influence the political scene from their different regional locations of Cairo, Riyadh, and Beirut, backed by regional agendas. While Al-Hirak al-Janoubi "The Southern Movement" was first initiated in 2007 by retired army personnel seeking reinstatements and better pensions, it eventually became a Southern-wide movement representative of the people's demands for justice, equality, and now secession. The movement's core leadership, which consisted of esteemed figures with fresh portfolios, such as Hassan Ba'aum, and Nasser al-Nouba, is now completely overshadowed by the power and influence of the former, older, Southern leadership.

Most worrying for many Yemenis is the resurgence of former Southern President Ali Salem al-Beidh, who is presumed to be receiving support from Iran. While this is not proven, many draw conclusions from al-Houthis -- the northern group that enjoys strong support from Iran -- which support the Southern right for self-determination. Iran has long desired to distance Yemen from any U.S. influence and has strategically sought to use the weakest points in the Yemeni regions to garner more support for its agenda.

Although many would prefer to dismiss it, al-Beidh's power is steadily growing and dominating the street movement. He sits in Beirut, Lebanon, advocating "disengagement" on his television channel Aden-Live and dispatching his envoys to Cairo (where many negotiations among current and former Southern leaders are taking place). He has skillfully capitalized on the recent dynamic of North-South rancor in an attempt to garner more support for his agenda.

Al-Beidh's popularity should not be underestimated; it stems from supporting the street movement where he is creatively -- and sometimes destructively -- channeling its anger. Much to his misfortune though, the former president is not viewed as the most benevolent leader for the South. Many blame al-Beidh for initiating the South's decline as the primary figure responsible for plummeting the country into undesired unification back in 1990 in order to escape a coup d'état that was lurking on his presidency.

In a similar vein, the government of Yemen's attitude toward the different dynamics in the South lacks perceptiveness and caused it to fail in gaining the Southerner's popular support for the National Dialogue. The government has often underplayed or overplayed certain aspects of the political life in the South focusing only on the violent and unusual. For example, the government depicts the Civil Disobedience, which takes place in Aden every Saturday and Wednesday, as a violent movement that "terrorizes" the southerners; when the majority of people in the South see it as a continuum to the uprising and participate in it willingly, and peacefully.

Furthermore, there is a blackout on national television on the number of people who fall dead or injured in clashes with the army in the South; yet there is a focus on displaying army casualties who are targeted during demonstrations. Reputable southern-based newspapers, like al-Ayam, have been suspended from publication, or have no circulation in the capital like Aden al-Ghad. So while there is an attempt to integrate North-South politics at the national level through dialogue, the dynamics of the situation on the ground are marching in a different direction.

While all of Yemen has suffered its fair share of bad governance, the South was to fall furthest as it was standing up on a perceived stable administrative and economic platform prior to unification. Many experts argue that the support of the former USSR to the former People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY) was key to the disillusionment of the Southerners about their wealth, but the Southerners' core economic grievance stems from the rapid depletion and exploitation of their natural gas and oil resources without reward.

The disenfranchisement of the South acutely intensified after the 1994 North-South civil war, as Southerners were discharged en masse from the military, and laid off from many civil service positions (a decision that the government is attempting to reverse by reinstating several thousand Southerners to the civil service). There is also a strong perception of "sabotage through neglect," as many industrial factories were seized through non-transparent bids by notable Northerners who shut down the factories and sent many workers to the precarious fate of unemployment. The Southerners felt they were denied their rights and treated as second-class citizens.

Amid all this, there is a conspicuous political vacuum and an absence of state in the South. Local popular committees in Abyan took over the protection of their cities from violent terrorist networks, while in Aden, distrust in the security apparatus caused people to instigate neighborhood watches, which are in effect everyday after 11:00 p.m., in order to deter criminal activities and stop suspicious behavior. There is an eerie sense of insecurity that permeates in all corners of Aden, Lahj, and Abyan. Decreasing dependence on state resources for protection is causing the Southerners to believe that they are better off governing their own territories.

While the grievances of the Yemenis in the South are legitimate, their clamor is steadily spiraling out of control. The South is in a crisis of over-representation in sentiments and under-representation of reason, and if secession takes place, it will further unleash southern power struggles that are most likely to result in new regional insurgencies. National dialogue as it stands, is not capable of stemming the influence of this violent fury in the South.

Sanaa must begin to seriously address secessionists' concerns to avert a real crisis. The National Dialogue process is a step in the right direction, but more attention needs to be given to the voice of the street movement. Additional bold actions must be taken simultaneously to remedy some of the root causes of popular discontent and indignation. The government must also rapidly implement sound economic and political procedures that address the core grievances of the South, with the aid of donors. It is important that the international community engages in the South directly, through economic and diplomatic means in order to boost chances for reconciliation. Therefore, some interventions need to be Southern based through short and medium-term development and economic assistance to enable the achievement of quick results on the ground.

The Southerners should also learn from their own violent history, and attempt to find realistic solutions that could meet Sanaa halfway; as pinning their decline on "a dysfunctional unity" could deprive the Southerners from a golden opportunity to correct its path. Saving the South must become a top political priority of all involved, before Yemen splinters into more factions than it can handle. 

Posted By Fatima Abo Alasrar

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Yemen plane crash: Pilot dies after mid-air explosion

 

A pilot in Yemen has died after the plane he was flying exploded in mid-air, according to an army official.
The aircraft was reportedly on a military exercise when it crashed in a residential district of the capital
From a few kilometres across town, the blast sounded like a muffled thump - the grim reality of an explosion going off inside a packed crowd.
Sitting under fruit trees in a beautiful garden in Sanaa, my Yemeni companions looked up from their cups of tea and waited for the sound of gunfire to follow.
When they did not, we all settled back into our conversation.
We had no idea from our leafy oasis that the worst single terror attack in Yemen's history had just occurred.
Within 30 minutes, we were driving back to our hotel crammed into the usual chronic traffic. The sound of ambulance sirens screamed past us.
An al-Qaeda suicide bomber had just pulled off a ruthlessly symbolic attack at a rehearsal for Tuesday's National Day military parade.
Menacing group
The parade was supposed to celebrate Yemen's unification since 1990, when a war between the north and south ended in northern victory.
But the southern secessionists have been replaced by a more modern, more menacing group pulling Yemen apart: Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
Their local affiliate, known as Anshar Al Shariah, later claimed responsibility for the attack in a message sent across the capital of this less-than-unified Arabian Peninsula nation.
The attack was set against the backdrop of a raging war in the southern provinces of Yemen. Al-Qaeda fighters have taken advantage of almost a year and a half of political chaos to grab swathes of the country there.
To the alarm of Western security concerns, al-Qaeda was taking ground, invading cities and getting close to their dream of their own Caliphate. Yemen, in fact, was looking like the group's biggest success story in recent years.
Since Ali Abdullah Saleh was forced to resign as president and hand power over to his deputy, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, however, the fight against al-Qaeda has been stepped up enormously.
Targeted drone strikes and a fresh offensive have been attributed to US military co-operation.

The American government has not confirmed it is carrying out the current targeted air strikes against the fighters, or that it has sent military advisers to help Hadi fight AQAP.

Strength or desperation

Monday's attack could be seen as either a sign of strength or desperation by the group.

They have lost hundreds of fighters in recent weeks to the fighting, according to the Yemeni government, and have been pushed back from some of their territories in the south.

So, these attacks are in many ways revenge against the government.

They also clearly show the strength of the group, carrying out an attack right in the centre of the capital, literally metres from a main military base and down the street from the presidential palace.

A few hours after the attack, reports circulated of two other would-be bombers found hiding in a park nearby.

What was a huge blow at the heart of Yemen's new government and military, could have been even bigger.

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