Interesting read

International organisation for hajj
>>>> The Saudis give lessons in Islam to pilgrims but hajj and umrah are based on their VIP culture and deference, to the point of worship of the Saudi royal family
>>>> Dr Mahjabeen Islam
>>>> October 09, 2015
>>>> Comment                  
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>>>> The world is already forgetting the hundreds (thousands) dead and the thousands injured during the hajj stampede at Mina this year. We must not move on so soon and specifically we must not allow the disaster to recur.
>>>> Many, especially governments, have a callous attitude towards other people’s losses. But the world of survivors does not just dramatically changed; the angst and the pain live on. It has been decades since I lost my brothers and my father but not a day passes that I do not miss them. I know the colour and joy of life would have been different if they had not died so young.
>>>> Indonesia, Nigeria, Turkey, Lebanon, Iran, among many other countries, have placed blame for the deaths squarely on Saudi mismanagement. Pakistan interestingly is silent regarding this. Its leader is indebted to Saudi hospitality during his exile, so forget objection, even regret is not forthcoming from the Pakistani government. The Saudi government loses credibility when it refuses to acknowledge the true death toll and remains stuck at 769 dead. Diplomatic representatives from Pakistan, Indonesia and Nigeria among others have confirmed that over 1,100 died. Compilations from several sources reveal 1,413 dead with the highest toll from Iran of 465 followed by Egypt at 148. There are an estimated 1,398 missing with Mali and Nigeria reporting the highest numbers at 271 and 241 respectively. Saudi Vice Minister of Health Hamad bin Muhammad Al-Duweila said the death toll in the tragedy had reached 4,173. However, the Saudi health ministry later denied this. Even if the 1,100 number is taken, this makes it the deadliest hajj in recent memory. This year other challenges were the highest temperatures in Mecca in 20 years, the MERS infection and the ongoing Saudi offensive in Yemen.
>>>> I went for hajj in 2005 and again in Mina 250 people died. In those days, the entry and exit to Jamarat, the devil stoning area, had not been separated. My friend almost died that day. Despite admonition to not reach down for a lost sandal, she did and suddenly I saw her being swallowed up by a vortex of people. My screams alerted others in our group and we extricated her. That day gave me Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); after returning to the US, I would wake up night after night with that recurrent nightmare. International outrage after that year’s deaths forced the Saudi government to separate the entry and exit areas for Jamarat and the death toll fell dramatically. Till this year.
>>>> Accounts vary: Lebanon-based Arabic-language daily Ad-Diyar alleged that the convoy escorting Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud, comprising 200 soldiers and 150 police officers, played a central role in the incident by making some pilgrims turn around against the flow, which triggered a stampede. Saudi authorities state that a group of pilgrims was not authorised to use the Jamarat bridge at that time and that created the overcrowding while other accounts state that pilgrims turned back from a road closure and walked into a rush of people.
>>>> I have travelled to several countries and remember their ambience. My two umrahs and one hajj gave me some amazing memories of Medina, the Kaaba and Arafat, and I deeply treasure them. The one nagging constant in all those trips was the hostility of the Saudis, especially government officers, soldiers and police. Saudi arrogance is omnipresent and their paradoxes pathetic. With their distorted and literalistic interpretations of Islam, the Saudis have razed Muslim landmarks like Hazrat Khadija’s house and built public bathrooms over it, but while you are standing in line at the airport or other public place, a Saudi, any Saudi, not necessarily a VIP Saudi, gets to cut the line and go right up to the counter with nary a word of excuse or explanation. The Saudis give lessons in Islam to pilgrims but hajj and umrah are based on their VIP culture and deference, to the point of worship of the Saudi royal family.
>>>> Calling the dead shaheed (martyrs) with a sure heavenly destination and throwing a few thousand in compensation to the families cannot be used as an ‘oh never mind’ for the horrific loss of life. Cause and effect are strongly reverberated in Islam; physical laws will always apply. Pray but make sure you tie the camel says a hadith. Qadr or fate and predestination cannot be used to explain away entirely preventable tragedies and human error.
>>>> Hajj is meant to simulate the Day of Judgment and ihram, the two sheets that drape the pilgrim, are meant to resemble the shroud that Muslims are buried in. Instead of being hung up on bidaa or innovation and disciplining pilgrims for how they behave at Masjid Nabawi or Jannatul Baqi, the Saudis need to put the stark equality that Islam preaches into their daily as well as their umrah and hajj practice. And dispense with their VIP culture as well as their contempt for Africans, Shias and all things non-Saudi. The Kaaba, Masjid Nabwi, Arafat, Mina and Muzdalifa belong to the Muslim world and for a harmonious hajj it is best that Saudi Arabia accept this and the Muslim world own it.
>>>> The planning of the Olympics and similar huge events occurs years in advance. The Muslim world must create an international organisation for Hajj and Umrah. Contingents from every Muslim country should be sent to Saudi Arabia at least three months before hajj and trained at all of the sites where the rituals of hajj occur. They need to be familiarised with the geography and the processes that are to happen there. During hajj members of these contingents should be placed at each of the sites where the rituals are to occur. They should wear colours or bands for the countries they are from or the languages they speak. The boy scouts and soldiers in Saudi Arabia who currently monitor pilgrims do not even speak English, so any non-Arab is out of luck. Organisers from the different countries present on the ground will make a huge difference in crowd management. Physicians should be part of these contingents and placed in all areas for quick treatment.
>>>> Saudi Arabia made $ 8.56 billion on the hajj in 2014 and spent about one billion dollars on arrangements. An impartial inquiry regarding this year’s disaster is necessary. And active international involvement during hajj is vital to prevent a repetition of the tragedy. It would be naïve for the Saudis to think that Muslims will not boycott hajj if this Saudi monopoly and mismanagement continue. They will really need to tap their other treasure or the billions from hajj will whittle down dramatically.
>>>> The writer specialises in addiction and family medicine. She may be contacted at mahjabeen.islam@gmail.com
>>>> http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/opinion/09-Oct-2015/international-organisation-for-hajj
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Invisible killings by Israel

Israel killed more Palestinians in 2014 than in any other year since 1967 More than 2,300 Palestinians killed and more than 17,000 injured, according to annual report by UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs When your land has been occupied by a foreign army as long as your children have been alive, and this occupying army regularly brutalises and humiliates the friends and relatives of these children, stopping kids from confronting the invaders is naturally going to be very difficult. Convincing the Israeli adults in control of this weaponry in civilian areas that they should not be using it to kill children who are merely stone throwers should not be difficult. The statistics sadly tell a different story, of a deep-rooted Israeli contempt for the lives of Palestinian children that should inspire Western outrage. Photo by Musa Al-Shaer. When Israelis are killed and injured by a Palestinian attack, the TV news networks are quick to cut to “breaking news” reports. Harrowing footage from the scene and interviews with outraged Israeli government officials are swiftly broadcast, and harsh statements are quickly issued by government and UNofficials to appear in tomorrow’s front page newspaper stories. Meanwhile, the steady killing of Palestinian civilians, many of them children, by the Israeli occupation army goes largely unnoticed and unreported. By consistently emphasizing the suffering of Israelis, and downplaying or ignoring the killings of Palestinians, the media convey a false impression that Palestinian “attacks” are the principal feature of the conflict. Statistics unambiguously clarify that this impression is the exact opposite of the reality on the ground. A total of 1,926 Palestinians have been killed from 29 September 2000 up to 8 December 2002, and more than 21,000 injured. 669 of these killings occurred since Israel’s total reoccupation of the West Bank began last March, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. EI looked at the one-month period from 31 October to 2 December 2002 in detail. According to our research, forty-three Palestinian civilians were killed during this period and dozens wounded or permanently maimed. Fifteen of those killed and several dozen of those injured were children. A summary of the circumstances of the killing and injury of this group appears below. Details and circumstances of Palestinian children killed by Israeli occupation forces, 31 October to 2 December 2002 December 2: Jenin: Mutaz Odeh, 18, died of a gunshot wound to the heart when Israeli occupation forces opened fire on a group of civilians who were stoning Israeli tanks and armored vehicles. 21 others injured, two seriously. (PCHR,LAW) November 30: Gaza City: Hatem al-Ajla, 16, shot dead by Israeli occupation forces, with gunshot wounds to the back, according to hospital sources. (AFP) November 28: Hebron: Abbas al-Atrash, 3, was in his house, when he was killed by bullets fired by Israeli occupation forces. Doctors said that he was hit by a bullet in the abdomen as he stood at the window. The occupation army claimed the toddler was killed by shrapnel from an explosive device thrown at its forces. No occupation forces were injured by the alleged bomb. (Agencies) November 25: Nablus: Jihad Al-Faqih, 8, was shot and killed by Israeli occupation forces with a bullet to the heart. The killing occurred as many Palestinians decided to ignore the permanent curfew imposed on the city and go to school or work. Some unarmed Palestinians confronted the occupation forces who were in tanks and armored vehicles, and some people stoned them. The occupation forces opened fire on the civilians, killing Jihad, who was not among the stone throwers. 13 others were injured by the soldiers, including 7 other children and two women. (LAW, Agencies) November 22: Jenin: Muhammad Bilalweh, 12, was shot dead by Israeli occupation forces with a bullet to the left eye. The occupation forces opened fire on a group of children who began stoning them after an Israeli armored bulldozer had demolished a building that was home to six families. Earlier the army had entered the camp in force, firing indiscriminately. Three other children suffered serious injuries from gunshots and shrapnel. (LAW, Agencies) November 19: Tulkarm: Ehab Alam al-Zalqa, 16, was shot and killed by a member of an Israeli death squad disguised as a Palestinian. The killing occurred when the death squad, who had been spotted by civilians, was stoned. After killing Alam, the death squad caught and executed on the spot the person they were hunting after confirming his identity. Two other civilians were killed by the death squad, and ten others, including five children injured. (PCHR,LAW) November 20: Tulkarm: Amr al-Qudsi, 14, was shot dead by an Israeli soldier with a gunshot to the back. Following an earlier incident, in which an Israeli death squad killed four people in the town, a group of children gathered and stoned an Israeli jeep. The jeep stopped, a soldier got out, took aim at Amr, and killed him. (LAW, Agencies) November 16: Jenin Refugee Camp: Ibrahim al-Sadi, 17, was shot and killed by Israeli occupation forces. Israel surrounded a number of houses in the center of the refugee camp, including the house of Sheikh Bassam Ragheb al-Sa’di, wanted by Israel for alleged activities in Islamic Jihad. Israeli soldiers noticed al-Sadi’s son Ibrahim, 17, passing near a house with a gun in his hands. Immediately, they fired at him without warning. He was killed by a live bullet in the chest. According to eyewitnesses, the son passed by the area accidentally and he did not fire at the Israeli soldiers, rather he was trying to get away from them. Ibrahim’s brother, Abdulkarim, had been killed by Israeli occupation forces on September 5. (PCHR) November 15: Nablus: Imran al-Shila, 15, was killed by a bullet to the chest by Israeli occupation forces who opened fire on a group of children who threw stones at them in the Old City. (LAW) November 14: Nablus: Jalal Awijan, 17, was killed by a gunshot wound to the chest, when Israeli occupation forces in tanks and armored vehicles opened fire on a group of school children. (LAW) November 13: Rafah, Gaza: Hamed Asad Hassan al-Masri, 2, was killed by a live bullet to the chest. That evening, Israeli occupation forces began shelling Block J in Rafah refugee camp, forcing the little boy’s family to flee their home. As they left the house, Hamed was hit by a bullet fired by the occupation firces. His mother, Asmaa, 31, was critically injured by live ammunition and shrapnel to the abdomen, pelvis and limbs. (PCHR) November 11: Rafah, Gaza: Nafez Mishal, 2, was shot by Israeli occupation forces who opened fire on civilian homes in the Tel al Sultan neighborhood of the refugee camp. He died two hours later of a gunshot wound to the abdomen. Nafez had been sitting on his father’s lap playing with a balloon, when the balloon escaped. The toddler got up to run after it and was then cut down by a volley of bullets from an occupation army watch tower. The occupation army claimed it was “returning fire,” although all witnesses said that the soldiers had, as they often do, opened fire without provocation. Two other children, aged 9 and 14 were injured in the same incident (The Independent, PCHR) November 11: Rafah, Gaza: Muhammad Rifat Abu al-Naja, 9, died of wounds he sustained the previous month. Abu al-Naja was seriously wounded when Israeli forces at the Egyptian border, south of Rafah, shelled Palestinian houses in Block O in Rafah refugee camp on 17 October 2002. Six Palestinian civilians, including 3 children and 2 women, were killed in that incident, and more than 40 others, including Abu al-Naja, were wounded. (PCHR) November 5: Rafah, Gaza: Adham Ibrahim Hamdan, 16, shot by live bullets in the head and Eyad Nafez Abu Taha, 17, shot by a live bullet in the head. The two boys were killed by Israeli occupation forces who had invaded Block L of Rafah refugee camp, demolished three houses, and fired indiscriminately at civilians. 12 Palestinian civilians, including 4 children under the age of 18, were wounded. (PCHR) Sources:  The Palestinian Center for Human Rights — Gaza (PCHR) LAW — The Palestinian Center for Human Rights and the Environment Wire services: Agence France Presse,

 http://www.straitstimes.com/forum.28th November 2015.
Focus on cleaning doors of public Loos

I am glad the Restroom Association Singapore will be conducting more surprise toilet checks from next year ("Dirty eatery toilets a no-go for diners"; Monday), and that this may extend beyond toilets accredited by its Happy Toilet Programme to other public toilets.
From my observations of community centre toilets, I notice that the cleaners spray them with water but do not appear to use any disinfectant or cleaning agents.
More emphasis should be given to the washing of doors and door handles of toilets on a regular basis, as such areas are where most of the germs are found.
The high volume of people using public toilets means a huge amount and variety of bacteria are deposited on the door handles.
Even though one may wash ones hands thoroughly before leaving a public toilet, one is still going to touch the door handle once more on exiting the toilet.

Toilets should be designed with doors that open automatically so that one need not touch the door after washing one's hands.
Some places in Singapore, such as the Botanic Gardens, have such toilet doors.
Shamim Moledina

Minimum wage for Indonesian maids in Singapore.

The Straits Times. Nov 2015

I am glad the Indonesian embassy has set the minimum wage for maids from Indonesia at $550 (“Higher pay for Indonesian maids from next year”; Nov 11).
My concern is that somehow, agents will find a way to get around this and charge a higher service charge.
The Indonesian embassy should ensure that only registered and legitimate agents handle recruitment and visas; otherwise, maids will be charged a higher rate.
The Indonesian government should fix a charge whereby maids should not be charged over and above that amount.
As it is, most maids work without pay for up to nine months; this pay is collected by the agent in Singapore instead. This is totally out of line and should be stopped.
Maid agencies and the middle men are the ones making the most money.
The Indonesian embassy should also look into a minimum wage for construction workers, as there is no minimum wage for these poor workers who work long hours.

Shamim Moledina (Ms)

Must see

How America created ISIS

This Soon To-Be Banned Video Explains How America Created And Funded ISIS Terrorist Organisation - http://phunk.in/how-america- created-isis/

Must See..

Richard Boyd challenging the Israeli ambassador and shocked everyone in the hall. You really have to see this. 

https://www.facebook.com/melt.dessert/posts/491989327638542

 

JOKE No. 1-

9/11 : Two airplanes crash into  the twin towers and explode. Everything melts in the molten burning mass including the black box of the plane. Building 7 (third tower) collapses due to the heat generated by the nearby burning towers.........But, the cops retrieve the passports of the hijackers intact from the burning molten mass(?) and confirm that they were Muslim terrorists. Wow!!! Even Superman couldn't have done that. The Jews are extremely cunning we know.. but this is more to do with Muslims being fools.

😏😏

JOKE No. 2

Charlie Hebdo: Terrorists plan and execute a heinous act of terror inside an office and flee....But, they conveniently forget their IDs in their car as a present for the cops to catch them later. Wow again. How stupid of those terrorists! 😏😏

JOKE No. 3

Paris attack 2015: Suicide bombers blow themselves to bits and crazy gunmen open fire, but they were carrying their passports with them just incase they get into trouble with the authorities. Really???? (9/11 Deja vu?) How is that even possible???

 AND "WHY" on earth would a terrorist tug his passport inside his suicide belt if he was on a suicide mission??????? 😒😒

Height of Stupidity!

Either these terrorists are fools and EXTREMELY keen on letting the authorities know about their identities, or else, someone else is making a fool out of the entire world.

New World Order anyone?

 Nobody said anything to Russia or Israel for their attacks on Syria and Palestine. Nobody stood in solidarity with Lebanon when bombs rocked the country. Nobody batted an eye when thousands of Muslims were burned alive in Burma. Nobody tuk the colors of the Turkish flag when Ankara had a similary bombing last month with 100 plus dead. Nobody stopped USA when it attacked Iraq following baseless, false information about weapons of mass destruction. Nobody stopped those  Zionists from killing innocent children and women of Gaza. 

I just shudder to imagine what kind of a ruthless world our children are about to inherit. May God protect us.

British prime minister David Cameron

In August 2013, British Prime Minister David Cameron urged the House of Commons to consider military action in Syria in order to "alleviate human suffering" in the wake of a horrific chemical weapons attack.>  
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> "The principle of humanitarian intervention," he noted, "provides a sound legal basis for taking action". >
> He was rebuffed by the MPs.

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> More than two years later, and prompted by the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Cameron again wants parliament to authorise air strikes inside Syria. Once again, we are being asked to believe that the motive is purely humanitarian: to protect innocent Syrians from murder, rape and torture. >  
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> Don't get me wrong. There are strong and very legitimate arguments for intervening in Syria - and equally strong and very legitimate arguments against it. Bashar al-Assad is a violent and brutal dictator and ISIL is perhaps the world's worst militant group. If you believe, however, that the UK government, under David Cameron, is interested in human rights or driven by humanitarian motives then I have a bridge I'd like to sell you.>  
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> Consider the mountain of evidence which shows the British government has little interest in the human rights of oppressed Arabs across the region.
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> Exhibit A: Egypt
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> > The Cameron who claims to want to save Syrian lives doesn't seem interested in innocent Egyptian lives. How else to explain his decision to host General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, elected president of Egypt with 97 percent of the vote in May 2014, after coming to office in a military coup the previous year, in London this week?
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> Sisi, lest we forget, was responsible for what Human Rights Watch has called the "most serious incident of mass unlawful killings in modern Egyptian history" and "one of the world's largest killings of demonstrators in a single day in recent history". More than 800 unarmed protesters were killed when Sisi's security forces "cleared" the sit-in at Rabaa al-Adawiya square in Cairo on August 14, 2013.
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> In total, according to the government-appointed National Council for Human Rights, at least 2,500 Egyptians were killed in the 18 months after Sisi's July 2013 coup - including 1,250 Muslim Brotherhood members.
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> An astonishing 41,000 people have been arrested or detained in Egypt since the coup and human rights groups such as the Cairo Center for Human Rights, the Carter Center and Human Rights Watch have been forced to relocate their offices and staffs abroad.
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> Meanwhile, journalists - including, of course, Al Jazeera journalists - have been locked up after sham trials and "it may soon be illegal to publish news the Egyptian government doesn't like". Sisi, concluded the normally sober and restrained headline writers at The Economist, is "worse than Mubarak".
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> The question is: Whatever happened to the British prime minister's stated support for "the aspirations of people in Egypt for a more genuine, open democracy" in the wake of the Arab Spring?
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> Exhibit B: Bahrain
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> The Cameron who claims to want to save Syrian lives doesn't seem interested in innocent Bahraini lives. He sent his Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond to Bahrain this week to mark the construction of Britain's "first new permanent military base in the Middle East since 1971".
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> When the Arab Spring came to Bahrain in 2011, however, the country's unelected government, as Cameron and Hammond are well aware, violently cracked down on pro-democracy activists. Peaceful protesters in Manama's Pearl Square were shot, tear-gassed, tortured and imprisoned on the flimsiest of charges
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> And, four years on, the situation in Bahrain isn't showing signs of improvement. In July, three UN human rights experts condemned the Bahraini authorities for "criminalising, prosecuting and imprisoning human rights defenders" inside the country.
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> The verdict of Amnesty International's report on Bahrain in April was pretty stark: "Human rights abuses in Bahrain continue unabated". Unabated. Among the abuses listed in the report were "torture and other ill-treatment of detainees, unfair trials, the imprisonment of prisoners of conscience and unlawful killings", with Amnesty pointing out how "those responsible all too frequently [escape] accountability".
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> And the British foreign secretary's response? "Bahrain is not perfect by any means."
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> Exhibit C: Saudi Arabia
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> The Cameron who claims to want to save Syrian lives doesn't seem interested in innocent Saudi lives.
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> On average, according to Amnesty International, one person is executed every 48 hours in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The majority of executions are carried out by beheading and cover "crimes" as absurd and medieval as witchcraft.
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> Blogger Raif Badawi was sentenced to 1,000 lashes for "insulting Islam" - 50 of those lashes have already been administered. Activist Ali al-Nimr faces beheading and a public crucifixion - yes, crucifixion! - for alleged "crimes" committed when he was 17.
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> Cameron, of course, feigns outrage and shock over such awful behaviour by one of the UK's closest allies in the region yet, as the Guardian and other papers reported in September, "Britain conducted secret vote-trading deals with Saudi Arabia to ensure both states were elected to the UN Human Rights Council [UNHRC], according to leaked diplomatic cables".
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> One Saudi ministry cable, translated by the NGO UN Watch and the Australian newspaper, noted the "opportunity to exchange support with the United Kingdom, where the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia would support the candidacy of the United Kingdom to the membership of the council for the period 2014-2015 in exchange for the support of the United Kingdom to the candidacy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia".
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> Look, let's be clear: The British prime minister has a point when he says - as he did during the Libya conflict of 2011 - that "the fact that you cannot do the right thing everywhere does not mean that you should not do the right thing somewhere".
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> But who or what is stopping Cameron from doing the "right thing" in these particular, aforementioned cases? No one is asking Cameron to bomb, drone or invade Egypt, Bahrain or Saudi Arabia. But if he truly cared about human rights, he could start by taking a series of small, simple, violence-free steps to prove it.
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> He could rescind his invitation to Sisi, close down the base in Bahrain, and stop doing behind-the-scenes deals with Saudi Arabia which undermine the UNHRC. He could also, incidentally, stop selling arms to these countries.
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> That he chooses to do none of these things, that he chooses instead to cosy up to these governments while turning a blind eye to their well-documented abuses, speaks volumes.
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> The British prime minister cares about human rights? Please.
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> Mehdi Hasan is an award-winning journalist, author, political commentator and the presenter of Head to Head and UpFront.
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