Islamic Affairs Council calls GISB “deviating”

In other news today: The Pope met with a group of former Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas in Gaza. Maharashtra against products bearing the effigy of mafia star Bishoi. Opposition leader sentenced to one year in prison in South Korea. Russian Mir circuit credit cards will work from 2025 in Iran.

MALAYSIA

The National Islamic Religious Affairs Council of Malaysia has stated that the teachings and ideology of Global Ikhwan Services and Business (GISB Holdings) are they distance and divert from Islamic ones. The conglomerate is being investigated for child abuse and money laundering and for using “elements of slavery” to run its businesses. In September, authorities had rescued about 600 children who were allegedly victims of abuse.

SRI LANKA

The leftist coalition of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake won the parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka. By early afternoon, the National Popular Power had obtained 114 of the 225 seats and was leading in all the constituencies not yet counted. Participation was around 65%.

INDIA

The Maharashtra police announced that they have opened investigations against those who have sold (including online) products in which Lawrence Bishnoi appearsa well-known Indian gangster who has been in prison for 10 years and is now involved in a series of cases also in Canada, due to the murder of a Sikh activist allegedly at the hands of his gang. Authorities say this makes criminal activities fascinating.

SOUTH KOREA

The leader of South Korea’s main opposition party, Lee Jae-myung, was sentenced to one year in prison for violating electoral law. I will appeal. Based on the basic facts, it is a difficult sentence to accept,’ declared Lee, who risks losing his parliamentary seat and the possibility of running in the presidential elections in the next five years.

VATICAN-ISRAEL

Yesterday Pope Francis received at the Vatican a group of former Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas during the brutal attack on October 7, 2023. Two children were also present at the meeting. Many carried a banner with the faces and names of relatives still imprisoned or missing. The pontiff expressed his closeness witnessed by his constant calls for the release of the hostages and a ceasefire in Gaza.

MIDDLE EAST

In recent days, the United Nations has drawn attention to the Israel’s violations of a ceasefire agreement with Syria over the occupation of the Golan Heightswhich dates back to 1974. Satellite images showed that the Jewish State has built trenches and embankments along the common border, called the Separation Zone, entering the buffer zone. Israeli settlers and about 20,000 Syrians, mostly Druze, live in the region.

IRAN – RUSSIA

Mir system credit cards, now rejected even by all neutral or friendly countries, will begin to work from 2025 in Iranian territory, as announced by the president of the Central Bank of Tehran, Reza Farzin, through the Shetab payment system which will also allow Iranians to access Russian banks.

TAJIKISTAN

According to an Asia-Plus investigation, Tajikistan’s five-year development plan faces a series of contradictions, such as the increase in food production and the simultaneous increase in imports of the same items to satisfy domestic demand, large expenditures on raw materials (cereals, vegetables, cotton) with processing difficulties due to lack of technology.