Day: December 16, 2017

NEW YORK: A suburban New York hospital technician accused of using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to launder money meant for the militant Islamic State (IS) group was arrested on charges of money laundering in support of a foreign terrorist organisation and bank fraud, prosecutors said on Thursday. Federal prosecutors in New York’s Suffolk County claimed in court papers that Zoobia Shahnaz, 27, used fraudulent credit cards and loans to accumulate $85,000, which she attempted to transfer to IS before attempting to go to Syria to join it. Prosecutors said that…

China has officially stated that it supports the establishment of an independent state of Palestine based on pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. “China understands the concerns of Islamic countries on the status of Jerusalem, supports the resolution of the status of Jerusalem in accordance with the relevant United Nations resolutions and international consensus,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang said. He made the remarks during his regular press briefing in Beijing while responding to a question about the adoption of a joint statement by the Organisation of…

NEW DELHI: Indian police detained dozens of Catholics singing Christmas carols for allegedly trying to convert people, officials said on Friday, as fears grow over religious freedom in the South Asian nation. Police said 32 people were detained for trying to convert people to Christianity in the Madhya Pradesh state late Thursday, with a leading Catholic association condemning the accusations as “laughable”. When a group of priests went to the police station to enquire about the detentions, their parked car was torched, allegedly by a mob belonging to a right-wing…

GAZA: Israeli troops shot dead four Palestinians and wounded 150 others with live fire on Friday, medical officials said, as protests over US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital entered a second week. Most of the casualties were on the Gaza Strip border, where thousands of Palestinians gathered to hurl rocks at Israeli soldiers beyond the fortified fence. Medics said two protesters, one of them wheelchair-bound, were killed and 150 wounded. In the occupied West Bank, another area where Palestinians are seeking statehood along with adjacent East…