Here is the Sunday, January 3rd, 2010 edition of what’s making news and interesting reads from around the world. Also please note that off to the left there are two widgets with updates on news from Asia and the world in a separate page: Around Asia & Around the World New Feeds.

Former Head of Pakistan’s ISI Blames Foreign Agents for Suicide Attacks
As Pakistan recovers from the latest suicide bomber terrorist attack that left over four score dead at a volleyball match, a former Director General of Pakistan’s vaunted Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is blaming foreign agents as the culprits behind the attacks. According to The Nation, Lt. General (r) Hameed Gul said that those involved in suicide attacks in Pakistan are not real Taliban rather they are agents of India, Israel, and the United States. Lt. General Hameed Gul went to blame the United States and India for the increasing unrest in Balochistan, the large and mineral rich but sparsely populated province that borders both Iran and Afghanistan. Lt. General Gul has always been a bit of loose canon. In 2001, he suggested that Osama bin Laden was not behind the September 11th attacks. In return US intelligence has long accused Lt. General Gul of maintaining extensive contacts with both Afghani Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives located in Pakistan, providing financial support and encouragement to these groups

In other news from the Land of the Pure, a shutdown strike brought Karachi, the commercial capital of the country, to a standstill on Friday in protest against violence after a suicide bomber killed 44 Shi’ites in Ashura procession on the 10th of Muharram. Pakistan is a largely Sunni nation.

Atheists Challenging Ireland’s Restrictive Blasphemy Law
Atheists in the Republic of Ireland, one of Europe’s most religious countries, are challenging a new blasphemy law that took effect on January 1st, 2010. Under the law, a person can be found guilty of blasphemy if “he or she publishes or utters matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion.”

Blasphemy was already a criminal offense in Ireland under the 1937 Irish constitution. The Irish constitution begins with the words “In the Name of the Most Holy Trinity.” But until now, the language against blasphemy had been too murky to make prosecutions feasible.

Now an Irish atheist group called Atheist Irleand has published a series of 25 quotations on religion in an attempt to challenge the law. Among the 25 quotations are quotes from Mark Twain, the Icelandic singer Björk, Salman Rushdie, Frank Zappa, Richard Dawkins, and Pope Benedict XVI.

General Petraeus in Yemen
US General David Petraeus, the head of the US Central Command, flew to Sana’a, the capital of Yemen to meet with President Ali Abdullah Saleh. According to US officials, the talks will focus on strengthening security, military and economic cooperation between the two countries. General Petraeus also delivered a letter from President Obama.

The US is expected to more than double its $70 million annual security assistance to Yemen which is facing a Shi’ite rebellion in the north and a separatist movement in the south centered on the strategic port of Aden. Yemen was two countries until 1990 and the south last attempted to secede in a short but nasty civil war in 1994.

The New York Times offers background on the current chaos in Yemen while the BBC covers the visit of General Petraeus to Yemen.

Sierra Leone: A Political Debate in Song
The Los Angeles Times has a story that looks a musical back and forth between two of the West African country’s musical stars debating the state of the country. One artist Emmerson Bockarie had penned a song earlier this year critical of the current President Ernest Bai Koroma. But now another Sierra Leone singer Prince Kuti-George, better known as Innocent, has answered back with a song entitled “Leh Wi Gi Dem Chance” — “Let’s Give Them a Chance” — suggesting the Koroma administration deserves more time to prove itself.

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Belarus is said to be Europe’s last dictatorship, a country damned as an outpost of tyranny by the US. Witness follows Elyssa Livergant, an acclaimed Canadian playwrighter, as she secretly travels from London to Minsk to collaborate with the Free Theatre of Belarus, a banned theatre group that performs underground. The Free Theater is a rare voice of dissent in President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s Belarus — it is currently the only drama troupe boldly resisting government pressure and censorship. The company, created in 2005, is now coming into the international limelight.

This film is a rare glimpse into this closed society, a powerful testament to the struggle for freedom of expression and a moving story about the power of art.

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Malaysia’s Internal Security Act dates to 1960 when Malaysia was still a British Crown Colony and infamous worldwide for the sweeping powers of detention without charge or trial that it gives the Malay state. Subsequent amendments have only made the law more draconian.

Twenty-nine people, including a 16-year-old, were charged Monday with taking part in an illegal rally and other related offenses. Some face up to three years in jail.

Police had refused to give a permit for Saturday’s rally, which an estimated 20,000 people attended anyway in downtown Kuala Lumpur. They protested against the Internal Security Act, saying the law had been abused to jail government critics without trial.

Police crushed the opposition-led protest with tear gas and chemical-laced water and arrested almost 600. All have been released, but it is not clear if anyone else will be charged.

New York-based Human Rights Watch in a statement admonished Prime Minister Najib Razak, who took office in April 2009, for the crackdown. It said all charges should be dropped.

“Prime Minister Najib took office promising to uphold civil liberties, and then his government turns right around and brutally attacks peaceful demonstrators,” the group’s deputy Asia director Elaine Pearson said. “Security forces are violating the rights of Malaysians to free expression and peaceful assembly.”

But the government has insisted that the rally, the biggest in almost two years, was unlawful, and action had to be taken. All gatherings of three or more people need a police permit in Malaysia.

Federal police chief Musa Hassan was quoted by Wednesday’s newspapers as saying that parents of 44 minors who were arrested may face charges for letting their children participate. A police spokesman, who declined to be named citing protocol, confirmed the comments.

Police are also investigating 11 people, including opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and other top opposition politicians, for leading the rally. Musa said they could face charges for organizing it.

Human Rights Watch also called for a repeal of the Internal Security Act. The government has said it is reviewing the act but won’t abolish it.

“If the government thinks Malaysians will quietly accede to a superficial review of the ISA, they should think again,” Pearson said. “The thousands who came out to protest showed that Malaysians are prepared to stand up for their rights.”

Activists say at least 17 people are still held under the act, mainly for alleged links to militants and document forgery.

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A Cambodian court has convicted Mu Suh-Kwor, an opposition MP for defaming Hun Sen, the Prime Minister. Her case is the latest in a series of lawsuits and arrests against opposition voices. More from Khmer for Khmer, a Cambodian blog:

Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen has won a defamation case against a former women’s affairs minister.

Some observers say the case, one of a number brought against government critics, is part of a concerted crackdown.

A court in Phnom Penh fined the prominent opposition MP $US4,000 after ruling she had defamed Hun Sen.

Mu Sochua was sued after she brought a defamation case against him earlier in the year.

Her case was thrown out of court several months ago.

About half of the fine must be paid to Hun Sen and the rest goes to the state.

Cambodia’s courts are subject to political interference, so observers had expected a guilty verdict.

The ruling follows the hearing 12 days ago when Mu Sochua told the court she would not testify in her defence since she could not find a lawyer to represent her.

Her previous lawyer was forced to quit after coming under intense political pressure.

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A court in Myanmar has delayed its verdict in the trial of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

More on today’s news from the UK Independent:

A Burmese court has postponed its verdict in the trial of the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, her lawyer said yesterday.

Ms Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who has spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention, is charged under Section 22 of a law protecting the state from “subversive elements”. A guilty verdict was widely expected yesterday. “The judge adjourned the trial until 11 August. He didn’t elaborate on the reason why,” said Nyan Win, a lawyer for the veteran pro-democracy leader. A diplomatic source who attended the proceedings said the verdict was delayed “because of the need to interpret legal terms relating to the 1974 constitution”. The charges stem from a bizarre incident in May, when an American intruder, John Yettaw, swam across Lake Inya to Ms Suu Kyi’s home, where he stayed uninvited for two days.

Prosecutors said this breached the terms of her house arrest. Mr Yettaw told the court in May that he was “sent by God” to warn Ms Suu Kyi she was going to be assassinated. Mr Win said Ms Suu Kyi was cheerful during yesterday’s brief court session and told him the adjournment was “typical”.

Benjamin Zawacki, a Burma specialist at the human rights group Amnesty International, said the repeated adjournments were orchestrated by Burma’s ruling military junta to make the court appear fair and impartial. “It is very suspicious, since most courts wouldn’t take this long,” he said. “We knew the verdict was decided long ago. This is clearly political and not legal.”

A Western diplomat in Rangoon said the junta could be stalling as a result of international condemnation of the trial. “The regime wants to take its time because of the mounting pressure it is under,” the diplomat said. “They are being attacked from all fronts and they have a lot of things to consider.”

Ms Suu Kyi’s legal team has argued that she should be acquitted because the law she is charged under was part of the 1974 constitution, which is no longer in use. The prosecution, however, says the charges are relevant because the 1974 constitution was still in force when Ms Suu Kyi’s latest period of house arrest commenced in 2003.

The courts routinely favour the junta, which has ruled Burma with an iron hand since a 1962 coup. Verdicts were also postponed for Mr Yettaw and two women who live with Ms Suu Kyi and who face charges similar to hers. Ms Suu Kyi faces five years in prison if found guilty. Mr Yettaw is charged with immigration offences and for the municipal violation of swimming in a non-swimming area.

Burma could improve ties with America, which has long imposed sanctions on the country, if it released Ms Suu Kyi, the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at a regional security forum in Thailand last month.

But neither Western sanctions nor a strategy of engagement by Burma’s neighbours in South-east Asia has achieved much over the years. Burma occupies a strategic place between the Asian powers India and China and both have been reluctant to apply pressure on the generals.

Opponents of Burma’s military government say the trial is an attempt to keep Ms Suu Kyi in detention before and during elections next year, which they say will be a sham intended to legitimise the regime.

Democracy for Burma is an organization dedicated to promoting democracy in Burma. Learn more on Myanmar by visiting their website.

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Chinese authorities have been accused of mounting a crackdown on human rights lawyers, with many having their licences revoked. Perhaps as many as 70% of rights attorneys are being harrassed.

The lawyers handle a wide-range of cases, from families affected by last year’s tainted milk scandal, to representing prominent dissidents.

Al Jazeera’s Melissa Chan reports from Beijing.

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Making a bad joke can be embarrassing at the best of times but in Pakistan it can now get you thrown into prison.

Security services have been asked to monitor text and e-mail traffic for what are being called “ill-motivated messages”. Convictions could bring sentences of up to 14 years in jail – the same as being convicted for murder.

Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan reports from the capital, Islamabad.

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Iranian activists living abroad are demanding an end to the government crackdown on those protesting the disputed results of the presidential election.

The group United4Iran have called for a “Global Day of Action” to take place in more than 60 countries around the world.

United4Iran is a non-partisan collaborative of individuals and human rights organizations. United4Iran does not promote any political agenda, and we are opposed to any foreign interference or military attack on Iran. Our only aim is to condemn the widespread and systematic violations of the Iranian people’s human rights and to call for full restoration of their human and civil rights.

We came together to organize a Global Day of Action on July 25th so the citizens of the world can stand together for:

1) Civil and human rights for the people of Iran
2) Stopping the abuse of power—the imprisonment, torture and killing
3) Solidarity with the Iranian people. To our Iranian brothers and sisters: We have heard your voices, and you are not alone.

There will be over a hundred demonstrations worldwide.

The organizers believe that while political questions facing Iran can only be resolved by the Iranian people themselves, the violent repression of their internationally guaranteed human rights are of concern to people all around the world.

The global day of action is organized around the following core demands:

1. That member states and civil society organizations of the international community give sustained attention to the Iranian peoples human rights as a matter of international concern, and that the UN should immediately initiate an investigation into grave and systematic human rights violations in Iran, including the fate of prisoners and disappeared persons, unlawful killings, and torture and other ill-treatment;

2. An end to state-sponsored violence, accountability for crimes committed and no recourse to the death penalty;

3. The immediate and unconditional release of all prisoners of conscience, including politicians, journalists, students, and civil society activists; and

4. Freedom of assembly, freedom of association, and freedom of expression (including freedom of the press) as guaranteed by the Iranian constitution and Irans obligations under international covenants that it has signed.

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Human rights groups in Azerbaijan are highlighting what they say are shrinking freedoms in the country, after two video bloggers were arrested and charged with hooliganism.

Activists say the charges were fabricated to punish the young opposition members, for their criticism of the government.

Matthew Collin reports from Baku.

More from Media Helping Media:

Reporters Without Borders is callling for the immediate release of two Azerbaijani bloggers detained pre-trial for two months by a court in Baku.

The two, Adnan Hajizada and Emin Milli, are described as youth movement leaders, civil society activists and citizen journalists.

Reporters Without Borders described the decision as ‘disproportionate’.

“They were not allowed to see a lawyer and the charges brought against them are baseless. We are worried about their state of health and call for their immediate release.”

According to reports on several blogs, Facebook and postings on Twitter, the charges against the two could result in their imprisonment for up to two and a half years.

It’s reported that the two men were beaten and then arrested in a Baku restaurant.

According to Human Rights House Network, the two were sitting in a restaurant with other young adults, discussing the activity of youth organisations related to the Internet when two men told them to stop talking politics and then attacked them.

Ali S. Novruzov a blogging researcher based in Baku who also writes for Global Voices Online and the FrontLine Club blog says the two months of pre-trial detention is the maximum period that they could have been held for.

Novruzov writes that during the two months the investigation has to be concluded and their case brought before the judge.

If the investigation is not concluded, their detention period can be extended for additional two months.

“While detained, they won’t be able to receive any guests, instead of their lawyers.

“They will be held in a new detention center in a town of Kurdokhani, a small town in an hour’s drive from Baku,” he writes.

Campaigners are calling for supporters of the two to write to the US Embassy in Baku to try to get help for the two detained bloggers.

Onnik Krikorian, a journalist and photo-journalist and blogger who covers the Caucuses writes on Global Voices that the two were subjected to a trial behind closed doors.

“One Facebook status line update reported that the German Human Rights Ombudsperson, coincidentally in Baku at the time, considered its conduct to be in violation of Azerbaijan’s international commitments.”

Adnan Hajizadeh is one of the founders of OL! Youth Movement which has a Facebook site, the group tweets @olmedia and have a YouTube site. Emin Milli helped set up the Alumni Network (AN). All sites are being continually updated.

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The internet has been a vital outlet for protesters in Iran’s post-election turmoil, but now Iranian authorities are fighting back with strict cyber laws.

The government says it gives users ‘more security’ but privacy campaigners are concerned about the implications of state surveillance on free speech. Al Jazeera’s Nazanine Moshiri reports.

More from Al Jazeera:

Iran has passed a new internet law that experts fear will make information on internet users more readily available to the authorities.

Press TV, a news channel funded by the Iranian government, said on Monday that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the country’s president, has issued an order for the implementation of the law.

According to Press TV, the cyber law would provide internet users with “more security”, as internet service providers are required to save all data sent and received by their clients for at least three months.

But critics of the legislation say the stored data would enable the authorities to monitor internet users, including anonymous bloggers opposed to the regime in the Islamic republic.

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