BEIRUT: A Lebanese court decided yesterday to block Internet access to an anti-Islam film that has provoked rage across the Muslim world, a judicial source said. Judge Nadim Zouein decided “to stop the Internet distribution of the film ‘Innocence of Muslims’ in Lebanon,” following a complaint filed by a lawyer, the source said. “Innocence of Muslims” mocks Islam and the Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him), and has led to violent protests across the Muslim world. Some 50 people have been killed in violence linked to protests over the film.
Lebanon judge charges 45 over KFC attack
BEIRUT: A Lebanese judge yesterday charged 45 people over an attack against a KFC fast food restaurant in the northern city of Tripoli, a judicial source said. The attack was carried out during a protest staged by Islamists in the port city on September 14, during which some 300 demonstrators rallied to denounce a US-made film. During the protest, a KFC restaurant was set on fire, and protesters clashed with security forces. One protester was killed and some 25 injured.
4 consortia competing for Riyadh metro
RIYADH: Four international consortia are competing to build a metro network in Riyadh to ease traffic congestion in the rapidly expanding Saudi capital, authorities said yesterday. The consortia - including 33 companies from 15 countries - have to submit their final bids by December, the High Commission for the Development of Arriyadh said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency. The bidders for the project whose cost has not been disclosed include Vinci and Alstom of France, Italy’s Ansaldo, Canada’s Bombardier, Germany’s Siemens and Stadler Bussnang of Switzerland. Six lines of electric rail, totalling 175km, are planned to stretch across the capital and serving the airport and the future King Abdullah Financial District.
Iran tests new
anti-air missile
TEHRAN: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said it test fired yesterday medium-range surface-to-air missiles designed to knock attacking aircraft out of the sky at a range of 50km. The test of the new defence system, called Ra’ad (Thunder), was successful, according to a statement published on the Guards’ official Sepahnews website. The Taer-2 missiles used in the Ra’ad system are domestically made and “more advanced” than the Russian-made Buk family of anti-air missiles, the Fars news agency reported. Examples of the missile were displayed at a military parade in Tehran on Friday, it said. Iran has been talking up its military might in recent weeks, to counter bellicose rhetoric from its arch-foe Israel, which is threatening possible air strikes.
Barak floats partial, West Bank pullback
JERUSALEM: Israel should pull out unilaterally from much of the occupied West Bank if a peace deal with the Palestinians remains out of reach, Defence Minister Ehud Barak said in an interview published yesterday. The proposal by Barak, who leads a tiny political party that surveys suggest might not win a single parliamentary seat in any new election, was swiftly shot down by a deputy to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “It would be preferable to reach an agreement with the Palestinians but, if that doesn’t work, practical actions should be taken to begin a disengagement,” Barak told Israel Hayom, a right-wing newspaper supportive of Netanyahu.
Agencies
