Headlines:

• MIT: Future Smartphones Will ‘Listen to Everything All the Time'
• Egypt: Global Outcry Steps Up Pressure on US to Suspend Aid to Military
• Ex-NATO Chief: 15,000 Troops Should Stay in Afghanistan after 2014
• US Asks India, Pakistan to Contribute to Stability in South Asia

Details:

MIT: Future Smartphones Will ‘Listen to Everything All the Time'

A report by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology hails the era of "technologies that emphasize listening to everything, all the time," ubiquitous surveillance aided by microphones installed on new smartphones, such as Google's Moto X, that do not run off the main battery and can, "continually monitor their auditory environment to detect the phone owner's voice, discern what room or other setting the phone is in, or pick up other clues from background noise." While the article fails to mention the nightmare privacy implications that this technology would engender, it focuses on the innumerable apparent benefits. The technology could, "make it possible for software to detect your moods, know when you are talking and not to disturb you, and perhaps someday keep a running record of everything you hear." Not only would such technology prevent accidental pocket calls by recognizing muffled sounds, or put unnecessary calls on hold by recognizing the voice of its owner, It could also be used to "pinpoint the sources of your stress" if you are talking too quickly, or "present relevant information" in relation to your audio environment (in other words bombard you with commercials). It sounds like Big Brother and invasive Minority Report-style advertising rolled into one. Chris Schmandt, director of the speech and mobility group at MIT's Media Lab, relates how "one of his grad students once recorded two years' worth of all the sounds he was exposed to-capturing every conversation. While the speech-to-text conversions were rough, they were good enough that he could perform a keyword search and recover the actual recording of a months-old conversation." [Source: Info Wars]

Egypt: Global Outcry Steps Up Pressure on US to Suspend Aid to Military

Lasting stability appeared further away than ever on Wednesday evening after the military declared a month-long state of emergency and the liberal Mohamed ElBaradei resigned as vice-president in the military-backed interim government. The National Alliance to Support Legitimacy called on "all Egyptian people" to take to the streets "to stop the massacre" after police attacked its two sit-ins in Cairo's Nahda and Rabaa al-Adawiya squares early on Wednesday. Egypt's Health Ministry said that 235 civilians had been killed and 1,400 injured, while Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim said 43 policemen had died. A statement issued by the Egypt Anti Coup Alliance said "more than 2,000" had been killed. Analysts said that the response from Washington fitted a pattern of weak statements that had allowed the Egyptian military to act with impunity. "[The] US had several chances to demonstrate [that] its threats to suspend aid were credible, but each time backed down," tweeted the Brookings Institution expert Shadi Hamid. "That policy has a price." Hamid also told al-Jazeera TV: "Clearing all the sit-ins without addressing fundamental political issues won't stop the clashes." Marc Lynch commented in Foreign Policy: "It's time for Washington to stop pretending. Its efforts to maintain its lines of communication with the Egyptian military, quietly mediate the crisis and help lay the groundwork for some new, democratic political process have utterly failed. Egypt's new military regime, and a sizable and vocal portion of the Egyptian population, have made it very clear that they just want the United States to leave it alone. For once, Washington should give them their wish. As long as Egypt remains on its current path, the Obama administration should suspend all aid, keep the embassy in Cairo closed, and refrain from treating the military regime as a legitimate government." [Source: The Guardian]

Ex-NATO Chief: 15,000 Troops Should Stay In Afghanistan After 2014

The United States and its allies should immediately announce how many troops will stay on in Afghanistan after 2014, former NATO supreme commander Admiral James Stavridis argued on Wednesday. Stavridis, who recently finished a four-year stint as the alliance's top military leader, said it was vital to unveil the troop plans quickly to counter Taliban propaganda claiming foreign troops are abandoning the country. In a commentary, Stavridis wrote that he supported keeping 15,000 US and allied forces in the country after the bulk of coalition troops withdraw as planned in 2014. "I believe the correct number is about 9,000 US and 6,000 allied troops, for a total of about 15,000 allied trainers who would focus on mentoring, training, and advising the 350,000 strong Afghan National Security Forces," Stavridis wrote in Foreign Policy. "Instead of waiting for months, we should move now to decide and publicly reveal the commitment," the admiral said. There are now roughly 100,000 troops in Afghanistan in the NATO-led coalition, with the Americans making up about two-thirds of the force. US officials have long suggested they expected to retain a smaller force of about 8,000 to 12,000 troops after 2014. [Source: Business Insider]

US Asks India, Pakistan to Contribute to Stability in South Asia

Amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan at the LoC, the US asked both the countries to contribute to stability and prosperity in the region and hoped a solution will be found to the issues affecting relations between the two neighbours. "....we hope both the nations continue to find a solution to current issues and to work towards a greater cooperation and contribute to the stability and prosperity," US Ambassador Nancy Powell said here when asked about the incidents of firing between the two nations along LoC. On the broader issue of terrorism, she said "we all recognise there is much more that can be done by all countries of the world in countering terrorism and we continue to support that." She was speaking after releasing Observer Research Foundation's new publication 'America in the Asian Century'. Terming India as most important partner for the US in the region, she spoke on a range issues concerning the two countries--from the civil nuclear deal to India's permanent membership in United Nations Security Council. Emphasising India's importance for the US, Powell said, "South Asia is a crucial driver for America's growth and economy and any discussion of South Asia has to start with India. It is a trusted and valuable partner. Our relationship is broader than it has ever been." On the situation in Afghanistan, particularly after the pull out of the NATO forces next year, Powell said the trilateral dialogue between India, the US and Afghanistan "has provided us a forum for expressing the concerns and developing solutions for the same." "The Indian Ministry of External Affairs and the US Department of State have established a few channels of discussion. I would like to acknowledge the important role India plays in Afghanistan's future, particularly in terms of business," Powell said. She added the next round of the trilateral dialogue will be held in New York in September. Calling the civil nuclear deal between India and US an important part of the relationship, she said there were "some issues" which both the countries have to resolve. "The civil nuclear deal is a very important part of our relationship. Something we continue to work on. It is a complicated matter to negotiate between two nations. "There are some issues that we need to resolve but we are also breaking some new grounds here," she said, adding the deal has given a space to work on other global issues as well. She noted that while Indo-US trade was approaching USD 100 billion, there was a time when it was just around USD 3 billion a year. "India has leapt from our 25th largest trading partner to our 13th largest trading partner in just over a decade. I do believe that bilateral trade can increase far beyond USD 100 billion annually but there are barriers that must first be addressed, as many of your own reports have stated," the Ambassador said. [Source: Economic Times]

Abu Hashim

News:

Jakarta, Indonesia- The National Police said Sunday (August 11^th) that at least 471 people died in traffic accidents across Indonesia during the annual Eid ul-Fitr travel exodus, local media reported.

"There have been 2,095 total traffic accidents in which 747 people sustained major injuries and 2,688 endured minor ones," National Police Spokesperson Agus Rianto said in Jakarta, according to the Antara News Agency.

Among incidents involving 3,621 vehicles, 2,517 were motorcycles, followed by 588 passenger cars, 270 freight cars, 140 buses and 94 non motorized vehicles.

Last year, the recorded death toll during the Eid ul-Fitr holiday period was 491, according to The Jakarta Post. [khabarsoutheastasia.com, August 13, 2013]

Comments:

We should question the Indonesian secular government's role to protect people from any harm and provide them with sufficient facilities. Those hundred victims are people who have rights to be protected from anything that endanger their lives. What does the government do to give people's rights?

It is true that there are many factors that trigger traffic accidents. Is there any sufficient safe public transportation?  No, there isn't. Thousands of people can not go to have their Eid ul-Fitr holiday using trains or ships. However the government has the total responsibilities to find out solution for the problem. The availability of cheap and safe mass transportation should be the priority. In fact, today people are concerned to reach safe transportation because it is very high cost. Instead people have their travel in very poor condition transportation. Moreover the government does not give any sanction to companies which operate unsafe buses in order to get maximum profit. The conditions are getting worse by the poor conditions of the road, so it often cause accidents. Then, where is the responsibility of the government?

From the fact we can see that secular democratic government has failed to give protection to people's lives. It doesn't place the fulfillment of people' needs as a priority. Such government only thinks about its interest that is securing its position as the ruler to make them freely exploit the natural and human resources for the sake of their business and profit.

In contrast with Islamic government, the Imaam or Khaleefah is the one responsible for the fulfillment and protection of the people.  Remember how Khaleefah Umar bin Abdul Aziz provided facilities for people to have safe and convenient travel. He made sure that there wasn't any poor road. Even one sheep life is guaranteed to be protected. He didn't leave one life killed because of poor road or transportation. It is because Umar bin Abdul Aziz and the Khilafah "Caliphate" state he lead  dedicate to implement the Shariah and to bring Rahmah to the universe, not a state that place profit and material advantages as  the only objective.

It is time for people to realize that Indonesia and all over the world need the implementation of Shariah and the coming of Khilafah "Caliphate" State.

Iffah Ainur Rohmah

Spokeswoman of Hizb ut Tahrir in Indonesia

Hizb ut Tahrir / East Africa strongly condemns the act of injustice, brutality and barbarism injuring Ustadh Ponda Issa through a gun shot while returning from an Islamic seminar. This injustice is done while in Zanzibar, some Muslims are in jail unjustly, the government interfering in running of mosques through control and spying, suppressing and harassing of dawah carriers on a daily basis etc.

Member of the oppositional Syrian National Coalition, Michel Kilo, on 07/15/2013 revealed the coalition's desire to create an executive council of ten members in order to reorganize the various oppositional factions in an organized army that enjoys adequate funding and uses appropriate weapons. He also stated his desire to integrate former Syrian army officers into the Syrian army and those who sit unemployed in Jordan and Turkey to be integrated in the new structure decided upon. "It has to be reorganized and restructured under a real lead and with discipline." On 08/09/2013 the chairman of the Syrian opposition coalition, Ahmed al-Jarba, revealed the formation of a national army that will comprise six-thousand fighters in the first phase. At a gala dinner in the Jordanian capital Amman, he said that the coalition is in the process of working out a strategy with the Presidency of the Staff of the Free Syrian Army to form a national army that will open its doors to volunteers in the south and the north to become a nucleus, and to get rid of the warlords and a lot of problems...

As for the dirty U.S. mission to which the coalition has pledged, it has been identified by al-Jarba in the presence of his mentor Michel Kilo, through his sporadic remarks. On the 24^th of July, al-Jarba met French President Hollande with a delegation of the entire spectrum of Michel Kilo to Burhan Ghalioun to Salim Idris, Farouk Tayfur in addition to Suheir Atassi of the group of Kilo. Al-Jarba admitted to him that the expansion of the coalition was a Western requirement, and told him that there exists a possibility for the West "to trust the new composition". When criticized during the meeting with the French Foreign Relations Committee for the speech of the leader of the Jabhat al-Nusra, who called for "jihad and shariah law," al-Jarba said, "The revolution in Syria did not take place to expel a dictator and replace him by extremists and a militant system ... and we are the first to suffer from jihadists."

Being the criminal that he is, Salim Idris who was present at the meeting emphasized that "there is no local alliance between the Syrian opposition and the jihadists to confront the regime's army and its militias."  On the 26^th of July when al-Jarba met with Kerry in the presence of Michel Kilo, he assured him of the full commitment of the Syrian coalition to a democratic Syria (i.e. a non-Islamic Syria), and that it completely condemns all types of terrorism (i.e. Islam), and that it refuses to turn Syria into a totalitarian state (i.e. the rightly guided Khilafah "Caliphate" state), and that it understands the U.S. concerns about extremism and the possibility of deviation of military aids (i.e. them falling into the hands of Islamists). When al-Jarba met with members of the UN Security Council, including Russia and China, he stated that the aim was to prepare for the Geneva 2 Conference. Similarly when al-Jarba met with the new Emir of Qatar on the 31^st of July, he declared that he supports the unconditional participation in the Geneva 2 Conference...

Oh Muslims in Syria ash-Sham, the abode of Islam:

Since the expansion of the Syrian National Coalition in late May according to the U.S. command, and since the secular members became part of it, and specifically those members belonging to the Democratic Forum block of Michel Kilo, all of this was done to create a dominance of the secular representation. Since the election of Ahmed al-Jarba on 07/06/2013 as president of the coalition, who is part of Kilo's block, and with the election of his political body, ever since the Syrian Coalition is heading forward according to an agenda which reveals the conditions on which the expansion and the election (as not to call it an appointment) were based. This agenda is based on certain matters; from it is the requested arming by the west to strike the Islamists instead of the regime, and sitting down to the table of dialogue with the Syrian regime at the Geneva 2 Conference instead of striking the regime...

The holding of the Geneva 2 Conference is linked to achieving advances on the ground, the most important of this advances is to strike the Islamist rebels whom they describe as extremists, and then sit at the table of dialogue with the criminal Syrian regime in Geneva 2. Hence the weapons are meant for the Fitna between the people to fight one another in the interest of America and the Syrian regime, who will take part in the drama of inventing fake victors for the National Army in order to draw the people's support for them, in order to succeed at distancing the support for the Islamic project. Finally to replace the rule of Michel Aflaq with the rule of Michel Kilo who leads the coalition from behind a curtain. It is this same Kilo who warned in an interview with al-Mushahid as-Siyasi of the danger of armed fundamentalist organizations, saying: "It should not be underestimated what these organizations are doing against the revolution ...under all circumstances we should not continue to ignore their risks ... ignoring them would amount to a fatal error, and it is an error of the same extent to cooperate with them on the basis of the idea that opposing the regime takes priority." The one who contemplates this speech will come to understand that Kilo makes striking the Islamists a priority before the dialogue with Bashar. Rather it is a prelude to such dialogue! Therefore Kilo is considered a connection point between Bashar and the international parties!

Oh Steadfast Muslims in Syria ash-Sham:

Know that this National Coalition has been suspicious since its inception, its members were selected in embassy back rooms, they are subjected to a work agenda imposed on them from the embassies, their travel expenses and residencies in high-star hotels are paid for by the embassies, and their arguments in the coalition are solved for them by the embassies... Do not give Allah an argument against you for proceeding with the likes of those who have prescribed themselves to the agency of the West and the betrayal of the Muslims. We in Hizb ut Tahrir address all Muslims: Their scholars, the influential amongst them, their general public and the people of power amongst them to join us on the method of the Prophet (saw) to establish the Deen by establishing a rightly guided Khilafah "Caliphate", in compliance with the verses:

وَلْتَكُنْ مِنْكُمْ أُمَّةٌ يَدْعُونَ إِلَى الْخَيْرِ وَيَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ وَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ * وَلَا تَكُونُوا كَالَّذِينَ تَفَرَّقُوا وَاخْتَلَفُوا مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَهُمُ الْبَيِّنَاتُ وَأُولَئِكَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ * يَوْمَ تَبْيَضُّ وُجُوهٌ وَتَسْوَدُّ وُجُوهٌ فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ اسْوَدَّتْ وُجُوهُهُمْ أَكَفَرْتُمْ بَعْدَ إِيمَانِكُمْ فَذُوقُوا الْعَذَابَ بِمَا كُنْتُمْ تَكْفُرُونَ * وَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ ابْيَضَّتْ وُجُوهُهُمْ فَفِي رَحْمَةِ اللَّهِ هُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ * تِلْكَ آيَاتُ اللَّهِ نَتْلُوهَا عَلَيْكَ بِالْحَقِّ وَمَا اللَّهُ يُرِيدُ ظُلْمًا لِلْعَالَمِينَ

"And let there be [arising] from you a nation inviting to [all that is] good, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong, and those will be the successful. And do not be like the ones who became divided and differed after the clear proofs had come to them. And those will have a great punishment. And do not be like the ones who became divided and differed after the clear proofs had come to them. And those will have a great punishment. But as for those whose faces will turn white, [they will be] within the mercy of Allah. They will abide therein eternally. These are the verses of Allah. We recite them to you, [O Muhammad], in truth; and Allah wants no injustice to the worlds." [Ali Imran: 104-108]