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Sectarian violence from over a decade past is being used to score political points by
both sides in a current election in India. The leader of the ruling party, Rahul Gandhi,
is being criticized for failing to apologize for violent riots 30 years ago which killed
30,000 people, many of them minority Sikhs who were slaughtered in retaliation for the
1984 assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards.
Criticizing Rahul, whose grandmother was Prime Minister of India at the time of her death,
Prakash Singh Badal, chief minister of Sikh-dominated Punjab state has said, "It is tragic that
so many died but there is no tribute, no remorse, no apology." In response, Rahul has acknowledged
that some members of his party may have been involved in the attacks, but he insists that
all known to have been involved have been punished.
He then attempted to shift focus by accusing his opposition candidate, Narendra Modi, of
complicity in another series of riots in 2002 in which Muslims were targeted and killed
in the western state of Gujarat.
Son of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 23 year old Yair, has caused scandal and backlash
among Orthodox Jews when it was alleged recently that the younger Netanyahu is dating 25 year-old
Sandra Leikanger, a communications student from Norway. It is believed that he even traveled
to visit her in her home country. The rumor that the Prime Minister's son may be dating
a woman who does not identify as Jewish has caused a backlash from the ultra-Orthodox
Jewish minority in Israel. Detractors, including family members of the prime minister, publicly
condemned the relationship as miscegenation, and called on the Prime Minister to end it
immediately.
The couple met at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel, where they are both students.
Noah Slepkov, Associate Fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute, discussed globalization,
the inevitability of change, and the impact it can have. Slepkov admits that cultural
xenophobia has given Israel a "bad reputation", but challenges the Israelis to change, saying,
"We're insecure. People have to realize that having a few percent of our people intermarrying
is not going to hurt [...]."
When Associated Press asked Yossi Sarid, former leader of the Israeli secular-rights party,
about the conservatives' response to the relationship rumors surrounding Yair Netanyahu, his response
was more to the point. "You can't expect fairness from those people," meaning Orthodox Jews.
"They are behaving as fanatics everywhere behave."
The office of the Prime Minister has officially denied that Yaid Netanyahu is dating anyone,
including Miss Leikanger, telling local news that the two are only fellow students. According
to various media, Miss Leikanger is unavailable for comment.
Attacks by insurgent fighters in the states of Adamawa and Borno in the northeast of Nigeria
on January 23rd killed 99 and left hundreds homeless. In Adamawa state, armed attackers
invaded a Catholic church service in Wada Chakawa village, killing 45 people and burning
homes in a siege that lasted five hours.
A spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Yola reported that the attackers fired on parishioners
and took hostages. A witness reported hostages being taken away and executed.
That same evening in Borno state, several explosions, including two time-delayed IED's,
killed 52 people and burned the 300-home village of Kawuri to the ground. A witness to the
attack, Ari Kolomi, told an al Jazeera reporter that fifty armed men attacked the village,
and "No house was left standing."
The Nigerian government suspects that members of a local Islamic insurgent group called
Boko Haram, a name that means "Western education is forbidden" in the local Hamsa language,
carried out both of these attacks, according to the News Service of Nigeria. Officials
there believe the group is responsible for a string of attacks in the northeast of Nigeria
that have taken the lives of nearly 200 people in just this year.
Jen Psaki, speaking for the US State Department, issued a statement supporting and urging the
Nigerian people to support the government's ongoing investigation into the attacks. Canadian
Ambassador for Religious Freedom, Andrew Bennett, also offered sympathy for the victims and
condemned the attacks, stating, "Such violence, including that perpetrated against any faith
community, must not be tolerated."