Arab Idol winner named UNRWA, good will ambassador

The winner of the Arab Idol reality show cannot stop adding titles.
After winning the favored contest, singer Mohammad Assaf was named a special ambassador Sunday by the U.N.'s Palestinian expatriate agency and additionally the Palestinian president.

On weekday night, Assaf became the first Palestinian to win the Arab world's version of american Idol, setting off wild celebrations across the Palestinian territories.
After the ending, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared the singer Associate in nursing unearned ambassador. 

"I congratulate the precocious singer Mohammad Assaf ... World Health Organization sent the message of the Palestinian people to the Arab nation through his art," Abbas same in an exceedingly very statement distributed by the official Wafa news organization.
He was to boot named a named a youth ambassador by the U.N.'s Relief and Works Agency, that serves Palestinian refugees across the middle East. The agency runs the Khan Younis camp in geographic area, where Assaf has lived since the age of 4.

Israel obligatory a land, ocean Associate in Nursingd air blockade on geographic area in 2006 once militants there seized associate Israeli soldier.

It was additional tightened in mid-2007 once the Moslem terrorist organization movement took management of geographic area, and then eased somewhat following the international outcry once Israel's unskilled raid on a humanitarian flotilla sure the dominion.

"All Palestinians share in his success," same the agency's commissioner, Filippo Grandi.
Assaf same he was "truly honored" by the appointment.

Yehiyeh Moussa, a terrorist organization leader in geographic area, on praised Assaf as a result of the "ambassador for Palestinian art."

Some hard-line religious leaders have continued to criticize Arab Idol, occupation the show blasphemous and immoral.

On the Israeli aspect, army interpreter Avichai Adraee congratulated the young Palestinian singer in an exceedingly very tweet in Arabic.

North Korea rocket launch reportedly fails

North Korea fired a long-range rocket early Friday, South Korean and U.S. officials said, defying international warnings against moving forward with a launch widely seen as a provocation.

 A North Korean soldier stands guard Friday in front of the Unha-3 rocket in Tongchang-ri.

Space officials had announced they would launch a satellite this week as part of celebrations honoring North Korea founder Kim Il Sung, and liftoff took place at 7:39 a.m. from the west coast launch pad in the hamlet of Tongchang-ri, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said, citing South Korean and U.S. intelligence.

However, the launch appeared to have failed, with the rocket splintering into pieces moments after takeoff, South Korea's Defense Ministry said in Seoul.

"We suspect the North Korean missile has fallen as it divided into pieces minutes after liftoff," Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told reporters.

 A North Korean long-range missile launch has failed, U.S. officials confirm

In Washington, a U.S. official also said the launch appeared to have failed. The official offered no further details and would not discuss the source of the information.

North Korea launched a three-stage rocket from a missile base near the west coast city of Sinuiju today, claiming that it was carrying a weather satellite of purely civilian use. 

The rocket, named Unha-3 and emblazoned with a North Korean flag, was based on the same technology as the long-range Taepodong missile that the country is developing, which has triggered accusations that North Korea is actually conducting a weapons test.

Today's launch will be closely analyzed to determine how far North Korea has advanced its technological prowess. 

This undated Department of Defense photo shows a sign in the Demarcation Line (MDL) separating North and South Korea. On Monday, May 25, 2009 North Korea allegedly detonated a nuclear device during an underground test and test fired several short range missiles. North Korea announced that it has restarted its nuclear weapons research program

"We don't really care about the opinions from the outside. This is critical in order to develop our national economy," Peak Chang Ho, head of the satellite control center at the Korean Committee for Space Technology, had told reporters who were invited to North Korea for the occasion.

Peak said that a weather satellite had been installed on the rocket as part of North Korea's "peaceful space program," but officials of the U.S. and other countries fear that North Korea's missile program masks an effort to develop a delivery system for a nuclear weapon.

The rocket launch was the centerpiece of celebrations taking place this week to mark the centennial of state founder Kim IL Sung's birth, April 15, 1912 - the same day, North Koreans sometimes note with irony, as the sinking of the Titanic.

The launch also served as a distraction from the despair in one of the world's hungriest nations. One-third of North Korean children are reported to be permanently stunted because of chronic malnutrition. North Korea recently had to lower the minimum height requirement for soldiers to 4 feet, 9 inches.

The Defense Ministry in rival South Korea released figures this week saying that North Korea could afford to feed its population for a year with the money it is spending on the missile launch.

North Korea struck a deal Feb. 29 to suspend its weapons program in return for 240,000 metric tons of food aid from the United States, but the U.S. had said the aid would not be delivered if North Korea went ahead with the launch.

The rapid collapse of the deal raises the possibility of a rift in the leadership between those who would like to end North Korea's pariah status and hard-liners in the military.

North Korea launched a three-stage rocket from a missile base near the west coast city of Sinuous today, claiming that it was carrying a weather satellite of purely civilian use.

Its projected trajectory was almost due south on a course 150 miles east of Shanghai.  The second stage of the rock was to splash down east of the Philippines, which prompted Manila to cancel northbound flights as a precaution.

Since 1998, Pyongyang has conducted three previous long-range launches but has not succeeded in sending a satellite into orbit, although it has claimed otherwise.

"If they actually are successful, they can in theory deliver a weapon with a range sufficient to reach the United States," said Scott Snyder, an analyst from the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations.

The launch occurred despite warnings from the United States, as well as China and Russia.

The Sacrificial act Qurbani is Celebrations in Muslims World.

Muslims have two major annual celebrations called Eid, which means ‘recurring happiness’: Eid-ul-Fitr that means Eid of Fast-Breaking and Eid-ul-Adha that means Eid of Sacrifice.

Eid-ul-Adha, which occurs approximately seventy days after Eid-ul-Fitr, commemorates the Prophet Ibrahim's (Abraham's) willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail (Ishmael) for Allah.
 

My brother: A Yemeni soldier greets a fellow Muslim after attending

prayers on the first day of Eid al-Adha prayers in Sana'a on Sunday.

Muslims worldwide are celebrating Eid al-Adha, with many in

the midst of violence due to deadly attacks.

Eid ul-Adha celebrations continue for three days, starting on the 10th day of the month of Dhul Hijja of the lunar Islamic calendar. This is the day after the pilgrims in Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia by Muslims worldwide, descend from Mount Arafat. Like Eid ul-Fitr, Eid ul-Adha begins with a short prayer followed by a sermon (Khutba). Men, women, and children are expected to dress in their finest clothing.

The world's Muslims on Sunday marked the Eid al-Adha feast which caps the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, overshadowed by the Arab Spring and deadly attacks in Africa and Central Asia.
This year the feast coincides with the turmoil of the democracy protests that swept the Arab world and led to the ouster of the autocratic leaders of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice, honours Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael on the order of God, who according to Islamic tradition provided a lamb in the boy's place.
And the security forces shot dead at least another 10 civilians, most of them in the restive central city of Homs, according to human rights activists.
The latest bloodshed came as Syrian state radio reported al-Assad himself attended Al-Nur mosque in the northern town of Raqqa for morning prayers to mark the Muslim holy day.
Thousands gathered for prayers to mark the feast at an open ground in Damaturu patrolled by dozens of armed police following Friday's gun and bomb attacks, among the deadliest ever carried out by the Boko Haram Islamist sect.
"It's a season of mourning and celebration at the same time," said Damaturu resident Aisami Bundi.
"People are struggling to strike a balance between the merriment of the season and the losses the city has incurred from the attacks, especially the large number of people that have been killed," he said.
Repentance In Islam:As At Tawaab - The Acceptor to Repentance - God receives the repentance of those who repent for wrong doings and mistakes committed. God is Oft Returning.
At-Tawwabba as one of the ninety-nine names of God comes from the root word Taba which means “to repent; turn one’s self in a repentant manner, turn with mercy.” (Omar)
Tawwab itself means “Oft –Returning with mercy and compassion.” It implies that God will turn back towards the repentant believer who has done wrong against his/her own soul.
The Eid is starting on Monday in some parts of the Muslim world including Iran, Pakistan and Bangladesh, where at least eight people died in railway accidents as tens of millions poured out of cities for a five-day holiday.
This sacrificial act and the meat are called “Udhiya” or “Qurbani”.