India stands shoulder to shoulder with Australia in testing times: Modi

"Our thoughts & prayers are with the people of Sydney & Australia. We stand shoulder to shoulder with them during these testing times", Modi said in a late night tweet.
   
In a separate post on the micro-blogging site this morning, he condemned as 'inhuman' the hostage crisis and said he prays for everybody's safety.
  
"The incident in Sydney is disturbing. Such acts are inhuman & deeply unfortunate. I pray for everyone's safety," the PM tweeted.

Source: Hindi News and Newspaper

Infosys thanks Australian, Indian authorities for rescuing hostages

In a statement issued here, Infosys said, "We are grateful to the Australian authorities and New South Wales Police for their efforts to ensure the safe rescue of the hostages."

“We also thank the Indian Consulate (in Sydney) and the Ministry of External Affairs for their continuous monitoring and involvement in the situation, and everyone else who helped see us all through this ordeal. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families," the statement added.

A 16-hour hostage crisis -- the first terror attack in Australia -- ended after police stormed a cafe in the heart of Sydney where an Iran-born cleric took some 30 people hostage and made several demands, sending shockwaves across the country.

Source: Hindi News and Newspaper

Pro-Islamic State tweeter not involved in recruitment: Rajnath Singh

In a suo motu statement made in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, Rajnath Singh said during interrogation Biswas denied recruiting any people for the terror group.

"The interrogation of Biswas has indicated that his activities were limited to posting and reposting of pro-IS material on his Twitter account and social media sites. He has denied having recruited any person for IS," he said.

"During interrogation Biswas disclosed that more than 60 percent of his Twitter account followers were non-Muslims from western countries and a majority of his Muslim followers were from the western countries, particularly the UK," the Home Minister said.

"Biswas started closely following the developments in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan through internet during his college days and has been active in the social networking sites since 2009," he said.

"Over a period of time Biswas started interacting with people in the social networking sites on matters related to 'Jihad'," the Minister said.

Biswas was arrested early Saturday following a British news channel on December 11 unmasking of the 24-year-old executive as a supporter of IS through social media and Twitter handle @ShamiWitness.

Source: Hindi News and Newspaper

Lebanon detains wife, daughter of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

The woman was identified as Saja al-Dulaimi, an Iraqi, by a Lebanese security official and a senior political source.
             
The Lebanese newspaper As-Safir reported she had been detained in coordination with "foreign intelligence".
             
The arrest is a blow to Baghdadi and could be used as a bargaining chip against his group, which has captured many foreign, Iraqi and Syrian prisoners and declared a caliphate in territory it has seized in Syria and Iraq.
             
A senior Lebanese security official said Baghdadi's wife had been travelling with one of their daughters, contradicting earlier reports that it was his son. DNA tests were conducted to verify it was Baghdadi's child, the official said.
             
They were detained in northern Lebanon. Investigators were questioning her at the Lebanese defence ministry. There was no immediate reaction from Islamic State websites.
             
Dulaimi was one of 150 women released from a Syrian government jail in March as part of a prisoner swap that led to the release of 13 nuns taken captive by al Qaeda-linked militants in Syria, according to media reports at the time.
             
A source with contacts with Iraqi intelligence said the captured woman was an Iraqi wife of Baghdadi’s, but could not confirm the name. There was cooperation between Iraqi and Lebanese authorities leading up to her capture, the source said.
             
Baghdadi has three wives, two Iraqis and one Syrian, according to tribal sources in Iraq.
             
Islamic State has seized wide areas of Iraq and Syria, Lebanon's neighbour to the east.
             
The Lebanese security forces have cracked down on the group's sympathisers and the intelligence services have been extra vigilant on the borders with Syria.  
             
They have arrested over the past few months dozens of Islamic militants suspected of staging attacks to expand Islamic State influence in Lebanon. 
             
A U.S.-led alliance is seeking to roll back Islamic State's territorial gains in Iraq and Syria. U.S. President Barack Obama has vowed to "degrade and ultimately destroy" Baghdadi's group, which is seeking to reshape the Middle East according to its radical vision of Islam.

Source: News in Hindi and Newspaper 

Eradicating terrorism would be a difficult fight: Singapore PM

"The threat of terrorism can cause doubts and sow division between communities but multi-racial Singapore has avoided this danger because its people are rational and have looked at the facts squarely and forthrightly condemned extremists," he said.
  
Lee said he was particularly grateful to the city state's Malay-Muslim community, especially its leaders, who have maintained this position.
  
The Prime Minister also noted that the Mufti and the Religious Rehabilitation Group have done a lot to counter the ideological propaganda of Islamic State (IS).
  
"The Government had to do what was necessary to protect Singapore," Lee told 300 religious and community leaders of various faiths at the start of a closed-door dialogue on the threat posed by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

This includes producing a brochure "The Fallacies of ISIS Islamic Caliphate" in English, Malay and Tamil, as well as two online videos to point out these fallacies and why the brutal methods employed by ISIS are against the teachings of Islam.

Lee stressed that extremist terrorism is a serious and difficult long-term problem. The last such dialogue was held in 2011, according to media reports today. In 2011, the Jemaah Islamiyah had been reviving its network in the region, noted Lee.
  
"You must know that eradicating terrorism is going to be a difficult and long-term fight," he said.
  
"We have to carry on doing it and provided we continue to work together, and we are open to each other, and we share and we come closer together, we will prevail."
  
Lee said that terrorist elements in Southeast Asia are  regrouping and getting more active, as the conflict in Syria and Iraq morphs into a civil war.
  
He said that people from Southeast Asia and around the world, including a few from Singapore, are also travelling to Iraq and Syria, to join IS.
  
"It is naive for us to think that we can keep our heads low, and the problems will pass over us," said Lee. "We have got to do what is necessary in order to protect Singapore and Singaporeans,"he added.

Singapore would also join over 60 countries, including many Muslim countries, in the coalition fight against IS. Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs, Yaacob Ibrahim, has also called for a regional voice to condemn IS.

Source: News in Hindi and Newspaper