TUNIS: Tunisia turned away yesterday eight Muslim preachers who had come from the Gulf to deliver sermons across the country, the interior ministry said on its Facebook page. “The ministry... has banned the entry of eight people who had come from the Gulf to to carry out religious activities,” the statement read, without giving any further details. News websites suggested the eight men were Saudi preachers who intended to travel to several mosques across Tunisia to deliver sermons.
Egypt bars German Islamist
CAIRO: Egypt turned back a hardline German Islamist yesterday after he arrived at Cairo airport. The official said Sven Lau was turned back at the airport after arriving onboard a KLM flight from Amsterdam. Lau, a convert to Islam, adheres to the ultra-orthodox Salafist school of thought. The Mena news agency said a German was prevented from entering Egypt at the request of the country’s national security service.
Early poll calls absurd: Mursi
CAIRO: Egypt’s President Mohammed Mursi rejected as “absurd” opposition calls for an early election less than a year into his term of office, charging in comments published yesterday that such calls violated the constitution. “We are a country with a constitution and a legal system,” Mursi said. “We held a free and fair election and to talk of an early presidential election is absurd and illegitimate.”
Bomber kills nine in Iraq
BAGHDAD: A suicide bomber rammed his car into a bus carrying Iranian Shia pilgrims in Iraq yesterday, killing at least nine people and wounding 27 in an attack likely carried out by Sunni insurgents trying to ignite sectarian conflict. The attack happened in Muqdadiya, 80km northeast of Baghdad.
Lebanese army slams ‘plot’
BEIRUT: The Lebanese army warned yesterday that a plot was afoot to embroil the country in the 26-month conflict in neighbouring Syria, as deadly clashes between Damascus supporters and opponents inside Lebanon multiply. “The army command... calls on citizens to be wary of plots aimed at taking Lebanon backwards and dragging it into an absurd war,” a statement said, adding that it would give an “armed response to any armed action”.
Agencies
