DUBAI, UAE, Feb. 19--A Saudi-owned pan-Arab newspaper printed Sunday a full page apology from Jyllands-Posten, the Danish daily that first published cartoons of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) unleashing a wave of fury by Muslims worldwide, reported AFP.
It was the strongest expression of regret yet from the paper, but stopped short of explicitly saying sorry for printing the cartoons themselves, instead apologizing for the turmoil caused in their aftermath.
“These drawings apparently hurt millions of Muslims around the world, so we now offer our apology and deep regret for what happened because it is far from the paper’s intention,“ said the statement titled “Apology“ in big bold letters addressed to Muslim citizens and printed in Asharq
Al-Awasat.
It was signed by the paper’s editor-in-chief Carsten Juste and was also posted in Arabic on Jyllands-Posten’s website under a link titled “A new formulation for the apology.“
“We did not set out to offend or insult any religion. We apologize for being misunderstood and reiterate that we did not intend to target anyone...I hope this clears the misunderstanding and God bless,“ said the statement.
The move comes after at least 32 people were killed and dozens wounded since Tuesday in violent riots over the cartoons sweeping through Libya, Nigeria and Pakistan.
Many Muslim religious and civic leaders across the world have insisted that anger on the streets will only be quelled with a clear and unequivocal apology from the paper and the Danish government for the cartoons, considered blasphemous by most of the world’s estimated 1.3 billion Muslims.
Others have said it is too late for an apology, calling for legislation in Europe that would ban caricaturing or insulting religious symbols.
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen previously said he was distressed over the row caused by the cartoons but insisted that his government would not apologize on behalf of the newspaper given his country’s free press tradition.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Feb. 19--The entourage of Lebanon’s under-fire pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud has hit back at moves in parliament to oust him, accusing former colonial power France of being behind the “coup“ plot, AFP said.
A source close to Lahoud charged late Saturday that French President Jacques Chirac had set up a working group under his chairmanship charged with working with anti-Syrian forces in Lebanon “to provoke a coup d’etat against the constitution and the (1989) Taef accords“ that ended the 1975-90 civil war.
“I deplore the French president’s determination to meddle personally in Lebanese affairs,“ the source told AFP.
Anti-Damascus politicians, who have held a majority in parliament since Lebanon last year held its first elections in three decades free of Syrian troops, on Thursday launched a petition in the legislature calling for Lahoud to step down by March 14.
Lahoud has been under severe pressure ever since Lebanese security officials close to him were arrested over last year’s murder of five-time prime minister Rafik Hariri and a UN probe accused his Syrian allies of being implicated in the killing.
The president’s critics reject as illegitimate a three-year extension to his mandate pushed through in 2004 when Syrian troops and intelligence agents remained deployed in Lebanon.
But Lahoud has repeatedly vowed to serve his full term.
France had already angered the president’s supporters by co-sponsoring with the United States a series of Security Council resolutions critical of Syria and its Lebanese allies.

Activists and supporters of the Front of the Defender of Islam (FPI), a militant Islamic group burn an American flag during a demonstration in front of the US embassy in Jakarta, February 19. (AFP Photo)

JAKARTA, Indonesia, Feb. 19--Islamic demonstrators angry at depictions of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) turned their wrath on the US embassy in Jakarta on Sunday, beating on the gate with sticks and pelting the building with tomatoes, eggs and stones, Reuters reported.
The missiles shattered glass in the guard post and cracked fibreglass-like material in the gate.
More than 200 white-clad members of Indonesia’s militant Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) were protesting over Danish cartoons lampooning the Prophet (PBUH) as well as his depiction in a sculpture at the US Supreme Court in Washington.
About 50 police were on hand but unable to keep the protesters away from the gate, witnesses said.
Maksuni, an FPI deputy leader, told reporters after the protests: “This is not the last warning. This is only the beginning. There will be bigger actions against them.“
“Suicide bombings! Prepare for a bomb“, said one protester.
Weeks of sometimes violent protests by Muslims across the world against the cartoons, first published in Denmark and then by many European newspapers, have triggered fears of a clash of civilizations between the West and Islam. Many Muslims believe that it is blasphemous to publish images of the Prophet (PBUH).
An embassy statement read to Reuters by a spokesman said the US government deplored the violence, adding: “Ambassador B. Lynn Pascoe said that this was a pre-meditated event that was staged for television by a small group which seeks to disrupt the relationship between the
United States and Indonesia by inflaming popular opinion.“
The statement said that the United States shared Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s view “that the cartoon issue should not be used as a wedge between cultures“.

King Abdullah

RIYADH,
Saudi Arabia, Feb. 19--Saudi King Abdullah condemned Saturday the idea that the world was in the midst of a clash of civilizations between East and West urging Arab and Muslim intellectuals to foster better understanding, AFP reported.
“I condemn the idea of a clash of civilizations and call for it to be replaced with the idea of peaceful and constructive coexistence between civilizations,“ the king told a group of Arab and Muslim thinkers taking part in the annual Al-Janadriyah cultural festival outside Riyadh.
“I call for the next era to be one for a true dialogue between nations whereby each side respects the other and their sanctities, beliefs and identity.“
The reform-minded monarch’s discourse is in stark contrast to warnings by the kingdom’s influential religious establishment about an assault by the West against Islamic values and beliefs, especially in the wake of the uproar over cartoons of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) published in European papers.
Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s two holiest sites and a beacon for many of the world’s estimated 1.3 billion Muslims, has not seen any of the deadly protests that have erupted across the Muslim world.
At least 26 people were killed Saturday in rioting in Libya and Nigeria.

BEIT-UL-MOQADDAS, Feb. 19--The Israeli cabinet overwhelmingly approved Sunday the imposition of a range of sanctions against the Palestinian Authority following the formation of a government led by Hamas, public radio reported.
The sanctions will see Israel halt the payment of customs duties it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, worth around $50 million a month, as well as prevent residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip from crossing into Israel for work, AFP reported.
Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert put forward the range of sanctions for approval before the cabinet after declaring that a government led by Hamas, the landslide winners of a January 25 general election, would be regarded as a terrorist regime.
The new Hamas-dominated parliament was sworn in on Saturday while Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas is due to hold talks in Gaza later in the day to ask Hamas to form a new government.
Abbas was due to travel to the Gaza Strip from his base in the West Bank city of Ramallah after holding talks with Aziz Duweik, the new speaker of the Hamas-dominated parliament which was sworn in on Saturday, presidential office spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP.
“He will ask Hamas to produce a name for the post of prime minister,“ Abu Rudeina said. “After he is given the name, he will then write to ask the nominee to form a government and get approval for his line-up from parliament.“
Abbas confirmed during his speech at Saturday’s inauguration ceremony that he would ask Hamas, landslide winners of a January 25 general election, to form the next government.
Ismail Haniya, who topped Hamas’s list of candidates, is widely expected to be tasked with forming the next government.
“As we stated immediately after the PA elections, upon the conclusion of the transitional government, Israel will immediately cease the transfer of funds to the PA,“ Olmert said at the cabinet.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Feb. 19--Pakistan on Sunday test fired a short range surface to surface nuclear-capable missile, AFP quoted the military as saying in a statement.
“A successful test fire of the indigenously developed short range surface to surface ballistic missile Hatf-II Abdali was conducted today,“ it said.
The Abdali missile can reach a target of 200 kilometers (120 miles) and can carry nuclear and other types of warheads, the statement said.
It said India had been given prior notification of the launch, as agreed last year before all ballistic missile tests are conducted.
President Pervez Musharraf hailed the test and congratulated the scientists and engineers on their “outstanding achievement,“ it added.
Pakistan and India conducted tit-for-tat test nuclear detonations in 1998 and came to the brink of war in 2002.
The historical rivals, who have already fought three wars, routinely carry out tests of nuclear-capable missiles.