Saudi Arabia has executed a prominent Shiite cleric behind anti-government protests along with 46 other men, drawing angry condemnation from Iran and Iraq.
The execution of Nimr al-Nimr and the others, including Shiite activists and Sunnis accused of involvement in deadly Al-Qaeda attacks, was announced by the Saudi interior ministry.
It prompted calls for demonstrations, with the brother of the 56-year-old cleric warning it could stir more trouble in oil-rich Eastern Province where Shiites complain of marginalization.
“This action will spark anger of (Shiite) youths” in Saudi Arabia, said Mohammed al-Nimr.
The interior ministry said the 47 men had been convicted of adopting the radical “takfiri” ideology, joining “terrorist organisations” and implementing various “criminal plots”.
A list published by the official Saudi Press Agency included Sunni Muslims, convicted of involvement in Al-Qaeda attacks that killed Saudi and foreigners in the kingdom in 2003 and 2004.
One of those executed was Fares al-Shuwail, described by Saudi media as Al-Qaeda’s top religious leader in the kingdom. He was arrested in 2004.
Notably absent from the list, however, was Nimr’s nephew, Ali al-Nimr, whose arrest at the age of 17 and alleged torture during detention sparked condemnation from rights watchdogs and the United States.
All those executed were Saudis, except for an Egyptian and a Chadian.
Some were beheaded with a sword while others were executed by firing squad, said interior ministry spokesman Mansur al-Turki.
Executions have soared in the country since King Salman acceded the throne in January 2015, with 153 people, including convicted drug-traffickers, put to death last year, nearly twice as many as in 2014.
Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari has threatened that Saudi Arabia will pay “a high price” for executing prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr today.
“The Saudi government supports terrorist movements and extremists, but confronts domestic critics with oppression and execution… the Saudi government will pay a high price for following these policies,” Ansari said, quoted by the official IRNA news agency. [myad]
The Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan on Friday urged the Federal Government to pardon those involved in money laundering if they were willing to return such funds.
Onaiyekan made the appeal at the St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Nyanya as part of his New Year message for the nation in Abuja.
He said that the best strategy to ensure the return of the monies would be an agreement with the people involved to have them return what they had stolen.
He said that the ongoing developments had shown that corruption could be eradicated over time, adding that the fight against fraudulent acts must be handled with care.
“It is okay to expose people and disgrace them, but that will not solve the problem. “If we want our money back, we have to strategize so that the countries that are keeping our money can feel challenged to return them.
“The easiest way to get the money back is to convince them to go bring the money back, and then it will be easy. “One way to convince people to bring stolen money back is to promise them that they will not be disgraced.”
Onaiyekan said that the amnesty is not like a plea bargain which only leads to the return of some stolen funds, adding: “this is different from plea bargain where you tell a person who stole hundred billion of naira to return fifty billion and be forgiven; that for me is not the right thing.
“If you have stolen hundred million and you are ready to bring back all, then we will leave you and not send you to jail, Nigeria can do that.’’
The cleric said that corruption is embedded in the Nigerian system, therefore, required a systemic change to reverse the situation even as he earlier advised the government to swing into proper action in the New Year, for the fulfilment of all its campaign promises.
“The success of the party that won was built on a promise of change and will be in the spotlight of spectators in this New Year.
“We can say that from May till now, it has been a period of consolidating, making strategies and preparing. “2016 will be a year that we will now begin to see exactly where we are going and how we are moving,” Onaiyekan said.
Onaiyekan said that the movement would include all the nation’s challenges in terms of security and anti-corruption campaign, “which is at the forefront of the country’’.
“We must find a way to discuss and negotiate the peace and tranquility of our nation,” he said. [myad]
The Super Eagles squad, just put together by the Head Coach Sunday Oliseh, has left for South Africa ahead of the the 2016 African Nations Championship (CHAN) in Rwanda.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) which announced this today in a statement by its Assistant Director (Communications), Ademola Olajire, said that the coach released the team’s final list of 23 players for the championship.
The statement said that the list has goalkeeper Ikechukwu Ezenwa, defenders Austin Oboroakpo and Chima Akas, 2016 Olympic team midfielders Usman Mohammed and Yaro Bature, and forward Chisom Chikatara, among others.
“The list also has Enyimba International FC’s winger Ezekiel Bassey, former junior international Ifeanyi Mathew and Sunshine Stars’ trio of Paul Onobi, Prince Aggrey and Tunde Adeniji.
“Former junior international goalkeeper Femi Thomas, Shooting Stars’ central defender Jamiu Alimi and former Supersand Eagles’ ace Bartholomew Ibenegbu have also been included,’’ the statement said.
It said the Eagles B team, alongside technical and backroom staff, left the country on Saturday afternoon for Cape Town in South Africa.
“There, the squad will stage a 10-day pre-Championship training camp, and play two friendly games against Angola and Cote d’Ivoire, who are also CHAN-bound on Jan. 6 and Jan. 11 respectively,’’ the statement said.
The Federation said that coach Oliseh had arrived in South Africa ahead of the delegation.
Nigeria’s Super Eagles B had finished third at the third edition of the African Nations Championship held in South Africa in 2014.
The Eagles will campaign in Group C of this year’s championship alongside 2011 winners Tunisia, Niger Republic and Guinea, with matches to be played at the Stade Regional Nyamirambo, Kigali.
The championship holds from Jan. 16 to Feb. 7.
The Full List:
Goalkeepers: Ikechukwu Ezenwa (Sunshine Stars); Olufemi Thomas (Enyimba International FC); Okiemute Odah (Warri Wolves)
National publicity secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olisa Metuh has admitted that his party is simply doing to President Muhammadu Buhari what he leadership of All Progressives Congress (APC) did to former President Goodluck Jonathan, in terms of criticisms, wondering why the APC cannot accept, with equanimity, such criticisms.
Metuh who was apparently responding to the warning handed down to PDP recently by the APC national chairman, John Oyegun over what he called open insult of President Buhari, said it is unfortunate that the APC and its leaders, who gleefully and unjustifiably poured invectives on former President Jonathan in the guise of playing the role of an opposition party, would now not want to condone criticisms.
In a statement today, Metuh said: “unlike the APC that denigrated the office and person of former President Jonathan by wrongly depicting him as ‘clueless and incompetent’, the PDP remains the most decent, mature and constructive opposition party in our democracy and we have evidenced great respect for the person and exalted office of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“During the Goodluck Jonathan presidency, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, while in the saddle as interim Deputy National Secretary of the APC, in a post on his twitter page, described President Jonathan as ‘lazy, docile, incompetent, clueless, hopeless and useless leader.’ Other APC leaders made raining abuses on Jonathan a past time.
“The PDP is a very responsible opposition party; our leaders are mature; and we have demonstrated so in our critique of the President’s responses during the maiden Presidential Media Chat. We have reviewed President Buhari’s performance and concluded that it was uninspiring
“The entire world listened to President Buhari during the chat and went away with different impressions. We did and came up with the theme of our initial reaction that portrayed him very appropriately as a tyrant. And for purpose of clarity, a tyrant is a ruler who has complete power over a country and who uses the power in a cruel and unfair way, which was why we recommended the suspension of the operation of the constitution so he can rule for the next four years as a maximum ruler.
“In its reaction, his party National Chairman, John Oyegun magisterially and dictatorially warned that ‘we (APC) may not condone such anymore.’ Our position in the PDP is that we are in trouble as a nation. All we hear from the APC regarding our freedom is ‘we won’t tolerate’, ‘we won’t condone.’ Are these words used by democrats or tyrants?
“So, the PDP too is being warned and coerced on what to say as opposition party. The PDP must be commended for the civil, responsible, mature, issue-based opposition it has played. The nation knows how the APC rained insults on former President Jonathan and that the PDP, during that time, never used words like ‘it would not condone…’
“Some have even criticised the PDP style of opposition as being too civil considering the tyranny we are facing. That is why Chief John Oyegun could term a dictionary word-‘tyrant’- as insulting. Nigerians do not need the PDP or anyone else to make them decide if President Buhari’s APC government fits the definition of a tyrant.
“The real trait of the President was unraveled during the media chat. He has repeatedly shown his scorn for the Legislature, an independent arm of government while sanctioning security agencies’ disrespect for court orders and the impunity of continuous incarceration of people who have been granted bails by the courts.
“Also from his responses, the President has even pronounced a guilty verdict on Col Sambo Dasuki and Nnamdi Kanu of Radio Biafra even before the hearings by the courts. Sadly, even the international community has noted this brazen scorn and disdain for the independence of the judiciary.
“Furthermore, how do we describe a President who openly denigrated an entire race as he did in the media chat when he suggested that the Igbos were insatiable with the appointments his government has so far given to them? Indeed, the timing and the tenor of the President’s comment, given the security and political situation in the land, remain worrisome, especially at a time a nerve-soothing statement from the father of the nation could have reassured the agitators of the need for peace and unity in the nation.
“Besides, it is sad and embarrassing that President Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade has now been reduced to a war between the APC and the PDP as declared by the Office of his spokespersons. Since they have confirmed that this is what the anti-corruption crusade is all about, the APC is obviously seeking to destroy the PDP so that it can push through Buhari’s second tenure in 2019 without opposition from the PDP.
“This has also confirmed our concern that this is the reason the Federal Government is persecuting, and not prosecuting, Col. Sambo Dasuki. The APC and its leaders fear that Dasuki, given his vast political and security network, may be harbouring a presidential ambition, more so that the PDP has zoned its presidential ticket to the north.
“The PDP is conversant with the sinister plan by the APC-led Federal Government to completely decimate our party by raking up all manner of allegations of corruption against the Goodluck Jonathan administration and leaders of the PDP with a view to taking them to court on orchestrated charges.
“Finally we are aware that President Buhari has directed security agencies to be more vicious in dealing with our members and has continued to subtly coerce the Judiciary to convict those being charged to court. But what gives us joy is that President Buhari is not God and we will not worship him.” [myad]
Agitators for the return of over 200 students of the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State, abducted by members of Boko Haram, have scheduled a peaceful protest to the Aso Rock Presidential Villa on January 14.
According to the convener of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) Aisha Yesufu at daily sit-out session to mark ‘Day 627’ since the girls were taken from their school’s dormitory in Chibok, January 14 would be exactly 21 months since the incidence took place.
She said that the group would stage peaceful march to the Presidential Villa to engage President Muhammadu Buhari on the way forward.
This was even as the group asked the government to set up a special search and rescue team to find the missing schoolgirls.
The group expressed disappointmentd that President Buhari did not say anything about the missing girls in his New Year message to Nigerians.
The group would not accept the President’s statement during the media chat on Wednesday that the government has no credible intelligent report on the whereabouts of the girls, adding that government needs to consider acquiring credible intelligence.
The group said that there was a credible report on the whereabouts of the Chibok girls from the testimonies of the former Chief of Defence Staff, retired Air Marhall Alex Badeh and Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State.
In the heat of demands from the BBOG and global outcry for the rescue of the girls, Air Marshall had told reporters that the military had a tip off about where the girls where, but that the military was being cautious to avoid civilian casualties.
The girls were abducted by members of the Boko Haram terrorist group on April 14, 2014.
Meanwhile, another leader of the group, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili had recently asked the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to cause the reinstatement of the soldiers that were jailed for cowardice against the Boko Haram insurgency and mutiny. [myad]
Head Adoration Ministry in Enugu Nigeria, Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka has accused former President Goodluck Jonathan of killing Nigeria after which he handed over the skeleton to President Muhammadu Buhari, even as he raised alarm over what he called, plans to kill President Muhammadu Buhari due to the war he is currently waging against corruption posture.
Mbaka, in his 2016 New Year message, which he delivered today before millions of worshipers in Enugu said: “My beloved Nigerians, those who led us from last year downwards, they have killed this country. None of them is qualified to stay in this country by now: the President, the Senators, the Reps, the chairmen of Local governments, the governors, they are wicked. It doesn’t matter the man of God they worship with; I tell you, before God and man, all of them are wicked. They hate this country, they succeeded in removing the liver, kidney and cardio vascular system of this country, and handed over to President Buhari, shambles, skeletal organs of this country..”
“No matter how malignant the problem is, God says He will be in charge; fellow Nigerians, let us wait upon God; I have a new message; I’m blessing and covering the message we are giving now in the prophetic name of Jesus; Father speak now as your servant listens.
“In 2013, there was a prophecy that was going to be an oil doom after several years of oil boom, and when that message came out of this ground, many started calling me a prophet of doom. How can there be oil doom in oil boom? And the oil price continued to climb, but the message said people should start to gather as in the days of Joseph, that the people in government should continue to gather, let them stop squandering our wealth; but they never listened; throughout the six years we passed in the past administration, God blessed our oil with high prices, over N140 per barrel, but the message kept coming, don’t mind the oil boom, there is going to be oil doom, our politicians stop embezzling our wealth but they said the money will continue to come, our oil will continue to flow.
“During these moments of the oil boom, there was excess crude money, they didn’t know what to do with our money, when our youths were suffering and still suffering, graduates had no jobs, new industries were not built, our roads were not reconstructed, our hospitals were in shambles and total collapse; our educations systems were in shambles and these politicians were building good schools outside the country, Ghana, etc, even hospitals in South-Africa, and other neighbouring countries and when any of them is sick he will be flown outside the country because there is no hospital in the country worthy of authentic medication, you cannot find any country in Nigeria that has worthy diagnostic facilities; not one; the entire money voted for hospitals were looted out, corruption was in quantum, to the level that the Nigerian Bishops had to convene a prayer against bribery and corruption and enjoined all Catholics to be praying that prayer daily.
“All the money voted for roads were swindled; many of them became millionaires, billionaires over night in naira, in dollars, in pounds, in euro when they have no workshop; no business centre; somebody who has nothing doing, just because he is a politician, and they wasted our oil money, now the doom came and there is no preparation for it; the economy of Nigeria is an oil based economy.
“Nigeria, as we speak now, economically, security wise is in the intensive care unit; if the oxygen is removed, Nigeria will die, people of God prayed, from here and there and God gave us Buhari. God has told us that Buhari is prayer answered; President Buhari is an answered prayer; whether you hate him or like him, Buhari is prayer answered; the Bishops of Nigeria, the Catholic Bishops prayed against bribery and corruption and this President came with a charter that has to do with war against corruption; all the prayers we have been doing about bribery and corruption, God answered it in Buhari who decided not to discriminate; there is nothing like religious or political discrimination in Buhari’s government. He needs all the support, unstoppable support; spiritual and otherwise; because if he is not the man in power now, had it been the last regime continued, by now, Nigeria would be for sale. All the monies voted to buy this and but that few people stole it; but we see joblessness, many have died because of a few people, and these same people want to use you to engineer crisis that Igbos are marginalized, nobody is marginalized; nobody marginalized us;
“I am not a sycophant; but I want to tell you that so far God is happy and he who God has blessed none can cause. Many people are planning to kill Buhari; there are many plans on how to eliminate his life so that corruption will continue; so that embezzlement will continue. But I speak to Buhari that God who put you there will protect you; be firm, remain resolute, don’t be intimidated; President Buhari God and his people are behind you, you are the answer to the prayer of His people.
“Can you eat your cake and still have it? Our past looters, not leaders, you may not understand, thieves in political positions, have eaten the cake of this country and now everybody is suffering it; the youths are suffering it, they want to tell you that you are marginalized; the Yorubas are not marginalized; the Hausas are not marginalized, Efik people are not marginalized; and it is only you people that are marginalized. In the present political scenario, the Igbos have the position of minister for external affairs in the person of Onyeama; the Igbo people have the position of science and tech in the person of Ogbonnaya Onu; if you go to Abia, you have industry and commerce, coming back to Anambra you have labour and productivity and the problem of our country today is unemployment and once there is job, there will be no kidnapping. The Igbos in the North are doing well; the Igbos in the West too, go to Alaba, they are treated with kindness, why are we engineering things that don’t exist; and like I said before, those saying this have their children abroad and they want to use you.
“Listen fellow Nigerians, as it is right now, most of what we are suffering now and we are going to suffer were caused few years ago but the Lord asked me to encourage you. Suffering is coming but it is not suffering under damnation, there is solution, it may take some time, but at the end of it, there will be testimony; Nigeria is the giant of Africa, Nigeria is the best country in this world; with the best weather; the country that produces the most strongest people; people who can survive everywhere, people who can relate with any type of person, people who can survive any type of weather- Nigerians; people who can prosper anywhere; the destiny, the dynasty, the authority, the destiny, what it takes to make Nigeria great is restored this year.
“As I have told you, there is going to be crisis but God will handle it. This year, God said my people will be over-comers, things will be hard but my people will be over-comers.” [myad]
President Muhammadu Buhari has announced that a committee to rehabilitate infrastructure and resettle Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Boko Haram devastated North-Eastern part of Nigeria, will soon be formally inaugurated. The committee, to be led by a frontline statesman, Lt.-Gen Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (rtd) will also include business mogul and Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote. The President, who spoke today at the State House, Abuja in response to a goodwill message by a group known as Women In Politics Forum (WIPF), said that all forms of assistance and aid in this respect, generated locally and from foreign countries as promised by the Group of Seven of Industrialized Countries,G7 will be channeled through the committee when it is inaugurated. He said that he had compiled a list of damaged infrastructure, including schools and bridges and handed it to the leaders of the G7 and the United States, adding that “I didn’t ask for a Kobo (in cash). It is up to them to choose what they will undertake. Already,some of them have sent teams to verify our assertions.” President Buhari decried the impact of the Boko Haram violence on women and children declaring that they are its worst victims. “In the North-East, what I saw for myself and on those clips is a source of concern for people with conscience. They are mostly women, and children who are orphaned. Some of them don’t even know where they come from. This is the pathetic situation in which the country has found itself.” He said that the fight for the return of the Chibok girls is ongoing and “continues to be a most worrying issue” to his government, emphasizing that the administration will do all within its powers in making the best efforts to secure their freedom. The President acknowledged the case made by the WIPF for better representation of women in his government and assured that women would fare well in the composition of parastatals and their boards in the first quarter of this year. He also defended the records of the administration in response to criticism that it is slow, arguing that steps must taken with caution to avoid mistakes. “People say we are slow. We are trying to change structures put in place by our predecessors in office for 16 years. If we hurry it, we will make mistakes. That will be a disaster.” President Buhari assured that the country has a budget proposal for the new year that is good for employment and manufacturing. “By the end of the second quarter,the full impact of these positive measures will be felt,” he told the visiting women. The WIPF, made up of women leaders from 26 registered political parties led by Barrister Ebere Ifendu of the Labor Party, expressed their full support for the government’s war on corruption and insecurity. They asked the administration to usher in laws to promote gender equity as well as action towards the implementation of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act. The Women’s group made the record of being the first organization to be received by the President in the New Year. [myad]
Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on media and publicity, Malam Garba Shehu has given assurance that the President would consult with relevant stakeholders on the possibility of banning Hijab which is a dressing mode for Muslim women. President Buhari had said during a Presidential media chat on Wednesday that he might ban wearing of Hijab by Muslim women if members of Boko Haram continue to use it, as they have been doing, as a cover to attack innocent Nigerians. However, it was learnt that some people have been going about spreading the rumour that the President had actually banned Hijab. In a statement today, Garba Shehu denied that the President had banned the Hijab, saying that the President would not take any decision on the issue without due consultation with all the stakeholders. He said that the insinuations and rumours that the Buhari administration has banned Hijab, the Muslim women’s dressing symbol of modesty was an unfounded speculation. Garba Shehu, whose statement sought to clarify the pronouncement of the President on Media Chat, said that the Buhari administration would always respect the rights of Muslims to protect their modesty and allow religious freedom as it affects everyone. The Presidential spokesman admitted that the Hijab is being abused by terrorists to carry out suicide attacks on innocent people, which violates the teachings of Islam, but that everything will be done to balance national security requirements with the rights and obligations of citizens under their religions as protected by the constitution. According to him, the increasing abuse of the Hijabby terrorists to perpetrate criminal mass murder and other atrocities is a reality, and that the government would address the security challenge in consultations with Muslim leaders with a view to finding a workable solution. [myad]
Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi state has that the people in the state have made a covenant with God and that there would be no breaking it “either by us or God Himself.” In a broadcast to the people of the state today, Umahi said: “the wonderful and merciful God who brought us thus far, making us part and parcel of the New Year in good health, shall remain our keeper. He will surely do a lot more for us in 2016.” He said that he has been entrusted with governing the state through divine mandate, adding: “for this reason, we christened our 2016 budget, the Budget of Divine Actualization The governor is hopeful that the good God who gave him the mandate will finish the year 2016 well with him. “We have a covenant with Him and there is no breaking it either by us or God Himself. “He will help us to actualize our budget trust predicated on transforming the state capital into a modern city and developing our major towns and rural communities. We will not go back on our promise to provide qualitative education for Ebonyians and making potable water available to the rural communities. We will continue to tackle headlong, the problem of poor road network within the state, pursue mechanized agriculture that would eventually sustain the enviable status of the state in rice production, develop ICT among numerous priority areas.” Umahi asked his people to imbibe a new way of doing things. He asked them to re-channeling their creative energies to noble ventures for the good of the state. “We must seek genuine repentance and refocusing for greater virtues, making sustainable and unbreakable resolutions for a better year 2016. “As a government, we plead with Ebonyians to integrate their personal values and integrity into one over-all authentic governance frame-work in which government policies, rules and regulations and personal values can mutually reinforce each other. “In the words of Plato (340BC) ‘Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the law. “We have to learn from Plato and focus on creating a culture of good people in which personal values are aligned with the laws of the state and embedded in the minds of the people.” Umahi said that he is not just in government for the sake of it, but to transform Ebonyi State and make it number one in the country. “We will in 2016 touch more lives and together, take the state to an enviable height in the comity of states in the country. We are in government to create an environment where everybody will be seriously expected to achieve outstanding success and live in peace without trace of hostility. “We will create an environment where Ebonyians will dream dreams and nurture hope. Hope is everything and there is nothing like it especially where it is anchored on God. “We shall zealously and jealously guide our goals. We are passionate about our goals, it is our covenant with God and the people of Ebonyi State not until they are accomplished to the last one, and we shall never rest on oars.” [myad]
The concept and the celebration of January 1 every year across the world as New Year is supposed to be a strange occurrence for humanity in general. But, it has been so entrenched that anyone who speaks against it would look strange to the world. To start with, the ordinary meaning of “new” is something fresh; something that has never been seen or heard of before. It is all about beginning something. But, on January 1, the sun still rises from the East the same way it did on December 31 or any other day. You wake up on January 1 to meet the same People you encountered on December 31 or any other day. You still go to your office or visit friends or relations as normal as it has always been. The problems that confront you as an individual and the world generally are still there; they do not go away at the onset of January 1. In short, there is practically nothing special that happens on January 1 to indicate its newness or its deserving of celebration more than any other day of the year. As a matter of fact, there can be nothing new for a person who has been bed-ridden long before the January 1 or for an applicant that would still be pounding the street looking for anything to do to survive. Though, scientists have done well by inventing or setting certain parametre for measuring space and time as against spacelessness and timelessness in the nature, the idea of electing a certain day for the people of the world to remember as if it is the beginning of another journey into the future, seeks to belittle the human sensibility. Sad, even that humanity falls for such trap hook, line and sinker. As a matter of fact, the New Year, according to the historical accounts, is built around event that could be described as sadness. The first celebration of what today is regarded and celebrated as New Year was done by Julius Caesar, a 46 B.C Roman emperor, ordering the violent routing of revolutionary Jewish forces in the Galilee. It was believed that blood of the innocent people flowed in the streets and that in later years, Roman pagans observed the New Year by engaging in drunken orgies—a ritual which they believed constituted a personal re-enacting of the chaotic world that existed before the cosmos was ordered by the gods.
Julus Caesar was the Roman god of doors and gates, and had two faces, one looking forward and one back. Caesar felt that the month named after this god known as Janus (“January”) would be the appropriate “door” to the year.
As Christianity spread, pagan holidays were either incorporated into the Christian calendar or abandoned altogether. By the early medieval period most of Christian Europe regarded Annunciation Day (March 25) as the beginning of the year. According to Catholic tradition, Annunciation Day commemorates the angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary that she would be impregnated by G-d and conceives a son to be called Jesus.
Throughout the medieval and post-medieval periods, January 1 – supposedly the day on which Jesus’ circumcision initiated the reign of Christianity and the death of Judaism – was reserved for anti-Jewish activities: synagogue and book burnings, public tortures, and simple murder.
In reality, the universalisation of the concept of New Year has always confused people with analytical minds for the reasons one of which is the fact that it is presupposed that all humanity should be jubilating on January 1, irrespective of the mood and circumstances of life of individuals.
This question would continue to be asked: is there really anything new in the New Year or on January 1st?
All the same, Happy New Year to all our invaluable readers and fans. [myad]
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Saudi Arabia has executed a prominent Shiite cleric behind anti-government protests along with 46 other men, drawing angry condemnation from Iran and Iraq.
