New Egypt minister takes over after offices stormed

CAIRO – A new Egyptian interior minister took office on Sunday pledging to restore public confidence in the police a day after protesters stormed several state security buildings.

In an acceptance statement carried by the state MENA news agency, Mansur al-Issawi said he would take "all necessary measures to restore confidence between citizens and the police."

He also promised to make "every effort in the coming period to restore security and stability in the Egyptian street."

Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, who was appointed on Thursday after demonstrations against the presence of associates of Hosni Mubarak in the caretaker government running affairs since the former president's departure, named Issawi late on Saturday, the government's Facebook page said.

He replaces Mahmud Wagdi, who was appointed by Mubarak in the dying days of his three-decade rule in a vain bid to appease mass protests demanding he step down.

Wagdi in turn replaced Habib al-Adly, the long feared head of Egypt's internal security apparatus who went on trial on Saturday on corruption charges. He pleaded not guilty on all counts.

Protesters attacked several state security buildings on Friday and Saturday trying to retrieve files kept on the population by the security police, who have long been accused of human rights abuses.

Around 2,500 protesters stormed the state security building in Cairo's Nasr City "grabbing official documents before officials burn or shred them," a security official told AFP.

Hundreds more tried to barge their way into another state security building in the Cairo suburb of Sheikh Zayed, where guards inside fired into the air to try to disperse the crowd.

In the northwestern city of Mersa Matruh, protesters surged into the state security headquarters, gathering up thousands of documents before setting the building on fire.

Residents of the coastal resort then sat at nearby cafes leafing through the documents for evidence of human rights abuses as smoke billowed from the headquarters, a witness told AFP.

On Friday, hundreds massed outside the local state security headquarters in Egypt's second city Alexandria, hurling Molotov cocktails and burning police cars.

Some managed to get inside the building, and security officials inside fired gunshots before troops intervened

AIR TANGAN ORANG YANG TAK SOLAT

Semua orang tahu bahawa kalau meninggalkan solat adalah dosa besar dan malahan lebih hina daripada khinzir. Betapa hinanya kita kalau meninggalkan solat seperti yang dikisahkan pada zaman Nabi Musa as. Begini kisahnya, pada zaman Nabi Musa, ada seorang lelaki yang sudah berumahtangga, dia tiada zuriat, lalu terdetik dalam hati dia (nazar), "Kalau aku dapat anak, aku akan minum air kencing anjing hitam." Nak dijadikan cerita, Allah pun kurniakan isteri si lelaki tadi pun hamil dan melahirkan anak. Apabila dah dapat anak, lelaki ni pun runsinglah. Dia dah nazar nak kena minum air kencing anjing hitam. Syariat pada zaman Nabi Musa berbeza dengan syariat yang turun untuk umat Nabi Muhammad. Kalau umat Nabi Muhammad, nazar benda yang haram, maka tak payah buat tapi kena denda (dam) atau sedekah. Tapi kalau zaman Nabi Musa, barang siapa bernazar, walaupun haram tetap kena laksanakan nazar tu. Lalu, si lelaki yang baru mendapat anak, dengan susah hatinya pergilah bertemu dengan Nabi Allah Musa dan menceritakan segala yang terjadi ke atas dirinya.

Lalu, Nabi Musa menjawab bahawa lelaki tu tak perlu minum air kencing anjing hitam tetapi akan minum air yang lebih hina dari air kencing anjing hitam. Nabi Musa perintahkan lelaki tersebut untuk pergi menadah air yang jatuh dari bumbung rumah orang yang meninggalkan solat dan minum air tu. Lelaki itu pun senang hati, menjalankan apa yang diperintahkan oleh Nabi Musa tadi. Lihatlah, betapa hinanya orang yang meninggalkan solat, sampai dikatakan air yang jatuh dari bumbung rumahnya, lebih hina dari air kencing anjing hitam. Itu baru air bumbung rumah, belum air tangan lagi. Menyentuh bab air tangan, selalu kita suka makan masakan ibu/isteri kita.

Jadi, kepada muslimat sekalian, peliharalah solat kerana kalau meninggalkan solat (kalau tak uzur), air tangan akan menitik ke dalam basuhan makanan; nasi, dsb. Anak-anak, suami pula yang akan makan makanan yang dimasak. Takkan nak biarkan suami dan anak-anak gelap hati minum air tangan orang tinggalkan solat. Tak gamak kan?

Tapi lain pula halnya dengan kita ni. Pagi petang, mamak! Teh tarik satu, roti canai satu. Ada pulak segelintir tukang masak yang tak solat. Kita pun makan bekas air tangan dia..Gelaplah hati kita, sebab tu liat nak buat kerja-kerja yang baik. Hati² apa yang kita makan. Betapa beratnya amalan solat ni hatta Allah syariatkan solat kepada Nabi Muhammad melalui Isra' Mikraj sedangkan kewajipan-kewajipan lain memadai diutus melalui Jibril as. Ketika saat Rasulullah nazak, sempat baginda berpesan kepada Saidina Ali (dan untuk umat Islam), "As-solah as Solah wa amalakat aimanukum". Maknanya, "Solat, solat jangan sekali kamu abaikan dan peliharalah orang-orang yang lemah di bawah tanggunganmu..

Wa'allahualam

kolo toure pakai dadah?

Manchester City defender Kolo Toure has been suspended after testing positive for a specified substance.

The 29-year-old was informed by the Football Association after being tested at the Manchester derby last month where he was an unused substitute.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) defines a specified substance as one that is "more susceptible to a credible, non-doping explanation".

The punishment for this offence ranges from a warning to a two-year ban.

After Toure's A sample returned positive, City confirmed in a statement that the player had been suspended "pending the outcome of the legal process".

Toure has until Wednesday, 9 March to decide whether or not he wants a B sample to be tested. If he does and it comes back negative then the case would be closed and Toure regarded as not guilty.

However, if he does not then he will have to submit an explanation and would face a lengthy disciplinary procedure.

BBC sports news correspondent Dan Roan told BBC Radio 5 live: "A specified substance, according to Wada, is one more susceptible to a credible, non-doping explanation because of its general availability in medicines.

"It could be some kind of stimulant or dietary aid and that would tally with what I was told on Thursday night by sources close to Toure - who insists it was not deliberately performance enhancing or recreational.

"Given that Toure is a devout Muslim and is also teetotal and the fact he is regarded as a model professional and one of the quiet men of the Premier League, it seems to add up."

Since football signed up to Wada's code, testing has become more stringent and targeted, and ignorance is not regarded as a defence.

Roan added: "There seems little doubt Toure's season is over, it's now whether or not his entire career at Manchester City is in jeopardy too because he could face a two-year ban if he's found guilty."

Ivory Coast international Toure, whose brother Yaya also plays for City, is a former club captain who joined from Arsenal in July 2009.

The defender has gone on to make more than 50 appearances for City, although he was not involved in Wednesday's FA Cup victoryover Aston Villa.

The failed test automatically triggered the suspension and it is understood that Toure was left out of the squad because the club had been made aware of the situation.

City added in the statement: "There will be no further comment from the football club at this stage."

And on Thursday evening the FA said in a statement: "The FA can confirm that a player has been provisionally suspended from playing pending investigation, having tested positive for the use of a prohibited substance."

Mensing, 28, tested positive for the stimulant methylhexaneamine at the end of January and subsequently missed five matches after a period of ineligibility was imposed on him.

The player maintained he was unaware he had ingested the substance while using a dietary supplement - an explanation which was accepted by UK Anti-Doping.

In Kenny's instance, Christopher Quinlan - the chairman of the Regulatory Commission which heard the case - said that a professional sportsman "has a strict responsibility to ensure prohibited substances do not enter his or her body".

Toure was the skipper of City until the start of the current season when the armband passed to Carlos Tevez.

The Ivorian defender was brought to the Premier League by Arsenal in 2002 and he remained with the London club until his £14m transfer to City.

Toure, who is under contract with City until the summer of 2013, was one of several high-profile arrivals in the summer of 2009 as then-manager Mark Hughes spent more than £100m on new players.

City are pursuing trophies on three fronts. They play Reading in the FA Cup quarter-finals, meet Dynamo Kiev in the last 16 of the Europa League and lie third in the Premier League, 10 points behind leaders Manchester United.