Titles:

• Extremist threat rose after Iraq war: ex-MI5 chief
• Germany sets up hotline to help radical Islamists quit extremism
• Syria follows the West and bans the niqab at universities
• UAE looking to service western fighter jets
• US army heat-ray gun in Afghanistan
• India's state banks turn away Muslims

News Details:

Extremist threat rose after Iraq war: ex-MI5 chief
Iraq posed little threat to Britain just before the 2003 war -- but the danger of extremist attacks surged following the conflict, the ex-head of domestic security service MI5 told an inquiry Tuesday. Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, chief of the intelligence agency from 2002 to 2007, also dismissed any connection between Iraq and the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. Manningham-Buller said that in 2002, MI5 had advised Blair's government that the "direct threat" from Iraq was "low". "We did think that Saddam Hussein might resort to terrorism in the theatre if he thought his regime was toppled but we didn't believe he had the capability to do anything in the UK," she said. "Our involvement in Iraq radicalised, for want of a better word, a whole generation of young people -- not a whole generation, a few among a generation -- who saw our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan as being an attack on Islam," she said. "During 2003-04, we realised that the focus was not foreigners. The rising and increasing threat was a threat from British citizens and that was a very different scenario to, as it were, stopping people coming in." Manningham-Buller also said there was "no credible intelligence" linking Iraq to the September 11 attacks in the US.

Germany sets up hotline to help radical Islamists quit extremism
Germany's domestic intelligence service has launched a program for Islamic radicals who want help to quit extremism. The program started Monday and addresses "people who believe in a fanatic, violent ideology...based on Islam."  The program called HATIF - meaning phone in Arabic - aims to help extremists to leave behind their fanatical environment. In German, the letters stand for Out of Terrorism and Islamic Fanaticism.  They can contact members of the intelligence service online or call a specific number. The agency - which says it is guaranteeing confidentiality - says it wants to help people get out by supporting them with finding jobs or moving to a different place.  People calling the confidential hotline can be provided with advice and help with changing locations and gaining qualifications, as well as taking "appropriate measures" if the individual has been threatened.  Hotline staff will be able to communicate in German, Arabic or Turkish.  German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere in June presented the annual constitutional protection report, which said there were 29 Islamist organizations in the country, with some 36,000 active members.

Syria follows the West and bans the niqab at universities
Syria has forbidden the country's students and teachers from wearing the niqab. The ban shows a rare point of agreement between Syria's secular, authoritarian government and the democracies of Europe: Both view the niqab as a potentially destabilizing threat. "We have given directives to all universities to ban niqab-wearing women from registering," a government official in Damascus told The Associated Press on Monday.The order affects both public and private universities and aims to protect Syria's secular identity, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the issue. Syria is the latest in a string of nations from Europe to the Middle East to weigh in on the veil, perhaps the most visible symbol of conservative Islam. Veils have spread in other secular-leaning Arab countries, such as Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon, with Jordan's government trying to discourage them by playing up reports of robbers who wear veils as masks. Turkey bans Muslim headscarves in universities, with many saying attempts to allow them in schools amount to an attack on modern Turkey's secular laws. The issue has been debated across Europe, where France, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands are considering banning the niqab on the grounds it is degrading to women. Last week, France's lower house of parliament overwhelmingly approved a ban on both the niqab and the burqa, which covers even a woman's eyes, in an effort to define and protect French values - a move that angered many in the country's large Muslim community.

UAE looking to service western fighter jets
Abu Dhabi is aiming at a US$2 billion-a-year share of the lucrative market in maintaining and repairing F-16 jets, Blackhawk helicopters and other military aircraft operating in the Gulf. Mubadala, the strategic investment company owned by the Abu Dhabi Government, is joining up with Sikorsky Aerospace Services of the US to build an $800 million (Dh2.93bn) military aircraft maintenance centre in Al Ain.The new partnership will focus on servicing the 450 planes and helicopters owned by the UAE Armed Forces, but also target a 10 per cent slice of the $19 billion spent every year on such repairs in the wider region. The business is growing fast because governments are outsourcing the work to the private sector to cut costs. Currently, planes and parts are shipped to the US and Europe for repair and maintenance, which are vital to keeping a battle-ready fighting force. "Eliminating the freight costs and the reduction in time should in itself be significant to armed forces in the UAE and the wider region," said Homaid al Shemmari, an executive director at Mubadala Aerospace.

US army heat-ray gun in Afghanistan
A newly-developed heat-ray gun that burns the skin but doesn't cause permanent injury is now with US troops in Afghanistan. The Active Denial System (ADS) is a non-lethal weapon designed to disperse violent crowds and repel enemies. It uses a focused invisible beam that causes an "intolerable heating sensation", but only penetrates the skin to the equivalent of three sheets of paper.  The discomfort causes whoever it's pointed at to immediately start moving away. They often scream but the US military says the chance of injury from the system is 0.1%.  It's already been tested more than 11,000 times on around 700 volunteers. Even reporters have faced the heat-ray. Lt. Col. John Dorrian, a US military spokesperson, says the kit is now in Afghanistan but no decision has yet been made on its use.

India's state banks turn away Muslims
State-owned banks in India have been accused of discriminating against the country's Muslim minority. India's minorities watchdog has received a record number of complaints from Muslims who say they have been prevented from opening bank accounts. India's Muslim community is among the poorest in the country. The National Commission of Minorities says that there has been a 100% increase in the number of complaints it has received over the past year from Muslims who say they are being prevented from opening accounts in state-run banks. Reports say the worst case took place in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, where some 90,000 Muslim students were unable to open accounts to deposit scholarship cheques given to them by the government. Official reports frequently put Muslims at the bottom of India's social and economic ladder - even beneath than low-caste Hindus. Their economic status means they are often excluded by private banks, which prefer more well-to-do clients. Already a number of reports have suggested that India's Muslims fare poorly when it comes to getting access to quality education or employment opportunities. This latest finding will add more pressure on a government which is seen as doing very little for the country's largest minority group.