Has This NuLabour Governemt Got Cotton Wool for Brains, or What?
Photo of ‘the Marlboro Man’ courtesy of Google Images
DAILY MAIL: Smokers could be forced to pay for a Government tobacco licence in order to carry on buying cigarettes under draconian proposals being considered by ministers.

Government advisers have drawn up plans for a smoking permit - similar to the one needed to watch TV - which all smokers would have to carry.

Health experts have welcomed the move, pointing out that Britons are more likely to die from smoking-related diseases than those in any other European country. But the idea has triggered a furious backlash from smokers' groups, who claim it is evidence of a "bully state".

Under the plans, anyone who refused to pay for a permit would be banned from buying cigarettes from any outlet.

Although a licence could cost as little as £10 a year, forms would be made deliberately complex to deter people from applying.

Smokers could also be forced to obtain a doctor's signature, declaring their health was not at "massive risk" from their habit.

The scheme is the brainchild of Julian Le Grand, a professor at the London School of Economics, who heads the ministerial advisory board, Health England.

Yesterday, he claimed the idea would help many smokers break the habit if they had to make a decision whether to "opt in". Smokers could be forced to buy £10 licence just for the privilege of lighting up >>> By James Chapman

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L'hostilité contre l'islam s'exacerbe aux Pays-Bas
Photo de Geert Wilders grâce aux Google Images
LE FIGARO: En annonçant son film contre le Coran, Geert Wilders, l'ancien collègue de Hirsi Ali, passé à l'extrême droite, prépare un nouveau scandale.

L'appel à l'aide d'Ayaan Hirsi Ali suscite plus d'émotion en France, voire au Parlement européen, où cette intellectuelle menacée de mort par des islamistes s'est rendue hier, que dans son pays. Sans doute parce qu'aux Pays-Bas, il y a désormais mieux ou pire pour animer le débat sur les dangers du fondamentalisme musulman ; un débat d'une rare violence qui accompagne une forte poussée du populisme.

Dans son rapport publié lundi dernier, la Commission européenne contre le racisme et l'intolérance du Conseil de l'Europe (Ecri) souligne que, depuis 2000, «le ton du débat politique et public aux Pays-Bas sur la question de l'intégration (…) » et celles «intéressant les minorités ethniques s'est fortement détérioré. Les communautés musulmanes ont été particulièrement touchées par cette évolution qui a entraîné une augmentation substantielle de l'islamophobie sur la scène politique». Et les experts indépendants de souligner la dureté des propos qui, au nom de la liberté d'expression, «a entraîné le droit de manier délibérément l'offense» envers les minorités musulmanes (environ un million d'individus sur les 16,4 millions de Néerlandais).

Le populisme en progression

Geert Wilders n'est pas nommément cité. Mais le Parti de la liberté (VVD) qu'il dirige, classé à l'extrême droite, est souvent mentionné dans le rapport de l'Ecri. Reprenant le flambeau du populiste Pim Fortuyn, assassiné en 2002, Geert Wilders, après avoir contribué à la victoire du non au référendum sur le traité européen en 2005, a obtenu 5,8 % aux législatives de 2006. L'extrême gauche en a recueilli 16,6 %. En additionnant ces deux forces en progression dans les récents sondages, «vous pouvez considérer que le populisme pèse un tiers de l'électorat», analyse l'universitaire Paul Scheffer, précisant : «Et la campagne européenne a prouvé que ce tiers peut devenir une majorité.» L'hostilité contre l'islam s'exacerbe aux Pays-Bas >>> De Thierry Portes, envoyé spécial à La Haye

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BlogTalkRadio: The Gathering Storm Weekly Report
Click on the microphone to listen to the current ‘Gathering Storm Weekly Report’
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
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Die türkische Frage
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: 12. Februar 2008 Die Plakate waren auf Türkisch, die Rede war auf Türkisch und bald werden in der Stadt, in der sie tausendfach bejubelt wurde, die Minarette einer Großmoschee in den Himmel ragen. Sollten das Zeichen jenes „Verbrechens gegen die Menschlichkeit“, der Assimilierung, sein, vor dem der türkische Ministerpräsident Erdogan am Sonntag in Köln warnte?

Sie, wie manches andere, lassen sich auch anders deuten: als Symptome einer sich verfestigenden, vielleicht sogar vergrößernden Distanz zwischen den türkischen Einwanderern in Deutschland und der Mehrheitsgesellschaft. Man kann nicht erst seit Erdogans Rede den Verdacht haben, dass Türken und Deutsche nicht immer an das Gleiche denken, wenn sie von Integration reden. Und dass die Grundannahme der deutschen Ausländer- und Einwanderungspolitik falsch ist, eine möglichst weitgehende Eingliederung der rund 1,7 Millionen türkischen Staatsangehörigen in Deutschland und Hunderttausender schon Eingebürgerter werde von allen Beteiligten gleichermaßen als erstrebenswert angesehen.

„Klein-Türkei“ schon vielerorts Realität

Die Rede Erdogans, der noch am Vortag vor der Brandruine von Ludwigshafen als der große Brückenbauer zwischen den Zivilisationen auftrat, lässt jedenfalls erahnen, dass auch andere Vorstellungen in der Welt sind. In dem Land, in dem die meisten der eingewanderten Türken sich ihr Leben lang als Türken verstehen und unbehelligt ihre Sprache und Kultur pflegen, ist die „Klein-Türkei“, vor der CSU-Chef Huber warnte, jetzt schon vielerorts Realität.

Assimilierungsdruck gibt es in Deutschland nicht, jedenfalls nicht in Richtung der türkischen Bevölkerung. Häufig hört man dagegen Berichte über Prozesse der Retürkisierung in der dritten oder vierten Generation. Unter solch' günstigen Bedingungen, von denen selbst alteingesessene nationale Minderheiten in anderen Staaten nur träumen können, braucht man die Türken nicht wie Erdogan zur Pflege und Erhaltung ihrer türkischen Identität auffordern - es sei denn, man verbindet damit politische Zwecke. Wichtiges Wählerpotential… >>> Von Berthold Kohler

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
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Nach Abdruck von Mohammed-Karikaturen: Furcht in Dänemark vor weiteren Krawallen
Image courtesy of Infidel Blogger's Alliance
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: 15. Februar 2008 In Kopenhagen und in anderen dänischen Städten sind die Krawalle ausländischer Jugendlicher und solcher mit Migrationshintergrund in der Nacht zum Freitag zwar abgeflaut. Dennoch kam es weiterhin zu zahlreichen Brandstiftungen in vielen Kopenhagener Stadtteilen und in Provinzstädten mit größerem Ausländeranteil. Abermals wurden Autos und Container angezündet; in Bagsvaerd westlich der Hauptstadt wurde eine Schule bei einem Brand teilweise zerstört. Die Polizei ging von Brandstiftung aus. Bislang nahm die dänische Polizei elf Personen fest.

In einigen Fällen wurde die Feuerwehr nach eigenen Angaben von Steine werfenden Jugendlichen an der Arbeit gehindert. Krawalle wurden auch aus den Städten Aarhus, Ringsted und Slagelse gemeldet. Was die Unruhen ausgelöst hat, ist noch immer unklar. Beobachtern zufolge reagierten vorwiegend muslimische Einwanderer auf als repressiv wahrgenommene Kontrollen der Polizei. Als Hauptgrund für die Krawalle gilt jedoch die Zuspitzung von Konflikten zwischen den vorwiegend muslimischen Jugendlichen und der energisch eingreifenden Polizei.

„Zorn“ und Mordpläne

Neben der angeblichen Misshandlung eines älteren Arabers durch einen Polizisten wird auch das Einschreiten der Ordnungskräfte gegen den Rauschgifthandel sowie die Zunahme der Leibesvisitationen nach zahlreichen Messerstechereien in jüngster Zeit als Grund für die Gewalt der Jugendlichen in den Ausländervierteln genannt.

Einige Jugendliche nannten als Grund ihren „Zorn“ nach der neuerlichen Veröffentlichung von Mohammed-Karikaturen in fast allen dänischen Zeitungen, nachdem Mordpläne gegen den Zeichner Kurt Westergaard bekanntgeworden waren. Den Rückgang der Massenkrawalle in der Nacht zum Freitag führte die Polizei auch auf das Eingreifen von Elterngruppen zurück. Furcht in Dänemark vor weiteren Krawallen >>>

FAZ:
Foto-Gallerie von Schaden in Kopenhagen

BBC:
Danish Muslims in cartoon protest: What the BBC omits is the mayhem caused all around Denmark because of the protests (see ‘Foto-Gallerie' above) By Frances Harrison

LE FIGARO:
La presse danoise ravive
 la crise des caricatures D’Antoine Jacob

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
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Europe in the House of War
ASIA TIMES: Violence is oozing through the cracks of European society like pus out of a broken scab. Just when liberal opinion congratulated itself that Europe had forsaken its violent past, the specter of civil violence has the continent terrified. That is the source of the uproar over a February 7 speech by Archbishop Rowan Williams, predicting the inevitable acceptance of Muslim sharia law in Great Britain.

Not since World War II has British opinion been provoked to the present level of outrage. Writing in the Times of London, the editor of the London Spectator, Matthew d'Ancona, quoted former British Conservative parliamentarian Enoch Powell's warning that concessions to alien cultures would cause "rivers of blood" to flow in the streets of England. Times columnist Minette Marin accuses the archbishop of treason.

Coercion in the Muslim communities of Europe is so commonplace that duly-constituted governments there no longer wield a monopoly of violence. Behind the law there stands the right of the state to inflict violence, and the legitimacy of states rests on what German political economist and sociologist Max Weber once called "the monopoly of violence". Once this right is conceded to private groups, the legitimacy of government crumbles. No one appreciates this more than the British, whose tradition of protecting individual rights under law is the oldest and strongest in the West, excepting the United States, which inherited English Common Law.

By proposing to concede a permanent role to extralegal violence in the political life of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury pushed his phlegmatic countrymen over the edge. No one is better than the British at pretending that problems really aren't there, but once their spiritual leader admits to an alien source of coercion and proposes to legitimize it, they understand that a limit has been reached.

Williams' exercise in what might be termed the Higher Hypocrisy shows how deeply Europe has descended into the Dar al-Harb, or the "House of War" in the Muslim terms for all that lies outside the "house of submission", or Dar al-Islam. Europe's governments refuse to rule, that is, refuse to enforce their own laws because they fear violence on the part of Muslim immigrant communities who refuse to accept these laws. "No-go" zones proliferate that non-Muslims dare not enter. In the United Kingdom, according to evidence presented by respected journalists and public-interest organizations, Muslim community organizations, Muslim police officers and medical personnel collaborate to stop women from escaping domestic violence. The erring spiritual leader of the Church of England persuades me that Europe's Man of Destiny is the Dutch politician Geert Wilders >>> By Spengler

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The Muezzin Calling the Faithful to Prayer
The Muezzin’s call to prayer, al-Adhan (the ‘dh’ is pronounced as a ‘heavy’ ‘th’ as in ‘thee’) is a particularly mournful drone to sensitive Western ears. It is a most unfortunate din, one feels. Is this what we want in our own towns and villages? Somehow, I doubt it; yet it might well be coming to Oxford very shortly!

Play the following genuine call of the muezzin. I think you will agree that it doesn’t have the happy tones of the peeling of church bells. But then, no one said that the Qur’an was equivalent to ‘the Good News’, or Gospel. On the contrary, the Qur’an is full of doom and gloom; so we shouldn’t be surprised when the call to prayer in Islam also sounds mournful, also sounds as though the muezzin is in agony! Listen here; see what you think:

Al-Adhan
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France 24 (in English) – Top Story: Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Death Threats, and French Citizenship
Whilst you and I might not be able to agree with all the points made in this short video, it does, nevertheless, raise some very interesting questions:


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Ayaan Hirsi Ali Asks EU for Protection
BBC: Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the former Dutch MP and outspoken critic of Islam, has appealed to the EU to create a fund to help protect people in her position.

She told the European Parliament in Brussels her life was in greater danger because the Dutch government had stopped paying for her security.

"I don't want to die, I want to live and I love life," she said.

Ms Ali added that the cost of her bodyguards was beyond anything a private person could raise. Islam critic asks for protection >>>

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Uganda Boycotts Anglican Conference
DAILY EXPRESS: The schism in the Anglican Communion over the issue of homosexuality widened further with the Church of Uganda announcing a boycott of the Lambeth Conference.

The meeting of the world's Anglican bishops takes place every 10 years at the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams. It is supposed to be the one occasion when all bishops can meet for worship, study and conversation.



But the Anglican Church in Uganda has long threatened to boycott the conference because it is unhappy the "crisis" surrounding the Communion's stance on homosexuality has not been resolved.



The row over homosexuality flared up following the consecration of an openly gay man, Gene Robinson, as Bishop of New Hampshire in the US in 2003.

The Church of Uganda, and other traditionalist churches in the developing world, criticised Anglican leaders for failing to address how one province in the Communion could make such a move without wider consultation.



The Church of Uganda will now attend a more traditional meeting, the Global Anglican Future Conference, to be held in Jerusalem in June. Uganda Boycotts Anglican Conference >>>

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Divided Britain ‘Too Soft on Extremists’
DAILY EXPRESS: BRITAIN has become a “soft touch from within and without” for extremists, a devastating report warned yesterday.

Failure to “lay down the line” to immigrants who refuse to integrate has undermined the fight against radicals and terrorists.

This is the verdict of some of the country’s most respected defence experts.

In a scathing attack they blamed increasing terror threat on a “mis-placed deference” to multi-culturalism and lack of leadership.

The London 7/7 atrocities had exposed those weaknesses, it said. The report painted a crushing picture of the UK as a “fragmenting post-Christian society” divided over its history, aims and political identity.

A loss of confidence in the nation’s identity and institutions was increasingly making the country a target for attack.

And it compared that to the “implacability” of the Islamic terrorists now threatening from within our borders.

The hugely-damaging report, from the renowned Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), urged ministers to restore defence and security as the first duty of government.

In unusually strong language, it said: “We look like a soft touch. We are indeed a soft touch.”

It added that Britain was presenting itself as a target increasingly divided about interpretations of its history, about its national aims, its values and in its political identity.

“That fragmentation is worsened by the firm self-image of those elements within it who refuse to integrate,” it said. Divided Britain ‘Too Soft on Extremists’ >>> By Tom Whitehead

DAILY MAIL:
Obsession with multiculturalism makes Britain a soft touch for terrorists

THE TELEGRAPH:
Britain 'a soft touch for home grown terrorists' By Robert Winnett, Deputy Political Editor

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Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Assaults on Jews in UK Hit Record Levels
THE TELEGRAPH: The number of violent assaults on Jews in the UK reached record levels last year, new figures have shown.
There were 547 recorded anti-Semitic race hate incidents, defined as malicious acts toward the Jewish community, according to the Community Security Trust (CST).

The number of violent attacks rose to 114 incidents in 2007, the highest number since CST began its records in 1984. Assaults on Jews in UK hit record levels >>> By Lucy Cockcroft

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Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Guardian Special: Richard Dawkins in Debate
Podcast special: Richard Dawkins - Stephen Moss introduces a debate between Richard Dawkins and Madeline Bunting
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Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Polizei zerschlägt Islamisten-Zelle im Baskenland
NZZ Online: Die spanische Polizei hat im Baskenland eine Islamistenzelle zerschlagen und drei Verdächtige festgenommen. Die Gruppe soll Gelder für terroristische Aktivitäten gesammelt haben, wie die Polizei am Donnerstag mitteilte.

(sda/dpa/reuters) Zudem sollen sie unter Muslimen in der baskischen Regionalhauptstadt Vitoria militantes Propagandamaterial verteilt haben. Den Verdächtigen werde vorgeworfen, CD's und MP3-Dateien mit Aufrufen zum Heiligen Krieg verbreitet zu haben. Polizei zerschlägt Islamisten-Zelle im Baskenland: Drei Verdächtige in Haft genommen >>>

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Arab States Lobby Against Dutch Anti-Islam Film
Image courtesy of Klein Verzet
EARTH TIMES: Valletta, Malta ­ Arab states attending the European Union- Arab League meeting in Malta on Tuesday lobbied the Dutch government against a highly controversial anti-Islam film about to be released in the Netherlands. The foreign ministers of Syria, Egypt and Morocco spoke against the film with Dutch State Secretary for Social Affairs and Employment Ahmed Aboutaleb, a Muslim himself, at the ministerial meeting that ended Tuesday, The Times of Malta reported.

Dutch far right leader Geert Wilders is behind the 15-minute film (Fitna), which according to advance reports denounces the Koran as a fascist book and claims it incites people to murder. Arab states lobby against Dutch anti-Islam film >>> By DPA

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Les Pays-Bas irrités par l'accueil réservé à Ayaan Hirsi Ali au Parlement européen
Photo d’Ayaan Hirsi Ali grace au Monde
LE MONDE: L 'ancienne députée libérale néerlandaise d'origine somalienne Ayaan Hirsi Ali, exilée à Washington et menacée de mort par des groupes radicaux pour ses critiques de l'islam, devait être reçue, jeudi 14 février, au Parlement européen, à Bruxelles. Elle devait y rencontrer le président Hans-Gert Pöttering, avant de participer à un débat.

Mme Hirsi Ali avait été conviée par des socialistes français, dont Benoît Hamon, auteur d'une déclaration écrite sur la prise en charge par l'Union européenne de sa protection. Ce texte a été signé par près d'une centaine d'eurodéputés, émus par la décision des autorités néerlandaises qui, depuis octobre 2007, refusent d'assumer le coût de ses gardes du corps.

L'initiative parlementaire et la rencontre avec M. Pöttering ont mis de mauvaise humeur le gouvernement de La Haye, déjà agacé par le meeting de soutien à Ayaan Hirsi Ali organisé à Paris, dimanche 10 février. Au cours de celui-ci avait été évoqué l'idée de créer un fonds européen pour assurer sa protection, ainsi que son éventuelle naturalisation française. Les Pays-Bas irrités par l'accueil réservé à Ayaan Hirsi Ali au Parlement européen >>> de Bruxelles Correspondent

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An Open ‘Letter’ to the Archbishop of Canterbury

Most Reverend Sir:

In light of your recent comments about Shari'ah law, I should be very much obliged to receive your comments about the following distressing account of a poor lady in Saudi Arabia who is about to be beheaded for alleged 'witchcraft' as a result of a ruling in a Shari'ah court. Please see the following links:

International fury over Saudi Arabia's plans to behead woman accused of being a witch

Pleas for condemned Saudi ‘witch’

Are you proposing to intervene in this matter, are you proposing to try and save this poor lady's life?

It should be noted that Ms Falih is illiterate, and the confession forced out of her was a confession she was unable to understand.

It would be comforting to learn that you have done something to try and save this person's life, especially in view of your commitment to Shari'ah law.

Most sincerely

Mark Alexander
Author: The Dawning of a New Dark Age

Please note that you, too, may contact the Archbishop of Canterbury about this matter by clicking on the following link.

Mark Alexander

Hassan Nasrullah Threatens Israel with “Open War”
BBC: Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has warned that the militant group is ready for "open war" with Israel, after the killing of one of its leaders in Syria.

Nasrallah made the declaration during a fiery speech at the funeral of Imad Mughniyeh in Lebanon's capital, Beirut.

There is huge tension in the city, where thousands are attending Mughniyeh's funeral and rivals have held a memorial for ex-PM Rafik Hariri.

It is three years since Hariri was killed, plunging Lebanon into crisis.

Mughniyeh was killed in a car bombing in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Tuesday.

Correspondents say the events come at a tense time, with no president and no working parliament.

A huge security operation is under way amid fears of clashes between the pro-Syrian Hezbollah supporters and the anti-Syrian Hariri supporters.

About 8,000 army and internal security force troops have been deployed, with the aim of keeping the two factions apart.

The BBC's Mike Sergeant in Beirut says the two events will separate them naturally, but there are fears that people departing from mixed neighbourhoods could clash with rival groups on the streets.

Israel on alert

Mughniyeh's funeral, which Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki is attending, is taking place in the Hezbollah stronghold of the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Speaking to the crowds of mourners via a giant video screen, Nasrallah blamed Israel for his death and said its war against the Jewish state was not over.

"Zionists, if you want this sort of open war, then let the whole world hear, so be it!" he declared. Hezbollah chief threatens Israel >>>

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Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Bush Defends US Record on Darfur
BBC: US President George W Bush has defended his decision not to send troops to the Sudanese region of Darfur, despite what he calls a genocide taking place there.

He called it a "seminal decision" not to intervene with force, taken partly out of the desire not to send US troops into another Muslim country.

Mr Bush was speaking to BBC World News America before flying to Africa.

He also discussed controversy over China's Olympics - saying he would attend the event as scheduled.

After Steven Spielberg withdrew his assistance to the Olympics in protest at China's policy towards Darfur, Mr Bush said he would not be taking a similar stance.

"I view the Olympics as a sporting event," he told the BBC's Matt Frei.
But he added that he would meet Chinese President Hu Jintao and "remind him that he can do more to relieve the suffering in Darfur". Bush defends US record on Darfur >>>

WATCH BBC VIDEO:
Bush Defends Darfur Decision

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Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Saudi Arabia: More Efforts Needed to Empower Women
ARAB NEWS: RIYADH, 14 February 2008 — The Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on Violence Against Women has accused members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice of human rights abuses by harassing, threatening and arresting women who “depart from accepted norms.”

Yakin Erturk, who has been in the Kingdom at the invitation of the government, was on a 10-day fact-finding mission. She spoke to the press at the end of her mission.

During her visit, she met government officials in Riyadh, Buraidah, Jeddah and Dammam, the head of the Shoura Council and representatives of various groups, including academics, human rights organizations, family protection centers, women’s groups, victims of violence and women at the central prison in Riyadh.

She also had discussion with representatives of diplomatic missions, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the EU and the UN country teams.

Citing the case of Yara published in Arab News recently, Erturk said: “It is a telling example of harassment when a businesswoman from Jeddah is arrested while having coffee with her male colleague in a public place. She was subjected to humiliating and illegal treatment before she was released the following day.”

The commission members are law enforcers responsible for maintaining morality in public place, she said, indicating that although they are required to act in concert with the police and under certain limitations with respect to arrest and detention of people, “they often reportedly act independently and are accountable only to the governors of the respective regions.” More Efforts Needed to Empower Women: Erturk >>> By Mohammed Rasooldeen

ARAB NEWS:
Saudi Women Seek Jobs in Kuwait By Hayat Al-Ghamdi

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Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Sarkozy Attacks Iran for Its Stance on Israel
YNET NEWS: French president tells Jewish community in Paris he would refuse to greet any world leader who refused to recognize Israel

PARIS - French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Wednesday he would refuse to greet any world leader who refused to recognize Israel -- a remark apparently ruling out any face-to-face meetings with Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Sarkozy made the off-the-cuff remark in a speech to the French-Jewish community in which he reaffirmed his strong support for international sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program.

"I won't shake hands with people who refuse to recognize Israel," Sarkozy declared at an annual event hosted by the Representative Council of Jewish Organizations in France (CRIF). Sarkozy attacks Iran for its stance on Israel >>> Ynet and Reuters

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Muazzez Ilmiye Çig Condemns the Lifting of the Headscarf Ban
Photo courtesy of SpiegelOnline International
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: In a SPIEGEL interview, prominent Turkish archeologist Muazzez Ilmiye Cig discusses her country's move to lift the headscarf ban on college campuses and why she feels it represents a "step back" for her country.

Hardly any other issue is so divisive in Turkey as the headscarf. For some it is an expression of individual religiousness, while others see it as a declaration of war against the secular republic. The parliament in Ankara, which is dominated by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic conservative AKP, voted last Wednesday to lift the ban on wearing the headscarf at universities (more...).

On Saturday, parliament voted overwhelmingly to approve the two constitutional amendments. In lifting the ban, Erdogan made good on a campaign promise he had made five years ago. Leading up to the parliament's decision, tens of thousands of secular Turks took to the streets to express their support for keeping the ban. The amendments have been sent to the office of President Abdullah Gül, who is expected to agree to the changes.

In an interview with SPIEGEL, Muazzez Ilmiye Çig -- the 93-year-old doyenne of Turkish archeology, and one of Turkey's best-known opponents of the headscarf -- discusses the development and its ramifications for the secular nation. Headscarf Researcher Condemns Turkey's Move to Lift Ban >>> By Daniel Steinvorth in Istanbul

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Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Saudi Arabia to Behead Woman for Witchcraft
DAILY MAIL: The Saudi Arabian king today faced international outcry over the planned beheading of a woman accused of being a witch.

Fawza Falih turned two men impotent, a court heard in the ultra-religious state where “performing supernatural occurrences” is considered an offence against Islam.

Judges were also told she cast a spell to bring about the return of a divorced man's ex-wife.

But international charity Human Rights Watch said King Abdullah's religious police had forced a confession out of her.

And they claim the judges who tried her in the northern town of Quraiyat never gave her the opportunity to prove her innocence in the face of "absurd charges that have no basis in law." International fury over Saudi Arabia's plans to behead woman accused of being a witch >>>

BBC:
Pleas for condemned Saudi 'witch' By Heba Saleh

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Mark Alexander (Hardback)