Video 2: Muslim outrage in Sweden over Lars Vilks' Cartoons
Video 3: Counter-Bounty for Swedish Cartoons
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
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Monday, March 10, 2008
MEHR NEWS: TEHRAN, Mar. 10 (MNA) – Iranian Foreign Ministry on Monday summoned Slovenian Charge d’affaires Matjaž Puc whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council to protest against insulting religious sanctities in Europe.
The Foreign Ministry expressed deep concerns about the recent increases in religious desecration, especially insulting the holy prophet of Islam, Muhammad bin Abdullah (PBUH), in some European countries.
“The Islamic Republic believes that the freedom of insulting religions should not be promoted under the pretext of supporting the freedom of speech.”
The European Union is expected to abide by its commitments to the Article 20 of United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which prohibits any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence, the Ministry announced.
The Foreign Ministry expressed regret over the reprinting of one of the 12 sacrilegious cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in newspapers in Denmark last month that had enraged Muslims in 2006.
It also protested over a blasphemous movie about the holy Quran produced in the Netherlands and disrespectful cartoons of Prophet Muhammad appeared in a Swedish newspaper.
The ministry criticized the EU countries for misusing the freedom of speech, saying such actions are blatant insults to all Muslims around the world.
The Slovenian charge d’affaires said all countries are duty-bound to respect divine religions, adding that he will convey Iran’s protest to the European Union. [Source: Iran summons Slovenian diplomat >>>]
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
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BBC: The Vatican has brought up to date the traditional seven deadly sins by adding seven modern mortal sins it claims are becoming prevalent in what it calls an era of "unstoppable globalisation".
Those newly risking eternal punishment include drug pushers, the obscenely wealthy, and scientists who manipulate human genes. So "thou shalt not carry out morally dubious scientific experiments" or "thou shalt not pollute the earth" might one day be added to the Ten Commandments.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that "immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into Hell".
The new mortal sins were listed by Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti at the end of a week-long training seminar in Rome for priests, aimed at encouraging a revival of the practice of confession - or the Sacrament of Penance in Church jargon.
According to a survey carried out here 10 years ago by the Catholic University, 60% of Italians have stopped going to confession altogether. The situation has certainly not improved during the past decade.
Catholics are supposed to confess their sins to a priest at least once a year. The priest absolves them in God's name.
Talking to course members at the end of the seminar organised by the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Vatican department in charge of fixing the punishments and indulgences handed down to sinners, Pope Benedict added his own personal voice of disquiet.
"We are losing the notion of sin," he said. "If people do not confess regularly, they risk slowing their spiritual rhythm," he added. The Pope confesses his sins regularly once a week. Greatest sins of our times >>> By David Willey
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confessions, sins,
REUTERS: AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Danish cartoonist behind controversial images of the Prophet Mohammad has urged a Dutch right-wing politician to broadcast a film expected to be critical of the Koran despite fears it might spark violence.
Kurt Westergaard is the author of a series of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed including one showing him with a bomb as a turban which triggered riots in the Muslim world and a boycott of Danish products when they were published in 2006.
Fearing a similar backlash against the Netherlands, the Dutch government has urged politician Geert Wilders not to broadcast a film he has made about the Koran, distancing itself from his views and considering a possible ban.
Westergaard told the Dutch Volkskrant daily on Monday no Danish politician would dare to suggest blocking the film.
"That would mean political suicide. A Danish politician knows that you should not limit freedom of expression. Wilders must just show his film," he said in an interview. Cartoonist says Dutch must show anti-Koran film >>> | Mon 10 Mar 2008
DUTCH NEWS:
Dutch want EU support for stand on Wilders
HERALD SUN (AU):
Summit to debate Islamophobia in West By Lydia Georgi in Dubai | March 10, 2008
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)
Produced by CommonSenseAnon
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)
THE TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama yesterday rejected Hillary Clinton's suggestion that he stand as her vice-president on a Democratic "dream ticket".
After bouncing back from defeats last week to claim an easy victory in Wyoming at the weekend, Mr Obama said: "You won't see me as a vice presidential candidate. I'm running for president. We have won twice as many states as Senator Clinton, and have a higher popular vote, and I think we can maintain our delegate count."
In an interview with KTVQ television he added: "What I'm really focused on right now, because all that stuff is premature, is winning this nomination and changing the country," he said.
Mrs Clinton has repeatedly hinted that Mr Obama could join her on her ticket as a way of ending the current impasse over the nomination. Barack Obama 'won't be Hillary Clinton's vice president on dream ticket' >>> By Toby Harnden in Washington
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)
Sunday, March 09, 2008
BBC: As she listened to the cheering crowds and roars of enthusiasm as Hitler and his army entered Austria in March 1938, teenager Ilse Roemer was fascinated at first.
But then her father told her that the cries of "Sieg Heil" were a signal for the Nazis "to start hunting the Jews".
She had barely been aware of her Jewishness before. "Nobody ever asked if I was Jewish," she recalls.
Now everything changed.
She went to a cafe with her best friend, whose father was an ardent Nazi. Suddenly Hitler's voice came on the radio as he spoke euphorically of his Austrian homeland's absorption into the Third Reich.
The waiter insisted that everyone stand and raise their right arms in the Hitler salute.
Her friend told her to do likewise.
"It was the last time I went to a cafe because it was unbearable that I had to greet the Fuehrer," she says.
The 70th anniversary of the Anschluss this month will be sombre and low key.
It is still a deeply troubling episode for Austrians, who grew up in post-war decades with the idea that they were victims of Nazism, not its supporters. Homes taken over >>>
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
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Hat tip to Always On Watch
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)
THE SUNDAY TIMES: A Hamas leader admits hundreds of his fighters have travelled to Tehran
The Hamas commander was in a hurry. Hunched forward in a navy-blue parka, with the wind-chapped skin and drawn eyes of someone who had been outdoors all night, he had just returned from the front line with Israel. The whine of drones overhead signalled that his enemy was hunting for blood.
For someone who had survived the fiercest fighting between Israelis and Palestinians since 2000 and the deaths of scores of his fellow fighters, the commander, already a senior figure in his late twenties, appeared remarkably composed.
He is in the vanguard of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas which is growing into a disciplined army, trained to fight for victory rather than be consigned to the “martyr’s death” of the suicide bomber.
Israel has long insisted that Iran is behind this training. Last week Yuval Diskin, the head of the Israeli internal security service Shin Bet, said as much when he claimed that Hamas had “started to dispatch people to Iran, tens and a promise of hundreds”. He provided no evidence.
The Hamas commander, however, confirmed for the first time that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard has been training its men in Tehran for more than two years and is currently honing the skills of 150 fighters.
The details he gave suggested that, if anything, Shin Bet has underestimated the extent of Iran’s influence on Hamas’s increasingly sophisticated tactics and weaponry. Hamas wages Iran’s proxy war on Israel >>> By Marie Colvin in Gaza City
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
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THE SUNDAY TIMES: Alan Duncan is the first Conservative MP to enter a civil partnership. He tells how his nuptials are going down with the blue-rinse brigade
In the dying days of her leadership, Margaret Thatcher was fleetingly celebrated as a gay icon after being admired by the camp artists Gilbert and George. But her private views on homosexuality were assumed to be anything but liberal, particularly after she helped to power through a law that banned the promotion of homosexuality in schools.
Now, however, the Iron Lady could have the opportunity to set the record straight – by accepting an invitation to attend the gay “wedding” of her old friend Alan Duncan.
In a few months the dapper shadow enterprise secretary will become the first Tory MP to enter into a civil partnership when he ties the knot with his boyfriend, James Dunseath. (MPs who have already taken the plunge include Ben Bradshaw and David Borrow, both Labour.)
Apparently, at least 300 guests will be attending the ceremony, due to take place before the end of July. Duncan won’t say if Lady Thatcher’s invitation will be dropping through her letterbox soon, but it would be odd if she were left out. He and Thatcher have been close for years and often dine together.
There is no doubt, though, that section 28, the legislation that her government introduced to stop “loony lefties” teaching schoolchildren about gays, gave the Conservative party a long-standing and damaging reputation for homophobia. It is only now, under the leadership of David Cameron, that the party has finally shaken off that image, promoting instead an inclusive, nondiscriminatory attitude towards gays.
Duncan, for his part, claims that he hasn’t detected the slightest whiff of disapproval about his forthcoming civil partnership from even the most traditional figures in the party. “You should see my mailbag. I’ve had so much support,” he says. “People are saying, ‘Thank God for that – at last we can see off the last vestiges of sniping, sneering and disapproval.’ They are just writing to say, ‘Thank you, now the world can grow up and get real’ – and it’s great.” My big fat gay Tory wedding >>>
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
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PRESS TV (IRAN): Oman has boycotted this year's Paris International Book Fair in protest at the invitation of the Zionist regime as the fair's guest of honor.
“Oman has taken part in the fair twice before but is declining to do so this year after the Arab League urged its members to shun the event because of Israel's special designated status”, culture ministry official Khaled al-Ghasani told AFP.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt have already announced their decisions to boycott the fair.
On February 27, the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) called upon all its 50 member states to boycott the fair.
Thirty-nine Israeli writers have been invited to participate in the fair to mark the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the Zionist regime.
The Paris Book Fair will run from March 14 to 19. [Source: Oman boycotts Paris Book Fair >>>]
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PRESS TV (IRAN): The Hague holds talks with envoys from 30 Muslim states to discuss the imminent release of an anti-Islam film made by a Dutch politician.
Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen met with the ambassadors at the request of the Organization for the Islamic Conference (OIC) over the Web and possible television broadcast of the anti-Islam clip made by the maverick politician Geert Wilders.
The talks were held amidst vehement protests from Muslim nations, including Egypt, Iran and Pakistan which have threatened an economic boycott of the Netherlands if the short film is shown.
The latest of Wilders' provocative actions against Islam has escalated another worldwide outrage similar to the one following the publication of the Danish caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
The Dutch government, which tries to maintain its 'freedom of expression', has tried but failed to persuade Wilders not to broadcast the film. [Source: Hague on hot bricks over Wilders' clip >>>]
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EXPATICA: Nicolas Sarkozy voiced his solidarity with Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, who fears a Muslim backlash over a film criticising Islam made by a far-right Dutch MP.
PARIS, March 6, 2008 - French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday voiced his solidarity with Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, who fears a Muslim backlash over a film criticising Islam made by a far-right Dutch MP.
Sarkozy assured Balkenende of his "support" over lunch at the Elysee Palace, saying he was "highly aware of the question of Islam's place in European societies, and French society in particular," a presidential spokesman said.
Balkenende stressed once again that he was in "total disagreement" with the film's author Geert Wilders, warning it could spark protests similar to those unleashed by the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in Denmark.
"Obviously, we need to be careful of what is happening in other countries," he said.
Wilders, head of the Dutch far-right Freedom Party, said that if he finds a Dutch broadcaster to show the film uncut it could be on the air within a couple of days, and that he will otherwise present it at a press conference later this month and on the Internet. Sarkozy voices 'support' for Dutch PM in anti-Islam film row >>>
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
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Saturday, March 08, 2008
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)
BOSTON HERALD: What can a 19-year-old guy in jogging shorts do at Harvard that a rich Saudi sheik who sponsors terrorism can’t?
Get banned from the building.
Six times a week, Harvard kicks all the guys out of the Quadrangle Recreational Athletic Center at the request of the Harvard Islamic Society. This is to accommodate those female Muslim students whose faith won’t let them work out in front of men.
In the old days, Harvard would have laughed if some Catholic or evangelical mother urged “girls-only” campus workouts in the name of modesty. Today, Harvard happily implements Sharia swim times in the name of Mohammed.
At Harvard, that’s called progress.
When I asked Harvard spokesman Bob Mitchell about this new Sharia-friendly policy, he denied that they were banning anyone.
“No, no,” he told me, “we’re permitting women to work out in an environment that accommodates their religion.”
By banning all men from the facility, right?
“It’s not ‘banning,’ ” he insisted. “We’re allowing, we’re accommodating people.”
The Harvard story, broken by the intrepid staff at Boston University’s Daily Free Press, is sadly par for the liberal campus course. U-Cal Berkeley is working on a joint program with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, which practices religious and sexual discrimination. The Archbishop (and arch-liberal) of Canterbury has called for Britain to accommodate Sharia law. An exercise in discrimination at Harvard >>> By Michael Graham
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LE FIGARO: La Dame de Fer a passé une nuit en observation pour des examens médicaux préventifs.
L'état de santé de l'ancien premier ministre britannique Margaret Thatcher, hospitalisée vendredi soir pour subir des examens médicaux, est sortie de l'hôpital samedi après-midi. Elle marchait sans aide, a salué les quelques personnes assemblées près de l'hôpital Saint Thomas à Londres, avant de prendre place dans sa voiture. Margaret Thatcher est sortie de l'hôpital >>>
THE TELEGRAPH:
Margaret Thatcher released from hospital By Patrick Hennessy, Political Editor, and Megan Levy
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)
Although this article does not mention the group by name, we all know who the greatest offenders of forced marriages are. Political correctness triumphs again. For heaven’ sake, don’t mention who the offenders are lest they themselves be offended!THE GUARDIAN: At least 3,000 young women in Britain are the victims of forced marriages each year, with the scale of the problem far bigger than originally thought, according to a groundbreaking report out this week.
Have you noticed how the term ‘South Asian’ is so often used to avoid the ‘M’ word? And then we have the “problem spread across different ethnic minorities” frequently so stated!
To my knowledge, the practice of forced marriages is far more widespread in the Muslim communities, so for God’s sake just let’s say so. Let’s stop the pussyfooting. - ©Mark
The first study ever conducted in the UK into the prevalence of the custom shows that there are far more victims, spread across different ethnic minority communities, than official figures suggest.
Teachers should be given a key role in talking confidentially to young girls whom they believe may be at risk of being coerced into marriages, particularly if there is suspicion that an older sister has been married off against her will, the report recommends.
But there also needs to be more determined effort within communities to end the practice, so that forced marriages become a matter of shame and humiliation for parents, instead of being a matter of pride.
The Home Office-funded study calls on authorities to take the institution more seriously, so that it is treated as an issue of illegality, domestic violence and bullying.
The study, which looked at cases in Luton, a town with a large south Asian community, found at least 300 cases where victims had contacted community organisations. Yet the government's forced marriage unit, set up to tackle the problem three years ago, handles only 300 cases a year nationwide. 3,000 women a year forced into marriage in UK, study finds >>> By Jo Revill and Anushka Asthana | Saturday March 8 2008
TIMESONLINE:
Forced marriage fear prompts a national count of missing girls By Lucy Bannerman
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Mark Alexander (Hardback)
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