British Woman Faces Jail for Sex on Dubai Beach
THE TELEGRAPH: A British businesswoman is facing six years in a foreign jail after she was allegedly caught having drunken sex on a beach in Dubai.

Michelle Palmer, manager of a publishing firm, was arrested after a police officer reportedly found her and a British holidaymaker in a compromising position on Jumeirah Beach in the Arab state.

The 30-year-old is thought to have been charged with having sex outside marriage - considered an offence in Dubai - as well as indecent behaviour in public, being drunk in public, and assaulting a police officer.

Miss Palmer told the Sun that she fears she will be 'made an example of' under the strict laws of a country where even mild public displays of affection are frowned upon. British Woman Faces Jail for Sex on Dubai Beach >>> By Laura Clout | July 9, 2008

MAILONLINE:
A Fine Pickle! >>> | July 10, 2008

TIMESONLINE:
British Woman Faces Six Years for Sex on Dubai Beach >>> By Nico Hines | July 10, 2008

GULF NEWS:
Expat Woman Caught on Beach Fired from Work >>> By Alice Johnson, Staff Reporter | July 10, 2008

GULF NEWS:
UAE Law against Indecency in Public >>>

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Swiss People’s Party Force Referendum on Minarets
THE GUARDIAN: Far right groups in Switzerland have collected enough signatures to force a nationwide referendum on banning minarets, the distinctive towers of Islamic architecture.

In what is being seen as a sign of growing Islamophobia in Europe, more than 100,000 Swiss citizens signed a petition to halt the construction of minarets.



Under Switzerland's direct democracy rules, that level of support is enough to trigger a referendum. The Swiss interior ministry today confirmed a vote would take place, without setting a date. Swiss Far Right Forces Vote on Minaret Ban >>> By Matthew Weaver and agencies | July 8, 2008

TIMESONLINE:
Racism Row in Switzerland over Minaret Ban Referendum >>> By David Charter, Europe Correspondent | July 9, 2008

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Italy: Proposed Fines for Muslims Sparks Controversy
ADNKRONOS INTERNATIONAL: Milan - The President of the northern Italian city of Milan, Filippo Penati, has triggered widespread debate with a controversial proposal to fine Muslims who pray on the streets outside the city's mosque.

According to authorities, the number of people praying on the sidewalk creates traffic and obstacles for pedestrians in the area surrounding the Viale Jenner mosque, a converted garage.

"Article 190 of the law regarding the obstruction of streets should be applied immediately," said Penati. Italy: Proposed Fines for Muslims Sparks Controversy >>> | July 7, 2008

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Who Is Obama Trying to Kid?
Photo of Barack Hussein Obama courtesy of The Times
THE TELEGRAPH: Senator Barack Obama will get a presidential welcome in Berlin this month when he makes a speech at the Brandenburg Gate.

Only US presidents have been given the honour of speaking in front of the 18th Century gate, whose chariot of victory overlooked the Berlin Wall and the ecstatic party that followed its destruction in 1989.

But Mr Obama could prove the exception on a whistle-stop tour to London, Paris and Berlin in three weeks time, with July 24th announced as the date for his visit to Germany.

The trip will address concerns that Mr Obama is something of a foreign-policy lightweight, and will include a major speech spelling out his vision of a new relationship between Washington and Europe. Barack Obama to Be Granted JFK Moment with Brandenburg Speech >>> By Harry de Quetteville in Berlin | July 8, 2008

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Turkey: Political Stability Hangs in the Balance
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Generals arrested as coup conspirators, a court on the verge of banning the ruling party: The power struggle in Turkey between Prime Minister Erdogan's Islamic-rooted AKP and the secular, old-guard Kemalists is intensifying -- at the cost of political stablity.

Ali Ercan’s world swarms with enemies. The gray-haired professor of nuclear physics and deputy chairman of the Kemalist Thought Association (ADD) has to worry about reactionary Islamists, separatist Kurds, suspicious Armenians and Greeks, capitalist Americans and of course the European Union, with its constant pressures to reform. A bodyguard stands in front of Ercan’s small office on Gazi Mustafa Kemal Boulevard, round the clock.

Inside, a brass plaque greets visitors: “Turkey will never belong to Europe! She will never give up her sacred sovereignty!” Ercan, 55, came up with the slogan himself. Now he wants the words etched on his gravestone, he says. The Europeans come in for particular blame in this “dark and dangerous time which our country is living through.” Who else have encouraged Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Islamicize Turkey through “reactionary religious forces,” he says. Who else have pushed Erdogan to sell off Turkey economically and erode its national sovereignty?

Many Turks think the same way. It was Ercan’s association that drummed up massive demonstrations last year against Erdogan’s conservative Islamic-rooted government. Hundreds of thousands gathered in front of the Atatürk Mausoleum in Ankara to demonstrate against the election of Abdullah Gül, a onetime fundamentalist, as president and to rail against the foreign “neo-colonial powers” that backed him. The ADD is a sort of think tank for Turkey’s patriotic conservatives -- and a refuge, above all, for retired military leaders. Coup Plot Intensifies Ankara’s Power Struggle >>> By Daniel Steinvorth in Ankara | July 7, 2008

THE INDEPENDENT:
The Big Question: Why Is Tension Rising in Turkey, and Is the Country Turning Islamist? >>> By Nicholas Birch in Istanbul | July 8, 2008

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The Netherlands Distances Itself from Wilders’ Statements about Jordan
DUTCH MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: In a letter to the House of Representatives, Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Verhagen explicitly distances the Dutch government from comments made by MP Geert Wilders about the people of Jordan and the Jordanian Royal House. Wilders called King Abdullah II a despot and said that, politically and democratically speaking, Jordan had not progressed beyond the level of Neanderthals.

Last week it emerged that legal proceedings had been initiated against Wilders in Jordan after a private citizen registered a complaint. An official notification of these proceedings is expected to be sent to the Netherlands through diplomatic channels, along with a request to inform Mr Wilders. There are no indications that Jordan intends to issue an arrest warrant. The Netherlands Distances Itself from Statements about Jordan >>> | July 7, 2008

Hat tip: ISRIA >>>

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Saudi Arabia Just Cannot Pass Muster When It Comes to Human Rights, Can It?
BBC: The New York-based organisation Human Rights Watch has called on Saudi Arabia to do more to protect Asian domestic workers from mistreatment.

It says some cases amount to slavery, with employers going unpunished for withholding wages, forced confinement, or physical and sexual violence.

HRW says some workers are imprisoned or lashed on spurious charges such as theft, adultery or witchcraft.

Thousands take shelter with the Social Affairs ministry or foreign embassies. Saudis Urged to Curb Maid Abuse >>> | July 8, 2008

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Ahmadinejad Plays Down War Talk
BBC: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has played down the threat of an armed conflict between his country and the United States or Israel.

"I assure you... there won't be any war in the future," he said in Malaysia.

Earlier, an aide to Iran's supreme leader said Tehran would strike Israel or the US navy in the Gulf if it was attacked over its nuclear programme.

The comments come amid reports of possible Israeli or US plans to strike Iran's nuclear facilities. Iran Leader Plays Down War Talk >>> | July 8, 2008

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Bush and His White House Team Show No Evidence of Having Silver Tongues When It Comes to Silvio
BBC: The White House has apologised to Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi for a briefing describing him as a political "amateur" who is "hated by many".

The "insulting" biography was included in a press kit distributed to reporters travelling with President George W Bush to a meeting of world leaders in Japan.

He was "one of the most controversial leaders" of a country "known for governmental corruption and vice".

Only last month, Mr Bush visited his old ally, calling him a "good friend".

The four-page description of Mr Berlusconi had been taken from the Encyclopedia of World Biography.

It refers to the Italian prime minister as a man "hated by many but respected by all at least for his bella figura (personal style) and the sheer force of his will".

It says Mr Berlusconi was said to be "regarded by many as a political dilettante (amateur) who gained his high office only through use of his considerable influence on the national media".

Acknowledging the error, White House spokesman Tony Fratto issued an apology. Bush Sorry over Berlusconi Insult >>> | July 8, 2008

SUN TIMES:
White House Sorry about Berlusconi Bio Gaffe >>> AP | July 8, 2008

NZZ Online:
Berlusconi als Dilettanten hingestellt: Die USA entschuldigen sich beim italienischen Ministerpräsidenten >>> | 8. Juli 2008

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Surrender!
TOWNHALL.COM: So this is how it ends: not with a bang, but a whimper.

The most senior judge in England has declared that Islamic legal principles in Sharia law may be used within Muslim communities in Britain to settle marital arguments and regulate finance. Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips said, "Those entering into a contractual agreement can agree that the agreement shall be governed by a law other than English law."

In his speech at an East London mosque, Lord Phillips said Muslims in Britain could use Islamic legal principles as long as punishments - and divorce rulings - comply with English law. Sharia law does not comply with English law. It is a law unto itself.

And so the English who gave us the Magna Carta in 1215, William Blackstone and the foundation of American law are slowly succumbing to the dictates of intolerant Islam and sowing seeds of their own destruction. Surrender! >>> By Cal Thomas | July 8, 2008

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Niall Ferguson: Without American Hegemony, the World Would Likely Return to the Dark Ages
The following article appeared in The Wall Street Journal in June 2004; but it is so relevant to the deteriorating situation in the world in the face of Islamic extremism, a seriously deteriorating world economy, powerless and clueless world leaders, and a weakened America that I feel it is well worth revisiting what Niall Ferguson had to say. Don’t forget that I have been warning of another “Dark Age” in my book, The Dawning of a New Dark Age, since 2003. - ©Mark

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: We tend to assume that power, like nature, abhors a vacuum. In the history of world politics, it seems, someone is always bidding for hegemony. Today it is the United States; a century ago it was Britain. Before that, it was the French, the Spaniards and so on. The 19th-century German historian Leopold von Ranke, doyen of the study of statecraft, portrayed modern European history as an incessant struggle for mastery, in which a balance of power was possible only through recurrent conflict.

Power, in other words, is not a natural monopoly; the struggle for mastery is both perennial and universal. The "unipolarity" identified by commentators following the Soviet collapse cannot last much longer, for the simple reason that history hates a hyperpower. Sooner or later, challengers will arise, and back we must go to a multipolar, multipower world.

But what if this view is wrong? What if the world is heading for a period when there is no hegemon? What if, instead of a balance of power, there is an absence of power? Such a situation is not unknown in history. Though the chroniclers of the past have long been preoccupied with the achievements of great powers--whether civilizations, empires or nation states--they have not wholly overlooked eras when power has receded. Unfortunately, the world's experience with power vacuums is hardly encouraging. Anyone who dislikes U.S. hegemony should bear in mind that, instead of a multipolar world of competing great powers, a world with no hegemon at all may be the real alternative to it. This could turn out to mean a new Dark Age of waning empires and religious fanaticism; of endemic rapine in the world's no-go zones; of economic stagnation and a retreat by civilization into a few fortified enclaves. Without American Hegemony, the World Would Likely Return to the Dark Ages >>> By Niall Ferguson

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Melanie Phillips: The UK Is Giving Succour to the Extremists Who Would Destroy Us
”… While the ordinary people of Britain are increasingly aghast at the way their country is being transformed by Islamism, the political, judicial, security and intellectual elites are busy denying the nature of the danger and making it far, far worse through a combination of extreme ignorance, arrogance and sheer funk.

The Islamists launched their jihad against the West because they perceived it was so weak and confused it would not possess the wherewithal to defend itself. When it comes to Britain, they never spoke a truer word.” - Melanie Phillips

MAILONLINE: Three years after the London Tube and bus bombings, it is alarming beyond measure to record that Britain is even now sleepwalking into Islamisation. Some people will think this is mere hyperbole. However, that's the problem. Britain still doesn't grasp that it is facing a pincer attack from both terrorism and cultural infiltration and usurpation.

The former is understood; the latter is generally not acknowledged or is even denied, and those who call attention to it are pilloried as either ' Islamophobes' or alarmists who have taken up residence on Planet Paranoia.

Certainly, the police and security service have been foiling plot after plot and are bringing to court a steady stream of Islamist radicals - an improvement without doubt from two years ago. And so, particularly within the British elite, people think that things are broadly under control.

They fail to realise that the attempt to take over our culture is even more deadly to this society than terrorism. They are simply blind to the ruthless way in which the Islamists are exploiting our chronic muddle of well-meaning tolerance and political correctness (backed up by the threat of more violence) to put Islam on a special - indeed, unique - footing within Britain.

As a result, the steady Islamisation of British public life is either being ignored or even tacitly encouraged by a political, security and judicial establishment that is failing to identify the stealthy and mind-bending game that is being played. Melanie Phillips: The UK Is Giving Succour to the Extremists Who Would Destroy Us >>> | July 8, 2008

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Church of England Set to Split over Women Bishops
THE TELEGRAPH: The Anglican Church is to press ahead with the introduction of women bishops without any compromise measures for opponents of the controversial move.

Hundreds of traditionalists, including several bishops, may leave the church after an epic four-hour debate ended with proposals to create new "men only" dioceses or "super bishops" narrowly thrown out by members of the General Synod in York.

It came despite the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the two most senior figures in the church, calling for safeguards to stop an exodus of Anglo-Catholics and evangelicals.

The church's drafting group is now likely to draw up legislation which will bring in women bishops, by 2014 at the earliest, with only an as yet unwritten national code of practice to cater for those who firmly believe the Bible teaches that bishops must be male, as Jesus and his apostles were. Church of England Set to Split over Women Bishops >>> By Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent | July 7, 2008

BBC:
Christ Chose Men >>> | July 8, 2008

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Oppose Shari’ah
TOWNHALL.COM: Try a little thought experiment. What would have happened in this country during the Cold War if the Soviet Union successfully neutralized anti-communists opposed to the Kremlin’s plans for world domination?

Of course, Moscow strove to discredit those in America and elsewhere who opposed its totalitarian agenda – especially after Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s excesses made it fashionable to vilify patriots by accusing them of believing communists were “under every bed.”

But what if the USSR and its ideological soul-mates in places like China, North Korea, Cuba, Eastern Europe and parts of Africa had been able to criminalize efforts to oppose their quest for the triumph of world communism? What if it had been an internationally prosecutable offense even to talk about the dangers inherent in communist rule and the need to resist it?

The short answer is that history might very well have come out differently. Had courageous anti-communists been unable accurately and forcefully to describe the nature of that time’s enemy – and to work against the danger posed by its repressive, seditious program, the Cold War might well have been lost.

Flash forward to today. At the moment, another totalitarian ideology characterized by techniques and global ambitions strikingly similar to those of yesteryear’s communists is on the march. It goes by varying names: “Islamofascism,” “Islamism,” “jihadism” or “radical,” “extremist” or “political Islam.” Unlike the communists, however, adherents to this ideology are making extraordinary strides in Western societies toward criminalizing those who dare oppose the Islamist end-state – the imposition of brutal Shariah Law on Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Islamists’ Catch-22 >>> By Frank J Gaffney Jr | July 7, 2008

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Anglican Bishops in Secret Vatican Summit
" … There can be no future for Christianity in Europe without Rome." - Anonymous Bishop of the Church of England
THE TELEGRAPH: Senior Church of England bishops have held secret talks with Vatican officials to discuss the crisis in the Anglican communion over gays and women bishops.

They met senior advisers of the Pope in an attempt to build closer ties with the Roman Catholic Church, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt.

Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was not told of the talks and the disclosure will be a fresh blow to his efforts to prevent a major split in the Church of England.

In highly confidential discussions, a group of conservative bishops expressed their dismay at the liberal direction of the Church of England and their fear for its future.

They met members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the most powerful of the Vatican's departments, the successor to the medieval Inquisition, which enforces doctrine and was headed by Pope Benedict XVI before his election. Anglican Bishops in Secret Vatican Summit >>> By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent | July 5, 2008

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The Utterly, Extremely, Astoundingly STUPID Lord Phillips! The Sharia Debate: We Can’t All Be Equal under Different Laws
TIMESONLINE: Allowing British Muslims recourse to Islamic law would be a charter for male dominance and peer-group bullying

Sneakily, Britain's first Muslim Minister, Shahid Malik, has ducked the critics that he will enrage in an interview to be broadcast on Channel 4's Dispatches programme on Monday.

Knowing that the phrase he uses to describe the situation of British Muslims - “the Jews of Europe” - will make the headlines, he has put it in the mouths of others. “If you ask Muslims today what do they feel like,” he says, “they feel like the Jews of Europe.” He does not say if he thinks that they are right.

I'll respond in the Malik method. If you asked most non-Muslims what they feel about the suggestion, they would say that it was disgraceful, outrageous and insulting.

Mr Malik's assessment of how some British Muslims feel may be accurate; but they are wrong. Race is not the issue. Unless we face up honestly to the incompatibilities between aspects of the ways of life of some (not all) Muslim groups in Britain, and the British mainstream culture, we shall find ourselves babbling about racism when the issue has less to do with race than with culture.

That is why I thought the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, in a careful speech at the East London Muslim Centre on Thursday, slid too quickly over the trickiest parts of his argument. He was discussing the application of Sharia in England and Wales.

The speech has been variously reported as anything from a gentle warning to cultural separatists within Islam, to a craven endorsement of the compromising speech about Sharia made by Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, last year. Lord Phillips took as his theme and title Equality Before the Law. This was shrewder than it was brave.

“Equality” is a dummy concept in the philosophy of law. Here it allowed both speaker and audience to overlook real differences between them, because everyone is in favour of equality. But Lord Phillips was wrong to say that only recently has English law developed a respect for equality. Common Law and Statute have always regarded everyone as “equal before the law”, but depending on who and what you are and what you've done, your rights may differ. A cat burglar and a householder are not equal before the law. An under-age teenager and an adult, a British citizen and an illegal immigrant, are not equal. An in-catchment-area and out-of-catchment-area parent are not (in their children's access to a local school) equal. It's all a question of category; the categories of citizen that our laws create do and must create differences - inequalities - in the rights of individuals. We Can’t All Be Equal under Different Laws >>> By Matthew Parris | July 5. 2008

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Pat Condell: A Secular World Is a Sane World

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Shades of Theocracy
FAMILY SECURITY MATTERS: The modus operandi for the political empowerment of Islamists in America is in full public display during every election cycle. The sad part is few realize how central "Islamic politics" is to the driving force of transnational Islamism and its threat to American security. The incessant attempts by American Islamist groups (like the MAS, CAIR, MPAC, ISNA, ICNA to name a few) to collectivize Muslims in the body politic - from voter registrations to their ideological grievance mill - point to their goals.

What better way to push forth a quasi-theocratic political agenda than to deceive the Muslim faithful into believing that their political survival as a minority in America depends upon the mixture of their faith identity with their political identity? These same Islamists spread the ideology of victimization and identity politics among any Muslims who will listen while they internally promote political Islam and Islamist statecraft within the ummah (Muslim community). They use their efforts at Muslim electoral involvement to exploit the spiritual ummah for political purposes. Most importantly, many in the mainstream media (MSM) and government turn to them to purportedly speak for the American Muslim population, even though they have no mandate or significant membership to do so. Exclusive: Islamism and the So-called ‘Muslim Voting Bloc’: Shades of Theocracy >>> By M Zuhdi Jasser | July 4, 2008

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That STUPID Judge, Lord Phillips!
Photo of Lord Phillips courtesy of The Telegraph
Is this man senile, or what? What's more, isn’t this man treasonous? What should happen to such a man who is willing to sell his country and its values and legal system down the river? If this is an example of the people at the top of British society, isn’t it time something changed? This man is a liability to the Crown. The people of the United Kingdom deserve better than this!

If this judge doesn't realize it, he certainly should: ALL British people need to live under ONE law. – ©Mark

THE TELEGRAPH: Muslims in Britain should be able to live according to Sharia law, the country's most senior judge has said.

Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, the Lord Chief Justice, strongly backed Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, over his suggestion earlier this year that aspects of Sharia law should be adopted in Britain.

The archbishop's remarks sparked a national debate and led to calls for his resignation.

Risking inflaming that controversy again, Lord Phillips has said that Muslims in Britain should be able to use Sharia to decide financial and marital disputes.

The judge did add that only the criminal courts should have the power to decide when a crime has been committed and when to impose punishment.

But his suggestion that different religious groups should run their affairs according to different rules sparked warnings that community cohesion could be undermined. Muslims in Britain Should Be Able to Live under Sharia Law, Says Lord Phillips >>> By Christopher Hope and James Kirkup | July 3, 2008

THE GUARDIAN:
Sharia Law Could Have UK Rôle, Says Lord Chief Justice: Britain's most senior judge reopened one of the most highly charged debates in Britain last night when he said he was willing to see sharia law operate in the country, so long as it did not conflict with the laws of England and Wales, or lead to the imposition of severe physical punishments >>> | July 4, 2008

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Netherlands Okays Jordan Prosecuting MP Wilders
NIS NEWS BULLETIN: THE HAGUE - Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen has declined to complain to Jordan about Dutch MP Geert Wilders awaiting prosecution in that country.

Wilders had asked Verhagen to summon the Jordanian ambassador in The Hague to protest against the possible court case against the Party for Freedom (PVV) leader for insulting Islam. The minister however refuses. The Netherlands cannot interfere with the judicial process of another country. "This is for courts, not politics," said the minister during a House debate on the Middle East.

"Conversely, a country also cannot influence the independent judicial process in the Netherlands," according to Verhagen. The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) however thinks differently about this; it does condemn the Dutch Public Prosecutor's Office (OM) decision not to prosecute Wilders domestically. Netherlands Okays Jordan Prosecuting MP Wilders >>> | July 3, 2008

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