Bibeltreue und Homosexualität: Evangelikale wollen Schwule jetzt "heilen"
WELT ONLINE: "Psychotherapie und Seelsorge" – der Titel einer Marburger Konferenz klingt harmlos. Dass Grüne, Junge Liberale und Schwulengruppen gegen das Treffen von Theologen und Psychologen Sturm laufen, liegt an zwei Referenten. Ihnen wird vorgeworfen, sie wollten Schwule therapieren.

Längst Normalität: Ein schwules Paar in Berlin. Bild dank der Welt
In Marburg haben sich 1529 schon Luther und Zwingli gezankt, und nun sorgt eine weitere christliche Tagung dort für Streit. Dieses Mal geht es um Homosexualität. Vom 20. bis zum 24. Mai soll in Räumen – nicht in der Trägerschaft – der Stadt Marburg und der Philipps-Universität der "6. Internationale Kongress für Psychotherapie und Seelsorge" stattfinden, dem ein Bündnis aus Grünen, Jungen Liberalen und Schwulengruppen "Sexismus, Homophobie und Fundamentalismus" vorwirft. Und der Fraktionsgeschäftsführer der Grünen im Bundestag, Volker Beck, fürchtet, in Marburg könnten "Lesben und Schwule als defizitär, krank, therapiebedürftig oder sündhaft" dargestellt werden.

Der Protest richtet sich nicht gegen den Kongress – auf dem Theologen und Psychologen über christliche Identität reden –, sondern gegen einzelne Referenten. Denen wird vorgeworfen, sie hielten Homosexualität für heilbar, wollten Schwule therapieren und zu bibelgemäßer Sexualität bewegen.

Einer ist Markus Hoffmann, Leiter der Gruppe „Wüstenstrom“, der seine Wandlung vom Schwulen zum Heterosexuellen als Reifung und Befreiung darstellt: „Meine Identität war gereift, genügend positive Selbst- und Objektrepräsentanzen waren entstanden und damit wurde für mich die Homosexualität als Ich-Stütze überflüssig, heterosexuelle Gefühle konnten hervortreten.“ Bei „Wüstenstrom“ berät er Männer, die an ihrer Neigung leiden. >>> Von Matthias Kamann | Donnerstag, 16. April 2009

World Agenda: Nicolas Sarkozy Puts Barack Obama in the Doghouse
TIMESONLINE: Why the master of America's new First Mutt is no longer in good odour with President Sarkozy

Nico and Hussein. Photo courtesy of TimesOnline
France has been cooing along with everyone else over the arrival of Bo Obama at the White House, but the master of America's new First Dog is no longer in good odour with President Sarkozy.

Mr Sarkozy is pouring cold water on President Obama's efforts to recast American leadership on the world stage, depicting them as unoriginal, unsubstantial and overrated. Behind leaks and briefings from the Elysée Palace lies Mr Sarkozy's irritation at the rock-star welcome that Europe gave Mr Obama on his Europan [sic] tour earlier this month.

The American President's call "to free the world of the menace of a nuclear nightmare" was hot air, Mr Sarkozy's diplomatic staff told him in a report. "It was rhetoric – not a speech on American security policy but an export model aimed at improving the image of the United States," they said. Most of Mr Obama's proposals had already been made by the Bush administration and Washington was dragging its feet on disarmament and treaties against nuclear proliferation, the leaked report said.

Personal pique and French politics are also behind the souring of Mr Sarkozy's self-promoted honeymoon with the United States. On the personal side, the French President is needled by the adulation for an unproven US leader whose stardom has eclipsed what he sees as his established record as a world troubleshooter. "The President is annoyed by what he sees as the naivety and the herd mentality of the media," said a journalist who is privy to Elysée thinking. >>> Charles Bremner | Wednesday, April 15, 2009

TIMESONLINE: Sarkozy Snipes at 'Dim' Spanish PM and 'Weak' Obama

The US President is weak, the Spanish leader is dim, the German Chancellor is clinging on to France’s coat-tails and the head of the European Commission is irrelevant.

That, at any rate, is the world according to President Sarkozy, who has spent the week airing his unvarnished opinions of Barack Obama and an array of international politicians — abruptly ending France’s honeymoon with the US and needling Washington on several strategic issues.

In the latest in a stream of accounts from the Élysée Palace, Mr Sarkozy was quoted yesterday as telling an all-party group of MPs that Mr Obama was inexperienced and indecisive. “Obama has a subtle mind, very clever and very charismatic,” the French President said. “But he was elected two months ago and had never run a ministry. There are a certain number of things on which he has no position. And he is not always up to standard on decision-making and efficiency.”

The US President had underperformed on climate change when they met, Mr Sarkozy said, according to an account of the MP’s session in the newspaper Libération. “I told him, ‘I don’t think that you have quite understood what we are doing on carbon dioxide’.”

Mr Sarkozy was apparently irked by media reports that Mr Obama had saved the day in London by persuading President Hu of China to reach a compromise with France over tax havens. Mr Sarkozy’s version is that he shamed Mr Obama into action, telling him: “You were elected to build a new world. Tax havens are the embodiment of the old world.” >>> Charles Bremner in Paris | Friday, April 17, 2009

L’EXPRESS: Sarkozy ironise sur l"obamania"

Nicolas Sarkozy relativise l'état de grâce dont bénéficie Barack Obama :"Les journalistes n'ont pas de mémoire! En 2000, George W. Bush était si populaire que Jacques Chirac s'était arrangé pour dîner avec lui avant même qu'il ne soit investi." Le président français, qui accueillera son homologue américain sur les plages de Normandie le 6 juin, pour le 65e anniversaire du Débarquement, ironise sur l'"obamania" des médias : "Je vais lui demander de marcher sur la Manche, et il va le faire, vous verrez..." [Source: L’Express] Jeudi 16 Avril 2009

Dutch Lawmaker to Make Sequel to Anti-Islamic Film
EURONEWS 24: THE HAGUE, Netherlands - A Dutch lawmaker is planning to make a sequel to the anti-Islamic film that sparked protests among Muslims around the world.


Geert Wilders said in an interview published Thursday in a Dutch newspaper that the film will likely come out next year.


He said it will not be a copy of Fitna, the film he released on the Internet last year that coupled images of terror attacks with verses from the Quran.


This is the next phase, Wilders said in the interview printed in De Telegraaf. >>> Mark of EuroNews 24 | Thursday, April 16, 2009

WELT ONLINE: Niederlande: Rechtspopulist Wilders plant neuen Anti-Islam-Film

WELT ONLINE: Der umstrittene niederländische Parlamentarier Geert Wilders plant für das nächste Jahr ein weiteres islamkritisches Video. Darin wolle er auf die Folgen einer Masseneinwanderung aus islamischen Ländern hinweisen und Problemlösungen aufzeigen. Für die Verwirklichung des Projekts sucht er noch Geldgeber.

Geert Wilders. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
Der holländische Rechtspopulist Geert Wilders hat mit der Ankündigung eines neuen Anti-Islam-Films Terrorismus-Bekämpfer alarmiert.

Politische Parteien und Muslim-Verbände in den Niederlanden reagierten hingegen zurückhaltend auf Wilders' Erklärung, er werde mit professioneller Hilfe aus den USA eine Fortsetzung seines vor einem Jahr heftig umstrittenen Internet-Films „Fitna“ produzieren. „Fitna 2“ werde die Folgen einer zunehmenden „Islamisierung“ des Westens deutlich machen.



Die Sicherheitsdienste prüften nun, welche Auswirkungen die Ankündigung möglicherweise für die Bedrohungssituation in den Niederlanden hat, erklärte ein Sprecher der Anti-Terrorismus-Behörde (NCTB). Dies sei die übliche Reaktion. Nach Einschätzung der Behörde war durch Wilders ersten Film die Gefahr von Anschlägen gewachsen.

Innenministerin Guusje ter Horst hatte Anfang April erklärt, die Bedrohungslage sei noch so ernst, dass die zweithöchste Alarmstufe „substanziell“ aufrechterhalten bleiben müsse.

Sie verwies dabei auch auf den Afghanistan-Einsatz der niederländischen Streitkräfte. Deshalb sowie wegen mutmaßlicher Beleidigungen des Islam, unter anderem durch „Fitna“, blieben die Niederlande in den Augen von muslimischen Extremisten ein „legitimes Angriffsziel“.

"Fitna 2" werde Anfang 2010 veröffentlicht, sagte Wilders der Zeitung „De Telegraaf“. „Ich habe dafür Hilfsangebote von Leuten aus New York und Hollywood, die schon Filme gemacht haben, die bei uns in den Kinos zu sehen waren“, fügte Wilders hinzu, ohne Namen zu nennen. >>> dpa/KNA/fsl | Donnerstag, 16. April 2009

Saudi Money Is Finite after All!
The history attached to Raffles Hotel may lure buyers at $450m. Photo courtesy of TimesOnline
TIMESONLINE: A byword for colonial grandeur, and a favourite watering hole of such literary luminaries as Somerset Maugham, Joseph Conrad and Rudyard Kipling, Raffles Hotel, home to the Singapore Sling cocktail, has been put up for sale for up to $450 million (£300 million). Apparently, the hotel's owner, Prince Alwaleed of Saudi Arabia, is feeling the pinch.

The Times understands that Fairmont Raffles Hotels International, in which the Prince's Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) has a controlling stake, is seeking buyers for its remaining hotel assets, despite the depressed state of the property market, and it is understood he may even be prepared to sell his stake in the company itself.

Hotel industry sources believe that the Prince, dubbed the Warren Buffett of the Gulf, is looking at a range of disposals in response to the sharp fall in value of some of his biggest investments. KHC has seen a big drop in the value of its investments in companies including Songbird Estates, the majority owner of Canary Wharf, Euro Disney and News Corporation, parent company of The Times. Kingdom Hotel Investments, a small London-listed vehicle in which he has a 55 per cent stake, has lost more than two thirds of its value in the past 12 months. Raffles Hotel Put On Market as Prince Alwaleed Attempts to Stop Wealth Draining Away >>> Dominic Walsh | Thursday, April 16, 2009

President Obama, Spain and the Radical Left
FOX NEWS – Talking Points: The president says he wants to improve the USA's image in the world. So he must stand up against Spain, which wants to damage America.

The Spanish government will soon decide whether or not to formally investigate former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez and other members of the Bush administration for human rights crimes.

Of course, this is an outrage, a transparent attempt to put the USA on trial and make us the villain in the terror war. It also diverts attention away from the true evil: Muslim fascist killers.

The Spanish president, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, is a far-left guy who has been soft on Iran and is inclined to line up against America on many issues.

It is time for President Obama to state his objection to Spain's intrusion, just as he stated he does not want a witch hunt against the Bush administration here in the USA. Mr. Obama should be forceful with Spain. His job is to protect Americans, even those who worked in the Bush administration. Silence is not an option here, Mr. President. >>> By Bill O’Reilly | Wednesday, April 15, 2009

La Corée du Nord ferme la porte à toute négociation
L’EXPRESS.fr: Plus question de négocier avec le Conseil de sécurité pour Pyongyang qui a décidé de rouvrir ses installations nucléaires désactivées. L'annonce a un goût de représailles après la condamnation par l'ONU du tir de fusée nord-coréen effectué début avril.

La Corée du Nord a annoncé mardi son retrait des négociations sur sa dénucléarisation et la reprise de son programme d'armement atomique en réaction à la condamnation par l'ONU de son récent tir de fusée. La Corée du Nord "rejette fermement" la décision du Conseil de sécurité, qualifiée d'"insulte insupportable" envers son peuple, selon un communiqué du ministère nord-coréen des Affaires étrangères diffusé par l'agence officielle KCNA.

"Les discussions à six (sur la dénucléarisation) n'ont plus lieu d'être. Nous ne participerons plus jamais à de telles discussions et ne nous estimerons n'être liés par aucune décision prise dans le cadre de ces discussions", a ajouté le ministère.

Le régime communiste "va renforcer sa force de dissuasion nucléaire pour assurer sa défense par tous les moyens", a ajouté le texte.

"Nous allons prendre des mesures pour rouvrir nos installations nucléaires désactivées (...) et retraiter des tubes de combustible nucléaire usagés provenant des réacteurs expérimentaux", a encore promis le régime.

Cette réaction de Pyongyang intervient après la condamnation lundi par le Conseil de sécurité de l'ONU du tir de fusée controversé auquel la la Corée du Nord a récemment procédé. >>> Par LEXPRESS.fr | Mardi 14 Avril 2009

Medwedew spricht sich für Wohlstand und Bürgerrechte aus: Russlands Präsident gibt kremlkritischer Zeitung ein Interview
NZZ Online: Der russische Präsident Dmitri Medwedew hat ein Plädoyer für die Demokratie abgegeben. In einem ungewöhnlichen Schritt würdigte er zudem die Arbeit von Bürgerrechtlern in Russland.

Russlands Präsident Medwedew. Bild dank der Neuen Zürcher Zeitung
Der russische Präsident Dmitri Medwedew setzt in der Medienpolitik und im Umgang mit der Zivilgesellschaft andere Massstäbe als sein Vorgänger. So veröffentlichte eine kremlkritische Zeitung ein Interview mit ihm, zudem traf er sich im Kreml mit Menschenrechtlern.

In seinem ersten Interview mit der «Nowaja Gaseta» bekräftigte er den Willen zur weiteren Demokratisierung des Landes. Auf Dauer sei Wirtschaftswachstum kein Ersatz für das Mitspracherecht der Bürger. >>> sda/dpa/Reuters/afp | Mittwoch, 15. April 2009

The Hour – Irshad Manji: Osama Bin Laden's Worst Nightmare!

Blogger Convert to Christianity Released from Saudi Prison
ASIANEWS.it: Arrested for openly choosing Jesus, Saudi man is released after some months. He still cannot leave the country or appear in media, but many are surprised by the leniency. Under Sharia apostasy is punished by death.

Hamoud Saleh Al-Amri, Saudi convert to Christianity. Photo courtesy of AsiaNews
Riyadh – Hamoud Saleh Al-Amri, a 28 year-old Saudi national imprisoned in January for writing in his blog about his decision to convert to Christianity, was released by Saudi authorities at the end of March 2009 instead of being put death as an apostate as prescribed by Sharia. However, he has been banned from travelling outside Saudi Arabia or appearing in media, Middle East Concern, a Christian organisation specialising in Mideast affairs, reported.

According to Hamoud himself, who is back writing on his Christ for Saudi* blog, his release is due to pressure brought on Saudi authorities by the Cairo-based Arab Network for Human Rights Information, one of several rights groups that have campaigned for his release.

Hamoud was arrested on 13 January 2009 and detained at the Eleisha political prison in Riyadh. He had written in his blog of his decision to leave Islam to follow Jesus, and had also been critical of his country’s judicial system, highlighting widespread corruption and human rights abuses. >>> AsiaNews/MEC | Wednesday, April 15, 2009

*Hamoud's blogspot ( مسيحي سعودي ), Christ for Saudi, has been removed. Surprise! Surprise!

Scholar's Critique Spurs Ijara Islamic Bond
REUTERS: DUBAI - Since a revered Islamic scholar spoke out against some sukuk structures more than a year ago, issuers have refocused their attention on the ijara Islamic bond model, bankers said on Wednesday.

Some bankers have attributed last year's downturn in issuance of sukuk, the Islamic alternative to Islamic bonds, to comments by Sheikh Muhammad Taqi Usmani that musharaka and mudaraba sukuk should not promise guaranteed returns.

Most Islamic bonds should be treated as equity instruments, said Usmani, chairman of the board of scholars at the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI).

His February 2008 comments marked a shift for Muslims seeking fixed-income returns and, in the following months, coincided with a slowdown in the sukuk market as the global financial crisis deepened.

But bankers at the Reuters Islamic Finance Summit on Wednesday downplayed that link, saying the general slump in the global debt market was behind the drying up of sukuk, not a fear the structures failed to comply with the spirit of Islam.

"The sukuk market has shrunk as a direct result of the market conditions rather than an issue with the structures themselves," said Raphael de Ricaud, head of Islamic finance at Rothschild, an investment bank providing advisory services. >>> By Daliah Merzaban | Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Analysis: Saudi Speeds Up Education Reform, Clerics Resist
REUTERS: RIYADH - Accused of promoting the religious radicalism that inspired the Sept. 11 attacks, Saudi Arabia has stepped up efforts to reform its school curriculum, but clerical opposition means change will be slow, analysts say.

King Abdullah appointed a new team to lead the education ministry this year in a surprise reshuffle in the conservative Islamic state, where reformers say promises of change when Abdullah took the throne in 2005 have amounted to little.

Prince Faisal bin Abdullah, a former intelligence official, took over as education minister with Faisal bin Muammar, who headed a body set up in 2003 to promote social and economic reforms, as his deputy.

"We have been calling for such changes for a long time," said Mohammed Youssef, a professor of education at King Abdulaziz University who wrote a book in 2004 on restructuring the Saudi education system.

The United States zeroed in on Saudi schools after it emerged that 15 of the 19 attackers who killed some 3,000 people there on Sept. 11, 2001 were Saudi. They acted in the name of an Islamist group, al Qaeda, headed by a Saudi, Osama bin Laden.

Foreign and Saudi critics said Saudi educational material permitted the killing of non-Muslims and promoted the idea of cleansing Muslim countries from Western cultural influences. >>> By Asmaa Alsharif | Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Brazil's Author Paulo Coelho Talks About His Love for Islam
Photo: Google Images
BRAZZIL MAG: Paulo Coelho, the Brazilian writer who took the world stage with his thundering book The Alchemist, the source of inspiration for many around the world, told Syria's leading English-speaking magazine, Forward, his writings were influenced by the Sufi traditions of Islam.

Coelho made his debut in a Syrian media outlet last March, emphasizing his great admiration of Sufi figures, such as the famed Sufi dervish and love poet, Jelaluddin Rumi.

"Indeed, Sufism has inspired me a lot throughout my life and I refer to this tradition in some of my books such as The Alchemist and more recently The Zahir. Rumi is of course the first figure that springs to mind. His teachings and visions are incredibly subtle and clear," Coelho told Sami Moubayed, the Syrian political analyst and editor-in-chief of Forward Magazine.

Sufism, being the mystical order of Islam, is a natural part of Syrian life, with dervishes and Sufi Sheikhs from around the world considering Damascus as their spiritual center and homeland. >>> | Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Obama: America Not Christian - But Islam Shaped It For The Better
RIGHT SIDE NEWS: The we-do-not-consider-ourselves-a-Christian-nation line in Obama's speech to the Turkish parliament reminds me of an old joke: The Lone Ranger and Tonto are surrounded by hostile Indians. The masked man turns to his faithful companion and asks: "What are we going to do now, Tonto?" His sidekick replies: "What you mean we, pale face?"

Like others on the left, Obama has an unfortunate habit of projecting his delusions onto the American people.

He was in Turkey as part of his recently concluded America-sucks tour, during which he pandered shamelessly to Euro Anti-Americanism. ("We've been arrogant and we promise not to torture terrorists ever again and to always listen to the ‘allies' who almost lost two World Wars the Cold War. And, have I said how sorry I am for Wounded Knee in the last 15 seconds?")

In the overwhelmingly Muslim country, Barack Hussein Obama, as he was introduced (now that the election's over, it's okay to use his middle name), declared the concept of "Christian America" a myth. >>> By Don Feder | Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Pakistan Sharia Law Infringes Rights, Democracy: US
AFP: WASHINGTON — The White House said Tuesday that an accord signed by Pakistan's president putting part of the country under Islamic law in a bid to combat the Taliban went against human rights and democracy.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said that the Obama administration believed that "solutions involving security in Pakistan don't include less democracy and less human-rights.

"The signing of that denoting strict Islamic law in the Swat valley goes against both of those principles." >>> Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved | Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Geert Wilders' Wake-Up Call
FRONTPAGEMAG.COM: At the same time President Obama was greeting King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in Europe last week, Dutch MP Geert Wilders was receiving standing ovations in California for expressing exactly the opposite message: do not bow down to Islam.

Wilders is on tour in various Western countries to raise the consciousness of politicians and the public on the advancement of Islam in Western societies. During his lectures, he urgently calls for stopping this progress in order to preserve our human rights such as freedom of speech, the equality of women and gays and other precious liberties. He was invited by the David Horowitz Freedom Center to speak in California for the first time.

Surrounded by an army of security comparable to that of his fellow countrywoman Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Wilders gave the following message to his audiences: Islam is not a religion but a totalitarian ideology aiming for world domination and for the total submission of everyone who is non-Muslim. There is no freedom or egalitarianism or human rights in Islam. Islam is not peace, but violence. To illustrate this point, Wilders showed his film Fitna. In Fitna, Mr. Wilders compiles various verses of the Koran that call for Muslim domination, hatred and violence, as well as media footage showing death threats, terror attacks, executions and hate speech that are in line with these Koranic imperatives. It also demonstrates the small steps by which Sharia law is introduced in Western societies, such as Halal banking, Jihad lessons in elementary school, Muslims hindering doctors taking care of women, and certain imams legalizing violence against gays.

The statement Mr. Wilders makes in his film is that it is not poverty or Western oppression which is the main driver of Muslim intolerance, aggression and violence but Islam itself. >>> By Evelyn Markus | Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Muslim or European?

National Geographic: Saudi Women

Saudi Arabia to Regulate Young Girls' Marriages
GLOBEANDMAIL: RIYADH — Saudi Arabia plans to regulate the marriages of young girls, its justice minister was quoted as saying on Tuesday, after a court refused to nullify the marriage of an 8-year-old to a man 50 years her senior.

The Justice Ministry aims “to put an end to arbitrariness by parents and guardians in marrying off minor girls,” Justice Minister Mohamed al-Issa told al-Watan newspaper, partly owned by members of the royal family.

Saudi Arabia is a patriarchal society that applies an austere form of Sunni Islam that bans unrelated men and women from mixing and gives fathers the right to wed their sons and daughters to whoever they deem fit.

The minister's comments suggested the practice of marrying off young girls would not be abolished. The regulations will seek to “preserve the rights, fending off blights to end the negative aspects of underage girls' marriage,” he said. >>> Reuters | Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Neues Ehegesetz: Afghanische Frauen protestieren gegen Sexpflicht
WELT ONLINE: Rund 200 Frauen haben für Änderungen am afghanischen Ehegesetz für Schiiten demonstriert, das Frauen nur unter bestimmten Bedingungen erlaubt, Geschlechtsverkehr mit dem Ehemann abzulehnen. Sie wurden von 1000 Gegendemonstranten, darunter 300 Frauen, angegriffen. Die meisten sind Anhänger eines schiitischen Geistlichen.

In Afghanistan sind rund 200 Frauen auf die Straße gegangen, um gegen das umstrittene neue Ehegesetz zu demonstrieren. Bild dank der Welt
Im Streit um das afghanische Ehegesetz für Schiiten ist es in Kabul zu Zusammenstößen zwischen Befürwortern und Gegnerinnen gekommen. Eine Gruppe von 200 Demonstrantinnen wurde am Mittwoch von mehr als 1000 Unterstützern des geplanten Gesetzes umstellt. Vereinzelt seien Steine auf die Frauen geworfen worden, berichtete ein dpa-Reporter. Die Demonstrantinnen seien als „Abtrünnige und Sklaven der Christen“ beschimpft worden. Kritiker werten das Gesetz als Freibrief für Vergewaltigung in der Ehe. Nach heftigen internationalen Protesten legte Präsident Hamid Karsai das von ihm bereits unterzeichnete Gesetz zunächst auf Eis. >>> dpa/tsch | Mittwoch, 15. April 2009

TIMESONLINE: Women Protesters against 'Marital Rape' Law Spat On and Stoned in Kabul

Women protesting in Kabul against a controversial new law were pelted with stones, jostled and spat on today as they held what is believed to be the first public demonstration calling for equal rights for women in recent Afghan history.

The protest by about 200 women called for amendment of the controversial Shia Family Law, passed last month by the Afghan Parliament, and enforcement of article 22 of the Afghan constitution, which gives equal rights to men and women.

It provoked a furious reaction from local men and a mob quickly surrounded the protesters amid violent scenes close to the Parliament building.

The new law, which applies to the 15 per cent of the population who are Shia Muslim, has drawn widespread international condemnation since it was passed in March. President Obama called it abhorrent after leaked drafts of the law showed it apparently legalised marital rape and child marriage and reintroduced restrictions on women that were notorious under the Taleban period of rule.

The Afghan Government has since announced a review of the legislation, which has yet to come into force. Political opponents of the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, have suggested that the law was passed by as a sop to powerful Shia religious parties ahead of the country's presidential elections in August.

Carrying banners that proclaimed “We want dignity in the law” and “Islam is justice”, the small all-woman march was initially matched by a peaceful counter-demonstration of 300 or so female religious students from the Khatam-ul-Nabieen Shiite University in Kabul. The university is attached to the Khatam Al-Nabi Mosque, a huge building constructed with Iranian backing and overseen by Mohammad Asif Mohseni, a leading Shia cleric who has strongly backed the new law. >>> Tom Coghlan in Kabul | Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Some Sugar from Obama before Tea Parties
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: AS US taxpayers rush to meet the April 15 deadline to lodge their tax returns, and President Barack Obama talks up the economy, thousands of citizens will hold tea parties throughout the nation to protest the Administration's big-spending economic policies.

Organisers expect there will be at least 600 such events in towns and cities throughout the nation and are forecasting tens of thousands will attend some of the larger ones in major cities such as Chicago.

The tea party theme is a nod to the Boston Tea Party of 1773 when outraged colonists threw tea into the harbour to protest the tax on it imposed by their English overlords. It is regarded as the spark that ignited the American Revolutionary War. >>> Anne Davies Herald Correspondent in Washington | Thursday, April 16, 2009