Bombenanschläge auf zwei Hotels in Jakarta: Mindestens 9 Todesopfer und 50 Verletzte
NZZ Online: Zwei Bombenanschläge auf die Hotels Ritz-Carlton und JW Marriott in der indonesischen Hauptstadt Jakarta haben mindestens 9 Todesopfer und 50 Verletzte gefordert. Unter ihnen befanden sich auch zahlreiche Ausländer.

Am frühen Freitagmorgen haben Terroristen Bombenanschläge auf zwei Luxushotels in der indonesischen Hauptstadt Jakarta verübt. Je ein Sprengsatz explodierte fast zeitgleich in der Lobby des «JW Marriott» und in einem Restaurant des «Ritz-Carlton». Die beiden Hotels liegen praktisch nebeneinander im Stadtzentrum und werden gerne von ausländischen Geschäftsleuten frequentiert.

In einer vorläufigen Opferbilanz der Regierung war die Rede von 9 Toten und 50 Verwundeten. Unter den Verletzten befanden sich mindestens 16 Ausländer. Getötet wurde zudem der Chef der indonesischen Vertretung des Schweizer Zementkonzerns Holcim. Verschiedene Medien kolportierten allerdings unterschiedliche Opferbilanzen. Genauere Angaben sind wohl erst später zu erwarten. >>> Kurt Pelda, Kuala Lumpur | Freitag, 17. Juli 2009

Kommentar: Die grüne Revolution ist schon lange nicht am Ende
WELT ONLINE: Zehntausende Menschen haben sich im Iran wieder auf die Straße gewagt, um gegen die Führung um Mahmud Ahmadinedschad zu demonstrieren. Rückendeckung bekamen sie beim Freitagsgebet von Ex-Präsident Rafsandschani. Je mehr die Demonstranten spüren, dass das Regime wankt, desto mutiger werden sie.

Grün ist zurück in Teheran. Zu Zehntausenden sind die Iraner auf die Straße gegangen, um in den Farben der Opposition zu protestieren. Trotz der brutalen Staatsgewalt der letzten Wochen haben sie sich nicht davon abbringen lassen, das Freitagsgebet zu einer Demonstration ihres Durchhaltewillens zu machen. Die Gebetsteppiche in grüner Farbe sollen auf den Märkten der Hauptstadt gar ausverkauft gewesen sein.

Zum ersten Mal seit der umstrittenen Wahl hat der mächtige Strippenzieher Ali Rafsandschani das Freitagsgebet geleitet, der als Unterstützer des unterlegenen Oppositionskandidaten Mir Hussein Mussawi gilt. Und Rafsandschani hat es an kritischen Worten nicht fehlen lassen. >>> Von Clemens Wergin | Freitag, 17. Juli 2009

La contestation redescend dans la rue à Téhéran
Un bassidji pointe son pistolet lacrymogène en direction d'un homme, hier, à Téhéran, lors d'une manifestation antigouvernementale qui a dégénéré en affrontements violents. Crédits photo : Le Figaro
LE FIGARO: Le prêche de l'ayatollah Ali Akbar Hachemi Rafsandjani, prétexte du rassemblement de vendredi, a étalé au grand jour les dissensions au sommet de régime.

Jamais foule aussi dense et hétéroclite ne s'était donné rendez-vous à la prière du vendredi. Des milliers de partisans du leader de l'opposition, Mir Hossein Moussavi, ont rejoint exceptionnellement, vendredi, la masse traditionnelle des fidèles abonnés à ce rassemblement qui se tient, chaque semaine, à l'université de Téhéran. «Les avenues qui entouraient l'université étaient pleines à craquer. Sous leur tchador, certaines femmes portaient symboliquement un foulard vert - la couleur de Moussavi. Des hommes faisaient le «V » de la victoire avec leurs mains», raconte Reza, un témoin qui s'est rendu sur place.

Une occasion hautement symbolique, puisqu'après un mois de silence, l'ayatollah Ali Akbar Hachemi Rafsandjani était attendu à la tribune. C'est la première fois que cet homme clé du régime, qui soutient Moussavi - également présent à la grande prière - s'exprimait publiquement depuis le résultat du scrutin du 12 juin. «La République islamique court à sa perte si le vote du peuple n'est pas pris en considération», a prévenu Rafsandjani, en référence à la réélection contestée de son ennemi politique, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, contre lequel il avait lui-même fait campagne en 2005. Sa déclaration, qui contraste avec l'intransigeance jusqu'alors affichée du pouvoir, est une nouvelle illustration des fissures qui prévalent au sommet de l'État iranien.

Après avoir évoqué une «solution» possible à la crise, sans en donner les détails, Rafsandjani s'est ouvertement insurgé contre les arrestations de ces dernières semaines, tout en déplorant les atteintes à la liberté de la presse. «Au final, il n'a rien proposé de concret, mais le seul fait de mettre en cause le résultat du scrutin signifie son soutien indirect au mouvement de protestation», relève un journaliste iranien. >>> Beyrouth, Delphine Minoui | Vendredi 17 Juillet 2009

YOUTUBE: Tehran, Friday July 17, 2009

Twitter Revolution – Iran
Watch Journeyman Pictures video here >>>

Anjem Choudary Peddles His Hate
MAIL Online: On a hot summer afternoon, a man with a microphone stands on a busy London street. He is a tubby figure and sports a black, bushy beard, flecked with grey. He is shrieking at passing shoppers, insisting they follow him - and save their souls.

Teams of young, tough-looking men - all clearly devoted to their leader - dart through the crowds, handing out leaflets and haranguing anyone who questions their message.

From the other side of the street, you could be forgiven for thinking this is a harmless, if colourful, example of citizens making full use of Britain's ancient tradition of free speech.

But there is nothing harmless about what is really going on here. For the man with the microphone is Anjem Choudary, branded the most dangerous man in Britain.

An extremist who believes his sole-calling is to wage holy war against Britain and her 'infidel' allies, he is trying - and succeeding - to prepare the ground for his global Islamic jihad.

Funded by the taxpayer - he claims benefits so that he has plenty of free time to spread his message - Choudary is openly staging these 'Islamic roadshows' across Britain. And their aim is to recruit young British men prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for his chilling cause.

Islamic law in Britain

Exhorting Britain's 1.8 million Muslims to follow his example, Choudary dreams of seeing the black crescent flag, which is the symbol of his organisation, flying over Downing Street, and a draconian form of sharia law imposed across the UK.

He wants alcohol banned, amputations for thieves, and adulterers to be stoned to death.

'People are living in anarchy,' he says. 'There is a rape every minute. Islam has the answer to everything. The Jihad fanatic peddling a message of hate to 11-year-old Londoners (funded by the taxpayer) >>> Andrew Malone | Friday, July 17, 2009

Two Iranian Christians May Face Execution for Apostasy
RADIO FREE EUROPE / RADIO LIBERTY: Two Iranian women jailed in Iran's notorious Evin prison for converting from Islam to Christianity may be executed for apostasy, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports.

Amir Javadzadeh, a broadcaster for the London-based Christian radio station Channel of Affection, told Radio Farda that the two women could be put to death even though "they were not politically active at all." He said they "just wanted to serve people according to the Bible."

The two women, Marzieh Amirizadeh, 30, and Maryam Rustampoor, 27, were arrested in March, although they "converted to Christianity about 10 years ago," Javadzadeh said. He added that they became Christians after "spending a lot of time studying the religion and helping others."

They were held in solitary confinement for three weeks in May and June.

Recent judicial revisions in Iran outlaw the death sentence for apostasy. But until the provisions are finalized, there is still a danger they will not be followed, Alexa Papadouris, director of the religious rights group Christianity Solidarity Worldwide, told BosNewsLife on July 14. [Source: RFE/RL]

China and Islam: This Could Get Ugly
THE TELEGRAPH: The internal ructions in Xinjiang, where Han Chinese and Muslim Uighurs have been at each others’ throats, have attracted the attention of the brave boys of Al-Qaeda. For their crimes against Muslims, the cavemen say, China can expect direct retaliation.

A few years ago this wouldn’t have mattered, as China could be pretty confident of keeping its local Muslims under control. No Abu Hamzas there – they wouldn’t last five minutes. But now there are groups of Chinese officials, specialists and workers all over Africa on the aid trail, and Al-Qaeda’s presence in the north of the continent is palpable.

Al-Qaeda, of course, are a bunch of obnoxious blowhards. But there are plenty of dangerous people who might have been given ideas by this new call to arms. And Chinese in Africa are a high-visibility target. This could get ugly. And the people for whom it will get ugliest are the poor old Uighurs of Xinjiang, who will get the blame simply for being the nearest Muslims the PRC can get its hands on. [Source: The Telegraph] Comment here >>> Time Collard | Friday, July 17, 2009

Brigitte Bardot Asks Bruni For Bull Support
SKY NEWS: Former actress turned animal rights campaigner Brigitte Bardot has asked France's first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, to convince her husband to ban bull-fighting.

The 1960s blonde bombshell asked Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy, in a letter, to get behind her campaign and sway President Nicolas Sarkozy on the issue.

She wrote "Could you convince your husband to ban bullfights, this atrocious spectacle of death, by telling him 'someone told me France must no longer allow the death of a tortured animal'?"

The letter thanked former supermodel Bruni-Sarkozy for taking a public stance against wearing fur.

Bruni-Sarkozy wrote to PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) last month assuring the organisation that she would never buy, wear or own fur.

"I can't tell you how important this stance is in the struggle I have pursued for so many years," Bardot wrote.

The 74-year-old retired from showbusiness 30 years ago and has concentrated all her attention on animal welfare. >>> | Friday, July 17, 2009

Rafsanjani Calls for Release of Jailed Protesters in Iran Amid Clashes in Tehran
TIMES ONLINE: Iranian police fired tear gas and used batons to disperse thousands of demonstrators outside Tehran University today as a former president who is backing the opposition movement led Friday prayers for the first time since the disputed election.

Hojatoleslam Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the influential head of the Assembly of Experts and key supporter of the opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, called for prisoners to be released as he preached inside the campus that Iran was in crisis.

Demonstrators gathered at the university, which has been a regular focus of the protests, despite a violent crackdown by the authorities, only to be met by a wall of officers who have made at least 15 arrests according to a witness.

The former president’s sermon, broadcast live on state radio, was at one stage interrupted by slogans chanted by Mousavi supporters.

“I will talk about a solution for today’s situation, so that a way can be found to go ahead in the future with the same greatness, unity and consensus which we had in the beginning,” he said.

“Our key issue is to return the trust which the people had and now to some extent is broken ... It is not necessary that in this situation people be jailed. Let them join their families. We should not allow enemies to rebuke and ridicule us because of detentions. We should tolerate each other."

The opposition is seeking to show that their movement remains vibrant even after the repression that followed Iran’s discredited June 12 presidential election. >>> Nico Hines | Friday, July 17, 2009

Muslim Convert Guilty of Plotting Suicide Attack
THE TELEGRAPH: A former public schoolboy who converted to Islam has been found guilty of planning a terrorist attack on a shopping centre in Bristol using a homemade suicide vest.

Andrew Ibrahim, 20, who changed his first name to Isa, had adopted the “extremist mindset” of Osama bin Laden after watching extremist preachers and viewing a series of suicide videos on the internet.

The A-level chemistry student and son of a hospital consultant had also taught himself to make HMTD, the same explosive used by the July 7 bombers, over the internet.

He was arrested by armed police as he walked to Bristol city centre on April 17 last year and when police raided his one-bedroom flat in the suburb of Westbury-on-Trym they found a family assortment sized biscuit box containing explosives, a “crude electrical circuit” to set it off and, hanging on the back of his bedroom door, a homemade suicide vest.

Winchester Crown Court heard that between December 2007 and April 2008, Ibrahim had become increasingly radical, growing a beard and wearing Islamic clothing while justifying September 11 and praising the hook-handed preacher Abu Hamza.

”He said he felt the country looked like the inside of a dirty toilet with a minefield outside, as described by Hamza in one of his lectures,” Mark Ellison QC, prosecuting, told the jury. >>> Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent | Friday, July 17, 2009

TIMES ONLINE: Former Public Schoolboy Isa Ibrahim Convicted of Planning 'Carnage'

A former public schoolboy who converted to an extremist strand of Islam and built a viable suicide bomb vest was convicted today of planning “carnage” at a crowded shopping centre.

Andrew Ibrahim, 20, who changed his name to Isa in 2007 after his religious conversion, was arrested after members of the Muslim community in Bristol became concerned about his behaviour and contacted police.

Ibrahim, the son of a hospital consultant, was convicted making an explosive with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury to property in the UK in April 2008.

He was also found guilty of a charge of preparing terrorist acts by purchasing material to make an explosive, making that explosive, buying material to detonate the explosive, carrying out “reconnaissance” before the act and “making an improvised suicide vest in which to then detonate an explosive substance”.

Ibrahim was given an indeterminate sentence at Winchester Crown Court and told he should serve a minimum of 10 years.
Flanked by four prison officers, Ibrahim showed no emotion as the jury delivered its majority verdict.

His mother fled the court in tears as the sentence was passed. >>> Sean O’Neill | Friday, July 17, 2009

The Bomb Plotter with a Teddy Bear Collection
THE INDEPENDENT: With his dyed red hair, pierced eyebrows and avowed interest in hardcore dance music, Andrew "Andy" Ibrahim was the epitome of the modern teenager. On his MySpace page, he described his interests as singing in a band, "hanging out", watching chat shows and "lots of reality TV".

There was little reason to expect the bright but gawky young man from a well-heeled suburb of Bristol to stand out from his peers. His English mother, a university administrator, and his Egyptian-born father, Nassif, a consultant pathologist, had ensured their son and his elder brother, Peter, spent their childhood in a settled and privileged environment.

When not living in the £800,000 family home in the commuter village of Frenchay, Andrew was sent to a series of private schools including Downside, the select Catholic public school near Bath whose former pupils include Auberon Waugh, Rocco Forte and Barclays Bank chief executive John Varley.

But beneath the veneer of an expensive education and efforts to strike a pose as a follower of popular culture, there was a disturbed and isolated young man whose adolescent search for identity and slow slide into a drug addiction became twisted into alternative persona - that of a would-be suicide bomber intent on mass murder in a crowded shopping centre. >>> By Cahal Milmo | Friday, July 16, 2009

Something Profound Has Changed. Iranians Are Losing Their Fear and Mock the Official Line
THE INDEPENDENT: An air of normality has returned to Iran but it is misleading, writes Dadbeh Gudarzi in Tehran

A journey from east to west Tehran in the morning rush-hour traps you in a long line of cars reduced to a tortuous crawl. Yesterday, a middle-aged beggar woman roamed the traffic trying in vain to sell dish-cloths. We moved for a few seconds but then ground to a halt again, just like Iran's political paralysis. The driver of our shared taxi, in between grumbling about the traffic, lit up a cigarette and turned on the CD player. The words of the song could hardly have been more appropriate: "Once again I feel crying tonight".

On the surface, things may look as if they are back to normal after the crushing of the biggest protests since the 1979 Islamic revolution. On the way to my office, I check out the headlines at a newspaper kiosk and yes, it's business as usual: "The West miscalculated with unrest in Iran."

Some of us still go up to our roofs and balconies at 10pm every night and for about 10 minutes shout: Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! ("God is great".) It was the gesture that helped topple the Shah in 1979.

But fewer people are doing it now. And the night-time theatre can make you laugh almost to death. First you hear a chorus echoing: Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! from one roof. Then comes a cry from another: "Death to the dictator." Then a different voice from another building in the distance shouts: "Death to those who defy the leadership." Then yet another voice, presumably not an Ahmadinejad supporter roars back: "Death to your father." >>> Dadbeh Gudarzi* | Friday, July 17, 2009

*The author’s name has been changed.

Czarist America
FRONTPAGEMAG.COM: In an historic and possibly unconstitutional expansion of Executive authority, President Obama has named more than 30 “czars” with unprecedented and seemingly unlimited authority in a breadth of fields—ranging from U.S. border czar to Iran czar. All are responsible only to Obama. Now, the Messiah's appointment of czars has been labeled a blatant and unconstitutional power grab by an unusual source—the President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate, Robert Byrd, D-WV. 

In a February letter to Obama, Byrd wrote that the czars “as presidential assistants and advisors “are not accountable for their actions to Congress, to cabinet officers, or to virtually anyone but the president.” He wrote the czarist system violates the Constitutional system of checks-and-balances and the separation of powers, and is a clear attempt to evade Congressional oversight.

The Constitution states that government officers with significant authority—they’re called Principal Officers—once nominated by the president are then subject to judgment by the Senate as to their confirmation. Principal Officers include not only members of the president’s cabinet but also assistant secretaries and deputy undersecretaries of federal departments. Byrd is hardly an insignificant voice in his party. Byrd endorsed Obama over Hillary Clinton in the West Virginia primary last year.

Before that, Senator Byrd was the Left’s favorite Constitutional expert during the Iraq War, when he broached the possibility of impeaching George Bush over NSA wiretapping. But he is now largely ignored, as he was during most of the Clinton years.
The appointment of Kenneth Feinberg June 10 as the pay-czar illustrates the breadth of power vested in Obama’s czars. Feinberg will have the authority to review, reject and likely determine specific compensation of any company executive who has taken bail-out money from Obama’s giant piggy bank.

Not only will the top executives of these companies have to come to Feinberg with hat in hand for their salaries, so, too, will 100 high-ranking employees of Citigroup, Bank of America, American International Group (AIG), and other companies given large sums, such as General Motors. Obama has protested “I don’t want to run a car company,” but he is setting its pay policy through Feinberg. >>> Tait Trussell | Thursday, July 16, 2009

Hat tip: Always On Watch >>>

Gay Marriage Approval Sounds Death Knell for Anglican Unity
TIMES ONLINE: Bishops in the US dealt a death blow to hopes for unity in the worldwide Anglican Church when they approved in principle services for same-sex partnerships. The decision will finally split the Communion between Bible-based conservative evangelicals and liberal modernisers.

The bishops at the Episcopal General Convention voted by 104 to 30 to “collect and develop theological resources and liturgies” for blessing same-sex relationships, to be considered at the next convention in 2012.

The resolution notes the growing number of states that allow gay marriage, civil unions and domestic partnerships, and gives bishops in those regions discretion to provide a “generous pastoral response” to couples in local parishes. It was passed on Wednesday, hours after the Episcopal Church voted on Tuesday to allow the consecration of gay bishops. The motion passed by 99 to 45 among the bishops and by 72 per cent to 28 per cent among church deputies, made up of clergy and laity.

The decisions on gay consecrations and same-sex blessings end the uneasy truce agreed after the consecration of the openly gay Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003.

The General Convention in 2006 agreed a resolution that pledged the Episcopal Church to abide by two moratoriums on same-sex blessings and gay consecrations as requested by Dr Williams and the other 38 Primates. The resolutions now passed bring that truce to an end, and will be seen in the conservative-dominated evangelical churches of the “Global South” as an open declaration of war.

It ends years of tense and costly ecclesiastical polity, and finally nails the hopes of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, who has sacrificed his own liberal principles on the altar of church unity, to no avail. Dozens of meetings of bishops, archbishops, canon lawyers, clergy and lay theologians in Britain, Ireland, Jamaica and elsewhere, pages of dense reports and hours of prayer have been rendered redundant by the General Convention of the Episcopal Church of the US in Anaheim, California.

Church leaders led by Dr Williams must now manage the disintegration of a 70-million strong Communion of 38 provinces that can no longer maintain the facade of unity. >>> Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent | Friday, July 17, 2009

The Norwegian Jihad
Watch Journeyman Pictures video here >>>

The Harsher Face of Islam

Sharia Law: Nigeria
Watch Journeyman Pictures video here >>>

BBC Pays Damages to Muslim Leader
BBC: The BBC has agreed to pay £45,000 in damages to the head of the Muslim Council of Britain over a libellous claim in the Question Time programme.

The claim was made by a panellist on the programme, who accused Muhammad Abdul Bari of implicitly condoning the kidnap and killing of British soldiers.

Mr Bari argued this was untrue, citing his public condemnation of the killing of British troops in Iraq in 2007.

The BBC accepted the argument and apologised unreservedly. >>> | Thursday, July 16, 2009

Kärnten ehrt Jörg Haider mit einem Museum
TAGES ANZEIGER: Das Leben des umstrittenen Rechtspolitikers wird in einer Ausstellung in Klagenfurt verewigt. Thema ist auch die nationalsozialistische Vergangenheit von Jörg Haiders Familie.

Der im vergangenen Jahr tödlich verunglückte Politiker Jörg Haider soll in Österreich ein eigenes Museum bekommen. Die Ausstellung in Klagenfurt im Bundesland Kärnten, in dem Haider Regierungschef war, soll zum Todestag am 11. Oktober eröffnet werden. >>> vin/sda | Donnerstag, 16. Juli 2009

Obama pone Andalucía y Córdoba como ejemplo de libertad religiosa / Obama Puts Cordova and Andalusia as an Example of Religious Freedom

Abdur Raheem Green: Growing a Beard