Koran Burning Protests Claim First Victim in Afghanistan
THE TELEGRAPH: A man was shot dead by German troops when Afghan protesters demonstrating against plans by an American pastor to burn copies of the Koran attacked a Nato base in the north of Afghanistan.

Dove World Outreach Center Pastor Terry Jones (R) speaks at a press conference with Imam Muhammad Musri. Photo: The Telegraph
A crowd, estimated at 10,000 by officials in the Badakhshan province, poured into the streets of Faizabad on Friday morning after special Eid prayers to mark the end of Muslim Ramadan.

The protests quickly turned violent and a man was shot when German troops inside the Nato base opened fire after they were attacked by a mob of stone throwing demonstrators.

"They numbered in their thousands, it is a big crowd," said Sayed Hassan Jafary, a police chief in Faizabad.

"People almost from all city mosques gathered."

Mr Jafary said that the crowd chanted "death to America" and threw rocks at the German-run military base in the city.

The protesters demanded the Afghan authorities give them an American flag "so they can burn it and end the demonstrations". "But we don't have an American flag," said Mr Jafary.

A spokesman for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force in Kabul said that officials were investigating the shooting in Faizabad, the capital of the Badakhshan province.

Hamid Karzai, the Afghan President, had earlier added his voice to those of other leaders from other Islamic countries who have said that the Koran burning would be an attack on all Muslims.

"The Koran is in the hearts and minds of all Muslims. The affront against the holy book is a humiliation to the people. We are hopeful that he gives up this affront and should not even think about it."

Brigadier General Hans-Werner Fritz, the commander of German troops in Afghanistan, had warned on Thursday that the book burning "would provide a trigger for violence towards all ISAF troops, including the Germans in northern Afghanistan."

Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary, phoned Terry Jones, the Florida pastor on Thursday night and asked him to reconsider his plans to burn Korans on Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the September 11th attacks, because it would have endanger the lives of American and Nato troops.

But the evangelist has refused to cancel the book burning unless plans to build a mosque near the site of the New York World Trade Centre that was destroyed in the September 11 terror attacks nine years ago are cancelled. >>> | Friday, September 10, 2010

THE TELEGRAPH: 9/11 Koran burning: Pastor Terry Jones gives imam two-hour deadline: Terry Jones, a Florida pastor who has caused global outrage over a threat to burn the Koran, has given a New York imam a two-hour deadline to agree to hold talks on moving a planned mosque close to ground zero. >>> | Friday, September 10, 2010

Ground Zero Mosque Investor Declines Trump's Buyout Offer
FOX NEWS: NEW YORK -- Donald Trump's offer to buy an investor's stake where a mosque is planned near ground zero is falling flat.

Wolodymyr Starosolsky is a lawyer for the investor in the real estate partnership that controls the site. He says Trump's offer is "just a cheap attempt to get publicity and get in the limelight."

In a letter released Thursday by Trump's publicist, the real estate investor told Hisham Elzanaty that he would buy his stake in the lower Manhattan building for 25 percent more than whatever he paid.

"I am making this offer as a resident of New York and citizen of the United States, not because I think the location is a spectacular one (because it is not), but because it will end a very serious, inflammatory, and highly divisive situation that is destined, in my opinion, to only get worse," the letter said.

Trump also attached a condition to his offer: He said that as part of the deal, the backers of the mosque project would need to promise that any new mosque they constructed would be at least five blocks farther away from the World Trade Center site. >>> Associated Press | Thursday, September 09, 2010

US Public TV Hijacked by Foreign Propagandists
AUSTRALIAN CONSERVATIVE: WASHINGTON – Imagine the shock that some viewers must have felt when they first clicked on their public TV station’s new digital sub-channels expecting to see more shows like Big Bird or Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, only to find programming more attuned to the views of Osama bin Laden and Vladimir Putin.

About 30 non-commercial TV stations around the U.S. are airing “MHz Network Worldview,” which includes programs from Al Jazeera English, the Kremlin’s “Russia Today” and other foreign state-controlled instruments of propaganda. MHz Worldview is also available in the Washington, D.C. area.

MHz Networks’ slogan is “Many voices. One world.” A non-profit entity, it is designed for “globally-minded people.”

One of the controversial programs broadcast on MHz1 WNVC-DT every Sunday is titled, “Living Islam in America,” described as “a thirty minute discussion-magazine formatted television series with a primary goal of educating the general population about the faith & culture of Islam and the burgeoning Muslim communities throughout America.”

The host, Johari Abdul Malik, is described by his supporters as an advocate of non-violence. However, the Investigative Project on Terrorism says that he supports radical and political Islamic causes. It reports, “At a 2001 conference hosted by the Islamic Association of Palestine, a now defunct propaganda branch of the Specially Designated Terrorist organization Hamas, he called for attacks against Israeli infrastructure to show Muslim displeasure with Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.”

Abdul-Malik said, “I am gonna teach you now. You can blow up bridges, but you cannot kill people who are innocent on their way to work. You can blow up power supplies… the water supply, you can do all forms of sabotage and let the world know that we are doing it like this because they have a respect for the lives of innocent people.”

Abdul-Malik has also been quoted as saying, “before Allah closes our eyes for the last time you will see Islam move from being the second largest religion in America—that’s where we are now—to being the first religion in America.” Continue reading and comment >>> Jerry Kenney | Thursday, September 02, 2010

Censoring Questions About Obama’s Religion
AUSTRALIAN CONSERVATIVE: WASHINGTON – In a major liberal initiative to curtail discussion of President Obama’s religious identity, over 70 Christian leaders and denominational heads have signed a letter saying that questions about the religious philosophy of the President of the United States should be ignored and suppressed by the major media.

The letter demands that the media “offer no further support or airtime to those who misrepresent and call into question the President’s Christian faith.”

The apparent initiator of the letter is Obama associate Jim Wallis of the Sojourners group, a group funded by atheist George Soros.

The Eleison Group, which represents the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Wallis’s Sojourners group, arranged the release of the letter and has handled publicity for it. The Eleison Group’s purpose is to mobilise “more traditional progressive ‘base’ faith voters who are often overlooked in Democratic and progressive outreach.”

The president of the Eleison Group, Burns Strider, has served as an adviser to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and regional Communications Director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Pelosi, a liberal Catholic, invoked St. Joseph, revered for being the foster father of Jesus and the husband of the Virgin Mary, in the successful push for passage of Obama’s socialised medicine plan.

The “airtime” alluded to in the letter has mostly been devoted to the controversy over opinion polls finding that significant numbers of people are confused about Obama’s religious identity and that some believe he is a Muslim.

The questions that have been offered by Accuracy in Media concern Obama’s claims about being baptised in the Christian faith. AIM believes that politicians should be held accountable for the claims they make about themselves, even on personal matters of religious faith.

Obama’s aides have claimed the President is a committed and practicing Christian and that he was baptised in Jeremiah Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ. But he has gone to church only a few times since he became President.

“We understand that these are contentious times,” say the Christian leaders, “but the personal faith of our leaders should not be up for public debate.”

However, the First Amendment expressly permits not only freedom of religion but freedom of the press.

The Christian leaders say, “We believe that questioning, and especially misrepresenting, the faith of a confessing believer goes too far.” They do not identify who has misrepresented Obama’s faith.

But other releases from the Eleison Group attack Fox News, talk radio, and “right-wing misinformation” about Obama’s religious affiliation and views. Continue reading and comment >>> Cliff Kincaid, Editor of AIM Report | Sunday, August 29, 2010

9/11 Retrospective – Islam: “Religion of Peace” or Ideology of Terror?
Photograaph: Australian Conservative
AUSTRALIAN CONSERVATIVE: Being the anniversary of the 9/11 Islamic terrorist attacks, and especially in the light of the somewhat provocative comments today in the US by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf on CNN that moving the “Ground Zero Mosque” could incite violence against the US and the West throughout the Islamic World (“Imam: Moving Mosque Could Ignite Violence”), it may be timely to reflect on what are the key aspects of Islam that make it an ideological tool for terrorist groups.

From the perspective of one who has been involved in one form or another in counterterrorism for some time, I’d suggest that these key aspects can be summarised as being the following:

• It is in reality more akin to an ideology than a religion – indeed, it could be accurately described as a political ideology masquerading as a religion;

• From a religious perspective it has not yet undergone an equivalent of the Reformation which took place in the context of the modernisation of Christianity;

• This interplay of religion and ideology within Islam provide an ideal basis from which terrorist groups can drive their political agendas.

In this context, it is important to recognise that in the West we have a cultural worldview that treats religion and politics as separate, whereas in Islam they are not, and are in fact inextricably intertwined as one and the same: Continue reading and comment >>> Steve Barber | Friday, September 10, 2010

'Islamization' of Paris a Warning to the West


CBN: PARIS - Friday in Paris. A hidden camera shows streets blocked by huge crowds of Muslim worshippers and enforced by a private security force.

This is all illegal in France: the public worship, the blocked streets, and the private security. But the police have been ordered not to intervene.

It shows that even though some in the French government want to get tough with Muslims and ban the burqa, other parts of the French government continue to give Islam a privileged status.

An ordinary French citizen who has been watching the Islamization of Paris decided that the world needed to see what was happening to his city. He used a hidden camera to start posting videos on YouTube. His life has been threatened and so he uses the alias of "Maxime Lepante."

Lepante's View

His camera shows that Muslims "are blocking the streets with barriers. They are praying on the ground. And the inhabitants of this district cannot leave their homes, nor go into their homes during those prayers."

"The Muslims taking over those streets do not have any authorization. They do not go to the police headquarters, so it's completely illegal," he says.

The Muslims in the street have been granted unofficial rights that no Christian group is likely to get under France's Laicite', or secularism law.

"It says people have the right to share any belief they want, any religion," Lepante explained. "But they have to practice at home or in the mosque, synagogues, churches and so on."

Some say Muslims must pray in the street because they need a larger mosque. But Lepante has observed cars coming from other parts of Paris, and he believes it is a weekly display of growing Muslim power.

"They are coming there to show that they can take over some French streets to show that they can conquer a part of the French territory," he said. France's Islamic Future? >>> Dale Hurd | Sunday, September 05, 2010

My Generation Has Wrecked the Country, Claims Nick Clegg
MAIL ONLINE: Nick Clegg has issued an extraordinary denunciation of the last two generations, accusing them of wrecking Britain by embracing a culture of 'instant gratification'.

The Deputy Prime Minister said his parents' generation and his own had 'run up debts, despoiled the planet and allowed our institutions to wither'.

Mr Clegg said that in all walks of life - including the political, commercial and personal - people had become focused only on the short-term.

Companies concerned themselves with chasing immediate profits, politicians were obsessed with the next day's headlines, while individuals 'eat doughnuts and decide not to go for a run', the 43-year-old said.

Families were 'splurging today' rather than saving responsibly for their retirement, while many employees were 'sucked into overwork' instead of taking time to be with their children.

'I think it was a Hollywood actress who said that nowadays, even instant gratification isn't quick enough for some people,' he added. Read on and comment >>> James Chapman | Friday, September 10, 2010

9/11 Koran Burning 'Suspended But Not Cancelled' After Pastor Backtracks from Deal
THE TELEGRAPH: A US pastor has said he may press ahead with plans to burns copies of the Koran on September 11 – just hours after announcing that the stunt had been cancelled.



Pastor Terry Jones, from the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, last night said that he had abandoned the event after receiving assurance that the planned Islamic centre and mosque near Ground Zero, the site of the attacks, in New York, would be relocated.

His announcement followed worldwide condemnation and warnings of a deadly Islamic backlash.

But Mr Jones later indicated that the burning may go ahead as planned, after the Muslim group behind the New York mosque said they had not agreed to any deal.

The pastor said: "Given what we are now hearing, we are forced to rethink our decision. So as of right now, we are not cancelling the event, but we are suspending it."

Mr Jones claimed he was "lied to" * after Imam Muhammad Musri, the president of the Islamic Society of Central Florida, and the leader of the New York mosque said that no agreement had been struck. >>> Alex Spillius in Washington and Toby Harnden in Gainesville | Friday, September 10, 2010

* Should we be surprised?

Race Row Bundesbank Member to Quit
THE TELEGRAPH: Thilo Sarrazin, a member of Germany’s central Bundesbank who made disparaging remarks about Muslims and Jews in a book, has agreed to quit his position on the board.

Thilo Sarrazin, a member of the six-man board at the influential Bundesbank. Photo: The Telegraph
Mr Sarrazin will be leaving his post at the end of the month after reaching an agreement with the bank, said Bundesbank President Axel Weber.

His resignation comes after comments in interviews surrounding the release of his book, “Germany Abolishes Itself,” that Muslim immigrants in Europe are unwilling or incapable of integrating into western societies and that all Jews “share a certain gene” provoked a storm of controversy in Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel and several members of her government had called for his dismissal. >>> | Thursday, September 09, 2010

It really is coming to something here in the West when a man of this calibre has to leave his prestigious post just for saying the truth. I shall repeat what Herr Sarrazin stated: Muslims ARE incapable of integrating into German society, or any other Western society for that matter, simply because their prophet told them not to integrate. He told them to tell themselves apart from the infidel by dressing differently, by not mixing with them, and by not befriending them. Hence my sympathies are with Herr Sarrazin.

Angela Merkel and Christian Wulff have shown their true colours: THEY ARE WEAK AND UNPRINCIPLED. Angela Merkel, coming from the then communist East Germany should know better than many what it is like to live in a country where there is no freedom of speech. Her stance in this matter is therefore all the more surprising and perplexing. One can only conclude that neither Frau Merkel nor Herr Wulff deserve their elevated positions. – © Mark

EU Markets Chief Barnier Warns the City Casino Days Are Over
THE TELEGRAPH: The deceptively quiet Phoney War between Brussels and Anglo-Saxon finance is coming to an end. Life is about to change for hedge funds, commodity traders, and the 'prop desks' of global banks in the City of London.

Michel Barnier said the new European Single Market Authority will have sweeping powers to control derivatives. Photo: The Telegraph
"We want to know who is doing what with short-selling," said Michel Barnier, the European single market commissioner and the Frenchman in charge of the EU's new machinery of regulation.

"We need markets, and we need financial institutions that create value-added, but everyone has to be able to answer for what they are doing. People taking crazy risks linked to crazy rewards have to be brought back to their senses," he said, in a wide-ranging interview with The Daily Telegraph at the annual Ambrosetti conference on the shores of Lake Como.

Mr Barnier said the new European Single Market Authority (ESMA) endorsed in principle last week - along with EU banking and insurance watchdogs - will have sweeping powers to control derivatives.

"The EU authorities are going to look at every product. ESMA can restrict leverage, or in exceptional circumstances even ban a product altogether," he said. The Commission is introducing a text on derivatives next week as part of a new oversight machinery covering the gamut of finance and investment, including controls on private equity, hedge funds, as well as oil and currency trading.

Mr Barnier said there was no plan for a blanket ban on the short-selling of stocks or on the use of derivatives such as credit default swaps (CDS), famously exploited by funds to short Greek, Irish, Portuguese, Spanish bonds during Europe's debt crisis this year.

"It is not a question of prohibiting. Short-selling is useful, if used well, but we want to avoid abusive naked short-selling, and be able to take action in emergencies," he said. >>> Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Como | Thursday, September 09, 2010

Pastor Cancels Plans to Burn the Koran on Anniversary of 9/11 'After Agreement to Move Ground Zero Mosque'
MAIL ONLINE: U.S. pastor Terry Jones has cancelled his plans to burn the Koran on the anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks.

In an announcement on Thursday, Rev Jones said he had cancelled the controversial event after reaching an agreement with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf to move a mosque set to built on the Ground Zero site in New York.

He declared he would be flying up to New York on Saturday to discuss the relocation of the Muslim Cultural Centre.

There has so far been no confirmation that a deal has indeed been reached to relocate the building with a number of sources rejecting the pastor's claims. >>> Mail Foreign Service | Thursday, September 09, 2010

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Sakineh, "notre soeur à tous" (Fillon)
LE FIGARO: François Fillon a déclaré ce soir sur France 2 que l'iranienne Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, condamnée à mort par lapidation dans son pays, était "notre soeur à tous", en estimant que son exécution mettrait l'Iran "au ban des nations".



"Je dois dire qu'on est tous révoltés par cette espèce d'acte de barbarie dont est menacée Sakineh", a déclaré le premier ministre, interrogé sur le cas de l'Iranienne dans l'émission "A vous de juger". "Le président de la République est intervenu personnellement. Il a dit que nous étions désormais responsables de sa vie, responsables de son sort. C'est notre soeur à tous parce que c'est une femme qui est menacée par la pire des barbaries", a-t-il poursuivi. >>> AFP | Jeudi 09 Septembre 2010

Benefit Claimants to Have Payments Cut
THE TELEGRAPH: Benefits claimants will have their payments cut as ministers seek a further £4 billion in welfare cuts.

George Osborne, the Chancellor, said that the Government will go further than previously announced in trying to bring down the cost of Britain’s social security system.

The promise of new welfare cuts has caused strain in the Coalition, with some Liberal Democrat MPs protesting against the move.

Mr Osborne said the welfare system had grown out of control and allowed some people to make the “lifestyle choice” of claiming benefits for their entire life instead of working.

Reforms being drawn up by the Coalition will give welfare claimants “a strong incentive” to get a job.

Welfare now costs £192 billion a year, almost a third of all government spending. An estimated 5 million people of working age are now economically inactive and receiving benefits.

In the Budget in June, Mr Osborne announced that benefits cuts will save £11 billion a year by the end of the Parliament.

In a BBC interview, he signalled that ministers will now seek deeper cuts, reducing welfare spending by another £4 billion. >>> James Kirkup and Andrew Porter | Thursday, September 09, 2010

Barack Obama zu Koran-Verbrennung im Interview (Englisch)
SCHWEIZER FERNSEHEN: US-Präsident Barack Obama hat die von einer evangelikalen US-Christengruppe geplante Koran-Verbrennung scharf verurteilt. «Das ist eine destruktive Geste», die «den Werten Amerikas völlig widerspricht».



Demonstranten in der Stadt Multan verbrennen die US-Flagge (Video unkommentiert)
SCHWEIZER FERNSEHEN: US-Präsident Barack Obama hat die von einer evangelikalen US-Christengruppe geplante Koran-Verbrennung scharf verurteilt. «Das ist eine destruktive Geste», die «den Werten Amerikas völlig widerspricht».

Öffentliche Koranverbrennung zum Jahrestag 09/11
SCHWEIZER FERNSEHEN: Ein radikal-evangelischer Pfarrer aus dem Bundesstaat Florida (USA) will zum Jahrestag der Anschläge vom 11. September öffentlich den Koran verbrennen. In Washington befürchtet man nun, die amerikanischen Soldaten in Afghanistan könnten durch die Aktion gefährdet werden.

Mohammed-Karikaturist erhält Medienpreis
SCHWEIZER FERNSEHEN: Mit seinen Mohammed-Karikaturen hat er Moslems auf der ganzen Welt in Rage versetzt. Jetzt erhält der Däne Kurt Westergaard einen deutschen Medienpreis für sein Eintreten für die Pressefreiheit.

Euro und Dollar zurzeit schwach
SCHWEIZER FERNSEHEN: In den letzten Tagen hat sich neben dem Euro auch der Dollar abgeschwächt. Die Ökonomen sind sich jedoch uneinig, wie sich die Währungen weiterentwickeln werden.

Wullf zu Besuch in der Schweiz
SCHWEIZER FERNSEHEN: Der deutsche Bundespräsident Christian Wullf ist in die Schweiz gereist. Ziel des Staatsbesuches ist es, die deutsch-schweizerische Beziehung zu festigen. Einschätzungen von Fritz Reimann, SF-Korrespondent, Bern.

Turkey Set to Approve Major Reforms
THE TELEGRAPH: Turkey is on the brink of approving major constitutional reforms which critics say will pave the way for the key western ally to become an Islamic state.

Opinion polls suggest the reforms, proposed by the Islamic-oriented government, will win narrow approval in a referendum on Sunday.

They will alter the constitution, originally introduced after a military coup in 1980, to enshrine the elected government's control over the military and the judiciary.

They are being promoted as a key step necessary if the country is to meet the demands for more democratic rule set by the European Union as conditions for a future Turkish bid for membership. But critics who support the secular separation of Islam and the state - followed since the collapse of the Ottoman empire in the First World War - say it will be a major step towards an Islamic state.

"The honest people of this country do not allow this," the opposition leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, said at a campaign rally. "Those in favor of democracy do not allow this, but the deaf officials of the European Union say, 'What a good thing it is you're doing'."

Since the election of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), and its charismatic prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the country has moved closer to its muslim neighbours, including Iran, and away from a staunchly secular outlook that has played a major role in maintaining the country's position as a member of NATO and a key western ally in the muslim [sic] world. >>> Justin Vela in Istanbul | Thursday, September 09, 2010

Car Crash Tragedy of Gay Couple in Kiss Photo that Rocked South Africa
THE GUARDIAN: One dead, the other seriously injured in crash one month after moment of passion was controversially published in newspaper

Mark Dean Brown and Bjorn Czepan at the annual Soen in die Laan (Kiss in the Avenue) Stellenbosch University event. Photograph: The Guardian
Theirs was a kiss that stunned a conservative town. When a moment of passion between two men was published on a newspaper front page, it provoked fierce debate in one of South Africa's oldest communities.

In a single photograph Bjorn Czepan and Mark Dean Brown became unwitting symbols for tolerance and gay rights at the predominantly Afrikaner, rugby-playing Stellenbosch University.

Just a month later, there is a tragic postscript. Czepan is dead and Brown is critically ill in hospital after a car crash.

The students were involved in an accident in Woodstock, a suburb of Cape Town, last week, the Cape Times reported. Czepan, from Germany, was killed and Brown is now on a ventilator at the Netcare Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital.

The hospital said a third student, Brian Kline, was admitted late last Thursday night after the crash. Brown and Kline were critical but stable.

The Cape Town University couple's fleeting moment of fame came at last month's annual Soen in die Laan (Kiss in the Avenue) event at the nearby university, when lesbian and gay students decided to join the traditionally heterosexual event.

The photograph was published on the front page of the student newspaper Die Matie, triggering furious debate on social networking sites. Copies were torn up or defaced in protest but there were supportive comments from gay students. >>> David Smith | Thursday, September 09, 2010