Obama's Big Week: Polls Add to Pressure on the President

LOS ANGELES TIMES: As if to make the point vividly clear that summer is unofficially over, the skies of Washington on Tuesday were a metallic gray, with a cold breeze blowing and rain peppering the ground. It had the feel of seriousness, of stakes raised. And no one likely will understand that more this week than President Obama.

Thursday’s joint address to Congress will bring what could be perhaps a pivotal moment in his presidency, with the nation looking for his best proposals to help move the country out of the economic stall in which it has remained for months.

At the same time, Congress reconvenes to begin to shape a bipartisan plan for slashing the federal deficit. The so-called “supercommittee” meets for the first time Thursday as well. Whether lawmakers can deliver a meaningful, achievable solution could also have an effect on how voters view the president’s capacity to match words with results.

And if the nation needed any more of a reminder that we live in perilous times, the week will also feature incessant replays of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in advance of Sunday’s anniversary. » | James Oliphant | Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Les islamistes bien placés pour tirer profit du printemps arabe
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: APRÈS LA RÉVOLUTION | Les mouvements islamistes ont deux options après les soulèvements du printemps arabe: jouer sur le vide sécuritaire ou se muer en parti politique. La seconde option est la plus probable, selon les experts.

Les groupes islamistes pourraient tirer profit du vide sécuritaire créé par les soulèvements populaires dans des pays arabes. Mais il est plus probable qu’ils se lancent dans la conquête du pouvoir politique, a estimé l’institut de recherche IISS dans son rapport stratégique annuel, mardi à Londres.

«Je ne dis pas qu’il y aura nécessairement des activités terroristes, mais la chute d’Etats sécuritaires est certainement quelque chose qui crée pour ces groupes des occasions de passer à l’action», a estimé Emile Hokayem, expert à l’Institut international d’études stratégiques (IISS), au cours d’une conférence de presse.

Les révolutions, qui ont éclaté ces derniers mois dans plusieurs pays arabes, ont apporté la preuve que le changement était possible sans le jihad, a-t-il cependant ajouté.

Jusqu’à récemment, «le jihadisme international bénéficiait du fait que ces groupes pensaient qu’ils ne pourraient rien faire chez eux, donc ils (les jihadistes) ont combattu ailleurs (...). Maintenant, ils ont une occasion (de se faire entendre) plus près de chez eux», a estimé le chercheur installé à Bahreïn. » | ATS | Mardi 06 Septembre 2011

Salvatore Licitra (1968 – 2011) – An Homage
Video shown at the award ceremony of 'Ragusani nel mondo'. The award was given to Salvatore Licitra, in absence, on September 3, 2011


Offer your condolences here or here.

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: 'Pavarotti's heir' dies after scooter crash aged 43: Italian opera star Salvatore Licitra has died from head injuries following a scooter accident last month. » | Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Islam in the USA: Adhan (Islamic Call to Prayer) Called in a Christian Church!

Islam in Australia: Interview with Almir Colan
Listen to the interview here

Islamic Finance Australia: Dr. Mohd Daud Bakar
Dr Muhammed Daud Bakar (international scholar), a member of shariah Advisory council of Dow Jones Islamic Market INDEX, AAOIFI, of many financial institutions around the world including the Central Bank of Malaysia.

In my interview with him we will talk briefly about Islamic finance in Australia and some of the opportunities and challenges that are facing the industry.

In this interview:
a. What is Islamic finance?
b. Australia and Islamic finance
c. The Regulatory challenge
d. Risk management...

Interview by Almir Colan, Lecturer (Islamic Finance, Islamic Capital Markets), La Trobe University (School of Economics and Finance)

Al Jazeera English Live

'New Libyan Government Won’t Be Western Puppet'

Frenchman Ordered to Pay Wife Damages for Lack of Sex
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A Frenchman has been ordered to pay his ex-wife £8,500 in damages for failing to have enough sex with her during their marriage.

The 51-year-old man was fined under article 215 of France’s civil code, which states married couples must agree to a “shared communal life”.

A judge has now ruled that this law implies that “sexual relations must form part of a marriage”.

The rare legal decision came after the wife filed for divorce two years ago, blaming the break-up on her husband’s lack of activity in the bedroom. » | Telegraph Foreign Staff | Monday, September 05, 2011

House of Lords Debates – Saudi Arabia (May 20, 2010)
On human rights, freedom of speech, equality, and dignity: Is Saudi Arabia prepared to defend human rights, civil liberties and fight terrorism?



House of Lords Debates – Saudi Arabia







Robert Lacey's website »

WIKI: Robert Lacey »

Dr. Mai Yamani »

WIKI: Dr. Mai Yamani's website »

The Rebirth of Ground Zero
Watch Journeyman Pictures video here

Niall Ferguson: 'The Real Point of Me Isn’t that I’m Good Looking. It’s that I’m Clever’
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Historian Niall Ferguson on why broken Britain, celebrity culture and being called a pin-up make him angry.

I have not yet asked Niall Ferguson about him leaving his wife and three children, or his relationship with the Somalian feminist Ayaan Hirsi Ali, so when he launches in to a lengthy and verbose attack against the press during what I thought was a pretty innocuous chat about political correctness (he loathes it, naturally), it seems a little out of the blue.

“I really hate it,” he scowls.

"I can’t stand it. I find the prurience, the prying, the sneering… I find it utterly odious. But the problem isn’t just the amorality of editors and their minions, it is that the British public also has a nauseating prurience. And what I find disgusting is that people want to judge footballers – and professors for that matter – by an entirely anachronistic yardstick. It’s as if by reading this stuff we become Victorians, and we are scandalised, I mean scandalised, to discover that a professor of history is getting divorced, which is clearly outrageous in this day and age.

“I mean, how can this be news? How can this be ------- news? To me, it’s just a collective hypocrisy that attracts people to these stories. This desire to look into the BEDROOMS” – he is practically shouting now – “and pick up the sheets and have a gander. It disgusts me.”

I understand Ferguson’s anger. His new girlfriend, who was circumcised as a young girl in Somalia and is now pregnant with their first child, lived under a fatwa even before Theo Van Gogh – her friend and collaborator on a film about Muslim women – was murdered by extremists, a message affixed to his chest with a knife saying that she was next.

Both Ferguson and Ali are on an al-Qaeda list now and have security. “It’s not just that I can’t understand why the British press should want to write stories about the private life of an academic who has done a bit of telly [his series for Channel 4, Civilization, based on his book of the same name, about the fall of the West, proved incredibly popular]. More than anything else what makes me tremendously angry is that one consequence of the intrusion was to place Ayaan in danger. That is just contemptible.” Continue reading and comment » | Bryony Gordon | Monday, September 05, 2011

MAIL ON SUNDAY: TV historian is having a child with his Somali-born feminist partner » | Mail On Sunday Reporter | Sunday, June 05, 2011

Miscreant Masterchefs – Italy
Watch Journeyman Pictures video here

Strauss-Kahn Returns Home

REUTERS.COM: Dominique Strauss-Kahn, his presidential hopes shattered by a sex assault scandal that rocked his homeland, returned on Sunday to Francefacing a frosty public reception and unease among his political allies. » | Pauline Mevel and Chine Labbe | PARIS | Sunday, September 04, 2011

Scottish Conservative Party Set to Disband

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: David Cameron is facing the prospect of the end of the Scottish Conservative Party.

Dramatic plans to disband the Tories north of the border were unveiled by the front-runner for its leadership in a move one senior party figure warned could encourage the break-up of the United Kingdom.

The Prime Minister – who is spending the weekend in Scotland – faces the prospect of being the first British Prime Minister whose party has no Scottish MPs.

Murdo Fraser, who is favourite to become leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, will announce that he plans to wind up the party if he wins a ballot of members next month.

He would follow disbanding the party by launching a new Right-of-centre party that would contest all Scottish elections — council, Scottish Parliament and Westminster.

Mr Fraser, a member of the Scottish Parliament, believes the Conservatives have become a “toxic brand” in Scotland since losing all 11 of their Commons seats in the 1997 Labour landslide.

Mr Cameron, who is staying with the Queen at Balmoral this weekend, has been told of Mr Fraser’s plans, but has decided to remain neutral for fear of being accused of interfering in the Scottish Tories’ leadership election. Read on and comment » | Alan Cochrane, Scottish Editor | Saturday, September 03, 2011

Watch Al Jazeera English Live

Indonesian Mayor Resists Building of Church
Despite losing all legal battles, mayor says he cannot allow a church to be built on a street with an Islamic name

Is Muhammad a Prophet?
Watch ABN video here

Who Was Muhammad?

9/11 Anniversary: US Issues Worldwide Travel Alert to Americans
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A worldwide travel alert ahead of the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks has been issued by the US State Department, calling on Americans living and travelling abroad to remain vigilant.

The department said it had not identified any "specific threats" about possible attacks but that al-Qaeda and its affiliates had "demonstrated the intent and capability to carry out attacks" against the US and US interests.

"In the past, terrorist organisations have on occasion planned their attacks to coincide with significant dates on the calendar," the State Department said.

The alert expires on January 2, 2012, it said.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said there was "no specific or credible intelligence that al-Qaeda or its affiliates are plotting attacks" linked to the anniversary of the worst terror strikes on US soil.

But she added: "We remain at a heightened state of vigilance, and security measures are in place to detect and prevent plots against the United States should they emerge." » | Friday, September 02, 2011