'Britain in Danger of Being Outflanked by Growing Islamic Population' Says Church Leader

Reverend David Robertson

DAILY EXPRESS: “SPINELESS” politicians are ignoring the rise of Islam in the UK, according to a prominent church minister.

And the Reverend David Robertson, who will soon take over as Moderator of the Free Church of Scotland, also says there is no such thing as “secular Islam”.

His comments come as debate rages throughout Britain as to how to tackle the issue of radical proponents of the religion without alienating minority communities.

But the minister stressed that although he opposes “racist, jingoistic Islamophobia, the fear of Islamophobia is blinding many of our politicians to the threat we face from Islam”.

Mr Robertson has accused politicians of leading the country down a “path of destruction away from the Christian foundations of our nation” by appeasing Muslims.

Writing on the Christian Today website, he said that politicians are either ignorant of the nature of Islam, or frightened of being labelled racist for speaking out about it. He said: “Christianity is the bedrock and foundation of our secular society. Islam is different. Islam has no doctrine of separation of the spiritual from the political. Islam is, and has always been, a political movement.

“There can be no such thing as secular Islam.

“The narrative is that Islam is the same as Christianity, that ISIS and others are just fundamentalists who are not really part of the ‘religion of peace’ and that Christians have their own ISIS equivalents. All untrue. » | Dean Herbert | Wednesday, April 08, 2015

Top Saudi Cleric Denies Issuing Fatwa 'Allowing Husbands to EAT Wives If They Are Hungry'

Grand mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Shaeikh issued the fatwa

DAILY EXPRESS: A SAUDI religious leader has denied reports he issued a fatwa telling husbands they can eat their wives if they are hungry enough.

Saudi Arabian grand mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah was claimed to have said the ruling showed the "sacrifice of women and obedience to her husband".

The reports said the fatwa allowed a man to eat his wife's body parts if he is suffering from "severe hunger".

However, in a statement released via the Saudi Press Agency on behalf of the Grand Mufti the cleric said: "The fatwa attributed to us is wrong.

"It is nothing but lies ... It has been circulated to distort the image of Islam, which has elevated and granted a dignified status to men and women without exceptions."

Reports of the alleged fatwa circulated the world’s news sites before the religious authorities issued the denial. » | Scott Campbell | Friday, April 10, 2015

Tweeting Causes Me Trouble

I shall not be tweeting anything again for the time being. Each time I tweet something, MALWARE and ADWARE seems to attach to my browser, causing me untold problems and wasting so much of my time. In short, Twitter is infecting my computer. I have tried getting help from Twitter itself, but that appears to be a fruitless exercise. I shall therefore STOP tweeting for now, or at least until I can get some advice on, and resolution of, the matter. – Mark

Marine Le Pen Tells Father to Step Down from French Politics

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Leader of France's far-right says her father will be summoned before a disciplinary committee for his anti-Semitic remarks and says she no longer sees a future for him in Front National

France's National Front leader Marine Le Pen urged her father Jean-Marie to withdraw from political life and said she would begin disciplinary proceedings against him over repeated comments that had harmed efforts to broaden her party's appeal.

The 86-year-old founder of the far-right party, who last week defended a past comment that Nazi gas chambers were a "detail of history", was quoted on Tuesday as calling France's Spanish-born Prime Minister Manuel Valls "the immigrant" and defending Philippe Petain, leader of the war-time government that cooperated with Nazi Germany.

In what has become an increasingly bitter family feud, Marine Le Pen and her aides believe her father is undermining her efforts to rid the anti-immigrant party of its anti-Semitic image and widen its voter appeal as she readies a bid for the presidency in 2017. » | Reuters | Thursday, April 09, 2015

French Media Groups to Hold Emergency Meeting after Isis Cyber-attack

THE GUARDIAN: Culture minister calls talks after television network TV5Monde is taken over by individuals claiming to belong to Islamic State

France’s culture minister is to call an urgent meeting of French media groups to assess their vulnerability to hacking after the public service television network TV5Monde was taken over by individuals claiming to belong to Islamic State, blacking out broadcasts as well as hacking its websites and Facebook page.

All TV5Monde broadcasts were brought down in a blackout between 10pm and 1am local time on Wednesday to Thursday by hackers claiming allegiance to Isis. They were able to seize control of the television network founded by the French government in 1984, simultaneously hacking 11 channels as well as its website and social media accounts.

Experts say the cyber-attack represented a new level of sophistication for the Islamist group, which has claimed complex hacking before, but nothing as big as this. The Paris prosecutor’s office has opened a terrorism investigation into the attack.

The culture minister, Fleur Pellerin, said she would bring together all heads of big French TV companies as well as newspaper groups and the news agency Agence France-Presse within 24 hours “to assure myself of their vulnerable points, any risks that exist and the best way to deal with it”. » | Angelique Chrisafis in Paris and Samuel Gibbs | Thursday, April 09, 2015

Isil Hackers Seize Control of France's TV5Monde Network in 'Unprecedented' Attack

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: TV5Monde still unable to broadcast anything but pre-recorded programmes on its 11 channels after "unprecedented" cyber attack as French government denounces "act of terrorism"

Hackers claiming allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) on Thursday seized control of TV5Monde, France's international TV network, knocking out its 11 channels, website and social media accounts in an attack the government dubbed an "act of terrorism".

TV5Monde was still struggling to regain control of its channels on Thursday morning, forced to broadcast only pre-recorded programmes after what its director called an "unprecedented attack in the history of television" in which its systems were "severely damaged".

Yves Bigot, the network's chief, said he was shaken when a black screen appeared across the entire network at around 10pm local time on Wednesday night.

"When we discovered the sense of the message appearing on our social media and our websites, it both allowed us to understand what was happening and obviously worried us," he told RTL radio. » | Henry Samuel, Paris | Thursday, April 09, 2015

Americans Are the Real Terrorists, Says Boston Bomber's Mother

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Zubeidat Tsaernaeva posts message after guilty verdict thanking supporters for standing by her son, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

Minutes after Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had been found guilty of killing three people in a bomb attack on the 2013 Boston Marathon, his mother defended him in a message to a supporter's group.

“I will never forget it. May god bless those who helped my son," wrote Zubeidat Tsaernaeva. "The terrorists are the Americans and everyone knows it. My son is the best of the best.”

The message was passed to the Vocativ website by a friend. It was also posted to the “Help for Dzhokhar” site hosted on a Russian social networking site, VKontakte.

In it she thanked supporters. » | Foreign staff | Thursday, April 09, 2015

Obama Blasts 'Less-than-loving Christians' at Easter Prayer Breakfast

President Obama appeared to break from his script for a moment at Tuesday morning's Easter Prayer Breakfast to opine on Christians who espouse "less-than-loving" views. "On Easter, I do reflect on the fact that as a Christian, I am supposed to love," Mr. Obama said toward the end of his speech. "And I have to say…

Obama Takes Jab at Critics in Prayer Breakfast

During the annual Easter Prayer Breakfast at the White House, President Barack Obama reflected on what it means to be a Christian at Easter and all year long. (April 7)

Islamic State Launches English-language Radio News Bulletins

The al-Bayan radio network's logo

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The jihadist group already airs bulletins in Arabic and Russian and the English-language bulletin will offer updates on Iraq, Syria and Libya

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) has launched English-language radio news bulletins on its al-Bayan radio network.

The militant group’s English bulletin, launched on Tuesday and promoted via Twitter, accompanies Arabic and Russian bulletins already airing on the network. » | AP | Tuesday, April 07, 2015

Cameron’s Unthinking Policy on Syria Has Fuelled the Rise of British Jihadism

THE GUARDIAN: The current focus on domestic politics and the election shouldn’t blind voters to the fact that this prime minister has been a foreign policy disaster

Foreign policy is virtually absent from the election campaign. But if David Cameron had had his way, we could have been embroiled by now – more than we already are – in yet another Middle East war. As it is, his Syria policy has still backfired, contributing to the rise of jihadism in our own back yard.

Cameron should not be let off the hook for supporting the armed opposition in Syria and being ready to start bombing Syrian government forces in 2013 after the Syrians had apparently used chemical weapons. The planes were ready to take off from Cyprus. It was only parliament, in a historic and too-soon-forgotten vote, that stopped this recklessness in its tracks. True, Syria subsequently disarmed itself of chemical weapons, but this was after the climbdown on bombing had shown western public opinion had no appetite for another war of choice. So it was no thanks to Cameron’s warmongering; it was, rather, a result of Russian pressure.

True also, Britain has gone on to join bombing operations against Isis. But it is one thing to bomb a rabble collection of fighters, another to bomb a regular army with an anti-aircraft capability. And what was Cameron thinking – that decimating the Syrian army would make life harder for the Islamists, who are palpably the bigger and more atrocious threat? » | Peter Ford | Tuesday, April 07, 2015

French Minister Agrees That Lack of Mosques Encourages Radicalisation

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Lack of "dignified" places of worship for France's Muslims fuels radicalisation, claims Thierry Mandon, French simplification minister, a day after Grand Mosque of Paris rector says number must be "doubled" by 2017

A French minister has poured fuel onto the debate about proposals to double the number of mosques in the country within two years, by conceding that France doesn't have enough mosques.

Thierry Mandon, the minister of simplification, said that the lack of "decent" places of worship for French Muslims was partly to blame for some believers turning to radical Islam.

His words came as France struggles to calm community tensions in the wake of the January Charlie Hebdo attacks.

"There aren't enough mosques in France," Mr Mandon told iTele, the TV news channel. "There are still too many towns where the Muslim religion is practised in conditions that are not decent." » | Henry Samuel, Paris | Tuesday, April 07, 2015

BOOK REVIEW: 'Islam and Nazi German's War'

ISLAM AND NAZI GERMANY'S WAR By David Motadel Belknap Press, $35, 512 pages Wartime alliances are rarely rational. Battlefield allies usually share little but a common enemy. The close relationship between Hitler's top generals and policy planners and the devout Muslim soldiers who fought in Nazi Germany's army was strange and unnatural. The two groups shared…

Theresa May Wants a Police File of Muslim Hate

DAILY EXPRESS: POLICE forces will collect statistics on hate crimes committed against Muslims, the Tories propose if they win the General Election.

Home Secretary Teresa May said Islamophobic attacks would be recorded separately alongside anti-Semitic crimes.

Her promise was a response to anti-Muslim hostility after atrocities committed in Britain and abroad by Islamic radicals. » | Monday, April 06, 2015

Ridiculous! Theresa May the Lady Imam, Specialist on Islam, Islamic Theologian par excellence: ISIS Doesn't Present Islam

Reclaim Australia Rally Organiser Plans Next Move

Read the Fraser Coast Chronicle article here | Carlie Walker | Tuesday, April 07, 2015

Anti-Islam Group PEGIDA Invites Geert Wilders to Rally

Read the Euronews article here | Monday, April 06, 2015

Zweiter Weltkrieg: Athen beziffert deutsche Schuld auf 278 Milliarden Euro

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Erstmals nennt die griechische Regierung eine konkrete Zahl: Deutschlands Reparationsschuld aus dem Zweiten Weltkrieg soll sich demnach auf rund 278 Milliarden Euro belaufen.

Der griechische Vize-Finanzminister Dimitris Mardas hat erstmals konkrete Zahlen genannt: Als Reparationsschuld Deutschlands für den Zweiten Weltkrieg erwarte die Regierung in Athen 278,7 Milliarden Euro.

Die Summe nannte Mardas im Parlament, bei einer Sitzung des parlamentarischen Komitees, das untersuchen soll, wie Griechenland seinen Berg von Staatsschulden angehäuft hat. » | gec/juh | Montag, 06. April 2015

Demand for More Mosques in France Raises Tension

France is home to western Europe's largest Muslim population

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Muslim leaders' demand to double the number of mosques in France within two years causes anger

A call by Muslim leaders for the number of mosques in France to be doubled has aggravated community tensions barely three months after the Charlie Hebdo attacks.

"We have 2,200 mosques and we need double that within two years," the Rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, Dalil Boubakeur, told applauding French Muslims at a conference.

Many Muslims believe local authorities in France block applications to open or build mosques and prayer-rooms, leading to overcrowding and protests over prayers held in the streets.

However, the conservative daily Le Figaro said the comments by Dr Boubakeur, generally considered a moderate, were "provocative". » | David Chazan, Paris | Monday, April 06, 2015

Pat Condell: Free Speech on Campus

Time to stop indulging privileged militant “progressive” puritan bigots.

Free speech? Not at four in five UK universities