150 Women Face Adultery Flogging on Maldives
THE INDEPENDENT: Almost 150 women living in the Maldives face a public flogging for indulging in extra-marital sex after being convicted by the Muslim country's conservative courts. Around 50 men also face the punishment.

Earlier this month, an 18-year-old woman fainted after she was flogged 100 times having been found guilty of having sex with two different men. The woman, who was pregnant at the time of sentencing, had her punishment deferred until after the birth of her child and the court said the teenager's pregnancy was proof of her guilt. In contrast, the accused men were acquitted, with one of them escaping punishment simply because he denied the charge. >>> Andrew Buncombe, Asia Correspondent | Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Police Chiefs Press for Immigration Reform
USA TODAY: PHOENIX — Some of the nation's top cops on Wednesday called upon Congress to promptly adopt an immigration reform measure, saying local law enforcement agencies across America are struggling to deal with crime and confusion caused by a broken system.

About 100 police chiefs and administrators from Framington, Mass., to San Diego joined Department of Homeland Security officials in Phoenix for a National Summit on Local Immigration Policies sponsored by the Police Executive Research Forum, a nonprofit law enforcement educational organization.

During closed discussions, the participants agreed that America needs a comprehensive new law containing guest-worker programs, a means for immigrants to become permanent residents and federal enforcement of the prohibition against hiring illegal immigrants, according to Chuck Wexler, the forum's executive director. >>> Dennis Wagner | Thursday, July 23, 2009

Sharia-intent Extremists Convene in Chicago
ONENEWSNOW: A national defense analyst and former Reagan Defense Department official says Americans need to be deeply concerned that a radical Islamic organization calling for the overthrow of Democratic America was recently able to hold a meeting just outside Chicago.

The conference called "Fall of Capitalism and Rise of Islam," which took place at a Hilton Hotel in the Windy City, was sponsored by a group known as Hizb Ut-Tahrir. The group openly declared that it seeks to bring about an Islamic America.
 


Frank Gaffney served as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for international security during the Reagan administration and now serves as president of the Center for Security Policy. "They're talking explicitly about replacing the Constitution of the United States with a theocratic form of government under this barbaric, totalitarian program they call Sharia," he says. According to Gaffney, "sharia" requires its adherents to engage in jihad -- of either the violent kind or the "stealthy" kind, as he told Fox News recently. >>> Chad Groening | Thursday, July 23, 2009

Children to Be Baptised as Their Parents Are Married
This is absurd! Another one of the Archcrank’s ideas, I suppose! When a religion starts mirroring modern trends and keeps on trying to be ‘relevant’ to today’s world, then that ‘religion’ ceases to be a proper religion. Funny thing is that the more relevant the Church tries to be to modern life, the more irrelevant it becomes!

In any case, religions shouldn’t follow, they should be sources of inspiration, and they should lead. Any religion which follows trends is a flawed religion, and is destined to become even more irrelevant than it already is, it is destined to die out. Little wonder that Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the world today! That religion won't change its message. After all, people want to be told what is right in the eyes of God; they don’t want to tell Him! – ©Mark

TIMES ONLINE: The Church of England unveils a two-in-one wedding and baptism liturgy today as it seeks to make peace with families “living in sin”.

The “hatch-and-match” service allows couples to baptise their children after the wedding ceremony. Parents can even get baptised themselves.

The aim is to encourage cohabiting parents to marry as the Church tries to become more relevant to the way people live their lives, but critics said that it appeared to sanction having children out of wedlock. One bishop described the idea as “nutty”. The liturgy, costing £272, is being sent out to dioceses and parish clergy today.

The move comes after research commissioned by the archbishops of Canterbury and York found that increasing numbers of couples marrying in church already had children. The latest figures on births and marriages show that about 44 per cent of children are born to unmarried women. >>> Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent | Thursday, July 23, 2009

Sharia Law in the USA

Michael Jackson: I Just Can’t Stop Loving You

Michael Jackson: Heal the World
Watch video here >>>

France Falls Out of Love with Topless Sunbathing
THE GUARDIAN: Health concerns and new feminist priorities mean French women are covering up on the beach

Photo: The Guardian
For some it's the stuff of naff Cote d'Azur postcards. For others it's a symbol of the feminist struggle in France. Topless sunbathing was once the summer battleground of French post-1968 society – educated middle classes insisted that peeling off was a women's right, while family groups claimed exposed nipples would scare children.

For decades, France has prided itself on being the world capital of seaside semi-nudity. Now the nation is facing a bikini-top backlash. A younger generation of women are covering up, citing new feminist priorities, skin cancer fears and a rebellion against the cult of the fetished body beautiful.

French academics and historians have spent the early summer months pondering the sociological meaning of the demise of France's once-favourite piece of beachwear, the "monokini" – the bottom half of a bikini with no top.

Since the 1970s, when the French state refused to ban "le topless" on beaches, women's semi-nudity has become a symbol of summer in France. It was a point of national pride that the same freedom to strip off in public was off-limits in other more prudish nations such as the US.

Women's bodies have always been the centre of national social debates in France. Jean-Marie Le Pen's far-right Front National once produced a poster warning against immigration which showed carefree French topless sunbathers in the 1990s against a doomsday prediction of burka-clad women invading French beaches in the year 2010. >>> Angelique Chrisafis | Wedneday, July 22, 2009

Simon Highes: What a Twat*!

*Please excuse the expletive. But for this nincompoop, there is no other word that is appropriate!

Hat tip: Always On Watch >>>

Michelle’s New Image

The Woman in Red

United for Neda

German Language Adds 5,000 Words
BBC: Around 5,000 new words have been officially added to the German language - many of them from the English-speaking world.

The newcomers appear in the latest edition of the respected German dictionary, Duden.

Germans can now go to "eine After-Show-Party", as long as it is not "eine No-Go Area", and meet "das It Girl" - if she does not have "der Babyblues".

Fans of social networking can also "twittern", which means to Twitter.

The financial crisis has inspired many of the new entries in the 135,000-word dictionary.

'Kreditklemme'

Appearing for the first time are "Kreditklemme" (credit crunch), "Konjunkturpaket" (stimulus package) and "Abwrackpraemie" (car scrappage bonus).

The word "Ehrenmord" (honour killing) also makes it into the dictionary, which was published on Wednesday.

The German language is known for its extremely long compound nouns.

And the new edition includes a 23-letter example: "Vorratsdatenspeicherung", which means the saving of data relating to supplies.

The first Duden dictionary was produced in 1880 and consisted of just 27,000 words. [Source: BBC] | Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Saudi Cleric Sultan Al Dugheilbi on Corrupt Western Culture Impacting Muslim Youth

A Fan of Camel Milk Struggles to Start a Drome-dairy
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: In North Carolina, Ms. Hinkle Promotes Hard-to-Get Beverage; Milking Martha

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Millie Hinkle first tasted camel milk in the United Arab Emirates about 10 years ago. She had no idea the salty drink, still warm from the camel and served in an ornate bowl with a side of walnuts, would become an obsession.

"It has taken over my life," said the 57-year-old practitioner of natural medicine as she cruised down a tree-lined road here in her white SUV emblazoned with a camel.

Ms. Hinkle has drained her savings, slashed the number of hours she spends at her day job and started a company called Camel Milk USA. Her goal is to bring the milk, reputed to have healing and aphrodisiac powers, to the U.S. where it's been hard to get mainly because camels weren't listed in rules governing the sale of milk.

In April, Ms. Hinkle won initial approval from the National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments, a nonprofit group, to market the milk. Now, she's awaiting approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on some final details.

But there are several humps to overcome before camel milk is widely available in the U.S. For starters, there aren't many camels here. Those that are mainly work in circuses or live in zoos.

Another challenge: Camels don't much like to be milked. Camels can be cantankerous and persuading them to give up their milk can be part chore, part art. Camel experts say the animals are often ticklish around their udders and, without proper training, might lie down in the middle of being milked.

Camel milk is a centuries-old staple for nomadic tribes across the Middle East and Africa. It is also drunk by elderly men to enhance virility; by the sick to treat a variety of ailments; and by those who believe it has magical properties. >>> Lauren Etter | Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Obama nach sechs Monaten unbeliebter als Bush
WELT ONLINE: Ein halbes Jahr nach seinem von großen Hoffnungen begleiteten Amtsantritt als US-Präsident wird Barack Obama vom Alltag eingeholt. Eine Mehrheit der Amerikaner empfindet seinen Kurs als falsch. Obamas persönliche Umfragewerte sind sogar schlechter als die von George W. Bush zur gleichen Zeit. Obama bleibt gelassen.

Ein halbes Jahr nach seinem Amtsantritt ist die Euphorie um den neuen US-Präsidenten Barack Obama verflogen. Eine Mehrheit der Amerikaner ist laut einer Umfrage der Nachrichtenagentur AP wieder der Ansicht, dass sich die USA auf einem falschen Kurs befinden. 54 Prozent der Befragten vertreten diese Meinung, gegenüber 46 Prozent vor einem Monat. Auch die allgemeine Zufriedenheit mit dem Präsidenten hat in den vergangenen Monaten abgenommen. >>> AP/fp | Mittwoch, 22. Juli 2009

Jihad in the Classroom
THE AUSTRALIAN: INDONESIA will continue to live with the threat of terror attacks unless its government cracks down on the militant Islamic schools and religious zealots who espouse worldwide jihad.

Last Friday's hotel bombings in Jakarta have focused attention yet again on a network of radical Islamic boarding schools across Indonesia that continues to espouse the cause of violent jihad and churn out eager young zealots willing to die in its name.

 Four days after the bombings, investigators have linked them to two Islamic schools that are well known to the Indonesian authorities but have neither been shut down nor had their activities or teachings curtailed.

The first of these is the now notorious Al Mukmin pesantren (boarding house) at Ngruki in Solo, Central Java, where the Marriott suicide bomber is reported to have been schooled.

The second is a smaller school at Cilacap in Central Java, where a bomb identical to the hotel bombs used in Jakarta was found in July, and which is believed to have provided shelter to suspected mastermind Noordin Top.

A Muslim leader in Jakarta yesterday identified the man who detonated a backpack and case full of explosives inside the Marriott restaurant as Nur Hasbi, who is believed to have graduated from the Ngruki school in 1995. Thus the school continues to live up to its reputation as "a crucible for the formation of cadres of mujahidin", and its mission, "to nurture zeal for jihad so that love for jihad and martyrdom grow in the soul of the mujahidin", in the words of its co-founder, Jemaah Islamiah leader, Abu Bakar Bashir.

Nur Hasbi was no doubt inspired by his reported classmate, Asmar Latin Sani, who carried out the previous attack on the Marriott in 2003, after which his severed head was found on the fifth floor of the smashed hotel.
The connection is no coincidence. >>> Sally Neighbour | Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Funding Jihad – Saudi Arabia
Watch Journeyman Pictures video here >>>

Saudi Prince Al-Walid bin Talal

Saudi Princess on Women's Rights

Swine Flu May Force Muslims to Abandon Haj Pilgrimage to Mecca
TIMES ONLINE: The annual Haj pilgrimage to Mecca could be under threat because of swine flu.

Britain today joined a growing list of countries in the MIddle East and Africa to issue advice to Muslim pilgrims not to travel to Saudi Arabia if they are elderly, pregnant, very young or have a long-term medical condition that may leave them more vulnerable to the disease.

The advice, issued by the UK’s Association of British Hujjaj (Pilgrims), follows a recommendation by Saudi health officials that anyone travelling to Mecca or Medina should receive the seasonal flu vaccine at least two weeks before their visit.

The Saudi authorities also said that pregnant women, children, chronically ill and elderly people should skip the Haj this year.

Quarantine facilities have been set up in Saudi airports and millions of vaccine doses have been pre-ordered.

The Association of British Hujjaj said that Saudi Arabia’s warning had “sent a shock wave” through Britain’s Muslim community.

The association’s health experts warned: “British pilgrims have always been at high risk of infections due to the crowded conditions at ceremonies, accommodation sites and on public transport. Therefore pilgrims must follow the guidelines issued by the authorities and they should be vaccinated against the swine flu virus once this vaccine is available at least two weeks before their departure to perform pilgrimage.”

In a statement today the association said: “Take the swine flu threat seriously, be safe than sorry and contact your doctor before travelling.” >>> Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent | Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Death of a Princess: سوسن بدر في موت أميرة

PBS / FRONTLINE / INTRODUCTION: In the spring of 1980, America was at a dramatic crossroads in the Middle East: President Carter's attempt to rescue U.S. hostages in Iran had just ended in failure, oil prices were rising steadily, and the U.S. economy was in shambles. At that moment, the PBS series WORLD -- the precursor to FRONTLINE® -- broadcast perhaps the most controversial film in the history of public television.

Amid a clamor of political uproar and international front-page headlines, "Death of a Princess" told the true story of a young Saudi princess and her lover who had been publicly executed for adultery. The broadcast ignited protests from both the Saudi Arabian and U.S. governments and big oil companies. >>> | April 19, 2005

Death of a Princess >>>

House of Saud >>>

Ten Saudis Seek Asylum After Princess Is Allowed to Stay
THE INDEPENDENT: Chairman of home affairs committee welcomes decision to give sanctuary to woman with illegitimate child

Ministers are considering asylum applications for 10 Saudi Arabian nationals who claim they are at risk of persecution if they are forced to return to the Middle Eastern kingdom, it emerged last night.

The new cases were made public after The Independent revealed the plight of a Saudi princess who was granted asylum in Britain after she had an illegitimate child with a British man.

The young woman, who has also been granted anonymity by the courts, won her claim for asylum after she told a court that she faced execution if her husband found out about her adultery and she was forced to return to Saudi Arabia.

Immigration and asylum experts said last night that asylum cases from women fleeing the kingdom were very rare. But Keith Vaz, chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, said of the case: "This is the kind of person that our asylum laws are designed to protect. A woman and her unborn child should under no circumstances be sent back to a country where it is likely that they will be harmed. I welcome the decision made in this case."

New figures released by the Home Office also showed that a further 15 Saudis were refused asylum by the Government last year. There are no details about the sex of each of the applicants nor for the number of asylum applications received this year.
Mr Vaz called for more information to be made public about claims from Saudi Arabia. He said: "This is a country with a questionable human rights record. It is important to make clear the number of people who are fleeing similar treatment."

The princess's case is one of a small number of claims for asylum brought by citizens of Saudi Arabia which are not openly acknowledged by either government. British diplomats believe that to do so would in effect highlight the persecution of women in Saudi Arabia, which would be viewed as open criticism of the House of Saud and lead to embarrassing publicity for both governments.

The woman, who comes from a very wealthy Saudi family, says she met her English boyfriend – who is not a Muslim – during a visit to London. They struck up a relationship after he gave her his telephone number in a department store. She became pregnant the following year and worried that her elderly husband – a member of the royal family of Saudi Arabia – had become suspicious of her behaviour, she persuaded him to let her visit the UK again to give birth in secret. She feared for her life if she returned to Saudi Arabia.

She persuaded the court that if she returned to the kingdom she would be subject to capital punishment under Sharia law – specifically flogging and stoning to death. She was also worried about the possibility of an honour killing. Since she fled Saudi Arabia, her family and her husband's family have broken off contact with her. >>> Robert Verkaik, Home Affairs Editor | Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Analyse: Der Iran treibt auf eine Revolution zu
WELT ONLINE: Dass sehr viele Iraner die Herrschaft der Mullahs ablehnen, haben sie auf den Straßen demonstriert. Mittlerweile zeigen sich ernsthafte Risse in der Theokratie. Im offenen Machtkampf zwischen verschiedenen Mullah-Fraktionen stecken Anzeichen einer Agonie des Systems. Der Iran treibt auf eine Revolution zu.

Von Lenin stammt die klassische Definition einer revolutionären Situation. Sie tritt ein, wenn die Beherrschten nicht mehr so wollen und die Herrschenden nicht mehr so können wie bisher. Wie es aussieht, treibt der Iran auf eine solche Situation zu.

Dass sehr viele Iraner die Herrschaft der Mullahs ablehnen, haben sie auf den Straßen bewiesen; nun zeigen sich ernsthafte Risse innerhalb der Theokratie. Beim Freitagsgebet hat Ayatollah Ali Akbar Haschemi Rafsandschani, Ex-Präsident und Kampfgefährte des Revolutionsführers Khomeini, die Legitimität des gegenwärtigen Regimes infrage gestellt. Die Regierung habe zunächst das Vertrauen in das Volk verloren, das Volk darauf das Vertrauen in die Regierung, so Rafsandschani. Er forderte die Freilassung inhaftierter Demonstranten, Freiheit der Presse und – indirekt zwar, aber deutlich – eine Revision oder Wiederholung der Präsidentenwahl. Anders sei die „Krise“, die das „System gefährdet“, nicht zu bewältigen. Das ist ein Gorbatschow-Moment. >>> Von Alan Posener | Donnerstag, 18. Juli 2009

More Non-Muslims Turning to Sharia Courts to Resolve Civil Disputes
Sheikh Suhaib Hasan. Photo: TimesOnline
TIMES ONLINE: Increasing numbers of non-Muslims are turning to Sharia courts to resolve commercial disputes and other civil matters, The Times has learnt.

The Muslim Arbitration Tribunal (MAT) said that 5 per cent of its cases involved non-Muslims who were using the courts because they were less cumbersome and more informal than the English legal system.

Freed Chedie, a spokesman for Sheikh Faiz-ul-Aqtab Siqqiqi, a barrister who set up the tribunal, said: “We put weight on oral agreements, whereas the British courts do not.”

In a case last month a non-Muslim Briton took his Muslim business partner to the tribunal to sort out a dispute over the profits in their car fleet company. “The non-Muslim claimed that there had been an oral agreement between the pair,” said Mr Chedie. “The tribunal found that because of certain things the Muslim man did, that agreement had existed. The non-Muslim was awarded £48,000.”

He said that the tribunal had adjudicated on at least 20 cases involving non-Muslims so far this year. The rulings of the tribunal are legally binding, provided that both parties agree to that condition at the beginning of any hearing.

Anti-Sharia campaigners, who claim that the Islamic system is radical and biased against women, expressed alarm at the news. Denis MacEoin, who wrote a recent report for the think-tank Civitas examining the spread of Sharia in Britain, said that MAT’s claims about non-Muslim clients “raises all sorts of questions”.

He added: “You really need to ask why. What advantages could that possibly have for them going to an Islamic court? Any [Sharia] court is going to be implementing aspects of a law that runs contrary to British law, because of the way it treats women for example.” >>> Fiona Hamilton, London Correspondent | Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Ahmadinejad’s Deputy Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie Forced Out by Hardliners
TIMES ONLINE: Hardliners have forced out Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s deputy, despite his being a member of the President’s family.

Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie’s departure comes just four days after he was appointed. Mr Mashaie, whose daughter is married to President Ahmadinejad’s son, had outraged clerics and politicians after saying that the Islamic Republic was a “friend of the Israeli people”.

Mr Mashaie’s resignation was announced by Press TV, Iran’s state-run English-language television station. Last week another vice-president, Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, who headed Iran’s nuclear programme, also resigned. Mr Mashaie also attracted conservatives’ disapproval after allegedly watching unveiled women dancing at a tourism exhibition in Turkey two years ago.

The resignation came amid reports that a British Embassy employee would be released on bail after three weeks in jail on charges of inciting unrest after last month’s disputed election.

Hossein Rassam, chief analyst at the embassy in Tehran, was the last of nine embassy staff accused of involvement in opposition rallies.

The President had shown a “twisted face to clerics and elites” by appointing Mr Mashaie, said Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, a hardline Ahmadinejad ally. “Ahmadinejad should not challenge conservatives with such decisions. I request the President to replace him before more criticisms are made,” he said.

The President’s choice of first vice-president does not need Parliament’s approval but his new cabinet ministers will.

Mr Ahmadinejad would have struggled to get his ministerial choices past parliament. Mr Mashaie’s departure could make that task easier. >>> Michael Purcell in Iran | Sunday, July 19, 2009

Sheikh Khatib: We'll Never Give Up Al-Aqsa
YNET NEWS: Islamic Movement leader tells Arab children Israeli occupation of Jerusalem must end

Thousands of Arab children headed to Jerusalem Saturday to celebrate the annual festival of the Al-Aqsa Children's Fund initiative, which prompts Muslim youngsters to donate their allowance in favor of the mosque and Islamic Movement institutions.

The movement's Northern Branch's Deputy Chairman, Sheikh Kamel Khatib, spoke to the children and stressed that Muslims will never give up any parts of the holy Muslim site.

About 200 buses packed with children from Arab communities nationwide headed to Jerusalem since early morning hours. The children presented the cashboxes from their communities, and Islamic Movement officials estimated that a total of NIS 3 million (roughly $750,000) was raised this year. The event was attended by movement heads, sheikhs, and Arab dignitaries, including Sheikh Khatib who arrived with his four children.

'A big lie'

In his speech to the youngsters, Khatib said: "We have no partners here at the mosque," referring to Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich's recent visit to the site. "The al-Aqsa Mosque is a holy and occupied place, just like the whole of Jerusalem, which was occupied by the IDF in 1967. The occupation must be removed from the mosque in particular, and from Jerusalem in general."

"The Jews should not be thinking that they can build their Temple on the ruins of the al-Aqsa Mosque," Khatib said. "This day won't come. Those who dream that we, the Muslims, will renounce part of the al-Aqsa mosque should know that their dream will not see the light." >>> Sharon Roffe-Ofir | Saturday, July 18, 2009

Tony Blair plant seine politische Auferstehung
NZZ am Sonntag: Die britische Regierung will den früheren Premierminister Tony Blair zum EU-Präsidenten machen. Der Widerstand gegen diesen Plan ist gerade unter den britischen Bürgern gross.

Die frischgebackene britische Europa-Ministerin, Glenys Kinnock, hat vergangene Woche in Strassburg verkündet, ihre Regierung unterstütze «selbstverständlich» den früheren britischen Premierminister Tony Blair als Kandidaten für das zu schaffende Präsidium des Europäischen Ministerrates. Die eben geadelte Gattin des früheren Labour-Vorsitzenden Neil Kinnock lobte Blairs Charakterstärke und behauptete, er geniesse grossen Respekt.

Der Gedanke, Blair in dieses vorläufig weder existierende noch genau definierte Amt zu hieven, ist nicht neu. Schon im Januar 2008, als Blairs unfreiwilliger Abgang aus der Downing Street noch weniger als ein Jahr her war, portierte der französische Präsident Nicolas Sarkozy seinen Kollegen: «Er ist intelligent, er ist tapfer, und er ist ein Freund», begründete er. >>> Martin Alioth, Dublin | Sonntag, 19. Juli 2009

Tehran Tortured British Writer
THE SUNDAY TIMES: IT WAS his British passport that consigned a young writer to three days of torture. The man, who has asked to be identified only as Reza, was arrested in Tehran during an anti-government protest, beaten and threatened with death for being a “British spy”.

His broken nose and ribs have started to heal but the psychological scars remain, even though he is now safely back in London.

The 30-year-old’s story is one of the few to emerge from the prisons in which, international groups say, thousands of men and women arrested since the disputed June 12 presidential election have been held.

Reza, whose real name is being withheld to protect his family in Tehran, has lived in Britain since childhood but travelled to Iran last month for a writing project.

He voted for Mir Hossein Mousavi, the presidential candidate who claims that his defeat by the incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was rigged. Reza joined the hundreds of thousands who poured onto the streets to protest.

On June 20, the day after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, endorsed Ahmadinejad’s victory, Reza was leaving a demonstration when two militia men blindfolded him and bundled him onto the back of a motorcycle. >>> Marie Colvin | Sunday, July 19, 2009

Jemaah Islamiyah Behind Jakarta Suicide Bombs
TIMES ONLINE: The suicide bombers behind the deadly twin blasts at Jakarta hotels on Friday were members of the al-Qaeda-linked regional terror outfit Jemaah Islamiyah, Indonesian police said today.

Police also confirmed they had identified one of the two suicide bombers.

Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) has carried out dozens of bombings in Indonesia over the past decade including the 2002 attacks in Bali that left more than 200 dead, mostly foreign tourists.

"We confirm that the attackers are from Jemaah Islamiyah because there are similarities in the bombs used," Indonesia’s national police spokesman Nanan Soekarna told a press conference in Jakarta earlier today.

He said an exploded bomb left in a guestroom of the JW Marriott, which was attacked along with the nearby Ritz-Carlton, resembled devices used in the Bali bombings and one discovered in a recent anti-JI raid on an Islamic boarding school.

"They are from the same school. We found similar tools, similar materials and similar methods," he said. >>> | July 19, 2009

America's White Men Are Back and Raging
THE SUNDAY TIMES: The caller introduced herself as Cathy from Massachusetts. She had a couple of modest points to make about the benefits of a national health service but Glenn Beck, one of America’s most ferocious right-wing broadcasters, was in no mood for a discussion about “socialist medicine”.

“Cathy, get off my phone,” he yelled, his voice rising several octaves. “Get off my phone, you little pinhead. Get off my phone . . . I’m losing my mind today.”

An audio clip of the exchange was duly posted online where it was heard by several million listeners, one of whom likened Beck's outraged shrieks to “a cartoon mouse being stabbed in the scrotum with knitting needles”.

Americans have long been used to airwaves filled with wild political rants. But with President Barack Obama in the White House and Democrats in control in Washington, the gates have been opened to what some are describing as a new age of conservative rage.

The angry white men, whose voices were largely silenced by the excitement and pride that greeted Obama’s election last January, are back with a vengeance. >>> Tony Allen-Mills in Washington | Sunday, July 19, 2009

Sordid Reality Behind Dubai's Gilded Facade
THE SUNDAY TIMES: Construction halted, westerners jailed for adultery - but prostitutes do well

Andrew Blair says he will pick me up from outside my sleaze-bucket of a hotel, give it 20 minutes or so, got some work to finish off. He has a job again, contracts apparently “coming out of his ears”, which is good, because until recently he had earned a certain notoriety for not having a job and, more to the point, for the manner in which he went about finding a new one. He drove around Dubai, back in January this year, from the plug-ugly creek to the plug-ugly marina, in his white Porsche, with a sign in the back window saying he wanted a job; vroom vroom he went, gizza job. Scratch scratch scratch went the keys and coins along the side of his car whenever it was parked up.

Such conspicuous flaunting of vulgar affluence seems to me entirely appropriate for this foul city — especially when combined with an admission of desperation and hopelessness, that scrawled sign and telephone number in his rear window. Fur coat and no knickers, etc. But, unaccountably, the local expats found it all a little contemptible and the journalists — none of whom possessed Ferraris — sniggered long and loud in print, out of exquisite Schadenfreude. Just look at this idiot on his uppers, was the subtext. But the ploy worked, and Andrew is once again in gainful employment as a construction project manager, and therefore can remain in this country where they deport you if you’re skint, so who’s laughing now? Not Andrew, as it happens. The whole episode, he says, made him think, made him change his ways. Those first two years out here in this dusty and scorched semi-reclaimed desert were enormous fun: huge tax-free income, palatial apartment — “the crème de la crème” — silent or monosyllabic servants, all that sex (a city containing 8,000 air hostesses can’t be bad), the fast cars, the alcohol.

But he’s a changed man, he says; that epic, shallow, soul-destroying materialism and vulgarity now leave him cold. Being out of work for a while left him a little bruised but a better person, understanding that money and consumer durables are not everything. A changed man. Although not that changed, I notice, as the white Porsche pulls up.

“Why did you leave Britain?” I ask him, slung well below sea level in the bucket seat as we cruise the baked streets past the filthy, crumbling apartment blocks where the Bangladeshi slave labourers live or die, 10 or 12 to a room, and then into the hideous bling of downtown Dubai, a vast architectural experiment conducted by, seemingly, Albert Speer and Victoria Beckham. One skyscraper appears to be gilded in gold leaf, another looks like the birthday cake of a spoilt five-year-old brat — and all of them trying desperately to be taller, flashier, more grotesque than the one next door.

“Well, you know,” he says, in a soft Scottish burr, “I think it was the immigration more than anything else.”
“But Andrew, you’re an immigrant now…” >>> Rod Liddle | Sunday, July 12, 2009

Guantanamo Row May Halt Queen’s Visit to Bermuda
Photo: The Sunday Times
THE SUNDAY TIMES: THE Foreign Office is threatening to cancel a state visit by the Queen to Bermuda after a row with the island over its “unacceptable” decision to give sanctuary to four former inmates of Guantanamo Bay.

The boycott is being considered after Bermuda infuriated David Miliband, the foreign secretary, by allowing the four men, all Chinese Muslim Uighurs, to stay on what is an overseas British territory.

The move followed a secret deal struck between Washington and the Bermudans. It was carried out without consulting Britain or the island’s governor.

Miliband protested to Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, about the pact. He told her the move was “invalid” because it breached Bermuda’s constitution, under which the UK has control over the island’s foreign and security policy.

The Uighurs are Muslim separatists from Xinjiang province. They had fled to Afghanistan in 2001 to escape Chinese oppression and were detained after they went to Pakistan.

Their arrival in Bermuda last month sparked an angry response from Sir Richard Gozney, the island’s governor. He summoned Ewart Brown, the Bermudan prime minister, for a dressing down. >>> David Leppard | Sunday, July 19, 2009

Somalie : les otages français seront jugés selon la charia
LE FIGARO: Les ravisseurs des deux agents de renseignement, enlevés mardi à Mogadiscio, ont annoncé vouloir juger leurs otages, coupables «d'espionnage au profit des ennemis d'Allah», selon les principes de la loi coranique.

Les négociations sur la libération des deux agents français de renseignement de la DGSE, enlevés mardi à Mogadiscio, s'annoncent de jour en jour plus difficiles. Un haut responsable des extrémistes islamistes des shebab, qui les ont kidnappés, ont annoncé samedi vouloir les juger eux-mêmes... Selon les principes de la charia. Les captifs «aidaient le gouvernement somalien apostat et leurs espions, donc ils seront bientôt jugés et punis selon la loi coranique», a tranché ce haut responsable. «Ils feront face au tribunal pour espionnage et être entrés en Somalie pour aider les ennemis d'Allah». «La décision sur leur sort dépendra du tribunal islamique qui entendra les charges pesant contre eux», a-t-il ajouté. Son mouvement est considéré comme proche d'al-Qaida, est connu pour son application extrême de la charia : lapidation, amputation comme exécutions publiques. >>> C.J. (lefigaro.fr) avec AFP | Samedi 18 Juillet 2009

ZDF Deutschland - Immer mehr Deutsche konvertieren zum Islam

Somalia: A State of Terror
MACLEANS: Somalia may become the world’s next extremist stronghold

When a Maclean’s reporter reached Somali journalist Abdi Ahmed Abdul on his cellphone as he walked back to his home through the streets of Mogadishu, he quickly ended the call, apologizing later that evening by explaining that it would not be safe for him to be heard speaking English by members of al-Shabab—the Islamist militia that controls much of the country and whose leadership has been linked to al-Qaeda. “I am scared,” Abdul said. “If they see me talking to somebody in English, I’d be in danger. If anybody is speaking in English, they think he is a spy. It means I am passing information to foreigners, what they call Christians or infidels, people they don’t like.”

Abdul lives near one of the main markets in Mogadishu, a place he calls a “stronghold of the Shabab.” He asked that his real name not be printed. “If they read this, they will come and look for me and blow my brain up.” His family has fled twice to other parts of the country. He’s considered leaving himself, but is now afraid to try.

Abdul’s description of Somalia under al-Shabab is similar to that of Afghanistan during the Taliban’s rule. Al-Shabab’s rule is guided by a medieval and repressive interpretation of Islam, and it has attracted foreign jihadists—who may have international ambitions—to Somalia.

This spring, Abdul says, two teenage boys and a teenage girl were sentenced to be lashed 100 times for having premarital sex. The sentence has not yet been carried out, but in June, four men accused of stealing cellphones all had a hand or foot hacked off with machetes after they were convicted by an al-Shabab Islamic court. And in October, a 13-year-old rape victim was stoned to death in front of some 1,000 spectators. “It happens—the amputations, the stoning to death, the whippings, forbidding music,” he says. “They tell women to wear the hijab. They banned films. They even control the memory cards of mobile phones to check if there are pornographic films or films that are anti-Islamic. No cinemas. No music. They even force people to pray.”

Al-Shabab, meaning “the Youth” in Arabic, grew out of the Islamic Courts Union, which briefly controlled Somalia in 2006. Ethiopian troops and covert American Special Forces toppled the Islamic Courts Union in 2006 and 2007, and a “transitional” government was installed in its place. The most radical elements from the ICU then formed new Islamist groups, such as al-Shabab and Hizbul Islam, meaning “Party of Islam,” to oppose the government, which since January has been led by Sheik Sharif Ahmed. Ahmed was previously leader of the Islamic Courts Union but is a moderate Islamist compared to those in al-Shabab.

Al-Shabab receives money and arms from Somalis in the diaspora, from wealthy Arabs in the Gulf, and from Eritrea. Along with its allies, it controls all but a few pockets of Somalia outside the de facto autonomous regions of Somaliland and Puntland—the latter of which has become famous of late as an epicentre for piracy. The Transitional Federal Government has not been toppled because of the protection of some 4,000 African Union soldiers. Its writ barely extends over a few square blocks of Mogadishu. In recent weeks, Somalia’s security minister, Omar Hashi Aden, was killed in an al-Shabab suicide car bomb attack, and scores of parliamentarians have left the country. Barely half remain. “Even an AK-47 bullet fired by the opposition groups can hit the presidential palace,” says Abdul.

Abdul says most Somalis don’t support the Shabab, but are “ruled by fear.” Some still fight against it. When militants desecrated graves and mosques sacred to followers of the spiritual Sufi branch of Islam, normally peaceful Sufis took up arms on the side of the government against al-Shabab, defeating them in several battles in central Somalia. >>> Michael Petrou | July 16, 2009

Somalia: Mystery Over Who Abducted French Officials

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