Gay US Bishop Attacks Treatment of Gay and Lesbian Clergy by Church of England
THE GUARDIAN: Gene Robinson chides Archbishop of Canterbury for talk of two-tier Anglican communion

Gene Robinson, the Espiscopalian bishop of New Hampshire, says gay and lesbian clerby are treated by the Church of England as a problem to be solved. Photo: The Guardian
The first openly gay bishop in the Anglican communion has launched an outspoken attack on the Church of England and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams.

In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Gene Robinson, the Episcopalian bishop of New Hampshire, criticised the policy of the Church of England towards gay and lesbian clergy. Alluding to the significant number of clergy who are gay, he said: "I think gay clergy in the Church of England are thought of as a problem to be solved or at least lived with, rather than a gift from God."

Robinson, who is in Britain to speak at the Greenbelt festival at Cheltenham Racecourse this weekend, added that he could not accept the archbishop's recent comments that if the Episcopal church refused to uphold the current moratorium on consecrating actively gay bishops or blessing civil unions, the communion might have to be reorganised into a two-tier, or "two-track" model. "I can't imagine anything that would be more abhorrent to Jesus than a two-tier church," he said. "Either we are children of God and brothers and sisters in Christ, or we aren't. There are not preferred children and second-class children. There are just children of God." >>> Aida Edemariam | Friday, August 28, 2009

Islam, Eat Your Heart Out! Nudists Unite - Whatever the Weather
THE TELEGRAPH: As upmarket Southwold is being considered as a new nudist venue, one writer bares all on Brighton's chilly East Beach, a naturists' favourite.

"Try everything once," said Sir Thomas Beecham, "except incest and folk-dancing."

It's a fine bon mot for a thrice-married conductor, but I bet Sir Thomas never went into work one morning in London and found himself, four hours later, strolling along a nudist beach in Brighton wondering whether he had the courage to throw caution to the bitterly cold wind, swap his M&S suit for his birthday one and join in the naturist fun.

There are a number of uncomfortable questions racing through my mind as I contemplate joining Brighton's most liberated. What is the etiquette for this sort of thing: does one whip one's clothes off in one fluid movement or should one progress in slow, measured stages? More worryingly, still, can anyone see me? Which boxer shorts did I put on this morning? And why is it so very, very chilly all of a sudden?

So let's start with an easier one to answer: why am I here?

On Thursday, this paper reported that Southwold, the Suffolk seaside town nicknamed Chelsea-on-Sea, is being considered as an alternative nudist venue to Corton, 16 miles to the north. Corton, one of Britain's official oldest nudest venues, will be forced to close soon owing to coastal erosion, and the residents of Southwold don't appear too enamoured by the prospect of an invasion of naked flesh. "They would go ballistic," said Joe Annis, a lifeguard. Gordon Brown, who strolled awkwardly along Southwold beach in a blazer on holiday last year, has unfortunately not yet expressed an opinion.

But is Southwold not missing out in its reluctance to embrace naturists with open arms? And is this not the answer to the Prime Minister's annual dress-down sartorial dilemma?

In Britain, we have always tended to snigger at nakedness. While our southerly European neighbours celebrate the nude body – painting it, sculpting it, going topless on a beach at the drop of a sunhat – we seem to prefer the buttoned-up approach. Taking all your clothes off might be just about acceptable before showering alone, but on a public beach? No, thank you very much; we'll leave that to the Swedish. And if I want to keep my stripy socks on while making love, that's my God-given prerogative as an Englishman. >>> Iain Hollingshead | Friday, August 28, 2009

Colonel Gaddafi Party to Outshine the Beijing Olympics
THE TELEGRAPH: Libya is planning a celebrations on the scale of the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the coup that brought Colonel Gaddafi to power.

If anything, the superlatives will be even greater as Beijing 2008 did not boast the world's largest tent, 1,000 camels, Toureg nomads or 40 hot air balloons.

Performers are being flown in from all over the planet, from dancers and fireworks specialists to a brass band from Wales.

The giant tent, and the stage within it, longer than a football pitch, are being built by a British special events company, Atlantic Enterprise.

The director is a Frenchman and the party is being put together by a public relations company run by the British government's one-time favourite ad-man.

"Everything is bespoke for this event," said Atlantic's managing director, Shane McCarthy. "Nothing like this has ever been done before."

Organisers are expecting 300,000 Libyans to watch the show being put on next Tuesday to mark the anniversary live, with more on television.

After congregating in Libya's capital Tripoli, newly whitewashed and decorated with Gaddafi posters, hundreds of VIP guests will enjoy an evening buffet.

They will then be escorted into a smaller version of the open Bedouin tent, 130 yards by 45 yards, by 27 yards tall, in which the pageant will take place. Once they are joined by Col Gaddafi himself, the show will begin.

The scale will be vast. Four hundred performers, helped by a crew of 1,100, will lay on a pageant of Libya's history: as centre of Phoenician trade, of Roman civilisation and Arab learning.

Mr McCarthy said the firm was using 15 Antonov aircraft to fly in 8,000 tons of equipment. There would be 100 tons of equipment on the stage itself.

Reference will be made to Libya's period as an Italian colony. But Italy is now one of Libya's closest friends and the "Frecce Tricolori" or Tricolor Arrows, Italy's answer to the Red Arrows, will be joining the celebrations. >>> Richard Spencer | Friday, August 28, 2009

Woman Jailed for 18 Years for Insulting Thai Royals
THE TELEGRAPH: A Thai woman has been jailed for 18 years for insulting the country's revered royal family during anti-government rallies.

Daranee Charncherngsilapakul. Photo: The Telegraph
Daranee Charncherngsilapakul, 46, a supporter of Thailand's ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, was found guilty of making speeches considered insulting to the Thai royal family.

The judge at Bangkok's main criminal court said her speeches at Sanam Luang park in the capital during three pro-Thaksin rallies attended by his "Red Shirt" supporters" in June and July last year were against the law of lese majeste, a court official told AFP.

"The court convicted the defendant on three counts and sentenced her for six years on each count," she said.

"Although the defendant testified that she did not intend to insult the monarchy or make the public believe her, she could not escape her wrongdoing," the verdict said. >>> Foreign Staff at The Telegraph | Friday, August 28, 2009

The Dark Side of Martha's Vineyard
THE TELEGRAPH: Beneath its idyllic exterior, Martha's Vineyard – beloved holiday destination of America's well-heeled – is rife with depression, alcoholism, drug abuse and domestic violence.

President Barack Obama enjoying a bike ride with his family and friends while on vacation on Martha's Vineyard. Photo: The Telegraph
America's First Family will wave goodbye to Martha's Vineyard tomorrow after a week's holiday on an island whose name is rarely uttered without the epithet "idyllic".

As President Obama flies his family back home to Washington, they will rapidly be followed by an armada of private jets from the tiny local airport. After next weekend's Labour Day holiday, the exodus of billionaire businessmen, media tycoons and Hollywood stars who summer on the island will be complete. From Oprah Winfrey and Beyonce to Valerie Jarrett and the Clintons, they'll all be gone. In a matter of days, the island's population withers from 100,000 to just 15,000.

More than a few of the quitters must feel a twinge of jealousy for those lucky few left behind on the 23-mile island. They shouldn't. The reality of out-of-season – and that in holiday-starved America means any month outside July and August – is anything but a paradise for most of those left behind.

Martha's Vineyard's dark little secret is one of desperately high levels of depression, alcoholism, drug abuse, domestic violence and even suicide attempts among a population that struggles to make ends meet in a billionaire's playground when the billionaires have all left.

The last time the island's social problems were publicly totted up – in 2005 - the number of cases of patients treated each year in hospital for alcohol or drug abuse had soared from almost 200 in 2002 to just over 750 three years later. The caseload of patients struggling with depression had grown from 40 in 2002 to 92 in 2005. Suicide attempts climbed almost tenfold, from three in 2002 to 29 in 2005.

Some local experts believe the situation has not got any better. "It's the shadow side of Martha's Vineyard – all the things you don't expect to exist on a luxury island," said Dr Gail Gordon, its former community services senior psychologist. "And it's the seasonal nature of the island that makes our social problems worse. Everyone works so hard over the summer and then there's this let down when all the others go." >>> Tom Leonard | Friday, August 28, 2009

Gaddafi Is Everywhere in Libya — Especially as He Celebrates 40 Years in Power
TIMES ONLINE: You are never alone in Libya. From the moment you arrive at Tripoli international airport, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is with you.

Wherever you go, the Great Leader and Father of the Revolution watches benevolently over you, never more so than now as he prepares to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the coup that brought him to power.

As befits Africa’s longest-serving leader, he stares down from a thousand billboards, from great banners draped down the sides of skyscrapers, from bunting stretched across streets, from official portraits in every shop and hotel lobby, from hoardings at the remotest junctions in the desert. Nobody else gets a look-in.

His image is reproduced in neon, on mosaics and across the sides of the hot-air balloons tethered in Green Square in readiness for next Tuesday’s celebrations. It appears on the huge electronic clocks counting down the minutes to that great occasion.

His is a personality cult that makes Mao Zedong, Saddam Hussein or Kim Jong Il look self-effacing. >>> Martin Fletcher in Tripoli | Friday, August 28, 2009

Homophobia in Mexico
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Gay Conversion - USA
Christian lobby groups in the US believe homosexuality is a mental disorder!
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Why Has My Father’s Murder Gone Unpunished?
THE SPECTATOR: Huda Abuzeid, whose father was killed by the Libyan regime, says that we must not turn a blind eye to its acts of intimidation and violence

There is a joke about Libya which goes something like this: why does Libya has [sic] a population of both six million and four million? The answer is that one million are abroad and the other million are in prison.

It’s not a funny joke, but it’s a revealing one. As the country prepares to celebrate 40 years of Muammar Gaddafi’s rule, and despite various of our politicians desperately trying to tell us how much Libya has changed and the numerous Sunday supplement articles extolling the virtues of Libya as a holiday destination, Libya remains one of the most intolerant, totalitarian and repressive regimes in the world. Libyan citizens regularly ‘disappear’ — arrested by the authorities. Their loved ones are often left in the dark.

Since 2003 Libya has been extolled by Britain as an example of a reformed state. Tony Blair was quick to take the credit, rushing over to Gaddafi and saying, ‘People should not forget the past, they should move beyond it.’

On hearing that, I felt physically sick. With that one sound-bite, Libyans inside the country and those who like me were living abroad knew that the political will to push for justice in the many unresolved cases was lost.

Cases such as the murder of my father, Ali Abuzeid, whose body I found in his west London shop on 26 November 1995. He had been stabbed to death. A key member of the leading Libyan opposition group in the 1980s, my father had put all his efforts into ridding his homeland of its dictator. My childhood years were spent worrying about him every time he travelled, learning to be careful around other Arabs. I once had to leave Tunisia accompanied by secret police when they found out that a hit squad had been sent to assassinate him after a failed attempt to overthrow the Libyan regime.

Back in London, I remember hearing his name mentioned in a speech by Gaddafi, who had called for him and others to be hunted down. At one point there was a bounty of millions on his head.

After years in exile and the deaths of many of his friends inside Libya who had been rounded up and executed, my father decided to retire from opposition politics. Revolution, he now believed, could only come from within, instead of being led by those in exile. However, from his shop in a neighbourhood populated with Arabs, he remained vocal about his opinions and politics and then, after years of being careful and keeping under the radar, he became an easy target.

So when I answered a call early one Sunday morning in November 1995 from one of his staff, who said the door to the shop was open but the lights were off, my heart began to pound with that familiar childhood fear for his safety. I told myself that maybe he had just fallen down some steps or that he had forgetfully left the door open. >>> Huda Abuzeid | Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Wilders Compares Prophet Muhammad to a Pig
NIS NEWS BULLETIN: THE HAGUE - Party for Freedom (PVV) leader Geert Wilders has seized on a news report from Saudi Arabia for peppery written questions to the cabinet. In these, he compares the Islamic prophet Mohammed to a pig.

Wilders has requested clarification from Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen on a marriage in Saudi Arabia between an 80 year old man and a 10 year old child. The child had run away from her elderly husband, but was brought back to him by her father, the English-language website Arab News reports based on a Saudi newspaper.

Wilders asks the minister if he shares the view that "this man is behaving like a pig, just like the barbarous Prophet Mohammed, who married the six year old girl Aisha." The PVV leader wants Verhagen to summon the Saudi Arabian ambassador to express his repugnance. [Source: NIS News Bulletin] | Thursday, August 27, 2009

Wilders' Party Loses Support
DUTCHNEWS.nl: Geert Wilders' anti-immigration PVV party would take 24 seats in the 150-seat parliament if there was a general election tomorrow, four down on last month, according to the latest Politieke Barometer opinion poll.

At the beginning of July, support for the PVV had reached an all-time high of 32, making it the most popular party in the country. It currently has nine seats in parliament.

The new poll says the Christian Democrats are now in the lead, with 37 seats. Coalition party Labour (PvdA) is up two seats at 24.

Meanwhile, research by Synovate for tv programme Nova shows that almost 40% of Wilders' supporters back the PVV because they have lost faith in the government and other political parties. >>> AD | Friday, August 28, 2009

États-Unis: Un chapitre de l’histoire américaine se clôt
LE TEMPS: Le lion politique est mort mardi soir à l’âge de 77 ans.

En été 2008, bien que rongé par la chimiothérapie, il s’était fait violence pour se rendre au Sénat et voter contre des coupes dans Medicare, l’assurance maladie publique pour les plus de 65 ans. Certains républicains en furent tellement émus qu’ils retournèrent leur veste. L’anecdote révèle ce qu’a été Edward Kennedy durant ces quarante-six ans au Sénat: un politicien passionné qui n’a jamais eu honte de s’afficher sous l’étiquette «liberal», progressiste.

«Une figure unique»

Le dernier patriarche des Kennedy, l’une des familles les plus glamour de l’histoire politique américaine, est décédé mardi soir à 77 ans des suites d’une tumeur cérébrale dans sa maison du Massachusetts. Il sera enseveli samedi au cimetière d’Arlington à proximité de ses frères John Fitzgerald et Robert. La nouvelle a suscité une vague d’émotion à travers toute l’Amérique. Le président Barack Obama a déclaré avoir le «cœur brisé», soulignant que Ted Kennedy a été une «figure unique» aux Etats-Unis.

Considéré comme l’un des sénateurs les plus puissants et plus influents de l’Histoire américaine, le benjamin des neuf enfants de Joseph et de Rosa Kennedy porte en lui le destin tragique de la famille. Après la mort de son frère Joseph durant la Deuxième Guerre mondiale, l’assassinat, en 1963, de son frère John, président des Etats-Unis, est un cataclysme. Un an plus tard, Ted échappe miraculeusement à la mort dans un accident d’avion. Le cauchemar se poursuit en 1968 quand, dans un hôtel californien, un Palestinien chrétien tue son autre frère, Robert, candidat à l’investiture démocrate pour la présidentielle de 1968. Prostré, Edward Kennedy se réfugie, dix semaines durant, dans le silence, naviguant seul sur son voilier, au large de Cape Cod. Plus tard, l’alcoolisme et sa réputation de coureur de jupons font les gros titres de la presse américaine. En 1969, un mystérieux accident de voiture sur l’île de Chappaquiddick, où la passagère de Kennedy perd la vie, finira de ternir l’image du politicien.

Après le divorce d’avec Joan Bennett Kennedy en 1982, Ted Kennedy se relève et se remarie avec Victoria Anne Reggie, une avocate de Washington. «Ces événements ont montré ses faiblesses, mais ils l’ont aussi humanisé», confie au Temps un Américain proche de l’administration Obama. D’autant que Ted Kennedy n’a jamais éludé ses problèmes en en assumant publiquement les conséquences avec une franchise quasi désarmante. >>> Stéphane Bussard | Jeudi 27 Août 2009

Europe Launches Major Push for New Banker Bonus Rules
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: France, Germany and the EU are launching a major offensive to change the system of bonuses paid out to bank employees. Knowing that it won't work anywhere if it isn't implemented everywhere, they are hoping to make it a major issue at the upcoming G-20 summit in Pittsburgh.

The debate surrounding bankers' bonus payments has finally reached Brussels. In an interview with the daily Hamburger Abendblatt, European Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry Günter Verheugen said that the European Union will reach an agreement very soon on limiting the income of bank managers.

Verheugen also told the paper that the European Commission believes that, when it comes to a bank's system of compensation, there should be "no direct relation with a company's short-term profits." Instead, he is confident that the EU's member states and parliament will be able to reach a swift agreement on the issue.

Likewise, Verheugen also voiced his support for measures to impose high taxation rates on the bonuses of bankers whose companies receive state support. "What we're really talking about here," Verheugen told the paper, "is figures arising when a company has been kept alive by the state for a long time." >>> wal/jtw - with wire reports | Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Despite Progress, Former East Germany Still Lags Behind
Wittstock, East Germany. Photo: Spiegel Online International
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Billions have been pumped into the former East Germany, but 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, its economy has not caught up with the West. A new report praises the progress so far but warns that the region needs well-educated young people and an influx of immigrants if it is to thrive.

When the Berlin Wall finally fell in November 1989, a wave of hope and optimism swept across Europe -- perhaps nowhere more so than in the once divided Germany. Hope, however, soon gave way to disillusionment as the collapse of the Socialist planned economies saw millions of people lose their jobs and many became nostalgic for their old way of life. In Germany, despite the pumping of massive funds into the former Communist East, the stark divisions in income and employment between the two halves of the country rapidly undermined the initial wave of enthusiasm for reunification.

Now, 20 years on, a new study on the economy in the former East has shown that while there has been huge progress in bridging that chasm, a significant gap still remains. While in the 1990s the two halves of the country saw their economies slowly converge, stagnation set in at the turn of the century and since 2008 they have actually begun to drift further apart again. The report by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) has found that there are still significant structural problems to be overcome. In particular the region has to battle a demographic slump and is in need of better qualified young people and immigrants to keep its economy growing. 'Exuberant Expectations' in 1989 >>> smd -- with wire reports | Friday, August 28, 2009

Nord- und Südkorea vereinbaren neue Familientreffen
DIE PRESSE: Nach fast zwei Jahren soll es erstmals wieder Familien-Zusammenführungen auf der geteilten Halbinsel geben.

Nord- und Südkorea haben eine neue Runde der Familienzusammenführung auf der seit 56 Jahren geteilten Halbinsel vereinbart. Die Familientreffen sollen bereits im kommenden Monat stattfinden und sind die ersten derartigen Begegnungen seit fast zwei Jahren. Die Vereinbarung wurde am Freitag nach dreitägigen Verhandlungen bekanntgegeben. Die Treffen sollen ab dem 26. September über einen Zeitraum von sechs Tagen zwischen 200 Familien stattfinden. >>> Ag. | Freitag, 28. August 2009

Islamisme: Medvedev exhorte les religieux
leJDD.fr: Le président russe Dmitri Medvedev a exhorté vendredi les hauts dignitaires musulmans à s'unir pour lutter contre les groupes islamistes qui troublent le Nord-Caucase. "Malheureusement, les bandes criminelles réussissent encore à recruter des jeunes gens pour leurs activités", a-t-il dit à des responsables religieux et régionaux. "Il serait bon d'élaborer un programme de travail avec les jeunes dans le Nord-Caucase", région en proie à une violente insurrection islamiste, a-t-il ajouté. Les islamistes multiplient depuis des mois les attentats à la bombe et les attaques armées contre la police et les forces de sécurité en Tchétchénie, au Daghestan et en Ingouchie. [Source: leJDD.fr] | Vendredi 28 Août 2009

US 'Warned Kenny MacAskill that Lockerbie Bomber Would Get Hero's Welcome'
TIMES ONLINE: Kenny MacAskill was warned by his US counterpart that the convicted Lockerbie bomber could get a hero’s welcome if he was returned home to Libya.

The message from Eric Holder, the US Attorney General, is contained in notes of a conversation he had with Mr MacAskill two months before the latter’s decision to free Abdel baset Ali al-megrahi [sic].

Theere was outrage in both the the US and in Britain last week when the freed terrorist was shown returning to Tripoli amid jubilant scenes with some in the crowd waving the Scottish flag.

The scenes came only hours after al-Megrahi, who is suffering from terminal prostate cancer, had walked free from Greenock Prison in Scotland after Mr MacAskill had granted him compassionate release.

Mr Holder’s warning has been revealed by Frank Duggan, the president of a relatives group, Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, the aircraft that was blown out of the sky over Lockerbie on December 21 1888, with the loss of 270 lives.

Mr Duggan says a US Justice Department official read him notes that Mr Holder used during the conversation with Mr MacAskill. >>> Angus Macleod, Scottish Political Correspondent | Friday, August 28, 2009

Popularität von Obama in Israel auf Tiefststand
BERLINER ZEITUNG: Jerusalem - Die Popularität von US-Präsident Barack Obama in Israel hat einen neuen Tiefststand erreicht. Nur noch vier Prozent der Israelis halten die Politik Obamas für pro-israelisch.

51 Prozent glauben, dass die neue US-Regierung die Palästinenser stärker favorisiert. Das geht aus einer am Freitag von der «Jerusalem Post» veröffentlichten repräsentativen Umfrage hervor. Zu Zeiten von Obamas Vorgänger, George W. Bush, hatten noch 88 Prozent der Befragten die US-Politik als pro-israelisch eingeschätzt. >>> © dpa | Freitag, 28. August 2009

4% of Israeli Jews: Obama Pro-Israel
THE JERUSALEM POST: The number of Israelis who see US President Barack Obama's policies as pro-Israel has fallen to four percent, according to a Smith Research poll taken this week on behalf of The Jerusalem Post.

Fifty-one percent of Jewish Israelis consider Obama's administration more pro-Palestinian than pro-Israel, according to the survey, while 35% consider it neutral and 10% declined to express an opinion. The poll of 500 people representing a statistical model of the Jewish Israeli population had a margin of error of 4.5%. >>> Gil Hoffman | Thursday, August 27, 2009

Nétanyahou à Berlin reçoit les plans d'Auschwitz
LE FIGARO: En visite à Berlin, où Angela Merkel a plaidé pour un retour au dialogue avec les Palestiniens, le premier ministre israélien s'est vu remettre les plans orginaux du camp pour le mémorial de Yad Vashem.

Benyamin Nétanyahou, ici avec le rédacteur en chef de Bild (à droite), étudie les plans originaux du camp d'Auschwitz, qui seront conservés au mémorial de l'Holocauste. Crédits photo: Le Figaro
Le premier ministre israélien, Benyamin Nétanyahou, a rencontré, jeudi à Berlin, la chancelière allemande, Angela Merkel, son meilleur soutien en Europe. En raison de l'Holocauste, l'Allemagne s'abstient généralement de critiquer Israël. Merkel devait néanmoins répéter que l'Allemagne, comme les autres membres de l'Union européenne, considère la colonisation comme un obstacle à une solution du conflit israélo-palestinien. La veille, elle avait appelé l'État hébreu… >>> Patrick Saint-Paul (à Berlin) | Vendredi 28 Août 2009

Seif ul Islam al-Qadhafi: Megrahi’s Release Was Linked to Oil Deal
MAIL ONLINE: Gordon Brown came under fresh pressure to reveal details of his Government's dealings with Libya today after claims by the son of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi over the Lockerbie bomber.

Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi claimed a prisoner transfer deal with Britain had targeted Abdelbaset Ali al Megrahi and was linked to talks on trade and oil.

He said the 'deal in the desert' specifically targeted the bomber but his name was never mentioned, and the prisoner transfer deal was signed at the same time as an oil deal. Gordon Brown under pressure over Lockerbie bomber after Gaddafi son reveals prisoner swap WAS linked to oil deal >>> Daily Mail Reporter | Friday, August 29, 2009

Saudi Prince Escapes Assassination Attempt
TIMES ONLINE: A senior Saudi prince who heads the country’s anti-terrorism campaign has survived a suicide attack on his office in Jeddah.

Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Interior Minister in charge of security, escaped with only minor injuries when a suicide bomber blew himself up as the prince was about to join a gathering of well-wishers for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

It was the first known assassination attempt against a member of the royal family since Saudi Arabia began its crackdown on al-Qaeda affiliated militants eight years ago after the September 11 terror attacks in the US.

According to a local news agency, the militant who attacked Prince Mohammed had previously expressed his intention to give himself up to the official. >>> Times Online | Friday, August 28, 2009

Prince Muhammad Escapes Assassination Attempt
ARAB NEWS: JEDDAH: Prince Muhammad bin Naif, assistant interior minister for security affairs, escaped an assassination attempt on Thursday night when a wanted terrorist blew himself up inside the prince's house here.

The minister escaped with minor injuries in the suicide bombing that was staged by the terrorist posing as a well-wisher. The body of the terrorist, the only death in the incident, was shattered into bits and pieces.

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah visited Prince Muhammad at the hospital soon after the incident to inquire about his health and safety. The king thanked God for saving the minister's life, and commended his services to the country.

The king asked Prince Muhammad why was the terrorist allowed in without proper checks, to which the prince replied, “It was a mistake.”

According to a statement issued by the Royal Court, the suicide bombing took place at 11.30 p.m. while Prince Muhammad was receiving well-wishers who came to greet him on the occasion of Ramadan at his house in Jeddah.

"Among them there was a wanted terrorist, who had previously expressed his desire to surrender himself to the prince," the statement said.

Prince Muhammad said the criminal act would only strengthen his resolve to do more to reinforce the country's security and stability.

"The wanted criminal exploded himself during security inspection," the royal court said, adding that the prince escaped the assassination attempt with minor injuries. The bomb had been fixed to his body and that was triggered when the terrorist received a call from outside, according to Al-Arabiya news channel.

"Nobody else suffered any injuries," the royal court said. The prince later left the hospital after undergoing necessary tests and treatment. >>> Arab News | Friday, August 28, 2009

Times Poll: 61% Think al-Megrahi Release Was about Oil, Not Compassion
Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi leaving Scotland for Libya. He is suffering from advanced prostate cancer. Photo: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: Gordon Brown’s Government faces widespread public suspicion that the release of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, had more to do with oil than his terminal cancer.

A special Populus poll for The Times, conducted on Wednesday, reveals widespread public criticism of the release and scepticism about the reasons, with much of the blame falling on the Prime Minister.

The poll followed the public defence of the release by Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish Justice Minister, on Monday and Mr Brown’s comments the following day.

Questions were solely about this issue and did not include voting intentions.

Three fifths of those questioned (61 per cent) disagreed with the decision to return al-Megrahi to Libya on the ground of compassion, with 27 per cent agreeing.

The continuing controversy over the background to the decision, with reports of meetings between British ministers and members of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s family and the Libyan Government, have made people suspicious. Nearly half (45 per cent) thought it had more to do with oil than al-Megrahi’s terminal illness — 24 per cent disagreed.

Mr Brown’s attempt to distance himself from the move, saying that it was a decision for the Scottish government, has not gone down well, with 56 per cent saying that has handled the matter badly, and 23 per cent thinking that he had done well.

In the ranking of disapproval, Mr Brown was second only to Colonel Gaddafi. Some 63 per cent thought that the Libyans had handled the affair badly, while 15 per cent approved of their actions. >>> Peter Riddell | Friday, August 28, 2009

US Envoy 'In Angry Karzai Talks'
BBC: The US special envoy to Afghanistan has held an "explosive" meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai over the country's election, the BBC has learnt.

Richard Holbrooke raised concerns about ballot-stuffing and fraud, by a number of candidates' teams, sources say.

The US envoy also said a second-round run-off could make the election process more credible, the sources said.

Concerns have already been raised about Afghanistan's election, although final results are not due until September.

A number of senior sources have confirmed the details of a meeting between Mr Holbrooke and Mr Karzai held on 21 August, one day after the election.

The meeting was described as "explosive" and "a dramatic bust-up".

Mr Holbrooke is said to have twice raised the idea of holding a second round run-off because of concerns about the voting process.

He is believed to have complained about the use of fraud and ballot stuffing by some members of the president's campaign team, as well as other candidates.

Mr Karzai reacted very angrily and the meeting ended shortly afterwards, the sources said. >>> Ian Pannell, BBC News, Kabul | Thursday, August 27, 2009

BBC: Afghanistan's president Hamid Karzai has been accused of failing to protect women's rights in the run-up to Thursday's presidential election.

A new law allowing a husband to starve his wife if she refuses to have sex with him has angered human rights activists.

Jane Corbin reports from Herat. Watch BBC video here

BBC: Row over Afghan wife-starving law >>> Sarah Rainsford, BBC News | Sunday, August 16, 2009

Ghadhafi muss seine Gästeliste kürzen: Putin und Sarkozy lassen sich entschuldigen
NZZ ONLINE: Der libysche Revolutionsführer Ghadhafi muss auf einige schon angekündigte illustre Gäste verzichten. Das Jubiläum zum 40. Jahrestag seiner Machtergreifung wird ohne die Spitzenvertreter Russlands, Frankreichs und Spaniens stattfinden.

Der französische Präsident Nicolas Sarkozy und der russische Präsident Dmitri Medwedew haben libysche Angaben dementieren lassen, wonach sie an der Jubelfeier zu Ehren Ghadhafis am kommenden Dienstag teilnehmen würden. Auch der russische Regierungschef Wladimir Putin werde dem Anlass am 1. September fernbleiben, hiess es in Moskau.

Ein Mitglied des Organisationskomitees, das anonym bleiben wollte, hatte der Nachrichtenagentur AFP zuvor gesagt, dass an den Feierlichkeiten am Dienstag neben Sarkozy, Medwedew und Putin auch der italienische Regierungschef Silvio Berlusconi und das spanische Königspaar teilnehmen wollten. Zudem stünden etwa 40 bis 50 afrikanische Staatschefs auf der Gästeliste.

Der Elysée-Palast in Paris wies die Angaben über die Teilnahme Sarkozys jedoch zurück. Frankreich werde bei dem Regierungsjubiläum in Tripolis durch einen Vertreter repräsentiert, dessen Rang bisher noch nicht geklärt sei. Terminkollision >>> sda/afp | Donnerstag, 27. August 2009

Merkel drängt zu Siedlungsbau-Stopp
Die Bundeskanzlerin forderte bei dem Besuch des israelischen Ministerpräsidenten Benjamin Netanjahu Israel auf, den Siedlungsprozess im Westjordanland zu beenden. Netanjahu betonte zwar seinen Willen zum Frieden, machte aber in der Frage des Siedlungsbaus keine Konzessionen.

Video hier anschauen

Islam in Italy

Turkey's Islamic Hotels (July 19, 2007)

Kadhafi, maître en manipulation
Le Colonel Kadhafi bien entouré au sommet du G8 à L’Aquila, 10 juillet 2009. Crédits photo : Le Temps
LE TEMPS: Le «Guide» libyen fête ses 40 ans de pouvoir en grande forme: incontesté en interne et revigoré à l’international par la zizanie qu’il sème en Suisse et ailleurs.

Sur son site internet personnel, florilège de déclarations hardies, il a repeint toute la planète en vert. De la même nuance que celle du «Livre vert», l’évangile selon Kadhafi publié dans les années 70, qui jette en trois chapitres les bases de la «troisième théorie universelle» et annonce l’avènement de la «démocratie directe», sa vision très personnelle d’un socialisme arabe. Mardi prochain, le 1er septembre, «le Guide de la révolution» libyenne commémorera le quarantième anniversaire de son arrivée au pouvoir. C’était en 1969. Jeune officier de 27 ans, avec une poignée de coreligionnaires, il balayait le règne d’Idriss Ier et se propulsait colonel. Sans effusion de sang. La suite est une autre histoire… Celle notamment, dénoncée par Human Rights Watch, d’une éradication sans relâche de l’opposition, en recourant systématiquement à l’emprisonnement, au meurtre si besoin.

A 67 ans, le doyen des chefs d’Etat africains a noyé de longue date sa beauté d’antan dans les boursouflures de son visage. Mais il aborde sa 41e année de pouvoir en grande forme: en interne, sans le moindre compte à rendre à son peuple et ragaillardi, sur la scène étrangère, par la zizanie politique qu’il est parvenu à semer en France ou en Italie, et tout récemment en Grande-Bretagne et en Suisse.

Cyclothymique, extravagant dans le verbe comme dans l’habit, mégalomane. Insaisissable. Qui est vraiment le colonel Kadhafi? «Toute son existence a été dominée par une préoccupation, explique François Burgat, auteur d’un Que sais-je? sur la Libye. Celle de laver l’affront de la présence coloniale en terre arabe. Admirateur fervent du leader égyptien Nasser, il a repris à son compte la portée nationaliste du nassérisme. Et il a bien sûr toujours jugé illégitime l’Etat hébreu, dans lequel il voit une réminiscence des occupations coloniales.» «Son obsession perpétuelle a été d’abord la réunification du monde arabe, fragmenté par la colonisation. Il y a renoncé à la suite de ses échecs successifs (ndlr: toutes les formes d’épousailles qu’il a proposées à l’Egypte, la Syrie ou la Tunisie ont été rejetées) pour embrasser, dans les années 1990, le concept encore plus ambitieux de l’Union africaine (UA) qu’il souhaite quasi fédérale. Ses échecs ne l’ont jamais freiné», ajoute Jean-François Daguzan, de la Fondation pour la recherche stratégique. Ni rogné ses rêves de grandeur: élu en février dernier par ses pairs pour un an à la tête de l’organisation panafricaine, il s’était aussitôt autoproclamé «Roi des rois traditionnels d’Afrique». >>> Angélique Mounier-Kuhn | Jeudi 27 Août 2009

New Row over 'Non-expert' Cancer Diagnosis of Lockerbie Bomber al-Megrahi
TIMES ONLINE: The furore over the release of the Lockerbie bomber intensified today over the medical advice given to the Scottish government on how long he has to live.

It emerged that the prognosis that Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi had a life expectancy of only three months or less was supported by an unnamed doctor who had no expertise in terminal prostate cancer.

The final report on al-Megrahi’s condition which went to Kenny MacAskill was drawn up by Dr Andrew Fraser, director of health and care with the Scottish Prison Service.

The three-month time limit is important because Scottish Prison Service guidance says that compassionate release from prison “may be considered where a prisoner is suffering from a terminal illness and death is likely to occur soon. There are no fixed time limits but life expectancy of less than three months may be considered an appropriate period.”

Dr Fraser’s report says: “Whether or not prognosis is more or less than three months, no specialist ‘would be willing to say’.”

Dr Fraser’s report, however, also contains a reference to the “opinion” of an unnamed doctor - thought to be a GP - who, says the report, “dealt with him (al-Megrahi) prior to, during and following the diagnosis of metastatic prostate cancer”.

It adds: “Having seen him during each of these stages, his clinical condition has declined significantly over the last week (July 26-August 3).

“The clinical assessment, therefore,is that a three month prognosis is now a reasonable estimate for this patient.”

Political opponents at Holyrood were today claiming that the conclusion reached by Dr Fraser was based on what the unnamed GP had said and had not taken into sufficient account the more guarded views of the prostate cancer specialists.

Dr Richard Simpson, a Labour MSP and a former associate member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons and member of its prostate cancer working group, has raised doubts about the three-month prognosis.

He said: "The Scottish government has misrepresented the medical evidence. The Justice Secretary chose to disregard the advice of specialists and release al-Megrahi on the opinion of one doctor, who we now know was not a specialist.

"At the very least, Kenny MacAskill should have sought a second opinion confirming the patient's prognosis from a specialist in palliative care. That he did not do so showed a disregard for due process and the significance of the decision." >>> Angus Macleod, Scottish Political Editor | Thursday, August 27, 2009

Islam Dreaming – Australia
Watch Journeyman Pictures video here

Islam in Deutschland: Intro des Deutschsprachigen Islam - Seminars - April 2006

'Cruel and Neglectful' Care of One Million NHS Patients Exposed
THE TELEGRAPH: One million NHS patients have been the victims of appalling care in hospitals across Britain, according to a major report released today.

In the last six years, the Patients Association claims hundreds of thousands have suffered from poor standards of nursing, often with 'neglectful, demeaning, painful and sometimes downright cruel' treatment.

The charity has disclosed a horrifying catalogue of elderly people left in pain, in soiled bed clothes, denied adequate food and drink, and suffering from repeatedly cancelled operations, missed diagnoses and dismissive staff.

The Patients Association said the dossier proves that while the scale of the scandal at Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust - where up to 1,200 people died through failings in urgent care - was a one off, there are repeated examples they have uncovered of the same appalling standards throughout the NHS.

While the criticisms cover all aspects of hospital care, the treatment and attitude of nurses stands out as a repeated theme across almost all of the cases.

They have called on Government and the Care Quality Commission to conduct an urgent review of standards of basic hospital care and to enforce stricter supervision and regulation.

Claire Rayner, President of the Patients Association and a former nurse, said:“For far too long now, the Patients Association has been receiving calls on our helpline from people wanting to talk about the dreadful, neglectful, demeaning, painful and sometimes downright cruel treatment their elderly relatives had experienced at the hands of NHS nurses.

“I am sickened by what has happened to some part of my profession of which I was so proud. >>> Rebecca Smith, Medical Editor | Thursday, August 27, 2009

Worst Nurses 'Must Be Struck Off'
TIMES ONLINE: Nurses who neglect elderly patients should be struck off, the Government’s Chief Nursing Officer said today.

Christine Beasley said that a report into the poor care of more than a dozen elderly patients, published by the Patients Association, was distressing and should make “sombre reading for the nursing profession”.

A report from the charity released today includes stories of people left lying in their own faeces and urine, having call bells taken away from them and being left without food or drink.

The report was published as NHS nurses came under fire for their “cruel” and “demeaning” treatment of patients, in particularly the elderly.

The Conservatives said today that about 1,000 people a year were dying from pressure sores in England and Wales.

The condition, linked to poor hygiene and long periods in hospital or at home, has been cited regularly on death certificates over the last five years, a response to a parliamentary question disclosed.

Anne Milton, MP, the Conservative health spokeswoman, said: “This is yet more evidence that the strain that Labour’s tick-box target culture is putting on NHS staff is having a devastating effect on hundreds of patients and families in the UK.

“NHS frontline staff are being overburdened by red tape and paperwork and are consistently being spread too thin and too wide across the service. They must be released to do the job that they are there to do — to help people — or risk yet more unnecessary and needless deaths. >>> David Rose, Health Correspondent | Thursday, August 27, 2009

Looted Picasso The Naked Woman Is Seized by Iraqi Security Forces
TIMES ONLINE: Iraqi security forces today showed off a Picasso they seized from a former soldier in Saddam's military who had looted the painting in 1990 during the occupation of Kuwait.

The Naked Woman went missing from the al-Ahmedi Hall of the Kuwait Museum in the aftermath of the Iraqi invasion that triggered the first Gulf war.

The soldier had been trying to sell it, allegedly asking for $450,000 (£278,000). The market value is estimated to be $10 million.

The masterpiece, which is signed by Picasso, was seized this week during a raid on the house belonging to the suspect near the mainly Shia city of Hillah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad. >>> Oliver August in Baghdad | Thursday, August 27, 2009

TIMES ONLINE: Painting The Naked Woman is seized by Iraqi security forces - but is it a Picasso? >>> Oliver August in Baghdad | Friday, August 28, 2009

Tory Logo Goes Rainbow for Gay Conference Event
THE TELEGRAPH: The Tory blue tree logo has been turned rainbow for the party’s first gay pride disco at this year’s Conservative conference.

The logo was displayed on the Conservative Party website as part of events billed as Conference Pride at the annual political gathering in Manchester Photo: The Telegraph
Around 700 guests are expected at the event, which is being held in Canal Street, in the gay area of Manchester where the conference is being held, on October 6.

There will be a speech by Ben Summerskill, chief executive of the gay rights group Stonewall, and a performance from the singer Angie Brown.

Surprise guests will attend, including a mystery “senior shadow cabinet member,” who will deliver a speech.

A party spokesman said: “The logo is being rebranded in rainbow colours for this event, to reflect the nature of the night.

“We have all sorts of rebranding for all sorts of different events.”

Andrew Brierly, 29, a party activist from Clapham, south London, said the event is sign the party is modernising its image to appeal to new voters.

He said: "By hosting events like this it is hoped that voters will recognise that the Conservative party is at the forefront of agenda-setting politics. >>> Rosa Prince, Political Correspondent | Thursday, August 27, 2009

Dubious Deals Come with the Territory
TIMES ONLINE: The real scandal is the lost opportunity to uncover the conspirators behind the Lockerbie plot

The accusations would hurt any government, let alone one untested abroad. Alex Salmond’s administration has been accused of a political fix, a squalid commercial deal and a plot to protect its legal system. President Obama called the release of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi “highly objectionable”. The FBI was more devastating: Scotland had made a “mockery” of the Lockerbie families’ grief and given “comfort to terrorists around the world”.

But there is an indictment still more damning. In his cack-handed handling of the case, Kenny MacAskill, Scotland’s Justice Secretary, has now made it impossible to find out what really happened. There will be no judicial appeal. No court will ask the vital questions left unanswered by the trial in The Hague eight years ago. Who masterminded the atrocity? Who financed the bombers? Who else plotted the deaths of innocent passengers on Pan Am 103?

Lockerbie will remain, for ever, an unexplained horror. The answers instead will be supplied by conspiracy theorists and cranks. Lockerbie will become another Kennedy assassination, open to ever more outlandish explanations — except that this atrocity, unlike the killing in Dallas, will never be investigated at the highest judicial level.

The vacuum will be filled not only by bogus historians and those with a political axe to grind; history’s verdict will also, by default, be swayed by the only man convicted of the bombing who now claims new evidence would exonerate him. He has promised to write his memoirs. Even if he lives long enough to complete them, al-Megrahi alone will be unable to relieve the anguish of the victims’ families. Would he dare jeopardise his family by revealing all he knows?

Had his appeal gone ahead, at least his protestations could have been tested. He might have been cleared. Or his supposed innocence — now taking on a public plausibility — might have been definitely disproved. Instead, he will for ever remain in an absurd limbo, not innocent but somehow not wholly guilty.

A scandal is now swirling over the “deal” said to have been made to set al-Megrahi free. Did Muammar Gaddafi promise Gordon Brown lucrative energy contracts for British companies? Did Lord Mandelson discuss Lockerbie in his meetings in Corfu with Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the Libyan leader’s son? Was there an understanding that the prisoner would be home in time for Ramadan and, more importantly, to join in the 40th anniversary celebrations of Gaddafi’s seizure of power? >>> Michael Binyon | Monday, August 24, 2009

Tragically Flawed Guardian of the Liberal Flame
TIMES ONLINE: Brilliant orator, radical champion . . . but Edward Kennedy’s weaknesses conspired to stop him reaching the White House

In many ways Teddy Kennedy was the most politically gifted of the three Kennedy brothers. The Benjamin of the family (born 15 years after his brother, the President), he was gregarious where his brother Bobby tended to be reclusive and on his day, as each would willingly testify, could outshine them both as an orator. Yet, despite his 47 years in the US Senate, he never rose any higher than holding the essentially backroom job of Majority Whip — and that only for two years between 1969 and 1971.

Why? The easy answer, of course, lies in the one Native American word, Chappaquiddick. Before the disastrous episode there in July 1969 — when the Democratic senator from Massachusetts drove his Oldsmobile off a bridge, drowning his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, in the process — little, it seemed, could stand between the sole surviving heir to the Kennedy legend and his destiny in the White House. But how he behaved on that occasion, not least his callous delay in reporting the accident and the cold-hearted way in which he went about defending his conduct on television, destroyed that dream for ever. When he eventually did stand for the presidency he was humiliated by Jimmy Carter who beat him in 24 out of 34 primaries and in 20 of the 25 caucuses.

Yet even that defeat, far worse than Ronald Reagan’s when he ran against Gerald Ford four years earlier, did nothing to destroy his status as the keeper of the liberal conscience of the Democratic Party. The possessor of a better voting record on issues such as healthcare, welfare provision and workers’ rights, he regularly topped the ratings awarded by such organisations as Americans for Democratic Action. Untainted by his brothers’ earlier records over Vietnam, he was also recognised as a liberal internationalist, though with some reservations in this country provoked by the green tinge of his views on Northern Ireland. >>> Anthony Howard* | Thursday, August 27, 2009

*Anthony Howard was Washington correspondent of The Observer in the 1960s

A Christian on the Run in Egypt
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Maher El Gohary is something his Muslim compatriots can't fathom: a convert to Christianity. He and his daughter live like fugitives, moving frequently to avoid those who'd like to see him dead.

Christians and Muslims clashed in 2005 at St. George's Church in Alexandria, Egypt, where Muslims demanded an apology for a play they said was offensive to Islam. Photo: LA Times
Reporting from Alexandria, Egypt - It is a clear day along the coast, but in a bungalow off the beach, Maher El Gohary sits behind a locked door with an open Bible and a crystal cross, suspicious of every voice and sandal scraping past outside.

He and his daughter, Dina, live like refugees, switching apartments every few months, not wanting to get close to neighbors. Gohary's life has been threatened, his dogs have been killed, and it's been suggested that he's insane or possessed by spirits.

He is a man this Muslim nation cannot fathom: a convert to Christianity.

"Islam is the only thing Egyptians are 150% sure of. If you reject Islam, you shake their belief and you are an apostate, an infidel," he says. "I can see in the eyes of Muslims how much my conversion has really hurt them."

Egypt's Coptic Christians, who represent about 10% of the population, have veered from coexistence to violence with the Muslim majority. Bloody clashes recently erupted between Copts and Muslims over land disputes and restrictions on churches.

But converts, such as Gohary, are even more unsettling. Islamists believe that Muslims who forsake their religion should be punished by death.

Gohary wants to be called Peter and refuses to yield. He has filed a lawsuit asking an Egyptian court to officially recognize him as a Copt by changing the denomination on his national ID card from Muslim to Christian. The court ruled against him in June, finding that Gohary's baptism documents from the Coptic Orthodox Church were "legally invalid." The verdict is on appeal.

The case highlights the religious and political complexities that drive modern Egypt. The nation often seems at battle with itself as it attempts to balance the ideals of a democracy with laws steeped in Islamic principles.

Freedom of religion is guaranteed in the constitution, but fatwas, or religious edicts, from clerics subject converts from Islam to persecution and threats. The government treads uneasily, not wanting to anger religious conservatives who stubbornly guard Islam's grip on society.

Converts such as Gohary "should be killed by authorities," says Abdul Aziz Zakareya, a cleric and former professor at Al Azhar University. "Public conversions can lead to very dangerous consequences. The spreading of a phenomenon like this in a Muslim society can cause many unwanted results and tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims." >>> Jeffrey Fleishman | Sunday, August 23, 2009

Art: Long Beach Artist's Illustrations of a New Take on Koran
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Sandow Birk's 'American Qur'an,' heading to San Francisco and Culver City galleries, breaks away from Islamic tradition to examine the faith through contemporary images.

TERROR: "Sura 44 (A--B)" shows the towers of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. (Sandow Birk / Catharine Clark Gallery / March 26) Photo: LA Times
There's a long tradition of illustrating scenes from the Bible -- even a version of Genesis by alternative comics master R. Crumb. But the Koran, which Muslims consider to be the holy word of God, has never incorporated images of people or animals, according to Linda Komaroff, curator of Islamic art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

"It simply wasn't the kind of thing that would come up," she said, "In Islam, like Judaism, there's one invisible god that's everywhere, that can't be seen and can't even be comprehended." As a result, there was no need to develop figurative imagery for religious purposes. The Koran, said Komaroff, is regularly decorated with geometric or vegetal patterns, but she has seen only one example that contains more representational imagery. It depicts the facade of a mosque.

Now, Long Beach artist Sandow Birk has challenged that centuries-old tradition. His series of works on paper, "American Qur'an," is an English-language version of the central text of Islam, illustrated with scenes from contemporary American life. Selections from the project, which is ongoing and will eventually include over 300 pages, will be on view at Catharine Clark Gallery in San Francisco starting Sept. 5 and at Koplin Del Rio gallery in Culver City as of Sept. 8.

Executed in ink and gouache in an understated, realist style, many of the 16-by-24-inch works depict everyday sights -- urban street life, office workers in their cubicles, a pregnant couple in their frontyard. Others represent more historic moments, such as the smoking towers of the World Trade Center or a funeral with a casket draped in a U.S. flag. In the center of each image are two neatly framed boxes containing the text, hand-lettered in a font reminiscent of graffiti writing.

Although the Koran does not prohibit the creation of images, it does contain an injunction against the making of idols, and the faith's second most important text, the hadith, includes additional restrictions on the use of figurative imagery, said Komaroff. Whether "American Qur'an" violates these decrees seems to be a matter of interpretation. >>> Sharon Mizota | Sunday, August 23, 2009

Sin City of the Middle East
Party town ... tourists are flocking to Beirut to enjoy its glamorous nightlife and glitzy shows. Photo: The Sydney Morning Herald
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: From nudist beach parties and wild bashes hosted by the likes of Paris Hilton, to gay clubs, gambling and showgirls, Beirut is rapidly earning a reputation as the sin city of the Middle East.

Clubbers don't bat an eye in popping $1000 for a bottle of champagne to guarantee attention at a trendy nightspot, where less is more as far as women's wear is concerned, and fireworks displays regularly light up the skies.

Lebanon has seen it all: a bloody 1975-1990 civil war, military occupation, high-profile assassinations, and unending political instability.

Four years ago, Beirut's seaside Riviera Hotel saw an assassination attempt targeting a leading anti-Syrian minister. Today it is keeping the neighbourhood awake as partygoers drink and dance the night away.

"We have clubs in Cairo," said 26-year-old Wafiq, as he swayed to the beat on a hot August night holding a glass of whiskey and puffing on a Cuban cigar.

"But nothing beats this," said the Egyptian, a financial consultant. "I need to come here to unwind."

A record one million-plus tourists visited Lebanon last month alone, according to the tourism ministry, which is expecting more than two million tourists by the end of 2009, a figure roughly equivalent to half the country's population.

Many of those flocking to Beirut are Lebanese expatriates, but Arab nationals have also arrived en masse to take advantage of Lebanon's glamorous nightlife and glitzy shows like "Hot Legs" at the Casino du Liban, featuring "striptease-style dances", according to the casino's website.

While Lebanon often flirts with the borderline of civil war -- sectarian strife in May 2008 resulted in the deaths of more than 100 people -- any sign of a political detente is quickly followed by a boom in tourism. >>> AFP | Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Saudi Attacks Obama's Oil Goal
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: WASHINGTON: Saudi Arabia's former ambassador to the US, Prince Turki al-Faisal, has criticised the Obama Administration for promoting energy independence, calling the campaign to curb oil consumption an affront to the kingdom.

''This 'energy independence' motto is political posturing at its worst - a concept that is unrealistic, misguided, and ultimately harmful to energy producing and consuming countries alike,'' the prince wrote in an article published on Foreign Policy magazine's website.

Prince Turki, a member of the Saudi royal family and a former director of Saudi intelligence and ambassador to Britain, called energy independence ''little more than code for arguing that the United States has a dangerous reliance'' on Saudi Arabia. The kingdom, the largest oil exporter, ''gets blamed for everything from global terrorism to high gasoline prices'', he said.

The US President, Barack Obama, is pushing for an expansion of wind and solar energy and higher fuel efficiency for vehicles in an effort to reduce dependence on imported oil. >>> | Thursday, August 27, 2009

Iran: Les témoignages de viols en prison se multiplient
LE TEMPS: Plusieurs récits révèlent la violence de la répression, au moment où les «cerveaux» des manifestations post-électorales comparaissent devant le tribunal révolutionnaire

Il préfère taire son nom. Pourtant, il veut témoigner, malgré les risques de représailles. «En prison, ils m’ont ligoté les mains et les pieds, ils m’ont battu à mort, puis ils m’ont fait quelque chose qui est un péché même pour les apostats», confie le jeune homme, en allusion au viol subi lors de ses interrogatoires derrière les barreaux de la prison de Kahrizak, au sud de Téhéran. Publié en début de semaine par Etemad e Melli, le site internet de Mehdi Karoubi, candidat malchanceux à l’élection présidentielle, le récit détaillé de la descente aux enfers de ce manifestant vient confirmer la violence de la répression post-électorale. Il montre, aussi, la volonté des durs du régime d’étouffer ces diverses affaires de sévices. Pas plus tard qu’hier, un membre d’une commission d’enquête du parlement a même déclaré «infondé» ce genre de révélations. >>> Delphine Minoui | Mercredi26 Août 2009

La France menace de sanctionner plus fortement l'Iran
L’EXPRESS.fr: Le gouvernement français envisage de nouvelles représailles si l'Iran ne reprend pas les discussions sur son programme nucléaire. "Qui peut croire les dirigeants iraniens?", s'est demandé Nicolas Sarkozy face aux ambassadeurs français réunis à l'Elysée.

Revigoré après ses trois semaines de vacances, le président français Nicolas Sarkozy a menacé l'Iran d'un "renforcement très substantiel des sanctions" si Téhéran ne répondait pas favorablement aux propositions de reprise des négociations avec les Occidentaux sur son programme nucléaire.

"Nous n'avons reçu aucune proposition positive à nos propositions (...) soyons clairs, si l'Iran ne change pas de politique, la question du renforcement très substantiel des sanctions sera posée", a lancé M. Sarkozy, ce mercredi, lors du discours d'ouverture de la Conférence des ambassadeurs français à l'Elysée. >>> Par LEXPRESS.fr avec AFP | Mercredi 26 Août 2009

Nokia étoffe ses applications pour le Ramadan
L’EXPRESS.fr: Avec son éventail d'applications dédiées disponibles sur l'OVI Store, Nokia s'associe de façon fort opportune à un des plus grands rendez-vous de l'Islam.

Le mois du Ramadan, un des moments les plus importants pour la communauté musulmane, commence ce vendredi. Très normé, cet événement est organisé selon des critères très précis. Ce qui a donné des idées à Nokia.

Ainsi, depuis 2008, le numéro un mondial du mobile a développé une série d'applications mobiles gratuites destinées aux fidèles. Cette année, le finlandais annonce de nouveaux services directement accessibles depuis son OVI Store, sa boutique d'applications en ligne.

Gratuit

"L'année dernière plus de 2,4 millions d'applications pour le ramadan ont été téléchargées. Et sur la base des commentaires et remarques que nous avons reçus des utilisateurs de Nokia, nous avons encore amélioré l'offre de cette année pour inclure de nouvelles applications ainsi que des mises à jour de certaines fonctions existantes.", [sic] a déclaré Eddy Rizk, Dirécteur Général de Nokia pour l'Afrique du Nord.

Au programme de ces applications : le Saint Coran, les horaires des prières, les dires du prophète (hadith), une calculatrice de la Zakat (l'aumône, le 3e pilier de l'Islam, NDLR), Mouddakir, un guide mobile des lieux les plus célèbres que les gens peuvent visiter pendant Haj et Omra et Cartes. >>> Par ZDNet.fr | Jeudi 20 Août 2009

Moral-Kampagne: Hamas rüstet gegen die Lust
SPIEGEL: Der militärische Erfolg bleibt aus, so besinnt sich die Hamas auf ihre islamistische Agenda: Badehosenverbot für Männer, Massenhochzeiten für alle - und Propaganda gegen Verführungen. Wie angebliche Lust-Kaugummis aus Israel.

Wenn man wissen will, was man in der Hamas derzeit so denkt, ist Islam Schahwan ein guter Gesprächspartner. Schahwan ist Sprecher der Hamas-Polizei, und er kämpft nicht nur gegen das Verbrechen im Gaza-Streifen, sondern vor allem gegen den Verfall der Sitten. Und deshalb hält Islam Schahwan jetzt eine kartenspielgroße Pappschachtel mit Daumen und Zeigefinger, sein Beweisstück. Auf der Schachtel steht: "Lina Sex for Woman", daneben ist das verschwommene Foto einer Blondine in weißer Unterwäsche aufgedruckt und eine Telefonnummer mit der Vorwahl von Burma.

Der Hamas-Mann legt sie auf dem Tisch ab, mit dem Bild nach unten. In der Schachtel versammelt sich, wenn man Schahwan glaubt, alles Übel der Welt: 20 gelbliche Dragees, von denen der Hamas-Mann behauptet, sie enthielten stimulierende Substanzen. "Nach einer halben Stunde Kauen müssen Sie unbedingt Sex haben, sofort, mit allem, sogar mit dem Fernseher", sagt er, es ist ihm sichtlich peinlich.

"Diesen Kaugummi hat die israelische Regierung nach Gaza geschmuggelt, er sollte an Schüler und Schülerinnen verteilt werden, um unsere Gesellschaft zu zersetzen." Die Jugendlichen sollten mittels Sex gegen die Hamas aufgehetzt werden, so sieht er das, so lautet die offizielle Propaganda. Erst Bomben, dann Sex, für Schahwan ist das nur logisch.

"Aber wir konnten das Schlimmste gerade noch verhindern", sagt der Polizeisprecher und lehnt sich breitbeinig auf seinem Stuhl zurück. Die Ehre eines vom Kaugummi erregten Mädchens konnte gerettet werden, die vier angeblichen Kollaborateure sitzen jetzt im Gefängnis, ihnen drohen bis zu 25 Jahre Gefängnis. Insgesamt 40 Kilo Lust-Kaugummi hat Schahwan konfisziert und im Tresor des Polizeihauptquartiers weggeschlossen, sicher ist sicher.

Natürlich ist der Vorwurf absurd, Israel versuche, die Palästinenser zu einer Revolte der Lust anzustacheln. Aber so lächerlich die Geschichte ist: Sie zeigt, wie die Hamas sich, angesichts ausbleibender militärischer Erfolge, wieder auf die Umsetzung ihrer islamistischen Agenda besinnt. Es ist kein Zufall, dass die Hamas, ein Dreivierteljahr nach dem Luftkrieg der Israelis, nun wieder islamische Regeln strikter durchsetzt. >>> Von Juliane von Mittelstaedt, Jerusalem | Mittwoch, 26. August 2009

Schweizer Geiseln haben Ausreisevisa erhalten: Umstrittene Vereinbarung mit Libyen soll umgesetzt werden
NZZ ONLINE: Die beiden seit über einem Jahr in Libyen festgehaltenen Schweizer haben ein Ausreise-Visum erhalten. Wie das Eidgenössische Finanzdepartement am Mittwochabend mitteilte, brauchen sie jetzt nur noch die Zustimmung der Justizbehörde für die Ausreise. >>> uhg./tsf. | Mittwoch, 26. August 2009

Tariq Ramadan: Uni Rotterdam feuert islamischen Intellektuellen
WELT ONLINE: Tariq Ramadan ist einer der einflussreichsten und zugleich umstrittensten islamischen Intellektuellen in Europa. Die einen halten ihn für den Vordenker eines Euro-Islam, andere für einen Scharlatan. Die Universität Rotterdam entzog ihm nun die Gastprofessur, weil er eine Sendung im iranischen Fernsehen moderiert.

An Tariq Ramadan scheiden sich die Geister. Für die einen ist der 46 Jahre alte Schweizer Staatsbürger einer der wenigen islamischen Intellektuellen, die eine diskussionsfähige Vision eines modernen „Euro-Islams“ vertreten. Für die anderen ist er ein Scharlatan, der westlichen Medien erzählt, was sie hören wollen und vor Glaubensgenossen aufklärungsfeindliche Positionen vertritt.

n der vergangenen Woche hat die Erasmus-Universität Rotterdam Ramadan die Gastprofessur entzogen, die er dort seit Januar 2007 ausübte. Zugleich war Ramadan in der niederländischen Stadt, die einen Ausländeranteil von 49 Prozent hat und einen Bürgermeister, der aus Marokko stammt, Berater für Integrationsfragen. Auch diesen Posten ist er nun los. Der Grund: Ramadan moderiert auf dem englischsprachigen iranischen Nachrichtensender Press TV eine Sendung mit dem Titel „Islam and Life“. Der Sender wird von der iranischen Regierung finanziert. Eine solche indirekte Beziehung zwischen Ramadan und dem repressiven iranischen Regime sei „inakzeptabel“, ließ die Stadt Rotterdam mitteilen. >>> Von Sascha Lehartz | Dienstag, 25. August 2009

Looking Back: Barack Obama Raised as Muslim

Colonel Qadhafi: Barack Obama Is a Muslim!