Wife of Ground Zero Mosque Imam Speaks Out on US 'Hate of Muslims'
THE TELEGRAPH: The wife of the imam behind the proposed Islamic cultural centre near the Ground Zero site of the September 11th terrorist attacks has compared the treatment of Muslims in America to discrimination against Jews.

'It's not even Islamophobia, it's beyond Islamophobia - it's hate of Muslims' said Daisy Khan, wife of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. Photo: The Telegraph
"This is like a metastasized anti-Semitism," said Daisy Khan, wife of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. "That's what we feel right now. It's not even Islamophobia, it's beyond Islamophobia - it's hate of Muslims. And we are deeply concerned."

Miss Khan, whose husband is travelling outside the United States on a tour partly funded by the US State Department, insisted that the centre - now being called Park51 - would be built as planned despite fierce opposition from many New Yorkers and calls for an alternative site to be considered.

"Of course, it has to go ahead," she told ABC News. "There's so much at stake." >>> Toby Harnden in Washington | Monday, August 23, 2010

'Ground Zero' Imam on Mideast Tour
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: The imam behind the plan to build a mosque near Ground Zero surfaced yesterday far from the controversy -- in Bahrain, where he's on a U.S. taxpayer-funded trip to the Middle East to spread good will, The New York Post reported Saturday. Video Courtesy of Fox News.

Insult: A Time magazine poll released last week also revealed that more than 70 per cent of those questioned believed that to build the mosque would insult the memory of victims. Photograph: Mail Online
Hundreds of Protesters Rally Outside Ground Zero Mosque... and Sing Along to Bruce Springsteen's Born In The USA
MAIL ONLINE: Hundreds of protesters rallied near the site of a proposed mosque and Muslim community centre near Ground Zero in New York yesterday.

A crowd of demonstrators against the project stood behind police barricades three blocks from the World Trade Center site.

Bruce Springsteen's anti-war song Born In The USA blared over loudspeakers as patriotic mosque opponents chanted, 'No mosque, no way!

Brooklyn plumber Steve Ayling says the people who want to build the project are the same ones who 'took down the twin towers.'

Nearby, several hundred people who support the mosque chanted: 'Muslims are welcome here. We say no to racist fear.'

The proposed £70million mosque has ignighted furious debate. (+ video) >>> Mail Foreign Service | Moonday, August 23, 2010

Anti-Muslim Rally at Ground Zero


Dueling Protests over Ground Zero Mosque
Watch video here

Australian Election: Dollar Falls at Prospect of Hung Parliament
THE TELEGRAPH: The Australian dollar has fallen as the markets react to the prospect of a hung parliament following the weekend’s inconclusive election.

Tony Abbott, opposition leader and Julia Gillard, Australia's Prime Minister. Photos: The Telegraph
Saturday’s cliff-hanger general election has left the incumbent Labour Party with 70 seats and the Liberal-National Coalition with 72 seat in the House of Representatives – well short of the 76 seats needed to form a government.

Julia Gillard, the current Labour prime minister, and Tony Abbott, leader of the opposition are currently trying to win over the support of the three new independent MPs and one Green Party MP – each claiming to have the moral right to form government. The Greens already hold the balance of power in the Senate, Australia’s upper house.

But it could be up to 10 days before a final result is known. If neither Ms Gillard nor Mr Abbott is able to stitch together a working arrangement with the independents and Greens, the country could have to go straight back to the polls to settle the matter. >>> Mark Chipperfield, Sydney | Monday, August 23, 2010

American Soldier, Convert to Islam, Teaching Taliban Fighters Bomb-making Skills
MAIL ON SUNDAY: A captured American soldier is training Taliban fighters bomb-making and ambush skills, according to one of his captors and Afghan intelligence officials.

Private Bowe Bergdahl disappeared in June 2009 while based in eastern Afghanistan and is thought to be the only U.S. serviceman in captivity.

The 24-year-old has converted to Islam and now has the Muslim name Abdullah, one of his captors told The Sunday Times.

A Taliban deputy district commander in Paktika, who called himself Haji Nadeem, told the newspaper that Bergdahl taught him how to dismantle a mobile phone and turn it into a remote control for a roadside bomb.

Nadeem claimed he also received basic ambush training from the U.S. soldier.

'Most of the skills he taught us we already knew,' he said. 'Some of my comrades think he's pretending to be a Muslim to save himself so they wouldn't behead him.' Taliban claim captured U.S. solider has converted to Islam and is teaching its fighters bomb-making skills >>> Mail Foreign Service | Sunday, August 22, 2010

An American Convert to Islam Speaks! : قصة أمريكي اعتنق الإسلام

Unmarried Malaysian Muslim Civil Servants Face Eviction from Government Housing
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Malaysian Islamic authorities have been evicting unmarried Muslim civil servants from government-owned housing if they are caught with their partners alone in a private place, according to reports.

A couple holds hands at the side of a street in Putrajaya, Malaysia. Muslims have been evicted from their homes under a campaign to rid Putrajaya of activities deemed immoral under Malaysian Islamic laws. Photograph: The Sunday Telegraph
Several Muslims have been evicted from their homes in government quarters under a campaign launched early this year to rid the country’s administrative capital Putrajaya of activities deemed immoral under Malaysian Islamic laws, the New Straits Times reported.

Che Mat Che Ali, director of the Federal Territory Islamic Affairs Department, said: “It may seem harsh but we want the people of Putrajaya to know that we take this matter seriously.”

He said those caught by Islamic morality police were hauled up in court and then asked to move out. >>> | Sunday, August 22, 2010

NY Mosque Imam: US Rights in Line with True Islam
ASSOCIATED PRESS: MANAMA, Bahrain — The imam spearheading plans for an Islamic center near the New York site of the Sept. 11 attacks says America's sweeping constitutional rights are more in line with Islamic principles than the limits imposed by some Muslim nations.

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf told the Al Wasat newspaper in Bahrain that the freedoms enshrined by the U.S. Constitution also reflect true Muslim values. >>> AP | Sunday, August 22, 2010

Does Barack Obama Want to Be Re-elected in 2012?
THE TELEGRAPH: Few Americans consider themselves bigger than the presidency but Obama might be one of them. The man in the Oval Office, argues Toby Harnden, may already be preparing for a role as a post-president in a post-American world.

When David Plouffe, President Barack Obama's 2008 campaign manager, wrote recently that his former boss was "not concerned with his re-election", there was predictable scepticism.

After all, it has long been a truism that every politician wants to cling to power and a reality that presidential campaigns are planned years in advance. Pronouncements about not looking at polls and concentrating on getting things done are, moreover, standard fare from poll-driven, election-obsessed politicians and their apparatchiks.

In this case, however, Plouffe may inadvertently be onto something. Almost everything Obama does these days suggests that he doesn't care much about being re-elected. Strange as it might seem, perhaps he wants to be a one-term president.

Obama was elected in 2008 at an extraordinary moment in American politics. Suddenly, this charismatic figure, elected to the Senate without serious opposition in 2004 and without any executive experience, was catapulted into the White House.

His presidential bid had been based on the power of his life story and his ability with the spoken word. Doubtless he was as surprised as anyone else that he pulled it off. Governing has been altogether more difficult for him and there are signs he is already tiring of it.

Obama's intervention on the so-called "Ground Zero mosque" issue is a case in point. There was no need for him to get involved - the Islamic community centre two blocks from the 9/11 site is unlikely to get built and there was no political advantage in his making a statement.

What he said about religious freedom was typically Obama - high-minded, principled and legalistic. He is, after all, a former constitutional law professor. What his words lacked were any real empathy with what Americans felt and practical considerations about resolving the issue - never mind the political downside for him. >>> | Saturday, August 21, 2010

Australia Faces Hung Parliament as Julia Gillard's Labor Party Suffers Losses
THE OBSERVER: Labor lead shrinks thanks to strong opposition campaign, climate change concerns – and anger at treachery over Kevin Rudd

Labor leader Julia Gillard and her partner Tim Mathieson leave the stage after an election night event in Melbourne. Photograph: The Observer
Australia looked to be heading for a hung parliament on Saturday night after one of the closest elections in decades.

After five weeks of bitter, negative campaigning, neither Labor, the current government, nor the conservative opposition Liberal party looked like they would be able to form a government in their own right. It appeared that both parties would have to rely on others in the lower house of parliament.

Labor can expect the support of the first-ever Green member, and probably also a former Green turned independent, who seemed likely to win a seat.

The Liberal party would have to rely on three other independents, two of whom have had links to the conservative National party, which is part of the opposition coalition. It may be days before the final outcome is known.

Whoever forms a government, it is clear that the big winners are the Greens. In addition to their seat in the lower house, they will control the balance of power in the upper house, the senate. They look set to win 12% of the vote nationally, 50% more than last time. They could also double their seats in the combined houses of parliament.

For Labor, the outcome is a disappointment. Yesterday, the party's leader, Julia Gillard, addressed the faithful – in what she had hoped would be a victory speech – with the words of Bill Clinton, saying: "The people have spoken, but it's going to take a little while to determine what they've said." Gillard said she would continue to lead the government until the result was clear. In an apparent appeal to the independents, she laid out her "good track record" of working with them in the house and senate. >>> Alison Rourke in Sydney | Saturday, August 21, 2010

Clay Abu Tariq: Allah Guides Whoever He Wills

Saudi Arabia: Human Rights Group Urges Authorities to Flog Crime Suspect Instead of Imposing Spinal Cord Punishment
LOS ANGELES TIMES – Babylon & Beyond: You know a country's human rights situation is bad when even Amnesty International is urging that a guy be methodically whipped or caned on his back as a compromise to avoid an even harsher sentence.

Human rights monitors have grown alarmed over the case of a Saudi man who might have his spinal cord severed as punishment for badly injuring another guy during a fight a few years ago.

Amnesty International has urged Saudi Arabian authorities not to deliberately paralyze the man as a form of retribution for injuries he allegedly caused with a cleaver during a fight.

"We urge the Saudi Arabian authorities not to carry out such a punishment, which amounts to nothing less than torture," Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, acting director of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa Program, said in a statement. "While those guilty of a crime should be held accountable, intentionally paralyzing a man in this way would constitute torture, and be a breach of its international human rights obligations." >>> Los Angeles Times | Saturday, August 21, 2010

Nils von Bergner spricht über seinen Weg zum Islam

Now Muslim Miss USA Says DON'T Build Mosque Near Ground Zero
MAIL ONLINE: The growing movement against the building of a mosque near Ground Zero has gained another prominent supporter: the first Muslim Miss USA.

Rima Fakih, 24, the daughter of Lebanese immigrants and a Muslim, criticised the location of the planned £70 million Islamic Cultural Center planned just two blocks away from Ground Zero.

'It shouldn't be so close to the World Trade Center,' Fakih, 24, told Inside Edition during a break from the Miss Universe pageant preparations in Las Vegas.

'We should be more concerned with the tragedy than religion.'

After wading into the highly-charged political issue, the Michigan-born Fakih then went on to support President Obama's statement on the constitutional rights of religious freedom.

'I totally agree with President Obama with (that) statement,' said Fakih.

Meanwhile growing number of New York construction workers are vowing not to work on the mosque planned near Ground Zero, according to the New York Daily News.

'It's a very touchy thing because they want to do this on sacred ground,' said Dave Kaiser, 38, a blaster who is working to rebuild the World Trade Center site.

The grass-roots movement is gaining momentum on the Internet, says the Daily News. One construction worker created the Hard Hat Pledge on his blog and asked others to vow not to work on the project if it stays in its current location.

'Thousands of people are signing up from all over the country,' said creator Andy Sullivan, a construction worker from Brooklyn.

'People who sell glass, steel, lumber, insurance. They are all refusing to do work if they build there. >>> Mail Foreign Correspondent | Saturday, August 21, 2010

Erection of a Muslim Mosque at Ground Zero Is an Insult to All Americans
CANADA FREE PRESS: Since the very first mention of the erection of a Muslim Mosque almost on top of the ground desecrated by Muslims in an attack to destroy Amerrica’s financial capabilities by fire-bombing the World Trade Center’s two skyscraper buildings, Obama and his favorite people on earth, the Muslims, have been lying about their plans for the new edifice.

These people have gotten accustomed to good, honest and hard-working Americans bending over backwards to accommodate their repulsive and insanely demanding dictates on how WE should behave toward THEM in OUR country.

Since Barack Hussein Obama usurped our presidency by failing to provide LEGITIMATE proof of his “natural born residency” the Islamic faith followers have considered America to be THEIR country. Obama has practically said so in many instances, particularly in speeches given in foreign countries alluding to “America being a Muslim country and not Christian.”

I don’t know about you, but I have had it up to here with this sort of balderdash and outright lies coming from the man who is pretending to be our leader. He is not a leader; he is a follower; a follower of a foreign religious faith that has as its primary goal the total destruction of the United States of America.

Barack Hussein Obama is the biggest enemy we have in this country. And he is slowly and deceitfully building an army of Muslim followers who will one day swoop down on us and try to physically destroy us and what we have held dear for over 234 years.

The sad part of this whole scenario is the fact that millions, yes I said millions, of deluded American citizens think that Obama is actually good for this country. He still polls about FORTY percent of our people as believing he is doing a good job as president. Where are their brains? These gullible fools will be rudely awakened one day to the truth; but it will be too late at that point to save them and us. >>> Jerry McConnell | Saturday, August 21, 2010

CANADA FREE PRESS: Obama Akbar: The media is all worked up over a poll that shows the majority of Americans don’t think Obama is a Christians [sic] and nearly a 1/4 of Americans think that Obama is a Muslim. Naturally the “mainstream” conservative blogs are embarrassed by these results. Politico is calling it a new Birtherism. Left unasked is the question of why people might think that. >>> Daniel Greenfield | Saturday, August 21, 2010

Fact-Checking the AP ‘Fact Check’ On the Ground Zero Mosque
BIG JOURNALISM: Stop the presses! This just in: The Associated Press “standards center” has issued a “staff advisory” on covering what is to be known from here on out as “the New York City mosque.” From now on, the AP “staff” – and, therefore, everybody who still actually reads newspapers that still actually use the wire service’s copy – is supposed to conform to what amounts to the Muslim Brotherhood narrative about the Islamic cultural center formerly known as the “Ground Zero mosque.”

AP’s Deputy Managing Editor for Standards and Production, Tom Kent, sent this “guidance” out to his colleagues, with inputs from Chad Roedemeier in the New York bureau and Terry Hunt in Washington: “We should continue to avoid the phrase ‘Ground Zero mosque’ or ‘mosque at Ground Zero’ on all platforms. (We’ve very rarely used this wording, except in slugs, though we sometimes see other news sources using the term.) The site of the proposed Islamic center and mosque is not at Ground Zero, but two blocks away in a busy commercial area. We should continue to say it’s “near” Ground Zero, or two blocks away.”

Interestingly, among those who formerly used the now-proscribed descriptor “Ground Zero mosque” is none other than Feisal Abdul Rauf, its imam and chief promoter. He called it that even though the proposed venue has always been two blocks away from the World Trade Center site.

Perhaps Rauf used this moniker because his planned location for the mosque was part of the real estate attacked and damaged on 9/11 – the home of the Burlington Coat Factory until it was struck by a landing gear from a plane that struck one of the Twin Towers. Perhaps he used that term to brand his “Cordoba House” because body parts from the victims of those attacks have been found all over Lower Manhattan, including the old Burlington factory area, making it part of the hallowed ground.

Or perhaps, Imam Rauf called his project the Ground Zero mosque because he wanted to associate his 15-story, $100 million complex as closely as possible to the location where nearly 3,000 Americans and other innocent people – precisely because they were murdered there by people who wanted, as he does, to “bring shariah to America.”

The last explanation would certainly conform to the triumphalist past practice of adherents to shariah, the barbaric, totalitarian political program that masquerades as a religion. Indeed, there is a tradition of constructing mosques at the site of previous Islamic conquests for example in Jerusalem, Istanbul and Cordoba, Spain. Yes, it was for Cordoba – where a Catholic church was converted into the world’s third largest mosque by the Moorish conquerors of Spain – that Rauf wanted initially to name his Ground Zero mosque. Read on and comment >>> Frank Gaffney | Friday, August 20, 2010

HT: Jihad Watch >>>

Lockerbie Bombing: US Calls for Megrahi to Be Returned to Jail
THE TELEGRAPH: The United States has made an impassioned plea for Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the only man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, to be returned to jail.

The Obama administration used the anniversary of the bomber's release on compassionate grounds – because he had advanced prostate cancer – to condemn the decision.

The US president's office said it had advised Libyan officials of its view that Megrahi should not be free.

John Brennan, Barack Obama's counter-terrorism adviser, criticised the "unfortunate and inappropriate and wrong decision."

He said: "We've expressed our strong conviction that Al Megrahi should serve out the remainder – the entirety – of his sentence in a Scottish prison."

Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez, said that a "cloud of suspicion" hung over the decision to release Megrahi, who is now living with his family in the Libyan capital of Tripoli. >>> Andrew Alderson, Chief Reporter | Saturday, August 21, 2010

Iran '12 Months From Nuclear Weapon', US Warns
THE TELEGRAPH: The US sought to reassure Israel that Iran is still a year away from building a nuclear weapon, as Iran's leadership hailed the fuelling of its first nuclear power plant on Saturday.

Iran's Nuclear Chief Ali Akbar Salehi. Photo: The Telegraph
Iranian television showed live pictures of Iran's nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi and his Russian counterpart watching a fuel rod assembly being prepared for insertion into the reactor at Bushehr.

"Despite all the pressures, sanctions and hardships imposed by Western nations, we are now witnessing the start-up of the largest symbol of Iran's peaceful nuclear activities," Mr Salehi told a news conference afterwards. He described the plant as "a symbol of Iranian resistance and patience". >>> Agency in Tehran and Telegraph reporter | Saturday, August 21, 2010

Which Islam Will Prevail in America?
NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE: That is the real question at hand in the Ground Zero mosque debate.

The real battle for religious freedom lurks beneath the Ground Zero mosque controversy. It is sadly ironic that our public debate presents the mosque proponents as the partisans of liberty: That includes everyone from imam Feisal Rauf, the project’s sharia-touting sponsor, to President Obama, Mayor Bloomberg, and the rest of the Islamist-smitten Left, to the GOP’s own anti-anti-terrorist wing. Yet, wittingly or not, when they champion this mosque and its sponsors, it is the agenda of an alien and authoritarian Islam that they champion — an Islam against which many American Muslims chafe.

When it comes to liberty, no one in this society has been given a wider berth than the Islamists, the purveyors of this authoritarian Islam, which is the mainstream Islam of the Middle East. Their vise grip on the American Muslim community has been cinched for two decades by the government, the media, and the academy. For our post-American ruling class, “Islamic outreach” means prostituting themselves for Saudi largesse; it means putting the “moderate” label on the Muslim Brotherhood — the Saudi-backed saboteurs whose American operatives boldly promise to “eliminate and destroy Western Civilization from within.”

The victims of this lethal charade include American Muslims. They, too, crave religious liberty and Western enlightenment. Our elites abandon them to the sharia-mongers. That freedom destroyers have been allowed to pose as freedom defenders ought to tell mosque opponents something: We have done a poor job of explaining the stakes. >>> Andrew C. McCarthy | Saturday, August 21, 2010

Top American Surgeon Embraced Islam: "I Was Trying Very Hard to Be a Christian"


The Level Truth >>>

Eighth Scroll >>>

Shaykh Mohammad Al Yaqoubi:

Hamza Yusuf Interview: BBC Hardtalk 2001
Part 1:



Part 2:



Part 3:

The US Blogger On A Mission to Halt 'Islamic Takeover'
THE GUARDIAN: New York blogger Pamela Geller is a key force in the campaign to stop Islamic centre near Ground Zero

Pamela Geller jokes on a video blog about being dressed 'in my burka' while warning of Islamic 'world domination'. Photograph: The Guardian
Pamela Geller is on a mission to save the free world and she's doing it, on this occasion, in a bikini as she writhes around in the sea.

"Here I am in my chador, my burka," Geller jokes to the camera in one of a string of video blogs campaigning against Islamic "world domination" shortly before kicking back in the waves. "There is a serious reality check desperately needed here in America and I'm here to give it to you, but I'm just not ginormous enough. What can I say? And on that note I'm going to go swimming in the ocean, and visit my mama, and fight for the free world."

This strange performance might suggest that Geller is a figure consigned to the margins of the widening and increasingly heated debate about the role of Muslims in America. Far from it.

The flamboyant New Yorker, who appears on her own website pictured in a tight fitting Superman uniform, has emerged as a leading force in a growing and ever more alarmist campaign against the supposed threat of an Islamic takeover at home and global jihad abroad – and never more so than in the present bitter dispute over plans to build an Islamic centre near the site of the World Trade Centre, brought down by al-Qaida.

Geller has been at the forefront of drumming up opposition to the centre, two blocks from Ground Zero, through an array of websites such as the Freedom Defence Initiative (FDI) and Stop Islamisation of America (SIOA). They have become increasingly influential as conservative politicians exploit anti-Muslim sentiment before November's congressional and state elections.

SIOA is behind a series of advertisements opposing the "Ground Zero Mega Mosque", as Geller calls it, which appeared on the sides of New York buses this week picturing a plane flying into one of the World Trade Centre towers and a mosque divided by the question: Why Here?

Geller's answer is that the planned centre is viewed by Muslims as a "triumphal" monument built on "conquered land".

As extreme as that may seem, Geller and her views have been embraced by leading politicians such as Newt Gingrich, the former Republican speaker of the US House of Representatives, and John Bolton, the conservative former US ambassador to the UN, who are scheduled to speak at a rally against the controversial New York Islamic centre organised by Geller for September 11.

Gingrich this week likened the planned centre to putting Nazi signs outside the Holocaust museum. >>> Chris McGreal in Washington | Friday, August 20, 2010

Home Secretary Bans English Defence League March in Bradford
THE TELEGRAPH: Theresa May, the Home Secretary, has authorised a blanket ban on marches in a city on the day of a planned protest by the English Defence League (EDL), an [sic] right-wing campaign group.

The EDL had intended to demonstrate in Bradford on Saturday August 28 and Unite Against Fascism has planned a protest in the city on the same day.

A Home Office spokesman said: ''Having carefully balanced rights to protest against the need to ensure local communities and property are protected, the Home Secretary today gave her consent to a Bradford Council order banning any marches in the city over the bank holiday weekend. >>> | Friday, August 20, 2010

Iran Broadcasts Missile Launch on State Television
THE TELEGRAPH: Iran has test fired a surface-to-surface missile, according to the country’s defence minister.



Ahmad Vahidi’s announcement comes a day before Iran is scheduled to launch its Russian-built first nuclear power plant in the southern port city of Bushehr.

Television images showed the sand coloured Qiam (Rising) blasting into the air from a desert terrain, amid chants of “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest).

The words “Ya Mahdi” were written on the side of the missile, referring to Imam Mahdi, one of the 12 imams of Shiite Islam, who disappeared as a boy and whom the faithful believe will return one day to bring redemption to mankind.

Mr Vahidi, who was speaking during Friday prayers in Tehran, did not say when the launch took place nor did he disclose the precise range of the missile. >>> | Friday, August 20, 2010

Pakistan to Clamp Down on Charities Linked to Militants
THE TELEGRAPH: Pakistan has threatened to arrest charities linked to Islamist militants amid fears their role in delivering aid to flood victims could undermine the fight against extremists.

Islamist charities, some with alleged links to terrorists who carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks, have moved swiftly to fill a void left by a government overwhelmed by a disaster that has left eight million people in desperate need of help. >>> Rob Crilly, Islamabad | Friday, August 20, 2010

Nick Clegg: Coalition Will Go On Even Without Electoral Reform
THE GUARDIAN: Liberal Democrat leader says reform of electoral system, always a central plank of party's policy, is not his 'sole purpose in life'

Nick Clegg says reform of the electoral system is not his 'sole purpose in life'. Photograph: The Guardian
Nick Clegg today risked the anger of the Liberal Democrat grassroots by suggesting he would not abandon the coalition with the Tories even if the key plans for electoral reform were blocked.

In a radio interview to be broadcast this weekend, the Lib Dem leader declared that reform of the electoral system, which has always been a central plank of the party's policy, was not his "sole purpose in life".

The comments came at the end of a week in which Clegg provoked unease among some within his party for agreeing with the appointment of Philip Green, the Top Shop boss whose tax affairs have been questioned, to advise on public sector cuts.

In the interview with Radio 4's Westminster Hour, the Lib Dem leader rejected suggestions that his party was being damaged by the alliance with the Tories, insisting no one would be taking "any notice" of the Lib Dems if they were not in government. >>> Staff and agencies | Friday, August 20, 2010

THE GUARDIAN: Leon Brittan, Tory who discovered Nick Clegg, returns to politics after 24 years: Coalition asks former home secretary, who gave Lib Dem leader job in Brussels, to return to frontline as a paid trade advisor >>> Allegra Stratton, political correspondent | Thursday, August 19, 2010

Volksinitiative für Todesstrafe: Drastische Sanktion bei «Mord mit sexuellem Missbrauch»
NZZ ONLINE: Eine neue Volksinitiative verlangt die Wiedereinführung der Todesstrafe bei «Mord mit sexuellem Missbrauch». Der Text ist noch nicht veröffentlicht. Die Europäische Menschenrechtskonvention verbietet die Todesstrafe.

Ein Initiativkomitee hat vor einem Monat eine Volksinitiative mit dem Titel «Todesstrafe bei Mord mit sexuellem Missbrauch» bei der Bundeskanzlei zur formellen Vorprüfung eingereicht. Laut Marcel Graf, Mitglied des Initiativkomitees, hat die Bundeskanzlei die formelle Vorprüfung vorgenommen. Diese sei positiv ausgefallen. Dies würde bedeuten, dass der Initiativtext demnächst im Bundesblatt veröffentlicht wird und danach mit der Unterschriftensammlung begonnen werden kann. Nach Informationen der NZZ ist diese Aussage korrekt.

Die Diskussionen um die Gültigkeit und die Umsetzbarkeit von Volksinitiativen haben in letzter Zeit zugenommen, besonders im Falle der Verwahrungs-, der Anti-Minarett- und der Ausschaffungsinitiative. Die neue Volksinitiative für die Wiedereinführung der Todesstrafe bei Sexualverbrechen wirft ebenfalls rechtsstaatliche Fragen auf. Weiter lesen und einen Kommentar hinterlassen >>> Peter Eggenberger | Donnerstag, 19. August 2010

Retour de la peine de mort en Suisse: initiative lancée?
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: CRIMES SEXUELS | Une initiative pour le rétablissement de la peine de mort en Suisse serait sur le point d'être lancée. Elle vise à sanctionner les meurtres avec violence sexuelle.

L'information a été donné vendredi par la NZZ. Le texte de l'initiative a pour objectif de restaurer la peine capitale pour les meurtres avec violence sexuelle. >>>
Rédaction online | Vendredi 20 Août 2010

Abu Adam: Die Liebe zu unserem Propheten Muhammed

Jakarta Introduces Women-only Carriages in Trains
THE TELEGRAPH: Women-only train carriages have been introduced this week in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, in an attempt to avert groping and sexual harassment on packed commuter trains.

Women can choose to board the female-only, orange and pink-seated carriages at the front and rear of trains in Jakarta, the latest in a growing number of cities to offer women-only services.

The state-owned railway operator, PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI), said it had not received many complaints about sexual harassment but the company had noticed that many women avoided densely-packed trains.

"The women-only carriages are aimed to make women feel comfortable," an official at PT KAI said.

PT KAI is now providing 20 female-only carriages and plans to add more in the next three months. >>> | Friday, August 20, 2010

New Dark Age Alert! Saudi Judge 'Asks Hospital to Paralyse Man as Punishment'
THE TELEGRAPH: A Saudi judge has asked several hospitals to paralyse a man by damaging his spinal cord as punishment after he was convicted of attacking another man, the brother of the victim said on Thursday.

Abdul-Aziz al-Mutairi, 22, was left paralysed and subsequently lost a foot after a fight more than two years ago.

He asked a judge in north-western Tabuk province to impose an equivalent punishment on his attacker, his brother Khaled al-Mutairi told The Associated Press.

He claimed one of the hospitals, located in Tabuk, responded that it was possible to damage the spinal cord, but it added that the operation would have to be done at another more specialised facility.

Saudi newspapers reported that a second hospital in the capital Riyadh declined, apparently on ethical grounds, saying it could not inflict such harm.

Administrative offices of two of the hospitals and the sharia court in Tabuk were closed for the Saudi weekend beginning on Thursday and could not be reached for comment. >>> | Friday, August 20, 2010

Libya Has Made Fools of Us All Over Lockerbie Bomber Megrahi, and Much Else Besides
THE TELEGRAPH: Gaddafi was playing Tony Blair long before the release of the Lockerbie bomber, argues Con Coughlin.

It doesn't matter how much money BP stands to make from its deep-water exploration off the Libyan coast – it is never going to compensate for the humiliation Britain has suffered over last year's decision to repatriate the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi.

Britain's leading oil company says it has postponed plans to drill its first deep-water well in Libya's Gulf of Sirte until later in the year, because of the concerns that have been raised by the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. But that is not the only reason BP is holding fire: its senior executives fear that if work commences just as Megrahi is celebrating his first year of freedom, it would further infuriate the members of the US Senate who are already demanding a full Congressional inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Megrahi's release.

The fact of the matter is that Megrahi, according to what we were told at the time, should not be alive, and certainly not the subject of the sickening spectacle that has been arranged today by Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the Libyan dictator's son and political heir. This will see 500 teenagers, flown in from around the world at vast expense, acting as guests of honour at a ceremony to mark the one-year anniversary of Megrahi's return home from his Scottish prison cell.

Precisely what role BP played in securing Megrahi's release, or what bearing this had on its $900 million oil exploration contract, remains unclear. The company says it did no more than lobby the Scottish Parliament for a prisoner swap. But many senior officials in the Obama administration believe that BP was more deeply involved. They point to the role played by Sir Mark Allen, a former senior MI6 officer who headed the negotiations that persuaded Libya to stop work on its nuclear weapons programme, in late 2003, and wrote to the Foreign Office seeking Megrahi's release.

The lenient approach that Scottish officials adopted in dealing with Megrahi's case, in which no serious assessment appears to have been made of the terrorist's medical condition, certainly fits with the approach that Tony Blair encouraged British officials to adopt towards Libya following the nuclear deal. Colonel Muammar Gaddafi might remain one of the region's less appealing dictators, but that did not prevent Mr Blair from working tirelessly to bring him in from the diplomatic cold. Continue reading and comment >>> Con Coughlin | Friday, August 20, 2010

Romanian and Loving Islam

Muhammad in the Bible
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Muslim Woman Sues Disneyland Over Headscarf
THE TELEGRAPH: A Muslim woman is suing Disneyland, accusing the company’s California theme park of discrimination for telling her she could not serve customers if she chose to wear a headscarf.

Imane Boudal is now bringing Disney before the US Equal Opportunity Commission. Photo: The Telegraph
Imane Boudal, 26, asked her employers at Disneyland’s Grand Californian Hotel several months ago whether they would permit her to wear a headcovering while working as a hostess, a spokesman for a worker’s union said.

But when no reply was forthcoming, she decided to don the headscarf anyway, timing her decision with the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Leigh Shelton, a spokesman for the Unite Here Local 11 union said.

“Disney told Boudlal that if she wanted to work as a hostess she had to remove her hijab because it did not comply with the 'Disney Look,’” the spokesman said.

“Disney further advised Boudlal that if she refused to remove her hijab, she could either work a back-of-the-house position where any customers would not see her, or else go home.” >>> | Thursday, August 19, 2010

Poll: 1 in 5 Americans Believe Obama Is a Muslim: Should new findings worry White House?

Controversial Imam on U.S.-Sponsored Mission: Muslim religious leader behind embattled Ground Zero mosque on tolerance trip to Middle East paid for by tax dollars

Obama Following Jimmy Carter's Path? : President's approval rating trending eerily similar to last Democratic one-term president

Muslims in America

Ayaan Hirsi Ali Interviewed by Fareed Zakaria
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Australian Court Orders Muslim Witness to Testify Without Burka
THE TELEGRAPH: An Australian court has ruled that a Muslim woman must remove her burka while she gives evidence so that the jury can assess her facial expressions.

Judge Shauna Deane of the Perth District Court said that it was "inappropriate" for the woman, only identified as Tasneem, to have her face covered while testifying in the A$752,000 (£433,000) fraud trial.

Lawyers for Tasneem, 36, had asked the judge to allow her to give evidence while wearing the burka because she had not removed the veil in public as an adult and would find the experience highly stressful.

The full Islamic veil covers the whole body except the eyes and hands.

Mark Ritter, prosecuting, told the court that Tasneem, who emigrated to Australia seven years ago, had worn the garment since she was 17.

He said she wanted to give evidence but would feel uncomfortable without the burka and that could prejudice the way she presented her evidence.

"It goes beyond stress, it would have a negative impact," he said.

However, the defence raised concerns about how the jury could assess her credibility if they could not see her face. They argued that wearing the garment was a cultural, not a religious, choice and that even in Islamic courts women were required to remove the veil. >>> Bonnie Malkin in Sydney | Thursday, August 19, 2010

Burqa Decision Ripples Across World
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: IT WAS just one decision made by one judge in one case in Perth and Judge Shauna Deane was at pains to make that clear.

But the impact of her decision yesterday to order a Muslim woman to remove her burqa in Western Australia's District Court is unlikely to remain so localised.

A prosecution witness known only as Tasneem, 36, has kept her surname a secret but will have to show her face in the fraud trial of a former Muslim school director called Anwar Sayed.

Mr Sayed's defence team - to their client's apparent dismay - had argued the jury should be able to see her facial expressions.
Tasneem had a ''right to religious expression'', Judge Deane found, but she had to be fair to everyone involved in the trial.

The decision was reported around the world and will be popular in Western Australia, with about 80 per cent of 3000 recent respondents to the watoday.com.au and 6PR radio websites believing the witness should be made to remove her burqa. >>> Joel Gibson | Friday, August 20, 2010

Judge Bans Burqa From Perth Court
WA TODAY: The Muslim woman who wished to testify while wearing a full-face veil says she accepts the decision by a Perth District Court judge to ban the niqab.

The 36-year old woman, known only as Tasneem, is a witness in a case against Anwar Sayed.

Mr Sayed is accused of fraudulently stealing up to $750,000 in public funds by artificially inflating student numbers at his school, the Muslim Ladies College in Perth's southern suburbs.

Today, judge Shauna Deane said that in the interest of a fair trial the witness should not be allowed to wear a niqab, commonly known as a burqa.

But she said she would speak to counsel about ways to accommodate Tasneem's desire to maintain her modesty in line with how she practices her faith.

Tasneem issued a written statement following the decision, which said: "I accept her decision and thank her for her careful consideration of this matter.

"I appreciate my request to wear my niqab in court has stirred much public debate, however, I would emphasise that this was not a demand, I merely asked to dress as I normally would in front of people I do not know."

She said she was not trying to make a religious statement.

"This is my personal choice and rather than oppressing me, it liberates me," Tasneem said.

"Like many Australians I believe in God and for me wearing the niqab serves as a constant reminder that I am accountable for my actions.

"I respect that other women who share my religion do not share this particular belief and that interpretations surrounding Islamic dress standards do differ.

"Therefore I understand this can be confusing for non-Muslims as they witness varying degrees of cover and I accept the full cover I choose to wear can be confronting to some." (+ video) >>> Aja Styles | Thursday, August 19, 2010

This Is a Must Read! If a Mosque Opens at Ground Zero on 9/11 Next Year, Obama Can Kiss the White House Goodbye
MAIL ONLINE: Nine years after 9/11, the site of the Twin Towers is still an open sore on the face of New York — a festering reminder of the terror attack which claimed almost 3,000 lives.

To add insult to injury, in the eyes of the victims’ families and the majority of Americans, approval has just been granted for a mosque to be built two blocks away from Ground Zero.

What began as a local planning dispute could come to determine the fate of Barack Obama’s Presidency.

In favour: America’s liberal elite. Against: 70 per cent of the American people. With crucial mid-term elections looming in November, the President finds himself marooned on the wrong side of public opinion. It could cost him control of Congress and, in two years’ time, the White House itself. At an event to mark the Muslim festival of Ramadan, Obama backed the plans for a mosque and Islamic cultural centre 400 yards from Ground Zero, saying: ‘As a citizen and a President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practise their religion as anyone else in this country.

‘That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community centre on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances.’

He also managed to ignite the Bible Belt and God-fearing, moderate Middle America by proclaiming that Islam was a major force in ‘advancing justice, progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings’ and had ‘always been part of America’.

In so doing, he displayed an ignorance of history which made David Cameron’s recent confusion over the timing of America’s entry into World War II look like a minor clerical error.

Obama’s words would have come as a surprise not only to the Founding Fathers, who established the United States on concrete Christian principles, but also to those unfortunate women being stoned to death and subjugated in the more barbaric outposts of Islam.

The President’s inept intervention hosed fuel on the flames of a furore which has been smouldering for months. His attempts to backtrack 24 hours later only made him look weak and indecisive.

This all began when an Islamic group submitted plans to convert a former clothing factory. Despite local protests, City officials could see no lawful impediment to the mosque/cultural centre being built.

In that respect, Obama is absolutely right when he talks about ‘local laws and ordinances’. He is also perfectly justified in defending America’s constitutionally protected religious freedom.

But his reaction was characteristically legalistic, when it should have been empathetic. He concentrated on process, when he should have been focusing on politics and public reaction. Continue reading and comment >>> Richard Littlejohn | Thursday, August 19, 2010

'One in Five Americans Think[s] Barack Obama Is Muslim’
THE TELEGRAPH: One in five Americans mistakenly * believes Barack Obama is a Muslim, according to a new poll.

Despite the US president’s attendance in church and his repeated and public statements about his Christian faith, the number of Americans who believe he is actually Muslim is rising, the Pew Research Center poll found.

Meanwhile, the number of Americans who correctly identify Mr Obama as a Christian has fallen by nearly half from a year, to 34 per cent.

The poll, conducted by The Washington Post, found one third of conservative Republicans believe Mr Obama is a Muslim, nearly double the figure who said so last year.

The number of independent voters with the same mistaken belief has also risen, by eight points, to 18 per cent, the Post said. >>> | Thursday, August 19, 2010

* Are they truly mistaken? – Mark

Moosa Benneth: How I Came to Islam
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Australia – ‘Brother Tom’: How I Came To Islam

The Future Belongs to Islam
MACLEANS.CA: The Muslim world has youth, numbers and global ambitions. The West is growing old and enfeebled, and lacks the will to rebuff those who would supplant it. It's the end of the world as we've known it. An excerpt from 'America Alone'. >>> Mark Steyn | Friday, October 20, 2006

Sending Bibles to Judges ‘Puts Sharia Law to Shame’
THE CHRISTIAN INSTITUTE: Thousands of Bibles are being sent to Scottish law courts and judges as part of a campaign urging them to reflect on the Christian virtues of justice and mercy.

But Terry Sanderson, head of the National Secular Society, blasted the scheme saying it “could put the Sharia laws of the Middle East to shame”.

The initiative has been launched by the Scottish Bible Society (SBS) and it is backed by one of Scotland’s most respected legal figures, Lord Mackay of Clashfern.

Foundational

Lord Mackay, a former Lord Chancellor and Lord Advocate of Scotland, wants to highlight the Bible as the “foundational source book for Scotland’s legal system.”

The SBS, of whom Lord Mackay is the honorary president, is also sending an introductory pamphlet to every court in the land.

The pamphlet, entitled The Bible in Scots Law: A Guide for Legal Practitioners, features an introduction by Lord Mackay. >>> | Monday, August 16, 2010

Appeal of Sukuk Spreads Beyond Strongholds
FINANCIAL TIMES: Malaysia and the Gulf have been the traditional strongholds of Islamic bond issuance, but the market is beginning to broaden to other countries, Muslim and otherwise.

On Monday Norton Rose, the law firm, revealed it had advised on a $10m mini-issue by International Innovative Technologies, a maker of industrial milling machines in north-east England. It raised $10m from Millennium Private Equity, based in Dubai.

Millennium will be the sole investor in the sukuk, which will be listed on the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange. The sukuk will pay 10 per cent a year and expire in 2014. It uses a musharaka structure, also known as profit and loss sharing, allowing Millennium an option to take a stake in IIT.

The offering is the first by a European corporate. Other prominent international companies, though, have tested the waters. >>> Robin Wigglesworth | Wednesday, August 18, 2010