Family Fear Saudi Blogger Could Face Execution By Beheading

Raif Badawi received the first 50 of his lashes in January

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: They say Raif Badawi, already sentenced to public flogging and ten years in prison, could also be tried for apostasy, which carries the death penalty

Raif Badawi, the Saudi blogger sentenced to 1,000 lashes after being convicted of insulting Islam, could face death by beheading, according to his family.

The case attracted worldwide condemnation when he was publicly flogged in January.

Now his family say they have been told he is to be tried for apostasy.

"Apostasy charge is punishable under Saudi law with the death penalty by beheading," they said in a message posted on Facebook.

"We also received confirmed information that the Supreme Court has referred Raif case to the same judge, who sentenced Raif with flogging and 10 years imprisonment. » | Rob Crilly, New York | Sunday, March 01, 2015

Britain Is Becoming A Friend Who Can't Be Trusted, Says Top US General

Gen Odierno said that British defence cuts are already
jeopardising US-UK joint operations

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH In an exclusive interview, Gen Raymond Odierno, US army Chief of Staff, says UK defence cuts are eroding his country's confidence in our commitment to global security

Ever since the Cold War ended more than two decades ago, America has never entertained any serious doubts about Britain’s ability to fulfil its commitment as a vital military ally when tackling threats to the Western alliance.

Until now. For the dramatic cuts to Britain’s defence budget implemented since the Coalition took power in 2010 have led to a number of senior US military officers and politicians openly questioning whether, when it comes to fighting the wars of the future, Britain has the capability to be an effective ally on the battlefield.

The Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy have all suffered cutbacks to the extent that they are no longer able to undertake the kind of missions that Britain has historically supported.

Now, General Raymond Odierno, the Chief of Staff of the US army, who has fought alongside British forces in several conflicts, including the recent campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, has become the latest senior officer to express his concerns in public, telling The Daily Telegraph when I met him in Washington last week that he is “very concerned” about the impact the cuts are having. Read on and comment » | Con Coughlin | Sunday, March 01, 2015

UK’s First Anti-Islamization Rally Dwarfed by Counter-demo

JIHAD WATCH: Britain is finished. When defenders of free society against Islamization are dismissed as “right-wing nutters” and “fascists,” and the counter-demo is over five times larger, and when the government routinely allows foreign jihadis to enter the country but bans counter-jihadis solely for the crime of speaking the truth about Islam and jihad, Britain as a free nation is in its last days. Will there be a mass exodus of non-Muslim refugees from Britain when Sharia supremacists really start to flex their muscles? And where will they go? » | Robert Spencer | Saturday, February 28, 2015

Italy Anti-immigration Rally Draws Thousands in Rome

Mr Salvini described the government's immigration
policies as "a disaster"

BBC AMERICA: Thousands of supporters of Italy's Northern League have poured into one of Rome's biggest squares for a rally against immigration, the EU and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's government.

League leader Matteo Salvini accused Mr Renzi of substituting the country's interests to those of the EU.

He also criticised the government's record in dealing with Romanian truck drivers, tax, banks and big business. » | Saturday, February 28, 2015

ISIS Preparing to Declare Islamic Emirate in Lebanon: Sources

THE DAILY STAR: ISIS is preparing military plans to declare an Islamic emirate in Lebanon very soon to serve as a geographical extension of the so-called “Islamic State” announced by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in Iraq last year, security sources said.

ISIS fighters have demanded support from the militant group in northern Syria to achieve this goal, the sources said.

They added that the ISIS command has begun preparations to set up a military organizational committee tasked with running Lebanese affairs and considering Lebanon as part of its state. » | Antoine Ghattas Saab | The Daily Star | Monday, February 23, 2015

HT: Robert Spencer @ Jihad Watch »

New Dark Age Alert! The Hon Tony Abbott MP, Prime Minister of Australia: National Security Statement 2015

Please note the Prime Minister of Australia’s reference to a “New Dark Age”! People are slowly coming round to the reality that the “New Dark Age” of which I wrote many years ago has indeed already DAWNED.

Eat your heart out, Mr. Obama! In your refusal to refer to ‘radical Islam’, you are fast becoming an IRRELEVANCE! – Mark

I refer you to my book, The Dawning of a New Dark Age, which was first published in 2003!

JIHAD WATCH: Australia: Muslims outraged at PM’s “aggressive rhetoric against Muslims” » | Robert Spencer | Thursday, February 26, 2015

Hollande dénonce "la barbarie" des destructions d'oeuvres au musée de Mossoul

LE POINT: Le chef de l'État a estimé, en marge d'un déplacement aux Philippines, que "ce que veulent les terroristes, c'est détruire tout ce qui est humanité".

Le président français François Hollande a dénoncé vendredi la "barbarie" des destructions d'oeuvres pré-islamiques par les djihadistes du groupe État islamique (EI) à Mossoul, dans le nord de l'Irak, en marge d'un déplacement aux Philippines. "La barbarie touche les personnes, l'histoire, les mémoires, la culture", a déclaré le chef de l'État français devant des journalistes, estimant que "ce que veulent faire les terroristes, c'est détruire tout ce qui est humanité". "Quand on veut anéantir le patrimoine, on veut anéantir tous ceux et toutes celles qui portent un message de culture", a encore observé François Hollande. » | Source AFP | vendredi 27 février 2015

"Gestion de la barbarie", le "Mein Kampf" des djihadistes

LE POINT: Publié sur Internet en 2004, l'ouvrage explique en 248 pages comment soumettre l'Occident et faire du monde arabe un immense califat islamique.

Gestion de la barbarie se veut être le parfait manuel du djihadiste. Ce livre, passé inaperçu ou presque en France, a déjà gagné le surnom de "Mein Kampf des islamistes". Écrit en arabe et publié sur Internet en 2004, il est aujourd'hui traduit en plusieurs langues. Son auteur, Abu Bakr Naji, est l'un des théoriciens les plus lus parmi les chefs djihadistes, aussi bien au sein de l'organisation État islamique que d'Al-Qaïda. Selon Valeurs actuelles, Abubakar Shekau, le chef de Boko Haram au Nigeria, en aurait fait son livre de chevet. » | Par Nicolas Guégan | vendredi 27 février 2015

Sarah Palin Slams President Obama on ‘Radical Islam,’ ISIL

POLITICO: Sarah Palin is asking President Barack Obama to “wake up” to the threat of “radical Islam.”

“Wake up, Mr. President,” Palin said on Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference. “While Christians bow our heads and pray for you, radical Islamists want to cut off your head.”

The former governor of Alaska accused the president of ignoring the threat of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant during her address, which focused heavily on veterans’ issues. » | Kendall Breitman | Thursday, February 26, 2015

Nicht Armut macht Terroristen, sondern Gewaltlust

DIE WELT: "Jihadi John" hatte im Leben alle Chancen, aber er entschied sich aus freiem Willen für den Terror. Genauso wie die Universitäts-Absolventen bei al-Qaida oder die Pfarrerstöchter bei der RAF.

Wieder ein guter Schüler. Wieder jemand mit Manieren, der gern Markenkleidung trug und sensibel wirkte, so nachdenklich. Und wieder keiner, der einem linken Armutskult und Armutskitsch entsprochen hätte. Auch "Jihadi John", der Messermann des IS, ist ein Spross aus gut situiertem Hause.

Die Litanei von der Gewalt, die durch fehlendes Geld gesät werde und bei fehlenden Bildungschancen aufgehe, trifft auf ihn nicht zu – so wenig wie auf die Universitätsabsolventen al-Qaidas oder auf die RAF-Mitglieder, in deren Reihen man Arme zwischen all den musisch begabten Pfarrers- und Anwaltskindern mit der Lupe suchen musste. Wen überrascht das noch? Allenfalls diejenigen, die sich eine Welt der gesellschaftlichen Ausgrenzungsfolklore zurechtsingen, glauben noch, Gewalt gedeihe in Staub und Schmutz. » | Von Torsten Krauel, Chefkommentator | Donnerstag, 26. Februar 2015

Atheist US Blogger Hacked to Death in Bangladesh

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Hardline Islamist groups have long demanded the public execution of atheist bloggers and sought new laws to combat writing critical of Islam

A prominent American blogger of Bangladeshi origin was hacked to death with machetes by unidentified assailants in Dhaka on Thursday, police said, with the atheist writer's family claiming he had received numerous threats from Islamists.

The body of Avijit Roy, founder of Mukto-Mona (Free-mind) blog site which champions liberal secular writing in the Muslim-majority nation, was found covered in blood after the attack which also left his wife critically wounded.

"He died as he was brought to the hospital. His wife was also seriously wounded. She has lost a finger," local police chief Sirajul Islam said.

The couple were on a bicycle rickshaw, returning from a bookfair, when two assailants stopped then and dragged them onto a sidewalk before striking them with machetes, local media reported citing witnesses. » | AFP | Friday, February 27, 2015

Syrie : la terrible fuite des chrétiens face aux djihadistes de l'EI

LE POINT: Décrivant l'échappée avec sa famille, Jano assure que "tous ont eu la peur de leur vie" mais qu'ils n'ont "pas réfléchi à deux fois".

En apprenant que les djihadistes du groupe État islamique (EI) approchaient de son village dans le nord-est de la Syrie, Danny Jano a pris la fuite en pyjama, avec sa femme et ses deux filles. Terrorisée, la famille Jano n'avait qu'une idée en tête : gagner un endroit sûr, au plus vite et sans se faire prendre, comme de nombreux autres chrétiens assyriens. Joint par téléphone dans la ville de Hassaké (nord-est), l'homme de 35 ans a expliqué à l'AFP que les combats avaient commencé lundi à 4 heures du matin. "Nous avons entendu le bruit des armes automatiques et des bombardements pendant sept heures, effrayés, avant de nous décider à abandonner notre maison." » | Source AFP | jeudi 26 février 2015

A Mossoul, l'État islamique brûle les trésors impies de l'Irak

LE POINT: VIDÉO. Les biens culturels détruits appartiennent à un Musée irakien à Mossoul, une ville occupée depuis juin par les djihadistes.


Les djihadistes de l'EI détruisent des... by 6MEDIAS
Lire l’article ici

SPIEGEL ONLINE: IS-Fanatiker verwüsten Mossuls Museen: Der Hass der IS-Dschihadisten macht auch vor unschätzbaren Kunstschätzen keinen Halt. In der irakischen Stadt Mossul haben die Terroristen erst die Bibliothek und nun das Museum gestürmt. Sie hinterließen eine Spur der Verwüstung. » | Von Christoph Sydow | Donnerstag, 26. Februar 2015

Related »

Watch: ISIS Destroys Artifacts in Iraq Museum

ARUTZ SHEVA: ISIS destroyed artifacts dating back thousands of years in Mosul, claiming it was 'idol worship.'

The Islamic State group released a video Thursday in which terrorists in Iraq are seen destroying ancient artifacts that included idols, which are prohibited by the Muslim faith, AFP reports.

The five-minute video shows terrorists at the museum in Mosul knocking statues off their plinths and smashing them to pieces with sledgehammers.

In another scene, a jackhammer is used to deface a large Assyrian winged bull at an archeological site in the city, which the Sunni extremist group captured last summer.

"Muslims, these artifacts behind me are idols for people from ancient times who worshipped them instead of God," said a bearded terrorist speaking to the camera. » | Arutz Sheva Staff | Thursday, February 26, 2015

Director of Human Rights Group CAGE Says 'Jihadi John' Is a 'Kind, Gentle and Beautiful Young Man'

A Top Shariah Lawyer’s Stunning Response to the Question: ‘Is There Such a Thing as Moderate Islam?’

Read the Blaze article here | Benjamin Weingarten | Thursday, February 26, 2015

Paradise Jihadis: Maldives Sees Surge in Young Muslims Leaving for Syria

Kuda Bandos in the Maldives.

THE GUARDIAN: In a country better known for tourism than militancy, radical preaching and social problems are prompting a rise in Islamism

They left in small groups, through the narrow lanes of the city, on to the ferry across the glassy blue sea and then, past the tourists waiting for connections to luxury resorts, to the airport. Their ultimate destination: Syria, and the “caliphate” of Islamic State.

The Maldives is better known for luxury tourism than Islamic militancy. But in recent weeks there has been a surge in departures of young men for Syria, raising fears of a growing threat both to the million-plus tourists who visit its 1,200 atolls each year and to countries such as the UK that do not require visas from citizens of the island.

“There are serious concerns,” said one western diplomat in the region. “The risk is either of an attack locally or someone coming to Europe or even going on to the US.”

Four people have been stopped by authorities. But between 50 and 100 from the country of 300,000 have joined “the jihad”. Analysts say the emergence of al-Qaida affiliate al-Nusra Front and Isis in Syria has catalysed an existing problem, giving it new dimensions and urgency. » | Jason Burke in Malé | Thursday, February 26, 2015

DANIEL PIPES: Like-to-like Ethnic Migration in the Middle East

Population shifts resulting from Syria's four-year-long civil war have profoundly changed Syria and its three Arabic-speaking neighbors: Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan. (Turkey and Israel have changed too, but less so.) Ironically, amid tragedy and horror, as populations adapt to the brutal imperatives of modern nationalism, all four countries are becoming a bit more stable. That's because…

Britain to Lead the World in Islamic Finance

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH : London is bidding to become a leading centre for sharia-compliant finance, according to the UK's foreign minister for the Middle East

London has set its sights on becoming the world centre for the Islamic finance industry according to the UK's foreign office minister for Middle East.

Speaking at The Telegraph's Middle East Congress on Wednesday, Tobias Ellwood, under secretary of state at the Foreign Office, said the capital had ambitions to stand alongside Dubai and Kuala Lumpur as a global hub for Islamic finance.

Britain became the first country outside the Muslim world to issue an Islamic bond, known as Sukuk, last year.

The £200m bond attracted healthy investor interest and was the first step in encouraging wider investment from the region to the City of London.

Britain was also committed to promoting a "peaceful and prosperous" Middle East and expanding trade ties with the region, which topped £35bn last year, said Mr Ellwood. Read on and comment » | Manu Mair, and Mehreen Khan | Thursday, February 28, 2015

Archival - British Islamist Abu Waleed Fantasizes about the Virgins of Paradise

ISIS Militants Enjoy a Day of R&R at an Iraqi Lake

Egyptian TV Host Ibrahim Issa: Nobody Dares to Admit That ISIS Crimes Are Based on Islamic Sources

Wafa Sultan: " Le problème est l'islam ! (The Problem Is Islam!)" / France Nation et Patriote !

My comment:

Of course Islam is the problem. Anybody with a brain knows this. All praise to Dr Wafa Sultan for having the courage to point out this FACT. – © Mark

20% of Germans Advocate Revolution - 'Globalisation Is Fueling Dissent'

D'Ormesson : "Les chrétiens d'Orient sont en train d'être exterminés"

LE POINT: L'écrivain appelle la communauté internationale à intervenir pour sauver les chrétiens victime d'"une sorte de génocide" perpétré par l'EI.

Jean d'Ormesson a dénoncé un "génocide" des chrétiens d'Orient. L'écrivain a appelé la communauté internationale à agir après l'annonce de l'enlèvement de 90 chrétiens par le groupe État islamique (EI) en Syrie. "Il n'y a pas de privilège pour les chrétiens", a expliqué Jean d'Ormesson, rappelant que les violences touchent toutes les populations des pays ou le groupe État islamique (EI) est présent. Cependant "pour les chrétiens je me demande s'il n'y a pas une sorte de génocide dans cette région du monde", a-t-il déclaré à l'AFP mercredi. » | Source AFP | mercredi 25 février 2015

L'exode des chrétiens assyriens de Syrie

LE POINT: Des membres de cette communauté chrétienne ont pris le chemin de l'exode après le rapt de dizaines des leurs par le groupe djihadiste État islamique (EI).

Ils sont environ 5 000 sur 30 000 Assyriens à avoir fait leurs bagages. Cette communauté, parmi les plus anciennes converties au christianisme, vivait en Syrie avant le début du conflit en Syrie le 15 mars 2011, la majorité à Hassaké. Dans la province de Hassaké, à l'extrémité nord-est de la Syrie, près de 1 000 familles ont fui depuis lundi leurs foyers pour trouver refuge dans les villes de Hassaké et de Qamichli, "soit près de 5 000 personnes", a affirmé à Oussama Edward, directeur du Réseau assyrien des droits de l'homme basé en Suède. » | Source AFP | mercredi 25 février 2015

Israel: PM: World Powers 'Have Given Up' in Iran Nuke Talks

YNET NEWS: Netanyahu slams US-led nuclear negotiations with Tehran, a week before a scheduled address to Congress in Washington.

In his sharpest criticism yet, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that world powers "have given up" on stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons in ongoing negotiations.

Netanyahu's comments, at a meeting of his Likud Party outside of Jerusalem, come as he plans to address the US Congress on the nuclear negotiations.

The West fears Iran could build an atomic bomb with its nuclear program. Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes. The Islamic Republic is now negotiating a final deal with the US, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany, with hopes of on a preliminary deal in March and a follow-up pact in June.

Netanyahu, as well as many in Israel, view a nuclear-armed Iran as a threat to its very existence, citing Tehran's repeated calls for Israel's destruction and its support for groups like Hezbollah. » | Associated Press | Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Deutschland 1937 aus USA Sicht (Doku deutsch)

1937 reiste ein amerikanischer Journalist durch das Dritte Reich und machte Filmaufnahmen. Michael Kloft hat daraus den eindrucksvollen Film "Innenansichten" gemacht.

The Quran: Heavenly or Earthly? (Dr. Tony Costa)

Biography: The Saudi Royal Family

ZDF-History: Countdown zur Katastrophe - Der Kriegsbeginn 1939 (Doku)

Depressing! The Number of Britons Choosing Islam Doubled in the Past Decade

WORLD BULLETIN: Inter-faith think report survey shows approximately 5,200 converts to Islam across Britain

The number of Britons choosing to become Muslims has nearly doubled in the past decade, with one of the most comprehensive attempts to estimate how many people have embraced Islam, according to news source the Independent.

While previous estimates placed the number of Muslim converts between 14,000 and 25,000 an inter-faith think tank estimates the real figures could be as high as 100,000 with nearly 5,000 converts each year nationally. » | World Bulletin | News Desk | Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Dumb Is as Dumb Does! Converts to Islam Increase after French Attack

WORLD BULLETIN: Imams in France have reported an increase in conversions to Islam with a growing number of people coming to take their testimony of faith in comparison to same time last year.

According to a news article in 5pillarsuk.com, the number of people accepting Islam in France has increased significantly after the Charlie Hebdo attacks, with imams reporting a growing number of people coming to take the Shahada at mosques.

“It makes me want to go to Islam and to show everyone that this is not what Islam is about,” a young Muslim convert to Islam was quoted by RTL Radio a week ago.

According to the radio station, the Great Mosque of Paris issued 40 reversion certificates to Islam.

At the same period last year, the mosque gave certificates to 22 only, almost 50 percent of this year’s conversion rate.

Percentage of converts to Islam in Strasbourg and Aubervilliers was also high, scoring around 30% increase.

Lyon also followed the same trend with an increase of 20%. » | World Bulletin | News Desk | Tuesday, February 24, 2015

A Threat to Europe: The Islamic State's Dangerous Gains in Libya

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Rival militias in Libya have thrown the country into civil war and made it easy prey for the Islamic State. The recent execution of 21 Egyptian Christians is only one sign of the terrorist group's growing footprint in North Africa.

The men sitting in Café L'Aurora in Tripoli stare silently into the smartphone Najib Ali is holding in his hand. They're watching a horrific video depicting the decapitation of 21 Egyptian Christians, probably on the beach at Sirte. The victims are wearing orange overalls while their Islamic State (IS) killers are clad in black. The men in the café have already seen the video numerous times and yet they continue to watch it, looking for any details that might indicate the horrific acts didn't really happen.

"Have you ever seen a Libyan that tall?" one asks. And what about the professional camera work? "A major power has to be behind it." And how could Sirte, the hometown of former dictator Moammar Gadhafi, suddenly come under Islamic State rule? The release of the video on Sunday, Feb. 15, shortly before the fourth anniversary of the insurgency against Gadhafi, has led many Libyans to react reflexively with desperate denials of reality.

The truth is that Libya is well on its way to becoming a failed state -- making it the perfect prey for IS. Furthermore, Libya is close to Italy, has plenty of oil and offers a possible corridor to Boko Haram in Nigeria as well as to Islamists in Mali and in the Sahara. Indeed, if IS succeeds in solidifying its presence here, the terrorists could pose a threat to Southern Europe in addition to destabilizing all of North Africa. » | Mirco Keilberth and Christoph Reuter | Monday, February 23, 2015

Talk to Al Jazeera - Marine Le Pen: The Threat of Radical Islam (2012)

Le Pen: ‘I Admire 'Cool Head' Putin's Resistance to West's New Cold War’

ARD-Doku: Russland ist ein Land, das sich vor keinem fürchtet

Oertel: Warum ich mich von Pegida distanzierte

Mitorganisatorin und ehemalige Sprecherin der Pegida-Initiative Kathrin Oertel hat aufgrund zunehmend rechtsextremistischer Tendenzen eine eigene Organisation "Direkte Demokratie für Europa" gegründet. Exklusiv im Gespräch mit RT erläutert Oertel, wie sich die zunächst "hoffnungsvoll" gestartete Pegida-Bewegung um Hardliner Lutz Bachmann in Zukunft entwickeln werde.

Ausschreitungen bei Pegida-Marsch

TAGES ANZEIGER: In Frankfurt am Main standen 60 Pegida-Anhänger rund 1000 Gegendemonstranten gegenüber. Polizeibeamte wurden mit Flaschen, Eiern und Farbbeuteln beworfen. Es kam zu sechs Verhaftungen.

In mehreren deutschen Städten sind am Montagabend erneut Anhänger islamkritischer Bündnisse und ihre Gegner auf die Strasse gegangen. Zu Ausschreitungen kam es dabei in Frankfurt am Main, wo rund 1000 Gegendemonstranten etwa 60 Pegida-Anhängern gegenüberstanden.

In aufgeheizter Atmosphäre seien die Beamten mit Flaschen, Eiern und Farbbeuteln beworfen worden, berichtete die Polizei. Sechs Gegendemonstranten seien vorläufig festgenommen, zwei Polizisten durch Gegenstände und Faustschläge leicht verletzt worden. » | chk/sda | Dienstag, 24. Februar 2015

Opinion: Manifesto for a Modern Islam

DEUTSCHE WELLE: Muslim intellectuals have called for their fellow believers to indentify societal failures and develop an Islam for the 21st century. Loay Mudhoon believes that Europe should unreservedly support this effort.

In a clearly formulated manifesto last week, four well-known Muslim intellectuals appealed to all Muslim political and religious leaders to stand up and support a democratic Islam. In their letter, they also laid out some concrete steps, among them a conference in France early next year that would "define the contours of a progressive interpretation of Islam firmly grounded in the 21st century."

The four men behind this letter are Tariq Ramadan, professor of contemporary Islamic studies at the University of Oxford; Anwar Ibrahim, the head of Malaysia's national opposition and chairman of the World Forum for Muslim Democrats; Ghaleb Bencheikh, the president of the World Conference for Religions for Peace; and Felix Marquardt, founder of the Abd al-Raḥman al-Kawakibi Foundation. They're hard on their fellow Muslims and ask tough questions. In their letter, they call for a clear-eyed diagnosis of Islam's current plight and want to develop a fundamental critique of Islamic culture and religion. » | Loay Mudhoon / cmk | Tuesday, February 22, 2015

My comment:

Muslims consider the words in the Koran to be Allah’s actual words. So anyone who tries to change any of them would be considered a heretic. (How can a mortal being know better than Allah what is meant by Allah’s words?) Further, Islam is totally and utterly immiscible with democracy for many reasons, chief among them being that Islam understands no separation of mosque and state. In Islam politics and religion are considered to be one integrated whole. Democracy requires a separation. Without this separation, there can be no democracy. So how exactly can Islam change to fit the modern world? How can Islam become democratic? It seems to me that this is an exercise in futility. Aren’t these people who are trying to bring this change about doing so in bad faith, to detract from the central issues? They must surely know that this reformation/modernization is simply not possible. Pie in the sky! - © Mark

Saudi Arabia Spokesman Comments on ISIS Beheadings

Saudi Court Gives Death Penalty to Man Who Renounced His Muslim Faith

REUTERS.COM: (Reuters) - An Islamic court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced a man to death for renouncing his Muslim faith, the English-language daily Saudi Gazette reported on Tuesday.

The man, in his 20s, posted an online video ripping up a copy of Islam's holy book, the Koran, and hitting it with a shoe, the newspaper reported.

Saudi Arabia, the United States' top Arab ally and birthplace of Islam, follows the strict Wahhabi Sunni Muslim school and gives the clergy control over its justice system.

Under the Wahhabi interpretation of Sharia Islamic law, apostasy demands the death penalty, as do some other religious offences like sorcery, while blasphemy and criticism of senior Muslim clerics have incurred jail terms and corporal punishment.

Executions in Saudi Arabia are usually carried out by public beheading. » | Reuters | Riyadh | Tuesday, February 24, 2015

French Muslim Leaders Boycott Jewish Dinner Over 'Violence' Remark

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Row breaks out between heads of France’s Jewish and Muslim communities after the leader of the country’s main Jewish group blames Muslims for “all violence today”

A row erupted on Monday between French Jewish and Muslim community leaders after the head of France’s Jewish community blamed young Muslims for “all violence today” in a radio interview.

The comment drew an angry response from Muslim leaders, who boycotted the annual dinner of the main French Jewish organisation on Monday night.

They normally attend the event along with representatives of other religions.

The dispute reflects heightened tension and sensitivities in France, which is home to Europe’s largest Jewish and Muslim minorities, following the series of attacks by Islamist extremists in Paris that left 17 dead last month. » | David Chazan, Paris | Tuesday, February 23, 2015

France Seizes Passports of Six 'Syria-bound' Citizens

BBC AMERICA: French authorities have for the first time confiscated the passports of six nationals who were allegedly planning to travel to Syria to join jihadists.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the intelligence services believed the men wanted to join the Islamic State (IS) militant group.

The measure is part of new counter-terrorism laws adopted last November.

Meanwhile, France has deployed an aircraft carrier off Bahrain to be used against Islamic State (IS) militants. » | Monday, February 23, 2015

Jetzt fordert der Großimam die Modernisierung des Islam

DIE WELT: Im Islam herrscht "Chaos", findet der Großimam der Kairoer Azhar-Universität. Deshalb macht sich Scheich al-Tajib für eine Modernisierung seiner Religion stark – auch, um dem IS das Handwerk zu legen.

Der Vorsteher der anerkannten ägyptischen Azhar-Universität hat sich auf einer Anti-Terrorismus-Konferenz in Saudi-Arabien für eine Modernisierung des Islam ausgesprochen. Es habe eine "historische Ansammlung" falscher Interpretation islamischer Quellen gegeben, die zu Extremismus und Gewalt unter Muslimen geführt hätten, sagte Großimam Scheich Ahmed al-Tajib in seiner Rede zur Eröffnung der Konferenz. Es sei notwendig, dieses "Chaos" unter "Kontrolle zu bringen". Geschehe dies nicht, gebe es "keine Hoffnung" für die islamische Gemeinschaft, ihre Einheit zurückzuerlangen. » | dpa/KNA/rct | Montag, 23. Februar 2015

THOMAS DIBACCO: Obama's Naivete Over Iran Trumps Reality

It's ironic that President Obama's hope for a political framework agreement on nuclear issues with Iran by March 31 coincides with the diplomatic hope of President Franklin D. Roosevelt 70 years ago in a March 1 speech before Congress. That hope was to trust the Soviet Union at the recently concluded Yalta Conference - trust that…

It’s Cringe Time!

Keep working on those acting skills, Mr President! Obama and Michelle goofing around »