Tiny Minority of Extremists Update: “Huge crowd gathers in Beirut for opposition rally,” by Yara Bayoumy for Reuters, : BEIRUT (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of flag-waving Lebanese poured into central Beirut on Friday for a Hezbollah-led protest aimed at bringing down the Western-backed government, which has vowed it will not yield to the pressure. […]
Archives for 2006
Pope hailed ‘for praying towards Mecca’
There is little to this, but much will probably be made of it. From Reuters, with thanks to all who sent this in: ISTANBUL, Turkey (Reuters) — Pope Benedict wound up a fence-mending visit to Turkey on Friday amid praise from the local press for visiting Istanbul’s Blue Mosque and praying towards Mecca “like Muslims”. […]
Disembowelled and murdered for teaching girls
Sharia Alert from Afghanistan. By Kim Sengupta in the Independent, via the New Zealand Herald (thanks to Kemaste): GHAZNI – The gunmen came at night to drag Mohammed Halim away from his home, in front of his crying children and his wife begging for mercy. The 46-year-old schoolteacher tried to reassure his family that he […]
Financial Web Sites Warned Of Muslim Net Attack
More Internet Jihad. From WCBSTV.com, with thanks to Twostellas: (CBS/AP) WASHINGTON The government issued an alert Thursday to U.S. stock market and banking Web sites about a possible Internet attack from a radical Muslim group, but said the threat was unconfirmed and seemed to pose no immediate danger. The notice was issued after officials noticed […]
Fierce Fighting Breaks Out in Sudan’s South
“…given the predictable collapse sometime in the future, of that famous ‘peace accord’ recently ‘achieved’ for the southern Sudan (one which will last just as long as the government in Khartoum thinks the West is paying close attention and not a minute longer)…” — Hugh Fitzgerald, November 30, 2006 From Reuters, with thanks to Twostellas: […]
Ancient faith faces an uncertain future
John Kass’s thought experiment at the beginning of this Chicago Tribune column (thanks to Russell) may before too long become reality. Imagine the Vatican surrounded in a fiercely secular yet very Muslim Italy. The Christian community there has dwindled to only a few thousand after decades of ethnic cleansing. Much of the church’s property has […]
Thailand to close all 944 public schools in Muslim south due to arson, shootings
No more pencils, no more books, because we can’t guarantee your safety. An update on this story. “Thailand to close all 944 schools in Muslim south,” from AFP: BANGKOK : Thailand will close all 944 public schools indefinitely in the country’s restive Muslim-majority south after a string of arsons and shootings that left two teachers […]
Iraqi Shi’ites angry at Saudi remark on aid to Sunnis
A glimpse at how the sectarian conflict in Iraq will widen upon the departure of US troops, siphoning off money, arms, and personnel that jihadists could otherwise employ against nonbelievers. “Iraqi Shias angry at Saudi remark on Sunnis,” from AFP: BAGHDAD – Iraq’s Shiite leaders on Thursday said they were angered by a Saudi Arabian […]
Pope hardens tone in Turkey
Don’t fit the Pope for a zunnar* just yet. By Sinan Fisek for Agence France-Presse, with thanks to Mackie: POPE Benedict XVI put the brakes on his charm offensive in EU-hopeful, Muslim majority Turkey, stressing Europe’s “Christian roots” and taking a strong stand on religious freedoms and minority rights. Flanked by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I […]
Fitzgerald: Fortiter in re, suaviter in modo
The grotesque attempt to ambush the Pope on his immediate arrival, to lecture him like a schoolboy on the wonderfulness of Islam, to demand that the “theology” of this or that faith be forever beyond any discussion, was all done by Dr. Ali Bardakoglu, head of the state-run religious affairs department. One can assume that […]