The Afghan government gave the West another example how it is struggling to defeat the Taliban by joining it. The government has arrested the manager of a popular Afghan television network for refusing to censor images of women dancing in short skirts and plunging necklines. Fahim Khodamani of Emrose TV was arrested on the crime of broadcasting un-Islamic images.
Category: International
Two British High Court judges have released a very disturbing decision that finds that ormer detainee Binyam Mohamed was offered his freedom by the United States in exchange for his promise not to reveal his own torture at Guantanamo Bay. Equally disturbing is the statement from the English government that it cannot release proof of the torture because of objections from the United States government. If the Obama Administration is continuing this position, it is not only blocking prosecution of war crimes but the release of evidence of such war crimes to other nations. I discussed this and other developments on this segment of Rachel Maddow’s show.
Continue reading “Court: United States Offered to Release Detainee If He Would Not Reveal His Own Torture”
In an incredible act, the South African government has barred the Dalai Lama from an International Peace Conference — knuckling under to pressure from China. The very people that once fought efforts to silence Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu are now silencing a Noble Prize winner and international voice of peace because they do not want to insult China.
Continue reading “South Africa Bars Dalai Lama From International Peace Conference”
London police are refusing to rescind a $145 ticket given to Penny Batkin, 40, who had the audacity to pull to the pavement to jump out to resuscitate her severely disabled son, Freddie, 4.
Continue reading “Mother Receives $145 Parking Ticket For Stopping to Resuscitate Her Disabled Son”
Like many ministers and politicians in the United States, Saudi Arabian clerics are up in arms over the immorality of television. They’re objections go beyond the usual smut described by Sen. Joe Lieberman and others. They want the new information minister to take all women and music banned from the television. They also want pictures banned of women in magazines.
Continue reading “Saudi Clerics Call For Women To Be Banned From Television and Newspapers”
Recently, we followed the crackdown on a Catholic newspaper by the Malaysian Islamic religious council and government over its use of “Allah.” Now, the council is pursuing the Malaysian Bar for using the word on its website in two online polls on whether any particular race has exclusive rights to the word.
Continue reading “Malaysian Bar Charged With Misuse of the Word “Allah””
A street in East London was evacuated after workers from the Water company found what they believed was a grenade after moving a fire hydrant cover. It turned out to be a replica of the “Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch” from the the 1975 film Monty Python And The Holy Grail. Unfortunately, the street has been free of killer rabbits for years, but with the removal of the golden device, residents may soon be looking for a replacement.
Continue reading “Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch Leads to Evacuation in London”
The Israeli Military Advocate General Avichai Mandleblit is investigating accounts of religious extremists pushing soldiers to view the Gaza invasion as a “religious war” against gentiles. In the meantime, human rights groups are calling for the removal of military’s head chaplain, Rabbi (and Brigadier General) Avichai Rontzki, who told soldiers that it was “immoral” to show mercy to the enemy in the operation.
Recently, the aunt of Gambian President Yahya Jammeh died and he reportedly blamed witchcraft. Now, Amnesty International reports the President’s personal guard and both police and army forces have abducted up to 1000 villagers to force them to drink a vile liquid from witch doctors brought in by the government. They were forced to drink potions that reportedly killed two and sickened many others.
The Vatican has refused to moderate or withdraw the controversial statement of Pope Benedict in a trip to Africa that condoms only “increase the problem” of AIDS. The anti-condom stance outraged Kevin De Cock, director of the World Health Organisation’s HIV/AIDS department, who noted that there is no evidence that condoms increase the rate of AIDs and that many studies show that it is an effective protection against the disease. People like De Cock have been struggling against a disinclination in Africa to wear condoms.
A controversy has erupted over the request by the Rabbi of the Western Wall, Shmuel Rabinovitch, that Pope Benedict XVI take off his cross before a visit to the wall in May. Rabinovitch stated “My position is that it is not fitting to enter the Western Wall area with religious symbols, including a cross. I feel the same way about a Jew putting on a tallit and phylacteries and going into a church.”
Continue reading “Lose the Cross: Rabbi Asks Pope to Take Off His Cross When Visiting the Western Wall”
Adam Osman Mohammed, 32, insisted that if England denied his asylum application and sent him to Sudan, he would be killed. He can now say I told you so, except for the fact that he was promptly killed upon his arrival to his village in south Darfur.
Continue reading “English Refuse Asylum Plea and Deport Man to Sudan Where He Is Promptly Killed”
As China continues its runaway pollution policies, it has come up with a proposal that has the world scratching its collective head. China is proposing that it should still not be held accountable for its massive pollution rate or that fact that it has overtaken the United States as the world’s leading greenhouse gas producer. Instead, it insists that countries buying its goods should be charged for the carbon dioxide that it is producing.
Continue reading “China Proposes That Other Nations Should Pay For Its Pollution”
The New Mexico Legislature voted 24-18 to repeal the death penalty and replaced it with life without parole. Two other states — Kansas and Montana — may follow suit this month.
Continue reading “New Mexico Repeals Death Penalty — Kansas and Montana May Follow Suit”
The International Committee of the Red Cross added its considerable authority and voice to those who have called the Bush interrogation policies torture under international law. Now, Bush officials, bar groups, countless experts, and leading international organizations have all agreed that Bush ran a torture program prohibited under a variety of treaties. Those treaties require the United States to investigate and prosecute such acts as war crimes. Yet, President Barack Obama continues to block any such investigation in flagrant violation of international law.
Continue reading “International Red Cross Defines Bush Interrogations As Torture”