I am not a fan of loonwatch or their methods of debate, but I liked this title. Disclaimer: It is about the US of A.

CNN recently published an article entitled Study: Threat of Muslim-American terrorism in U.S. exaggerated; according to a study released by Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, “the terrorist threat posed by radicalized Muslim-Americans has been exaggerated.”

Yet, Americans continue to live in mortal fear of radical Islam, a fear propagated and inflamed by right wing Islamophobes. If one follows the cable news networks, it seems as if all terrorists are Muslims. It has even become axiomatic in some circles to chant: “Not all Muslims are terrorists, but nearly all terrorists are Muslims.” Muslims and their “leftist dhimmi allies” respond feebly, mentioning Waco as the one counter example, unwittingly affirming the belief that “nearly all terrorists are Muslims.”

Read more at loonwatch.

The Islamic Solidarity Games, due to be held in Iran in April, have been called off because of a dispute with Arab countries over what to call the Gulf.

The games federation in Saudi Arabia said the Iranian organisers had failed to address its concerns, particularly about the planned logo and medals.

These bear the words "Persian Gulf", but Arab countries, who call it the Arabian Gulf, reject the term.

The games had been postponed in October in the hope of striking a deal.

Read more @ BBC News

Muslim women should be banned from covering their faces, Nigel Farage of the UK Independence Party has said.

Mr Farage, an MEP and UKIP’s former leader, said wearing a veil had become a symbol of cultural divisions in Britain. He denied the call was motivated by prejudice.

...

"It is a symbol of something that is used to oppress women, it is a symbol of an increasingly divided Britain, and the real worry – and it isn't just about what people wear – is we are heading towards a situation where many of our cities are ghettoised and there is even talk of Sharia law becoming part of British culture."

Read more @ Telegraph

[size=9]A photo of Bin Laden from 1998 (left) was apparently digitally altered using elements from an image of Gaspar Llamazares (right)[/size]

A Spanish politician has said he was shocked to find out the FBI had used his photo for a digitally-altered image showing how Osama Bin Laden might look.

Gaspar Llamazares said he would no longer feel safe travelling to the US after his hair and parts of his face appeared on a most-wanted poster.

He said the use of a real person for the mocked-up image was "shameless".

The Spanish newspaper El Mundo said an FBI spokesman had admitted the agency had taken a picture from Google Images.

The digitally-altered photos of the al-Qaeda leader, showing how he might look now, aged 52, were issued by the US state department on Friday.

Read more @ BBC News

A mother accused of murdering her disabled son has described in court how she told him that she loved him before administering a heroin overdose.

Frances Inglis, 57, of Dagenham, Essex, denies murdering Thomas Inglis, 22, on 21 November 2008 and an earlier attempt to kill him on 4 September 2007.

Mr Inglis was fatally injected with heroin at his Hertfordshire care home.

The Old Bailey jury heard she injected his arm and thighs after saying: "Everything's going to be fine."

She was giving evidence about the moment she allegedly attempted to murder her son Tom in September 2007 in a bid to end his suffering.

'Went to sleep'

The Old Bailey has heard that Ms Inglis went on to succeed in killing the 22-year-old in November 2008.

His mother said: "I held him, told him I loved him, told him everything was going to be fine, took the syringe, and I injected him in his thigh and his arm.

"Then he went to sleep. He was at peace. I stayed with him."

Read more @ BBC News

Police will begin arresting Brian Thompsons

like this one later today

THE government has banned the extremist group Islam4Uk, forcing it to change its name to Brian Thompson.

Following a high-level inquiry by the Daily Mail, home secretary Alan Johnson said he had proscribed the organisation under a series of names it goes by including Al Muhajiroun, Beard Force and Anjem and the Hurricanes.

Mr Johnson said: "We can only keep Britain safe from terror by continually restricting the number of names these organisations have access to.

"By forcing them to be constantly ordering new stationery and car stickers we can ensure they have no time to say those horrid things that make the editor of the Daily Mail phone me from the tinfoil-lined, underground capsule beneath his garden shed at three o'clock in the morning."

He added: "Eventually they will be reduced to using an ever-changing sequence of numbers and not even the angriest young muslim man is going to want to join an organisation that doesn't have any words in its name."

Terror experts have backed the home secretary insisting the IRA was a legal organisation for much of the 1970s allowing it to not only carry out violent attacks but set up a chain of discount carpet warehouses and a frozen food delivery business.

A spokesman for Brian Thompson said: "We expect Brian Thompson to be banned within hours, so we have prepared a series of names to last us until at least mid-March including Phil Jackson, Barbara Evans and Big Jim Barker's Dixieland Jazz Quartet.

"Anyway, who's up for having loads of crazy opinions about stuff?"

From The Daily Mash

Thousands feared dead following mag 7 quake in Haiti

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A member of the ruling family of the United Arab Emirates has been cleared of the torture of a business associate.

Lawyers for Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the president's brother, said the court ruled he had been drugged and so was "unaware of his actions".

The incident came to light when a videotape was circulated showing the violent beating, said to have taken place in 2004.

It was the first reported investigation of a UAE ruling family member.

His lawyer, Habib al-Mulla, said the ruling had "clarified Sheikh Issa's position that he was a victim of conspiracy" over the torture of Mohammed Shah Poor.

"At the same time, it's proven justice to Mohammed Shahpoor and it showed who were the actual people who were behind whole saga," Reuters quoted Mr al-Mulla as saying.

He said the court had "accepted our defence that the sheikh was under the influence of drugs that left him unaware of his actions," the AFP news agency reported.

The defence had previously claimed Sheikk Issa had been drugged by two men - American-Lebanese brothers Ghassan and Bassam Nabulsi - who recorded the beating in order to blackmail him.

The Nabulsi brothers were sentenced in their absence to five years in prison for drugging Sheikh Hassan and fined 10,000 dirham ($2,723:£1,700).

Read more @ BBC News

Well, the article is about egyptian eye stuff, but I assume it is similar to/the same as surma:

Cleopatra's eye make-up 'had health benefits'

The heavy eye make-up favoured by ancient Egyptians such as Cleopatra may have had medical as well as aesthetic benefits, French research suggests.

The study, published in the journal Analytical Chemistry, suggests it helped to protect against eye disease.

The key appears to be lead salts contained in the make-up.

At very low levels, salts produce nitric oxide, which boosts the immune system to fight off bacteria which can cause eye infection.

Read more @ BBC News

Three churches in Kuala Lumpur attacked after court reverses ban on Christians using the word 'Allah' to mean 'God'

Three Malaysian churches were attacked with firebombs, causing extensive damage to one, as Muslims pledged today to prevent Christians from using the word "Allah", escalating religious tensions in the multiracial country.

Many Malay Muslims, who make up 60% of the population, are incensed by a recent high court decision to overturn a ban on Roman Catholics using Allah as a translation for God in the Malay-language edition of their main newspaper, the Herald.

The government had said that Allah, an Arabic word that predates Islam, was exclusive to the faith. It refused to make an exception, even though the Herald's Malay edition is read only by Christian indigenous tribes in the remote states of Sabah and Sarawak.

At Friday prayers at two main mosques in downtown Kuala Lumpur, young worshippers carried banners and vowed to defend Islam.

Read more @ Guardian