yes really.

It's Barbie in a burkha: World-famous doll gets a makeover to go under the hammer for 50th anniversary

One of the world's most famous children's toys, Barbie, has been given a makeover - wearing a burkha.

Wearing the traditional Islamic dress, the iconic doll is going undercover for a charity auction in connection with Sotheby's for Save The Children.

More than 500 Barbies went on show yesterday at the Salone dei Cinquecento, in Florence, Italy.

Read more: Daily Mail

ok, to complete the range we need bulimic barbie, emo-goth-teen barbie, knocked-up barbie and explosive barbie.

Richard Garner explains how the Tory leader's attack on the Government has unravelled

Conservative Party officials made two basic errors in their attack on two schools said to be run by a radical Islamic group, it emerged yesterday.

During Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday and in briefings afterwards the Conservatives claimed there was no evidence that the schools had been registered or inspected by Ofsted, the education standards watchdog; they also said the schools had received money from an anti-terrorism fund. But yesterday the claims were beginning to unravel. The most obvious mistake was the allegation that they appeared not to have been registered or inspected.

In fact, one of the two schools – in Slough, Berkshire – had posted a glowing commendation from Ofsted on its website. The report was easily accessible by Googling the Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation, and its veracity could be confirmed with Ofsted.

It praised the school for its "broad and balanced curriculum" and for its commitment to the "spiritual, moral, social and cultural development" of its 55 four- to 10-year-old pupils...

Read more @ The Independent

Just a place to discuss the comings and goings over the public enquiry that has been started into the Iraq war.

So far... the UK government did not believe that Iraq was connected to Alqaeda, nor did it think it had chemical weapons.

Beaten and abused, but what if the bully is your own child? Many parents are living in fear of their children, but are too ashamed to ask for help, says a leading British charity. Why?

Threatened with a knife by a 14-year-old girl - it could be a disturbing headline from any national newspaper. But what if it happened in your own home and the teenager wielding the weapon was your own daughter?

Parents are regularly being threatened, abused, even beaten up by their own children, says a UK parental guidance charity. Many have reached the point where they are afraid to be left alone in the house with them.

New figures from Parentline Plus reveal its helpline received three calls a day on average last year from parents suffering verbal or physical abuse. For some it has been going on for years...

Read more @ BBC News

A Belgian man who doctors thought was in a coma for 23 years was conscious all along, it has been revealed.

Medical staff believed Rom Houben had sunk irretrievably into a coma after he was injured in a car crash in 1983.

A doctor at Belgium's University of Liege who discovered that Mr Houben had been misdiagnosed said his case was not an isolated one.

"I was shouting, but no-one could hear me," Mr Houben, now 46, was quoted as saying by a German magazine.

Read more @ BBC News

By Sara Elghobashy

November 18, 2008

Whenever a story breaks that Muslim women are suffering somewhere in the world, the press foams at the mouth. Headlines with the words “unveiled” or “veiled” pop up everywhere and the world goes on to sing the song of “Muslim women are oppressed. Someone save them from their religion!” Yet, when news emerges that Muslim women are gaining some footing, there isn’t a peep about it in Western news outlets.

This is exactly what happened earlier this month when the UAE announced that next year it will be appointing its first state-sanctioned female muftis, respected interpreters of Islamic law who even have the decision-making power to issue fatwas. Six women are currently being considered for the training program, which will last several months. Women currently serve as religious advisors at the Abu Dhabi fatwa center but are confined to advising women on “women’s issues.” However, this new role will give women the opportunity to advise and issue decrees on religious matters.

Read more @ elan

Darwinian natural selection could help halt human "mad cow disease", experts say after finding a tribe impervious to a related fatal brain disorder.

The Papua New Guinea tribe developed strong genetic resistance after a major epidemic of the CJD-like disease, kuru, spread mostly by cannibalism.

Medical Research Council experts assessed more than 3,000 survivors of the mid-20th Century epidemic.

Their findings appear in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Kuru, a prion disease similar to CJD in humans and BSE in animals, was transmitted at mortuary feasts where - until the practice was banned in the late 1950s - women and children consumed their deceased relatives as a mark of respect and mourning.

Read more @ BBC News

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdiIg_39CUg]

Animal rights campaigners have criticised the Chinese over their extreme eating habits after a video of diners eating a live fish became a hit on the internet.

The film, in which a part-fried fish is shown breathing and wriggling on a plate as it is being slowly eaten alive in a restaurant, has been posted on the video-sharing website YouTube.

In order to keep the carp alive chefs cook its body but wrap its head in a wet cloth to keep it breathing, before covering it in sauce and serving in on a plate.

The YouTube video shows diners, who are laughing and joking, prodding the fish while it is still moving, before picking it apart with chopsticks.

Telegraph

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak has stepped into a row with Algeria, vowing he will not tolerate the "humiliation" of Egyptian nationals abroad.

The dispute was triggered by violence following football World Cup qualifying matches between the two north African Arab nations.

Algeria won the crucial play-off, but each side has accused the other's fans of attacking their supporters.

Read more @ BBC News

... but he's only joined because he hates Muslims

Everybody say "awwww".