Grieving Peter Brierley went to yesterday's St Paul's Cathedral service for those who died in Iraq to pay tribute to the memory of his 29-year-old son Shaun.

But at a reception afterwards, as Mr Brierley found himself face-to-face with Tony Blair, he could not hold back his fury.

He said: "I'm not shaking your hand, you've got blood on it."

After Mr Blair was swiftly ushered away, Mr Brierley added: "I understand soldiers go to war and die. But they have to go to war for a good reason and be properly equipped to fight.

"I believe Tony Blair is a war criminal. I can't bear to be in the same room as him. I can't believe he's been allowed to come to this reception."

Read more @ mirror.co.uk News

he Indian government has agreed on a new tactic to fight Maoists who are operating in several states.

Officials say state police are to take the lead in co-ordinating operations against the Maoists, while central forces are only to lend assistance.

The decision came hours after at least 17 policemen were killed in a battle with Maoist insurgents in the western state of Maharashtra.

India says that Maoist insurgents pose its biggest security threat.

They operate in many states and say they are fighting for the rights of the poor and landless.

Remanded

Maoists have a presence in over 223 of India's 600-odd districts across 20 states, according to the government.

Around 70,000 central paramilitary troops along with elite commando and special forces will be deployed in the upcoming operation against the rebels.

The troops will be provided cover by the army and armoured air force helicopters.

A senior government official told the BBC that the operation is to be launched within weeks to "wipe out the top leadership" of the rebels and secure some 40,000 sq km of territory that is being held by them.

The government believes there are less than 20 top rebel leaders, nearly 30 commanders, and some 12,000 cadres.

A top Maoist leader recently told the BBC that their strength was "overestimated" by the government.

Read more @ BBC News

World Muslim population estimated to be 1.57 billion

Islam may be most closely associated with the Middle East, where it emerged in Arabia in the seventh century, but today the region is home to only one in five of the world's Muslims, according to a study of the religion's global distribution.

The world's Muslim population stands at 1.57 billion, meaning that nearly one in four people practise Islam, according to the US Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, which published the survey. This compares to 2.25 billion Christians.

The top five Muslim countries in the world include only one in the Middle East ‑ Egypt ‑ behind Indonesia, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, in that order. Russia, the survey shows, has more Muslims than the populations of Libya and Jordan combined. Germany has more Muslims than Lebanon. China has a bigger Muslim population than Syria.

Read more @ The Guardian

The French decades-long hospitality to confessed child rapist Roman Polanski, especially when held up next to Sarkozy’s nasal exegesis of the burqa, drips with pretense and hypocrisy. Likewise for the Hollywood elite who have come out in support of him.

By Ibrahim Abusharif, October 7, 2009

No escape

When Oscar-winning film director Roman Polanski pleaded guilty more than 30 years ago to having illicit sex with a 13-year-old girl, his legal counsel brokered a plea agreement, according to press accounts, in order to avoid incarceration. But then the judge (now dead) reportedly reneged, and Polanski, 43 at the time, was confronted with the possibility of serious jail time. So the director, like in good movie drama, fled the country and has lived in France ever since, frequently visited neighboring European countries.

According to a New York Times op-ed piece by a friend of his, Polanski dined privately with three French presidents and has lived a life unmolested by French political and law enforcement officials for decades. In fact, he enjoyed the perks of celebrity status as he continued his film career. According to a Slate “Explainer” article, France and the United States have an extradition agreement in which both countries must consent to transfer fugitives. The Americans wanted Polanski, but the French declined, hence the man's freedom until Swiss law enforcement authorities finally arrested him two weeks ago.

While I make no judgment about this case per se, the following comes to mind: the French seem to have no problem granting freedom and privilege to a man who "drugged and raped a 13-year-old girl in the home of actor Jack Nicholson" (according to Slate). Yet French President Nicolas Sarkozy may declare, with little public dissent, that a woman who wears a burqa is not welcome in France because the burqa is a symbol of a woman's repression. In other words, the rape of a girl has no negative symbolism, and if there were such symbolism, then its expiration is rushed along nicely by a rapist's association with the arts.

Is this what we may infer from this French quandary? To recap, a middle-age man who reportedly forced a girl to satisfy his lust in natural and unnatural ways repeatedly is welcome in France to live, work, sign autographs, and dine at high levels, but a woman who dresses like the mother of Jesus (God bless mother and son) is told that there's no room at the inn...

Read more @ alt Muslim

he dollar has fallen following a report that Gulf states are in secret talks to replace the greenback as the main currency for the trading of oil.

Nations including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were speaking to Russia, China, Japan and France, said the UK's Independent newspaper.

However, Saudi Arabia subsequently said the report was "absolutely inaccurate".

It caused the euro to rise 0.4% against the dollar to $1.47040. The pound also rose, by 0.4%, before falling back.

The pound reached $1.5991 before dropping back to $1.58920.

Read more @ BBC News

A massive rescue and relief operation is under way in southern India after severe flooding left about 250 people dead and millions without homes.

More than 350 villages are still marooned after five days of heavy rain in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka states.

Rainfall has eased in the worst affected state of Karnataka but many farms have been destroyed.

The rains have come late. Only last week the government said India had been hit by the worst drought in 40 years.

Indian air force aircraft are being used to drop relief materials to the hundreds of thousands of villagers stranded by rising flood waters.

Soldiers have been trying to reach those affected in boats.

'No shelter'

Officials say billions of dollars are needed for relief and reconstruction.

Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa said 10 million people had become homeless and nearly two million houses had been destroyed across 14 districts in the state.

Thousands of livestock, which many farmers depend on to make a living, have also perished in the torrential rains that lashed the state for nearly a week.

Read more @ BBC News

Israeli minister and former military chief Moshe Yaalon cancelled a UK visit because of fears of arrest for alleged war crimes, his office says.

Pro-Palestinian groups in Britain want him to face trial over the 2002 killing of a Gaza militant, in which 14 others died, at least eight of them children.

Mr Yaalon took legal advice and wanted "to avoid playing into the hands of anti-Israel propaganda", an aide said.

A similar attempt last week failed to get Israel's defence minister arrested.

Mr Yaalon, who is vice prime minister and strategic affairs minister, had been invited to attend a charity dinner held by the Jewish National Fund's UK branch.

But his spokesman, Alon Ofek-Arnon, confirmed that the foreign ministry's legal team had advised against it.

Israeli media reported that the advisers believed Mr Yaalon would not be accorded diplomatic immunity - in contrast to Defence Minister Ehud Barak who visited the Labour Party Conference in Brighton without interference.

"This is a campaign whose goal is to de-legitimise the state," Mr Yaalon said in remarks quoted by Haaretz newspaper.

Allegations against Mr Yaalon date back to July 2002, when an Israel Air force jet dropped a one-tonne bomb in a densely populated area of Gaza to assassinate senior Hamas figure Salah Shehada.

Read more @ BBC News

Egypt's highest Muslim authority has said he will issue a religious edict against the growing trend for full women's veils, known as the niqab.

Sheikh Mohamed Tantawi, dean of al-Azhar university, called full-face veiling a custom that has nothing to do with the Islamic faith.

Although most Muslim women in Egypt wear the Islamic headscarf, increasing numbers are adopting the niqab as well.

Th

e practice is widely associated with more radical trends of Islam.

The niqab question reportedly arose when Sheikh Tantawi was visiting a girls' school in Cairo at the weekend and asked one of the students to remove her niqab.

The Egyptian newspaper al-Masri al-Yom quoted him expressing surprise at the girl's attire and telling her it was merely a tradition, with no connection to religion or the Koran.

From BBC News

Muslim women boxers to wear hijab at 2012 Olympics

THE burqa boxers are coming. Young women are training in Afghanistan to fight in Islamic dress at the 2012 London Olympics.

Wearing hijabs beneath their headguards and clothes that cover their bodies, 25 female pugilists are preparing for their bouts in gruelling training sessions at Kabul’s Olympic stadium, once the scene of public executions by the Taliban.

The team, whose ages range from 14-25, were recruited by their coach, Fadir Sharify, a former professional boxer. He persuaded the girls’ families that it would not be inappropriate for them to take to the ring.

The 2012 summer Games will be the first time women have been allowed to box under the Olympic banner.

Read more @ The Times