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Scientists: Tasers work, but we don't know how

published by You on 25 May, 2009 - 18:22

Despite the Taser being one of the most heavily researched less-lethal weapons in the world, its operational mechanism remains a mystery, a conference on non-lethal weapons was told.

...

Neil Corney of the OMEGA Research Foundation, a Manchester-based peace group, expressed concern that these discussions were only taking place after the Taser’s widespread deployment. He pointed out that the constraints imposed on earlier research with humans by biomedical research ethics meant that the public were in practice being used as guinea pigs...

Read more @ The Register

Men will always monopolise the means of violence if they can

published by You on 25 May, 2009 - 01:36

I was reading an article where half way or so through, a paragraph struck me as a little odd:

Men will always monopolise the means of violence if they can. Women can learn to shoot guns, but there are no all-female armies, and even the Amazons were probably a myth. Women, on the whole, would naturally like to do something else, whereas an army, for too many men, is a home away from home, and often their only home.

What do people think of this? Agree disagree? Do you think its written by a man? woman? feminist? realist?

Any other opinions?

Praying to Allah

published by You on 24 May, 2009 - 15:02

A Catholic church in Malaysia which prays to Allah has prompted a court case over who can use the word.

Muslim leaders say Islam should be the only faith to use it, saying its use in other faiths could lead to confusion and conversions.

Watch the video @ BBC News

Personally, I think people trying to force the word Allah to only be used by Muslims is ludicrous.

Fat gambler? Problem solved!

published by You on 24 May, 2009 - 13:20

Bet dieting takes hold in the UK

A new method of losing weight by betting on your own success is gaining popularity in the UK.

Bet dieters join a website and make a commitment to lose a certain amount of weight over a defined period of time.

Then, if they fail to meet their targets, money is withdrawn from their account and paid to a charity of their choice.

The scheme started in the US, but already has more than 1,000 followers in the UK...

Read more @ BBC News

I wonder if that is more of an ad than a news story?

Questions related to khilafah

published by You on 23 May, 2009 - 20:23

Another khilafah related topic.

In muslim History, how many leaders have been unanimously accepted?

If you also include the Shia, then the answer is just two in over fourteen hundred years, right? (and is it just five if we only ask Sunni Muslims? include Amir Mu'aviya, and that makes it six) If so, that poses many problems for those that want the implementation of a single state.

Are there others?

Is the khilafah Fardh?

I have heard so - Community obligation, but I have not really looked into it. Anyone got any valid sources etc for that opinion? Are there people/scholars who disagree? what are their sources?

Does there have to be just one islamic state, and if so, for how long was there a unified Muslim State?

Give this man a gold medal already!

published by You on 23 May, 2009 - 17:46

China bridge jumper 'gets a push'

A man threatening to commit suicide by jumping from a Chinese bridge was approached by a passer-by who shoved him over the edge, local media say.

Lai Jiansheng, 66, said he was fed up with the desperate man's "selfish activity" which caused huge traffic jams in Guangzhou, southern China.

Chen Fuchao fell 26ft (8m) on to an air cushion and is recovering in hospital, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Xinhua said Mr Lai was "taken away by police", but gave no further details.

The drama unfolded when Mr Chen climbed on to Haizhu Bridge in Guangzhou on Thursday and threatened to jump.

'Debt worries'

How MI5 blackmails British Muslims

published by You on 22 May, 2009 - 18:55

Five Muslim community workers have accused MI5 of waging a campaign of blackmail and harassment in an attempt to recruit them as informants.

The men claim they were given a choice of working for the Security Service or face detention and harassment in the UK and overseas.

They have made official complaints to the police, to the body which oversees the work of the Security Service and to their local MP Frank Dobson. Now they have decided to speak publicly about their experiences in the hope that publicity will stop similar tactics being used in the future...

Read more @ The Independent

Related links:

  1. Home Secretary was warned of MI5's 'blackmailing of Muslims'
  2. Pauline Neville-Jones: MI5 must use persuasion – not coercion

Muslim mother who forced her school age daughters into marriage jailed for 3 years

published by You on 22 May, 2009 - 15:14

Muslim mother who forced her school-age daughters to marry their cousins is jailed for 3 years

A 'wicked and cruel' mother has been jailed for three years after forcing her two young daughters to marry their cousins in Pakistan.

The Muslim woman hoodwinked the pair, aged 14 and 15, into thinking they were going on a family holiday.

But when the schoolgirls arrived they discovered preparations were being made for them to marry their first cousins in a joint ceremony.

Yesterday, in what is being seen as a landmark case, a judge condemned the mother's actions and claimed she had been 'wholly misguided'.

Tide turns against the Taliban

published by You on 21 May, 2009 - 23:00

In Pakistan there has been a real change in the past few months - the public has had enough of the Taliban and the army has gone to war. As a result well over one million people have been forced to flee their homes.

I have come to a place about an hour's drive from Peshawar, 50 miles (80km) from where there has been intense fighting.

There are many people on the move here who have run away from that fighting and they have brought with them eyewitness accounts of the brutal things they have seen under the Taliban's control of the Swat valley over the past few months.

"They were beheading people, they were shooting innocent people without any warning, they were terrifying us," one woman tells me.

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