Magdi Allam Tells the Pope That Islam is a Religion of war

Allam told Pope Benedict he specifically objected to Cardinal Tauran telling a conference in August that Islam itself promotes peace but that "'some believers' have 'betrayed their faith,'" using it as a pretext for violence.
"The objective reality, I tell you with all sincerity and animated by a constructive intent, is exactly the opposite of what Cardinal Tauran imagines," Allam told the pope. "Islamic extremism and terrorism are the mature fruit" of following "the sayings of the Quran and the thought and action of Mohammed."

via Islam In Action: Ex-Muslim Tells the Pope That Islam is a Religion of war
This is something really dangerous and interesting. If someone as peaceful, as rational and as cultivated as this man, considers that Islam is a Religion of War, we should think about it for a minute... carefully.

BREAKING: Suicide bombers in Somalia strike UN compound (and other targets)!! (Updated)

Suicide bombers struck targets across northern Somalia on Wednesday, including a U.N. compound, officials said. There were deaths and dozens of injuries, but an exact figure was still unclear.

"We are still counting the bodies," said Ismail Adani, a spokesman for the government of the breakaway republic of Somaliland, where bombers hit the U.N. compound, the Ethiopian Consulate and the presidential palace.

Suicide bombers also attacked two intelligence facilities in the northern Somali region of Puntland on Wednesday. The two suicide bombers died in the attack and six security officials were wounded, said Muse Gelle Yusuf, governor of Somalia's northern port city of Bossaso. The region is a hotbed of abductions and piracy.

via Suicide bombers in Somalia strike UN compound - Yahoo! News

UPDATE: 19  killed in 3 terrorist attacks.

Whitehall official fined £2,500 for leaving secret al-Qaida files on train

A senior Whitehall official who left highly classified intelligence documents about al-Qaida and the capabilities of the Iraqi security forces on a train was fined £2,500 today by Westminster magistrates court after admitting negligence.

Richard Jackson, 37, who was on secondment from the Ministry of Defence to the Cabinet Office at the time, 37, of Yateley, Hampshire, was charged under a section of the Official Secrets Act covering the safeguarding of information.

It is the first prosecution of its kind and it had been widely assumed in Whitehall he would be disciplined by internal procedures rather than charged under the criminal law. The court heard he had already taken a "drastic" pay cut and effectively been demoted by three grades.

via Whitehall official fined £2,500 for leaving secret al-Qaida files on train | UK news | guardian.co.uk

I don't know the facts, but it seems rather odd someone who is a senior official forgets such documents in a train, isn't it?

Muslims behead Christian convert from Islam in Somalia

Among at least 24 aid workers killed in Somalia this year was one who was beheaded last month specifically for converting from Islam to Christianity, among other charges, according to an eyewitness.
Muslim extremists from the al Shabab group fighting the transitional government on Sept. 23 sliced the head off of Mansuur Mohammed, 25, a World Food Program (WFP) worker, before horrified onlookers of Manyafulka village, 10 kilometers (six miles) from Baidoa.
The militants had intercepted Mohammed and a WFP driver, who managed to escape, earlier in the morning. Sources close to Mohammed’s family said he converted from Islam to Christianity in 2005.
(...) The Muslim militant announced that Mohammed was an infidel and a spy for occupying Ethiopian soldiers.
Mohammed remained calm with an expressionless face, never uttering a word, said the eyewitness. As the chanting of “Allah Akubar [God is greater]” rose to a crescendo, one of the militiamen twisted his head, allowing the other to slit his neck. When the head was finally severed from the torso, the killers cheered as they displayed it to the petrified crowd.

via Jihad Watch: Muslims behead Christian convert from Islam in Somalia

Don't think any comments are needed. Only that where is the outrage on this kind of killings?? There is NONE!

17-year-old Pakistani girl's death prompts outcry

Female senators staged a walkout from the federal parliament Monday to press for action on better protections for women after a national newspaper published details of Tasleem Solangi's death.
"How long will women be buried alive and made to face hungry dogs? Women are not given their rights," opposition lawmaker Semi Siddiqui said.Ibrahim Solangi, 28, has been in custody ever since Taslim's death in March and is awaiting trial on murder charges, said Pir Mohammad Shah, the police chief of the Khairpur Mirs district in southern Pakistan. Taslim's husband was also her first cousin.

via 17-year-old Pakistani girl's death prompts outcry - Yahoo! Singapore News

Just consider: a 17-year-old Pakistani girl was fed to some hungry dogs and then shot to death:

Speaking to reporters in Karachi on Monday, Taslim's father said he was locked up in his home and forced to watch from a window as dogs chased her and then mauled her when she fell down exhausted. She then was shot, he said.
Gulsher Solangi said the killing was the culmination of a land dispute. He said his nephew had beaten Taslim throughout the five months of their marriage to pressure him to hand over his small farm.
Faced with more threats, Gulsher Solangi said he had fled with his wife and another daughter and abandoned his home.
Zameer Hussain Solangi, the girl's father-in-law, claimed Monday that his son confessed to the killing under police torture and that the allegation regarding the dogs was "baseless."
He said a tribal council later declared the dead woman an adulterer and compensated the husband with her jewelry.

Amazing: she was killed because his father didn't want to hand over his farm and the tribal council disguised everything as an honor killing because she was an adulterer!!! A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!

AsiaNews.it has more. Read it: it's worth it.

Related news: Pakistani rewarded for honor killing: gets 3 girls as wifes, 20 water buffalo.

PETER HITCHENS: How China has created a new slave empire in Africa

Out of desperation, much of the continent is selling itself into a new era of corruption and virtual slavery as China seeks to buy up all the metals, minerals and oil she can lay her hands on: copper for electric and telephone cables, cobalt for mobile phones and jet engines - the basic raw materials of modern life.
(...) It is my view - and not just because I was so nearly killed - that China's cynical new version of imperialism in Africa is a wicked enterprise.
China offers both rulers and the ruled in Africa the simple, squalid advantages of shameless exploitation.
For the governments, there are gargantuan loans, promises of new roads, railways, hospitals and schools - in return for giving Peking a free and tax-free run at Africa's rich resources of oil, minerals and metals.
For the people, there are these wretched leavings, which, miserable as they are, must be better than the near-starvation they otherwise face.

via PETER HITCHENS: How China has created a new slave empire in Africa | Mail Online
I recommend to see the photos inside...
You can also read Will killing of oil workers harden China's Darfur policy? about the consequences for Darfur of the recent murder of several oil Chinese workers. The Sudanese Government has blamed a rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), which in turn has denied any implication in the murder and has accused the Government of trying to distract the international community from its own crimes in Darfur.
Meanwhile China and Russia have signed a pipeline deal: from Siberia to China:

‘The pipeline agreed on,’ the report goes on to say, ‘would have a capacity of 15 million tons of oil per year and would be a branch of the main East Siberia-Pacific Ocean trunk pipeline, which is still under construction.’

Hmm, interesting development.

Australia: Muslim man jailed for raping unconscious woman

Mohammad Khan, 28, who grew up in Qatar, was found guilty of raping a woman he met the night before at 3D nightclub in Melbourne. At 5:30am the next day the woman awoke in an alley to find a man on top of her being jeered on by friends. The woman believed she was drugged.

via New South Wails: Man jailed for raping unconscious woman

Don't think I can comment on this, really.

EU defies Beijing warning to award dissident human rights prize

"Hu Jia, one of China's best-known dissidents, was yesterday awarded an EU human rights prize, despite a warning from Beijing that selecting the political prisoner would damage relations.
His wife and supporters welcomed the news that MEPs had picked him for the Sakharov prize, worth €50,000 (£39,500) Previous recipients include Nelson Mandela and the East Timorese leader, Xanana Gusmao.
"Hu Jia is one of the real defenders of human rights in the People's Republic of China," said Hans-Gert Poettering, president of the European parliament.
Hu was sentenced to three and a half years in jail this spring on subversion charges, amid what human rights campaigners described as a coordinated crackdown on activists before the Olympics.

via EU defies Beijing warning to award dissident human rights prize // Current

This video shows the actual harrassment from police officers on Hu Jia:

Zapatero goes to China

Chinese President Hu Jintao met with the visiting Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in Beijing on Saturday.
Hu said, as this year marked the 35th anniversary of China-Spain bilateral ties, China is willing to work with Spain to strengthen bilateral cooperation for joint development. Hu expressed hopes of further high-level exchanges among governments, parliaments, parties and local agencies between the two countries in the future.
He also urged enterprises of both countries to increase mutual investments and take active measures for trade balance. Exchanges and cooperation in the areas of culture, education, science and technology, sports and tourism are also expected to expand, said the President.
In addition, Hu stressed the two countries should strengthen negotiations and cooperation on important international issues like global finance, climate change, anti-terrorism and food safety, so as to safeguard the common interests of both countries.
Zapatero said the Spanish government attaches great importance to its relationship with China and is willing to play its role in promoting a Sino-European relationship in the future. China and Spain established an all-round strategic partnership to put forward bilateral cooperation in 2005.

via The Daily Mail - Daily News from Pakistan - Newspaper from Pakistan

Even if it's logical to find new allies and to work hard for new commercial partners, I believe the moment is not the most appropriate one, with Zapatero begging for a seat in the G-20 meeting.

Pakistanis arrested over Marriott blast

Police arrested four men in connection with last month's suicide attack on a hotel that killed 54 people, authorities said Friday.
The four are suspected of "indirect involvement" in the blast at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, police chief Ahmad Latif said. They are the first known arrests in the Sept. 20 attack.
The attack was a reminder of the gathering threat posed by Islamist militants in nuclear-armed Pakistan.
Latif said the men were arrested in different parts of Punjab province, but gave no more details. They were brought before an anti-terrorism court where a judge gave police permission to hold them for questioning for one week.

via Police: 4 Pakistanis arrested over Marriott blast - Yahoo! News
Related posts:

• Pakistan militants threaten more bombs.
• Afghan Ambassador kidnapped in north-west Pakistan.
• Pakistan gets a message against closer co-operation with US.
• Pakistan: US did not warn of any strike.
• WHO cancels polio jabs for Afghan children after doctors killed.
• Pakistan’s tribal areas: A wild frontier.
• Pakistan strikes back and accuses US of cooperating with terrorism.
• Pakistan restores three judges ousted by Musharraf.
• india accuses Pakistani intelligence of terrorist attack.
• Afghanistan accuses Pakistani intelligence of the terrorist attack against the Indian embassy.

US considering implications of nuclear decline

The mighty U.S. arsenal of nuclear weapons, midwived by World War II and nurtured by the Cold War, is declining in power and purpose while the military's competence in handling the world's most dangerous arms has eroded. At the same time, international efforts to contain the spread of such weapons look ineffective.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, for one, wants the next president to think about what nuclear middle-age and decline means for national security.
Gates joins a growing debate about the reliability and future credibility of the American arsenal with his first extensive speech on nuclear arms Tuesday. The debate is attracting increasing attention inside the Pentagon even as the military is preoccupied with fighting insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan. The unconventional tools of war there include covert commandos, but not nuclear weapons.

via US considering implications of nuclear decline - Yahoo! News

For my part, that is a great error. Even if you're not going to use it, your ennemies know you have that weapon and it can surely serve as a deterrent in case someone wants to attack you.

Kenya: Report Accuses Top Officials from Odinga's Party for Post-Elections Ethnic Violence

A government-sponsored commission in Kenya has accused a number of top-level officials of inciting and funding ethnic violence in the country that left thousands dead and hundreds of thousands displaced following disputed elections late last year.
The report, which was embargoed by a separate government commission, was leaked to FOXNews.com. It makes allegations against 219 persons, including many government ministers.
Their names are included in the "Schedule of Alleged Perpetrators," a 54-page appendix to the report of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, or KNCHR, on violence related to the country’s December 2007 elections.
Most of the accused are supporters of the Orange Democratic Movement, or ODM, whose leader, Raila Odinga, nonetheless supported the establishment of a tribunal to try those politicians responsible for inciting the post-election violence. Odinga, who is not accused, belongs to the Luo tribe.

via FOXNews.com - Report Accuses Top Officials for Post-Elections Ethnic Violence in Kenya - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News

So Odinga followers have been accused of Kenyan violence. And do you know who is Odinga's cousin? Yes, he is... and Odinga himself was accused of racial cleaning.

Oh, yeah, how many MSM are going to report on this? Hmm, let me think...

Report: Iranian president has fallen ill

A close associate of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the Iranian president has fallen ill under the strain of his position.
The official Iranian news agency has quoted Mohammad Ismail, a parliament member and close ally of the Iranian president, as saying Ahmadinejad was sick "but will eventually heal."
Kowsari, who made his comments early Sunday, accompanied the president on his September visit to the U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York.

via Report: Iranian president has fallen ill - USATODAY.com

The problem is not only Ahmadinejad. Although I would like him to look for this as a God's call: "don't continue with nuclear weapons' program, Allah doesn't want it... you have even fallen ill".

Nun accusing India mob of rape slams police

A Roman Catholic nun who accused a Hindu mob of raping her said Friday that she will not cooperate with local police, alleging that they stood by idly during the attack.
Hiding her head and face behind a scarf, the nun told reporters that she was raped after a mob attacked a Christian prayer hall on Aug. 25 in the eastern state of Orissa.
In her first public comments, the nun said a group of about 50 men tore off her clothes and raped her. Later, she said, she was paraded naked, together with a priest, past several policeman who refused to help her.
When she arrived at the police station, officers tried to dissuade her from filing a complaint, she said.
"I was raped and now I don't want to be victimized by Orissa police," she said, calling for a federal investigation.
Orissa police have been harshly criticized for waiting more than a month to begin investigating the attack and only taking steps after the story appeared in news reports.
Police said they had been waiting for a medical report confirming a rape in order to begin their investigation. Police have since detained five men, though it was unclear whether they have been charged with any crime.

via Nun accusing India mob of rape slams police - Yahoo! News

I really understand her.
Related posts:

• Anti-Christian violence in India.
• Hindu fundamentalists attack and rape one nun, burn another.
• Mistaken for a Christian, Hindu girl burn alive.
• India: Anti-Christian violence continues.
• Hindu leader arrested in Church attacks.
• Nuns of charity assaulted in India by Hindu extremists.
• “Attacks on Christians in India exemplify “Christianophobia“, says Vatican official.

Hamas passes on letter to captive Israeli soldier

Palestinian militant group Hamas has passed on a "personal" letter to captive Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit from his family, his father Noam and a Hamas spokesman said on Friday.
It was the first letter to reach him from his family, although Schalit has been able to send a trickle of messages home since he was snatched by Palestinian militants in a cross-border raid near Gaza in June 2006.
The letter was given to the soldier last month, Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha said.
Noam Schalit said the letter was "personal" and did not detail its contents.

via Hamas passes on letter to captive Israeli soldier - Yahoo! News

 Just pray a little for him: he really needs it.