Friday, September 30, 2011

17 Indian police and forest officials convicted of gang-raping 18 Dalit women in Tamil Nadu...

These horrendous crimes took place in 1992 and it's only now that the culprits have been convicted, almost 20 years later. Indian justice is very slow... when the victims are Dalits.

A court in India has convicted 269 police and forest officials of torturing and abusing more than 100 low-caste tribespeople in a 1992 raid.

Officials went to the village of Vachathi in southern Tamil Nadu state looking for smuggled sandalwood.

Over two days, 18 women were raped, at least 100 Dalits (former untouchables) abused and homes and cattle looted.

Seventeen officials were found guilty of rape and the rest were convicted of "atrocities against Dalits".

Nearly 100 of those convicted are policemen. Of the 269 convicted, 54 died during the course of the trial.

The court has sentenced all of those convicted: 12 men were given 10 years in prison and five were given seven years each. The remainder were given jail terms of between two and five years. Full story...

Don't miss:
  1. Dalits brutally raped and murdered in India's Uttar Pradesh... 
  2. Politician in India rapes Dalit girl and then gets her jailed for theft... 
  3. Two more tribal women in India stripped and forced to walk naked... 
  4. 7 rapes in 48 hours in India's Uttar Pradesh state... 
  5. Rape is the fastest growing crime in India...
  6. When low-caste Dalits in India are raped and killed by upper-caste thugs...
  7. Former women prisoners in India's Tamil Nadu allege ‘sub-human' treatment...

Do you play penny pong? What?

Have footballers become society's scapegoats?

Hardly a week goes by without hearing about a Premier League footballer's indiscretion.

Sometimes it is infidelity… sometimes it is a night club scuffle… and sometimes, just sometimes, it is for something that went on inside a stadium.

In April, there was a huge furore when Manchester United's Wayne Rooney passionately celebrated a goal by screaming a naughty word very loudly into the camera. The striker received a two game ban for his TV rant.

But that was not the only punishment dolled out to the player.

The media came down like a tonne of bricks on the striker for his outburst, one that would obviously ruin the reputation of the game and encourage more swearing up and down the land.

More recently, former United player Carlos Tevez was publicly, and hence globally, chastised for refusing to go onto the pitch during Manchester City's Champions League clash with Bayern Munich. Full story...

Don't miss:
  1. Rooney-gate: Time to kick hypocrisy out of football...
  2. A genius, yes. But Alex Ferguson is also a lout...
  3. Ryan Giggs, private lives and injunctions...
  4. A very, very angry Argentinian soccer fan!!!
  5. FIFA, the FA, Blatter and Qatar's World Cup... 
  6. Daylight robbery, meet nighttime robbery: wealthy looters, meet poor looters...

Foreign maids in Hong Kong win landmark citizenship ruling...

The population of Hong Kong could be transformed after a ruling from the High Court opened the door for up to 500,000 Filipinos and Indonesians to apply for permanent residency on the island.

The court ruled that Evangeline Banao Vallejos, a Filipino maid who has lived in Hong Kong since 1986, was entitled to claim citizenship.

Although Hong Kong's Basic Law states that anyone resident for over seven years on the island can apply to make their stay permanent, until now the Hong Kong authorities have denied the right to the vast army of maids and cleaners employed by Hong Kong families.

 Ms Vallejos was not in court to hear the ruling, since her lawyer, Mark Daly said it was a normal working day for her. "When we told her, she said: 'Thank God'," he said. "It is a good day for the rule of law," he added. Full story...

Don't miss:
  1. Indonesian maid puts menstrual blood in Hong Kong employer's meal!!!
  2. Filipino outrage at Hong Kong "racist" writer... 
  3. Filipino domestic workers in Manila grossly underpaid and abused...
  4. Filipino maid in Saudi Arabia attacked with acid and stabbed to death...
  5. Indonesian president condemns maid's "extraordinary torture" in Saudi Arabia... 
  6. France denies citizenship to man who forced niqab on his wife... 
  7. Chinese actress Gong Li branded a "traitor" for becoming Singapore citizen... 
  8. Mexican woman becomes American citizen ... after living 101 years in the US!!! 

Schoolchildren in France riot over holiday cut rumour...

Several hundred French schoolchildren went on the rampage on Friday after false rumours spread that President Nicolas Sarkozy's government wants to take away a large slice of their school holidays.

Protests that began in northern France spread to the capital's outskirts on Friday, where police said they arrested 10 people after high-school children rioted, damaging cars by turning them on their side or smashing windows.

Staff at the Jean-Moulin high school in Le Chesnay, near the Chateau of Versailles, where revolutionaries marched against France's absolute monarchy in 1789, said children were refusing to return to class.

"We've made a blockade because President Sarkozy wants to take a month's holiday away from us and that's why we've revolted," a 15-year-old schoolgirl told AFP, asking not to be named. Full story...

Don't miss:
  1. The French love going on vacation, the Japanese not so much...
  2. How the French measure happiness...
  3. The parents that unschool their children...
  4. Three-year-olds being labelled bigots by teachers...
  5. Facebook 'encourages children to spread gossip and insults'

Zambia's presidential election was an anti-China referendum?

On the eve of Zambia's presidential elections last week, one of the most common tropes about the vote was to describe it as a referendum on China. For a long time now, Zambia has been at the leading edge of China's drive to expand its relations with the continent. Chinese have migrated to Zambia by the thousands, setting themselves up in mining, farming, commerce and small industry.

Although China is a latecomer to Zambia's decades-old copper industry, it has quickly established itself as an ambitious rival to "traditional" mining partners like Australia and South Africa. As almost everywhere in Africa these days, Chinese contractors are building highways, dams, and other large infrastructure projects. Zambia even boasts two Chinese-built special economic zones, and has recently allowed banking in the Chinese renminbi instead of the kwacha, dollar, or euro to facilitate trade with China.

But these are not the only developments that have set Zambia apart, or at least placed it ahead of the pack in terms of observable trends in its relations with China. Zambia was one of the first African countries where the role of China and of Chinese people in the country became an explicit and potent political issue. During the campaigning for elections in 2006 and 2008, the now-newly elected leader, Michael Sata, made a sport of baiting China, calling its businesspeople in the country "profiteers," not investors, and denouncing Chinese for "bringing in their own people to push wheelbarrows instead of hiring local people." Full story...

Don't miss:
  1. Chinese owners shoot 11 workers in Zambia coal mine... 
  2. Has Zimbabwe become a Chinese colony? 
  3. China in Africa: tension in Senegal... 
  4. How China is transforming Africa! 
  5. Chinese firms in Zimbabwe abusing workers...
  6. China in Africa; certainly NOT a love affair...
  7. Mugabe's blood diamond mine run by Chinese Red Army... 

The aftermath of NATO bombing a school in Sirte, Libya (Extremely graphic)

From Chennai, the sari with a pocket ... for cell-phones!!!

In Chennai, even as the young have switched to jeans and skirts in the name of modernity and comfort, the sari still remains the preferred attire for many. The silk sari is reserved for those special occasions (like weddings) when it is worth even bearing the terrible Chennai heat to flaunt that latest design.

And for that practical touch, enter the sari with a pocket – pre-stitched and embroidered, appearing just below the waist on the left – that can carry a mobile phone or even the stray iPod or lipstick. Indeed, that’s what the television ad for the pocket sari shows, ending with the smart slim woman walking away, dumping her frumpy old handbag behind.

These pocket saris, which begin at 4,000 rupees, were a sensation when they were introduced by the popular Sri Kumaran Stores in the T. Nagar neighborhood of Chennai. More + pictures...

Don't miss:
  1. Wow! I would love to do a Google search on her saree!!!
  2. Mallika Sherawat's dress has caused "mental agony" to the people of Tamil Nadu!!
  3. Village in India bans jeans for girls!!!
  4. Male colleague in India punches teacher for not wearing sari...
  5. Hindu fanatics beating up "indecent" girls in India! WTF!
  6. More mobile phones than toilets!!! India's sanitation crisis...

Australian court puts Lebanese teen on airport watch list to prevent forced marriage...

A 16-YEAR-OLD girl has been placed on a nationwide airport watch list to stop her being sent to Lebanon against her will for an arranged marriage.

In what a magistrate has called an ''act of great bravery'', the girl sought a court order to stop her parents taking her out of Australia to marry a man she has met only once.

The girl, who cannot be named, approached the Legal Aid Commission in Sydney after her parents organised the wedding despite her saying she did not want to marry the man.
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In the Federal Magistrates Court yesterday, magistrate Joe Harman granted an ex parte application and placed the girl on the PACE Alert system at all points of departure from Australia to prevent her parents spiriting her out of the country. Full story...

Don't miss:
  1. 14-year-old girl banned from leaving Australia to prevent forced marriage...
  2. Girl in India refuses to marry, father and brother burn her alive... 
  3. Tamil father in Toronto ran down teen daughter in attempted "honour" killing...
  4. Teen girl electrocuted by relatives in Pakistan honour killing...
  5. 'My cousin wanted me for a passport'
  6. Muslim peer condemns cousin marriages in Britain...
  7. When Afghan wives are burnt, raped or stoned...
  8. Pakistani woman in Italy killed by husband for refusing daughter's arranged marriage...

Scottish woman wakes up with an Italian accent...

A Glaswegian grandmother has started speaking with an Italian accent after suffering a stroke, despite never having visited the country.

When Debbie McCann, 48, had a minor stroke in November last year, she was left with a voice she didn't recognise.

She has since been diagnosed with Foreign Accent Syndrome, an extremely rare medical condition where a person starts speaking in a different accent due to a brain injury, stroke or migraine.

 Just 60 people on the planet are affected by the condition when has left Debbie sounding more Botticelli than Braveheart. Full story...

Don't miss:
  1. Unusual illnesses: Curiouser and curiouser...
  2. British woman with migraine wakes up with French accent!!!
  3. Croatian girl wakes from coma speaking fluent German, but no Croatian!!!
  4. Kids in Chennai, India being coached to speak with American and British accents...
  5. The English language in 24 accents!!! Hilarious...

Thursday, September 29, 2011

What is the true cost of the war in Afghanistan?

"I am English teach"

A couple of years ago I was on a mini bus on Vietnam's Cat Ba Island, a popular tourist spot near Ha Long Bay. I got talking to the woman next to me. "What you do?"

"I'm a journalist... ah, nha bao," I said. "What about you?"

"I am English teach," she replied.

She taught in a primary school and said this was one of her first times speaking with a foreigner. English is mandatory in primary schools in Vietnam, though people begin learning at different ages in different parts of the country. All students have to learn it, but unless they receive extra tuition—or are exceptionally talented—few can speak it fluently. Full story...

Don't miss:
  1. Proficiency in English around the world. Scandinavian countries are tops... 
  2. When Miss Indonesia speaks in English...
  3. French is booming in English-speaking Africa...
  4. Stephen Fry on words and language...
  5. A look at that great English word "Fuck..."
  6. Is English about to replace Hindi as India's major language? 

Human A.T.M. teaches rural India about banking...

Time was, banks employed armies of human tellers. Later, they replaced many of them with automated teller machines. Now, India is using a hybrid of the two — the human A.T.M. — to expand banking to its vast rural population.

Swati Yashwant, a 29-year-old mother of one, is part of a growing legion of roving tellers intent on providing bank accounts to the nearly 50 percent of India’s 300 million households that do not have them. Using a laptop computer, wireless modem and fingerprint scanner, Ms. Yashwant opens accounts, takes deposits and processes money transfers for farmers and migrant workers in this small town 70 miles south of Mumbai, India’s financial capital.

 To reduce the risk of robbery or theft, no transaction by law may exceed 10,000 rupees (about $212). And in practice, many amount to no more than a dollar or two. But with the bulk of India’s population living in villages that have never had a bank branch, Ms. Yashwant, with her electronic devices, is a missionary of financial modernity. Full story...

Don't miss:
  1. The man who taught Indian villagers how to deal with money...
  2. From no doctor to e-doctors in rural India...
  3. Simple solutions to big problems: it's in your hands...
  4. The typewriter lives on in India...
  5. The Question Box, rural India's Oracle...
  6. Midwives on motorbikes spread sex sense in Cambodia...
  7. The "infoladies" of Bangladesh!!! Cool...

US flags in demand... so they can be burned!

It is five years since a stationer in Rawalpindi came up with the bright idea of printing flags for political demonstrations.

Not Pakistani flags to be waved in celebration, but Danish flags to be burned in anger at blasphemous cartoons.

Since then, Syed Mohammed Hussain has seen his one-off experiment turn into a profitable little sideline as he produces American and Israeli flags to order.

 This week brought fresh demand for the Stars and Stripes with a wave of demonstrations against American allegations that Pakistan was using an Afghan insurgent group to wage a proxy war against US forces. Full story...

Don't miss:
  1. Student prevented from burning US flag. 
  2. Naked model in trouble for using country's flag as a saddle... 
  3. The man whose face is a flag!!! 
  4. Anger over French flag used as bum-wiper... 
  5. Singapore condemns Asian Games swimming trunks!!! 

"That idiot in Brussels" storms out of live TV debate...

The Pakistani actress that took on a mufti...

In her socially conservative country, moralizing against figures like Malik - an actress, model and reality TV star - can seem as routine as the call to prayer. All the more reason, then, for shock when she responded to religious critics by taking on Muslim clerics themselves, some of whom she said "rape the children they teach in their mosques, and do so much more", adding, "Since you have set up a court here, I demand that the court dispense justice."

But this was no courtroom. The venue was a TV studio in Lahore, where a shouting match erupted between the brazen 27-year-old and a respected white-haired cleric named Mufti Abdul Qavi.

 Moments earlier, Qavi had admonished Malik to examine her conscience for her behavior on a popular Indian reality TV show, telling her she had "disgraced Pakistan, as well as Islam". Qavi later admitted he had never watched Malik's show.

 The debate over Malik's moral obligations had millions of Pakistanis glued to their television sets. The sheer audacity of an actress openly challenging a religious figure left many thunderstruck. Full story...

Don't miss:
  1. Pakistani actress Veena Malik takes on Islamic scholar...  
  2. Death threats for actress who ‘shamed’ Pakistan...
  3. 'These death threats won't make me flee', says Sherry Rehman...
  4. Pakistan, blasphemy and the tale of two women with balls...
  5. Pakistani schoolgirls practicing French kissing!!! 
  6. Bollywood vs. Bin Laden: Why radical Islam fears pop culture...
  7. More Pakistani teens choosing gay and lesbian sex...
  8. Man in Pakistan kills 6 daughters for "honour..." 

Bahrain sentences doctors and nurses who treated protestors to lengthy jail terms...

Bahrain's special security court on Thursday sentenced a protester to death for killing a policeman, and gave doctors and nurses who had treated injured protesters during the country's uprising earlier this year lengthy prison sentences, a lawyer said.

Attorney Mohsen al-Alawi said the tribunal, set up during Bahrain's emergency rule, convicted and sentenced 13 medical professionals each to 15 years in prison. In addition, two doctors were sentenced to 10 years each while seven other medics convicted on Thursday got shorter prison terms of 5 years each.

Thursday's harsh sentences suggest the Sunni authorities in the Gulf kingdom will not relent in pursing and punishing those they accuse of supporting the Shiite-led opposition and participating in dissent that has roiled the tiny island nation. Full story...

Don't miss:
  1. 'Bahrain royal family tortures detainees'
  2. Bahrain state terror continues...
  3. Bahraini female doctors recount detention 'horror'
  4. Bahrain: torture in hospitals and attacks on innocent people...(Graphic)
  5. Bahrain hospital attack: Doctors physically abused and humiliated... 
  6. Syrian pianist protests in US, family in Syria gets beaten up...

"Stupidest burglars" in Switzerland caught making kebabs!!!

A shame-faced dad has dubbed his son "one of the stupidest burglars in Switzerland" after the young man broke into a takeaway with two friends to make kebabs and drink spirits following a night out on the town.

The trio from Syria, Croatia and Serbia, aged between 18 and 22, were caught in the act by police and are behind bars for breaking in not once but twice over the course of the same evening to a kebab shop in Hochdorf in central Switzerland.

First the men broke in and entered the establishment to quickly steal beer and cigarettes. When they became peckish later on, the friends repeated the raid to have their fill of free alcohol and food, Blick newspaper reported.

The double burglars climbed into the kebab shop through the air-conditioning vent and brazenly stayed there for a few hours. Full story...

Don't miss:
  1. Mangez du Kebab!! Cool! 
  2. History's most pathetic burglary of a sex shop!!! 
  3. Burglar steals laptop and posts his photo on victim's Facebook page!!! 
  4. Burglar steals kid's stuff, says thank you via Facebook!!!
  5. Burglar killed goldfish because he didn’t want any witnesses!!!
  6. Burglars snort man's ashes, thought it was cocaine!!!
  7. Burglar leaves phone at crime scene, texts police to ask for it back!!!
  8. Cannibals in Russia eat victim and sell remaining body parts to kebab shop... 

A decade on for the 'American Taliban', John Walker Lindh...


The television images of the bedraggled and bewildered young American detained in Afghanistan months after 9/11 were beamed across the world. They were seared into the consciousness of the country which quickly came to know him as the "American Taliban".

On a quiet suburban street in Mill Valley, a prosperous town a few miles north of San Francisco, the Islamic Centre is slowly emptying after holding Friday prayers.

Once the crowds have gone, Abdullah Nana recounts how over a decade ago a white teenager turned up, confused and looking for answers. "He was at a crossroads at that time. He was unsure of his direction in this world. It seemed that Islam and religion was a way for him to spiritually fulfil himself."

Mr Nana says he quickly became friends with the 16-year-old who converted to Islam and soon set himself the daunting task of learning Arabic and memorising the Koran. Full story...

Don't miss:
  1. The persecution of "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh...
  2. Top US legal scholars condemn Bradley Manning's inhuman treatment...
  3. Troy Davis: a legal lynching...
  4. The Agony of the Usual Suspects...
  5. Aafia Siddiqui : a grievous miscarriage of justice...
  6. The persecution of John Demjanjuk... 
  7. Irom Sharmila: in India,11-year hunger strike against military violence largely ignored... 

Australia woos Chinese tourists, especially their checkbooks!!!

As Europe grapples with Greece and the U.S. struggles to create jobs, Australia's economy is soaring, driving the Australian dollar to historic heights against the U.S. dollar — something unthinkable a decade ago when Sydney hosted the 2000 Olympics. But a strong Australian dollar has not been good for tourism. In the past 10 years, tourism revenue has shrunk from 3.4% of Australia's GDP to 2.6%. The number of people flocking to Australian shores has also dropped steadily since the Olympics; according to the most recent statistics available, international arrivals were down 2.5% in July 2011from July 2010. Tourism officials realize they have a problem. In an effort to promote the country last year, a number of government and tourism bodies spent nearly $5 million to bring Oprah Down Under to tape her show. It didn't exactly work. Evidently, even Oprah's magic touch has its limits.

But there's another possible solution a little closer to home: China. The statistics speak for themselves. The Chinese are the fastest-growing tourism group in the world, with approximately 57.4 million people traveling overseas last year. Chinese tourists are now Australia's third largest market for inbound visitors, but most importantly, its fastest growing one. Within the last year, the number of visitors from the mainland has surged by 23%, contributing $3.26 billion to the economy. Australia's main tourism board, Tourism Australia, estimates that in a decade, Chinese tourists could triple their spending, pumping up to $9 billion per year into the economy. Full story...

Don't miss:
  1. What do China's wealthy desire most? To get out of China... 
  2. Rich Chinese buying up houses in Europe...
  3. Maternity tourism: Chinese women deliberately having babies in the US...
  4. Swiss tourism targets wealthy Asians...
  5. "Sin-City" Singapore transforms into a gambling hot spot...
  6. Grumpy Spaniards told to smile to lure tourists... 

UK has worst quality of life in Europe...

The UK has been named the worst place to live in Europe for quality of life, behind countries with damaged economies such as Ireland and Italy, according to the latest uSwitch quality of life index.

The UK emerged as having the second lowest hours of sunshine a year, the fourth highest retirement age, and the third lowest spend on health as a percentage of GDP.

Despite above average household income – the fourth highest in Europe – Britons have 5.5 fewer days holiday a year than the European average and endure a below average government spend on education.

UK households also struggle with a high cost of living, with food and diesel prices the highest in Europe, and unleaded petrol, alcohol and cigarettes all costing more than the European average. Full story...

Don't miss:
  1. Britain and Ireland the worst places to live in Europe... 
  2. Why France is best place to live in the world...
  3. Is the French health system the best in the world?
  4. Eating and sleeping: the French do it best...
  5. The world's happiest countries?
  6. Australia and Canada surpass Europe with most livable cities...

Refusing to kill gang-raped daughter, Pakistani family defies tradition, faces anger...

Kainat Soomro is a 17-year-old Pakistani girl who has become a local celebrity of sorts in her battle for justice in the Pakistani courts, a daring move for a woman of any age in this country, let alone a teenager.

She is fighting to get justice for a gang rape that she insists happened four years ago in Mehar, a small town in Pakistan.

We first met her in the office of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. A colorful traditional Pakistani shawl covered her head. Her father sat next to her as she recounted the 2007 incident.

"I was walking home from my school and I went to the store to buy a toy for my niece," she said, staring at the floor of the office. "While I was looking at things a guy pressed a handkerchief on my nose. I fainted and was kidnapped. Then four men gang raped me." Full story...

Don't miss:
  1. Honour killing madness in India's Punjab... 
  2. Crimes against women up by 18 percent in Pakistan...
  3. Rape, mutilation: Pakistan's tribal justice for women...
  4. Man in Pakistan kills 6 daughters for "honour..."
  5. Girl in India refuses to marry, father and brother burn her alive...
  6. Teen girl electrocuted by relatives in Pakistan honour killing...

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Police in the US brutalize and abuse the American citizen with impunity...

Catholic priest in Sri Lanka condemns Church's silence on massacres...

A Catholic priest who stayed in a government declared 'safe zone' during the last stages of war has strongly criticised the Church in Sri Lanka for being silent about the plight of trapped civilians.

In an open letter to the Pope, Fr GA Francis Joseph has blasted Church authorities for not raising its voice at a time some western countries and the UN 'voiced their dismay' at Sri Lanka government's military strategy.

"Last night's toll of the dead is 3318 and of the injured more than 4000," the letter sent on 10 May, 2009 and seen by the BBC Sinhala service, Sandeshaya stated.

"It was a barrage of artillery, mortar, multi-barrel shelling and cluster bombs, weapons which Sri Lankan government denies using on the civilians in the no fire zone," says Fr Joseph's letter to the Pope. Full story...

Don't miss:
  1. Sri Lanka's killing fields (Graphic)
  2. In Sri Lanka, a 'negative peace' prevails... 
  3. The Sri Lankan soldiers "whose hearts turned to stone..." 
  4. Footage of Sri Lankan soldiers' atrocities against Tamils (Graphic)
  5. Sri Lanka condemned over aid workers' murders...
  6. Sri Lanka’s white vans deliver fear and oppression...
  7. Sri Lanka and the Tamil genocide...

'Voting is worthless' Global protests share contempt for democracy...

From India to Israel to Spain, and even on Wall Street, demonstrators appear to have little faith in the ballot box.

Hundreds of thousands of disillusioned Indians cheer a rural activist on a hunger strike. Israel reels before the largest street demonstrations in its history. Enraged young people in Spain and Greece take over public squares across their countries.

Their complaints range from corruption to lack of affordable housing and joblessness, common grievances the world over. But from South Asia to the heartland of Europe and now even to Wall Street, these protesters share something else: wariness, even contempt, toward traditional politicians and the democratic political process they preside over.

They are taking to the streets, in part, because they have little faith in the ballot box.

“Our parents are grateful because they’re voting,” said Marta Solanas, 27, referring to older Spaniards’ decades spent under the Franco dictatorship. “We’re the first generation to say that voting is worthless.” Full story...

Don't miss:
  1. Occupy Wall Street: Media blackout on police brutality in New York...
  2. 20 reasons why young Americans are mad as hell and are giving up on...
  3. To the people of the Midddle East: copy Switzerland, not the US...
  4. The Democracy Bullshit (Must Read)
  5. The tiny dot, or how the few rule the many...
  6. Let's get rid of 'democracy'

'Islamic medicine' on the rise in Southeast Asia...

A 47-year-old housewife who recently started using Islamic medicine emerged tearfully from an exorcism, speaking of newfound tranquility after a turbulent period. Also, her abdominal pains are finally easing.

Suratmi, who suffers from an ovarian cyst, has been taking a mix of herbal medicine harking back to the dawn of Islam, as well as undergoing exorcisms at a clinic in Jakarta.

She is among a growing number of Muslims in Southeast Asia turning away from Western medical care in favor of al-Tibb al-Nabawi, or Medicine of the Prophet, a loosely defined discipline based on the Quran and other Islamic texts and traditional herbal remedies.

"I heard that so many people have been healed, so I hope Allah can help me. I followed His path here," said Suratmi, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

The Islamic medicine trend is often associated with fundamentalists who charge that Western, chemically laced prescriptions aim to poison Muslims or defile them with insulin and other medicines made from pigs. Members of terrorist groups have been involved in Islamic medicine as healers and sellers, while some clinics are used as recruiting grounds for Islamist causes. Full story...

Don't miss:
  1. Indonesians turn to "railway therapy" to cure illness...
  2. Islam takes root in land of mini-bikinis and Carnival...
  3. Indonesian film "Question mark" stirs religious controversy...
  4. Saudi men flocking to Indonesia for "halal sex"
  5. Italian company creates halal mozzarella...
  6. Israeli Muslim sues Coca Cola for containing alcohol...

Femen topless women in Ukraine protest against UEFA...



The pro-active Ukrainian women's movement FEMEN have staged a topless protest against what they say are UEFA’s plans to turn economically weak Ukraine into a destination for sex tourists from around the globe.

Ukraine is to co-host Euro 2012 together with Poland next summer, but FEMEN see nothing good in a major football tournament coming to their country.

Four of the movement’s activists shouted slogans like “Ukraine is a brothel" and "Euro 2012 without prostitution” and performed a fake self-immolation as part of the “Euro Burn” action in front of the Olympiysky stadium in Kiev, which is to host the European Championship’s final game on July 1, 2012.

They were planning to meet with European football boss, Michel Platini, who is currently on a visit to Ukraine, but were arrested before the official’s arrival. Full story...

Don't miss:
  1. Topless Femen protest in Ukraine...
  2. Femen naked support for Saudi women drivers...
  3. Breast-seller: New Yorkers found topless reading club!!!
  4. Taiwanese singer Lee Mi strips to protest nuclear power...
  5. FIFA, the FA, Blatter and Qatar's World Cup...

Christian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani faces death for apostasy in Iran...

I wrote the other day about Troy Davis, a man who faced the death penalty in America. Hours after I wrote it, he was killed. I maintain it was an appalling and brutal act, whether he was innocent or guilty. But in the coming days, another man will probably be executed. He is definitely guilty of the crime of which he is accused. He admits it. But the fact that it is a crime at all would, if it were not so tragic, be almost funny.

Youcef Nadarkhani, a Christian pastor in Iran, stands accused of apostasy. His "crime" – forgive the sarcastic quotes – is having once been Muslim, but now being Christian: from turning from one monotheistic Abrahamic religion which recognises Jesus Christ as a holy figure, to another monotheistic Abrahamic religion which recognises Jesus Christ as a holy figure. He has been asked three times to recant his beliefs, but has refused. If he refuses a fourth time, he could be executed at any time; he will be asked again today, and could die tomorrow.

This is, of course, against international law, for what little that means. More surprisingly, it is also apparently against Iranian law: Pastor Nadarkhani was not, it seems, a practising Muslim before he converted to Christianity, so there is no apostasy. One Iranian court ruled that this meant he was innocent; the Supreme Court, however, decided that because he has Muslim ancestry, he remains guilty. On such utterly fatuous threads a man's life hangs. Full story...

Don't miss:
  1. Two women in Iran risk death for converting to Christianity...
  2. Five Christians to face trial for blasphemy in Iran...
  3. Iran hangs man who claimed to be God...
  4. Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi jailed for 11 years... 
  5. Malaysian 'teapot cult' woman can't leave Islam to avoid jail...  
  6. Kidnapped Christian girl in Sudan escapes after being raped and beaten...
  7. Hindu couple in India harassed for adopting Muslim girl...
  8. Christians face fresh attacks in Egypt...

Facebook admits to tracking cookie, says it was a "mistake." Really?

Facebook has admitted that it has been watching the web pages its members visit – even when they have logged out.

In its latest privacy blunder, the social networking site was forced to confirm that it has been constantly tracking its 750million users, even when they are using other sites.

The social networking giant says the huge privacy breach was simply a mistake - that software automatically downloaded to users' computers when they logged in to Facebook 'inadvertently' sent information to the company, whether or not they were logged in at the time.

Most would assume that Facebook stops monitoring them after they leave its site, but technology bloggers discovered this was not the case.

In fact, data has been regularly sent back to the social network’s servers – data that could be worth billions when creating 'targeted' advertising based on the sites users visit. Full story...

Don't miss:
  1. Blogger accuses Facebook of cookie abuse... 
  2. Details of 100m Facebook users leaked and published...
  3. Facebook facial recognition technology sparks renewed privacy concerns...
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  5. Facebook selling your data to advertisers...
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  8. Privacy? What privacy? Teacher loses job because of Facebook photo... 

Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi jailed for 11 years...

A prominent Iranian human rights activist who was taken seriously ill after being detained by the authorities has been sentenced to 11 years in jail.

Narges Mohammadi, 39, the deputy head of Iran's Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC), a rights organisation presided over by the Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi, was picked up last year by security officials who raided her house in middle of the night without a warrant for her arrest.

She was taken to Tehran's Evin prison where she was kept in solitary confinement but was released after a month and taken to hospital.

Mohammadi, a mother of two and winner of the 2009 Alexander Langer award for her human rights activities, has since developed an undiagnosed epilepsy-like disease which causes her to lose control over her muscles temporarily duringthe day. Full story...

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Syrian pianist protests in US, family in Syria gets beaten up...

Sirte civilians accuse NATO of genocide...

CIVILIANS pouring out of the besieged city of Sirte accused NATO of committing genocide yesterday as revolutionary forces reinforced their numbers and prepared for a new attack on Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's home town.

Long lines of civilian vehicles were seen leaving after a night punctuated by NATO air attacks. Forces fighting for the National Transitional Council (NTC) added their own artillery and mortar rounds at regular intervals.

Civilians, many looking scared or sullen, said that conditions inside Sirte were "disastrous". They made claims which, if verified, offer a conundrum for Nato, which operates with a UN mandate on the need to protect civilian life.

"It has been worse than awful," said Riab Safran, 28, as his car was searched by revolutionary fighters. His family had been sleeping on the beach, he said.

"They have hit all kinds of buildings: schools, hospitals," he said, referring to NATO airstrikes. Full story...

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  8. NATO air strike kills children in Libyan hospital (Graphic) 

"Gaddafi Stadium" in Pakistan to be renamed?

Muammar Gaddafi was many things to many people during his brutal 42-year rule: self-styled brotherly leader to the Libyan people, dictator and madman in a golf buggy.

It seems doubtful though the Libyan leader was ever much of a cricket fan.

However, his downfall has left cricket-mad Pakistan with a rather sensitive problem – what to do with the Muammar Gaddafi Stadium, amid a growing online campaign to rename the 60,000 seat ground.

 "Gaddafi Stadium is the home of the Pakistan Cricket Board and the site of the final of the 1996 World Cup for a reason: it is simply the best that Pakistan cricket has to offer," wrote columnist Farooq Tirmizi, kick-starting the campaign with a blog on a newspaper website. Full story...

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More than 7,200 Indian Jews to immigrate to Israel...

The Israeli government is expected to approve the long awaited 'aliyah' (immigration) of more than 7,200 Indian Jews from the north-eastern states of Manipur and Mizoram in the coming weeks, a media report said.

The decision to allow the last members of the "lost" Bnei Menashe tribe to immigrate to Israel is being greeted with excitement by local Evangelical Christian groups, who view it as fulfillment of Biblical prophecy and who have pledged financial support for the move, 'The Jerusalem Post' daily reported.

The ministerial committee on immigration and absorption, headed by foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman, decided, about three months ago, "in principle" to bring the remaining 7,232 members of the northeastern Indian community to the Jewish state. Full story...

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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Occupy Wall Street: Media blackout on police brutality in New York...

Saudi woman to get 10 lashes for driving a car...

Saudi activists say a court has sentenced a Saudi woman with 10 lashes for defying the kingdom's ban on women driving.

Activist Samar Badawi says Shaima Ghassaniya was found guilty Tuesday of driving without the government's permission.

No laws prohibit women from driving, but conservative religious edicts have banned it.

The ruling comes just two days after Saudi King Abdullah announced that, for the first time, women have the right to vote and run in the country's 2015 local elections.

Najalaa Harriri, who is also facing court for driving, told The Associated Press she needed to drive to take better care of her children.

Tuesday's verdict is the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia. Other women were detained for several days, but had not been sentenced by a court. Source...

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20 reasons why young Americans are mad as hell and are giving up on the US economy...

The American Dream is becoming the American Nightmare...

Millions upon millions of young Americans have completely lost faith in the U.S. economy and are mad as hell that their economic futures have been destroyed. The recent economic downturn has hit those under the age of 30 the hardest. Today, there are hordes of young people that should be entering their most productive years that are sitting home with nothing to do. Many of them have worked incredibly hard throughout high school and college. Many of them have stayed out of trouble and have done everything that "the system" asked them to do. But once they got finished with school, the promised "rewards" simply were not there. Instead, millions of young Americans are faced with crushing student loan debt loads in an economy where they can't find good jobs. When you are in your twenties, it can be absolutely soul-crushing to send out hundreds (or even thousands) of resumes and not get a single interview. Most of us grew up believing that we would "be something" when we got older, and millions of young Americans are having those dreams brutally crushed right now. Americans under the age of 30 voted for Barack Obama in droves back in 2008 because they believed that he would make things better. Instead, Barack Obama has made things even worse. Significant numbers of young Americans are starting to wake up and realize that neither political party is providing any real answers, and they are starting to get mad as hell about it. Full story...

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Teenage girl dies in Japan 'exorcism' ritual...

A 13-year-old girl suffocated after she was strapped down and doused with water by her father and a monk who were trying to expel an "evil spirit", Japanese police said Tuesday.

Fifty-six-year-old monk Kazuaki Kinoshita and the girl's 50-year-old father Atsushi Maishigi were accused of what police described as "waterfall service": strapping the victim Tomomi Maishigi to a chair and dousing her face with water.

News reports said the two men poured water over her as an "exorcism" with the father holding the girl down while the monk chanted sutras.

Miss Maishigi's mother called an ambulance after her daughter fell unconscious, but it was too late. She was confirmed dead early the next morning.

 "The cause of death is suffocation," the police official said. Full story...

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Buddhist nuns embrace the power of kung fu...



A Buddhist monastery near Kathmandu is enjoying a surge in popularity after its spiritual leader directed its 300 nuns to use martial arts techniques.

Enrolment is rising and Buddhist nuns as far afield as the Himachal Pradesh in India want to become kung fu instructors.

The Druk Gawa Khilwa (DGK) nunnery near the Nepalese capital teaches its nuns a mixture of martial arts and meditation as a means of empowering the young women. In Buddhism, like many religions, the voices of women have traditionally been muted. But the leader of the 800-year-old Drukpa – or Dragon – order, to which DGK belongs, is determined to change all that.

"As a young boy growing up in India and Tibet I observed the pitiful condition in which nuns lived," says His Holiness the Gyalwang Drukpa, the spiritual head of the Drukpas.

"They were considered second-class while all the privileges went to monks. I wanted to change this." Full story...

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Canadian throws 4,800 bottles with messages out to sea, gets 3,100 replies!!!

Over the last two decades, Harold Hackett has sent out over 4,800 messages in a bottle from Prince Edward Island, Canada's smallest province along the Atlantic coastline.

Every message asks for the finder to send a response back to Hackett, and since 1996 he has received over 3,100 responses from all over the world.

In this First Person account, Hackett talks about the items people have sent him and the unexpected side effects from his hobby. Watch video...

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Land grabs in Southern China trigger 3 days of riots...

Thousands of residents in two Southern Chinese townships took to the streets last week over unfair land expropriation. These types of conflicts have become very common throughout China with increased numbers of villagers being forced off their land by real estate developers and local officials who turn the land for huge profits.

The initial protest on Sept. 21 in Wukan was triggered when villagers learned that one of the last pieces of the villagers' land had been sold to a developer and construction work was about to begin. Angry villagers gathered in a square to demand that authorities disclose accounting detail of the land transactions within three days.

 Villagers have accused village officials of secretly selling their land. They estimated that more than 700 million yuan (US$109 million) of land compensation money has been embezzled in the past four years, according to Voice of America. Full story...

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