MFS - The Other News

                      Afternoon Posting.

• Kazakh prisoners self-mutilate as a form of protest.Kazakh authorities are indifferent to inhuman conditions in prisons and widespread torture by guards. For European observers, gross violations of basic human rights are commonplace. The UN rapporteur found the same thing last year.More than 100 Kazakh inmates have inflicted wounds on their own bodies, sending pictures to media via mobile phones to protest against the inhuman treatment they receive in prison, this according to Tanja Niemeier, a member of a delegation led by European MO Joe Higgins that met some former prisoners in September. Sadly, self-mutilation “is the only way they have of protesting at the desperate conditions they face,” she told the Inter Press Service agency.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Video : Chile Miners Rescue LIVE !

• Synod: difficult, but essential, dialogue for peaceful coexistence with Islam.The first interventions by Middle Eastern bishops highlight the need for dialogue with Muslims, the urgency of civil rights, including freedom of religion, the duty of the communion between the Christian Churches, and in first place among Catholics, the importance of formation.Archbishop Louis Sako, archbishop of Kirkuk, Iraq, stressed the need for a serious commitment to dialogue with Muslims. "Without dialogue with them there will no be peace or stability.We want to live in peace and liberty instead of just surviving". Likening coexistence between Christians and Muslims to a "glass half full"As for the Muslims, the majority, "they must give a place to their Christian fellow citizens. Not just a presence in society, but in the building of society and also of its leadership.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• UPDATE 1-Microsoft issues its biggest-ever security fix.Microsoft addresses record 49 flaws in its software.* Affects Windows, Internet Explorer, Office.* Fixes vulnerability exploited by Stuxnet virus (Adds details on Stuxnet virus, comments from researcher).Microsoft said four of the new patches -- software updates that write over glitches -- were of the highest priority and should be deployed immediately to protect users from potential criminal attacks on the Windows operating systems.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Germany seeks release of 'journalists' held in Iran.German Chancellor Angela Merkel says her government wants to secure the release of two foreigners arrested in Iran - believed to be German reporters.Iran said on Monday it had held two "foreign nationals" who it said were activists posing as reporters.The pair had been interviewing the son of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, 43, who has been sentenced to death by stoning.It is thought Ms Ashtiani's son Sajjad and her lawyer may also have been arrested."They were arrested because they had a link to a foreign anti-revolution network and their case is under review," said Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast, adding the two were arrested in the north-western city of Tabriz.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Poll: 76% of American Jews think Arabs want to destroy Israel.51% of U.S. Jews approve of the way Obama is handling his job - a 6% drop since March; 95% think that the Palestinians should recognize Israel as a Jewish state in any peace settlement.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Iran State Television: Where Beer Becomes Lemonade.Hmmm....i heard of something of the kind but it was water and wine.Iranian state television has aired Michael Moore’s documentary “Capitalism: A Love Story,” with Iranian media reporting that some of the dialogue and narration in the documentary was changed.The website Kalame quotes the Iranian daily ”Tehran Emrooz” as reporting that Moore said things in the version of the documentary aired on state television that the real Michael Moore “would never have thought of."I didn’t know how, by writing about dogs, that I had disrupted public opinion. The headline of my story said: "Four Dogs Worth $600,000 To Protect Ahmadinejad," and they would say that that was insulting Ahmadinejad’s security team.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Canada drops UN council bid; Germany, India win ,Portugal wins in uncontested third round of voting; Germany, India, South Africa, Colombia win council seats.Canada withdrew on Tuesday from the race for a seat on the prestigious UN Security Council, conceding victory to Portugal in the annual election in the General Assembly.Earlier on Tuesday, the 192-nation assembly elected Germany, India, South Africa and Colombia to two-year seats on the UN Security Council, while Canada and Portugal moved on to a second round of voting.After the votes for Canada dropped from 114 in the first round of secret ballots to 78 in the second round, Canadian UN Ambassador John McNee announced that his country would withdraw, enabling Portugal to win in an uncontested third round.Canada may send it's sons to die on the Battlefield but can't get a seat on the UN council?Revenge for not giving a certain country landing rights?Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:TheNewEnglishReview.Ayaan Hirsi Ali On The Trial Of Geert Wilders.Imagine if a leader within the tea party movement were able to persuade its members to establish a third political party. Imagine he succeeded—overwhelmingly—and that as their leader he stood a real chance of winning the presidency. Then imagine that in anticipation of his electoral victory, the Democrats and Republicans quickly modified an existing antidiscrimination law so that he could be convicted for statements he made on the campaign trail.All of this seems impossible in a 21st-century liberal democracy. But it is exactly what is happening in Holland to Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders.The implications of this trial are enormous. In the short term, it could bring the simmering tensions between Holland's approximately one million Muslims and the 1.4 million voters who elected Mr. Wilders to a boil. The Netherlands has seen its share of Islamist violence before and could well see violent confrontations again.On a more fundamental level, this trial—even if Mr. Wilders wins—could silence the brave critics of radical Islam. The West is in a war of ideas against political Islam. If free speech is not protected in Europe, we're already losing.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Iran, Pakistan Among Worst In Gender Equality Report.The Global Gender Gap Report for 2010 examines the status of women under four broad headings. They are: economic opportunity, educational attainment, political empowerment, and health and survival.By this rubric, the Nordic countries have the fewest inequalities for their female citizens. Iceland tops the whole survey, followed by Norway, Finland and Sweden.By the same measures, two countries which are doing notably badly are Iran and Pakistan. Iran occupies 123rd place, only 11 spots from the bottom of the list.Pakistan shows a broadly similar picture. It occupies 132rd place on the list -- just two places from the end.Yemen is the lowest-performing country on the index Read the full story here and here.Click here for comments.

• HT:SheikYermani.Geert Wilders vs the Dutch Inquisition.Find Wilders not guilty of insulting groups, prosecutors tell court.Anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders should be found not guilty of insulting Muslims and non-western immigrants as a group, the public prosecution department said at the MP’s trial on Tuesday.By likening the Koran to Hitler’s Mein Kampf, Wilders was focusing on Islam and the Koran, rather than Muslims, even if the statement can be considered upsetting, the public prosecutors said during court hearings in Amsterdam.In addition, there can only be talk of collective insult when a statement damages the entire group, the prosecutors said.AMSTERDAM — Prosecutors say Dutch politician Geert Wilders cannot defend himself on hate speech charges by arguing that remarks he has made critical of Islam are true.They say there is no general agreement about the nature of Islam and his statements are only his opinion….Prosecutor Birgit van Roessel said at the start of her closing arguments Tuesday that the right to freedom of speech has limits, including when it infringes too far on the right of freedom of religion…."There are all kinds of fights over what is a religion and what isn't," said Charles Haynes, a senior scholar at the First Amendment Center. "Islam is not one of them."Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Second court case against Geert Wilders anti-Islam MP.Dutch MP Geert Wilders, who is on trial in Amsterdam for inciting hatred and discrimination against Muslims, has been summoned by a court in The Hague as well.Local imam Fawaz Jneid is claiming 55,000 euros in damages from Mr Wilders because footage showing him was used by the MP in an anti-Qur'an propaganda movie. Terrorism Mr Wilders' 2008 film . Dutch law does not allow the use of pictures and film of people without their explicit consent.Hmmm......does Google know this?Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Staten Island man Juan Rodriguez may not get 'reward' for streaking in front of President Obama.The Staten Island knucklehead who streaked in front of President Obama in a wacky $1 million dare may be getting a raw deal.British billionaire Alki David was balking Monday at paying Juan Rodriguez, 24, the cash prize for his commando-in-chief stunt Sunday in Philadelphia."It's still not confirmed," David, 42, told the Daily News on Monday. "Whether he was in earshot and eyesight of the President is what's being debated right now."He said it was not clear if Obama even noticed Rodriguez dashing through the massive outdoor crowd in his birthday suit with the name of David's website, Battlecam.com, written on his chest.In August, David promised $1 million cash to the first person who streaked in front of Obama with the website printed on his body and while shouting "Battlecam.com" six times."Apparently, there is a law in Pennsylvania where someone isn't able to profit from an illegal act," said David, citing another likely obstacle to Rodriguez collecting the jackpot.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:NewsRealBlog.Is Jihad Winning in Holland and America? An Interview with Abigail R. Esman.Holland is on my mind right now, partly because Geert Wilders is, unbelievably, still on trial for the “thought crime” of telling the truth about Islamic jihad but partly because a new study has just been released which shows that half the victims of honor-related violence in Holland (this means Muslim girls and women) who sought shelter through the social service network, Fier Fryslan, were also sexually abused by their own family members. But, I am mainly thinking a lot about Holland because I recently met with and interviewed the most amazing woman, the author, Abigail R. Esman, who has just published a very important book, Radical State: How Jihad Is Winning Over Democracy in the West.Esman is American-born, but she has lived in Holland for the last 20 years. She is reluctant to leave—but leave she must, given that Holland has so totally failed to integrate an alarmingly separatist, radicalized, and hostile Muslim population—and given the amount of anti-Semitism that also exists there.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Jewish Center In Central Russia Vandalized Again.Anti-Semitic pictures and slogans have been found on the walls of a building housing the Jewish center in the central Russian city of Barnaul.The incident marked the second time this week that such drawings and slogans had been scrawled on the center's wall.Olga Chesnokova, deputy head of the Russian Investigative Committee's branch in Altai Krai, told RFE/RL that experts will determine whether the stenciled paintings and texts are legally punishable as extremism.Isroel Noah Kamenetsky, the chief rabbi of Altai Krai and Barnaul, attributed an "aggressive attitude" toward the Jewish community to distorted historical facts taught in Russian secondary schools. He said school textbooks frequently depict Jews as being responsible for "major problems."Hmmm....are we 2010 or 1939?Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Commonwealth Games terror threat as intelligence chiefs warn of Mumbai style attack ahead of closing ceremony.Indian intelligence warned today of a militant terrorist plot to attack Delhi on Thursday during the build-up to the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games.Officials said that new intelligence indicated that the Lashkar e Taiba group which carried out the commando-style attacks in Mumbai in 2008 were targeting attacks in the Indian capital on Thursday as 64,000 travel to the showpiece closure of the Games.The Pakistan-based terror group, which has links to both Al Qaeda and the Taliban, is believed, officials say, to be working with a militant group and in India and already to have some of its operatives in Delhi.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Democrats fear wipeout for women.While conservatives are already celebrating the “Year of the Republican Woman,” thanks to a record number of GOP female candidates for Congress, Democrats fear the opposite trend: the year of the women’s wipeout. Three Democratic women first elected to Congress in 1992 — the original “Year of the Woman” — are at risk. Nearly a quarter of the 56 female Democrats in the House are considered vulnerable, including once rising stars like Ann Kirkpatrick of Arizona, Betsy Markey of Colorado and Mary Jo Kilroy of Ohio.“This should trouble anyone who believes that a Congress should be truly representative of the people it serves,” said Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), who won a special election to replace Labor Secretary Hilda Solis last year and is the first Chinese-American elected to Congress.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• British mother forced to phone husband and beg for life before she and parents were killed in 'arranged marriage row'.A British mother was callously shot dead as she prayed at the graveside of a relative in Pakistan, her brothers said today.Tania Yousaf, 22, was forced by her killers to beg for her life in a phone call to her husband before she was gunned down with her parents Mohammed, 51, and Pervaz, 49, in May.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• The smile that defies the Taliban: Afghan teenager whose mutilated face shocked the world unveils her new image.An Afghan teenager who was horribly mutilated by her husband under Taliban rule was all smiles as she unveiled her new prosthetic nose for the first time.Aisha, 19, shocked the world when she appeared on the cover of Time Magazine to lift the veil on the plight of many women in Afghanistan.Yesterday, she bravely faced the public wearing a prosthetic nose - one that gives her some idea of how she will look after having reconstructive surgery.She went before the TV cameras to receive the Enduring Heart award at a benefit for the Grossman Burn Foundation - the Los Angeles-based organisation that paid for her surgery.She was given the award by California first lady Maria Shriver.Arnold Schwarzenegger's wife told the audience: 'This is the first Enduring Heart award given to a woman whose heart endures and who shows us all what it means to have love and to be the enduring heart.'Aisha, whose surname has not been revealed, replied: 'Thank you so much.The UN estimates that nearly 90 per cent of Afghanistan's women suffer from some sort of domestic abuse. However, the Taliban have released a statement rejecting this.'The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan rejects this fabrication by the Americans, who are publishing these lies to divert attention of the people from their clear and disgraceful defeat,' said a spokesman.'In sacred Islamic law, cutting off human ears and noses whether the human is alive or dead is illegal and prohibited.'Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• The European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (ECESG) is an anti-Israel, pro-Hamas umbrella organization which participated in the Mavi Marmara flotilla.The European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (ECESG) is an anti-Israel, pro-Hamas umbrella organization which participated in the Mavi Marmara flotilla. The ECESG is currently involved in organizing an upgraded flotilla, and in other projects to further isolate Israel, part of the campaign to delegitimize it.Read the full Story here.Click here for comments.

• Parents who fear their children will be at risk of terror attacks on school trips to London to be given 'opt-out' choice.Parents of more than 100,000 pupils will be warned their children are at risk of terrorist attacks if they go on school trips to London.Northamptonshire County Council is issuing an alert to all 349 of its secondary and primary schools.Education bosses have ordered headteachers to inform the council if they are planning any school trips to London.When parents fill in permission forms they will be told of the terror risks and given a chance to withdraw their child.'But I wonder if it might stop some parents letting their kids go. That's when the terrorists have won.'No lady there shouldn't be a danger of terrorist attacks!Read the full story here.Click here for comments.