Spain Detains 14-year-old Girl Going for Jihad in Iraq after radicalization by local Imam.

Spain Detains 14-year-old Girl Going for Jihad after radicalization by local Imam. HT: Rudaw.

BARCELONA, Spain – A 14-year-old Spanish Muslim girl was sent to a juvenile detention center after confessing she was headed for the Middle East to join the jihad.

The girl, who has not been publicly identified, was arrested last Saturday in the North African Spanish enclave of Melilla together with 19-year-old Fauzia Allal Mohamed, with whom she said she was going to join jihadists fighting in Syria and Iraq.

The El Pais newspaper reported Tuesday that while the younger girl was sent to the juvenile center, the older woman was released on bail after denying any links to jihadists.

It was the first time Spanish security forces had arrested women trying to join the jihad. Both appeared separately before Supreme Court judges on Tuesday. They were arrested while trying to cross into Morocco, en route to Iraq.

The 14-year-old, who according to her family was just an “average” schoolgirl until four months ago, started to become radicalized by the sermons of an imam at a mosque in her town, El Pais quoted sources as saying.

The girl has also told Spanish authorities that she was not the only youngster to travel from Morocco to war zones. Other girls, whose identities she has given, were to travel with her.

She said she had contacted Mohamed for help to cross the border to Morocco. Mohamed, who denied any links to terrorism, was released on bail and will have to report every week to the nearest court to her home. She is also not allowed to travel outside Spain.

The two were arrested as they were trying to cross the border into Morocco to contact the cell that had recruited them. Their aim was to be taken to a border area between Syria and Iraq to join the Islamic State (IS/ISIS), according to the Spanish Interior Ministry.

El Pais quoted police sources as saying the younger girl is from the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. She reportedly disappeared a few days ago from her home and the family had contacted police, saying they were afraid she had joined a radical Islamic organization.

Over the past few months, Spain has arrested members of three jihadist recruitment cells in Ceuta and Melilla. Seven men from Ceuta have been reported killed in Syria fighting with the Islamists.

El Pais said police suspected the two girls had been radicalized through the Internet forums.

“They were going to a certain death,” the newspaper quoted a police official as saying.

Many of the radicalized Muslim women have been inspired by 53-year-old Moroccan Fatiha Mejjati, nicknamed the ”black widow,” who had been in Afghanistan with her husband and two children during the 9/11 attacks in the United States.

After an ordeal of imprisonment and losing her husband and a child, Mejjati recently escaped from Moroccan security forces and left to join the IS in Syria. A Moroccan newspaper has reported that she has married Baghdadi’s lieutenant.Hmmmm.....Don't let it worry you, this is just a segment your Islamophobia imagination.

MFS - The Other News

                    Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity situation Indonesia 5.2 - 5.3 ; Argentina 5.0  !More info here.

• "There She Blows!" - Lamar Smith Says SOPA Markup To Resume In February.(TD).For all the talk from some that SOPA was "dead," it appears it's alive and well and getting ready for its big re-entrance. Lamar Smith has just sent out a press release saying that he intends to resume the markup in February: Stop Online Piracy Act Markup to Resume in February. Washington, D.C. - House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) today said that he expects the Committee to continue its markup of the Stop Online Piracy Act in February.Chairman Smith: "To enact legislation that protects consumers, businesses and jobs from foreign thieves who steal America's intellectual property, we will continue to bring together industry representatives and Members to find ways to combat online piracy."Due to the Republican and Democratic retreats taking place over the next two weeks, markup of the Stop Online Piracy Act is expected to resume in February."I am committed to continuing to work with my colleagues in the House and Senate to send a bipartisan bill to the White House that saves American jobs and protects intellectual property." Read the full story here.

• Related - The Internet Goes to Washington on January 18.(EFF).Security Experts and Tech Investors Scheduled to Testify; Worldwide Internet Protest GatheringThere’s some good news in the efforts to stop the Internet blacklist bills (SOPA/PIPA): Representative Darrell Issa, an outspoken SOPA critic and the author of alternative legislation called the OPEN Act, has announced that the Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hold a hearing on January 18 to hear from actual technical experts, technology job creators, Internet investors and legal scholars.EFF’s activists will be providing live coverage of the event through our EFFLive Twitter account. A number of online activists are strategizing plans for a “SOPABlackout” — “censoring” websites and logos to draw attention to the hearing and showcase the widespread opposition to the censorship bills. We’re glad to see lots of sites participating and we’re urging folks to use social networks on January 18 to help spread the word.The Oversight Committee hearing will address the topic of Domain Name Service (DNS) and search engine blocks generally, and explore ways for the government to avoid legislation that would hamper economic growth. Of course, as active and controversial legislation, SOPA and its evil twin in the Senate, the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) are certain to be discussed at length.Here’s a look at the witnesses scheduled to speak.Read the full story here.

• IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz tells NATO world needs to 'prepare for the worst'.(JPost).The world needs to “prepare for the worst” in wake of the ongoing upheaval in the Middle East due to the proliferation of weaponry throughout the world and into the hands of terrorist organizations, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz warned on Wednesday.Addressing a meeting of NATO military commanders at the western military alliance in Brussels, Gantz said that the world needed to “strengthen moderate elements and weaken the radicals.”“Only through joint work combining tough and soft power can we deter and in the long term overcome these radical elements,” Gantz said. Earlier in the day, Gantz met with the Canadian and Italian chiefs of staff.Gantz said that NATO’s decision to establish a missile defense system throughout Europe was a demonstration of the severity non-conventional weapons pose to the world.“Ballistic missile defense systems need to be the last line of defense and the initiative needs to come earlier by exhausting all of the available means to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,” he said.Read the full story here.

• Iranian Revolutionary Guard/Quds Force could be planning attack in Turkey.(TZ).Intelligence units have warned that the Quds Force, a special unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, plans to send a group to Turkey to carry out a series of demonstrations that may include a bomb attack on the Embassy or Consulate General of the United States.The Turkish Security General Directorate (EGM) has warned police departments in all 81 Turkish provinces that they must be vigilant and remain alert to the existence of such a threat. The intelligence pertaining to the possibility of such an attack was delivered in a secret letter to the information department at Turkey's General Directorate of Security. The written statement indicates that a team linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard will be sent to Turkey and that it may be planning to bomb the US embassy or consulate general in the country. The Quds Force is infamous for its role in attempting to export Iran's revolution to other countries through the instigation of chaos and by acting as the overseas branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp.A number of Iranian officials pledged revenge on Turkey last year after the country approved the establishment of the NATO defense system on its soil, with prominent military and political figures saying that Turkey would be sorry for siding with the US. Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has also frequently expressed his concern over such “provocations” that may try to see the brotherhood of Iran and Turkey, which spans centuries, fall apart.Read the full story here.

• The West is losing its battle with Islam.(VC).By Popov Veniamin.In the late 20th and early 21st century the concept of “the clash of civilizations” advanced in 1993 by Prof. Samuel Huntington, an American scholar, became one of the most broadly and emotionally discussed ideas in political and academic circles in the West and East. Huntington maintained that in the 21st century the main line of conflict will run between the West and Islam, and later between the West and the rest of the world. The Western media launched a large-scale propaganda campaign to support this theory by attempting to prove that all problems in the modern world are rooted primarily in “militant Islam,” because this religion “projects violence and terror” by its very nature and goals.After the 9/11 attacks in 2001, the United States launched wars against two Islamic states, drawing in other Western countries in its wake. This Afghan campaign is a real record-breaker, in terms of its duration (10 years), the number of troops involved (150,000) and their equipment.Officially, it was proclaimed a struggle against terrorism, primarily al-Qaeda, which had been blamed for the attack on the Twin Towers and other places on 9/11. Recently the Al-Ahram weekly called this war an “Afghan tragedy.” What was the result?Even according to the obviously underrated UN data, more than 11,000 civilians have died in the last five years of the war alone. After several years of hunting bin Laden, a powerful task force of U.S. Marines located and killed this feeble 60 year-old who had been dubbed “terrorist number one.” Al-Qaeda is far from being defeated, and it is even strengthening its positions in Yemen and Northern Africa. Meanwhile, the Taliban not only continues to control Afghanistan’s vast provinces, making inroads and staging acts of terror in its central regions and even Kabul - it is even expanding their zone of operation. This movement has been dubbed a “shadow government,” that is waiting for its time to come. Read the full story here.

• SOPA protest nears zero hour.(Politico).Internet companies and activists are hoping to join the Arab Spring and other online democracy movements by taking an estimated 7,000 websites offline Wednesday to send a message to Washington: Don’t pass a pair of anti-piracy bills.The websites that have announced plans to go dark include Wikipedia, Mozilla, Reddit and Wordpress, but some of the most visited websites are conspicuous in their absence.Google announced Tuesday that it will stop short of a blackout and instead the company plans to post a link on its iconic homepage explaining its opposition to the two arcane copyright bills that are suddenly fodder for the evening news: the Stop Online Piracy Act and PROTECT IP Act."Like many businesses, entrepreneurs and Web users, we oppose these bills because there are smart, targeted ways to shut down foreign rogue websites without asking American companies to censor the Internet,” a Google spokeswoman said in a statement. “So tomorrow we will be joining many other tech companies to highlight this issue on our U.S. homepage."Read the full story here.

• Recess appointments might not hold.(TheHill).By Alexander Bolton.Some legal experts, including those who have sided with President Obama on other constitutional issues, think there is a good chance the courts could overturn his recent recess appointments.Legal experts said courts could invalidate Obama’s appointments to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) because there is scant precedent on the issue.“It’s untested ground. If I were a judge, I could write out an opinion either way. There’s no clear precedent,” said Charles Fried, a constitutional expert at Harvard Law School who served as solicitor general under former President Reagan.Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law, said waiting until Cordray or the new NLRB appointees act would make for “a much stronger case than the one they moved last week.”“I don’t think the substitution of new labor board members vitiates the earlier action,” Tobias said. “If there’s fresh regulation adopted by Cordray as director, there’s a plausible argument that he doesn’t have the authority.”A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said the House is mulling whether to pursue legal action against Cordray and the other appointees. “We’re examining our options,” said Michael Steel. Boehner said earlier this month that he expects courts to invalidate the president’s move.“This action goes beyond the president’s authority, and I expect the courts will find the appointment to be illegitimate,” he said in a statement.Read the full story here.

• Obamacare’s Medicaid Expansion Violates Federalism.(Cato).By Ilya Shapiro.Today Cato filed its second Supreme Court amicus brief in the Obamacare litigation, on the issue of whether the health care law’s Medicaid expansion is a proper exercise of the Constitution’s Spending Clause.That is, states must now accept a comprehensive reorganization of Medicaid or forfeit all federal Medicaid funding—even though the spending power is circumscribed to preserve a distinction between what is local and what is national. If Congress is allowed to attach conditions to spending that the states cannot refuse in order to achieve an objective it could not outright mandate, the local/national distinction that is so central to federalism will be erased.Joining the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, Pacific Legal Foundation, Rep. Denny Rehberg (chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health & Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies), and Kansas Lt. Gov. Jeffrey Colyer (also a practicing physician) we argue that, in requiring states to accept onerous conditions on federal funds that it could not impose directly, the government has exceeded its enumerated powers and violated basic principles of federalism.California is at risk of losing $25.6 billion in annual federal funding, for example, and together the states stand to lose more than a quarter trillion dollars annually. On average, states would have to increase their general revenue budgets by almost 40% in order to maintain their current level of Medicaid funding.In short, if Obamacare does not cross the line from valid “inducement” to unconstitutional “coercion,” nothing ever will. Just as the Commerce Clause is not an open-ended grant of power, the Spending Clause too has limits that must be enforced.Read the full story here.

• Solyndra Update: Friday Document Dump Raises More Questions.(Heritage).The White House’s Friday evening Solyndra document dump revealed a pair of interesting facts that should not be lost in the news cycle’s three-day-weekend lull. Neither is a smoking gun, but both will likely fuel the fire of an investigation the administration would rather see die out.According to internal emails released on Friday, the White House was informed that Solyndra planned on announcing layoffs mere days before the 2010 midterm elections. “No es bueno” – not good – exclaimed a White House staffer on October 27, two days after Solyndra informed the Energy Department of the layoff announcement.DOE “push[ed] very hard for us to hold our announcement” on the layoffs until the day after the election, a Solyndra staffer wrote on October 30. That email was released last November. The latest batch does not show that the White House exerted pressure to delay the announcement, but the timing of the emails is likely to raise more questions than it answers.The emails also reveal that the administration was planning the president’s visit to Solyndra’s Fremont, Calif., headquarters even before a pair of DOE panels approved the company’s loan guarantee. Neither the Credit Committee nor the Credit Review Board had met on March 6, 2009, when a DOE memo noted: “Serious consideration being given to having the president announce on March 19th during his California trip that DOE is offering a loan guarantee to Solyndra.”During the latter days of the George W. Bush administration, the Credit Committee voted unanimously “not to engage in further discussions with Solyndra at this time.” Less than three months later, after Bush’s successor took office, the loan guarantee was approved.While the March 2009 DOE memo does not clearly show wrongdoing by the administration, it does suggest that it was forging ahead with the loan guarantee even before properly assessing its merits.Read the full story here.

• PM Harper: Canada not 'giant national park' for U.S.(CBC).Any decision on developments such as the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline should be left to Canadians, Prime Minister Stephen Harper says."It's one thing in terms of whether Canadians, you know, want jobs, to what degree Canadians want environmental protection. These are all valid questions," Harper said in an exclusive interview Monday with CBC chief correspondent Peter Mansbridge."But just because certain people in the United States would like to see Canada be one giant national park for the northern half of North America, I don't think that's part of what our review process is all about."The $5.5-billion Northern Gateway project is a proposal by Canadian oil and gas company Enbridge to build two pipelines stretching 1,177 kilometres between the Alberta oilsands and the West Coast. The Northern Gateway would have the capacity to transport 525,000 barrels of oil per day."I don’t object to foreigners expressing their opinion," Harper told CBC News. "But I don’t want them to be able to hijack the process so that we don’t make a decision that's timely or in the interests of Canadians.""We're really the only supplier that is secure and is increasing its production. So I think [being market-driven has] served the country well. It's served government revenues well. It's served creation of jobs well. But it is fundamentally a market-based decision. We don't dictate pipelines go here or there."Read and see (Video) the full story here.

• Cutting Edge Technology: Showcasing Israeli Unmanned Naval Vessel.(IDFS).The Protector unmanned surface vehicle (USV) is an Israeli-developed unmanned vessel using cutting edge technology. Nine meter long, weighting about 4,000 Kg (8,800 lbs) and reaching a speed of up to 92 Kph (57 mph), the Protector USV is based on former models of unmanned, autonomous, remotely controlled unmanned surface vehicles.Highly maneuverable and stealthy, the Protector can conduct a wide spectrum of critical missions, without exposing personnel and capital assets to unnecessary risk. Though autonomous, the device can easily be controlled from a shore several miles from the Protector.Read and see the full story here.

• Tourists killed in Ethiopia attack.(AlJazeera).German, Belgian, Austrian, Italian, Hungarian nationals among victims of shootings by gunmen, Ethiopia's communication minister says.Four people, including two foreign tourists, have been kidnapped by gunmen who also killed five foreigners in Ethiopia's Afar region, a government spokesman has said."The attack occurred at 5am local time on Tuesday, in which Eritrean-trained groups also kidnapped four. Two of them are foreigners, one is a driver and the other a policeman," Bereket Simon told Reuters news agency.Ethiopia's foreign ministry however, said it didn't have any further details about the attack or the victims' nationalities.Ethiopean state television [ETV], which first reported about the killings, also suggested that the attackers were rebels with ties to Ethiopia's archrival Eritrea, which hosts the exiled Oromo Liberation Front, a rebel group listed as a terrorist organisation by the Ethiopian government.ETV said two tourists were injured severely and were brought to a health clinic by defence forces. They are in critical condition, the television said. Another tourist survived the attack unharmed.Eritrea has rejected the accusation that it trained and armed the gunmen responsible for the attack in remote northeastern Afar region bordering Eritrea.In Berlin, a spokesman at the German foreign ministry, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said it has received "reports of an attack on a tour group with Germans in Ethiopia" and that the ministry is trying to determine what had happened.In Vienna, a spokesman at the Austrian foreign ministry said as many as 22 tourists of several European nationalities may have been attacked, including two Austrians.Read the full story here.

• Did Iran target and assassinate Iranian grad student, activist in Houston?(KSat).HOUSTON - A woman whom Houston police described as an activist on behalf of Iranian women's civil rights was found shot dead at the wheel of her car after it crashed into a townhouse garage.Houston police said the shooting happened around 12:30 a.m. Monday in a posh development near the Galleria.According to investigators, someone walked up to the passenger's side of 30-year-old Gelareh Bagherzadeh's car and shot her in the head.Bagherzadeh's body was found inside her running car, detectives said."When the officer arrived, the car's tires were still spinning," Officer J.C. Padilla said. "He had to reach in and turn off the motor."Bagherzadeh's car was found at the back of the town home complex, and police said she had driven past her parents' home near the front of the complex."We don't know if she was being followed at the time," Sgt. Richard Bolton said.Officers said Bagherzadeh's ex-boyfriend was on the phone with her when he heard what may have been the crash and gunshots."He said she screamed for her life," said Lorena Lopez, one of Bagherzadeh's close friends. "He heard screeching and he assumed it was a car accident."Bagherzadeh was part of Sabaz Houston, a local Iranian organization that supports the green movement against the current Iranian government..Hmmmm..............Read the full story here.

• Report: Turkish intelligence claims Israel aiding the PKK.(JPost).Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles that have been spotted in the Hatay and Adana provinces have gathered intelligence for the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK), Turkey's Today's Zaman reported Tuesday according to Turkish intelligence agencies.The report claims that Israeli Heron drones helped the PKK gather information on the Hatay province, bordering Syria, that helped the group determine the locations for establishing training bases. Today's Zaman failed to say whether the Turkish report implicated Israel in aiding the PKK in any specific attack.It did say, however, that Kenan Yıldızbakan, a PKK member that organized an assault on a naval base in 2010, has visited Israel a number of times, lending to suspicions of collusion. The PKK is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. Turkey has engaged in an ongoing conflict with Kurdish separatist groups, and at least 32,000 PKK militants and more than 10,000 Turkish soldiers and police have been killed by Turkey according to official Turkish numbers. Hmmmm.......Now that Obama has partnered with Turkey in the fight against terrorism, and conveniently left Israel out of the group.Has the time arrived to 'accuse' Israel of 'terrorist activities?Read the full story here.

• Black Widow attempted New Year Moscow attack but blew herself up by mistake.(CA).A "Black Widow" suicide bomber planned a terrorist attack in central Moscow on New Year's Eve but was killed when an unexpected text message set off her bomb too early, according to Russian security sources. The unnamed woman, who is thought to be part of the same group that struck Moscow's Domodedovo airport on Monday, intended to detonate a suicide belt on a busy square near Red Square on New Year's Eve in an attack that could have killed hundreds.Security sources believe a spam message from her mobile phone operator wishing her a happy new year received just hours before the planned attack triggered her suicide belt, killing her but nobody else.She was at her Moscow safe house at the time getting ready with two accomplices, both of whom survived and were seen fleeing the scene.Hmmmm........"From Russia with Spam"?Read the full story here.

• Former Saudi intelligence chief says all options open against Iranian ‘threats’.(AlArabiya).Saudi Arabia will use “all available options” to defend itself against Iranian “threats” that might trigger “unwanted military confrontation,” its former intelligence chief told a Gulf security conference.Prince Turki al-Faisal’s comments to the conference in Bahrain late on Tuesday came after Tehran demanded Riyadh rethink its offer to make up for any oil lost to world markets as a result of threatened curbs on Iranian exports.“Any threat to our interests or security will force us to use all available options to defend our interests, and national and regional security,” Faisal said in remarks carried by Al Arabiya news channel.“The mounting escalation and persistent tensions might end up in an adventure with unpredictable consequences or in an unwanted military confrontation.”Iran has warned Western governments that it will close the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf, a strategic choke point for much of the Middle East’s oil, if they press ahead with sanctions against its key crude exports.“Iran must not fuel this conflict and must not threaten us when we commit to international decisions,” Faisal said.“It must neutralise the security of the Strait of Hormuz and that of the world energy supply,” said Faisal, who is also a former Saudi ambassador in both London and Washington.Read the full story here.

• Iran - Death sentence for Canadian netizen confirmed, new arrests.(Trust).Reporters Without Borders is shocked to learn that the supreme court has confirmed website designer Saeed Malekpour's death sentence. His family said the court took the decision under pressure from the Revolutionary Guards. A Canadian resident who was arrested on 4 October 2008 while visiting his family, Malekpour, 35, was sentenced to death in January 2011 on chargesof anti-government agitation and insulting Islam.Arrests of netizens are meanwhile continuing. Simien Nematollahi, a contributer to the pro-Sufi website Majzooban (www.majzooban.org), was arrested at her Tehran home by intelligence ministry officials on 11 January on a charge of anti-government propaganda. Several members of the website's staff were arrested on 7 and 8 September and were freed on bail on 4 October pending trial.Mohammad Solimaninya, the head of u24, a social networking website for Iranian professionals, was arrested on 20 January after being summoned before a revolutionary tribunal in Karaj, a town 20 km north of Tehran, on 10 January. Plainclothes intelligence ministry officials searched his home the same day, confiscating his computer, hard disks and CDs.His family still does not know why he was arrested or where he is being held. As well as running u24, Solimaninya has created and hosts the websites of many civil society organizations, NGOs and Iranian intellectuals.Reporters Without Borders is also concerned about Mohammad Reza Pourshajari, a blogger who has been held since 12 September 2010. He was tried by a revolutionary court in Karaj on 21 December 2011 on a charge of insulting the Prophet in articles posted on his blog and in letters sent to government officials while he was in prison.His daughter said the trial lasted a quarter of an hour and took place without his lawyer being present. The charge of insulting the Prophet is very vaguely defined but it carries a possible death sentence and is often used by the authorities to silence critics who try to defy the government.Read the full story here.

• Some 11 metric tons of lethal mustard gas Remain Undestroyed in Libya.(RN).Some 11 metric tons of lethal mustard gas, also known as sulfur mustard or yperite, remain in existence in Libya, Belgian media reported on Wednesday citing Defense Minister Pieter de Crem.Under ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi, Libya joined the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in 2004. The country declared it had 1.4 metric tons of raw materials to produce chemical weapons and 25 metric tons of mustard gas.As of March 2011, Libya had destroyed 55 percent of its chemical weapons stockpile.However, the country still had to eliminate 11.25 tons of mustard gas, which can form large blisters or chemical burns on exposed skin and eyes and cause bleeding and blistering within the respiratory system.The disposal process was disrupted when an uprising to oust Gaddafi evolved into an armed conflict and resulted in the death of Libya’s longtime ruler, with the help of NATO and other international forces.According to earlier media reports, mustard gas was produced at a chemical plant in Rabta about 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Tripoli and stockpiles were located in Rabta and Al-Jufra, south of Sirte.Read the full story here.

• Muslim Party Seeks Power In Dutch Parliament.(Forbes).By Abigail R. Esman.The Dutch Muslim Party has announced plans to seek seats in the Dutch Parliament. The party already has a hold in regional governments in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and other Dutch cities.The Partij Voor Moslim Nederland (Party for Muslim Netherlands), as it calls itself when it is not referring to itself as The Dutch Muslim Party (note the strong differences in meaning), campaigns on an anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage, and anti-discrimination platform. It hopes to take part in Parliamentary elections in 2015. Among its principles:

1. Criminalization of blasphemy.
2. Free speech within limitations: speech that can be seen as insulting or offensive on religious grounds will be prosecuted.
3. Damage or destruction of holy texts for any religion to be criminalized by law.
4. Members of the party can also be non-Muslims.
5. Women and men are to be seen as equal under the law.
6. The party is to be based on the Islamic principle of Shura.
7. All troops must be withdrawn from Iraq and Afghanistan.
8. Turkey must immediately be made a member of the EU.
9. Support to Israel must be stopped.
10. Zero-tolerance for all drugs, including marijuana (currently tolerated under Dutch law).
11. No bans shall be set against the current practice of importing poorly-educated women as brides for Dutch Muslim men.A new pamphlet outlining the party’s vision is to be published by the end of this month.Read the full story here.

• IDF Kills Two Terrorists near Gaza Belt Kibbutz.(INN).Israeli aircraft and tanks struck a terrorist cell attempting to bury bombs at the Gaza security fence near a kibbutz Wednesday morning, killing at least two terrorists.Hamas confiremd the kill. Aircraft fired four missiles on the cell, while tanks fired artillery shells. One of the cell's bombs exploded, and no Israeli soldiers were injured. Hamas claimed that other terroists at the scene are engaged in a gunfight with IDF soldiers, but there has been no confirmation from the army, and Hamas information often is propaganda without substantiation.Terrorists in Hamas-ruled Gaza have been staging almost daily attempts to attack Israeli soldiers and civilians, but their failure has kept the incidents out of mainstream media headlines.Read the full story here.

• Holocaust scholars to Obama: Condemn Libya for Bashir visit.(Jpost).Eighty Holocaust and genocide scholars signed a petition calling on US President Barack Obama to condemn Libya's new government for hosting a visit by Sudanese President Omar Bashir.Bashir has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for his role in the Darfur genocide."Especially in view of the role the United States played in bringing about the overthrow of the Gadhafi regime," the petition says, "the US has a right, and a moral obligation, to demand that the new Libya join us in treating perpetrators of genocide as pariahs."The petition urges Obama to "speak out publicly against Libya's embrace of Bashir and to make it clear to the international community that the US regards the hosting of visits by Bashir as unacceptable." Its signatories -- from the United States, Europe and Israel -- call for "a firmer policy by the US toward perpetrators of genocide and those who coddle them."Read the full story here.

• India says continuing to buy oil from Iran.(HD).Energy-hungry India said Tuesday it was continuing to buy oil from Iran, despite an intensifying US campaign to smother Tehran's vital oil exports until it abandons its nuclear programme."We have accepted sanctions which were made by the United Nations. Other sanctions do not apply to individual countries," Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai told a news conference. "We continue to buy oil from Iran." Iran is India's second-largest oil supplier after Saudi Arabia, providing around 12 percent of the fast-growing country's needs at an annual cost of around $12 billion.The law provides waivers to firms in countries that significantly reduce crude supplies from Iran. Under Washington's measures, foreign firms must choose between doing business with the Islamic republic or the United States.Mathai said India would not seek a waiver from the United States.Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar told reporters on Monday the delegation would "work out what (could be done) in terms of the new sanctions under section 1245 of the US Act".The governments of the two countries would work on financial mechanisms for India to continue to import Iranian crude as well as to promote Indian exports, he added.New Delhi at present pays Iran $1 billion every month through Turkey.Hmmmm.....And Obama wouldn't want to upset buddy Erdogan...would he?Read the full story here.

MFS - The Other News

                         Afternoon Posting.

• Egypt volatile situation :  - Al Jazeera English - Live Streams From Egypt ! Here .
• Egypt protests on Twitter!  here.
• Liveblog - Egypt's protests erupt. here.

• CNN warns of Egyptian-style takeover of electronic communication in the U.S.It seems like this is the kind of thing Fox News Channel’s Glenn Beck has been criticized for putting out on the airwaves – the notion the government could shutdown electronic communications in the United States similar to what has been done in Egypt over the past several days, as its government has reacted to turmoil engulfing the country.On Sunday evening’s “CNN Newsroom,” host Don Lemon and his guest, hacker-turned-cyber security expert Gregory Evans, explored all the various way this Egyptian movement was attempting to overcome blocks put on electronic communications by the government. Lemon suggested that the U.S. government could do that same thing the Egyptians are doing now, and even said he thought “it probably could happen in the United States.”And according to Evans, he was right.“It could happen here and it will happen – when, you know that emergency broadcasting system everybody never really pays attention to?” Evans said. “So that right there – if we were in the state of an emergency, in a civil war, the government can then seize all communications and since Internet is part of that communications – yes, they can take over your TV, your radio and your Internet.”Read the full story here.

• "The war on Christianity".Turkish Supreme Court Rules Against Assyrian Monastery and State takes land from the Christian Monastery.In a ruling issued on January 26, 2011, Turkey's Supreme Court granted substantial parts of St. Gabriel Monastery, an Assyrian Christian religious center established in the 397 A.D. in south-east Anatolia, to the Turkish Treasury. This decision reversed a June, 2009 ruling by the district court of Midyat, which had rejected the claim of the Treasury, sending the case to the Supreme Court in Ankara. Kuryakos Ergün, the chairman of the foundation of the monastery, could not comment on how the monastery will react to the verdict, as the details are not clear yet.The trial is part of an orchestrated effort since 2008 by three neighboring Kurdish village heads associated with the ruling party AKP and the Turkish State to expropriate the monastery's lands (full coverage). The treasury claims land inside and adjacent to the monastery, which the monastery has owned for decades and has paid taxes for, belongs to the State. The many trials concerning this case have been closely followed internationally and have raised many concerns about religious freedom of Christians in Turkey. The monastery is one of the oldest monasteries of Christendom.Symbol of repression of Christianity in Turkey.Erika Steinbach, the spokesperson for Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid of the German Parliamentary Group, said in a statement on January 27th, "The deprivation of the land of the monastery of St. Gabriel stands as symbol of repression of Christianity in Turkey. Even though we do not yet have the verdict and the full-text available and it has not yet a legal force, this landmark decision is a major setback for Christians in Turkey. The negative trend in religious freedom in Turkey is incompatible with human rights."Dr. Renate Sommer, member of the European Parliament and an expert on Turkey, characterized the verdict as "expropriation." She regards the repeated postponing of the trials against the monastery as a demoralization effort towards the remaining Assyrians in Turkey, to induce them to leave the country. Regarding the plaintifs, she said "Unfortunately these fanatics are supported by the Turkish government, which has put a spoke in the monastery's wheels for decades. Since 1980 the monastery has been prohibited from educating priests. In addition to that the governing AKP supported the plaintiffs against the monastery."Ironically on the day of the verdict the Turkish President Abdullah Gül, while visiting Strasbourg, criticized in another context the discrimination against Christians by the authorities of his country. However, such statements are perceived as camouflage.Hmmmm.....These are the People Obama calls his friends?The worst Human Rights violators?Strange behaviour for a self proclaimed "Christian" President.Read the full persecution story here.

• HT:CrossroadsArabia.Watching Egypt.The chaos continues in Egypt. The army has been called in to keep the peace after the regular police (and, apparently, many of the special police) were driven off the streets, their precinct buildings burnt down. Prisoners are reported to have escaped from Demu Prison in Fayoum and are terrorizing the neighborhood (scroll down at the link). Pres. Mubarak has sacked his rubber-stamp cabinet and named Omar Suleiman as his new Vice President. The Internet was shut down and remains down; cell phones had but cut off but now appear to be back in service.King Abdullah made a formal statement, supporting Mubarak and condemning violence. I think he’s right about the violence. About Mubarak, though, no.Saudi Arabia—and Saudis in general—have a religiously-based belief that rulers are to be both respected and obeyed. That is not a bad method to keep civil peace. It has its limits though. Leaders are respected only so long as they hold the respect of the people they govern. When people feel themselves abused by their leaders, they demand change, often of those leaders. Leaders can go quietly, as did Tunisia’s Bin Ali, or they can go violently. Unjust leaders deserve neither respect nor obedience, as Mubarak is discovering. Mubarak, though he may believe differently, is not the Government of the Republic of Egypt. He is its elected leader and that alone. If he no longer holds the confidence of his citizens that he can rule justly, then he needs to go. I suspect there’s a guest palace available in Jeddah if he decides to take a short flight east.The big question, of course, is ‘After Mubarak, what?’ I’m sure Mubarak feels, as did Louis XV, Après moi, le déluge. It’s possible that he’s right. I am not at all confident that were Mubarak to fall his replacement would be liberal, far-sighted, or even very democratic at all. There is some truth in the saying about familiar devils being preferable to new, but strange ones.Meanwhile, there’s turmoil in Yemen and Jordan, with people taking to the streets to denounce government failings and calling for change. On the streets of Jeddah, a group gathered today to protest the failing of the municipality and the national government to establish sufficient infrastructure to abate floods. On the videotape I saw, it appeared to be about a hundred people or so protesting. It’s not comparable to what’s going on in Egypt, nor is it likely, I think, to act as a fuse toward any kind of explosion. I’m seeing quite a bit of talk about it doing that, but so far that chatter seems to be coming from stock market ‘advisors’ who see easy money being made as the price of oil rockets on fears of just such a thing. It’s all to their financial benefit to promote such rumors, but it doesn’t make it true.Saudi Arabia is in dire need of its own reforms. There’s no doubt about that. High unemployment, low salaries, ill-educated youths with degrees that do nothing to put them into jobs, half the potential workforce—the female half—is arbitrarily excluded from most work, poor infrastructure… the list goes on. To date, though, those problems have not reached a critical level. They can and, unless changes come more rapidly, they likely will. But not today and not tomorrow.Hmmmm.......The Domino Effect.Read the full story here.

• HT:Imra.Obama calls Saudi King Abdullah January 31, 2011.QUOTE: "US president understood the viewpoint of the King concerning the stability and security of the region"" Saudi King: stabilty of Egypt and the safety and security of its people was a 'non-negionable issue'".CASABLANCA: King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques,received a telephone call late Saturday night from US President Barack Obama in which the two leaders discussed the situation in Egypt and expressed their disapproval of the chaos and looting and threats to security and safety.King Abdullah said that the stability of Egypt and the safety and security of its people was a “non-negotiable issue” and that threats to them were“unjustifiable under any pretext”.According to Saudi Press Agency (SPA), King Abdullah also described the achievements and advancements of Egypt as “inseparable from the achievements and advancements of the Arab and Islamic Ummah”.SPA said that the US president understood the viewpoint of the King concerning the stability and security of the region.Abdul Rahman Al-Attiya, Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), meanwhile, said Sunday[30 Jan] that the GCC “wants stability in Egypt”.Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), also released a statement the same day expressing his“extreme concern”.Ihsanoglu called upon the people of Egypt to exercise “utmost self-control”and “protect lives”.Amr Moussa, the head of the Arab League, said Sunday he wanted to see a multi-party democracy emerge in Egypt but could not say how soon that might happen.Hmmmm..........What if the Saudis would help restore the peace and calm in Egypt?Read the full story here.

• Muslim Brotherhood Wants War With Israel.Mohamed Ghanem, one of the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, calls Egypt to stop pumping gas to Israel and prepare the Egyptian army for a war with it’s eastern neighbor.Speaking with Iranian television station Al-Alam, Mohamed Ghanem blamed Israel for supporting Hosni Mubarak’s regime. Ghanem also said that the Egyptian police and army won’t be able to stop the Muslim Brotherhood movement.There are doubts about the loyalty of the Egyptian army to president Mubarak. If the brotherhood takes control over Egypt, it will be very messy from the whole region.In the meantime, EUR/USD , GBP/USD other pairs have enjoyed the relative calm in the Egyptian crisis and regained most of their losses on Friday. An escalation will send them down, and will strengthen the dollar, yen and Swiss franc.Hmmmmm.....ElBaradei "The MuslimBrotherhood is like the Orthodox Jews".Read the full story here.

• HT:Dawn.Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal doubles in a couple of years now tops 100.WASHINGTON: Pakistan has doubled its nuclear weapons stockpile over the past several years, increasing its arsenal to more than 100 deployed weapons, The Washington Post reported late Sunday.Citing US non-government analysts, the newspaper said that only four years ago, the Pakistani nuclear arsenal was estimated at 30 to 60 weapons.“They have been expanding pretty rapidly,” the report quoted David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, as saying.Based on recently accelerated production of plutonium and highly enriched uranium, Islamabad may now have an arsenal of up to 110 weapons, Albright said.As a result, Pakistan has now edged ahead of India, its nuclear-armed rival, The Post noted. India is estimated to have 60 to 100 weapons.Hmmmm.....Dammed This "Outreach to Muslims" really made the world a much safer place?Read the full story here.

• HT:ElliotAbrams.The Invisible Hostage Crises.It is now a year and a half since Iran jailed three American hikers on trumped-up spying charges. The three, Shane Bauer, his fiancée Sarah Shourd, and Josh Fattal were detained on July 31, 2009; Shourd was released on September 14 of last year. Recalling the hostage crisis that helped bring down Jimmy Carter in 1980 and that ended on the twentieth of January thirty years ago, it is striking that the Administration appears only mildly disturbed that they continue to sit in jail—as does Congress.It’s worth noting that two Germans are imprisoned as well, although “only” since this past October—and they were newspaper reporters, not hikers who wandered into harm’s way. Still, German society has reacted far more than our own: German media are campaigning for them, and on January 2nd over a hundred German leaders appealed publicly for their release. The list included the Foreign, Finance, and Defense ministers, plus the heads of Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Telekom, Daimler—and even Boris Becker, the retired tennis star. The appeal is unlikely to do much good in Tehran, but it does show that the imprisonment is not being forgotten.Thinking of the Americans in prison in Iran, at what point do we as a nation say “enough?” I hope we have conveyed to the regime that if a hair on their heads is injured, there will be hell to pay—immediately. Should we go further right now, and tell the ayatollahs to let them go by a date certain or suffer some sanction? Bluffing would be counterproductive, so if we make that statement we must follow through with a blow to some Iranian asset.But on the other side of the scale, we are paying a price by acting as if we were Belgium or Costa Rica, unable to do more than wring our hands and plead. We are reducing respect for the United States in a capital where the level of respect matters. We are allowing two fellow citizens to be used as human sacrifices by an odious regime that puts no value on human life, and pays little price for doing so. We are behaving as if we were powerless, and as we do so we persuade others that perhaps we are.Hmmmmm.......Perhaps we really are "powerless" with such a President in charge?Read the full story here.

• Israel agrees to some Egyptian troops in Sinai.As anti-Mubarak protests rage on, Israel allows two Egyptian battalions - about 800 soldiers - into Sharm el-Sheikh area for first time since 1979 peace treaty. Officials: Move aimed at preventing arms smuggling to Gaza.Israeli officials said Monday that they have agreed to let Egypt move several hundred troops into the Sinai Peninsula for the first time since the countries reached peace three decades ago. With street protests threatening the Egyptian regime, the officials say that Israel allowed the Egyptian army to move two battalions - about 800 soldiers - into Sinai on Sunday. The officials said the troops were based in the Sharm el-Sheikh area on Sinai's southern tip, far from Israel.The Israeli officials spoke Monday about the troop movements on condition of anonymity because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has banned the government from discussing the situation in Egypt. There was no confirmation from Egypt, and David Satterfield, the director general of an independent 12-nation monitoring force in Sinai, refused to comment.Israeli President Shimon Peres said "we always have had and still have a great respect" for Mubarak. "I don't say everything that he did was right, but he did one thing for which all of us are thankful to him: He kept the peace in the Middle East," Peres said Monday.He acknowledged the unrest in Egypt has put Western powers, especially the US, in the difficult position of choosing between a longtime ally and a grass roots protest movement demanding more freedom."I think when people criticize America over this, they're being a bit unfair," Blair said, adding that President Barack Obama has handled the crisis in "the only way he can."Hmmmm.......Meaning?Read the full story here. More here.

• Terrorists threatened to kill my baby unless I became a Black Widow: Young mother on how she was groomed to be a Russian suicide bomber.A 24 year-old woman who was being groomed as a 'Black Widow' suicide bomber in Moscow has revealed the barbarity behind the terrorist cell which unleashed last week's airport bomb in the Russian capital, it was claimed yesterday.Before fleeing the extremist Islamic gang, Zeinat Suyunova was being schooled for the airport bombing, or a planned attack on a shopping centre almost underneath the Kremlin, say investigators.Now being debriefed by Russian intelligence, she is giving crucial information on preparations for the deadly attack under the radar of the secret services, claimed a Russian media report yesterday.The mother of one told how she discovered to her shock that her devout Moslem husband - the father of her baby daughter who she met when she studied at a respected medical academy in southern Russia - was involved in perpetrating a terrorist atrocity.Soon afterwards she was kidnapped, her daughter taken from her. She was told the child would be killed unless she became a bomber to avenge her husband's capture by the Russian secret services.'They threatened to kill my daughter if I did not agree to go to Moscow and help with explosions,' she told investigators.'They kept threatening, on and on, and in the end I agreed.'Hmmmm..........Read the full story here.

• HT:TundraTabloids.First elected Muslim in US Congress caught thinking as a Muslim first ,American dead last.Keith Ellison: “The Middle East would be a much more powerful and dynamic place if there were less authoritarian regimes, and historically the U.S. has supported all of them,” argues Ellison. “We’re always on the side of ‘stability’ rather than justice. So let’s get on the right side this time.”First you rail against your own country you whining malcontent, then call for ”justice”. It most certainly would be just for people to vote you out of office come next elections. Remember folks, “justice” for the Muslim means Sharia Law, which means it’s not based on anything like sound principles and facts.Hmmmm.....Congressman King has lots off work ahead.Read the full story here.

• HT:TundraTabloids.Danish free speech society president Lars Hedegaard declared not guilty by Danish court.President of the Free Press Society, Lars Hedegaard, in the Court of Frederiksberg acquitted of racist statements.The background is a good 35 minutes long interview to the site snaphanen.dk which Hedegaard gave in December 2009.Here, said Hedegaard, among other things, that “girls in Muslim families are raped by their uncles, their cousins or their dad.”The Court believes that Heath’s statements are insulting, but he was dismissed because he did not know that the interview that took place during a juleforkost, would be published.Lars Hedegaard has previously expressed regret if his statements gave the impression that he would accuse all Muslims of abusing their children.The day after the interview he stressed that his opinions were about Islam and not Muslims.The prosecutor would have Lars Hedegaard fined penalty because the 68-year-old journalist has not previously been convicted of violating racism paragraph.The priest Jesper Langballe was last year fined 5000 dollars for publicly backing up Hedegaards opinions.Read the full story here.

• HT:JawaReport.Yemen: Orderly Uprising Set for Feb3.Well its on. Yemen's next protest is scheduled for February 3 and is expected to draw hundreds of thousands nationally, if not millions. This protest was called by Yemen's political party alliance, the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP). The JMP decided on a gradation of colors, from pink to red, if demands are not met as protests progress; so Thursday's should be fuchsia, maybe mauve. Other colors already carry too much significance.The opposition parties include the Yemeni Socialist Party, which formerly ruled south Yemen, and the Islah party, an Islamist reform party that ranges from hard-line Islamists to hard-line democrats and a strong tribal wing. Certainly elements of Islah (notably the Abdulmajid al Zindani wing) advocate the al Qaeda world view including jihad and child marriage. However it is those elements of the party that are in fact close allies of President Saleh and an essential component of his power.Hmmmm.....Another brick falls out of the wall.Read the full story here.

• HT:PajamasMedia.Mohammed El Baradei – The Iranian Frontman.Mohammed El Baradei — self-annointed “leader of the Egyptian opposition” — has more in common with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than anything remotely resembling democracy. He had a 12-year run, ending in 2009, as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) where his primary legacy was to bring Iran to the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons. He ran defense for Iran all those years, doing everything in his power to delay and delay and divert attention from the Iranian nuclear weapons program.The Egyptian Newspaper Al Youm Al Sabeh reports: In a communication to the Attorney General of Egypt, Dr. Yasser Najib Abdel Mabboud, has accused Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, former Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency and a candidate in the Egyptian presidential elections, of receiving funds exceeding $7 million (US) from Iran’s leadership as support for ‘political reform in Egypt’.Abdul Mabboud , a candidate of the National Party and who like El Baradei is also running for the Egyptian Presidential election, was informed of the Iranian leadership’s willingness to support ElBaradei financially via an Arab businessman living in Europe. The check in the amount of $ 7 million is said to be meant to cover the financial costs of the election campaign and the activities of the Front for Change.Hmmmmm........"Change" the keyword?Read the full story here.

• HT:TheAmericanDream.10 Things That The Egypt Riots Can Teach Us About What Happens When Society Breaks Down.The rioting in Egypt is perhaps the biggest single news story so far in 2011. The pace at which Egyptian society has been transformed over the past week has been absolutely breathtaking. A few months ago, nobody would have ever dreamed that there would be huge riots in the streets of major Egyptian cities calling for the resignation of Hosni Mubarak. But it has happened, and now Egypt will never be the same again. So what does the future hold for Egypt? Well, many are hopeful that this revolution will bring about a better government in Egypt and a better way of life for average Egyptians. Personally, I am not nearly so optimistic. In fact, I believe that there is a great danger that an even more repressive government could take the place of the current regime. But in any event, there are important lessons that the Egypt riots can teach all of us about what happens when society breaks down. Societal collapse is often a very messy, very violent affair. Someday if the global economy completely implodes, we may see economic riots erupt all over the world (including inside the United States) and we all need to get prepared for that.So far more than 100 people have died during the rioting that has rocked Egypt over the past week. Other reports put the true number of dead much higher. Scores of shops and businesses have been looted. There have been dozens of rapes. Groups of citizens have formed vigilante groups to protect their own homes. These are the kinds of things that happen when society breaks down.But could such a thing happen in the United States? Of course it could. Just remember what happened in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Imagine what would happen in this country if a disaster on an even larger scale happened.Will any of us be truly safe?Read the full story here.

• Ground Zero mosque developers apply for $5m grant from 9/11 fund.Last year, developers applied for a $5million grant from a fund set up to rebuild the city after 9/11.Serious questions have been raised about its backers including controversial Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf who refuses to rule out obtaining funding from countries in the Middle East which have backed terrorist regimes.‘If Imam Feisal and his retinue want to know why they're not trusted, here's yet another reason,’ said. Irshad Manji, author of The Trouble With Islam and Director of the Moral Courage Project at New York University.‘The New Yorkers I speak with have questions about Park51. Requesting money from public coffers without engaging the public shows a staggering lack of empathy - especially from a man who says he's all about dialogue.’The application was made to the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corporation, which is overseeing the $20billion (£12.5billion) in federal aid which is earmarked for rebuilding New York and its communities.The bid appears to have been legal as religious groups can make such requests ‘as long as the request is for a facility or portion of a facility that is dedicated to non-religious activities or uses’.However the board that makes the final decision must also consider its commitment to ‘an open, inclusive, and transparent planning process’ which could scupper the deal.What is clear is that the application is well above the $100,000 to $1million which is the recommended range for grant applications, something else the board will have to weigh up. The board's decision is expected this year.Currently on the site of the proposed mosque is a disused branch of Burlington Coat Factory which will be demolished to make way for the new $70million (£44million) building.Construction is due to begin on September 11 this year – the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attack.Some 2,995 people including 67 Britons were killed when terrorists flew passenger jets into the Twin Towers on September 11 2001.The funding application was uncovered by U.S. politics and culture blog The Daily Beast.It polled its readers to ask if the move was ‘inappropriate’ and 75 per cent agreed.Hmmmm.....In the light of the new Ground Zero Imam's his declarations perhaps now 99,9% might think it's ‘inappropriate’?Read the full story here.

• Jailed for making sex tapes: Indonesian pop star gets three year sentence after home videos were broadcast online.Muslim extremists claim Ariel should have been jailed for up to 12 years.An Indonesian pop star who rocked the predominantly Muslim nation after his homemade sex tapes found their way to the internet has today been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail.Fans of Nazril 'Ariel' Irham broke down in tears, saying the singer recorded the videos in the privacy of his own home with no plans to make them public.But hundreds of Islamic hard-liners surrounding the court tried to smash down its gates, saying he'd gotten off too easy.Indonesia, a secular country of 237 million people, has more Muslims than any other country in the world. Though most are moderate, a small extremist fringe has become more vocal in recent years.They have pushed through controversial laws - including the anti-porn bill - and been known to attack anything perceived as blasphemous, from transvestites and bars to 'deviant' religious sects.More than 500 demonstrators turned out earlier today, some pelting the police vehicle carrying Ariel to the court with rotten eggs and tomatoes. Others held placards criticising the star.When the verdict was read out, a man on a bull horn shouted, 'Too light! Too light!' and others charged past police to the gates of the courthouse.The singer's supporters were devastated with the judge's decision.'He's just a victim,' said Roslawati, 30, streaming tears. 'He didn't post that video ...' Like many Indonesians, she uses just one name. Hmmmm.....Obama"Indonesia an example of religious tolerance"Read the full story here.

• UK: Iranian nuclear weapon by 2012.British defense secretary disagrees with Israeli retired spy chief, says West should be wary of Iran and act 'in accordance'.Iran may be capable of developing a nuclear weapon by next year, Britain's defense secretary told lawmakers on Monday.Liam Fox told the House of Commons he disagreed with Israel's newly retired spy chief, Meir Dagan, who said this month that Iran would not be able to build a nuclear bomb before 2015.Fox said the West should be wary of optimism over Iran's nuclear program and make decisions on the basis of the most pessimistic assessment of its capability.Fox said that the West should act "in accordance with that warning."Hmmmmm.......Ex Mossad biggest threat in 2011 : Iran obtaining Nuclear weapon"! NOT 2012 !Read the full story here.

• New York City Investigates Arizona Gun Show.PHOENIX — Weeks after a shooting left six dead and 13 injured in Tucson, New York City sent undercover investigators to an Arizona gun show and found instances in which private sellers sold semiautomatic pistols even after buyers said they probably could not pass background checks, city officials said. The investigation, part of an effort by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s administration to crack down on illegal gun sales nationwide, took place Jan. 23 at the Crossroads of the West Gun Show in Phoenix, officials said. “The background check system failed in Arizona, it failed in Virginia and it fails in states around the country,” said John Feinblatt, an adviser to Mr. Bloomberg. “If we don’t fix it now, the question is not whether another massacre will occur, but when.” Hmmmmm......Bloomberg and the Obama administration working together to abolish the Second Amendment?Read the full story here.

• HT:Dikgaj.How Islam came to India and why now it needs to go from India part 1.Islam's record in India has been always controversial. For a long time a particular reconstruction of Islam's role in India has been pushed through because of political reasons, and by a regime dependent and supported group of official historians, whose best iconic representation is Prof. Romila Thapar, a lady of Hindu origin who completed her PhD under the obscurantist and orientalist Basham.I refer to this common paradigm of Indian history established basically through government patronization, the Thaparite Scool of Indian History. In this Thaparite paradigm of Indian history, Islam came to India through peaceful means, mainly by the peaceful efforts of traders and Sufi preachers. Further, according to this paradigm, Islam took root because of Brahmanic oppression of “lower castes” and all claims of trauma of non-Muslims at the hands of Muslims are modern reconstructions by British Imperialists and post Nehruvian “Hindu” upper caste elite.It is not as if claims or records of trauma are not available, but they are all discounted by the Thaparite school as propaganda or myth created for various reasons. I will subsequently specifically analyze the Thaparite technique of historical interpretation and new narrative creation through her often repeated and favourite example – that of Somnath.Enslavement of non-Muslims of India.The Chachnama describes how Muhammad bin Qasim invaded Sind, enslaved many prisoners, especially women prisoners, and exported them to his homeland. Parimal and Suraj Devi, the two daughters of Raja Dahir, sent to Hajjaj for the pleasures of the Caliph, were part of a large shipment of girls remitted as one-fifth share of the state (Khums) from the booty of war (Ghanaim). After the capturing of the fort of Rawar, Muhammad bin Qasim halted there for three days and massacred 6,000 men. Their followers and dependents, as well as their women and children were taken prisoner. The total number of prisoners was calculated to be thirty thousand (Kalichbeg – sixty thousand), including thirty “daughters of the chiefs”. They were exported to Hajjaj.The head of Dahir and the fifth part of prisoners were forwarded in charge of the African Slave Kaab, son of Mubarak Rasti. Hmmmm........Erdogan"Muslims don't commit genocide".Read the full story here.

• HT:TPM.'Pay China First' -- Republicans' Wild Plan To Avoid U.S. Debt Default.New Republican legislation in the House and Senate would force the U.S. government to reroute huge amounts of money to China and other creditors in the event that Congress fails to raise its debt ceiling. "I intend to introduce legislation that would require the Treasury to make interest payments on our debt its first priority in the event that the debt ceiling is not raised," Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) wrote in a Friday Wall Street Journal op-ed. If passed, Toomey's plan would require the government to cut large checks to foreign countries, and major financial institutions, before paying off its obligations to Social Security beneficiaries and other citizens owed money by the Treasury -- that is, if the U.S. hits its debt ceiling. Republican leaders insist they will raise the country's debt limit before this happens. But first, they're going to try to force Democrats to accept large spending cuts, using their control over the debt limit as leverage. That means gridlock, and the threat that they'll come up short.The top Democrats on the House and Senate Budget Committees call it a jaw-droppingly bad idea.Officials don't expect the U.S. to reach its debt limit until Spring. That gives John Boehner and Mitch McConnell (and, perhaps, Harry Reid) several weeks to figure out how to raise it. But Republicans on the Hill remain divided over if and how to get that done. And, it seems, about how to move forward if they fail.Read the full story here.

• Belgium poised to break world record as nation operating without a government for the longest ever period.Little Belgium is poised to hit it big in the record books as it lurches towards claiming the title of the nation with the longest record of operating without a government.Political paralysis has gripped Belgium since June last year due to enmity between the Dutch-speaking Flemings in the north of the country and the French-speaking Walloons in the south.Apart from Somalia, only Iraq has hitherto surpassed Belgium in not forming a government following democratic elections - 249 days until it saw a working administration emerge late last year.Come 17 February, Belgium will overtake that milestone. All attempts at reaching a solution have foundered between the seven political parties that won seats in the last general election.The bitterness between the rich north and the poorer southern regions of the country mirror those of Italy and what northern Europe thinks of Greece; a thrifty, hardworking majority feeling put upon to subsidise those they perceive have a diminished work ethic.Social networking sites like Facebook laugh at the political quagmire and there is even an Internet game called ‘Solve the Belgian Crisis’ in which players bang politicians on the head with hammers to gain points.There is also a 'Hairy Belgium' website with more than 650 signed on to grow their beards until Belgium forms a government.Another site, called 'Camping 16,' allows you to pitch a virtual tent in protest outside of the Prime Minister’s office in Brussels — located at “16″ Rue de la Loi.The two major parties, the Flemish nationalists and the French speaking socialists, have been gridlocked for months. Unless they manage to find common ground in the weeks ahead, the country may well have to call another election.The nationalists are in favour of a gradual secession of their bit of Belgium away from the French, citing the gap in GDP and productivity as reasons for breaking away.'The north is the economic powerhouse and it pays the wages, the health care and the welfare bills for the south,' in the words of one nationalist politician.While most political demonstrations in the world usually focus on getting rid of unloved elected governments, one in Brussels a week ago saw 30,000 people take to the streets demanding that Belgium forms one.Hmmmmm......" l'Union fait la farce"?Read the full story here.

• And now for something completely different.Mother-of-two who spent 11 years in a wheelchair is crowned Ms America.After being abducted as a small girl, losing her mother to cancer and spending over a decade in a wheelchair, Tracy Broughton has had a life crammed with adversity.She’s been paralysed and wheelchair-bound twice and has raised twin boys as a single mother while also modelling, working with charities and running a legal aid business.But the 36-year-old’s incredible resolve and determination has now been officially recognised with the award of the Ms America 2011 title.A big sister of sorts to the Miss America pageant, entrants in the Ms America competition are all 26 and above and have no restrictions on their marital status.Ms Broughton, from Ladera Ranch in Orange County, used a crutch on the runway as she continues her recovery from a 1996 hit-and-run that left her in a wheelchair for 11 years.‘I was able to overcome my disability through a combination of experimental therapy, faith and perseverance,’ she told the Orange County Register.‘The only thing that has been consistent is that my faith is so strong. It helped me through everything for sure.’Hmmmm........The Lord works in mysterious ways.Read the full story here.