Radical Islamic preacher Anjem Choudary is one of nine men arrested in terror raid in London.

Radical Islamic preacher Anjem Choudary is one of nine men arrested in terror raid in London. (DM).

Radical preacher Anjem Choudary was one of nine men arrested today as part of an investigation into Islamist terrorism.

Choudary, 47, and eight other men aged 22, 31, 31, 32, 36, 38, 39 and 51 were arrested by Metropolitan Police officers in London this morning, and have all been taken to police stations - where they remain in custody.

Some 19 residential, business or community premises were also being searched today as part of the investigation, Scotland Yard said. Eleven of these were in east London, one was in west London, one was in north-west London and five were in south London - while a residential address was also being searched in Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire.

A police spokesman said: ‘These arrests and searches are part of an ongoing investigation into Islamist-related terrorism and are not in response to any immediate public safety risk.’

Officers confirmed that the nine men were arrested on suspicion of being a member of a proscribed organisation, supporting a proscribed organisation and encouraging terrorism.

Al-Muhajiroun is understood to be the banned organisation in question, sources said this morning. Earlier this week, it was reported that Choudary said he has no sympathy for Alan Henning, a volunteer aid worker who was captured in Syria. Hmmm....Notice the 'CHANGE'? No more 'Asian' but "Islamic terrorism. Read the full story here.

Canada - Treasury Board president Tony Clement: "Political correctness has no place in Christmas."

Canada - Treasury Board president Tony Clement: "Political correctness has no place in Christmas."(TS).You have the right to decorate your desk and office space as you see fit.
That's the memo government employees across the country will receive Monday.
"Christmas and Chanukah are special times of the year that Canadians look forward to. The lights and decorations lift the spirit and instill the season with a sense of wonder and celebration," Treasury Board president Tony Clement said in a statement Sunday. "Whether it's displaying Christmas cards, putting up tinsel or bringing out a Menorah, federal employees have every right to celebrate the holiday season in the workplace."
Added Clement: "There are those who would like to snuff out the holiday spirit in the name of political correctness or expediency. Our government will not allow the Christmas spirit to be grinched."
What prompted the statement, he said, was last year’s “confusion” after Service Canada advised its workers in Quebec not to decorate offices in public display. Human Resources Minister Diane Finlely swiftly reversed that directive within a day.
“I was appalled because I thought that this made it look like is the federal government didn’t want people to celebrate Christmas, which is the actual opposite of how I think we believe,” Clement said.Read the full story here.

Rules of Engagement Changed: IDF May Not Shoot Back in Gaza.

Rules of Engagement Changed: IDF May Not Shoot Back in Gaza.(JP).By: Yori Yanover.One week after the conclusion of operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza, the security reality alongside the Gaza Strip border is being reshaped, the IDF has been instructed to show restraint, farmers on both sides are permitted to stretch their tilled lands all the way to the border fence, and should a Hamas or Islamic Jihad cell aim a rocket launcher at Israel, Israeli soldiers would not be allowed to shoot at it before going through channels, Maariv reports this morning.
The rules of engagement have been altered radically. In the recent past, IDF soldiers were instructed to shoot at once at any Gaza resident who approached the fence. Now there is no such thing as firing at will, even if the person approaching engages in sabotaging the security fence. The IDF must treat them now as suspects to be arrested, as is the protocol in Judea and Samaria, and shooting at those suspect is limited to the legs and not beyond.
The rules of engagement have also been changed regarding terrorist cells in the process of launching a rocket. In the past, the IAF would be alerted and a plane would be sent directly to attack the target. Now the attack may take place only should the terrorist cell actually initiate the process of launching.
Last Wednesday, according to Maariv, two hours after the ceasefire had gone into effect, IDF commanders in the field identified a cell which was setting up a rocket launcher and requested the approval of GOC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Tal Russo to shot at it, but Russo would not give his approval.Read the full story here.

Co-Operative Group, UK's fifth-largest food retailer, to boycott Israeli settlements goods.

Co-Operative Group, UK's fifth-largest food retailer, to boycott Israeli settlements goods.(AJ).The Co-Operative Group, a British supermarket chain, is extending a boycott of goods from illegal Israeli settlements and will now shun any supplier known to source from these areas, a statement has said. "Following an audit of the Group's supply chain, it will no longer do business with four companies, accounting for £350,000 ($560,000) worth of sales, as there is evidence that they source from the Israeli settlements in the Palestinian occupied territories," the statement said. The UK's fifth-largest food retailer has not bought goods from the settlements since 2009, it said, but does trade with about 20 Israeli businesses that do not source from the settlements. "The Group will also continue to actively work to increase trade links with Palestinian businesses in the occupied territories," it added. The UN Human Rights Council in March passed a resolution ordering a first investigation into how Israeli settlements may be infringing on the rights of the Palestinians. Israel approved another three settlements in the occupied West Bank on Monday, a move that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said left him "deeply troubled". The three outposts will now join some 120 settlements dotted across the territory that are home to more than 342,000 people.Read the full story here.

Canada - Ban on Gideon Bible handout at Ontario public schools sparks torrent of hate mail.

Canada - Ban on Gideon Bible handout at Ontario public schools sparks torrent of hate mail.(Yahoo).TORONTO - A public school board's decision to ban distribution of Gideon Bibles to its young students has unleashed a torrent of threatening calls and hateful emails directed at trustees. Some messages to the Bluewater District School Board express racist sentiment and question trustees' patriotism. "When are you 'politically correct' idiots, with your heads buried in the sand, going to realize that every action you take to destroy Canadian heritage...?" one email began. "Allowing newcomers to Canada the ability to walk all over our heritage has got to stop before they carry us into the realm of a warring nation like the one they often left behind," another writer said. The invective has unnerved some trustees as they prepare to formalize the ban on distribution of all non-instructional religious materials prompted by a parent's complaint about the decades-old tradition of offering free Gideon Bibles to Grade 5 students. Trustee Fran Morgan called the "onslaught" of messages "really disturbing," and said it has made her uneasy about driving the 30 kilometres to board meetings at night by herself. "I really do feel threatened by it," Morgan said from Griersville, Ont. "It's been very unpleasant." The Bluewater board, with more than 18,000 students in 53 schools across a broad swath of southern Ontario territory, is expected to formalize the ban at its meeting April 17, following in the footsteps of several other boards across Canada. Ban proponents argue distribution of the Bibles has no place in a secular school system, and that it potentially violates human-rights legislation. The board nixed the idea of allowing any religion to hand out materials on the basis it would suck up scarce resources and could be legally risky. One writer blamed the decision on "a handful of non-Christian elected officials." Board chairwoman, Jan Johnstone, admits the vitriolic responses — some urging trustees to "watch your back" — are unnerving. "People do crazy things," Johnstone said. "They see Christianity as a fundamental part of their Canadian identity." Another wrote one trustee: "How is that you agree with God's 10 Commandments and yet you have broken them countless times, you hypocrite!" Gideons International, an evangelical Protestant association based in Nashville, Tenn., has been placing its Bibles _ comprising a New Testament plus the books of Psalms and Proverbs from the Old Testament _ in Canadian public schools since 1936.Although one trustee received a phone call he thought was tantamount to a death threat, the board has so far not referred the matter to police, but a spokesman said the situation was being monitored. Trustee Kevin Larson, who would have preferred all religions be allowed to distribute materials, said he was "disappointed" by some of what he's seen.Read the full story here.