Europe

One of the people who wants to start an ethnic/religiously oriented clinic in Stockholm is radical Muslim Mahmoud Aldebe. He had formerly asked that imams approve divorces and that boys and girls should not learn swimming together.

Former imam Ahmed Akkari has moved to Greenland, and his days as an imam are over. He thinks he was subjected to a regular witch hunt during the Mohamed crisis and a book with orderly denunciations of both Danes and Muslims is therefore on the way.

BRUSSELS: The leader of the Irish No campaign, Daclan Ganley, has renewed calls for an EU-wide referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, as Irish media reported parts of the pact may be ratified by the Irish parliament instead.

Le village de l’Allemand: ou le journal des frères Schiller
By Boualem Sansal
(Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 264 pp., 2008)

While Americans and their elected officials do everything they can to avoid even the appearance of criticizing Islam or using such words as “Islamist,” the French public seems to suffer from no such inhibitions, at least not in the area of fiction.

Over 100 students of Iranian origin have filed a lawsuit against the Netherlands government and the Netherlands Education Ministry for expelling them from nuclear technology studies at universities in the country, for fear that they would smuggle information to Tehran (...)

As Iftar - the daily breaking of the fast during the Muslim month of Ramadan - is quickly approaching, Swedish society is reflecting on how to adapt to the traditions of “new Swedes”, and are making their own efforts to celebrate and mark Muslim holidays.

Rome: "Christianophobia" is a growing problem around the world and it must be fought with the same determination as anti-Semitism or Islamophobia, the Vatican said on Friday.

RIYADH. Calls to boycott Danish products over blasphemous cartoons have intensified in Ramadan. The printing of blasphemous cartoons that mocked Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in one of the Danish dailies and the reprinting of the same early this year has angered many Muslims across the world.

I posted H. Numan’s translation and commentary last night about the webmaster in the Netherlands who was convicted of a criminal offense for “racist” writings posted not by himself, but by a visitor to his site.

The first notice he received that he was criminally liable for the material posted was when the police came to arrest him — there was no prior request to remove the insulting writings.

To add to the injustice, far more offensive and provocative material is routinely posted on Islamist forums and is never subjected to any punishment.

Support for Israel has never ranked high on the United Nations’ agenda. And the upcoming World Conference Against Racism, scheduled for early 2009 in Geneva, Switzerland, presents a valid case.

Many observers are concerned that the UN-sponsored event will simply serve as yet another a platform to launch attacks against Israel -- as the previous world anti-racism conference did in Durban, South Africa, seven years ago.