Maybe we really do rule the media.
(Ironically, I like Metallica and Yellowcard but I'm not really into Matisyahu.)
Indian female tennis player Sania Mirza, 19, who is ranked 39th in the world, announced that she would not play with Israeli up and coming tennis star Shahar Pe’er in the doubles tournament of the Bangalore Open for fear of violent protests by India’s Islamic community.
The two friends were prevented from cooperating in last month’s Australian Open for the same reason.
Mirza initially agreed to play with Pe’er in Bangalore, but later retracted, telling Pe’er “It’s best that we don’t play together this time to prevent protests against my cooperation with an Israeli. There is no reason to arouse their ire (Muslims).”
Mirza, a sports hero in her country, was recently chastised by Muslim groups in India for wearing a sleeveless top and a mini-skirt during her matches. Local Muslim groups claimed that her attire degrades Islam, and some even threatened to kill her.
At the same time, extremists in many cities took to the streets in protest, and the WTA decided to assign bodyguards to protect the star during a tournament in Calcutta.
As a result, Mirza was also stripped of a few advertising campaigns, costing the young tennis player significant income.
Last November Mirza stirred controversy when during a New Delhi conference she spoke of the importance of safe sex; Muslim groups in New Delhi and three other cities held rallies, with protesters carrying signs reading “Mirza is detached from Islam,” claiming she is “corrupting the youth in the country, especially the girls.”
Mirza, in an attempt to ease tensions, said in response “I want to make it clear that I am opposed to pre-marital sex. It is a major sin in Islam, and I believe God would not forgive for such an act.”
PRAGUE, Feb 14 (CTK) - Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda wants the EU to make a clear gesture in support of Denmark that faces pressure from Muslim countries over the publication of cartoons featuring the Prophet Mohammad in the media, the daily Mlada fronta Dnes writes today.On the other hand, according to IslamOnline, Norway is well on its way to dhimmitude:
For example, the EU could provide financial compensation to Denmark for the economic loss it has suffered, the paper writes.
'A possible form of help could be financial compensation from the EU for the negative impact [of the controversy] on the export and sale of Danish goods,' Svoboda told the paper.
Svoboda is now seeking his EU colleagues' support for his plan.
Some time ago, Svoboda said on Czech Television that he would push for the EU to take a clear stance towards radical Muslims' violent reactions to the publication of the cartoons.
He called the EU's hitherto reaction reluctant. He said he considers the caricatures tasteless and understands that they have hurt the worshippers, but views the latter's reaction as unacceptable.
At the nearest meeting with his EU counterparts, Svoboda will reportedly ask them to condemn the violent reactions and to express clear solidarity with Denmark, where the controversial cartoons were published for the first time last autumn."
The Norwegian parliament has amended the Penal Code to criminalize blasphemy in the wake of the republication of Danish cartoons that lampooned Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) by a Norwegian magazine, Christian and Muslim leaders in Norway said on Tuesday, February 14.
"Law 150-A, which has been approved by parliament, criminalizes blasphemy and clearly prohibits despising others or lampooning religions in any form of expression, including the use of photographs," Norway's Deputy Archbishop Oliva Howika told reporters after a meeting in Doha with Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, the head of the International Union of Muslim Scholars.
Howika was among a Norwegian delegation that also included the chairman of the Supreme Islamic Council in Norway, Mohamed Hamdan.
"Under the new law, the crime of blasphemy will be punished either by a fine or imprisonment," Howika said, promising Qaradawi to fax him a copy of the law after being published in the country's official gazette.
Given the years a country needs to produce a nuclear weapon and assuming that Iran intends to do so, there is no need to rush in sending Iran's nuclear case to the Security Council, said Paul Horseman, a spokesman for Greenpeace International.
"The International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) decision to report Iran to the UN Security Council will seriously increase the risk of escalating tensions in the region and is counter-productive," added the British peace activist.
In an interview with IRNA on Tuesday, Horseman said that representatives of his organization in different countries are doing all they can to convince governments of the mistake they are making of referring Iran to the Security Council.
"Reporting Iran to the UN has created a vacuum of confidence building, a situation that IAEA head ElBaradei said he was intent on avoiding," said the disarmament campaigner.
"Board members supporting the EU-3 draft resolution have effectively shot themselves in the foot. The Iran crisis has been brought closer to the brink."
Emphasizing on the similar approaches undertaken by the US and UK in the months before the military attack on Iraq in 2003, Horseman said that by rushing into conclusions the international community will not have the chance to resolve the situation through diplomatic means.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here on Monday afternoon, "The message of the Iranian nation's Islamic Revolution is peace and security for entire mankind, based on monotheism, justice, and nobility of human beings."
Iran's former president and Head of International Institute for Dialogue among Cultures and Civilizations Mohammad Khatami said insulting others is not compatible with democracy and those who have insulted Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) must apologize for their shameful act.
Hundreds of students of Jamia Hamdard University condemned the blasphemy committed on Islam's holy Prophet Hazrat Mohammad (PBUH) by a number of Western publications.
Hundreds of students, teaching staff and non-teaching staff of Jamia Hamdard today held a demonstration inside its campus, voiced their hatred towards Denmark, US, the Zionist regime and European Union for condoning the publications and called on the world's Muslims to boycott Western products, particularly those of the US and Denmark.
Issuing a warning, the demonstrators chanted slogans such as `Death to US', `Death to Denmark', `Death to the Zionist regime' and `Death to Britain', and called on the world's Muslims to further protest such moves. They called US President George W Bush "the most ruthless criminal in history."
A number of theology and Basiji (volunteer forces) students gather in front of the British Embassy in Tehran on February 14, 2006, in protest over the publication of the blasphemous cartoons against the Muslim Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) in a number of European press.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here Saturday that the real holocaust should be sought in Palestine, where the blood of the oppressed nation is shed every day and Iraq, where the defenseless Muslim people are killed daily.
Stressing that these crimes mark western liberalism, he noted that the Zionists are about to be annihilated and that the era of occupation of Palestine is over.
The chief executive added that meanwhile, the destruction of colonial and Zionist culture is quite obvious.
Turning to the fact that Zionism has lost its philosophical foundations, he called on the Western states to resume worshiping God Almighty rather than selling the glory of enlightenment to the disgrace of being subject to the Zionists.
In other remarks, al-Faisal said that for all the shock in the Western world about the suicide attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and in Iraq, most Muslims were even more surprised.And then immediately afterwards, in the same talk:
The attacks were the result of a cultlike attitude fomented by al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden that ran counter to the central tenets of Islam, which holds that "killing one soul is like killing all of mankind," Prince Turki al-Faisal said.
"Inasmuch as the West was surprised, if you like, by this culture of death, I can assure you that the majority of Muslims were even more surprised because this culture of death runs counter to everything that Muslims hold dear to themselves," al-Faisal said.
"Nothing justifies any terrorist act whether through suicide bombing or through any other activity," al-Faisal said.
Still, he distinguished the suicide attacks carried out by Palestinian groups against Israel, saying the attacks were justified by groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad as "legitimate means of war under occupation."So "killing one soul is like killing all of mankind" unless that soul happens to be Jewish and living in an area that Muslims consider Judenrein. In that case, it is praiseworthy.
(Palestinian Arab) Foreign TradeForeign Trade Indicators, 1997-2000 Value in Million US $
Exports Imports Indicators 1997 1998 1999 2000 Total Palestinian Exports 382 395 372 401 Total Palestinian Exports by Country Exports to Israel 358 382 360 370 Exports to Arab Countries 19 11 10 29 Export to other countries 5 2 2 2
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