The View from Number 80

Yesterday, after almost no debate, the Indiana State Senate approved a bill that would allow its schools to teach the origin stories of various religions when a class touches on the origin of life. It now moves on to the state's House, where one of its cosponsors is currently the Speaker of the House. (These idiots don't seem to understand creationism denies ALL of science not just evolution.)

In 2003, after the invasion, many Iraqi professors hoped that their university system would be revitalized under US occupation. They expected funding to buy new books, to replace equipment, and to repair the damage inflicted by the sanctions. And they hoped for new tolerance for open debate and inquiry. In fact, the opposite happened.

British and American children who are less intelligent are more likely to grow up to be conservative and/or bigots, according to new research published in Physiological Science. The research study, "Bright minds and dark attitudes", used data from two British studies that tested the intelligence of children born in 1958 and 1970. The tests were carried out when the children were around 10 years old, and then when they reached their 30s the subjects were quizzed on their political views. (Depressing findings despite having a prejudice confirmed)

In a land of faith and flag, Justin Griffith is challenging the US military to abandon its religious ties.

Iran will help anyone willing to "cut out the cancer" of Israel, its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said today. "From now on, in any place, if any nation or any group confronts the Zionist regime, we will endorse and we will help. We have no fear expressing this," said Khamenei. (Maybe the accommodationist nitwits will now acknowledge that Israel, whether you can stand Netanyahu or not, faces a real, plausible existential threat from this lunatic and his followers)

The Italian supreme court has caused outrage after ruling that those convicted of gang rape do not have to be sentenced to jail. Late on Thursday the court upheld a constitutional court decision to annul the jail sentence of two 19-year-old men found guilty of gang raping a 16-year-old near Rome. A lower court had ruled that jail was the only sentencing option, but the supreme court disagreed, saying judges could apply alternatives. (This is disgusting and shows utter contempt for women)

Iran is stepping up a campaign of intimidation and smears against the BBC's Persian TV service, watched by millions of people in the Islamic Republic but loathed by the government in Tehran. In recent incidents, relatives of BBC staff in London have been detained and threatened by Iranian intelligence agents, top presenters targeted by malicious rumours and one employee subjected to an online interrogation in London after a family member in Iran was jailed. (Theocracy meets fascism - a match made in hell)

American novelist Paul Auster has hit back after the Turkish prime minister described him as "an ignorant man". Auster, author of the acclaimed New York Trilogy, told Turkish paper Hurriyet earlier this week that he refused to visit Turkey because of imprisoned journalists and writers. "How many are jailed now? Over 100?" (Turkey, an Islamist state in the making, does not respect freedom of speech. Note the remarks by Erdogan on Israel)

New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has entered the controversy over America's largest breast cancer advocacy group's cut in funding to Planned Parenthood by vowing to make up $250,000 of the missing funds out of his own pocket. A furious row raged this week over a decision by Susan G Komen for the Cure, the group behind the Pink Ribbon campaign, to cut its long-term funding for a Planned Parenthood project to screen disadvantaged women for breast cancer. (The net effect of Komen's cowardice is a rise in funding for PP)

"Good without God" has become a catch-phrase of the increasingly vocal atheist and freethinker movement -- from books to billboards, the non-religious are asserting the strength of their humanist ethics. As atheists emerge from the closet and stand up for themselves, one message they're bringing along is that charity is far from an inherent monopoly of the religious.

A row has erupted at Cheddar parish council in Somerset over prayers at council meetings. Cheddar parish councillor Peter Gawthorpe wants the saying of prayers moved to ten minutes before official council business. But the council has voted to say prayers immediately before council business begins, although not as part of the official agenda. (A ruling on the legality of such prayers, instigated by the NSS is due soon)

It had been hoped that tests carried out on the remains of a deer found on National Trust land would prove once and for all that big cats are roaming the British countryside. But extensive DNA tests commissioned by the trust have concluded the only beast that made a meal of the roe deer that met its bloody end at Woodchester Park in Gloucestershire was a boring old fox. (One in the eye for the cryptid freaks)

The Wall Street Journal has received a dressing down from a large group of leading scientists for promoting retrograde and out-of-date views on climate change. In an opinion piece run by the Journal on Wednesday, nearly 40 scientists, including acknowledged climate change experts, took on the paper for publishing an article disputing the evidence on global warming

A court in Cape Town has sentenced four men to 18 years in jail for a murder that rights activists say was carried out because the victim was a lesbian. The men were sentenced on Tuesday for the 2006 stabbing and stoning attack on Zoliswa Nkonyana, 19. Activists say such violence is increasing, highlighting the gap between society's sometimes narrow view of sexual identity and the role of women on one side, and South Africa's liberal constitution, which has some of the strongest provisions on gay rights on the continent. (18 years? Not enough)

Kuwaitis were casting ballots Thursday in a snap vote to elect the fourth parliament in less than six years, with pollsters predicting a solid victory for the Islamist-led opposition. The vote in the wealthy Gulf state, which follows an especially tense campaign and some outbursts of violence, seeks to end political disputes that have hurt the country for years

Nigerian authorities on Thursday questioned a man believed to be a spokesman for Islamist group Boko Haram after his arrest as security forces seek to stop a wave of attacks blamed on the extremists. Several security sources said Wednesday that a suspect believed to be the person who goes by the alias Abul Qaqa had been arrested, but authorities have not officially confirmed his detention or his identity.

William Hague has called for renewed pressure against Islamist militants during the first visit to Somalia by a British foreign secretary for 20 years.

The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has banned an advert by Healing on the Streets - Bath (HOTS) that claimed healing through prayer. The ASA ruled that 'A video on the website made claims that HOTS volunteers had successfully prayed for healing for people with cancer, fibromyalgia, back pain, kidney pain, hip pain, cataracts, arthritis and paralysis. We noted the testimonials on the website and in the video but considered that testimonials were insufficient as evidence for claims of healing. We therefore concluded the ads were misleading'. (Gotcha!)

The Muslim Brotherhood flexed its muscles here on Tuesday as hundreds of its young members linked arms to block a protest march from reaching Parliament while its lawmakers inside dominated the selection of leaders for legislative committees. More than 70 people were injured as thousands of protesters jammed against the Brotherhood’s human wall, the Health Ministry said. Thirty people were hospitalized, the ministry said, 10 of them members of the Muslim Brotherhood. (Now the gloves come off - an expected but entirely unwelcome development)

Pakistan's foreign minister says her country has no hidden agenda in Afghanistan, in response to a leaked secret Nato report on Islamabad's links to the Afghan Taliban. (She would say that wouldn't she?)

Iran’s morality police are cracking down on the sale of Barbie dolls to protect the public from what they see as pernicious western culture eroding Islamic values, shopkeepers said on Monday. (Like the Saudi muttawa these guys have a very unhealthy Barbie fixation. Move on, boys. Now you're grown you can buy inflatable dollies)

Four al-Qaeda inspired terrorists have pleaded guilty to plotting a Christmas bomb attack on the London Stock Exchange, the American embassy and the home of London Mayor Boris Johnson.

Thomas Aquinas was the greatest philosopher of the Christian middle ages. So what can he teach us that we have forgotten? (Nothing)

An al-Qaida-inspired gang of terrorists have admitted plotting to bomb the London Stock Exchange, and targeting Big Ben and Westminster Abbey after an eleventh-hour plea bargain in court. The terror plot was drawn up on a handwritten list and included the names and addresses of the London mayor, Boris Johnson, two rabbis, the US embassy and the London Eye, as potential sites to attack in the run-up to Christmas 2010.

America's leading breast cancer charity, Susan G Komen for the Cure, is halting its partnerships with Planned Parenthood affiliates – creating a bitter rift between two famous organisations that have assisted millions of women. The change will mean a cut-off of hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants, mainly for breast exams. Planned Parenthood says the move results from Komen bowing to pressure from anti-abortion activists in the US.

Hundreds of thousands of Somalis could be deprived of critical food aid after Islamist rebels banned the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from areas under their control. The move severes a critical lifeline in the south of the country where famine still threatens 250,000 people. One official, who did not wish to be named, said the ban was serious because it affected the Somali Red Crescent Society, a well-respected local organisation working with the ICRC. (These scum don't even care about their own people)

The Taliban, backed by Pakistan, are set to retake control of Afghanistan after Nato-led forces withdraw from the country, according to reports citing a classifed assessment by US forces. (Just when you think that your opinion of Pakistan is as low as it could get something like this crops up)

Muslim teenager Shamima Akhtar was kidnapped, imprisoned and had her hair cut off after her family saw her kiss a white man on her 18th birthday, a court has heard. Shamima was bundled into a car by sisters Nadiya, 25, Nazira, 29, and brother Kayum Mohammed-Abdul, 24, outside a Basingstoke restaurant when they saw her kissing work colleague Gary Pain on April 1 last year. Miss Akhtar came from a strict Islamic family and was controlled by her siblings, but she considered herself Westernised, the court heard. (Poor kid trapped, in a nightmare assaulted by her family. Some family values..)

A 33-year-old man was jailed for 45 days on Monday for attacking toy store customers and policemen with light sabers. The would-be Jedi then launched an attack at police officers waiting for him outside the store, successfully deflecting a stun gun dart, according to police at the scene.

An Afghan woman has been strangled to death, apparently by her husband, who was upset that she gave birth to a second daughter rather than the son he wanted, police said Monday. It was the latest in a series of grisly examples of subjugation of women that have made headlines in Afghanistan in the past few months – including a 15-year-old tortured and forced into prostitution by in-laws and a female rape victim who was imprisoned for adultery. (Islam and tribalism are a highly toxic combination - especially for women)

Scientists rule out possibility that jelly-like marbles that fell in Dorset garden could be living material. Some of the more fanciful suggestions were that they might be the bodily secretions of angels while others began to prepare for an alien invasion. (80 tends toward the angel crap theory)

An Oslo court on Monday sentenced two men to prison for planning to bomb the Danish newspaper that published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, in Norway's first-ever guilty verdict for "plotting to commit a terrorist act." Norwegian national Mikael Davud, a member of China's Uighur minority considered the mastermind behind the plot against the Jyllands-Posten daily, was sentenced to seven years behind bars. (What's with the capital P for prophet? Do they always write Lord Shiva or Lord Jesus. Just Mohammad will do. Over the last 11 years or so everybody has become very aware of him - and his more devout followers, the ones with a penchant for rage and violence)

The Shafia murder trial has cast a shadow over Canada's Islamic community, further tarnishing an image that has not yet recovered from the events of 911. Muslims across the country, however, say the revelations in a Kingston, Ont., courtroom have shone a light on problematic aspects of their culture and illuminated new ways to tackle the issues.

A magical charm protects a small area of the UC Berkeley campus, it is said. If that idea sounds incongruous with academia in general, then it's especially jarring to imagine that the supernatural safeguard envelops undergraduates studying unit vectors, metrology, emission mapping and other such grounded pursuits in Stephens Hall, headquarters for a diverse group of science geeks. (Oh yeah, great idea, magic pictures, like they'll really help. Sheesh)

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/01/india-obscene-pics-of-gods-require-massive-human-censorship-of-google-facebook.ars

India: obscene pics of gods require massive human censorship of Google, Facebook. It's hardly the sort of Internet policy statement one hopes to hear from judges in major democracies. "Like China, we can block all such websites [who don't comply]," Justice Suresh Cait told Facebook and Google lawyers in India yesterday. "But let us not go to that situation." No, let's not. But it's what the government wants if Internet companies won't start screening and censoring all user-generated material on social network and user-generated content sites. And they'd better do their screening by hand, not with machines. (India, the country that was incapable of protecting a world-renowned author at a literary festival)

A jury in Canada has found an Afghan immigrant couple guilty of murdering their three daughters and the husband's first wife whom they had accused of dishonouring the family. The couple's son was also convicted. (Murderous scum without shred of "honor")

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged African leaders to respect gay rights. Discrimination based on sexual orientation had been ignored or even sanctioned by many states for too long, Mr Ban told an African Union summit. Homosexuality is illegal in many African countries - a situation which has drawn increasing criticism from activists and the West.

Ancestors of the earliest Native Americans may indeed be traced to Asia, according to a recent genetic study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania and the Institute of Cytology and Genetics in Novosibirsk, Russia. The researchers, led by Theodore Schurr, an associate professor in Penn's Department of Anthropology, in collaboration with Ludmila Osipova of the Institute, suggest that an ancient people living in a mountainous region in southern Siberia may have been the genetic source for those who migrated westward, possibly crossing the Bering Land Bridge to become the earliest Native Americans. (That's not what the Mormons say)

Leading church figures including the former Archbishop of Canterbury have sparked controversy by championing a psychotherapist who believes gay men can be 'cured' of their homosexuality. (This surely confirms that a. Carey is a very silly old fool and b. there should be no bishops in the upper chamber. The therapy involved is unsubstantiated claptrap)

The purported leader of Boko Haram, the radical Islamist group responsible for hundreds of deaths in Nigeria has vowed to attack "again and again" until the country becomes an Islamic state. (Nigeria is already a toilet of a country but it would be far worse under these murderous fanatics. Does god really need a hand from this scum?)

The Saudi elite are proud of the British Museum's Hajj exhibition – it's a shame they don't feel the same about all their heritage. (On the Saudi's cultural vandalism - something Karen Armstrong failed to appreciate along with much else on her BM hajj article)

Today we live in the 21st century, and it seems that we are still stuck with this narrow and rigid view of the things. As Rupert Sheldrake puts it in his new book, published this week, The Science Delusion: "The belief system that governs conventional scientific thinking is an act of faith, grounded in a 19th-century ideology." (Oh good grief, Mark Vernon is plugging ex-scientist Rupert Sheldrake. Pass the sick bag)

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan challenged the violent Islamist Boko Haram sect on Thursday to identify themselves and state clearly their demands as a basis for talks, while acknowledging that military confrontation alone will not end their insurgency. In an interview with Reuters at the presidential villa in the capital Abuja, Jonathan said there was no doubt that Boko Haram had links with other jihadist groups outside Nigeria.

Sir David Attenborough does not believe that an understanding of evolution is incompatible with faith in God, he will tell Radio 4 listeners on Sunday. "I don't think an understanding and an acceptance of the 4 billion-year-long history of life is any way inconsistent with a belief in a supreme being," the 85-year-old broadcaster and writer will tell presenter Kirsty Young. "And I am not so confident as to say that I am an atheist." (Looking at the prodigious waste and cruelty in the evolutionary process this must be an uncaring deity)

And Wyllys – Brazil's first openly gay MP and a man locked in conflict with the country's powerful religious right – needs all the support he can get. "It is a difficult battle to fight. Sometimes I feel like Don Quixote, you know?" said the 37-year-old former Big Brother contestant who has been called South America's answer to Harvey Milk, the San Francisco politician and gay rights activist assassinated in 1978. (Brazil is not short of right-wing Christian nutjobs - Wyllys is a brave man)

Ministers should not overrule tradition on the issue of same-sex marriages, the Archbishop of York has said. Dr John Sentamu, the second most senior Church of England cleric, told the Daily Telegraph that marriage must be between a man and a woman. He supported civil partnerships, he said, but only "dictators" tried to overturn history and redefine marriage. (All very silly until you realize this clod has a seat in the House of Lords, the upper chamber of government. It is an ex officio position making any Archbishop of York a member. In other words he is imposed upon the House of Lords rather than elected. This a relic of former times when the church seemed relevant.)

Gunmen suspected of being members of the Islamist sect Boko Haram attacked a police station in Nigeria's Kano state on Friday, police and witnesses said, leading to more than an hour of running gun battles. Kano state and its capital city of 10 million people have been under siege in the past few weeks by gunmen from the militant sect, which wants to impose sharia law across Nigeria.

In Amsterdam, 22 jihadis stormed my book launch, ordered my execution and threatened to break my neck. Police arrested two men and found a third with a loaded machine gun at home. They're members of "Sharia4Belgium," an international network with cells in most of the countries I'll be visiting in the next 6 months. (Irshad Manji on how tolerant Islamists are - not at all)

A man who downloaded a recipe for the deadly poison ricin and documents about how to make bombs has been jailed for two years and three months. Asim Kausar, 25, from Bolton, kept the information on a computer pen drive. (Does a deity really need violent morons to wreak violence on its behalf?)

The Guardian keeps up its abysmally anti-Semitic line. One wonders who funds this rag that has made a huge loss for years. Gove is a jerk but this is not really about him

Children & Families Minister Tim Loughton MP has said that he is not convinced there is any need to regulate Britain's madrassas, despite clear evidence of abuse. The Minister was responding to concerns expressed by the National Secular Society about child protection in Islamic schools.

Two of Britain’s most revered non-believers have come to blows over plans to build a £1 million “temple for atheists” in the City of London. (More on de Botton's daft idea. A temple is a place where deities are worshipped - "atheist temple" is nonsensical. The furore so far generated will be good for de Botton who has a new book out)

Some of Australia's most prominent doctors and scientists have banded together to urge universities to stop teaching "nonsense" alternative medicine courses such as aromatherapy and homoeopathy. (This is long overdue - the universities know the therapies are crap but the courses pay well)

A team of senior Taliban diplomats has arrived in Qatar in preparation for the opening of a political office to host negotiations between America, the insurgents and the Afghan government. (Taliban diplomats - isn't that an oxymoron?)

A suicide bomber killed at least 29 people on Friday by driving an explosives-laden vehicle into a Shia Muslim funeral procession in Baghdad, heightening fears that Iraq is in the grips of sectarian conflict. (Sectarian conflict is inevitable in the Sunni vs Shia world of Islam)

An Italian priest has a lot of explaining to do after telling his parishioners he was going on a spiritual retreat, only for it to be revealed that he was on the capsized Costa Concordia cruise ship. “What do you want me to say?” the priest told an Italian news magazine, Panorama. “I have nothing to add. I'm OK although I’m still a bit in shock. I will talk to my parishioners in church. The judgment of others is not important to me.” (Said the arrogant, lying bastard)

People who pay cash in hand to tradesmen are “diddling” the economy and diverting money from hospitals and schools, the country’s most senior taxman, Dave Hartnett, has warned. (That's bloody rich coming from an idiot that gave away billions to big firms in sweetheart deals)

Members of New York's Muslim community took to the steps of City Hall Thursday to call for the resignation of the police commissioner and his chief spokesman, after the NYPD admitted showing a virulently anti-Muslim film to officers undergoing counter-terrorist training.

Plans to build a £1m "temple for atheists" among the international banks and medieval church spires of the City of London have sparked a clash between two of Britain's most prominent non-believers. The philosopher and writer Alain de Botton is proposing to build a 46-metre (151ft) tower to celebrate a "new atheism" as an antidote to what he describes as Professor Richard Dawkins's "aggressive" and "destructive" approach to non-belief. (de Botton sounds like he has a screw loose. It is a pointless exercise)

A shadow health minister has resigned from a cross-party group on counselling given to pregnant women by abortion providers, dismissing it as a "front" for those who want it outlawed. Labour MP Diane Abbott said she had "no doubt" the government wanted to bring about such a change. But Tory MP Nadine Dorries, who is in favour of altering the law, said Ms Abbott's comments were "nonsense". (Nadine should know nonsense when she sees it - she produces little else. She is even more irritating than Abbott - but not by much)

The National Secular Society has condemned a secret plan for a twenty foot high replica of the Rio de Janeiro statue of Christ the Redeemer near the summit of the iconic London landmark Primrose Hill. It will be funded by the Brazilian government to celebrate the end of the London 2012 Olympics and mark the moment Rio takes on the Olympic mantle for the 2016 Games. (Well it's not secret any more. A bloody silly idea. What has the fabled Christian godman have to do with the Olympics? Zeus or Apollo would be much more appropriate)

I agree with the bishops on welfare reform – but they shouldn't be in the House of Lords at all. (Typically good piece by Tom Chivers who is one of the vanishingly few reasons to read the Telegraph)

When a demolition team began work at a derelict Victorian guest house they all agreed that something didn't feel quite right. One day, they claimed, a chandelier suddenly started swinging on its own, which understandably left the burly builders feeling slightly unsettled. But it was only when one of the team took a photograph of the building that they suddenly became convinced they had not been working alone. The image appears to show the ghostly outline of a woman at the window of Meadowbank House, in Kendal, Cumbria. (The Daily Mail - always first with the crap)

Police in Azerbaijan have foiled an Iranian plot to assassinate Israel's ambassador and other prominent Jews in apparent revenge for the killing of nuclear scientists in Tehran, officials in the former Soviet state claimed.

Should Google take the crazy out of the Internet? (No, next!)

A group called Transception Incorporated, self-described as an Austin, Texas based psychic R&D operation, sent a letter to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden that nominates the Apollo 16 crew for the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. A variety of "shipwreck elements" -- described as "structures, people/aliens, biological technology, and their plight" -- were reportedly seen through remote viewing by six experts at Transception. (What a bunch of bloody clowns)

WHEN the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay visited the Maldives late last year, she urged that the practice of flogging women for having sex outside marriage - and very rarely punishing men in the same way - should be abolished. ''This practice constitutes one of the most inhumane and degrading forms of violence against women,'' she told local reporters. (Yet again Islam and violence are inseparable - as is the disproportionate punishment meted out to women)

British people are less honest than they were a decade ago, according to a new "integrity" study. (Perhaps they all lied)

WHEN the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay visited the Maldives late last year, she urged that the practice of flogging women for having sex outside marriage - and very rarely punishing men in the same way - should be abolished. ''This practice constitutes one of the most inhumane and degrading forms of violence against women,'' she told local reporters.

The courts are endangering religious freedom because the judiciary are giving it a lower priority than equality, a leading philosopher has claimed. Prof Roger Trigg of Kellogg College, Oxford, said that judges increasingly “curtail” the religious views of people in favour of other “social priorities”. After studying a series of judgments throughout Britain, Europe and North America, he concluded there was a “clear trend” of judges favouring equality and non-discrimination over religious freedom.  (Equality is more important than superstition - that should be obvious even to Trigg)

We're to believe that Santorum's desire to overturn Roe v Wade is "not a matter of religious values", yet, when discussing a hypothetical pregnancy by rape just moments later, he says: "I believe and I think that the right approach is to accept this horribly created, in the sense of rape, but nevertheless, in a very broken way, a gift of human life, and accept what God is giving to you." ("In the sense of rape." Deep breaths, Kate.) "Gift from God," "person under the law" – why quibble about semantic differences? The point is: Life! Glorious life! Santorum will defend it!

It has long been regarded as more of a national sport than a misdemeanour. And it has long benefited from the seemingly boundless indulgence of the Italian Roman Catholic church. But now the head of the Italian bishops' conference, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, has unambiguously declared that "evading taxes is a sin". He called for "serious, effective and relentless" action against tax dodgers. (Not sure about the "sin" bit but it is selfish and greedy. Everyone should pay tax proportionate to their earnings. The Roman church is one of the biggest tax-dodgers so hypocritical can be added to the list as well)

Ministers are to bring to an end an "absurd" benefits regime which has seen husbands with multiple wives able to claim extra welfare payments. Although bigamy is illegal in Britain, men who married more than one woman in countries where the practice was legal and then brought them to the UK have been allowed for years to receive multiple benefits. Critics claimed the controversial system meant the state is effectively "recognising" polygamous marriages, of which there are thought to be about a thousand in the UK. (One good outcome of benefit reform)

Sir Salman Rushdie has launched a fierce attack on the Indian government for pandering to extremist Muslim groups and failing to protect freedom of speech after threats of violence forced him to withdraw from a top literature festival. (Rushdie's only saying this because it's true)

As the British prime minister, David Cameron, visited Riyadh in mid-January, wooing Saudi business and strengthening bilateral relations, a young Shia man in the eastern province was shot dead. Following the kingdom's huge arms deal with the United States, Cameron apparently wanted to persuade the Saudis to buy Typhoon Eurofighters. His visit was a slap in the face for protesters, who are demanding human rights and more of a say in their country's affairs.

Ofcom, which regulates broadcasting media in the UK, has revoked the licence of Press TV, whose UK operation is based at studios in west London but whose editorial control is – so Ofcom argued – located in Tehran. Ofcom had given Press TV a choice: either move editorial control to London or transfer its UK broadcasting licence to Iran. Press TV apparently ignored this ultimatum. So now it is off the air. (It was a mouthpiece for a vile theocratic dictatorship. For all his touted "Zionism" Geoffrey Alderman is talking unmitigated crap - Press TV is a mouthpiece for a regime that hangs children from cranes. Where's his bloody shame?)

The organisers of Asia's biggest literary festival have been forced to cancel a video-linked appearance by British author Salman Rushdie after owners of the venue in the north-west Indian city of Jaipur decided it would be unsafe to allow it. "Our host was unwilling to bear responsibility for possible deaths in a venue full of children and old people. It's a bad day, and a horrible moment for us all." (Islam, always with the violence)

The Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram has killed at least 935 people since it launched an uprising in 2009, including more than 250 in the first weeks of this year, according to Human Rights Watch. Boko Haram, which means "western education is sinful" in the Hausa language of northern Nigeria, is loosely modelled on Afghanistan's Taliban. It has claimed responsibility for bombing churches, police stations, military facilities, banks and beer parlours in the mainly Muslim north of the country.

Rick Santorum would encourage one of his daughters to see a pregnancy created through rape as "a gift of human life" and urge her to not consider an abortion, the socially ultra-conservative Republican presidential candidate has explained. (Confirmation, if any were needed, that Santorum is utterly detestable)

A respected Russian scientist claims to have found signs of life on Venus in photographs taken by a Soviet probe 30 years ago. However, outside analysis suggests he is breathing life into an assortment of camera lens covers and image blurs. (Well, there's a surprise)

India is to formally object to a joke by US TV host Jay Leno in which he said that the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine for Sikhs, was a summer home for wealthy presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Minister Vayalar Ravi termed the gag by "The Tonight Show" host as "quite unfortunate and quite objectionable" and said the Indian embassy in Washington would raise the issue, the Press Trust of India reported on Monday. Angry members of the Sikh community in the US circulated an online petition protesting the "derogatory depiction" of the Golden Temple, adding that "Jay Leno's racist comments need to be stopped right here".  (India joins the "I am offended" bandwagon. Pathetic. By the way, Sikhs are no more more a race than Muslims or Christians. Grow up)

A Saudi woman who defied a driving ban in the kingdom was injured and her companion killed when their car overturned in the northern Hael province, a police spokesman said on Monday. (What a nasty coincidence. No doubt her death will be used as an example of what happens when women drive)

Senior US military and civilian representatives in Afghanistan have opened talks with an insurgent group led by a man considered to be a terrorist by Washington, according to his key lieutenant and son-in-law. (They'll need a very long spoon to sup with that individual)

The hajj, subject of a new exhibition at the British Museum, shows that a respect for other faiths is central to Muslim tradition. (Karen Armstrong revealing her detachment from reality. Whenever Muslims in a country are in the majority then other religions are inevitably persecuted)

Leading climate scientists have given their support to a Freedom of Information request seeking to disclose who is funding the Global Warming Policy Foundation, a London-based climate sceptic thinktank chaired by the former Conservative chancellor Lord Lawson. (The smell of oil and coal pervades)

IS it possible for a religious demand for modesty to be about anything other than men controlling women’s bodies? From recent events in Israel, it would certainly seem that it is not.

The emir of Kano and the state's top politician offered prayers Monday for the more than 150 people killed in a coordinated attack by a radical Islamist sect, though fear kept many Nigerians from coming to the mosque.

Our intention was not to offend anyone's religious sensibilities, but to give a voice to a writer who had been silenced by a death threat. Reading from another one of his books would have been meaningless. The Satanic Verses was the cause of the trouble, so The Satanic Verses it would have to be. (Hari Kunzru on his defence of Salman Rushdie who could not attend a literary festival because of Muslim threats of murder)

Special report: Israel's military justice system is accused of mistreating Palestinian children arrested for throwing stones. (A worrying story - as is the Guardian's use of the word "children" to describe teenagers)

An alleged al-Qaida member from London is reported to have been killed in a missile attack from a US drone while fighting alongside Islamist insurgents in Somalia. The 27-year-old's wife is understood to have given birth to a child in a London hospital a few hours before the missile strike, prompting suspicions among relatives that his location had been pinpointed as a result of a telephone conversation between the couple. "Brother Bilal al-Berjawi was exposed to bombing in an outskirt of Mogadishu from a drone that is believed to be American. He was martyred immediately." (A pointless death when he should have been with his wife and child)

An article published in the Solar System Research magazine reported several objects resembling living beings were detected on photos made by a Russian landing probe in 1982 during a Venus mission. Leonid Ksanfomaliti of the Space Research Institute of Russia’s Academy of Sciences published research that analyzed the photos from the Venus mission made by a Soviet landing probe, Venus-13, in 1982. The photos feature several objects, which Ksanfomaliti said, resembled “a disk,” “a black flap” and “a scorpion.” All of them “emerge, fluctuate and disappear,” the scientist said, referring to their changing location on different photos and traces on the ground. (Is this likely? Those little disks and flaps and scorpions basking in temperatures that would melt lead. It's life Jim, but not as we know it. Don't be too optimistic in expecting to read a real, peer-reviewed scientific paper on this - ever.)

Joan Smith: Strong religious belief is no excuse for intimidation (It's a shame this isn't obvious to many godbothering dolts. As Smith effectively asks where's the outrage at this inexcusable behavior. Apart from the Independent pretty much nowhere. This has to change)

The French defence minister said Saturday that an Afghan soldier who killed four French troops was a Taliban infiltrator, as he appeared to dampen the prospect of an early withdrawal.

More than 100 people were killed in bomb attacks and gunbattles in the Nigerian city Kano late on Friday, a local government security source said, in the deadliest strike claimed by Islamist sect Boko Haram to date.

The owner of a Jewish newspaper in Atlanta has said he deeply regrets writing a column suggesting that Israel consider "a hit" on Barack Obama if he stands in the way of the Jewish state defending itself. Andrew Adler told the Guardian he wrote the column in the weekly Atlanta Jewish Times "to get a reaction" from the paper's readers.

An Egyptian blogger jailed by the military junta for insulting the army has been officially pardoned, as the country's ruling generals attempt to bolster public support before protests planned for the coming week. Critics claim that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf), which took power after the toppling of Mubarak in February last year, has proved itself to be even more repressive than the regime it ostensibly replaced. (No more Mubarak but still same old army)

More than 140 people have died in the northern Nigerian city of Kano after a series of attacks by the militant Islamist group Boko Haram. In a series of attacks on Friday, as residents were leaving mosques, five police buildings, two immigration offices and the local headquarters of the national intelligence services were targeted. (The religion of death doing what it does best)

Booming construction industry beats Israeli blockade as materials are smuggled in through tunnels. (Typical crap Guardian report talks of "Israeli blockade" but then says the building materials come from Egypt anyway. The tunnel thing is unlikely - how aggregate, cement and other bulk goods enough to fuel a "boom" can come through tunnels. We're hardly talking the Channel Tunnel here.)

Despite knowing better, many of us cling to the notion that memory is a reliable record and trawling through it can be similar to flipping through an old photo album. But what about the memories - sometimes vivid in nature - of things that never were? Examining the false stories that we can create for ourselves is the aim of a new initiative led by artist Alasdair Hopwood. As part of a residency at the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit led by Chris French at Goldsmiths College, University of London, Hopwood aims to explore what false memories reveal about our sense of identity.

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has hit out at bishops trying to block his welfare reforms, accusing them of ignoring the concerns of ordinary people. Mr Duncan Smith said the Church of England bishops, who are threatening to derail his planned £26,000 benefit cap, should think more of low-income families who try to do "the right thing" (Maybe this will lead the Tories to question the need for unelected bishops in the upper house? That said, IDS is a complete pillock with no experience of the real world)

Western democracies should overcome their aversion to Islamist groups that enjoy popular support in North Africa and the Middle East and encourage them to respect basic rights, Human Rights Watch said in a report on Sunday. (Sounds like the long discredited HRW don't give a shit about women's  or gay rights)

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Monday slammed the decision of the Swiss-based Inter-Parliamentary Union to invite the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas to attend its 2012 session. (Lieberman is a jerk but this time he has a valid point. Since when do terrorists earn a place at such an event? The Swiss have lost their minds. The headline says "Israel Fury" but any legitimate parliamentarians should be feeling the same way)

Images of naked Pharaohs on Egypt’s temples are tantamount to heresy, prominent Salafist Abdel Moneim El-Shahat said on Wednesday. El-Shahat, who failed to win an independent seat for the Nour Party in recent parliamentary elections, had previously called Egypt’s Pharaonic heritage “rotten.” (You ignorant Salafist creep you may know nothing of history and a culture that lasted thousands of years but can your fellow Egyptians do without the tourist trade? History didn't start in the Middle Ages)

The Obama administration will allow religious organizations a one-year delay before they must comply with a new rule requiring employers that offer workers health insurance to include access to contraception with no out-of-pocket cost, according to people familiar with the decision. But the rule itself and the employers covered by it remain unchanged. (More time maybe but no get out for the anti-women religionists)

God knows what has become of the religious right. The movement of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson has been in decline for some time, but recent events suggest that they are wandering in the political wilderness. (An interesting and reassuring opinion piece but only time will tell for sure)

Three Muslim men have been found guilty of stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation in the first case of its kind. The men distributed a leaflet that said Islam called for anyone caught committing homosexuality to be executed. They were convicted by a jury at Derby Crown Court of distributing threatening written material intending to stir up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation. The case is the first prosecution of its kind since legislation came into force in March 2010.

An increasing number of Muslim women activists are receiving death threats, fatwas and even hate-mail from extremist male and female Muslims. Their crime: Rescuing fellow Muslim women from violent and life threatening situations. (A good piece from the Independent, amazingly enough, which ran an adulatory interview with  Ismail Haniyeh of the terrorist gang Hamas a couple of weeks ago)

Pastor Ed Young and his wife, Lisa, climbed to the rooftop of their Texas church last week and staged a 24-hour bed-in. Their aim was to encourage other married couples to undertake seven straight days of sex, all in the name of the Lord — and to promote their new book. It’s the second Christian “sex advice” book to be lavished with attention this month for allegedly being edgy and oh so sexy. But having actually read these books, I can tell you they are not the wild sex manuals the media frenzy suggests — in fact, they are treatises against homosexuality, pornography and premarital sex. None of this is exactly surprising, but amid the sexy buzz surrounding these books, it’s important to underscore just how sexually stunted they are.

MPs will debate a controversial bill on Friday calling for teenage girls to be given lessons in sexual abstinence. The bill, proposed by Nadine Dorries, the Conservative MP for Mid Bedfordshire, would require schools to offer extra sex education classes to girls aged 13 to 16 and for these lessons to include advice on "the benefits of abstinence". (The ghastly Dorries appears to be unaware that the evidence shows abstinence teaching is worthless. Sex education, especially about birth control, is the way to reduce teen pregnancies)

Thought the Joker was bad? Batman now has a bigger enemy, in the shape of Rupert Murdoch, whose Fox News – reviled by the left, but with a reach into more than 100m US households – is taking on the superhero and his DC Comics cohorts, criticising the comics for scenes including "Batman and Catwoman having sex on the rooftop, a drunken Bruce Wayne, and graphic images of blood-splattered battles with heads chopped off". (Murdoch, the man who dragged newspapers into the gutter? How bizarre his news channel is so keen to uphold standards. Bloody hypocrite)

Salman Rushdie has announced that he will not be attending the Jaipur literary festival, which started in the north-western Indian city on Friday, because of fears that he was being targeted by killers sent by local underworld figures. (A triumph for the forces of darkness)

An Iranian news agency is reporting police have closed down dozens of toy shop for selling Barbie dolls. The stated aim is to fight Western cultural influence. The Friday report by semiofficial Mehr news agency quotes an unnamed police official as saying police also confiscated Barbie dolls from toy shops in Tehran in a "new phase" of its crackdown. (Barbie was banned in the mid-90s. It seems no one took much notice) 

A few months ago, the Girl Scouts of America (GSUSA) found themselves in the midst of a unique controversy. A Denver, Colorado troop initially refused to let 7-year-old Bobby Montoya join. Montoya, who identifies as female, was denied entry to the troop when Felisha Archuleta, Bobby’s mother, first approached them. After protests from Archuleta, and some media coverage, the Colorado Girl Scouts of America ended up welcoming Bobby into the scouts, and released a statement through GLAAD, clarifying the organizations policy:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran has claimed that Western nations created HIV to enfeeble the third world and create a market for Western pharmaceuticals. (He's only saying that after he caught the disease from Chavez at their recent tryst)

Col. Amir Baram, commander of the Israel Defense Forces paratroopers brigade, has no doubts. "A soldier who says he doesn't feel like jumping because his parachuting instructor is a woman cannot be a combatant. The issue isn't open to discussion," an officer Baram's command said this week. Last month a religious soldier refused to parachute because he had a female instructor. (Misogynist morons. This a growing trend from religious extremists)

This is the Haaretz story referenced below

According to Haaretz, the Israeli newspaper, a group of armed Hamas fighters "brutally attacked" Shi'ite worshippers in the Gaza Strip last Friday, in part of a crackdown on Shi'ite groups that was sparked "by Hamas' fear of growing Iranian influence in Gaza." This is what happens with the Ayatollah stops paying the bills: up until a few months ago, "Iranian influence" was the sole reason for Hamas’ existence. (This story gives one the guilty pleasure of watching two despised groups have a go at each other. Until one realizes how many innocent people will be caught in the crossfire)

The number of unsafe abortions is rising around the world, while what appeared to be a steady decline in abortion rates in the 1990s has stalled, according to an authoritative new report. (This rise is a major consequence of banning abortion, usually on religious grounds)

Women, Islam and the media are topics often found in close conjunction, and not always in the happiest of circumstances. So in a canny move, the University of East Anglia (UEA), which often gives better-known institutions a run for their money in terms of column inches, has developed a course entitled exactly that. (Another puff-piece from the Guardian's apologist for Islam)

Two Roman Catholic midwives are taking a health board to court for allegedly failing to recognise their conscientious objection to supervising staff involved in abortions. They say they “hold a religious belief that all human life is sacred from the moment of conception and that termination of pregnancy is a grave offence against human life”. Their involvement in the process would be wrongful and “an offence against God”. (Can they answer the riddle about identical twins? As the souls enters the cell at the moment of conception and then later divides which one gets the soul? Or do they get half each? Interestingly "...it is estimated that up to half of all fertilized eggs die and are lost (aborted) spontaneously, usually before the woman knows she is pregnant." So God kills them and that's OK?)

Rather than giving back the multi-million dollar piece of spyware, which has been gleefully paraded for the world's cameras, an Iranian toy maker has promised to send the White House a pink plastic toy replica of the downed drone. The Ayeh Art group has been doing a brisk trade in models of the RQ-170, producing around 2,000 a day, and in an inspired moment of self-publicity has promised to reserve one for President Obama. (Would they still think it funny when the US turns up to collect it?)

Nigerian troops shot dead four suspected terrorists from the Boko Haram sect and injured five others in a gunfight in the northeastern city of Maiduguri.

An Iranian actress has been told she is no longer welcome in her homeland after she posed naked in a French news magazine as a symbolic protest against strictures on women. (Case proven)

The man thought to have masterminded an attack on a Nigerian church that killed 37 people on Christmas Day has escaped from police custody, still wearing handcuffs, less than a day after his arrest. Kabir Sokoto, an influential businessman and alleged gun-runner, was a huge catch for authorities investigating the church bombing just outside the capital, Abuja. A radical Islamist group Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the attack. (Mmm, Nigeria. So the cops were bribed to let him escape)

From Hungary to South Africa, the US to the UK, the right no longer embraces progress or tolerance, reason or democratic argument. (A chilling but flawed survey by Will Hutton)

A Pakistani journalist, Mukkaram Khan Atif, died after being shot in the head while praying at a mosque. The Pakistan Taliban later claimed responsibility for his murder. Mukarram Khan, who reported on screen for the Voice of America, was shot by two men who entered the mosque near his home in Shabqadar, a small town located in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, not far from Peshawar.

A plan by the education secretary, Michael Gove, to send a copy of the King James Bible to every school in the country – each including a personal inscription from him – has run into trouble after government sources reported he has been told to find private funding for the project. (Schools are not lacking in bibles - it was a monumentally stupid idea in the first place and a waste of £400,000 - whoever ponies up for it. Gove is the genius that wants to give the Queen a new royal yacht. At anytime this would be stupid, but while the country's finances are in the toilet it is almost criminally so)

They hover in close formation against the backdrop of a cloudy Kent sky. The two mysterious bright lights were photographed on January 6 floating over Chatham. Less than a week later four similar lights were seen over Essex, shining brightly against the dawn. The remarkable sightings were made just 30 miles apart in an area now dubbed the country's UFO hotspot. (Unconvincing silliness - but then it is the Daily Mail)

Is climate change education the new evolution, threatened in U.S. school districts and state education standards by well-organized interest groups? A growing number of education advocates believe so, and yesterday, the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) in Oakland, California, which fights the teaching of creationism, announced that it's going to take on climate change denial as well. ("teach the controversy" tactics employed where no controversy exists - creationist style)

Russian space industry officials say the United States may have accidentally destroyed Russia's most expensive and ambitious space mission since the Soviet era. But the accusation doesn't hold up to scrutiny.

Activity such as prayer should not be quarantined by interpreting it as of strictly aesthetic or instrumental merit. (Is Mark Vernon actually paid for this twaddle? Do look at the comments)

David Cameron is facing the threat of a fresh backbench Tory revolt as traditionalists line up to oppose government plans to legalise gay marriage. Tory MPs, who have raised concerns about the move with ministers at meetings of the 1922 committee, are hoping to rally more than 100 backbenchers, according to the Independent. (The world is going to hell in a bucket and they're worried about this?)

The radical cleric Abu Qatada cannot be sent back to Jordan while "there remains a real risk that evidence obtained by torture will be used against him", judges have ruled. The European court of human rights (ECHR) ruled there would be a breach of his right to a fair trial "given the real risk of the admission of evidence obtained by torture at his retrial". (so, for the moment the UK is stuck with this highly offensive religious fanatic)

A member of Gaza's tiny Shiite minority says followers were beaten by Hamas police during a religious ceremony last week. The man said police burst into a house of a fellow Shiite during a gathering to commemorate the suffering of the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson Imam Hussein. The man says about 15 worshippers were beaten and briefly detained.

Russia on Tuesday said the failure of its Phobos-Grunt probe for Mars could have been caused by radiation from US radars, in its latest allegation of Western interference in its space programme. "There is such a theory," Yury Koptev the head of the scientific committee of state technology company Russian Technologies told the RIA-Novosti news agency. (Utter drivel - everyone knows it was the lizards)

Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox protesters tried on Sunday to block roads around Jerusalem’s Kikar Hashabbat (Sabbath Square) in Mea She’arim neighborhood, after six prominent members of the community were arrested earlier in the day in suspicion of financial-related crimes. Three demonstrators have been arrested so far. (Devout crooks)

The conservative bedrock issues of abortion, gay marriage and faith that have long shaped Republican campaigns in the South moved toward the forefront of the presidential contest here Saturday as candidates scrambled for the support of evangelical voters. Rick Santorum got a potential boost Saturday as a coalition of prominent Christian conservative leaders voted to back his candidacy in a last-ditch effort to consolidate social conservative voters and stop, or at least slow, Mitt Romney’s march to the GOP nomination.

A university atheist society which sparked a global debate over the publication of a cartoon depicting Jesus and Muhammad on a webpage has declared a victory for freedom of speech after its student union backed away from a demand that the cartoon be removed.

One of the most common sights in New York is slim, young professional women scurrying across the city with rolled-up yoga mats under their arms and determined looks, cramming in a dawn or lunchtime session between power moves in the office. So perhaps it should come as no surprise that an incendiary magazine piece in the New York Times, under the headline, "How yoga can wreck your body", has turned the usually chilled community of yoga-lovers upside down.

Police have arrested 15 people after violence between far-right activists and local youths outside a mosque in east London. Witnesses said the clash near the East London Mosque in Whitechapel erupted after supporters of the English Defence League chanted anti-Muslim slogans.

Seven Roman Catholic monks with links to a top public school have faced police investigation over child sex and pornography offences, the school admitted today.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/15/tahrir-square-elbaradei-protesters

The Observer's foreign affairs editor covered the birth of Egypt's revolution in Cairo. Now, as one leading candidate quits the presidential race in despair, he returns to meet protesters fearful of the army's power and a possible deal with Islamists

Leading scientists and naturalists, including Professor Richard Dawkins and Sir David Attenborough, are claiming a victory over the creationist movement after the government ratified measures that will bar anti-evolution groups from teaching creationism in science classes. (It is still deeply depressing that this point needed to be made)

At least one person has been killed and three others injured in clashes between security forces and Shia protesters in eastern Saudi Arabia, activists say. Issam Mohammed, 22, reportedly died when troops fired live ammunition after demonstrators threw stones at them in al-Awamiya, a town in the Qatif region. (David Cameron's close buddies kill some unimportant people)

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez speculated last month that the US might have used a secret weapon to give Latin American leaders cancer, as the number of them with the disease was "difficult to explain using the laws of probabilities" - but is it? (The BBC takes the time to examine Chavez's bizarre claim)

David Cameron has agreed to "strengthen co-operation" with Saudi Arabia despite concerns about its human rights record and criticism of British arms sales to the kingdom. The prime minister held talks with King Abdullah during a one-day flying visit to Riyadh designed to deepen ties with the country – Britain's chief trading and security partner in the Middle East. (Nothing here of which to be proud - sucking up to a country that executes people for sorcery)

WHAT will life be like for the wives of Roman Catholic priests? On Sunday, the Vatican announced the creation of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, a special division of the Roman Catholic Church that former Episcopal congregations and priests — including, notably, married priests — can enter together en masse. The Vatican has stressed that the allowance for married priests is merely an exception (like similar dispensations made in the past by the Vatican) and by no means a permanent condition of the priesthood

Insurgents mounted a vicious attack against Iraq’s Shiites on Saturday that killed more than four dozen people, as a roadside bomb was detonated near a group of pilgrims who were marching to a mosque in the southern part of the country to mark one of their holiest holidays.

The main concern is obscenity (though criticism of government officials appears to touch a sore spot, too); in the current case against Facebook, Google, and others, the obscenity involves pictures of gods, goddesses, and Mohammed. "At present it's obscene images of Gods and Goddesses, tomorrow it can be an image of someone in your family posted online. There has to be some control," Justice Cait said at yesterday's hearing. He allowed the case against the Internet companies to proceed. (India, showing how far the country has to go)

Ferris Bueller's Day Off actor Ben Stein launches lawsuit claiming he lost advertising work due to his climate change scepticism. (Not skepticism but denialism may have lost this creep work. That and his deceitful creationist flop of a movie)

It's a triumph that's been 84 years in the making and, despite a concerted effort by all involved to stay humble and on-message during their movement's finest hour, few members of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood can hide their exhilaration. (Islamists ride to power on the back of democracy protesters. Depressingly inevitable, as is a clash with the military)

Queen Beatrix took on the fiery leader of her country's anti-Muslim party, Geert Wilders, on Thursday by dismissing as "nonsense" his criticism of her decision to wear a headscarf during a recent visit to a mosque. Her comments were not recorded, but Beatrix told reporters she wore the head scarf in the UAE and again on a visit to an Oman mosque to show religious respect. (Respect or tacit acceptance of women's place in a misogynist religion?)

What is Nigeria's Boko Haram? 5 things to know. The Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram has generated headlines with a number of bloody attacks. Scott Baldauf breaks down the group's origins, funding, and possible ties to Al Qaeda.

A killjoy mayor who sparked outrage after he refused to judge a Halloween pumpkin carving competition because it "glorifies Satan's angels" has been found guilty of breaching rules on equality. He said: "It glorifies Satan's angels and celebrates the dark side - Halloween is a pagan festival."

Supermarkets do not want to stock Christian products, according to senior figures in the Church of England. Two bishops have spoken out against what they claim is the failure of major retailers to support the only Christian chocolate Easter egg, despite demand from shoppers. (The moment the Christmas whining is over the CofE starts the Easter whining. This could be last year's egg story with only the date changed.)

Twelve members of an Amish splinter group in Ohio pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges stemming from a spate of beard and hair-cutting assaults on other Amish people. The 10 men and two women were indicted on seven counts, including federal hate crime charges, for their part in the unusual attacks, which began in September 2011 and generated fear in the tight-knit Amish community. (Probably not so tightly-knit from now on)

A group of Amish men in western Kentucky have been jailed after refusing to put reflective triangles on their on the back of their horse-drawn buggys. Jacob Gingerich was one of eight men sent to prison for a few days in September after ignoring state law that requires all slow-moving objects on the road to display reflective triangles. Members of the conservative Amish community consider using the bright reflective symbol amounts to blasphemy. They consider it garish and believe they should rely on God, not symbols, for protection on the highway. (Irresponsible idiots)

Gunmen from the radical Islamist sect Boko Haram killed eight people, including four police officers, after opening fire at a beer parlour in northeast Nigeria. The shootings come as the sect has promised to target Christians in Nigeria's Muslim north, expanding its campaign of assassinations and bombings.

Gunmen killed three people in an attack on Tuesday on a Christian village in northern Nigerian Bauchi state, police and community leaders said.

VADODARA: British-Indian author Salman Rushdie should be allowed to come to India, Lord Bhikhu Parekh said here reacting to the opposition to author's proposed visit to the Jaipur Literature Festival.

Threats from a radical Islamist group piled pressure on Nigeria's beleaguered government, which warned that the country risked sliding into anarchy as popular protests over cuts to fuel subsidies that have strangled Africa's top oil economy entered a third day. Abubakar Shekau, leader of the Boko Haram Islamist movement, waded into the growing unrest in Nigeria in his first ever televised appearance on Wednesday. Sitting between two Kalashnikov rifles and wearing a bullet-proof vest, he challenged security forces to defeat the organisation, whose campaign to impose strict Islamic sharia law across Nigeria killed some 500 people last year. (Another Islamic disciple of death)

Egyptian Islamists and other activists say they have vowed to prevent Israelis from making an annual pilgrimage to the tomb of a 19th-century Jewish holy man in the Nile Delta. Leading parliamentarian from the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood Gamal Heshmat said Wednesday that the late December and early January pilgrimage would be "a suicide mission" for Israelis, because of popular opposition to their presence in Egypt.

A man accused of plotting to attack Tampa, Fla.-area nightclubs and a sheriff's office with bombs and guns also railed against Christians, Jews and Western living in videos he posted online. Authorities say 25-year-old Sami Osmakac, who was arrested Monday, identifies himself as Muslim and wanted to avenge wrongs done to Muslims.

The Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society (ASHS) at University College London has become embroiled in a censorship row with the university's student union over the use of a Muhammad-related cartoon on a Facebook page advertising its weekly drinks social. The image is taken from Jesus & Mo, a well-known web comic that depicts the title characters engaging in theological and philosophical chats while propping up a pub bar. (If you've not seen Jesus and Mo do yourself a favor. It is consistently good and sometimes brilliant)

Naguib Sawiris, Egypt's richest man and figurehead of the liberal movement for the country's political leadership, is to be put on trial for insulting religion over cartoons he put on Twitter showing Mickey and Minnie Mouse in traditional Muslim clothing. (More fallout from the Arab "spring")

Over in the US, the Republican party is choosing its presidential nominee to face Barack Obama in November. But whoever wins, science may lose. The Grand Ol’ Party (GOP), as the Republicans are known, has an uncomfortable relationship with scientific fact. Rick Santorum, a frontrunner in the nomination race, has said of a fellow candidate: “If he wants to believe he is the descendant of a monkey then he has the right to believe that, but I disagree with him on this liberal belief.” Yes: acknowledging biology’s central premise is “liberal”. (Ignoramuses or deceivers? Equally depressing either way. One complaint is that the writer quotes hypocrite Chris Mooney far too much. Some of the comments are unbelievably stupid even by Telegraph standards)

David Cameron has said in an interview that sitting opposite Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, during prime minister's questions is "like having someone with Tourette's sitting opposite you". What do you mean David? Is there something wrong with having someone with Tourette's sitting opposite you? Are you drawing on the old stereotype that anyone with Tourette's is incoherent and swears a lot? Or perhaps you mean that if Balls had Tourette's what he had to say would be irrelevant? (Cameron's nasty little taunt speaks volumes about his character - none of it good)

Remember the Prince of Wales Foundation for Integrated Health? It had to close last year amid allegations of fraud and money laundering. Only a few months later, a new organisation emerged that took over the pursuit of Prince Charles's bizarre concepts about healthcare. (The indefatigable Edzard Ernst on alternative quacky nonsense and lobbying)

A group of Muslim men publicly distributed a leaflet calling for gay people to be given the death sentence, a court has heard. The pamphlet was entitled The Death Penalty? and showed an image of a mannequin hanging from a noose. It said sodomy was a sin that led to hell, that it used to be punished by hanging, and that people practising and allowing homosexuality would suffer, the court was told. (Often, as 80 has noted before, the most rabidly homophobic are struggling with their own tendencies)

The Nigerian Red Cross says five people were killed and at least six others wounded in an attack on a mosque and a Quranic school in the country's southwest amid a nationwide strike over fuel prices.

Twenty-five people died when a bomb targeting a militia opposed to the Pakistani Taliban exploded in a market close to the Afghan border, the deadliest blast in the country in several months. The explosion hit vehicles being used by the militia in the Khyber region, according to local security officer Khan Dad Khan.

The parents of a boy tortured to death for being a "witch" did not realise what was happening despite a "huge number" of phone calls, a court heard. Kristy Bamu, 15, from Paris, was found dead in a bath in a flat in Newham, east London, on Christmas Day in 2010.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez mocked US its move to expel a Venezuelan diplomat at the start of a visit to four left-leaning Latin American nations. (A pair of despicable creeps. A marriage made in hell)

Pope Benedict said Monday that gay marriage was one of several threats to the traditional family that undermined "the future of humanity itself." The pope made some of his strongest comments against gay marriage in a new year address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Vatican in which he touched on some economic and social issues facing the world today. (There are 7 billion of us - far too many. If gay marriage can cut this down surely it is a good thing. Birth rate down and adoption rates up - what's not to like?)

Salman Rushdie was at the centre of a row on Tuesday in his native India after an influential conservative Indian Muslim cleric said the British author and essayist should not be allowed to visit the country to speak at a prestigious literary festival.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has just filed a complaint (PDF) on behalf of a Salem, Missouri resident named Anaka Hunter, who contends that the Salem public library is unconstitutionally blocking her ability to access information on "minority" religious views. Federal and state law both govern libraries in Missouri, which are generally ordered to block access to obscene online material and child pornography. But the Salem library allegedly goes far beyond the mandate.

Abstinence-only education creates a petri dish for bullying in schools. There is always a lot of back and forth about the efficacy of these programs, and I fall on the side that they demonstrably fail to reduce teen pregnancy, the rate of incidence of teen sex, or the transmission of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) (all you have to do is look at Texas)

10 Ways Right-Wing Christian Groups Will Likely Shove Religion Down Your Throat This Year. A surging religious right means daunting challenges for keeping Church and State separate.

The Devil and Rick Santorum: Dilemmas of a Holy Owned Subsidiary. The father of the Investment Theory of Politics reveals what pundits miss in the GOP's failure to lead its own electorate and its evangelical problem.

A US climate scientist at the centre of a row over Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's stance on climate change has spoken out for the first time. Katharine Hayhoe, an atmospheric scientist at Texas Tech University, had written a chapter for Gingrich's upcoming book of essays on the environment. The chapter was aimed at climate sceptics, and those who fear it will cost too much to deal with climate change, but it was ditched by the presidential candidate after the book came under attack by rightwing talk show host Rush Limbaugh. (Now that is a shock - Rush Limbaugh can read?)

A gym has come under fire for using a picture of a Nazi concentration camp - where millions of Jews were starved and gassed to death - to promote weight loss. The Circuit Factory, in Dubai, sparked controversy by using a photograph of Auschwitz to kick-start potential new members into losing a few pounds. (Unsurprising that a Muslim country was so the setting for this vileness - hold on a sec, they deny the Holocaust don't they? They probably don't see the contradiction)

Afghan police say six children and one man were killed when a bomb hidden inside a garbage can exploded in southern Afghanistan on Friday. Police say four children were also wounded by the explosion in Tarin Kowt, the capital of Uruzgan province. It is unclear who the bomb was targeting. (Some Islamic hero is congratulating himself on murdering children)

Suspected gunmen from a radical Muslim sect attacked a town hall Friday in rural northeast Nigeria, killing at least 20 people who had gathered for a meeting of a Christian ethnic group, police said. The attack at noon targeted a town hall where Christian Igbo people were holding a meeting, with gunmen chanting “God is great” as they fired Kalashnikov rifles.

A former Turkish military chief suspected of leading an Internet campaign to stir revolt was jailed Friday in a sweeping investigation of alleged conspiracies to topple a civilian government that has stripped the armed forces of political clout. Gen. Ilker Basbug, 68, was the most senior officer to face trial in the anti-terror probes that began years ago, netting hundreds of suspects, many of them retired and active-duty military officers. The government casts the inquiries as a triumph for the rule of law and democracy, but suspicions of score-settling, long imprisonments without verdicts and other lapses have tainted the legal process. (The next stage in the drive for an Islamist state)

The bravery of the youth of Tunisia, Egypt, Syria and Libya can’t be denied. It isn’t pepper spray that they’ve been facing. Nor can the idealism of the Arab Spring be denied. The people of the Middle East are finally awakening to the promise of liberty. There is another truth, however, that shouldn’t be denied. The desire of Arabs to be free of their spiteful and pitiless dictators is sometimes expressed in grotesquely anti-Jewish terms. (Arabs believe every last contradictory word of ant-Semitic conspiracy theories and propaganda)

A teenage boy underwent "unimaginable physical torture" before being drowned by his sister and her partner because they believed he was a sorcerer who was practising witchcraft, a court heard on Thursday. Eric Bikubi and Magalie Bamu, both 28, killed 15-year-old Kristy Bamu in their east London flat after violently abusing him for several days, and repeatedly attacked the victim's two sisters, whom they accused of sorcery, the Old Bailey heard on the opening day of the trial.

Andrew Wakefield, the doctor who was struck off the medical register after triggering a health scare linking autism to the MMR vaccine, is suing the editor-in-chief of the British Medical Journal for defamation. In a complaint filed to a district court in Texas, lawyers acting for Wakefield claim that articles, editorials and other statements that appeared in the BMJ were "false and make defamatory allegations" about the doctor. (He's got a bloody nerve)

Insurgents unleashed a fierce string of bombings against Iraq’s Shiites on Thursday, attacking pilgrims marching through the desert and neighborhoods in Baghdad, in an attempt to stir sectarian violence. The attacks come amid a political crisis that has brought the government to a halt less than three weeks after American troops withdrew.

Christian conservative leader Pat Robertson says he has a secret straight from God: He knows who the next president of the United States will be. (Liar or loony? These are the only options)

Religion has infiltrated the run-up to the 2012 elections on an unprecedented level. Virtually all of the Republican presidential candidates have spent considerable time courting votes from the Religious Right. Nearly all of the major contenders spoke at the Values Voter Summit, and most of those candidates also appeared at a forum in November focusing on “questions of the soul” that was held at a fundamentalist church in Iowa. (There's plenty more where that came from)

Village where nothing works after electrical signal failures. Villagers were left unable to use their showers, doorbells and even car key fobs for several days in the latest case of suspected wireless interference. (The Telegraph half-heartedly tries a little mystery-mongering to no result)

As we all know, climate change is a conspiracy cooked up by charlatans - but if it weren't, we should be worrying about nitrogen, writes Steve Jones. (if you fancy getting really depressed read the unbelievably moronic comments on this story)

Degrees in complementary medical therapies are being cut from universities in the wake of rising tuition fees, a decline in applications and campaigns by scientists. (And the fact that the course subjects are total unsubstantiated drivel. It was always embarrassing that UK universities taught this nonsense)

The resignation of a Los Angeles bishop who fathered two children has shocked the nation's most populous Roman Catholic archdiocese, where Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala grew up. Zavala, 60, who once urged Catholic media to report scandals such as clergy sex abuse "in a spirit of love and mercy," had his resignation accepted on Wednesday by Pope Benedict XVI. (it's better than raping children - but then no one is fired for that)

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday ordered the transfer of the US military prison at Bagram to Afghan control within a month, citing reports of human rights violations there. (And of course this little crook is big on human rights. The hypocrisy, it burns)

Faced with mounting pressure following the Christmas Day bombings of churches by the Islamist group Boko Haram, which killed at least 40 people, Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan imposed a state of emergency in certain parts of the country on 31 December. (Fighting the symptoms and not the disease itself?)

Saudi Arabia's ban on men working in lingerie shops is just another bizarre triumph for conservatism. Saudi Arabia is beginning to implement a law that says shops selling frilly nighties or even the standard M&S-style cotton combos will not be allowed to have male shop attendants. This is to spare women the humiliation of being served by the standard Pakistani gent behind the counter in nearly every store.

Just as gay America once celebrated Kinsey's 10% figure, America's religious conservatives/extremists celebrate these newer, lower estimates. They argue that the LGBT community is so tiny – just 9 million Americans, according to the Williams Institute – that our calls for civil rights protections and full civil equality shouldn't be taken seriously. (Santorum is a truly revolting little man)

More than 26 people have been killed in a wave of bombings in two mainly Shia districts of Baghdad, according to police and hospital sources. The first of the attacks happened in Sadr City, in the north-east of the Iraqi capital. One bomb was planted on a parked motorcycle and the other was a roadside device, a police source told Reuters. At least 12 people were killed.

Members of Anonymous have re-doubled their offensive against German neo-Nazis. The hacktivists of Operation Blitzkrieg this week launched a WikiLeaks-style website that aims to expose members of the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) and other extremist groups, Der Spiegel reports. Nazi-leaks.net (German) already features a list of alleged donors to the NPD. It also hosts what OpBlitzkrieg claims are internal emails, a list of contact details purported to belong to far-right newspaper subscribers, and customer data allegedly hacked from neo-Nazi online stores. (Extreme right, extreme left are remarkably similar in that they are equally loathsome. It becomes difficult to tell any difference)

Israeli society could be torn apart if disputes between ultra-Orthodox and less observant Jews continue to heat up, Israel's religious affairs minister said on Wednesday. In a telephone interview, Yaacov Margy, who also serves as director-general of Shas, a religious party in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government, condemned an incident last month in which zealots seeking gender separation spat at a schoolgirl they accused of dressing immodestly. (They shouldn't be eying-up 8 year-old schoolgirls in the first place. More abrahamic creeps - the Jewish Taliban - punishing others for what goes on in their sick minds)

The president of the Maldives today ordered the country's resorts to reopen their spas just days after they were shut following Islamic protests. Mohammed Nasheed relented on his Saturday decree and instead asked the Supreme Court to decide whether the luxury treatment centres are legal or not. (Islamists have no fun and don't want anybody else to have any either)

Police say three people were killed in attacks by a feared sect despite a state of emergency in areas of northeast Nigeria. Borno state police chief Simeone Midenda said Wednesday that two suspected Boko Haram gunmen shot dead the head of the Shehuri neighborhood in Maiduguri Tuesday evening.

Social websites including Google and Facebook have been ordered by an Indian court to remove all 'anti-religious' and 'anti-social' content within six weeks. On Saturday a Delhi Court ordered 22 social networking sites, including Yahoo and Microsoft, to wipe the objectionable and defamatory contents and file compliance reports by February 6, 2012. (So much for free speech. How come religion needs special protection? It already has god/s on its side)

With the Muslim Brotherhood pulling within reach of an outright majority in Egypt’s new Parliament, the Obama administration has begun to reverse decades of mistrust and hostility as it seeks to forge closer ties with an organization once viewed as irreconcilably opposed to United States interests. (An organization that could be trusted as far as you could spit a grand piano)

At the urging of the Afghan Taliban, four major Pakistani insurgent factions have joined the Afghan guerrilla group known as the Haqqani network in a council aimed at resolving infighting and ending militant violence against civilians in Pakistan. The council’s formation was announced in a leaflet distributed in recent days in North Waziristan, a remote Pakistani tribal area that is the base of the Haqqani network, a cross-border group that NATO forces in next-door Afghanistan call their most lethal foe.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai signed off Wedneday on the establishment of a Taliban office in Qatar so that the militant group can hold talks with the United States. Karzai’s approval of an office for the militant group in Doha was seen as vital to the prospects of the peace talks, for which the Obama administration has expressed high hopes.

A simple change of heart during the few minutes' walk from one Tokyo police station to another could have kept Makoto Hirata, one of Japan's most wanted men, at large indefinitely. It has emerged that Hirata, a former member of the Aum Supreme Truth doomsday cult, was sent away by the officer on duty when he first tried to turn himself in, late on New Year's Eve.

A Bangladeshi student has won the right to remain in the UK - after he declared that his love of cricket proved that he was committed to British life.  And there are now concerns that the controversial ruling could open the floodgates for thousands of foreign students to remain in the UK after completing their college courses.

A college which aims to promote multiculturalism has been thrust into a race row amid allegations that its principal and his wife were sacked for being white Christians.

An al-Qaeda linked terrorist group has escalated its threats to foment civil war in Nigeria by handing out a three day deadline to leave to Christians before it launches an offensive against government troops.

Sir David Attenborough has hit back at claims made by the former chancellor Nigel Lawson that his recent natural history series Frozen Planet promoted climate change "alarmism" and lacked objectivity. (Who has the most credibility, Attenborough or Lawson? The respected, author, broadcaster and naturalist or the ex-Tory politician? Whose position is supported by the evidence and who is winging it? Button it, Lawson)

A rare expression of internal dissent has broken out in the world of Scientology, with one of its most senior figures sending a mass email to 12,000 fellow members complaining that the self-styled church has become obsessed with fundraising and has amassed unused reserves of over $1bn (£640m). (For more on this cult see Operation Clambake)

A 15-year-old Afghan girl who was nearly tortured to death by her husband and his family attempted to escape her attackers more than four months ago but was sent back home by local authorities, it has emerged. Sahar Gul, a child-bride married off to a soldier called Gulam Sakhi who then tried to force her into prostitution, is being treated for horrific injuries in a hospital in Kabul after she was rescued last week. (These people are inhuman scum - how many other cases are there that have not attracted media attention?)

Saudi Arabia will begin enforcing a law that allows only females to work in lingerie and apparel stores, despite disapproval from the country's top cleric. The 2006 law banning men from working in female apparel and cosmetic stores has not been implemented up to now, partly because of view of hardliners in the religious establishment, who oppose the idea of women working where men and women congregate together.

Ismail Haniya, prime minister of the Palestinian administration in the Gaza Strip, continued his tour of Turkey, where on Monday he visited the aid flotilla Mavi Marmara, a Turkish vessel that tried in 2010 to break the Gaza blockade. On Sunday Mr. Haniya met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for more than two hours, and he later dined with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. Spokesmen for the prime minister and the foreign ministry didn't give details of the meetings, but Mr. Haniya thanked Mr. Erdogan and Turkey for "continuous support" for Palestinians, in an interview with Turkish news channel NTV on Monday. (Turkey seeks new pals as it becomes obvious the EU wouldn't touch these closet Islamists with a bargepole)

Reports from the Ningxia region of northern China say hundreds of Muslim villagers have fought with riot police who tore down a mosque. Hong Kong-based human rights monitors said the trouble erupted on Friday after police declared the mosque an illegal structure. The monitors say 50 people were injured and more than 100 detained.

Authorities say two out-of-state doctors who traveled to Maryland to perform late-term abortions have been arrested and charged with multiple counts of murder, an unusual use of a law that allows for murder charges in the death of a viable fetus.

Catholic Cardinal Francis George of Chicago has compared a gay rights march to KKK tactics, and despite backlash from LGBT groups, he is not letting up. Earlier this month, George said he agreed with a local Roman Catholic church's objections to a re-routed Gay Pride Parade that would pass by the church, absurdly suggesting that the parade could "morph into the KKK."

The new year is bringing new controversy over teaching evolution in public schools, with two bills in New Hampshire seeking to require teachers to teach the theory more as philosophy than science. Meanwhile, an Indiana state senator has introduced a bill that would allow school boards to require the teaching of creationism.

The Pope will on Sunday launch a renewed attack on the "moral relativism" that he has blamed for Britain's summer riots. In a message for the 2012 World Peace Day of January 1, Pope Benedict said that neither peace nor justice was obtainable if the objective norms of morality expressed in the Ten Commandments continue to be rejected. (The riots were enabled by insufficiently swift and robust action by the police)

President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency on Saturday in parts of northern Nigeria plagued by a violent Islamist insurgency. Mr Jonathan added that he would shut any borders with other nations in the northern areas covered by the decree.

A 15-year-old Afghan girl brutally tortured and locked in a toilet for months by her husband's family has been visited by a health minister after being freed last week. Sahar Gul was in critical condition when she was rescued from a house in northern Baghlan province last week, after neighbours reported hearing her crying and moaning in pain. She told police she had been punished for refusing to become a prostitute. (These must be the traditional family values that the secular consumer society of the West have lost)

Rick Santorum, after spending most of this year in single digits in the polls, attributes his late surge in the run-up to Tuesday's Iowa caucuses in part to the last-minute endorsement of Christian evangelical leaders in the state

Celebrities have been at it again. Warning of dangers from the HPV vaccine, confusing tides, promoting colon cleansing and intravenous vitamins, and advising on allergies. Some examples in our annual review of celebrity science are funny. Some are dangerous.

Where there's a celebrity, there's often a fad diet, miracle crystal bracelet or misunderstanding about science. In 2011, Simon Cowell thought it was best to get his vitamins delivered intravenously, American TV host Bill O'Reilly reckoned the Earth's tides were a mystery, and Gwyneth Paltrow championed expensive detox treatments.

Food campaigners have named Coca-Cola and the makers of Tango, Chupa Chups and Nutella at the top of a report of brands that have allegedly made the "dodgiest" junk food advertising claims in 2011. The Children's Food Campaign, which is backed by 150 organisations supporting healthy eating including the British Heart Foundation, found that Chupa Chups was considered to have run the most misleading marketing message of 2011 with 390 votes.

While we've been distracted by alarmism over newly elected Islamist leaders enforcing hijabs and bikini bans in the Arab world, Israel is already embroiled in attempts to rein in this unruly matter of female "immodesty". Last week, Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported on businesses in the southern town of Sderot signing up to a "dignified" dress code – whereby female employees must be "modestly" clothed. (Fundamentalist Judaism and Islam have so much in common - especially fear and hatred of women)

Inspired by the violent exhortations of a preacher during Friday prayers earlier this month, hundreds of young Kurdish men in the northern Iraqi town of Zakho went on a riot. Over four days, they set dozens of liquor stores alight, later threatening proprietors with further violence if they dared reopen their businesses. They also attacked an Assyrian church and homes in the neighbouring village of Mansouriyah... (It cannot be repeated too often in countries where the majority are Muslim other religions (and none) are persecuted. Islam is the religion of hatred and intolerance)

The Archbishop of York has criticised the growing divide between high and low earners and asked whether it is right that bankers "who helped cause the economic crisis" should "rake in massive bonuses". (Gosh, Sentamu has actually said something with which 80 agrees)

This past week was a pivotal moment for the struggle for women's rights in Egypt. In response to more protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square, police and government security forces beat and stripped several female demonstrators. One moment captured by a photographer ricocheted around the country, and seemingly just as fast, around the world: A woman, her black abaya yanked over her head to expose her naked torso and blue bra, was dragged by helmeted security forces over the pavement. One of them stood over her, hurling his foot down at her bare stomach. Days later, an estimated 10,000 women struck back in a mass rally in central Cairo declaring, "the daughters of Egypt are a red line" that cannot be crossed. (Women betrayed by the Egyptian revolution - and an Islamist government is on the way)

Was the Star of Bethlehem a Star, Comet ... or Miracle? (None of the above. The whole nativity story is a fable with no basis in history whatsoever)

The number of people who declare themselves as Christians in England and Wales has fallen by almost ten per cent over the last five years, according to an official survey. Research into race and religion also discovered that the number of people who say they are non believers is on the increase. (And yet Cameron is playing the Christian religion card regardless)

Father Immanuel Dabaghian, one of Baghdad’s last surviving priests, is expecting a quiet Christmas. To join him in the Church of the Virgin Mary means two hours of security checks and a body search at the door, and even then there’s no guarantee of survival. Islamist gunmen massacred 58 people in a nearby church last year, and fresh graffiti warns remaining worshippers that they could be next. (Islam is incapable of co-existing with minority faiths. Iraq, Egypt are places where the Christians must paradoxically miss the dictators)

The omens are good that 2012 will be an excellent year, a druid said today, after the sun shone on Stonehenge during a dawn ceremony to mark the winter solstice. (A druid, is he? Silly sod)

Ask a typical Egyptian politician what he plans to do to create jobs, and he will give a murky answer about creating more opportunities for aimless young people. But ask a Muslim Brotherhood official and he will give a 45-minute lecture on the movement’s vision for reforming Egypt’s economy and society, including restructuring the tax code to increase the burden on the rich and expanding loans for the kind of small business owners who are a pillar of the organisation’s support. (They will do whatever the army allows)

Strange natural phenomena have been witnessed in North Korea since the death of the country's leader Kim Jong-il, the state news agency KCNA reports. Ice cracked on a famous lake "so loud, it seemed to shake the Heavens and the Earth", and a mysterious glow was seen on a revered mountain top, KCNA said.

A bishop has voiced his disappointment after a survey showed that little more than one in 200 Christmas cards sold individually by Britain's four major supermarkets featured religious themes, it was reported today. (This happens every year like clockwork. The UK is an increasingly secular country despite the government and the bishops pushing faith)

Jacob Zuma is at the centre of a religious storm in South Africa after reportedly blaming the introduction Christianity in the 19th century for the continent's current problems.

A wave of violence across Baghdad has killed at least 57 people and injured nearly 200 just days after American forces left the country. The blasts come after a political crisis between Iraq's Sunni and Shia factions erupted last weekend. The spat, which pits Iraq's Shia prime minister against the highest-ranking Sunni political leader, has raised fears that Iraq's sectarian wounds will be reopened as Iraq begins navigating its own political future without US military support.

An unknown buyer has purchased the web address vatican.xxx, raising the possibility that it could be used by a pornographic website.

When the Sun of Mankind was born, in a humble log cabin on his nation's holiest mountain, a new bright star shone in the heavens, and a double rainbow appeared. The birds sang songs of praise in human voice. The Sun of Mankind's father, though his mortal body is dead, rules in eternity, and his spirit is reincarnated in the Sun of Mankind. The Sun of Mankind is also known as the Great Man Who Descended From Heaven. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to atheist North Korea. (Good piece by Tom Chivers on the North Korean religion surrogate)

A private bus line in Israel that would enforce segregation between male and female passengers is being considered by a group of ultra-Orthodox Jewish millionaires., according to reports.

A Mohawk Indian woman dubbed the 'Pocahontas' of the Catholic Church is to become the first ever American Indian saint after Pope Benedict XVI attributed a miracle to her. (Primitive bloody nonsense)

A new book by an Israeli watchdog group catalogs dozens of examples of messages broadcast by the Palestinian Authority for its domestic audience that would seem at odds with the pursuit of peace and a two-state solution. Instead, the authors say, their findings show a pattern of non-recognition of Israel’s right to exist, demonization of Israel and promotion of violence. (On Palestinian doublespeak)

In comments published by the Egyptian newspaper Al Shorouk on Monday, the adviser, Gen. Abdel Moneim Kato, said that the protesters who came under attack by soldiers were delinquents “who deserve to be thrown into Hitler’s ovens.” Strangely, the retired general’s invocation of Nazi Germany came just hours before Egypt’s military rulers claimed to have disrupted a plot to burn down the country’s Parliament building. (Is this the Egyptian updated Reichstag fire gambit?) 

Just when you thought Newt couldn’t get any more grandiose, he leaps in to save freedom of religion in the most religiously free place on earth. On his Web site Tuesday, he urgently vowed to establish a White House commission “On Day One” of his presidency (heaven forefend) “to examine and document threats or impediments to religious freedom in the United States.” (Comment from Maureen Dowd)

Two leading members of Iraq's largest and most powerful Sunni tribe have warned of imminent sectarian chaos in the wake of the US withdrawal, claiming that the government of prime minister Nouri al-Maliki is promoting an anti-Sunni agenda.

Somalia's militant Islamist group al-Shabab has launched an account on the micro-blogging site Twitter. (These atavistic zealots are quite happy to use modern communications technology - and not just modern weapon technology. These are the scum that blocked famine relief to their own compatriots. They are chockfull of compassion and a great advert for their beliefs)

Thousands of women massed in Tahrir Square here on Tuesday afternoon and marched to a journalists’ syndicate and back in a demonstration that grew by the minute into an extraordinary expression of anger at the treatment of women by the military police as they protested against continued military rule. (Also in the article - the military drops any pretence of working for the people)

Religious groups are boycotting Tesco after a senior executive at the supermarket giant described Christians as “evil” for opposing gay marriage. (Tesco is sure to lose a lot of sleep over a few nutjobs)

From the look of the GOP primaries, God is not dead at all – he’s alive and well and living as a registered Republican in Iowa. With just two weeks to go before the Iowa caucus, all the candidates are doing their best to court the state’s ample religious vote.

A scissor-wielding protester has destroyed a controversial billboard of the Virgin Mary, just days after it went up outside a New Zealand church. Hours after the attack, 100 or so Roman Catholics gathered to pray in the rain in front of the ruined billboard, which had shown Mary gasping in shock as she examined a pregnancy testing kit.

Iraq's delicate sectarian consensus was in danger of unravelling on Monday after the country's Shia Muslim prime minister attempted to neuter two of his most powerful Sunni rivals within hours of the final departure of US troops from Iraqi soil.

Just days before Christmas, a new study has emerged that suggests that one of Christianity's most prized but mysterious relics – the Turin Shroud – is not a medieval forgery but could be the authentic burial robe of Christ. (A new story about the Shroud was overdue although strictly speaking the report should have been released for Easter. Christmas is baby Jesus, Easter is dead Jesus. It is all a load of dingoes' kidneys)

Hillary Clinton accused post-revolution Egypt of failing its women as she denounced the stripping and beating of a female protester as "shocking" and a "disgrace". "This systematic degradation of Egyptian women dishonours the revolution, disgraces the state and its uniform and is not worthy of a great people," Mrs Clinton said in a speech at Georgetown University.

The parents of alleged "honour killing" victim Shafilea Ahmed appeared in court on Monday and pleaded not guilty to murdering their daughter.

Nigerian police say they have captured 14 suspected Islamist militants and seized bomb-making equipment after a gun battle that left seven people dead. The arrests signify a blow to Boko Haram, a radical sect that has stepped up a bloody insurgency in Nigeria this year, although its resilience is proven and its overall size opaque.

Egypt's radical Salafi movement has announced for the first time that it intends on respecting all treaties that Egypt has signed, including the peace deal with Israel. The Salafi Al-Nour party, which won 25%-30% of the votes in the first round of Egypt's parliamentary elections, said that they are also in favor of negotiating with Israel.

Russia has stepped up demands for Nato to account for civilian deaths from the air strike campaign which led to the downfall of Libyan strongman Muammer Gaddafi. (The Russians are specialists in collateral damage - remember Chechnya?)

The Islamist Hamas movement celebrated its 24th anniversary last week, with a mass rally in Gaza City that carried a clear and defiant message. “Armed resistance is the way, and it is Hamas’s strategic choice to liberate Palestine,” declared Ismail Haniyeh, the movement’s leader in Gaza.

Egypt’s military rulers accused pro-democracy demonstrators of being part of a “systematic plan to destroy” the country as clashes between the security services and angry youths continued for a fourth day on Monday. At least 11 people, all civilians, have been killed in the violence said to have started on Friday when soldiers savagely beat up an activist in a protest camp blocking a road leading to the prime minister’s office. (Angry youths are going to destroy the country? Utter bullshit. The generals don't yet understand their brutality is documented and visible worldwide)

Parents of the children found abused in a Karachi madrassah have told The Daily Telegraph they approved of the brutal methods being used in the Islamic school's cellars. (Pakistani family values in action)

Psychics say they can talk to the dead. Alex Clark has a few questions she'd like answererd (sic) (Utterly crap piece about the ghouls that make money out of the bereaved and the gullible)

Hamas has confirmed that it will shift tactics away from violent attacks on Israel as part of a rapprochement with the Palestinian Authority. A spokesman for the Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniya, told the Guardian that the Islamic party, which has controlled Gaza for the past five years, was shifting its emphasis from armed struggle to non-violent resistance. (Yeah, right)

Religious practice among Chinese Communist Party members is increasing and threatens its unity and national leadership, a top party official said in remarks reported Monday.

Equality campaigners say women in Jerusalem are facing discrimination and segregation because of the growing influence of ultra-religious Jewish leaders. An attempt to ban women singing in public places is the latest move to spark protests after a few extremist Rabbis declared it too sexual for men to hear. (These repressed creeps need to learn some self control instead of blaming women for their own weaknesses. To call these extremists a Jewish Taliban is not an exaggeration)

In the latest instance of illegal Arab takeover of public lands in Jerusalem, observers and witnesses said that Arabs have begun moving to claim a national historic site – the Ophel Corner (Keren Ophel), along the southeast corner of the Temple Mount.

In a landmark speech on religion, the Prime Minister said that the country had been "unwilling" to "distinguish right from wrong", but warned "moral neutrality is not going to cut it any more". (Utter bloody nonsense)

Richard Dawkins, the atheist Oxford professor and author of The God Delusion, has suggested that David Cameron is "not really" a believer in God but a "believer in belief", one of those people who, though themselves non-believers, think that religious faith is "good for the common people" and helps to keep them in order.

The Roman Catholic church in the Netherlands was shamed on Friday when a comprehensive investigation of sexual abuse of children by clergy over 40 years found one in five vulnerable children had been molested.

Human rights groups in Bangladesh have demanded a severe punishment for the husband of a young woman who allegedly cut off most of her right hand. Police say Rafiqul Islam, 30, attacked her because she pursued higher education without his permission. They say Mr Islam, a migrant worker, admitted to the crime shortly after returning home from the Gulf. (Mr Islam indeed. Scum)

After seven tumultuous years reporting from Pakistan, Guardian correspondent Declan Walsh reflects on the inspiring figures, the jaw-dropping landscapes, the deep corruption – and the day the Taliban came to town

Chimpanzees should hardly ever be used for medical research, a prestigious scientific group told the US government on Thursday – advice that means days in the laboratory may be numbered for humans' closest relatives. The Institute of Medicine stopped short of recommending the outright ban that animal rights activists had pushed for. (The use of  our fellow primates in medical research is unacceptable)

Rick Perry’s campaign bus, which will be cutting across Iowa for 10 days, is painted dark shades of black, red, and blue. It has a slogan that can be seen from the lower end of the stratosphere: “Faith, Jobs, and Freedom.” The “faith” part is sort of new. It comes first for a reason. (It's when reading about something like this I stop and think, WWJD? What Would Jefferson Do? Weep that the country has come to this...)

Last February, the Obama administration accused one of Lebanon’s famously secretive banks of laundering money for an international cocaine ring with ties to the Shiite militant group Hezbollah. Now, in the wake of the bank’s exposure and arranged sale, its ledgers have been opened to reveal deeper secrets: a glimpse at the clandestine methods that Hezbollah — a terrorist organization in American eyes that has evolved into Lebanon’s pre-eminent military and political power — uses to finance its operations.

BANKSY'S latest artwork has been revealed — a pixelated bust of a priest called Cardinal Sin. The piece is made from a replica 18th century stone bust that had its face chopped off and replaced with tiles to make it look as though the features had been blurred on a computer. The artist's sculpture comes after the church became embroiled in a huge scandal about child abuse. (It's still embroiled)

There are parallels between the search for the ‘God particle’ and the search for God Himself, writes Alister McGrath.

A Muslim radical has been found guilty of running an operation to publish extremist texts and violent DVDs and distribute them around the world with the aim of "priming” terrorists for action. Material produced and distributed by Ahmed Faraz ended up in the hands of almost every major terrorist in Britain. His customers included Mohammed Sidique Khan, the leader of the July 7 bomb plot, and members of the trans-Atlantic airline gang, who quoted from his texts in their suicide videos. (He naturally bleats about free speech and an open society now - the very things he and his pals want to destroy)

Atheists have declared Santa Monica a warzone on Christmas after hijacking the seaside city’s traditional nativity displays. (Telegraph sub-editor makes up own story)

A church billboard showing a shocked Virgin Mary gasping as she examines a pregnancy testing kit has sparked outrage in New Zealand. (Humorless sods)

China is proposing to ban movie content that it says disturbs social stability and promotes religious fanaticism, the latest attempt by the authoritarian government to tighten control over what people see.

Like many teenage boys, Rhys Morgan loves video games, rock music and hanging around with his friends. He works hard at school and tries to do his bit helping out at home. But what makes this 17-year-old a little different is that he also finds time to join battle with powerful, wealthy organisations that promote miracle alternative cures for serious diseases.

Tougher laws against religious hatred at football matches in Scotland have been passed after the Scottish government rejected complaints the rules were unworkable.

The main parties in the Dutch upper house - the Senate - have indicated that they will reject a proposal to ban the traditional Jewish and Muslim methods of slaughtering animals. The proposal, already backed by the lower house, will not go through if the Senate rejects it next week. Religious slaughter without stunning, as practised by Jews and Muslims, is currently permitted in the Netherlands. (Primitive superstition wins out over animal welfare. Disgusting)

An Afghan woman jailed for adultery after a relative raped her has been freed, her lawyer has told the BBC. The woman, known only as Gulnaz, was released on the orders of President Hamid Karzai, who pardoned her earlier this month. Her lawyer told the BBC that she was released without precondition, dispelling fears that she may have to marry her attacker. (Oh good, but why was she imprisoned in the first place? A sick country with a sick culture)

Theism, with its vision of an orderly universe superintended by a God who created rational-minded creatures in his own image, “is vastly more hospitable to science than naturalism,” with its random process of natural selection, he writes. “Indeed, it is theism, not naturalism, that deserves to be called ‘the scientific worldview.’ ” (Philosopher Alvin Plantinga promotes theism by arguing that black is, in fact, white. Has he heard of chaos theory and quantum indeterminacy? )

A former priest has been found guilty of the sexual abuse of two men. James Donaghy, 53, from Lady Wallace Drive in Lisburn, has been found guilty on five charges. These include the indecent assault of a former colleague Fr Patrick McCafferty and the indecent assault and serious sexual assault of former altar boy James Doherty.

Obama promised to 'return science to its rightful place'. So why is he breaking that promise with restrictions on emergency contraception? (Yes we can changed into but we won't. A real disappointment)

The decision by Lowe's, behemoth chain of retail home improvement and appliance stores, to pull its advertising from TLC's reality TV show "All-American Muslim," ceded to the bigotry, fear-mongering and paranoia of a deluded minority whose divisive ideology poisons America's cherished history of inclusiveness and pluralism.

This peevish remark, however, came from an unusual source. Al-Shabaab, an Islamist militant group in Somalia, is running a Twitter account. Since launching less than a week ago, it has posted more than 80 times and attracted nearly 3,000 followers. (Dark Ages meet internet tech)

Police in the Pakistani city of Karachi have rescued 54 students from the basement of an Islamic seminary, or madrasa, where they said they were kept in chains by clerics, beaten and barely fed.

For nearly 60 years at Christmastime, Christian congregations from Santa Monica have come together to organize a life-sized Nativity scene, using 14 display areas in a city park to illustrate the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. This year, however, the story had to be abridged. (Good)

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario has retreated on a controversial draft complementary medicine policy after substantial backlash from physician groups who feared it would require them to advise patients about quack therapies.

The archbishop of Canterbury has warned that the Arab spring could lead to increased hostility towards Christians in the Middle East, describing their position as "more vulnerable than it has been for centuries". (Not exactly quick on the uptake, is he? Islam cannot co-exist with other religions)

Muslim women will no longer be able to cover their faces as they take Canadian citizenship after the country's immigration minister announced a ban on anyone wearing the niqab – the face veil – or burqa – full body and face covering – while taking the oath of citizenship. He said that he had received complaints from citizenship judges who had claimed that it was difficult to ensure that individuals whose faces were covered were actually reciting the oath. (There should be a ban on anyone wearing a mask in a public place - 'cept Batman obviously)

Claims that so-called "detox" diets can boost health and cleanse the body of chemicals are unfounded, according to a leading scientist. David Bender, an emeritus professor of nutritional biochemistry, said the diets were based on an "unlikely" premise, the Daily Mail reported. He insisted there was no "magic shortcut" to weight loss - which can be achieved simply by eating less and exercising more. (...and this is news?)

Parents of children who have been struck down with the sleeping syndrome narcolepsy claim that it could have been triggered by the swine flu vaccine. Caroline Hadfield claims her six-year-old son Josh developed the condition just three weeks after being given the jab. She has set up a website to see if other children have developed the symptoms after taking the drug called Pandemrix. (Correlation is not causation. Distressing as it must be for the parents they need real evidence not anecdotes)

Actor Hulk Hogan denies ex-wife's claims he had a homosexual affair with fellow wrestler Brutus Beefcake. Actor and TV star Hulk Hogan has denied his ex-wife's claims that he was gay and had an affair with fellow wrestler Brutus Beefcake, branding the allegations "insane". Terrance Gene "Terry" Bollea, 58, better known as 'Hulk Hogan' has filed a defamation lawsuit against Linda Bollea after she accused him of being violent and engaging in homosexual encounters.

Israel's closure of a wooden access ramp to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound is tantamount to a declaration of war on Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, Hamas has warned.

Iran claimed that it had begun exploiting a US drone equipped with the latest radar evading technology on Monday as officials warned that the downed machine could be shared with America's rivals. (Someone needs to bomb the drone into pieces)

Saudi authorities have executed a woman convicted of practicing magic and sorcery. The Saudi Interior Ministry says in a statement the execution took place on Monday, but gave no details on the woman's crime. The London-based al-Hayat daily, however, quoted Abdullah al-Mohsen, chief of the religious police who arrested the woman, as saying she had tricked people into thinking she could treat illnesses, charging them $800 per session. The beheading took to 73 the number of executions in Saudi Arabia this year. (Saudi Arabia confirms its status as a vile toilet of a country)

We can, however, know that Dawkins is not a proper atheist – that is an intelligent atheist – from his own puerile writing and pathetic attempts at philosophical theology. For example, he writes: “Either God exists or he doesn’t. It is a scientific question. The existence of God is a scientific question, like any other.” (A laughably inept attack on Dawkins.  Peter Mullen is a dolt - this piece is poor even by religious apologist standards)

For Christians, Dec. 25 is more than just another religious holiday: It commemorates the birth of their savior, Jesus. But Christmas isn’t just for Christians. In a 2008 article reprinted below, Torie Bosch explains how Christmas has always been a strictly secular affair for her family—and why you shouldn’t need a religious reason to celebrate the season.

Another failed attempt to promote the marriage of Islam and democracy.

Rape within the US military has become so widespread that it is estimated that a female soldier in Iraq is more likely to be attacked by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire. So great is the issue that a group of veterans are suing the Pentagon to force reform.

A decision by retail giant Lowe’s Home Improvement to pull ads from a reality show about American Muslims following protests from an evangelical Christian group has sparked criticism and calls for a boycott against the chain. (Most bigotry has religion behind it as in this case. Lowe's is spineless)

An Irvine couple who suspected their 15-year-old son of smoking turned to a man believed to be relied on in their church to violently discipline children, authorities said. An Irvine couple who suspected their 15-year-old son of smoking turned to a man believed to be relied on in their church to violently discipline children, authorities said. (Outsourcing discipline to the church enforcer - these people are weird. What was going through their heads? Very little apparently. This guy who is the specialist in hitting children - he is one sick bastard)

Spiraling sectarian violence killed dozens of people in the troubled Syrian city of Homs on Thursday, casting into doubt prospects that an Arab League peace plan would succeed in tamping down an escalating conflict between pro- and anti-government forces. Many of those killed belonged to Assad’s minority Alawite sect, which dominates most of the senior positions in the security forces, according to Homs residents and activists.

Worrying news from Turkey, where a government body has moved to block sites that mention evolution or Charles Darwin. The Council of Information Technology and Communications (BTK) released the "Secure Internet" filtering system on 22 November. Sites that includes the words "evolution" or "Darwin" are filtered if parents select the child-friendly settings on the filter, as though it's porn. (Going down the Islamic route. Pathetic)

Church leaders are appeasing the secular state when believers long for a call to arms to defend Christian traditions. (Fighting talk from Odone - as usual she fails to understand secularism benefits believers and non-believers. Is she just dim or ignorant or just obtuse?)

Malawi is to review laws banning homosexuality in response to public opinion, according to reports. The move comes just days after the US announced it would use foreign aid to pressure countries to decriminalise homosexual acts. America currently gives Malawi about $200m (£128m) per year, with most going to healthcare.

The US Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich has declared that the Palestinians are an "invented" people who want to destroy Israel. (You can expect a shitstorm over this one)

Despite the hoopla surrounding the dateDec. 21, 2012, the world is not at risk of coming to a halt, NASA says. Aside from that date marking next year's winter solstice, the longest night of that year, nothing else interesting is expected.

The Arab spring is turning into the spring of the Islamists, as religious parties score the biggest gains in elections. And one man is drawing particular satisfaction – Youssef al-Qaradawi, the 86-year-old controversial cleric named by many Arabs as a spiritual guide for their revolutions.

The Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) announced on Thursday that it had withdrawn its representatives – FJP Chairman Mohamed Morsi and FJP Secretary-General Mohamed Yassin – from the council. A party spokesman declined to provide reasons for the abrupt decision. The party’s move came several hours after SCAF’s Major General Mukhtar Mulla told journalists the ruling junta would have the final say on the constitution.

Having an abortion does not increase a woman's chance of developing mental health problems, according to a large study that challenges anti-abortion groups' claims that termination causes trauma and depression. The research, commissioned by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and funded by the Department of Health, should reassure women that they are at no greater risk than if they give birth, the authors said. (Of course this won't stop the falsehoods spread by the anti-abortion groups)

President Bashar al-Assad has rejected accusations that he is responsible for the deaths of thousands of protesters in Syria's nine month-long uprising, telling an interviewer that he would be "crazy" if he killed his own people. (So this murderous streak of piss is crazy)

Nuns should be given the contraceptive pill to reduce the high death rates from breast, ovarian and uterine cancer that result from their childlessness, say scientists. Not having children is a risk factor for cancer because pregnancy, as well as breastfeeding a baby, reduces the number of ovulatory cycles a woman has in her lifetime. (Why should the church bother? They're only women, it's not as though they are fetuses)

The Occupy movement has become the latest to use the slogan "what would Jesus do?", something that has been questioned by the Archbishop of Canterbury. But where did the slogan come from and is there ever an answer to the question posed, asks Stephen Tomkins. (If you take the gospels as history, and that's a big if, the WWJD question is unanswerable as the Jesus character is inconsistent and contradictory in his pronouncements and behavior)

Things must be looking grim for candidate Rick Perry, if he's assuring voters with a new ad swearing he'll "end Obama's war on religion." What war, you ask? Why the war that's exemplified, in Perry's words, by fact that "gays can serve openly in the military, while our kids can't celebrate Christmas openly." (Utterly pathetic)

President Hamid Karzai paid an emotional visit on Wednesday to a hospital full of survivors of a series of suicide bombings claimed by a Pakistani extremist group and promised to pursue the issue with Pakistan’s government.

Did she? Didn't she? Does it make the slightest bit of difference at this point? At the time of writing, Veena Malik, the Pakistani actress, model and reality TV star, is suing Indian FHM for £1.2m. She claims the lads' mag doctored a photoshoot to make her appear naked on their December cover. (So Pakistan, that moral paragon of a country, is all upset over the pictures. Given what a toilet the place is she should beware of religious fanatics armed with acid)

Women driving has been a controversial issue in Saudi Arabia since 1990 when 47 women got into 14 cars and drove on to a main street in Riyadh. They were stopped, suspended from work for two years and condemned for years in religious sermons and social circles. The last public assault was when Sheikh Mohammed Al Arefe in 2003 objected to the fact that these women were allowed to go back to teaching because he was worried that they would encourage their students to follow in their footsteps.

Men should have the right to choose circumcision, not have the choice forced upon them. Infant circumcision without consent or immediate medical justification is an unjustified violation of basic human rights, that shares more in common with ancient coming-of-age rituals than responsible medical practice

JEDDAH – Men who harass women in public will be fined and publicly defamed under a new law being drafted by the Shoura Council. The action is due to huge public demand to end the phenomenon that humiliates women and even leads to traffic jams.

An Australian man has been sentenced to 500 lashes and a year in a Saudi Arabian jail after being convicted of blasphemy, according to officials. The 45-year-old man, identified by family members as Mansor Almaribe of southern Victoria state, was detained in the holy city of Medina last month while making the Muslim pilgrimage of Hajj. Family members told Australian media that Saudi officials accused him of insulting the companions of the prophet Muhammad, a violation of Saudi Arabia's blasphemy laws.

Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, made a rare public appearance on Tuesday in Beirut, reiterating his support for Syria’s government and claiming that his group was better trained and armed than ever. (Ready and keen to kill Sunnis. You have to admire Muslim solidarity)

In one of the worst episodes of sectarian carnage in Syria since the uprising began nine months ago, dozens of corpses were recovered from the streets of Homs this week, some of them dismembered, decapitated and bearing signs of torture, activists and residents said Tuesday. (If religion isn't the sole cause of this barbarity it is certainly used as a pretext)

Bishop Eddie Long, the Atlanta-area Baptist megachurch leader accused of sexual misconduct with several young men, announced on Sunday he is taking time off to focus on his family. His church, like many evangelical Christian churches, exhorts sinners to be “born again,” accepting Christ as their savior on the path to redemption. If a born-again Christian like Long has already been reborn, can he later become born again again? (As the old saying goes it is easier to be born again than grow up. Long is yet another bible-bashing hypocrite. It seems the more these people rail against homosexuality the more likely they are to be indulging a bit of "man on man" action themselves)

David Icke has learnt his lesson, and yesterday in the Croatian capital he even mocked himself for that disastrous 1991 appearance on Terry Wogan’s chat show, when he was ridiculed over claims that he was the son of God. (The creep whose lizard conspiracy crap is replete with thinly-disguised anti-Semitism. Does he really believe the infantile crap he spouts? It certainly seems to pay well)

A gang of Somalian women who repeatedly kicked a young woman in the head walked free from court after a judge heard they were "not used to being drunk" because they were Muslim. (The judge doing his little bit for anti-Muslim prejudice. Bloody idiot. They were guilty of violent assault and should have been dealt with more harshly. The Mail carries the same story and explodes with (justified) indignation. Why are these Somalis in this country in the first place? We already have enough native drunken violent scum without importing any)

Irregularities and delays continued to dog the Egyptian election, with the judge in charge saying he had made a mistake in the turnout in last week's vote and an entire constituency's results being invalidated by a court. On Monday there continued to be reports of illegal campaigning, particularly by the Muslim Brotherhood-backed Freedom and Justice Party and the radical Islamist Nour party.  (They must have based their poll on the Russian system)

A notice sent out to businesses in the City of London has listed the protest movement among groups such as al-Qaida and Farc. (A bloody stupid overreaction by the cops. They have no sense of proportion)

A young Pakistani man suddenly confessed to the murder of one sister and the attempted murder of another. Mudusar Sheikh, 27, is standing trial along with his parents and younger sister for the murder of his sister, Sadia Sheikh. The law student, who defied the family by living with a Belgian and refusing an arranged marriage, was shot dead by three bullets allegedly fired by Mudusar on October 22, 2007.

Black lesbians in South Africa endure ridicule and abuse in schools, workplaces and churches, sometimes being accused of witchcraft, a Human Rights Watch (HRW) investigation has found. "Lesbians and transgender men live in constant fear of harassment as well as physical and sexual violence," the watchdog group reported. (South Africa on a backwards course to bigotry and hatred. The culture does not meet the standards set by the constitution)

The leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said Tuesday he is prepared to compromise with the ruling military on the formation of a new government, and that fears of the "Islamization" of the country are overblown. (He would say that, wouldn't he? He is hardly likely to say we want to establish a theocracy and crush the secular opposition)

Dozens of people have been killed when a suicide bomber attacked a packed shrine in Kabul on one of the most important days in the Shia calender (sic). (More indiscriminate murder of Muslims by Muslims)

An Indian company has launched an 'Islamic smart phone', featuring a full copy of the Koran, a GPS application which points to Mecca and a calculator for Zakaat charitable donations.

At least 30 people have been killed in a series of bomb attacks in central Iraq targeting Shia pilgrims marking the festival of Ashura, officials say. In the deadliest attack, a car packed with explosives blew up as a procession of pilgrims passed through the al-Nil area, north of the city of Hilla. (The Muslim community attacking itself)

If there are just two things you take away from this story, they should be: 1. Anti-atheist bigotry and discrimination, of a completely overt, very ugly kind, is real. 2. Atheists are no longer putting up with it. If you fuck with them, they will fuck with you right back. And they know how to do it. (Greta Christina)

The most senior British commander in Afghanistan says the Taliban cannot "assassinate their way to power" and too many lives have been lost over the last 10 years for the west to flinch in its campaign against the insurgents.

The Afghan government and coalition forces have failed to champion human rights and the rule of law in Afghanistan since the end of Taliban rule, leaving Afghans disillusioned and vulnerable to abuses, Human Rights Watch said on Sunday. In a report released ahead of a key conference on the future of Afghanistan in Bonn on Monday, the rights group said that in the decade since the U.S.-backed ouster of the Taliban, measures to protect women and promote the rule of law have failed. (While you have patriarchal tribalism and Islam this is sadly inevitable. Either component is bad enough for human rights but together they are toxic)

Israeli officials expressed concern on Sunday over the future of ties with Cairo after Islamists claimed an overwhelming victory in the initial stage of Egypt's first post-revolution elections. (No shit?)

Baton-wielding police in Indian-controlled Kashmir have broken up Muslim religious processions being held in defiance of a strict curfew in the disputed Himalayan region.

The Muslim Brotherhood's success in the first round of Egypt's elections has added to western fears of an Islamist future for the Middle East. But this does not necessarily mean that democracy and liberal policies face extinction. (Another bloody Pollyanna)

Battered by Pakistani military operations and U.S. drone strikes, the once-formidable Pakistani Taliban has splintered into more than 100 smaller factions, weakened and running short of cash, according to security officials, analysts and tribesmen from the insurgent heartland.

The Coronation Oath would have to be abolished as part of the “far-reaching consequences” of a legal bid to stop councillors saying prayers before meetings, the High Court has been told. Lawyers also claim that local authorities would have to end their involvement with remembrance services while chaplains would not be allowed to serve in the Armed Forces, should the test case succeed. (Panic-mongering in the face of the NSS action)

Officers who led a five year hunt to solve a brutal murder and changed the way honour killing is investigated have won the first ever national award for detectives. The relentless pursuit by the Metropolitan Police Team in one of the most challenging murder investigations resulted in five convictions, including the victim’s father and uncle. It also had a direct impact on how honour killings are tackled both here and abroad. (Honor killing? Familial murder is more like it. Another benefit of immigration)

Argentina has proposed that its athletes wear a logo stating "The Falklands are Argentine" at the London Olympics. The proposal, which calls for the logo and image of the Falkland Islands to be emblazoned on to national team clothing, is outlined in a bill put to Argentina's National Congress with cross-party support. Its promoter Rosana Bertone, a member of Argentine President Cristina Kirchner's Front for Victory coalition party, said the move was "a peaceful way of defending our rights to the islands". (Get over it. You invaded the Falklands and were kicked out. Tough)

Pakistan is refusing to take part in a US military investigation of the air strikes which killed 24 of its soldiers, according to the Pentagon. (That'll help find out the truth. You'd think the soon-to-be nuclear rogue state and polio capital of the world would want to know)

Fox News has declared war on the “War on Christmas”. This happens every year: one crazy liberal tries to outlaw use of the word “Christmas” and Fox announces the coming of the Anti-Christ. The furore can sound cynical and shrill, but it illustrates how culturally divided the USA has become. (Anyone that uses the phrase War on Christmas should suffer the Clarkson punishment. Surely everyone is already pig sick of this yearly whining about a non-existent war? Just shut the hell up)

Islamist parties appear to have been the winners in Egypt's first free elections for decades. Leaked results showed that religious parties, including hardliners, have won a clear majority of the parliamentary seats contested. Their success comes at the expense of the liberal activist groups that led the uprising against the former president Hosni Mubarak earlier this year. (Vote now and repent at leisure)

Eighteen years after the Lawence murder, the case of Babar Ahmad may be poised to trigger another, equally explosive outcry into the institutional racism and Islamophobia that have allowed him to remain in a high security prison in Britain for more than seven years fighting extradition to the US. The Crown Prosecution Service has refused to prosecute him for the crimes that the US alleges he has committed here. (80 began to read this but stopped after the nonsense word Islamophobia was deployed. It has no generally accepted definition and is sheer laziness on the part of the reporter)

An Iranian TV station appears to have faked dozens of accounts of US drone strikes in Somalia which it says have killed hundreds of civilians. Press TV, which was fined £100,000 by Ofcom on Thursday after the station hid the fact that a 2009 "interviewee" was being forcibly detained in Iran, has reported the deaths of more than 1,370 people in 56 drone strikes in Somalia since September this year. Research by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, however, has found no evidence of the reported incidents. (Press TV as a propaganda vehicle for the Iranian theocratic dictatorship has no credibility whatsoever)

Jewish women in the Britain and the US are being urged to send photographs of themselves holding signs saying "women should be seen and heard" in a campaign against efforts by the ultra-orthodox to remove female images from advertising billboards in Jerusalem.

Members of Russia's only independent election monitoring group have told the Guardian they are being harassed and intimidated by state security officials in the runup to Sunday's parliamentary elections. (Hardly surprising in a gangster state)

Two opposition student organisations in Iran have condemned the storming of the British embassy, claiming those behind it were associated with the Islamic regime.

At the back of a clinic in the densely populated Guediawaye, where a tide of rural incomers washes up on the edge of urban Dakar, a woman sits waiting with the undemanding endurance of poverty and old age. Nene Ba looks in her 60s. The small child on her lap could be her grandson. But she is 44 and the one-year-old boy is the last of her 10 children. (The majority of the world's ills begin with overpopulation)

Egypt's Islamist party plans to push for a stricter religious code after claiming strong gains in the first round of parliamentary elections. Islamists led by the Muslim Brotherhood and radical Salafists appear to have taken a majority of seats in the first round of Egypt's first parliamentary vote since the ousting of Mubarak. (Pity the poor secular Egyptians. Sharia is totally incompatible with democracy and human rights. Vote for Islamists and it is likely to be the last vote you ever cast)

The number of women and girls in the UK suffering violence and intimidation at the hands of their families or communities is increasing rapidly, according to figures revealing the nationwide scale of "honour" abuse for the first time.

A father who campaigned against homophobic bullying after his son killed himself amid rumours that he was gay has been found dead. Earlier this month Roger Crouch, 55, who launched a Facebook campaign after 15-year-old Dominic leapt off a roof after apparently kissing a boy for a dare, was named "hero of the year" by the lesbian, gay and bisexual charity Stonewall, beating the likes of Lady Gaga and Joan Armatrading.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has pardoned a rape victim who was jailed for adultery, after she apparently agreed to marry her attacker. The woman, named as Gulnaz, gave birth in prison to a daughter who has been kept in jail with her. Human rights groups say hundreds of women in Afghan jails are victims of rape or domestic violence. (Tribalism plus Islam equals a stinking hellhole of a country. And Karzai, the crooked little shit is our ally)

THE Church of Scotland today said it cannot agree that the law in Scotland should be changed to allow same-sex marriage. It said debate on the issue has been "patchy" and "undeveloped" and said that much more measured consideration is needed.

Religious believers distrust atheists more than they do members of other religious groups, gays or feminists, according to a new study by University of B.C. researchers. The only group the study's participants distrusted as much as atheists was rapists, said doctoral student Will Gervais, lead author of the study published online in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. That prejudice had a significant effect on what kinds of jobs people said they would hire atheists to do. "People are willing to hire an atheist for a job that is perceived as low trust, for instance as a waitress," said Gervais. (Oh, a survey in which the participants were selected for their stupidity)

Despite ranting for months that it was going to be pulled off the air, Press TV has actually been hit with a fine of £100,000 for shoddy reporting, as expected. But that has not stopped the channel claiming Ofcom has reversed its decision, and convincing The Guardian of that too: proving the maxim that if you state something enough times everyone will come to believe it. (The Register treats this Iranian propaganda organ with the contempt it merits)

Apple has denied claims that its smartphone voice-activated assistant Siri is anti-abortion. It follows reports that Siri failed to locate nearby abortion clinics. In some cases it suggested pregnancy advice centres as an alternative. Bloggers and rights groups had voiced their concern over the omission.

The long tradition of prayers being said before local council meetings is to come under challenge at the High Court. The National Secular Society (NSS) is arguing that the religious ritual is ''inappropriate'' in what should be ''a secular environment concerned with civic business''. NSS president Terry Sanderson said that, in a multi-faith society, the practice was leading to a worrying ''potential for conflict''.  (This is long overdue)

Highly evolved extra terrestrial lifeforms may be living in space and would be welcomed into the church - "no matter how many tentacles", one of the Pope's astronomers has said. The senior Vatican scientist, Brother Guy Consolmagno, said that he would be delighted if we encountered intelligent aliens and would be happy to baptise them. (First he should prove the existence of this thing called a soul he mentions)

A tiny church in rural Kentucky has voted to ban interracial couples from joining its congregation, pitting members against each other in an argument over race. Members at the Gulnare Free Will Baptist Church in Kentucky voted on Sunday on the resolution, which says the church "does not condone interracial marriage".

The head of the Catholic Church in Ireland has agreed to a legal settlement over his role in administering an oath of secrecy to a teenage victim of clerical sexual abuse in 1975, the victim's lawyer said on Wednesday. (Why is this vile old man still in office?)

The Nigerian senate has passed a bill banning same-sex marriages, defying a threat from Britain to withhold aid from nations violating gay rights. The bill by Africa's most populous nation calls for a 14-year sentence for anyone convicted of homosexuality. Anyone who aids or "abets" same-sex unions faces 10 years in prison, a provision that could target rights groups. (A revolting development in a toilet of a country)

The Muslim Brotherhood today claimed to be in pole position in Egypt's parliamentary election with as much as 40 per cent of the vote. The initial count of votes from the opening stage of what is Egypt's first free election since army officers drove the king into exile in 1952 have started to come in.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8924196/Warning-over-excessively-strict-discipline-in-UK-madrassas.html

Children attending some UK Islamic schools are being subjected to physical beatings as teachers use loopholes to get around a ban on corporal punishment, according to new research. (If brain-washing style learning by rote doesn't work there's always violence. Islam is just not compatible with liberal democracy)

A former journalist at the Daily Star told the Leveson Inquiry into press standards that he received threats and may have had his phone hacked after he quit the paper in protest at what he claimed was its anti-Muslim propaganda.

Surfing the internet on a laptop that is connected with wireless technology can damage sperm counts, a study suggests. Researchers discovered a personal computer using wi-fi that is placed near male reproductive organs reduced sperm quality and the chances of men experiencing fatherhood.  (A market for goolie shields awaits the speedy entrepreneur)

A former Church of Scientology member has claimed she was held against her will aboard the Church's cruise ship, The Freewinds, for 12 years. Valeska Paris, an Australian resident, said she was forced onto the ship by the Church's leader, David Miscavige, when she was 17 after her mother tried to dissociate her from the organisation. (Good - more bad publicity for this clownish yet deeply sinister cult)

The Sheikh Abdullah Azzam Brigades, a militant group affiliated with Al-Qaida on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the four Katyusha rockets fired from Lebanon at Israel overnight. The small organization, whose members live mostly in hideouts in Palestinian refugee camps across southern Lebanon, has claimed responsibility for past rocket attack on Israel, as well.

A new IPPR report finds that though many are very good, a significant minority of madrasas, supplementary schools for Muslim children, have poor teaching standards, use corporal punishment and do not conduct CRB checks on staff. (See below)

Demand for Islamic education in England is growing fast and schools – official and unofficial – are springing up to meet it. Now some local authorities are concerned that there is insufficient regulation. (These schools can only increase the self-ghettoization of British Muslims)

Efforts to feed 160,000 severely malnourished children in Somalia have been jeopardised after Islamist rebels banned several UN and international aid agencies, storming their offices in a string of co-ordinated raids. Al-Shabaab militants, who have imposed a harsh form of sharia law in south and central Somalia, announced on Monday they were banning 16 aid agencies from operating in the anarchic country where tens of thousands of people have died from famine since April. (Proof, as if proof were needed, that Islamists don't give a damn for people in desperate need. It is truly a religion of death)

I’ve been writing about the Religious Right for nearly 25 years now, and one thing that never ceases to amaze me is when the leaders or supporters of these organizations claim they are being persecuted. Really? In a country that has a strong Christian culture and where at least 75 percent of the population professes some form of Christianity, it would seem odd that Christians would be persecuted. Yet the claim is made, constantly.

A male registered nurse and Vietnam war Army medic has sued the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, saying he was fired for disobeying a Muslim supervisor's order not to treat women wearing conservative Islamic dress. John Benitez Jr. filed a sex discrimination suit in Detroit U.S. District Court on Wednesday after getting the go-ahead from the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in a 'right to sue' letter on October 19.

Benetton’s “UNHATE” advertisment campaign is facing a legal challenge from the Catholic Church over an image of Pope Benedict XVI kissing Egypt’s al-Azhar Grand Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb.The Vatican “has instructed its lawyers, in Italy and abroad, to take appropriate action” to prevent the circulation of the image, including in the mass media, it said on Friday evening. (His Hollowness is not noted for his sense of humor)

Father Gabriele Amorth, who for years was the Vatican’s chief exorcist and claims to have cleansed hundreds of people of evil spirits, said yoga is Satanic because it leads to a worship of Hinduism and “all eastern religions are based on a false belief in reincarnation”. Reading JK Rowling’s Harry Potter books is no less dangerous, said the 86-year-old priest, who is the honorary president for life of the International Association of Exorcists, which he founded in 1990, and whose favourite film is the 1973 horror classic, The Exorcist. (Yet the silly old fool is quite happy to believe in an immortal Jewish zombie, his virginal mum and bread and wine turning into blood and flesh)

The Government is ready to underwrite up to £40 billion in lending to cash-strapped businesses in an attempt to kick-start Britain's flagging economy, Chancellor George Osborne said today. (Underwritten by who? The taxpayer not the government)

A Christian worker has launched a landmark legal action after she lost her job when she blew the whistle on what she says was a campaign of "race hate" by fundmentalist (sic) Muslims. Nohad Halawi, who worked at Heathrow Airport, is suing her former employers for unfair dismissal, claiming that she and other Christian staff at the airport were victims of systematic harassment because of their religion. (Religion is not race - how many times does it have to said before these clods understand? More whining about persecution backed by the Christian Legal Centre. It seems the Telegraph cannot afford proofreaders any more - poor spelling is rife. Even cheap spellchecker software would be an improvement)

Members of the Taliban who give up their fight are being paid £100 a month and will be allowed to keep their guns in a new initiative to end the insurgency. Those who have attacked and killed British forces are also effectively given an amnesty, which means they will never be put on trial. The amnesty extends to all Taliban fighters, including those who have taken part in atrocities, such as murdering children, beheadings and hanging women. (The murderous scum will be back to their old habits soon enough)

But for the Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin, the first black female chaplain to the Commons, there is nothing to celebrate in the clashes across the Commons dispatch box, which drove even Tony Blair, a star performer, to take sleeping pills the night before. (That sounds like a vital position, Commons chaplain)

Since the company renovated its premises in the centre of Jerusalem, installing picture windows that let passers-by see the rehearsals, ultra-orthodox Jews in the locality have waged a campaign against what they call the "indecency" of the women dancers. (The Jewish Taleban are really bothered by the sight of women. Perhaps a cold shower is in order if they can't control their lust)

Morocco's Justice and Development Party (PJD) claimed victory on Saturday in a parliamentary election that should produce a stronger government after King Mohammed ceded some powers to prevent any spillover from Arab Spring uprisings. The PJD, supported largely by Morocco's poor, would be the second moderate Islamist party to lead a North African government since the start of the region's Arab Spring uprisings, following Tunisia. (It's oxymoron time with the moderate Islamists)

Northern Ireland's First Minister has called for Catholics and Protestants to unite to end sectarian division. Mr Robinson said there could be no greater guarantee of the long-term security of the union than the support of significant numbers of Catholics.

Dozens of women have rallied in the Libyan capital to pressure the new government to do more to help women raped during the country's civil war. Some 60 women sang and chanted slogans outside the office of Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keib on Saturday. They said the government, in its focus to help wounded soldiers, is failing to help women sexually assaulted by Moammar Gadhafi's forces during the war. (Good luck to them but under  barbaric sharia it is always the woman's fault)

Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Rick Perry have been accused of telling TV viewers blatant untruths about Barack Obama. The candidates deny their TV commercials are deceitful and dishonest but both ads selectively quote the president to make it appear he is saying one thing when he is saying another. The advertisements have been widely scorned for crossing a line from a longstanding practice of political campaigns pushing the truth to its limits, over to misrepresentation. (Also revealed - politicians are devious, lying bastards)

Parents who do not have their children fully immunised will be stripped of family tax benefits under a scheme announced by the Federal Government. The Government says 11 per cent of five-year-olds are not immunised and has announced a shake-up of the system which will take effect from July 1 next year. (That should get the attention of lazy or ignorant parents)

Critics of President Obama felt little holiday cheer after the president did not thank God in his Thanksgiving-themed weekly Internet address. They immediately took to Twitter and the Internet to voice anger and disbelief.

Mexico's archaeology institute downplays theories that the ancient Mayas predicted some sort of apocalypse would occur in 2012, but on Thursday it acknowledged that a second reference to the date exists on a carved fragment found at a southern Mexico ruin site. (The sky is falling! The sky is falling!)

David Cameron’s “Big Society” dream will fail unless the country rediscovers traditionally Christian values, according to the academic credited with helping develop the concept. Phillip Blond, a think-tank director known as the Prime Minister’s philosopher-king, will say in a speech today that the individualism fostered by the state and markets in recent decades has damaged society. (Christian values - which ones? Who gets to choose? Stupid bloody idea mixing religion and politics. It's not possible to turn the clock back to some imagined golden age - it never existed)

Three bombs exploded in the south Iraq port city of Basra, killing 19 people, including high-ranking army and police officers, and wounding at least 65, according to security and medical officials. Following a common pattern in Iraq, a third roadside bomb went off as people gathered at the scene, according to the official, who put toll at 19 killed and 67 wounded. (Sectarian killings are Islam's legacy to the world. This is why the phrase "Muslim community is a sick joke)

Police in Pakistan are searching for the missing relatives of a Scottish businessman and his wife after they were shot dead in an apparent honour killing. Detectives say they want to speak to the parents of Uzma Naurin, 30, from New York. She was murdered with Glasgow-based businessman Saif Rehman, 31, amid allegations of a family feud.

A French woman has lost her "enslavement" court case against two followers of Opus Dei and an association closely linked to the powerful conservative Catholic group. Catherine Tissier, 40, had claimed that from the age of 14 until 27 she was forced to clean, wash and serve 15 hours per day, with no holidays or proper pay at a hotel school linked to Opus Dei.

At least six people have died in Britain after being told that they had been healed of HIV, and could stop taking their medication. There is evidence that evangelical churches in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow are claiming to cure HIV through God. We sent three undercover reporters into the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) , which is based in Southwark, south London.  All of them told the pastors that they were HIV positive. All were told that they could be healed. (What do the pastors get out of lying? Money? Or are they deluded themselves? They must be open to at least a charge of manslaughter)

Two female foreign journalists on Thursday described harrowing sexual assaults carried out by crowds or police as they tried to cover demonstrations in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Egyptian-American journalist Mona Eltahawy said she was sexually assaulted by police during hours under detention after taking part in protests on the sprawling square that has become a landmark of the Arab Spring. (How women are respected by these arabian knights - protesters and cops, violent groping scum, fulfilling a cultural stereotype nicely)

For many young Muslims who have been born and brought up in the UK, going to the mosque to attend religious classes in madrassas can bring back unhappy memories. Getting shouted at by teachers who could not speak English was a common complaint. (Now it is going to be easier to unlearn all that science stuff taught in your regular school. Who needs it? The Quran says it all anyway. Religion and school are two things that shouldn't come within a million miles of each other. A Pollyanna report from the Beeb)

A religious teacher who was caught on camera kicking and slapping children in a West Yorkshire mosque has been jailed for 10 weeks. Sabir Hussain, 60, admitted four charges of assaulting boys at the Markazi Jamia Mosque in Keighley as they learned the Koran. (The people that assault children are made to feel so welcome by their fellow inmates)

Using marbles instead of ballot papers, some 800,000 Gambians will vote on Thursday by dropping a clear glass ball into one of three different coloured drums representing the presidential hopefuls in this tiny nation on the west coast of Africa. Most will land in the green drum, which represents incumbent, a close friend of Jermaine Jackson and self-proclaimed mystic who says he can cure Aids – but only on a Thursday.

A vicar who claims he was driven out of his picturesque rural parish is attempting to make legal history by having his complaints against the Church of England heard by an employment tribunal. The Rev Mark Sharpe alleges he was, in effect, forced to leave his Worcestershire parish after he and his family suffered four years of harassment without support from church leaders. (Surely whoever paid his salary is his employer)

An advert which shows angels falling from heaven because they are attracted to a man's deodorant has been banned in South Africa after regulators ruled it could offend Christians. The 60-second commercial depicts a group of provocatively-dressed young female angels descending to earth in what appears to be an Italian town. (To quote Stephen Fry, you're offended? So fucking what)

Seven men have been charged for hate-crime in the US state of Ohio following a number of hair-cutting attacks in the Amish community. Group leader Samuel Mullet and three of his sons are among those detained, prosecutors in Cleveland said. It is alleged that Mr Mullet had imposed "extreme physical punishments" on those in the community who defied him. It also says that Samuel Mullet had been taking married women from the Bergholz clan into his home so that he could "cleanse them of the devil with acts of sexual intimacy". (These patriarchal types are all the bloody same. Take a look at the miscreant's pictures - not exactly an appealing bunch)

 If you needed evidence of the mainstreaming of right-wing religious culture at the highest level of American electoral politics, Saturday's Webcast presidential forum in the all-important state of Iowa, whose caucuses open the presidential primary season, would serve as Exhibit A.

Alleged would-be presidential assassin Ortega-Hernandez reportedly called Obama 'the Antichrist'. So who put that idea in his head?

Currently the law states that Church of England clergy, as office holders, are "employed by God" and not eligible to bring actions for unfair dismissal. In a move reminiscent of the Billy Connolly film 'The Man Who Sued God, Rev Sharpe is now asking to be allowed to sue for constructive dismissal. (God is guilty of rather more than constructive dismissal. Where to start? Evicting Adam and Eve having lied to them?)

The parliament introduced an emergency bill to go to a vote on Sunday on the issue, said the website of IRIB television. Several politicians cried "Death to Britain" as the measure was adopted with 162 votes. (Of course they are not including useful idiots like Galloway in the death sentence. Shame)

But it is remarkable that the pope persists in prescribing a response to Aids in Africa that makes no mention of contraception. This is so even after he was criticised in 2009 for saying, en route to his first visit to Africa, that condoms "increase the problem" of Aids. (The Roman Catholic priesthood are cruel, thinking contraception is worse than a death sentence, prolonged illness and the creation of orphans, often themselves infected. Heartless, bigoted bastards. Happily many enlightened Catholics do not go along with this)

Prime minister Abdurrahim el-Keib has sent Libya on a bumpy road towards democracy by naming a cabinet of secularists and thereby snubbing prominent Islamists. The biggest surprise on the list was Osama al-Juwali, chief of the Zintan military council, who was appointed defence minister at the expense of Islamist Hakim Bilhaj.

Now the fear is that following the transformation into a mosque of the church of Santa Sofia in Nicea (where the ecumenical council of 787 took place) that had previously been restored, turned into a museum and now in the last few days, under the orders of central government, has become a place for Islamic worship; now it is Santa Sofia of Istanbul's turn. The great Christian basilica from the ex-capital of the Ottoman empire is to be transformed into a mosque. (The Vatican gets its knickers in a twist. Anyway, the Orthodox church has first dibs)

In 2010, the Hong Kong organization Noah’s Ark Ministries International or NAMI announced they had discovered the legendary vessel on Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey and were subsequently accused of perpetrating a hoax. Now, a professional archaeologist states there is significant merit to their discovery. (For an encore they will produce the Ark of the Covenant and the Philistine emerods)

Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned as Boston's archbishop in 2002 after the priest sex abuse scandal exploded in the US, has left his subsequent job as head of a Roman basilica. Law became the first, and so far only, US bishop to resign over priests who sexually abused children. He had been named in hundreds of lawsuits accusing him of failing to protect children from known child molesters. (There's no likelihood the old bastard will return to the US and face his accusers of course)

A mummified elongated skull found in Peru could finally prove the existence of aliens. The strangely shaped head - almost as big as its 50cm (20in) body - has baffled anthropologists. It was one of two sets of remains found in the city of Andahuaylillas in the southern province of Quispicanchi. (It's in the Daily Mail so it must be true)

An American man has brought a wrongful dismissal suit over his former employer's attempt to make him wear the number of the beast - in the guise of a safety record sticker. Billy E Hyatt alleges that he was fired from the Pliant Corp plastics factory in northern Georgia for refusing to wear a sticker declaring the factory had been accident free for 666 days, Courthouse News reports. While that number is no doubt a testimony to Pliant's workplace safety practices, it's also, of course, the number of the beast in the Book of Revelation.
 

Steve Jobs has created a consumer society that makes many of us sad because we don't have the latest iPhone, said the UK's Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. Speaking at an interfaith gathering attended by the Queen, Sacks compared the iPad to the tablets of the Ten Commandments that Moses brought down from the mountains. (Sacks seems to think the "i" in the Apple products means "me". He obviously didn't bother to do his homework before opening his mouth)

GIANT tobacco company Philip Morris has launched multi-billion-dollar legal action against the Federal Government's new plain packaging laws for cigarettes. The world-first laws passed Parliament yesterday, prompting Health Minister Nicola Roxon to hail a "great day for Australia". (Phillip Morris fights for the right to advertize its cancer-causing drug sticks)

Iranian security forces tried to arrest a senior adviser to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday, witnesses said, firing tear gas into the offices of the newspaper that the aide runs and retreating only after a phone call from Ahmadinejad himself. Ahmadinejad’s government runs day-to-day politics, while the clerics have power over the judiciary and security forces, enjoy close access to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and wield enormous influence behind the scenes. (The Poison Dwarf shows he is not a tool of the mullahs - he is still a tool though)

Parents are dressing up their children in provocative clothes and allowing them to wear make-up and high heels because they lack traditional values, according to a leading headmistress. (What traditional values? Those of her religion perhaps? That said, parents who allow their children to wear provocative and inappropriate are irresponsible idiots swayed by the moronic reality TV and celebrity culture that now pervades)

Delia Smith, a devout Catholic, has said she would like to switch the nation on to spirituality in the same way she has done with cooking. The television cook attends Mass every day and has written cookery books with religious themes including A Feast for Lent and A Feast for Advent as well as a book on prayer called Journey into God. (First define "spirituality" - is that her Roman Catholicism, the religion the Pope has said is the only true Christianity? Keep your religion to yourself)

Sometimes the authorities really are “out to get” Christians, a senior official in the Church of England has claimed. The Rev Dr Malcolm Brown, Director of Mission and Public Affairs, cited Labour’s decision to stop Catholic adoption agencies acting in accordance with their beliefs as an example of an unnecessary restriction on religious groups. (More Christians whining because they have to comply with legislation just like anyone else. Oh dear, how sad, never mind)

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, will meet the Hamas leader, Khaled Mashal, in Cairo this week to agree details of a new unity government, hoping to close a six-year schism between the political factions that has separated the West Bank from Gaza. The inclusion of Hamas in a unity government would undoubtedly affect Palestinian relations with countries that list it as a terrorist organisation, including the US, Canada, Australia and the EU.

The New York Police Department has arrested an alleged "al-Qaida sympathiser" who had plotted to bomb returning military personnel, police cars and post offices in the city.

There is little doubt that Palestinian authorities are conducting this assault on the Temple Mount so as to erase any vestige of archaeological evidence for Jewish (and Christian) history.

Bishops across the country, backed by Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, have condemned the coalition government's controversial welfare reforms, which they say risk pushing thousands of children into poverty and homelessness. (By making this principled stand the bishops are unwittingly bringing nearer the end of their time in the upper house of parliament. When the House of Lords is reformed Cameron will not have forgotten about this)

John Hynd has received death threats simply for joining a website campaigning against the sectarian divide in the west of Scotland. "I used to be a bigot," he says. "I'd go to the game – I'm a Rangers fan – and happily be singing Billy Boys along with my dad and his friends. Then I just thought, 'Hold on a minute. I've got Catholic friends. I'm going out with a Catholic. I don't want to be up to my knees in Fenian blood like the song says. I don't want this.'"

Egypt has been hit by another wave of major violence ahead of parliamentary elections after security forces opened fire on thousands of protesters demonstrating against the military junta. More than 500 people were reported injured in central Cairo after riot police sent volleys of tear gas, rubber bullets and "birdshot" pellet cartridges into the crowds. The clashes put further pressure on the ruling generals and cast doubt on the ability of police to secure the poll, scheduled to begin on 28 November. (Arab Spring? What's that all about? More like business as usual. And these are the people that want to try Mubarak for violence against protesters?)

Israel Defense Forces soldiers should choose death before they remain at army events which include women's singing, a top settler religious leader said in an interview on Thursday. The comment made by Elyakim Levanon, the rabbi of the West Bank settlement of Elon Moreh, came after earlier this week, 19 reserve major generals sent a letter to Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, imploring them not to allow harm to come to women's service in the army as a result of religious soldiers' demands. (Israel's threat from within)

Someone just woke up and discovered that women have been banished from advertising billboards throughout Jerusalem. Good morning! The Modesty Police has been ruling the streets for years and none of you have done anything about it. (More on the rise of the Jewish Taliban)

The 19 reservist major generals who signed the letter to Chief of Staff Benny Gantz on Monday, warning of extremist religious trends in the Israel Defense Forces, "were in the army long ago," Rabbi Avichai Rontzki declared this week. Brig. Gen. (res. ) Rontzki, who was chief army rabbi until a year and a half ago, claimed that the veteran officers don't know what the IDF is like anymore. "Things are different nowadays," he explained. (Israel's religious nutters are increasingly calling the shots)

The Prince of Wales refuses to accept the failings of alternative medicine despite compelling evidence that it provides little benefit to patients because he is 'ideologically fixated', one of Britain’s leading science writers warned yesterday.

The NHS has been warned to watch for acupuncture needles that can become embedded in the patients as several people suffered a punctured lung after having the ancient therapy.

The man charged with attempting to assassinate President Barack Obama described himself as "a modern day Jesus" in a rambling video tape sent to the Oprah Winfrey channel.

A Ukrainian wearing a Darth Vader costume made an unexpected appearance at a city hall in the south of the country, demanding a plot of land on which to park his spaceship, local authorities said Friday.

L'Osservatore Romano, a week after proclaiming Tintin a Catholic hero, said the Bard's plays "teem with open references to the Catholic religion." The newspaper reopened a debate which has raged ever since an Anglican archdeacon said of Shakespeare a few decades after his death: "He died a Papist."

A self-help guru has been jailed for two years over the deaths of three people during a sweat lodge ceremony in Arizona. James Arthur Ray was sentenced to three two-year terms for the deaths of James Shore, Liz Neuman and Kirby Brown, who died after attending a personal growth seminar he led near Sedona, Arizona, in 2009. The terms are to run concurrently. (For every New Age con-artist convicted there are plenty more still plying their lucrative trade)

People sending texts in Pakistan could find their messages blocked if they use swear words or sexually-explicit language. The country's telecommunications authority has written to mobile phone firms with a list of more than 1,500 English and Urdu words to be blocked, said Anjum Nida Rahman, a spokeswoman for Telenor Pakistan. (Never mind that Pakistan promises to be the world's first failed state with nuclear weapons make sure those nasty swear words are banned)

Britain is set to secure major legal reforms that would stop the European Court of Human Rights overruling UK judges on immigration cases, it has been reported. Justice Secretary Ken Clarke has disclosed an agreement is expected to be reached that would prevent individuals being able to repeatedly challenge deportation rulings, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Four men from Birmingham have been charged with terrorism offences, West Midlands Police said. Khobaib Hussain, Ishaaq Hussain and Shahid Kasam Khan, all aged 19, along with 24-year-old Naweed Mahmood Ali will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on Saturday morning. The four are accused of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts, including collecting money for terrorism and travelling to Pakistan for terrorism training. (So young and so very stupid)

The Foreign Office is investigating reports that two UK terror suspects died in a US drone strike in Pakistan. Ibrahim Adam, 24, and Mohammed Azmir, 37, both from east London, are said to have been killed in Waziristan on the Afghanistan border. (These people were intent on killing NATO troops and got their comeuppance)

Nine months after the revolution that toppled President Hosni Mubarak, tens of thousands of Islamists jammed Tahrir Square here on Friday to protest efforts by Egypt’s military rulers to retain power, escalating a confrontation a week before the first parliamentary elections since Mr. Mubarak was deposed. Although the demonstration was originally called by liberal activists, most stayed away after it became clear that the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist political parties would dominate the day.

Pope Benedict XVI is travelling to Benin, widely seen as the home of Voodoo, on his second visit to Africa which has the world's fastest-growing Roman Catholic population. Tens of thousands of people are expected to welcome the pontiff. Although the number of Catholics in Benin is rising quickly, the majority of the population follow Voodoo, which was taken by slaves to the Caribbean. (Roman Catholicism, Voodoo, both equally nonsensical)

Posters depicting women have become rare in the streets of Israel's capital. In some areas, women have been shunted onto separate sidewalks, and buses and health clinics have been gender-segregated. The military has considered reassigning some female combat soldiers because religious men don't want to serve with them. This is the new reality in parts of 21st-century Israel, where ultra-Orthodox rabbis are trying to contain the encroachment of secular values on their cloistered society through a fierce backlash against the mixing of the sexes in public. (Why are the abrahamic faiths so bloody weird when it comes to women?)

“Saying it’s OK to choose is the same thing as saying it’s OK for Hitler to choose,” says a fresh-faced young man. He’s talking about choosing an abortion in “180,” a 33-minute movie comparing legalized abortion to the Holocaust that has so far gotten over 1.5 million hits on YouTube, thanks in part to heavy distribution by fertilized-eggs-as-people promulgators Personhood USA. (Utterly despicable exploitation of the Holocaust - these scum know no limits)

Following its admission to UNESCO, the Palestinian Authority is planning to pursue Israel legally in international forums for allegedly stealing Palestinian antiquities and changing the Arab and Islamic character of holy sites in Jerusalem, Palestinian officials said over the weekend. (Any destruction is more from Muslims destroying Jewish archaeology, particularly on the Temple Mount)

Russia's top gay rights activist today condemned a bill passed in the country's second largest city that prohibits "propaganda of homosexuality" to minors, warning it could be used to ban gay protest rallies. Nikolai Alexeyev of the GayRussia.ru group described the legislation tentatively approved by politicians in St Petersburg as a "disgrace."

The Islamist politician likely to become Tunisia's first democratically elected prime minister has alarmed liberals and secularists by claiming the arrival of the "sixth caliphate", a controversial term for a Muslim empire. (Hardly surprising news)

The attack came just hours before a wave of grenade attacks blamed on al-Qaeda-linked Islamists hit Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, killing a young boy as he watched the England-Sweden football game on television with his father. Jihadists sympathetic to al-Shabaab, Somalia's Islamist insurgents, were suspected of organising the first attack, at Kenya's Dadaab refugee camp.

A new British legal rights group will this week kick off a global campaign to decriminalise homosexuality in scores of countries across the world when it embarks on a first test case in the courts of Belize. The Human Dignity Trust (HDT), which launched its campaign in London on Thursday, is targeting the 80-odd states where consensual sexual activity between adults of the same gender is outlawed.

Benetton has been forced to pull an advert featuring a picture of Pope Benedict XVI kissing a top Egyptian imam on the lips. The image showed the pontiff kissing Sheik Ahmed el Tayeb, an imam from Cairo's al Azhar institute - a theological school of Sunni Islam. Al Azhar suspended interfaith talks with the Vatican earlier this year after Pope Benedict called for greater protections for Egypt's minority Christians. (Owing to the Streisand effect the picture is receiving much more attention over being banned than it would have had otherwise)

Early excitement induced by the arrival of the Arab spring has recently been dampened by the emergence of Islamist parties as key beneficiaries. With Ennahda taking the lion's share of the votes in Tunisia and the Muslim Brotherhood expected to do the same in Egypt, many are beginning to ask questions about the direction in which the region is heading. (An optimistic view of the Arab spring political outcome. It seems like wishful thinking)

The BBC has dropped a climate change episode from its wildlife series Frozen Planet to help the show sell better abroad. (The comments from many Telegraph readers is depressing, predictable but depressing, whining about the "politicisation" of the series. Total utter bollocks. Anthropogenic global warming needs to be confronted not treated as though it is no more than an opinion. The whiners lack the guts to face up to what is happening. They call themselves sceptics - they are not, they are deniers)

Britain's 'cheapest' lunchtime meal was unveiled by scientists on Wednesday - the toast sandwich. The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is reviving the mid-Victorian dish, which, unsurprisingly, consists of two slices of bread around a slice of toast. The society is so confident in the repast, it will offer £200 to anyone who can create a cheaper alternative.

Jerusalem's secular mayor, Nir Barkat, has pitted himself against the city's swelling ranks of ultra-orthodox extremists by demanding that local police enable women to reclaim their position in the public domain. Over recent months, women's faces have disappeared from billboards across the city amid mounting pressure applied by the powerful ultra-orthodox lobby, who find the female image offensive. (These weirdos have a lot in common with the Taliban and their actions are not limited to just billboards. Assaults on women are on the rise))

Osama Bin Laden has been described as both "tender" and "kind" in a video released by the new head of al-Qaeda. Ayman al-Zawahiri, who took over at the head of the network after Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan in May, said the former leader was a sensitive man. (Also a mass-murdering religious fanatic)

A Roman Catholic bishop has criticised a high court judge for ruling that the church can be held liable for the misconduct of priests, a judgment that could make it easier for victims of clerical sexual abuse to bring compensation claims. (Golly, what a surprise)

The video of policemen bullying a transvestite exposed an unpleasant side to Afghan culture – but humane voices give cause for hope. (This implies that Afghan culture has a pleasant side)

The Roman Catholic church in England and Wales has launched its first outreach campaign to get people back into the pews, with its lapsed membership thought to number as many as five million. (Until the Vatican addresses the rape of children by its staff and the subsequent cover-up this will go nowhere)

The director of the Global Research for International Affairs Centre and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs wrote this week: "The Obama administration has openly sided with Israel's enemies. I don't mean the Palestinian Authority or Saudi Arabia. That would be tolerable. We're talking here about openly genocidal, anti-Semitic groups . . . the Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah and the Taliban (moderate wing)."

"The girl in the Starbucks logo is Queen Esther," he ranted. "This queen is Queen of the Jews. Can you believe that in Mecca, Medina, Cairo, Damascus, Kuwait and all over the Islamic world hangs the picture of Queen Esther and we buy her products? It is inconceivable!" (Article on conspiracy loons and how internet technology has enabled them)

A gunman described as a jihadist by the authorities has killed seven people in southern Kazakhstan, an attack that shifts Islamic militant violence towards the heart of the country.

'Pakistan's toughest cop' vows to bury his Taliban attackers in bomb crater. Karachi version of Dirty Harry, who has been shot five times, makes pledge after suicide attack blows the front off his home

A group set up to help victims of paedophile priests in the Netherlands has defended a scheme that calculates compensation according to the level of abuse suffered, saying the amounts awarded will be far higher than if individuals were to pursue cases through the courts. (Hush money?)

David Cameron has insisted that banning "completely monstrous, evil people" who were planning to disrupt Friday's Armistice Day ceremonies was the right thing to do. The prime minister said he was "delighted" with the proscription of Muslims Against Crusades by the home secretary, Theresa May, in advance of commemorations to honour the war dead.

A group of armed men have stoned and shot dead a woman and her daughter in Afghanistan's Ghazni province, security officials have told the BBC. The officials blamed the Taliban, who they said had accused the women of "moral deviation and adultery". Officials said a number of religious leaders in the city had been issuing fatwas (Islamic religious edicts) asking people to report any one who was "involved in adultery". (Inhuman scum)

Although it's Republicans who are primarily making the charge that atheists are un-American, Democrats aren't exactly lining up to defend non-believers.

Two Malaysian states are set to change their Islamic laws to punish Muslims who engage in homosexuality, raising the prospect of gay Muslims being punished under both federal and state religious laws and stoking concerns about rising intolerance. (Odd phrasing "who engage in homosexuality". It's not a bloody lifestyle choice)

Facebook page Jesus Daily has become the first ever religious-oriented Facebook page to gain over 10 million fans according to data from social media monitoring site Famecount.com  The Facebook page, which posts frequent Christian-themed statuses and links, reached the 10-million-friend mark on November 10, making it the first ever religious-themed page to achieve this level of popularity. (But the Texas Hold'em Poker page has 52 million fans)

Egypt will close the Great Pyramid of Giza on Friday to avoid any rituals by a group rumoured to have plans to mark the date of 11/11/11 at the site, an official said. The decision came "after much pressure" from Egyptian Internet users that strange rituals were going to be held "within the walls of the pyramid on November 11, 2011," Atef Abu Zahab, head of the Department of Pharaonic Archaeology, told AFP.

Libya's Islamists are forming a new party that is almost certain to dominate the country's new politics on the "moderate" lines successfully pursued first in Turkey and now in Tunisia, The Daily Telegraph can disclose. Ali al-Sallabi, who spent eight years in Col Gaddafi's most notorious prison Abu Salim, denied reports that he would stand for president himself but confirmed his long-predicted move into secular politics. (Secular - but for how long?)

This week, popular democracy came crashing in on yet another institution in desperate need of reform – the Catholic church, which has been a bastion of power for one of the most tightly-knit, elderly male oligarchies of all time. What has happened over the past few days might not have looked particularly dramatic, but it has shaken the powers that be in the Catholic church in this country to their core. (Joanna Moorhead indulging in some understandable wishful thinking)

The home secretary, Theresa May, has ordered Muslims Against Crusades, an Islamist group which is planning to disrupt Friday's Armistice Day ceremonies, be banned from midnight. The organisation, which burned two large poppies near the Royal Albert Hall in London on Remembrance Day during the minute's silence last year, is a renamed successor to the already banned Islam4UK and other proscribed organisations. Anjem Choudary is a leading figure in both groups.

Utah prosecutors have dropped charges against a polygamist sect leader serving a life sentence in Texas in a separate case. Warren Jeffs had been found guilty of rape by accomplice in 2007 – a conviction that was overturned last year by the Utah supreme court, which cited improper jury instructions by the trial judge.

A group of doctors and academics is calling for the Government and mobile industry to launch a publicity drive aimed at children and pregnant women. They have published a report claiming that more than 200 studies now link mobile phone use to conditions such as brain tumours. Their report, published by the campaign group MobileWise argues that failing to act now could be “dangerous”. It says that the risks could take decades to prove conclusively but that there is “no justification” for inaction. Yet critics have warned of the risks of scaremongering over mobile phones without clear evidence of harm. (Nothing to do with radiation but all to do with a gravytrain)

David Cameron vowed to hand hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money plus vital military secrets to Pakistan yesterday to make amends for offending the Muslim nation last year. The Prime Minister pledged to invest £650million in Pakistani schools at a time when the education budget at home is being cut. (Cameron also effectively apologized for the British Empire. You cannot apologize for what you haven't done and the empire is long gone. Idiot)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/nov/08/amazon-book-deal-deepak-chopra

Guru Deepak Chopra has found yet another key to spiritual enlightenment: become the latest in a string of big name authors to sign a deal for megabucks with Amazon.com. (Amazon to make even more money for quack extraordinaire and New Age bullshit peddler. Disgusting)

Mississippi voters have rejected an amendment to the state constitution aimed at outlawing abortion, a setback for opponents of abortion seeking to overturn the Supreme Court decision legalising abortion in the US. With 85% of the precincts reporting, 58% of voters rejected the measure and 42% voted for it, according to the Clarion-Ledger newspaper in the state capital, Jackson

The US army provided counter-insurgency training to Nigerian troops battling a rise in attacks by Islamist militants, the Nigerian military has revealed. More than 100 people have been killed in recent days by the radical Muslim sect Boko Haram, dubbed the "Nigerian Taliban", in Nigeria's north-east. One rights activist described it as "a state of armed Islamist insurgency" likely to spread.

A court has sentenced 31 Hindus to life imprisonment for killing dozens of Muslims by setting fire to a building during one of India's worst rounds of communal violence nine years ago. (Islam does not have a monopoly on religious violence as this story amply demonstrates)

Tuesday, reality TV stars Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar announced they are expecting another child, due in April, 2012. The Duggars already have 19 children. The new addition will make 20. The Duggars are part of an underground conservative evangelical Christian movement known as Quiverfull. The movement promotes procreation, and sees children as a blessing from God. The conservative Christian movement wants to raise up a cultural army to roll back modernity, and transform the U.S. into a conservative Christian theocracy.

After days of the attack by the Boko Haram sect on Yobe State, the capital is still without police protection. Due to several bomb attacks in Damaturu, the capital city of Yobe State, thousands of residents have been said to flee their homes.

http://www.alternet.org/story/153006/beating_babies_in_the_name_of_jesus_the_shady_world_of_right-wing_%27discipline%27_guides?akid=7832.53051.EbFeJu&rd=1&t=2

There is a brutal movement in America that legitimizes child abuse in the name of God. Two stories recently converged to make us pay attention. Last week, a video went viral of a Texas judge brutally whipping his disabled daughter. And on Monday, the New York Times published a story about child deaths in homes that have embraced the teachings of To Train Up a Child, a book by Christian preacher Michael Pearl that advocates using a switch on children as young as six months old.

The High Court has ruled the Roman Catholic Church can be held liable for the wrongdoings of its priests. Mr Justice MacDuff gave a decision in favour of a woman, who claims she was sexually assaulted as a child by a priest of the Portsmouth Diocese. (Now this should prove interesting)

Radical Indonesian Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, convicted of funding terrorism, has lodged an appeal for acquittal after his jail term was slashed last month, his lawyer says. The 73-year-old Bashir, who is regarded as a spiritual leader of militant Islam in Indonesia, had his jail sentence slashed last month from 15 years to nine.

With two prime ministers and 13 cabinet ministers among its alumni, the Oxford University Conservative Association has become a conveyor belt for future leaders since it was founded in 1924. But the student body, whose patron is Baroness Thatcher, is facing potentially the biggest crisis in its history after its own officers accused members of anti-Semitism, debauchery and snobbery at its alcohol-fuelled meetings. (Is anyone really that surprised by these revelations?)

Prosecutors in Tennessee have been forced to issue a warning that sending viruses or diseases by post is illegal, after parcels of the infectious sweets were discovered on sale over the internet. (The stupidity of anti-vaxxers is breathtaking)

A senior lawmaker has called on the UK government to ban the export of British-made surveillance software to repressive regimes. He has asked why there is no existing export ban on UK-made software and equipment that "has been used to track down protesters and democracy activists in Iran". He has also asked the government if it has investigated "the alleged use of intercepts by mobile telephone monitoring devices manufactured in the UK in the interrogation and torture of Iranian democracy activists". (Those involved are unscrupulous, money-grubbing, callous scum)

The Muslim pilgrimage of hajj is a moment of equality before God, with millions massed at Islam's most revered sites asking for forgiveness of sins. Of course, some are more equal than others. At VIP tents, Iraqi lawmakers and politicians in their white pilgrim robes enjoyed the luxury of soft red carpets and air conditioning, fruit baskets set up on long tables and two refrigerators with cold water and soft drinks.  It's a stark contrast from the camp of their fellow citizens, several miles away, where Iraqi pilgrims crowd into stuffy tents and take hours to make their way on foot through the hot Saudi sun to reach the ritual site.

At least 22 people were crushed to death and many others injured in a stampede at a religious ceremony close to the holy river Ganges in Haridwar on Tuesday.

Atgaa, 10, and her sister Reemya, 8, are about to be married to men in their 60s. Atgaa will be her husband's fourth wife. Their wedding celebrations are scheduled for this week and will take place in the town of Fayaadah Abban in Qasim, Saudi Arabia. The girls are getting married because their financially struggling father needs the money that their dowries will provide: young girls of this age can fetch as much as $40,000 each. (The West's barbaric ally)

Voters in Mississippi are evenly split over a ballot measure which would introduce the toughest anti-abortion restrictions in America by giving all fertilised embryoes the same rights of people. The "personhood amendment", if passed on Tuesday, would redefine the term "person" to begin at the point of conception, which would outlaw abortion at a stroke, as well as restrict infertility treatment that results in the loss of embryos and some forms of birth control. (A few cells are more important than an actual person)

It's comforting, perhaps, to dismiss Anders Behring Breivik as nothing more than a psychotic loner. That was the view of the Conservative London mayor, Boris Johnson, among others. The Norwegian mass killer's own lawyer has branded him "insane". It has the advantage of meaning no wider conclusions need to be drawn about the social context of the atrocity. (Another article by a leftist clod, in this case Seumas Milne, who uses the word Islamophobia but offers no definition for the neologism. This invalidates the whole piece)

This year’s Hajj, the Muslim religion’s most important event of the year, saw up to 3m devout, roughly 2m of whom come from abroad, worshipping in Saudi Arabia. The Arab world’s largest economy faced a huge logistical task to cater and care for this mass of humanity. Happily, the economic benefits those pilgrims brought with them were just as a big. According to some estimates, the Saudi economy enjoyed a injection of more than $30bn from the five-day holiday which ended on Sunday.

The US has warned that a militant Islamist group is planning to bomb three luxury hotels in Abuja after 150 people were killed in coordinated attacks in northeast Nigeria.

Militancy in Pakistan's federally administered tribal areas (Fata) has triggered a different kind of ordeal; the resurgence of polio or infantile paralysis – a potentially fatal and paralysing disease that mostly affects children, pregnant women and the elderly. (Matters were not helped by the fake vaccination ploy used by the US to get near bin Laden. That said there are plenty of  irresponsible anti-vax morons in Western countries, many of them chiropractors)

More than 100 people have been killed in a series of attacks in north-east Nigeria by a radical Muslim sect, a Nigerian Red Cross official said on Sunday. An Associated Press count shows the group has killed at least 361 people this year alone.

Federal archaeologists are investigating a jawbone that was discovered recently along the Columbia River in Kennewick, Washington State. The human remains were found a short distance from where Kennewick Man was discovered in 1996 and sparked a decade-long legal conflict.

Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, which was earlier a Patriarchal Orthodox Cathedral and later a mosque, and now a museum, may once again become an active mosque, the Sabah newspaper reports. (A retrograde step, surely?)

Elusive Taliban leader Mullah Omar called on his fighters to avoid killing civilians in a statement posted on Friday on the Afghanistan hardline Islamists' website, SITE Intelligence reported. (The Taliban are concerned over collateral damage? Better late than never but the old strategy of blaming NATO was working OK wasn't it?)

When Tim Minchin – actor, comedian, confirmed atheist – decided to take his comedy to America's Bible belt, we were concerned he might be burnt at the stake. Here, he describes what happened next…  (Good stuff)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/06/afghan-suicide-blast-kills-eid-worshippers

Two suicide bombers targeted worshippers at prayers marking a key Muslim festival in northern Afghanistan, with one of them blowing himself up and killing seven people including two local police chiefs, officials said. (Maybe it's just me, but read enough of these and you begin to equate Islam with violence and death)

Police say three roadside bombs have killed six people at a market in central Baghdad at the beginning of a Muslim festival.

A radical Muslim sect in northeast Nigeria on Sunday gunned down another security agent following attacks earlier this week that left at least 69 people dead. The latest attack by the sect known locally as Boko Haram targeted a police inspector in the city of Maiduguri, the sect's spiritual home. Sect gunmen stopped the officer's car at gunpoint as he neared a mosque to pray with his family, local police commissioner Simeon Midenda said.

Rhino poaching in South Africa has hit an all-time high with 341 animals killed so far in 2011 – already a bigger death toll than in any previous year. The animals are being hunted illegally at an average of more than one a day to supply the rhino horn market in the Far East, driven by a belief it can cure cancer. (These magnificent creatures will be driven to extinction by greed and quackery. Utterly disgusting)

Police say a suicide bomber targeting the country's Shiite minority has killed himself in a premature explosion in southwestern Pakistan. (Another would be suicide murderer bites the dust)

Human rights groups have reacted with outrage after a Turkish appeals court reduced prison sentences for 26 men convicted of having sex with a 13-year-old girl, because the victim had given "consent". In a judgment this week, the court ruled that the sentence was based on the old Turkish penal code, under which rape of a minor could be punished with a minimum prison sentence of 10 years – unless the child consented. (Further proof that Turkey is not a civilized country)

The NHS should treat spiritual illnesses as well as physical and mental ones, the Archbishop of York has said. Dr John Sentamu said that humans are “psychosomatic spiritual entities” as he told peers how he freed the spirit of a girl who feared she was going to be sacrificed by witches. (Sentamu is barking mad.)

A team of paranormal investigators have claimed they have made contact with the "spirit" of the dog owned by Wing Commander Guy Gibson, the heroic pilot who led the Dambusters raids during the Second World War. Now paranormal investigators, given special permission to stake out the operational RAF base, have claimed that the spectre of the dog's spirit may have tried to speak to them as they have picked up activity on their electronic detection equipment. (Paranormal investigators? Idiots.)

A former soldier is suing the Ministry of Defence for racial and religious discrimination after being banned from keeping a microwave oven in his room. Nigerian national Oluwadare Adaramola, a Seventh Day Adventist, claims he needed the cooker because otherwise fellow soldiers would use it to heat pork, which was banned by his religion.

Ireland has announced it is closing its embassies to the Vatican and two other nations, but denied that its deteriorating relations with the Catholic Church played a role in its choice of cuts. (Perish the thought)

Malaysian authorities plan to outlaw a book about sex published by a group of Muslim women who call themselves the Obedient Wives Club and advocate subservience to husbands. (Storm, teacup)

The fracas Jesus created in this holiest of places, driving out the money changers and overturning their tables, was probably enough to get him executed. To strike at the temple was to strike at the heart of Judaism. This itinerant upstart with a country-bumpkin background was issuing a direct challenge to the authority of the high priests. Even some of his comrades would probably have seen this astonishing act of defiance as nothing short of sacrilegious. (Terry Eagleton (for it is he) treats Jesus as an historical figure and demonstrates his ignorance of Ist century Judea)

The female figurehead of Tunisia's victorious Islamist party has said that its brand of Islam would help rather than hinder the advancement of women across the Arab and Muslim world. (...and pigs will fly on hangliders spun from weasel silk)

Hundreds of women protested in central Tunis Wednesday, calling for their rights to be guaranteed following the victory of the Islamist Ennahda party in Tunisia's first free elections. According to organisers the protest was the result of "a citizens' initiative, and non-partisan," which spread through text messages and social networking site Facebook. The women believe the Islamist victory at the polls over the weekend is a threat to the rights they have acquired over decades. (They're right)

Two boats carrying pro-Palestinian activists have entered international waters after sailing from Turkey with the aim of breaking Israel's sea blockade of Gaza. The organisers of the Canadian and Irish vessels gave no advance publicity to the mission for fear of sabotage or of Israeli diplomatic pressure aimed at stopping the boats leaving port. (More PR for Islamic gangsters, Hamas)

In an effort to allay concerns about Islam in France, policymakers and analysts have either tried to play down its importance or sought to blend it into the landscape. Islam is often portrayed as an integral part of French history: its presence simply follows on from ancient history. The basis for this argument is shaky, for it refers to an era when Christendom – not yet referred to as the west – was in retreat, driven back by the force of Islamic arms.

The bishop of London has broken ranks with the City of London Corporation over planned legal action to evict the tented encampment outside St Paul's Cathedral in London. Dr Richard Chartres is expected to urge the chapter of St Paul's – which has been hit in the past week by the resignation of two senior officials – to dissociate itself from the legal action to expel the protesters.

Since the state-funded religious-nationalist school of Orot Girls opened in new premises in September, groups of extreme Haredi men regularly gather at the gates, screaming "whore" and "slut" at the girls and their mothers. The demonstrators say they are dressed "immodestly"; that even girls as young as six should cover their flesh. (A small bunch of repressed weirdos obsessed with women and sex - the Jewish Taliban)

A Californian court has ruled that forcing phone retailers to display cancer warnings infringes their first amendment rights, unless said warnings also point out the FCC's scepticism over the threat. The Northern District Court agreed that there was no evidence that mobiles cause cancer, and that the flyer and poster the city intended to mandate would oblige shopkeepers to express an opinion with which they disagreed. (Repeat after me 1000 times - cellphones only emit non-ionizing radiation)

A Saudi royal offered a $900,000 reward to anyone who captures an Israeli soldier, on Saturday. Prince Khaled bin Talal, the brother of business tycoon and Fox News co-owner Walid bin Talal, told the Saudi-based broadcaster Al Daleel that the captive would then be released in exchange for Arabs held in Israeli prisons.

The pagan debate about the treatment of ancient remains sheds light on our own beliefs as well as those of the past. (Interesting piece matched, for the most part, by the comments)

The St Paul's situation puts Rowan Williams and other bishops who have decried banking practices in an impossible quandary

A radical Islamist sect has boasted of murdering Alhaji Zakariya Isa, a reporter and cameraman for the state-owned Nigeria Television Authority (NTA).

When Libya's interim government announced the official " liberation" of the country on October 23, it also declared that a system based on the Islamic sharia, including polygamy, will replace the dictatorship that Col Muammar Qaddafi ran for 42 years. "We as a Muslim nation have taken Islamic sharia as the source of legislation, therefore any law that contradicts the principles of Islam is legally nullified," declared interim leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil.

Somalia's al-Shabab militants say an American citizen was one of two suicide bombers behind a recent attack on an African Union military base in the capital.

Meeting in Perth, Australia, Commonwealth leaders are also expected to reject a plan to appoint the group's first ever human rights watchdog, which might have investigated Britain's record in the war on terrorism. The Eminent Persons Group report concluded that unless the Commonwealth took tougher action on human rights abuses by members, it would lose credibility. (The Commonwealth staggers toward complete irrelevance)

It was just a passing reference to marriage in a leader’s soberly delivered speech, but all week it has unsettled women here as well as allies abroad. In announcing the success of the Libyan revolution and calling for a new, more pious nation, the head of the interim government, Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, also seemed to clear the way for unrestricted polygamy in a Muslim country where it has been limited and rare for decades. (The first hint of sharia for Libya. Great, post-Ghaddafi Libya heads toward the middle ages. The women who took part in the revolution will be betrayed)

Christian groups have drawn up plans to protect protesters by forming a ring of prayer around the camp outside St Paul's Cathedral, should an attempt be made to forcibly remove them. As the storm of controversy over the handling of the Occupy London Stock Exchange demonstration deepened on Saturday, Christian activists said it was their duty to stand up for peaceful protest in the absence of support from St Paul's.

An Israeli drone strike killed five Palestinian militants at an Islamic Jihad training site in southern Gaza on Saturday, according to witnesses and the militant group, and Gaza militants fired salvos of rockets at southern Israel after Islamic Jihad pledged that it would respond forcefully to the Israeli airstrike. (...and so it goes)

An Indian missionary charity falsely portrayed young Buddhist girls from Nepal as "orphans" of murdered Christians in a global fund-raising operation involving British and American churches.

A suicide car bomber has killed at least 13 American troops in the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday in the deadliest single ground attack on foreign troops in 10 years of war in Afghanistan.

BNP leader Nick Griffin says his party is through its "rocky patch" and is now "on the up again", as members gather for their annual conference. Mr Griffin, who was narrowly re-elected party leader in July, told the BBC the majority of the party was behind him. (Ready to stab him in the back no doubt. It has been fun watching these toytown Nazis implode)

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the fugitive son of Libya's toppled late leader, told the International Criminal Court he is innocent of alleged crimes against humanity, the court prosecutor said on Saturday. (Let's face it he was hardly going to plead guilty, was he?)

Religious leaders joined with Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday to denounce violence perpetrated in the name of their faiths, amid growing religious fanaticism across the world.

A suspected radical Islamist was wounded and arrested after opening fire Friday near the US embassy in Sarajevo, police said as Bosnian leader Bakir Izetbegovic condemned the "terrorist attack".

A double bombing has killed 32 people in a Shia district of Baghdad in the deadliest attack since Barack Obama declared US forces will leave Iraq by the end of the year.

The Church of England, not for the first time, has been left ruing its handling of the protest outside St Paul's Cathedral, a situation in which it has been largely hapless. It did not ask for the protesters to pitch their tents next to one of its most important and symbolic buildings – or not semi-permanently anyway.

The Holy Father welcomed some 300 leaders representing a myriad of faiths to the Italian town of to commemorate the 25th anniversary of a the prayer for peace there led by Pope John Paul II in 1986, as the Cold War raged. Buddhist monks from mainland China joined the gathering, as did four people who profess no faith at all, part of Pope Benedict’s efforts to reach out to agnostics and atheists who nevertheless are searching for truth. (Searching for truth? What is that supposed to mean?)

A COUPLE who named their son Adolf Hitler and daughter Aryan Nation have been banned from bringing up their kids in their Swastika-decorated home. Five-year-old Adolf and his sisters Aryan and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie, both three, have been in foster care since being removed from parents Heath and Deborah Campbell in January 2009. The parents were yesterday cleared of child abuse but an appeals court ruled against them getting their kids back from foster carers.

Riyadh: Israeli extremists have tabled a reward of $1 million (Dh3.67 million) for the murder of a Saudi preacher who offered a reward of $100,000 for the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers ten days ago. In retaliation for the offer of a $100,000 (Dh367,300) reward for kidnapping Israeli soldiers by a Saudi preacher, Israeli extremists issued a reward of $1 million for the murder of the preacher.

Claims that one in 10 tents at Occupy London remain empty overnight are based on "rubbish science", a military scientist specialising in camouflaging soldiers against thermal imaging technology has told the Guardian.

Hundreds of Yemeni women set fire to veils on Wednesday in protest at the government's crackdown on demonstrators, after overnight clashes in the capital and another city left 25 people dead, officials said.

"When people experience alien abductions in the night, they usually don't know they are actually in REM sleep and having an out-of-body experience," Raduga told Life's Little Mysteries, adding than an estimated 1 million Americans have such experiences each year. "It's very realistic and people cannot understand how it happens. [Our study] shows that it's not about aliens, it's about human abilities, and it can happen to almost anyone." (This is new?)

A man made an emergency 999 call to the police to report a UFO flying near his house, only to realise it was – in fact – the moon. The anonymous man from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, described a brightly-lit UFO with a hole in hovering over his house and coming towards him. (Stoned or stupid or both?)

As politicians in Western capitals were taking quiet pleasure in the capture and killing of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi yesterday, opinions elsewhere were divided. In Moscow, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the Geneva Conventions had been breached with the killing of Colonel Gaddafi. (Whatever one's opinion of the squalid end to Ghaddafi's life it is quite bizarre to be lectured by Russia on the Geneva Convention. After all Chechnya was such a good example of how to behave...)

A housing association manager faces losing his home because of his Christian views about gay weddings in churches. Father-of-two Adrian Smith, 54, was demoted and had his pay drastically cut after he posted comments on his private Facebook page in which he said that celebrating same-sex weddings in churches would be ‘an equality too far’. (Of course this is a Daily Mail report so accuracy is not to be assumed)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/8848868/Resurgent-Islamism.html

Elections in Tunisia are following a pattern with Islamist parties in a strong position.

Swami Bhaktipada, who built a massive farm community and a Palace of Gold that became the crown jewel of the US Hare Krishna movement before scandals and criminal charges led to his downfall, died on Monday in India, his biographer said. He was 74.

When Pope Benedict XVI took over the disgraced Legion of Christ religious order last year, expectations were high that heads would roll over one of the greatest scandals of the 20th century Roman Catholic Church. One year later, none of the Legion's superiors has been held to account for facilitating the crimes of late founder Rev. Marciel Maciel, a drug addict who sexually abused his seminarians, fathered three children and created a cult-like movement within the church that damaged some of its members spiritually and emotionally.

More than 16,000 people have fled four southern Philippine towns where government troops have been battling Muslim militants in clashes that are endangering peace talks and a years-long truce. (Militants? Must be Guardian-speak for terrorists)

Tunisia's victorious Islamists were on Tuesday night in coalition talks with left-of-centre parties to form a national unity government after their sweeping success in the first democratic election of the Arab Spring.

The Vatican has ordered an inquiry into child sex abuse at an abbey and school in west London. In 2009 Father David Pearce, the former head of St Benedict's School in Ealing, was jailed for eight years for abusing five students. Father Laurence Soper, 80, former Abbot of Ealing Abbey, is being sought by police after he did not answer bail last week. Fr Soper, who is wanted over alleged child abuse, is thought to be at a monastery in Rome. (Being shielded by the Vatican?)

An 18-year-old South African woman was in a coma Monday after being doused in petrol and burned alive by friends in a Johannesburg park, in what police suspect was a satanic ritual. (Friends? Friends did this?)

Given that there isn't much in the way of serious argumentation in the New Atheists' dialectical arsenal, it should perhaps come as no surprise that Dawkins and Grayling aren't exactly queuing up to enter a public forum with an intellectually rigorous theist like Craig to have their views dissected and the inadequacy of their arguments exposed. (Daniel Came wastes his time and that of his readers with this little piece about how distasteful those dreadful New Atheists are)

As with any disaster, humans regularly turn to God for help and it seems the Greek government is no different. The Greek Orthodox church – Greece's second largest landowner after the government – has come under fire for not paying enough in taxes on its assets. One group to join the protests in Athens against austerity measures is Make the Church Pay. Its members are fed-up with the inadequacy of the church administration to support their country in its hour of need. A similar Facebook group – Tax the Church – has 100,000 supporters.

A cameraman for the Nigerian state-run television network has been killed by suspected Islamist militants. Alhaji Zakariya Isa died after being shot in the head and chest at his home in the northern city of Maiduguri, a military spokesman said.

Egypt’s state media says a Cairo court has sentenced a man to three years in prison for postings on Facebook deemed to be inciting sectarianism and in contempt of Islam. The MENA state news agency said Saturday a the misdemeanor court found Ayman Mansour had intentionally mocked Islam and used “outrageous and scurrilous” language in describing the religion’s holy book, the Quran, and its prophet and believers. (No Arab spring for him. Islam and free speech are fundamentally incompatible)

The priest accused of turning a blind eye to the most high-profile instance of abuse involving British troops in Iraq has spoken out for the first time, claiming he was wrongly victimised in the official report into the incident. (What is "wrongly victimised"? Saying "victimised" is sufficient")

This week Baroness Susan Greenfield, professor of pharmacology at Oxford reportedly announced that computer games could cause dementia in children. This would be very concerning scientific information. But this comes from the opening of a new wing of an expensive boarding school, not an academic conference. Then a spokesperson told a gaming site that's not what she means. Though they didn't say what she does mean. (Bad Science from Ben Goldacre on the irresponsible, publicity-seeking Greenfield)

Rachid Ghannouchi, head of the Islamist party tipped to take the biggest share of the vote in Tunisia's first free elections, has said his party is not harbouring fundamentalist elements and that extremists can be contained by giving them a place in the democratic system. (A likely story)

Ann Widdecombe, the former Tory minister, will tomorrow claim the Government is turning a blind eye to abuse of Christians around the world while piling pressure on those who target sexuality. In a speech in London, she will say “hedgehogs” have a better chance of being protected by the Government. (This woman is nearing the status of national treasure - she belongs in an underground vault)

At least three people in London with HIV have died after they stopped taking life saving drugs on the advice of their Evangelical Christian pastors. The women died after attending churches in London where they were encouraged to stop taking the antiretroviral drugs in the belief that God would heal them, their friends and a leading HIV doctor said.

Last week, I argued that although science and religion clearly can be compatible, they often make for far less comfortable bedfellows than most believers sanguinely maintain. There is, however, another side to the story of science's relation to belief: the idea held by many atheists that science is not only on their side, but is their best buddy. The uncomfortable truth for believers and atheists alike is that science is a loner who never shies from revealing embarrassing truths about anyone who tries to claim ownership of it. (Julian Baggini brings the astounding news that science is amoral and without agency. So what?)

There is no link between the long-term use of a mobile phone and brain cancer, research suggests. In what has been described as the largest study on the subject, researchers found that cancer rates in the central nervous system were almost the same in both long-term mobile phone users and people who do not use the handsets, the study published on bmj.com found. (No matter how often findings like this are announced the scaremongering industry will carry on as usual. Even this study says further investigation is warranted. Warranted by the need for research grants, that is)

Tunisian Islamist party Ennahda will accept the results of elections on Sunday to a constituent assembly and is in talks with other parties on creating a post-election alliance including a coalition government, its leader said on Thursday. (For now...)

A POPULAR adage contends that “every Turk is born a soldier.” Not so Turkish gays, who are barred from mandatory service in the large conscript army because they are “sexually deviant” and so unfit to take up arms. (Not fit for European Union membership)

An unsuccessful suicide bomber released from prison as part of the deal to free Gilad Shalit, the Israeli conscript, on Wednesday vowed to fulfil a childhood ambition by "sacrificing" her life for the Palestinian cause. As she returned to her family home in northern Gaza, Wafa al-Bis insisted she would seize any opportunity to mount another suicide mission and encouraged dozens of cheering schoolchildren to follow her example. (Disgusting)

A respected friend and scientific academic colleague confided in me last week that she didn't feel able to tell people in the science community that she was a Christian. It was an assertion, she felt, which would lead other colleagues to assume she was in some way stupid. (No, not stupid merely capable of holding two completely different world views at the same time. One supported by evidence and one unsupported by evidence. Quite how that works is a mystery. Human beings are very odd creatures indeed. By the way the comments on this article are in the main dismayingly stupid even for the Guardian belief section)

Iran has criticised a report by a UN investigator that said human rights abuses in the Islamic republic appear to be increasing, blaming the US and Europe for the negative assessment of his country. In his report to the UN General Assembly, published earlier this week, Ahmed Shaheed, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, said hundreds of prisoners have been secretly executed in the Islamic republic. Eshagh al-Habib, Iran's deputy ambassador to the UN, said on Thursday that the report consisted of "poorly sourced, exaggerated and outdated allegations".

Tehran has pointed the finger at a dissident group it considers a "sworn enemy" in an attempt to distance itself from US accusations that the Islamic regime in Iran conspired to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington. (So they now acknowledge there was a plot but it was carried out by dissidents. How very convenient)

Relations between Jews and Catholics are under immense strain after a bishop made controversial remarks on his blog. Richard Williamson, who has previously denied the existence of gas chambers and the murder of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust, accused the Jews of killing Jesus, a charge that divided the two faiths for centuries until Pope Benedict XVI declared this year that Jews could not be held responsible for Jesus's death.

As Paul Goodman writes this morning, Murray is waging battle against him. Why? Because Goodman quite rightly distinguishes between Islam and Islamists, while Murray blurs the distinction between the worst extremists and your ordinary Muslim. Worse, because he is a fabulous agent provocateur, Murray doesn't just portray the Muslim community as rabid Sharia fanatics: he urges Britons – in fact all Europeans – to make life difficult for them. (Cristina Odone, for it is she, finds little support from the Telegraph readers' comments)

The Prince of Wales has been criticised in an email sent by by the representative of his architectural charity in Wales. Bob Croydon suggested that Prince Charles is “self-important”, in an email that he sent to several people disparaging Leighton Andrews, the Welsh education minister. (Has he only just realised that Windsor is a pompous twit?)

Sweden's Muslims are planning to build an 'Ice Mosque' in Jukkasjärvi, the Lapland home of the country's famous Ice Hotel. Imam Mahmoud Aldebe, head of the Swedish Muslim Association, said that the mosque would be an opportunity to tell tourists about Islam. "It would be a new way of seeking dialogue between different cultures and religions," (Most tourists would have heard quite enough about Islam)

A suicide bomber from Somalia's al-Shabaab militants blew up a car full of explosives near the foreign ministry in Mogadishu as senior Kenyan officials visited the city. The attack was seen as a clear signal of the al-Qaeda-linked Islamists' intent to fight back against Kenya since it invaded Somalia at the weekend to hunt down insurgent forces it blames for a series of abductions of Westerners. (These "militants" are the same heroes who kidnapped a severely disabled woman who has since died. They are beneath contempt)

Two British teenagers arrested by anti-terror police near Kenya's border with Somalia were being questioned by officers on Tuesday. The pair, understood to be 17 or 18, went missing from their homes in Cardiff last week. It is unclear why they were trying to reach Somalia, a destination known to attract jihadist sympathisers hoping to join the al-Shabab Islamist rebel group.

We should be more concerned about the effects of computer use on young people. (Greenfield should do some research before appearing in the popular press with scare stories)

It is one of Britain's oldest and most prestigious public schools, founded 500 years ago by the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral. Yet St Paul's School in south west London has knocked down its chapel to make way for new science classrooms, becoming the first of the country's leading public schools to do without a place of worship.

Despite the cartoonish nature of Mansour Arbabsiar's plot, the Saudis are convinced that the threat was real. And it seems to show a deepening post-Arab Spring rivalry between predominantly Shia Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia - champions of the two often violently antagonistic strands of Islam.

It is America's political, not religious, culture that calls for foreign enemies, and Catholicism played that role long before Islam. (A not particularly relevant article - it's Mormons that are the hot topic now)

If the power of religious groups increases, so does the oppression of women. Women are oppressed in all religions. At the age of six, in the summer of 1937, Nawal El Saadawi was pinned down by four women in her home in Egypt. A midwife, holding a sharpened razor blade, pulled out her clitoris and cut it off. (Good piece on Nawal El Saadawi who has campaigned for decades against the cruel, disgusting practice of female genital mutilation)

There have always been doomsday predictions – and we're all still here. But is a new index which shows imminent Armageddon a cause for worry, wonders Ted Harrison (The index is not new and neither is anything else in this article)

A ‘DESPICABLE’ paedophile who abused three girls when he was an Imam at a town centre mosque has been convicted by a jury. Ebrahim Yusuf Kazi, 67, was found guilty of five counts of indecent assault on three girls aged under the age of 13. The offences took place between 1979 and 1986 at Broad Street Mosque, where Kazi was an Imam before moving to Gloucester. (He should have become a Catholic priest - they know how to look after their people. Let's hope his sentence will be commensurate with the crime. Wonder what the sharia penalty would be. Pointless speculation - under sharia it would never have reached court anyway, unless it was to prosecute the girls for enticement)

Tunisia's Islamist party Ennadha, tipped to dominate elections next week, on Saturday condemned an attack on the home of a TV station director over alleged blasphemy, denying any role in it. "We condemn the violence. We have always advocated defending our ideas through peaceful and respectful debate," Ali Larayedh, a member of Ennadha's executive, told AFP, adding: "We have nothing whatsover (sic) to do with these acts of violence." (Well, he would say that, wouldn't he?)

Egypt's ruling council has denied that troops opened fire on Coptic Christian protesters and drove military vehicles into crowds during recent clashes, but many Egyptians have been left with a deepening sense of disenchantment with the authorities.

The controversial Obedient Wife Club in Malaysia has spawned new outrage by producing an explicit Islamic sex manual. The 115-page, pocket-sized guide to Islamic sex suggests that Muslim men can have sexual relations with all their wives simultaneously. Islamic teachings say a man can take up to four wives if he has the means to support them.

A bishop has become the highest-ranking US Catholic official indicted on a charge of failing to protect children after he and his diocese waited five months to tell police about hundreds of images of child pornography discovered on a priest's computer.

A Michigan country club has nixed an appearance by outspoken religion critic Richard Dawkins after catching wind of the fact that he’s an atheist. Mr Dawkins was to speak at the Wyndgate Country Club tonight in an event sponsored by the Center for Inquiry, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting a secular society through education, advocacy and research, according to the group’s website. But when top brass at the club saw Mr Dawkins’ appearance on The O’Reilly Factor last week and learned that he was an atheist, the event was rejected. (Darn, these people are quick on the uptake. Sharp as a beachball)

Hundreds of protesters have marched from Egypt's state mosque toward Cairo's Tahrir Square to denounce a bloody attack on Coptic Christian protesters. A crowd of onlookers threw rocks at the demonstrators outside Al-Azhar mosque. Undeterred, the group marched on toward a central Cairo church before heading to Tahrir Square.

"Hide your cross,'' the cab driver told Vivian Meleka as he wound his way through the crowded streets of the Egyptian capital. It was the morning after the worst violence since the February overthrow of former president Hosni Mubarak and Cairo was a city on edge. The 30-year-old Coptic Christian, who has just completed a master's degree in international relations and human rights law, refused. It was her time to finally say ''enough''.

As an atheist and a liberal, it’s been tempting for me to simply laugh at Republicans fighting each other over the issue of whether or not Mitt Romney, a Mormon, gets to consider himself a Christian. From the non-believer point of view, it’s like watching a bunch of grown adults work themselves into a frenzy over the differences between leprechauns and fairies. But watching the debate unfold, I’ve become concerned about what it means to make someone’s religious beliefs such a big campaign issue, because it’s indicative of a larger eroding of the separation of church and state, which concerns not just atheists but all people who understand the importance of maintaining a secular government.

A law used to prosecute Muslim extremists for burning poppies on Remembrance Sunday is set to be scrapped. The proposal is part of Home Office changes to public order laws in the wake of the summer riots, which will also see police given new powers to impose blanket curfews and to force rioters to remove face masks.

A Roman Catholic cleric who skipped bail before he could be charged with sex offences against children dating back 20 years may be in hiding in Italy. Father Laurence Soper, a former abbot of Ealing Abbey, is wanted over allegations of child abuse which are said to have occurred when he was a teacher at St Benedict's, the private school attached to the Abbey.

A Christian Tory councillor has been suspended after suggesting the Government "may as well legalise marriage with animals" in response to David Cameron's support of same-sex marriages. “My comment was that there is no doubt the PM has got this wrong and you may as well legalise marriage with animals. It sounds terrible now but it was not meant to be anti-gay. I am not anti-gay and I respect people’s views on this issue. (You screwed up, creep. You obviously equate homosexuality with bestiality and no amount of whining will excuse that. Next thing we'll hear is  that you are being persecuted for your faith. Bigot)

Anders Behring Breivik, who has confessed to the bomb and shooting attacks that killed 77 people in Norway in July, says there are up to 80 cells in Europe with militant anti-Islamic ideals like his own, Norwegian investigators said on Thursday. (Anything said by this narcissistic fantasist needs taking with a very large pinch of salt)

The West is trying but failing to instil "Iranophobia," Iran's supreme leader said on Thursday in remarks that appeared to be prompted by, but did not directly address, US allegations of a thwarted Tehran-sponsored assassination plot. (The prime promoter of Iranophobia is the government of that benighted country)

The leader of a new ultra-liberal party called on Thursday for the removal of a wooden crucifix from the Polish parliament but drew a frosty response from both the prime minister and the conservative main opposition party.

A Catholic group lost a bid to continue providing assistance to victims of human trafficking for what it says may be the Obama Administration’s support for abortion rights.

The Obama administration has cut funding for the U.S. bishops' campaign against human trafficking, which had been challenged by the ACLU for avoiding contraception and abortion.

Any religious belief seeking to explain the 'how's of the universe is competing with science – and in this sphere science will always win

There, overlooking Death Valley, a massive scientific effort to dispose of the nation's hottest radioactive waste was finally under way. Today, however, the Yucca Mountain repository appears to be stone-cold dead. Not because scientists determined that the mountain could not safely contain high-level nuclear waste for 10,000 years or more, but rather because politics trumped science. (Good but depressing piece)

Egypt's military insisted on Wednesday that soldiers did not kill protesters during a weekend clash that killed 25 people, most of them Coptic Christians, in the deadliest sectarian violence in decades. Coptic witnesses said they were fired upon by soldiers when a march on Sunday turned violent and that several protesters were killed when military armoured vehicles ran them over. (A thoroughly unreliable account by the army)

Randy men in Abuja stand the chance of having their semen taken away and sold to ritual killers by commercial sex workers who have laid siege to the city. This demonic practice may have been responsible for the woes suffered by some men including sterility, erectile dysfunction, marital crisis, failure in business and even death, said observers. (A typical sub-Sahara African scare story - utterly bizarre and nonsensical)

The villages and farming communities that surround Uganda's capital, Kampala, are gripped by fear. Schoolchildren are closely watched by teachers and parents as they make their way home from school. In playgrounds and on the roadside are posters warning of the danger of abduction by witch doctors for the purpose of child sacrifice.

In the 19 or so centuries since Christianity first took root in Egypt, the ritual of mourning has become an all-too-familiar experience for the majority of the country’s Coptic community. Egypt’s eight million Copts may claim to be their nation’s oldest surviving indigenous faith, but that has not spared them from prolonged periods of persecution, most recently at the hands of Islamist militants. (The writer's biased history lesson conveniently omits the murder of mathematician and astronomer Hypatia at the hands of a Christian mob)

There was a time when vaccines were recognised as the life-saving medical advances that they are, but somewhere along the way, a portion of the public became side-tracked by the paranoia spouted by the powerful citizen misinformation activist movement, the anti-vaxxers, and stopped vaccinating their children. (Book review)

For one Iranian actor, life is mirroring art, in the most gruesome of ways. Two years ago Marzieh Vafamehr starred in a film about an actor whose theatre work is banned in Iran. Now she faces a year in prison and 90 lashes after Iranian officials took exception to the film, which is itself banned inside the country.

The World Health Organization has estimated that one in five Iraqi women has reported being a victim of domestic violence, and experts say the rate is much higher. Government officials say for the time being there's little hope that laws giving men wide rights to "discipline" their wives will be changed.

Followers of a renegade Anglican bishop in Zimbabwe have killed one person and wounded many others in attacks on Church members, according to a dossier handed to the president and seen by AFP Tuesday. The Archbishop of Canterbury presented the file to President Robert Mugabe on Monday, outlining abuses committed against Anglicans in the country by supporters of excommunicated bishop Nolbert Kunonga, an ally of the president.

A Nigerian accused of trying to bomb a Detroit-bound flight on Christmas Day 2009 was on a mission for al-Qaeda and seeking martyrdom, a court has heard. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 24, caught fire when a bomb sewn into his underwear failed to detonate fully, prosecutors said as his trial opened.

Eyewitness testimonies have been emerging that contradict the official accounts of the violence at a march of Coptic Christians in Cairo that left 26 dead and more than 500 injured. Egyptian state television initially blamed the bloodshed on protesters, who it said had attacked security forces. There were also attempts to portray the violence as sectarian in nature.

Let's compare Rick Perry's version of "Christian values" to what the Bible really dictates.

“I would say those home-schooling for faith-based reasons are going to go hand in glove with an interest in the social issues like life and marriage,” said Bill Gustoff, a lobbyist for the Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators. He estimated that half of the 30,000 home-school households would have a voter at a caucus, a significant slice in an election that draws about 120,000 total voters.

Egypt’s failure to protect the Copts reflects the situation for Christians throughout the Middle East.

Monty Python's Terry Jones has revealed that he would shy away from making the comedy Life Of Brian today, because of a resurgence in religious belief.

The vast Siberian tundra holds untold mysteries, from once-secret nuclear installations to alleged UFO crash sites. Now, a team of scientists say they are "95%" sure that Russia's wintry expanse is home to the mythical yeti, otherwise known as the abominable snowman. More than a dozen scientists and yeti enthusiasts flew in from Canada, Estonia, Sweden and the US to exchange findings with their Russian counterparts at a day-long conference in the town of Tashtagol, some 2,000 miles east of Moscow in the Kemerovo region. (So far there is not one shred of evidence)

An imprisoned Iranian cleric who fell foul of the authorities after advocating the separation of religion and state is in poor health condition, activists have warned. Ayatollah Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi was sentenced to 11 years in jail in June 2007 following a trial behind closed doors that found him guilty of 30 charges including acting against national security and having links with anti-revolutionaries and spies.

Syria's top Sunni Muslim cleric has warned Western countries against military intervention in Syria and threatened to retaliate with suicide bombings in the United States and Europe if his country comes under attack.

In Egypt's overpopulated slums and impoverished villages, even those who rejoiced in the overthrow of its dictator of 30 years, Hosni Mubarak, feared what might come next. Pictures of radical Islamists attacking churches, and of Christians, Muslims and the army fighting lethal battles in the centre of Cairo, show only too clearly how the worst of those fears could become reality.

Religious academics from universities across the world have denounced a campaign of official persecution against Iran's Baha'i minority. The move comes after authorities in Tehran stepped up measures to prevent members of the faith receiving a university education.  (Islam cannot tolerate religious minorities - this much is obvious. It is the same the world over. )

Despite the Palestinians' appeal to the UN for statehood, Gaza remains in a state of siege, lacking basic food and sanitation. Mary Riddell reports from 'a stricken land'. (The elite in Gaza (Hamas and chums) are doing very well. The inequalities among the population are typical of Arab society. Does this seem like a prison camp? Riddell gets a well-merited kicking in the comments)

And can't we atheists at times also fall into this trap? When faced with the horrors of religious extremism it can seem that religion itself is to blame, that the fact of faith marks a person as fundamentally flawed, dangerous even. But while it is patently clear that atrocities are committed daily in the name of religion, we mustn't repeat the mistakes of Northern Ireland; we mustn't allow differences to become tribal markings. The true enemy of the secular movement is religious extremism and here we can find many allies within religion itself. (The writer seems unclear regarding the meaning of the word secular. It doesn't mean unbelieving - it means religion should be a private matter)

An Iranian student activist has been lashed 74 times for insulting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Peyman Aref, a student of political science at Tehran University, was sentenced in March 2010 to a year in jail after being found guilty of propaganda against the regime for speaking to foreign media.

Nineteen people have been killed during riots in Cairo as Christians protesting against a recent attack on a church were assaulted by thugs who fired pellets and threw stones at them. (Islam in the minority is all for religious tolerance. Islam in the majority is all for religious intolerance.)

Two Republican presidential candidates refused to say Sunday whether they believe Mitt Romney, a Mormon, is a Christian, while a third said he doesn't agree with a Texas pastor who called the religion a "cult." Businessman Herman Cain and Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann declined to answer questions about Romney's Mormon religion.

A senior Iranian cleric called on Iranian and Saudi religious leaders and media not to fan tensions between the two countries ahead of the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca next month. Ali Ghazi-Asgar, Iran’s top hajj official, said the pilgrimage should be a “symbol of unity” and “differences should not be mentioned there”. (Sunni and Shia hate each others guts - this has been true throughout much of Islam's history and isn't about to change now)

The archbishop of Canterbury has condemned "godless" assaults on Anglicans by a breakaway faction of the Anglican Church led by an excommunicated bishop aligned with Zimbabwe's president. Thousands of people cheered Rowan Williams, the Anglican spiritual leader, at a Harare stadium on Sunday. (Mugabe's a Roman Catholic - what's with the "godless"?)

A new rogue element has emerged in the Israeli-Palestinian gallery: Unknown assailants, widely assumed to be Jewish extremists, have vandalized Muslim cemeteries, mosques and farmlands in a spate of attacks that have put the country on edge. These attacks, which in recent days have spread from the West Bank into Israel proper, have stoked fears of heightened violence and sparked increasingly agitated calls to find and punish the assailants. On Sunday, Israeli leaders chimed in with condemnations, and police said they were stepping up efforts to halt the violence. (The Jewish Taliban in action - that'll really help things along. Morons)

Senior Palestinian official Tawfik Tirawi says Fatah has not abandoned the armed struggle option against Israel; slams US for supporting "oppression of Palestinians; Erekat tells Quartet PA not opposed to resumption of talks.

ONE of Scotland’s most senior Catholics has announced plans to step up the Church’s opposition to gay marriage after holding talks on the controversial issue with Alex Salmond. Philip Tartaglia, the Bishop of Paisley, has written a letter that will be read to worshippers across his churches arguing against the plans, which are being consulted on by the Scottish Government.

The first time he ran for president, Mitt Romney chose again and again to confront the suspicions and prejudices held by many in the Republican Party’s evangelical base about his Mormon faith. This time, Romney is focusing relentlessly on the economy and is conspicuous in how rarely he talks about God. He no longer tries to convince evangelical voters that he is as Christian as they are, that Jesus Christ is his personal savior and that he, too, reads the Gideon Bible before bed.

A man who left his Presbyterian ministry in California more than 20 years ago after telling his congregation that he is gay was welcomed back into the church leadership as its first openly gay ordained minister.

The Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney has taken a sideswipe at his main rival, Texas governor Rick Perry, in a row over the Mormon religion, an issue that until now had been simmering in the background. Mormonism is regarded with suspicion by Christian evangelicals, many of whom, according to polls, have cited it as a reason for not voting for Romney.

Police in the US state of Ohio are investigating a rare violent feud in the Amish community, in which members have had beards and hair cut off. Spiritual differences were said to be behind the attacks on more than half a dozen men and women, said police.

The public execution of eight Bangladeshi migrant workers in Saudi Arabia has been condemned by a leading human rights group in Bangladesh, Ain O Salish Kendra. The workers were beheaded in public in Riyadh on Friday after they were found guilty of killing an Egyptian in 2007.

Babies as young as 15 months old have a basic sense of what is fair and unfair, a study has revealed. Infants in the study were able to differentiate between the equal and unequal distribution of food, showing an early awareness of fairness, scientists said. (Morality without religion? That's impossible!)

Doctors are not providing a broad enough range of care and support for their patients and should take on the role once taken by a “local priest”, according to a report. (Utter crap)

Cancelling a gay pride parade to avoid bloodshed robs gay and lesbian Serbs of a rare chance to step out of the shadows. (Serbia still has a long way to go)

A hasty Nato withdrawal will not bring peace. Afghan security forces lack the training, equipment and numbers to stave off the fundamentalist threat. A premature exit could result in a Taliban victory – and a bloodbath. Is this what anti-war activists want? I'm sure they don't. So why do many of my colleagues make a demand that risks such a grisly outcome? (Peter Tatchell on the Afghan mess)

Ottoman sultans, or caliphs, in the 18th and 19th centuries launched secular schools and promoted the education of women. The period of reformation known as the Tanzimat saw customary and religious laws being replaced in favour of secular European ones. More surprisingly, homosexuality was decriminalised in 1858 (long before many western states took their cue, and over a century before the American Psychiatric Association declassified it as a mental illness in 1973). Contrary to the claims of hardline groups, religious authorities approved many of these measures.

The Saudi Arabian government blamed an unnamed foreign power – normally a code word for Iran – for trying to stoke trouble in the heavily Shia-populated area around the city of al-Qatif after 14 people were injured in clashes on Monday.

The suicide bomber who killed more than 100 people, including students seeking scholarships, in an attack near Somalia's education ministry was a school dropout who had declared that young people should wage jihad and forget about secular education.

The president of a secular group says that there are 28 members of Congress who do not believe in God, but only one of them feels comfortable revealing his lack of faith. Secular Coalition of America (SCA) president Herb Silverman told The Guardian that his group was aware of many members of Congress who weren’t ready to make their non-beliefs known.

The ongoing battle against product labelling in San Francisco has now hit the courts, with the cellular industry fighting the City of San Francisco for the right to avoid mandatory labelling. The court action, filed with the Northern District of California, argues that the City ordinance requiring mobile phone retailers to warn customers of radiation levels is in breach of the US First Amendment in requiring private parties to endorse what the CTIA considers to be a "controversial or false" message. That message is that mobile phones damage health, something the industry robustly denies but is heavily implied by the flyer that the City of San Francisco is requiring retailers to hand out to every phone customer. (Cellphones emit non-ionizing radiation, get a grip. Aaagh he said radiation! It must be bad)

The Prime Minister said “commitment” in relationships should be valued regardless of whether it involved “a man and a woman, a woman and a woman, or a man and another man”. But the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales and the Church of England are likely to lodge formal objections to the move when the Coalition launches an official consultation next year. (This is a principled stand by the Church because it sets such high moral standards. Apart from when it conceals the rape of children, naturally)

The Vatican has condemned the BBC’s suggestion that religiously “neutral” terms should be used instead of “BC” and “AD” during discussions of history on air. (The bead-rattlers arrive late to this entirely manufactured "controversy")

I've been watching the Amanda Knox/Meredith Kercher murder trial with little more than half an eye, from 900 miles away. But I was, nonetheless, pretty confident that she would be acquitted on appeal – so confident that I wrote this yesterday afternoon – and I based that confidence almost entirely on the following passage, from Rolling Stone earlier this year. (Tom Chivers looks at the Satan-obsessed nutter in charge of the prosecution case)

Vladimir Putin's seemingly remarkable discovery of two ancient Greek amphorae beneath the waters of the Black Sea this summer was a staged set-up, his spokesman has admitted. (It's hard to believe that Dobby is deceitful, isn't it?)

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, escalated his war of words with Israel yesterday by claiming that the Jewish state poses a "threat" to the Middle East because of its undeclared nuclear capabilities. (The "moderate" Islamist is still trying to buff up his credentials in the Arab world but a resurgent Ottoman empire is the last thing they want)

After months of teasing Republican voters, Sarah Palin has finally confirmed she will not be a candidate in next year's US presidential election. (She is making enough money as it is - why spoil a good thing?)

Millions of evangelicals, including GOP candidates, are trapped in an alternative 'parallel culture' with its own standards of truth. (This makes for frightening reading but should be set against this report)

Head of global news at BBC says Iranian officials are targeting around 10 of channel's staff with campaign of intimidation

Now, however, the Abominable Snowman has an international team of scientists on its trail in a Russian region which one expert claims is home to around 30 of the creatures. (Yeah, right)

Russia and China have vetoed a European-backed UN security council resolution that threatened sanctions against the Syrian regime if it did not immediately halt its military crackdown against civilians. (Just leaving themselves clear to murder their own citizens should it become expedient to do so)

Tory defence secretary warns that Shia protests and Sunni government crackdown will turn nation into dangerous flashpoint. (The disunity of Islam leads to instability and violence)

Normally, the country can count on conservatives to deal in facts. We base policies on science, not sentiment, we insist on people being accountable for their actions, and we maintain that markets, not mandates, are the path to prosperity. When it comes to energy and climate, these are not normal times. (A plea for a rational, science-based outlook for conservatives. Good luck with that)

So he's going to swing – perhaps. On Saturday a Pakistani judge sentenced Mumtaz Qadri, the police bodyguard who assassinated the Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer, to death by hanging. The young policeman smiled and thanked God. "My dream has come true," he reportedly said. (Read this if you still doubt that Pakistan is a religious lunatic asylum)

Women should be allowed to become bishops in the Church of England to “humanise” the priesthood, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said.

The man who tried to detonate a bomb in his underpants on a packed flight to the US is expected to denounce America as the enemy of Islam while representing himself at his trial, which opens on Tuesday. (Does this Islamist "hero" realize he is known around the world as "the underpants bomber"? If not, someone should tell him)

A truck bomb killed at least 65 people at government buildings in the heart of Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Tuesday, with al-Shabaab insurgents immediately claiming responsibility for the attack.

A Libyan Jewish man who returned from exile in Italy to join the revolution against Muammar Gaddafi has been blocked from trying to restore Tripoli's main synagogue. David Gerbi said he went to clean rubbish from the synagogue on Monday, a day after he broke through the entrance with a sledgehammer to great fanfare. A messenger at the scene warned him, however, that armed men were coming from all over Libya and would target him if he did not leave the area. (So much for the "new" Libya. Islam cannot peacefully co-exist with other religions)

Suspected Sunni extremists executed 12 Shiite Muslims after ordering them off a bus and lining them up in southwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, ramping up a campaign of sectarian violence gripping the region, police said. (Islam in action, the religion of violence. Shiites and Sunnis died in this indiscriminate slaughter)

After brief deliberations on the eve of last week's Rosh Hashanah holiday, a Tel Aviv judge ruled that Israeli author Yoram Kaniuk could register his official religious status as "without religion." "Freedom from religion is a freedom derived from the right to human dignity, which is protected by the Basic Law on Human Dignity and Freedom," Judge Gideon Ginat of the Tel Aviv District Court wrote in his unusual ruling.

A mosque in an Arab village in the Galilee, northern Israel, was set on fire in the early hours of Monday morning in what police said was an arson attack, and its walls were defaced with Hebrew graffiti. The perpetrators were widely suspected of being Jewish extremists.

A senior leader from Bangladesh's largest Islamic party has been charged with war crimes for allegedly leading groups that took part in killing, looting, arson and rape of Bangladeshis during the country's 1971 independence war against Pakistan.

I learned of Ghulam and Wasim this week while investigating a subject that is taboo in politically correct Britain. It is the huge rise of bigamy (having two wives) and polygamy (more than two) in our Muslim communities. The issue was recently bravely highlighted by Baroness Flather, a crossbench life peer who was herself born in Lahore, now part of Pakistan. She warned the Lords (and also wrote an article for the Mail on the subject) about how our shambolic benefits system is being exploited by men hailing from Pakistan and other Muslim nations who indulge in multiple marriages — with taxpayers forced to foot the bill.

Behind closed doors – in places where the religious police cannot listen in – residents of Mecca are beginning to refer to their city as Las Vegas, and the moniker is not a compliment. Over the past 10 years the holiest site in Islam has undergone a huge transformation, one that has divided opinion among Muslims all over the world.

Three hundred miles north of the capital, in Italy's second city, the battle is on to prevent a third body blow to the Vatican. This time cardinals are having to deal not with a moral abyss but a financial chasm – a shortfall of €1.5bn on the balance sheet of Milan's San Raffaele teaching hospital, an institute with links to the Vatican whose founder, Don Luigi Verzè, is a priest and a good friend of the city's most famous son, Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi.

Parents face paying up to £500 to send children to faith schools as councils across England axe subsidised transport in a move condemned as a “tax” on religion. (Why should taxpayer's subsidise believers' transport costs?)

I n the London borough of Tower Hamlets on Tuesday we will be commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street. This was a momentous day in the history of London's East End, when Oswald Mosley and his blackshirts were driven out of the then mainly Jewish area by demonstrators whose slogan was "They shall not pass!". Joining us on this anniversary – one in which I will unveil the restored Battle of Cable Street mural – will be a veteran of that day, Max Levitas. (And where are the Jews now? Certainly not in the Muslim enclave of Tower Hamlets. Fascists are fascists whether they are black shirts or the Islamic kind)

The discovery of intelligent aliens would be mind-blowing in many respects, but it could present a special dilemma for the world's religions, theologians pondering interstellar travel concepts said Saturday (Oct. 1). Christians, in particular, might take the news hardest, because the Christian belief system does not easily allow for other intelligent beings in the universe, Christian thinkers said at the 100 Year Starship Symposium, a meeting sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to discuss issues surrounding traveling to other stars. (What an utter waste of time. Theologians bring nothing to the subject bar their own delusions)

Tens of thousands of Muslim immigrants in Britain are practicing bigamy or polygamy in order to collect bigger social welfare payments from the British state, according to experts interviewed in a British newspaper exposé on the subject.

A court in Pakistan has passed the death penalty on the bodyguard who assassinated a high-profile provincial politician after he called for reform of the country's controversial blasphemy laws. In response, supporters of the convicted man, Mumtaz Qadri, immediately took to the streets, to denounce the decision.

A campaigner for women's rights in Yemen has claimed that key figures in the anti-government protest movement are abusing human rights and have been responsible for some of the worst atrocities during the unrest. "To those who talk of a pro-democracy Arab spring in my country," she told the Observer in London, where she is seeking asylum, "I would say that it was not President Saleh who threatened my life or made me too frightened to carry on with my work or stay in Yemen, it was the opposition."

A senior leader of a major pro-Taliban network has been captured in Afghanistan, the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) has announced. Haji Mali Khan, the senior commander of the Haqqani network in Afghanistan, was detained during an operation in eastern Paktia province earlier this week. Khan is "one of the highest ranking members of the Haqqani network and a revered elder of the Haqqani clan", Isaf said. (Time these Haqqani bastards and their Pakistani handlers were dealt with)

The US is increasingly portrayed as a hotbed of religious fervour. Yet in the homeland of ostentatiously religious politicians such as Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry, agnostics and atheists are actually part of one of the fastest-growing demographics in the US: the godless. Far from being in thrall to its religious leaders, the US is in fact becoming a more secular country, some experts say. "It has never been better to be a free-thinker or an agnostic in America," says Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the FFRF.

Two local councils have been ordered to stop members praying before each meeting in case it offends non-believers or other religious groups. Crowborough Town Council and Mayfield Parish Council - both in East Sussex - have both been warned that prayers "should not be part of a council meeting". (The NSS campaign starts to bite)

A Pakistani court has sentenced to death the policeman who murdered a senior politician, in a case that has divided the country and laid bare its troubled relationship with religion.

In a country that wakes up every Monday morning to a dismal tally of weekend murders, it is no surprise that people have turned to the saints for help. But the holy men invoked in Venezuela are anything but virtuous. In a nation with one of the highest murder rates in the world – a staggering 14,000 a year on average – where locals often joke that they would be safer if they lived in Baghdad, even the beatified carry guns. (Chavez has a lot to answer for)

Iran's supreme leader assailed a two state solution for Israel and the Palestinians on Saturday, saying the Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations is doomed to fail. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the Palestinians should not limit themselves to seeking a country based on the pre-1967 borders — which would implicitly recognize Israel — because "all land belongs to Palestinians." (The theocratic dictator is wrong about this as with so many other things. Apart from anything else this is none of his damn' business)

Flanked by his Defence Secretary and an admiral retiring after a storied career, President Barack Obama stepped forward to tell those gathered at a military base in Virginia that another al-Qaeda leader was dead. (Good riddance)

Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) Patriarch Irinej has called on competent authorities not to allow the Pride Parade, which he called “shame parade”, to be held. “Our city and our public are this year being shaken by the issue of holding of so-called ‘shame parade’. I would with much justification call this plague ‘shame parade’, which drags human dignity through mud and steps on the holiness of life and family,” the patriarch said in a statement. (To repeat, still not civilized enough)

Serbian authorities banned a gay rights parade in Belgrade on Sunday as well as all other public gatherings this weekend fearing a repeat of the violence at last year's event. (Serbia, still not civilized enough for Europe)

A spelling error has led to an accusation of blasphemy, and serious consequences for a Christian girl of 10 years of age and her family in Abbottabad. Faryal Bhatti, the daughter of a nurse, Sarafeen Bhatti is a student at Colony High School Havelian POF. On September 22, during an examination she misspelled a word in Urdu, putting the full top in the wrong place. Thus the word, referring to the prophet Muhammad, was transformed from "poem of praise" (naat) to "curse (lanaat). (Pakistan, truly a sick, hellhole of a country)

Twenty people were injured in a suspected suicide bombing at a church in Central Java, Indonesia, shortly after the Sunday service ended yesterday, sparking fears that such violence could spread. The bomber, reported to have been disguised as a church-goer at the Bethel Injil church in Kepunton, Solo, is believed to have been the only fatality of the attack. Although no group has yet claimed responsibility, national police spokesman Anton Bachrul Alam said today that DNA results confirming the identity of the bomber are expected tomorrow. (Islam fails to peacefully co-exist with other religions - just like Egypt)

A woman "sacrificed" her daughter to Allah to "exorcise evil spirits", the Old Bailey has heard. Shayma Ali, 36, who was suffering from psychosis, stabbed the four-year-old up to 40 times and took out her liver. The girl's body was found at her east London flat on the Chatsworth Estate, Clapton, east London, in December.

A pro-Palestinian activist can claim damages after the High Court ruled he had been wrongfully detained on the orders of Home Secretary Theresa May. The court said the Home office failed to give reasons for the Sheikh Raed Salah's arrest for two days. (OK, he wins compensation. Now kick him out - he should never have been able to enter the UK in the first place)

CAIRO — By force of this year’s Arab revolts and revolutions, activists marching under the banner of Islam are on the verge of a reckoning decades in the making: the prospect of achieving decisive power across the region has unleashed an unprecedented debate over the character of the emerging political orders they are helping to build. Few question the coming electoral success of religious activists, but as they emerge from the shadows of a long, sometimes bloody struggle with authoritarian and ostensibly secular governments, they are confronting newly urgent questions about how to apply Islamic precepts to more open societies with very concrete needs. (Islam and democracy are fundamentally incompatible. No amount of finessing or bullshit is going to alter this)

Most physicists believe, as Einstein proposed, that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light in a vacuum. You might say that some, like Jim Al-Khalili who promised to eat his shorts if this was proved untrue, hold this belief religiously. But the recent fuss over the possible existence of faster-than-light neutrinos illustrates precisely how different science and religion are when it comes to questions of "belief" or "knowledge".

US authorities on Wednesday arrested and charged a Massachusetts man with plotting to damage or destroy the Pentagon and US Capitol by using remote-controlled aircraft filled with plastic explosives.

A Saudi woman sentenced to be lashed 10 times for defying the country's ban on female drivers has had her punishment overturned by the king.

A senior Russian Orthodox official claimed that novels by Vladimir Nabokov and Gabriel García Márquez justify paedophilia and said they should be banned in the nation's high schools. Father Vsevolod Chaplin's demand that Russia's government investigate and limit the use of the books was his church's latest attempt to impose religious norms in a country that once rejected religion altogether.

US authorities on Wednesday arrested and charged a Massachusetts man with plotting to damage or destroy the Pentagon and US Capitol by using remote-controlled aircraft filled with plastic explosives. Rezwan Ferdaus, 26, a US citizen, was also charged with attempting to provide support and resources to the al Qaida group in order to carry out attacks on US soldiers stationed overseas, US attorney's office in Boston said.

An interesting study by Rice University recently found that in one of the one of the more voracious social (and increasingly political) battlegrounds, science v. religion there is more common ground that most folks believe. In fact, according to the study, only 15% of scientists at major US research universities see religion and science as always in conflict.

A teenage girl thought by her father to have been possessed by an ‘evil spirit’ died from suffocation in an exorcism, it has been reported. Tomomi Maishigi’s father and a monk performed a ‘waterfall service’ on the 13-year-old where she was allegedly bound to a chair by a belt and placed face-up underneath a water pump for five minutes at a Buddhist church in Kumamoto, south Japan. (For some reason this report features a picture of a bible - these people are Buddhists)

Al-Qaida has sent a message to the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, asking him to stop spreading conspiracy theories about the 9/11 attacks. Iranian media on Wednesday reported quotes from what appears to be an article published in the latest issue of the al-Qaida English language magazine, Inspire, which described Ahmadinejad's remarks over the 11 September attacks as "ridiculous". (Even mass murderers think the little creep should shut the hell up)

An Islamic TV channel that encouraged viewers to donate money in return for prayers has been fined £75,000 by Ofcom. The media regulator said "susceptible members of the audience may have been persuaded to donate money to Noor TV when they would not otherwise have done so". Noor TV, which is owned by Al Ehya Digital Television, broadcasts on the Sky satellite service. Ofcom took action after the channel's Saturday Night Special programme which was broadcast on 13 November last year. It included the offer of a "special gift" for a donation of £1,000 or the offer of a prayer that would improve the health, wealth and good fortune of the donor and their family.

Libya's Islamist groups "will not allow" secular politicians to exclude or marginalise them in the intensifying battle for power in the post-Gaddafi era, the country's most powerful Islamist leader has said. Abdel Hakim Belhaj, head of the Tripoli Military Council and founder of a jihadi group that was later disbanded, appears to be firing a shot across the bows of liberal, western-backed rivals after negotiations over broadening the rebel administration foundered. (Not so veiled threats from the religion of violence)

A Saudi woman has been sentenced to be lashed 10 times with a whip for defying the kingdom's prohibition on female drivers. It is the first time a legal punishment has been handed down for a violation of the longtime ban in the ultraconservative Muslim nation. Police usually stop female drivers, question them and let them go after they sign a pledge not to drive again. But dozens of women have continued to take to the roads since June in a campaign to break the taboo.

The official magazine for Jehovah's Witnesses has described those who leave the church as "mentally diseased", prompting an outcry from former members and insiders concerned about the shunning of those who question official doctrine. ("Mentally diseased"? That's good coming from those loons)

A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced a woman to 10 lashes for breaking the country's ban on female drivers. The woman, identified only as Shema, was found guilty of driving in Jeddah in July. Women2drive, which campaigns for women to be allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, says she has already lodged an appeal.

A Russian Orthodox provincial priest was revealed to have amassed a collection of luxury cars and to keep hundreds of thousands of pounds of cash in his safe.

Catholic comedian Frank Skinner wants standups to take on the so-called 'atheist establishment'. But does this even exist? (Skinner confirms his status as a waste of space)

Italy's Catholic Church issued a blistering attack on the ruling political class on Monday, saying the country needed to "purify the air" contaminated by licentious behaviour that had sullied its name around the world. (Pot, kettle, black)

Pop star Rihanna got her marching orders after a farmer objected to her peeling off her clothes while filming a new video on his land.

Whether it's from Red Tories or Blue Labour, London Citizens or the Big Society, the persistent connection assumed between religion and social participation is one of the fictions that has most irritated humanists in the past decade. It rests on a story of Britain as being once a Christian place, where communities were strong and charity widespread. Whether it's from Red Tories or Blue Labour, London Citizens or the Big Society, the persistent connection assumed between religion and social participation is one of the fictions that has most irritated humanists in the past decade. It rests on a story of Britain as being once a Christian place, where communities were strong and charity widespread.

Women were at the forefront of the protests that launched the anti-Gadhafi uprising in February, demanding democracy for the country and justice for loved ones who had been killed. Many women now hope the revolution will herald full equality.

Catholic writer Antonio Socci, writing in the Italian newspaper Libero on Sunday, said the pope was considering resigning when he turns 85 next April. He did not cite any sources or reasons.

King Abdullah's declaration that women will be allowed to vote and run as candidates in the next round of local elections in Saudi Arabia, in 2015, is being hailed as significant news. However, followers of Saudi politics will recall that similar assurances have been voiced before and not acted upon

When you mention to a Muslim or Hindu that the year is 2011, do you ever feel a twinge of guilt about your closet religious chauvinism? When you watch the old Raquel Welch film One Million Years BC, do you blushingly avert your gaze from the title sequence? (More evidence, if any were needed, that James Delingpole is a lackwit)

The BBC haven't banned AD/BC, but outraged Christians seem perplexed and annoyed by the idea of personal choice

The Palestinian cause is hindered, not helped, when the left fails to notice or confront anti-semitism.

Suratmi, who suffers from an ovarian cyst, has been taking a mix of herbal treatments harking back to the dawn of Islam, as well as undergoing exorcisms at a clinic in Jakarta. She is among a growing number of Muslims in Southeast Asia turning away from Western medical care in favor of al-Tibb al-Nawabi, or Medicine of the Prophet, a loosely defined discipline based on the Quran and other Islamic texts and traditional remedies. (What a revolting development - alt med crap and Islam)

The Obama administration is considering a military trial in the United States for a Hezbollah commander now detained in Iraq, U.S. counterterrorism officials said, previewing a potential prosecution strategy that has failed before but may offer a solution to a difficult legal problem for the government.

Six men have been charged with terror offences a week after they were arrested in a major police operation in Birmingham. Four of the men are accused of preparing for an act of terrorism in the UK. Two face charges of failing to disclose information.

Women in Saudi Arabia are to be given the right to vote and run in future municipal elections, King Abdullah has announced. He said they would also have the right to be appointed to the consultative Shura Council. The move was welcomed by activists who have called for greater rights for women in the kingdom, which enforces a strict version of Sunni Islamic law. (A good move if it is really followed through)

Frank Skinner has claimed that atheists are as big a threat to humanity as climate change deniers. In a conversation with the Archbishop of Canterbury last night, the Catholic comedian said: ‘Atheists we might see as people like those who deny global warming. You might celebrate their right, and defend their freedom of speech, to deny global warming – but if they're wrong, and millions of other people have taken their view, then it could end in a terrible, terrible disaster for a lot of people.’ (Smutty ignorant comedians are a threat to us all)

A new decade-long survey of American congregations shows religious health and vitality are weaker than they were 10 years ago. While the survey showed that many congregations are adopting new technologies and innovative worship, there were steep drops in financial health and attendance at weekly worship services.

One of the most striking differences between the United States and Britain is our attitude to religion. The UK is more secular than the US, with views about society, religion and the role of the state nearer to those found in other western European nations and Canada than in the US. The gulf is deep as well as wide. For instance, 60 per cent of Americans believe that the poor are lazy, compared to 26 per cent of Europeans. (A sobering look at US politicians, religion and Dominionism)

The BBC has been accused of bowing to political correctness after it emerged that it was discouraging the use of the terms BC and AD for fear of offending non-Christians. (A non-story if ever there was one)

Urgent efforts are underway to recover looted stockpiles of weapons in Libya amid fears they have fallen into the hands of al-Qaeda, President Barack Obama's counter-terrorism adviser has said.

Visiting the monastery in Erfurt where Martin Luther lived before launching the Reformation, the pontiff praised Luther's "deep passion and driving force" and called for unity between the Catholic and Protestant faiths in the face of a new evangelism. (What a surprise. Ratzinger praises raving anti-Semite)

Britain's most famous atheist and scourge of the creationists Richard Dawkins debates faith, science and education with Catholic writer Cristina Odone. (You cannot debate with someone who says "You can't boil everything down to evidence!")

New evidence links the Saudi royal family to Saudis in South Florida, who reportedly had contact with the 9/11 hijackers before fleeing the US prior to the attacks.

‘Don’t confuse power with justice’, Pope tells German politicians. (What an arrogant old man. How dare he lecture about justice. What about justice for the children raped by his staff?)  

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hT0XTYLOHM5tBf4YkOKTHXGwADWw?docId=CNG.45a44728e048f5f22cfd3b6bd7a4e34b.881

Turkey signed Wednesday an accord with northern Cyprus to explore oil and gas in the eastern Mediterranean in response to a decision by Greek Cypriots to press on with drilling, Anatolia news agency said. The Cypriot government deplored the move, with spokesman Stephanos Stephanou accusing Turkey of violating international law, in a statement from New York where he is attending the UN General Assembly. (Northern Cyprus is not even a legal entity - although it may be a Turkish colony)

President Bashar al-Assad is losing support among key constituents and risks plunging Syria into sectarian strife by intensifying a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators, the U.S. ambassador to Damascus said on Thursday. (Yet Russia will not apply sanctions - they might need to do a murderous crackdown on protesters themselves sometime and they wouldn't want to look like hypocrites, would they?)

The United States led a mass walkout of the UN General Assembly on Thursday when Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad launched an outspoken attack on Western nations. A US diplomat who was in the assembly hall to monitor the speech left halfway through, while the 27 European Union nations then followed in a coordinated protest move. The Iranian leader again cast doubt on the origins of the Holocaust and the September 11, 2001 attacks and criticized the United States for killing Osama bin Laden rather than bringing him to trial. (The Poison Dwarf's ranting is tiringly repetitive - he is a vile and contemptible little man)

Seventeen-year-old Jessie faced being forced into marriage to her 40-year-old cousin in Bangladesh. She begged the British Consulate in Dhaka for help and officials stepped in. She is just one of an estimated tens of thousands of British women at risk of being forced into marriage. Here is her story. (Disgusting - the poor girl's father should be prosecuted)

Many people objected to what I wrote in my previous article “Erdogan of Arabia…but” [14/09/2011] and rushed to defend the Turkish prime minister, especially when I said that he was trying to use the “leadership trump card” in our region [the Palestinian Cause]. However thanks to God, who facilitates matter, the wedding guests were shocked on the wedding-night, when it was the Arabs and Islamists themselves who first began to attack Erdogan! (The rats fall out with each other)

The most senior US military officer has accused Pakistan's spy agency of supporting the Haqqani group in last week's attack on the US Kabul embassy. "The Haqqani network... acts as a veritable arm of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency," Adm Mike Mullen told a Senate panel. (And Pakistan is considered an ally? Not until it stops its proxy war with India and backing murderous attacks in Afghanistan)

A Christian GP "crossed the line" when he asked a patient if he had considered faith in Jesus, the General Medical Council (GMC) has heard. Dr Richard Scott spoke about religion to the "suicidal" and "vulnerable" 24-year-old at his surgery in Kent, the GMC heard. (That is just bloody creepy. The doctor's lawyer said "...it was the doctor's case that he was professional at all times, followed an "evidentially based assessment" and offered a "sensible suggestion". Evidentially based? Utter nonsense)

Two French women who continue to wear the full-face veil in defiance of a new law banning it in France have been issued fines by a court.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has accused a UK publisher of a breach of contract for releasing drafts of his autobiography without his approval. (The biter bit. Oh dear, how sad, never mind)

Whatever disaster strikes, there's always an upside in religious rightland, always somebody to point the finger at with glee. Let's turn the tables.

The Pope will receive a hostile reception from politicians, paedophile sex victims and gay groups when he arrives in Germany today on his first state visit to his homeland. The pontiff left Rome on Thursday for the state visit. Even ordinary Catholics are expected to give him at best a lukewarm welcome when he lands in Berlin at the start of the four-day trip.

Review of Dawkins' The Magic of Reality

For centuries, defenders of the nude in art have faced a battle against Christian fear of the naked human form

The murder of Mullah Burhanuddin Rabbani is being portrayed in Afghanistan as a big blow to a peace process aimed at ending this decades-long war. The murky reality, however, is that most of what passes for reconciliation is a sham, and what "process" there is has so far largely been propaganda. (See With A Very Long Spoon)

British border officials missed six separate opportunities to prevent a banned Palestinian activist, Sheikh Raed Salah, from entering the UK in June, according to an official inquiry ordered by the home secretary, Theresa May. (Salah is described in the article as a non-violent extremist. This is utter nonsense. The border cops fell down on the job 6 times? Heads should roll)

Pope Benedict XVI's first state visit to his German homeland looks set to be overshadowed by mass protests and the cloud of Church sex abuse scandals. (Good)

Trainee priests in Belgium face a battery of psychological tests to weed out potential paedophiles as the country's Roman Catholic Church moves to tackle scandals over clerical child abuse. (Good luck with that)

Hindus in Australia, America and India have been outraged by an Australian play that depicts the Hindu god Ganesh taking on Adolf Hitler in a swashbuckling fight over the use of the swastika symbol. (80's money is on Ganesh. If people must have a deity why not a friendly elephant god?)

A Swedish cartoonist who has received death threats for depicting the Prophet Mohammed as a dog was the target of a planned attack in Gothenburg earlier this month, according to reports.

A pastor who claimed he could give infertile couples "miracle babies" is to be extradited to Kenya where he stands accused of child abduction, the Home Office has confirmed. Gilbert Deya faces trial in his home country where he is alleged to have stolen five children from a hospital between 1999 and 2004. The self-proclaimed bishop of a church in Peckham, south London, has fought removal from Britain since 2007, claiming he faces torture and inhuman and degrading treatment if sent back. (Good riddance to this creep)

Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann said Monday she was not arguing that a vaccine intended to prevent cervical cancer caused mental retardation when she repeated the scientifically unfounded claim last week. (Backpedalling on her unsubstantiated and malicious claim)

Hopes for a peaceful end to the 10-year war in Afghanistan were in tatters after a suicide bomber with explosives concealed in his turban killed Hamid Karzai's chief peace envoy. The assassination of Burhanuddin Rabbani by men posing as leading Taliban envoys looked certain to tip the country even deeper into crisis. Rabbani was a former president of Afghanistan, respected religious scholar and chairman of the country's high peace council. (Islam and violence - 'twas ever thus)

An Islamist-backed radio station in Somalia has awarded assault rifles and hand grenades to the winners of a children's Qur'an recital competition. Andalus radio, which is run by al-Shabaab militia, said on Monday that the first prize was an AK-47 and £450. The runner-up received an AK-47 and £320, while the child who came third received two F1 hand grenades and £250. The three children also received religious books. (Islam and violence - like ham and eggs)

A statue of a bare-breasted woman whose torso was discreetly covered for centuries has been found in a Bristol church house where John Wesley worshipped. There is speculation that the half-clad figure was considered too much of a distraction for Wesley, the founder of Methodism, and his followers.

At least 25 Shia Muslim pilgrims have been killed after gunmen opened fire on a bus in western Pakistan, officials said. The pilgrims were going through Mastung district in Baluchistan province, en route to the Iranian border, when the attack occurred, said a senior district official, Saeed Umrani. (Islam and violence - inseparable pairing)

It is in no fashion to diminish Professor Dawkins, a youthful 70, to say that his greatest accomplishment has come as a profoundly original thinker, synthesizer and writer. His epiphanies follow on the heels of long sessions of reading and thought, and a bit of procrastination. He is an elegant stylist with a taste for metaphor. And he has a knack, a predisposition even, for assailing orthodoxy. (Good piece on the shrill and strident militant atheist - as he is known to the clods. The quality of the comments is poor but then this is the New York Times)

Stetson Kennedy, the American investigative journalist who died on August 27 aged 94, became the scourge of the Ku Klux Klan after he infiltrated the white supremacist group and exposed its secret rituals to ridicule. (There's is nothing like some choice ridicule to hurt racist idiots and Kennedy did an outstanding job)

Tony Blair used visits to Libya after he left office to lobby for business for the American investment bank JP Morgan, The Daily Telegraph has been told. (Tony Blair a duplicitous, money-grabbing creep? Surely not...)

The Dalai Lama has been snubbed by the Brazilian government during a tour of Latin America after China reacted furiously to talks he held with Mexico’s president. (Brazil dances to China's tune - perhaps it will be the first colony in the America's for Beijing)

A militant Islamist group has released a video threatening to attack targets in Tajikistan, a country where stability is considered vital to stop the spread of extremist-linked violence.

Six men have been arrested in Birmingham as part of a large intelligence-led counter-terrorism operation "to ensure public safety", police said. (Although details so far are sparse 80 is prepared to bet these men are not Hindus, Sikhs or Pagans or Christians)

The vilification of traditional religious beliefs is a besetting evil of modern life. (When such beliefs support bigotry they must to be challenged)

The NTC has been under pressure to appoint some Islamist figures to reflect their role in the revolution, but tensions have emerged between the council and rebel commanders, as well as with Ali Salabi, an influential preacher being promoted by Qatar and its al-Jazeera TV channel. (The worm in the bud of revolution)

Prominent scientists, including Sir David Attenborough and Richard Dawkins, have called on the government to toughen its guidance on the promotion of creationism in classrooms, accusing "religious fundamentalists" of portraying it as scientific theory in publicly funded schools. (It is worrying that this is even necessary)

At least eight people have been killed, including six police officers, after a Taliban suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden car into the home of a senior police official in Pakistan's commercial hub, Karachi.

As the congregation bowed their heads and prayed, a former church member stormed into the church and opened fire, shooting the pastor and associate pastor from behind before he was wrestled to the ground. Earlier, Jeremiah Fogle shot his wife to death at his house, where he had started his own church, authorities and relatives said. (Where was god while all this was happening?)

A Point of View: Can religion tell us more than science? (No. Next!)

Doctors fear their private lives and personal beliefs will soon come under increasing scrutiny from regulators, as a Christian GP who prayed with a patient faces a formal hearing.

The leader of the Haqqani network, the most feared faction fighting Nato troops in Afghanistan, has pledged his group would support the Taliban leadership in any future peace talks.

There is evidence linking the Haqqani militant network to Pakistan's government, the US ambassador to Pakistan has said in a radio interview. "This is something that must stop," Cameron Munter told Radio Pakistan, when discussing Tuesday's militant assault on the Afghan capital, Kabul.

Estonia and the Czech Republic are the two nations that often claim to be the least religious in Europe. And they seem to be proud of their unbelief. According to the census of 2000, 29% of the total population considered themselves as adherents of some religion.

When it comes to holding the Catholic Church accountable for sexual abuse of children by members of the clergy, all roads lead to Rome. That is what my organisation, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (Snap), concluded after years of seeking justice in other venues and being turned away. (Take the Pope to the ICC - it's about time)

A new CNN poll finds that an overwhelming majority of Americans still believe in a woman’s right to choose, with 78 percent of respondents saying that they want abortion to remain legal under any circumstances or under certain circumstances.

The biblical foundation for a celibate priesthood is flimsy, and now cracks are beginning to show in the Catholic church's ban on marriage for those in holy orders

A Dutch newspaper reports that the dean who took over a Catholic institute for mentally handicapped youths after 34 boys mysteriously died there in the 1950s was himself later convicted of molesting boys.

Some Jewish groups voiced concern Friday that the Vatican might be calling into question more than 40 years of progress in Catholic-Jewish relations by reaching out to a group of breakaway traditionalist Catholics that includes a Holocaust-denying bishop. (All part of a rising tide of anti-Semitism. Catholics and Muslims at least have that in common) 

Eight Amish men have been jailed by a judge in Kentucky for non-payment of fines after refusing to fix reflective orange warning triangles to the back of their horse-drawn buggies.

For many celebrities, Jay Leno's Tonight Show is a fairly gentle outlet for publicity. But as Michele Bachmann discovered, Leno can have a sharp edge when he chooses to unsheath it.

Praying in the streets of Paris is against the law starting Friday, after the interior minister warned that police will use force if Muslims, and those of any other faith, disobey the new rule to keep the French capital's public spaces secular.

Holland is to become the latest European country to ban the burka, despite the fact that fewer than 100 Dutch women are thought to wear the face-covering Islamic dress. (No one should be allowed to go masked in a public space - 'cept Batman obviously)

Somalia's government says it believes a British tourist kidnapped in Kenya is being held by the Islamist insurgent group al-Shabab.

Virginia's board of health has voted to impose new emergency rules likely to close some of the state's 22 abortion clinics in a move critics say is part of a broadening attempt by several states to use health regulations to limit access to terminations.

In the emerging post-Qaddafi Libya, the most influential politician may well be Ali Sallabi, who has no formal title but commands broad respect as an Islamic scholar and populist orator who was instrumental in leading the mass uprising. (How influential are the Islamists in a post-Gaddafi Libya? Good question, a little late, but a good question)

Fears that America's already weak HPV vaccine programme will be critically undermined by a political row increased on Wednesday, as campaigners, academics and doctors lined up to condemn the politicising of a public health issue. The controversy was ignited by Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann, who claimed that the vaccine against human papillomavirus, which can cause cervical cancer, was a "very dangerous drug" that could lead to "mental retardation". (Irresponsible nasty piece of work)

A Palestinian activist detained on the orders of the home secretary, Theresa May, after flying into Britain for meetings has asked the high court to rule that he has been held unlawfully and is entitled to damages. Sheikh Raed Salah, 52, leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, flew to the UK on 25 June on a short visit for meetings and other public engagements, including at the Houses of Parliament. (What? He's still here and is now claiming damages? Bloody ridiculous)

The Vatican told a group of breakaway traditionalists on Wednesday that they must accept some core church teachings if they want to be brought back into the fold of the Roman Catholic Church. (Trying to get the Jew-hating fascists to rejoin the flock)

The Republican party's uneasy relationship with science was thrust into the spotlight again after social conservative Michele Bachmann claimed a well-tested anti-cancer vaccine was responsible for "mental retardation". Bachmann's comments were condemned by medical professionals, including the highly respected American Academy of Pediatrics, which said "this is a life saving vaccine that can protect girls from cervical cancer", while even rightwing talkshow host Rush Limbaugh criticised Bachmann's scare tactics. (She really is despicable)

Recep Tayyip Erdogan's speeches in Cairo were excellent platforms for Turkey's campaign to become a bigger player in the Middle East – against a backdrop of the momentous changes of the Arab spring and a rare sense of movement in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. (Spurned by Europe the closet Islamist looks to Arab countries with the help of a manufactured row with Israel. He should be more concerned about his murderous neighbor, Syria)

Three leading members of one of Brazil's most powerful churches have been accused of laundering millions in church donations and using worshippers' money for personal gain. The charges, unveiled on Monday by São Paulo's public prosecutor, relate to 404m reals (£150m) allegedly obtained from mostly impoverished churchgoers by leaders at Brazil's Universal Church of the Kingdom of God. (Golly, there's a surprise)

Dr Daly, who was the Bishop of Derry for 20 years during the Troubles, has become the first senior Irish Catholic cleric to call for an end to celibacy in the church. His intervention in the debate over whether priests should be allowed to marry is highly significant because he is still one of the most respected figures in the Irish Catholic church at a time when faith in the institution has been shattered by the paedophile scandals involving clergy.

Gay people still live in fear in many countries around the world – prejudice, torture and execution are common. Can two new legal and diplomatic campaigns change attitudes?

The country's first turban-wearing Sikh peer has vowed to dispel prejudices about his religion that have increased in the wake of terrorist attacks on the West in the past decade.

Victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests have accused the pope, the Vatican secretary of state and two other high-ranking Holy See officials of crimes against humanity, in a formal complaint to the international criminal court (ICC). The submission, lodged at The Hague on Tuesday, accuses the four men not only of failing to prevent or punish perpetrators of rape and sexual violence but also of engaging in the "systematic and widespread" practice of concealing sexual crimes around the world. (In a just world the vile old man and his henchmen would have to answer for his lack of action on child rape. In this world though....)

The tenth anniversary of 9/11 has been marked by a fresh outbreak in Britain of the political equivalent of auto-immune disease: treating the mortal enemies of the west as the victims of the west, while treating the west’s defenders as its mortal enemies. (Melanie Phillips may be barking but even a stopped clock is right twice a day - and she makes some good points. Also plenty of daft ones)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/september-11-attacks/8759299/911-anniversary-al-Qaeda-releases-new-video-applauding-Arab-Spring.html

Al-Qaeda has released a video applauding the Arab Spring uprisings to mark the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. (Praise from these murderous fanatics is nothing to be proud of)

Australia will hold an independent inquiry into the media after growing criticism of reporting in newspapers run by Rupert Murdoch's company News Limited. (This may well prove interesting. There is no love lost between the government and Murdoch's press)

Libya is in danger of falling into the hands of Islamic extremists if a stable government is not rapidly established, Nato’s secretary-general warned last night.

Libya's new leaders have pledged "moderate" Islamic rule even as their fighters were accused of committing war crimes. (It's oxymoron time - "moderate Islamic rule" indeed)

Turkey's prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed that the Jewish state's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla last year had been "grounds for war". (The Gaza blockade is legal according to the UN and the so-called flotilla had Turkish jihadists seeking martyrdom on board and was part organized by Hamas. Erdogan is a saber-rattling Islamist jerk)

Gunmen killed 22 Shia pilgrims in an ambush in Iraq's western province of Anbar on Monday, a police official said.

Actor infamous for antisemitic rant is to make a movie about a legendary Jewish warrior. (Scumbag Mel Gobson (not a typo) is apparently going to make about Jewish hero Judah Maccabeus. Also it was a sexist anti-Semitic rant. Why does that bit always get left out?)

Turkish-Egyptian alliance: Israel faces regional isolation. Netanyahu can either prepare for another war or accept that Israel can no longer impose its will on its neighbours. (The Guardian is gleefully reporting this as a dream come true)

The majority of people in the UK, France and Germany want their governments to vote in favour of recognising a Palestinian state if a resolution is brought before the United Nations in the next few weeks, according to an opinion poll.

The anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has told his followers to stop attacking US troops in Iraq so as not to slow their withdrawal from the country.

An international pressure group is to be launched in Britain on Tuesday to tackle the rise in homophobic violence around the world, with a focus on Africa and the Middle East.

Did Nostradamus Really Predict the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks? (No. Benjamin Radford)

Protesters outside the US embassy in London have set fire to a US flag during a minute's silence held to mark the moment when the first hijacked airliner hit the World Trade Centre in New York 10 years ago. A number of radical Islamic groups including Muslims Against Crusades (MAC) gathered outside the embassy on the tenth anniversary of the attacks. (Exercising the right of free speech that democracy brings)

Four people have been arrested in Sweden on suspicion of preparing a terror attack, police say. They were detained in the west coast city of Gothenburg, security police officials were quoted as saying. (The Beeb scrupulously doesn't mention Islamist terrorists and yet from the report that is clearly the subject)

Almost 80 US troops have been injured and two Afghan civilians killed by a suicide truck bomber on a military base in the eastern Wardak province.

It is often described as the day that changed the world but, in fact, 9/11 only brought home to the West what had been simmering, and sometimes breaking out violently, in different parts of the world for nearly half a century. (Interesting piece by Christian Michael Nazir-Ali marred by his faith. The Telegraph doesn't seem to moderate comments any more - the ones accompanying this piece are disgusting and pathetic)

The Pope has blamed the recent riots on the erosion of moral values in Britain and warned the Coalition that more trouble was likely if it did not bring down unemployment and spread wealth more fairly. (Great, preaching on morality by the head of an organization which conceals the rape of children, children raped by its own staff)

Scandal hit Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is facing fresh revelations regarding his infamous "bunga bunga" parties after a guest told prosecutors women dressed as nuns before performing stripteases. (That will go down well with the Vatican)

It is just as easy for an atheist such as Jonathan Miller or me to recognise the sublime nature of the works of a Bach or a Mozart or in the Venus de Milo, not because we believe that the sublime is out there somewhere, but because it is in here, in all of us, even if only subliminally, and therefore represents the greatest possible potential for human beings to create not only great art, but great human notions.

Zimbabwe's top Anglican bishop has said that a breakaway church leader close to the country's president is intensifying a campaign to seize church properties that include missions, schools and priests' homes

Egypt declared a state of alert early this morning after a group of 30 protesters broke into the Israeli embassy in Cairo last night and dumped hundreds of documents out of the windows. The storming of the building came after a day of demonstrations outside where crowds swinging sledgehammers and using their bare hands tore apart the embassy's security wall. (Where were the cops? Watching. So much for post-Mubarak Egypt)

The US secretary of state has warned that al-Qaeda is behind a credible threat to Americans in the run-up to the anniversary of 9/11. Hillary Clinton said there had been a "specific, credible but unconfirmed report" of an attempt to target New York and Washington DC.

Turkey has set the stage for a potential naval confrontation with Israel by announcing that Turkish ships attempting to breach the maritime blockade of Gaza will be given an armed escort. (Given that Israel's blockade is legal Erdogan is being provocative and irresponsible. If Gaza needs the "humanitarian" aid so badly send it over the Egyptian/Israeli border)

At no time in history have so many Muslims lived in the West, or so many been trying to migrate here. In Muslim countries, Western clothes, languages, films, sports – even McDonald’s and Starbucks – are visibly popular. Across the Middle East, demands are being made, and blood shed, for Western freedoms. Yet polls repeatedly show that, 10 years after the 9/11 attacks, there is still widespread hatred in those same countries towards America and Britain.

We have more Muslim MPs than ever. But there is a growing belief that dissent risks falling foul of terror laws. (Not quite sure what this is about but stopped reading when the author used the term "Islamophobia" without defining it. Yawn)

Leaked embassy cables disclose extremist views of prominent Sunni cleric, including suggestion that Abbas be stoned for ‘collaboration’ with Israel, support for Hamas and suicide bombers, and rejection of inter-faith dialogue. (This repulsive individual shows his true colors)

A militant Muslim group has released a video claiming responsibility for recent attacks in western China that killed at least three dozen people, a US group that monitors such organisations said.

Mississippi voters will be allowed to vote on an initiative that seeks to reverse abortion rights by redefining the term "person" to apply at the moment of conception. (So thousands of fetuses are spontaneously aborted - that's nature. Are these idiots going to claim they are all "persons? Who will they prosecute?)

Suicide bombers have attacked the residence of a military official in the Pakistani city of Quetta, killing at least 20 people. The first attacker detonated a car bomb, and a second militant blew himself up in the house of the city's Frontier Corps chief. (Adherents of the religion of peace have been busy this week)

The bomb blast outside the Delhi high court on Wednesday has once again shown the involvement of cyberspace in terrorism. An internet cafe in Kishtwar, Jammu and Kashmir, was used to send an email to two media houses, notifying the motives behind the blast. An email was sent from the Global Internet Café, thereby identifying the militant group: Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI).

GERMAN police have arrested two suspected Islamic terrorists on suspicion of plotting a major bomb attack, the newspaper Berliner Morgenpost reports. The two men, aged 28 and 24, were arrested in Berlin after they were suspected of obtaining large quantities of chemicals that would enable them to make a bomb.

Revolution in Iran is only a matter of time, Leon Panetta, the new United States defence secretary, has said as he predicted an uprising similar to those sweeping the Middle East. (Iran under the ayatollahs is a septic boil overdue for lancing by a revolution )

A German far-right party has been permitted to put up election posters in Berlin that said 'step on the gas' which some see as a provocative reminder of the Holocaust after a court dismissed a ban on their use.

The Falkland Islands has announced a plan to become self-sufficient in meeting its food needs amid increased concern about Argentine efforts to blockade surrounding waters. (It would be sensible of the Argentines to reflect on the fact that Britain has seven hunter-killer submarines armed with torpedoes and cruise missiles. Just sayin')

Harkat-ul-Jehadi-e-Islami-Bangladesh (HuJI-B), which claimed responsibility for the Delhi High Court bombing, is Bangladesh's largest and best organised terrorist group. After its formation in 1992 it was one of a number of international terrorist groups to have direct aid from Osama bin Laden. Soon after its founding, several of its leaders addressed a press conference at the Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka demanding that Bangladesh become an Islamic State. (Murderous Islamist scum - indiscriminate slaughter is their trademark)

Fashion designer John Galliano faces six months in prison on Thursday when a court delivers its verdict on charges of racially abusing customers in a Paris bar.

Anders Breivik's manifesto reveals a subculture of nationalistic and Islamophobic websites that link the European and American far right in a paranoid alliance against Islam and is also rooted in some democratically elected parties. (A rare link to an article by the Guardian's deeply irritating Andrew Brown. There's that Islamophobia word again - still undefined)

It began as a planning dispute between affluent neighbours in a Suffolk village, but resulted in the arrest of a woman accused of racially aggravated harassment after she displayed a golliwog in the window of her house. Jena Mason will appear before Lowestoft magistrates on Tuesday, Suffolk police said. The 65-year-old was arrested after her black neighbour, Rosemarie O'Donnell, complained about the doll.

A militant Muslim group has released a new video claiming responsibility for recent attacks in western China that killed at least three dozen people, a U.S. group that monitors such organizations said this week.

Three Iranian men have been executed after being found guilty of charges related to homosexuality, according to a semi-official news agency. The men, only identified by their initials, were hanged on Sunday in the south-western city of Ahvaz, the capital of Iran's Khuzestan province.

The parents of murdered teenager Shafilea Ahmed have been charged with killing her, Cheshire Police said on Wednesday. The 17-year-old's decomposed remains were discovered in Cumbria in February 2004 after she disappeared from her home in Warrington, Cheshire, in September 2003. She was the victim of a suspected honour killing. (Honour killing? Murder is the word)

Britain's advertising watchdog Wednesday banned a mobile phone company commercial which featured a cartoon Jesus who winked and gave a thumbs-up gesture.

Larry the cat fundraiser quiz night to be held at No 10. Downing Street state rooms to host event to help pay for famous feline's upkeep to uphold promise not to use public purse. (Cameron's a millionaire, why doesn't he pay for it?)

In the 40C heat of an Iranian summer, what better way to have fun and stay cool than a water fight with friends? In the Islamic republic, however, things are a bit more complicated. For one group of boys and girls, their game turned serious when they were arrested for taking part in a water pistol fight in a park in the capital, Tehran. (Miserable joyless bastards)

When atheists criticize religion, one of the things we harp about most is cherry-picking: believers embracing the parts of their religious teachings they like, and ignoring or rejecting the parts they don't. If you're just going to use your own conscience and your own mind to decide what's right or wrong, true or false -- why do you need God? (Greta Christina)

The majority of state schools in England are not holding traditional morning assemblies despite legislation making group worship a requirement, a survey has found. The Bishop of Oxford said the survey's conclusions were worrying and added that schools must do more to teach religion in the classroom. But teaching unions questioned how much teachers and parents wanted daily worship, considering the vast number of schools flouting the law. (The teaching of comparative religion may be useful but "worship" is irrelevant and demeaning and "enforced" worship doubly so)

David Cameron was accused on Monday night of adopting a "cack-handed" approach to the sensitive issue of abortion as MPs prepare to debate a cross-party amendment that would change the counselling system. Yvette Cooper, the shadow women's minister, attacked the prime minister amid signs that Speaker John Bercow will allow the amendment to be debated.

For the past 10 years 'truthers' have claimed 9/11 was part of a bigger conspiracy – but does the evidence stack up? (No is the answer. The only mystery is what is going on between the ears of the conspiracy nutters)

A page created on Facebook called 'Jesus Daily' is proving very popular among people interested in a little heavenly intervention during their social network fix. In fact, the number of 'Likes', comments and 'Shares' for Jesus Daily have surpassed even heavyfringedboywonderthing Justin Bieber's Page in the past three months, according to AllFacebook.com.

Amid belated media recognition that the apostles of church-growth guru C. Peter Wagner’s New Apostolic Reformation dominated presidential hopeful Rick Perry’s August 6th The Response prayer event, some pundits are rushing to dismiss the political influence of dominionist factions within evangelical Christianity. But Wagner’s movement now exerts influence over the health policy of an entire African nation, with a population bigger than Texas: Uganda.

Ireland stepped up its battle with the Roman Catholic Church over child abuse Sunday, with Justice Minister Alan Shatter vowing to pass a law requiring priests to report suspicions of child abuse, even if they learn about them in confession. (it cannot be repeated too often - the Vatican protects men who rape children)

Alleged Libyan extremist who sought political asylum in Britain regularly travelled to Iran from 2002 to provide forged documents to extremists linked to al-Qaeda, secret files found in a Tripoli intelligence service building have disclosed.

Pakistani tribal elders are holding talks with Taliban militants in Afghanistan for the release of scores of young tribesmen kidnapped during an outing along the border, officials have said.

Rare artifacts and trinkets from the history of NASA are going to auction in the upcoming week-long Space & Aviation Autograph and Artifact Auction from RR Auction starting September 15th. The auction will feature a letter from Neil Armstrong about his first words on the moon, Armstrong’s training glove, and other exceptional items from the history of space flight and aviation. But one of the more unique items up for bid? A full King James Bible that has journeyed all the way to the moon’s surface.

A modest proposal. That was how Nadine Dorries, the Tory MP for Mid-Bedfordshire, saw her suggestion for independent abortion counselling. Why could a woman considering a termination get advice only from the same organisation that would carry out the procedure? (A totally dishonest piece by Cristina Odone - no surprise there then)

On climate change and evolution, the party's presidential hopefuls are wilfully ignorant. (Op-ed by Paul Krugman)

Sure, he's an angry, mentally-challenged American nobody, but Florida "pastor" Michael Stahl triggered a whirlwind of controversy after he compared atheists and free-thinkers to child rapists and terrorists, and suggested that America institute a national registry for atheists. This registry, which he referred to in his original blog essay as "The Christian National Registry of Atheists", would make public all the registrants' personal information.

Turkey is to challenge Israel's blockade on Gaza at the International Court of Justice, amid a worsening diplomatic crisis between the once close allies. The announcement by Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu appears to rebuff UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon's attempt to defuse the row over Israel's armed assault on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in which nine people were killed. (Turkey should be careful of attracting attention to the "martyrs" in the so-called flotilla)

The Vatican has issued a tough rebuttal of a report claiming it told priests in Ireland to keep quiet about sexual abuse and described criticism by the Irish prime minister, Enda Kenny, as "unfounded". The Vatican sought to dismantle, point by point, claims made by the report, ordered by the Irish government and released in July, which prompted Kenny to condemn the Vatican as riddled with "dysfunction, disconnection and elitism". (More evidence, as if it were needed, that the Vatican just doesn't get it.)

David Steel, the former Liberal leader and architect of the 1967 Abortion Act, has lobbied ministers to vote against a bill to change the counselling system for women who want terminations.

Members of the English Defence League (EDL) have clashed with police in east London at a protest which went ahead despite a ban on marches. Scuffles broke out and missiles were thrown by activists as 3,000 officers tried to maintain control. (Fascist boot boys of the EDL involved in violence - what a surprise. Violence is their whole raison d'être)

A blind imam who died in suspicious circumstances at a mosque in north London was killed after taking morning prayers, it has emerged. The religious leader, understood to be Sheikh Maymoun Zarzour, was found at the Muslim Welfare House in Seven Sisters Road, Finsbury Park, on Friday. A man was arrested at the scene on suspicion of murder. A post-mortem examination is being arranged. The Metropolitan Police said it was not believed to be a faith hate crime. (An adherent of the world's most violent religion is killed apparently by another adherent)

The Vatican has rejected claims by Irish PM Enda Kenny that it sabotaged efforts by Irish bishops to report child-molesting priests to police. It follows the damning Cloyne Report that showed how allegations of clerical sex-abuse in Cork had been covered up. (A bunch of lying bastards doesn't even cover the evil perpetrated and concealed. I almost wish there is a hell for these scum to get what they deserve. They raped children for fuck's sake and then concealed the evidence.)

The editor-in-chief of a climate science journal has resigned in response to an academic controversy triggered by his publication of a paper co-authored by a leading climate sceptic. Prof Wolfgang Wagner wrote in an editorial published on Friday in Remote Sensing that he felt obliged to resign because it was now apparent to him that a paper entitled On the misdiagnosis of surface temperature feedbacks from variations in Earth's radiant energy balance by Roy Spencer and Danny Braswell, was "fundamentally flawed and therefore wrongly accepted by the journal".

Baba Ramdev, one of the world’s wealthiest and most controversial yoga gurus, is under investigation in connection with his acquisition of a tiny island off the west coast of Scotland which acts as his international headquarters. (This the guy that claims to cure cancer and HIV AIDS. Another bloody millionaire quack)

Anger in Australia as school books ‘write Christ out of history’.  Australian Christians are furious over changes to the national curriculum that will drop the terms BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini) from text books, replacing them with neutral, non-religious language. (There's no evidence Jesus was ever in history - like Mithras, Osiris and other saviors)
 

Taliban militants kidnapped 30 Pakistani boys as they picnicked just over the Afghan border, local officials said. The boys had either inadvertently wandered across the unmarked border or had been lured over according to reports and were then seized by fugitive militants.

A British "shaman" caught administering a potion containing a class-A hallucinogenic drug to 17 followers at a candlelit "healing" ceremony has been jailed for 15 months. Peter Aziz, of Buckfastleigh, Devon, who claims to have spent years in the jungles of Peru learning the art of making the drink ayahuasca, provided the brew, which contained N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), during a week-long retreat in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. (Shaman? Dangerous idiot)

Suicide bombers in Iraq have killed at least 12,000 civilians and 200 coalition soldiers, according to a study. The research paper, by Dr Madelyn Hsiao-Rei Hicks of King's College London, the London-based Iraq Body Count and others, describes suicide bombs in Iraq as "a major public health problem", killing significantly more civilians than soldiers. It is published as part of a Lancet series on the health consequences of 9/11. (So these bastards mostly murder fellow Muslims)

Norwegian police say they are to question several British citizens in their search for potential accomplices of mass killer Anders Behring Breivik. Officers in Oslo said the names of individuals and several far-right groups emerged from questioning of British anti-Muslim blogger Paul Ray as well as further interviews with Breivik.

Turkey says it is expelling the Israeli ambassador and cutting military ties with Israel over the country's refusal to apologise for last year's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla. The foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, said Turkey was downgrading diplomatic ties to the level of second secretary and the ambassador would leave Turkey by Wednesday. (..and the Turkish jihadis who had left behind "martyrdom" videos? What does Turkey say about them?)

A coalition of women's groups has written to the equalities minister, Lynne Featherstone, urging her to intervene in the row over backbenchers' attempts to reform abortion protocols. They say the proposals could delay abortions and allow anti-abortion groups to counsel women. Featherstone is being asked to seek a guarantee within government that the current system won't change, ahead of a potential vote that could overhaul the existing counselling services for women seeking to terminate a pregnancy

Vandals in Poland have defaced a monument marking the spot in Poland where hundreds of Jews were massacred during World War II. They wrote on the memorial's walls: "I'm not sorry for Jedwabne" and "They were highly flammable". (Fascist scum, knuckle dragging neo-Nazi fascist scum)

A father slit the throat of his three teenage daughters in an ‘honour killing’ after they were raped by Gaddafi loyalists during the siege of the port city of Misrata. Allegations of the shocking executions are contained in a report by the respected Physicians for Human Rights group into war crimes and atrocities in the embattled city, which faced two months of being cut off from the rest of Libya.

Swedish doctors have come under fire for advice to women born into so-called honour cultures to pierce their genitals with a needle in order to draw blood on their wedding nights to satisfy tradition and the expectations of their families. (Unbelievable)

People who are keen to bring faith groups into politics are often the ones who don't know all that much about faith. (Christina Patterson talking nothing but sense)

Rioting and looting: Britain's 'moral collapse' in pictures. (Plenty of pictures of looters but no post-crash bonus-laden bankers and no MPs gorging on expenses.)

A Kosovo Albanian Islamic extremist has confessed to murdering two American airmen and has blamed a faked jihad video showing US soldiers raping a Muslim girl for inspiring his crime. In an emotional confession to a Frankfurt court as his murder trial began on Wednesday, Arid Uka said he had become radicalised by online extremist propaganda before carrying out a lone gun attack US Air Force bus in March. (So just one video led to murder of two innocent men? Crap)

One in five American Muslims knows of support for extremism in their community, new research has found, despite Muslims being far happier about the state of the US than other groups. As the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks approaches, 21 per cent of respondents told a study they had detected "a great deal" or "a fair deal" of support for extremism in their areas.

A US federal judge has temporarily blocked key provisions of a Texas abortion law that would require women seeking the procedure to view a sonogram and listen to the heartbeat of their foetus. The law, which had been due to go into effect on Thursday, was a major part of Republican Governor and US presidential candidate Rick Perry's agenda in this year's Texas legislative session.

One man was killed and two more wounded in a shoot-out outside a mosque in central Copenhagen on Tuesday morning. The attacks came as worshippers left morning prayers on Eid, the festival that ends the Muslim month of fasting.

The alternative-medicine version of detox has real-world side-effects that outweigh its imaginary benefits. (Edzard Ernst writes)

A radical commander of a new Muslim rebel faction warned Wednesday of retaliation if his jungle-based forces in the southern Philippines come under attack from government troops or his former guerrilla group.

Eight people, seven of them police, have been killed in a suicide attack in Chechnya's capital Grozny during celebrations at the end of the Muslim festival of Ramadan, a police source told Interfax news agency.

A Puerto Rican senator who had strongly opposed gay marriage was forced to resign Monday after several naked photos of him surfaced on a gay sex app. (Another one bites the dust)

An increasing number of Nigeria's 70 million Christians are following so called "prosperity teachings" - the belief that prosperity is a blessing. Services are held in mega-churches, with millionaire pastors preaching the word. (One American export these people do not need. The only ones to prosper are those running the scam)

The amount spent by taxpayers on controversial homeopathic remedies has fallen sharply over the past decade. Official figures show that just 16,359 NHS prescriptions for the heavily diluted treatments were written out last year, costing a record low of £122,000. (It's still 122,000 too much)

China’s bear farms, where for decades bile has been extracted from the endangered animals in horrific conditions, have been condemned by eminent Chinese scientists. At a conference in London on Friday, the experts will say there is no justification for the farms because their latest research has shown that that herbal substitutes have greater health benefits than those claimed for bear bile which is used in traditional Chinese medicine. (This cruelty and the trade in tiger bones and rhino horns is driven by demands from so-called Chinese Traditional Medicine which is sheer quackery. Perhaps China should bring it's medicine into the 21st century and not just its armed forces)

The Philippines is in many ways the perfect place to explore the complexities – both past and present – surrounding the relationship between faith and globalisation. As a society deeply influenced historically by Spanish, Indonesian, Malaysian and indigenous cultures, it finds itself in the 21st century occupying a delicate and profoundly important role in both Asian and western trade and foreign affairs. (Oh great, a sermon from war criminal Blair. How much Iraqi blood is on your hands Tony? Pass the sick bag)

The first wave of free schools includes one which has the journalist Toby Young as its chair of governors, two Jewish faith schools, a Hindu school and a Sikh school. At least three of the schools – Discovery new school in West Sussex, St Luke's in north London, and Canary Wharf college – will have a Christian ethos. The Maharishi school in Lancashire, which was founded by the Beatles' guru Maharish Mahesh Yogi and teaches children to meditate, has become a state school as part of the programme. (The Tory's big idea - sectarian schooling. Amid all the cuts they manage to fund this lot. The whole thing stinks)

County Donegal in Ireland is about to have its bucolic image shattered by a report into how paedophiles, both clergy and laity, abused children for decades. An investigation into clerical sex abuse in the Catholic diocese of Raphoe in County Donegal is about to report its findings, which are expected to be damning. Meanwhile, new evidence has emerged from victims of a parallel paedophile ring operating in the same Gaelic-speaking corner of the Irish Republic.

The football pundit Tony Cascarino has sparked outrage by describing a player as having a "holocaust" of a game. Cascarino made the comment on Sky Sports News during Manchester United's match against Arsenal, which saw the north London team beaten 8-2.

When you hear the name Jesus, is the first image that comes to mind a dewy-eyed pretty boy with flowing locks? If so, think again. After 2,000 years, the Messiah is getting a makeover. This time he's less "gentle Jesus, meek and mild" and more of a kick-ass action hero – a Chuck Norris in sandals. (The New Testament character is so vague and contradictory everyone can make their own version. This is just the latest)

Saudi Arabia has announced that the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, characterized by dawn-to-dusk fasting and heightened piety, has ended. The decision was made after sunset Monday when the new moon was spotted. Muslims follow a lunar calendar. (Primitive, prosaic and earthbound - a religion of the dark ages)

Investigators probed a Nigerian Islamist sect on Monday over the suicide bombing of UN headquarters here that killed at least 21 people in one of the bloodiest attacks targeting the world body globally. Fresh violence hit Sunday when gunmen stormed the home of a local government chairman in the northeast and shot him dead. (Islamists and violence are inseparable)

Caroline Boucher turned to a reflexology technique borrowed from South American tribes after melanoma surgery left a mark. (Good luck to this woman but reflexology is still bollocks)

The government has caved in to calls from anti-abortionists to overhaul existing protocols and strip charities and medics of their exclusive responsibility for counselling women seeking to terminate a pregnancy. The Department of Health confirmed that it would change the rules to ensure that women are also offered counselling "independently" of existing abortion services. Its announcement was made in advance of an attempt next week led by the Tory backbencher Nadine Dorries to amend the health and social care bill to force such a requirement.

A suicide bomber blew himself up inside Baghdad's largest Sunni mosque last night, killing 29 people during prayers, in a strike on a place of worship similar to the one that brought Iraq to the brink of civil war five years ago.

The Department of Health is to announce plans for a new system of independent counselling for women before they finally commit to terminating a pregnancy. The move is designed to give women more “breathing space”. (What is it about conservatives and women's reproductive freedom. We would have none of this if men got pregnant instead)

Al-Qaida's second-in-command, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, has been killed in Pakistan, delivering another major blow to a terrorist group that the US believes to be on the verge of defeat, a senior Barack Obama administration official has claimed. (Rare good news from Pakistan)

Swat in north-west Pakistan is still recovering from a period of militancy several years ago. Men and women deemed un-Islamic were killed by the Taliban and their bodies dumped on the street. Hundreds of girls schools were destroyed before the army ousted the militants in 2009. A local school girl and Swat's first woman to train as a lawyer told Nosheen Abbas how life is changing.

Sometimes the truth really is stranger than fiction, at least as perceived by members of a culture removed from a particular truth. Today's strange truth is the fact of the Christian dominionist influence on the beliefs of right-wing evangelicals, and in particular, on the worldviews of Rep. Michele Bachmann and Texas gov. Rick Perry, two top-tier contenders for the Republican presidential nomination.

Texas lawmakers want Christian groups to be permitted to use Christian themes, prayers, speeches *without seeking consent* in every single military veteran funeral statewide. But that’s not how the story is being told. I love being in the military, and I consider it an honor to serve this country. It makes me sad to hear about something like this. At least three Texas-based U.S. congressmen (all of whom self-identify with the Tea Party) are using military funerals for political gain: Ted Poe (R-TX) and John Culberson (R-TX), and Michael McCaul (R-TX). And to top it all off, McCaul, Culberson and Poe are lying about it all. (Forging a political career by waving a cross and wrapping themselves in the flag)

When the average American thinks of military spending on religion, they probably think only of the money spent on chaplains and chapels. And, yes, the Department of Defense (DoD) does spend a hell of a lot of money on these basic religious accommodations to provide our troops with the opportunity to exercise their religion while serving our country. But that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the DoD's funding of religion. (A deeply worrying piece)

There are few things as maddening in a maddening political season as the warm and fuzzy feelings some progressives evince for Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, the Republican presidential candidate. "The anti-war Republican," people say, as if that's good enough. He's anti-woman, anti-gay, anti-black, anti-senior-citizen, anti-equality and anti-education, and that's just the start.

The home secretary has agreed to a police request to ban the far-right English Defence League from staging a march through one of the UK's biggest Muslim communities in east London.

A U.S. teenager from Pakistan is being held on terrorism charges, accused of soliciting funds and recruits to help a Pennsylvania woman known as Jihad Jane, two people close to the investigation confirm.

At least 18 people have been killed in an apparent suicide car bombing at the United Nations headquarters in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. The powerful blast destroyed the lower floors of the building. Dozens have been injured, some critically. A spokesman for the Islamist group Boko Haram told the BBC in a phone call that it had carried out the attack. (It's way past time these murdering Islamist bastards were taken out)

Pat Robertson, natural disaster interpreter extraordinaire, said on Wednesday’s 700 Club that the earthquake that struck the Washington region Tuesday “means that we’re closer to the coming of the Lord.” (Spare us from idiots like Robertson. It's long past time he went to meet his "Lord")

In a climate where minority rights campaigners are subjected to an onslaught of violence and intimidation, rare is the individual who sticks their head above the parapet. Pakistan's minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti and Punjab governor Salman Taseer were two such people, who were sprayed with bullets as a result of their campaigns to reform the country's blasphemy law.

The son of a Pakistani governor who was killed by his bodyguard for his opposition to a controversial blasphemy law this year was kidnapped in the eastern city of Lahore on Friday, according to police and his family.

A radical Muslim sect blamed for attacks across northeast Nigeria bombed a police station and robbed two banks Thursday, killing 12 people in an assault highlighting the group's escalating willingness to shed blood, authorities said.

Paul Ray, the British far-right activist thought to be the "mentor" cited by Norwegian killer Anders Behring Breivik, has denied having contact with the man who has confessed to 77 murders. (He would say that, wouldn't he? So far though, all evidence points to Breivik being a lone nutjob)

Glenn Beck, the former Fox News presenter turned far right evangelist, addressed a crowd of hundreds in Jerusalem on Wednesday evening in the final event of his week-long Restoring Courage tour of Israel.

As the Tea Party looks more and more like the old religious right, censoring what children can read in school is on the agenda

GOP Candidate Jon Huntsman Makes Waves with Tweet on Evolution and Climate Change - Jon Huntsman posted a statement on his official Twitter account yesterday that is sure to endear the Republican presidential hopeful to the scientific community (Check it out - of course he is now damned but good for him.)

Muslim groups are calling for a separate student loan system because the interest due to be charged will conflict with rules of Sharia law. (Take it as it is for everyone else or forfeit the privilege - and yes it is a privilege. Oh by the way, the usury crap was copied from the Christians and is nothing clever and doesn't make you special)

A petition urging the reintroduction of the death penalty in the UK poses some pertinent questions for Christianity

Republican candidate Rick Perry believes creationism should be taught in schools. That breaches both science and constitution

A woman abused in the diocese of Cloyne as a child has said an apology from the former bishop is "meaningless". Published in July, the report examined abuse in the diocese which covers mid, east and north Cork, up until 2009. It found that Dr Magee, who was Bishop of Cloyne from 1987 to 2009, falsely told the government and the health service that his diocese was reporting all abuse allegations to authorities.  (The Bishop should be in the dock for perverting the course of justice)

Men in Italy suspected of demanding money from up to 100 priests in return for keeping quiet about sexual encounters

Rain and lightning forces pope to skip bulk of speech to 1 million young pilgrims and disrupts Sunday's mass. (Divine intervention, perhaps?)

Two men are due to stand trial in Cameroon on charges of homosexuality, prompting criticism from human rights campaigners of the country's discriminatory laws. A joint report last year by four human rights organisations said gay people in Cameroon face arbitrary detention, scant regard for due process of law and sentencing without evidence. The report documented abuses in detention, both prior to trial and in prison, including beatings, torture and verbal abuse.

The Pope addressed pilgrims gathered at an airfield to the south of the capital telling them to avoid “the fashion of individualism” and not to keep their faith private but to participate in church life and share the faith. (Become a cog in the Catholic machine, don't be an individual)

The NHS should consider checking pregnant women's vitamin D levels to protect babies from the "Victorian" bone disease rickets, an expert says. People with dark skin, and women who cover up for cultural or religious reasons, are at particular risk. (A disease which is totally avoidable)

About 60,000 people are expected to attend a Hindu festival in Hertfordshire over the next two days celebrating the birth of Krishna. Organisers of the Janmashtami Festival, being staged near Watford, say it is one of the largest festivals of its kind outside of India.

The full extent of the campaign of intimidation, attacks and death threats made against scientists by activists who claim researchers are suppressing the real cause of chronic fatigue syndrome is revealed today by the Observer. According to the police, the militants are now considered to be as dangerous and uncompromising as animal rights extremists.

Some 265 rhinos have been poached so far this year, according to government figures, an average of more than one per day. This puts 2011 on course to surpass last year's record death toll of 333. In 2007, it was just 13. Why? There is no mystery about it. Experts agree the carnage results from a false belief, widespread in the far east, that rhino horn can cure cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. (How utterly disgusting. These beautiful creatures are dying because of eastern quackery)

Presidential candidate Jon Huntsman is pounding away at rival Rick Perry's skepticism of manmade global warming and criticism of the nation's central banker, saying those stands hurt the GOP and make the Texas governor come off as a not-so-serious national figure.

Doublethink is the inevitable result of a Republican party that has become so McCarthyite; where homophobia, anti-abortion beliefs, Christianity verging on the evangelical, disbelief in science and a refusal to accept that rich people should be taxed more are essential so as not to be accused of being a Rino (Republican in name only). (A good piece by Hadley Freeman)

The equality watchdog has abandoned moves to reform the law to give greater protection to Christians who have been banned from expressing their religious beliefs at work. (Good - it was never part of the commission's brief)

The National Lottery has given £205,000 to fund a two year research project which will make spiritual “healing therapies” available on the NHS. The project, led by charity Fresh Winds, is designed to identify the effectiveness of a Buddhist “healing” technique (called Reiki) by testing the method on 200 patients suffering from bowel disorders at NHS Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield. (An obscene waste of money)

A jihadist has called on Muslims to murder David Letterman, saying the U.S. talk show host deserved to have his tongue cut out after he joked about an al-Qaida leader killed in Pakistan, a U.S. monitoring group said. SITE Monitoring Service said the death threat was posted Tuesday on a website used by militants, after the jihadist became enraged seeing Letterman make a joke about militant Ilyas Kashmiri, who is believed to have been killed in an airstrike in Pakistan in early June.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry stirred up a fresh scientific spat today with his claim that scientists were manipulating their data about climate change "so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects" — a view that serves to highlight the differences among the GOP presidential candidates on science-related issues. (Any proof from this ignorant gobshite? No)

Pope Benedict XVI denounced economic structures that put "profit ahead of people" as he arrived in crisis-torn Spain where the cost of his visit has sparked violent protests. (Next he will denounce an organisation that puts itself ahead of abused children. After that he will denounce those who put the survival of a fetus ahead of a woman's health)

Baton-wielding anti-riot police in Madrid have dispersed about 150 protesters angry over the visit by the Pope and who had gathered in a main square.

The Pope's visit to Spain this week comes at a time of precipitous decline in the number of Catholics in Europe and North America. Even countries like Ireland and Italy, which have been staunchly Catholic for centuries, have seen sharp drops in the number of Catholics attending church.

Pope Benedict XVI has said modern society is suffering "amnesia" about God as he traveled to Spain's famed El Escorial monastery on the second day of his visit for the church's world youth festival. (The pope suffers from amnesia about the rape of children by his employees)

Israeli civilians and soldiers came under sustained attack on Thursday from militants in the south of the country in a co-ordinated and audacious three-pronged, three-hour assault that left at least seven Israelis dead and about 40 injured. (Bloody Guardian - they are terrorists not "militants")

A bomb exploded in a mosque in a Pakistani tribal region as hundreds were gathered for Friday prayers, killing at least 15 people and wounding dozens more, a government official said.

A Polish judge has found a death metal singer not guilty of offending religious feeling, ruling that his act of ripping up a Bible during a show was a form of artistic expression consistent with the style of his band.

At least eight Afghan police and one foreigner are believed to have been killed after the Taliban marked the anniversary of Afghanistan's independence from Britain with an elaborate, multi-phased attack on the British Council building in Kabul.

Republican US presidential candidate Michele Bachmann offered a "happy birthday" message to the late singer Elvis Presley even though 16 August is the anniversary of his death.

Church officials have said this third visit to Spain – making it the country he has visited most since becoming Pontiff in April 2005 – was arranged in the belief that the nation needed "a deeper evangelisation". Spain is less solidly Catholic than it once was. A government survey released in July found that 71.7 per cent of Spaniards declared themselves Roman Catholics, compared with 82.1 per cent in 2001.

Israel will stick to its refusal to apologise to Turkey for killing nine of its citizens on a Gaza-bound ship, officials have said, a position Ankara said would sink any prospects for reconciliation. (Israel has nothing to apologize for. The Turks were jihadis bent on martyrdom)

A Teaneck, New Jersey rabbi is facing charges that he committed sex crimes against two 13-year-old Israeli boys who were visiting the rabbi through a scholarship fund, Fox News in New York reported.

Christine O'Donnell, the Tea Party favourite and failed Republican Senate candidate, has done little to diminish a reputation for occasionally eccentric behaviour by walking off the set of Piers Morgan's CNN show mid-interview after being gently quizzed about her views on gay marriage. (For once the creep Morgan is in the right)

NASA shoots down comet Elenin doom and gloom predictions. NASA dispels reports of sun blockage, earthquakes and general mayhem as a result of Elenin’s pass

Police officers in Ecuador will be made to take lie detector tests in an effort to root out corruption in the force, the country's police chief has said. Gen Wilson Alulema said he wanted all 42,000 officers to take the test. (A waste of time and money - polygraphs do not work)

Hundreds of thousands of young people descending on Madrid this week for the Catholic church's World Youth Day – which features processions, group prayers and a mass with Pope Benedict XVI – are to get a "special" concession. Church leaders have ordered that anyone confessing, during this event, to having had an abortion – a sin punishable by excommunication – will be welcomed back into the church.

Spanish police said Wednesday they have arrested a chemistry student suspected of planning a gas attack against protesters opposed to a visit by Pope Benedict XVI.

More than 5,000 Palestinian refugees have fled a camp in Latakia, Syria, after President Bashar al-Assad's forces attacked the port city in the latest military crackdown on dissent, the UN said on Monday. (Why after all these years are these poor people still living in a camp and not assimilated? Although that wouldn't help right now with Assad killing his own population)

A Tibetan Buddhist monk calling for the return of the Dalai Lama has burned himself to death in south-west China. The 29-year-old monk's self-immolation at a monastery in Tawu could spark fresh tensions in the heavily ethnic Tibetan parts of Sichuan, which borders Tibet, after protests in March when a Tibetan monk there also burned himself to death.

Faith-based youth work has something special, something inherently different to offer them, because it offers something distinctive: transformation. And we in the faith community must not be ashamed of where that transformation comes from: an engagement with young people's yearning sense of spirituality – something which promises rewards even greater than financial gain. (In a word, bollocks)

More than 100 of the world's most senior chemists, including seven Nobel laureates, have written to David Cameron to warn of the impact of proposed cuts in funding for scientific research essential to industries ranging from biotechnology to agriculture. (To cut funding in such areas is sheer stupidity. Scientific research is a driver of wealth)

Pakistan let Chinese military engineers photograph and take samples from the US helicopter that was left behind when American special forces killed Osama bin Laden, it has been reported. (Surely not? Pakistan is such a stalwart ally)

Two explosions have hit a crowded market in a city south-east of Baghdad, killing 34 people. The blasts in Kut, 100 miles from Baghdad, went off as construction workers were gathered in a market selling generators and other appliances.

According to Toronto photographer David Menzies, Toronto police let a Muslim woman assault him because she had "religious objections" to his taking photographs in public that might include her. Apparently, her desire to break his camera was part of what made her violent physical assault legal. (Canada? Wake up. This crap is not acceptable - what happened to democracy and the public space? Get a grip)

The prime minister has said people who "loot and pillage their own community" should be evicted from council houses. Wandsworth in London has become the first council to serve an eviction notice over the riots, but several others are also considering the move. (So what now - homeless camps? Evicting these arseholes doesn't make them disappear. These rioting idiots have just handed the Tories a whole new "law and order" campaign. Damn them and the bloody government)

Two Roman Catholic nurses have won the right not to work in an abortion clinic after they accused the NHS of breaching equality laws. The case is believed to be the first in which the Equality Act has been used successfully to defend a “pro-life” position as a philosophical belief and could have implications for other Christian medical staff. (Hey, nurses that won't nurse. Then they are not nurses)

The Taliban claims responsibility for the assault on provincial Gov. Abdul Basir Salangi's compound, the latest attack on top Afghan officials. At least 19 are killed and 37 others are wounded.

Pressure is growing for State Rep. Phil Hinkle, R-Indianapolis, to resign in the wake of a sex scandal. An 18-year-old Indianapolis man, Kameryn Gibson, said he posted an item on Craigslist seeking a “sugga daddy.” Hinkle, he said, responded and after agreeing to pay $80 plus a tip, drove him to the JW Marriott hotel in Downtown Indianapolis. There, Gibson said, Hinkle told him he was a state lawmaker; stripped though they never had sex; and gave him $100, his Blackberry and iPad to keep quiet after Gibson had said he wanted to leave.

MPs hosted events in Parliament for an organistation which has been accused of being a front for Pakistani spies, it can be disclosed. The Justice Foundation has received messages of support from Tony Blair while prime minister, and set up a conference attended by Baroness Warsi, now co-chairman of the Conservative Party. But the group is alleged to have been promoting Pakistani interests in the long-running conflict between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan over the disputed border region of Kashmir, using millions of dollars of covert funding.

Amrullah Saleh, the urbane former head of Afghanistan's spy agency, tells Ben Farmer why it is wrong to talk to the Taliban. He may no longer be Afghanistan's spymaster general, but in the new career he has moved into, Amrullah Saleh must retain many of the trappings from his former job. Visitors to the Kabul home of the intelligence boss-turned-politician encounter checkpoints from at least a block away, while outside his villa, lean, purposeful guards from his native Panjshir Valley eye approaching strangers warily.

Israel has authorised the construction of 1,600 flats in disputed East Jerusalem and will approve 2,700 more in the next few days, officials have said, detailing a plan that could complicate diplomatic efforts to dissuade Palestinians from declaring statehood at the UN. (It's getting harder to be a friend of Israel when Netanyahu's government does crap like this)

Elephant poaching in Africa and Asia is being fuelled by China's economic boom, according to a study of the ivory trade. Authors of the new report found that the number of ivory items on sale in key centres in southern China has more than doubled since 2004, with most traded illegally. The survey comes amid reports of a dramatic rise in rhino poaching across Africa, and a spate of thefts of rhino horns from European museums and auction houses.

Though he has attracted countless eulogies in the two millenniums subsequent to his expiry, "phat", "sorted", and "wicked" are not adulatory terms traditionally associated with Jesus Christ. This failure on the part of posterity's imagination is, however, to the credit of an institution that has become a fixture of latter-day Christendom: the Christian teen camp. (A truly revolting development - these camps are coming to the UK)

Tariq Jahan has been hailed as a voice of reason. Only hours after holding his dead son in his arms, the grief-stricken father has provided hope for a peaceful resolution to a most horrific tragedy. His voice, full of pain, urged his community to stay away from any reprisal attacks for the killing of his son Haroon and two fellow young Muslim men. (This man is a is an asset to his country, showing dignified restraint in the face of intolerable circumstances)

When a scuba-diving Vladimir Putin found two ancient Greek urns on the floor of the Black Sea this week, it seemed a startling discovery. In his latest spurt of televised heroics, the Russian prime minister raised a triumphant thumb as he circled the pair of amphorae in shallow waters off the Taman peninsula near Ukraine. Critics said Putin's pots were suspiciously unmossy and were probably planted specially for him to discover. (Dobby the Diver's latest publicity drive)

'Sesame Street' characters Bert and Ernie are not gay, according to the show's makers. The clarification came after fans of the show started a petition to allow the pair to marry, following the legalisation of gay marriage in New York

The former Playboy Playmate and Baywatch star Donna D'Errico has had to cancel plans to discover the remains of Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat

The US and EU taxpayers need to ask their governments why they continue to fund and train Palestinian security forces that are harassing and intimidating women. And they also need to ask why their media representatives do not bother to report about human rights violations that are committed by the various branches of the Western-funded Palestinian security services. Palestinian women have become the latest victims of a security crackdown launched by Palestinian Authority security forces that are funded, equipped and trained by Americans and Europeans. (What are the odds of this story appearing in the Guardian or BBC? Zero)

An alleged mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings was extradited from Pakistan to Indonesia, after his arrest in the town where Osama bin Laden was killed, a security official said.

Woman, 25, killed herself and one other with explosive-laden vest in Peshawar after 14 people injured in nearby attack

A nine-year legal fight by a man sexually abused by a priest in the 1970s is over, now that a southern Illinois diocese and its insurer have handed over $6.3 million to resolve a jury award in the man's favor.

Warren Jeffs, the leader of the Fundamentalist Mormon church that practises polygamy, is likely to spend the rest of his life behind bars after he was given the maximum sentence for taking girls as young as 12 to be his brides. (A disgusting, dirty old man as is so often the case with cult leaders)

They advertise treatment for diabetes and thyroid disorders and a lot of people are buying. Brandon and Heather Credeur are chiropractors, a fact that caught many of their own patients by surprise when the CALL7 investigators started digging into their business practices. And now, the CALL7 Investigators have uncovered Web videos of Brandon Credeur himself, showing others how he's cashing in. In the videos, Credeur trains other chiropractors on how to tap into what he calls "niche" markets. (Shock news - chiropractic all about making money)

Narconon charged a woman $34,000 to treat her alcoholism, but did not inform her that the program is a recruitment tool for Scientology, and it refused to refund her money though she left after 2 days because of its "medically unsound" treatment and other misrepresentations, the woman and her husband say. (Narconon has long been known as a front for Scientology - the victims are partly to blame for not looking on the web for info before parting with dough. See this from 80 back in 2005)

Christianity will struggle to re-emerge from the mishmash of self-help groups it has become in America

Christian pharmacists fear they could face the sack if they refuse to hand out morning-after pills, under new guidelines issued by a medical regulator. Many pharmacists have conscientious moral objections to dispensing emergency contraception and have in the past refused to do so because the drugs work by preventing a fertilised egg from implanting in the womb. Some chemists and lawyers say the guidance circulated last week by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) effectively strips them of their right to object on religious grounds to handling such drugs. Many Christian, Jewish and Muslim pharmacists object to the drugs. (If you are a pharmacist then do your job. If you refuse to do the job then find something else to do. It is not for you to make moral judgements)

Former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos has denounced an art installation that combines religious symbols with phallic objects in a heated debate about freedom of expression. (She would have preferred a footware-based installation no doubt)

Following the events of 22 July in Norway – when Anders Behring Breivik, driven by a hatred of Islam, killed 77 people – there have been ample expressions of outrage, analysis and commentary, but little indication as to what must to be done to prevent Islamophobia spreading. (Here we go again. Perhaps the writer should define his terms - what is Islamophobia?)

Muslims living in the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, should fast longer during the Ramadan holy month, Dubai's leading clerics have said. During Ramadan, Muslims are supposed to not eat or drink between dawn and dusk. "Burj Khalifa is almost one km (0.6 miles) high, which means people in higher floors can still see the sun after it has set on the ground," Ahmed Abdul Aziz al-Haddad told Reuters. He said they should break their fast two minutes after those on the ground. (Who says these clerics are nitpicking?)

Exorcists report rising demand for their services. According to the president of the American Association of Exorcists, "I get thousands of emails from people concerned that they may have been demonically possessed". (The BBC seems to accept the reality of demonic possession)

Tehran — Gold-flecked ice cream wasn’t part of the picture that Shiite Muslim clerics painted during the Iranian Revolution, when they promised to lift the poor by distributing the country’s vast oil income equally across society. But more than three decades later, record oil profits have brought in billions of dollars, and some people here are enjoying that decadent dessert. The trouble is, it’s just a small group of wealthy Iranians. Despite the promises of the revolution, many here say the gap between rich and poor has never seemed bigger.

Controversy has erupted over comments made by the leading neuroscientist Lady Susan Greenfield suggesting links between the increase in internet usage and the rise in autism. A fellow Oxford professor condemned the remarks as "illogical garbage", while autism campaigners have described them as "unhelpful speculation" that would upset sufferers of behavioural and communication disorders and their families. (She have been a scientist at one time but her unsubstantiated speculations prove she is no longer)

The president of the English Chess Federation says he was barred from presenting prizes at the British chess championships in Sheffield because he was wearing a gay rights T-shirt.

Islamist fighters have pulled out from many bases in the Somali capital in a move that could speed up the delivery of humanitarian services to famine victims, the prime minister has said. Fighters have blocked many aid organisations from the south and have complicated efforts to help those in Mogadishu. (How many lives have been lost because of these Islamists?)

Nurit Peled-Elhanan, an Israeli academic, mother and political radical, summons up an image of rows of Jewish schoolchildren, bent over their books, learning about their neighbours, the Palestinians. But, she says, they are never referred to as Palestinians unless the context is terrorism. (No examples are given from the textbooks and no examples from Palestinian textbooks are quoted either. Poor stuff from the Guardian)

A MOSQUE teacher has admitted hitting pupils with a plastic overflow pipe to stop them misbehaving in class. Married father-of-eight Ibrahim Yusuf, 52, of Preston New Road, pleaded guilty to four charges of assault while he was taking a lesson at the Grimshaw Street mosque. Yusuf, a mosque teacher of 36 years, responded to some unruly behaviour in his class by striking four boys, including one with learning difficulties

Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, has told a gathering of soldiers that he's seeking divine support from the indigenous deities and spirits of the nation's central plains to help him survive cancer.

Rick Perry, one of the leading Republican contenders for the 2012 White House race, is under fire after organising a huge Christian evangelical rally at a football stadium in Houston, Texas.

In an unusual move for a newspaper, the Jerusalem Post has published a full-length editorial apologising for a previous editorial which attracted widespread criticism for its comments on last month's Oslo massacre.

The story of how the "most faithful dog in the world" kept a 14-year vigil at his master's grave in Edinburgh was nothing but a Victorian business stunt, a historian has claimed.

A couple have been charged with preparing for acts of terrorism. Mohammed Sajid Khan, 32, and Shasta Khan, 37, of Oldham, Greater Manchester, are accused of engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism.

Islamic punk was just an idea in a novel by a disaffected Muslim convert – but for the bands he inspired around the world the scene became real. Now, as The Taqwacores is about to be released, has the scene has already betrayed its ideals?

The one-time alternative face of Colonel Gaddafi's regime, his son, Saif al-Islam, has declared allegiance to Islamists whom he had previously branded as lead-conspirators in the five-month rebellion that has crippled Libya. (Sounds like desperation)

A week after the White House press secretary Carney lashed out at Fox's new chief White House correspondent during a debt deal briefing, the cable channel's morning show hosts took a swipe at President Obama's statement honoring the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

A television station has dropped a series of commercials to mark the Muslim month of Ramadan after viewers complained that the ads insulted Malaysia's non-Muslim ethnic minorities. (Now that is a rarity - Islam taking note of the feelings of non-Muslims)

Jim Allister is on the warpath again. This time, he’s riled because a marcher in the Pride parade held up a sign saying ‘Jesus had two dads and he turned out fine’. Jim’s already been on to the Parades Commission and the police and he wants the Pride organisers to be held to account for this “blasphemous” placard. (A plea for some sanity from Fionola Meredith)

India's Amarnath ice 'Shivalingam,' a stalagmite worshipped by Hindus as the phallus of Lord Shiva, has melted because growing numbers of devotees are generating too much body heat, officials said. (Sounds like some Vedic Viagra is called for)

The city council of South America's biggest city has adopted legislation calling for a Heterosexual Pride Day to be celebrated on the third Sunday of each December.

Police in Idaho Falls have told a man to stop wearing a bunny suit in public after people complained he has been frightening children. While a police report said other residents were "greatly disturbed" by his activities, one neighbour defended Falkingham as eccentric but otherwise harmless. "He's got the bunny outfit, a cowboy suit and a ballerina dress but you don't see him except where he's tripping through his backyard," Deborah Colson told Reuters. "He's got a strange lifestyle at home but we all do weird things at home."

Villagers in Indonesia have resorted to lying on train tracks to treat illnesses using electrical currents that run through the lines. Poverty and desperation has led natives of the Rawa Buaya village, near Indonesian capital Jakarta, to flock to train tracks in the belief that electrical streams will cure their ailments. Many believe an urban myth in the area that a paralysed Chinese man was cured on a train line while trying to commit suicide. (The picture accompanying the story shows an overhead electricity supply (pantograph) not through the rails)

A Christian midwife is suing a hospital for making her wear trousers in the operating theatre – because she claims the Bible forbids women from putting on men’s clothing. She cites a command in the Book of Deuteronomy that people should not wear clothing meant for the other gender. Mrs Adewole, who still works at Queen’s Hospital in Romford, Essex, stands to win thousands of pounds in compensation if she succeeds in her claim.

Mitt Romney, arguably the leading Republican candidate for president of the United States in the 2012 election, recently significantly diminished his prospects for obtaining the support he needs from the right wing of his party. How did he do this? He simply declared that he believes the Earth is warming, and that human activities are responsible.

Women receiving advice from pregnancy counselling centres run by faith-based organisations are subjected to scaremongering, emotive language and inaccurate information about abortion, according to an undercover investigation by a pro-choice charity.

Abortion, say medical experts, is a pretty safe procedure when carried out in the early weeks of pregnancy. This is the official view on the Department of Health's NHS Choices website. That does not stop the controversy – fuelled, say pro-choice campaigners, by misinformation or deliberately partial interpretations of research. Among the myths circulated are that abortion increases a woman's risk of breast cancer or can make her infertile

An Italian parliamentary commission has approved a draft law banning women from wearing veils that cover their faces in public. The draft, which was passed by the constitutional affairs commission on Tuesday, would prohibit women from wearing a burqa, naqib or any other garment that covers the face in such circumstances. It would expand a decades-old law that for security reasons prohibits people from wearing face-covering items such as masks in public places.

Swedish sea treasure hunters have found something extraordinary: A 60-foot disc sunk in the bottom of the ocean, with what appears to be 985-foot-long impact tracks leading to it. (UFO? Probably not)

WAS slavery an idyllic world of stable families headed by married parents? The recent controversy over “The Marriage Vow,” a document endorsed by the Republican presidential candidates Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum, might seem like just another example of how racial politics and historical ignorance are perennial features of the election cycle.

The Shabab Islamist insurgent group, which controls much of southern Somalia, is blocking starving people from fleeing the country and setting up a cantonment camp where it is imprisoning displaced people who were trying to escape Shabab territory. (Islam shows its caring side)

Crop circles are now made using lasers, microwaves and GPS technology to create ever larger and more elaborate patterns, scientist claims as days of using planks and rope long gone.

Tea Party madness has brought the US to the brink of economic mayhem, risking taking much of the world with it. In the face of obdurate unreason, the president of hyper-reasonableness was forced to surrender. The economic credibility of the country that holds the global reserve currency has wobbled. The political credibility of the world's beacon of democracy has failed in the face of an insurgency of unreason. Facts, evidence, probability, possibility – none of that matters to a movement founded on ferocious fantasy. (Sensible piece by Toynbee predictably attracts apologists for the lunatic Tea Baggers)

Here's what I want to find in my local NHS hospital: tip-top technology, well-trained doctors, kind nurses, efficient administrators, clean floors, and one of those anti-bacterial hand-wash dispensers at every door. But if I found Voodoo dolls, snakes and shamans, I'd rather die at home. Thanks to the National Lottery, this prospect is no longer far-fetched: at the Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield, it is paying for alternative healers to run their hands over patients for 20 minutes in the hope that "positive energy" will cure them. (Odone, for it is she, starts off sensibly but then reverts to the usual drivel)

If Bachmann's oppostion -- and that of some of her fellow Tea Partiers -- to raising the debt ceiling seems fraught with a fervor best described as religious, perhaps that's because it is. For Bachmann and some of her right-wing evangelical compatriots, financial, fiscal and economic issues are not matters to be considered with the knowledge imparted by economists and policy experts, but rather through the economic policy of ancient Israel as described in the Holy Bible. (Barking. Bloody. Mad)

An Australian designer has apologised for naming one of its garments after the Bergen-Belsen Nazi concentration camp. The label Evil Twin said it was a "serious oversight" that one of its jackets had been named the "Belsen Was A Gas" parka. (Let's hope these bastards go broke)

The debate over bullfighting has been reignited in Spain after the government recognised the spectacle as "an artistic discipline and cultural product", delighting enthusiasts but outraging animal rights campaigners. (Torturing animals for entertainment is sick)

China said on Monday that Islamic extremists were behind an attack on the eve of the Muslim fasting month in the restive western region of Xinjiang that left 11 people dead.

When the English Defense League sprang to life two years ago, it had fewer than 50 members — a rough-and-tumble bunch of mostly white guys shouting from a street corner about what they viewed as uncontrolled Muslim immigration. Now, the far-right group mentioned by confessed Norway gunman Anders Behring Breivik as an inspiration says its ranks have swollen to more than 10,000 people, a spectacular rise its leaders attribute to the immense global power of Facebook and other social networking sites. (A thoroughly depressing development)

Outspoken singer Morrissey is refusing to retract controversial comments he made comparing the massacre in Norway to the daily slaughter of animals for fast food outlets, insisting they are morally equivalent. The staunch vegetarian launched into the rant while onstage in Warsaw, Poland last weekend, just two days after two terror attacks in Oslo plunged the Norwegian nation into mourning. (In case you were wondering if Morrissey is still an idiot...)

Turkey awoke to a new era Saturday, one in which military generals irked by their government’s behavior don’t stage a coup or throw a tantrum — they seek early retirement. The decision by the top four figures in the military establishment to step down Friday stunned many in a country long accustomed to its military calling the shots. But as the dust settled, the realization dawned that the dramatic move was just one more step in the erosion of the military’s power in favor of civilian government that has taken place under the rule of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

al-Qaeda's military leader in Yemen called for Saudi rulers to be killed as "apostates," in an audio tape released on Friday, SITE Intelligence Group reported.

An Iranian man convicted of throwing acid in the face of a female student who was to have been blinded himself on Sunday in retribution was pardoned by his victim, the state-run television website said. "With the request of Ameneh Bahrami, the acid attack victim, Majid (Movahedi) who was sentenced for 'qesas' ('eye for an eye'-style justice) was pardoned at the last minute" after she decided to forgo her right, it said. Amnesty International said in a statement Sunday that the case highlighted the need for legal reforms in Iran as the "cruel punishment which amounts to torture (is) prohibited under international law". The Islamic sharia code in force in Iran provides for retributive justice, most commonly for murder or for those convicted of causing intentional physical injury.

The gunmen who shot dead the Libyan rebels' military chief Abdul Fatah Younis were members of an Islamist-linked militia allied to the campaign to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi, according to a National Transitional Council minister. After 24 hours of confusion surrounding the death, the NTC's oil minister, Ali Tarhouni, said Younis had been killed by members of the Obaida Ibn Jarrah Brigade, a militia named after one of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad, suggesting that Islamist elements were involved.

Our main concern here is equality: 9/11 was a faith-based American tragedy that affected everyone. However, the Christian community rallied around a T-joint they found in the rubble and secured what is, in effect, a sole representation in the memorial, for itself, to the exclusion of all other religions and philosophies. This is unfair to the hundreds of secular people who died on 9/11, as well as the hundreds more non-Christian theistic victims. We all deserve equal representation.

Tens of thousands of ultraconservative Muslims in long beards, robes and prayer caps thronged Cairo's central Tahrir Square in a massive show of force Friday, calling for the implementation of strict Islamic laws and sparring with liberal activists over their visions for a post-revolution Egypt. It was the first rally with religious overtones in Egypt, and one of the largest, since the uprising that forced President Hosni Mubarak to step down in mid-February. The strong showing by the Islamists demonstrated their powerful organizational abilities, which will likely help them in parliamentary elections later this year. (It looks like the Arab Spring will go straight to Islamic Winter)

He is one of South America's most powerful televangelists, a billionaire preacher and media mogul who presides over one of the world's fastest-growing and most controversial Pentecostal churches. But despite controlling one of Brazil's largest communications empires, Bishop Edir Macedo, the head of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, is urging his followers to embark on a complete media fast. Many suspect the move, however, is a tactic to divert followers' attention from bad press.

The pope's aides feel they have been unfairly attacked, and some suspect a political motive. One high-ranking cleric who spoke on condition of anonymity noted Ireland was caught up in the euro crisis and speculated that Kenny might have been seeking to distract public opinion. (How sick can these bastards get? These people have been raping children)

WEDNESDAY found both the British prime minister and the Irish taoiseach passionately addressing their parliaments about the demystified lords of their universes.

A new Wakefield nightclub has been accused by a bishop of "trivialising" people's faith by naming club nights Mass, Resurrection and Salvation. The club, Religion, also sells cocktails with names like Angel Wings. The Bishop of Wakefield, the Right Reverend Stephen Platten, said: "For people who are religious, those words are seen as key issues to their life." (Sad, deluded people. Platten is a po-faced killjoy with a persecution complex)

An IT graduate who wrote messages on an Islamic extremist website calling on Muslims to "raise the knife of jihad" and attack and kill British MPs who voted in favour of the war in Iraq has been jailed for 12 years.

Ministers have abandoned an inquiry into the rise of secretive Sharia councils that deal in Islamic justice – because the Muslim courts refused to help. The failure of the Ministry of Justice probe has generated new fears among politicians and pressure groups about the increasing influence of Sharia courts. They are worried the courts' decisions may run against the law of the land, particularly in divorce settlements for women.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/29/afghanistan-bombs-bus-tractor-helmand

Roadside mines have killed 23 civilians in southern Afghanistan, with a minibus and a tractor struck separately by explosives in Helmand province, according to officials. (The peace that Islam brings)

Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five and young adult novel Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler have both been banned from a school curriculum and library in a Missouri school following complaints from a local professor about children being exposed to "shocking material". (Idiots. "Yet she increased her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth when she engaged in prostitution in the land of Egypt. She lusted after their genitals as large as those of donkeys, and their seminal emission was as strong as that of stallions." Ezekiel 23:19-20)

Nearly twice as many Germans left the Roman Catholic Church in 2010 as the year before, as the country faced a spate of cases of priests allegedly sexually abusing minors.

Anders Breivik, who last week killed 76 people in two terrorist attacks in Norway, claims to be defending the western world against Islamisation. That is paradoxical, for in his manifesto – a 1,500-page work in which he explains his actions – one finds ideas that are everything but Western. (A Christian Taleban with a thing for uniforms - and mass murder)

When 5,000 Christian travellers descended on a small village, locals hoped the disruption would be limited to a few late-night hymns. Instead, their gardens were used as toilets, some were subjected to foul-mouthed abuse and had missiles thrown at their homes, and the local chapel was broken into. Pubs and local shops closed their doors amid claims of fights and thefts, and homeowners were advised by police to stay indoors.

New research suggesting that cloud cover, not carbon dioxide, causes global warming is getting buzz in climate skeptic circles. But mainstream climate scientists dismissed the research as unrealistic and politically motivated.

Islamic extremists have launched a poster campaign across the UK proclaiming areas where Sharia law enforcement zones have been set up. Communities have been bombarded with the posters, which read: ‘You are entering a Sharia-controlled zone – Islamic rules enforced.’ (Who are the enforcers? Islamist thugs. Want sharia? Then leave Britain and seek it elsewhere. Oh it's Choudhary - full of piss and wind as usual. Nothing to see here apart from a buffoonish blowhard)

The inability to speak a host country’s language reinforces dangerous divisions in society – and it is a very reasonable requirement of any immigrant. (Speaking basic English must be a requirement for those wishing to live in the UK. Even that minimum standard is being challenged on Human Rights grounds. This is a nonsense and stems from British courts' absurd interpretation of rights legislation)

Al-Qaida leader Zawahri praises Syrian protesters

Pope's UK visit prompts increase in sex abuse allegations against church

LeRoy Carhart travels from his home in Nebraska almost every week to perform abortions at a clinic in Germantown, Md. He rarely stays at the same hotel twice. He rolls dice to pick the route he’ll take to work, because “the biggest part of security is not being predictable,” he said. As one of the few doctors in the nation who openly acknowledge performing abortions late in a pregnancy, and because he wants to expand his services, Carhart is the top focus of antiabortion groups. He took on that role after Kansas doctor George Tiller, his friend and mentor, was fatally shot by an abortion opponent in 2009. Tiller was attending church at the time — the only predictable event in his schedule. (Things can only get worse looking at the rabid nutters on the far right)

Major West End stores like Selfridges are cashing in as Middle Eastern tourists desert Paris because of the French burka ban. Traders in London have noticed a surge in tourists from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in recent months. With the French Government making it clear that foreigners will not be exempted from prosecution, there is mounting evidence that wealthy visitors from the Middle East have voted with their wallets. (No one should be allowed to wear a mask in a public place)

A council which makes nearly £50 million a year from parking has upset local churches by planning to charge motorists to leave their cars on the street on Sundays. The City of Westminster in central London has found itself embroiled in a God versus Mammon battle after it announced the proposals. Feelings have been running so high among churchgoers that 3,500 took to the streets to protest about the plans earlier this week. (Why should supernatural beliefs exempt people from parking fees?)

The US development agency USAid said the $28m (£17m) it pledged to Somalia this week would target areas hardest hit by the drought. But, given the strength of feeling the Americans have towards al-Shabaab – it's on a list of terrorist organisations – and the fact that it controls the two areas of Somalia the UN declared to be famine zones, Bakool and Lower Shabelle, it is difficult to see how those most in need will benefit from the money.

Pop the champagne corks. The Texas Board of Education has unanimously come down on the side of evolution. In 14-0* vote, the board today approved scientifically accurate high school biology textbook supplements from established mainstream publishers--and did not approve the creationist-backed supplements from International Databases, LLC. (That this is news says a lot about religious interference with education standards in the US)

Top Israeli officials were gathering Sunday to discuss relations with Turkey in the wake of the Turkish prime minister slamming Israel's "spoiled" and "inhuman" actions. Israel's relations with Turkey reached rock bottom last summer, when nine activists on board the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish ship filled with aid and 700 activists from various countries, died in clashes with Israeli Navy commandos when attempting to break Israel's blockade of Gaza. (Nine activists? Jihadis out to provoke is more like it)

Victims of sexual abuse by priests will no longer be able to sue the Catholic church for damages if a landmark judgment rules that priests should not be considered as employees. In a little publicised case heard this month at the high court, the church claimed that it is not "vicariously liable" for priests' actions. The church has employed the argument in the past but this was the first time it had been used in open court and a ruling in the church's favour would set a legal precedent. (This may well legally correct but also serves to show the Church's concern only for itself and not the victims of abuse)

Frontline runs a ministry called Life, a group connected to a larger, US-based organisation "called and ordained to set people free from homosexuality through the truth and power of God and His Son, Jesus Christ". (Worrying piece about Christian loonies and their take on homosexuality)

A law has come into force in Belgium banning women from wearing the full Islamic veil in public. The country is the second European Union nation after France to enforce such a ban. Offenders face a fine of 137.5 euros (£121; $197) and up to seven days in jail. Two women who wear full veils launched an immediate court challenge, saying the law is discriminatory.

A disturbing video of the public execution of three men in Iran has sparked anger among human rights activists. The graphic video, released by Amnesty International on Thursday, showed guards standing on top of buses draping ropes around necks of three convicts sentenced to death by hanging after being convicted of rape. The men were later hanged from an overhead bridge after the vehicles drove away.

Iran's former culture minister, Ataollah Mohajerani, has criticised the country's supreme leader theocratic dictator for restricting access to literature after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei publicly attacked "harmful books" and likened them to "poisonous" drugs

The Dutch Parliament has passed legislation outlawing any form of slaughter where animals are not stunned prior to killing, leading to calls of discrimination from Jewish and Muslims community leaders. The bill was passed with a majority of 116 out of 150 votes in the lower house and states that religion cannot be a reason in itself to allow slaughter without stunning. (Excellent news. Now they have set an example which countries will follow suit?)

However, despite calls for subjects such as religious education and music to be included in the EBacc, the Department for Education said Education Secretary Michael Gove was "minded to leave the subjects unchanged". The Religious Education Council of England and Wales said that excluding RE from the EBacc was already causing a drop in the number of schools offering it as a GCSE and would "gravely weaken" the subject.

The debate over teaching evolution in public schools is resurfacing at the Texas State Board of Education. The board is meeting to consider supplemental science materials for the upcoming school year and beyond. The Republican-dominated board drew national attention in 2009 when it adopted science standards encouraging schools to scrutinize "all sides" of scientific theory. (There is no evidence that contradicts evolution - none. Perhaps they will reach that conclusion. OK, so I'm dreaming)

In the late 1970s, Titus played an instrumental role in launching the law school at Oral Roberts University (ORU), from which GOP presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann graduated in 1986. Titus, who rejected his Harvard Law School education after reading the work of R.J. Rushdoony, the late founder of Christian Reconstructionism, was moved to exercise what he believes is a “dominion mandate” to “restore the Bible to legal education.” To teach, in other words, that Christianity is the basis of our law, that lawyers and judges should follow God's law, and that the failure to do so is evidence of a “tyrannical,” leftist agenda.

Two Taliban spokesmen have said their mobile phones, emails and a website have been hacked into and messages issued falsely reporting the death of the movement's supreme leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar. The one-eyed, reclusive leader, is one of the most wanted men in the world. He is believed to be living in Pakistan, probably in the city of Quetta, but Pakistan and the Taliban movement both say he is in Afghanistan.

Ireland's prime minister has launched an unprecedented attack on the Vatican, accusing it of downplaying the rape and torture of Irish children by clerical sex abusers. Enda Kenny said in parliament that the Cloyne report, released on 13 July, had exposed the Vatican's attempt to frustrate the inquiry into child sex abuse. During a debate on the fallout from the Cloyne findings, the taoiseach said the report had illuminated the dysfunction and elitism still dominant in the Vatican.

The Vatican and Malaysia established diplomatic relations on Monday in the wake of tensions between Muslims and religious minorities in the Southeast Asian nation. The Vatican announced the agreement after Pope Benedict XVI met with Malaysia's prime minister, only the second meeting between a government chief from the Southeast Asian nation and a pontiff. The first was in 2002 for talks focusing on Christian-Muslim relations.

Four men in Sydney are being investigated after breaking into a man's house late at night and whipping him 40 times for breaching Islamic law by drinking alcohol.

Andrew Strauss and Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be encouraged to help stamp out corruption in cricket by taking lie-detector tests as the MCC use the occasion of the 2,000th Test match to step up their campaign to clean up the game. The controversial proposal is the brainchild of Steve Waugh, the former Australia captain, who wants leading captains such as Strauss and Dhoni to act as ambassadors and role models by voluntarily putting their reputations on the line. (It's a bloody stupid idea)

Syria's protest movement struggled to keep the uprising peaceful and non-sectarian on Monday after at least 10 people, and possibly up to 30, were reported dead during the first allegedly factional clashes in Homs, a flashpoint city where Sunni and Alawi neighbourhoods sit side by side.

God’s Law is the Only Law: The Genesis of Michele Bachmann (Good article by Sarah Posner)

People who don't like LGBT people often cite a range of reasons for their disdain. Take GOP presidential contender Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., and her husband, Marcus. Gay people are "barbarians," Marcus Bachmann told a radio interviewer for a Christian program last year. LGBT people practice "sexual anarchy," Michele Bachmann told a conference of Minnesota educators in 2004, and could wind up recruiting 8-year-old boys to their way of life if openly gay teachers are permitted in the classroom.

Herman Cain, the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO and Republican presidential candidate, has said American communities have a right to ban Islamic mosques. Appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” Mr Cain said protests and legal challenges to a planned mosque in Tennessee city are an example of local residents pushing back. Mr Cain argued that his view does amount to religious discrimination because he says Muslims are trying to inject Shariah law into the US. (Cain is a fool - all he has done is to give CAIR another chance to whine about anti-Muslim bigotry)

Northern Ireland's first police ombudsman and one of its most prominent Catholics has called for an island-wide independent investigation into clerical child abuse. Lady O'Loan's call comes in the aftermath of the Cloyne report into priests who sexually abused children in the Co Cork diocese.

Detectives are warning people that men posing as faith healers have been targeting Asian families in Leeds. Two men claiming to be collecting for charity went to a house on Grange Avenue in Chapeltown on Friday. West Yorkshire Police said the pair went on to claim the householder was ill and that black magic was affecting his home. They spoke to the family about how they could help lift the black magic and then demanded £501 for the service. (That's an oddly exact sum)

Lately, there would seem to be a whole lot more people who have a direct channel to the Big Guy Upstairs than one could have humanly thought possible. It is oft-said that "God works in mysterious ways". But when Michele Bachmann hears voices telling her to run for president, am I the only who thinks the most likely explanation is a batch of bad clams or one-too-many nights role playing The Book of Eli with her equally demented husband Marcus?

Sceptics love to poke fun at cryptozoologists, but there are strange creatures out there whose existence has yet to be confirmed by science. (An attempt to dignify this area of research. The image problem is caused by the sheer number of Chupacabra/Bigfoot/Yeti/Loch Ness monster loons around. The writer's portrayal of science as closed-minded is bunk)

The Vatican excommunicated a Chinese bishop as relations between the Catholic Church and the government in Beijing plunged to their lowest level in recent memory. Joseph Huang Bingzhang was thrown out of the church just two days after he was ordained without papal approval as bishop of Shantou.

Two brothers attacked and killed a man because they thought his relationship with their mother brought "dishonour" on their family, prosecutors said. Sarenjeet Lotey, 22 and Sandeep Lotey, 24, both from Milton Keynes, were jailed after they admitted the manslaughter of Vijay Thaper, 61. Mr Thaper suffered injuries outside his home in Bloxwich on 13 January 2010 and died a few months later. (There is no honor in murder. Perhaps these idiots now realize that)

The Lutheran denomination that GOP presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann quit in June sought to explain its belief that the papacy is the anti-Christ after reports questioned whether Bachmann is anti-Catholic. “As a confessional Lutheran church, we hold to the teachings of Martin Luther who himself maintained the papacy, and in turn the pope, has set himself up in place of Christ, and so is the anti-Christ" (How about Luther's well documented anti-Semitism? Do they subscribe to that as well?)

The conservative church that Michele Bachmann officially left days before launching her presidential campaign said Friday that the Minnesota congresswoman’s decision came at their request. “The impetus came from the church,” said Joel Hochmuth, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, the denominational organization that includes the church. “For the pastor’s sake, he wanted to know where he stood with the family.” The timing raised questions because it came shortly before she formally kicked off her presidential campaign in Waterloo, Iowa, and because the church has taken controversial stands on Catholicism and homosexuality.

A Palestinian activist  Israeli citizen and Islamist detained on the orders of home secretary Theresa May after flying into Britain to speak to politicians is to be freed on bail by a high court judge pending the outcome of legal challenges. (There, it's fixed. Why is this person still in the UK? Kick him out)

THE prospects of a visit by the Pope to Ireland next summer have receded , as the Government's relations with the Vatican sharply deteriorated. In his first comment on the Cloyne Report, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said it was "disgraceful" that the Vatican ignored child protection safeguards agreed by the Irish bishops. Mr Kenny's criticism was a prelude to the Papal Nuncio being summoned to Iveagh House, where Tanaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Eamon Gilmore demanded an explanation for Rome's "inappropriate" intervention in Irish affairs.

Ireland's prime minister has denounced the Vatican's approach to allegations of child abuse in the republic as absolutely disgraceful. Enda Kenny said new laws are being drawn up that will make it impossible for anyone – even those high up in the Roman Catholic church – to avoid their obligations regarding reports of child abuse. "The law of the land should not be stopped by crosier, or by collar," Kenny said.

BBC News Online examines the implications of Irish Justice Minister Alan Shatter's planned legislation to deal with the withholding of information about child abuse. Could it bring the state into direct conflict with the Catholic Church? (It's about bloody time)

The number of Britons choosing to become Muslims has nearly doubled in the past decade, according to one of the most comprehensive attempts to estimate how many people have embraced Islam. (if these numbers are accurate it is deeply depressing news)

A suicide attack inside a mosque in Kandahar in Afghanistan has killed the head of the provincial religious council and at least three others, the interior ministry and the provincial government said.

A devastating report into clerical child abuse in an Irish Catholic diocese has accused the Vatican of being "entirely unhelpful" in dealing with allegations of sexual exploitation. It also singled out an Irish bishop who was the close confidant of three popes for deliberately misleading authorities in the republic about the church's internal inquiries into children's claims that priests were abusing them.

A report published on Wednesday has criticised a Catholic diocese in County Cork for a failure to report all complaints of abuse to police. The Commission of Investigation into the Diocese of Cloyne investigated how allegations against 19 priests were dealt with between 1996 and 2009. The report said Bishop of Cloyne John Magee could not avoid "responsibility by blaming subordinates". (Still more evidence of vile, hypocritical and criminal behavior comes to light)

Rick Perry Partners With "Apostle" Who Thinks the Statue of Liberty Is a "Demonic Idol" In a sermon last August, Benefiel argued that America is under a curse from God because the country possesses monuments to pagan idols and that Americans needs to renounce those idols if not destroy them. Benefiel claims that the Statue of Liberty is in fact a “demonic idol” because it represents a “false goddess.”

The Church of England will cease to exist in 20 years as the current generation of elderly worshippers dies, Anglican leaders warned yesterday. The average age of its members is now 61 and by 2020 a “crisis” of “natural wastage” will lead to their numbers falling “through the floor”, the Church’s national assembly was told. (Oh dear, how sad, never mind)

A new generation of scanning technology, watchlists, no-fly lists and databases to track terrorist travel was promised by the home secretary, Theresa May, on Tuesday as she published the government's new counter-terrorism strategy. She indicated that the Home Office will no longer rely on seeking "difficult to negotiate" general agreements of no torture and no ill-treatment with countries such as Algeria in order to deport foreign terror suspects, but instead will try to strike individual deals in each case.

Most consumers seem to think all alternative treatments are natural and therefore safe. I have repeatedly pointed out that this is not necessarily true. Some alternative therapies are associated with very significant risks. Chiropractic, for instance, has left many patients in wheelchairs and some have even died.¹ Yet most chiropractors vehemently deny any responsibility. (Edzard Ernst)

Do atheists really misunderstand religion? I read the recent piece in Tikkun by Be Scofield, "5 Myths Atheists Believe about Religion" (reprinted in AlterNet as "5 Things Atheists Have Wrong About Religion"), with a fair degree of both trepidation and curiosity. Trepidation... because my experience has been that, when believers write about atheists, they usually get it laughably and even insultingly wrong. (Excellent stuff from Greta Christina)

As Republican presidential contender Michele Bachmann has surged in the polls, the spotlight has turned on her husband and main political adviser, Marcus Bachmann, who has a PhD in clinical psychology and owns two Christian counseling centers in Minnesota. There has been a great deal of speculation that his clinics, which have received $161,000 in state and federal funding, try to cure homosexuality—and the chatter has only grown louder since his comments likening gays to “barbarians” who “need to be educated” and “disciplined” surfaced in the blogosphere last week.

A Thai man has appeared in a South African court on charges related to smuggling rhino horns. Chumlong Lemtongthai, 43, has been described as a "leading figure" in international rhino poaching. He was arrested in Johannesburg after a year-long investigation, officials said. There has been a sharp increase in rhino killings in recent years to fuel the demand in Asia, where it is used in traditional medicine. (They may well get this little bastard but what's needed is education. It is the belief in traditional medicine that is killing rhinos. China in particular is not doing anywhere near enough)

Thousands of Nigerians are fleeing the north-eastern city of Maiduguri following a spate of recent attacks, which have killed at least 40 people. Some of those leaving are students after the university was closed. The attacks have been carried out by the radical Islamist group, Boko Haram, which opposes Western education and fights for Islamic rule.

The world did not end on May 21 as Harold Camping, an Oakland evangelist, predicted. But some would still like to see Armageddon — for Mr. Camping’s radio empire. Several people have filed complaints with the Federal Communications Commission demanding that the licenses of dozens of AM and FM radio stations owned by Family Radio, Mr. Camping’s broadcast ministry, be revoked

The only suspect arrested in the case of a woman mutilated for leaving her husband has been released, local Afghan officials and the woman’s father said Monday, in a move that has angered human rights advocates and the woman’s family.

The son of the opera star Placido Domingo claims he has been targeted by Scientologists after leaving the organisation. Placido Domingo Jr, a singer and composer, accused the controversial group of treating him in a "scary and pathetic" way. Mr Domingo said he had been asked to sever ties with his ex-wife, who had become a vocal critic of the organisation, and to only communicate with her and their three daughters through a lawyer. ("Scary and pathetic"- not bad, although sinister and clownish is a better description of this cult)

Plans to erect the world's biggest statue of Jesus on a hill overlooking Croatia's second-largest city sparked a backlash in the staunchly Catholic country, with thousands opposing it on Facebook Monday. "It would be a tourist attraction, a new shrine ... We are however a Catholic town and a Catholic country," he said. On Monday, almost 4,000 people liked the Facebook page entitled: "Kerum, in Jesus' name, don't build Jesus" – some arguing the money could be better spent on windmills or solar panels.

A group of faith healers who claim they have miracle cures for cancer and HIV have been condemned as "irresponsible, even criminal" by a professor of complementary medicine, following a BBC Newsnight investigation. The group of healers, collectively known as ThetaHealing, claim that their technique - which focuses on thought and prayer - can teach people to use their natural intuition and "brain wave cycle" to "create instantaneous physical and emotional healing." (Just deluded or irresponsible money-grubbing liars? Ooh, that's a tough one)

Here's what you might not know about Rupert Murdoch: he’s one of the leading religion publishers in the world. So are religious moralizers and others writing about religious and/or “moral” themes prepared to enrich the Murdoch “ media juggernaut” forever while Rupert Murdoch further corrupts UK, American and Australian politics while his companies trade in human misery for profit by hacking murder victim's phones, paying off the police, elevating smut to a national sport and even hacking the phones of killed soldiers’ families?

The Nigerian army says it has killed 11 Islamic militants in the troubled north-eastern city of Maiduguri. An army patrol had come under attack from Boko Haram fighters, who want to establish an Islamic state in the north, said an army statement.

Bishops, nuns and rabbis are joining the environmental and social debate over natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale region, and many are seeking a balance that reflects their congregations.

Britain, the US and Canada have approved a new round of travel restrictions targeting the Iranian regime, including members of the judiciary and prison officials. The British foreign secretary, William Hague, said on Friday that the punitive measures were aimed at individuals associated with Iran's nuclear programme as well as those involved in the violation of human rights in the country.

Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets of Tunis Thursday to condemn extremism amid unease over last month's attack by Salafist Muslims on a cinema showing a film about secularism. Demonstrators held aloft banners in support of "a modern, independent Tunisia" and "a progressive state" as they marched along Mohamed V avenue in the rally which followed calls by several political groups. "It's a citizen initiative that aims to show that Tunisia belongs to everyone, that we are witnessing worrying phenomena that must quickly come to an end," said Ahmed Brahim, leader of the left-wing Ettajdid party. (Islam and free speech are fundamentally incompatible)

Israel has thus far been successful in preventing the entry of 200 passengers wishing to come to Israel as part of the Welcome to Palestine campaign, which had organized a "fly-in" to the Middle East this weekend for solidarity visits in the Palestinian territories. (Perhaps they wanted to go shopping in Gaza's new mall)

Iran has executed an average of almost two people a day in the first six months of this year, human rights groups have warned. The sharp escalation in the use of capital punishment comes at a time when the Islamic regime is fighting to prevent pro-democracy movements similar to those that have been sweeping across the Middle East from taking hold in the country. Human rights groups that have been carefully monitoring the rate of executions in Iran said the authorities had launched a fresh campaign of secret and mass hangings of prisoners in the provinces. (The theocratic scum that rules Iran is petrified that the so-called Arab Spring will inspire the opposition and uses judicial murder as a weapon)

Egypt's military-backed transitional government is bracing itself for the largest protest yet against its rule on Friday with plans for a "million-strong" rally to defend the revolution at Tahrir Square. In a rare show of unity, Egypt's largest political Islamist movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, will join a vast array of liberal, leftist and secular political forces, including youth representatives from this year's anti-Mubarak uprising. (Any movement that contains Islamists is tainted)

With Mitt Romney narrowly leading the pack of those vying for the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination, journalists will no doubt continue to comb his past for evidence of underlying beliefs that might influence a Romney presidency, but so far the press has missed a 2008 Romney radio show appearance in which the former Massachusetts governor endorsed The Making of America, by fringe New World Order conspiracy theorist Cleon Skousen, a former Brigham Young University professor of Romney's, and also cited Skousen's opinions concerning the question of the Second Coming. Here's video of the interchange--which Mitt Romney may have difficulty explaining, especially in context of his carefully coiffed persona as a moderate Republican.

The Roman Catholic church's liability for the wrongdoings of its priests is being tested in a high court hearing that could have a significant impact on clerical sexual abuse cases. Mr Justice MacDuff has been asked to decide if the relationship between a bishop and a priest is similar to that between employers and their staff. (Is this really in doubt? It seems the bishop is the boss - except when it is advantageous not to be. Hypocrites all)

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ordered the immediate cancellation of plans to segregate sexes at some universities, criticising the move as "shallow and unwise," his website reported. The order comes amid a campaign by the ultraconservative and religious camps dominating the Iranian regime for the abolition of co-education in universities for the new academic year.

A US army psychiatrist charged over a 2009 killing rampage at a Texas military base will face a court martial where he could be sentenced to death, a military commander has ruled. Major Nidal Malik Hasan, 40, who US officials have linked to a radical Muslim cleric in Yemen, has been charged over the Fort Hood shootings in which 13 people were killed and 32 wounded.

American officials have warned airlines that they believe al-Qaida is developing "belly bombs" to beat airport security and allow suicide bombers to launch terror attacks on board passenger planes.

Human rights activists have raised serious concerns about a lawyer who fell foul of Iran's Islamic regime for highlighting the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery.

Rupert Murdoch has taken the highly unusual step of issuing an official public statement backing Rebekah Brooks over the phone-hacking scandal engulfing his UK newspaper business. (With luck the harpy will drag the old monster down with her)

The US blog-led news site The Huffington Post is launching its UK edition on Wednesday. It launched a Canadian version in May, but the UK edition will be the first one outside North America. (Huffpo is a piece of woo-ridden crap - here's hoping it crashes and burns)

Three soldiers were injured Wednesday when a bomb hit a military checkpoint in the troubled northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri where attacks by suspected Islamist radicals have killed dozens, the army said. The blast occurred early morning near a food market in a densely populated low-to-middle class neighbourhood in the heart of the city. (Islam and violence - the inseparable companions)

A Pakistani commission investigating the U.S. raid that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden said the terror leader's family can not leave the country without its consent. Three of bin Laden's wives and several children have been in Pakistani custody since the May 2 raid. Pakistani officials have said the wives - one from Yemen and two from Saudi Arabia - would be repatriated. Authorities had indicated in recent days the youngest wife could soon be sent back to Yemen.

Islamic extremists have called on British Muslims to establish three independent states within the UK. The notorious Muslims Against the Crusades (MAC) group have named Yorkshire towns Bradford and Dewsbury and Tower Hamlets in East London as testbeds for blanket sharia rule. The medieval 'emirates' would operate entirely outside British law, according to a document on the MAC website. (Islamist fantasists in their own little dream world. That's not to say they don't ruin people's lives - just look at Tower Hamlets. Most of these jerks were born in the UK and are living proof of the failure of multiculturalism)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14046267

Somalia's militant Islamist group al-Shabab has lifted a ban on foreign aid agencies, as the region is hit by its worst drought in 60 years. Al-Shabab imposed the ban in 2009, accusing them of being anti-Muslim. It now says all charities, whether "Muslims or non-Muslims", can give emergency aid as long as they have "no hidden agenda". Analysts say the move may have been prompted by the embarrassment al-Shabab feels about the exodus of Somalis leaving areas they control in search of food. (How condescending these bastards are - note it is shame rather than goodwill that prompts them. How many children have died already because of their ban?)

A Muslim family were pulled off a flight from Heathrow to Mecca by armed police after officers had been tipped off they were suicide bombers. They were on their way to make the traditional Hajj pilgrimage which all devout Muslims are required to do once in their lifetime. Two 999 calls were made that day by a distant member of the same family who warned that the father, mother and son were from Afghanistan, very religious and had links to Al Qaeda, a jury was told.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jul/05/ireland-anti-abortion-lobby-rally-for-life

As protests go, it was one of the stranger ones. Several thousand people from around Ireland lined the streets of Dublin at the weekend to fight for an issue that isn't being discussed in parliament or by the media or on the streets. The benignly titled Rally for Life was an anti-abortion protest made up of parents with young children, priests, nuns, pensioners and teenage girls, and it was a key part of the ongoing passive-aggressive abortion war that's being fought in Ireland.

The earth bursts with life. Far right exclusionary religion bursts with death. If there is a creator of life He/She/It must hate fundamentalist religion. The countries in the world that are the most fundamentalist and religious, and/or those whose identity is most religion-based, are the world's greatest troublemakers. Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the USA, Vatican City and the state of Israel come to mind. If the rest of the human race could find a time machine to roll back the clock and make a world where these countries/city states had never existed we'd live in a better world. (Poorly thought out hypothesis)

In politics, from the Democratic Senate leader, Harry Reid, to Tea Party darling Glenn Beck, Mormons are front and centre stage. And, at the height of what is being called a "Mormon moment", two latter-day saints are in the race for the White House. But it might be precipitous for the 2012 candidates, Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman, to declare the old animosity towards Mormonism over. A poll last month found 22% of Americans unwilling to vote for a Mormon as presidential nominee of their party, a level of bias higher now than it was in the 1960s. (Still more popular than atheists)

It sounds like a horror story straight from medieval times. Two witches descend on an ancient market town - only to be targeted by terrified Christians calling for them to be burned at the stake. But for father-of-one Albion and his partner Raven, 39, this is no historical event - it is a modern nightmare. (No one comes out of this looking good - stupid maybe but not good)

http://www.alternet.org/story/151501/how_atheism_can_make_the_world_better_by_tearing_down_religious_irrationality?akid=7207.53051.BW45Lu&rd=1&t=5

Atheism is not just about disproving religious belief; it's also a burgeoning social justice movement intent on tearing down the social structures that perpetuate injustice.

Australian police have been given wide-ranging powers to demand the removal of burkas and other face veils so they can identify people suspected of committing a crime. The New South Wales state government approved the move late on Monday after the recent case of a Muslim woman who was acquitted when a judge ruled she could not be positively identified because was wearing a burka. "I don't care whether a person is wearing a motorcycle helmet, a burka, niqab, face veil or anything else, the police should be allowed to require those people to make their identification clear," Premier Barry O'Farrell said. (This should be bleeding obvious to anyone otherwise the police cannot do their job. Further, no one should go masked in public areas.)

India's health minister has derided homosexuality as an unnatural "disease" from the West, drawing outrage from gay rights and anti-HIV activists. Ghulam Nabi Azad's comments at a conference on HIV/Aids in the Indian capital echoed a widespread view on the subcontinent that homosexuality is a Western import. "Unfortunately this disease has come to our country to... where a man has sex with another man, which is completely unnatural and should not happen, but does," Azad said.

A group of religious conservatives in Pakistan has condemned a recent event hosted by the US embassy in Islamabad in support of gay rights. The meeting was described as "cultural terrorism" in a statement issued by Pakistan's largest Islamic party, on behalf of various religious groups. (They're just in a snit 'cos they weren't invited - take your hissy fit elsewhere boys)

The US is negotiating with the Taliban! What will happen to Afghan women? They have enough problems already, since the Karzai government is easily as misogynist as the Taliban. But not to worry. Hillary Clinton is US secretary of state. A feminist will determine US policy in the "reconciliation, reintegration and transition process". Surely the women of Afghanistan can rely on Hillary?

Thousands of British schoolgirls as young as eight face being taken abroad this summer to have their genitals mutilated and stitched up to preserve "purity". A campaign by the Metropolitan Police and Foreign Office will suggest that more than 22,000 girls under the age of 15 risk being taken abroad by their family for "cutting", based on data from The International Centre for Reproductive Health. Campaigners say the victims are being failed by a lack of awareness from teachers and neighbours. (This disgusting and cruel practice must be stamped out.)

These images show members of the Ku Klux Klan as they want to be seen, scary and secretive and waiting in the wings for Barack and his colour-blind vision for America to fail. Anthony Karen, a former Marine and self-taught photojournalist was granted access to the innermost sanctum of the Klan. (Racist scum alive and well in the US)

Thousands of followers around the world believed the Indian guru Sai Baba was a god, but since his death it has emerged that the fortunes people donated to him were not all invested in good works. The Indian guru Sai Baba’s life seemed to have it all: sex, money and religion. A lifetime of claiming to be the incarnation of God had brought him a £5.5 billion fortune and a worldwide following of 50 million people. It also brought accusations that he molested his young acolytes and used cheap trickery to perform his miracles.

At least 10 people were killed in weekend violence in Nigeria's restive north-east in a series of attacks attributed to a radical Muslim sect, officals have said.

Hugo Chávez has long considered Noam Chomsky one of his best friends in the west. He has basked in the renowned scholar's praise for Venezuela's socialist revolution and echoed his denunciations of US imperialism. The president may be about to have second thoughts about that, because his favourite intellectual has now turned his guns on Chávez. Speaking to the Observer last week, Chomsky has accused the socialist leader of amassing too much power and of making an "assault" on Venezuela's democracy. (Chumpsky is not exactly quick on the uptake is he?)

The Conservative Party’s LGBT group, LGBTory, has called for mayoral candidate Ken Livingstone to banned (sic) from tomorrow’s London Pride over his alleged “close friendship” with an anti-gay extremist. The group’s chairman, Matthew Sephton, accused Mr Livingstone of being a “hypocrite” who will “undermine the core values” of the event. (It's not often 80 agrees with Tories but this vile little man keeps company with Islamist homophobes. He is irrevocably tainted)

Top Iranian legislator Alaeddin Boroujerdi has said that the indictments issued against four Hezbollah members over the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri lack legal weight. (What else is he going to say? Along with Syria his country finances and arms these murderers)

Israel on Sunday claimed a diplomatic victory in its attempts to stop a flotilla of ships manned by pro-Palestinian activists from sailing towards Gaza after it was banned from leaving port by the Greek authorities.  (Without a shot being fired and no martyrs for Hamas)

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Sunday that the Gaza flotilla activists, who had accused Israel of purposely sabotaging their ships, are just trying to place the blame for their failure on Israel. “The activists are trying to blame someone for their failure – no doubt they have watched too many James Bond films,” Lieberman told Army Radio in an interview. “There is an attempt to evade responsibility for their propaganda, as well as a lack of support from countries around the world.” (Lieberman is a nasty piece of work but the flotilla was never about human rights or supplies.)

Hizbullah's leader has vowed never to turn over four members of his Shiite militant group who have been indicted in the 2005 murder of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, saying in a defiant speech that "even in 300 years" authorities will not be able to touch them. In his first comments since the indictments were announced on Thursday, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah promised that the country would not see a new "civil war" linked to the findings of the UN-backed tribunal. (A gang of murderers and a law unto themselves. Lebanon has a cancerous tumor and its name is Hizbollah)

As a sign from the Almighty it could not have been clearer: God does not like Rudy. During a debate among Republican candidates at a small Catholic university college here, "America's mayor", as Rudy Giuliani now calls himself, was setting out his position on abortion. A bishop had compared his stance on abortion to Pontius Pilate's position on the crucifixion of Jesus: personally opposed to it but willing to allow it happen. Mr Giuliani was in mid-flow when a bolt of lightning struck the debating hall and knocked out his microphone. The sound returned only for more lightning to fork across the New Hampshire skies, bringing the proceedings to a brief halt. (That would be the Pilate of fable not the Pilate of history)

Islam Lotfy may look like your average 35-year-old Cairene. He's dark, clean-shaven, slightly chubby and wears glasses. There's nothing in his appearance that hints at his Islamist identity, save for the prayer mark on his forehead. Lotfy is, in fact, an active member of the Muslim Brotherhood -- Egypt's largest opposition movement, which was banned from politics under the former regime of Hosni Mubarak. Lotfy is a lawyer who specializes in human rights cases and also a member of a youth coalition that comprises young Egyptian revolutionaries of varied ideologies. (Some interesting developments herald an Islamist split into old guard and a younger generation that is more inclusive)

A British banking consultant has retrained as a witch doctor after a gruelling three months' initiation in the South African bush. Thomas Heathfield, 32, whose family hail from Maidenhead in Berkshire, renounced sleep for three days, rose at 2.30am to dance for the tribal ancestors and vomited up goats' bloods as part of his training to become a "sangoma". (Prat)

Health officials in India are offering attractive incentives including a car, motorcycles and television sets to men and women who volunteer for sterilisation in a bid to control the country's surging population. (This policy should be followed far more widely if it is going to do any good)

All good reasoning proceeds from prior commitments and beliefs. Other academic enterprises are rather more like theology than they know. (Reason and theology have nothing to do with each other. Theology - no gods, no point)

Brazilians tend to be fairly liberal on the issue of others' sexuality, but gay rights are threatened by a growing evangelical movement

Iran's state television has censored a video clip that showed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad condemning recent arrests of his close allies. Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), which is under the direct control of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, transmitted only an edited version of the remarks made by Ahmadinejad after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, removing any mention of his comments over the arrests.

The faithful fill two floors, listening to the cleric's sermon on the true sense of the traditional greeting "salaam aleikum" – peace be upon you. This, Shethri says, means love thy neighbour. It is a moderate message from a man who even in fiercely conservative Saudi Arabia, home to the most rigorous strands of Muslim practice in the world, is considered a hardliner. Only 18 months ago, Shethri, 46, was fired from the country's high council of religious scholars by King Abdullah, who has ruled the kingdom since 2005.

Scientific evidence goes increasingly against the theory that mobile phones cause cancer, an independent panel has concluded. The review, led by Professor Anthony Swerdlow from the Institute of Cancer Research, found "no convincing evidence of a link" between the technology and brain tumours. But the panel admitted the possibility of small or long-term repercussions could not be ruled out. (Nice bit of arse-covering in that last sentence. That's the only bit that scaremongers will read)

Michele Bachmann's status as a potential threat to President Barack Obama has been confirmed by a brace of “cease and desist” letters from pop stars objecting to the use of their songs at her campaign rallies. (Katrina and the Waves join Tom Petty in telling Bachmann no. This does not confirm her status in any way at all but reflects the political views of the artists)

Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, has revealed that he has undergone surgery to remove a cancerous tumour. (Never mind this dictator wannabe, how's the tumor doing?)

An understanding of the medieval cult of martyrs' relics can help open our minds to the otherness of beliefs in today's world. (The usual drivel from Karen Armstrong)

Sheikh Raed Salah, an Israeli citizen who leads the Islamic Movement in Israel, is currently in the immigration removal centre at Heathrow airport. He was three days into a visit during which he addressed public meetings in London and Leicester and the House of Commons when he was arrested and informed that he was the subject of a deportation notice issued on the grounds that his presence in the country was not "conducive to the public good". (Guardian editorial demonstrating the paper's worrying espousal a racist, lying Islamist.)

A Lebanese prosecutor has approved arrest warrants for four members of the militant group Hezbollah who are accused of assassinating the country's former prime minister, Rafik Hariri, in an attack that continues to reverberate more than six years later.

A website that served as al-Qaeda’s main channel for spreading its extremist ideology has been shut down by what experts said had the hallmarks of a hacking attack by a Western intelligence agency.

One of the world's most prominent scientific figures to be sceptical about climate change has admitted to being paid more than $1m in the past decade by major US oil and coal companies. Dr Willie Soon, an astrophysicist at the Solar, Stellar and Planetary Sciences Division of the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, is known for his view that global warming and the melting of the arctic sea ice is caused by solar variation rather than human-caused CO2 emissions, and that polar bears are not primarily threatened by climate change.

The jokes are flying all around the world over this. So we will also pause from the bankers shenanigans, big tuna catches and protests in South Korea to note that, for the next few weeks, the presidency of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament will held by, yes it’s true, North Korea. (Oh, the irony)

The biggest Palestinian shopping mall is scheduled to open in the Gaza Strip in mid-June. This will be the second shopping mall to open in the Gaza Strip in a year. Last July, Palestinians opened a two-story mall that includes a supermarket, international clothing stores, a food court, beauty products, a children’s playground and a restaurant. (That's one very well-appointed prison camp. Original source for this story is Palestinian news agency Safa)

The decision to ban the Palestinian leader Sheikh Raed Salah from entering Britain, and then to arrest him, was transparently not based on any serious examination of his political activities. It was an ugly kneejerk response to the growing hostility of the Israeli establishment and its supporters abroad towards anyone opposing its racist policies – and a rising tide of Islamophobia in Europe. (Ding! Islamophobia card played within first paragraph. This article is pure propaganda. How does it benefit Britain to admit this Islamist? Not at all - kick him out)

The imposing orphanage looms on the edge of Islamabad, housing 250 poor boys from across Pakistan who receive tuition, board and meals, and daily instruction in Saudi-style Islam. A plaque over the doors identifies the generous benefactor: the International Islamic Relief Organisation, a government-sponsored charity from Saudi Arabia that the US accuses of spreading extremism and funding al-Qaida.

A major US-based science association on Wednesday issued an open letter expressing its concern about harassment of climate scientists, saying such tactics could harm scientific progress. The letter, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, followed an incident in Australia earlier this month when university researchers were rushed to a secure location after receiving death threats. (Anyone resorting to violence shows the poverty of their argument)

A senior Saudi Arabian diplomat and member of the ruling royal family has raised the spectre of nuclear conflict in the Middle East if Iran comes close to developing a nuclear weapon. Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former Saudi intelligence chief and ambassador to Washington, warned senior Nato military officials that the existence of such a device "would compel Saudi Arabia … to pursue policies which could lead to untold and possibly dramatic consequences".

A curfew has been imposed on Nigeria's capital, Abuja, following recent attacks by Islamist militants, meaning nightclubs, beer parlours and cinemas must close early. They must shut by 2200 local time (2100 GMT) and public parks that admit children should close by 1800. Two weeks ago, eight people were killed when the Islamist sect Boko Haram attacked the police HQ in Abuja.

A former MOD expert looks over four recent films claiming to show UFOs. Examine the video evidence yourself too. (Nick Pope still trading on his old job. Expert indeed. Elsewhere he even drags out the Rendlesham non-event Bloody laughable)

Fundamentalist Muslims in Egypt have called for a boycott of the country's richest businessman after he posted a cartoon showing Mickey Mouse wearing an Islamic beard and Minnie in a face-veil on Twitter. (Miserable humorless intolerant bastards - the fact that the poster is a Copt will help enrage the loonies)