Broadcast of two Afghan cable TV channels has been halted in Peshawar for the past few days, cable operators said on Sunday. The two channels - Tolo and Shamshad -- have been off the air without any explanation from the authorities, a cable operator said on condition of anonymity. He said only the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority could stop the broadcasts, but said he had not received any directions to stop broadcasting the two channels. NWFP Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain told Daily Times that the Afghan cultural attaché had notified him about the issue on Saturday. He said the provincial government was contacting the federal government for an explanation, as only the Centre had the jurisdiction over such matters.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/26/2009 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[11126 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
BRITISH Prime Minister Gordon Brown says that the current financial crisis should be viewed as an opportunity to create a "new global order", ahead of a week of meetings with world leaders. Speaking in London, Mr Brown - due to meet the leaders of Japan, South Korea and China in the next seven days - renewed a warning against protectionism, urging countries to instead help set "new rules for this new global order".
Mr Brown, who will also meet the president of the World Bank, cautioned that if a consensus was not built supporting globalisation, "all our prosperities" would be imperiled. He has previously argued for stronger international co-operation better to regulate financial institutions, and said on Monday that he wanted to work towards better cross-border regulation at a summit of the Group of 20 industrialised and developing countries in London in April.
His speech came just days after official data confirmed Britain was in its first recession - defined as two quarters running of negative economic growth - since 1991.
"We face a choice. We could allow this crisis to start a retreat from globalisation," Mr Brown said in his speech. "As some want, we could close our markets - for capital, financial services, trade and for labour - and reduce the risks of globalisation, but that would reduce global growth, deny us the benefits of global trade, and confine millions to global poverty.
"Or we could view the threats and challenges we face today as the difficult birth pangs of a new global order, and our task now as nothing less than making the transition through a new internationalism to the benefits of an expanding global economy, not muddling through as pessimists but making the necessary adjustment to a better future and setting new rules for this new global order."
Mr Brown's spokesman Michael Ellam said that the premier would meet South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-Soo and Japanese premier Taro Aso, as well as World Bank chief Robert Zoellick at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on Friday.
He is also set to meet Chinese premier Wen Jiabao in London later this week.
Mr Brown's Downing Street office said he would discuss with them "how we can best work internationally on financial reform, economic expansion and the creation of jobs in new sectors such as the environment".
#3
...not muddling through as pessimists but making the necessary adjustment to a better future and setting new rules for this new global order...
Sometimes I have to wonder if all this mortgage meltdown/financial crisis/recession is just the globalists breaking a few eggs to make an omelette. As long as Gordo and others of his ilk are in the kitchen I just can't help being pessimistic.
#6
Sometimes I have to wonder if all this mortgage meltdown/financial crisis/recession is just the globalists breaking a few eggs to make an omelette.
You ain't close to being the first one to think this. At first I thought maybe it was all coincidental, but the fact that so many of the architects of the collapse *cough*Bawney Fwank and Chris Dodd*cough* continue to hold onto power and craft "solutions" to the disaster they created has made me conclude that all of this was carefully and patiently planned.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
01/26/2009 18:14 Comments ||
Top||
#7
The main problem is that US or US-Western domination of said OWG-NWO is NOT yet assured despite US-led successes around the world agz Radical Islam. In addition, the US per se will NOT be immune from any of the gross or specific this econ crisis.
El Salvador's former rebel movement has become the country's largest political party, 17 years after signing a peace accord that ended the bitter civil war. But the Farabundo Marti Liberation Front (FMLN) failed to win a majority of parliamentary seats, final results from last week's vote have shown.
A party spokesman called the result a platform for victory in El Salvador's presidential election in March. It is their first such win since the end of the conflict in 1992. But in a significant setback, the FMLN lost the capital for the first time in 12 years. Arena candidate Norman Quijano unseated Salvadoran Mayor Violeta Manjivar of the FMLN.
Final results from Sunday's parliamentary election gave the FMLN 35 seats against 32 for the governing conservative party Arena, election officials announced. But conservative parties and their allies can still hold a majority in the 84-seat assembly if they combine forces.
The FMLN has overcome internal divisions and chosen a moderate leader with wide appeal - former television journalist Mauricio Funes, who took no part in the civil war. Mr Funes is favoured to win the 15 March presidential elections, but the party needs to convince the public that it can end a growing wave of kidnappings and gang violence.
The FMLN was once a formidable guerrilla army that posed a serious threat to El Salvador's American-backed military leaders. Formed in 1980, it brought together a number of left-wing rebel groups, and launched a series of offensives from its bases in the countryside over the next decade. At least 75,000 people were killed in one of the bloodiest of the ideological conflicts that raged across Central America in the 1980s.
The Reagan administration in Washington responded with substantial aid and training for the military as it fought to keep the guerrillas out of El Salvador's major cities. With the end of the Cold War and stalemate on the battlefield, the FMLN signed a peace agreement in 1992, and reinvented itself as a legitimate political party.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/26/2009 00:00 ||
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Bolivian President Evo Morales has claimed victory in a referendum on a new constitution aimed at improving conditions for the indigenous majority. Addressing supporters at the presidential palace, he said the result marked the birth of a new Bolivia.
Exit polls for some TV stations put the yes vote at about 60%.
The new constitution gives autonomy to indigenous peoples and boosts state control of the economy, but is opposed by many of the traditional elite. Many mixed-race people in the fertile eastern lowlands rejected the charter and four of Bolivia's nine provinces had a majority no vote, according to the exit polls.
Get ready for a revolution. Those provinces will NOT follow Morales ...
Conservative leaders in one district accused President Morales of planning to impose a totalitarian regime, but he was undeterred.
Despite the yes vote, there is likely to be continued opposition to the constitution as it goes through parliament, says the BBC's Candace Piette in La Paz.
"The Bolivian people have reiterated their commitment to democracy and to the democratic acts which are happening in peace today," said Mr Morales, an Aymara Indian. The Bolivian leader has followed his closest allies, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Ecuador's Rafael Correa, in rewriting their countries' constitutions to extend their rule, tackle inequalities and exert greater control over natural resources, observers say.
Support for Mr Morales was highest in the western highlands where Indians are a majority. "Now is starting a new era in which indigenous people will be the citizens of this country. I think this is the most important part of this constitution," said Elisa Canqui, who represents one of the Indian communities in La Paz.
Many Bolivians of European or mixed-race descent strongly oppose the constitution, but the head of an international monitoring team, Raul Lagos, said voting had been largely peaceful.
Opponents concentrated in Bolivia's eastern provinces, which hold rich gas deposits, argue that the new constitution would create two classes of citizenship - putting indigenous people ahead of others.
The original draft of the constitution was more radical but Mr Morales made concessions after violent protests against his rule, including a promise that he would not try to win a third term in 2014. Under pressure from wealthy ranchers, who feared their farms would be broken up and handed over to the poor, Mr Morales also revised the charter so that limits on land holdings will only apply to future land sales.
The referendum will be followed by elections for president, vice-president and Congress in December.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/26/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
What's the average time between revolutions in Bolivia? Aren't they past due already?
#3
for a Revolutionary icon they should put that Shemp haircut Evo wears
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/26/2009 19:46 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Evil may not care if he's overthrown. He can always flee to Venezuela, where he can live in luxurious martyrdom on Hezbollah's dime and host lavish parties for Oliver Stone and similar Hollywoodists. The latter, of course, will bring along an endless supply of gullible starlets and stray hippie chicks to provide more intimate companionship.
If Chavez goes down, too, there is always Havana(the EU's designated National Whorehouse), and Berkeley after that.
President Barack Obama's pledge to seek a worldwide ban on weapons in space marks a dramatic shift in U.S. policy while posing the tricky issue of defining whether a satellite can be a weapon.
Moments after Obama's inauguration last week, the White House website was updated to include policy statements on a range of issues, including a pledge to restore U.S. leadership on space issues and seek a worldwide ban on weapons that interfere with military and commercial satellites.
It also promised to look at threats to U.S. satellites, contingency plans to keep information flowing from them, and what steps are needed to protect spacecraft against attack.
The issue is being closely watched by Lockheed Martin Corp, Boeing Co, Northrop Grumman Corp, the biggest U.S. defense contractors, and other companies involved in military and civilian space contracts.
Watchdog groups and even some defense officials welcomed the statement, which echoed Obama's campaign promises, but said it would take time to hammer out a comprehensive new strategy.
Enacting a global ban on space weapons could prove even harder.
For instance, it was difficult to define exactly what constituted a "weapon" because even seemingly harmless weather tracking satellites could be used to slam into and disable other satellites, said two U.S. officials involved in the area who were not authorized to speak publicly.
Michael Krepon, co-founder of the private Henry L. Stimson think tank on space, cited recent reports that the Pentagon was using two smaller satellites launched in 2006 to fly near a dead missile-warning satellite and investigate what happened. The Defense Support Program satellite, DSP-23, built by Northrop, failed on orbit in mid-September.
"This incident clarified how important it is to have rules of the road for technologies that could have many different applications," Krepon said. "There are lots of benign reasons to have a closer look at an object in space. But we all know that when satellites make close passes they could also do things that are not benign."
Two years ago, China used a missile to destroy one of its own satellites in a test that raised worries about a new arms race in space. The incident may have created thousands of pieces of debris. Last year, the United States also destroyed one of its own satellites, saying its toxic fuel tank could pose a danger if it fell to Earth.
#2
Well, guess I'd better finish that Death Star soon...
Posted by: Darth Vader ||
01/26/2009 8:05 Comments ||
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#3
That'll stop the asteroids. I guess its Rube Goldberg back ups of installing solar sails or ion engines early enough to deviate the orbit. Not. Yep, sure we'll have at least 10 years notice to get it all together.
#4
but said it would take time to hammer out a comprehensive new strategy.
Whether its been troop reduction in Iraq, GITMO closure, or interrogation methods - everything weve seen from Obama thus far has been all sizzle and no steak. If even the rubes on the progressive left can recognize the giant loopholes in the fulfillment of his campaign promises you can bet the USs international adversaries are able to distinguish the reek of bullshit in his symbolic actions.
#8
Whether it's been troop reduction in Iraq, GITMO closure, or interrogation methods - everything we've seen from Obama thus far has been all sizzle and no steak.
The conservative party line is that Obama is too scared or too moderate in reality to indulge in a leftist binge. I think he's just getting started on his job and needs to figure out how to get things done before anything can happen. And the media will cover for him every step of the way.
#12
When the leper messiah and his crew fail in the arena of "fixing the economy" (and they WILL fail), they'll need other things to pursue in order to project an image that they are actually accomplishing something.
That's when they'll go after Catholic and other hospitals that won't perform abortions, ram unions down our throats, push a greenred environmental agenda, ban home schooling and mandate a cultural marxist high school history curriculum, try to confiscate firearms, etc.
I figure 12-16 months, although I will concede it could be earlier.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
01/26/2009 11:26 Comments ||
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#13
I swear to the hypothetical Almighty, if that mirror-ball bastard loses the high ground to the Chinese, there's no hole deep enough to hide his craven ass.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
01/26/2009 11:43 Comments ||
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#14
"ban home schooling"
as info, theres a whole bunch of hippie type leftie home schoolers. I don't think he wants to alienate them. And the teachers unions dont care as much about that as about vouchers.
#17
Part of the problem is defining what exactly is a weapon and where it enters into the space ban. Are earth based interceptors a "Space Weapon"? Ground lasers? Things which can "accidentally" wander into the path of another object?
Either way, it is a hell of a lot easier to say it than do it and getting other nations to play along is almost downright impossible. Whoever holds the high ground has a better chance of winning a war and space is the ultimate high ground.
But thoughts of broken eggs being necessary for omelets come to mind.
Agree on vouchers. Teachers unions are compsoed largely of people who worship at the altar of perfect income security, vouchers threaten that, so they are opposed.
Ceding space to other nations would be a huge mistake. It is our future - perhaps not today or next week, but at some point. If you believe that America's memeset is the one to send out to the stars, you are obliged to defend our supremacy in space.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
01/26/2009 13:06 Comments ||
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#19
Why not ban weapons in Gaza, the West Bank, and southern Lebanon as well? I'm sure our enemies will abide by our ban.... How about we ban nuclear development in North Korea and Iran?
This is just plain stupid. There _will_ be weapons in space. Either we will put them there or our enemies (China, Russia, etc...) will - they are not quite as stupid as that.
#20
To quote from a Tom Clancy novel: Law without force is impotent. Bans do not work without enforcement. How do you enforce a ban on space weapons without having space weapons? Leftist lunacy drives me bonkers.
#21
I just want to point out that my desired High Energy Directed Microwave Emitters would not be space weapons. They would be signaling devices for people who were previously unaware that they are in fact....dead. And well done.
And they would also be merely devices made to amuse and keep me from being bored.
#24
Wonder what bambi thinks about the gun on the international space station? Ever since the early days of the soviet space program russian space capsules have packed a firearm.
#26
Lest we fergit, NET POSTERS > many argue or believe that any and all Muslim States have the right to NUCLEAR ENERGY, NUCLEAR WEAPONS, + ADVANCED MILTECHS INCLUDING BALLISTIC MISSLES.
#28
bambi's either very stupid or a very naive (or both). This is one subject that should never even be brought up. Continue research, continue testing, gain & maintain an advantage. And, keep it quiet.
#29
he's a preening pile of bullshit who's found that facts, realities, and the actual responsibilities of the Presidency have rendered most of his empty-suit promises inoperative. Now he's grasping for fig leaves to soothe the easily-led. Check the hands vs lips and then gut him publicly if he follows through
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/26/2009 20:36 Comments ||
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Delhi: A day before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh got admitted into AIIMS for his heart-bypass, he signed a document delegating the vital Nuclear Command Authority powers to External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee. Besides, the PM appointed Mukherjee as the Finance Minister till he is fully recovered to take the charge back.
Contrary to reports, the so-called nuclear button was handed over to Pranab as soon as the decision to go for surgery was taken by the PM. However, the decision to put Mukherjee as head of Finance was taken after discussions with Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/26/2009 14:48 ||
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#1
Meanwhile in Delhi...
Posted by: john frum ||
01/26/2009 16:21 Comments ||
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Geez, you guys sure you're ready?
PARIS -- More than six years after openings its doors, the International Criminal Court in The Hague began its first trial Monday, as Thomas Lubanga, a former Congolese warlord, took his seat in the dock, facing a crowded court and public gallery. So...have they been "on the clock" for the last six years? My guess? Most definitely... Lubanga has nothing to worry about. Like Milosevic he'll live a long and happy life in a prison hotel suite at The Hague, and die peacefully in his sleep before a verdict is rendered ...
Mr. Lubanga, 48, once the leader of a powerful and violent militia, is accused of war crimes, including commandeering children under the age of 15 and sending them into war to maim and kill. He pleaded not guilty to the crimes, which prosecutors said occurred in 2002-2003 during ethnic fighting in the Ituri region of Eastern Congo.
Supporters of the court have hailed the long-awaited trial as a momentous step for the tribunal, created to try large-scale human rights violations, while critics contend it has been too long in coming. Mr. Lubanga was brought to the Hague almost three years ago. Now, both sides see the trial as a test case that will be closely watched by lawyers and human rights activists. Turf wars within the court, bitter legal squabbles and irritation among the trial judges had almost torpedoed the case. Last July, as the trial was about to start, judges put a halt to the proceedings, citing legal and strategic errors by the prosecution, and said Mr. Lubanga should be set free, though he was ultimately kept in custody. The judges said the prosecution's handling of evidence amounted to "wholesale and serious abuse" and ruled that at that point a fair trial was not possible. Yeah, sounds about right for something that starts with "International"..
Now that the judges have given their green light and errors have been redressed, Mr. Lubanga will be tried by three international judges -- from Britain, Costa Rica and Bolivia -- in a process that is expected to go on until the end of this year. Harrrrumph harrrumph harrrrumph...
Prosecutors will start their case by calling on more than 30 witnesses, nine of them young men and women who were themselves former child soldiers. See ya in two years with the verdict. If he don't die in the meantime...
#2
True! plus the locals make good money on car parking for the one million plus visitors annually who visit the hague!
wonder if court attendees can get out of paying parking fines if their meters run out? seeing as how they dont know how to keep within schedule, i bet theyll be handing out a few time violations to some activists?
#6
tu and DarthVader, while it sounds like an easy cheap shot to claim that there's the perverse incentive here of court staff and counsel being paid by the hour/week/month/year, I'll bet it's true.
Someone in a position to know WRT an African tribunal (prob. Rwanda, can't remember) said that this perverse incentive was clearly at work, as the court would grant delays and etc. on the slightest pretext and in response to almost any request.
Of course the Iraqi tribunal has not been without its blemishes - but they get the facts on the table, the defendants have complete free reign to argue their case (if any), and the court has shown as much regard for the nuances of individual defenses as it has for the undeniably huge pressure on it to produce guilty verdicts.
So what is the current management in DC gonna do about the ICC? I'd guess they'll keep it at arms' length, if only because the fear of being "soft" or careless with our military is (rightfully) acute.
Iraq and its national airline will pay $300 million in compensation to Kuwait Airways for Saddam Hussein's invasion of the emirate almost 20 years ago, a government spokesman said on Sunday.
The payment is a final settlement that would end a dispute that has simmered since the seven-month occupation by Saddam's forces was ended by a U.S.-led coalition in 1991.
"The Council of Ministers decided on Sunday to pay $300 million to Kuwait Airways and the two parties agreed to put an end to the legal process," government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said.
The precise terms of the deal were agreed after discussions between the Emir of Kuwait and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani at an economic summit of Arab states in the past week.
Kuwait Airways demanded $1.2 billion in reparations from Iraq Airways for planes and equipment stolen during Saddam's 1990 invasion of the emirate.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/26/2009 00:00 ||
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[11128 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Baath Party
#1
Another thing checked off the list. Now Iraq won't have to listen to generations of the Kuwaiti version of, "Germans, give us back our bicycles!"
Boeing is seeing a glimmer of progress in its work toward fielding laser weapons.
The defense industry giant on Monday said tests of its Laser Avenger system in December marked "the first time a combat vehicle has used a laser to shoot down a UAV," or unmanned aerial vehicle. In the testing, the Humvee-mounted Laser Avenger located and tracked three small UAVs in flight over the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico and knocked one of the drone aircraft out of the sky.
Boeing didn't go into much detail about the shoot-down. In response to a query by CNET News, it did say this much about the strike by the the kilowatt-class laser: "A hole was burned in a critical flight control element of the UAV, rendering the aircraft unflyable."
Now that the Obama administration is reconsidering California's plan to increase the fuel economy of cars sold in the Golden State and 13 others to 35 miles per gallon by 2016, we wondered how close the automakers are to getting there.
The regulations being proposed by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) the same organization that brought to life then killed the electric car mandate in the state do not regulate fuel economy directly like the EPA does, but instead set standards on carbon dioxide emissions, which effectively does the same thing.
According to the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, it will cost carmakers approximately $3,000 per car in new technology to get the fleet average up to 35 mpg.
Want to get a head start on helping the industry out buy purchasing a 35 mpg car? If the standards went into effect today you would have a grand total of three vehicles to choose from, and no, the MINI Cooper isn't one of them.
The Toyota Prius, Honda Civic Hybrid and Smart Fortwo are currently the only cars with an EPA combined rating of better than 35 mpg. Later this year, the Ford Fusion Hybrid and Honda Insight will join the list, but clearly the automakers are still a long way from making the cut.
Of course 35 mpg is just the beginning. The CARB proposal calls for a 43 mpg average by 2020. That narrows the list of available cars to one. Hope you like that Prius.
#5
I look forward to seeing our elected officials driving around in these type of cars too, and leading by example...
Posted by: Francis ||
01/26/2009 16:37 Comments ||
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#6
im not a fan of mandates, I prefer price based mechanisms.
But really, does it make sense to judge what will be available in 2020 by looking at cars that make the cut in 2009? I mean even without the mandate one expects cars to get better mileage in the future.
#7
LH, do you know what the time lag is for bringing a major new technology to market in the automotive world? 10 years ain't all that long especially when you're going broke now.
#12
This has Steve Chu's fingerprints all over it. In the Google Tech vid that's all over the 'net he clearly states that this sort of regulation has no negative impact because "everyone will just adapt because they know it's coming."
#13
if you remove all the safety features (airbags, bumpers, seatbelts), all weight-carrying capacity (two seats, no trunk), put an electric 35 mph -capable electric engine, there you go! A car nobody wants. But that's the point, isn't it? Into the bio-diesel bus, proles!
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/26/2009 19:09 Comments ||
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#19
BMW, Mercedes and Lexus flout the current EPA rules as it is. They get whacked with gas-guzzler taxes, they pass those along to their customers who are apparently willing to pay, and everyone is happy. Lexus isn't having problems selling cars, at least in good times, and you aren't going to see a 35 mpg Lexus anytime soon.
But GM, Ford and Chrysler can't do that because the political fallout would kill them (assuming the UAW doesn't kill them first). No way any of them can say 'screw you guys, we're making muscle cars and we'll just pass the gas guzzler tax along'.
This is law making by wish: 'oh, I wish cars would get better mileage' and presto, a new law.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/26/2009 20:29 Comments ||
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#20
at least it doesn't apply to...drinks ready? F-150's!
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/26/2009 20:33 Comments ||
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#21
Lexus is built by Toyota. Prius is built by Toyota. The Toyota fleet CAFE is fine.
#22
Poor Babys cant drive your Pickups, Suburbans, and Hummers around anymore.... I guess you'll figure out some other way to give the OPEC nations all our money
Posted by: Not A Jingoistic Ass ||
01/26/2009 22:37 Comments ||
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#23
Ya' got the ASS part right, #22 Jingo
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/26/2009 22:40 Comments ||
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#24
Obama's new Caddy gets 8MPG. Being a man of the people and all, I'm sure he'll be happy to hear your complaint, Jingoistic Ass...
Muslims in Indonesia have been banned from doing yoga if they engage in Hindu rituals during the exercise as clerics decided not to ban smoking, the chairman of the country's top Islamic body said on Sunday. About 700 clerics from the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI) agreed on the actions at a national meeting, Ma'ruf Amin told AFP by telephone. "The yoga practice that contains religious rituals of Hinduism including the recitation of mantras is 'haram' (forbidden in Islam)," he said. But Amin said Indonesian Muslims were still allowed to do yoga strictly as an exercise. "If Muslims refuse to follow this fatwa, it means that they commit a sin," Amin said. Meanwhile, the clerics decided not to ban smoking for Muslims in a country that is the fifth-largest tobacco market in the world and Southeast Asia's biggest economy, agreeing to ban smoking only in public places, for pregnant women and children. "There was disagreement between clerics over the smoking ban. But we all agreed to decide that it is 'haram' for Muslims to smoke in public space, for pregnant women and children," Amin said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/26/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11127 views]
Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#1
RJ Reynolds, your mission is to provide zillions of maximum flavor, maximum tar & nicotine cigarettes to Indonesia and at a cost every Muslim can afford. Could this be an effective and inexpensive (if slow acting) secret weapon against SE Asian terrorism?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Broadcast of two Afghan cable TV channels has been halted in Peshawar for the past few days, cable operators said on Sunday. The two channels - Tolo and Shamshad -- have been off the air without any explanation from the authorities, a cable operator said on condition of anonymity. He said only the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority could stop the broadcasts, but said he had not received any directions to stop broadcasting the two channels. NWFP Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain told Daily Times that the Afghan cultural attaché had notified him about the issue on Saturday. He said the provincial government was contacting the federal government for an explanation, as only the Centre had the jurisdiction over such matters.
President Barack Obama's pledge to seek a worldwide ban on weapons in space marks a dramatic shift in U.S. policy while posing the tricky issue of defining whether a satellite can be a weapon.
Now that the Obama administration is reconsidering California's plan to increase the fuel economy of cars sold in the Golden State and 13 others to 35 miles per gallon by 2016, we wondered how close the automakers are to getting there.
