Thousands of people have marched in the Sudanese capital Khartoum to call for UK teacher Gillian Gibbons to be shot.
Mrs Gibbons, 54, from Liverpool, was jailed by a court on Thursday after children in her class named a teddy bear Muhammad. for more click here
America’s “roaring 20’s” was a decade of peace and prosperity, wealth and hedonism, where a $5 a day labourer could park a car in his driveway, feed his family, and make a fortune on a stock market that rose by 218% between 1922 and 1929.
In a decade marked by excess, there were plenty of events that might have marked out the top of the boom. But in the end, the last hurrah for this most self indulgent of decades, came courtesy of William Van Halen, and the Chrysler building in New York which he helped to design. Standing 319 metres high, the art deco masterpiece was the world’s tallest building when he added the 90-metre spire to it on October 23rd, 1929.
The next day, the stock market crashed. The economy gradually sunk into a depression whose effects would be felt for decades.
And today, rising skylines across the world could be warning that we’re heading for the same fate…
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A British teacher has been found guilty in Sudan of insulting religion after she allowed her primary school class to name a teddy bear Muhammad.
Gillian Gibbons, 54, from Liverpool, has been sentenced to 15 days in prison and will then be deported. for more click here
THE HAGUE – The Dutch government has expressed concern at plans by a far-right member of parliament, Geert Wilders, to make an anti-Islam film.
Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen met with the head of the far-right Freedom Party to highlight the risks of such a film, the minister’s spokesman said. for more click here
WASHINGTON — Tensions between the U.S. and China rose slightly Wednesday as the Pentagon lodged a formal protest over Beijing’s refusal to permit American naval vessels access to Hong Kong and President Bush questioned the visiting Chinese foreign minister about last week’s snub.
White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said that China’s foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, told Bush the issue was a “misunderstanding.” for more click here
An inquest has heard how Diana Princess of Wales saw her boyfriend Dodi Fayed dying in front of her after their car crashed in a Paris tunnel.
Policeman Sebastien Dorzee, the first member of the emergency services to reach the scene, said the Princess muttered ‘My God’ because she realised what was happening. for more click here
The Red Cross announced today that for the first time one of the largest storehouses of Nazi documents in the world would be opened to the public, ending more than six decades of secrecy. for more click here
Commonwealth Heads of Government met in Kampala, Uganda between 23 and 25 November 2007 for their biennial meeting
The Commonwealth’s fundamental political values were restated by Heads of Government in a communiqué released on 25 November 2007. for more click here
Saudi forces have arrested 208 suspected militants who formed six cells, one of which plotted to attack a logistical oil facility, interior ministry spokesman General Mansur al-Turki said. for more click here
(The text of the open letter is available at [link])
Introduction
To mark the end of Ramadan this year “An Open Letter and Call from Muslim Religious Leaders” was published, dated 13th October 2007. The letter was addressed to Pope Benedict XVI and 26 other named heads of Christian denominations as well as to “Leaders of Christian Churches, everywhere….” It is ostensibly a presentation of Islamic teaching on love for God and love for one`s neighbour. The letter was organised by the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, a non-governmental organisation based in Amman, Jordan, supported by the Jordanian Royal House. It has been trying to forge a united scholarly Muslim leadership that could speak for the whole global Muslim community and become the international voice of mainstream Islam.
Following a year after a letter to the Pope signed by 38 Muslim signatories (October 2006), the “Open Letter and Call” seems to signal some urgency. Does it indicate a fear that the West is finally awakening to the reality of Islamic intentions and therefore needs to be lulled, even anesthetised, to the prospects of deliberate Islamic expansion into the West? Or does it indicate a growing Muslim confidence and self-awareness of Islamic power, the letter itself being part of a strategy of Islamisation of the “Christian” world? Furthermore, did the lack of response by Pope Benedict to the letter from 38 Muslims prompt the new letter with 100 more names at the end?
The signatories
A wide spread of Muslim leadership is represented amongst the 138 signatories, drawn from 43 nations and representing various Sunni, Twelver Shi`a, Zaydi, Ibadi and Sufi constituencies. There are traditionalists, Islamists and several liberal Muslims. Some of the signatories are Muslim leaders well known for their moderation and peaceful intentions. Among them are Professor Akbar Ahmed, Dr Alan Godlas, Hamza Yusuf Hanson and Seyyed Hossein Nasr.
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