Paris: 'Baghdad ring' on trial A group of 28 suspected members of one of Europe's biggest people-smuggling rings went on trial today in Paris where they risk jail sentences of up to ten years. The “Baghdad ring” of smugglers charged between 10,000 euros and 15,000 euros (14,000 and 20,000 dollars) to migrants seeking passage to Britain, Ireland, Sweden and Norway, according to French prosecutors. The migrants were mostly Kurds from northern Iraq but some also came from Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and China, reaching France after a long dangerous journey through Turkey, Greece and Italy

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UK: Mosques play key role in raising awareness about hepatitis C A screening programme in mosques, rather than in hospitals, has led to new thinking on how to approach health issues Mosques across the UK have been ­doubling as makeshift medical centres, with queues of worshippers lining up to have saliva swabs taken, in what could prove to be a model for identifying future health problems. In a unique collaboration, a team from the Royal London hospital in east ­London – led by Graham ­Foster, a professor of hepatology and a leading authority on viral liver disease – embarked five years ago on a mass viral hepatitis screening programme of apparently healthy people of south Asian origin in mosques and community centres.

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Ireland: Authorities investigating bogus marriage ring A PAKISTANI man’s plans to walk down the aisle with a Lithuanian teenager this week were cancelled after gardai objected to the marriage. The Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) intervened to stop Muhammad Shafi’s marriage to the 18-year-old woman from going ahead.

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By Yvonne Ridley “Why is there even a trial?” It was, of course, a rhetorical question and probably the most poignant and telling observation made during the opening proceedings against Dr Aafia Siddiqui in New York this week. It is a question I hope every US journalist and media group across the world keeps on asking every day as American tax dollars are squandered persecuting an innocent women for no other reason than someone is incapable of saying: “I made a mistake”

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Manchester: Film shows children taught to be Jihadis Interestingly enough, the incitement to 'kill the Jews' did not make it into the BBC article. —————– Counter-terrorism police say their discovery of a film of children being encouraged to hold guns is evidence of attempts to radicalise youngsters

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Pakistan: Journalist interviews Belgian al-Qaeda fighter A video of the report is available here (in French) ———— His face hidden by a dark veil, wearing camouflage and armed with a knife and a machine gun. Ghent resident ‘Adelbert Naaktgeboren’ appeared this way on TV last night. As a real al-Qaeda fighter in Afghanistan, with a new name – Abu Adam Saifoula.

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Muhammed cartoons update Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten reprinted the Muhammad cartoons to illustrate a story about the attack on Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard.  Both Iran and Pakistan condemned the publication.  Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast: “Such acts are against the sanctity of religious values and are strongly condemned.”  “One cannot harm the religious sentiments of over one billion Muslims under the banner of freedom of speech,” he said.  “Such blasphemous acts will not contribute to the establishment of world peace. They will only make the Norwegian government liable before the international community for failing to prevent provocative behaviors that are in violation of human rights.” The Pakistani Foreign Office also strongly condemned the reprinting of the cartoons, and urged Norway to take appropriate measures and ensure that the people who committed this blasphemous act were appropriately reprimanded

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UK: Fatwa against suicide bombings A leading Muslim organisation in Britain has issued a fatwa against suicide bombings and terrorism, declaring them un-Islamic. Minhaj-ul-Quran, a Sufi organisation based in East London which advises the Government on how to combat radicalisation of Muslim youth, will launch the 600-page religious verdict tomorrow. It condemns the perpetrators of terrorist explosions and suicide bombings

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UK: Fatwa against suicide bombings A leading Muslim organisation in Britain has issued a fatwa against suicide bombings and terrorism, declaring them un-Islamic. Minhaj-ul-Quran, a Sufi organisation based in East London which advises the Government on how to combat radicalisation of Muslim youth, will launch the 600-page religious verdict tomorrow

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Denmark: Criticism of Islamic ideology is not anti-Muslim The following article repeats the views expressed by Norwegian Prof. Unni Wikan in her book “Generous Betrayal: Politics of Culture in the New Europe” (which I reviewed here ).  Westerners are not doing Muslims a favor by accepting cultural norms they wouldn't accept for 'their own'.  The idea that we need to 'understand' culture and that 2nd generation Muslims in Europe are not allowed the same rights to choose their destiny for themselves just like any other European is simply racism. ————- Shortly before Christmas, the head of the Free Press Society (FPS), Lars Hedegaard, said some grossly generalizing statements about violence, rape and incest in Muslim families in an interview on the Snaphanen blog, which he really deserved to be lambasted for.  He got that, and more

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