Lovers caught in Malaysia's anti-Valentine drive

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia Authorities in Malaysia arrested 26 unmarried Muslim couples in hotel rooms during Operation Valentine - aimed at curbing illegal premarital sex in this conservative country, an officer said Monday.

The couples, most under 30 years old, were detained for sharing rooms early Sunday in the beachside town of Kuantan in eastern Pahang state, said Badaruddin Ahmad Bustami, enforcement assistant director with the state's Islamic department.

State authorities carry out raids each year on Valentine's Day in this Muslim-majority country, where sharia laws make it illegal for unmarried Muslims to meet behind closed doors, Badaruddin said. Doing so constitutes a crime known as "khalwat," or "close proximity," which carries a maximum fine of 1,000 ringgit (US$280) and up to six months in prison.

The sharia laws apply only to Malaysia's Muslims, not to Christian and Hindu citizens who together make up about 40 percent of the population.

Badaruddin said the couples were released but may be charged later with khalwat.

"We don't agree with Muslim couples celebrating Valentine's Day because it's not Malay culture," he said. "Every Valentine's Day, many couples come here and they commit big mistakes under Islam."

Vaccines Spark Controversy In Nigeria

LAGOS, Nov 6 (IPS) - The government of Nigeria has rushed health workers to Daramba, a village on the border with Niger, following an outbreak of whooping cough - one of the six main killer diseases for children.

Health officials blame the outbreak on the attitude of villagers who have shunned routine immunisation. "The people of the area often reject immunisation on the grounds that it is not safe," says one health official, who refused to be named.

The villagers have latched onto a statement by a popular medical doctor in the northern state of Kano who has openly condemned the immunisation programme. Dr Ibrahim Datti Ahmed, a respected figure in northern Nigeria, which is predominantly Muslim, claims the vaccines could cause infertility and AIDS.

About 80 children in Daramba have been infected with whooping cough. The village also has recorded two cases of polio this year.

Ahmed, who is also a member of the Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria, declared earlier this year that the vaccines being administered to children contained anti-fertility agents. He called for their suspension until they were fully investigated by competent authorities, and found to be safe.

His theory is shared by Abdul Hakeem, chair of the Lagos State chapter of the Movement for Islamic Culture and Awareness. Although Islam is not against immunisation, Hakeem says, there are concerns in the Muslim community that it is being used for an alleged plot by the United States to reduce the population of developing countries.

''We live in a society where anything goes. We read about how HIV/AIDS was transmitted through vaccination. Muslims are concerned about the actions of the United States on Muslim countries across the world. Muslims fear what the United States can do with such vaccines," Hakeem told IPS.

If only we did start the AIDS epidemic. One that would only go after muslims would have been better. The one thing we really do need to do is thin the heard of muslims. I think nuclear, biological or chemical weapons are a better idea.

Livni: "We need to give up half of the Land of Israel"

The Land-for-Peace delusion never seems to die, no matter how often it is made clear that jihadists will take advantage of any concession by Israel to strengthen their position further, and that they will continue to press on until Israel as a whole is obliterated. As the Hamas Charter says, quoting Muslim Brotherhood founder Hasan Al-Banna: "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it."

JERUSALEM – Tzipi Livni, who hopes to be appointed Israel's prime minister-designate, said Monday Israel must give up considerable territory in exchange for peace with the Palestinians, drawing a clear distinction with her rival, Benjamin Netanyahu.

She told a convention of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Organizations, "we need to give up half of the Land of Israel," using a term that refers to biblical borders that include today's Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.

She explained that such a withdrawal would be for the good of Israel, to maintain it as a Jewish state....

This brainless wonder is one of those liberals that want to roll over and take it up the ass from the muslims that want to kill her and every other Jew in the world. Why? She does look stupid.

Afghanistan: 20-year prison sentence for Qur'an translation upheld on appeal

KABUL (AP) — An appeals court in Afghanistan upheld 20-year prison sentences Sunday for two men who published a translation of the Quran that drove religious leaders to call for their execution.

The controversial text is a translation of Islam's holy book into an Afghan language without the original Arabic verses alongside. Muslims regard the Arabic Quran as words given directly by God. A translation is not considered a Quran itself, and it is believed a mistranslation could warp God's word.

A host of Muslim clerics in this conservative Islamic state have condemned the translation — which was published in 2007 and handed out for free — as blasphemous and accused its publishers of setting themselves up as false prophets.

Critics have said the trial illustrates the undue influence of hard-line clerics in Afghanistan's fledgling legal system.

The appeals court found the men guilty of modifying the Quran — a crime punishable by death.

I just love this one. No translation into arabic in the margins and they get to die? My koran is from CAIR and is only in English. The world's language for just about everything.