Posts for Nov 5th: Ramala's 5-Star Hotel, Abdel Hameed Shehadeh, Sexual Harrassment in Egypt, ISAF kills Haqqani network leader, Soutudeh in danger, US Human Rights reacord scrutinized in UNHRC,

1. Ramallah gets five star luxury hotel: The hotel, a franchise of the Swiss-based Movenpick chain, has 171 rooms and suites, an outdoor pool, and a fitness center, and cost $40 million.
   
2. UK: Jihadist webmaster Abdel Hameed Shehadeh held without bail in Brooklyn Federal Court: Abdel Hameed Shehadeh, 21, of Staten Island, was arrested last week in Hawaii, where he had tried in the past to travel to Somalia, but failed because he was on a “no fly” list.
   
3. Egypt: Challenging sexual harrassment on Cairo's streets: The project, called HarassMap, aims to create a map of the ‘hotspots’ of harassment in Cairo – that is, the places where harassment most frequently occurs.
   
4. Afghanistan: fifth Haqqani network leader confirmed killed during Paktiya operation: Intelligence reports later confirmed the death of the five Haqqani leaders as well as several additional Haqqani fighters. It is assessed the security force had broken up a Haqqani leadership meeting.
   
5. Iran: Life of Jailed Human Rights Lawyer at great risk: On Sunday, 31 October, Nasrin Sotoudeh, one of Iran’s most prominent human rights lawyers went on a dry hunger strike protesting her detention and ill treatment inside Tehran’s Evin prison. Her family reported that her health is quickly deteriorating.
   
6. UN: Cuba, Venezuela, Iran top the list of countries lining up to scrutinize US Human Rights during UN review: ccording to diplomats cited Wednesday by a Geneva-based NGO, U.N. Watch, Cuban officials “took the lead last week in circulating an advance sign-up sheet.” “We are concerned that Iran, Cuba, Venezuela and other non-democracies are planning to hijack the session to score propaganda points and drum up anti-American sentiment worldwide,” said the organization’s executive director, Hillel Neuer.
   
7. UK: Al-Qaeda terrorist arrested: Talking to the Royal United Services Institute, May revealed that an associate of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was arrested earlier this year and is suspected of planning an attack on the country. This terrorist unit has been blamed for the cargo bomb plot on the US just last week, which was intercepted. The bombs were found in printer cartridge packages in Dubai and Britain and were being mailed to the US. It’s believed that Anwar al-Awlaki, a US national and al-Qaeda leader, was the mastermind behind the attack from his base in Yemen.

The People's Cube.com

Posts for Oct 28th: Omar Khadr, French riots, Geert Wilder's trial, Challenge Radio, Separation of religion and state,

T&P posts for today:

1. On GITMO detainee Omar Kadhr. Psychiatrics have claimed that his time at GITMO has radicalised him, but in 2002, three months after he was arrested, he said that he was happy he had killed a US medic with a grenade. His family has had throughout the years a very close relationship with Al-Qaeda leaders, including Bin Laden, whom he men while in Afghanistan/Pakistan with his father.
2. French author Guy de Milliére on recent French riots: "the situation has worsened (since 2005). Approximately 700 “no-go zones” pepper France: enclaves ruled by gangs, drug traffickers and imams. Firefighters and doctors venture into these places rarely and only with extreme caution, when they have no other choice. Graffiti on the walls read: “French out!” or “jihad.”"
3. Opinion: Geert Wilders' trial has backfired in any way possible: "The politically charged trial took another twist last week when one of Mr. Wilders‘ expert witnesses, the Arabist Hans Jansen, wrote on his website that a member of the judiciary had tried to influence him. He said that at a dinner party before he was supposed to testify, one of the appeals judges whose decision compelled the prosecutors to press charges tried to “convince me of the correctness of the decision to take Wilders to court.”
4. Project: Challenge Radio. A project from the author of 1386AD. As I said in T&P, this is not my endorsement, but just give some publicity to an interesting Conservative project to build a radio talk show, with an special focus on Islamic supremacism's problems in Europe.
5. "Islam not invasive" motto: "Separation of religion and state is not an option for Muslims because it requires us to abandon Allah's decree for that of a man". A very interesting article from Islamic website Islaam.
6. Hirsi Ali: "Islam is more than a religion".
7. Pakistan: Suicide bombings are ticket to heaven, Taliban school teaches. “I was told that if I disclose my relations with them, they will behead my family and me,” 16-year-old Salaam said.
8. Iran: imprisoned Human Rights Lawyer on hunger strike, another journalist imprisoned. Jailed Iranian human rights attorney Nasrine Sotoudeh defended dissidents, minorities and women who've run afoul of Iran's legal system. She is in hunger strike since Sept 17th, but his family has not been able to see her since, says her husband. On the other hand, a tribunal has condemned Jila BaniYaghoub to one year prison term and 30 years ban from journalism. She is also a prominent Iranian journalist and women’s rights activist, who signed the One Million Signature Petition against discriminatory laws for women. Her husband is currently serving a 5-year-prison term in Evin prison.
   
9. Iranian Mullahcracy to protect women's freedom? Iran, where a woman convicted of adultery has been sentenced to death by stoning, is likely to become a member of the board of the new UN agency to promote equality for women, prompting outrage from the US and human rights groups.