Archive for August 8, 2007
“The wife of former Iraqi prime minister Ilyad Allawi has been convicted of dangerous driving in Britain after speeding off with a traffic warden clinging to the bonnet of her car…. Allawi shares her £2million home in Kingston, South-West London, with her husband, who was the interim prime minister in 2004-5.” (Why do I have [...]
Posted on August 8, 2007 by As'ad
“Dutch anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders has called for a ban on the Quran in the Netherlands. The leader called it a “fascist book†in the vein of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf which legitimises violence.”
Posted on August 8, 2007 by As'ad
“The Justice Department this summer abruptly cancelled a high-profile “Muslim outreach†event featuring Attorney General Alberto Gonzales after discovering that one of the invited guests was an officer of an organization just named as an “unindicted co-conspirator†in a major terrorism case.”
Posted on August 8, 2007 by As'ad
“An increased rate of suicide among women with cosmetic breast implants has been consistently reported in the epidemiologic literature. We extended by 8 years the follow-up of our earlier mortality study of a nationwide cohort of 3527 Swedish women with cosmetic breast implants to examine in greater detail suicide and other causes of death. The [...]
Posted on August 8, 2007 by As'ad
My father did not like music. That is weird, I know. In his whole life, I remember him liking two songs: Um Kulthum’s Anta `Umri (although he would get bored mid-way), and Widad’s Btindam (You Shall Regret). He really liked that song. I could not find a song by this talented by retired singer. Only [...]
Posted on August 8, 2007 by As'ad
For those who care (and those who don’t care), the transcript of my last AlJazeera appearance.
Posted on August 8, 2007 by As'ad
A what unto the nations? “Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz announced on Tuesday that Ben Gurion International Airport security would no longer mark the luggage belonging to non-Jews with colored tags, in order to spare these passengers embarrassment. Instead, Mofaz explained, the luggage of non-Jewish passengers will be stamped with the same color sticker as the [...]
Posted on August 8, 2007 by As'ad
“Crocker recognizes that he faces a difficult path. The Iraqis aren’t even close to passing laws that the U.S. Congress has said they must pass if the U.S. is to remain supportive.”
Posted on August 8, 2007 by As'ad
A Western documentary film maker sent me this: “When we paid a visit to the Daily Star in Feb 2006, the editors complained (I think off-camera, unfortunately) that they received regular calls and visits from the US Public Affairs Officer at the Embassy offering “suggestions” on how they might “improve” their reporting. Like, every month [...]
Posted on August 8, 2007 by As'ad
Sleaze + sleaze=sleaze. Rotana TV station (fully owned by Prince Al-Walid bin Talal) and LBC-TV (partially owned by Al-Walid bin Talal) have announced their merger. We now know what to expect.
Posted on August 8, 2007 by As'ad
I have reported about Fath, Fath-Al-Asalah, Fath-Al-Islam, and Fath-Al-Batata. Now this: Fath Al-Yasir.
Posted on August 8, 2007 by As'ad
Thus Spoke The Prime Minister of Lebanon: Fu’ad Sanyurah Opens Up. It is not common for Fu’ad Sanyurah to write columns newspapers: he is a very busy man. He has to attend to his tears and to carefully receive commands and orders from outside the borders of Lebanon. Here, he wrote an objective–real objective–article on [...]
Posted on August 8, 2007 by As'ad
Today, NBN reported–I kid you not–”additional progress” in Nahr Al-Barid. Not to be outdone, Al-Akhbar newspaper reports “qualitative progress” by the Lebanese Army.
Posted on August 8, 2007 by As'ad
A corrective movement inside Walid Jumblat’s party.
Posted on August 8, 2007 by As'ad
The US is playing a cute game with Gen. Musharraf (they call him Bushsharraf in Pakistan). First, US officials started meeting with Benazir Bhutto–and Musharraf was pushed to meet with her. And then former Pakistani prime minister started giving interviews. Of course, Nawaz Sharif would not have been able to speak if the US did [...]
Posted on August 8, 2007 by As'ad
Abu Hurayrah. So according to the Lebanese government, Fath-Al-Islam commander, Abu Hurayrah was severely injured in Nahr Al-Barid. He then managed to escape to the sea, where he swam for 4 hours to `Ayn Al-Hilwah camp. And instead of staying in `Ayn Al-Hilwah, he went (by sea? by air? we don’t know) to Tripoli–of all [...]
Posted on August 8, 2007 by As'ad
“This is not easily achieved. With the Orbit-funded project, we were often accused of being the Petrodollar Channel and there were deeply felt suspicions that the BBC had been “bought” by the Saudi Arabians. These suspicions were mostly put to rest as time went on, but the cost of asserting our editorial principles meant an [...]
Posted on August 8, 2007 by As'ad
“U.S. Colleges Declare: “Boycott Israeli Universities? Boycott Ours, Too!””. No, but thanks for the invitation. We are boycotting Israeli universities for the time being but we promise to keep you updated.
Posted on August 8, 2007 by As'ad
It is hilarious. The US accuses Syria and Iran of sabotaging the American occupation project in Iraq, and yet has selected as a puppet prime minister (Nuri Al-Maliki) somebody who spent his years in exile serving as a puppet of Syria and Iran. OK. I understand NOT.
Posted on August 8, 2007 by As'ad
Not in the US press. Here is a list of Israeli violations of Lebanese sovereignty in…48 hours:- “الساعة 8:45ØŒ Ù†Ùذت طائرة استطلاع طيراناً دائرياً Ùوق مناطق: بيروت – رياق وبعلبك، وغادرت الساعة 18:30.- الساعة 13:00ØŒ Ù†Ùذت طائرتان Øربيتان طيرانا دائرياً Ùوق منطقتي طرابلس وشكا، وغادرتا الساعة 13:30.- الساعة 13:05ØŒ Ù†Ùذت طائرتان Øربيتان طيراناً دائرياً Ùوق [...]
Posted on August 8, 2007 by As'ad