Thursday night catchup

1. Iconic Palestinian image a hoax, says critic -

"This is not a Jewish issue, it's a democracy issue. If you can't trust the TV, the newspaper, what can you trust?"

Ah a good question...


2. Government minister of 'moderate' Indonesia regrets shaking Mrs. Obama’s hand -

'A conservative Muslim government minister admits he shook hands with first lady Michelle Obama in welcoming her to Indonesia but says it wasn’t his choice.

...

“I tried to prevent (being touched) with my hands but Mrs. Michelle held her hands too far toward me (so) we touched,” Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring told tens of thousands of followers on Twitter.'

So that's 'moderate'.


3. Christian woman sentenced to death in Pakistan ‘for blasphemy’ -

'A Christian woman has been sentenced to hang in Pakistan after being convicted of defaming the Prophet Mohammed.

Asia Bibi, a 45-year-old mother-of-five, denies blasphemy and told investigators that she was being persecuted for her faith in a country where Christians face routine harassment and discrimination.

...

The court heard she had been working as a farmhand in fields with other women, when she was asked to fetch drinking water.

Some of the other women – all Muslims – refused to drink the water as it had been brought by a Christian and was therefore “unclean”, according to Mrs Bibi’s evidence, sparking a row.

The incident was forgotten until a few days later when Mrs Bibi said she was set upon by a mob.'

Ah the the religious tolerance that the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is famed for.


4. Islam Channel censured by Ofcom -

'Programmes on the London-based broadcaster had advocated marital rape and violence against women'

I presume left-wing feminists will be up in arms...


5. Baroness Ashton's empire: The EU diplomatic army that dwarfs anything our own Foreign Office could muster
-

'The so-called European External Action Service (EEAS) will have an annual budget of £5.8 billion and an army of ambassadors across 137 embassies, with up to 7,000 Eurocrats trained to pursue the EU’s foreign policy.

It will be run by Baroness Ashton, the obscure Labour quangocrat and Blair-appointed peer who last year was surprisingly nominated by Gordon Brown to be the EU’s foreign secretary – even though she has never been elected by British or European voters.'

Ah the EU spending money and self-aggrandising.