Miscellaneous articles/columns corner,,,,

[N.O.R.F]

Ethics are dead. Long live BAE!

 

Larry Elliott, economics editor

Monday December 18, 2006

The Guardian

 

 

Imagine that you are the French trade minister, keen to derail the global trade talks for fear that they will result in a wholesale dismantling of the Common Agricultural Policy. It's been an uphill struggle but at last help is at hand.

The next time Tony Blair calls Jacques Chirac to insist that he must face down protests from angry French farmers and stand up for free trade, there is a perfect one-word response: BAE.

 

Imagine you are the leader of a small, poor, African country with a troubled past and a cavalier approach to pluralism and democracy. Indeed, the crackdown on dissidents has become so blatant in recent months that the Department for International Development will cut off British aid unless the standard of governance is improved. As Hilary Benn repeats his prime minister's mantra - help for Africa is a deal for a deal, aid in return for a crackdown on corruption - you whisper one word: BAE.

It all seems a long time since we were told that Labour, in contrast to the sleazy Tories, would have an ethical foreign policy. The decision to order the Serious Fraud Office to drop the inquiry into the Al-Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabia signed in the 1980s is the triumph of realpolitik over principle.

 

As revealed yesterday, ministers may face a legal challenge; the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development wants to know why Britain seems to have flouted its obligations under an international anti-bribery code. But to those who argue the SFO inquiry should have been allowed to run its course, the retort is simple: join the real world.

 

The defence industry is a complicated business and there are plenty of jobs at stake here. That's true, but ministers are now exposed to the charge not just of hypocrisy but of economic illogicality.

 

'Call girls'

 

Although the intervention of the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, means that the courts are now unlikely to hear details of alleged slush funds and call girls, the public would be forgiven for suspecting that the defence contract stank to high heaven. The Saudis would prefer not to have baskets full of allegedly dirty linen washed in public and Labour has duly halted the inquiry.

 

What does this say about the interface between politics and economics? Firstly, that there are some countries you bully and some countries you don't. There is a world of difference in getting tough with, say, Ethiopia, over its standards of government procurement and doing the same with the world's biggest oil producer. Abuses of human rights are always less serious in a big country with clout (eg China) than in a country where the high moral ground can be occupied without fear of economic consequences (eg Zimbabwe). But it is good to have double standards so clearly highlighted.

 

The government's argument that its appeasement was due to concerns about national security, rather than fear that BAE would lose a £6bn contract for the next phase of the Al-Yamamah deal, suggests delusions of grandeur. What matters in the geopolitics of the Middle East is the relationship between Saudi Arabia and the United States; anything Britain does is a sideshow. The idea that the Saudis would abandon their pro-west stance because a few executives came up before the UK courts is risible.

 

No, this was really about money. With Britain's own oil and gas reserves falling, Whitehall has justifiable concerns about energy security. Saudi is the world's No 1 supplier of oil and is too powerful to upset. Given that Russia has the world's biggest reserves of gas, those expecting the incorruptible British justice system to deliver up the killers of Alexander Litvinenko may be in for a long wait.

 

It's not just about energy, though, because BAE is vital to what remains of British industry. The UK only has a global presence in pharmaceuticals and defence. It is no accident that both have benefited from strong and consistent government support for many decades. In an increasingly competitive world, the government has used its enormous procurement powers in the NHS and the Ministry of Defence to favour British firms. Pharma and defence account for 70% of the UK's annual spending on research and development; they represent the hi-tech, knowledge-based sectors that ministers want to foster.

 

What's more, problems for BAE would mean problems for other companies, such as Rolls-Royce, which has gone from bankruptcy to world-beater in three decades. The UK is not so blessed with world-class firms that it can afford to let them go without a struggle. If that means turning a blind eye to alleged wrongdoing or failing to investigate whether palms may have been greased to win a deal, then that's what happens.

 

'Dark arts'

 

The clinching argument, certainly as far as BAE is concerned, is that everybody is at it. The French would happily step in and sell the Saudis warplanes if BAE got the push but does anybody believe that our neighbours are whiter than white? Of course not. We know that the billions spent by the Pentagon help to subsidise the US defence industry. We know that the French are experts in the "dark arts" of securing military contracts. It seems only fair that British firms compete on the same terms, particularly since any alleged wrongdoing was a long time ago.

 

The problem is that the attorney general's support for BAE amounts to protectionism, which the government in all its public statements considers to be a Very Bad Thing indeed. If Labour truly believes in the sanctity of market forces, it's hard to justify feather-bedding a company - even one as important as BAE - in this way. According to its own ideology, there should be no assured MoD contracts, no bowing to lobbying, no favours. Defence procurement would be done on the basis of free-market principles, with taxpayers getting the best value for money, savings used to boost other parts of the economy and the message to BAE workers the same as that given to those who lost their jobs in textiles or steel: that's globalisation.

 

That is certainly a logical position for the government to take. Another logical stance is that the perfect world of global market forces simply does not exist, and that there are powerful arguments for states using their financial power to support industries they consider strategically or economically vital.

 

A third position, and one that perhaps ought to appeal to a Labour government, is that it is proper for public money to be used to nurture and support industry, and that if a fraction of the money that has been spent over many decades on safeguarding Britain's position as one of the world's leading arms dealers had been spent on renewable energy and procuring green technology from the UK's environmental industries, we might all be a lot better off.

 

Source

[N.O.R.F]

We must speak out

Today we are launching an appeal for a world-wide cultural boycott against the Israeli state.

 

Today I am supporting a world-wide appeal to teachers, intellectuals and artists to join the cultural boycott of the state of Israel, as called for by over a hundred Palestinian academics and artists, and - very importantly - also by a number of Israeli public figures, who outspokenly oppose their country's illegal occupation of the Palestine territories of the West Bank and Gaza. Their call, printed in the Guardian today, can be read here. A full list of signatories can be found here.

 

The boycott is an active protest against two forms of exclusion which have persisted, despite many other forms of protestations, for over 60 years - for almost three generations. During this period the state of Israel has consistently excluded itself from any international obligation to heed UN resolutions or the judgement of any international court. To date, it has defied 246 Security Council Resolutions.

 

As a direct consequence seven million Palestinians have been excluded from the right to live as they wish on land internationally acknowledged to be theirs; and now increasingly, with every week that passes, they are being excluded from their right to any future at all as a nation. As Nelson Mandela has pointed out, boycott is not a principle, it is a tactic depending upon circumstances. A tactic which allows people, as distinct from their elected but often craven governments, to apply a certain pressure on those wielding power in what they, the boycotters, consider to be an unjust or immoral way. (In white South Africa yesterday and in Israel today, the immorality was, or is being, coded into a form of racist apartheid.)

 

Boycott is not a principle. When it becomes one, it itself risks becoming exclusive and racist. No boycott, in our sense of the term, should be directed against an individual, a people, or a nation as such. A boycott is directed against a policy and the institutions which support that policy either actively or tacitly. Its aim is not to reject, but to bring about change.

 

How to apply a cultural boycott? A boycott of goods is a simpler proposition, but in this case it would probably be less effective, and speed is of the essence, because the situation is deteriorating every month (which is precisely why some of the most powerful world political leaders, hoping for the worst, keep silent).

 

How to apply a boycott? For academics it's perhaps a little clearer - a question of declining invitations from state institutions and explaining why. For invited actors, musicians, jugglers or poets it can be more complicated. I'm convinced, in any case, that its application should not be systematised; it has to come from a personal choice based on a personal assessment.

 

For instance: an important mainstream Israeli publisher today is asking to publish three of my books. I intend to apply the boycott with an explanation. There exist, however, a few small, marginal Israeli publishers who expressly work to encourage exchanges and bridges between Arabs and Israelis, and if one of them should ask to publish something of mine, I would unhesitatingly agree and furthermore waive aside any question of author's royalties. I don't ask other writers supporting the boycott to come necessarily to exactly the same conclusion. I simply offer an example.

 

What is important is that we make our chosen protests together, and that we speak out, thus breaking the silence of connivance maintained by those who claim to represent us, and thus ourselves representing, briefly by our common action, the incalculable number of people who have been appalled by recent events but lack the opportunity of making their sense of outrage effective.

 

Full details of the campaign and add your name at www.bricup,.org.uk or email info@bricup.org.uk

 

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/john_berger/2006/12/john_berger.html

[N.O.R.F]

Bushmen granted return to Kalahari

 

 

Botswana's high court has ruled that more than 1,000 San Bushmen had been wrongly evicted from ancestral hunting grounds in the Kalahari desert and should be allowed to return.

 

 

 

 

On Wednesday, the court ruled 2-1 in the Bushmen's favour in the major issues of the case.

 

Gordon Bennett, the Bushmen's lawyer: "It's about the right of the applicants to live inside the reserve as long as they want and that's a marvelous victory."

 

 

 

 

 

 

The case has pitted Africa's last hunter-gatherers against one of the continent's most admired governments in a dispute over land that is rich in diamonds and eyed by developers.

 

"Forcibly ejected"

 

Bushmen's ancestors have lived in the Kalahari for thousands of years, and the plaintiffs say they are being forcibly ejected from the game reserve and resettled in camps where their traditional way of life is dying.

 

The Bushmen, backed by western rights groups, argued their expulsion was designed to increase Botswana's output of diamonds - already its top export - a charge the government denies.

 

Al Jazeera's southern Africa correspondent Kalay Maistry said: "They are now free to return ... and won't need to get licences in order to continue hunting.

 

"But the terms and conditions ... have yet to be ruled on ... and the state does have the right to lodge an appeal."

 

Maruping Dibotelo, Botswana's Chief Justice, delivering his opinion ahead of the final verdict, had argued the case should be dismissed on the grounds that the state owns the Kalahari desert land.

 

"The contention of the applicants that the government unlawfully deprived them of their land ... must fail," Dibotelo said.

 

But Judge Unity Dow disagreed, saying Botswana's government had "failed to take account of the knowledge and the culture" of the Bushmen when it expelled them.

 

"In 2002 they were dispossessed forcibly, unlawfully, and without their consent," he said.

 

Source

[Jacaylbaro]

bla bla bla bla bla ,,,, sow maaha

[N.O.R.F]

^^Waa waxyaabahaan akhristo markaan shan mirid haasto yacni!

 

Mass mouse escape on Saudi plane

 

More than 100 passengers on a Saudi plane were left panic-stricken by the unexpected appearance of furry fellow flyers - dozens of mice.

The small rodents - about 80 in total, according to a local newspaper - escaped from the bag of a man travelling on the domestic flight.

 

An airline official said the aircraft was at 28,000 feet (8,500m) when mice began scurrying around the cabin.

 

Some of the mice fell on passengers' heads, Al-Hayat newspaper reports.

 

The incident occurred on a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight from the capital, Riyadh, to north-eastern town of Tabuk.

 

The flight landed safely and the bag's owner was detained by police investigating how he managed to get the mice onto the plane.

 

No explanation was given for the man's live cargo.

 

Source

[Jacaylbaro]

Name of the book: An Introduction to African Politics

 

Author: Alex Thomson

 

Year published: 2000 in London

Reprinted: 2001

 

Pages: 227

 

 

What did we learn about Africa ?

 

 

The book is talking about the historical background of Africa in terms of Africa’s pre-colonial and colonial inheritance. It is also talking about different ideologies of nationalism, socialism, populism and state capitalism.

 

It is explaining how Africa suffered with the colony and then suffered more with its own leaders politically dominated by the ex-colonists. The conclusion of this subject according to the book is that Africa has never been get freedom from the European countries.

 

 

What problems/issues has the book raised about Africa?

 

The book talked about how African politicians cheated their own people in order to get power. These are the major problems according to the book:

 

 African politicians and leaders that are always running to fulfill the interest of the west in order to get support for their power. This means Africa is still colonized by the west using Africa’s own leaders.

 African different tribes and ethnic groups were used to destabilize the continent. Although there has been a great feeling of nationalism but the power of ethnicity is still strong that anybody can take the benefit of it.

 Military intervention of African politics. There has been coups, assassinations and so on during Africa’s pro-colonial period.

 African during the cold war was the field battle for the two main powers of the world (east and west).

 

 

How Africa’s people are doing to solve these problems ?

 

 Great feeling of nationalism among the Africa’s population.

 Civil societies are also another way to solve some of the social and political problems of Africa.

 Africa is now realizing the real problems facing their continent but still struggling with internal and external interest and conflicts.

 Many Africans who live in the west are now returning to their homeland in order to develop their countries in terms of education, social issues, etc.

 Great concern of taking advantage to benefit from international development programs.

 

 

How the international community can be involved to help Africa?

 

 

 Africans should make their own development problems then seek help from the international community. Not to wait until the international community propose help for you.

 Explaining the reality of Africa to the rest of the world both negative and positive. Even Africans give a bad or wrong picture of Africa in order to get aid and/or sympathy from international community.

 Into some extent the international community helped Africa in terms of health, education and other social programs but never helps and willing to help in terms of politics as the west still wants to dominate Africa in order to benefit its rich resources.

 

 

Analysis:

 

 Africa can be more developed if its leaders are willing to do so.

 Africa did not get its freedom from the west as they are controlling the resources for their own benefit. This was clear during the cold war.

 In order to get assisted, Africans are trying to obey the lessons from the west which means they are still colonizing Africa.

 Africa could forget running after the west and focus its own development by its own experience and people. (like Somalia/Somaliland, millions of people are living in the west and get knowledge of almost everything).

 African Union can be more effective by focusing on the social issues rather than the politics and conflicts caused by the conflicts. Development programs can be more effective in this side.

 Pan Africanism is another approach to develop Africa but needs to be more effective and realistic.

 

 

THANK YOU

[N.O.R.F]

When I Covered My Head, I Opened My Mind

 

By: Sharrifa Carlo

IslamiCity* -

 

As a non-Muslim living in Western society, the idea of modesty was not exactly foremost in my mind. Like all other women of my generation and mind-set, I thought such ideas were antiquated and excessive. I felt pity for the poor Muslim woman who had to "wear all that junk," or "walk around in bed - sheets" as I used to call it

 

I was a modern woman, educated and liberated. Little did I know the awful truth. I was more oppressed than any Muslim woman in the most culturally oppressive village in the Muslim world. I was oppressed not by an inability to choose my clothing or to choose my life-style, I was oppressed by an inability to see my society for what it really was. I was oppressed by the idea that a woman's beauty was public, and that lustful admiration was equal to respect.

 

It was when Allah guided me to Islam, and I put on the hijab, that I was finally able to step out of the society in which I lived and see it for what it really is. I could see how the highest paid women were those who exposed themselves to public display, like actresses, models and even strip-tease dancers. I was able to see that the relationship between men and women was unfairly stacked in the man's direction. I knew I used o dress to attract men. I tried to fool myself by saying I did it to please myself, but the painful reality was that what pleased me was when I was admired by a man I considered attractive.

 

I was not able to see that I was oppressed until I stepped out of the darkness of this oppressive society into the light of Islam. With the light shinning on the truth, I was finally able to see the shadows that had been so obscured by my Western outlook. It is not oppression to protect yourself and society; it is oppression to voluntarily throw yourself into an unclean social quagmire while thinking that it is the best way of life.

 

I am grateful to Allah that He allowed me to recognize that when I covered my head, I was taking away from people any means for judging me other than my mind, my soul and my heart. When I covered my head, I took away the incentive for exploitation based on beauty. When I covered my head, I made people respect me because they saw that I respected myself, and when I covered my head, I finally opened my mind to the truth.

 

One of the factors which attracted me to this great deen of ours was the fact that so much of it can be understood based on logic and reason. Islam is a great religion that satisfies all of our basic intellectual and emotional needs; it does this simply because it is the truth, and the truth is always easy to understand and defend.

 

Source

[Viking]

Condoms 'too big' for Indian men

 

 

By Damian Grammaticus

BBC News, Delhi

 

A survey of more than 1,000 men in India has concluded that condoms made according to international sizes are too large for a majority of Indian men.

 

The study found that more than half of the men measured had penises that were shorter than international standards for condoms.

 

It has led to a call for condoms of mixed sizes to be made more widely available in India.

 

The two-year study was carried out by the Indian Council of Medical Research.

 

Over 1,200 volunteers from the length and breadth of the country had their penises measured precisely, down to the last millimetre.

 

The scientists even checked their sample was representative of India as a whole in terms of class, religion and urban and rural dwellers.

 

It's not size, it's what you do with it that matters

Sunil Mehra

The conclusion of all this scientific endeavour is that about 60% of Indian men have penises which are between three and five centimetres shorter than international standards used in condom manufacture.

 

Doctor Chander Puri, a specialist in reproductive health at the Indian Council of Medical Research, told the BBC there was an obvious need in India for custom-made condoms, as most of those currently on sale are too large.

 

The issue is serious because about one in every five times a condom is used in India it either falls off or tears, an extremely high failure rate.

 

And the country already has the highest number of HIV infections of any nation.

 

'Not a problem'

 

Mr Puri said that since Indians would be embarrassed about going to a chemist to ask for smaller condoms there should be vending machines dispensing different sizes all around the country.

 

"Smaller condoms are on sale in India. But there is a lack of awareness that different sizes are available. There is anxiety talking about the issue. And normally one feels shy to go to a chemist's shop and ask for a smaller size condom."

 

But Indian men need not be concerned about measuring up internationally according to Sunil Mehra, the former editor of the Indian version of the men's magazine Maxim.

 

"It's not size, it's what you do with it that matters," he said.

 

"From our population, the evidence is Indians are doing pretty well.

 

"With apologies to the poet Alexander Pope, you could say, for inches and centimetres, let fools contend."

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/south_asia/6161691.stm

 

Published: 2006/12/08 13:08:43 GMT

 

© BBC MMVI

[ElPunto]

LOOOOLLLLL! Relying on this anecdote - African men would have the opposite problem, no

[Shakti]

^^ufff.

[N.O.R.F]

Muslims need to take part

 

 

Palestinian dispossession is a reason to participate in Holocaust Memorial Day, not boycott it

 

Salma Yaqoob

Thursday December 21, 2006

The Guardian

 

 

The freedom for Muslims to express their identity in Europe is today under attack. Implicit in this attack is the view that Islam is intrinsically repressive, and embodies values alien to western values of liberty, tolerance and democracy. The memory of the Holocaust stands against such a grossly sanitised view of European history. It reminds us that in the heart of modern Europe the demonisation of a religious and cultural minority culminated in genocide - the mass, industrialised slaughter of European Jews. Why then, with European Muslims subject to attacks reminiscent of the gathering storms of anti-semitism in the first decades of the last century, has Holocaust Memorial Day become such a difficult issue for some British Muslims?

 

One objection has been outlined by Inayat Bunglawala of the Muslim Council of Britain. "There have been many further instances of genocide and mass killings since we vowed 'never again' in response to the Nazi crimes," he has pointed out. "Do the innocent killed in those horrific episodes not equally deserve to be commemorated in a more inclusive and aptly titled Genocide Memorial Day?"

 

But it's one thing to argue that Holocaust Memorial Day pays insufficient attention to broader experiences of genocide - quite another to boycott it altogether. Without minimising the impact of other atrocities in recent history, I believe the Holocaust does have a special significance, not only for its brutality, but for the industrial organisation of its genocide. It is significant because it represented the culmination of a political philosophy which labelled Jews, Slavs, Gypsies, Africans and many others as "subhuman". It is significant because of the ambition of its perpetrators to reorganise the globe along lines of racial hierarchy. Fascism is utterly opposed to our most fundamental beliefs about the worth of human beings. And the Holocaust embodies the reality of fascism in power. As fascists once again make political inroads across Europe - increasingly with Muslims as their target - it is all the more necessary that new generations are never allowed to forget that reality.

 

However, for many Muslims, arguments about the specificity of the Holocaust are not the main reason they are uneasy about participation in memorial events. The main reason is Palestine. The way in which Zionists have abused the memory of the Holocaust to bolster support for today's Israeli state and its racist and murderous policies towards the Palestinians repels many Muslims, as well as some anti-Zionist Jews, from participating. In fact, Palestine should not be a reason for boycotting Holocaust Memorial Day, but a reason for participating. As the peace campaigner Uri Avnery, who organised a demonstration against the killing of Palestinian children on last year's Holocaust Memorial Day in Tel Aviv, put it: one of the lessons of the Holocaust is that you must not accept an ideology telling you "that other people are inferior and subhuman" or that loyalty to your country justifies "the occupation of another country and oppression of another people".

 

It is now open season for attacks on Muslims. Hardly a day goes by without another lurid denunciation of the "enemy within". Ruth Kelly is the latest politician to attack those Muslim organisations which refuse to participate in Holocaust Memorial Day. We will not take lectures from a government responsible for the deaths of countless innocents in Iraq and Afghanistan. But refusal to participate in Holocaust memorial events is an own goal. We rightly want to draw attention to those for whom there are no official commemorations, and whose oppression is barely acknowledged; but we have instead allowed ourselves to be further isolated, and allowed the false smear of anti-semitism to be directed at us.

 

Last weekend the Muslim Council of Britain debated participation in Holocaust Memorial Day. This is a step in the right direction, as is its decision to canvass broader Muslim opinion. I am convinced that there is only one decision that is morally and politically sustainable. Participation in this national event in no way legitimises or justifies the dispossession of the Palestinian people - in fact, remembering the lessons of the Holocaust does the very opposite.

 

We should be part of it because there are lessons from history which relate very closely to our experience today. We should be part of it because our refusal merely gives succour to those who peddle prejudice and lies about the Holocaust. And we should be part of it because it is right to remember the millions of our fellow human beings who died at the hands of a racist and supremacist ideology.

 

· Salma Yaqoob is a Birmingham city councillor for Respect and vice-chair of Respect

 

yaqoobsalma@yahoo.co.uk

 

CiF

[Som@li]

'Hibernating' man survives for 3 weeks

 

TOKYO - A man who went missing in western Japan survived in near-freezing weather without food and water for over three weeks by falling into a state similar to hibernation, doctors said.

 

 

Mitsutaka Uchikoshi had almost no pulse, his organs had all but shut down and his body temperature was 71 degrees Fahrenheit when he was discovered on Rokko mountain in late October, said doctors who treated him at the nearby Kobe City General Hospital. He had been missing for 24 days.

 

"On the second day, the sun was out, I was in a field, and I felt very comfortable. That's my last memory," Uchikoshi, 35, told reporters Tuesday before returning home from hospital. "I must have fallen asleep after that."

 

Doctors believe Uchikoshi, a city official from neighboring Nishinomiya who was visiting the mountain for a barbecue party, tripped and later lost consciousness in a remote mountainous area.

 

His body temperature soon plunged as he lay in 50-degree weather, greatly slowing down his metabolism.

 

"(Uchikoshi) fell into a state similar to hibernation and many of his organs slowed, but his brain was protected," said Dr. Shinichi Sato, head of the hospital's emergency unit. "I believe his brain capacity has recovered 100 percent."

 

Uchikoshi was treated for severe hypothermia, multiple organ failure and blood loss from his fall, but was unlikely to experience any lasting ill effects, Sato said.

 

Doctors were still uncertain how exactly Uchikoshi survived for weeks with his metabolism almost at a standstill.

 

In animals like squirrels or bears, hibernation reduces the amount of oxygen that cells need to survive, protecting them from damage to the brain and other organs

[N.O.R.F]

Shia books spark debate in Sudan

By Ahmed Janabi

 

 

 

 

 

Sudan's Muslims are predominantly Sunni

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sudanese Muslim organisations have protested against what they say are attempts by Iran to promote Shia beliefs in the country.

 

At a press conference in Khartoum, Ansar al-Sunna al-Muhamadiya, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Majlis al-Dawa expressed fears of Iranian-backed plans to spread Shia beliefs in Sudan, and demanded an investigation.

 

 

 

 

The dispute started earlier in December, when organisers of the Al-Khartoum Book Exhibition closed the Iranian booth for displaying Shia books which were disparaging towards Aisha, one of the wives of Prophet Muhammad, and his companions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spokesmen for the three Muslim organisations said they were preparing an official request for an investigation to be launched into how the books found their way on to the exhibition's shelves.

 

Muslim organisations and activists described the books as "hypocritical" and aimed at staining the reputation of the prophet, his family and companions.

 

The organisations also called for the closure of the three Iranian Cultural Centres in Sudan, which they accuse of promoting Shia beliefs in the country.

 

 

Unwelcome thoughts

 

The Islamic Fiqh Board, an organisation linked to the Sudanese presidency, has issued a statement saying the books have been confiscated because they contained thoughts contradictory to Islam's basic beliefs.

 

 

 

Dr Abd al-Hay Yusouf, a member of the Islamic Fiqh Board, told Al Jazeera that the books were brought into the country through the diplomatic mail of the Iranian embassy.

 

 

 

He said: "We sensed the real activities of the Iranian cultural centres in Sudan a long time ago, and we warned the government that the centres are dedicated to spread Shia in Sudan, but, unfortunately, they did not listen to us.

 

 

 

"There are three Iranian Cultural Centres in Sudan, their Iranian employees move about the country freely, while the Sudanese embassy employees in Iran are not allowed to contact anybody in Iran unless through the Iranian foreign ministry."

 

 

 

Openness

 

Ibrahim al-Ansari, the Iranian cultural attache in Sudan, dismissed the allegations of Shia missionary groups, stressing that the Iranian Cultural Centres are open for all Muslim sects.

 

 

 

He said: "Our work based on a saying from the Islamic literature 'Believers are brothers'. We are not sectarians and I am a Shia, but I do pray in Sunni mosques. We respect and admire people's beliefs even if they do not agree with ours."

 

 

 

The Supreme Council for Co-ordination among Islamic Groups has warned of a widespread Shia missionary operation in Sudan, and said at the press conference in Khartoum on Tuesday that several Sudanese villages have converted to the Shia sect.

 

 

 

Yusouf said: "I think it is an exaggeration to say many villages. There is only one village called Um Dam in Kordfan converted to Shia. However, this does mean that we should not underestimate the activities of Shia missionaries in the country."

 

 

 

The Persian version of Shia doctrine is based on the belief that Ali, a cousin of Prophet Muhammad and his son-in-law, should have been the first caliph or successor after the prophet's death, and hold Aisha, the prophet's wife and the prophet's companions responsible for depriving Ali of that "right".

 

 

 

Sunni Muslims reject the idea and insist that Prophet Muhammad's companions were much more honourable than to plot against the prophet's cousin, and hold those who disparage the prophet's companions as "criminal".

 

 

 

Iran maintains cultural centres worldwide, which report directly to the Iranian cultural attaches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: AlJazeera

[Pujah]

Buick 'masturbation' car renamed

Red-faced officials at General Motors in Canada have been forced to think of a new name for their latest model after discovering it was a slang word for masturbation.

GM officials said they had been unaware that LaCrosse was a term for self-gratification among teenagers in French-speaking Quebec.

 

They are now working on a new name for the LaCrosse in Canada. The car will go on sale next year to replace the Buick Regal.

 

 

More recently, Mitsubishi had to change the name of its Pajero model in Spanish speaking countries, where the word is a slang term for "masturbator".

 

While Toyota's Fiera proved controversial in Puerto Rico, where fiera translated to "ugly old woman".

 

And Ford didn't have the reception it expected in Brazil when their Pinto car flopped.

 

They then discovered that in Brazilian Portuguese slang, pinto means "small penis".

 

 

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/3208501.stm

[N.O.R.F]