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Three women facing death threats appeared in public under heavy security last night to denounce a provincial move that would allow Muslims here to settle family disputes in accordance with religious laws, outside the court system. The activists, including Dutch parliamentarian Ayaan Hirsi Ali, say the religious laws known as sharia discriminate against women. "Why, if you have equal rights in Canada, would you take them away from Muslim women?" Hirsi Ali asked. She was joined by Iran's Homa Arjomand and Irshad Manji in a University of Toronto auditorium for an event in support of the International Campaign Against Sharia...

When Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh was stabbed to death last year, the assailant pinned a note to the dead body claiming Ayaan Hirsi Ali would be next. But she isn't cowering. Instead, the Dutch filmmaker is in Toronto, speaking out against the implementation of traditional Islamic law, Sharia, in Canada. "I'm here because the rights of women and the rights of Muslim women are threatened," she said. Supporters of Sharia say Muslims have the right to live as their religion dictates. They want Canada to permit Sharia arbitration in civil disputes. In a recent report, Marion Boyd, a former...

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also known as the 9-11 Commission), an independent, bipartisan commission created by congressional legislation...is chartered to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, including preparedness for and the immediate response to the attacks...

The Iraqi government has announced that it has arrested two senior members of Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaeda in Iraq operating in the northern city of Mosul. The government said the two men were arrested on June 19 and were candidates to replace al-Qaeda's leader in Mosul who had been captured on June 14. They two men were identified as Salim Mohammed Ahmed, also known as Abu Nabhan, and Mohammed Thaer Ibrahim, also known as Abu Sarhan. "The two terrorists surrendered without resistance," the announcement said. It offered no other details about the arrests other than to say they were the result...

<p>In the year since Saddam Hussein was deposed, insurgents have killed nine former Iraqi weapons officials. All had been questioned by the Iraq Survey Group (ISG); at least two had been cooperating with it. Last October, ISG head David Kay said that one scientist was killed because "he was engaged in discussions with us." The most recent victim was Majid Hussein Ali, a well-known nuclear scientist. He took two bullets to the back in February.</p>

The links between Nick Berg and Zacarias Moussaoui, once described as the 20th hijacker of 9/11, opened now room for new speculations, if there are deeper ties between the OKC Bombing'95 and 9/11, than thought before. Apparently Berg knew also Moussaoui's roomates. One of them was Mujahid Menepta, who is connected to both 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the 1995 OKC bombing. But Menepta wasn't arrested in Summer 2001, when Moussaoui got caught. The FBI waited until after Sep11th.Why?Berg, Moussaoui and the OK bombing tieshttp://inn.globalfreepress.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=269 By Ewing20012004/5/24 On May 18th, 2004, according to Newsmax, Nick Berg's family insisted that...

Asking few questions makes a difference. There's a change of mentality that started to occur in Iraq even before the 9th of April, but toppling Saddam marked a surge in the change process that made it transfere into an active form and spread wider than before. I think one of the main problems in Arab-Muslim communities is that the vast majority from the illiterate to even highly educated people do not ask enough questions. On the other hand, I've noticed (mainly through blogging ) that westerns in general and Americans in particular always have so many questions to ask and...

EVERY year on March 8, feminists across the world celebrate International Women's Day. As it happens, the holiday was first proclaimed in the early 20th century by the Socialist International – making it the perfect symbol of a movement that, it has become increasingly clear in the past four years of the war on terror, is more dedicated to leftist, utopian politics than to women's rights. For many years before September 11, 2001 – and much to their credit – Western feminists tried to rouse a sleeping world to the plight of women in increasingly radical Islamic countries. In the...

I'm angry. I'm going to let off some steam. But don't think for a minute that the recommendations I make in this commentary are made in haste or without careful reflection. I waited a few days to cool off after I read the news stories that prompt this column. I didn't want to say something I would regret later. Now I feel like I will regret it later if I don't say something right now. Last month, the United States pressed charges against Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 23, a U.S. citizen of Arabic extraction, for plotting to assassinate President Bush....

Virginia man charged in alleged plot to assassinate Bush By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press Writer ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- A former high school valedictorian in Virginia was charged Tuesday with conspiring to assassinate President Bush and conspiracy to support the al-Qaida terrorist network. Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 23, a U.S. citizen, made an initial appearance Tuesday in U.S. District Court. He claimed that he was tortured while detained in Saudi Arabia since June of 2003 and offered through his lawyer to show the judge his scars. The indictment said that in 2002 and 2003 Abu Ali and an unidentified coconspirator...

Feb 22, 10:51 AM (ET) By MATTHEW BARAKAT ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - A former Virginia high school valedictorian who had been detained in Saudi Arabia as a suspected terrorist was charged Tuesday with conspiring to assassinate President Bush and with supporting the al-Qaida terrorist network. Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 23, a U.S. citizen, made an initial appearance Tuesday in U.S. District Court but did not enter a plea. He claimed that he was tortured while detained in Saudi Arabia since June of 2003 and offered through his lawyer to show the judge his scars. The federal indictment said that in...

AMSTERDAM — The Dutch Cabinet has promised it will act quickly to protect seriously threatened immigrant women, many of whom are Islamic and living in fear of an "honour killing". The cabinet partially met an impassioned plea from Liberal VVD MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who threatened during an emotional parliamentary debate on Thursday to lodge a "motion of sadness" against Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner. Hirsi Ali, an outspoken critic of Islam, said Donner was not doing enough to protect Islamic women. In fact, she claimed the Christian Democrat CDA minister had never woken up from fairytale land, news service...

NEW DELHI: More than four days after a pornographic video was screened at IGI Airport provoking protests from passengers, the airport authorities and police have failed to identify who was responsible for the incident. The pornographic clip was played repeatedly between 12.10 am and 12.30 am on Friday on two television sets in the visitors' lounge. The clip lasted for three minutes the first time. After some time, the clip appeared again and lasted for a couple of minutes. It appeared a couple of times again and lasted for a few seconds on each occasion.

THE FACTS surrounding Ahmed Abu Ali's detention and possible torture in Saudi Arabia remain shrouded in diplomatic and law enforcement secrecy. Caution, therefore, is certainly in order in assessing the U.S. government's role in the arrest a year and a half ago of this American citizen and in his detention without charge or access to counsel ever since. But as U.S. District Judge John D. Bates put it last week in a compelling opinion on the case, Mr. Abu Ali's lawyers "have not only alleged, but have presented some unrebutted evidence, that [his] detention is at the behest and ongoing...

Editor's note: Readers may also be interested in Iran: The Invisible Revolution. During the U.S. presidential campaign, debate over Iran policy received unprecedented attention. The reasons are multifold. With Iran on the verge of developing both nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile capability, Washington policymakers can no longer ignore the Iranian threat, especially when confidants of Supreme Leader Ali Khomenei lead televised chants of "American will be annihilated," as Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati did last June. American concern over a nuclear Iran is multifold. The danger is not necessarily that Iran would conduct a nuclear first strike, although former president Ali Akbar...

...Ukraine's experience has become a democratic benchmark. By briefly overlaying Iraq on Ukraine, we may better understand Iraq's prospects. Vladimir Putin last week mocked the likelihood of a real democratic event happening in Iraq next month.... Courts function in Iraq, but unlike Ukraine judges in Iraq must worry about being shot.... As important is a thriving middle class -- "independent economic forces that can financially support alternative political parties and the like." But he pointed out the danger of minimizing a nation's prospects by underestimating the momentum of the democratic process.... Iraq's instability, notably in the country's center, is well...

Editor's note: Readers may also be interested in Moderate Islam or Fata Morgana? and freemuslims.org Speaks Out.There is good news to report: The idea that "militant Islam is the problem, moderate Islam is the solution" is finding greater acceptance over time. But there is also bad news, namely growing confusion over who really is a moderate Muslim. This means that the ideological side of the war on terror is making some, but only limited, progress.The good news: Anti-Islamist Muslims have found their voice since September 11. Their numbers include distinguished academics such as Azar Nafisi (Johns Hopkins), Ahmed al-Rahim (formerly...

The assassin's master sermon By Spengler Westerners identify readily with secular Muslims such as Ayaan Hirshi Ali, member of the Netherlands' parliament and the late Theo van Gogh's collaborator in a film attacking Islam's treatment of women, or with the Canadian Irshad Manji, the lesbian "Muslim refusenik" who published The Trouble with Islam: A Muslim's Call for Reform in Her Faith. But they have something to learn from the letter that Mohammed B pinned with a knife to van Gogh's corpse after he murdered him with knife and pistol on November 2. The text can be found at FaithFreedom.org, along...

Today, there are rumors that the President of PDVSA Ali Rodriguez will be removed from the post and appointed as Minister of Foreign Relations. While this is being denied by the Foreign Minister “por ahora”, the rumors appear to be true. Coincidentally I was going to talk about Rodriguez in the context of an excellent article about him in Descifrado by Mery Mogollon, entitled “Ali is naked” which I was going to comment on, adding my own information. To understand what Mogollon is saying, it is important to place yourself in the proper context. Rodriguez, “Commander Faust” when he was...

PHILADELPHIA -- Third-year medical student Lea Sullivan walked out of a grocery store Sunday afternoon onto a busy sidewalk in one of the city's most vibrant neighborhoods, and met a savage, inexplicable end. A burly man in a ski mask attacked the former homecoming queen from behind, clubbing her in the head with a baseball bat and continuing to beat her after she fell. The attack lasted seconds -- a minute, tops. Although South Street was crowded with shoppers, no one tried to stop the attack.

PHILADELPHIA - Third-year medical student Lea Sullivan walked out of a grocery store on a Sunday afternoon, onto a busy sidewalk in one of the city's most vibrant neighborhoods, and met a savage, inexplicable end. A burly man in a ski mask attacked the former homecoming queen from behind, clubbing her in the head with a baseball bat and continuing to beat her after she fell. The attack lasted seconds - a minute, tops. Although South Street was crowded with shoppers, no one tried to stop the attack. But witnesses did get a good look at the assailant, who removed...

...Partly motivated by an understandable desire not to inadvertently fuel xenophobia, Europe's elites have for too long played down the problems posed by radical elements within Europe's large Muslim community. Even as Muslim demonstrators called for the death of Jews right in the streets of Amsterdam, Paris and elsewhere, the public hardly took notice. One might argue that this is the price a liberal society has to pay for its freedom: tolerance of the intolerable. But in Europe, tolerance is selective. Most countries have tough laws against hate speech and neo-Nazis are arrested for similar offenses. The police detained about...

WHEN Geert Wilders, a Dutch politician, collected his post from the letterbox on Wednesday he got an unpleasant surprise. Among the bills and junk mail was a letter addressing him as “ugly dog”. It told him he would soon be beheaded. It was an unnerving way to start the day. Only 24 hours earlier Theo van Gogh, the film maker who had often attacked radical Muslims, had been riding along on his bicycle when a Muslim fanatic first shot and then butchered him on a busy street with the nonchalance of an abattoir worker.

http://www.globalterroralert.com/alibapirwamy.pdfhttp://www.globalterroralert.com"U.S. intelligence sources have indicated that Iraqi insurgent groups are being partly financed by large donations from Saudi-run Islamic charitable groups. An undated photo shows Ali Bapir, an Iraqi supporter of Ansar al-Islam detained by U.S. authorities, hosting an event in Iraq sponsored by the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia."

I won't be intimidated for expressing my viewsPeople who object to her criticism of Islam should take her to court rather than take the law into their own hands, Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali tells Abi Daruvalla. Hirsi Ali has been moved to a safe house following new death threats and the publication of her private address on an Islamic website just four days after her controversial film 'Submission' was screened on Dutch TV. Ayaan Hirsi Ali was always irritated at the lack of freedom under Islam Somali-born Hirsi Ali, 34, is herself a former Muslim and an outspoken...

Muhammad Ali asked Congress on Thursday to create a U.S. Boxing Commission, saying oversight by the federal government is needed to protect boxers from exploitation and injury. Ali's testimony before a congressional panel was read by his wife, Lonnie Ali, because he suffers from Parkinson's disease. As she spoke, he sat in a seat next to her, trembling -- one of the symptoms of Parkinson's. "Reform measures are unlikely to succeed," Ali said, "unless a U.S. Boxing Commission is created with authority to oversee a sport that still attracts a disproportionate number of unsavory elements that prey upon the hopes...

Sept. 6 issue - Six months ago, Abu Sajjad was rolling in cash. His cloth shop is right in front of the Imam Ali shrine, a great location to attract pilgrims visiting this holiest of Shiite sanctuaries. The faithful who flocked into Najaf from Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan bought hundreds of yards of fabric to take home as souvenirs. Now Abu Sajjad looks at his storefront, riddled with bullets and shrapnel, and shakes his head. "Why did this happen?" he asks. The area surrounding the shrine is a burned-out shell. Entire buildings look like they've been sliced in half. Broken...

Bahrain expels Iraq diplomat for alleged blast link MANAMA, April 2 (Reuters) - Bahrain on Wednesday expelled an Iraqi diplomat it accused of having links to a blast that occurred near a U.S. Navy base in the capital Manama last week. The official Bahrain News Agency said the foreign ministry asked Iraqi First Secretary Nadim Jawad Ali to leave the kingdom because of his alleged ties to an Iraqi man suspected of carrying out the March 24 blast. There was no immediate comment from the Iraqi embassy. A small cooking gas cylinder exploded near the gateway of the headquarters of...

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr signaled that he would accept a plea from Iraqi leaders to withdraw his militia from Najaf, Iraq, offering the best hope yet of an end to his two-week-old confrontation with U.S. forces in Shiite Islam's holiest city. But he asked for further negotiations to work out details, according to a letter from al-Sadr's office delivered to a political conference here. An aide later said al-Sadr's acceptance was conditional on U.S. forces observing a cease-fire, and it wasn't immediately clear whether al-Sadr, who had refused to meet a delegation from the conference the...

BREAKING NEWS: al-Sadr to Disband Militia, Leave Imam Ali Mosque By Andrew L. Jaffee, August 18, 2004 Home   Search   Forum   Terms Threatened with an imminent raid of the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf by Iraqi forces, radical Islamist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has agreed to disband his militia, vacate the mosque, and "enter into the mainstream political process." Pressure has been building against al-Sadr for quite some time now. The power-hungry cleric has been stirring up trouble in Najaf, Karbala, and Baghdad since early April. On May 21, over 2,000 Iraqis held a demonstration in the city of Karbala insisting that al-Sadr and...

KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 7 - Two months before Afghanistan holds its first election for president, preparations have an air of democratic bustle. Nearly nine million eligible Afghans have registered to vote so far, several million more than expected, despite efforts by the Taliban to disrupt the process. NATO has agreed to provide extra forces to help the 18,000 American troops who are maintaining security. The incumbent, President Hamid Karzai, and 22 opponents have registered for the race and are starting to hold rounds of news conferences and rallies. Despite the trappings of democracy, the real decision about who will be...

HOUSTON -- The sellout crowd at Minute Maid Park gave Muhammad Ali a hero's welcome Tuesday, but Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller would rather the former boxing great not have been invited. Ali received a roaring ovation from the crowd for being an honored guest for the ceremonial first pitch at the All-Star Game, but Feller came away angered by Ali's presence. "I object very strongly to Muhammad Ali being here to throw out the first pitch, and you can print that," Feller was quoted as saying in Wednesday's Boston Herald. "This is a man who changed his name...

Four Trinidadians have said US authorities questioned them about their contact with a suspected al-Qaeda operative after he visited T&T in 2001. Adnan G El Shukrijumah was named when US attorney general John Ashcroft warned of intelligence showing al-Qaeda plans for an attack against the United States. Large photos of El Shukrijumah and six others were displayed at a news conference in Washington on Wednesday. The Saudi native visited Trinidad for six days in May 2001 and stayed with Zainool Ali, who lives in Chaguanas. Ali and three others were questioned by US authorities in late 2003, they told AP....

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI made a series of arrests in three states Friday of men suspected of ties to an anti-U.S. terrorist organization whose main goal is driving India out of the disputed Kashmir territory in South Asia. The arrests of at least seven suspects were made in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, said federal law enforcement officials speaking on condition of anonymity. Federal charges against the men, and several others who are overseas, were to be announced later in the day. The men are alleged to be part of an extremist Muslim organization called Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is on the...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- Federal prosecutors who accuse nine U.S. citizens and two other men of conspiring to join a Muslim terror group presented an address list and other evidence Friday to try to link the suspects to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida group. But the evidence wasn't enough to persuade U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema to keep one defendant, Sabri Benkhala, in jail. Brinkema ordered Benkhala released to home detention at his father's house in Falls Church, upholding a previous release order issued by a magistrate. "There's no question the government has raised some significant issues here," the judge said....

IX. AMERICAN LAW INSTITUTE One of the most insightful—and disturbing—windows on the view of the legal profession (at least some very influential members of it) on marriage, comes through in an examination of the recently approved Principles of the Law of Family Dissolution (“Principles”) put together by the American Law Institute (“ALI”).332 The historic contributions of the ALI towards legal changes have not necessarily been salutary.333 But aspects of the recent Principles are particularly troubling. One disturbing part of the Principles is chapter 6, which recommends the creation of certain rights to be made available to unmarried couples on the...

Faulty phone wrecked MI6 bid to kill Chemical Ali By Michael Smith, Defence Correspondent (Filed: 08/01/2004) Faulty military satellite links caused the failure of an MI6-led operation to assassinate "Chemical Ali", a senior aide to Saddam Hussein. Secure satellite links to London broke down on the first day of the war in Iraq. The British commander, Air Marshal Brian Burridge, at first thought the Iraqis had mounted a successful "cyber warfare" attack. Military satellite phone links broke down, often for hours at a time, leaving British commanders without any secure line of communication to the Prime Minister, a major problem...

Florida's Jihad ConferenceBy Joe KaufmanFrontPageMagazine.com | December 17, 2003 During the holiday season this year, an Islam for Humanity conference will be held near Disney World on the campus of the Universal Heritage Foundation, a 31-acre Islamic propagation center located in Kissimmee, Florida. The three day conference will commence on December 19, 2003, which “coincidentally” marks the beginning of Hanukkah. The timing is not to be confused with the objective -- highlighting peace and brotherhood will not be the conference's priorities in marking the holiday season. Originally listed as “Specially Invited Guests” were ex-Presidential candidate and Green Party leader, Ralph Nader, and Shaikh Abdur-Rahman Al-Sudais, the chief...

Ali Ismail Abbas's dream has come true - he has been fitted with a new pair of arms. It will be a few months before he can fully use the prosthetics, but the 12-year-old Iraqi has made startling progress since losing his arms - and his parents - in a US missile attack on Baghdad just six and a half months ago. Getting new arms and "being whole again" was the first in a long list of goals he set himself, which still include driving a car, eating with a spoon, brushing his teeth and eventually supporting his six sisters...

Man pleads guilty to operating a money transmitting business The Associated Press 10/9/2003, 7:18 p.m. ET DETROIT (AP) — A Dearborn man has pleaded guilty to felony charges of running an unlicensed money transmitting business. David Nasser Ali, 41, was arrested in September and accused of sending thousands of dollars to Yemen. He faces a potential sentence of 12 to 18 months in prison, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan announced Thursday. Ali entered a plea agreement with the government that provides if prosecutors agree to a reduced sentence, he will forfeit his right to about...

An Iraqi boy who lost both arms in the Gulf War has thanked the British and Kuwaiti people for his new prosthetic limbs. Ali Abbas said his only wish is to have his family with him as he goes through his rehabilitation. But the 13-year-old's parents were killed in the bombing raid during the war in Iraq - the same raid in which he lost his arms. He made the comments at a press conference before his first appointment at the hospital rehabilitation centre where he is expected to be fitted with £20,000 prosthetic arms. Ali has been accompanied by...

The decision to kill Saddam Hussein’s two sons Uday and Qusay when they were surrounded in a villa in Mosul - instead of taking them alive - was made by high-ranking officials in Washington to meet the overarching goal of showing the Iraqi people that Saddam Hussein and his like were doomed to be eliminated root and branch from Iraq’s ruling system, never to return. Washington needed to hammer this message home to counteract the corrosive effect on Iraqis of the mounting guerrilla campaign on American troops and their failure to take out a single senior member of Saddam’s inner...

Thursday, May 29, 2003 By The Jerusalem Times Staff The Jerusalem Times (independent Palestinian weekly) 29 May 2003 http://www.jerusalem-times.net/article/news/details/detail.asp?id=3412 Students demonstrated at the biggest Palestinian university, Al- Najah, in the West Bank city of Nablus, vowing to keep Jews out of Al Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam. Israel's police chief said last week he would open the mosque for Jews to pray even by using force if necessary. At the demonstration, which was organized by the Islamic Movement of Hamas, students warned the Israeli government not to allow Jews to enter the mosque compound. "We are ready...

<p>In the days after Sept. 11, 2001, Sami Omar al-Hussayen led fellow Muslims as they joined an emotion-charged candlelight march remembering the dead. The Saudi graduate student in computer science at the University of Idaho helped organize a blood drive for victims. He issued a press release on behalf of the Muslim Students Association, stating that the small town of Moscow's Muslims "condemn in the strongest terms possible what are apparently vicious acts of terrorism against innocent citizens."</p>

CRIPPLED Iraqi youngster Ali Ismaeel Abbas tonight left his Baghdad hospital for lifesaving surgery in Kuwait. The 12-year-old boy, who lost both arms and suffered 60 per cent burns to his body when his home was bombed, was airlifted out of Iraq. America gave the go-ahead yesterday after Tony Blair ordered all the stops pulled out in a bid to save Ali's life. The PM's pledge - made as the Daily Mirror Ali appeal fund topped £140,000 - followed a letter published in the Mirror from Ali's nurse Fatin Sharhah pleading with President Bush and Britain. Fatin explained how he...

The Battle of Karbala Karbala, which means anguish and vexation, is situated 50 miles south-west of Baghdad and about six miles west of the Euphrates River. This is the story of Husain at Karbala. The story of Husain at the Battle of Karbala is remembered during the first 10 days of the Muslim calendar each year by Muslims. Mullahs dramatically retell the story powerfully in the mosques as men sit and weep. Details of the battle are vividly recounted. Young men imitate the pain and grief by beating their chests in rhythm to the chants of the storyteller. Some beat...

Shep Smith just stated there is a report Brits have found Chemical Ali's body. No confirmation yet.

U.S. officials tell NBC News they believe an overnight airstrike has killed the man known as “Chemical Ali,” a cousin of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and commander of Iraq’s southern front. Meanwhile, leaders of the ruling Baath Party in Iraq’s second city Basra fear public reprisals and were seeking to negotiate a surrender to British military forces besieging the city, a pan-Arab newspaper reported. MILITARY SOURCES told NBC News that bomb damage assessments and other intelligence indicate that the strike killed Ali Hassan al-Majeed and others, although his death has yet to be formally confirmed on the ground. “The strike...

NBC News is reporting that F-16s dropped two precision-guided bombs on the residence of "Chemical" Ali just south of Basra. The Pentagon is telling them that they believe Ali was in his home at the time and was killed during the strike. They caution that they need to have confirmation on the ground to be sure, but it sounds like a good hit!

Crowds greet US Marines who stormed town in the search for 'Chemical Ali' By Donald Macintyre in Qatar and Sean Maguire in Shatra 01 April 2003 Hundreds of Iraqis shouting "Welcome to Iraq" greeted US Marines who entered the town of Shatra yesterday after storming it with planes, tanks and helicopter gunships. A foot patrol picked its way through the small southern town, 20 miles north of the city of Nasiriyah, after being beckoned in by a crowd of people. "There's no problem here. We are happy to see Americans," one young man shouted. The welcome was a tonic for...