Free Republic

If caught, a fine of $180 will be imposedA village council in the eastern Indian state of Bihar has banned the use of mobile phones by women, saying the phones were "debasing the social atmosphere" by leading to elopements - a move that set off outraged protests from activists. In addition to the ban, the Sunderbari village council in a Muslim-dominated area some 385 kilometers (239 miles) east of Patna, the capital of Bihar, has also imposed a fine of 10,000 rupees ($180) if a girl is caught using a mobile phone on the streets. Married women would have to...

The Al-Monitor has posted an article titled “Muslim Brotherhood Woos Palestinian Bloc in Jordan” that examines the efforts of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood to court Jordanians of Palestinian origin. The report begins: Sunday, Jun 17, 2012 For over a year, Jordanians of Palestinian origin refused to join the popular movement. However, their reluctance to join the movement is gradually declining as a result of the mutual escalation between the government and its bodies on one side, and the Muslim Brotherhood on the other. The majority of the Muslim Brotherhood members in Jordan have Palestinian origins. Observers and political analysts interviewed...

A growing immigrant population determined to avoid assimilation. Leading Islamic groups in Switzerland are seeking to establish a single national representative body that will enable all of the country's Muslims to "speak with one voice." The organizers say their new "parliament" will be called "Umma Schweiz" and be based on the principles of Islamic Sharia law. The headquarters of the organization will be located in Basel with "representatives" in all 26 cantons (or "states") of Switzerland. The first "test vote" of Umma Schweiz will be held in the fall of 2012; the group will be fully functional in 2013. Ummah,...

Of all the prisoners detained at Guantanamo Bay, few have received the kind of intense political discussion and extensive media coverage that Omar Khadr has. In 2002, Khadr was accused of killing U.S. Sergeant First Class Christopher Speer, a combat medic, during a skirmish in Afghanistan. He was captured, linked to al-Qaeda, and detained at the ripe old age of 15. For the past decade, Khadr has been depicted as everything from a vicious child terrorist to a political martyr. It's little wonder some American and Canadian observers have expressed confusion about the question of Khadr's guilt for so long....

Gulf media is reporting on the “International Conference for the Defence of occupied Jerusalem” opening in Qatar today. According to a Gulf News report: February 22, 2012 Manama: Qatar’s Emir Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani will open the International Conference for the Defence of occupied Jerusalem, to be held in Doha next week. The conference will include speeches by the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the Arab League Secretary-General Nabeel Arabi, Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Ekme Al Deen Ihsanoglu, and United Nations Coordinator for the peace process in the Middle East Robert Serry. Some 350 figures...

A Saudi Arabian accused of associating with several of the September 11 hijackers and who disappeared from his home in the United States a few weeks before the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, is in London working for his country’s state oil company. Abdulaziz al-Hijji and his wife Anoud left three cars at their luxurious home in a gated community in Sarasota, Florida — one of them new — and flew to Saudi Arabia in August 2001. The refrigerator was full of food; furniture and clothing were left behind; and the swimming pool water was still...

A U.S. Army reservist has been charged with premeditated murder in last week’s deadly shooting of a fellow reservist. His name is RASHAD* Valmont. *RASHAD is a MUSLIM name

Most Americans don't realize that jihad is about much more than terrorism. Even the terrorists don't blow up buildings for the sake of blowing up buildings. There is method in their madness. Jihad is not mindless mass-murder, nor is it a syrupy "internal struggle to become a better person." No, jihad is the mission to establish and spread sharia.

CAIRO, Egypt - An American thought to be an al-Qaida activist appeared in a videotape with the terror group's deputy leader Saturday and called on his countrymen to convert to Islam and for U.S. soldiers to switch sides in the Iraq and Afghan wars. The 48-minute video, posted on an Islamic militant Web site, had footage of al-Qaida's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, and of Adam Yehiye Gadahn, a 28-year-old American who the FBI believes attended al-Qaida training camps in Pakistan and served as an al-Qaida translator. It was the second time Gadahn appeared in the same video with al-Zawahri....

FBI agents Tuesday night searched the former home of a Saudi family, who a neighbor said had enrolled an adult son in a nearby flight training school and had left ''in a hurry'' two days before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. State records and neighbors in the upscale neighborhood in Greenacres, which is just southwest of West Palm Beach, identified the head of the family as Mohamad Almasri, 57.According to state records, others who lived at the house were Madawi Almasri, 26; Turki Ma Almasri, 22; and Afaf I. Arif, 47.Neighbors said Almasri lived at the home with his wife,...

(New York-AP) -- In response to warnings that apartment buildings could become terrorist targets, New York City landlords are being encouraged to take extra security precautions. Security experts from the Police Department and the F-B-I are devising safety measures that landlords can take. These could include issuing building I-D cards, increasing surveillance and conducting background checks on prospective tenants. About 250 landlords and property owners are attending a security summit at NYPD headquarters on Monday. Landlords are also being taught how to identify suspicious behavior or bomb-making materials. A toll-free number may be set up for them to report possible...

CAIRO, Egypt — The spokesman for the Al Qaeda terror group has threatened more attacks on Americans and Jews in a message published by the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat Sunday. "We confirm our continuation in working to attack Americans and Jews, and targeting them, both people and buildings," Al-Hayat quoted Sulaiman Abu Gaith as saying in an article that the newspaper said was published on the Web site www.alneda.com. The site could not be accessed on Sunday. "What will come to the Americans, God willing, won't be less than what has come. America should be ready and on high alert and...