By Jan Willem van der Hoeven   October 3, 2006
You want an apology? I and many, many with me are waiting for an apology, finally, from you!
You want Pope Benedict to apologize for having quoted a Byzantine Emperor for saying there is something inherently evil in the teachings of ISLAM in regard to Jihad and Violence. You feel hurt and incensed; that these words are an attack upon your faith and prophet. But what about you again and again attacking the West and Israel, calling the U.S. the big Satan and Israel, small Satan, daring to call -- and openly basing yourself on the teachings of the Quran -- Jews and Christians pigs and monkeys!
And you want the West to apologize for a Danish cartoon or a quote from the Pope when we have to suffer, not only your violent words but, what is far more serious, your violent acts of war and terror. It is not enough that Mohammed in his comparatively short lifetime waged more than forty wars -- sanctified Jihad and violence -- and butchered thousands of Christians and Christian communities and Jews in order to spread the teachings of ISLAM.
Do you now have ...   more »

THE followers of Moqtada al-Sadr believe that the US invaded Iraq to prevent the return to Earth of their sect’s messiah-like figure, the Mahdi, or 12th imam.
Hojatoleslam al-Sadr claims that his militia is preparing for the day when the Mahdi, the last direct descendent of the revered Shia figure Ali, reappears. Shia believe that the Mahdi, who disappeared in 868, will bring justice to Earth.  
At a prayer service in the central Iraqi city of Kufa on September 15, the cleric told a crowd of thousands that the Americans were collecting a dossier on the Mahdi to prevent his return. “Did you ever ask yourself about why all of this, the bloodshed and the prisons? Why are the brothers fighting each other for a political game planned by the Americans? This all happened because they (the Americans) are waiting for the Mahdi. This planning started ten years ago. They have a big file for Imam Mahdi and they just need his picture to complete it.”
Hojatoleslam al-Sadr and his advisers are convinced that the Americans want to destroy Islam and stop the Mahdi. “The Americans are trying to hijack Islamic movements. They think that these are serving the ...   more »

North Korea is to conduct a nuclear test "in the future", the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The move would "bolster" the country's self-defence in the face of US military hostility, official agency KCNA said.
Pyongyang has faced mounting international pressure over its nuclear programme, and in July was condemned by the UN for test-launching missiles.
The news has been condemned by the US, Japan, South Korea and Russia - all members of the six-nation talks.
The US state department said any nuclear test would further isolate the North Korean regime and said the US would work with allies to discourage "such a reckless action".
North Korea gave no time-frame for a test, but correspondents say a successful nuclear trial would signal the end of international negotiations on the North's nuclear ambitions, and threaten a dangerous arms race in East Asia.
 It would be a threat to peace that is absolutely unforgivable. Our response will be severe
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso  
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the nuclear test plans were unacceptable and would be responded to "harshly".
South Korea's government went into emergency security talks, while Yang Chang-Seok, a spokesman for the country's unification ministry, ...   more »

French president Jacques Chirac paid no heed to Turkish sensitivities on his first-ever visit to Armenia this weekend, calling on Turkey to own up to genocide before joining the EU and comparing the killings to Nazi Germany's holocaust.
"Should Turkey recognise the genocide of Armenia to join the EU?" Mr Chirac asked, AP reports. "I believe so. Each country grows by acknowledging the dramas and errors of its past...Can one say that Germany, which has deeply acknowledged the holocaust, has as a result lost credit? It has grown."
The French leader made the remarks in Yerevan on Saturday (30 September) at a wreath-laying ceremony beside the country's Genocide Monument, before visiting the Genocide Museum and writing the solitary word "remember" in the visitors' book.
Armenia says Turkish forces slaughtered 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1917 but the Turkish government and Turkish history books claim that 300,000 Armenians and 300,000 Turks died in a 'civil war' in the region.
Fifteen countries, including France, Switzerland, Russia and Argentina, have previously classified the killings as genocide - defined by the UN as "harmful acts...committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group."
In Turkey, ...   more »