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New York, Feb 22 2011 10:10AM Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the United Nations human rights chief have both called on the Libyan authorities to immediately end their violent crackdown on protesters, and the Security Council is meeting today to discuss the situation in the North African nation. Mr. Ban, in a statement issued by his spokesperson on Monday, said he was “outraged” at press reports that the Libyan authorities have been firing at demonstrators from war planes and helicopters. This is unacceptable,” the Secretary-General <"http://www.un.org/apps/sg/offthecuff.asp?nid=1731">told reporters in Los Angeles, where his currently on an official visit. “This violence against demonstrators...

For the second time this week Cayuga County lost a major court decision in its cigarette tax dispute with the Cayuga Indian Nation. In county court today, Judge Mark H. Fandrich dismissed indictments against the Cayugas and ordered county District Attorney Jon Budelmann to return to the Cayugas some 7,600 cartons of cigarettes and business records seized in a December 2008 tax raid from the nation’s LakeSide Trading store in Union Springs. 55Share 8 Comments Fandrich’s ruling follows a related decision by the state Court of Appeals in May. “It’s not up to me to determine if the Court of...

ANAHEIM — Disneyland officials have reached an agreement with a Muslim college intern allowing her to wear a head covering while on the job, Muslim community leaders and Disney officials said Monday. Officials with the Council on American-Islamic Relations say the scarf acts as an Islamic head covering, called a hijab, in accordance with her Muslim religion. Disney officials don’t call it a hijab — just a head scarf to accommodate an employees needs. The woman, who was not identified by name, is the second Disney employee in recent weeks to complain that Disney did not allow her to wear...

A Florida pastor backed away from plans to burn copies of the Quran on Sept. 11 after U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates phoned him, capping several surreal days of drama in which his plans ricocheted around the world, sowing anger among Muslims and concern at the Pentagon. Mr. Gates's phone call, in which he warned Rev. Terry Jones that the planned event could imperil U.S. troops, came hours after President Barack Obama slammed Mr. Jones's plan as a "stunt" and "a recruitment bonanza for al Qaeda." "Secretary Gates reached out to Pastor Jones this afternoon," a Pentagon official said....

On January 6, 2010, Captain Hiroyuki Komura of the illegal Japanese whaling vessel the Shonan Maru #2 deliberately rammed and destroyed Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s vessel, the Ady Gil. Captain Komura almost killed six Sea Shepherd volunteer crewmembers and did not respond to the Ady Gil’s mayday distress signal. Japanese authorities refused to cooperate in investigations and declined requests by Australian and New Zealand maritime authorities to question Captain Komura. Instead, Captain Peter Bethune, the man who Captain Komura almost killed and whose ship was destroyed, was taken back to Japan literally as a prisoner of war abducted from the...

An international maritime treaty means suspected pirates can be tried in the home countries of their victims – but some governments have been put off this course of action for fear that convicted pirates might not return to Somalia after serving out their time in jail. Kuznetzov seemed to echo this when he said: "Why should we feed some pirates?" Russian media reported that the 10 men were set adrift in a boat with no navigational equipment, and that contact was lost with the boat's radio beacon within an hour. However, Commander John Harbour, a spokesman for the EU naval...

Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on Islamic-American Relations of Michigan, on Sunday said that the FBI foiled a plot to attack and kill Muslim-Americans. Walid was attending the group's 10th anniversary banquet in Dearborn, Michigan where the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson was keynote speaker. Muslim leaders in Chicago are "following developments of the arrests with great interest and concern," says Ahmed Rehab, Executive Director of CAIR Chicago. "If some of the initial reports are true. Then, these radical groups are a chilling indication that anti-Muslim hysteria in some circles may be developing into stages of organized terroristic activity,"...

SOUTHFIELD. Leaders want radio station to stop airing comments by priest they say defame Muhammad. Muslims and interfaith leaders in Metro Detroit are asking a local radio station owner to discontinue broadcasts in which, they say, a Coptic priest has repeatedly defamed the Prophet Muhammad over the past year. In an Arabic-language broadcast Wednesday on WNZK 680/690 AM, the Rev. Zakariah Boutros said the Muslim prophet Muhammad had engaged in necrophilia and gay sex, according to the Council on American Islamic Relations. Boutros has previously come under fire from area Muslims, who say he disparages Islam. The controversial, American-based priest...

Somalia is in danger of descending into famine while the world's attention is focused on the problem of piracy off its coast, the Red Cross has warned. BBC Africa analyst Martin Plaut says agencies like the International Committee of the Red Cross are very wary about using words like famine. The ICRC's Alexandre Liebeskind said the violence had made it almost impossible for aid agencies to operate. About half of Somalia's population is dependent on food aid. Drought, floods and nearly two decades of conflict have driven many into destitution. Alexandre Liebeskind, head of the ICRC in East Africa, says...

African inflation could cause "humanitarian tsunami" Brussels Tue Apr 8, 10:02 AM ETAFP/File Photo: People shop for groceries at a supermarket in the Borrowdale Brooke suburb in Harare. Soaring... BRUSSELS (AFP) - Soaring prices of basic foodstuffs could cause a "humanitarian tsunami" in Africa, EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel warned Tuesday. "A world food crisis is emerging, less visible than the oil (price) crisis, but with the potential effect of real economic and humanitarian tsunami in Africa," Michel said in a statement after a meeting with African Union Commission chief Jean Ping. Ping said the soaring prices represented a "major...

But for those Mexicans unceremoniously returned home — those deported and dropped off by U.S. immigration in Mexican border towns such as Nogales, Tijuana and Juárez — there is no such welcome. "The poor undocumented guy who gets sent back is seen as a burden on the government," said Erica Dahl-Bredine, country manager for Catholic Relief Services' Mexico program in Tucson, Ariz. "Those who have documents are seen as the heroes." While the Mexican government is taking small steps in response to growing criticism that it ignores Mexicans deported from the U.S. — unveiling a test program in Tijuana last...

Native American Skull Found at Malibu Construction Site• State Native American Heritage Commission Initiates Process for Handling Find • BY ANNE SOBLE A human skull unearthed at a construction site in the Paradise Cove mobile home park has been officially declared a prehistoric Native American find, and the wheels have been put in motion for the remains to be handled in accord with state law. Workers preparing the foundation for a new mobile home in the beachside complex discovered the skull during routine digging Monday at about 4 p.m. and contacted the sheriff’s department. Capt. Ed Winter of the Operations...

They're calling her Lucky. A female pit bull who was brought to the Atlanta Humane Society Wednesday morning with a hunting knife stuck in its head has pulled through surgery just fine. "I was just petting her 15 minutes ago," AHS president Carl E. Leveridge said Wednesday afternoon. "Her little tail was wagging. I was amazed. " The organization doesn't know much about the dog, only that it was brought in from a local veterinarian's office. The owner reported he discovered the dog injured Wednesday morning, according to information the AHS was provided. Leveridge said he'd tried without luck to...

Despite being sentenced for 45 days in county jail for violating her probation, socialite Paris Hilton is expected to spend three weeks -- and perhaps less -- behind bars, L.A. County sheriff's officials told The Times today. Until now, officials have said they believed Hilton would serve the entire jail term ordered last week by Superior Court Michael T. Sauer after Hilton repeatedly drove her car while her license was suspended because of a DUI plea. Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Whitmore said Hilton's sentence could be cut nearly in half by state law allowing for credit for time served for...

Republicans' Cheney Problem By Bruce Bartlett It is becoming increasingly clear that the Republican Party has a huge problem going into 2008. Usually, it has a clear frontrunner going into the process who is broadly acceptable to most Republicans. But in this election cycle, that is not true. The race is wide open and it is hard to predict who will be left standing when the last primary vote is cast. One thing that can be predicted is that a great many Republicans will be dissatisfied with their party's presidential nominee. It won't matter who among those currently running ends...

Five Iranians were detained by a multinational force after an overnight raid on Tehran's diplomatic mission, Iraqi officials said Thursday. At about 3 am local time, troops entered the building in the Kurdish-controlled northern city of Irbil located some 220 miles from Baghdad.

CHICAGO—The debut of a new theme restaurant in suburban Chicago featuring a menu of foods forbidden by Islamic law and waitresses clad in revealing uniforms has sparked an uproar among local Muslims who claim the restaurant is an affront to Islam. The December 27 opening of a Burqa King franchise in Winnetka and the subsequent furor over the establishment’s dining theme has drawn the attention of local Muslim clerics and activists, and aimed a spotlight on former Bush Administration Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Officials with Winnetka Holy Outreach to Counsel and Advise Islamic Religious Sects (WHOCAIRS) announced Wednesday that they...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran's claim to need nuclear power may be genuine, given that it could run out of oil to export as soon as eight years from now, according to an analysis published on Tuesday by the National Academy of Sciences. The study's author, Roger Stern, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, said investment in Iranian oil production had been inadequate to offset oil field declines and the explosive growth in domestic demand. "I'm not saying that Iran will have no oil in eight years," Stern said in a telephone interview. "I'm saying that they will be...

Some Muslims in Baltimore County say lessons involving Islam being taught to seventh- and 10th-graders in public schools are inaccurate. Bash Pharoan, president of the Baltimore chapter of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, says resource sheets, called "Islamic Life," given to seventh-graders studying world cultures and "World Religions" for 10th-graders in world history classes, not only misrepresent Islam, but show disrespect to the prophet Muhammad. For three years, Pharoan says, he has unsuccessfully petitioned the Baltimore County school board to review the way Islam is presented in public school classrooms. Joe Hairston, county school superintendent, said his "teachers do not...