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IRAN'S Interior Minister Ali Kordan has admitted to holding a fake Oxford University degree which he thought was valid, coming clean after weeks of controversy, a newspaper reported today. "In a letter to the president on Saturday, Ali Kordan said he had pressed charges against the person who claimed to represent Oxford University in Tehran as soon as he realised his degree was fake," the government daily Iran said.

Iranian Interior Minister's Oxford Degree Apparently Fake, Riddled With Spelling Errors August 13, 2008 Fox News/AP CAIRO, Egypt -- Iran's new interior minister has raised an uproar among lawmakers and Iranian media over an apparently fake claim that he holds an honorary doctorate from Britain's Oxford University. To back his case, he's shown off a degree certificate riddled with spelling and grammar mistakes. Oxford issued a statement Wednesday denying it ever awarded Ali Kordan an honorary doctorate of law, as he claimed to parliament before it approved his appointment to the post earlier this month. The Interior Ministry put out...

British Invasion Graduation by: Deborah Lambert, June 26, 2008 Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who will start teaching at Yale this fall, addressed the school’s 2008 graduating class on May 25th, all of which apparently horrified his former Oxford tutor, who, according to Blair, said: “I only hope for their sake you are going there to learn rather than teach.” Blair discussed the Middle East, climate change and the global economy, urging grads to become involved in causes greater than themselves. He also said that while the grads benefited from superior intellect and luck, it was very important to...

(IsraelNN.com) An Israeli graduate student who received a two-year research scholarship to the prestigious University of Oxford has decided to give up his scholarship for the upcoming second year due to anti-Israel attitudes and anti-Semitism he was exposed to on the campus, according to The Jewish Chronicle. The student studied in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies within the university. The student, a graduate of one of Israel’s finest universities, suffered from daily anti-Israel remarks, harassment and an “unbearable atmosphere." Those of his fellow students aware of his military service also used this in their attacks against him. The student...

Colorado Springs, May 23, 2008 / 05:01 am (CNA).- A physics professor has persuaded an Oxford laboratory to revisit the question of the age of the Shroud of Turin, the reputed burial shroud of Jesus Christ.  The professor argues that carbon monoxide contaminating the shroud could have distorted its radiocarbon dating results by more than 1,000 years.In 1988 and 1989 scientists at three laboratories drew on the results of radiocarbon dating to conclude that the shroud was a medieval forgery.  They dated its creation to between 1260 and 1390 AD.The Denver Post reports that John Jackson, a physics lecturer...

'Extremism' fear over Islam studies donations By Ben Leach Last Updated: 1:00am BST 13/04/2008 Extremist ideas are being spread by Islamic study centres linked to British universities and backed by multi-million-pound donations from Saudi Arabia and Muslim organisations, a new report claims. Eight universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, have accepted more than £233.5 million from Saudi and Muslim sources since 1995, with much of the money going to Islamic study centres, according to the report. The total sum, revealed by Anthony Glees, the director of Brunel University's Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies, amounts to the largest source of external...

OXFORD, England (AFP) - Famous for its university and quintessentially English "dreaming spires," the city of Oxford has been plunged into controversy over the sound of Muslim call to prayer from a local mosque. Those church spires have been joined by a minaret, with a loudspeaker on top which has triggered protests from locals concerned about the influx of a foreign culture. "I don't have any problem with Islam but don't force it on people," said Oxford University historian Allan Chapman, whose typically English house has a view of both the minaret and the nearby Church of Saint Mary and...

Academics have been given a grant to try to find out whether belief in a deity is a matter of nature or nurture. They will not attempt to solve the question of whether God exists but they will examine evidence to try to prove whether belief in God conferred an evolutionary advantage to mankind. They will also consider the possibility that faith developed as a byproduct of other human characteristics, such as sociability. Justin Barrett, a psychologist who has been quoted in support of arguments by both the atheist Richard Dawkins and his critic, Alister Mc-Grath, a Christian theologian, said:...

Senior officials at Oxford Central Mosque are going back to the drawing board over plans to broadcast a call to prayer from its minaret. A new management committee has been elected at the mosque, in Manzil Way, off Cowley Road, and has moved to reassure worried neighbours. Secretary general Altaf Hussain said: "This was a decision made on emotions, rather than facts and realities on the ground and without proper consultation with our neighbours and the whole of our neighbourhood. It has caused anxiety and misunderstandings. "The issue of using loudspeakers is being reviewed and we would like to make...

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - A battle of faiths is being waged in the ancient English city of Oxford, where some people are bitterly opposed to Muslim plans to broadcast the call to prayer over the fabled dreaming spires. Local residents, clergy and now the head of the Church of England have been drawn into a debate over a proposal from the Central Oxford Mosque to broadcast a recording of the call to prayer, or Adhan, from its minaret over loud speakers. Residents who live near the mosque claim the call will annoy their mainly non-Muslim community and won't even be...

In a lengthy and fiery debate at Oxford University over the weekend, the student union conceded Israel's "right to exist" by just over 100 votes. Proposing the motion "This House believes that the State of Israel has a right to exist" were Norman Finkelstein, formally of De Paul University in Chicago, and Ted Honderich, professor of philosophy at University College London. Questions about the seriousness of the event were raised ahead of the debate, since not only opposers of the motion, but also its proposers, were considered detractors of Israel. Finkelstein, who had been supporting the motion, voted against it,...

Mosque's plan to broadcast call to prayer from loudspeaker 'will create Muslim ghetto'Last updated at 10:14am on 14th January 2008 Outrage: Proposals for a loudspeaker to call Muslims to prayer in central Oxford have been attacked by local residents Muslim elders at an Oxford mosque have said they intend to push ahead with plans to broadcast a call to prayer from a loudspeaker despite fierce opposition.  Local residents have attacked the idea saying it would disrupt the peace and turn the area into a 'Muslim ghetto'. But the elders said they still intend to seek planning permission to install the...

So much for our "way of life" - you know, the one our leaders told us they went to war to save. The deeply English, deeply Christian city of Oxford, one of the homes of free thought, is now being asked to accept the Islamic call to prayer wafting from mosque loudspeakers over its spires and domes. If that is not a threat to our "way of life", then I don't know what is. Allowing the regular electronic proclamation of Allah's supremacy in a British city is not tolerance, but a surrender of the sky to a wholly different culture....

BILAWAL Bhutto Zardari will receive 24-hour security at Oxford University from now on, as the institution and British intelligence services grapple with the danger of having one of the world's top assassination targets strolling around the campus. The 19-year-old son of slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto wants to spend the next three years studying history at Oxford before taking full-time control of his mother's political party, and continuing Pakistan's most fabled and endangered political dynasty. The question being faced by university officials, local police and British intelligence is whether they can allow such a high-profile target to remain on...

The Bishop of Oxford has rejected another senior clergyman's fears that broadcasting the Muslim call to prayer in East Oxford could create a "no-go area" for non-Muslims. The Rt Rev John Pritchard backed plans for the call to prayer in Oxford - splitting away from controversial comments made by the Anglican Church's only Asian Bishop, the Rt Rev Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, of Rochester. Bishop Michael said attempts were being made to impose an "Islamic character" on communities, creating no-go areas where people of different faiths would find it hard to live and work. But Bishop John said: "I want to...

The deeply English, deeply Christian city of Oxford, one of the homes of free thought, is now being asked to accept the Islamic call to prayer wafting from mosque loudspeakers over its spires and domes. If that is not a threat to our "way of life", then I don't know what is. Allowing the regular electronic proclamation of Allah's supremacy in a British city is not tolerance, but a surrender of the sky to a wholly different culture. Just you wait and see what opponents of this scheme are accused of. What about the nonsensical, illogical frenzy among our rulers...

Anger over plan to broadcast Muslim call to prayer on loudspeaker in Oxford Last updated at 12:46pm on 24th December 2007 Comments (37) Outrage: Proposals for loudspeaker Muslim calls to prayer in central Oxford have been attacked by local residents MORE NEWS Muslim plans to broadcast a loudspeaker call to prayer from a city centre mosque have been attacked by local residents who say it would turn the area into a "Muslim ghetto". Dozens of people packed out a council meeting to express their concerns over the plans for a two-minute long call to prayer to be issued three times...

Outrage: Proposals for loudspeaker Muslim calls to prayer in central Oxford have been attacked by local residents Muslim plans to broadcast a loudspeaker call to prayer from a city centre mosque have been attacked by local residents who say it would turn the area into a "Muslim ghetto". Dozens of people packed out a council meeting to express their concerns over the plans for a two-minute long call to prayer to be issued three times a day, saying that it could drown out the traditional sound of church bells. But a spokesman for the Central Mosque said that Muslim's also...

Being broke need not mean social death in Sweden - as long as you are well-educated. But for Americans and Russians having a good all-round education is no substitute for having cash, according to a new survey on status symbols in the three countries. The international survey by analysts United Minds asked 1,000 people in each country what values confer status. 'Bling' items such as expensive jewellery and designer clothes come well down the list for Swedes, while featuring more highly for Americans and, particularly, Russians. "Sweden is the only country where you can be penniless but well-read and still...

Oxford students sit-in protest fails to silence Holocaust-denier David Irving and BNP leader Nick GriffinAs student protests go it was a rather tame affair. At stake were two issues that had ignited the passions of some of our brightest undergraduates - the right to free speech versus the right to demonstrate. But when the two camps clashed in the shadow of Oxford university's most hallowed halls last night, neither emerged as a clear winner. BNP leader Nick Griffin and controversial historian David Irving were each allowed a voice during a much-heralded debate at the Oxford Union - and anti fascist...

This is an obituary for the Oxford Union, which claims to be one of the most famous and distinguished debating societies in the world. The reality is that it is no longer a debating society at all; it has become a propaganda platform for extremist views, primarily of the hard-left. It has now stopped even pretending to present both sides of controversial issues. To be sure, it puts forward a façade of balance, by presenting speakers who purport to represent both sides of an issue. But the Oxford Union has become a Potemkin village where a façade of fairness serves...

(LONDON) -- A series of giant pipes in the oceans to mix surface and deeper water could be an emergency fix for the Earth's damaged climate system, the scientist behind the Gaia theory said on Wednesday. James Lovelock, whose Gaia hypothesis that Earth is a living entity has fuelled controversy for three decades, thinks the stakes are so high that radical solutions must be tried even if they ultimately fail. In a letter to the journal Nature, he proposes vertical pipes 100 to 200 meters long and 10 metres wide be placed in the sea, so that wave motion pumps...

Until I talked to Nick Bostrom, a philosopher at Oxford University, it never occurred to me that our universe might be somebody else’s hobby. I hadn’t imagined that the omniscient, omnipotent creator of the heavens and earth could be an advanced version of a guy who spends his weekends building model railroads or overseeing video-game worlds like the Sims. But now it seems quite possible. In fact, if you accept a pretty reasonable assumption of Dr. Bostrom’s, it is almost a mathematical certainty that we are living in someone else’s computer simulation. This simulation would be similar to the one...

Islamofascism added to Oxford dictionary http://www.nashvillepost.com/news/2007/7/17/islamofascism_expert_sues_local_publisher_over_nuclear_terrorism_claims Raw Story, MA - Jul 3, 2007 In its latest update, the Oxford English Dictionary now includes "Islamofascism" and related words...

Oxford floods deepen as more rain is forecast By Richard Edwards Last Updated: 2:43am BST 26/07/2007 Flooding may have caused greater devastation in affected areas than the foot and mouth crisis, farmers warned last night, as the floods extended throughout the Thames Valley. Allotments in Oxford. Oxford became the latest area hit yesterday and parts of the city will be left under water for two days. There are further fears with forecasters predicting up to half an inch of rain today in some areas already suffering. The worst floods in modern history have now stretched more than 150 miles along...

The college head thinks 95% of us are going to burn in hell. His new deputy believes it’s wrong for women to teach men. Insiders are complaining about an “openly homophobic” atmosphere. A third of the academic staff have resigned. Others are unwilling to speak openly because they fear disciplinary action. Is this perhaps the notorious Bob Jones University in South Carolina, where rock music and cellphones are banned, where men must have short hair and where women can’t wear trousers to class? No. Welcome to the University of Oxford, United Kingdom. Strictly speaking Wycliffe Hall is a permanent private...

May 03, 2007, 6:30 a.m. Oxford’s Preposterous PropositionJustifying America to a doubtful audience. By Jonah Goldberg Last week, I appeared at the Oxford Union to debate the proposition: “This House regrets the founding of The United States of America.� Such is the extent of anti-Americanism out there that this was considered to be a reasonable debate topic by Britain’s best and brightest. It was an exhilarating and daunting experience. I do a lot of campus speaking and yet, going in, this felt like the functional equivalent of Rose Bowl. Ultimately, it turned out otherwise. But I only really realized...

One Sunday last month I went for my afternoon swim at my local David Lloyd's fitness club wearing the Islamic-style swimsuit I have been wearing for years ... As an American-Muslim woman, I have always been determined to be active without compromising my faith. I have been swimming in capital cities across the world from Rio de Janeiro to Washington DC to Kuala Lumpur, and now London ... That is, until I came to Oxford. As I was getting ready to head home from my Sunday swim, I heard a loud voice from a man stating that he needed to...

THE Oxford English dictionary has appealed to the public to help it trace the origin of 40 popular phrases, including terms ranging from 'hoodie' to the infamous 'Glasgow kiss'. Compilers of the OED say they want evidence of when terms now commonly used first entered the language. The results will be broadcast in the BBC2 programme Balderdash & Piffle, which returns for a new series later this year. Dictionary authors trace the first evidence of "Glasgow kiss" - a euphemism for a headbutt - to 1987. The dictionary does, however, have an example of the expression "Liverpool kiss", used 43...

There are many words that could be used to describe Richard Dawkins. Subtle is not one of them. "[The God of the Old Testament] is a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully," wrote the Oxford University evolutionist in his most recent best-seller, The God Delusion. In case that didn't make his thoughts on God clear enough, in recent months Dawkins also compared God to a small child's imaginary friend – a little purple man with a tinkling bell to be exact – and religious education to "brainwashing." The latter remark was uttered at a...

London Underground is today accused of an appalling security blunder for allowing Abu Hamza's son to work on the network. Mohammed Kamel Mostafa, 25, from Wembley - a convicted terrorist - was given a security pass and access to restricted areas. He worked as a labourer at nights and weekends for a sub-contractor despite having spent three years in a Yemen jail for plotting to blow up British tourists. His father is serving seven years for inciting murder and racial hatred at London mosques. Labour MP Andrew Dismore said today of Mostafa: "It beggars belief. It wasn't like he was...

Testimony in the trial of Chicago resident Muhammad Salah and Abdelhaleem al-Ashqar of Northern Virginia, continued yesterday. FBI Agents gave testimony focusing on items found in Ashqar's home during a search of his Oxford Mississippi residence on December 26, 1993, in addition to wiretaps of his phone and fax lines. Special Agent Bradley Benabidez testified that the FBI acquired over 2400 hours of audio during the year that they maintained a wiretap. Benabidez further described the December 1993 search of Ashqar’s home where a team of agents from the FBI photographed over 1600 documents. A few of those documents which...

What percentage of the world's water is contained in a cow? Of all 19th-century politicians, who was most like Tony Blair? How does a perm work? If you feel you can answer any of the above you might want to consider applying to study at Oxford or Cambridge. That is because they were some of the more bizarre questions thrown at applicants during interviews to attend the two prestigious universities. The questions were faced by some of around 1,200 students who attempted the notoriously gruelling Oxbridge interview process last year. They were revealed in a survey of applicants and suggest...

Oxford archaeologists want to join studies on Iran's salt men TEHRAN, Sept. 27 (Mehr News Agency) -- The director of an archaeological team working at the Chehrabad Salt Mine in the Hamzehlu region near Zanjan said that a group of Oxford University archaeologists is interested in participating in the study on the salt men found at the mine. "A group of Oxford University archaeologists has prepared a plan, asking to participate in the study, and the Center for Archaeological Research is investigating the plan," Abolfazl Aali told the Persian service of CHN on Wednesday "The archaeologists will be invited to...

OXFORD, Miss. -- Ole Miss athletic director Pete Boone announced Monday that the school will retire the late Chucky Mullins' No. 38 football jersey during pregame ceremonies Sept. 3, when the Rebels open the 2006 season against the University of Memphis. "There are only a few people in this world that have the courage and competitive spirit to overcome the unbelievable obstacles Chucky faced," Boone said in announcing the decision to retire No. 38. "His legacy reaches beyond the football field and deserves to be memorialized as such. "It was decided that the ultimate way to honor Chucky Mullins and...

In the Exhibition Center at the General Convention you may find the booth of the Oxford University Press of NYC. Prominently on view is a new reference book, The Oxford Guide to The Book of Common Prayer, A Worldwide Survey (edited by C. Hefling and C. Shattuck). As we would expect from this distinguished Press, there is in this well-produced book much that is informative, reflecting careful and learned scholarship. However, it is with regret that we have to report that there is one section in this book, which falls below the high standards we expect from this Press. It...

OXFORD, N.C. --A college based on the teachings of philosopher-author Ayn Rand might come to Oxford -- if Maine doesn't get it first. The University of North Carolina Board of Governors, the ruling body for the state's public universities, has received a request for the establishment of Founders College in Oxford. The board has to approve applications for private colleges in the state. Two Duke University professors, Gary Hull and Eric Daniels, are involved with the College of Rational Education Inc., which would operate Founders College under Rand's principles. The author of "Atlas Shrugged" emphasized the rights of the individual...

Tuesday, April 11, 2006 Poisoning The Well By now much has been made of the paper "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy," recently produced for Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government by Stephen Walt, its academic dean, and Professor John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago, which charges that such a lobby influences American foreign policy against American interests. If you read the paper, all 35,000 words of it, it isn't much different that what one might read on a neo-Nazi or anti-Semitic hate site. A few Jews in government have undue influence, Jews bias the media, and...

OXFORD ARCHAEOLOGY UNEARTHS SAXON SETTLEMENT IN SOUTHAMPTON by Roz Tappenden 24/03/2006 Excavated 19th century cellar. © Oxford Archaeology An archaeological dig in Southampton’s medieval city centre has unearthed Saxon structural remains and a WWII pharmacy. Archaeologists were called in last November to investigate the 0.5-hectare site in the centre of bustling Southampton after an evaluation by the City Council. The plot, between the city’s High Street and French Street has been earmarked for redevelopment, but the discovery of medieval vaults and structural remains dating from the late Saxon period prompted developers, Linden Homes, to delay building work while investigations take...

The Times March 07, 2006 Why black sheep are barred and Humpty can't be cracked By Alexandra Blair, Education Correspondent TRADITIONAL nursery rhymes are being rewritten at nursery schools to avoid causing offence to children. Instead of singing “Baa baa, black sheep” as generations of children have learnt to do, toddlers in Oxfordshire are being taught to sing “Baa baa, rainbow sheep”. The move, which critics will seize on as an example of political correctness, was made after the nurseries decided to re-evaluate their approach to equal opportunities. Stuart Chamberlain, manager of the Family Centre in Abingdon and the Sure...

Oxford University is this week holding an "Israeli Apartheid week." Hosted by the Palestinian Society, and sanctioned by the university's student union, flyers state it is to commemorate the "30th anniversary of the international convention on the suppression and punishment of the crime of apartheid." Fliers show a caricature of two Israeli soldiers beating a Palestinian man with maps of Israel, stated as Palestine, and South Africa. The conference's themes are apartheid and Zionism, divestment and resistance. Ilan Pappe from Haifa University, an advocate of a one-state solution and boycott of Israeli institutions, will speak on "Resisting Apartheid: Divestment and...

Students are mobilising for the first ever demonstration in support of Oxford’s animal lab STUDENTS are organising the first ever demonstration in support of Oxford’s new animal research facility. The pro-lab movement is being spearheaded by a 16-year-old A-level student from Swindon, who calls himself Laurie. Extensive preparations are already underway for the demonstration, which will be held on 25 February, to coincide with Speak’s next monthly protest. The march is being organised by Laurie’s newly formed pressure group called Pro-Test. The group’s website, which has been receiving over 300 hits an hour since it went online on Monday, suggests...

The Sunday Times January 29, 2006 ALF threatens all out war against Oxford students Jon Ungoed-Thomas and Nick Fielding ANIMAL activists have for the first time threatened violence against all staff and students at Oxford university over its plans for a £20m animal research laboratory. In a posting on an internet site, the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) has told its supporters that any academic, student or company connected to Oxford is a legitimate target, irrespective of whether they are involved in animal research. The warning threatens to turn the laboratory into one of the biggest confrontations between animal rights activists...

Santa Claus may have to swap his sleigh for waterwings sooner than expected as global warming melts his Arctic home, environmental group WWF said on Friday. A new study for the organization formerly known as the Worldwide Fund for Nature predicts that the earth could warm by two degrees centigrade above pre-industrial levels as early as 2026 -- and by triple that amount in the Arctic. "This ... could result in Santa's home changing forever," said the report by Mark New of Oxford University. And Rudolph and his fellow reindeer are not the only creatures under threat -- polar bears,...

The colleges of Britain's prestigious Oxford University will lose their 800-year-old right to choose their undergraduates amid government pressure to admit more students from state schools and lower social classes. Instead, admissions will be centralized to encourage applications from pupils from broad-based secondary schools who find current arrangements "confusing and opaque", the university said, according to The Daily Telegraph. Pupils will apply to the university, not a specific college, and will be interviewed and selected by the appropriate department, not by their potential tutors, the university said. The university admitted that as a result, colleges will lose autonomy and individuality,...

...In April, the IFC designated nine universities to provide initial programs, with the goal of "[making] the Center a... 'Public Square' on hallowed ground." "The character of a university," the IFC intoned, "allows for this form of 'sacred space'... in which sensitive, controversial and provocative subjects can be candidly explored, yet in a manner that does not generate political distraction."... [NYU] President... [extolled] today's campuses "as 'modern sanctuaries [committed to] free, unbridled and ideologically unconstrained discourse.'" Hello. Campuses today are indeed "sanctuaries"— but almost exclusively for scholars of liberal-left-radical persuasion. Their "unconstrained discourse" is overwhelming that of rank ideologues— neo-Marxists,...

It is 97 per cent certain that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead - based on sheer logic and mathematics, not faith - according to Oxford professor Richard Swinburne. "New Testament scholars say the only evidence is witnesses in the four gospels. That's only 5 per cent of the evidence," Professor Swinburne, one of the world's leading philosophers of religion, said last night. "We can't judge the question of the resurrection unless we ask first whether there's reason to suppose there is a God, second if we have reason to suppose he would become incarnate and third, if he...

I just read on another forum that Bill Clinton was expelled from Oxford. I have done a search, but have found nothing. According to his bio(s), Clinton graduated from Georgetown, attended Oxford, and graduated from Yale. Does anybody have a link to the story regarding his "expulsion"? Did it have to do with the Eileen Wellstone incident (sexual assault allegation)?

Classical Greek and Roman literature is being read for the first time in 2,000 years thanks to new technology. The previously illegible texts are among a hoard of papyrus manuscripts. Scholars say the rediscovered writings will provide a fascinating new window into the ancient world. Salvaged from an ancient garbage dump in Egypt, the collection is kept at Oxford University in England. Known as the Oxyrhynchus Papyri, the collection includes writings by great classical Greek authors such as Homer, Sophocles, and Euripides. Using a technique called multi-spectral imaging, researchers have uncovered texts that include • parts of a lost tragedy...

Oxyrhynchus, situated on a tributary of the Nile 100 miles south of Cairo, was a prosperous regional capital and the third city of Egypt, with 35,000 people. It was populated mainly by Greek immigrants, who left behind tons of papyri upon which slaves trained in Greek had documented the community's arts and goings-on. A vast array of previously unintelligible manuscripts from ancient Greece and Rome are being read for the first time thanks to infra-red light, in a breakthrough hailed as the classical equivalent of finding the holy grail. The technique could see the number of accounted-for ancient manuscripts increase...