Update II: Free Alan

More news on Alan Johnston. He's been seen in a video, wearing a bomb vest.

Upate: Saudi Arrest Religious Police

Just a brief update. The trial has been postponed. See my original article here for info about the case.

Update: Gaza Goes Up

Here's some more information on what's going on and how people are reacting. The whole situation is a mess, and I can't help but wonder what Israel is up to. Are they trying to keep things going, or calm them down? I mean, violence in Gaza and the West Bank may spill over into Israeli territory, but on the other hand, if the Palestinians kill each other off then there's fewer of them for Israel to worry about.

American Muslims

The BBC has an interesting article on Muslims in the US Marines. Check it out here.

Update IV: British Soldiers Captured by Iran

Yes, I know they're all home now. But did you know that before Iran captured them they tried the same thing to some Australian sailors? Apparently the Aussies didn't like that idea, so they managed to convince the Iranians to go away.

Update: Free Alan

Alan Johnston has been a prisoner for over 3 months now. (Click on the picture to the right to find out more.) Hamas thought they had made a deal to free him, but it fell through, so they've set a deadline now. Reporters in the Palestinian areas face a number of difficulties, but it's really a shame to see one of them kidnapped by a Palestinian faction. Many Palestinians are very upset by this and have been asking for his freedom.

Update: More Saudi-BAE stuff

Where to begin? How about a bunch of links so you can read about the whole big scandal yourself. And don't forget to go back and read my original posts.

BAE has no idea if the US is investigating.
The US is starting to investigate the scandal.
A British high muckity-muck is heading the investigation over in Britain.

Things are heating up and getting interesting. Turns out Prince Bandar has been making BILLIONS off of this stuff. Click here for the Guardian's coverage of the whole thing.

Gaza Goes Up

Well, things are going to hell in Gaza - at least more than usual. Hamas and Fatah are fighting. This has been going on for a little while now, but it's getting bloodier and bloodier For those of you not paying attention, Fatah is the group that Yasir Arafat belonged to. When the Palestinians had democratic elections last year, Hamas won. That wasn't good enough for Bush. He felt that Hamas was/is a terrorist organization. Apparently I am the only one who remembers when Yasir Arafat and Fatah were terrorists. The main reason Hamas won the election was not because the Palestinians were getting more religious and conservative, but because Fatah is corrupt. It may seem obvious that politicians are corrupt, but Fatah has a bad reputation for it. And Hamas won because they were going to get rid of the corruption. You may not like strong religious types, but when they're true believers, and they say they're getting rid of corruption, people tend to believe them. However, the US has decided that Hamas is a terrorist group. Israel goes along with that (which makes sense since Hamas wants Israel destroyed) but they refused to pay Hamas - the legally, democratically elected Palestinian government, the tax money it was owed.

AUC Must Allow Niqab

The American University in Cairo (AUC) must allow the niqab now. The hijab is a headscarf that shows the face, while the niqab shows only the eyes. AUC had banned the niqab for security reasons, but a court just ruled that that impinges on personal freedoms, so they must allow women to wear a niqab. The university is worried about security and Islamic extremism. Personally, I believe people should be allowed to wear what they want to wear.

Iran Arrests Academics

Another Iranian-American academic has been arrested in Iran - for spying of course. He's the 3rd one so far, so if you're thinking of attending a conference in Iran, you might want to reconsider.

More Muslim Brothers Arrested in Egypt

Egypt has been getting less and less democratic lately. Now they have arrested 75 members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Technically, the group is illegal, but they do have some members running for parliament. So much for free elections. But anybody paying attention to Egypt know that went out the window a long time ago.

Saudi Arrest Religious Police

Saudi Arabia actually arrested 5 religious policemen (mutawain) because of the death of a man they had arrested. The religious police there have had a pretty loose leash for a long time, so maybe this will held restrict them. This wasn't the first person to die around the religious police. A few years back there was a fire at a girls' school and the mutawain would not let firefighters go in because they might have seen girls who weren't covered up. I also seem to remember a Shi'ite imam being killed for saying the call to prayer in the Shi'ite method instead of the Sunni method.

UPDATE: Gulf News: Saudi Buys Fighter Jets

Here's the old link, so you can refresh your memory. The latest news is that the former Saudi Ambassador to the US received hundreds of millions of pounds from BAE to facilitate a deal. The British Ministry of Defense (or Defence as they spell it) knew about it too.

News of the Weird: Hurricane in Oman

Yes, it's been a while. Sorry about that. News from Oman - they got hit by a Cyclone (that's what they call Hurricanes in the Eastern hemisphere). That is NOT NORMAL. BBC has news here, pictures here. Check it out. It was one of the strongest cyclones ever in the Indian Ocean.