French authorities detained 80 “Islamic activists” suspected of links to terrorist recruitment cells in 2008, along with four leading figures of the Basque separatist group ETA, the interior minister said Monday. Interior Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie said in a New Year’s speech that 80 Islamic activists linked to alleged “cells for recruitment or training for jihad”…
FP_ General Secretary Harald Vilimsky said Wednesday that the Islamic death threat against Graz FP_ politician Susanne Winter had justified her Sunday attack on Islam. Winter had claimed at the FP_’s New Year’s meeting in Graz six days before the municipal election there that the prophet Mohammed had been “a child molester” and written the…
A video containing an unspecified threat to Austria was posted on the video-sharing Web site YouTube on Tuesday following anti-Islamic remarks by a hitherto unknown far-right Austrian politician. Police said they were still evaluating the video, but had offered the Graz- based activist, Susanne Winter, personal protection after she denounced Islam’s prophet and Muslim men…
Traditional New Year’s Eve fireworks in central Brussels have been canceled due to a continuing terror threat, officials said. The popular downtown Christmas market closed early on December 31st, rather than staying open all night, and the adjacent skating rink shut down at 8pm. The terror threat is related to a December 21st arrest of…
By Reza Aslan Every time I hear about how Sen. Barack Obama is going to “re-brand” America’s image in the Middle East, I can’t help but think about Jimmy Carter’s toast. When the idealistic Democrat came to Iran in 1977 to ring in the new year with Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the country’s much-despised despot,…
