Radovan Karadzic today accused Bosnian Muslim forces of killing their own people in Sarajevo in order to engineer a western intervention against Bosnian Serbs.

The former Bosnian Serb leader made the claim as he defended himself against charges of genocide and other war crimes at the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.

On the second day of his opening statement to the tribunal, Karadzic sought to rewrite the historical record on the 44-month siege of Sarajevo ‑ the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare.

Bosnian Serb forces encircled the city from 1992 to 1996, shelling it with artillery, mortars and anti-aircraft guns. It is estimated that almost 10,000 people, including more than 1,500 children, were killed. A further 56,000 were wounded.

One of the 11 indictments against Karadzic is for the siege.

The family of the American activist Rachel Corrie, who was killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza seven years ago, is to bring a civil suit over her death against the Israeli defence ministry.

The case, which begins on 10 March in Haifa, northern Israel, is seen by her parents as an opportunity to put on public record the events that led to their daughter's death in March 2003. Four key witnesses – three Britons and an American – who were at the scene in Rafah when Corrie was killed will give evidence, according the family lawyer, Hussein Abu Hussein.

The four were all with the International Solidarity Movement, the activist group to which Corrie belonged. They have since been denied entry to Israel, and the group's offices in Ramallah have been raided several times in recent weeks by the Israeli military.

I usually don't bother replying to this crap but I've had a rough few days and I didn't feel like offering the other cheek, bent over or otherwise.

Still, I thought I was pretty polite. Click on the thumbnail to embiggen.

That was polite, right?

The Psyche of a gay Muslim By Bashir Al-hamim for my friend

I first saw him and was struck by his soulful eyes, he a round melancholy face
He wore an 80’s porn star style moustache back in the 50’s
He was the silent type never talking always observing the world
He was a fierce man of passion; we loved but never committed the act of love with me
He was afraid he’d burn in hell for being true to himself
He was drinking Coco in Paris when I first saw him, ahh those round brown lips
I think back to that moment and repeat to myself on how beautiful he was
Once a year for forty years we met in this small musty smelling café and loved
He was a poet of sorts a fellow truly never at home in this world
For years we always stayed in a damp cold hotel, for years I begged him to hold me for years he refused, but he did love me thou he never spoke the words
When we first met he was a chain smoking fool with suicidal thoughts

I feel a sense of frustration and like a failure because everything that has happened over the course of my marriage. (I start to cry as I right this) I feel like a batter in World Series that has struck-out for the final time with two teammate on base and two outs. I went into marriage ill prepared for the true difficulties that arises and how to handle them. In my marriage their were so many demons that rose from two broken childhoods; my wife and I battled the buried ghost of abused and neglected children which took their adult form in us. I suppose I didn’t truly have a great example in my own father who many years was a great dad then who turned into a drug user and deadbeat in time I became him in my own way. Thou I did gain a great father figure in the form of an uncle who I love and call “pops”, he’s the father I hope to be! I could just copout and blame a broken childhood for everything but I am a big believer in personal responsibility for ones actions.

Free Nazia Quazi
By Katha Pollitt

In most countries, a woman in her mid-20s is legally an adult. And in most countries, foreigners are free to leave when they like. In its flagrant rejection of these two principles, Saudi Arabia is unique, and that is a big problem for 24-year-old Nazia Quazi.

The allure of Paris for a poet is like the pull of a magnet on a nail. For two months I have been dreaming and my heart watering to experience Paris from the artist point of view. I’ve been their twice but each time I was heartbroken and failed to enjoy splendor of the city. I’ve had been secretly planning to steal away with my love to experience the romance of the city of lights but all that changed when she refused my invite; I hoped to rekindle the torch that I had done so much to put a year ago. I had the option to go alone but I decided against because I have been feeling negative energy in the way the French have treated their Muslim population. I dress in a hybrid style combining Islamic clothing and western style, I wondered if I dresses like I do here in the states would I be setting myself up for unwanted attention and scrutiny? Now the stupid underwear bomber has made things even more difficult for a traveling Muslim.

He went the extra mile.
A broke but honest cabby spent his Christmas Eve driving back and forth to Long Island to find the Italian grandma who had left $10,000 cash in his
He went the extra mile.
A broke but honest cabby spent his Christmas Eve driving back and forth to Long Island to find the Italian grandma who had left $10,000 cash in his taxi outside Penn Station.
Mukul Asaduzzaman, 28, nearly made two round trips between the city and Patchogue that night, and waited outside an empty house in between, before he finally found his forgetful passenger, Felicia Lettieri, who was visiting relatives in New York.
"It was so beautiful, so kind," said a grateful Lettieri, 72, when she finally got back her lost loot.
Asaduzzaman, a Bangladesh native and pre-med student from Queens, said that he didn't mind spending three hours searching for her.

Feb 26 is the Mawlid or the prophet's birthday, how do I celebrate his birthday? how do you? Mawlids a term used to refer to the observance of the birthday of the Islamic prophet Muhammad which occurs in Rabi' al-awwal, the third month in the Islamic calendarlid. I've only been to one simple dinner simple celebration a dinner. The first public celebrations by Sunnis took place in twelfth-century Syria, under the rule of Nur ad-Din Though there is no firm evidence to indicate the reason for the adoption of the Shi'ite festival by the Sunnis, some theorise the celebrations took hold to counter Christian influence in places such as Spain and Morocco.Theologians denounced the celebration of Mawlid as unorthodox, and the practice was briefly halted by the Ayoubides when they came to power, becoming an event confined to family circles.