Actor Sir Christopher Lee has been ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of pounds to an illustrator in a dispute over royalties. By By Tom Worden telegraph.co.uk Actor Sir Christopher Lee as Mohammed Ali Jinnah Photo: EPA The Lord of the Rings star, 87, and his associates must pay £640,000 to artist Gerardo Moreno for work he did on a DVD cover, a Spanish court ruled. Mr Moreno claims he was not properly paid for the art work on the DVD of Jinnah, a 1998 movie staring Lee about the life of the founding father of Pakistan, Muhammed Ali Jinnah. … Continue reading Sir Christopher Lee loses battle

World of Islam children’s books spark protest from US Muslims Council on American-Islamic Relations complains Muslims are portrayed as violent in series by foreign policy thinktank guardian.co.uk, Protesters feel that the books indicate that Muslims are something American society should be wary of. Photograph: AFP photo/AFP/Getty Images A series of US children’s textbooks on Islam contains misleading and inflammatory rhetoric about the religion, inaccurately portraying its followers as hostile and deserving of suspicion, according to a US Muslim civil liberties group. The Pennsylvania chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations has begun what it calls a public awareness campaign against … Continue reading Muslims are portrayed as violent by US foreign policy thinktank

The true meaning of halal Debates about halal slaughter miss the wider point of a concept that promotes purity and integrity in Muslims’ whole lives Catherine Fildes guardian.co.uk, Half-reluctantly, I should “come out”, despite having hidden it from most of my fellow PhD students in the Cambridge English faculty. I try to avoid identity politics but for this article it seems necessary. I’m a white Muslim girl who doesn’t wear hijab or speak Arabic. Unlike that other white Muslim, Jihad Jane, I quite like the west. In fact I’m inspired by western-educated Muslims such as Gai Eaton, who died recently. … Continue reading Coming out of the closet over Halal and the meaning behind it!

Healthcare reform vote: sweet victory for Obama Winning the vote for healthcare reform in Congress last night showed that Obama was right to keep fighting Richard Adams guardian.co.uk, After winning the healthcare reform vote in Congress, President Obama took to the airwaves to sell it. Photograph: AFP Some myths got slain last night in Washington DC. For one thing, the Democratic party rediscovered its vertebrae and used it, for a change, to pass healthcare reform. For another, the myth that the US political structure is broken and cannot digest fundamental issues … well, it took a dent. Minutes after the … Continue reading Obama must show a similar backbone and stand up to the Christian fanatics in the USA

The most dangerous drug isn’t meow meow. It isn’t even alcohol . . . Newspapers are the biggest threat to the nation’s mental wellbeing Charlie Brooker The Guardian, Mephedrone, otherwise known as meow meow. Photograph: Rex Features I’m a lightweight; always have been. I didn’t get properly drunk until I was 25, on a night out which culminated in a spectacular public vomiting in a Chinese restaurant. Ever wondered what the clatter of 60 pairs of chopsticks being simultaneously dropped in disgust might sound like? Don’t ask me. I can’t remember. I was too busy bitterly coughing what remained of … Continue reading The most dangerous drug in the UK is openly available….

dawn.com In a country beset by a powerful Islamist insurgency, where suicide bombings are commonplace and government offensives widely dismissed as ineffective, anyone can become a victim. – Reuters Photo PESHAWAR: Five Sikh men who fled their hometown on the Afghan border were making a quick trip back home when masked men blocked their way with a pickup on a mountain road not far from the Khyber Pass. There were no houses, no buildings, no other cars in sight. The kidnappers covered their faces with black scarves and carried machine-guns. Surjeet Singh had just wanted to check on the small … Continue reading Kidnapping reflects fears of Pakistan minorities

Campus intimidation Dawn Editorial Cases of intimidation, both minor and severe, on university campuses across the country are common. –Photo by AP Editorial NUML incident The closure of the University of Peshawar and all the educational institutions situated on the campus ought to be taken as a serious warning about the manner in which the country’s youth is splitting along ideological, ethnic and other faultlines. The closure was announced on Friday after violence broke out following the death of a student, Adnan Abdul Qadir, who died after being severely beaten by members of the Islami Jamiat Talaba. Upon hearing of … Continue reading Campus intimidation in Pakistan by pre-baked Mullahs

Education and learning By S.M. Shahid S.M. Shahid asks if education in its current form helps one become a better human being? — Photo by AP “Frankly speaking, education is a racket,” said Babboo. “You have a knack of passing sweeping judgment on just about anything under the sun. Please spare education, at least!” “But, can’t you see how education has been turned into a sure-shot way of minting money? No matter what the state of the national economy, or the galloping recession, or even the deteriorating law and order, you couldn’t go wrong if you opened a school or, … Continue reading Education in Pakistan… Is it worth it?

Classic cars and the open road dawn.com A Pakistani auto repair shop employee working on a 1964 Volkswagen Beetle at a workshop in Rawalpindi. – AFP Media Gallery Restoring the glory Restoring the glory ISLAMABAD: In a country beset by militants and bombings, a cult website has fired Pakistani passion for classic cars and the freedom of the open road. Listed by Forbes as the fourth most dangerous country in the world, hitting the roads in the Pakistani outback is not a leisure activity that immediately springs to mind when talk switches to the nuclear-armed state of 167 million. But … Continue reading Classic cars in Pakistan