Ayaan Hirsi Ali asks European Parliament for protection

The ex-Muslim and critic of Islam, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, formerly a Dutch MP and currently working for the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., has asked the European Parliament to create a fund for the physical defence of people threatened by extremists. Ms Ali received a death threat in 2004 from the murderer of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh. The issue of her protection has arisen now because the Dutch government is no longer to willing to pay to protect her since she lives in the US. Ms Ali herself cannot afford to pay for bodyguards (BBC).

Hamas wants joint control of Gaza-Egypt border

While Egypt starts placing restrictions on the movement of Palestinians into its territory through the breaches in the Gaza-Egypt border fence, talks are underway between Egypt and Hamas, which is in control of the Gaza Strip, over longer-term control over the border. Egypt is also simultaneously negotiating the border issue with the administration of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Hamas has been cooperating with Egypt over stemming the flow of Palestinians into Egypt, but wants joint control over the border with Egypt in return. Meanwhile, Abbas does not want Hamas to play any role at the border, and is refusing to enter into direct dialogue with the movement. According to Abbas, "Hamas has to end its coup in Gaza, accept all international obligations, and accept holding early elections" before any talks can begin between it and the Palestinian government.

Egypt would like Abbas's government to control the Palestinian side of the border under supervision from Israel and the EU, under a multi-sided agreement reached in 2005 (BBC).

HIV children's families protest medics' release

The Libyan Association for the Families of HIV-Infected Children has protested against the pardon granted by Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov to the six Bulgarian medics convicted in Libya of deliberately infecting the 438 children with HIV. The association has released a statement saying the pardon shows disrespect towards Muslims, and calling for Libya to break off relations with Bulgaria.

Each of the victims' families have received compensation of US $1 million (Canadian $1,054,000) from an international fund (BBC).

It's strange to see this accusation coming from the victims' families, given that, under Islamic law, a murderer is released following the payment of compensation. So, even if the five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian-Bulgarian doctor accused of infecting the children were guilty, the compensation should have settled the case under the Shari'a. Now, I know Libya is not run by Shari'a rules, but the family's self-identification as disrespected Muslims calls their protest into question.

Further, if anyone should be blamed for this sordid mess, it's obviously Muammar al-Gaddafi and the rest of the Libyan leadership, who tried to make scapegoats out of the six medics for domestic consumption, and then traded them to Bulgaria in exchange for better ties with the EU.

EU defends sex clip compilation

Martin Selmayr, the spokesman of the European Commission, has defended the EU's use of a compilation of sex scenes from European movies as a promotion tool on YouTube. The video is getting thousands of hits a day, and has drawn protests from some MEPs, including members of Britain's Conservative Party, and the League of Polish Families.

Selmayr described the criticism as "quasi-religious bashing of the very important cultural diversity we have in the European Union," and added that "the European Union is not a Bible belt, we believe in freedom of expression and artistic creativity" (BBC).

What Selmayr seems to forget is the EU's much-vaunted diversity. He should remember that he represents an organisation that does include some pretty religious member-states (Poland is but one example). So, while the EU may not be "a Bible belt", it does contain its own Bible belts and mini-Bible belts (in Greece, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, but also in the more secular member-states). This video, while being a great gimmick for attracting viewers to the EU's YouTube channel, does a poor job of representing the views of the more religious or conservative citizens of the Union.

Gül says he would be a secular president

The Turkish foreign minister, Abdullah Gül, has said that he would preserve the founding secular principles of the Republic of Turkey if elected its president. In Turkey, it is the parliament that elects the president; Gül is a member of the Justice and Development (AK) Party, which has a majority in parliament, and has Islamist roots. He is thus expected to be elected president fairly easily.

Earlier, the outgoing president, Ahmed Necdet Sezer, and the army chief of staff, Gen. Mehmet Yaşar Büyükanıt, strongly hinted that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan should not attempt to run for the presidency himself (BBC).

It is not a very good advertisement for Turkey's democracy when the president and the army chief of staff band together to try to direct affairs. If the generals, who are still trying to rule Turkey behind the scenes, are serious about democracy, they should have no worries about the election of a representative of the most popular party in the country, which, moreover, forms the democratically elected majority in parliament.

Büyükanıt and the rest seem to feel seriously threatened at the prospect of hijabs in universities, and other anti-secularist heresies. It's high time they realised Turkey has more important things to worry about, such as its accession to the EU.