Democratic Representative Charles Rangel's promise to call early in 2007 for a reintroduction of the military draft will likely cause some chuckles in Congress - this comes in a long string of Rangel's using the issue of a new draft to stimulate discussion of racial discrimination. But his latest public discussion has caused something else mighty interesting: an overwhelmingly negative reaction from America's youth.   more »

A letter from a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan gives a glimpse of Obama that isn't so pretty. . .   more »

The Chinese have banned Bibles, prayer beads, and religious jewelry for the summer Olympics. . . huh?   more »

Pakistan joins the 21st century and makes rape a real crime...   more »

Iranian voices his true feelings in meeting Saturday with Palestinian PM Haniya, as Lebanon moves nearer to overthrowing its government in favor of Iran-backed Hizbollah.   more »

Political editorialist Andrew McCarthy asks, "How many Americans do they have to kill before we get the point?"   more »

Islamic militants may be in charge, but that doesn't mean there won't be Christmas this year.   more »

Demonstrations in Beirut show no sign of waning, revealing a naive populace and a hopeful Hizbollah, as Syria, the Saudis, and Iran watch and wait...   more »

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia began the annual summit of Gulf leaders with a warning that the Arab world was very near 'exploding' because of conflicts in the Palestinian territories, Iraq and Lebanon.   more »

Iran has begun installing 3,000 centrifuges in an expansion of its uranium enrichment program that brings the Islamic nation significantly closer to large-scale production of nuclear fuel...   more »

Congress voted Saturday to pass a bill to prepare the U.S. for bioterrorist attacks. . . but is it the right remedy?   more »

Saudi intelligence chief tells middle eastern conference that Israel is to blame for the growing arms race in the Middle East.   more »

British PM Tony Blair calls for muslim immigrants to Britain to make greater effors at conforming and tolerance...   more »

As American government officials bicker over when and how to end the conflict in Iraq, struggling U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq are becoming increasingly concerned about the capabilities of Iraq's U.S.-trained police force, following a week of violence in which it was difficult to tell whether the Iraqi police know what their job is.   more »

n one imperfect but powerful stroke, he departed from his predecessor's largely benign approach to Islam, discovered an issue that might attract even the most religiously jaded and managed (for better or worse) to reanimate the clash-of-civilizations discussion by focusing scrutiny on the core question of whether Islam, as a religion, sanctions violence.   more »

An interesting look back to April 2005 at the predictions for the future, concerning the rise of Muslim terrorist movements in Europe . . .   more »

Cat Stevens releases first album since embracing Islam in 1970s
FROM: AFP
Mon Nov 13, 11:50 AM ET

LONDON (AFP) ...   more »