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'Customers pay' as banks rebuild

published by You on 25 July, 2009 - 03:12

Banks and building societies are trying to rebuild their profits at the expense of customers, according to Moneyfacts.

The price of borrowing has continued to rise significantly, even though the Bank of England's base rate has stayed at a record low, new figures show.

Mortgage rates have seen the sharpest rise. Three months ago, the price of a typical two-year fixed mortgage was 4.65%. Now it's 5.17%.

Interest rates on credit cards have also risen, though by a smaller amount.

The charges on cash loans have been steady since the start of the summer, although they are up by more than 2% since this time last year.

Rebuilding Profits

North Korea 'executes Christians'

published by You on 24 July, 2009 - 18:25

Human rights groups in South Korea say North Korea has stepped up executions of Christians, some of them in public.

The communist country, the world's most closed society, views religion as a major threat.

Only the founder of the country, Kim Il-sung, and his son, Kim Jong-il, may be worshipped, in mass public displays of fervour.

Despite the persecutions, it is thought up to 30,000 North Koreans may practise Christianity secretly in their homes.

A report by a number of South Korean groups highlights one particular case of a woman allegedly executed in public last month, in a northern town close to the Chinese border.

She was accused of distributing Bibles, spying for South Korea and the United States and helping to organise dissidents.

Shanghai urges 'two-child policy'

published by You on 24 July, 2009 - 14:33

Officials in Shanghai are urging parents to have a second child, the first time in decades the government has actively encouraged procreation.

A public information campaign has been launched to highlight exemptions to the country's one-child policy.

Couples who were both only children, which includes most of the city's newly-weds, are allowed a second child.

The move comes as China's most populous city becomes richer and older, with the number of retired residents soaring...

Read more @ BBC News

Danish military unit involved in headscarf row

published by You on 24 July, 2009 - 03:59

COPENHAGEN – A Danish military unit has become embroiled in a dispute about Muslim headscarves after it allowed a hijab-wearing woman to complete a training course.

The Home Guard, a home defense corps of thousands of volunteer soldiers, does not allow headscarves and violated that rule when it allowed Maria Mawla, 27, to wear one during its 10-day basic training program, spokesman Joergen Jensen said Monday.

"We made a mistake internally," Jensen told The Associated Press.

The issue became national news in Denmark after the populist Danish People's Party, known for its anti-Muslim outbursts, expressed shock over an article about Mawla posted on the Home Guard's Web site.

Arab health ministers to ban elderly, young from pilgrimage

published by You on 24 July, 2009 - 03:50

CAIRO — Arab health ministers agreed on Wednesday to ban certain people including the elderly and young children from pilgrimage to Mecca in an effort to contain the spread of swine flu.

"Hajj and umrah will continue with some conditions," Ibrahim al-Kerdani, World Health Organisation spokesman in Egypt, said after a meeting of Arab health ministers in Cairo.

"Some groups will be excluded from hajj: people over the age of 65, people under the age of 12 and people with chronic illnesses," he told reporters.

The decision to keep the vulnerable groups away from the pilgrimage is yet to be ratified by the health ministers' governments, he said.

Ever thought you had a glowing personality?

published by You on 23 July, 2009 - 20:42

Well, it may be true!

Humans Glow in Visible Light

he human body literally glows, emitting a visible light in extremely small quantities at levels that rise and fall with the day, scientists now reveal.
Past research has shown that the body emits visible light, 1,000 times less intense than the levels to which our naked eyes are sensitive. In fact, virtually all living creatures emit very weak light, which is thought to be a byproduct of biochemical reactions involving free radicals.

(This visible light differs from the infrared radiation — an invisible form of light — that comes from body heat.)

Enforced marriage law forces couple apart

published by You on 23 July, 2009 - 19:59

Nineteen-year-old Canadian Rochelle Wallis married her Welsh husband Adam in November 2008, two years after they first met and fell in love.

But now Rochelle is about to be deported from the UK and has been told that she will not be able to come back to see Adam until she is 21.

She has become the first unintended victim of changes to UK immigration laws which were designed to protect young British Asian women from being subjected to forced marriages.

In a letter to Adam's MP, Mark Williams, to whom the couple turned for help, the UK Border Agency described Rochelle being forced out of the country for the next year and a half as just an "inconvenience"...

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Know your enemy

published by You on 23 July, 2009 - 05:14

Why isn’t the trial of a man charged with preparing for terror attacks using tennis-ball bombs being reported? He’s not a bearded Muslim

Imagine, for a moment, that Neil Lewington, who is on trial at the Old Bailey for preparing for a “campaign of terrorism” using tennis-ball bombs, was a British Muslim. The story would be splashed across the front page of every newspaper in Britain, and Sky News would be rolling a loop of images of his scowling, bearded, dark face.

Afghan man held over murder 'in the name of the Koran'

published by You on 22 July, 2009 - 19:35

Afghan man held over murder 'in the name of the Koran'

Munich - Munich police are questioning a 27-year-old Afghan man suspected of stabbing his former wife to death "in the name of the Koran," police sources said Tuesday. A Munich police spokesman said the 24-old Afghan woman Nesima R., whose full name was withheld for legal reasons, had been stabbed some 20 times, and that the suspect had given the Koran as a justification for the attack.

The woman received stab wounds to the heart and died Monday in hospital.

The pair are believed to have been married while in Afghanistan, although when Zafar, a 27-year-old unemployed painter, came to Germany in 2008, he found the woman in a new relationship with a cousin.

Apostasy and Islam?

published by You on 21 July, 2009 - 16:59

I hear the punishment for this is not death.

The Ottoman Caliphate, the supreme representative of Sunni Islam, formally abolished this penalty in the aftermath of the so-called Tanzimat reforms launched in 1839. The Shaykh al-Islam, the supreme head of the religious courts and colleges, ratified this major shift in traditional legal doctrine.

It was pointed out that there is no verse in the Qur’an that lays down a punishment for apostasy (although chapter 5 verse 54 and chapter 2 verse 217 predict a punishment in the next world). It was also pointed out that the ambiguities in the hadith (the sayings of the Prophet) suggest that apostasy is only an offense when combined with the crime of treason.

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