Telegraph, YouTube asked to curb terror videos, 7 Nov 07 "The YouTube website is facing calls to crack down on extremist videos promoting violence after it emerged it was being used to post footage of Islamic fighters with guns and rocket launchers."

Also see: Telegraph, Internet spreads terror in Britain, 7 Nov 07 "Mohammed Irfan Raja, an otherwise ordinary Essex lad who was convicted of terrorism offences earlier this year, typifies current fears within the Government about the type of recruit al-Qa’eda is now aiming for – and the methods they’re willing to use."

Times, ‘Terror kids’ inspired by net are West’s big threat, 7 Nov 07 "The new terror threat facing the West is coming from “self-radicalising kids” who are not members of al-Qaeda but are inspired by images on the internet to carry out their own attacks, a senior security official said yesterday." Also see Frank Furedi's article on spiked-online.com, Are 'terrorist groomers' warping our kids?, 6 Nov 2007

VOA, Prison Term for Egyptian Police in Widely-Published Torture Case, 6 Nov 07 more on this previously blogged story, includes audio report.

eveningecho.ie, Internet next target in 'anti-terror battle', 6 Nov 07 "Using the internet to promote acts of terrorism will become a criminal offence under plans to be unveiled by the European Commission today.

"The plan is designed to step up the anti-terrorism fight by criminalising anything on the web which amounts to training for terrorism or incitement to commit terrorist acts – including guides to assembling bombs and weapons."

bloomberg.com, 'Fatwa Chaos' Bewilders Muslims on Sex and Suicide (Update1), 6 Nov 07 "A century ago, the fatwa department at Cairo's Al-Azhar University issued fewer than 200 edicts a day. Now it turns out about 1,000.

"The university, a center of Islamic learning for more than a millennium, isn't alone. Around the world, an explosion in the number of fatwas -- pronouncements by religious leaders intended to shape the actions of the faithful on everything from sex to politics -- is sparking efforts by prominent Muslims to rein in the practice. That's proving a nearly impossible task, given Islam's decentralized nature and the growing number of outlets for the edicts."

gulfnews.com, IT experts converge on Dubai for Innovations, 5 Nov 07 "Conference 'Innovations '07' will be held from November 18 to 20 at the Madinat Jumeirah Hotel, said Dr Hadef Bin Jouan Al Daheri, Vice-Chancellor of the UAE University, at a press conference." Sounds fun.

New and noted II: gulfnews.com, Gulf News radios 1 and 2 make waves on the web, 5 Nov 07 "The new internet service went live early on Friday morning and comes just weeks after podcasts were made available on gulfnews.com for the first time." Schedules are here

New and noted: pakistanpolitics.net [via Ali Eteraz] I shall be watching this one with interest. It certainly fills a gap in the market...

This Day, Nigeria: Intel, ETF Invest $10.1 million On Digital Content, 4 Nov 07 "Intel, one of the world's leading information communication technology (ICT) firms has, in collaboration with the Education Trust Fund (ETF), invested $10.1million towards the development of a digital curriculum content for Nigerian secondary schools under the e-school initiative."

Independent, MI5 chief: children are being taught to become terrorists, 6 Nov 07

AP, Italian police go after suspected Islamic extremists recruiting bombers for attacks in Iraq, 6 Nov 07 "Police have discovered al-Qaida manuals on how to produce explosives, detonation devices and poisons as well as instructions on guerrilla techniques, the agencies reported."

reuters.com, Qaeda's Maghreb propaganda man surrenders - paper, 5 Nov 07 "Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb's "propaganda" man in charge of supplying Al Jazeera with videos and online documentation has surrendered, saying he regreted what he had been doing, Algerian daily Liberte said on Monday.

"The daily, quoting unnamed security sources, said Abu Abderahmane had used the Internet to communicate with the Qatar-based channel, as well as sending it videos, and CDs either directly to Doha or its Morocco branch."

The original article is here, although the connection is very slow: Liberte, Le responsable audiovisuel du groupe terroriste arrêté, Les secrets du pacte entre Al-jazeera et le GSPC "Le concepteur, producteur et fournisseur d’images vidéo du GSPC, destinées à la chaîne qatarie Al-Jazeera pour faire la propagande du terrorisme en Algérie, vient de se rendre aux services de sécurité. Un nouveau coup dur pour Al-Qaïda."

Reuters Canada, Zawahri says Libyan group joins al Qaeda, 3 Nov 07 " "Honorable members of the Fighting Islamic Group in Libya announce that they are joining the al Qaeda group to continue the march of their brothers," Zawahri said in a recording posted on the Internet on Saturday.

"The Libyan group would be the second militant organization to join al Qaeda this year after Algeria's armed GSPC said in January it had won approval from Osama bin Laden to rename itself Al Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb."

todayonline.com, Asia in Crisis, 5 Nov 07 updates/comments on Pakistan situation. Also see LA Times/Seattle Times, Mass arrests in Pakistan, 5 Nov 07 "But despite such authoritarian measures, Pakistanis gave free vent to their feelings — in Internet chat rooms, in sharply worded editorials in independent newspapers and in quiet but impassioned talk in bazaars, aboard overcrowded buses and in restaurants." Check out All Things Pakistan, Pakistan: Chronology of a Political Meltdown, 5 Nov 07 and Dawn, Countrywide crackdown : Hundreds of lawyers, rights activists and politicians detained, 4 Nov 07 as well. A useful feed can be found at News Now, Pakistan. Kamla Bhatt has a summary of blogger comments: Global Voices Online, State of Emergency in Pakistan, 3 Nov 07

dnaindia.com, Kashmiri youth rediscover religion, 4 Nov 07, "It has become a trend of sorts as more and more youth are turning to religion. And there are plenty of new Islamic schools that are acting as catalysts of this change. ‘School of Orthoepy, Quran and Theology Education’ is one such school in Kashmir which is using technology for religious teachings. Computers, big projectors, internet and other technological innovations have made religious teachings easy to fathom.

""We have technology at hand and we should use it. There is no harm in using technology in religious teachings," says Tanveer Ahmad, a computer professional, who runs School of Orthoepy, Quran and Theology Education." Their site is here: SOQTE.org BTW Orthoepy = Tajweed. Image on the left is taken from the front page of the site

NYT, God and Man on YouTube, 4 Nov 07 "'The Truth About Islam From an Ex-Muslim Lady,' YouTube’s most-discussed video ever, shows a woman on a TV-news program delivering a fearsome disquisition in Arabic on Samuel P. Huntington’s clash-of-civilizations idea — the concept that global politics are now determined by potentially apocalyptic cultural collisions. The woman, identified as an Arab-American psychologist, celebrates the “civilization” of the West and denigrates the 'backwardness' of Islam, according to the English subtitles. Since 'The Truth About Islam' first appeared in the spring of last year, something about this video clip has inspired viewers to lay bare their ideological ids. It has prompted 200,000 comments." The famous clip, translated by MEMRI TV, gets another airing here. You can find excerpts of it on YouTube, together with attendant discussion. YouTube, Truth about islam from an ex-muslim lady [BTW my Disclaimer is here]

Discussion piece by Yaniv Ofek, research fellow at the Institute for Policy and Strategy at the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy, Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel: frontpagemagazine.com, The Islamic "Muqawama", 5 Nov 07 "The notion of Islamic resistance draws from the fundamentalists’ perception that Islam and its values are under severe attack by the West. The West's ill-mannered culture; its sexual liberalism, including its twisted outlook on the status of women; its blasphemy; and above all its coarse marketing of the liberal and democratic values through movies and the internet -- all this creates a 'threat' that Islamists see as a tremendous peril to the Islamic youngsters who can easily be tempted by the pleasures the Western culture has to offer. In short, Western culture challenges Islam's most basic conception, namely that it is a ruling religion that will prevail across the world. Resistance against the West, then, becomes the Islamists’ way of attaining the hegemony they believe is rightly theirs."

Here's an interesting article on gaming, written by Gwen Ackerman: Bloomberg, Arab Bombers, Israeli Soldiers Take Middle East Conflict Online , 5 Nov 07 "Don an Israeli army uniform, wield an M-16 rifle and face a mob of angry Palestinian demonstrators. Or, arm yourself with a Kalashnikov and aim to shoot former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the forehead. Or detonate a suicide bomber on a busy city street and kill as many as possible.

"These are only a few of the Internet war games readily accessible on the Web for anyone who wants to fight in the Middle East's conflicts from the comfort of a keyboard. The body count is growing as the games perpetuate the views of Israelis, Palestinians, U.S. citizens and al-Qaeda members."

AP, Egypt: 2 Cops Sentenced for Torture, 5 Nov 07 "Though el-Kabir's trial is not the first against police officers accused of torture, it is the first in Egypt involving a video that was circulated on the Internet. Other videos of alleged police torture in Egypt have since appeared on blogs, and human rights groups and activists believe the verdict in el-Kabir's case could set a precedent."

BBC, Bridging Africa's digital divide, 1 Nov 2007, "Intel's chairman Craig Barrett is in Africa to talk about initiatives designed to end the digital divide. He tells BBC News of the challenges the continent faces as it attempts to reap the benefits of the technological revolution."