www.news.com.au

WEST Australian Opposition Leader Troy Buswell says there is "absolutely no substance" to reports he once did something inappropriate to a marsupial quokka.

Mr Buswell, who has admitted to sniffing the chair of a former Liberal party colleague and snapping the bra of a Labor staffer, was questioned on the rumours today while attending a press conference at Parliament House.

It followed his sacking from the frontbench yesterday of former leader Paul Omodei, who said recently there would be "more stories" to emerge about Mr Buswell and that his leadership would "die the death of a thousand cuts".

Asked if he had done anything inappropriate to a quokka, a small marsupial found on a holiday island off Perth, Mr Buswell replied: "No".

Asked if he was aware of any rumours about actions involving the small marsupials, which are indigenous to Rottnest Island, Mr Buswell said: "I have absolutely no idea about these stories of quokkas on Rottnest.

"I'm not being backward in saying that I'm not a perfect individual and you know I've had a robust past and there may be elements of that that have proved offensive to people.

"I don't shy away away from that at all, but I'm not aware that I've caused any offence to a quokka."

Asked how the rumours had started, Mr Buswell said: "I have no idea.

"I'm not going to comment on it. All I've heard is people use the word quokka and then smile and laugh.

"I'm just not interested to be honest with you."

He said none of his MPs had come to him to report the rumour.

"Members of the press have in passing mentioned the word quokka and suggested to me that something inappropriate in the past may have happened.

"Nothing has, absolutely nothing."

From NRO. Make this one go viral on the net people. All you need to know about Obama.

BARACK OBAMA

Palestinians in Gaza Are Phonebanking for Barack Obama

Phil Klein calls our attention to an al-Jazeera news report that sounds like a parody, but is genuine: A report on Palestinians in Gaza who are phonebanking in support of Barack Obama's campaign.

I transcribed the most jaw-dropping parts:

REPORTER: It may be hard to believe, but working in this tiny Internet cafe in Gaza City may just be one of Barack Obama's biggest fans.

Before every U.S. primary, 23-year-old Ibrahim Abu Jayyab gathers 17 of his friends to try and rally support for Obama's campaign in the U.S.

So why does a young Palestinian living in Gaza spend so much of his time and money on an election thousands of miles away?

ABU JAYYAB: [translated] It all started at the time of the U.S. primaries. After studying Obama's electoral campaign manifesto, I thought, 'this is a man that is capable of change inside America.' As for potential change in the Middle East, he can also do that. I think he can bring peace to the area, or at least this is what we hope.

REPORTER: And the game plan? Ibrahim and his friends call random numbers in the U.S. before every primary to deliver one simple message:

ABU JAYYAB: [in English] Elect Senator Obama. I will change. I will achieve... the justice in the Middle East.

The rest of the report is about Bush failing to achieve peace in the Middle East, the U.S. "unwillingness to apply pressure on Israel over illegal settlements," a professor who says his students are following the election but

A potttery maker says, "unless you support Israel, you won't get in the White House."

The report concludes by showing graffiti in Gaza depicting a monstrous Bush, lips dripping with blood, clutching the world and drinking blood through a straw from a pile of skulls. The caption is, "Good bye Mr. Bush, we wont' miss you."

The reporter's voice over of the graffiti: "There does to be one thing people here agree on."

05/13 02:54 PM

Taliban orders Afghans to stop watching TV
Say TV networks showing “un-Islamic” programs
www.alarabiya.net

Taliban insurgents have ordered residents of a province near the capital Kabul to stop watching television, saying the networks were showing un-Islamic programs, officials and local media said on Tuesday.

The order is the last in a wave of curbs that the resurgent militants have announced in areas they are active.

A senior Afghan information ministry official, Najib Manelai, said that dozens of masked men with weapons entered mosques in Logar province at the weekend and threatened residents against watching television.

Media reports quoted residents as saying that the Taliban imposed the ban because TV networks were showing programs that were "un-Islamic and anti-Afghan culture".

Removed from power in 2001, the al-Qaeda-backed Taliban who lead a insurgency against the government and foreign forces, could not be reached for comment.

But while in power from 1996 until their ouster, the Taliban Islamists had banned television, music and cinema. More than a dozen private TV networks and scores of radio stations have been launched in Afghanistan since their fall.

The information ministry along with security forces was taking action against the Taliban move, minister Manelai said, without giving details.

The ban on television programs in Logar follows demands in recent weeks by a group of religious scholars and the information minister that some private television stations must stop broadcasting several Indian soap operas on religious grounds.

But the demand has been largely ignored.

The Taliban have in recent months also ordered mobile phones operators to shut down the networks, saying foreign troops were using the phones to track them down.

They have also warned girls in several parts of the south and east not to attend schools.

Why is not called racism when Arabs kill Jews. In that case they call is "self-defense against the Zionist oppressors",  instead of what it really is, Islom-fascist genocide against innocent Jews. From www.imemc.org

The Jerusalem District Court indicted on Monday eleven Israeli teens from Jerusalem for racially motivated attacks against two Arab youth in the city on the eve of the Holocaust Remembrance Day, Israeli online daily Haaretz reported.

The Eleven youth apparently attacked and stabbed two Arabs in the city.

 Haaretz stated that the indictment reads that Yaakov Ben Haim, Liran Asraf and Morali Ben Moshe, 18 – 19 years old, along with eight other underage Israelis, are accused of stabbing two Arab youth of Jerusalem, aged 16 and 18.

The eleven youth are charged with racially motivated attack, participating in fights and conspiring to commit a crime.

The attack took place near the entrance of a shopping mall in Pisgat Zeev  neighborhood in Jerusalem.

One of the Arab youth was left unconscious and the other was stabbed several times in his back. Both were moved to Hadassah University Hospital in the city, Haaretz added.

Haaretz stated that on May 1, the attackers gathered in Pisgat Zeev after receiving instant messages on ICQ .

“It's time to put an end to all the Arabs that hang out in the neighborhood and at the mall, whistle to girls, curse and threaten little children. Any Jew who wishes to put an end to this should arrive at the burger ranch, where we will finally teach them not to walk around in our area. Whoever is willing to do this and has the Jewish blood to do so”, the message reads as published by Haaretz.

Haaretz also said that the indictment states that a similar message was sent one week later, close to the Israeli Memorial Day, in which Israelis remember their fallen combatants.

After the first message was sent, dozens of Israeli teens arrived at the scene and were carrying knives, batons and pieces of wood.

Give them one video game system between the two groups and tell them they have to share. Then we will see who gets put to shame.
From Expatica.

"Children put Belgian politicians to shame"

Flemish and Francophone children spent a night at the Atomium to show politicians that it is possible to get along despite linguistic differences.

13 May 2008

BRUSSELS - Dozens of children from a school in Vilvoorde in Flemish Brabant and a Francophone school of Sint-Pieters-Woluwe in Brussels spent a night in a
ball of the Atomium.

The children from a Flemish and a Francophone school wanted to show that they could get along despite the linguistic differences.
One of the balls was specially furnished for the sleep-over.

The aim of the initiative was to show politicians that Flemish and Francophone children could get along with each other

"We want to show people that we can get along," explain the teachers. "The children are communicating with each other as well- albeit with a limited vocabulary in both languages!"

The Atomium is a monument built for Expo '58- the 1958 Brussels World's Fair. It was designed by André Waterkeyn and is 102 metre tall. Nine steel spheres are connected so the whole forms the shape of a unit cell of an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times.

The Brussels World's Fair opened on 17 April 1958. It was the biggest event ever held in Belgium, attracting over 41 million visitors. This was three times more than the organisers had expected. The 1958 World Fair was the most visited World Fair ever.

[flandersenews.be / Expatica]