http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=618117

oh well back to the usual,,,,,,,,

Most desired Final Milan v Inter Champs Final (draw's providing That would probably be the most boring final of all time saxib, i dont want to see another all Italian affair like 2 years ago. I would have loved to have seen Barca in the final against Milan or Juve, that would have been a final, flair vs determination and poise.# I hate Milan with passion sxb, but i love they way the can play football lol, same here but this Kaka geezer has changed that over the past few years, a future world player of the year in the making. As for last night well here goes my match report. Chelsea came out with the right attitude, they broke away early while Barca tried to play the offside trap so high up the pitch that it was school boy stuff. Frank Rigkaard exposed his weakness tactically by not opting for a 4-1-3-1-1 formation which would have got them through easily. Instead he went with the wrong attitude of we can out score Chelsea and keep the ball. Which they did for long periods of the game, but that is not enough in this competition. Now, why on earth did they not put a man on the back post with 10 minutes to go, a weak goalkeeper and a dodgy defence? ****** , ****** , ****** . I think Collina made his first mistake ever last night by not giving the foul on the GK when Carvalho pulled him down. He would have got to it easily. When Eto missed that glaring chance i had a feeling Chelsea would go through. Great goal by ma boy Dinho but Deco/Eto/Xavi all disappointed by not being a little more cunning. I was gutted, but bring on tonights games and i hope its a different story tonight.

^^u will understand one day,,,,

Rocko asks: when is the mens day BTW? CL Final FA Cup Final World Cup final Euro Cup Final African Cup Final Copa America Final and anyday when footy is generally on incl tonight!

Happy womens day! :rolleyes:

^^^ Bro like I care what you think of Allpuntland, I dont own it Talk about digging ones own grave

let the drama unfold, time for the big boys to stand up and be counted. my heart beats the anfield anthem, walk on

^^^hes not sampling, he biting. Sampling means using ones music or part there of, ie as the chorus/hook, but biting is when you are actually saying/using another paerson's lyrics in your song. I never thought he was lyrically gifted...guess i was right The days of lyrically gifted MCs are over :rolleyes:

I hope its on ITV1, i dont want to buy another Digibox only to watch ITV2 then return it the following day :rolleyes:

cassano's was onmside as the other 2 plays remained still The other two players were on the same side as where the ball was, making defenders confused thus interfering with play. I'm old fashioned, if your offside, your offside

Faye White bagged a brace as Arsenal beat Charlton in the Women's Premier League Cup final at Griffin Park. lool, a trophy for the gooners. 187, one word mate, Portsmouth, lets see what he does on Wed night against Bayern Munich. As for liverpool, everton lost to blackburn, so the loss to newcastle was minor

^^Forza Juve mate, very entertaining game, that Cassano goal was offide and Juve should not have had that penalty!

Forget F1, i managed to get from London to Sheff in 1 hr and 22 mins on friday night, ave speed of 110mph

^^lol I have become a very accomplished Claude Makalele due to my slower pace and not wanting to get anymore injuries plus its less tiresome

A Somali legend says that long ago tortoises didn't have those hard and strong shells. They walk in the vast desert unprotected and exposed from the raging heat of the sun. The birds have always noticed these tortoises crawling slowly from below. In their mind, they knew that they could one day become a hefty meal for their flock. One day the birds met, connived and plotted against the biggest tortoise in the desert. They planned the time, place and manner of attack, the mission: to eat him alive! In Somali oral society, news got around about the plan, the tortoise only had one concern and asked "was Allah there in their meeting?" The informers simultaneously agreed and quipped "Of course! Allah is everywhere!" When the long awaited moment came, it is said that Allah witnessed the impending attack and prevented it by covering the tortoise with this strong and hard shell. The birds retreated with their broken beaks and never dared to attack the tortoise ever again. Posted by Yvette Lopez

Q&A: The state of Somalia Sarah Left explains why the government of Somalia is based in Kenya Wednesday March 2, 2005 Why is the government of Somalia on a 'visit' to its own country? Somalia is an anarchy, with a shifting network of warlords and clans vying for control in their areas. Militias are heavily armed and fighting has been frequent. Militias block roads to police those entering their area and demand money. The capital, Mogadishu, in particular is a nest of competing and well-armed interests. With this is mind, the newly formed transitional federal government has not considered it safe to relocate from its base in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, to Somalia. Even now, with the Somali government packing its boxes for a move back home, it remains unclear if they will be able to move into Mogadishu. How much of the country does the government control? Technically, none of it. This first six-day visit marks the start of a long process of establishing legitimacy. Somalia's transitional federal government was cobbled together in Kenya by the Somali National Reconciliation Conference, with the process beginning in October 2002. It took two years to create a national parliament out of the various clans and sub-clans and the semi-autonomous region of Puntland. Even then, the self-declared independent state of Somaliland in the north-west refuses to participate. If the government isn't in charge, who is? No one person or government has controlled Somalia for the last 14 years, and no one is anywhere near to controlling the whole country. Clans in the north-west declared themselves the independent Republic of Somalia in May 1991. In the north-east, clans in the administrative regions of Bari, Nugall and northern Mudug formed the autonomous state of Puntland in 1998, though they stopped short of declaring independence. Somaliland and Puntland both claim portions of the Sanaag and Sool regions, leading to an ongoing armed border dispute. "South of Puntland, the complete wild west starts," says Leo van der Velden, deputy country director for the World Food Programme in Somalia. Clans or militias are in charge of specific areas, with shifting allegiances that can break down to units as small as an extended family. He describes the country's central region as "a hotbed of villages that are fighting each other". How dangerous is Somalia? That depends where you are. Somaliland and Puntland are relatively safe, with police and a functioning justice system. But even those areas are awash with guns and a dispute can easily escalate into a shooting, Van der Velden warns. The border dispute has caused frequent skirmishes between the two regions, though that has cooled recently as heavy rains following four years of drought have resulted in devastating mudslides. The clans, he says, simply have more important matters of immediate survival on their hands at the moment. Mogadishu is considered too dangerous for UN international staff, who are generally are not allowed to travel there. Recently BBC producer Kate Peyton was shot dead in Mogadishu while there to film a documentary. How did the country sink into chaos? The former dictator, Siad Barre, ruled Somalia from 1969 to 1991 and attempted to cultivate a personality cult around himself. The country had begun to fracture before Barre's repressive regime was deposed. The UN sent in a taskforce in 1992 to monitor a ceasefire in Mogadishu, provide security for UN staff and to aid the delivery of humanitarian supplies. The UN coordinated its work with the US effort, intially called Operation Restore Hope. Despite successes in improving humanitarian aid reaching drought-starved Somalis, factional fighting continued. During the Battle of Mogadishu in October 1993, 18 US soldiers were killed and 84 wounded. The UN mission pulled out in March 1995. What are the new government's chances of success? A previous transitional government has already failed, but the current president, Abdullahi Yusuf, and prime minister, Mohamed Ali Gedi, have been greeted by crowds of supporters eager for order to be reimposed. However the new government's call for 7,500 African Union and Arab League peacekeepers has been met by mass protests in Mogadishu and rather more threatening noises from some warlords opposed to outside interference. Earlier this month, warlord Osman Ali Ato urged Somalis to attack any foreign peacekeeping troops being sent to support the Somali government. http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1428526,00.html

Somaliland: UN Secretary General Calls for a Long Term Solution of Somaliland Status URGENT ACTION With sporadic fighting continuing in Somalia and preventing the implementation of United Nations programmes in large areas of the country, Secretary-General Kofi Annan is calling for a tighter arms embargo against the Horn of Africa country, especially for heavy weapons. "Greater efforts should be made to enforce the arms embargo in Somalia….Reports indicate large-scale violations of the arms embargo, not only by extremist groups and militias, but also some Members of Parliament," he says in a report to the Security Council on the situation in the country. "The importation of explosives and heavy weapons is especially worrisome. Small arms proliferation is a major concern that needs to be addressed in the longer term, but the presence of large quantities of heavy weapons (tanks, artillery, anti-aircraft guns, multi-barrelled rocket launchers and heavy mortars) poses a more immediate problem." A long-term solution to the confrontation between the pro-secessionist Somali areas called "Somaliland" and "Puntland" over the control of the Sool and Sanaag regions is not yet in sight and the two sides continue to deploy troops in those areas, the report says. There were few clashes until last November when several men were killed in a clash near Las Anod. In the Bay and Bakool regions internal disputes among members of the Rahanwein Resistance Army have led to a proliferation of checkpoints which limit the movements of UN and other aid agencies, it says. The UN Development Programme (UNDP) is working closely with the Transitional Federal Parliament in arranging the Government's phased move from Kenya to Somalia and will train 5,000 policemen in the south-central area of the country. In a new move for Somalia, 13 female cadets from across the country have been recruited for the Mandera Police Academy, it says, and they have been given allowances to visit their families periodically to relieve any anxieties about their well-being. A new initiative is underway in Hargeysa to use land ownership data to increase municipal revenues, help urban planning, develop postal systems and name roads. The initiative will take place next in Burco and Boroma, the report says. The World Bank's Low Income Countries under Stress (LICUS) programme and UNDP, in cooperation with the provincial ministries of education and three universities, have launched a distance-learning project for Somali students and faculties. In addition, a study of Arabic language schools has been completed with a view to working out a common curriculum and common public examinations, the report says, and it calls on Arab League countries to increase their aid to the country. http://www.unpo.org/news_detail.php?arg=60&par=2062

Gr8 post Francesco. I visit many a mosque while working in tis huge metropolist, from small to large, there mosques located everywhere, some are obvious and some are not. i have had the pleasure of praying in the following: Azizia Mosque, 117-119 Stoke Newington Road, London N16 The Azizia Mosque is one of the oldest Turkish mosques in London, although only dating back to the early 1980s, as former examples have now been closed or have become run-down. It attracts most of the Turkish community from the surrounding areas, old and some young, along with a representative mix of Kurds and some of the Asian communities. The most interesting architectural aspect of this strange building is that it was originally one of Hackney’s historical cinemas, for which the whole Shoreditch area was once famous. Ironically, this particular cinema was previously called, “The Moorish Alhambraâ€, and the quasi-oriental style of its façade was perhaps an attempt to replicate its Andalusian namesake. Whether the incoming Turkish community chose the cinema for this reason, or for its very useful space is another matter. Or, as one old-timer puts it, “I think they bought it because it has domesâ€. However, it has good facilities, including those for women, and is renowned across London for its excellent restaurant, to which people have been known to travel far and wide. It remains the cultural centre of the area and a stalwart religious institution. A neighbouring mosque, Shacklewell Lane Mosque, also inhabits a listed building that was a former synagogue, built in a very Andalusian style indicative of the architectural trends of the nineteenth century. to be continued,,,,,,,,,

We have lack of basic understand here regarding the term 'business'. These island will be made to order, ie when u pay your 75% or whatever it is for your Island, then construction will start. Are you seriously thinking the developer will build all the islands before he even get any money back? Arabs are becoming shrewd business men, we should take notice rather than pour scorn on their attempts ate being world leaders/innovators. How do you know that the profit made will not go to good causes? No body is spending money here until there is a significant proportion/down payment by whoever wants to buy the islands. Its called business so stop hating. The very concept of a 'MAN MADE' island is a defiance and a challenge to the AL-KHALIQ (The Creator) I would call it a feat of engineering brilliance, thats exactly what it is 'man made'.

Yusuf Gabobe Asks The British Prime Minister: “Why Don’t You Give Us [somaliland] Recognition?†London, UK, Feb 26, 2005 (SL Times) – British Prime Minister, Tony Blair held a press conference yesterday at Lancaster House to talk about the Commission for Africa project. Mr. Blair gave an exclusive meeting to a group of African journalists at four o'clock (UK time) in which he spoke about his envisaged aid project for Africa. Blair was flanked by the popular music star and founder of Live aid, Bob Geldof. Somaliland Times editor, Yusuf Gabobe, posed the following question to the British Prime Minister: Q: Mr. Prime Minister, one of the success stories in Africa is Somaliland, a country doing well without aid, although that doesn't mean they don't need aid. But the most important thing that they need is recognition. Your government has been reluctant to recognize Somaliland though at one time Somaliland was a British Protectorate and later an independent country. People there are building effectively a whole country from scratch. It’s a Muslim country practicing democracy, good governance, free press and free economy. What else could you possibly want from us? Why don't you give us recognition, that is the best way you could help (laughter from audience). We cannot travel and our private sector cannot do business with the rest of the world due to lack of recognition…. (Interruption by Geldof, saying… 'Because your country is not recognized clearly it doesn't exist, urban terrorists could possibly be there'). Mr Blair answered: "Well let me sense that… we want to help the people of your country. We have to be sure that these things you said are going to endure. But I can assure you…. it’s not really a prejudice that is holding us back. We have to just wait and see what the coming months bring. " Blair stressed that although there are people within Africa and out who are skeptical of the Commission, they should give it a chance and not condemn it before even it launches its report on March 11, 2005. "This is a once in a generation chance to make a difference. In the end you divide people into two groups; the cynical who think that nothing can be done and the optimistic. It isn’t true nothing ever changes. Those people, who never try, never find out the difference," added Mr Blair. Blair hopes to rally support for the Commission of Africa using the UK's chairmanship of the G-8 and the European Union. He said it would also be crucial to bring on board Japan and the US. After Tony Blair’s press conference, Meles Zenawi, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, participated in an international press conference. Yusuf A. Gabobe asked a last minute question: Q: Will your relations with the new government of Somalia has an effect on your relations with Somaliland? Meles Zenawi: No, never. It will not happen.

Mullah Nasrudin appears as the whimsical character in a growing tradition of stories dating from at least the thirteenth century. The tales of Nasrudin are sometimes adapted and used as teaching stories not just by the Sufis but also by such diverse and alien organizations as the British Society of the Promotion of Christian Knowledge and the Soviet Government. His stories also appear in psychology textbooks, illuminating the workings of the mind in a way no straightforward explanation can. These traditions use jokes and stories to express certain ideas, allowing one to bypass normal thought patterns. By developing a series of impacts that reinforce certain key ideas, the rational mind is occupied with a surface meaning whilst other concepts are introduced. Thus paradox, unexpectedness, and alternatives to convention are all expressed in the humor of Mullah Nasrudin. Fishy Morality Once a renowned philosopher and moralist was traveling through Nasruddin's village and asked Nasruddin where there was a good place to eat. Nasruddin suggested a place and the scholar, hungry for conversation, invited Mullah Nasruddin to join him. Much obliged, Mullah Nasruddin accompanied the scholar to a nearby restaurant, where they asked the waiter about the special of the day. "Fish! Fresh Fish!" replied the waiter. "Bring us two," they requested. A few minutes later, the waiter brought out a large platter with two cooked fish on it, one of which was quite a bit smaller than the other. Without hesitating, Mullah Nasruddin took the larger of the fish and put in on his plate. The scholar, giving Mullah Nasruddin a look of intense disbelief, proceed to tell him that what he did was not only blatantly selfish, but that it violated the principles of almost every known moral, religious, and ethical system. Mullah Nasruddin calmly listened to the philosopher's extempore lecture patiently, and when he had finally exhausted his resources, Mullah Nasruddin said, "Well, Sir, what would you have done?" "I, being a conscientious human, would have taken the smaller fish for myself." "And here you are," Mullah Nasruddin said, and placed the smaller fish on the gentleman's plate.

Every year around this time the same emotions stir up in the pit of my stomach. Yes, it's tax season, and yes, I am one of those who ends up owing taxes. But it's not the dread of separating from my cash that upsets me. After all, I'm a believer and I know that Allah is the provider and sustainer, so it's really Allah's money in the first place-I'm just turning it over to Uncle Sam, or Aunt Samantha if you prefer. No, what really bothers me is that any portion of that money will be used to shed the blood of my brothers and sisters abroad--or here for that matter--or deprive them of their livelihoods. Actually, I'm well aware that I've been partially funding the oppression of my fellow human beings throughout the year from my payroll taxes. The task of filing taxes somehow brings this reality home. I know also that my taxes do not only fund the purchase of arms. No, they occasionally pay for children's artificial ones after their real ones have been blown to bits. And yes, I will grant that a portion of every tax dollar does go to good causes like social programs, education, roads, disaster relief and even legitimate peacekeeping. But I am not blind to the fact that the ratio of good to bad uses of my tax dollar is steadily getting worse, with the Pentagon budget at something like $800 billion. As Allah reminds us in the Quran, there is good and bad in everything, and in the case of my tax dollar it's more like, the good, the bad, and the ugly (corny reference to Clint Eastwood movie, sorry). So if I'm aware that my tax dollars are misspent, then what am I doing paying my taxes? Well, no offense, but like many of you I'm a bit gun shy (in my case cowardly) when it comes to exposing my family to hardship resulting from fines or imprisonment. And as a Muslim, I'm supposed to follow the law of the land. So there! Quit pestering me about where my money goes. I'd rather not know. But I do know. We all know, and hence the dilemma. Some might argue that we are absolved from blame because we are not the ones misusing the money. Well, in that case, why to we prefer to give food to the alcoholic rather than money? Is it for fear that we will purchase drink? Can we be blind to where our taxes go, when they amount to thousands in some cases, yet be vigilant about giving a pan handler a mere dollar? At the risk of sounding un-American, I urge us to open our eyes and acknowledge that we have choices. Yes, Allah commands respect for the law and frowns on chaos and anarchy, but He also forbids oppression and compels us to enjoin what is right and forbid what is evil. Besides, questioning the status quo is very American. Henry David Thoreau, a Massachusetts native and author of the seminal 1849 essay Civil Disobedience, said it well: Must the citizen ever for a moment... resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience then? I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. ... The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right... Law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice. A common and natural result of an undue respect for the law is, that you may see a file of soldiers, colonel, captain... all marching in admirable order over hill and dale to the wars, against their wills, ay, against their common sense and consciences, which makes it very steep marching indeed... They have no doubt that it is a damnable business in which they are concerned; they are all peaceably inclined. Now, what are they? Men at all? or small movable forts and magazines, at the service of some unscrupulous man in power? ...a mere shadow and reminiscence of humanity, [men] laid out alive and standing, and already...buried under arms with funeral accompaniment... Others--as most legislators, politicians...serve the state chiefly with their heads... and... are as likely to serve the devil, without intending it, as God. A very few--as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers... serve the state with their consciences also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part; and they are commonly treated as enemies by it... I quarrel not with far-off foes, but with those who, neat at home, co-operate with, and do the bidding of, those far away, and without whom the latter would be harmless...There are thousands who are in opinion opposed to slavery and to the [Mexican] war, who yet in effect do nothing to put an end to them; sit down with their hands in their pockets, and say that they know not what to do, and do nothing; who even postpone the question of freedom to the question of free trade, and quietly read ... the latest advices from Mexico [or Iraq], after dinner, and, it may be, fall asleep over them both... They hesitate, and they regret, and sometimes they petition; but they do nothing in earnest and with effect. They will wait... for others to remedy the evil, that they may no longer have it to regret. At most, they give up only a cheap vote... It is not a man's duty... to devote himself to the eradication of any, even to most enormous, wrong; ... but it is his duty, at least, to wash his hands of it, and... not to give it practically his support. If I devote myself to other pursuits and contemplations, I must first see... that I do not pursue them sitting upon another man's shoulders. I must get off him first, that he may pursue his contemplations too. I have heard some of my townsmen say, "I should like to have them order me out to help put down an insurrection of the slaves, or to march to Mexico--see if I would go"; and yet these very men have each, directly by their allegiance, and so indirectly, at least, by their money, furnished a substitute. The soldier is applauded who refuses to serve in an unjust war by those who do not refuse to sustain the unjust government which makes the war... Those who, while they disapprove of the character and measures of a government, yield to it their allegiance and support are undoubtedly its most conscientious supporters, and so frequently the most serious obstacles to reform... What I have to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn... I do not hesitate to say, that those who call themselves Abolitionists should at once effectually withdraw their support, both in person and property, from the government of Massachusetts, and not wait till they constitute a majority of one... I think that it is enough if they have God on their side, without waiting for that other one... I meet this American government, or its representative, the State government, directly, and face to face, once a year--no more--in the person of its tax-gatherer...and it then says distinctly, Recognize me; and the simplest, the most effectual...mode of treating with it on this head, of expressing your little satisfaction with and love for it, is to deny it then... I know this well, that if one thousand, if one hundred, if ten men whom I could name--if ten honest men only--ay, if one HONEST man, in this State of Massachusetts, ceasing to hold slaves, were actually to withdraw from this co-partnership, and be locked up in the county jail therefore, it would be the abolition of slavery in America. For it matters not how small the beginning may seem to be: what is once well done is done forever. But we love better to talk about it... Under a government which imprisons unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison. The proper place today, the only place which Massachusetts has provided for her freer and less despondent spirits, is in her prisons... on that separate but more free and honorable ground, where the State places those who are not with her, but against her--the only house in a slave State in which a free man can abide with honor... If a thousand men were not to pay their tax bills this year, that would not be a violent and bloody measure, as it would be to pay them, and enable the State to commit violence and shed innocent blood. This is, in fact, the definition of a peaceable revolution, if any such is possible. When I converse with the freest of my neighbors, I perceive that, whatever they may say about the magnitude and seriousness of the question... the long and the short of the matter is, that... they dread the consequences to their property and families of disobedience to it... When I came out of prison... I saw to what extent the people among whom I lived could be trusted as good neighbors and friends; that their friendship was for summer weather only; that they did not greatly propose to do right... that in their sacrifices to humanity they ran no risks, not even to their property; that after all they were not so noble...and hoped, by a certain outward observance and a few prayers, and by walking in a particular straight though useless path from time to time, to save their souls... I do not care to trace the course of my dollar, if I could, till it buys a man a musket to shoot one with--the dollar is innocent--but I am concerned to trace the effects of my allegiance... If I could convince myself that I have any right to be satisfied with men as they are...like a good Mussulman (sic) and fatalist, I should endeavor to be satisfied with things as they are, and say it is the will of God. Okay, so his views on Islam were not on point, but unbeknownst to Mr. Thoreau many of his thoughts were very much in line with Islam, which teaches us to take action, and struggle for justice even if we place our wealth and lives at stake. What Mr. Thoreau was advocating is Jihad, or struggle for the sake of Allah. While I am not recommending that we all stop paying our taxes (that would be much too risky and irresponsible, to place our livelihoods in jeopardy), I do think we have to confront our choices as Muslims and conscientious human beings. We can stay here and go to jail for not paying taxes, or we leave this country for another one where less of our taxes fund war and oppression. It is foolish to pretend that any nation uses its tax revenues exclusively for good causes, but I can think of ones that do better than the US (I'm afraid there aren't too many Walden Ponds left where one can seclude oneself like Mr. Thoreau and live off the land without paying taxes). Or we can stay here and help change this country, you say? Maybe. But what if someone asked you for $100 and told you $1 will go to teaching the youth, $2 will go to helping the sick, $3 will go to helping the poor and the rest would go to killing your brothers? Would you engage him and attempt to persuade him to spend the money more justly? or would you take your money and run? I don't know the right answer. I pray that Allah will lead us to the straight path and forgive our trespasses. Much more to say on this, but I just received my TurboTax CD and can't wait to give Uncle Sam his due. Daoud Ali is founder and Editor of Al-Mizaan newspaper (www.al-mizaan.com), a Muslim paper serving Western Massachusetts and beyond. You can contact Daoud Ali at info@al-mizaan.com.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4312553.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4317593.stm