KUALA LUMPUR, May 3 — Umno-controlled New Straits Times (NST) has been accused of fabricating words in a three-year-old speech by Australian Senator Nick Xenophon, a known associate of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, to portray the former as anti-Islam, Australian newspapers reported today.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) today, the independent senator is fuming from the “extraordinary attack” against his impartiality and is contemplating legal action against the NST, which carried the article yesterday.

Xenophon (picture) told the Australian newspaper that NST’s alleged use of the word “Islam” to replace the actual term “Scientology”, which he had criticised in his 2009 speech, was “an example of the kind of dirty tricks the ruling party employs and had used against the Opposition Leader Anwar”.

The NST has since removed the article from its website, but cached copies can still be found of the offending story.

In the NST article, Xenophon was not only accused of insulting Islam during his 2009 adjournment speech in Australia’s Parliament, but was also said to have expressed strong support for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community.

The NST’s extract of the speech quoted the senator as saying: “What we are seeing is a worldwide pattern of abuse and criminality. On the body of evidence, this is not happening by accident; it is happening by design. Islam is not a religious organisation. It is a criminal organisation that hides behind its so-called religious beliefs.”

But in the excerpt from the Australian Parliament’s Hansard, cited in the SMH, Xenophon had actually said: “What we are seeing is a worldwide pattern of abuse and criminality. On the body of evidence, this is not happening by accident; it is happening by design. Scientology is not a religious organisation. It is a criminal organisation that hides behind its so-called religious beliefs.”

A cached version of the article can be accessed here.

According to the NST, Xenophon had also appeared to express support for same-sex marriages in the same adjournment speech, purportedly claiming that other lawmakers agreed with him and such unions would eventually be allowed by law.

The paper quoted PKR-turned-independent MP Datuk Seri Zahrain Mohamed Hashim as criticising Xenophon for his words, saying that the latter was not only outspoken against Islam but also supportive of the LGBTs.

“Should we let someone like Xenophon influence our culture and moral values through politics? By confiding in Xenophon, is Anwar also supporting the LGBT movement?” he asked, according to the NST.

“I also challenge PAS’s ulama to question Anwar on why he sought Xenophon as a confidante, as clearly Xenophon stands against Islamic values.”

SMH, however, did not dispute the NST’s report over Xenophon’s alleged support for homosexuality.

But the paper claimed that the NST had refused to comment on the issue last night.

Xenophon was among the team of international observers or the “pre-election assessment team” invited into Kuala Lumpur by Anwar to look into the country’s electoral reform attempts.

The team was on a six-day mission from April 25 and was tasked to interview local government and political leaders, before compiling its recommendations on how Malaysia could have a clean and fair polls process, which the country’s opposition leaders have insisted does not exist here.

They has also observed last Saturday’s rally for free and fair elections by Bersih and in an immediate response to the event, Xenophon had insisted that the rally-goers were well-behaved and even festive, instead of unruly as claimed by government leaders.

As a result, Xenophon has come under fire for his allegedly blinkered support for Anwar, with questions raised over his independence and impartiality.

Anwar was charged with sodomy and corruption in 1998 after he was sacked from the Cabinet, and was later convicted and jailed for both offences.

But 18 months later, the leader of the federal opposition and prime minister-designate was again slapped with sodomy charges but in January this year found himself acquitted.

Xenophon, who has admitted to have been concerned over the purportedly trumped-up charges against Anwar, was present at the KL Duta court complex during the latter’s acquittal.

SOURCE:MI Malaysia

An unexpected rise in the numbers of Muslims and Mormons in the US has puzzled researchers. They are the two fastest-growing groups, while mainline churches lose adherents, the Census of American Religious Congregations unveiled.

­It reveals the number of Muslim adherents rose by 66.7 per cent between 2000 and 2010, reaching slightly over 2.6 million, compared to over 1 million in 2000. The rise is believed to be fueled by both immigration and conversions.

For the first time, American Muslims outnumbered Jews in most of the country’s Midwest and parts of the South. They were even more numerous than Mormons during the given period.

The number of Mormons grew by 45 per cent to 6.1 million in 2010.

“Christians are the largest group in every state, but some of the things we found interesting was the growth of the Mormons, who reported the largest numerical gain in 26 states,” said Dale Jones, a researcher who worked on the study and presented it to a conference in Chicago on Tuesday.

Mormons, whose Utah-based church’s formal name is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are traditionally the nation’s fastest-growing Christian group. This year, however, experts are surprised with where the faith is leading its way – Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Dakota and other states far outside the West’s traditional “Mormon corridor”.

Released once a decade, US Religion Census includes county-level data on congregations for 236 American religious bodies, with data on adherents available for 153 participating bodies.

The study was assembled by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies and included self-reported numbers from 17 of the country’s largest religious groups.

US majors in decline

­The decade brought decline to some major religions.

“Catholics had the largest numeric decline,” said Jones, “including big losses in Maine, where a priest abuse scandal came to light.”

Its estimated fall is 5 per cent to 58.9 million adherents over the decade.

Among the other largest US faiths, the Southern Baptist Convention held steady at 19.9 million, the United Methodist Church lost 4 per cent to 9.9 million adherents, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America lost 18 per cent to 4.2 million, and the Episcopal Church lost 15 per cent of its adherents to 1.95 million.

Evangelical protestant congregations continued to grow slowly, to 50 million adherents. Most of the growth was in urban areas and the vast majority of expanding congregations have fewer than 100 members and are not large mega churches, Jones said.

He also marked that Buddhists made strong gains in the Rocky Mountain states, where the number of temples and congregations increased markedly. The total number of Buddhist adherents in the US is nearly 1 million. There was no estimate in 2000.

Among other numbers released by the Census:

• Roughly 55 per cent of Americans attend services with enough regularity to be counted.
• Some 158 million Americans were classified as “unclaimed” by any religion.

SOURCE:RT QUESTION MORE.

AMSTERDAM (AP) – The Libyan government on Tuesday formally challenged the International Criminal Court’s right to try Moammar Gadhafi’s son for war crimes, arguing that he should face justice on Libyan soil despite concerns he may not receive a fair trial there.

It also asked The Hague, Netherlands-based court to drop its demands to hand over Seif al-Islam Gadhafi while it considers the challenge.

The international court or ICC, is authorized by the U.N. to try war crimes committed last year as rebels fought the Gadhafi regime. It has issued an arrest warrant for the late dictator’s son for allegedly killing and persecuting civilians during the uprising.

Seif was captured by rebels last year and is being held in isolation in the western Libyan town of Zintan. Ultimately the court has no police force or other way of enforcing its rulings, and can only appeal to the U.N. if Libya were to flout them.

However, the ICC does not oppose Seif being tried in Libya in principle, spokeswoman Sonia Robla said Tuesday.

The court only tries cases when a country is unable or unwilling to do so itself. But its judges must agree that Seif will face substantially the same charges he was indicted on and that his trial will be fair, she said.

“Holding Seif al-Islam’s trial in Libya is a demand from the Libyan people,” Mohammed al-Hareizi, a spokesman for the National Transitional Council, said Tuesday. “He must be tried in Libya because he committed war crimes against Libyans and it means a lot to the Libyan people to try Seif in Libyan courts.”

The Arab League has issued a statement backing Libya’s right to try al-Islam.

The court published Libya’s formal request for the court to drop its case against Seif, along with a linked case against Gadhafi’s former military intelligence chief, Abdullah al-Senoussi.

“Libya respectfully submits that … its (own) national judicial system is actively investigating Mr. Gadhafi and Mr. al-Senoussi for their alleged criminal responsibility for multiple acts of murder and persecution … amounting to crimes against humanity,” it said.

Al-Senoussi was arrested last month in Mauritania. Libya is seeking his extradition.

Human Rights Watch has expressed concern that Seif will not get a fair trial in Libya, especially given the central government’s lack of control over some areas — including Zintan — in the aftermath of the civil war.

Moammar Gadhafi also was indicted by the ICC, but he was killed by rebels who captured him last year.

Libya insisted that it has made great strides in repairing its legal system in the post-Gadhafi era, and its desire to try the pair “reflects a genuine willingness and ability to bring the persons concerned to justice.”

“To deny the Libyan people this historic opportunity to eradicate the long-standing culture of impunity would be manifestly inconsistent with the object and purpose” of the international court, the filing said.

The Libyan government went into details of its efforts to gather evidence against Seif, and its willingness to request outside help in the legal process where necessary. Not only has it sought help from the U.N. in training judges, much of the evidence ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo is basing his case on was obtained with the help of Libyan prosecutors in the first place.

Moreno-Ocampo has said he will continue cooperating with his Libyan counterparts and ICC judges must ultimately decide whether or not to remand the case to Libya.

“The Libyan general prosecutor has more evidence that confirms our reports and even more that links Seif to more crimes, some (where) he was involved in with his own hands as he executed people,” Moreno-Ocampo told the Associated Press recently.

SOURCE:USA TODAY News