From BBC News:
Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi says the EU should pay Libya at least 5bn euros (£4bn; $6.3bn) a year to stop illegal African immigration and avoid a "black Europe". Speaking on a visit to Italy, Col Gaddafi said Europe "could turn into Africa" as "there are millions of Africans who want to come in". Italy has drawn criticism for handing over to Libya migrants it intercepts at sea, without screening them first. Far fewer now reach Italy from Libya.

European Commission figures show that in 2009 the number of people caught trying to enter Italy illegally fell to 7,300, from 32,052 in 2008. The data was collected under the EU's Eurodac fingerprinting system.

Col Gaddafi has forged close ties with Italy since a friendship treaty was signed two years ago. It sought to draw a line under historic bitterness between Libya and Italy, its former colonial master. "Tomorrow Europe might no longer be European, and even black, as there are millions who want to come in," said Col Gaddafi, quoted by the AFP news agency. He was speaking at a ceremony in Rome late on Monday, standing next to Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. "We don't know what will happen, what will be the reaction of the white and Christian Europeans faced with this influx of starving and ignorant Africans," Col Gaddafi said. "We don't know if Europe will remain an advanced and united continent or if it will be destroyed, as happened with the barbarian invasions."

Audience of women
Col Gaddafi has long seen himself as a champion of African interests on the international stage and has hosted many summits with African leaders. Mr Berlusconi made no immediate comment on Col Gaddafi's demand. Italy has been carrying out joint naval patrols with Libya for the past year, intercepting illegal migrants at sea.

The BBC's David Willey says Col Gaddafi's visit to Rome was overshadowed by another controversial speech he made - to two groups of several hundred young Italian women, hired at a fee of 70 or 80 euros each from a local modelling agency.

He told them that Islam should become the religion of Europe and gave them free copies of the Koran, after he had lectured them for an hour on the freedoms enjoyed by women in Libya.
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First comes the offer to convert to Islam, then comes the threat. Typical behaviour by an Islamic leader.

I'll tell you what, Mr. Gaddafi, how about YOU pay US $5bn a year to stop YOUR African friends from getting into the EU? After all, you're a 'champion of African interests', aren't you? Surely you must want your friends to stay where they are and live under Islamic rule?

I fail to understand why assholes like this guy are given column inches. The guy's a cunt. Abdel bassett al-Megrahi (or whatever his fucking name is) is a convicted terrorist, and YOU welcomed him home as a national hero! You're a cunt, Gaddafi. Luckily, you're a really old cunt, so your particular brand of madness will be done with soon enough. Old, Islamic cunt.

From BBC News:
A US district court has issued a temporary injunction blocking plans by the Obama administration to increase funding for stem cell research. The court ruled in favour of researchers who say human embryonic stem cell research involved the destruction of human embryos. Judge Royce Lamberth said lawsuits brought against the new guidelines could now go ahead.

President Obama lifted a ban on funding for stem cell research in March. Critics say the ban, which was kept in place by Mr Obama's predecessor, George W Bush, impeded the fight to find treatments for diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and diabetes.

The suit, which was also backed by some Christian groups, is against the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Those against the new plan to increase funding argued the NIH policy violated US law and also took funds from researchers seeking to work with adult stem cells.

"ESC (embryonic stem cell) research is clearly research in which an embryo is destroyed," Judge Lamberth said. He added: "To conduct ESC research, ESCs must be derived from an embryo. The process of deriving ESCs from an embryo results in the destruction of the embryo. Thus ESC research necessarily depends upon the destruction of a human embryo."

But Judge Lamberth said an injunction would not "seriously harm" the embryonic studies because it did "not interfere with their [researchers'] ability to obtain private funding for their research".

The Dickey-Wicker Amendment, which Congress adds to budget legislation each year, played an important role in the case. The amendment bans the use of federal funds to destroy human embryos. With the injunction in place, Judge Royce Lamberth is now likely to hear groups on both sides of the case argue whether the new guidelines should be permanently blocked or allowed to continue.
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Well, I can't say I'm surprised that this was backed by "some Christian groups". After all, these are the people who think that there shouldn't be a national vaccination programme for the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) because the threat of cancer is a better deterrent to pre-marital sex. In other words these people (members of some Christian groups...) would like to see hundreds of young women in America die of HPV-related cancer rather than give them an effective, safe vaccine.

That sort of idiocy has no place in the modern world.

They would rather we don't advance in medicine and cure the little girl with burns over 80% of her body, or the young mother with a spinal injury, because ESC research necessarily involves the destruction of a human embryo. And what is a human embryo? Well, it's a little ickle human being, innit? To quote Sam Harris from the excellent book 'Letter to a Christian Nation': "A 3-day-old human embryo is a collection of 150 cells called a blastocyst. There are, for the sake of comparison, more than 100,000 cells in the brain of a fly. The embryos that are destroyed in stem-cell research do not have brains, or even neurons. Consequently, there is no reason to believe they can suffer their destruction in any way at all. The truth is that President Bush’s unjustified religious beliefs about the human soul are, at this very moment, prolonging the scarcely endurable misery of tens of millions of human beings."

Why not, eh? After all, your god has nothing to do with miscarriages, does he? It's estimated that 50% of all pregnancies are terminated naturally by the woman's body. If that's so, that makes 'god' the most prolific abortionist in history! (Sam Harris again.)

Do these people not understand what happens in IVF? More than one human embryo is used, and not all of them create babies. Where do the others go? Hmmm...

Seriously, it's 2010. The nonsense that the religious people of this world spew forth has truly awful consequences, and I'm fed up of society having to pander to it.

Don't go to see it. Don't buy it on DVD. Don't even bother to download it illegally. It's crap.

Yes, there's a twist, but it's obvious from about 20 minutes into the film.

Save your money, your time, and your life. Don't watch Shitter Island, I'm sorry, Shutter Island.

The BP oil spill will cost the company $32.2bn (story), and Greenpeace activists removed safety equipment from BP petrol stations across London this morning (story) to force BP to adopt greener policies. What a silly state of affairs.

If the American government would implement policies that forced car manufacturers to make their engines more efficient, and Americans would buy cars with engines smaller than, say, 6 litres, perhaps BP wouldn't need to be drilling where they are. Perhaps? I don't know why the oil spill happened, but I do know that the response from the American public, and especially Barack Hussein Obama's use of the word British in the company's name (even though it hasn't been called British Petroleum for years), has been inappropriate. Yes, there has been a massive oil spill, but it is being cleaned up and people are to be compensated for any losses.

If the American public don't want BP, then they should sell their 40% of the shares and put them into their own oil companies who are capable of drilling at those depths. Oh, right, there aren't any other companies who could actually step into the shoes of BP right now.

And Greenpeace, for fuck's sake. You spent the morning inconveniencing thousands of people across London today. Do you think people care what you want BP to do? You have merely angered them. They're still going to use BP because they need petrol. They aren't going to turn away because you have a problem with the company. You bunch of retards. All it does is point out to the people you annoyed this morning what a bunch of tools you are.

Also, were Greenpeace planning to do this before the oil spill? I doubt it. They're just doing it for publicity. Well, they've got it, but they've also got a bunch of enemies, too.

From BBC News:
David Cameron is to argue strongly for Turkey's membership of the European Union, saying he is "angry" at the slow pace of negotiations.

On his first visit to Turkey as prime minister, Mr Cameron will say he will "fight" for Turkey's bid to join the EU and to become a "great European power". He is expected to compare hostility to the bid in some parts of the EU to the way in which UK entry was once regarded.

After concluding his visit to Turkey, Mr Cameron will travel on to India. He will be joined by a host of British business leaders as he seeks to boost trade links with one of the world's fastest growing economies.

Mr Cameron - who arrived in Ankara on Monday - is expected to agree a new strategic partnership with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan during his visit.

'Frustrating progress'
In a speech on Tuesday, Mr Cameron will say he wants to "pave the road" for Turkey to join the EU and he will criticise those who want to delay the process. A European Union without Turkey at its heart is "not stronger but weaker....not more secure but less...not richer but poorer," he is expected to say. "I'm here to make the case for Turkey's membership of the EU. And to fight for it."

Referring to former French leader General de Gaulle's efforts to block British membership of the EU in the 1960s, he is expected to take a swipe at some other EU countries' attitude to Turkey. "We know what it's like to be shut out of the club. But we also know that these things can change. When I think about what Turkey has done to defend Europe as a Nato ally, and what Turkey is doing today in Afghanistan alongside our European allies, it makes me angry that your progress towards EU membership can be frustrated in the way it has been.... My view is clear. I believe it is just wrong to say Turkey can guard the camp but not be allowed to sit inside the tent."

Turkey opened accession negotiations with the EU in 2005 but is considered very unlikely to join in the next 10 years, partly due to opposition from countries such as France. Turkey's refusal to recognise EU member Cyprus, growing support for pro-Islamic parties on the mainland and the treatment of the Kurdish minority in the country all remain potential stumbling blocks.

Since 2005, only 11 out of 35 "negotiating chapters" relating to accession talks have been opened for discussion and only one has been "provisionally closed".

Regional role
Describing himself as the "strongest possible advocate" for greater Turkish influence in Europe, Mr Cameron will say that those who oppose EU membership are driven by protectionism, narrow nationalism or prejudice. "Those who wilfully misunderstand Islam, they see no difference between real Islam and the distorted version of the extremists. They think the problem is Islam itself. And they think the values of Islam can just never be compatible with the values of other religions, societies or cultures. All of these arguments are just plain wrong. And as a new government in Britain, I want us to be at the forefront of an international effort to defeat them."

While praising Turkey's secular and democratic traditions, Mr Cameron is likely to stress that Turkey must continue to push forward "aggressively" with economic and political reform to maintain momentum towards EU membership. Stressing the vital role Turkey plays in the region, he will say it has a "unique influence" in helping to build a stable Afghanistan through political and economic co-operation and fostering understanding between Israel and the Arab world.
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Really? Cameron wants to let into the EU a country that refuses to recognise another EU country? He wants to let in a country whose leader is in the process of removing the secular and democratic traditions that Cameron praises, in favour of pro-Islamic ideals? He wants to let in a country whose population would then be free to wander to Britain for free? How many more millions of Muslims can our country take?

You think we're equating Islam with terrorism, I think you'll find, Mr. Cameron, that the terrorists themselves are doing that! They sit in front of cameras quoting from the koran. How much more evidence do you need? They killed 52 people on the London Underground and a bus on 7/7/2005. Have you forgotten that?

Besides, the country has not met all of the requirements for their entry into the EU. If you are now changing the rules just because you want to appeal to Muslims, then you are not leading our country the way the population of this country want you to. I don't expect you'll be in power for much longer, you vapid little man.

You cannot let a wolf in sheep's clothing into the camp. It will bite you, and you won't be able to remove it.

From Apple:
CUPERTINO, California - May 31, 2010 - Apple today announced that iPad sales have topped two million in less than 60 days since its launch on April 3. Apple began shipping iPad in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK this past weekend. iPad will be available in nine more countries in July and additional countries later this year.

“Customers around the world are experiencing the magic of iPad, and seem to be loving it as much as we do,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We appreciate their patience, and are working hard to build enough iPads for everyone.”

iPad allows users to connect with their apps, content and the Internet in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before. Users can browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch HD videos, listen to music, play games, read ebooks and much more, all using iPad’s revolutionary Multi-Touch™ user interface. iPad is 0.5 inches thin and weighs just 1.5 pounds—thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook—and delivers up to 10 hours of battery life.

Developers have created over 5,000 exciting new apps for iPad that take advantage of its Multi-Touch user interface, large screen and high-quality graphics. iPad will run almost all of the more than 200,000 apps on the App Store, including apps already purchased for your iPhone or iPod touch.
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Awesome! That means that because I have two of them (more on that below) I have 0.000001% of all the iPads currently sold!

Yes, I have a 64GB WiFi model purchased in New York almost two months ago. I upgraded to the WiFi+3G model on Saturday. If anyone wants to buy the WiFi one from me, get in touch! You can have it cheaper than the £599 price in the UK.

From Times Online:
THE home secretary, Theresa May, is facing a stiff test of the Conservative party’s claims to oppose radical Islam after her officials chose to allow a misogynist Muslim preacher into Britain.

Zakir Naik, an Indian televangelist described as a “hate-monger” by moderate Muslims and one Tory MP, says western women make themselves “more susceptible to rape” by wearing revealing clothing. Naik, who proselytises on Peace TV, a satellite television channel, is reported to have called for the execution of Muslims who change their faith, described Americans as “pigs” and said that “every Muslim should be a terrorist”. In a recent lecture, he said he was “with” Osama Bin Laden over the attacks on “terrorist America”, adding that the 9/11 hijackings were an inside job by President George W Bush.

In opposition, David Cameron and other senior Tories led criticism of the Labour government for allowing radical preachers into Britain to stir up hatred on lecture tours. While in opposition, Cameron also campaigned to get Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian radical, banned from Britain.

Cameron and May now face a political test over Naik, whose inflammatory comments have led some moderate Muslims to call him a “truth-twister”.

One well-placed insider said: “Zakir Naik is a nasty man who makes al-Qaradawi look like a participant at a teddy bears’ picnic. He shouldn’t be allowed into the country to stir up hatred.” The Home Office indicated that it was not planning to ban Naik, however.

Although Naik makes it clear he does not support specific acts of terrorism, his inflammatory speeches have included one, currently on YouTube, in which he states: “Beware of Muslims saying Osama Bin Laden is right or wrong. I reject them ... we don’t know. But if you ask my view, if given the truth, if he is fighting the enemies of Islam, I am for him. I don’t know what he’s doing. I’m not in touch with him. I don’t know him personally. If he is terrorising the terrorists, if he is terrorising America the terrorist ... I am with him. Every Muslim should be a terrorist.”

According to reports in the Indian media, his organisation, the Islamic Research Foundation in Mumbai, was where Rahil Abdul Rehman Sheikh, suspected of being commander of a series of train bombings in Mumbai, and other alleged terrorists spent much of their time before the attacks.

The American terror suspect Najibullah Zazi, arrested last year for planning suicide attacks on the New York subway, is said to have been inspired by Naik’s YouTube videos. There is no suggestion Naik had any knowledge of terrorist plotting.

The UK Border Agency said: “Each case is considered on its own merits. When assessing a visa application, we will consider the previous conduct of the individual and we will ensure the UK does not provide a platform for the promotion of violent extremism. We reserve the right to revoke someone’s visa if they are found to be promoting extreme views which are contrary to UK values.”

Naik will be appearing at Wembley Arena in London and in Sheffield on his British tour. When he last came to Britain in 2006, his visit was condemned by David Davies, the Tory MP for Monmouth, who described him as a “hate-monger”.

A doctor by profession, Naik has distinguished himself from dozens of other “mad mullahs” through his intellect and his ability to recite verbatim extended sections of the Koran. Peace TV has a huge following in the Muslim neighbourhoods of Mumbai, Naik’s native city. He has been named as the third most popular spiritual guru in India. Last year he was ranked 82nd in a list of India’s most powerful people.

Since the 9/11 attacks, he appears to have developed a particular hatred of America. He is reported to have said: “The pig is the most shameless animal on the face of the Earth. It is the only animal that invites its friends to have sex with its mate. In America, most people consume pork. Many times after dance parties, they have swapping of wives. Many say, ‘You sleep with my wife and I will sleep with your wife’. If you eat pigs then you behave like pigs.”

Sermons of malice
“Western society has actually degraded [women] to the status of concubines, mistresses and social butterflies, who are mere tools in the hands of pleasure seekers and sex marketeers”

“People who change their religion should face the death penalty”

“It is a blatant secret that this attack on the twin towers was done by George Bush himself”

“If he [Osama Bin Laden] is terrorising the terrorists, if he is terrorising America the terrorist ... I am with him. Every Muslim should be a terrorist”
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This is the guy who people on YouTube keep telling me to watch because he's so 'eloquent' and 'right'. Well, he preaches HATRED, so all you Muslims on YouTube who have EVER been in touch with me about this man can go fuck yourselves. He's a horrible man, and I can't believe the UK government has allowed this evil little bastard into my country. (Or maybe I can, given the UK government's track record on appeasing Muslims who demand respect rather than earning it.)

I love this quote of his - "People who change their religion should face the death penalty". Excellent! Then no more proselytising from Muslims. No more trying to get people to become Muslims. No more extra followers of Islam unless they're through (the unnaturally high rate of) birth (in Muslim families). You said it yourself, Naik, you are not allowed to convert someone from a different religion to Islam or they should face the death penalty.

FUCK OFF, ZAKIR NAIK. You are not wanted in this country. We - the inhabitants - would like to be free of your particular evil brand of hatred, and we'd like to feel safe here. And when you do fuck off, take the rest of your terrorist friends along with you - all those sympathisers of yours; all those who think the UK should be ruled according to Sharia; take them all. They aren't welcome here.

From BBC News:
The alleged leader of an al-Qaeda plot to bomb targets in north-west England has won his appeal against deportation. A special immigration court said Abid Naseer was an al-Qaeda operative - but could not be deported because he faced torture or death back home in Pakistan.

Mr Naseer, 23, was one of 10 Pakistani men arrested last April as part of a massive counter-terrorism operation in Liverpool and Manchester. Student Ahmad Faraz Khan, also 23, won his appeal on similar grounds. The security services believed the men were planning to attack within days of their arrest, but neither was charged.

'Security risk'
The Human Rights Act prevents people from being sent back to places where they would be "subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment". The coalition government announced on Tuesday that it would be creating a Human Rights Commission to review the legislation and consider if changes were needed. The Home Secretary, Theresa May, said she would not be appealing against the ruling, handed down by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac). She said: "We are disappointed that the court has ruled that Abid Naseer and Ahmad Faraz Khan should not be deported to Pakistan, which we were seeking on national security grounds. As the court agreed, they are a security risk to the UK. We are now taking all possible measures to ensure they do not engage in terrorist activity."

Altogether five men - who had been tracked by MI5 before the raids last year - were appealing against deportation. Much of the detail in the case was presented to Siac - a court which deals with such cases - in secret during the past three weeks. Lawyer Gareth Peirce, who represented Mr Nazeer and Mr Khan said the ruling was the "worst of all possible worlds" because her clients were flagged up as being involved in terrorism based on evidence "one is not told". Dhe said: "It's no way to conduct justice. If people have committed a crime, put them on trial."

The ruling effectively means that MI5's case against the two men has been supported by the courts even though neither of them was ever charged with a criminal offence. But Abdul Wahab Khan, 27, and Tariq Ur Rehman, 38, who were also arrested at the time, lost their deportation appeals. They had already returned to Pakistan.

Mr Justice Mitting said they were committed Islamists who knew of Mr Naseer's plan. But student Shoaib Khan, however, won his appeal, with the court saying there was no evidence of wrongdoing against him. His lawyer Amjad Malik told the BBC that his 31-year-old client, who is also currently in Pakistan, wanted to return to the UK to resume his studies. In his judgement, the judge said Mr Naseer was sending e-mails to a contact in Pakistan - and that the recipient was an "al-Qaeda operative". The e-mails were said to be at the heart of the plot and culminated in a message sent to Pakistan in April 2009 in which Mr Naseer said he had set a date to marry, something MI5 said was code for an attack date.

"We are satisfied that Naseer was an al-Qaeda operative who posed and still poses a serious threat to the national security of the United Kingdom," the judgement said. It added: "Subject to the issue of safety on return, it is conducive to the public good that he should be deported." The judge said Ahmad Faraz Khan had become a "knowing party" to the plan because he had "undergone a radical change in view" between leaving home and studying in the UK. But in both cases, Mr Justice Mitting said it was impossible to return the men to Pakistan. "There is a long and well-documented history of disappearances, illegal detention and of the torture and ill-treatment of those detained, usually to produce information, a confession or compliance," said the judgement.

The government's independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, the Liberal Democrat peer Lord Carlile, said: "We do not want people who have been held to be terrorists walking our streets. We therefore have to start looking for a different way of dealing with individual cases." He said he hoped the government would look at ways of ensuring people would be treated properly if they were returned to their native countries.

BBC political correspondent Laura Kuenssberg said Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude had suggested the coalition government would, for now, retain the Human Rights Act. This is despite a promise in the Conservative manifesto to replace it with "a British Bill of Rights". The BBC's home affairs editor Mark Easton said the it was likely that a control order would be used to restrict the movement and activities of the two men and to keep them under constant watch, although ministers would be unable to confirm this.

Imminent attack
Shami Chakrabarti, director of human rights group Liberty, said terror suspects needed a fair trial while those convicted "should be sent to secure prisons, not put on planes to face torture or make more trouble elsewhere."

The controversial affair began last April when the Metropolitan Police's then head of counter-terrorism, Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick, inadvertently revealed details of the investigation. Mr Quick resigned after he was photographed carrying clearly visible secret documents outside 10 Downing Street. Police brought their operation forward and raided a series of locations across Liverpool, Manchester and Lancashire, eventually detaining 11 men. Ten of them were from Pakistan, who were all either close friends or loosely known to each other. Mr Quick told the BBC that at the time officials feared an imminent attack. But no explosives were found and all of the men were released without charge after two weeks. They were immediately detained again under immigration laws after the then home secretary sought their deportation, saying they were still a threat to national security.
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Excuse me, Shami Chakrabarti, but what about MY human rights? When are you going to defend the people of this country against people like this committing mass murder in the name of their god? Oh, I see, it's inconvenient to protect the masses against the tyranny of the few, but it's perfectly fine to support people committing such acts. Idiocy. What happens now? We have to house these retards? We have to spend millions ensuring they're kept under surveillance? What a waste of money - they aren't OUR citizens! Send them back, and let the originators of these evil men handle them for the rest of their lives!!!

We do need a British Bill of Rights. We need it to protect our own citizens. There shouldn't really be any need for a commission. Common sense is enough.

I didn't feel any better off under Labour. All I saw was money thrown at the NHS which was then used to bring more foreign babies into the world (well, our part of the world).

I saw uncontrolled immigration at the expense of the indigenous population.

I saw expense scandals, and Mandelson... three times!

I saw our sovereignty signed over to an unelected group in Brussels in a shady back room deal where our own Prime Minister signed the Treaty away from the cameras.

I saw taxes rise. I saw petrol prices hit their highest ever. I saw petrol stations jammed and oil refineries blockaded.

I saw us enter wars we had no place being in - just to appear pally with an American Idiot.

But last of all, I saw an end to it because I didn't vote Labour.