Titles:

• Newt Gingrich outburst against Muslims
• America: Prison officials can ban the Khimar
• Study Shows UK Equates Islam With Terror
• Geert Wilders anti Islamic party begins to wield influence in government
• Israel President Claims English Are Anti-semitic
• Dutch troops leave Afghanistan

 News Details:

Newt Gingrich outburst against Muslims
Former Speaker of the US House Newt Gingrich called on the United States to attack North Korea and Iran last week because the United States has only attacked "one out of three" of so-called Axis of Evil members by invading Iraq. He also claimed that Muslims are trying to install Sharia law on America and said that the "War on Terror" should have been a war on "radical Islamists" instead. In a separate interview with Newsmax Thursday, Gingrich said that the "secular elites" haven't taken "threats to America" seriously and that newly-appointed Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan has "no real appreciation of the danger of Sharia," because she "welcomed Saudi money" while serving as the Dean of Harvard University Law School."Radical Islamists are people who want to impose on the rest of us Sharia, which is a form of medieval law which would fundamentally end America as we've known it," he said. "There are disturbing signs that some places ... you see judges succumb to this line of reasoning." He called on "isolating and defeating radicals," while "modernizing" moderates. Gingrich told Newsmax that the planned mosque and community center in Lower Manhattan should be stopped. He suggested that, were he president, he would "declare the area around the World Trade Center a national military battlefield because that was a battle and it part of a real war."

America: Prison officials can ban the Khimar
Prison officials can ban employees from wearing religious headscarves out of concerns they pose a safety risk, a U.S. appeals court in Philadelphia ruled Monday in a split 2-1 decision. The ruling dismisses a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EE0C) on behalf of three Muslim women employed at the Delaware County Prison in suburban Thornton. The EEOC had said they were being forced to compromise their religious beliefs to keep their jobs. The suit was filed against the Geo Group, a Boca Raton, Fla.-based contractor that formerly operated the facility. In his dissent, Justice A. Wallace Tashima, a senior judge the 9th U.S. Circuit, said the Geo Group had not been made to prove that the use of headscarves by employees posed an undue burden. In a related case, the U.S. 3rd Circuit ruled last year that Philadelphia police could likewise bar a female officer from wearing a headscarf under her police hat.

Study Shows UK Equates Islam With Terror
British people are ignorant of Islam and equate the religion with terrorism, according to a new survey by a Muslim research group. The Islamic Education and Research Academy(IERA) has published a study into how British people view the religion. More than half (63%) of those polled did not disagree with the statement "Muslims are terrorists."A total of 94% thought that the religion "oppresses women" and 70% that it preaches hatred. The iERA, which works to improve people's understanding of the faith, questioned 500 non-Muslims in person. The survey exposed a lack of basic knowledge, he said. More than a third did not know who the Prophet Mohammed was and over three quarters (76%) had never spoken to a Muslim about their religion. Respondents were also invited to make comments. One said: "They have taken our country over, it's not England any more. We have to make changes to please them.""If I had my way I'd kick them all out of here," said another.

Geert Wilders anti Islamic party begins to wield influence in government
Geert Wilders, whose anti-Islamic party more than doubled its vote in June's elections, forced his way to the center of Dutch politics by agreeing to back a minority government of Liberals and Christian Democrats. Wilders and his 23 fellow lawmakers in the Freedom Party intend to support a Cabinet led by Liberal Mark Rutte under a preliminary deal reached July 30, giving it the smallest possible majority in the 150-seat lower house of parliament. Wilders agreed to an 18 billion-euro ($23 billion) budget cut, in exchange for measures to control immigration and crack down on crime.
The Freedom Party, founded by former Liberal lawmaker Wilders in 2006, seeks to ban new mosques, curb immigration, cut development aid and reduce the influence of the European Union. Wilders, 46, receives police protection around the clock and faces trial on charges of inciting hatred in his 2008 film "Fitna," in which he calls on Muslims to rip out "hate- preaching" verses from the Koran. Wilders's wish to curb the influence of Islam in the Netherlands, home to 850,000 Muslims.

Israel President Claims English Are Anti-semitic
Shimon Peres said England was "deeply pro-Arab ... and anti-Israeli", adding: "They always worked against us." He added: "There is in England a saying that an anti-Semite is someone who hates the Jews more than is necessary." His remarks, made in an interview on a Jewish website, provoked anger from senior MPs and Jewish leaders who said the 87-year-old president had "got it wrong". The controversy follows the furor last week over David Cameron's remark that Gaza was a "prison camp", as he urged Israel to allow aid and people to move freely in and out of the Palestinian territory .Mr. Peres, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who is three years into his seven-year term as president and was awarded an honorary knighthood by the Queen in 2008, said that England's attitude towards Jews was Israel's "next big problem"."There are several million Muslim voters, and for many members of parliament, that's the difference between getting elected and not getting elected," he said."And in England there has always been something deeply pro-Arab, of course, not among all Englishmen, and anti-Israeli, in the establishment."They abstained in the [pro-Zionist] 1947 UN partition resolution ... They maintained an arms embargo against us in the 1950s ... They always worked against us. They think the Arabs are the underdogs."By contrast, relations with Germany, France and Italy were "pretty good", he added.

Dutch troops leave Afghanistan
The Netherlands has ended its four-year military involvement in Afghanistan, handing over control of Uruzgan province to US and Australian troops. The Dutch government was thrown out of office earlier this year when it failed win support for extending the deployment of its almost 2,000-strong force.A Netherlands embassy spokeswoman said a small ceremony would take place to hand over to an American-led coalition of soldiers, including the Australian contingent.Canada is withdrawing its entire force of 2,800 troops in Afghanistan next year, while Britain and the US have signalled that some troops will also leave in 2011.US defence secretary Robert Gates said only a small number of troops would be withdrawn in the first phase of the 2011 exit."Draw downs early on will be a fairly limited number and as we are successful, we'll probably accelerate," he said.The Afghan police and army are now expected to take over control of all security in the country by 2014. It is hoped that by that time NATO troops will be in a position to end their combat operations