Announcement on the Wall: The Aggression Against Women in Al-Ma'adi (Al-Ma'adi is the name of a region in Cairo)

"Unanimously…. This is the Better Means to Protect the Woman!!"

Above the Cell: The Past

On the Man's Shirt: Arab Future

In a conference of Arab interior ministers in Tunis, Saudi Interior Minister Prince Na'if bin Abdul Aziz referred to "the scope of ideas" of extremists who seek to "isolate the Arab nation from its venerable principles and values and replace them with the culture of violence and struggle under false slogans." These ideas, he said, are breaking through the mental barriers of individuals, leading them to commit "the crime of the age," meaning terrorism.

Source: Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London, January 31, 2007

A Libyan film production company has allocated $20 million for the production of a film on the life of Saddam Hussein. Well-known Egyptian actress Susan Badr has already been selected to play the role of Saddam's wife Sajda.

The search for an actor to play Saddam is continuing.

Source: Al-Rai, Qatar, January 31, 2007, as reported by MEMRI Baghdad

The bazaars in the southern Iraqi city of Basra did exceptional business on the eve of Ashura, which is marked annually by the Shi'a community across the Muslim world as a 10-day period of mourning for the 6th-century murder of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.

Demand for black clothing is unprecedented, as is the demand for metal chains and swords which mourners use to beat their backs until bleeding, to identify with the blood of the martyr Hussein.

Source: Sotaliraq, Iraq, January 31, 2007

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees has drawn attention to the plight of 700 Palestinians who escaped persecution in Iraq and are currently living in the open in the no-man's land on the Iraq-Syria border.

Syria has refused them entry, arguing that other Arab countries are responsible for accommodating them.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has appealed to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and the Iraqi government to protect the Palestinians in Iraq from being murdered and/or abducted by the [Shi'ite] militias.

Source: Al-Zaman, Iraq, January 31, 2007

Source: Arab News, Saudi Arabia, January 30, 2007

From www.freekareem.org :

Iraqi MP Hassan Snid has said that during her meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi expressed admiration for Al-Maliki and for his program for security and democracy in Iraq.

Snid said: "When Nancy listened to the details she told Al-Maliki: 'Go forward. We are all with you.'"

Snid added that Pelosi confirmed to PM Al-Maliki the support of the Democratic Party for him, and stressed that some disagreements with the Republican Party would not in any way affect U.S. support for Iraq.

Source: Al-Rafidayn, January 30, 2007

According to Al-Arabiya.net, the Islamist channel Al-Zawraa will begin broadcasting from France in four or five days.

According to an interview with channel owner Mish'an Jabouri, France will be the channel's "main" broadcasting center, and the channel is moving from the Egyptian Nilesat to Arabsat. Al-Jabouri said this was because while Egypt, under U.S. pressure, has refused to accept new material from Al-Zawraa and has been airing the same footage, Arabsat has set no conditions.

Jabouri said that in the future he planned more studios in Europe, and claimed that the channel does not use the term rawafidh for Shi'ites. He also claimed that the channel does not air Al-Qaeda footage, though it does receive it.

For more on Al-Zawraa see Egypt's Nilesat Channel Won't Stop Broadcasting Iraqi Jihadist Al-Zawraa TV and Al-Zawraa TV Station in Iraq Airs from Moving Vehicle, Vehemently Anti-Shi'a .

Source: Al-Arabiya.net, January 30, 2007

According to its website, Arabsat is an intergovernmental organization "founded by the Arab League in 1976" and governed by its General Assembly, Board of Directors and Management Committee. Its General Assembly, which is "the main organ of Arabsat by virtue of its power as defined in Arabsat's Charter, comprises the communications ministers of the Arab member countries, or their representatives."

Source: Arabsat.com

On January 18, 2007, the Iraqi Al-Malaf news agency (http://www.almalafpress.com) reported that Sheikh Abdullah Al-Janabi – the former head of the Shura Council of the Mujahideen in Fallujah and one of the U.S.'s and Iraqi government's most wanted – is planning to return to the jihad front. According to the report, Al-Janabi plans to head a new Iraqi jihad group called "Jaysh Al-Muslimin" (The Muslim Army) which will incorporate four organizations that have decided to unite: Kata'ib Thawrat Al-'Ishrin, Liwa Al-Islam, Jaysh Al-Mujahideen and Jaysh Al-Rashidin. The message also mentions that five other jihad groups, whose names are not given, have recently united.