I will no longer update this blog–it is simply too depressing. Please send me an email if any of you are interested in taking on this responsibility. In the meantime, here is a summary of the Islamic news from the past two weeks (and this does not include another hotspot, Iraq):

• Practice of Yoga is forbidden in many Islamic countries, including Malayasia, Indonesia and Saudi arabia
• In Saudi Arabia, Valentine’s Day is considered “a Pagan festival that promotes immorality”. There Police–not extremist Islamists–go from shop to shop confiscating Valentine Day related merchandise. Islamic religious bodies in many other countries forbid Valentine Day celebration.
• According to a Saudi Arabian official “Mosques can be the only places of worship in Saudi Arabia”. But it seems OK for Saudi Arabia to provide billions of dollars to Islamic organizations all over the world to build mosques, which often engage in radical Islamic activities and promote Jihad.
• Taliban have taken hold of the Western regions of Pakistan. Now they are threatening other parts of Pakistan. In Swat valley, They have destroyed 183 schools and beaten up young girls who want to be educated. In just the past two weeks, they have launched several attacks on caravans that supply US troops in Afghanistan; killed 26 people in a suicide attack on Afgan governement buildings, killed scores of civilians in battles with Pakistani troops, beheaded a Polish engineer and posted a video of the beheading on a web site.
• In December, AFP wrote, “IF PAKISTAN’S leaders had ever united against Islamist militancy as they have against India over the past three weeks, their country would not be the violent mess that it is.” Since then Pakistan has treated terrorist attacks in Mumbai as something of a joke; the Economist said, “Pakistan has made a modest start against the likely culprits of the Mumbai killings. But fulminating against India is more fun.” Finally, under American pressure they admitted in February that “last November’s attack on Mumbai was launched and partly planned from Pakistan,” All this while Pakistan’s economy is in a free fall and it is on life support from IMF.
• In Thailand, Islamic extremists beheaded two soldiers.
• Over one thousand Palestinians, many children and women among them, have died in the Israeli assault on Gaza. But Hamas has proclaimed “victory” and militants are again firing rockets into Israel. Instead of bringing some sense of order and peace to their society, Hamas has used the aftermath of Israeli assault to destroy whatever is left of PLO in Gaza.

Female suicide bomber kills 40 in Iraq