Australia: Islamic ‘honour killing’ of wife’s lover

SMH

Hazairin Iskandar was provoked by Mohd Shah Saemin to the point where he lost self control and stabbed him, James Trevallion, representing Iskandar, told the Supreme Court today.

Mr Saemin, known as Shah, died after he was attacked by Iskandar and his son Andrew outside his Leichhardt flat in Sydney’s inner west on the night of February 21, 2010.

The court heard Iskandar’s wife Nita was having an affair with Mr Saemin, who worked with her in the Malaysian consulate, and that rumours of their relationship were spreading….

Ms Shead said Iskandar and his son lay in wait for Mr Saemin outside his flat before crashing their hired car into his car and pursuing him through the streets.

The court heard Iskandar stabbed Mr Saemin at least four times to the upper body with a knife while his son struck him repeatedly with a hammer.

If I asked my son to help me kill someone, I hope he would have the sense to say “Get real, Dad.”

But at least they can be together in prison.

Australia: Our ‘gift’ to you. Didn’t want it? Too bad.

An artist’s impression of the new building

SMH

SIX years after it burned down, a new St Barnabas Anglican Church on Broadway has risen from the ashes, ready to resume its friendly, billboard conversation with the hotel across the road…

But the wait has been worthwhile, said the Reverend Mike Paget, the senior minister, as he walks through a contemporary glass and steel building, with wave-shaped roof, curved walls and high, bright white ceilings.

Some Sydneysiders, he conceded, would question spending $18 million on the new church. In fact, he said, the new, green building is efficient, ”not that flash” and the materials ”quite prosaic”. Polished concrete walls, bamboo floors and the like.

”More important, the church is our gift to the city, a community hub, a deliberately public building that’s inviting, that offers spaces and places where people can stop, meet and think,” he said.

I don’t recall asking for a new church, Mike; nor, I bet, do most of the other people in Sydney, including the poor and hungry ones. And eighteen million dollars could have fed a lot of hungry people.

Build your temple by all means, but please don’t try and pretend it’s for anybody’s benefit but your own.

Saudi Arabia: It’s called ‘capitalism’, princess — deal with it!

SMH

A Saudi princess was caught trying to leave the Shangri-La hotel in Paris without settling a six million euro ($7.7 million) bill for her rooms, police said on Saturday, confirming a report in the daily Le Parisien.

Maha al-Sudani, the former wife of Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Nayef ben Abdel Aziz, tried to walk out at 3.30am on Thursday without paying for her suite and those of her 60-strong entourage, prompting staff to call in police, Le Parisien reported….

The princess has already had previous run-ins over unpaid bills. In 2009, fashion chain Key Largo went to court to obtain 89,000 euro owed by the princess…

Jamila Boushaba, who ran the O Caprices De Lili store, said she was told by a visiting envoy from the Saudi royal family in 2009 when she tried to claim a 70,000 euro bill from the princess, “I’m afraid we can’t go around settling bills for the princess’s knickers.”

Boushaba added: “When I called last one of her staff asked why I went to the media. I said it was to get my money. He replied: ‘What, you’ve caused all this trouble and you still want your money?”‘

“It was all a misunderstanding.” the princess later explained. “I said I was going to pay for the items, and they thought I was telling the truth. But I don’t understand — if they want money why don’t they just sink an oil well?”

Update: The Princess has had her assets seized.

Turkey: Tuneful Tweeter twits Islam…

…and faces jail for it.

SMH

A TURKISH court has charged Fazil Say, a classical and jazz pianist with an international career, with insulting Islamic values in Twitter messages, the latest in a series of legal actions against Turkish artists, writers and intellectuals for statements they have made about religion and Turkish national identity.

Say, 42, who is also a composer, is accused of ”publicly insulting religious values that are adopted by a part of the nation”, the semi-official Anatolian news agency said.

A trial is scheduled to begin on October 18, and Say faces up to 18 months in prison if convicted.