Brazilian court bans anti-Islam film from YouTube

A court in Brazil said it has ordered YouTube to remove clips of the movie that has touched off deadly protests across the Muslim world, the latest in a spate of court-ordered content-removal cases against the video-sharing site here.

Sao Paulo-based judge Gilson Delgado Miranda gave the site ten days to remove videos, which has raised the ire of many Muslims around the world. After the 10-day window, YouTube’s parent company, Google Inc, will face fines of $5,000 a day for every day the clips remain accessible in Brazil, according to the statement posted on the court’s website late on Tuesday.

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The company did not respond to requests yesterday for comment about the case.

Read more: First Post

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Freedom of speech being used to offend: Pakistan PM

Pakistan's Prime Minister said Friday that the anti-Islam film had hurt his sentiments but that of Muslims across the world. Any attack on the life or teachings of the Prophet was an attack on the feelings of 1.5 billion Muslims and was unacceptable, he added.

He said the making of the notorious film was not about freedom of expression, but was an expression of blatant hatred. He also termed it a clear reflection of double standards, maintained by the West and said it was intolerable.

He rejected the justification that any attempt to defame the religiously revered personalities was permitted as freedom of expression. He said no law, philosophy or morality permitted that those personalities who had the highest of the stature, revered by the Muslims, be defamed by any means.

He said the stature of the Prophet could not be discredited by any one, despite their nefarious attempts. 

Read more: Dawn News

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US blind to faults in dealing with Muslims: China Daily

Many believe that the beauty of the US political system is its ability to self-correct. Things that go awry will ultimately be put right, these people say.

But looking back over the past decade, it's clear that if there ever was such a mechanism, it is no longer working and that there remains a dearth of needed self-criticism.

This was brought into sharp focus when protests against the United States erupted in Egypt and Libya over a week ago, leading to the death of the US ambassador to Tripoli, Christopher Stevens. Anti-US demonstrations and riots have since spread throughout the Muslim world, ostensibly triggered by the anti-Islam movie The Innocence of Muslims.

US officials, along with pundits and journalists, keep repeating the mantra that the majority of people in the Middle East and the Islamic world welcome Americans. US media outlets have frequently cited Stevens' words that Americans, French and British "are enjoying unusual popularity".

Soothing words are nice, but a survey by the Pew Global Attitudes Project found that in many predominantly Muslim nations, there is considerable anger directed at US policies and Americans themselves. This explains why there have been such strong, widespread protests over the past 10 days.

Read more: China Daily

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Pakistan urges US to rethink about concept of free speech

The vising Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar has urged the US to  rethink about its concept of free speech. Th statement comes in the wake of anti-America protests in many parts of the world over an anti-Islam film, including Pakistan.

“It is not good enough to say it’s free speech, it should be allowed. I think if this does provoke action against American citizens or Americans anywhere else in the world, then maybe we do need to rethink how much freedom is OK,” Khar told the CNN in an interview.

Khar was responding to questions on violent anti-US protests in cities across Pakistan against the film made in the US.

Though the Obama Administration has termed the video as “disgusting” and said that the US has nothing to do with this video, it refused to ban such a movie arguing that freedom of speech is enshrined in its constitution.

Read more: Business Line

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Police fire rubber bullets to regain control of besieged U.S. embassy in Pakistan

Protesting against the blasphemous anti Islam fil made by an American, Thousands of protesters descended on the U.S. embassy in Pakistan today over an anti-Islam video causing police to fire live rounds and tear gas into the crowds, injuring 50 people. 

An estimated 5,000 demonstrators carrying the flags of hardline Islamist groups pelted police with stones as security forces tried to prevent them from reaching the embassy compound in Islamabad. 

The military were forced to intervene due to the size of the crowd, many of them students, and helicopters hovered overheard. Several policemen were injured in the clashes.

Read more:Daily Mail

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Afghanistan: Female car bomber kills 12 in Kabul

In what many believe to be a backlash of the blasphemous and anti Islam film directed by an American, a female car bomber killed 12 in the war ravaged Kabul, capital of Afghanistan. The dead included eight South Africans.

The bombing on a highway to Kabul airport was the second suicide attack in the city in 10 days, reviving questions about stability as NATO accelerates a troop withdrawal and hands over to Afghan forces by the end of 2014.

It came as officers revealed that Western troops are scaling back joint operations with Afghans after 51 NATO soldiers were shot dead this year by their local colleagues, a setback for the strategy that focuses on training Afghans.

An AFP photographer saw at least six bodies lying among the wreckage of a gutted minivan, while another vehicle destroyed by flames was still burning in the middle of the highway, with debris flung all around.

Read more: Sky News

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YouTube blocked in Pakistan over Anti Islam Video

Amid widespread protests across the country over the blasphemous and anti Islam video being aired by YouTube, Pakistan has blocked the video sharing site YouTube completely on Monday after the authorities realized that the government has not installed a filtration system and does not have a treaty with Google that would block objectionable videos.

In the meanwhile two protesters died in Pakistan on Monday as the backlash against the film spread across the region and angry demonstrators clashed with police, hurling stones and shouting: “Death to America.”

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While countries like India and Indonesia have successfully got such blasphemous sites blocked through the intervention of the Google/YouTube administration, Pakistan was helpless because of the incompetence of the IT authorities as it has neither any such treaty with Google nor has the filtration system installed to block the blasphemous and pornographic sites.

Read more: The News International

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Anti Islam Film: One dead, five injured in film protests in Pakistan

In a strong reaction to the anti Islam film that ridicules the Prophet Mohammed  (PBUH) aired on YouTube and other media, wide spread protests also spread over entire Pakistan.

On Sunday, one person was killed and five injured in protests across Pakistan. The death occurred when unidentified people opened fire during a protest in the southern city of Hyderabad, police said. In Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, five people were injured in clashes with police as protesters tried to reach the United States consulate.

Four days of protests against the short film Innocence of Muslim, produced in California and posted online, have seen American and European embassies, businesses, and a school attacked in Libya, Tunisia, Yemen and Egypt.

Read more: ABC News

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Sacrilegious Film: Protests spread over entire Muslim World

The sacrilegious film that has attacked the religion of Islam has its sever reaction seen across the entire Muslim world as protests have erupted in most of the Islamic countries.

Angry demonstrators and  protesters smashed into the German and British embassies in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum and stormed the US embassy in Tunis, after the American ambassador was killed in Libya, the recently 'liberated' country by USA from the clutches of Gaddafi. 

The national assembly of Pakistan has unanimously condemned the making of this anti Islamic film, while protests, though peaceful, were seen all over the country.

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