The last thing the CIA needs right now is another scandal, let alone two. Allegations that the CIA chief in Algiers drugged and raped two women is going to hurt badly. The accusations that Harold Nicholson, a former CIA operative in federal prison convicted of spying for the KGB, continued his work from behind bars isn't nearly as serious, but it won't exactly help the agency's reputation. Nicholson, who allegedly enlisted his Nathaniel son to collect his ...

To the long list of things that everyone else loves but that Muslims are supposed to hate — democracy, dogs, women with uncovered hair — we can now add yoga. A council of muftis in Malaysia issued a fatwa over the weekend banning yoga for Muslims, claiming that the sweaty 'Oms' and other Hindu elements of a standard 60-minute yoga class could "destroy the faith of a Muslim." For a moment, this news had me selfishly worried. I've been ...

Hundreds of excited music fans wait in line on the lookout for their favorite singers on a hit television show. Instead of spending the time outside a New York venue or Hollywood soundstage though, these fans braved barbed wire and gun-toting guards in Kabul to attend Afghanistan's premier pop music event: the finals of "Afghan Star," the embattled country's answer to "American Idol." In line, bright mod outfits have replaced Kabul's normally conservative dress code. Onstage, men sport the latest ...

The boys shuffle into the room in a remote army base high in the mountains of Pakistan's Swat Valley. They are disheveled, disoriented. There are no smiles, their eyes stare at the floor. These are the lost souls of Pakistan's battle with the Taliban. Each has a story of terror to tell, but the trauma runs so deep they can't even begin to properly find the words to describe what they have been through. That task is best ...

Rescue planes were dispatched on Monday to look for an aircraft with 15 people on board that disappeared shortly after takeoff in eastern Indonesia. The new law makes "sexual relations with persons of the same sex" illegal and punishable by up to two years in prison, Human Rights Watch said in a recently released report. It was enacted just as the gay, lesbian and transgender community had started to mobilize and call for equal treatment, according to the organization. "The ...

A human rights group urged Burundi to reverse a law that makes homosexuality illegal, saying it risks worsening the harsh treatment of gays in the eastern Africa nation. The new law makes "sexual relations with persons of the same sex" illegal and punishable by up to two years in prison, Human Rights Watch said in a recently released report. It was enacted just as the gay, lesbian and transgender community had started to mobilize and call for equal treatment, according ...

The immediate crisis may be over in Nigeria, but the threat of violence remains. Government security forces today attacked a mosque filled with Islamist militants, killing scores of fighters and forcing more to flee. The militants, blamed for days of violence across the country's north, belong to a group known as Boko Haram, which aims to overthrow the federal government in Abuja and impose a strict version of Islamic law. The sect's leader Mohammed Yusuf escaped the raid along ...

Chapter 1: Security Any Muslim can invite anyone working for the slave government in Kabul to quit their job and remove themselves from the corrupt administration. Chapter 2: Prisoners It is strictly prohibited to exchange prisoners for money. Killing can only be decided by the Imam or his deputy. Noone else has the right to do so. If a military infidel is captured, any decision to kill, conditionally release or exchange such a prisoner can only be made by the ...

To hear his neighbors tell it, Daniel Boyd is one of the most upstanding citizens of Willow Springs, North Carolina. "If he's a terrorist, he's the nicest terrorist I ever met in my life," one resident told reporters after Boyd, a 39-year-old drywall contractor, was arrested on July 27 — along with six others, including his twenty-something sons, Dylan and Zakariya — for allegedly plotting "violent jihad" overseas. According to the indictment, Boyd has spent the past three years ...

Nigeria's military has claimed it raided the compound of a fundamentalist Islamic sect and killed one of its top leaders, as the battle intensified between government troops and Islamist forces in the country's north Thursday. At least 400 rebels, civilians and troops have died since the fighting began Sunday, triggered by the arrest of some members of the sect, known as Boko Haram. The group retaliated by attacking police, military and government institutions in Bauchi state. The violence quickly spread ...