The New York Times reports: “Moctar Touré was strapped to a chair, blindfolded, his right hand bound tight to the armrest with a rubber tube. A doctor came and administered a shot. Then Mr. Touré’s own brother wielded a knife, the kind used to slaughter sheep, and methodically carried out the sentence.

‘I myself cut off my brother’s hand,’ said Aliou Touré, a police chief in the Islamist-held north of this divided nation. ‘We had no choice but to practice the justice of God.’

Such amputations are designed to shock — residents are often summoned to watch — and even as the world makes plans to recapture northern Mali by force, the Islamists who control it show no qualms about carrying them out.

After the United Nations Security Council authorized a military campaign to retake the region last week, Islamists in Gao, Mr. Touré’s town, cut the hands off two more people accused of being thieves the very next day, a leading local official said, describing it as a brazen response to the United Nations resolution. Then the Islamists, undeterred by the international threats against them, warned reporters that eight others ‘will soon share the same fate.’…” (This is but one of the numerous methods used to deal with thieves under Sharia Law. Also, death to unmarried females who have had sex, homosexuals, apostate Muslims and infidels [all religions not Islamic] is pronounced and carried out on such offenders of Sharia Law, by crucifixion and beheading Sura 5:33, and 47:4, as demanded in the Sunnah’s, and hadiths of Mohammed and the Koran.)

Haaretz reports: “Al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen has announced that it will pay tens of thousands of dollars to anyone who kills the U.S. ambassador in Sanaa or an American soldier in the country.

A piece of audio produced by the group’s media arm, the al-Malahem Foundation, and posted on militant websites on Saturday said it offered three kilograms of gold, worth $160,000, for killing the ambassador.

The group said it will pay 5 million Yemeni riyals ($23,000) to anyone who kills an American soldier inside Yemen.

It did not say how the bounty could be collected, but said the offer is valid for six months.

The bounties were set to ‘inspire and encourage our Muslim nation for jihad,’ the statement said…” (The headline above portrays Al-Qaida’s reward to murderers. Christianity loves and forgives any and every confessed sin and sinner, and then forgets the transgression ever occurred. What an eternal reward – I John 1:7; Hebrews 8:12.)

The Sydney Morning Herald reports: “The Lakemba Mosque has issued a fatwa against Christmas, warning followers it is a ”sin” to even wish people a Merry Christmas.

The religious ruling, which followed a similar lecture during Friday prayers at Australia’s biggest mosque, was posted on its Facebook site on Saturday morning.

The head imam at Lakemba, Sheikh Yahya Safi, had told the congregation during prayers that they should not take part in anything to do with Christmas.

Samir Dandan, the president of the Lebanese Muslim Association, which oversees the mosque, could not be reached for comment on Saturday.

The fatwa, which has sparked widespread community debate and condemnation, warns that the ‘disbelievers are trying to draw Muslims away from the straight path’.

It also says that Christmas Day and associated celebrations are among the ‘falsehoods that a Muslim should avoid … and therefore, a Muslim is neither allowed to celebrate the Christmas Day nor is he allowed to congratulate them’…” (The reason for such hatred is because it is the memorial day of God, the Second Member of the Trinity leaving His eternal home to take a body prepared by His Father, containing blood, to pay the price for sin and redeem whosoever will receive Christ as Savior.

Read Hebrews 10:25; Philippians 2:5 – 11; I Corinthians 15:3, 4; I John 1:7; and Revelation 5:9, 10. Look at these verses in the order presented for a blessing.)

The Fars News Agency reports: “Iran condemned the insults leveled against the prophet of Islam in the US and European movies and magazines, and called on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to compile a convention to prevent such blasphemous acts.

Speaking to reporters in his weekly press conference in Tehran on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast deplored certain western media for promoting and supporting sacrilegious acts against divine sanctities and the prophet of Islam.

‘We want those who are behind this move to go on trial and be punished and we expect the OIC to take urgent action to compile a convention to prevent such acts and don’t allow these publications to create a rift among divine religions,’ he underlined.

His remarks came after a number of western movies and cartoons were released in the western media in recent years which insulted the prophet of Islam and Muslims…” (What about the blasphemies spoken against Christ within the Islamic writing?