Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu on Modern Islam and Science

The Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, spoke at New York University Abu Dhabi last week, on the topic "Modern Islam and Science".

Although he did start with the obligatory introduction of science in the early Islamic world, he eventually moved on to what turned out to be a very statistics-oriented talk. He produced slide after slide of bar charts about the world and the OIC with regards to scientific output and investment.

Interestingly, Tunisia leads in terms of investment in R&D at 2.45% , while Turkey leads in terms of overall scientific publications (the only GCC country in the top 10 of either list is Saudi Arabia)  Also, probably due to social and cultural factors, the pool of research scientists in OIC countries includes a relatively healthy female representation of 33%. As expected, a majority of R&D funding in the OIC countries comes from government sources, with Malaysia leading the way in privatization.

YouTube Blasphemy is a "Human Rights Violation"

http://www.arabtimesonline.com/client/pagesdetails.asp?nid=22943&ccid=22

‘YouTube’ must erase anti-Islam material: KHRS

KUWAIT CITY : Kuwait Human Rights Society (KHRS) Chairman Dr Adel Al-Damkhi has asked the government to put pressure on the officials of ‘YouTube’ — a video sharing website — to delete all derogatory statements about Islam and Muslims from the site, reports Al-Seyassah. Urging the authorities to take the necessary legal action in case the website fails to erase the statements, Al-Damkhi stressed “uttering profanities against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is the worst form of human rights violation in the world. Attacks on the values and tenets of Islam are extremely dangerous and unacceptable.”
Al-Damkhi pointed out the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) strongly condemns attacks on the holy prophets and religions. He confirmed KHRS recognizes the importance of freedom of conducting scientific research, exchange of information, and significance of the latest technologies and media on human lives, but it is against how ‘YouTube’ depicts Islam. He said this is an outright violation of the human rights of millions of Muslims all over the world.

Not only is it a human rights violation, it is "the worst form of human rights violation in the world". Nice to know someone got their priorities straight. And all this time, we were worried about trivial issues like sexual slavery and religious oppression.