Leaders of Canberra's Muslim community were surprised and saddened by offensive anti-Islamic pamphlets distributed to homes throughout Queanbeyan over the Christmas holidays.

Householders in Queanbeyan received the material depicting a Muslim man physically abusing a woman and a child and an Islamic elder condoning the violence as acceptable to his faith.

One local Muslim leader has questioned the legality of the material and said it was un-Christian to distribute such offensive literature.

The pamphlets were published by Chick Publications, a United States-based evangelical company.

La dramatisation est devenue la dernière cartouche d’un président acculé par la crise. Nicolas Sarkozy en a abondamment joué samedi 31 décembre 2011 lors de ses vœux aux français, qualifiant la crise d’« inouie », « sans doute la plus grave depuis la seconde guerre mondiale ». Desservi par la conjoncture marquée par la récession, la montée du chômage et le risque de perte du  triple A, Nicolas Sarkozy sait que ses réserves de popularité sont faibles.

OSKALOOSA, Iowa – Representative Michele Bachmann took the pulpit at the Jubilee Family Church here during the morning worship service on Sunday and preached from Scripture, weaving her personal story into biblical parables about redemption — a message that seemed tailored to reassure undecided voters about the viability of her embattled campaign.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/bachmann-makes-final-pitch-to-iowa-faithful/?hp

Few people will have been looking forward to the end of 2011 more keenly than the Gillard government, and the rather-less-than-mighty Australian Labor Party. Indeed, the only thing that might have dissuaded them from celebrating is the possibility that this year might be worse.

THE Opposition Leader was without doubt the standout performer of the year. Put aside your opinion of his (lack of) policies and his negative tactics. Indeed, put aside his poor personal ratings, too. Abbott can single-handedly take credit for the pressure the government is under. Despite coming heartbreakingly close to winning the 2010 election, he continued to work every day to expose government failings. So good has Abbott been, it's hard to distinguish between opposition spin and how Labor is really travelling. Can he keep it up for another two years? (see critique of this crap below)

INTEREST rates are headed down, the sharemarket will climb, and we'll survive whatever Europe throws at us.

That's the consensus of the 20 economists polled for the BusinessDay end-of-year economic survey.

Our terms of trade will slip in the year ahead, but not by enough to derail the Treasury's and Reserve Bank's pleasing forecast of economic growth close to trend.

Without question, 2011 was a year replete with hyperbole and false prophecy, which, come to think of it, is typical of our time.

JANUARY The new year has barely begun when Bob Ellis, the seer of Palm Beach, declares on the ABC's The Drum: ''I alone, in all of Australia, think Labor will hold government'' in NSW. Shortly before April Fools' Day, Barry O'Farrell leads the Coalition to one of the greatest victories in Australian political history. Earlier in January, reports emerge that environmentalist Tim Flannery predicted that, within this century, a ''strong Gaia will actually become physically manifest''. One person's Gaia is another's full moon.

Real estate mogul and reality TV personality Donald Trump has quit the Republican Party to register as an independent, opening the way for a potential outsider run at the White House.
Trump made the switch on Thursday, his lawyer, Michael Cohen, told The Hill political news website.
Trump did this "in order to preserve his right to run as an independent ... if he is not satisfied with whom the candidate is", Cohen told The Hill.

Animals are more intelligent than we think. For example this morning I witnessed something very cunning...

Foreboding and warning. Egypt should have felt it coming. This was the worst so far. Hope is gone. The people are in despair. As our imam shouted Friday at noon prayer: Will it get worse before we have cleansed the land of Satan?

A large metallic ball has fallen out of the sky on a remote grassland in Namibia, prompting baffled authorities to contact NASA and the European space agency.