Saudi Arabian Authorities Seize Women's Gowns

And now the most revealing two minutes in television, the latest from the wartime grapevine:

Saudi Seizure
Saudi Arabian authorities have swooped down on stores and factories in two cities to seize goods found in violation of Islamic law.  And what were the offending items: guns, explosives, drugs? None of the above.  They were women's gowns — the head to toe black ones known as abayas, which  must be worn in public by all Saudi women. These gowns were deemed insufficiently plain and opaque and all 82,000 of them were confiscated.

Egyptian Columnist Says Holocaust was Hoax
The government-backed Egyptian newspaper Al-Akhbar has published an article calling Jews "the bacterium of all time" and calling the Nazi holocaust "a fabrication, a lie, and a fraud, a film — no more and no less." As translated by the Middle East Media Media Research Institute, the article, by a columnist for Al Akhbar, said, "Hitler himself...is in my eyes no more than a modest pupil in the world of murder and bloodshed...I, personally complain to Hitler, even saying to him from the bottom of my heart, 'If only you had done it, brother, if only it really had happened.…"

Keep the Peace!
Meanwhile, the Nobel Peace Prize Committee has broken its silence to say that, despite the comments of several of its members, it has never considered revoking the peace prize awarded to Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. Peres and Yasser Arafat were both awarded the prize in 1994 for their role in creating the Oslo peace process. But last month, two members of the committee — Lutheran Bishop Gunnar Staalset said Peres — but not Arafat — had violated the  "intention and spirit" of the prize. And left-wing political figure Hanno Kvanmo said she wished the prize could be revoked.

Girl Power?
Police in Blacksburg, Va., have arrested five people in connection with vandalism at Virginia Tech University back on March 21. What were described as messages of female empowerment — including "smash patriarchy" were spray painted on 15 locations around the campus, including four picture windows and the entrance to the library.  One of those arrested, 23-year-old Allison Berg, may find being jailed a particular embarrassment since she is running for the city council, endorsed by the Green Party of Virginia.