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Brethren schools to get $70m in funding

THE Rudd Government is handing more than $70 million to schools run by the Exclusive Brethren, a religious sect Kevin Rudd described as an "extremist cult" that breaks up families.

The sect's schools have secured more than $8.4m under the Government's school building stimulus package and they will share in $62m in recurrent taxpayer funding.

Documents show a Brethren-run school at Swan Hill in northern Victoria was granted $1.2m for a library and $800,000 for a hall when its most recent annual report shows it had just 16 pupils and already had a library.

Grants data released by the commonwealth shows that Brethren schools in every state received funding under the $12.4 billion schools stimulus package, The Australian reports.

Despite the Brethren's past disdain for computers, figures show its schools have received more than 300 under the commonwealth computers-in-school initiative.

Brethren schools have also secured grants under the Schools Pride program. All up, the 2400 children in Brethren schools will each receive the equivalent of $26,127 in recurrent funding and $11,200 in stimulus funding.

Australian Education Union federal president Angelo Gavrielatos said these sums were outrageous and the funding system had to be urgently replaced.

"How can the Government justify handing tens of millions of dollars to an organisation it believes is a cult while public schools which educate the vast majority of our children are struggling for funds?" Mr Gavrielatos said.

"The Government has said it will review schools funding this year. That review needs to be begin as a matter of urgency to allow for a proper public debate on where school funding should be directed and for what purpose."

The Brethren is a fundamentalist Christian sect that lives by the doctrine of separation from mainstream society.

Brethren schools must teach the normal curriculum, although reports say some novels are banned and chapters on sex and reproduction are excised from science textbooks.

Brethren members are taught to shun broader society. They do not use TV, radios and do not watch movies or eat in restaurants. They do not vote, are opposed to unions and other forms of association, except their own church.

The Brethren has been accused by former members, and the Prime Minister in his 2007 comments, of denying those who leave access to their children, a claim the organisation denies.

Doug Burgess, the head of the Brethren's Victorian schools, said its schools were growing rapidly and the funding reflected that.

He defended the sect's right to school funding, saying the children would otherwise be enrolled in state schools at full taxpayers' expense.

Wee in park, not in Macca's - magistrate

A TOURIST who urinated inside the front entrance of an Adelaide McDonald's should have relieved himself in nearby parklands, says a senior magistrate.

"You know there is a really big parkland across the road," Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Cannon told Queensland holidaymaker John Hawkins in the Adelaide Magistrates Court today.

"It might be (illegal) but at least you would have probably gotten away with it."

Hawkins today pleaded guilty to one count of urinating in a public place after a dispute with staff at the McDonald's West Tce restaurant on December 11.

The court heard that staff refused Hawkins' requests to use their toilet facilities because they were "out of order".

As he left, Hawkins stopped at the entrance and relieved himself during one of the restaurant's busier times.

After police arrived, Hawkins tried to excuse his conduct by explaining that he was "busting" despite public toilets being just 50m away.

Hawkins told the court he merely made an "honest mistake".

Mr Cannon recorded a conviction and fined Hawkins $100 plus court fees.

'The mirdle' hides beer guts and love handles

FOR blokes who would rather drink a six-pack than build one comes the latest in belly trimming technology - the man girdle.

Known as "mirdles", corsets for men are hitting the market faster than you can say love handle.

London department store Marks & Spencer is hoping to cash in on this latest craze with their new Bodymax shapewear range.

The stretch cotton vest and T-shirt are said to reduce waistlines by up to 4cm and will be available in 70 stores across England and online from January 7.

Marks & Spencer is following in the footsteps of Australian company Equmen, which has sold compression garments in Europe and North America since 2007.

While the Equmen range is yet to hit Australian department stores, it is available from boutiques in New South Wales.

Lisa Tarei said she has sold nine of the garments from her Just For Him store since Christmas.

"My husband tried it on and he had to tighten the belt on his pants by two notches," Ms Tarei said.

She said the mirdle was geared to metrosexuals, not "everyday labourers".

But a spokesman for Sydney-based underwear company aussieBums said "the typical Aussie male is pretty open-minded and more are embracing body-enhancing garments".

Teacher aid on lesbian sex brawl charge

A SYDNEY public school teacher's assistant has appeared in court following a sex scandal with her lesbian lover.

Nepean High School teacher's assistant Sharron Anne Lee, 40, was involved in a threesome at a drunken New Year's Eve sex party which later descended into a brawl, The Sunday Telegraph reports.

Parramatta Bail Court heard yesterday that Lee, a teacher's assistant, had fought with her girlfriend of three years, Carlie-Anne Bell, from Glenmore Park, in her bedroom while the man they had picked up at the Penrith Panthers club, Nikola Murgevski, watched on horrified.

The three had continued partying at Rooty Hill RSL before retiring to Lee's bedroom after playing "strip pool" in Lee's backyard, the court heard.

Court documents said the fight had begun because Bell was upset that Lee was having sex with Murgevski.

The alleged attack saw Bell hospitalised with a tear to her bowel lining and severe bleeding.

Bell was rushed to Nepean Hospital where she was expected to undergo surgery.

The Court heard Lee was a teacher's assistant at the school in an "Aboriginal program"

Department of Education spokesman Mark Davis refused to say whether Lee would be suspended.

"At this stage we wouldn't have any comment to make on the situation with the teacher," he said. "We'd await the outcome of the court proceedings."

It is not known if Lee's child was home.

Lee was charged with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm.

Police prosecutor Kristy Madden said the charges related to "an unusual set of circumstances" and the facts read "horrifically".

Lee was refused bail and will appear before Mount Druitt Local Court on January 11.

Google's Chinese search engine displays images of Tiananmen Square 'Tank Man

SENSITIVE images of the Tiananmen Square massacre appear in Google's search results as the company threatens to leave China over cyberattacks.

While Google has clarified that it is still censoring search results in China according to the country's law, sensitive images can still be found in its image search.

The iconic "Tank Man" photo taken during the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown was available on Google's Chinese website, Google.cn, yesterday.
The picture of a Chinese man who boldly stood in front of a line of tanks during the crackdown on pro-democracy protests made headlines around the world. The event is still hugely sensitive in China.

Google has threatened to defy Chinese internet censors and risk banishment from the lucrative market in outrage at "highly sophisticated" cyber attacks aimed at Chinese human rights activists.
China-based cyber spies struck the internet giant and at least 20 other unidentified firms in an apparent bid to hack into the email accounts of activists around the world, Google said this week.
While Microsoft denied its mail services had been compromised, Yahoo backed Google's decision.
"We stand aligned with Google that these kinds of attacks are deeply disturbing and strongly believe that the violation of user privacy is something that we as internet pioneers must all oppose," Yahoo said.
White House backing
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Beijing to explain the cyber attacks.
"We look to the Chinese government for an explanation," the chief US diplomat said.
"The ability to operate with confidence in cyberspace is critical in a modern society and economy."
The online espionage has Google reconsidering its business operations in China and it said it does not wish to filter internet search engine results in that country.
"These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered - combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web - have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China," Google chief legal officer David Drummond said this week.
"We are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all," he said.

"We recognise that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China."
Activists agree
Human rights activists hailed Google, voicing hope it would lead Western companies to reconsider their compromises in doing business in China.
"Through international pressure, finally a big business in the West has come to realize its own conscience," said prominent Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng, who spent 18 years in prison before entering exile in the US.
T. Kumar, the Washington-based advocacy director of Amnesty International, urged other internet companies to follow Google's lead.
"We're glad that at last international internet companies are waking up to the reality that they cannot go along with oppressive nations like China," Mr Kumar said.

Haiti toll and logistics hell continues to escalate each day

UN and other aid agencies warn they face major logistical challenges in getting essential relief to survivors of Haiti's deadly earthquake.

Some aid is being handed out, with World Food Program (WFP) spokesman Charles Vincent saying 2,400 people in some districts of the flattened Haitian capital Port-au-Prince should receive food today.
"Obviously it's a drop in a bucket but it's a start," he said, adding that distribution would be widened once roads were cleared.
"Most of the population have not had food for the whole day yesterday and today. As a result a certain insecurity is feared."
The scale of devastation caused by Tuesday's 7.0-magnitude quake means the WFP has been unable to gain access to its warehouses and Vincent was unsure if they had been damaged or looted.

A spokeswoman for the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Elisabeth Byrs, warned that relief agencies faced major logistics challenges on the ground. While the airport at Port-au-Prince was functioning, its control tower was still down, she said.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) appealed for tents to shelter homeless survivors and said it was was gearing up to distribute vital supplies.
"What we need is tents, tents and more tents. We need large or individual tents, whatever is available, and financial support quickly," Vincent Houver, the IOM's chief of mission in Haiti, said in a statement.
The organisation said it would provide tarpaulins, plastic sheeting, cans and water containers from stocks already in the impoverished country to help some 10,000 families.
Haiti's prime minister warned the death toll could top 100,000, though President Rene Preval gave a more conservative estimate of 50,000.
The death toll from Haiti's catastrophic earthquake will reach 10s of thousands of people, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.

She described the earthquake as  "an unimaginable disaster" in the country.

Her stark warning came as an official close to George W. Bush confirmed to Fox News that the former US president plans to work closely with his democratic predecessor Bill Clinton, now a UN special envoy to Haiti, on relief efforts.

Britain pledged more than £6 million ($10.5 million) in aid to the devastated island nation, where residents were desperately awaiting a global effort to find and treat survivors from an earthquake that left streets strewn with corpses.

Schools, hospitals, hotels and even the presidential palace lay in ruins, with people caked in blood and dust pleading for help after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck just southwest of Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince on Tuesday.

Casualty figures were impossible to calculate, but Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told CNN the final death toll from the quake could be "well over 100,000."

Branches of the Red Cross and Red Crescent were expecting to help a "maximum of three million people," some of whom were still trapped beneath mountains of concrete.

The epicentre of the quake hit near the slum of Carrefour, where people were living in flimsy shacks. Initial reports suggested that over 90 per cent of its buildings are in ruins.

Cedric Perus, Oxfam's humanitarian coordinator in Port-au-Prince, said: "I have seen wounded people flooding into the hospitals, and buildings of several stories high that are now totally flat. Several thousands have probably died in the quake, but it will take time to get a full picture.

"Bodies may stay under the rubble for a long time because it is difficult to access some sites and heavy-lifting equipment is in limited supply.

"There are bodies all over the city," he said.

"People have nowhere to put them so they wrap them in sheets and cardboards in the hope that the authorities will pick them. People have also piled bodies in front of the city's main hospitals."

Doomsday Clock reset thanks to Obama

INTERNATIONAL scientists nudged back the minute hand of the symbolic Doomsday Clock,as they praised US President Barack Obama for helping to pull the world back from nuclear or environmental catastrophe.

"It is six minutes to midnight," the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (BAS), which created the Doomsday Clock in 1947 as a barometer of how close the world is to an apocalyptic end.

"For the first time since atomic bombs were dropped in 1945, leaders of nuclear weapons states are co-operating to vastly reduce their arsenals and secure all nuclear bomb-making material," the statement by the panel of international scientists, including 19 Nobel laureates, said.

"For the first time ever, industrialised and developing countries alike are pledging to limit climate-changing gas emissions that could render our planet nearly uninhabitable."

A key player in the new, global era of co-operation was Mr Obama, whose election in 2008 ushered in "a change in the US government's orientation toward international affairs", said Professor Lawrence Krauss, co-chair of BAS's board of sponsors, speaking at the ceremony to turn back the hands of the symbolic clock.

Mr Obama brought with him to the White House "a more pragmatic, problem-solving approach" than his predecessor, George W. Bush, the scientists said.

"Not only has Obama initiated new arms reduction talks with Russia, he has started negotiations with Iran to close its nuclear enrichment program, and directed the US Government to lead a global effort to secure loose fissile material in four years," Prof Krauss said, reading from the BAS statement.

Since it was created by scientists who helped to develop the world's first atomic weapons, the Doomsday clock has come to be seen as a measure of what progress, if any, the world has made in moving away from the risk of nuclear, climate-caused or bio-warfare catastrophe.

Midnight on the clock signifies the apocalypse, and the minute hand symbolises the countdown to disaster.

The last time the minute hand was moved was in 2007, when Bush was president.

Then, the clock was bumped two minutes closer to midnight.

In resetting the clock this year, the scientists said they were encouraged by recent developments, but had chosen to put back the clock by only one minute to show they were "mindful that the clock is ticking", said Prof Krauss.

"By shifting the hand back from midnight by only one additional minute, we emphasise how much needs to be accomplished" while at the same time recognising that global co-operation has moved forward, he said.

Putting back the clock by only one minute also meant that "there's great potential for it to move again, in either direction", said Prof Krauss.

Which way the hands of the clock are moved next time was up to scientists, world leaders and ordinary people, said Prof Krauss, urging them all to seize the "unique opportunity we have right now to begin to free ourselves from the terror of nuclear weapons and slow drastic changes to our shared global environment.

"We are now poised at a unique time, with hope and opportunity. Let's not blow it," he said.

Motorists forced to dodge pole in busy lane

FRIGHTENED residents in a Queensland town have been forced to dodge a power pole located in a traffic lane.

A council oversight has seen the pole left standing in the new lane on Oakey Flat Rd, Narangba - one of the busiest roads in the Caboolture district.

Photos in the Northern Times show traffic bearing down on the pole, which appeared after the road was ironically widened for safety reasons.

Moreton Bay councillor Bob Millar said council had widened Oakey Flat Rd near Stark Drive in response to concerns from ratepayers.

He was unaware of the pole’s presence on the road until contacted by the Times.

“I think it’s just a scheduling issue,’’ Cr Millar said.

Our guys have kept the project moving and Energex (which owns the pole) haven’t.’’

An Energex spokeswoman said the pole would be relocated in February.

A council spokeswoman said yesterday red and white water-filled barriers had now been placed around the pole.

World Cup 2010 football fans offered personalised stab vests

FOOTBALL fans planning on going to the World Cup in South Africa are being offered stab vests in their team's colours.

The vests are being sold online by London-registered firm Protektorvest.com and can display any flag of a fan's choosing.

The British Football Supporters Federation (BSSF) said the company is cashing in on fears of the country's crime rate, Sky News reports.

The BSSF said wearing a stab vest at what should be a carnival of soccer was in bad taste and "smacked of panic" over South Africa's notoriously high crime rate.

BSSF spokesman Malcolm Clarke said Thursday the federation worked closely with the authorities and the British Football Association to give fans security advice.

"Part of that advice will not include buying a stab vest. This will just panic people and introduce a degree of tension," he said.

Protektorvest. Owner Sascha Cutura said he was disappointed people thought they were trying to induce fear in fans going to South Africa.

"We are both football fans ourselves. We certainly don't want to offend South Africa but the risk is there," he added.

The company claims the $122 vests will protect fans from stabs, cuts, slashes and blows from sharp-edged or spiked weapons.

Family defends not saving joey from snake

A COOKTOWN family who watched a python eat a young wallaby in their backyard says public backlash for not helping the joey is "water off a duck's back".

The Barton-Ilic family watched from their veranda in far north Queensland as a 4m scrub python ate a young wallaby while its mum kicked and scratched the snake in vain to save the joey.

Judith Barton-Ilic said she felt like she was watching Animal Planet with her kids Braidyn, 13, and Tiarn, 10, when the action unfolded about 4.30pm (AEST) on Monday.

The story gained nationwide interest since being published on cairns.com.au, with more than 140,000 hits on Mrs Barton-Ilic's pictures of the attack.

The family came under fire as online readers posted a barrage of comments, with many attacking the family for not going to the joey's rescue.

"So, in 45 minutes, no supposed top of the chain animal went to the aid of the mother wallaby. Sickening!" wrote Elizabeth of Seddon in Victoria.

But Mrs Barton-Ilic defended the actions of her family, saying the snake had half the wallaby in its mouth by the time they noticed the incident.

She also said the family armed themselves with long broom handles and sticks but gave up after realising the joey was dead.

"By the time we were alerted to the situation, the wallaby was already well wrapped up by the snake," she said.

"We were actually quite upset over the whole incident, that joey we've been looking after and feeding.

"People saying we should have chopped the snake's head off and hit it with a shovel are ridiculous, there are fines up here for that stuff.

"These comments are water off a duck's back."

DJ sacked after pulling plug on 'boring' Queen

A BRITISH radio presenter has been sacked after he pulled the plug on the Queen's traditional Christmas Day speech, telling listeners it was "boring".

Tom Binns has lost his job at Birmingham radio station BRMB after listeners complained over his interruption of the monarch's traditional December 25 broadcast to Britain and the Commonwealth.

"Two words: Bor-ring," he said on air as he stopped the broadcast, before quipping "from one Queen to another..." as he put on Last Christmas by pop duo Wham, featuring openly gay singer George Michael.

Binns explained that the incident occurred after the Queen's Speech - a decades-old tradition still watched by millions of Britons and others every year - came on at a point when he had expected a regular news bulletin.

"I was working on my own on Christmas Day; I'd even had to let myself into the studio," he told the Chortle comedy website.

"After the guy before me finished, we should have taken the news from Sky, and then my show would start.

"But instead of the news, we got the Queen's speech.

"I knew it shouldn't be there, but having never heard it before, I didn't know how long it was going to go on for.

"I'm not trained to make editorial decisions, but I decided to get rid of it and make a joke. I said, 'Two words: bor-ring'.

"I then went into an old riff about how people say the royal family are good for tourism, but the French beheaded theirs and people still visit France."

Binns then cued up the Wham song.

He added that one listener got really angry.

"He sent me a message saying I should be sent to Basra and hoped I'd get killed by a roadside bomb... but other than that almost all the texts we received were in support of what I'd done."

The radio station's parent company, the Orion Media Group programme, said the DJ's comments were "inappropriate".

"We do not condone what he said in any way, whether said in jest or not," its programme and marketing director, David Lloyd, told the Birmingham Post.

"Tom will now not be featuring again on our radio stations."

Binns claimed "nobody would have tuned in to hear the Queen's speech" and that he "tried to deal with it in a funny way".

"After all, they employ comedians to make jokes," he said.

Lara Bingle's Aston Martin stolen at Bondi

LARA Bingle's $250,000 Aston Martin has been stolen in what appears to be a targeted attack.

The dark blue James Bond-style 2008 Vantage Coupe disappeared from a secure carpark at the base of the couple's luxurious apartment block in Bondi, Sydney.

The luxury vehicle was bought for the model by her partner, cricketer Michael Clarke.

Police confirmed they are investigating the incident, which they believe happened yesterday.

Ms Bingle could not be reached for comment but she wrote on social networking site Twitter: "Aston GONE . . . KARMA."

"What a way to start a year . . . I want it back."

The 22-year-old model had been in Melbourne supporting Clarke, who was playing for Australia in the first Test against Pakistan at the MCG.

However, she is believed to have returned to Sydney alone some time yesterday and was inside their home when the sportscar was stolen from the Campbell Pde complex.

Neighbours have reported that other car spaces were also broken into as the thieves searched for the car.

A source close to Ms Bingle, who declined to be named, said she was "shocked" and "frightened" over the incident.

"She can't believe it - she's really upset," the source said. "Michael is not here and she's quite frightened."

Clarke was said to be making plans to return from Melbourne last night to be by his fiancee's side following the end of the first Test.

Spokesmen for the couple refused to comment.

Police would not reveal if they had any leads into the theft but are believed to be reviewing CCTV footage.

Ms Bingle was given the luxurious vehicle as an early Christmas present in December last year.

At the time she admitted the car was hard to handle.

"I am not the best driver," she said. "It's kind of difficult to drive. It's a heavy car."

The V8, a distinguished Eastern Suburbs feature, made Bingle an instant and easy paparazzi target.

Man threatens to kill over $3 pizza topping charge

A GEELONG man assaulted a pizza delivery driver and threatened to cut the pizzeria owner's ears off because he was charged $3 extra for toppings he hadn't ordered.

Angry and upset, Jimmy Barling decided to take it out on the delivery driver by giving him a thumping and demanding he be allowed to pay the usual $28 instead of $31.

Barling, 28, of Karoomba Cres, Herne Hill, pleaded guilty in Geelong Magistrates' Court yesterday to charges of unlawful assault and making threats to kill

Police prosecutor, Senior Constable Clare Murphy said that on April 19, this year, Barling and his partner placed an order for a pizza from a Bell Park pizza shop.

Sen-Constable Murphy said when the delivery driver arrived he requested $31 payment instead of the $28 that Barling usually paid.

Barling became upset after learning the $3 was for extras he hadn't ordered.

"He verbally abused the driver, pushed him in the chest and then grabbed him by the collar demanding he only be charged $28," the prosecutor said.

"The terrified driver agreed and, after accepting $28, Barling then punched the driver in the stomach and threatened to kill him if he told anyone what had happened."

Sen-Constable Murphy said the driver went back to the shop and told the owner, who then phoned Barling to tell him his custom was no longer welcome.

"Barling became angry and abusive and threatened to cut the owner's ears off," she said.

"When the owner hung up on him, Barling went to the pizza shop and again threatened to cut the owner's ears off.

"He then wiped everything off the counter, jumped up on it and threatened to kill the owner."

Outback Steakhouse fined $21m for sex discrimination

OUTBACK Steakhouse has agreed to pay $US19 million ($21 million) to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging sex discrimination against thousands of women at hundreds of its US restaurants, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said.

The Australian-themed restaurant discriminated against female employees and denied them equal opportunities for advancement.

The lawsuit, filed by the EEOC in federal court in Colorado in 2006, said female employees couldn't get promoted to the higher-level profit-sharing management positions in the restaurants and were denied favorable job assignments, particularly kitchen management experience, which was required for employees to be considered for the top management job.

"There are still too many glass ceilings left to shatter in workplaces throughout corporate America," EEOC Acting Chairman Stuart Ishimaru said.

"The EEOC will continue to bring class lawsuits like this one against employers who engage in gender discrimination on a systemic scale."

In addition to the money, the settlement requires that Outback launch an online application system for employees interested in managerial and other supervisory positions; hire a human resource executive in the newly created position of vice president of people; employ an outside consultant for at least two years who will determine compliance with the settlement terms and analyse data from the online application system to determine whether women have equal opportunities for promotion.

Tom Flanagan, a joint venture partner, allegedly said female managers had "let him down" and "lost focus" when they had children, ABC's Denver affiliate reported.

He also allegedly said women managers had trouble "saying no" and expressed a desire for "cute girls" to work as servers.

A Denver attorney was the lead lawyer in the lawsuit.

The company had no immediate comment on the settlement

Boys charged with Xmas Eve gang rape of girl, 12

THREE boys have been charged over the gang rape of a 12-year-old girl on Christmas Eve in Western Australia's Kimberley region.

WA police allege the boys, aged 11, 13 and 14, had sex with the girl while she was drunk and asleep at a house in Kununurra, in the state's Top End.

Kununurra Detective Senior Constable Alan Goodger today confirmed the trio had been charged with sexual penetration of a child under 13.

The 11-year-old and the 14-year-old have been granted bail while the 13-year-old has been remanded in custody.

The boys are due to appear in the Kununurra Children's Court on February 19.

CIA admits tracking 'The Nigerian' before NorthWest terror attack

UMAR Farouk Abdulmutallab is a sexually frustrated loner who nurtured fantasies about holy war, his internet use reportedly reveals.

The twisted mind of the alleged bomber emerged in chilling messages he is said to have posted on an Islamic web forum, UK tabloid The Sun reports.

The Sun retrieved 300 of them in a special investigation into the suspected al-Qaeda fanatic.

In one, posted in 2005 when he was 19, he wrote: "I wont go into too much details about me fantasy, but basically they are jihad fantasies.

"I imagine how the great jihad will take place, how the Muslims will win insha'Allah (God willing) and rule the whole world, and establish the greatest empire once again!"

 

In another, he said: "Killing is only permitted in jihad."

And in a third, he complained of being depressed during his days at a boarding school in Togo.

He said he never found a true Muslim friend.

And he added: "As I get lonely, the natural sexual drive awakens and I struggle to control it, sometimes leading to minor sinful activities.

"This problem makes me want to get married to avoid getting aroused."

The postings also reveal how he saw soccer as a potentially sinful sport.
"Let's do activities like jogging, running, paint ball, archery (or any other sport of the like that teaches target and aim), swimming, wrestling, weightlifting, martial arts, some form of fitness training and so on."

Abdulmutallab, 23, allegedly tried to detonate explosives molded to his groin on a Northwest Airlines flight approaching Detroit from Amsterdam on Christmas Day.

He visited Britain before coming here to study, and told pals he attended London's Regent's Park mosque.

Using the online alias Farouk1986, taken from his middle name and year of birth, he became a vocal opponent of the war on terror.

And he told how he attended an Arabic course in Yemen, where he trained for his evil bombing mission.

He said other students on the language course came from Britain, the US and Somalia.

Abdulmutallab also talked of the "dilemma between liberalism and extremism" as a Muslim.

He wrote: "I deviate sometimes and when I strive hard, I get tired of what I am doing i.e. memorising the quran etc."

His outpourings will be studied by intelligence experts anxious to discover extremist links in the UK.