Berlin Bans Islamic Conference

An Islamic conference planned to take place in Berlin next month has been banned by the authorities, the

city state's interior minister announced on Monday. Minister Ehrhart Körting said the aims of the conference stated

by the organizers overstepped the line of what was permissible in Germany. On their Web site, the organizers of the "first Arab Islamic Congress in Europe" call for the "liberation of all the occupied territories and countries in struggle against the American-Zionist hegemony and occupation." After Körting announced the ban, conference organizers told reporters that they had planned to cancel the conference in any case.