Dunkin’ Donuts said today it stopped running an online advertisement featuring Rachael Ray after complaints that a fringed black-and-white scarf that the celebrity chef wore in the ad offers symbolic support for Muslim extremism and terrorism.

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In the spot, Ray wears the scarf around her neck and holds an iced coffee while standing in front of trees with pink blossoms.

Critics, including conservative commentator Michelle Malkin, complained that the scarf looked similar to the black-and-white checkered kaffiyeh, the traditional Palestinian scarf. Critics who fueled online complaints about the ad in blogs say such scarves have come to symbolize Muslim extremism and terrorism.

"The kaffiyeh," Malkin wrote in a column posted online last Friday, "has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad. Popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos, the apparel has been mainstreamed by both ignorant (and not-so-ignorant) fashion designers, celebrities, and left-wing icons."

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Malkin, in a posting following up on last week’s column, said of Dunkin’s decision to pull the ad, "It’s refreshing to see an American company show sensitivity to the concerns of Americans opposed to Islamic jihad and its apologists."

Ray, host of the Food Network television program "30 Minute Meals" as well as a syndicated daytime talk show, began appearing in ads for Dunkin’ Donuts in March 2007. When Dunkin’ announced the partnership, it said Ray would be featured in TV, print, radio and online spots in a campaign running through 2010.

Source: bostonherald.com

U.K. lawmakers voted to let scientists use stem cells derived from hybrid human-animal embryos in medical research.

As part of two days of debate on changes to laws on fertility research, members of Parliament voted 336 to 176 against an amendment to ban the use of hybrids. Prime Minister Gordon Brown allowed members of his party to vote with their consciences after church leaders condemned the plans as immoral.

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Catholic Conservative lawmaker Ann Widdecombe said there was no proof that animal-human hybrid embryo research would save millions of lives and argued that by mixing cells scientists are changing the nature of life.

``It is creating an entirely new type of life, it is not like having, for example, a pig's valve put in your heart later in life,'' she said in an interview. ``There should be a greater focus on collecting umbilical cords for research; we should be putting our money there -- it's an umbilical cord, not a life.''

source: bloomberg.com

The actions of a throng of police officers shown on a videotape kicking and punching three shooting suspects during a traffic stop were inappropriate, Mayor Michael Nutter said Thursday.

A sergeant and five officers have been removed from street duty as authorities investigated the footage. More than a dozen officers were involved, and Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said investigators were having the videotape enhanced to try to identify how many were actually striking the suspects. Information will be sent to prosecutors, who will determine whether to press charges.

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Police stopped the suspects' car while investigating a triple shooting Monday night. No weapons were found in the car or on the suspects, Ramsey said, but officers said they had seen them shoot three people on a drug corner moments earlier.

The video, shot by WTXF-TV from a helicopter, showed three police cars stopping a car on the side of a road.

Officers gathered around the vehicle and pulled three men out. About a half-dozen officers held two men on the ground on the driver's side. Both were kicked repeatedly, while one was punched; one also appeared to be struck with a baton.

On the other side of the car, the video showed, more officers kicking a third man who ends up on the ground.

The three suspects — Dwayne Dyches, Brian Hall and Pete Hopkins — were each charged with attempted murder in the shooting, police said.

Source: the associated press