Faith, Beer, and Other Things That Interest Geoff

The cartoons' published in a Danish paper have triggered protests across the Muslim world, including violent attacks on Western diplomatic offices.

"The government has a responsibility to prevent these things from happening. They should have stopped it, not just in Syria or Iran but all around," Mr Annan said on Monday.

"Not having stopped it, I hope they will pick up the bill for the destruction that has been caused to all the foreign countries."
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The European Union and a group of Islamic countries said they backed UN action to stop "defamation of religion".

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference is lobbying for the UN to include language against blasphemy in the tenets of a new human rights body. The EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said he supported the idea.

"We agreed to take different measures including at the level of the United Nations to guarantee these acts will not be repeated," the OIC's secretary-general, Ekmelettin Ihsanoglu, said. The head of the 57-nation body was speaking at a press conference with Mr Solana in Jeddah, the birthplace of Islam, at the start of a Middle East tour to calm the uproar over caricatures.

"We have been talking today on how we can send a message to the people in both communities, the Islamic and European, that we need this not to happen again … We strongly hope that people will be now sensible to understand that," Mr Solana said.

In Denmark, a Muslim member of parliament urged followers to "move on" after holding talks with the Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

"The majority of Muslims may feel offended by the cartoons as they link Islam with terrorism, but let's take it easy and move on now," Naser Khader said.