Bread and bullies

In the News:

In a bizarre example of Iraq's creeping "Talibanisation," militants visited falafel vendors a fortnight ago, telling them to pack up their stalls by today or be killed.
The ultimatum seemed so odd that, at first, most laughed it off -- until two of them were shot dead as they plied their trade.
"They came telling us, 'You have 14 days to end this job' and I asked them what was the problem," said Abu Zeinab, 32, who was packing up his stall for good yesterday in the suburb of al Dora, a hardline Sunni neighbourhood.
"I said I was just feeding the people, but they said there were no falafels in Mohammed the prophet's time, so we shouldn't have them either. I felt like telling them there were no Kalashnikovs in Mohammed's time either, but I wanted to keep my life."