[JURIST] The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) [official website] has ordered the country's 70 Internet service providers to block access to popular video-sharing website YouTube [corporate website] because of "blasphemous content, videos and documents" posted on the site, a government official confirmed Sunday. The order, issued by the director of the PTA on Friday, claimed the ratio of "non-Islamic objectionable video[s]" has increased on the website and instructed providers to block the site until further notice. Local media has cited different reasons for the government ban, ranging from controversial depictions of the Prophet Mohammed to promotional materials for an upcoming film by Dutch politician Geert Wilders. A PTA official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told AP on Sunday that the ban was a direct response to a movie trailer [video] posted on the website for Wilders' film, "Forbidden," which depicts Islam in a highly negative light.

In January, a Turkish court imposed a week-long ban on the site [JURIST report], citing video clips allegedly insulting the country's founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The Thai government imposed a similar ban [JURIST report] in April 2007, citing material deemed offensive to the country's monarchy. AP has more. PTI has additional coverage.

[JURIST] The UK Home Office [official website] said Saturday that the government has no plans to create a compulsory DNA database for British citizens, citing ethical and information security concerns. The country's more limited existing National DNA Database [Home Office backgrounder], which retains DNA information collected from criminal suspects upon arrest, has already been criticized by rights groups for retaining the information of suspects after they are found innocent, and for displaying a racial bias [JURIST reports] against minorities. One proponent of the database, UK Lord Justice Stephen Sedley [official profile], has said that the database should be expanded [JURIST report] to include all citizens and visitors to the country in order to combat crime and to eliminate the racial bias. Policing Minister Tony McNulty [official profile] defended the current system, telling BBC News that the system's "balance and the fairness and proportionality is about right where it's now." McNulty also expressed concerns about maintaining the security of the DNA database if it were expanded to include 60 million people.

The government statements come in response to criticism that a universal database would have expedited the identification of a man recently convicted in the high profile murder [BBC backgrounder] of model Sally Anne Bowman. The European Court of Human Rights [official website] on Wednesday will hear a challenge [press release; decision on admissibility] to current database practices brought by two men who were cleared of charges after having DNA taken and archived. Australia's ABC News has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

[JURIST] Protests broke out in two Indonesian cities Saturday over the reprinting of a cartoon depiction of the Muslim prophet Muhammad [JURIST report] by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Poste [media website]. Protesters in the world's most populous Muslim country burned Danish flags and called for the death of the cartoon artist. The demonstrations in Indonesia follow similar protests [JURIST report] earlier this month in the Gaza Strip, Pakistan, and Denmark.

Jyllands-Poste and 16 other Danish newspapers reprinted the cartoon [Le Monde slideshow] earlier this month one day after Danish police arrested three people [JURIST reports] suspected in a plot to murder Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard for his characterization of Muhammad. Westergaard was one of 12 cartoonists who created the Muhammad cartoons [JURIST news archive] first published in 2005, which sparked widespread protests across the Islamic world. The Danish newspapers accompanied the re-printed cartoons with statements defending freedom of speech and the public's right to see the cause of the backlash. AP has more.

[JURIST] Serbia's chief prosecutor Slobodan Radovanovic said Saturday that Serbia is actively searching for the rioters that set fire to the US Embassy in Belgrade [JURIST report] last week over US support of independence for Kosovo [JURIST news archive]. Serbian police said they have already arrested over 200 rioters and are in the process of collecting evidence and filing charges. The Serbian government condemned the attacks on diplomatic missions as isolated acts of vandalism. Many Serbians blame the United States for their support of Kosovo's independence, and nationalist politicians in Serbia say they will not rest until Kosovo is back under Serbian control. The UN Security Council has condemned the attack [press release], while the European Union has cautioned that continued violence will threaten future relations [UK Times report] between the EU and Serbia.

Serbian demonstrators set fire to the US Embassy in Belgrade [official website] on Thursday after a massive street demonstration that drew an estimated 150,000 people to protest Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence [text; JURIST report] last week. The United States has formally recognized Kosovo as a sovereign state [JURIST report], despite strong opposition from both the Serbian government and minority Kosovo Serbs. Firefighters quickly extinguished the fire, but an Embassy spokesperson said that a burned body, apparently a protester, was discovered inside the building. Demonstrators also attacked the nearby Croatian Embassy and pelted the Canadian Embassy [official website] across the street with rocks. Canada has not yet announced its decision on recognition. The New York Times has more.