Ahmadinejad: Jesus Is On Our Side

Iran's ever-controversial president will deliver a Christmas address on British television tomorrow in which he will argue that if Jesus were alive today, he would "fight against the tyrannical policies of prevailing global economic and political systems, as he did in his lifetime." Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's address is billed as an alternative to the queen's annual message, the Telegraph reports.

Human rights activists, politicians, and Holocaust memorial groups lambasted Britain's Channel 4 for giving airtime to the caustic leader, who chides "bullying, ill-tempered, and expansionist powers" in the pre-taped speech. The station says it is committed to presenting dissident voices. Previous choices for the 16-year alternative speech include Jesse Jackson, a 9/11 survivor, and the Simpsons.
(More Queen Elizabeth II stories.)