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Three Arab countries have banned the Hollywood film "Noah" on religious grounds even before its worldwide premiere and several others are expected to follow suit

Islam frowns upon representing holy figures in art and depictions of the Prophet Mohammad in European and North American media have repeatedly sparked deadly protests in Islamic countries over the last decade, fanning cultural tensions with the West. "Censors for Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE (United Arab Emirates) officially confirmed this week that the film will not release in their countries," a representative of Paramount Pictures, which produced the $125 million film starring Oscar-winners Russell Crowe and Anthony Hopkins, told Reuters

the studio expected a similar ban in Egypt, Jordan and Kuwait

Does it matter that Recep Tayyip Erdogan has just named as his chief adviser a former journalist who alleges that foreign powers have tried to kill the Turkish prime minister by telekinesis? Here are some reasons why Tuesday’s appointment of Yigit Bulut, a Sorbonne graduate who has also alleged that Lufthansa is plotting against Turkey (pictured), may be of relevance.

The prime minister is the overwhelming power in a country in which he has steadily added to his clout during a decade in office, which has seen him win three elections. The last few weeks has shown several instances in which supposedly independent Turkish institutions appear to have fallen in line with his preferences – whether by making a former governing party MP editor-in-chief of a seized newspaper, fining television channels that screened extensive footage of the protests or launching an investigation apparently spurred by his denunciations of the interest rate lobby.

Mustafa Akyol, a Turkish writer who has backed Erdogan in the past, says Bulut’s appointment shows that the prime minister takes the conspiracy theories seriously – if only because he wants to use them as propaganda ahead of presidential elections next year.