Fashion's Hot New Fatwa!

TO DIE FOR Previous Dolce & Gabbana ad

• It's usually Dolce and Gabbana who are channeling creepy religious iconography for their steamy photo shoots, but this time it's a Pakistani magazine editor who's under fire from religious groups. Cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz announced a fatwa this week against the staff of the English-language journal Octane magazine, which ran a fashion ad in their June 2007 issue with the copy: "Adam and Eve: apple the bone of contention," and featured models provocatively clad in Western clothing. Claiming the reference to the prophet Adam was blasphemous and the sexual overtones of the images disturbing, Aziz added: "The managers of this magazine deserve to die."

• The Duran Duran listening party at the Xchange loft in Manhattan Monday night wasn't exactly lead singer Simon Le Bon's idea of a rockin' shindig. "I would like it to be the kind of party with sex and drugs if you know what I mean," Le Bon revealed with a cheeky grin and a coy wink. (It's not the kind of party for interviews, either, Le Bon's handler snapped at RadarOnline.com moments later.) The man behind "Rio" and "Girls on Film" joined fellow band members-turned-husbands and dads Nick Rhodes and John and Roger Taylor for photos, autographs, and a few tracks from double D's new album (which features collaborations with Justin Timberlake and Timbaland). It's due out this fall.

• Speaking at a liberal activist conference in D.C. Tuesday morning, Democratic presidential candidates Bill Richardson and Mike Gravel both chummed up the campaign waters with tough talk about ending the Iraq war. Richardson ditched his "clean campaign" pledge and roughed up other Dem candidates for tacitly supporting a continued U.S. presence in Iraq. But it was dark horse Gravel who goaded Congress to pass legislation that would put President Bush in the hoosegow if he doesn't stop the war. Questioned about the Constitutionality of his plan, Gravel replied that "Congress can do any damn thing it wants."