Thursday, April 30, 2009

Sara Miller – Opinion: Independence Day: I Am a Zionist and I Am Proud

HAARETZ: "I'll give you six months," said a close relative the day before I packed my life into two rucksacks and schlepped them 2,000 miles from Britain. A decade on, I'm still here, and proud to be an olah vatika (veteran immigrant).

Even within Israel the concept of Aliyah for Zionism's sake is often an alien one. Young Israelis in particular cannot understand why someone from an evidently prosperous country, with a culture-rich and progressive society and which is relatively terrorism free, would choose to throw it all over, leave their family and friends and move to a country so riddled with internal problems and violence.

My motivation can be summed up in one word. Zionism. In recent decades Zionism has become a dirty word in the world. It has been used as an insulting and disrespectful collective noun for the Jewish people, shorthand for the State of Israel within the context of its conflict with the Palestinians and even a synonym for the settlement movement.

It is time to reclaim the word as an expression of pride. Zionism is what has driven and will drive past, present and future Jews around the world to move to a miniscule spot of land in a war-torn region. >>> By Sara Miller | Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Israel to EU: Criticism of Netanyahu Government Unacceptable

HAARETZ: A Foreign Ministry official has been warning European countries that unless they curtail criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu's government, Israel will block the European Union from participating in the diplomatic process with the Palestinians.

The main target of the offensive is EU External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, who recently called for a freeze in upgrading ties with Israel over its peace process policies.

Several days ago, the deputy director for Europe at the Foreign Ministry, Rafi Barak, began calling European ambassadors in Israel regarding the attitude toward the new government. The first conversations were with France's Jean-Michel Casa, Britain's Tom Phillips and the Charge d'Affaires of the German embassy.

Barak sharply protested the criticism by European ministers and senior EU officials about Israel's government.

Barak singled out Ferrero-Waldner in his rebuke and said her statements were troubling in their form, style and timing. >>> By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent | Thursday, April 30, 2009
50-Year-old Divorces Child Bride?

REUTERS INDIA: JEDDAH - A 50-year old Saudi man has agreed to divorce his 9-year-old bride, media reported on Thursday, after the marriage drew international criticism.

The decision, reported by newspapers Alwatan and Al-Riyadh, came after months of court hearings, criticism from the United Nations and an international media frenzy about Saudi Arabia's human rights practices.

"This is a good step and I think the man did it because he was in a lot of pressure from everyone," Wajeha Al-Huaider, founder of the Group for Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia, told Reuters by telephone.

Al-Huaider, who campaigned for the child, said she hoped the pressure generated by the case would eventually lead to a law banning child marriages. >>> | Friday, May 1, 2009
New Dark Age Alert! Denmark: 18% of Muslims Want to See Sharia Law Implemented

EUROPE NEWS: Close to a fifth of Muslims in Denmark want to see Sharia law implemented in Denmark. A study conducted by analysis institute Capacent for DR news shows that 18% of Muslims in Denmark declare they 'agree' or 'completely agree' with the statement: "Sharia law should be integrated into Danish law". >>> | Thursday, April 30, 2009
Geert Wilders Applauded at Florida Synagogue


ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE (ADL): ADL Condemns Anti-Islam Remarks Made by Dutch Parliamentarian During Appearances in S. Florida

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) strongly condemns remarks made over the last few days at various appearances throughout South Florida by Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders. In his speeches, he claimed that "Islam is not a religion" and "the right to religious freedom should not apply to this totalitarian ideology called Islam." Mr. Wilders also stated that the Koran is a book of hatred, and that Mohammed was both "a pedophile and a warlord."

Andrew Rosenkranz, ADL Florida Regional Director, issued the following statement:
The ADL strongly condemns Geert Wilders' message of hate against Islam as inflammatory, divisive and antithetical to American democratic ideals.

This rhetoric is dangerous and incendiary, and wrongly focuses on Islam as a religion, as opposed to the very real threat of extremist, radical Islamists.
[Source: ADL] | Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Grippe mexicaine: Les porcs, victimes politiques en Egypte

L'EXPRESS.fr: L'abattage de quelque 250 000 porcs, décidé par les autorités égyptiennes en réaction à l'épidémie de grippe mexicaine, est une mesure bien plus politique qu'utile: elle reflète les tensions communautaires qui montent en Egypte. Décryptage de notre correspondant.

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Des porcs marchent au milieu des habitations au Caire, le 28 avril. Photo grâce au Express

La décision prise mercredi 29 avril par le président Hosni Moubarak de faire abattre tous les porcs en Egypte n'a pas grand chose à voir avec la lutte contre la grippe porcine (depuis rebaptisée "grippe mexicaine"), même si elle en est une conséquence directe.

Les autorités égyptiennes ne s'en cachent d'ailleurs pas: "Nous profitons de cette occasion pour régler la question de l'élevage sauvage", a déclaré un porte-parole du ministère de la Santé. Les porcs sont pour la plupart élevés dans des conditions d'insalubrité extrême par la minorité chrétienne (environ 8% de la population) et notamment par les éboueurs du Caire, les fameux zabbalines dont Soeur Emmanuelle avait partagé la vie.

Leur abattage est "une mesure d'hygiène générale, pour transférer ce genre d'élevage dans de vraies fermes, pas dans des décharges", a précisé Saber Abdelaziz Galal, directeur du département des maladies infectieuses au ministère de l'Agriculture.

Ce que les autorités ne disent pas, c'est que cette mesure extrême et totalement inutile pour endiguer l'épidémie (elle est d'ailleurs critiquée par l'OMS et la FAO) est aussi -et sans doute surtout- politique. Depuis le début de la semaine, la pression n'avait cessé de monter en Egypte, où la majorité musulmane est très hostile à l'élevage des porcs, un animal considéré comme "impur" par l'Islam. >>> Par Tangi Salaün | Jeudi 30 Avril 2009
I. A. Rehman – Viewpoint: Pakistan’s Neo-Taliban

DAWN: THE militants’ tactical retreat from Buner, an armed operation against them in Dir and some formal assurances by the army top brass have given most Pakistanis a sense of respite. It should now be possible to comprehend the neo-Taliban phenomenon without which they cannot be overcome.

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The neo-Taliban have lost all claim to leniency. They must be made to face the full might of the state, except for those who can be trusted with mending their ways. Photo courtesy of Dawn

The armed bands engaged in terrorist activities in the northern parts of Pakistan are called neo-Taliban because it is necessary to distinguish them from the Taliban that overran Afghanistan in the 1990s and about whom conservative Pakistanis entertain some wholesome notions. They condone the Afghan Taliban’s excesses against women and their animalistic hostility to arts and culture, because they want to see the same done in Pakistan. At the same time these elements still praise the Afghan Taliban for unifying their country, for checking violent disorder and for disarming non-state militias. And, latterly, they are hailed for resisting foreign intrusion.

While the neo-Taliban operating against Pakistan can outdo the Afghan Taliban in their animus towards women and democratic institutions, they display none of the characteristics attributed to the latter by their Pakistani supporters. Unlike the Afghan Taliban they are dividing Pakistan and not consolidating its unity; they are increasing violent disorder and not suppressing it; and they are raising non-state militias, not disarming the existing ones.

Finally, the Afghan Taliban could claim to be fighting for their motherland and resisting ‘imperialism’; the neo-Taliban have invaded their patrons’ motherland and are fighting for a brand of imperialism Allama Iqbal had denounced in his 1930 address. Thus, the neo-Taliban cannot be favourably compared with their Afghan predecessors.

A large number of Pakistanis have been confused by the neo-Taliban’s rhetoric that they want to enforce the Islamic Sharia. Nothing can be further from the truth. The neo-Taliban’s precursors in Afghanistan too were not driven by their love of the Sharia. For all one knows, Hikmatyar, Rabbani and Masud, targets of the Taliban offensive, also swore by the Sharia. The Afghan Taliban had a definite political objective — to capture Afghanistan for themselves. The neo-Taliban too have a purely political objective — to establish their rule in a part of Pakistan and if possible over the whole of it. >>> By I.A. Rehman | Thursday, April 30, 2009
Obama "sehr besorgt" über Lage in Pakistan

DIE PRESSE: Die Regierung in Islamabad könne die Sicherheit und Rechtstaatlichkeit im Land derzeit nicht garantieren, so der US-Präsident. Die US-Bürger bittet Obama um Geduld. Er werde alle Anstrengungen unternehmen, "Wohlstand und Sicherheit zu stärken".

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Bild dank der Presse

US-Präsident Barack Obama hat sich "sehr besorgt" über die Lage in Pakistan geäußert. Die Regierung in Islamabad sei "sehr zerbrechlich" und könne die Sicherheit und Rechtstaatlichkeit im Land derzeit nicht garantieren, sagte Obama auf einer Pressekonferenz zu seinen ersten 100 Tagen im Amt am Mittwochabend (Ortszeit) in Washington.

Die USA sorgten sich derzeit aber nicht um die Sicherheit der Nuklearwaffen in Pakistan, sagte Obama. Allerdings brauche das Land in vieler Hinsicht amerikanische Unterstützung. Derzeit könnten die grundlegenden Bedürfnisse der Bürger Pakistans nicht befriedigt werden. Vor allem sei es wichtig, dass die Regierung in Islamabad erkenne, dass nicht Indien die große Gefahr für Pakistan darstelle, sondern vor allem die Extremisten im eigenen Land. >>> Ag | Donnerstag, 30. April 2009
Dutch Queen Escapes as Driver Crashes into Crowd, Killing Four

THE TELEGRAPH: A car travelling at high speed ploughed into a crowd waiting for Queen Beatrix of Holland, reportedly killing up to four people.


Witnesses said that the black Suzuki Swift appeared to deliberately target an open bus carrying Queen Beatrix and her family in the town of Apeldoorn during festivities to mark Queen's Day, a national holiday.

The car swerved across police railings, where crowds of people were waiting to see the queen pass, and slammed into the foot of a stone monument, where it came to a halt, its bonnet crumpled and scraped.

The royal bus was not hit, and no one in the queen's entourage was injured, officials said.

But television footage showed members of the royal family, riding in the open top bus, clutch their hands to their mouths in shock as the car sped through a barricade right before their eyes. >>> By Nick Squires | Thursday, April 30, 2009
Is 2009 the New 1929? Current Crisis Shows Uncanny Parallels to Great Depression

SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Is history repeating itself? The current global downturn has many parallels to the Great Depression. And if the current massive bailout packages fail, the effect on the world's economies could be similarly drastic.

The Germans have always had a penchant for looking to America to gain a glimpse into the future.

They marveled at the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. They admired the gray but affordable Commodore personal computer. And they succumbed to the spell of an Internet company with the odd name of Google.

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Will the current crisis be as bad as the Great Depression? Photo courtesy of SpiegelOnline International

Now the Germans are looking across the Atlantic once again, but this time they see images that remind them of their own past, images of sad-looking people standing in long lines, hoping for work.

One of them is Michael Sheehan, who worked as an engineer with a large company until February. Not too long ago, Sheehan was the one doing the hiring. Today he is only one of 900 other job-seekers attending a job fair in a depressing hotel ballroom in Philadelphia.

One of the flyers arranged on the tables exhorts the attendees to "Stay Positive." But Sheehan feels more outraged than positive. Someone at the fair asks him for his resume. "I don't have a resume," he says. "I worked at one company for more than 30 years."

Natalie Ingelido, 21, is standing nearby, trying to calm down her bawling two-year-old son, who clearly doesn't like it here. "I'm looking for a job, any job, in a restaurant, a bar, cleaning, whatever," she says.

In the past, says Ingelido, "Help Wanted" signs were plastered on the doors of shops and bars. The past she refers to is last summer, when Natalie and her husband still lived in their own apartment. Now they live with his parents.

Across America, people like Sheehan and Ingelido are standing in lines, waiting and hoping. At one job fair in New York, the line stretched for several city blocks. Many would turn away, embarrassed to be seen there, whenever TV reporters attempted to document their fates.

More than 5 million people in the United States have lost their jobs since the crisis began. As if the country were undergoing fever convulsions, more than 650,000 were catapulted into the streets in the last month alone. >>> By Spiegel Staff | Thursday, April 29, 2009
Obama Outsources His Presidency: He may come to regret letting Congress write his major legislation

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: While officials in the Obama White House dismissed yesterday's "100 Days" anniversary as a "Hallmark Holiday," they understood it was what sociologist Daniel J. Boorstin called a "pseudo-event." By that, Boorstin meant an occasion that is not spontaneous but planned for the purpose of being reported -- an event that is important because someone says so, not because it is.

What happens in a president's first 100 days rarely characterizes the arc of the 1,361 that follow. Jimmy Carter had a very good first 100 days. Bill Clinton did not.

Still, a president would rather start well than poorly -- and Mr. Obama has a job approval of 63%. That leaves him tied with Mr. Carter, one point ahead of George W. Bush, and behind only Ronald Reagan's 67%. Four of the past six presidents had approval ratings that ranged between 62% and 67%, a statistically insignificant spread.

Mr. Obama is popular because he is a historic figure, has an attractive personality, has passed key legislation, and receives adoring press coverage.

However, there are cautionary signs. Mr. Obama's policies are less popular than his personality, the pace of polarization with Republicans has proceeded faster than ever in history, and independents are thinking more like Republicans on the issues and less like Democrats.

The first 100 days can reveal a pattern of behavior that comes to characterize a presidency. In this respect, there are two emerging habits of Team Obama worth watching.

One is the gap between what Mr. Obama said he would do and what he is doing. His administration is emphasizing in its official 100 days talking points steps he has taken to "deliver on the change he promised." During the campaign, Mr. Obama denounced the $2.3 trillion added to the national debt on Mr. Bush's watch as "deficits as far as the eye can see." But Mr. Obama's budget adds $9.3 trillion to the debt over the next 10 years. What happened to Obama the deficit hawk?

From Mr. Obama's Denver acceptance speech through the campaign, Mr. Obama did not publicly utter the phrase "universal health care." Instead, his campaign ran ads attacking "government-run health care" as "extreme." Now Mr. Obama is asking, as he did at a townhall meeting last month, "Why not do a universal health care system like the European countries?" Maybe because he was elected by intimating that would be "extreme"? >>> By Karl Rove* | Thursday, April 30, 2009

*Mr. Rove is the former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush.
Ronald Reagan's "Evil Empire" Speech

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Ronald Reagan's Address to the British Parliament

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Barack Obama Can't Trust to Luck to Fix the Economy

THE TELEGRAPH: The President has dithered over the banks and the economy in his first 100 days in power, says Edmund Conway.

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President Barack Hussein Obama needs to relax a little less and work a little harder to sort out the economic mess facing America right now. The US economy shrank by 6.1% in the first three months of this year. Largely under HIS watch! –©Mark. Photo: Google Images

Barack Obama is a pretty superstitious guy. During the marathon presidential campaign, he made a routine of playing basketball on each of the various polling days, and carried with him a pocketful of lucky trinkets, including a poker chip and a small golden statue of the Monkey King. So one rather fears for his reaction to the inauspicious omens yesterday, on his 100th day in office.

As if the first US death from swine flu weren’t bad enough, the President had to contend with news that the economy slumped by an annual rate of 6.1 per cent in the first three months of the year – far more than most experts were expecting. Jeff Frankel, a leading institutional economist, declared that this is now the longest and sharpest slump since the Great Depression.

The banking system is still in crisis, house prices are in freefall and unemployment is climbing rapidly; those seeking out green shoots are likely to be disappointed, since the economy is hardly through the danger zone. The only consolation comes from the stock market, which is more or less flat since Obama took over, and the fact that most other economies are in a worse state. More worryingly, the new president has yet to convince us that he is more Franklin D Roosevelt than Herbert Hoover. Those of us who hoped that the new president would infuse genuine urgency into the rescue plan, for either the economy or the financial system, have been sorely disappointed. The language may be more sincere, the speeches more glamorous, but the response is still nowhere near bold enough. All the criticisms of the initial Bush “rescue” – that it nationalised the financial system’s losses while allowing the bankers to make off with the profits; that it failed to draw a line under the institutions’ previous failures – remain applicable to Obama’s scheme. >>> By Edmund Conway | Wednesday, April 29, 2009
100-Tage-Bilanz: Obama verurteilt die Foltermethoden der Bush-Ära

WELT ONLINE: In Washington hat US-Präsident Barack Obama seinen Bruch mit der Bush-Ära und Foltermethoden wie dem "Waterboarding" verteidigt. "Die juristischen Rechtfertigungen" unter seinem Vorgänger für diese Verhörmethoden seien falsch gewesen. Zudem versprach Obama einen unermüdlichen Kampf für Wohlstand und Sicherheit.

US-Präsident Barack Obama hat das berüchtigte "Waterboarding", mit dem mutmaßliche al-Qaida-Häftlinge zu Geständnissen gezwungen werden sollten, als "Folter" verurteilt.

In einer Zwischenbilanz seiner ersten hundert Tage verteidigte Obama seine Entscheidung, mit vielen Entscheidungen seines Vorgängers George W. Bush zu brechen. >>> AFP/fsl | Donnerstag, 30. April 2009
Gordon Brown Suffers Humiliating Defeat in Gurkha Vote as Labour MPs Rebel

THE TELEGRAPH: Gordon Brown suffered a humiliating Commons defeat over his refusal to allow Gurkha veterans to live in Britain as a number of Labour MPs rebelled.

Joanna Lumley thanks Telegraph readers for Gurkha support.

In a significant blow to the Prime Minister's already fragile authority, MPs voted for a motion calling for the scrapping of new immigration rules that would prevent many Gurkhas coming to live in the country they served.

With the backing of Labour rebels and the Conservative Party, a Liberal Democrat motion demanding the admission of all Gurkha veterans and their families was passed by 267 to 241.

In all, 27 Labour MPs voted with the Opposition, and dozens more abstained, defying orders to support the Government. One ministerial aide, Stephen Pound, resigned from the Government to vote with the rebels.

Deepening the Government's embarrassment, the Commons defeat came despite last-minute concessions to Labour rebels from Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary.

Only hours before the vote, Mr Brown had told MPs that the Government could not afford to admit all the Gurkhas, claiming that doing so would cost £1.4 billion.

Campaigners and opposition leaders said that the Government must now drop its curbs on admitting Gurkhas and their families and allow all Nepalese veterans of the British Army to live in the UK. >>> By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent | Thursday, April 30, 2009
The Muslim Cleric Who Blames British Mosques for the 7/7 Bombings, Says Multiculturalism Is a Disaster and Would Throw Islamic Fanatics Out

The MailOnline is yet another newspaper – there are so many these days – which has fallen for the guff that the Islam of al-Qaeda is a warped and twisted version of the ‘religion’. Dr Taj Hargey comes along and says exactly what these soft-thinking, ill-advised journalists want to hear! They fall for the crap. It keeps these people in their comfort zone.

Truth is, though, that OBL’s version of Islam is the real thing, regardless of what Dr Taj Hargey says. Indeed it is, as I have stated before, every bit as much the real thing as Coke is to cola! Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

It raises the very important question: Where did Dr Taj Hargey learn his version of Islam? Certainly not from the Koran!
– ©Mark


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Violence: Dr Taj Hargey deplores fanatics such as the suicide bombers who targeted London. Photo courtesy of MailOnline

MAIL Online: You can usually find at least one in any saloon bar, ready to give you the benefit of their peppery views on the parlous state of Britain today.

This particular example is a clean shaven, middle-aged man with the de rigueur attire of carefully knotted mustard tie and blue, golf club-style blazer.

Brass cuff buttons flash as he pounds an angry fist on to his knee.

'I will give £5 to anyone in Britain who wants to live under Sharia law,' he declares. 'It will help pay for their ticket to Sudan, Yemen, Pakistan, or wherever it is customary to live under Sharia law.

'Please, please go and leave us alone. This is Britain, not 10th century Arabia!'

We are indeed sitting in a bar, on a busy main road in Oxford.

But the man before me is no stereotypical Islamophobe.

For one, he is sipping a glass of water rather than something more inflammatory.

More importantly, though by no means obviously, Dr Taj Hargey is himself an Islamic cleric; perhaps the most controversial imam in Britain today.

In an age when the highest-profile Muslim preachers are bearded, anti-Western firebrands such as Abu Hamza or Omar Bakri Dr Hargey seems an anomaly.

He does not care much for male facial hair. He believes that women can be both seen and heard, even in a mosque at Friday prayers.

And don't even get him started on the sort of fanatics who blow up London buses, or the poisonous teachings that inspired them.

After three men were cleared this week on charges of assisting the July 7 bombers, there have been calls for an inquiry into blunders made by the security services.

But Dr Hargey has little doubt who, and what, is truly to blame for unleashing such terrorism on our streets.

'It is the extremist ideology present in many UK mosques which is the cement behind nihilistic plots such as this,' he says.

'They are twisting Islam.' >>> By Richard Pendlebury | Thursday, April 30, 2009
Muslim Demographics: The Islamic Tidal Wave


Hat tip: Vlad Tepes >>>

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

The Muslim Viewpoint: Finally, Hijab in the Danish Politics?

Yes, "a historical day” indeed! The day Europe started moving in retrograde motion - officially! And when will we “finally” have a church in Mecca (Makkah) to mark our “historical day”? When will Westerners “finally” even be allowed to enter Mecca? And when will Westerners be able to walk down the streets in Saudi Arabia wearing mini-skirts or tight trousers? Now those truly would be “historical days”.

This is not a sign of integration at all; on the contrary, it is a sign that Muslims in Europe are NOT integrating, still less assimilating.

The Muslims of Europe are hell-bent on taking the advanced, Western world back to the Dark Ages, to a New Dark Age, as I wrote in my book.

This image of Asma is redolent of a woman in the pre-Victorian Age – the Middle Ages, in fact! If Muslims call this progress, and I'm sure that very, very many of them do, there is something seriously wrong with their judgement!
– ©Mark


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Asmaa Abd El-Hamid. Photo courtesy of Islam Online

ISLAM ONLINE: “A historical day,” that’s how the Danish media described the day when Asmaa Abd El-Hamid, a 27 Danish Muslim veiled politician of a Palestinian origin, attended a council meeting as a substitute for a member of the Unity List. It was the first time in Odense, the third biggest Danish city where she attended the meeting, and in the whole Danish history that witnesses a veiled woman taking part in a Local Council meeting.

Ms. Abd El-Hamid told IslamOnline.net (IOL)’s European Muslims Page that she is intending to put forward the social, economical, and international issues in the coming meetings as they are placed at the top of her agenda. By holding this position she is planning to discuss her main issues, such as the social equality between Muslims and Non-Muslims in both education and recruitment, the recognition of the independent Palestinian state, and the rejection of the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan.

Asmaa has a lot of creative social and political ideas which she aspires to work on. Although Ms. Abd El-Hamid regards this step as "unprecedented," she is not only aiming at the veil’s existence in the parliament or in the political field. She also insists that she has been elected for this position "by both Muslims and non Muslims votes." >>> By Salma El-Gazzar | Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Gov't Drops 'Swine Flu' Name over Pork Protests

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Photo courtesy of USA Today

USATODAY: President Obama didn't have a single word to say about "swine flu" today. But he had a lot to say about the outbreak of the "H1N1" virus. That should make the hog industry happier.

U.S. officials, particularly the agricultural department, were under pressure from the pork lobby that fears the term "swine flu" is confusing people into thinking they can catch the virus from pork, which they can't, the AP says.

Or as Pork News explains, the government believes that the term swine flu "might be catchy, but it's not accurate."

Israeli officials have also weighed in. This week, deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman, who belongs to an ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect, suggested renaming swine flu as "Mexican flu," saying that the reference to pigs is offensive to Muslim and Jewish sensitivities over pork, The Guardian reports. >>> USA Today | Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Your Online Source for Credible Health Information Swine Influenza (Flu) >>>
Egypt Orders Slaughter of All Pigs over Swine Flu

ASSOCIATED PRESS: CAIRO — Egypt began slaughtering the roughly 300,000 pigs in the country Wednesday as a precaution against swine flu even though no cases have been reported here, infuriating farmers who blocked streets and stoned vehicles of Health Ministry workers who came to carry out the government's order.

The measure was a stark expression of the panic the deadly outbreak is spreading around the world, especially in poor countries with weak public health systems. Egypt responded similarly a few years ago to an outbreak of bird flu, which is endemic to the country and has killed two dozen people.

At one large pig farming center just north of Cairo, scores of angry farmers blocked the street to prevent Health Ministry workers in trucks and bulldozers from coming in to slaughter the animals. Some pelted the vehicles with rocks and shattered their windshields and the workers left without killing any pigs.

"We remind Hosni Mubarak that we are all Egyptians. Where does he want us to go?" said Gergis Faris, a 46-year-old pig farmer in another part of Cairo who collects garbage to feed his animals. "We are uneducated people, just living day by day and trying to make a living, and now if our pigs are taken from us without compensation, how are we supposed to live?" >>> By Maamoun Youssef | Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Taliban Harasses Christians in Pakistan

BAPTIST PRESS: WASHINGTON--Amid escalating violence perpetrated by the Taliban in Pakistan, two reports on the status of Christians in the country contain varying details.



The Washington-based International Christian Concern reported that two Christians were executed and others were physically abused by Taliban militants in Karachi April 21 after the Christians protested orders from the Taliban to convert to Islam or die.



A subsequent report by Compass Direct News, though, said the execution-style killings could not be verified. Baptist Press asked ICC to confirm the initial report, and the group was attempting to do so at press time. In their news releases, both Compass Direct and ICC relied on comments from individuals who were not on the scene. 



ICC reported April 24 that pro-Taliban graffiti messages were written on two churches in Karachi, including the phrases "Long Live the Taliban" and "Embrace Islam or Prepare to Die." Christians complained to the government and then staged a peaceful protest, the watchdog group said.



Following the protest, more than 100 masked Taliban militants invaded the community with automatic rifles, causing Christian residents to hide in their homes. >>> By Staff | Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Yemen: Desecrator Faces Apostasy Charges

YEMEN POST: A Yemeni charged with ripping up and treading on the Quran will face court on apostasy charges after he was found guilty of desecration.

Judicial source said Wednesday investigations with Abdullah Al-Baidhani have been completed and he is expected to appear in court soon.

However, the source said that prosecutors are investigating the mob who destroyed the three-storey house of the desecrator and burned his two cars after Al-Baidhani tore up the Quran and insulted it before the people in Al-Hasaba area, Sana'a. >>> Yemen Post Staff | Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Zwischen USA und Israel droht Eiszeit

DIE PRESSE: Die USA beharren auf einer Zwei-Staaten-Lösung im Nahen Osten, Israels neue Rechtsregierung ist dagegen. Ein Konflikt zwischen den Verbündeten ist programmiert.

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Bild: Google Images

JERUSALEM. Den bisher engen Beziehungen zwischen Washington und Jerusalem droht eine Abkühlung. Diese Woche erst weilte US-Außenministerin Hillary Clinton zu einem Blitzbesuch in der Hauptstadt des Libanon, ohne jedoch, was ungewöhnlich ist, einen Abstecher nach Jerusalem zu machen. Offenbar scheut sie ein Treffen mit dem neuen Regierungschef Benjamin Netanjahu und ihrem weit rechts stehenden israelischen Amtskollegen Avigdor Lieberman. Kernpunkt des Zwistes zwischen Israel und den USA ist die Zwei-Staaten-Lösung, die die Regierung Netanjahu ablehnt, das Weiße Haus hingegen unverändert als einzige Möglichkeit für Frieden im Nahen Osten betrachtet.

Netanjahus Versuch, die Palästinenser mit dem Angebot zu ködern, er würde über zwei Staaten verhandeln – vorausgesetzt, die Führung in Ramallah erkennt Israel als jüdischen Staat an –, scheiterte wenig überraschend. „Nennt euch doch, wie ihr wollt, das geht mich nichts an“, konterte Palästinenserpräsident Mahmoud Abbas diese Woche flapsig. „Es gibt einen Staat Israel in den Grenzen von 1967, keinen Zentimeter mehr, und keinen weniger. Etwas anderes akzeptiere ich nicht.“ >>> Von Susanne Knaul (Die Presse) | Mittwoch, 29. April 2009
«Afrikanischer Barbar» in Paris vor Gericht: Junger Jude zu Tode gefoltert – der Hauptangeklagte grinst

NZZ Online: Vor dem Pariser Geschworenengericht hat der Prozess gegen die sogenannte Bande der Barbaren begonnen. 27 Personen stehen vor Gericht. Sie hatten 2006 einen jungen jüdischen Mann entführt und über drei Wochen hinweg langsam zu Tode gefoltert.

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Youssouf Fofana wird abgeführt, 2006 in Côte d'Ivoire. Bild dank der Neuen Zürcher Zeitung

Das Opfer Ilan Halimi starb auf dem Weg ins Krankenhaus, nachdem ihn seine Peiniger nackt, geschunden und entkräftet an Bahngleisen nördlich von Paris abgelegt hatten. Der mutmassliche Anführer der Gruppe, Youssouf Fofana, wollte mit der Entführung bis zu 450 000 Euro Lösegeld erpressen. Ihm droht lebenslange Haft.

Zum Auftakt des auf zehn Wochen angelegten Prozesses sorgte am Mittwoch Fofana für einen Eklat. Mit breitem Grinsen und nach oben gerecktem Daumen erschien er vor Gericht und rief «Allah wird siegen». Auf die Frage nach seinem Familiennamen antwortete er: «Afrikanischer Barbar, bewaffnet, aufrührerisch, salafistisch.» Als sein Geburtsdatum gab er den 13. Februar 2006 an, den Todestag seines Opfers Halimi. >>> ap | Mittwoch, 29. April 2009

YOUTUBE: Ilan Halimi (zal) – Never Forget

Pour l'OMS, la pandémie de grippe porcine est imminente

LE FIGARO: L'OMS a décidé mercredi soir de déclencher la phase 5 d'alerte, considérant la pandémie comme «imminente». En France, 25 cas sont en cours d'investigation, dont deux sont très fortemement susceptibles d'être contaminés.

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Photo grâce au Figaro

L'Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS) redoute plus que jamais l'explosion d'une pandémie de grippe porcine. L'agence sanitaire, qui recense pour l'instant 105 cas confirmés dans le monde, a décidé mercredi soir de déclencher la phase 5 d'alerte pandémique, sur une échelle de six niveaux. La phase 5 indique que la maladie se transmet à rythme soutenu d'homme à homme, dans au moins deux pays. L'OMS appelle les pays à activer leur plan de préparation à la pandémie.

Dans la journée, les pays avaient déjà multiplié les mesures préventives : interdiction d'importation des porcs mexicains en Chine, Thaïlande ou Equateur et incitation à ne pas se rendre au Mexique émise par le Canada, le Royaume-Uni, la France, l'Italie ou les Pays-Bas. Barack Obama a demandé mardi soir au Congrès d'accorder une aide de 1,5 milliard de dollars pour à renforcer les capacités de réaction américaines face à cette crise sanitaire.

Au Mexique, foyer d'origine du virus mutant H1N1, le gouvernement de Felipe Calderon, accusé de n'avoir pas su réagir à temps face à l'épidémie , a décidé la fermeture des sites archéologiques. Les autorités mexicaines, qui avaient jusqu'ici compté 20 cas de décès dûs à la grippe porcine, ont ramené ce chiffre à sept et 159 cas de décès «suspects» qui pourraient être dûs à la maladie. Pas moins de 1.300 personnes sont hospitalisées pour des symptômes ressemblant à ceux de la grippe porcine. Dans la ville de Mexico, restaurants, cafés et discothèques ont été fermés. Le pays a mis en place un système de dépistage rapide qui doit permettre de détecter et d'isoler plus rapidement les citoyens soupçonnés d'être contaminés. >>> S.L. et B.H. (lefigaro.fr) avec agencies | Mercredi 29 Avril 2009
New Dark Age Alert! Geert Wilders: "The Take-over of Europe Is Part of the Global Fight of Islam for World Domination"

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Geert Wilders. Photo: Google Images

EUROPE NEWS: - Freedom of Speech -
Here is Geert Wilders's acceptance speech for the Freedom Award he was given by the Florida Security Council in Miami on April 27:

Thank you very much. Thank you for inviting me and thank you US border police for allowing me to enter this country. These are dramatic times. Europe might be very well on its way to destruction. We are now witnessing the largest influx in human history. This is endangering our heritage, our freedom, our prosperity and our culture. I wish I had come to a place they call the sunshine state with better news, but it would be unwise to deny the situation is gloomy.

It might take a while to have you understand the situation we are in now. Maybe you as Americans still think of Europe as a place with great culture, and a profound way of looking at things. Maybe you see immigration as something that is inherently good for a country, as it contributed so much to the United States.

The Europe you know from a tourist visit or from the story of your grandparents is on the verge of collapsing. We are now witnessing profound changes that will forever alter Europe’s destiny and might send the continent in what Ronald Reagan once called ‘a thousand years of darkness’. >>> Jihad Watch | Wednesday, April 29, 2009
In Egypt, a Blogger Tries to Spread 'Culture of Disobedience' among Youths

LOS ANGELES TIMES: Mohamed Abdel Aziz's Facebook group that opposes Mubarak's rule has drawn 76,000 followers. Though its calls for nationwide strikes have flopped, he remains determined.

Reporting from Cairo -- An activist in a police state should know when to sprint.

Mohamed Abdel Aziz has bolted from trouble a number of times, including dashing from security forces closing in on a demonstration in the port city of Alexandria. His less mercurial moments have three times landed him in police stations, but upon each release he has returned to his computer, opened his blog and conspired in cyberspace to end President Hosni Mubarak's 27-year rule of Egypt.

That's an unlikely prospect. But Aziz, a thin man in black clothes with a wristwatch shimmying up and down his arm, is a founder of the 6th of April, a protest movement that draws from a Facebook group of nearly 76,000 people, mostly high school and university students. The movement opines, plots and Twitters, though it has yet to generate feet in the street: Three of its calls for nationwide strikes drew more police than protesters.

"No one knows when the trigger of revolution will be pulled. The state is oppressive, but ordinary Egyptians from all over sympathize with us," said Aziz, who likes to recall the passions that roused his countrymen's 1919 revolution against the British.

"When we started using Facebook it was a novelty," he said. "Calling for a national strike was a novelty. It was like lighting a candle in a dark room. But this is still an oppressive state, and people are scared." >>> By Jeffrey Fleishman | Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Obamissism

Yes, yes, yes, Obama! The world still loves you – for NOW! So you can keep on looking into that pool of water! – Mark

MAIL Online: He is the most photographed man on the planet.

And, just in case we had forgotten that, the White House has issued a new series of photographs to commemorate Barack Obama's 100 days in office today.

One hundred photographs for 100 days would have been enough for anyone - but, just to drive the point home, the White House has decided to include three times that number in the set. >>> By Mail Foreign Service | Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Cambridge Ideas: How Many Light Bulbs Does It Take to Change a Man?

THE TELEGRAPH: We have an addiction to energy that is not sustainable with oil, coal and gas. David MacKay, a physics professor at Cambridge University, investigates what it will take to get Britain off fossil fuels.

How many lightbulbs does it take to change a man?

Government advice about reducing number of plastic bags or switching of your phone charger when you are not using it is distracting Britons from the real energy issue, argues Prof MacKay: how will Britain power itself in a non-fossil fuelled world? >>> | Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Sustainable Energy – without the hot air >>>
Germany Contracts 6pc as Eurozone Bank Deposits Fall at Fastest Rate Since Depression

THE TELEGRAPH: Germany has slashed its growth forecast, admitting in an embarrassing volte-face that the economy will contract by 6pc this year in the worst recession of any major country in the Western world.

Economy minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said the slump was almost entirely due to the collapse of exports, insisting that a "global revival" will restore growth next year.

Even this may be too optimistic. The International Monetary Fund expects a further 1pc contraction in 2010. Left Party leader Oskar Lafontaine said Berlin seemed to be hoping and praying that other countries would "pull the German economy out of the mud", sitting on its hands as unemployment reaches 4.6m next year.

Professor Tim Congdon from International Monetary Research said company bank deposits in the eurozone have begun to contract at rates not seen since the early 1930s, threatening severe damage in coming months unless the European Central Bank shifts gears fast.

"It's a catastrophe. Company bank deposits have been falling at 1pc a month since December. It is what happened in the US during the Great Depression, and it is why we are seeing such a horrific recession in Europe now," he said. >>> By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard | Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Jihadists from Leeds Sentenced to Seven Years in Jail for Planned Terror Trips

TIMESONLINE: Two men who planned to attend a terrorist training camp were both sentenced to seven years in jail today.

Waheed Ali, 25, and Mohammed Shakil, 32, were cleared of helping the 7/7 bombers to select their targets but convicted of conspiracy to attend a training camp for terrorists after they were arrested before boarding a flight for Pakistan in 2007.

Mr Justice Gross sentenced the pair to seven years each at Kingston Crown Court.

Both men have already spent more than two years in custody, which will be deducted from the time they will serve. They admitted attending terrorist training camps in the past, before it had been made an offence.

Ali and Shakil stood trial with Sadeer Saleem, 28, for assisting the 7/7 attacks on London. Yesterday all three were found not guilty. The three men, from Beeston in Leeds, were re-tried after an earlier jury failed to reach verdicts. >>> Times Online | Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Express Editor: British Media ‘Shackled’ by Laws

DAILY EXPRESS: THE media is “shackled” to such an extent that the UK does not really have a free press, the editor of the Daily Express said yesterday.

Peter Hill told a committee of MPs examining standards in journalism that they should be looking for ways of removing constraints on the media, not imposing new ones.

Mr Hill also apologised again for printing inaccurate stories suggesting Kate and Gerry McCann were responsible for the death of their daughter Madeleine, but said they had come from what he believed were credible sources in the Portuguese police.

The idea that newspapers could print whatever they liked about ­people with impunity was mistaken, he said.

“We have got the laws of libel which are the most severe in the world,” he told the House of Commons select committee on culture, media and sport.

“We have got the law of confidence, which is now being used extensively by celebrities; we have got the law of privacy which is coming in; we have got European law; we are pretty much up to our ears in laws.”

Legal firms who went round offering so-called “no win no fee” deals – technically known as conditional fee arrangements (CFA) – on libel actions had created a “ridiculous” situation and people came from all over the world to sue in British courts.

The constitutional right to freedom of expression in the US ensured a genuinely free press across the ­Atlantic, he said.

“We do not have a free press in this country by any means – we have a very, very shackled press,” he said.

“You should be looking at means of removing those shackles, not imposing more.” A genuinely free press is essential to the proper functioning of a democratic society, he said. >>> By Damon Wake | Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Carla Bruni Sarkozy Has a Headache!

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Carla Bruni Sarkozy romping on the beach with Raphaël Enthoven. Photo courtesy of Google Images

MAIL Online: Hundreds of 'highly intimate' images of the French president's wife and her former lover have been stolen during a burglary.

The photographs and videos of Carla Bruni, who is on an official trip to Spain with Nicolas Sarkozy, date from the 41-year- old's affair with philosopher Raphael Enthoven.

Thieves broke into the Paris flat of his brother, 27-year-old actor Julien Enthoven, where the prints and videos were being kept, and stole them.

Police believe the images could be posted on the web, serving to embarrass Nicolas Sarkozy or be sold for a sizeable sum, thanks to his third wife's status.

A source said: 'The thieves appeared to know exactly what they were looking for, taking highly intimate prints, a camera full of further images, videos, and numerous computer files.

'They broke into Mr Enthoven's flat in Rue Dauphine, in the sixth arrondissement, on Sunday night, smashing a window in the sitting room which looks out on to the courtyard. Nobody was at home at the time, and nothing else was taken.'

Raphael, who fathered Miss Bruni's son Aurelien, eight, is believed to have entrusted the pictures to his brother as he did not want them to embarrass his new partner, or Mr Sarkozy, a detective working on the case said. Carla's Agony as Intimate Photos of Her with Ex-lover Are Stolen in Raid on Paris Flat >>> By Peter Allen | Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Yet again, I have had a photo removed from this webite by Photobucket for contravention of their ‘terms and conditions’. This happens with alarming frequency!

Images such as these are not pornographic. I never post anything pornographic on this website; moreover, these images are freely available on Google Images. Were they to be pornographic, they should not, would not, appear on that Google source.

This image is one of Carla Bruni Sarkozy, the First Lady of France, no less than Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President’s wife! Are we therefore to conclude that Photobucket considers this photo of her to be improper or obscene? If so, this is an insult to the First Lady of France!

To me, it would appear that Photobucket is being overly sensitive. The dictionary definition of pornography is as follows:
Obscene writings, drawings, photographs, or the like, esp. those having little or no artistic merit.

Origin:

1840–50; < Gk pornográph(os) writing about harlots (porno-, comb. form of pórnē harlot + -graphos -graph ) [Source: Dictionary.com]
This photo certainly has artistic merit; and it in no way meets the criteria laid down in the dictionary for pornography.

What this also shows me is that there is a cleft between attitudes to nudity in Europe and America. Americans are probably still labouring under their puritanical past. Europe has liberated itself – long ago!

This image is hosted by ImageShack. We will see if they take a broader view.
– ©Mark
Socialists They Are and Socialists They’ll Be!

MAIL Online: The BBC and Channel 4 could be forced to use more female and ethnic characters and presenters in TV shows under controversial reforms of equality laws.

The change could hit programmes such as Top Gear, which has an all-male presenting team, and EastEnders, which has screened episodes featuring all-black, all-Asian and all-female casts.

State-funded organisations are being ordered to boost the proportion of female, black and gay staff to reflect the make-up of the UK population under plans unveiled by Labour's deputy leader Harriet Harman. Now Even Top Gear Could Fall Foul of Harman Sexism Law >>> By Ian Drury and Sarah Harris | Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Pakistan Troops Oust Taliban from Key Town

THE INDEPENDENT: Helicopter-borne commandos took back a key town from the Taliban on Wednesday as warplanes pounded militants to halt their advance toward the Pakistani capital, the army said.

Pakistan is acting under intense US pressure to take a tougher line against Islamist militants expanding from strongholds along the Afghan border, where al-Qa'ida leaders including Osama bin Laden may also be hiding.

In recent days, government forces have begun trying to drive the Taliban back into the Swat Valley, from where they had pushed out under cover of a creaking peace pact struck in February.

Helicopters dropped troops near Daggar, the main town in the Buner district, and in neighboring areas early on Wednesday morning, an army statement said.

The commandos secured the town and were linking up with police and paramilitary troops already in the area, the statement said.

It didn't say how many troops were involved or whether they clashed with militants who overran the district earlier this month.

However, a Pakistani military official said army jets and helicopters had attacked militant positions in the area as part of the move to take Daggar.

The official asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to release the details. He had no word on any casualties from Wednesday's operation.

The Taliban advance into Buner brought them to within 60 miles (100 kilometers) of the capital, Islamabad. The army also says troops have killed scores of militants in recent fighting in Lower Dir, another area neighboring Swat.

Both lie within Malakand, the region covered by the government's much-criticized peace deal. Officials agreed to impose Islamic law in return for peace in a region devastated by two years of bloody fighting.

Pakistani officials said the Islamic law concession robbed the militants of any justification for retaining their arms and have insisted they were ready to use force against militants who defy the government. >>> By Munir Ahmad, Associated Press | Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Politicians Back ‘Heidelberg Appeal’: German Authors Outraged at Google Book Search

SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Google wants to make millions of books accessible online. But a group of German authors are enraged at not having been asked for permission to use their books -- and at the mere $60 they might get for each one. Now German politicians are also voicing their dismay and pledging to protect author rights.

German politicians have voiced their support for an appeal by 1,300 German authors who believe that the search-engine giant Google is violating copyright laws by allowing their works to be viewed online free of charge and without previous author approval.

The appeal came in the form of a letter -- known as the “Heidelberg Appeal" -- sent last week to German President Horst Köhler, Chancellor Angela Merkel and the heads of Germany's 16 federal states. It alleges that "intellectual property is being stolen from its producers to an unimagined degree and without criminalization through the illegal publication of works protected by German copyright law."

The letter urges the government to wage "a resolute defense, with all the means at their disposal" to protect intellectual property rights and the freedoms related to publishing. "If we loose it," the appeal ends, "we loose our future." >>> jtw | Monday, April 27, 2009
Kämpfe in Pakistan: Hunderttausende fliehen aus dem Kriegsgebiet

STERN: Im Nordwesten Pakistans liefert sich die Armee erbitterte Kämpfe mit den Taliban. Nach Angaben des Welternährungsprogramms sind deshalb 600.000 Zivilisten auf der Flucht. Örtliche Behörden sprechen sogar von einer Million Flüchtlingen.

Hunderttausende Zivilisten sind im Nordwesten Pakistans auf der Flucht vor Kämpfen zwischen pakistanischen Sicherheitskräften und den Taliban. Das Welternährungsprogramm (WFP) rechnete am Dienstag mit 600.000 bedürftigen Menschen in der Region, während örtliche Behördenvertreter die Zahl der Vertriebenen auf bis zu eine Million schätzten. Die pakistanische Armee startete am Dienstag eine neue Offensive. >>> AFP | Dienstag, 28. April 2009

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Pakistan : l'armée lance une offensive contre des talibans

LE FIGARO: Jusqu'à un million de personnes ont pris les routes de l'exode pour fuir ces combats.

Deux jours après une première contre-attaque initiée dimanche dans le district du Lower Dir, l'armée pakistanaise a annoncé mardi qu'elle avait entamé mardi la reconquête de Buner, un autre lieu hautement symbolique, situé à une centaine de km d'Islamabad.

«L'objectif est l'élimination ou l'expulsion» des 400 à 500 «combattants islamistes», a expliqué le général Athar Abbas, porte-parole de l'armée pakistanaise.

La semaine dernière, les talibans avaient déclenché un tollé dans la communauté internationale mais aussi dans l'opinion publique pakistanaise en s'emparant de Buner, au mépris d'un accord de cessez-le-feu signé en février avec le gouvernement, qui avait concédé, en échange, l'instauration de tribunaux islamiques dans la région. >>> lefigaro.fr (avec AFP) | Mardi 28 Avril 2009
Reporter treten für inhaftierte Journalistin in Hungerstreik

DIE PRESSE: Roxana Saberi war von einem iranischen Gericht zu acht Jahren Haft verurteilt worden. Mehr als ein Dutzend Mitglieder von "Reporter ohne Grenzen" sind nun wie Saberi selbst in Hungerstreik getreten. >>> Ag | Dienstag, 28. April 2009
Margaret Thatcher's Election Victory (1979)

Thatcher and Reagan: The Transatlantic Relationship

Margaret Thatcher: Free Society Speech (1975)

Margaret Thatcher on Terrorism

Margaret Thatcher on Socialism

Simon Heffer: You Had to Be There to Grasp the Scale of Margaret Thatcher's Revolution

THE TELEGRAPH: As a first-time voter in 1979, Simon Heffer recalls the euphoria that greeted a new dawn for Britain.

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Margaret Thatcher brought the country back to life in 1979. Photo: Google Images

We are victims of our upbringing. Anyone coming to political consciousness as I did in the 1970s will understand why Mrs Thatcher happened, whether we support what she did or not. I have always struggled to see what there was not to support. The country in which I spent my teens was a catastrophe. Socialists of all stamps – and I mean Heath as well as Callaghan and Wilson – had impoverished it and stunted the ambition of our people. When I hear those in their 20s or early 30s trot out the received line on the person they call "Thatcher", I think: if you were not there, and you have not taken the trouble to explore in depth what life was like for those of us who were, you cannot properly understand.

The six or seven years before she won her revolutionary victory in May 1979 formed a litany of failure and embarrassment. Once Heath lost control of the economy, after he allowed the money supply to grow at 30 per cent in 1972-73 (with the predictable 27 per cent inflation by 1975), only a revolution was going to solve the problem. Heath went out in March 1974 sounding the note that would resound through Britain for the following five years: that elected government, having forced a confrontation with the largely undemocratic forces of trades unionism, would (pending further developments) always take second place to it. It was that even more than the inflation that brought Britain to its knees two-and-a-half years into Labour's rule. >>> By Simon Heffer | Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Obama Secures Senate Super-majority after Republican Arlen Specter Defects

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Arlen Specter, who said the Republican party was now too right wing. Photo courtesy of TimesOnline

TIMESONLINE: Democrats today were set to secure a 60-seat super-majority in the US Senate for the first time in a generation after the dramatic defection from Republican ranks of Arlen Specter.

The five-term Pennsylvania Senator announced at lunchtime after a brief conversation with President Obama that he will run for re-election next year as a Democrat because "the Republican Party has moved far to the right".

His decision means that Democrats should now have the votes needed to overcome delaying tactics known as filibusters in the Senate if, as expected, Al Franken overcomes final legal challenges preventing him from taking his seat after a razor-thin election victory in Minnesota.

"I have decided to run for re-election in 2010 in the Democratic primary," said 79-year-old Mr Specter, in a statement. "I am ready, willing and anxious to take on all comers and have my candidacy for re-election determined in a general election."

He added: "Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans." >>> Tom Baldwin in Washington | Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Muslim-owned Shop Bans Customers Wearing Veils

THE TELEGRAPH: A Muslim-owned jewellery shop has decided to ban customers wearing veils after being targeted by robbers disguised as Islamic women.

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Muslim women in a niqab will be encouraged to telephone in advance to ensure that a female member of staff is present during their visit, to confirm their identities. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph

Everyone entering ATAA Jewellers in Glasgow must reveal their faces under planned new rules to protect staff from further attacks.

The store owners decided to act after two Asian men wearing traditional Muslim women's clothes – including niqab veils – made away with thousands of pounds worth of jewellery earlier this month.

The pair, who were also carrying handbags, pretended to be interested in buying some items but attacked staff with pepper spray when cabinets were unlocked.

Now the Sadiq family who run the shop are planning to put up a sign informing customers that they cannot wear any headgear that covers the face. >>> By Matthew Moore | Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Three Cleared of Helping July 7 London Bombers

THE TELEGRAPH: Three men - Mohammed Shakil, Sadeer Saleem and Waheed Ali - have been cleared of helping the July 7 bombers plan their attacks.


The three men, all from Beeston in Leeds, who have been acquitted by a jury, were the only people ever to be charged in relation to the bombings of July 2005.

They had been accused of conducting a "hostile reconnaissance" mission for the bombers seven months before the attacks.

They were joined by two of the bombers as they travelled to King's Cross, along with the London Eye and Natural History Museum, eight days before Christmas in December 2004.

Objects belonging to each of the men were also found in the flat used as a bomb factory in the area of Hyde Park, Leeds.

All three had also been on training camps in Pakistan with Mohammed Sidique Khan, the leader of the bombers, the last just months before the attacks.

Two of the men, Waheed Ali and Mohammed Shakil, were convicted of conspiracy to attend a place used for terrorist training after they were arrested on their way to Manchester airport in 2007.

But Ali, Shakil and Sadeer Saleem were all cleared of conspiracy to cause explosions. >>> By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent | Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Abbas Refuses to Recognise Israel as a Jewish State

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Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas. Photo courtesy of The Sydney Morning Herald

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Monday rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's demand to recognise Israel as a Jewish state.

"A Jewish state, what is that supposed to mean?" Abbas asked in a speech in the West Bank's political capital of Ramallah. "You can call yourselves as you like, but I don't accept it and I say so publicly."

Abbas said the topic was "extensively discussed" and rejected by the Palestinians during a November 2007 international conference in Annapolis, near Washington, at which the two sides relaunched peace negotiations.

Netanyahu has demanded the Palestinians recognise Israel as a Jewish state as part of an eventual peace deal. >>> AFP | Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Obama in Swine Flu Scare

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Barack Obama. Photo courtesy of the Daily Express

DAILY EXPRESS: BARACK Obama met a Mexican archaeologist who died less than two weeks later from symptoms similar to swine flu. >>> By Jo Willey, Daily Express Health Correspondent | Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Pakistan Warns Taliban to Quit Buner or Face Action

REUTERS: ISLAMABAD - Pakistan warned the Taliban on Tuesday it would expand a military offensive to Buner, a district around 100 km (60 miles) northwest of Islamabad, if the guerrillas did not withdraw from the area.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said around 450 Taliban were reported to have sneaked into Buner on Monday.

"I warn them to vacate the area. We are not going to spare them," he told reporters.

"Action will be taken if anyone tries to block our efforts to re-establish writ of the government in Buner and other areas," he said. >>> Reporting by Zeeshan Haider; Editing by David Fox | Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Politische Krise: Iranisch-israelische Zitrusfrucht-Verschwörung

WELT ONLINE: In Teheran aufgetauchtes Obst hat eine politische Krise ausgelöst. Der Verdacht: "Skrupellose Händler" haben die Frucht des "kleinen Satans", wie Israel von den Mullahs gerne genannt wird, in den Iran eingeschleust. Nun macht das Wort von der Zitrusfrucht-Verschwörung die Runde.

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Reife Jaffa-Orangen aus Israel. Die Fruchtsorte wird auch Shamouti genannt. Bild dank der Welt

Eigentlich ist es erstaunlich, dass die Pomelo und ihre kleine Schwester, die „Sweetie“, nicht populärer sind. Schließlich bieten die israelischen Rückkreuzungen von Grapefruit und Pampelmuse entscheidende Vorteile: Man kann die Haut um die einzelnen
Fruchtsegmente entfernen, ohne nasse Hände zu bekommen. Außerdem sind sie süßer, weil sie weniger Bitterstoffe enthalten.

Nun jedoch haben in Teheran aufgetauchte „Sweeties“ eine politische Krise ausgelöst. Der Verdacht: „Skrupellose“ Händler haben die Frucht des „kleinen Satans“, wie Israel von den Mullahs gerne genannt wird, in den Iran eingeschleust. Dort macht das Wort von der Zitrusfruchtverschwörung die Runde, weil auf den Märkten der Hauptstadt Früchte mit dem Aufkleber „Jaffa Sweetie Israel PO“ verkauft wurden. >>> Von Clemens Wergin | Montag, 27. April 2009
Alert! Prince Charles Warns of 'New Dark Age'

So Prince Charles is talking of the possibility of a “new Dark Age”, eh? One can only wonder where he got this idea from!

Prince Charles is referring to the possibility of a “new Dark Age” because of environmental catastrophes. As we all know, he is a dedicated ‘green earth man’, and he is a dedicated ‘lover of Islam’, too!

But still, I am curious that he should have chosen the expression, a “new Dark Age”, since this is the title of my book.
– Mark Alexander, author of The Dawning of a New Dark Age.


THE TELEGRAPH: Prince Charles warned that the world risked plunging into a "new Dark Age" unless urgent action was taken on climate change, during his first meeting with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican.

The heir to the throne said the global economic crisis was "nothing" compared with the "horror" of global warming.

Flanked by Swiss Guards in ceremonial uniforms, the Prince of Wales met Benedict for a 15 minute reception in the Pontiff's private apartments – his first Papal audience since his divorce from Princess Diana and subsequent remarriage.

He was accompanied by his wife Camilla, who wore a black dress and a black lace veil, in keeping with Vatican protocol, and appeared nervous in the presence of the Pope. >>> By Nick Squires in Rome | Monday, April 27, 2009
Barack Obama's Presidential Plane Causes Panic in New York


TIMESONLINE: It was an image New Yorkers never wanted to see again: a jumbo jet trailed by two fighter jets buzzing dangerously close to the city’s most famous landmarks.

On Monday morning a 747 and two military planes circled the Statue of Liberty and flew close to the World Trade Centre site, causing panic among locals in New York. Residents and office workers evacuated buildings and ran onto the streets, fearing a repeat of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, in which two hijacked airliners smashed into the World Trade Centre, killing almost 3,000 people.

But the flyover was nothing but a photo opportunity involving one of Barack Obama’s official presidential airplanes, apparently one of a series of flights to get pictures of the plane in front of national landmarks.

The flyover – carried out with little warning by the US defence department – was branded as “insensitive” by New York mayor Michael Bloomberg. President Obama, who was not on the plane at the time, was reportedly furious when told of the flight by White House staff. >>> Sophie Tedmanson | Tuesday, April 28, 2009
This Stupid, Irresponsible Government! Pupils Aged 11 to Learn about Gay Sex

TIMESONLINE: Compulsory sex and relationships lessons for 11-year-old children are to include classroom discussions on gay unions and civil partnerships. Secondary pupils will learn about contraception and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), while primary school children will learn about their bodies and friendships, a review of sex education has concluded.

The review was ordered in October after ministers announced that sex and relationships education (SRE) lessons should be made compulsory to help primary and secondary pupils to “navigate the complexities of modern life” and to ensure that children learnt their sex education from the classroom, not the playground.

The changes to personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) classes mark the culmination of decades of campaigning by sexual health organisations, who believe that the patchy nature of sex education in schools is helping to fuel a record level of teenage pregnancy and STIs in England. >>> Alexandra Frean, Education Editor | Tuesday, April 28, 2009

THE GUARDIAN: Faith Schools Free to Preach against Homosexuality

Government plans include sex education for all pupils / Catholic schools welcome clause on teaching 'values'

Sex education is to be made compulsory in all state schools in England but faith schools will also be free to preach against sex outside marriage and homosexuality, under government proposals.

The plans to make personal, social and health education (PSHE) compulsory from the age of five, published yesterday, include a clause allowing schools to apply their "values" to the lessons and another allowing parents to opt their children out on religious grounds.

It means that all state secondaries in England - including faith schools - will for the first time have to teach a core curriculum about sex and contraception in the context of teenagers' relationships, but teachers in religious schools will also be free to tell them that sex outside marriage, homosexuality or using contraception are wrong. Sexual health campaigners warned that such an approach could confuse teenagers, but Catholic schools welcomed the move. >>> Polly Curtis, The Guardian’s education editor | Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Pakistan's President Says Osama bin Laden Could Be Dead

THE TELEGRAPH: Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari has raised the prospect that Osama bin Laden could be dead after he said that intelligence officials could find "no trace" of the al-Qaeda chief.

He said that neither his own advisers in Pakistan nor US intelligence agencies had detected any trace of the al-Qaeda leader since Al Jazeera television broadcast an audio recording of his voice in March.

But even then, unlike on previous occasions the authenticity of the voice purporting to be bin Laden was not confirmed by the CIA.

There have been regular reports of bin Laden's ill health, notably speculation about his kidneys failing. Mr Zardari said his own advisers believed there was substance to the rumours.

"The question is whether he is alive or dead. There is no trace of him," he said. >>> By Dean Nelson and Emal Khan in Peshawar | Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Karzai Backs Down over ‘Abhorrent’ Marital Rape Law

TIMESONLINE: President Karzai bowed to international pressure yesterday by promising to amend a new law condoning marital rape and child marriage that provoked violent clashes in the Afghan capital.

The Shia Family Law, signed by the Afghan President last month, appeared to reintroduce the draconian policies of the Taleban era, such as a ban on married women leaving their homes without their husbands’ permission. The law applies to the 15 per cent of Afghans who are Shia Muslims.

At a press conference in Kabul yesterday Mr Karzai said: “The law is under review and amendments will take place. I assure you that the laws of Afghanistan will be in complete harmony with the constitution of Afghanistan, and the human rights that we have adhered to in international treaties.” >>> Tom Coghlan in Kabul | Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Gordon Brown, Our Refined Prime Minister!