Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Why Are We Promoting Islamicism?
THE INDEPENDENT – AN EXTRACT: The biggest import from Pakistan today is jihadism. That ideology was, for decades, given succour by our government. Democratic, progressive Muslims fearfully witness the consequences of that engagement. We are told to be more vocally pro-British. That would be easier if our political masters were not guilty of duplicitous transactions that undercut the Britishness we admire and look up to.

Support for Islamicist terrorism is growing partly because more and more Muslims can see how the West plays its games – no rules, no accountability – and partly because it happily does business with Muslim despots and villains. Successive British governments have backed regressive Muslim movements and nations from the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt to Saudi Arabia, arguably the world's most dangerous Islamic realm. The rulers of that kingdom are today our old best friends despite evidence showing the Saudis are funding Salafism across the globe. That Islamicist ideology is causing untold damage to the spirit of Islam, and spreads – but unlike the BP oil, our politicians do not believe they need to disable the source.

Domestic relations between Muslims and the state are built on the same dodgy model. Some key departmental British Muslim advisers follow Abul ala Maududi, a Pakistani revivalist, founder of the fanatical Jamat-i-Islam which fantasises about worldwide domination. Nobody checked how that determined the advice given. The Muslim Council of Britain, still excessively influential, has among its affiliates groups which promote Saudi religious ideologies. The result is all around us: enlightened Islam is pushed out, and in march the bearded and veiled ones with the blessings of the state. Read it all and comment >>> Yasmin Alibhai-Brown | Monday, June 28, 2010

The Golfing President
MAIL ONLINE: Barack Obama has been criticised for continuing to play golf while oil spills into the Gulf of Mexico.

He has played at least seven times since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, creating America’s biggest environmental disaster.

Having already racked up 39 games since taking office, Mr Obama is approaching the record as the U.S. President spending the most time on the golf course.

Republican Party chairman Michael Steele has called on the President to stop playing until the oil leak has been curbed.

Steele said he was outraged ‘that President Obama finds himself on yet another golf course as oil continues to spew into the Gulf’.

Democrat Senator Bill Nelson said Mr Obama needs to have a ‘higher command and control operation’. You're playing too much golf during oil spill, Barack Obama is told >>> Daily Mail Reporter | Monday, June 28, 2010

US-Israeli Relations Suffer 'Tectonic Rift'
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: A senior Israeli diplomat has warned that the Jewish state's relationship with the United States has suffered a "tectonic rift".

Barack Obama and the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office. Photo: The Telegraph
The sobering assessment comes a week before Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, meets President Barack Obama at the White House.

There had been hope the two could lay to rest a row that erupted between the two allies in March but the new comments have raised fears of long-term damage.

Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador to Washington, told foreign ministry colleagues at a private briefing in Jerusalem that they were facing a long and potentially irrevocable estrangement.

Sources said Mr Oren told the meeting: "There is no crisis in Israel-US relations because in a crisis there are ups and downs. [Instead] relations are in a state of tectonic rift in which continents are drifting apart."

Mr Oren's privately-voiced pessimism stands in stark contrast to public declarations in both Jerusalem and Washington that differences between the two states amount to nothing more than "disagreements" between allies. >>> Adrian Blomfield in Jerusalem | Sunday, June 27, 2010

Internet Porn Billionaire to Take Over Le Monde
THE TELEGRAPH: Le Monde's journalists' association, the paper's main shareholder, have voted for the daily to be taken over by three French investors who President Nicolas Sarkozy sought to block.

The consortium is made up of Pierre Berge, ex-partner of the late fashion designer Yves Saint-Laurent, Lazard banker Matthieu Pigasse and internet tycoon Xavier Niel.

Mr Niel made his fortune on internet pornography, chat lines and peep shows.

The trio have promised journalists at the paper a "blocking" vote on future changes and complete editorial independence.

The journalists' association voted 90 per cent in favour of their bid and rejected an offer by a group that includes France Telecom subsidiary Orange, the Nouvel Observateur group and Spain's Prisa, which owns El Pais newspaper.

The newspaper is expected to make its final decision on the offer by the end of the month.

Le Monde, France's flagship daily, is being crushed by a mountain of debt and put out a call to investors capable of injecting between 80 and 120 million euros to come to its aid. >>> | Monday, June 28, 2010

The Nation Is in Deep Debt and Stiglitz Calls for Profligacy! Osborne's First Budget? It's Wrong, Wrong, Wrong!
THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY: Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel prizewinner who predicted the global crisis, delivers his verdict on the Chancellor's first Budget and tells Paul Vallely it will take the UK deeper into recession and hit millions – the poorest – badly

George Osborne will probably not be very bothered that there is a man who thinks he got last week's emergency Budget almost entirely wrong. But he should be. Because that man is a former chief economist at the World Bank who won the Nobel Prize for Economics for his work on why markets do not produce the outcomes which, in theory, they ought to.

Professor Joseph Stiglitz, who has been described as the biggest brain in economics, is distinctly unimpressed by George Osborne's strategy. This, he predicts, will make Britain's recovery from recession longer, slower and harder than it needs to be. The rise in VAT could even tip us into a double-dip recession.

Stiglitz, who was once Bill Clinton's senior economic adviser, is now professor of economics and finance at Columbia Business School. He was in the UK this week at the University of Manchester, where he chairs the Brooks World Poverty Institute, but he lifted his head from the detail of international development to scrutinise the economic strategy of the Conservative Chancellor whose Liberal Democrat partners recently reversed their judgement that massive public spending cuts now would endanger the economy and joined in the Tory slash-and-burn strategy. They were deeply wrong to do so, he believes. Continue reading and comment >>> | Sunday, June 27, 2010

Pope Causes Outrage for Condemning Church Abuse Raids in Belgium
THE GUARDIAN: Victims groups say Vatican criticism of police shameful, as pontiff calls raid deplorable and demands church role in investigations

I want to express … my sadness, in which, certain surprising and deplorable methods, searches were carried out,' says the pope. Photograph: The Guardian
Groups representing the victims of clerical abuse tonight expressed outrage after the pope criticised raids on the Catholic church by Belgian police.

Last week, police raided the home of a retired bishop, opened the grave of at least one archbishop and detained Belgium's nine current serving bishops as they met, seizing their mobile phones and only releasing them after nine hours.

Pope Benedict described the raids by officers investigating abuse claims as "surprising and deplorable" and demanded that the church be allowed a role in inquiries into child molesters in its ranks.

In a message to the head of the Belgian bishops' conference, Monsignor André-Joseph Léonard, the pontiff condemned the raids and offered his support to the bishops "in this sad moment".

"I want to express, dear brother in the episcopate, as well as to all the bishops of Belgium, my closeness and solidarity in this moment of sadness, in which, with certain surprising and deplorable methods, searches were carried out," he said.

"I hope that justice will follow its course while guaranteeing the rights of individuals and institutions, respecting the rights of victims, [and] acknowledging those who undertake to collaborate with it."

The Vatican has also protested to Belgium's ambassador to the Holy See. Yesterday, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, said: "There are no precedents for this, not even under communist regimes." >>> Tom Kington in Rome | Sunday, June 27, 2010

Hamas Warns Palestinians Against Collaborating with Israel
THE GUARDIAN: Gaza campaign includes posters, murals, radio broadcasts and religious speeches, and runs alongside amnesty for informants

A mural painted by Hamas on a wall in Gaza depicts the consequences of collaboration with Israel. Photograph: The Guardian
Hamas has launched a campaign warning Palestinians in Gaza against collaborating with Israel following the execution of two alleged informants in April.

Posters and murals have appeared across Gaza City, graphically depicting the consequences of providing information to Israeli intelligence. Some include images of nooses, while others warn that "your people's blood will be on your hands".

The Campaign Against Collaborating with the Enemy, which also includes speeches by religious clerics, radio programmes and advertisements and newspaper articles, is running alongside an amnesty for informants which ends on 10 July.

"We are educating people with the aim of reducing or eliminating collaboration," said Abu Abdullah Lafi, who is in charge of the campaign for the de facto Hamas government's interior ministry.

The problem, he said, was not widespread, but Israel was making intensive efforts to recruit informants. "The blockade has created a new scale of people who are unemployed. The IDF [Israeli military] is calling them, offering dollars in exchange for small amounts of information. First they ask who are your friends, neighbours, who is in Fatah or Hamas."

Eventually they demand information that will allow them to carry out assassinations, he said. Lafi declined to give details on how many people had turned themselves in, saying the information was "very confidential". >>> Harriet Sherwood in Gaza City | Sunday, June 27, 2010

L'Iran a assez d'uranium pour fabriquer deux bombes
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: L'Iran dispose de suffisamment d'uranium faiblement enrichi "pour fabriquer deux armes" nucléaires, a déclaré dimanche le patron de la CIA Leon Panetta. >>> AFP | Dimanche 27 Juin 2010

Westerwelle reist in den Gaza-Streifen
ZEIT ONLINE: Kehrtwende oder politisches Manöver? Israel hat überraschend mehreren europäischen Außenministern einen Besuch im Gaza-Streifen angeboten. Bundesaußenminister Westerwelle nahm die Einladung an.

Bundesaußenminister Guido Westerwelle (FDP) und mehrere seiner europäischen Amtskollegen sind wenige Tage nach dem Einreiseverbot für Entwicklungsminister Dirk Niebel (FDP) von der israelischen Regierung in den Gaza-Streifen eingeladen worden. Westerwelle will die Einladung annehmen. Mit der Lockerung der diplomatischen Blockade habe Israel einen "Politikwechsel in Sachen Gaza eingeleitet", sagte der Außenminister. "Wenn man bedenkt, was die israelische Regierung damit auch innenpolitisch schultert, so ist das etwas, was man nur sehr begrüßen kann." Er sprach von einer "sehr guten Entwicklung, bei der auch Europa eine Rolle gespielt hat".

Die israelische Regierung hat bislang keine offizielle Stellungnahme zu der Einladung abgegeben. Nahost-Kenner sprechen von einer radikalen Kehrtwende in der bisherigen Gaza-Politik Israels. Ziel der Einladung ist es Berichten zufolge, die Außenminister davon zu überzeugen, dass es im Gaza-Streifen keine humanitäre Krise gibt. UN-Hilfsorganisationen zeichnen schon seit Jahren ein düsteres Bild der Situation im Palästinensergebiet. Die Menschen lebten in bitterer Armut, viele seien arbeitslos und von ausländischer Hilfe abhängig. Weiter lesen und einen Kommentar schreiben >>> Zeit Online, dpa | Freitag, 25. Juni 2010

Envoy: Obama Is America’s “Educator-in-Chief on Islam,” Will Support Criminalizing Defamation
CREEPING SHARIA: It ain’t creeping any more. It’s bulldozing. Remember Rashad Hussain is the self-admitted terrorist defending Muslim that the White House lied for. Now Hussain, with Barack Hussein’s support, will be pushing for globalized Islamic sharia law via the Islamic blasphemy law being pushed at the UN by the OIC.

Rashad Hussain, America’s special envoy to the Organization for the Islamic Conference (OIC), the Saudi-based body formed in 1969 to “protect” Jerusalem from the Israelis, announced a new title this week for President Barack Obama. According to Hussain, Obama is America’s “Educator-in-Chief on Islam.”

Hussain so designated Obama in a keynote speech Wednesday, June 23, at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The occasion was another “post-Cairo” conference, following on the event that welcomed Islamist ideologue Tariq Ramadan to Washington in April. Hussain also declared that Obama is “Educator-in-Chief” on the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which has produced diplomatic and political events around the capital for some years. Hussain affirmed with satisfaction that presidential iftar dinners, where the fast is broken after sundown, and which had formerly been limited to diplomats from Muslim countries, now welcomed American Muslims from throughout society.

In his remarks, Hussain also congratulated Obama for sending Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser, to last year’s annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America, a notorious front for Saudi-financed Muslim radicalism. Worse, Hussain has now divulged that the U.S. will support the OIC in the latter’s United Nations effort to criminalize “defamation of religion” – widely perceived as a measure to suppress criticism of Muslim practices that violate human rights. ”The OIC and the Obama administration will work together in the UN on the issue of defamation of religion, especially in Europe,” said Hussain. Write a comment >>> Posted by Creeping | Friday, June 25, 2010

Read the whole article here

Day Dawns for G20 Discussion After Night of Protests and Arrests
Police officers on Queen Street West (Toronto) Saturday night. Photograph: The Globe and Mail
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Vigil at detention centre broken up by police; more than 400 arrested Saturday as storefronts vandalized, at least three police cars burned

More than 400 people have been arrested in connection with G20-related protests, and skirmishes between riot police and protesters continued into the early morning Sunday in downtown Toronto, only hours before leaders of the G20 are scheduled to begin their summit.

Police officers, with batons out, were searching bushes around a University of Toronto building near Russell Street and Spadina Avenue, in what appeared to be a major raid. At least two police buses were on the scene, along with more than 10 other police vehicles, mostly unmarked minivans. One bus was a "prisoner bus," a police officer said.

Several dozen police officers were searching trash cans. At least two people were seen with handcuffs on. More than 50 people had been arrested for wielding "street-type weaponry", such as bricks, police said. Some of thopse arrested looked much older than typical university students. The raid was at the Bancroft Building, the Earth Science Centre and the Graduate Students Centre.

After more than 14 hours of sometimes-violent confrontations between protesters and officers, the downtown core was largely quiet; discarded water bottles and plastic zip-tie handcuffs littered streets that had been the scenes of standoffs hours before. >>> Anna Mehler Paperny and Chris Hannay | Sunday, June 27, 2010

G20 Protesters Take to Toronto Streets


Police Cars Ablaze at G20

World on Economic ‘Tightrope:’ Harper
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Summit turns to dilemma of sustaining growth versus cutbacks

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Photograph: The Globe and Mail
Group of 20 leaders meeting in Toronto Sunday will try to come up with an agreement on fiscal belt-tightening that finds the right balance between telling markets they are serious about cutting deficits and debt, and keeping the global economy from backsliding.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper opened the second day of talks by saying the summit must strike the proper balance between sustaining economic growth and pulling back fiscal deficits.

“Here is the tightrope we must walk,” Mr. Harper said. “To sustain the recovery, it is imperative that we follow through on existing stimulus plans. At the same time, advanced countries must send a clear message that as our stimulus plans expire, we will focus on getting our fiscal houses in order.”

Separately Sunday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters the summit leaders will agree to Mr. Harper’s call for countries to slash their budget deficits by half by 2013.

“This will be part of the final document,” she said. Continue reading and comment >>> Jeremy Torobin | Sunday, June 27, 2010

La Gay Pride attire des milliers de personnes
20 MINUTES: Des milliers de personnes ont participé samedi à la Gay Pride à Mexico, saluant la décision historique prise par la capitale il y a six mois d'autoriser le mariage homosexuel.

Durant trois heures, une foule en liesse, à bord de chars colorés ou à pied, a descendu l'avenue de la Réforme, principale artère de Mexico, avant de se rassembler devant le Palais des Beaux-Arts, dans la partie plus ancienne de la ville.

«Nous sommes ici pour célébrer le fait que nous sommes dans une ville qui ne fait pas de discrimination ou ne pratique pas le mépris mais respecte les homosexuels, qui nous permet de nous marier, de travailler et de nous tenir la main dans la rue», a déclaré à l'AFP Orlando Garcia, en marchant main dans la main avec son compagnon.

La municipalité de Mexico, dominée par la gauche, a approuvé le 21 décembre le mariage homosexuel et ouvert la voie à l'adoption par des couples homosexuels. >>> ats | Dimanche 27 Juin 2010

La junte birmane cherche à se doter de l'arme nucléaire
Dans la capitale birmane, Naypyidaw, le général Than Shwe passe en revue les troupes, lors du traditionnel Jour des Forces armées birmanes,le 27 mars dernier. Photo : Le Figaro
LE FIGARO: Des militaires ayant fui le régime fournissent les preuves d'un programme ambitieux qui vise à défier l'Amérique.

Longtemps une énigme pour les experts, les ambitions nucléaires de la Birmanie sont aujourd'hui démasquées. Au terme de cinq ans d'enquête, la Voix démocratique de la Birmanie (DVB), une chaîne d'opposition basée à Oslo, qui dispose d'un réseau étoffé de journalistes travaillant dans la clandestinité, révèle dans un documentaire les sombres desseins de l'une des pires dictatures de la planète.

La précision des témoignages de plusieurs haut gradés de l'armée birmane et les milliers de photos d'équipement, de maquettes, de prototypes, de plans, de dessins et autres documents classifiés qu'ils fournissent, «permettent d'affirmer pour la première fois, que les généraux tentent de fabriquer des missiles et d'enrichir de l'uranium», constate Bertil Lintner, l'un des meilleurs experts de la Birmanie. «Ils veulent vraiment fabriquer une bombe, c'est leur principal objectif», affirme à la DVB le lieutenant Sai Thein Win, qui a récemment déserté. Formé en Russie comme dix mille autres Birmans, l'ingénieur militaire, spécialiste des missiles, travaillait au «secret le mieux gardé de Birmanie». Jamais de telles images n'étaient sorties du pays.

Cachée dans la jungle montagneuse, protégée par un ordre de tir à vue, l'usine de Myaing, équipée par deux sociétés allemandes, serait utilisée pour mettre au point des missiles de longue portée. Plus au nord, le village de Thabeikkyin abriterait le quartier général d'un bataillon nucléaire. Là le régime entreprendrait la construction d'un réacteur et l'enrichissement de l'uranium.

Robert Kelley, ancien inspecteur et directeur de l'Agence internationale à l'énergie atomique (AIEA), qui a examiné le dossier exfiltré par le transfuge, estime que «la Birmanie est bel et bien engagée dans un programme d'armement nucléaire», mais qu'elle est «loin de pouvoir se doter de la bombe atomique». Continuez à lire et écrire un commentaire >>> Par Florence Compain | Vendredi 25 Juin 2010

Knesset Thanks Hamas leader's Son for Contribution to Israel
HAARETZ: In its letter the Knesset committee noted that from 1998 to 2007 Mosab Hassan Yousef helped improve the security of Israelis and Palestinians by guiding the Shin Bet to thwart terror attacks.

The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee sent a letter of thanks recently to Mosab Hassan Yousef, who for a decade was an important source of intelligence for the Shin Bet security service source. Yousef's father, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, was a Hamas leader in the West Bank.

In its letter the committee noted that from 1998 to 2007 Yousef helped to improve the security of Israelis and Palestinians by guiding the Shin Bet to thwart terror attacks and the murder of innocent people, showing great courage, reliability and determination. The letter said that the committee found it particularly moving that although Yousef was raised in a home and in an environment steeped in the militant vision of Hamas he had found the strength to sanctify life and peace and to eschew violence, incitement and terror. >>> Avi Issacharoff | Sunday, June 27, 2010

Mosab Yousef: Islam Is a Lie


God of Islam Is [the] 'Biggest Terrorist'

Diane Abbott Fumes After Being Branded a Racist on TV by This Week Host Andrew Neill
MAIL ON SUNDAY: Labour leadership contender Diane Abbott was seething after being branded a ‘racist’ and an expenses cheat by political pundit Andrew Neil.

Left-winger Ms Abbott was savaged by Mr Neil on his late-night BBC show This Week over her decision to send her son James to the £12,700-a-year City of London School.

Ms Abbott, who earned £36,000 a year as a regular guest on the show alongside Michael Portillo until stepping down to fight for the Labour leadership, had defended her stance, saying: ‘West Indian mums will go to the wall for their children.’

Mr Neil hit back by demanding: ‘So black mums love their kids more than white mums, do they?’

Furious Ms Abbott said: ‘I have said everything I am going to say about where I send my son to school.’

Mr Neil persisted: ‘Supposing Michael said white mums will go to the wall for their children. Why did you say that? Isn’t it a racist remark?

'If West Indian mums are as wonderful as you say, why are there so many dysfunctional West Indian families in this country? And why do so many young West Indian men end up in a life of crime and gangs?

‘You didn’t want your son to go to a school full of kids who have been brought up by West Indian mums.’

As Ms Abbott repeatedly refused to reply, Mr Neil asked: ‘Would you like to make it clear that West Indian mums are no better than white mums or Asian mums?’

When Ms Abbott, squirming in her seat, replied, ‘I have nothing to say,’ Mr Neil taunted her:
‘You don’t want to do that – you still think West Indian mums are the best?’ Continue reading and comment >>> Simon Walters, Mail on Sunday Political Editor | Sunday, June 27, 2010

Age of the Iron Fist Is Over, Says Gadaffi Jr
THE SUNDAY TIMES: Saif al-Islam, the son of Colonel Gadaffi, said the time for 'military regimes, kings, crown princes' had passed

The 38-year-old Saif is widely seen as a potential successor to his father. Photo: The Sunday Times
The son of Colonel Muammar Gadaffi, who has ruled Libya with an iron fist for more than 40 years, has declared that the country no longer needs a “great leader”.

In an interview last week, Saif al-Islam Gadaffi said the time for “military regimes, kings, crown princes” had passed.

“The future is for managers — people will elect managers and not have kings or great leaders,” he said. “People should be free to elect their own leaders. The future is for democracy. There is no other way for Libya.”

The 38-year-old champion of reform, who is widely seen as a potential successor to his father, warned that his country could face “very serious trouble” if it failed to adopt a more liberal approach to relations with the West.

Dressed in a T-shirt, jeans and trainers, he strolled into the flower garden of a friend’s villa on the outskirts of Rome and said: “Hi, I’m Saif.”

Sitting beneath a wooden gazebo near a pool surrounded by palm and cedar trees, he outlined his vision of Libya as a tolerant, 21st-century state enriched by tourism.

“I would like to make Libya the Vienna of north Africa,” he said passionately, referring to his favourite European city. Luxury hotels were already being built, he added.

Gadaffi, who studied for his PhD at the London School of Economics, smiled as he claimed that tough visa restrictions for westerners would be abolished soon, starting with the British.

Measures had also been discussed to permit the sale of alcoholic drinks to foreigners in hotels, he said. “It will happen,” he added. “We will create the right environment for tourism in Libya. If you have no drink, no visa, no hotels, nobody will come.” Continue reading and comment >>> Sara Hashash and Hala Jaber | Sunday, June 27, 2010

Mecca to Outface Big Ben with World’s Largest Clock
THE SUNDAY TIMES: A new hotel in Mecca will be the world's second-tallest building and will feature the world's largest clock face

The Mecca Royal Clock Tower hotel will be the world's second-tallest building. Photo: The Sunday Times
The world’s largest clock will be the centrepiece of a giant hotel that will dominate the skyline of Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Mecca when it opens this autumn.

The Mecca Royal Clock Tower hotel, an architectural amalgam of Big Ben and the Empire State Building, is part of a £3.3 billion complex which, at 1,939ft, will be the second tallest building in the world.

The four faces of the German-built clock, each 141ft high, will be visible from 10 miles away by day and more than seven miles at night.

It has been deliberately designed to dwarf London’s Big Ben, whose faces are 23ft high. Mohammed al-Arkubi, the hotel’s general manager said: “Putting Mecca time in the face of Greenwich mean time, this is the goal.”

The clock’s mechanism will be started in August before Ramadan and the opening of the seven-star, 800-room luxury hotel, which will cater for rich participants in the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.

The complex, built on the site of an old Ottoman fort, consists of seven towers, two helipads and a shopping centre that will open next year. Three thousand rooms and suites will go on sale, with one-room studio flats starting at £430,000.

The building is capped by a spire topped with a golden crescent.

Many of the rooms directly overlook the Kaaba, the cube-shaped granite building covered in black silk towards which every Muslim turns in daily prayer. Continue reading and comment >>> Rosie Kinchen | Sunday, June 27, 2010

Obama Meets Cameron


THE TIMES: Cameron and Obama renew the ‘special relationship’ with a beer:David Cameron and President Obama have launched their working relationship with a helicopter ride, an exchange of beers and agreement on the need to preserve BP “as an ongoing concern”. >>> Roland Watson, Giles Whittell, Toronto | Sunday, June 27, 2010

Liliane Bettencourt Sets France Agog Over Links Between Money and Power
THE TELEGRAPH: Liliane Bettencourt, heiress to the L'Oréal fortune and France's richest woman, is at the centre of a web of revelations about money, power and influence in the French Republic.

Liliane Bettencourt and her 'adoptive son' Francois-Marie Banier. Photo: The Telegraph
Liliane Bettencourt is the nearest thing the French Republic has to the Queen: regal, elegant, impeccably groomed and wealthy.

As France's richest woman, the L'Oréal heiress occupies the constitutional twilight zone where the extraordinarily privileged meet the extremely political.

In this exclusive power group – rather like a masonic lodge without the aprons – influence and favours can be traded: donations given; promises made; gongs awarded; designer-draped backs scratched discreetly over champagne and canapés.

Discreetly, that was, until Mrs Bettencourt, 87, suffered a Paul Burrell moment – a blabby majordomo who secretly taped her private conversations. Now French citizens are reeling from previously inconceivable claims that their hair-dye queen has been fiddling her tax returns, employing a top government minister's wife and involved in what, if true, smacks of plans to pervert the course of justice.

The "Butlergate" tapes have brought a new twist to the bitter legal battle between Mrs Bettencourt and her only daughter who claims her ageing mother is no longer in a fit state of mind to manage the family fortune.

On Thursday, Françoise Meyers-Bettencourt will start a private prosecution against a gay society photographer she claims took advantage of her mother's mental frailty to "manipulate" her out of €1 billion (£800 million).

François-Marie Banier, 63, the photographer, denies the charge of "abuse of weakness". He has received valuable works of art, cash and insurance policies from Mrs Bettencourt – who has also rejected the accusation, saying: "I can do what I like with my money." >>> Kim Willsher in Paris | Saturday, June 26, 2010