Silvio Berlusconi Faces Fight for Career as Top Italian Court Strips PM of Immunity
TIMES ONLINE: Silvio Berlusconi was fighting for his political survival last night after he was stripped of his immunity from prosecution. The dramatic ruling will reopen several criminal trials against the Italian Prime Minister and could lead to the collapse of his government.

After two days of tense anticipation, the 15 judges of the Constitutional Court finally emerged to deliver a damning decision that will thrust the billionaire into a series of trials for fraud, corruption, tax evasion and bribery. The court’s ruling on constitutional issues is final and there can be no appeal. >>> Lucy Bannerman in Rome | Thursday, October 08, 2009

Turkey: Erdogan in Trouble
Photo of Recep Tayyip Erdogan courtesy of the BBC
BBC: Turkey's chief prosecutor has appeared before the country's Constitutional Court calling for the governing party to be closed down.

Founded by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Justice and Development Party, the AKP, won a landslide victory in the last election.

But its critics say it is trying to impose Sharia law on the secular state.

The party's attempt to ease a ban on the wearing of the Islamic headscarf is expected to be central to the evidence.

Prosecutor Abdurraham Yalcinkaya, who has argued that the party has become the focal point of anti-secular activities in Turkey, is appearing before judges in a closed-door session.

"This risk has been increasing every day" reads the 162-page petition submitted to the Constitutional Court by Mr Yalcinkaya.

"The danger is clear and concrete. There is no other way to protect society than to close the party down," it reads.

He is calling for the prime minister, president and 69 other party members to be banned from politics.

The AKP has condemned the case as an assault on democracy. A team representing the party are expected to present their defence on Thursday.

The EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has warned the case could jeopardise Turkey's bid to join the bloc - arguing such disputes should be resolved through the ballot box, not the courts. Turkish Ruling Party Put on Trial >>> | July 1, 2008

LISTEN TO BBC RADIO:
The AK Party won the last election in Turkey by a landslide, but its roots are in political Islam. Now Turkey's chief prosecutor is to give evidence to the country's constitutional court calling for the governing party to be closed down. The prosecutor claims it is trying to impose sharia law on Turkey, which is a strictly secular state >>> Sarah Rainsford reports | July 1, 2008

VOICE OF AMERICA:
Case Against Turkey's Ruling Party Gets Under Way: Turkey's constitutional court has begun hearing a case calling for the ruling Justice and Development Party to be shut down on the charge of undermining the secular state. The prosecutors are asking the court to disband the party and ban the prime minister and president from politics. As Dorian Jones reports for VOA from Istanbul, just as the case got started, Turkish authorities arrested more than 20 hardline nationalists, including two retired generals >>> By Dorian Jones, Istanbul | July 1, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (US) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (US) >>>

Bar Owners in Germany Complain about Lost Income: Will Germany's Constitutional Court Overturn Smoking Ban?
’The Marlboro Man’ courtesy of Google Images
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Germany's Constitutional Court is due to consider this week three complaints put forward against the country's smoking ban by bar owners. The court may well rule that smoking should once again be allowed in small bars and discos.

The walls are covered with posters of Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Johnny Cash, the ads are for whisky, vodka and tequila, the music coming from the loudspeakers is by Cat Stevens, Jethro Tull and Blue Öyster Cult, and clouds of cigarette smoke float through the room.

Sylvia Thimm, 45, has been the owner of Doors, a bar in Berlin's fashionable Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood, for the past six years. She is proud of her dimly lit haven. "I'm not just selling beer here," she says. "I'm selling an attitude to life."

But Thimm fears that all of that could soon end. Seventy percent of her patrons are smokers, and in Berlin, smoking is banned (more...) in all bars that have no separate room for smokers. Thimm is still allowing smokers to enjoy their habit in her 34-square-meter (366-square-foot) bar, and fines are not yet being handed out to violators in Berlin. But all of that will change on July 1, when the grace period for enforcement of the city's new anti-smoking law comes to an end.

Many of her patrons have indicated that if they aren't even allowed to smoke at Doors, they'll stay at home or go someplace else. Thimm still doesn't know what she'll do when that happens. "Then I'll have to come up with a Plan B," she says. "I'll probably have to look for a different job."

But because she likes her current occupation, Thimm has taken it upon herself to challenge Berlin's smoking ban before Germany's Federal Constitutional Court. The court's decision could prove to be the salvation of Thimm's pub. This Wednesday, the justices in the southwestern city of Karlsruhe will hear three out of roughly 30 pending constitutional complaints regarding smoking bans. Silvia Thimm's is one of them. Will Germany's Constitutional Court Overturn Smoking Ban? >>> By Dietmar Hipp | June 10, 2008

SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL:
The Irony of Holland’s Smoking Ban >>> By Frederik Hartig | June 11, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – Canada)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback – Canada)