No prizes for guessing which religion was behind this!
THE TELEGRAPH: A British student at Yale has had to surrender his passport and could face the loss of his visa after being charged with arson and criminal mischief for setting fire to an American flag.

Farhad Anklesaria, 19, and two other students, Hyder Akbar, 23, an Afghan-born American, and Nikolaos Angelopolos, 19, a Greek, were arrested at 3am on Tuesday morning. Brit student arrested for burning US flag

Mark Alexander

Blair says no deal done with Iran
BBC: Prime Minister Tony Blair has insisted no deal was done to free 15 Royal Navy crew members, as they arrived at Heathrow after being held in Iran.

They were released "without any deal, without any negotiation, without any side agreement of any nature," he said. ’No deal done with Iran’ – Blair

WATCH BBC VIDEO: UK ‘must stand firm on Iran’

Mark Alexander

The Falklands: In Memory of the Fallen
"There was a feeling of colossal pride, of relief, that we could still do the things for which we were renowned. And that feeling will stay with us for a very long time." - Baroness Thatcher

Photo of the reverent and ever elegant Baroness Thatcher courtesy of THE TELEGRAPH

THE TELEGRAPH: Baroness Thatcher last night paid a silent and moving tribute to The Fallen in the Falklands conflict on the 25th anniversary of the invasion of the islands by Argentina.

The former Conservative Prime Minister laid a wreath of yellow and white roses, lilies and orchids at the foot of the Falklands Memorial in the Crypt of London's St Paul's Cathedral in honour of the 255 British service personnel who died.

Lady Thatcher, sombre in a long black coat and black shoes, stood back for a few moments in silent contemplation after laying the wreath which bore the words on a card: "In memory of those who have given their lives for Britain and for the Falklands Islands - Margaret Thatcher." Thatcher's tribute to the Fallen of the Falklands by Ben Fenton

Mark Alexander

For the love of Allah, don’t upset those Muslim kids!
THE DAILY MAIL: Schools are dropping the Holocaust from history lessons to avoid offending Muslim pupils, a Government backed study has revealed.

It found some teachers are reluctant to cover the atrocity for fear of upsetting students whose beliefs include Holocaust denial.

There is also resistance to tackling the 11th century Crusades - where Christians fought Muslim armies for control of Jerusalem - because lessons often contradict what is taught in local mosques. Teachers drop the Holocaust to avoid offending Muslims by Laura Clark

Mark Alexander

More humiliation heaped on the UK!
BBC: Iranian state television has aired new footage of two of the 15 Royal Navy personnel captured nine days ago. Iran TV shows captured UK crew

WATCH BBC VIDEO: UK crew shown on Iranian TV

WATCH BBC VIDEO: UK crew 'all admit trespass'

A weak Britain becomes a target for tyrants

Mark Alexander

How much more nonsense must we take from this régime?
BBC: Iranian students have thrown firecrackers and rocks into the British embassy compound during a protest in the capital Tehran.

About 200 people demonstrated against what they say was the illegal entry into Iranian waters of 15 UK Royal Navy personnel captured nine days ago.

BBC correspondent Frances Harrison said the students were hardliners who were urging Iran not to compromise. Protests at UK's Tehran embassy

WATCH BBC VIDEO: Protests at UK embassy in Iran

All 15 UK personnel ‘confess’, claims Iran

Britain Asks EU for Help in Iran Stand-Off

Randalierer werfen Brandsätze auf britische Botschaft

Psychologische Kriegsführung mit Gefangenen-Videos

Evil Americans, Poor Mullahs

Mark Alexander

Iran, Syria and Hizbullah: Military confrontation with the States in the summer?
Head of military intelligence says Iran, Syria and Hizbullah preparing for possible confrontation with US this summer

YNETNEWS: Iran, Syria and Hizbullah are preparing for a possible military confrontation with the United States in the summer, the head of the IDF's Military Intelligence said Sunday.

"Their preparation is defensive ahead of war … They fear a war initiated by the Americans because they understand that there might be an attack against Iran over the summer, but not by Israel," Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin told the Cabinet. IDF intelligence: Iran, Hizbullah preparing for possible US strike by Ronny Sofer

Mark Alexander

Anti-Semitism in France
Mayor's office in northern city of Lille says it is 'shocked' and 'disgusted' by weekend attack, which it describes as a 'hateful anti-Semitic act'

YNETNEWS: More than 50 tombstones were damaged in an attack at the weekend on a Jewish cemetery in the northern French city of Lille that the mayor's office described as a "hateful anti-Semitic act".

The Lille mayor's office said it was "shocked" and "disgusted" by the desecration of 53 tombstones overnight Saturday to Sunday in the Lille-Sud cemetery. 53 Jewish tombstones damaged in France

Mark Alexander

BAE shows the world what it’s about: to hell with the cost, to hell with the principles, make that deal!
A SECRET slush fund set up by BAE Systems, Britain’s biggest defence contractor, was used to pay tens of thousands of pounds to two British actresses while they befriended a senior Saudi prince and his entourage.

Confidential documents seen by The Sunday Times reveal that money from the £60m fund went on the mortgages and rent, credit card bills and council tax of Anouska Bolton-Lee and Karajan Mallinder. It even paid for language lessons. BAE hired actresses for Saudis (£60m slush fund to woo prince)

Mark Alexander

We’re sorry, Sir Iran! We won’t do it again. Promise!
If you ever had a niggling, sneaking suspicion that ‘Great’ Britain had become a paper tiger, cast all your doubts aside. It has! If you ever thought, in your heart of hearts, that Tony Blair was a pansy, but weren’t quite sure, now you know it! This once great country has become a shadow of its former self. And all under Tony Blair's watch. He prances around on the world stage trying to bring democracy to Iraq (which is impossible), yet he cannot get his own troops home to safety without stooping and begging and fawning and losing face. If you ever wanted a reason to be ashamed of being British, now you've got it!

THE TELEGRAPH: Ministers are preparing a compromise deal to allow Iran to save face and release its 15 British military captives by promising that the Royal Navy will never knowingly enter Iranian waters without permission. Ministers seek deal with Iran for captives

A weak Britain becomes a target for tyrants

©Mark Alexander

Ahmadinejad is a joke! Or at least he would be if he weren't so dangerous
President George W Bush has condemned Iran's "inexcusable behaviour" after its capture of 15 Royal Navy personnel.

The US leader added that he would "strongly support" the British government over the crisis.

However, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has attacked the UK as "arrogant and selfish".

He insisted that "British occupier forces" trespassed into Iranian waters and that his country's border guards had displayed "skill and bravery". Bush attacks Iran over captives

Mark Alexander

Friends in need are friends indeed!
Blair is left to make a statement of disgust after the airing of another video from captured British troops

THE TIMES: European foreign ministers failed last night to back Britain in a threat to freeze the €14 billion trade in exports to Iran, as the hostage crisis descended into a propaganda circus.

Tony Blair could only issue a new statement of disgust as Iran tormented him with another sailor’s video confession and a fresh letter from the young mother detainee. EU refuses to back Britain over call to threaten exports freeze

Mark Alexander

Azmi loses appeal

Photo courtesy of the BBC

BBC: A Muslim classroom assistant sacked for refusing to remove her veil in lessons has lost an appeal against a ruling that she was not discriminated against.

Aishah Azmi, 24, was asked to remove the veil after Headfield Church of England School in Dewsbury, West Yorks, said pupils could not understand her.

Mrs Azmi refused and was sacked after an employment tribunal ruled she was not the victim of discrimination. Veil row assistant loses appeal

Mark Alexander

Blair pays the price of not being firm, decisive and tough with the Iran from the start
Letter is seen as attempt to dictate British foreign policy and heap humiliation on Prime Minister

THE TIMES: Iran twisted the knife in the hostage crisis last night, releasing a letter said to be from the captured servicewoman Faye Turney in which she called for British troops to be withdrawn from Iraq.

The letter, in which Tehran appeared to be using the hostages to try to dictate British foreign policy, was apparently designed to heap humiliation on Tony Blair.

Blair livid as hostage letter seeks withdrawal from Iraq by James Bone, Dominic Kennedy and Philip Webster

Israel stays firm and says no to Arab diktat

Mark Alexander

Iran tries to humiliate the UK and hardens its attitude
BBC: Iran has offered to let UK officials visit the 15 Royal Navy personnel who were captured in the Gulf on Friday.

Iran's foreign minister also said the only woman being held, Faye Turney, who has been interviewed on Iranian state television, could be released.

But he said the stand-off would be resolved only if the UK stated that the sailors and marines had been in Iranian waters last Friday, which it denies. Iran offers UK access to sailors

WATCH BBC VIDEO: Iran offers access to sailors

Mark Alexander

Paris erupts again
BBC: Riots at a train station in the French capital, Paris, have become an issue in the upcoming presidential election.

The government's candidate, Nicolas Sarkozy, said police were justified in arresting an alleged fare dodger - the action that sparked the riots.

Socialist candidate Segolene Royal said the clashes resulted from Mr Sarkozy's failures as interior minister.

About 100 youths clashed with police at the Gare du Nord station after a dispute over a train fare.

Rioters smashed windows and attacked vending machines and shops, after objecting to the treatment of a man arrested for jumping a ticket barrier.

Transport officials said the man punched two ticket inspectors who asked for his ticket as part of a routine inspection. Paris riot becomes an election issue

WATCH BBC VIDEO: Dozens riot in Paris station

THE TIMES: French police are bracing themselves for fresh outbreaks of violence after hundreds of youths rioted over the arrest of an illegal immigrant at a main railway station in Paris. Paris fears more riots as rail ticket arrest sparks violence by Adam Sage

The Eurostar riots: Britons caught in in mob violence at Paris station

Mark Alexander

War or peace, it’s Israel’s call says Prince Saud al-Faisal
DAILY TELEGRAPH: The "lords of war" will decide Israel's future if it rejects a blueprint for peace crafted by the entire Arab world, Saudi Arabia's veteran foreign minister warned yesterday.

As leaders began gathering in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, for today's summit of the Arab League, Prince Saud al-Faisal told The Daily Telegraph that the Middle East risks perpetual conflict if the peace plan fails.

Under this Saudi-drafted proposal, every Arab country would formally recognise Israel in return for a withdrawal from all the land captured in the war of 1967.

This would entail a Palestinian state embracing the entire West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its capital. Every Arab country will almost certainly endorse this blueprint when the Riyadh summit concludes tomorrow. Prince Saud said Israel should accept or reject this final offer. Accept peace plan or face war, Israel told by David Blair

Audio: David Blair on the Saudi warning

YNET NEWS: Rejecting peace plan is like asking for war, say Saudis

Mark Alexander

Disturbing news for peacemakers: "The Arab culture is inferior", say over 37% of Israelis polled
Recent poll reveals steep rise in racist views against Arabs in Israel; many participants feel hatred, fear when overhearing Arabic, 75 percent don’t approve of shared apartment buildings

YNET NEWS: Over half of the Jewish population in Israel believes the marriage of a Jewish woman to an Arab man is equal to national treason, according to a recent survey by the Geocartography Institute.

The survey, which was conducted for the Center Against Racism, also found that over 75 percent of participants did not approve of apartment buildings being shared between Arabs and Jews. Sixty percent of participants said they would not allow an Arab to visit their home.

Five hundred Jewish men and women participated in the poll, which was published Tuesday.

According to the survey, racism against Arabs in Israel has seen a sharp rise since a similar survey was conducted two years ago. ’Marriage to an Arab is national treason’ by Rose Nahmias

Rassistische Tendenzen in der Schweiz

Mark Alexander

Iran kicks it up a notch!
FIFTEEN British sailors and marines arrested by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards off the coast of Iraq may be charged with spying.
A website run by associates of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, reported last night that the Britons would be put before a court and indicted.

Referring to them as “insurgents”, the site concluded: “If it is proven that they deliberately entered Iranian territory, they will be charged with espionage. If that is proven, they can expect a very serious penalty since according to Iranian law, espionage is one of the most serious offences.”

The warning followed claims by Iranian officials that the British navy personnel had been taken to Tehran, the capital, to explain their “aggressive action” in entering Iranian waters. British officials insist the servicemen were in Iraqi waters when they were held.

The penalty for espionage in Iran is death. Iran ‘to try Britons for espionage’ by Uzi Mahnaimi, Michael Smith and David Cracknell

Mark Alexander

Celebrations!

Photo of Cherie Blair courtesy of Google Images

European Union leaders have joined a gala concert in Berlin celebrating the 50th anniversary of the bloc, which was founded by the 1957 Treaty of Rome.

The concert, conducted by Britain's Sir Simon Rattle, will be followed by dinner for the 27 leaders at German President Horst Koehler's residence.

Berliners will also join events at city clubs and museums throughout the night.

A leader's summit on Sunday will endorse a statement emphasising the EU's achievements and challenges ahead.

Chancellor Angela Merkel will use the event to relaunch the debate on the EU's stalled constitution, rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005. EU celebrates its 50th birthday

Cherie! Ooh, Cherie! How daring! Haven't you learnt, yet, that less is not always more? By the way, is this a celebration of ever-increasing bureaucracy?

Mark Alexander