No Room at the Inn, Colonel!
TIMES ONLINE: Libyan officials posed as Dutch diplomats to try to find Colonel Gaddafi a place to stay this week on his first visit to the US.

The envoys, including one calling himself Ronald, approached a property agent on the Upper East Side of New York to inquire about renting the Barclay Mansion, a six-storey townhouse on East 78th Street.

Jason Haber, who has a master’s degree from Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, realised the ruse and the deal did not go through.

“When someone says they are representing the Dutch, you accept that at face value,” Mr Haber told The Times. “After a few conversations, the accents did not match. When the e-mails started it became quite clear. The e-mails had a Libyan Embassy address.”

Colonel Gaddafi, the world’s longest-serving leader, was due to arrive in New York last night for his first visit to the annual UN General Assembly.

After 11 years of UN sanctions, Libya now holds a seat on the 15-nation Security Council and the presidency of the 192-nation General Assembly. Colonel Gaddafi is also the head of the African Union.

His rehabilitation on the international scene has been dented by Britain’s release of the Lockerbie bomber, Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi. The outcry with which the release was met in America has made it difficult for Colonel Gaddafi to find a place to stay. Libyans pose as Dutch diplomats to get Gaddafi a room in New York >>> James Bone in New York | Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Right-wing Outcry After Temple Death
WIENER ZEITUNG: Stadler calls for border checks and more police officers. / Two houses raided by Vienna police.

Vienna. The reaction of Austria’s right-wing parties to the shooting at a Sikh temple in Vienna has caused fury from Social Democrats.

Ewald Stadler, European Parliament (EP) election front-runner for the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ) said today (Mon) "problem gurus and hate preachers” should not be allowed into the country. Stadler called for the re-introduction of border checks between Austria and Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic respectively, suggesting similar restrictions on the borders to Italy and Germany could also be an option.

Stadler repeated his calls for more police officers and called for an increase in subsidies for institutions who secure interior safety.

FPÖ boss Heinz-Christian Strache claimed the "policy of open doors" of the Social Democrats would "lead into chaos and multicultural crime”.

Vienna SPÖ Integration Councillor Sandra Frauenberger said it was "disgraceful” Strache was now thinking of nothing else than "acting as a hate preacher who incites people against each other”. >>> By Thomas Hochwarter | From Tuesday’s printed edition, May 26, 2009