Carla Bruni Sarkozy Has a Headache!

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

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.

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
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.

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
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
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.

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!

Saudis Clamp Down on Women's Gyms
BBC: Many women-only sports clubs and gyms in Saudi Arabia face closure under a government clampdown on unlicensed premises, Saudi media have reported.

Saudi women are largely constrained to the home and single-sex environments. Photo courtesy of the BBC
Women's gyms have become popular in the ultra-conservative Muslim country where the sexes are heavily segregated.

But only clubs linked to medical groups can get licenses and others will be closed, the Arab News newspaper said.

Saudi women were reported to have launched an online campaign in protest called Let Her Get Fat.

Government departments are not allowed to issue licenses for commercial gyms and sports clubs for women, unlike facilities for men, the newspaper reported. >>> | Monday, April 27, 2009

The Czech Republic Pays for Immigrants to Go Home
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Unemployed Guest Workers and Their Kids Receive Cash and a One-Way Ticket as the Country Fights Joblessness

Prague -- During its manufacturing boom earlier this decade, the Czech Republic wooed immigrants with plentiful jobs and comparatively higher wages. Now the Czech government is paying them to go back home.

Four years ago, Uyanga Ganbold migrated from Mongolia to Plzen, an industrial hub 60 miles south of Prague, with dreams of a European education for her two children. But she lost her job assembling Panasonic televisions and is taking the government's offer of a one-time payment of €750 ($992), triple her monthly wages. "I've never held that much money in my hands all at once," said the petite 34-year-old before leaving in mid-April.

Trin Van Pham is a harder sell. The Vietnamese immigrant lost his factory job with Czech auto maker Skoda in December, but turned down a similar package to leave. "It's just a little bit of money," compared with the $11,000 debt he took on to get here, says Mr. Pham, 30. Besides, he says, "if I go back, I'll also be looking for a job. It's not easy to get one there."

Their reactions underscore the difficulties of unraveling the global work force this once labor-strapped nation created as it grew into a manufacturing hub. In 2007, foreigners scooped up nearly 40% of the new jobs created in the Czech Republic. In the last five years alone, the number of immigrant workers doubled to nearly 362,000 by the end of 2008.

With demand for exports down, unemployment has soared to a two-year high of 7.7%. Economists say the rate could hit 10% by year's end, and there are signs rising joblessness is pushing some Czechs to apply for the low-wage work they once left to foreign laborers. The Czech economy is set to contract by 2% this year -- a sharp fall from a growth peak around 7% in 2006.

In February, the government, fearing crime, homelessness and immigrants overstaying visas, launched a $3 million program to pay newly jobless migrants to go home. The pitch: €500 per legal immigrant, €250 for children under 15, and the cost of the tickets home. >>> By Joellen Perry | Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Naked Swiss Hikers Must Cover Up
BBC: The tiny Swiss canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden has voted to prohibit the phenomenon of naked hiking.

No more freezing hikes in Appenzell Innerrhoden. Photo courtesy of Time
Anyone found wandering the Alps wearing nothing but a sturdy pair of hiking boots will now be fined.

Appenzell is considered one of the most conservative regions of Switzerland; it gave women the vote only in 1990.

Locals have been outraged by an apparent upsurge in hikers who think the best way to appreciate the mountains is with their clothes off.

The vote was taken with a show of hands at Appenzell's annual Landsgemeinde, an open-air meeting of all registered voters held in the town square.

Appenzell is one of only two Swiss cantons that still decide local government policy in this way.

There was a big majority in favour of prohibiting naked hiking, and introducing fines of Sfr 200 ($175). >>> By Imogen Foulkes, BBC News, Geneva | Monday, April 27, 2009

RELATED:
Another Reason to Visit Switzerland: Hiking in the Nude >>> | Monday, March 30, 2009

Daniel Hannan speaking at Conservative Spring Forum 2009
Part 1:


Part 2:

US Journalist Held in Iran 'Very Weak'
THE TELEGRAPH: The father of an Iranian-American journalist jailed by Iran on charges of spying for the United States said yesterday that she was in a bad condition a week after going on hunger strike.

Reza Saberi said he and his wife, Akiko, visited their daughter Roxana in Tehran's Evin jail on Sunday, taking flowers for her 32nd birthday.

"She is very, very weak and frail ... she is in a bad condition. She can hardly stand up," he said. "I'm worried about her health. I'm worried about her life."

The 68-year-old said he had asked his daughter to stop her action, but she did not want to discuss it during the 20-minute visit. She started refusing food last Tuesday, he said.

The US-born freelance reporter was sentenced to eight years in jail on April 18, in a verdict that could complicate Washington's efforts towards reconciliation with Iran after three decades of mutual mistrust.

Her defence lawyer, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, who has appealed the sentence, said he expected the case to be sent to a higher court this week and suggested it may be examined soon.

He has expressed hope she would be acquitted after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on the prosecutor to ensure Saberi enjoys full legal rights to defend herself. The judiciary chief has said the appeal must be dealt with in a "quick and fair way". >>> | Monday, April 27, 2009

Geert Wilders in Beverly Hills

Prince Issa of the UAE Tortures a Citizen: الشيخ عيسى يعذب مواطنا

NAME: Folter-Video: Arabischer Prinz quält Opfer vor der Kamera

Es ist ein grausames Video aus den Vereinigten Arabischen Emiraten. Zu sehen ist Scheich Issa, Mitglied des arabischen Königshauses, wie er einen wehrlosen Mann misshandelt. Eigentlich sollten diese Bilder geheim bleiben. Doch ein ehemaliger Vertrauter des Prinzen konnte das Video außer Landes schmuggeln.

Die Bilder schockieren: Ein Mann kauert mit gefesselten Beinen im Sand, wimmert vor sich hin. Seine Peiniger knien sich auf ihn, stopfen ihm den Sand in den Mund, schlagen mit der Peitsche auf ihn ein. Einer der Folterer heißt Scheich Issa bin Zayed al-Nayran: Er ist der 22. königliche Prinz aus dem Königshaus der Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate.

Mit immer brutaleren Methoden quälen er und ein Polizist den wehrlosen Mann; am Schluss überfahren sie ihn mit einem Geländewagen. Ihr Opfer, angeblich ein afghanischer Getreidehändler, der den Prinzen betrogen haben soll, überlebt schwer verletzt. >>> Von Céline Lauer | Montag, 27. April 2009

British Dhimmitude! Stewardess Sacked after Refusing to Wear Islamic Robe
THE TELEGRAPH: An air stewardess has been sacked after refusing her airline's demand to wear traditional Islamic dress and walk behind male colleagues in Saudi Arabia.

Lisa Ashton, who worked for BMI, was told that she was expected to wear the abaya, a long black robe that leaves only the face uncovered, when she was out in public in the Gulf state.

She was also told that she should walk behind male colleagues irrespective of their rank, in order to conform with the social codes of the conservative country.

Miss Ashton was instructed to consider the abaya as part of her uniform when flying to Saudi Arabia.

But she told her managers that she considered the requirement discriminatory, and was worried that Saudi Arabia was not safe to travel to because of the danger of terrorist attacks.

"It's not the law that you have to walk behind men in Saudi Arabia, or that you have to wear an abaya, and I'm not going to be treated as a second-class citizen," she said.

"It's outrageous. I'm a proud Englishwoman and I don't want these restrictions placed on myself." >>> By Duncan Gardham | Sunday, April 26, 2009

Rwanda Suspends BBC Broadcasts
THE TELEGRAPH: Rwanda demanded "guarantees of responsible journalism" from the BBC on Sunday, a day after it suspended its local broadcasts in the national Kinyarwanda language.

"We have suspended all BBC programmes in Kinyarwanda because they had become a real poison with regards to the reconciliation of the Rwandan people," the information minister, Louise Mushikiwabo said.

"We could no longer tolerate that," she said. "The Rwandan government shall protest strongly, until the BBC can give us guarantees of responsible journalism."

The dispute centres on interviews aired on a weekly programme, "Imvo n'Imvano," (The Heart of the Problem), which Mushikiwabo, on state radio, said were "liable" to undermine efforts at national unity and reconciliation. >>> | Sunday, April 26, 2009

Sarkozy et Zapatero
affichent leur «affection»
Nicolas Sarkozy et José Luis Zapatero à Paris en juillet dernier. La lutte contre le terrorisme sera au menu de la rencontre entre les deux dirigeants, demain à Madrid. Photo grâce au Figaro
LEFIGARO: Le président français est à Madrid pour le XXIe sommet bilatéral. L'occasion de réaffirmer la nature cordiale de ses relations avec son homologue espagnol, après la polémique de la semaine passée.

Fin de la polémique, place à la fiesta ! Après avoir tiré à boulets rouges sur Nicolas Sarkozy, Madrid va dérouler le tapis rouge au président français et à son épouse, qui entament lundi une visite d'État de deux jours. Diplomatie, lutte contre le terrorisme, contrats et glamour sont au programme de ce déplacement qui suscite un intérêt sans précédent dans la capitale ibérique, où l'ambassade de France a enregistré un nombre record de demandes d'accréditation de journalistes.

Avant l'arrivée du couple Sarkozy, José Luis Zapatero et le président français ont fait ce week-end assaut d'amabilités par médias interposés pour mettre un terme à la polémique. La brouille avait été déclenchée après un déjeuner à l'Élysée et des propos désobligeants, attribués à Nicolas Sarkozy, sur le manque d'intelligence supposé du chef du gouvernement espagnol. Dans un entretien au quotidien El Pais, Nicolas Sarkozy rejette des «rumeurs absurdes qui ont été de surcroît démenties par les participants à cette réunion». Il tacle au passage, sans la nommer, Ségolène Royal, dont il raille l'idée qu'elle se fait de la «responsabilité politique». Selon un sondage publié dimanche par Le Parisien, 68 % des Français pensent que l'ancienne candidate PS à la présidentielle a eu tort d'adresser des excuses à José Luis Zapatero.

Nicolas Sarkozy en profite surtout pour affirmer sa «grande estime» et une «réelle affection» pour celui que le président appelle par son prénom, «José Luis». À ses yeux, le chef du gouvernement espagnol est un «homme de talent, un homme de conviction, un grand d'Europe». Bref, un festival de compliments qui finit presque par être gênant, surtout après un incident diplomatique sans fondement ! José Luis Zapatero a tourné la page en déclarant au Monde que «Nicolas Sarkozy a toujours été très diplomatique avec moi». Quant à la lettre d'excuses envoyée par Ségolène Royal, il reconnaît l'avoir reçue, sans autre commentaire. Le «duel du glamour» >>> Bruno Jeudy,envoyé spécial à Madrid | Lundi 27 Avril 2009

Margaret Thatcher's Revolution 30 Years On
THE TELEGRAPH: Her successors ruined the prosperous Britain she created. Now we must strive to re-build it, says Edwina Currie.

We should value Margaret Thatcher for what she did, not what she was. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
She was a small, pretty woman with chintzy blouses and a nervous habit of clearing her throat. A stiff leather handbag hung like a weapon over her arm; if a wisp of hair escaped from the helmet of her coiffure, she fiddled with it anxiously. In mid-campaign, she was given a grubby calf to hold and didn't know what to do with it. Our first views of Margaret Thatcher weren't reassuring.

Yet it was la difference that underwrote her astonishing success. The unthinkable – a woman prime minister – had been made flesh. Suddenly anything seemed possible. I was a city councillor in Birmingham with two small children. I knew, with total certainty, that if she could do it, then so could I.

Mrs Thatcher learnt very quickly to turn her outsider status to advantage. Declaring that she didn't know much about economics but did understand a household budget was an election strategy of genius. It allied her with the victims of strikes and disruption, those who had to make ends meet, the "hard-working families" of modern parlance who had to put aside doubts if they were to vote for her. However bizarre it may seem to have a woman in charge, they reasoned, she talked sense and should be given a chance: she couldn't be worse than the men.

Within her first term the doubts vanished. The Iron Lady had seen off Galtieri and was preparing the same treatment for Scargill, so all one had to do was sound rather like her. I sailed into Parliament at my first attempt in 1983, one of 397 Tory MPs (some 200 more than now). It was not really a surprise to find myself the first maiden speaker of the new intake, treated as a representative of a new breed, and soon a minister.

It was a fantastic and terrifying experience. Come to a meeting not properly briefed and you'd be mincemeat, and rightly so. Get something right and she would praise you embarrassingly in public. With a blue-eyed stare that could turn men to stone, she would snap out orders and expect them delivered. Once, in a cold spell in January 1987, she insisted that no vagrant was to be found frozen to the pavements and I was given the job. We managed it, with the help of the charities and an open purse, a now-forgotten episode entirely to her credit; the Rough Sleepers initiative was the outcome. No inquiries, no reviews, no soundbites, no pointless legislation: just get on and do it. >>> Edwina Currie | Sunday, April 26, 2009

Obama: Erklärung zu Massaker an Armeniern erzürnt die Türkei
TAGESANZEIGER: Der amerikanische Präsident Barack Obama hat mit einer Erklärung zum Massaker an Armeniern zur Zeit des Osmanischen Reichs den Ärger der Türkei auf sich gezogen.

Einige Passagen von Obamas Statement zum Jahrestag des Beginns der Gräueltaten seien «inakzeptabel», erklärte das Aussenministerium am Samstag in Ankara. Die Beurteilung der Vorkommnisse solle einzig und allein Historikern überlassen werden. »Die gemeinsame Geschichte des türkischen und des armenischen Volkes darf nur durch unabhängige und wissenschaftliche Daten bewertet werden», hiess es in der Mitteilung aus Ankara weiter.

Präsident Abdullah Gül kritisierte am Rande eines Energie-Gipfels in Sofia, dass Obama die türkischen Opfer nicht erwähnt habe. «Jedermanns Schmerz muss geteilt werden», forderte er. Erklärung aus dem Weissen Haus >>> raa/sda | Samstag, 25. April 2009

Pakistan – Taliban: "The Scenario Is Totally Bleak"

Iran's President 'Would Support Two-state Solution' for Israel
THE TELEGRAPH: Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has recognised Israel's right to exist for the first time, saying it would be "fine with us" if the Palestinians reached a two-state solution.

Asked if he would support an agreement between the Palestinians and Tehran's arch enemy, he said: "Whatever decision they take is fine with us. We are not going to determine anything. Whatever decision they take, we will support that.

"We think that is the right of the Palestinian people, however we fully expect other states to do so as well."

Given his frequently stated hostility to Israel's existence - calling more than once for its "annihilation" - and his habit of capriciously offering threat and promises of friendship within the space of a few days, Mr Ahmadinejad's words will not treated by Western diplomats as a permanent shift in policy.

He has previously declared that Israel should be "wiped off the map" and a week ago accused the Israelis of running the "the most cruel and repressive racist regime".

But his comments are now in the open and cannot be taken back. They will provide the Obama administration and its European partners significant encouragement that he is prepared to move beyond the mutual hostility of the Bush era and negotiate on Iran's nuclear programme, which the West is convinced is designed to produced nuclear weapons as soon as possible. >>> By Alex Spillius in Washington | Sunday, April 26, 2009

Taliban Shave Men for Listening to Music in Buner
DAWN: PESHAWAR: Taliban militants in Buner district shaved the heads and moustaches of four Pakistani men as punishment for listening to music, one of the men said Sunday.

The Taliban have also warned people against shaving their beards. Here a barber stands by a ‘do not shave’ warning written by militants in the front window of his shop in Buner—AFP. Photo courtesy of Dawn
Although Taliban and local officials said the fighters retreated from Buner by Saturday, local members of the movement remain. Residents said many fighters were still present in the hilly outskirts of the district.

In one incident late Saturday, Taliban hardliners shaved the heads and moustaches of four men for listening to music, a young man from Buner told AFP by telephone, requesting not to be identified.

‘I was with three other friends in my car, listening to music when armed Taliban stopped us and, after smashing cassettes and the cassette player, they shaved half our heads and moustaches,’ he said.

‘The Taliban also beat us and asked us not to listen to music ever again,’ said the terrified man. >>> | Sunday, April 26, 2009

Pakistan Begins Military Offensive against Taliban
DAWN: ISLAMABAD: Pakistani security forces began an offensive on Sunday to stop the Taliban’s creeping advances in Lower Dir, Reuters reported a military spokesman as saying.

The operation in Pakistan’s troubled north came amid growing worries in the United States about the stability of its nuclear-armed ally after militants began extending their clout.

‘Intense exchange of fire is going on in Lower Dir,’ a military spokesman told Reuters. >>> By Zeeshan Haider | Sunday, April 26, 2009

Isländer wählen erstmals eine linke Regierung
WELT ONLINE: Erstmals in der Geschichte des Landes hat eine linke Koalition die Mehrheit im isländischen Parlament errungen. Ministerpräsidentin Johanna Sigurdardottir begrüßte den Sieg ihres Bündnisses aus Sozialdemokraten und Linksgrünen. Ihre höchste Priorität ist es, Island schnellstens in die EU zu bringen.

Die Siegerin: Johanna Sigurdardottir bleibt Ministerpräsidentin von Island. Bild dank der Welt
Die isländischen Wähler haben in der ersten Parlamentswahl nach der Bankenkrise im vergangenen Herbst die damals gebildete Linkskoalition bestätigt. Das geht aus ersten Teilergebnissen hervor.

Nach Auszählung von 82 Prozent der Stimmen erreichte die sozialdemokratische Partei von Ministerpräsidentin Johanna Sigurdardottir zusammen mit den Linksgrünen 52,7 Prozent und damit 34 von 63 Sitzen im Althing, dem Parlament in Reykjavik. Beide Parteien hatten Anfang des Jahres eine Minderheitsregierung gebildet.

Der jetzige Wahlsieg bringt erstmals seit der Staatsgründung vor 65 Jahren eine linke Koalition an die Macht. Die traditionell dominierenden Konservativen sind die klaren Wahlverlierer: Sie erhielten dem derzeitigen Auszählungsstand zufolge 23,9 Prozent der Stimmen – bei der letzten Wahl waren es noch 36,1 Prozent gewesen.

Als Hintergrund gelten vor allem die katastrophalen Auswirkungen der Finanzkrise. Die Selbstständigkeitspartei hatte bis zum Rücktritt ihres Ex-Parteichefs Geir Haarde als Ministerpräsident im Januar 18 Jahre ununterbrochen regiert. >>> dpa/AP/Reuters/cn | Sonntag, 26. April 2009

This Stupid, Stupid Government!
Cannabis: Not banning the drug is contributing to a growing mental health threat for the British population. Photo courtesy of MailOnline
MAIL Online: The great puzzle of our time is why some pleasures are official sins, while others are smirkingly condoned by authority.

Understand why and you will know what is wrong with our degenerate ruling class.

In theory, the idea is that we all have a stern national duty to take lots of care of ourselves so that we do not become a burden on the holy, wonderful NHS.

We guard ourselves from self-inflicted illness or injury for the sake of others.

Since my childhood I have been ceaselessly lectured about how to stay safe and healthy, with varying degrees of success.

The simple slogans of the TV campaigns still echo in my memory, and no doubt in millions of others.

'Don't ask a man to drink and drive', 'One for the road? None for the road!', 'Clunk Click every trip'.
Propaganda isn't enough on its own. Law and fear are needed too.

Listen to an Englishman whinge when his driving licence is taken away, and you will see that there is still such a thing as punishment in our society, and it works.

I can remember the measurable change in the national atmosphere when the police began serious breathalysing.

Similar determination made us all wear seat belts. If only they'd do the same about the arrogant, murderous cretins who use mobile phones while driving.

The authorities also quite clearly know that advertising and the behaviour of actors and presenters on TV and in films affect behaviour.

That is why they have banned tobacco commercials and why it now seems astonishing that Joan Bakewell used to smoke while presenting the BBC's Late Night Line-Up in the Sixties. They Rave about the Peril of Sunbeds... Then Let Us Fry Our Brains on Cannabis >>> Peter Hitchens | Saturday, April 25, 2009

Madeleine Albright Is Not So Bright After All!
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright says the president already has taken action to improve relations with Muslim countries. Photo courtesy of Voice of America
VOICE OF AMERICA: President Barack Obama continued his outreach to the Muslim world in April with a visit to Turkey. There was generally favorable response across the political spectrum in Muslim countries to the president's public statements - such as a pledge made before Turkey's Parliament in Ankara.



"We seek broader engagement based on mutual interest and mutual respect," Obama said. "We will listen carefully, we will bridge misunderstandings, and we will seek common ground. We will be respectful, even when we do not agree."



The president's approach seems to enjoy popular support back home, as well. The latest Washington Post/ABC opinion survey shows that 81 percent of Americans believe it is important for the U.S. to engage the Muslim world.

That is also the conclusion of the report by the U.S.-Muslim Engagement Project. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright - one of its authors - said the president already is adopting several of its recommendations.



"In terms of diplomacy and conflict resolution, he did say that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian issue was a major input, and he immediately named Senator George Mitchell as his envoy in order to work on that particular issue," she says. "On Iraq, he made a commitment to a relatively fast drawn down. On Afghanistan and Pakistan, he also felt very strongly that it was very important to deal with as a regional diplomatic issue and has named Ambassador [Richard] Holbrook as his representative in order to deal with issues there."



At the meeting with ambassadors from member states of the Organization of The Islamic Conference, or OIC., Albright laid out the project's strategies for combating Islamic extremism: First, elevate diplomacy as the primary tool for resolving key conflicts involving Muslim countries. Then promote broad-based economic development in those nations, foster mutual respect and understanding between Americans and Muslims, and support efforts to improve governance and promote civic participation in predominantly Muslim societies. Albright Praises Obama's Efforts to Engage Muslim World >>> By Mohamed Elshinnawi, Washington, D.C. | Saturday, April 24, 2009

Read my essay on the subject, Madeleine, BEFORE you utter such nonsense! Islam: The Enemy of Democracy and Freedom >>> By ©Mark Alexander | Friday, April 20, 2007

US Reporter 'Fragile' after Start of Hunger Strike in Tehran Jail
THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY: Father of journalist sentenced for spying says she must be 'very weak' after five days without food

Roxana Saberi has been refusing food since Tuesday, say her parents, who visited her in a Tehran prison on Monday. Photo courtesy of The Independent on Sunday
Roxana Saberi, the US-Iranian reporter jailed a week ago in Tehran on charges of spying that are untested in open court, has gone on hunger strike and is in a fragile state, according to her family and associates. Her father, Reza Saberi, said yesterday: "She went on a hunger strike on Tuesday to protest her imprisonment." He said she will continue "until she is freed", but added: "I am pretty certain that she must be very weak now."

The journalist, who grew up in Fargo, North Dakota, a city where yellow ribbons on trees now mark her incarceration, is 32 today, a birthday she will spend in Evin prison. She was arrested in January and initially accused – reports differ – of working without press credentials, or buying alcohol. But an Iranian judge later charged her with passing intelligence to the US. She was convicted after a one-day trial behind closed doors, and sentenced to eight years in prison. >>> By David Randall | Sunday, April 26, 2009

New Dark Age Alert! Taliban Gunmen Shooting Couple Dead for Adultery Caught on Camera
Are these the tribal savages Obama wants to do business with?

By now, it should be becoming increasingly obvious to all that Islam is a ‘religion’ neither of peace nor love. Do not let your cowardly politicians fool you!

Further, be sure of this: Wherever Islam spreads, and whenever it becomes stronger in numbers, its adherents become ever more emboldened. If you think that this sort of brutality and savagery couldn’t happen in the West, you are GREATLY mistaken. – ©Mark

THE TELEGRAPH: Taliban gunmen have been filmed executing a surprised couple whom they repeatedly shot for the alleged crime of adultery.


Their deaths were squalid, riddled with bullets in a field near their home by Taliban gunmen as the execution was captured on a mobile telephone.

In footage which is being watched with horror by Pakistanis, the couple try to flee when they realise what is about to happen. But a gunman casually shoots the man and then the woman in the back with a burst of gunfire, leaving them bleeding in the dirt.

Moments later, when others in the execution party shout out that they are still alive, he returns to coldly finish them with a few more rounds.

Their "crime" was an alleged affair in their remote mountain village controlled by militants in an area that was only recently under the government's sway. It was the kind of barbarity that has become increasingly familiar across Pakistan as the Taliban tide has spread.

But this time, with black-turbaned gunmen almost at the gates of Islamabad, the rare footage has shown urban Pakistanis what could now await them.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, has warned that Islamic extremists could take over the nation. >>> By Saeed Shah in Islamabad | Saturday, April 25, 2009

This Shitty Government!
THE TELEGRAPH: The 50 per cent tax increase has reneged on New Labour's central promise - not to punish the rich. A key architect of Blair's victories says the party's over now.

Is the party over for New Labour? Image courtesy of The Telegraph
RIP New Labour. Born July 21 1994; died April 22 2009. Cause of death: drowning in a sea of debt. New Labour passed away surrounded by its family and loved ones. It was survived by a shattered party. Memorial service scheduled for May 2010. No flowers.

The obituary writers have been hard at work since this week's Budget statement. The facts seemed clear enough. New Labour, which was born the day Tony Blair was elected leader of the party 15 years ago, had been laid to rest by Alistair Darling with a minimum of ceremony.

The Chancellor sometimes has the look and manner of an undertaker, although on Wednesday he was wearing a natty, colourful new shirt and tie that were highly inappropriate for a funeral. This was a death in suspicious circumstances if ever there was one.

Tony Blair was absent from the scene, but New Labour's godparents, Gordon Brown and Lord Mandelson, were present and looking suitably solemn. Denial and disbelief are not uncommon at times of great emotional suffering, so perhaps they could both be forgiven for their refusal to accept the passing of something that had once seemed so vigorous, so full of promise. Will the Last Person to Leave Gordon Brown's Britain Turn Out the Lights? >>> By Lance Price | Friday, April 24, 2009

Ankara Shows Its Hand
SLATE: Turkey's scheming at the Strasbourg summit proves it doesn't belong in the European Union.

French Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Kouchner. Photo courtesy of Slate
The most underreported story of the month must surely be the announcement by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner that he no longer supports the accession of Turkey as a full member of the European Union. His reasoning was very simple and intelligible, and it has huge implications for the Barack Obama "make nice" school of diplomacy.

At a NATO summit in Strasbourg in the first week of April, it had been considered a formality that the alliance would vote to confirm Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the prime minister of Denmark, as its new secretary-general. But very suddenly, the Turkish delegation threatened to veto the appointment. The grounds of Turkey's opposition were highly significant. Most important, they had to do with the publication of some cartoons in a Danish newspaper in 2005 lampooning the Prophet Mohammed. In spite of an organized campaign of violence and boycott against his country, and in spite of a demand by a delegation of ambassadors from supposedly "Islamic" states, Rasmussen consistently maintained that Danish law did not allow him to interfere with the Danish press. Years later, resentment at this position led Turkey—which is under its own constitution not an "Islamic" country—to use the occasion of a NATO meeting to try again to interfere with the internal affairs of a member state.

The second ground of Turkey's objection is also worth noting. From Danish soil a TV station broadcasts in the Kurdish language to Kurds in Turkey and elsewhere. The government in Ankara, which evidently believes that all European governments are as untrammeled as itself, brusquely insists that Denmark do what it would do and simply shut the transmitter down. Once again unclear on the concepts of the open society and the rule of law—if the station is sympathetic to terrorism, as Ankara alleges, there are procedures to be followed—the Turkish authorities attempt a fiat that simply demands that others do as they say. >>> By Christopher Hitchens | Monday, April 20, 2009

France Calls on Britain to Accept More Migrants
DAILY EXPRESS: FRANCE wants Britain to sign a deal allowing thousands of migrants to flood into the UK.

Immigrants: Calais border control is stretched. Photo courtesy of Daily Express
Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart’s controversial plan to scrap passport controls was announced as migrants in the port staged an angry demo yesterday, waving placards written in flawless English.



The banners expose how Britain’s open-door asylum system and benefits culture are a magnet for Afghans, Kurds and Eritreans. 



Exasperated by the sight of migrants sleeping rough as they try to board England-bound trains and lorries illegally, Mrs Bouchart outlined her scheme to rid Calais of the blight to French Immigration Minister Eric Besson.



“It’s necessary to speed up negotiations with the British because at the moment we’re ready to charter a boat to dump them over there,” she said. She said all Britain had to do was sign up to the Schengen Agreement, which allows anybody to travel between EU states without passports or visas. 



Mr Besson challenged Britain to share responsibility for France’s problem by asking why migrants from places such as Iran, Somalia and Sudan travel across the world to reach the UK. “Britain should step up its controls and take on more of this burden,” he said. “Britain should also question why migrants and the traffickers in migrants believe that the British illegal job market is a golden opportunity.” >>> By Paul Allen and Anil Dawar | Friday, April 24, 2009

Frères Musulmans – Le pape n'est pas le bienvenu en Jordanie
Le pape réçoit un keffieh des mains de jeunes Palestiniens. Depuis 2006, il peine à se faire pardonner par les musulmans ses propos durs sur l'islam © MAXPPP / OSSERVATORE ROMANO. Photo grace au Point
LE POINT: Les Frères musulmans jordaniens ne veulent pas voir Benoît XVI dans leur pays, à moins qu'il ne s'excuse de ses propos sur l'islam tenus en 2006. La principale force d'opposition de Jordanie l'a fait savoir alors que le pape a prévu de se rendre dans le pays en mai. "Le gouvernement devrait faire pression pour obtenir des excuses du pape, qui devrait s'excuser pour avoir mis en colère un milliard et demi de musulmans dans le monde", déclare le secrétaire général du Front de l'action islamique (branche politique de la confrérie), Zaki Bani Rcheid, dans une lettre adressée au Premier ministre Nader Dahabi. Avant d'ajouter : "Sinon, il n'est pas le bienvenu en Jordanie et sa visite est rejetée." >>> AFP | Jeudi 23 Avril 2009

Rape, Beatings and Bribery: Iraqi Police Out of Control
Photo courtesy of TimesOnline
TIMESONLINE: The brief film is deeply disturbing, even in a country famed for its al-Qaeda beheading videos and sniper snuff movies. The young woman, evidently drugged, vomiting and occasionally calling for her mother, tries weakly to stop the grinning man in a white T-shirt and boxer shorts from pulling off her underwear.

She fails. The man, instructing the cameraman to shoot the scene with his mobile phone from various angles, rapes her.

That is not the only shocking aspect of the film, according to Jassim al-Bidawi, former Mayor of Fallujah and now a human rights activist. He has identified the rapist as an Iraqi police officer, and says that the cameraman is one, too. They are thought to have drugged the woman as she visited her husband in a detention centre in Ramadi. Since the rapist's uncle is a senior policeman in the city the attacker is all but untouchable, Mr al-Bidawi says.

In the desperate rush to drag Iraq back from civil war, sweeping powers were granted to its new security forces. Human rights workers, MPs and American officials now believe that they are all too often a law unto themselves: admired when they defeat terrorists but also feared for their widespread abuse of power.

In this vast and largely unaccountable security apparatus, with almost a million people in uniform, corruption is rife. One of the most common ploys is to arrest innocent people and then charge hundreds or even thousands of dollars for them to be released. >>> James Hider in Fallujah | Friday, April 24, 2009

Budget 2009: Now We Are All Up to Our Ears in It
THE TELEGRAPH: Alistair Darling's calamitous Budget not only consigned the nation to decades of debt, but also planted a poisonous legacy that will blight generations to come, says Jeff Randall.

"To preserve [the people's] independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our selection between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude." – Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States of America,1801-1809.

This week, Alistair Darling made a selection for us. His Budget for Bankruptcy banished economy and liberty. In their place, he delivered a profusion of unaffordable spending and a contract of servitude, not just for this generation, but for the next and the one after that. This is how independence is murdered. A ball-and-chain of spirit-sapping debt has been clamped to the nation's future. We are all serfs now.

In a speech of stunning torpidity (how does he manage it?), the Chancellor claimed: "You can grow your way out of recession, you can't cut your way out of it." Growth sounds attractive, an aspiration for solid citizens. Except the growth that Mr Darling had in mind was government borrowing, which is shooting up like bindweed on steroids, choking the economy.

His red numbers are so immense that most pocket calculators cannot accommodate them. Over the next five years – if all goes according to plan – Mr Darling will borrow £703,000,000,000. As the late Roy Castle used to say: "It's a record breaker!"

The United Kingdom is mired in debt, and the Chancellor's fiendishly clever escape route is, er, to borrow his way out of it. He's in a hole and digging furiously. Yet Gordon Brown, whose face is beginning to resemble a smacked bottom, was delighted by his cipher's performance. This style of presentation – straight from the Ceausescu handbook of statistics management – appeals to the Prime Minister's control-freakery.

It sounds complicated, but is surprisingly simple. You start with a politically desirable conclusion – in this case, the triumph of a suffocating state over personal responsibility, self-sufficiency and wealth-creating enterprise – and work backwards: cheating, lying, fiddling the numbers, until both sides of the balance sheet appear to be in harmony. This is how Labour operated its fraudulent boom. The same trick is being tried in a catastrophic bust. >>> By Jeff Randall | Thursday, April 23, 2009

THE TELEGRAPH: This Budget Will Make Us Pay for Britain's Excesses for Decades

Now we must all pay for the wild excesses of an irresponsible minority, says Adrian Michaels.

I wish I had known I was having such a good time. I will, according to the Budget, be paying for the country's excesses for decades. It is time to pull in the horns and tighten the belt. But wait. My belt doesn't have any more notches. I've been presented by Alistair Darling with the bill for a party I didn't attend.

For months now we have been hearing that it is bankers that brought the global economy to its knees through their irresponsible business practices, made possible by compliant and inattentive politicians and regulators. Meanwhile, people in financial services were paid far too much for their destructive corporate behaviour.

How much, exactly? In December 2007, 15 bankers – all men, of course – sat down for lunch at the Cap Horn, a mountain restaurant in the French ski resort of Courchevel. It was just turning dark when they paid the 28,000 euro bill. There were no prostitutes or drugs, I am informed, and the near-2,000 euros-a-head tab did not afford access to the President of the United States. No. The bankers were playing "Par One Hundred" – a drinking game in which the object would appear to be to vomit on your neighbour as fast as possible – with magnums of Krug champagne. The Cap Horn currently charges 850 euros for a magnum of 1997 Krug.

So what? "They're on a different planet," one friend said. That is the problem, however: bankers are not on a different planet, they are on exactly the same one as the rest of us. If they really were otherworldly, we could just forget about them and their lunches. But we all pay the price for their behaviour. The cheapest item on the Cap Horn's menu is cream cheese with salt and pepper at 13 euros. "Spaghetti à la Bolognaise" is 25 euros.

So not only weren't we at the party that has just ended, the quality of our own lives was made worse by the fiesta's participants. Bankers made sure that we could not eat in the same restaurants as in the past, we could not take holidays in a growing range of destinations, and we could not live where we wanted. Ask the residents of Salcombe in Devon – "Chelsea-on-Sea" as it has become known – about the empty homes in winter and the fancy delis selling porcini mushrooms instead of corner shops selling pints of milk and packets of Quavers. >>> By Adrian Michaels | Thursday, April 23, 2009

Nick Griffin Defends BNP Leaflet that Says Black and Asian Britons 'Do Not Exist'
MAIL Online: British National Party chairman Nick Griffin spoke today of a 'bloodless genocide' as he defended a party leaflet which says that black Britons and Asian Britons 'do not exist'.

The BNP leader was referring to the party's Language And Concepts Discipline Manual, which says the term used should be 'racial foreigners'.

Mr Griffin said to call such people British was a sort of 'bloodless genocide' because it denied indigenous people their own identity.

The leaflet was leaked to an anti-fascist group.

Commenting on the leaflet's content, Mr Griffin told The Report on Radio 4 that although 'in civic terms they are British, British also has a meaning as an ethnic description'.

'These people are 'black residents' of the UK etc, and are no more British than an Englishman living in Hong Kong is Chinese,' he said.

'Collectively, foreign residents of other races should be referred to as 'racial foreigners', a non-pejorative term... The key in such matters is above all to maintain necessary distinctions while avoiding provocation and insult.'

The manual describes the BNP's 'ultimate aim' as the 'lawful, humane and voluntary repatriation of the resident foreigners of the UK'. >>> By Daily Mail Reporter | Thursday, April 23, 2009

Sauerei: Hakenkreuz an Schweizer Autos
BLICK: BERN/TEL AVIV – Alles nur wegen Ahmadinedschad: Vor der Schweizer Botschaft in Tel Aviv haben Unbekannte Autos von Schweizer Diplomaten mit Hakenkreuz- Abziehbildern beklebt.

Das Eidg. Departement für auswärtige Angelegenheiten (Eda) bestätigte einen entsprechenden Bericht der «Tagesschau» des Schweizer Fernsehens SF.



Nähere Angaben dazu machte das Eda nicht. Seit dem Treffen von Bundespräsident Hans-Rudolf Merz mit dem erklärten Antisemiten und iranischen Präsidenten Mahmud Ahmadinedschad am vergangenen Sonntag in Genf steht die Schweiz in Israel unter Beschuss. Vor der Botschaft demonstrieren täglich mehrere Menschen gegen die Schweiz. >>> SDA | Donnerstag, 23. April 2009

Alarm Grows Over Pakistan’s Failure to Halt Militant Gains
Taliban militants on Thursday outside a mosque where tribal elders and members of the Taliban met in Daggar, the main town in the Buner district of Pakistan. Photo courtesy of The New York Times
THE NEW YORK TIMES: ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — With 400 to 500 Taliban fighters newly in control of a strategically important district just 70 miles from here, Pakistani authorities have deployed only a poorly paid and equipped constabulary force — numbering just several hundred — to the area.

The Taliban appeared to be consolidating control in the district, Buner, on Thursday after moving in and establishing checkpoints on Wednesday. Residents said Taliban militants held a meeting, or jirga, with local elders and the local administration on Thursday. The residents said the meeting yielded a truce similar to the one reached with local leaders in the Swat Valley, which resulted in the agreement by the government of President Asif Ali Zardari to allow the imposition of Islamic law there 10 days ago.

“This concession represents a serious development and reflects both the growing strength of the Pakistani Taliban and the inability of the Pakistani army to conduct successful counterinsurgency operations,” said Senator Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat on the Armed Services Committee who just returned from his fifth visit to Pakistan.

The fall of Buner has raised new international alarm about the ability of the Pakistani government to fend off an unrelenting Taliban advance from the Swat Valley, where as part of the truce agreement, the Pakistani Army remains in its barracks. The Taliban have moved to within a few hours’ drive of Islamabad, the capital of this country, and the neighboring garrison city of Rawalpindi.

The Pakistani military does not have a presence in Buner, Pakistani and Western officials said. From the hills of the district, the Taliban have access to the flatlands of the district of Swabi, which lead directly to the four-lane highway that connects Islamabad and Peshawar, the capital of North-West Frontier Province, where much of the Pakistani Taliban operate. >>> By Jane Perlez and Zubair Shah | Thursday, April 23, 2009

Pakistan – NWFP: Swat Taliban Consolidate Grip over Buner
Istiqbal Khan, a parliamentarian from Buner, told the AP that the militants had entered the district in ‘large numbers’ and started setting up checkpoints at main roads and strategic positions.—AP. Photo courtesy of Dawn
DAWN.COM: ISLAMABAD: Taliban militants are setting up checkpoints in a district next to Swat Valley, officials and witnesses said Wednesday, spurring fears that a government-backed peace deal imposing Islamic law in the area has emboldened the insurgents to expand their reign.

Reports that the top government official in another adjacent district was kidnapped by militants added to the growing concern.

Pakistan’s president signed off on the peace pact last week in hopes of calming Swat, where some two years worth of clashes between the Taliban and security forces have killed hundreds and displaced up to a third of the one-time tourist haven’s 1.5 million residents.

The agreement covers the Malakand region, which comprises roughly one-third of NWFP, a strategic stretch that runs along the Afghan border and bumps into the tribal areas where al Qaeda and the Taliban reportedly have strongholds.

Supporters say the deal was the best way to bring peace, and that it also addresses long-time local grievances over the inefficient regular judicial system. Critics, including the White House, have slammed the deal as an affront to democracy and human rights, saying it gives militants a state-sanctioned sanctuary.

Some critics go as far as to say that Swat could be the first domino to fall — that Islamabad, which is less than a hundred miles away, could follow along with other segments of the country that neighbours Afghanistan. >>> | Wednesday, April 22, 2009

North Korea Is Fully Fledged Nuclear Power, Experts Agree
This image, made available for the first time on Tuesday April 7, shows the launch of a missile in Musudan-ri, North Korea. Experts say the country is a nuclear power. Photo courtesy of TimesOnline
TIMESONLINE: North Korea has become a fully fledged nuclear power, with the capacity to wipe out cities in Japan and South Korea.

The uncomfortable truth has been confirmed by a number of experts, from the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency to the US Defence Secretary. According to intelligence briefings shown to academic experts, North Korea has successfully miniaturised nuclear warheads that could be launched on medium-range missiles.

This puts it ahead of Iran in the race for nuclear attack capability, and significantly alters the balance of power between North Korea’s large but poorly equipped military and the South Korean and US forces ranged against it.

“North Korea has nuclear weapons, which is a matter of fact,” the head of the IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei, said this week. “I don't like to accept any country as a nuclear weapon state. We have to face reality.” >>> Richard Lloyd Parry in Tokyo | Thursday, April 23, 2009