Sarkozy et Merkel relancent 
le couple franco-allemand
LE FIGARO: La chancelière allemande avait invité dimanche le président français à un meeting de la CDU, à Berlin, pour marquer la bonne entente entre les deux pays.

Nicolas Sarkozy, accompagné de Rachida Dati et Brice Hortefeux, lors du meeting commun avec Angela Merkel, dimanche à Berlin. Photo grâce au Figaro
Parfois soupçonné, outre-Rhin, de tiédeur à l'égard de l'Allemagne, Nicolas Sarkozy s'est livré à une offensive de charme à Berlin. Venu participer, dimanche, à un meeting commun avec Angela Merkel pour le scrutin européen du 7 juin, le président français a su trouver les mots pour témoigner de son amitié à la République fédérale, qui fête son soixantième anniversaire le 22 mai. Devant les jeunes de la CDU, le parti chrétien-démocrate de la chancelière allemande, il a défendu sa vision d'une «Europe qui agit» en soulignant l'importance de l'axe Paris-Berlin pour faire avancer les choses.

À leur arrivée, pour le premier meeting commun de deux dirigeants dans une campagne européenne, Merkel et Sarkozy ont été longuement ovationnés. Pour le président français, l'amitié entre la France et l'Allemagne est «le trésor le plus précieux pour l'Europe et le monde entier». «La France vous aime, la France vous admire, la France est votre amie, a-t-il lancé aux jeunes conservateurs allemands, rassemblés sur la Potsdammer Platz. La France ne vous craint pas. Elle veut vous ressembler dans l'excellence.» Interrogé par le quotidien populaire Bild, Sarkozy avait expliqué, dimanche, les raisons de son attachement à l'Allemagne, donnant ainsi de lui une image plus chaleureuse. >>> De correspondant du Figaro à Berlin, Patrick Saint-Paul | Lundi 11 Mai 2009

L’ÉDITORIAL DU FIGARO: Un couple franco-allemand en devenir

Après avoir eu longtemps du mal à se comprendre, Nicolas Sarkozy et Angela Merkel multiplient les gestes qui montrent que la France et l'Allemagne sont décidées à travailler ensemble.

Le meeting organisé hier soir à Berlin en vue des élections européennes était l'un de ces gestes. Le dîner en tête-à-tête qui a suivi, également.

Nicolas Sarkozy n'aime pas perdre son temps dans d'inutiles apparitions à l'étranger. S'il s'est prêté à cette réunion électorale à deux, qui sera suivie d'une autre, en France à la fin du mois, c'est parce qu'il a compris que rien en Europe ne pouvait se faire sans l'Allemagne.

La démarche est la même que celle de ses prédécesseurs. Depuis de Gaulle et Adenauer jusqu'à Chirac et Schröder, en passant par Giscard et Schmidt ou Mitterrand et Kohl, chacun des grands « couples » franco-allemands a connu des débuts difficiles avant de symboliser l'entente retrouvée et de porter la construction européenne.

En Allemagne, la personnalité de Nicolas Sarkozy intrigue. La manière dont il a mené la présidence française de l'Union européenne, au dernier semestre de l'an dernier, a séduit bien des hésitants.

Son volontarisme, sa détermination à obtenir des résultats sont des qualités appréciées outre-Rhin. Tous ceux qui trouvaient la chancelière un peu hésitante face à la crise y ont vu un aiguillon salvateur. Du coup, Nicolas Sarkozy est fondé à se faire l'avocat d'une Europe « qui agit » grâce à la coopération franco-allemande. Et Angela Merkel sort avantagée de son association avec le président de la République. >>> De Pierre Rousselin | Lundi 11 Mai 2009

The Warlords Casting a Shadow over Afghanistan
THE INDEPENDENT: They are brutal, bloodthirsty – and becoming increasingly influential in Afghan politics.

Gulbuddin Hekmetyar, Faryadi Zardad and Mohammad Qasim Fahim. Photo courtesy of The Independent
One of the most feared of the Afghan warlords, Faryadi Zardad, was notorious for robbing, raping, torturing and killing travellers on the road between Kabul and Jalalabad. He kept a savage assistant in a cave who would bite and rip the flesh of his victims; other captives were murdered or imprisoned until they died of their sufferings or bribes were paid for their release.

Uniquely among the warlords of Afghanistan, many guilty of actions similar to his own, Zardad is in prison for his crimes. In 1998, as the Taliban overran Afghanistan, he fled to Britain on a fake passport. He was running a pizza restaurant in south London in 2000 when he was unmasked by the BBC, and in 2005 he was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Britain.

Zardad must consider himself exceptionally unlucky. Other warlords, who were once his comrades in arms, are now part of the political elite in Kabul, prominent members of the government or multimillionaire owners of palatial houses in the capital.

At the time Zardad was torturing and killing at his much-feared checkpoint at Sarobi on the Kabul-Kandahar road in 1992-96, he was a valued military commander in the forces of Gulbuddin Hekmetyar, the leader of the fundamentalist Hizb-e-Islami party.

Rockets and shells fired into Kabul by Hekmetyar's soldiers devastated the city and killed thousands of people before it was captured by the Taliban. More recently, Hekmetyar's forces, who are particularly strong in Logar province just south of the capital, have been fighting as allies of the Taliban.

But in the latest twist in Afghan politics, in which leaders switch sides and betray each other as swiftly as any English duke in the Wars of the Roses, Hekmetyar is reportedly about to start negotiations to join the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai. Under a power-sharing deal, his party would supposedly fill several ministerial posts and governorships in return for abandoning the Taliban. He himself would go into exile in Saudi Arabia for three years at the end of which the US would remove him from its list of "most wanted" terrorists. >>> By Patrick Cockburn | Monday, May 11, 2009

Melanie Phillips: Our Democracy's Going Down the Plughole with the Home Secretary's Dirty Bathwater
Luton South MP Margaret Moran claimed £22,500 of taxpayers' money for treating dry rot in a house in Southampton, many miles from her constituency or Westminster. Photo courtesy of MailOnline
MAIL Online: They still just don't get it, do they. With details continuing to pour out about the epic abuse of Parliamentary expenses, MPs are displaying about as much ethical sensibility as the lumps of meat they have charred on their ill-gotten barbecues.

The details and scale of what they were up to are beyond belief.

'Flipping' the designation of their main and second homes to manipulate the expenses system to their advantage and to avoid paying various taxes.

Claiming help with mortgage payments for houses that were already paid for.

Getting the taxpayer to reimburse them for eyeliner, plastic bags, nappies, mock Tudor beams, Maltesers, nail polish, plasma TVs, Christmas tree decorations, horse manure, bath plugs; and on and surreally on.

Yet in the face of such baroque dishonesty, MPs claim that the real villain is the media for publishing the leaked details. So they've set the police on to probing the disclosures. But if the police should be investigating anyone, it's surely the MPs themselves.

Outrageous

Not, it seems, in the parallel universe of Westminster. According to MPs, none of them has behaved immorally. Not one. None of them should be censured or lose the party whip, let alone be prosecuted.

Instead, utterly deaf to the mounting public fury this is causing, they are coming up with one excuse after another.

Apparently, something called 'the system' - which, it seems, has nothing to do with them - is to blame. But the 'system' is simply what the MPs themselves devised.

Like sheep, they all went along with these scams, so that's supposed to make them all right. 'It wasn't my fault, m'lud, that I claimed for a barbecue - it was the system.' Sounds awfully like 'I was only obeying orders' in another era.

In a kind of spivs' chorus, they whine in unison that it was all 'within the rules'. But rules can be manipulated for corrupt or otherwise indefensible ends.

Luton South MP Margaret Moran claimed £22,500 of taxpayers' money for treating dry rot in a house in Southampton, many miles from her constituency or Westminster. She justifies this on the outrageous grounds that her partner works in Southampton and it is 'her right' to have a family life with him.

Her right?

Other people cope with this kind of messy situation every day, paying for it out of their own pocket. Why should Ms Moran imagine it is her right to be paid for doing the same thing? >>> Melanie Phillips | Monday, May 11, 2009

THE TELEGRAPH: Alan Duncan Claimed Thousands for Gardening: MPs' Expenses

Alan Duncan, the senior Conservative MP who oversees the party’s policy on MPs’ expenses, claimed thousands of pounds for his garden – but stopped after agreeing with the fees office that his expenditure “could be considered excessive”.


Mr Duncan’s gardening claims raise serious questions about whether expenses by some MPs can be justified as entirely necessary for their parliamentary work. In a three-year period, he recouped more than £4,000. He has not been asked to repay the money despite later concerns over the garden claims.

The bill for £3,194 for gardening in March 2007 was not paid by the fees office, which wrote to Mr Duncan suggesting that the claim might not be “within the spirit” of the rules.

However, by then the multi-millionaire MP for Rutland and Melton had claimed £4,000 of gardening costs that were approved. In a letter to the MP, the office said that it expected gardening costs “to cover only basic essentials such as grass cutting”. Mr Duncan submitted receipts showing that his gardener was being paid £6 an hour for up to 16 hours a week in grounds of less than an acre.

In March 2007, Mr Duncan claimed £598 to overhaul a ride-on lawn-mower and then a further £41 to fix a puncture a month later.

Mr Duncan also claimed £1,400 a month for his mortgage interest on his home in Rutland. He bought the large detached house without taking out a mortgage on the property itself in January 1992, shortly before he was elected to parliament.

However, it was not until January 2004 that a mortgage was secured against the property. >>> By Holly Watt | Sunday, May 10, 2009

THE SPECTATOR: A Parliament of Thieves

Like any sensible person I've been thoroughly amused and appalled by the scandal of MPs expenses. Appalled because the extent of MPs' avarice is sufficient to shock even an iron-souled cynic; amused because watching MPs try to justify their gluttonous appetite for taxpayer-funded freebies affords a certain pleasure that one might consider vindictive if only it weren't so entirely merited. This isn't a tragedy, it's a stinking farce.

The dreary pretense - duly repeated by every sticky-fingered parliamentarian - that it is all ok because "no rules were broken" could hardly be more priceless. Nor could it do more to underline the essential fact that these people are fools who in turn treat the public as though they are fools themselves. Only the blindest dolt would think that boasting of obeying the rules might minimise the public's entirely-justified sense of outrage (a wrath that is, I suspect, under-appreciated at Westminster and in the media) when it is the laxness of the rules themselves that occasions so much incredulity and anger.

For it is now clear, if it weren't before, that we are governed by a parliament of thieves for whom no expense is too small or too trivial to be borne by the taxpayer. These knaves and charlatans are strangers to shame and decency. Astonishingly, they make journalists and estate agents seem paragons of probity by comparison. Who'd have thunk that possible? >>> Alex Massie | Monday, May 11, 2009

Opinion – Boris Johnson: Michael Savage Poses No Risk to British Security So Why Won't MPs Say So?
THE TELEGRAPH: It is shocking that not a single MP has stood up to defend free speech, says Boris Johnson.

About 10 years ago my brother-in-law was giving me a lift through the early morning Washington traffic when he suddenly gave a whoop of joy. "It's Howie!" yelled Ivo, turning up the radio. "We gotta listen to Howie!" And it was with mounting disbelief that I listened to the next 20 minutes of the Howard Stern show, a shameless and cynical attempt to scandalise the ear.

That morning Howard was appealing to his listeners to ring in with the most tear-jerking hard-luck story. In return he was offering a nude massage at the hands of an attractive nude masseuse. In a display of Oprah Winfreyesque exhibitionism, the audience was competing for that massage. We heard of divorces, and bereavements, and embarrassing disfigurements. But the winner (I advise sensitive readers to faint now) was a man who rang in to say that he had just been diagnosed with cancer, and might lose his gonads, but had not yet had the courage to tell his girlfriend.

Howard Stern pounced. "What's her number?" he said. With lightning efficiency his producers patched the caller through to his girlfriend, and soon she was being told – live on air – that there was good news and bad news.

The bad news was that her boyfriend had cancer, and the good news was that he was the winner of a nude massage. The poor woman gasped and sobbed. I sat there in exactly the state desired by the producers of the Howard Stern show – appalled, disgusted, but also thrilled by the horror of what was apparently (and I stress apparently) taking place on the radio.

We just don't have shows like this in Britain, I said to Ivo. That's right, he said, and he told me about the shock jocks. He explained the tactics of men such as Stern and Rush Limbaugh, how they shamelessly chased after ratings by causing outrage, how they goosed the secret prejudices of their listeners. Some people tuned in because they actually agreed with what was being said. Most people just enjoyed the theatre, the vehemence, the provocation.

These shock jocks were national institutions, with millions of weekly listeners. They were a new and important part of the American constitution, and that is my first objection to the utterly demented decision by Jacqui Smith's Home Office to announce that Michael Savage, America's third most popular radio show host, is banned from entering this country. It just makes us look so infantile, so pathetic. >>> By Boris Johnson | Monday, May 11, 2009

Kuwaiti Islamist: Homosexuals Should Be Tortured in Public Squares

Tampons, Barbecue Sets, and Bathrobes
THE TELEGRAPH: Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, has condemned the "culture of abuse" surrounding MPs' expenses, warning that respect for parliament has reached a new low.

Lord Carey: 'clawing greed' of MPs. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
He said The Telegraph's revelations about the extent to which MPs of all parties have exploited the Westminster system of allowances and expenses had shown the "clawing greed" of MPs.

"The moral authority of Parliament is at its lowest ebb in living memory," Lord Carey wrote in the News of the World. "The latest revelations show it was not just a few MPs with their noses in the trough, but a culture of abuse."

The former archbishop is the latest independent figure to question the morality of MPs' expenses claims.

Sir Alistair Graham, the former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, has accused politicians of a "failure of moral leadership". Martin Bell, the former independent MP, has attacked "scandals of shamelessness".

"It is not just the clawing greed of painstaking claims for such minor items as tampons, barbecue sets and bathrobes, but also the egregious way some have transferred allowances from one second property to another – enabling them to refurbish homes at public expense, then sell them for profit," Lord Carey added, referring to practices that have been revealed by the Telegraph in recent days. MPs' Expenses: Lord Carey, Former Archbishop of Canterbury, Condemns 'Culture of Abuse' >>> By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent | Sunday, May 10, 2009

Pope Visits Christ 'Baptism Site'
BBC: Pope Benedict XVI has visited the reputed site of the baptism of Jesus Christ in Jordan, on the third day of his Middle East tour.

The Pope arrived in a motorcade of electric vehicles to the site at Bethany-beyond-the-Jordan.

Earlier, the Pope held Mass for thousands of people at a football stadium in the Jordanian capital Amman.

Jordan's 200,000 Roman Catholics, and other Christians, were given a special holiday to enable them to attend.

The Pope was accompanied to the alleged baptismal site by King Abdullah of Jordan and his wife Queen Rania. He blessed the cornerstones of two churches on the site.

'Courage of conviction'

But the BBC's David Willey, travelling with the Pope, said the 20,000-seat stadium was not completely full.

Our correspondent says the situation for the dwindling Catholic minority in the Middle East has worsened considerably since the last Papal visit to Jordan nine years ago.

He says many Catholic families have emigrated. >>> David Willey | Sunday, May 10, 2009

Watch BBC video: The Pope addressed the issue of a region divided by conflict >>>

Israel Prepares Red Carpet Welcome for Pope Benedict XVI
HAARETZ: Israel is planning the visit by Pope Benedict XVI down to the last detail, even holding dress rehearsal Sunday to prepare for the pontiff's arrival at Ben-Gurion International Airport on Monday.

The rehearsal, orchestrated by the Israel Airports Authority, will involve all the relevant bodies, a red carpet, an honor guard and the Israel Defense Forces Orchestra.

The pope is scheduled to take off for Israel on a special Royal Jordanian flight from Amman at 10:30 A.M. Monday, and will arrive at Ben-Gurion about 45 minutes later.

The vice president of Royal Jordanian, Hussein Dabbas, who is in charge of the company's Israel office, will accompany the pope on the fight.

In addition to the pope's 40-person entourage, some 70 journalists will also be on the flight.

President Shimon Peres and senior government officials will be at the official welcome ceremony.

The Shin Bet security service's VIP protection unit is responsible for the immediate security for the pope and for the top officials present to welcome him.

From Ben-Gurion, Benedict will be flown by Israel Air Force helicopter to the helipad on Mount Scopus, to avoid closing the Tel Avic-Jerusalem road with a papal motorcade.

Benedict XVI will stay at the papal nuncio's residence on the Mount of Olives. >>> By Zohar Blumenkrantz and Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondents and Agencies | Sunday, May 10, 2009

'No Jews' Policy Employed at Austria Hotel
HAARETZ: A hotel in the Austrian region of Tyrol that said it does not accept Jewish guests has caused shock in the local media and tourism industry, the daily Tiroler Tageszeitung reported Sunday.

A Vienna family of seven had had tried to make a reservation at the Haus Sonnenhof apartment hotel in the village of Serfaus, but the owner replied by e-mail that although the room was free, she did not want to take in Jewish guests because of "bad experiences" in the past. >>> By DPA | Sunday, May 10, 2009

Obama promette: "In Egitto un nuovo passo verso l'Islam"
LASTAMPA.it: Ma i Fratelli Musulmani minacciano: vuole ingannare gli arabi

Barack Obama sceglie l’Egitto per compiere un «nuovo passo verso l’Islam» ma dal Cairo i Fratelli musulmani lo accusano di preparare «un inganno per dividere la nazione araba». Il 4 giugno il presidente americano inizierà con un «discorso all’Islam» il viaggio che lo porterà nell’ex lager di Buchenwald, a Dresda e sulle spiagge della Normandia in un percorso studiato per sottolineare i valori che più ha a cuore in coincidenza con il 65° anniversario dello sbarco alleato che diede inizio alla liberazione dell’Europa dal nazifascismo. Aver inserito il «braccio teso verso l’Islam» in questo itinerario significa per Obama voler ribadire che «una delle sue missioni da presidente è il dialogo con i musulmani» come suggerisce il portavoce Robert Gibbs ricordando quanto disse nel giorno dell’insediamento, l’intervista ad Al Arabiya e il recente discorso ad Ankara sull’America «non in guerra con l’Islam». >>> Maurizio Molinari | Domenica, 10 maggio 2009

Taliban-Style Justice Stirs Growing Anger
THE WASHINGTON POST: Sharia Being Perverted*, Pakistanis Say

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, May 9 -- When black-turbaned Taliban fighters demanded in January that Islamic sharia law be imposed in Pakistan's Swat Valley, few alarm bells went off in this Muslim nation of about 170 million.

Sharia, after all, is the legal framework that guides the lives of all Muslims.

Officials said people in Swat were fed up with the slow and corrupt state courts, scholars said the sharia system would bring swift justice, and commentators said critics in the West had no right to interfere.

Today, with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing Swat and Pakistani troops launching an offensive to drive out the Taliban forces, the pendulum of public opinion has swung dramatically. The threat of "Talibanization" is being denounced in Parliament and on opinion pages, and the original defenders of an agreement that authorized sharia in Swat are in sheepish retreat.

The refugees are the "victims of ignorant cavemen masquerading as fighters of Islam," columnist Shafqat Mahmood charged in the News International newspaper Friday. He said that the "barbarian horde" that invaded Swat never intended to implement a sharia-based judicial system and that they just used it as cover. "This is a fight for power, not Islam," he wrote. >>> By Pamela Constable | Sunday, May 10, 2009

*Not so perverted! The Taliban are merely following the straight path (of Allah) – as-Sirat al-Mustaqim! – Mark

Jordan: The Pope’s Sunday Homily
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Radio Vaticana has published an English version of the homily given by Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday morning in Amman, Jordan. He addressed a crowd of 20,000 during an open-air mass at a sports stadium. Today is his last day in Jordan.

"Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I rejoice that we are able to celebrate this Eucharist together at the beginning of my Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Yesterday, from the heights of Mount Nebo, I stood and looked out upon this great land, the land of Moses, Elijah, and John the Baptist, the land where God’s ancient promises were fulfilled in the coming of the Messiah, Jesus our Lord. This land witnessed his preaching and miracles, his death and resurrection, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church, the sacrament of a reconciled and renewed humanity. As I pondered the mystery of God’s fidelity, I prayed that the Church in these lands would be confirmed in hope and strengthened in her witness to the Risen Christ, the Savior of mankind. Truly, as Saint Peter tells us in today’s first reading, “there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we are to be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Today’s joyful celebration of the Eucharistic sacrifice expresses the rich diversity of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land. I greet all of you with affection in the Lord. I thank His Beatitude Fouad Twal, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, for his kind words of welcome. With respect and gratitude I likewise greet His Royal Highness Prince Ghazi Bin Mohammad, who represents the King of Jordan, and I thank him for his presence in our midst. My greeting goes also to the many young people from Catholic schools who today bring their enthusiasm to this Eucharistic celebration. >>> Jessica Roy, Los Angeles Times | Sunday, May 10, 2009

Berlusconi's Anti-immigration Comments Spur Outcry
THE WASHINGTON POST: ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's open rejection of the vision of a multi-ethnic Italy sparked sharp debate Sunday, winning praise from far-right allies and accusations of racism from the left.

Berlusconi's conservative government has won public favor by cracking down on illegal immigration, allowing the premier to go a step further as he defended Saturday a new policy to deport migrants to Libya before they arrive on Italian shores.

"The left's idea is of a multi-ethnic Italy," Berlusconi told a news conference. "That's not our idea, ours is to welcome only those who meet the conditions for political asylum."

Long a country of emigrants, Italy in recent years has been grappling with an influx of poor African migrants arriving on its shores and Eastern Europeans seeking work, sparking fears over crime and a loss of national identity.

Opposition lawmakers denounced the premier's comments as racist and told him to accept Italy would inevitably become multi-cultural whether Italians liked it or not. >>> By Deepa Babington, Reuters | Sunday, May 10, 2009

Pope Disappoints Muslim Leaders
AFP: AMMAN — Pope Benedict XVI urged inter-faith reconciliation on the second day of a Holy Land tour but disappointed Muslim clerics by failing to offer a new apology for remarks seen as targeting Islam.

The pontiff in a keynote address to Muslim leaders in Amman's huge Al-Hussein Mosque bemoaned "ideological manipulation of religion" and urged Muslims and Christians to unite as "worshippers of God."

"Certainly, the contradiction of tensions and divisions between the followers of different religious traditions, sadly, cannot be denied," the leader of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics told his audience.

"However, is it not also the case that often it is the ideological manipulation of religion, sometimes for political ends, that is the real catalyst for tension and division, and at times even violence in society?"

Some clerics expressed disappointment however that the pontiff in his wide-ranging speech had made no new apology for a 2006 address in which he quoted a medieval Christian emperor who criticised some teachings of the Prophet Mohammed as "evil and inhuman." >>> Copyright © 2009 AFP | Saturday, May 9, 2009

Foster to Ease Mecca Pilgrims’ Progress
THE SUNDAY TIMES: A new look for Islam’s holiest city - with hotels, flats and fast trains - has been likened to a ‘mini Dubai’

THE mountain is to move for Muhammad. Norman Foster and Zaha Hadid are involved in plans to transform the landscape around Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, to make way for a high-rise metropolis complete with high-speed rail link for pilgrims.

Architectural designs being considered by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia could see the mosque at the heart of the city expanded fivefold to hold 5m worshippers in one go.

However, much of the land around the historic site, including ancient mountains, is likely to be flattened to accommodate seven-star hotels and towering blocks of luxury flats.

Critics believe the 20-year redevelopment programme will turn Mecca into a “mini Dubai”, the Middle Eastern emirate that has become a byword for consumerism.

Hadid, the Iraqi-born architect who has designed the aquatics centre for the London 2012 Olympics, is believed to have submitted proposals to extend Mecca’s Haram mosque. At its centre lies the Kaaba, the black cube-shaped building which all Muslims face in prayer five times a day.

Although Hadid’s plans remain secret, she has previously produced bold designs for other mosque projects, including one in Strasbourg which featured a sweeping roof inspired by Islamic calligraphy.

Hadid is also thought to be involved in redesigning part of Mecca’s central district, which already boasts a Starbucks and chain stores such as Topshop. >>> Chris Gourlay | Sunday, May 10, 2009

Shock Jocks: Tuning in to Radio GaGa
THE SUNDAY TIMES: As one US shock jock is banned from Britain, Giles Hattersley* asks why millions love to listen to the ranterati

Last week Jacqui Smith forgot the first rule of dealing with shock jocks: never take the bait. On Tuesday the home secretary unveiled 16 names from a list of 22 undesirables the government has recently banned from entering the UK: Ku Klux Klan members, Russian skinheads, religious extremists . . . and Michael Savage, a 67-year-old American radio presenter with a dog called Teddy who can bark the tune of Jingle Bells.

Now, Savage (born Michael Alan Weiner) isn’t some lonely nutcase with a ham radio ranting about Hitler, but America’s third most popular chat show host with 8.5m weekly listeners. Think of an American Nicky Campbell — with a gun, a temper and some highly contentious views on immigration.

Take this gem from The Savage Nation, his nationally syndicated show, last summer: “The illness du jour is autism,” Savage fumed. “You know what autism is? In 99% of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out. They don’t have a father around to tell them, ‘Don’t act like a moron. You’ll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don’t sit there crying and screaming, you idiot’.”

Or this on Muslims: “I said, ‘So kill 100m of them, then there would be 900m of them.’ What is it gonna take for you people to wake up? Would you rather we disappear or we die? Or would you rather they disappear and they die? Because you’re gonna have to make that choice sooner rather than later.”

Savage has also said the victims of the 2004 tsunami deserved it for harbouring terrorists, that children’s minds are “being raped by the homosexual mafia” and that a caller who mocked his teeth “should only get Aids and die, you pig”.

These soundbites were enough for Smith to label him as “someone who has fallen into the category of fomenting hatred, of such extreme views and expressing them in such a way that it is actually likely to cause inter-community tension or even violence if that person were allowed into the country”.

And then . . . what? Did she imagine that would be that? If so, she didn’t know her man. In full spit-fleck mode, Savage took to the airwaves later that day to call the home secretary a “witch” and a “lunatic”, adding if she didn’t remove him from the list he would sue for defamation. Since he hasn’t committed any crime, he might have a case. >>> Giles Hattersley* | Sunday, May 10, 2009

*The opinions expressed in this article are the opinions of the writer of the article, Giles Hattersley. They are his opinions, and his alone.

The Dalai Lama Shows No Understanding of Islam! His Holiness Had Better Stick to Tibetan Buddhism!
Photo of the Dalai Lama courtesy of The Boston Globe
THE BOSTON GLOBE: This is a scene that immediately captured my imagination: Last week, in the preacher's room at Memorial Church in Cambridge, the Dalai Lama, who received the Nobel Peace Prize for his advocacy of nonviolence, turned to one of Harvard's leading scholars of Islam and asked him about the meaning of jihad.

The 73-year-old Dalai Lama had been to Harvard multiple times, and on a couple of occasions had met William A. Graham, a noted Koranic scholar who for the last several years has been the dean of Harvard Divinity School. The Dalai Lama, preparing to give his speech about the teaching of compassion, was apparently thinking about the role of a divinity school at an institution like Harvard when he turned to Graham and asked him about Islam.

"We were simply talking about the virtues of doing comparative religion studies, which he believes in, and he said so many things are misunderstood, like jihad," Graham told me a few days later by phone. "He said he was thinking about the differences between greater and lesser jihad in Muslim jurisprudence. He had a few things to say about it - I didn't get much of a chance to respond to anything - but he's quite correct that the word 'jihad' has been misused. Any traditionalist who knows his Islamic law knows that jihad is fundamentally defensive." Dalai Lama Asserts that Compassion Is Emphasized by Islam >>> By Michael Paulson | Sunday, May 10, 2009

Official Website of the Dalai Lama >>>

Gay Rights in Lebanon Gain Traction
Gay Pride flag: Google Images
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: BEIRUT -- In the Arab world, where several nations have seen killings of gay men in recent months, it can be startling to see a rainbow flag unfurled in public.

But the region's only overt gay rights organization, based in Lebanon, says it is slowly making progress in preventing discrimination and violence.

Now the group, Helem, is preparing for a campaign to overturn the law that makes homosexuality illegal.

In a dramatic step, Helem organized what may have been the only gay rights protest in the Arab world. In February, nearly two dozen gays and lesbians waved rainbow flags in a downtown Beirut square, carrying banners demanding homosexual rights.

They protested what they said was the beating of two gay men by police.

It has been several years since a man was thrown in prison for being gay, said Helem activist Charbel Maydaa. But Lebanon's Article 534, which prohibits having sexual relations that "contradict the laws of nature," remains a threat.

"One of the major problems we face is that some parents threaten their gay children with article 534," he said.

Helem is treading carefully. The group, founded in 2004, is talking with legal experts on how to approach lawmakers and lobby to have Article 534 abolished. Helem members would not comment on how they intend to carry out the campaign.

It's a delicate process, given the deep-seated taboo in Arab countries against even discussing homosexuality. Everyone from religious leaders to family members condemn homosexuality. Human rights groups in other countries, like Egypt, often avoid dealing with issues touching on persecution of gays and lesbians. >>> © Associated Press | Sunday, May 10, 2009

Iran Court Hears Reporter Appeal
BBC: A court in Iran is hearing an appeal from jailed US-Iranian reporter Roxana Saberi, two days earlier than originally expected.

Photo: Google Images
Ms Saberi's lawyer said it was not clear when a ruling would be announced, but that he was optimistic that the 32-year-old would be acquitted.

Ms Saberi was convicted of spying for the US - a charge she denied.

The case sparked international concern and US President Barack Obama has appealed on her behalf.

Appeal process

Unlike her original trial, the legal process this time has been arranged to appear fair and open, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in Tehran.

While Sunday's hearing is still not open to the public, Ms Saberi's appeal is being heard before a panel of three judges, and representatives of the Iranian Bar Association are being allowed to attend.

Her lawyer has also been given plenty of notice.

Abdolsamad Khorramshahi said he had submitted 15 pages of documents in support of the appeal for Roxana Saberi .

"I am optimistic she will be acquitted," he said. >>> | Sunday, May 10, 2009

Les espoirs secrets 
de la jeunesse saoudienne
Ahmed al-Omran, créateur de « Saudi jeans »,l'un des blogs les plus lus, revendique le port du jean et rêve de parfaire sa formation de pharmacien aux États-Unis : « Beaucoup de jeunes Saoudiens sont dans mon cas. Ils ont envie d'aller à l'étranger pour vivre un moment une vie de garçon ou de fille normaux. » Photo grâce au Figaro

LE FIGARO: Élevés dans une société aux règles figées, les jeunes adultes s'évadent grâce aux sitcoms et aux sites Internet de socialisation.

«Les jeunes se reconnaissent dans les personnages parce qu'ils parlent comme eux, explique Nayef. Certaines répliques sont difficiles à comprendre pour les moins de 40 ans» Une petite révolution dans une société compassée, gouvernée par des règles religieuses et patriarcales souvent étouffantes pour les adolescents et les jeunes adultes. Certes, les lignes rouges ne sont pas bien loin. La séquence la plus audacieuse met en scène un apprenti docteur obligé de se cacher sous un lit dans une salle de repos strictement réservée aux étudiantes. Il s'y était rendu pour faire réchauffer un plat au micro-ondes et a été surpris par l'entrée inopinée d'une jeune fille. Pas le moindre flirt en vue. Il y a pourtant une histoire d'amour, mais platonique.

«Mon personnage est amoureux d'une étudiante, mais n'ose jamais le lui avouer, et elle se marie avec un autre», explique Fayez.

Ciné-club informel

37 Degrés se permet toutefois quelques critiques de la société, comme ces scènes où les personnages pensent tout haut, pestant parfois contre le conformisme des aînés. Nayef y est pour beaucoup : c'est aussi lui l'auteur des scénarios. À 24 ans, ce surdoué, fils d'un attaché militaire et d'une éducatrice, vient de terminer ses études de médecine, dans la vraie vie cette fois. Il envisage de poursuivre une spécialité médicale aux États-Unis. Sans abandonner sa passion pour le cinéma.

Nayef tourne aussi des films plus personnels avec une petite caméra, dont les thèmes tournent autour du paradoxe du comédien. Il les présente au Festival des Émirats arabes unis, tout comme sa bande de co­pains, regroupés autour d'un ciné-club informel. Il trouve ses modèles dans un Who's Who mondialisé : «Comme acteur, Daniel Day-Lewis. Comme scénariste, mais pas comme metteur en scène, Pedro Almodovar. Comme metteur en scène, Akira Kurosawa.»

Des références bien éloignées des insolences prudentes de 37 Degrés. Dans la réalité, nombre de Saoudiens de moins de 25 ans secouent les normes sociales. Un phénomène qui ne reste pas cantonné aux rejetons des grandes familles commerçantes nomadisant entre Djedda, Londres et New York. Il commence à toucher les enfants d'une classe moyenne émergente, dont les parents sont professeurs ou cadres du pétrole. Accros à Internet et au portable, rêvant d'ailleurs et de liberté. Attachés à la religion - personne ici ne se dit ouvertement athée - et tentés par la modernité. >>> Par Pierre Prier, envoyé spécial du Figaro à Riyad | Jeudi 07 Mai 2009

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood Dismisses Obama Speech
YAHOO! NEWS: CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood dismissed Saturday U.S. President Barack Obama's plan to deliver a speech to the Muslim world from Egypt as part of a plan to keep Arab and Muslim states divided.

Deputy leader Mohamed Habib said overtures by the United States to countries like Syria and Iran, and recent visits by U.S. officials to Egypt and Saudi Arabia, indicated the speech would be used to further the superpower's pro-Israeli agenda.

"The U.S. administration is trying to use each of these countries individually to serve the American agenda and American interests, in addition to securing, promoting, protecting and guaranteeing the superiority of the Zionist entity (Israel)," Habib told Reuters.

The Brotherhood is Egypt's largest and most powerful opposition group, and seeks an Islamic state through democratic means. It disavowed violence decades ago and is officially banned, but operates relatively openly. >>> Reporting by Aziz El-Kaissouni; editing by Robert Woodward | Saturday, May 9, 2009

Papst Benedikt XVI.: Irak muss Leben der Christen schützen
DIE PRESSE: Papst Benedikt XVI. forderte die politischen und religiösen Führer im Irak auf, das "grundlegende Recht auf friedliche Koexistenz" der Christen zu garantieren. Bei seinem Moschee-Besuch verzichtete er auf ein Gebet.

Zum Schutz der christlichen Minderheit im Irak hat Papst Benedikt XVI. die internationale Staatengemeinschaft aufgerufen. Politische und religiöse Führer müssten alles tun, um der christlichen Gemeinschaft des Zweistromlandes das "grundlegende Recht auf friedliche Koexistenz" zu garantieren, sagte der Papst am Samstag bei einer Begegnung mit dem Diplomatischen Corps, hohen islamischen Klerikern und den Rektoren der jordanischen Universitäten vor der Grabmoschee König Husseins in Amman. Eigens begrüßte er den in Bagdad residierenden chaldäisch-katholischen Patriarchen, Kardinal Emmanuel III. Delly. 



Der Papst dankte dem jordanischen Staat für die Aufnahme irakischer Kriegsflüchtlinge. Die Anstrengungen der Weltgemeinschaft und der Regierungen in der Region für Frieden und Versöhnung müssten weitergehen, so Benedikt XVI. >>> Ag | Samstag, 9. Mai 2009

Anti-Islam-Kongress: Tausende protestieren in Köln
DIE PRESSE: Der zweite "Anti-Islamierungskongress" in Köln sei "dreist" und "anmaßend", sagt Kölns Oberbürgermeister Schramma: "Da ist die Tür. Wir wollen euch nicht. Wir stellen uns quer."

Tausende Demonstranten haben am Samstag in Köln gegen den zweiten "Anti-Islamisierungskongress" der rechtspopulistischen Bewegungen "Pro Köln" und "Pro NRW" protestiert. Oberbürgermeister Fritz Schramma (CDU) sagte bei einer Kundgebung auf dem Kölner Heumarkt laut im Voraus verbreitetem Redetext, die Rechtsradikalen aus ganz Europa hätten wohl vergessen, was man ihnen bereits im September beim vorangegangenen Kongress zugerufen habe: "Da ist die Tür. Wir wollen euch nicht. Wir stellen uns quer."

Der Oberbürgermeister fügte hinzu: "Es war schon im letzten Jahr eine Anmaßung und Dreistigkeit, ausgerechnet hier in Köln, in der Stadt der Toleranz und der Vielfalt, mit rassistischen Parolen auflaufen zu wollen." Das Grundgesetz gebe vor, dass man solche Leute und Anschauungen ertragen müsse: "Unser Grundgesetz gibt uns aber nicht nur das Recht, sondern auch die Pflicht, da aufzustehen, wo die Rechte von Minderheiten infrage gestellt werden und Intoleranz propagiert wird." >>> Ag | Samstag, 9. Mai 2009

Obama verlängert Sanktionen gegen Syrien
DIE PRESSE: Syrien ist für US-Präsident Barack Obama ein Staat, der Terrorismus unterstützt. Daher verlängert Obama die diplomatischen und wirtschaftlichen Sanktionen gegen Damaskus. Zwar habe Syrien viel positives gesagt, es fehlen aber Taten.

US-Präsident Barack Obama sieht in Syrien weiterhin einen Staat, der Terrorismus unterstützt und hat daher die diplomatischen und wirtschaftlichen Sanktionen gegen Damaskus verlängert. Das teilte Obama am Freitag in einem Brief an den US- Kongress mit. >>> Ag | Samstag, 9. Mai 2009

Pakistan erklärt den Taliban den Krieg: Washington versucht den zaudernden Verbündeten in die Pflicht zu nehmen
NZZ am Sonntag: Präsident Obama macht Hilfe an Pakistan vom Vorgehen gegen die Taliban abhängig. Die Regierung Zardari scheint die Drohung verstanden zu haben und hat eine Offensive gegen die Islamisten gestartet.

Laut Barack Obama war das Treffen mit Asif Ali Zardari und Hamid Karzai diese Woche in Washington «ausserordentlich konstruktiv». Man sei sich einig in dem Ziel, die Taliban zu besiegen, stellte der amerikanische Präsident fest. Der Zweckoptimismus konnte nicht darüber hinwegtäuschen, dass der pakistanische wie auch der afghanische Präsident schwache politische Figuren sind und die islamistischen Extremisten in ihren Ländern stark an Einfluss gewonnen haben.

Nach seiner Amtsübernahme im Januar hatte Obama verkündet, künftig das Augenmerk mehr auf Pakistan zu richten, weil der Krieg in Afghanistan nur gewonnen werden könne, wenn die Taliban im Nachbarland keinen Unterschlupf mehr fänden. Unter Obamas Vorgänger Bush hat Pakistan seit 2001 jährlich über eine Milliarde Dollar Hilfe erhalten, ohne dass sich diese ausbezahlt hätte. Die Armee bekämpfte die Extremisten im Grenzgebiet nur halbherzig, die Regierung schloss umstrittene Friedensabkommen mit diesen. >>> Andrea Spalinger, Delhi | Sonntag, 10. Mai 2009

Papst bedauert Spannungen zwischen den Religionen: Benedikt XVI. wirbt in Amman für Dialog von Christen und Muslimen
NZZ Online: Papst Benedikt XVI. hat Christen und Muslime zur Überwindung ihrer Spannungen aufgerufen. Bei seinem Besuch der Al-Hussein-bin-Talal-Moschee räumte das Oberhaupt der katholischen Kirche bestehende Spaltungen zwischen «Mitgliedern der verschiedenen religiösen Traditionen» ein.

Der Papst und Prinz Ghasi in der Moschee in der Hauptstadt Amman. Bild dank der Neuen Zürcher Zeitung
Papst Benedikt XVI. hat Christen und Muslime zur Überwindung ihrer Spannungen aufgerufen. Beide Religionsgemeinschaften sollten sich auf gemeinsamen Wurzeln und Werte besinnen, sagte er während eines Besuchs der grössten jordanischen Moschee in Amman.

Bei seinem Besuch der Al-Hussein-bin-Talal-Moschee räumte das Oberhaupt der katholischen Kirche bestehende Spaltungen zwischen «Mitgliedern der verschiedenen religiösen Traditionen» ein. Zusätzlich geschürt würden diese oftmals durch «ideologische Manipulation», um zu politischen Zwecken Gewalt zu provozieren.

Doch sei es falsch, die Religion grundsätzlich als «Ursache der Spaltung unserer Welt» anzusehen, sagte Benedikt XVI. weiter. Gerade aufgrund der Last ihrer gemeinsamen Geschichte, die so oft von «Unverständnis» geprägt gewesen sei, sollten sich Muslime und Christen «ihres gemeinsamen Ursprungs und der Würde aller Menschen» bewusst sein. >>> sda/afp/Reuters/dpa | Samstag, 9. Mai 2009

Two Years On – Bruni, Bling and Barricades
THE GUARDIAN: Nicolas Sarkozy took office in May 2007 promising to transform France and restore its status as a great nation. Brash, confident and now married to one of the most glamorous woman [sic] in Europe, his presidency has not lacked drama. But approval ratings have plummeted, unemployment is rising and public sector workers are in revolt. Has Sarko really delivered?

French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and his model-turned-singer girlfriend Carla Bruni. Photo courtesy of The Guardian
A strange and somewhat surreal party took place last week on the Champs Elysées, on the pavement outside Le Fouquet's restaurant. Dressed in overcoats to ward off the unseasonal cold, the guests whistled loudly, held aloft a two-tier cake and sang a deliberately discordant rendition of "joyeux anniversaire".

Fond as he is of events held in his honour, Nicolas Sarkozy would not have enjoyed this one. The placards gave it away, particularly the one that read: "Sarkozy: a pandemic all by himself".

President Sarkozy has chosen not to mark the second anniversary of his arrival at the Elysée Palace. And it is not hard to see why. His approval ratings, once riding high at more than 60%, have slumped to the low 30s. One poll released last week suggested that 63% of the population were disappointed with his first 24 months. The number of people who approve of his social policies stands at a dismal 36%.

The political facts on the ground are incontestable: the rapidly rising unemployment rate reached 8.6% in February and among the young the figure is a demoralising 21%; public sector strikes are commonplace and millions have turned out in recent months to protest against the government.

Each week a new constituency makes its grievances known: last week it was prisons, the week before hospitals. Universities have been paralysed for months by the biggest strike action in the history of the French Academy.

Then there are the private sector workers who, faced with mass job cuts and meagre redundancy payouts, kidnap their bosses in the hope of a better deal. "Bossnapping" may yet come to be recognised as the signature protest of the Sarkozy years. >>> Lizzy Davies in Paris | Sunday, May 10, 2009

Trapped by Taliban Terror
THE SUNDAY TIMES: Innocent families are hemmed in as the army tries to crush the hardline Islamic militants fighting for control of north-west Pakistan

A Taliban militant smiles as he holds his weapon outside the mosque where tribal elders and the Taliban met in Daggar, Buner's main town, Pakistan, Thursday, April 23, 2009. Photo courtesy of The Sunday Times
FIERCE fighting engulfed the once serene mountain resort of Swat yesterday, with thousands of civilians trapped as the Pakistani army launched an all-out offensive against the Taliban.

In Swat’s main town of Mingora, now controlled by the Taliban, residents described a scene of terror. Taliban positions were heavily shelled, food and water were running low and electricity and most telephone lines had been cut.

Some described how they were left cowering inside their homes, praying for survival as fighter jets screeched overhead. An army curfew and Taliban threats prevented them fleeing.

The army said it had killed 55 more Taliban fighters in Swat yesterday, bringing the total to more than 200 since the operation began. Hundreds of civilians were feared dead. The provincial government, claiming that hundreds of thousands more were flooding down from the mountains in search of safety, said it could not cope. >>> Christina Lamb and Daud Pakistan Khattak in Batkhela, Swat Valley | Sunday, May 10, 2009

Israel Fears Jewish Attack on ‘Hitler Youth’ Pope
THE SUNDAY TIMES: THE Pope will be given unprecedented security when he arrives in Israel tomorrow because of fears that his brief enrolment in the Hitler Youth as a boy of 14 could trigger an assassination attempt by Jewish zealots.

The Israeli government has ordered Shin Bet, the domestic security service, to take command of the visit. Four Audi armoured cars have been imported from Germany and security chiefs have banned the use of the familiar glass-sided “Popemobile” except for a short journey in Nazareth.

In Jordan yesterday, on the first stage of his middle eastern tour, the pontiff held a meeting with Muslim leaders to express “deep respect” for Islam. He offended Muslims in a speech in 2006 in which he quoted a Medieval scholar who linked Islam to violence.

In Israel Benedict XVI’s German nationality, his service in Hitler’s army, his support for the proposed beatification of Pius XII – known in Israel as the “Nazi pope” – and his decision to revoke the excommunication of Richard Williamson, the British bishop and Holocaust denier, have all sparked anger. The Pope was forced to apologise for mishandling the Williamson affair.

General Giora Eiland, the former head of Israel’s national security council, reflected the views of many Israelis. “It would have been better if the visit wasn’t taking place,” he said. “The Pope’s service in the Wehrmacht is a stain.” >>> Uzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv | Sunday, May 10, 2009

Dmitry Medvedev at Moscow Missile Parade: 'Russia Will Teach Aggressors a Lesson'
TIMES ONLINE: Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's president, has warned at a military parade in Red Square that Moscow will teach foreign aggressors the "lessons" of the Second World War.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev taking part at a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of Unknown Soldier outside the Moscow Kremlin. Photo courtesy of TimesOnline
Nuclear missile launchers and battle tanks were driven through the centre of Moscow, while air force bombers flew above the city's skyline, as Russia celebrated victory over Nazi Germany 64 years ago. Mr Medvedev ordered the Soviet-style parade of might to remind the world that Russia remained a powerful military force.

With Vladimir Putin, the prime minister, standing beside him, Mr Medvedev told thousands of troops drawn up on the cobbles of Red Square that Russia still faced external threats to its security.

"The victory over fascism is a great example and a great lesson for all people and is still current today when people are again starting military adventures," he said.

The president's comments seemed to be primarily directed at Georgia, with which Russia fought a five-day war last year, but could also be a coded warning to the United States, some observers said. Washington is planning to build a missile defence shield in central Europe, a project that has been repeatedly condemned in Moscow.

Mr Medvedev said that foreign designs against Russia would meet the same response it gave the Nazis during the War.

"We are sure that any aggression against our citizens will be given a worthy reply," he said.

The parade was the biggest show of force since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Last year, under an initiative from Mr Putin, tanks and intercontinental ballistic missiles reappeared in Red Square after a 17-year hiatus as part of a drive to show off Russia's military resurgence. >>> By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow | Saturday, May 9, 2009

Barack Obama's Rich Supporters Fear His Tax Plans Show He's a Class Warrior
THE TELEGRAPH: Some of Barack Obama's richest supporters fear they have elected a "class warrior" to the White House, who will turn America's freewheeling capitalism into a more regulated European system.

Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
Wealthy Wall Street financiers and other business figures provided crucial support for Mr Obama during the election, backing him over the Republican candidate John McCain as the right leader to rescue the collapsing US economy.

But it is now dawning on many among them that Mr Obama was serious about his campaign trail promises to bring root and branch reform to corporate America - and that they were more than just election rhetoric.

A top Obama fundraiser and hedge fund manager said: "I'm appalled at the anti-Wall Street rhetoric. It was OK on the campaign but now it's the real world. I'm surprised that Obama is turning out to be so left-wing. He's a real class warrior."

Chris Edwards of the Cato Institute, a free enterprise think tank, said Democrats in Congress were unnerved by the president's latest plan to raise $210 billion over 10 years from multinational corporations.

The money is needed to pay for a national debt that will double over the next five years; and triple over the next 10 years to $17.3 trillion. But the crackdown already faces fierce Democratic resistance.

"These big companies are based in New York Boston, Seattle and Silicon Valley, where Democrats dominate," Mr Edwards said. "Obama's tax plan is already cleaving him from his big corporate supporters," he said.

Mr Obama made no secret of his plans to raise taxes on the "working rich" (individuals earning more than $200,000) by imposing a top income tax rate of almost 40 per cent, and there is little surprise that those plans remain on track, even during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

But Democratic opposition is building in Congress to many of the President's proposals. A plan to reduce tax deductions for charitable gifts by richer people may have to be scrapped, because the charitable sector - which includes hospitals, museums and voluntary service groups - depends heavily on tax-deducted donations.

Charles Rangel, the New York chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, which drafts tax legislation, raised a red flag about the proposal last week. "I would never want to adversely affect anything that is charitable or good," he said.

Mr Obama also wants to "cap and trade" carbon emissions - seen by business as effectively yet another tax - to tackle global warming.

The president's plans are direct repudiation of the model of light touch regulation credited with creating economic growth and wealth in America in recent decades. >>> By Leonard Doyle in Washington | Saturday, May 9, 2009

Pope Calls for Cooperation between Christians and Muslims
Pope Benedict XVI waves to the crowds upon his arrival to say Mass at the Lady of Peace Church in Amman, Jordan. Benedict underlined his "deep respect" for Islam. Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Pope Benedict XVI, speaking at a mosque in Amman, Jordan, also expresses concern about the discrimination that he says Christians and others face in Islamic nations such as Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

Reporting from Amman, Jordan -- Pope Benedict XVI today called on Christians and Muslims to serve mankind with the "light of God's truth" while warning that extremists in nations such as Iraq were exploiting religious differences for political and violent agendas.

Speaking at the Hussein bin Talal Mosque, the pontiff, whose three-day pilgrimage to Jordan is an attempt to mend relations with the Muslim world, said the "tensions and divisions between the followers of different religious traditions, sadly, cannot be denied. However, is it not also the case that often it is the ideological manipulation of religion, sometimes for political ends, that is the real catalyst for tension and division, and at times even violence in society?"

The speech before Catholic priests, Muslim clerics and Orthodox bishops was brief, but the copper-domed mosque offered a symbolic setting for the 82-year-old pope to damp criticism of his comments in 2006 that characterized Islam as a violent religion. Benedict has said he regretted the outrage he caused and made an effort at reconciliation two months later when he prayed silently with imams in the Blue Mosque in Turkey.

Many Muslim leaders in the Arab world feel the pope's contrition has not been genuine. They also say he has not spoken forcefully enough in behalf of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and has apologized to Jews for the Roman Catholic Church's past mistakes but has not done the same for historical injustices against Muslims.

That debate will probably intensify in the coming week, when Benedict leaves Jordan on Monday for Israel and the West Bank. Before his speech at the Hussein mosque, the pope visited Mt. Nebo, where Moses is believes to have been buried, to reassure Jews that the Vatican wants to "overcome all obstacles to the reconciliation of Christians and Jews in mutual respect and cooperation in the service of that peace to which the word of God calls us.">>> By Jeffrey Fleishman | Saturday, May 9, 2009

Giordania, il Papa nella moschea 
"Religione corrotta se serva della violenza"
LA REPUBBLICA.it: Benedetto XVI si raccoglie per la seconda volta un luogo di culto musulmano / 
Una preghiera anche sul monte Nebo dove Mosè indicò al popolo di Israele la "terra promessa"

AMMAN - Benedetto XVI porge la mano all'islam e sottolinea che "la religione costretta a servire l'ignoranza e il pregiudizio, è una religione corrotta". Il Papa visita i luoghi del Vecchio Testamento, il monte Nebo dove Mosè indicò al popolo di Israele la "terra promessa"; benedice la prima pietra della futura università cattolica in Giordania e sosta in raccoglimento nella moschea Al Hussein di Amman. Predica "un'alleanza di civiltà con il mondo musulmano" e rimarca che "la religione viene sfigurata quando viene costretta a servire il disprezzo, la violenza e l'abuso". Chiaro l'ammonimento del Pontefice: "Spesso è la manipolazione ideologica della religione, talvolta per scopi politici, il catalizzatore reale delle tensioni e delle divisioni e non di rado anche delle violenze nella società". >>> Sabato 9 maggio 2009

Benedicto XVI tiende la mano del diálogo a los judíos en el Monte Nebo
EL PAÍS: El pontífice anima desde este emplazamiento bíblico a "superar los obstáculos que se interponen en la reconciliación entre los hebreos y los cristianos"

El Papa ha tendido hoy la mano del diálogo a los judíos en el Monte Nebo, en el oeste de Jordania, donde ha expresado sus deseos de "superar los obstáculos que se interponen en la reconciliación entre los hebreos y los cristianos". En esta segunda jornada del Papa en Jordania, el Papa ha repetido la misma visita que Juan Pablo II hizo al Monte Nebo, el lugar desde el cual Moisés contempló la Tierra Prometida por Dios. >>> Agencias – Monte Nebro (Jordania) | Sábado 9 de mayo de 2009

¡Buenas noticias! El 'Euromillones' deja en España su mayor premio para un único acertante
EL PAÍS: Un billete validado en la ciudad de Madrid, premiado con 126 millones de euros

Un cupón del sorteo del Euromillones validado en Madrid le dará a su dueño más de 126 millones de euros, el mayor premio de la historia de la lotería europea para una única persona. Este único acertante de primera categoría -cinco números y dos estrellas- adquirió su boleto para el sorteo de esta pasada noche en la Administración de Loterías número 25 de Madrid, situada en el número 39 de la calle Alcalá.

El premio, de 126.231.764 euros, según ha informado Loterías y Apuestas del Estado, supone el de mayor cuantía cobrado por una única persona desde el nacimiento del sorteo en febrero de 2004. >>> Agencias - Madrid | Sábado 9 de mayo de 2009

TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: «Le chat noir» a porté chance au plus gros gagnant à l'Euro Millions

ESPAGNE | L'Espagnol qui a gagné, lors du tirage d'hier soir, 126 millions d'euros a validé son billet dans le bureau de loterie nommé «Le chat noir» situé dans une grande rue du centre de Madrid.

Le plus gros gagnant de l’histoire de l’Euro Millions avec un gain de 126 millions d’euros est pour l’heure anonyme mais a validé son billet dans le bureau de loterie "le chat noir" d’une grande rue du centre de Madrid, a-t-on appris samedi auprès de sa propriétaire. >>> AFP | Samedi 09 Mai 2009

THE GUARDIAN: Lottery Officials Continue Search for Owner of £110m Ticket

Madrid shop sold ticket for biggest single lottery prize / EuroMillions winner may be tourist, says seller

Lottery officials across Europe were searching today for one of the continent's richest people, who may still be unaware that they possess a lottery ticket worth £110m.

The EuroMillions jackpot is the world's biggest ever single lottery prize, but the Madrid lottery shop that sold the ticket has so far been unable to trace the buyer. If found, he or she would shoot into the club of the richest people in Europe. If the winner were British, it would mean joining the Sunday Times rich list at No 492 — tied with the Bee Gees brothers Barry and Robin Gibb.

A sign pinned to the window of the Black Cat lottery shop, just off Madrid's central Plaza de Cibeles, boasted today that this was the place where the €126m ticket had been sold.

The shop's owner, Paloma Cateleiro, said that she had no idea who had bought the ticket but suspected the chit might be lying at the bottom of a tourist's suitcase in some part of Europe.

"A lot of people come though here," she said. "We might never find out who has won it."

She said that the winner had put down €10 in the game, which let them make five different predictions of a combination of numbers that could land the jackpot.

"It could have gone to a tourist or to someone from outside Madrid, as we are right in the centre," said Ana Maria Rincón, one of the Black Cat's lottery sellers.

The huge jackpot built up after the weekly draw was rolled over six times, with no winner since 20 March. >>> Giles Tremlett in Madrid | Sunday, May 10, 2009

TIMESONLINE: £110m Winner of EuroMillions Jackpot Was Ill in Bed with Flu

Europe’s biggest lottery winner is a 25-year-old Spanish woman who was in fear of losing her job and was unaware of her £110 million jackpot because she was struck down with the flu.

The woman, from Majorca, only discovered she had become a multi-millionaire when she returned to work on Monday. She is unmarried but has a boyfriend and bought the ticket through the commercial betting website Serviapuestas.

The winner went back to work after fearing she might lose her job because of the recession, only to turn on her phone and be told she had won the jackpot. The ticket was later validated at the Black Cat kiosk in the centre of Madrid.

Jose Mieres, director of the Serviapuestas website, said they had been trying to contact the young woman since last Friday´s draw. But she did not answer her phone over the weekend and she was not replying to their e-mails.

She told Mr Mieres: “I still had flu on Monday, but with the situation of crisis we are going through, I decided I had to go to work anyway, out of fear of losing my job.” >>> Graham Keeley in Madrid | Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Voyage en Jordanie: Au Mont Nebo, Benoît XVI veut réconcilier chrétiens et juifs
L’EXPRESS.fr: A l'endroit où, selon les écritures, Dieu a montré la Terre promise à Moïse, le Pape Benoît XVI a rappelé samedi 9 mai "le lien inséparable" qui unit l'Eglise et le peuple juif. Le voyage papal se poursuit en Jordanie.

Le pape Benoît XVI a appelé samedi à la "réconciliation" entre chrétiens et juifs lors d'un déplacement au Mont Nebo, le lieu où, selon les écritures, Dieu a montré à Moïse la Terre promise.

Le pape s'est rendu sur cette montagne de 840 mètres à 40 km au sud-ouest d'Amman, au deuxième jour de sa visite en Jordanie, dans le cadre de son premier séjour dans un pays arabe.

Benoît XVI, qui veut faire de son voyage d'une semaine au Proche-Orient un pèlerinage pour la paix, s'est lui-même présenté en pèlerin.

"Ici, sur les pas des innombrables pèlerins qui nous ont précédés au cours des siècles, nous sommes provoqués à mesurer plus pleinement le don de notre foi et à grandir dans cette communion qui transcende toute frontière de langue, de race et de culture", a-t-il dit. >>> Par LEXPRESS.fr avec AFP | Samedi 09 Mai 2009

Taliban Vow to 'Eliminate' Pakistan's Top Leadership
Students from Swat Valley chant slogans during a rally against the ongoing military operation in the valley in Pakistan. Photo courtesy of The Times of India
THE TIMES OF INDIA: ISLAMABAD: Angered by Pakistan government's decision to launch an all out war against them, the Taliban has vowed to "eliminate" country's top leadership including President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and their close family members.

"We thought that being a member of a religious family, Gilani will support our demand of implementing Sharia in the Malakand division but instead he has announced an all-out war against us, which has angered our commanders as well as fighters," an unnamed Taliban commander told The News daily.

The militant commander, who spoke to the newspaper by phone, said after Gilani declared during an address to the nation on Thursday that the Taliban would be wiped out from the Swat Valley and adjoining areas, the militants had started planning to "eliminate the top leaders of the ruling alliance, including President, Prime Minister and their close family members and aides". >>> | Saturday, May 9, 2009

Saudi State Torture

Saudi Secrets

Somali Man Has His Hand Amputated By Al Shabab
SOMALILAND PRESS: Kismayo — A man convicted of robbery by a court in Somalia’s Islamist strong hold port-town of Kismayo had his right hand cut off. Mohamed Omar Ismael stole $90 from a saving account, local reports said.

Mohamed was sentenced to the amputation of his right-hand, and the punishment was carried out in public in the city center where a large crowd of people watched on as Islamists carried out the sentence.

This is not the first time the Islamic group known as Al Shabab, who introduced strict form of Sharia, or Islamic Law, carried out this sort of incident, it was just last year when they amputated a young man named Yusuf.

Under strict Sharia law, theft is sentenced by severing their hand. The death penalty is meted out for murder, rape, armed robbery, apostasy and drug trafficking. >>> Somalilandpress | Saturday, May 9, 2009

Obama to Address Muslims in Egypt
Obama, you are trying to brush off the differences between Muslims and Christians by stating that Muslims are “just like us”; they “simply have a different religion”.

Who are you trying to kid, Mr President? Whose eyes are you trying to pull the wool over?

It just so happens, Mr President, that the ‘religion’ of Islam is not only a proselytizing religion, but it is an expansive, belligerent religion, too – a 'religion' on a mission to take over the world! Because of weak politicians like you, Mr President, they are doing a pretty good job of it, too. And, Mr President, if you have forgotten, it happens to be the ‘religion’ which attacked the United States on 9/11! Have you forgotten that, Mr President? Or are you just conveniently forgetting it, perhaps because you don’t have the balls to deal with reality?

Instead of prancing and dancing and walzing and poncing around the world making excuses for your country, you’d be better off, and far more respected by the Muslim world, if you grew a backbone. – ©Mark

BBC: US President Barack Obama will give a long-awaited speech on US relations with the Muslim world on a visit to Egypt, the White House has announced.

He will travel to Egypt on 4 June and a day later arrive in Germany for a visit to Dresden and the site of the Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald.

During his election campaign, Mr Obama promised to make a major speech on ties with Muslims early in his presidency.

Egypt arguably represented "the heart of the Arab world", a spokesman said.

In Turkey last month, the president declared that the US was not at war with Islam and he called for a greater partnership with the Muslim world.

Right from the start, Barack Obama has made clear he wants to rebuild relations with the Muslim and Arab world, the BBC's Jonathan Beale reports from Washington.

With so many events in so short a space of time, it is going to be a carefully choreographed trip, our correspondent says.

'Extending the hand'

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was asked if Egypt was an appropriate venue for the speech, given its poor record on human rights.

"The scope of the speech, the desire for the president to speak, is bigger than where the speech was going to be given or who's the leadership of the country where the speech is going to be given," he replied.

"This is a continuing effort of the president to engage the Muslim world," he added.

"All of this gives the president the opportunity hopefully to extend the hand to those that in many ways are like us but simply have a different religion." >>> Friday, May 8, 2009

Pakistan President Sees 'War' against Taliban
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has pledged to mount an all-out war against Taliban extremists, vowing to kill the militants in a military offensive.

"This is an offensive -- this is war. If they kill our soldiers, then we do the same," Zardari told PBS public television Friday, during a visit to Washington.

Pressed on whether Pakistan's stated goal of "eliminating" militants meant killing them, Zardari replied in the affirmative.

"Eliminate means exactly what it means," he said. >>> AFP | Saturday, May 9, 2009

Tension Mounts as Hezbollah Win Predicted
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: THE militant Islamic group Hezbollah looks set to consolidate its influence on power in Lebanon when voters go to the polls here on June 7.

Backed by Iran and Syria, the Hezbollah-led coalition known as March 8 is favoured to win a majority in parliament.

Led by the charismatic Shiite cleric Hassan Nasrallah, who is loathed in the West but loved across the Muslim world, Hezbollah is nevertheless expected to extend the current power-sharing arrangements under a new government of national unity.

With about 20 parties competing for attention in Lebanon's intractably complicated system - in which power is divided between the country's Sunni, Shiite, Druze and Christian populations - the Mediterranean country is in the grip of election fever. >>> Jason Koutsoukis Herald Correspondent in Beirut | Saturday, May 9, 2009

Pilgerfahrt: Benedikts schwierige Reise ins Heilige Land
WELT ONLINEEs ist eine Pilgerreise der besonderen Art: Papst Benedikt XVI. hat sich zum ersten Mal in den Nahen Osten begeben. Es handelt sich um seine zwölfte und bislang wichtigste Auslandsreise. Das Kirchenoberhaupt steht vor einer Gratwanderung zwischen Religion und Politik, denn seine Reise wird von Christen, Juden und Muslimen gleichermaßen mit großer Aufmerksamkeit verfolgt.

Diese Karte des Heiligen Landes aus dem Jahr 1560 ist als Fresco auf eine Wand im Apostolischen Palast im Vatikan gemalt. Sie zeigt weder eine Grenze noch eine der Waffenstillstandslinien, die es dort jemals gab. Nichts scheidet hier Israel vom Libanon, von Jordanien, Syrien, Ägypten oder dem Westjordanland und dem Gazastreifen. Erkennbar sind nur topografische Gegebenheiten: der Jordan, das Tote Meer, der See Genezareth, der Hermon, das Karmelgebirge, und das Nildelta, zwischen denen sich das Heilige Land im Goldton ausspannt. Karte des Heiligen Landes dank der Welt

>>> Von Martin Zöller | Freitag, 8. Mai 2009

FPÖ nimmt erneut an "Anti-Islamisierungs-Kongress" teil
DIE PRESSE: Der Kongress findet am Wochenende in Köln statt und richtet sich hauptsächlich gegen eine geplante Moschee. Im Vorjahr kam es zu massiven Protesten gegen die Veranstaltung.

Die FPÖ wird auch heuer an dem "Anti-Islamisierungs-Kongress" in Köln teilnehmen. Das gaben die Freiheitlichen am Donnerstag in einer Aussendung bekannt. Angeführt wird die Delegation von Generalsekretär Harald Vilimsky.

Der Veranstalter "pro Köln" lädt nach 2008 bereits das zweite mal rechtspopulistische Bewegungen aus ganz Europa ein, um ein Zeichen gegen eine Ausbreitung des Islam in Europa zu setzen. Die Veranstaltung am Samstag und Sonntag richtet sich hauptsächlich gegen eine geplante Moschee in Köln. Laut FPÖ-Aussendung ist er ein Forum, um zu einem Verbot von Minaretten aufzurufen, und gegen islamische Zentren zu demonstrieren. Letztere seien "vornehmlich Nährboden für Hassprediger und Demokratieverweigerer". Vilimsky wird einer der Hauptredner sein. Massive Proteste im Vorjahr >>> APA | Donnerstag, 7. Mai 2009

DIE PRESSE: Anti-Islamisierungs-Kongress: Demonstration verboten

Die Kölner Polizei hat einen Demonstrationszug der rechten Bürgerbewegung "pro NRW" zum Ort einer geplanten Moschee untersagt. Bereits am Freitag protestierten Hunderte gegen die Anti-Islamisierungs-Konferenz.

Die rechtspopulistische Bürgerbewegung aus dem deutschen Bundesland Nordrhein-Westfalen "pro NRW" darf bei ihrem "Anti-Islamisierungskongress" am Samstag keinen Demonstrationszug zum Ort einer geplanten Moschee in Köln-Ehrenfeld veranstalten. Das Oberverwaltungsgericht entscheid am Freitag, die Voraussetzungen eines polizeilichen Notstandes seien erfüllt.

Auch im Fall einer - von "pro NRW" erwogenen - Verkürzung des Demonstrationszugs seien für die Absicherung neben den bereitgestellten 5651 Beamten weitere rund 2460 Einsatzkräfte erforderlich. Diese seien aber nicht verfügbar. "Pro NRW" hat angekündigt, das Bundesverfassungsgericht anzurufen. >>> Ag | Freitag, 8. Mai 2009

Benoit XVI : un «profond respect» pour les musulmans
LE FIGARO: Le pape est arrivé vendredi dans la capitale jordanienne, première étape de sa tournée au Proche Orient, où il espère que l'Eglise catholique pourra jouer un rôle dans le processus de paix.

Benoit XVI a exprimé son «profond respect» pour la communauté musulmane à son arrivée vendredi en Jordanie, première étape de son voyage en Terre sainte qui va durer huit jours. Le pape se rend en «pèlerin de la paix» dans une région troublée, où il s'est attiré la colère des juifs et des musulmans par certains propos et autres décisions.

«La liberté religieuse est naturellement un droit humain fondamental et mon espérance fervente et ma prière sont que le respect des droits inaliénables et de la dignité (...) soient toujours plus affirmés et défendus non seulement au Moyen-Orient mais partout dans le monde», a-t-il également déclaré à l'aéroport d'Amman, la capitale, où il a été accueilli par le roi Abdallah II, un descendant du prophète Mahomet, et la reine Rania.


Le souverain pontife a par ailleurs souligné que la Jordanie «a été depuis longtemps à l'avant-garde d'initiatives en faveur de la paix au Moyen-Orient et à travers le monde, en encourageant le dialogue interreligieux». Quelques heures avant que son avion ne se pose à Amman, le souverain pontife a déclaré à des journalistes qu'il espérait que l'Eglise catholique puisse jouer un rôle dans le processus de paix au Proche-Orient. Il a ainsi souligné que l'Eglise n'était pas une puissance politique mais une force spirituelle qui, a-t-il souhaité, soit en mesure d'apporter sa contribution pour tenter de sceller la paix entre Israéliens et Palestiniens. >>> Flore Galaud (lefigaro.fr) avec agences | Vendredi 08 Mai 2009

LE FIGARO: À Amman, Benoît XVI récuse
 le choc de civilisations

Vendredi, le roi Abdallah de Jordanie a accueilli le Souverain Pontife à son arrivée à l'aéroport d'Amman. Photo grâce au Figaro
Le Pape a commencé, vendredi en Jordanie, son pèlerinage en Terre sainte. Il a redit son «profond respect pour la communauté musulmane».

L'antichoc des civilisations. De sa petite voix, vendredi en Jordanie, Benoît XVI a voulu combattre l'idée de la fatalité du conflit entre le monde musulman et l'Occident. Trois ans après la crise de Ratisbonne où une phrase de son discours sur la «violence» de l'islam avait mis le feu aux poudres, le Pape est allé droit au but : «Ma visite en Jordanie me donne l'heureuse occasion de dire mon profond respect pour la communauté musulmane.»

Et de féliciter publiquement ce pays pour son «rôle déterminant» dans «la promotion d'une meilleure compréhension des vertus proclamées par l'islam». Le Pape a précisé : «Nous pouvons dire que ces précieuses initiatives ont obtenu de bons résultats en favorisant la promotion d'une alliance des civilisations entre l'Occident et le monde musulman mettant en échec les prédications de ceux qui considèrent inévitables la violence et les conflits.» >>> D’envoyé spécial du Figaro à Amman, Jean-Marie Guénois | Vendredi 08 Mai 2009

Profile: Michael Savage, the US Shock Jock Banned from Britain
THE TELEGRAPH: Michael Savage has a winning way with annoying callers to his talk show.

Radio talk show host Michael Savage. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
"Get Aids and die, you pig," the American radio "shock jock" told a purportedly homosexual man who once badmouthed his teeth.

He has plenty more vitriol to go around. Latinos "breed like rabbits" , Muslims "need deporting" and as for autistic children, "in 99 per cent of cases it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out".

Quite what he might say to Jacqui Smith if she called in is unclear, but it might just be: "Thank you very much".

Shock jocks thrive on controversy and notoriety, and the Home Secretary must have exceeded Savage's wildest dreams this week when she included him on a list of undesirables banned from entering Britain.

The 16 names were people who "fomented hatred, of such extreme views and expressing them in such a way" as to cause violence if they were allowed into the country, she told the BBC.

The story in half a dozen forms has been plastered over Savage's official website and alluded to liberally on Savage Nation, his nationally syndicated radio show. Even before the hullabaloo, the San Francisco-based show boasted 10 million listeners a week, the third most popular (behind Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity) in US news talk radio. >>> By Tom Leonard | Thursday, May 7, 2009

Queen's Trinity Cross Medal Scrapped... Because It's 'Too Christian'
Caribbean storm: The old Trinity Cross (left) is replaced with the Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, which has removed any Christian symbols. Images courtesy of MailOnline
MAIL Online: A medal personally established by the Queen is being withdrawn after it was deemed offensive to Muslims and Hindus.

The honour - known as The Trinity Cross of the Order of Trinity - has been ruled unlawful and too Christian.

It has been awarded to 62 distinguished residents of the former colony of Trinidad and Tobago over more than 40 years, including cricketers Brian Lara and Garfield Sobers, novelist V.S. Naipaul and many diplomats and politicians.

But groups representing the Caribbean islands' Muslim and Hindu communities - which account for around a third of their 1.3million-strong population - had argued that the words 'Trinity' and 'Cross' were 'overtly Christian'. They also said the use of a cross insignia was offensive.

Five British law lords, all members of the Privy Council, have ruled that the honour breached the right to equality and the right to freedom of conscience and belief. >>> By Mail Foreign Service | Saturday, May 9, 2009