Islamic Iran Offers 'Courting' Diplomas to Cut Divorce
THE TELEGRAPH: Iranian youths can attend courtship classes and earn a diploma before tying the knot as part of a newly introduced government scheme to cut the divorce rate.

The National Youth Organisation has unveiled an online course to educate the Islamic republic's overwhelmingly young population on how to find Mr or Mrs Right, pop the question and live happily ever after.

Interactive and lasting three months, the course designed by academics and clerics requires pupils seeking the diploma to sit for weekly tests.

Iran's hardline leaders condemn dating and relationships out of wedlock and like to see men and women married off ideally in their early 20s in a country where traditionalists frown upon singles in their 30s.

But according to official estimates, the average age of marriage has risen to 29, mainly due to economic hardship and a change in priorities and values, especially for women who outnumber men at college.

Since rising to power five years ago, conservatives in the parliament and the government have made a mantra of "facilitating marriage for young people" in Iran, where about 60 per cent of the 70 million population is under 30.

The concept of a "marriage diploma" has already unleashed a torrent of jokes on the internet, but officials insist that Iranians need awareness without revealing much about the content of the course.

"Marriage needs hundreds of hours of education," said Mehrdad Bazrpash, a deputy to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and head of the National Youth Organisation, as he inaugurated the programme in Tehran on Saturday.

Ahmad Borjali, a psychologist and adviser to the initiative, said that the divorce rate has gone up steadily since 2006, rising by 15.7 per cent in 2009 compared with the previous year, against a 2.1 per cent increase in marriages.

One in every four marriages ends in divorce in Tehran alone, he said, citing research by social workers as blaming "sexual" and "communication troubles" among main reasons for the problem nationwide. >>> Hiedeh Farmani, in Tehran for AFP | Monday, March 15, 2010

FDP Chef in der Kritik: Westerwelles abenteuerliche Reisen
ZEIT ONLINE: Selten stand ein deutscher Außenminister derart in der Kritik wie Guido Westerwelle in diesen Tagen. Beinahe täglich gehen neue Vorwürfe auf den FDP-Vorsitzenden und Vizekanzler nieder. Was ist dran an den Anschuldigungen? ZEIT ONLINE klärt die wichtigsten Fragen

Der Bundesaußenminister auf Südamerika-Reise: In Brasilien besucht er ein Siemens-Werk, daheim zweifelt man an seiner Integrität. Bild: Zeit Online
Was wird Westerwelle konkret vorgeworfen?

Der Hauptvorwurf lautet, der Außenminister und Vizekanzler habe auf seinen bisherigen Reisen ins Ausland Dienstliches und Privates miteinander vermischt. Außerdem hält man ihm vor, dass er sich während seiner Südamerika-Reise und seiner Asien-Reise im Januar von FDP-nahen Unternehmern, Parteispendern und persönlichen Freunden begleiten ließ. Im Raum steht auch der Vorwurf, Westerwelles Bruder Kai profitiere indirekt vom Amt des Außenministers. Ebenso wie Westerwelles Lebenspartner, der Eventmanager Michael Mronz, der mit nach Südamerika gereist ist. >>> Von Michael Schlieben | Philip Faigle | Steffen Dobbert | Freitag, 12. März 2010

Islamdebatte: Wo endet Toleranz?
ZEIT ONLINE: Josef Joffe: Gedankenverwirrung im Streit der Islamversteher und -verächter

Die DITIB-Merkez-Moschee in Duisburg. Bild: Zeit Online
Jeder Religion kann Schreckliches nachgesagt werden. Die Juden haben die Kanaaniter beim Einfall ins Gelobte Land gemeuchelt; ihr »Jahwe« ist sowieso ein »rächender Gott«. Den Christen darf man die Kreuzzüge und Torquemada anhängen, den Muslimen Ehrenmord, Steinigung und Terror im Namen Allahs. Anderseits haben die Juden nicht nur den einen und einzigen Gott erfunden, sondern auch »Liebe deinen Nächsten«. Das Christentum hat die Würde des Individuums und die Trennung von Kirche und Staat vorgezeichnet. Dem Islam verdankt der Westen Schätze, die von A wie Algebra bis Z wie Zimt reichen.

Vergessen wir also die wohlfeile Aufrechnung. Im Streit zwischen Islamverächtern und -verstehern lautet die eigentliche Frage nicht: »Wie halten wir es mit dem Islam?«, sondern: »Wie halten wir’s mit uns, dem Westen?« Zwei Antworten, die durch die Debatte geistern, zeugen von Gedankenverwirrung. Eine fordert Toleranz auch dann, »wenn ein anderer nicht tolerant sein will«. Die zweite handelt vom »Fundamentalismus der Aufklärung«, die der islamischen Variante gleiche (und oft mit »Islamophobie« einhergehe). Islamkritiker seien also die geistigen Zwillinge ihrer Feinde. >>> Josef Joffe, Herausgeber der Zeit | Freitag, 12. März 2010

Nahost: Merkel bemängelt negative Signale aus Israel
ZEIT ONLINE: Kanzlerin Merkel hat Israels Siedlungspolitik ungewöhnlich deutlich kritisiert und mehr Konstruktivität eingefordert. Ansonsten blockiere Israel die Friedensgespräche.

Fordert von Israel, "mit aller Kraft" auf Friedensgespräche mit den Palästinensern hinzuarbeiten: Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel (CDU). Bild: Zeit Online
Merkel nannte den Beschluss zum Bau von 1600 neuen Wohnungen in Ost-Jerusalem einen "schweren Rückschlag" für den Friedensprozess im Nahen Osten. "Ich hoffe, dass auch die Signale aus Israel in Zukunft konstruktiv sind und nicht weiter so negativ, dass sie das Zustandekommen von solchen Gesprächen verhindern", sagte Merkel nach einem Treffen mit dem libanesischen Ministerpräsidenten Saad Rafiq Hariri.

Jetzt müsse "alle Kraft" darauf gesetzt werden, dass die geplanten indirekten Friedensgespräche zwischen Israelis und Palästinensern tatsächlich stattfinden, sagte die Kanzlerin. "Wir sind der Meinung, dass es ein Zeitfenster gibt, das nicht unendlich groß ist." >>> Zeit Online, dpa, AFP | Montag, 15. März 2010

Affaire Kadhafi : L’otage Max Göldi est au plus mal
LE TEMPS: L’état de santé du Suisse retenu à Tripoli s’est détérioré depuis qu’il a été transféré dans une prison libyenne il y a trois semaines, a indiqué lundi Amnesty International. L’incertitude sur la durée de sa détention est un des facteurs qui pèse sur la santé du Suisse

Max Göldi a des problèmes de santé, selon le porte-parole de l’ONG Daniel Graf, qui est en contact avec la famille de l’otage. Le fait qu’il ait dû quitter l’ambassade de Suisse à Tripoli, où il était réfugié, et qu’il soit maintenant détenu dans une prison près de Tripoli ne facilite pas la situation.

Il y a trois semaines, M. Göldi considérait son transfert en prison comme une étape intermédiaire et comptait sur un retour rapide en Suisse. Son compagnon d’infortune, avec qui il avait retenu un an et demi en Libye, avait d’ailleurs pu quitter le pays pour retrouver sa famille sur les bords du lac Léman. >>> ATS | Lundi 15 Mars 2010

Culture Clash: European Art Provokes Muslims
Tell us what doesn’t provoke Muslims? – Mark
ASSOCIATED PRESS: LONDON — With the West locked in conflicts across the Muslim world, why would anyone throw fuel on the fire?

A small group of Europeans have been doing just that — provoking death plots and at least one murder by turning out art that derides the Prophet Muhammad and the Quran in the name of Western values.

Behind the scenes is something bigger: a rising European unease with a rapidly growing Muslim minority, and the spreading sense that the continent has become a front in a clash of civilizations.

Recent events — including surprising electoral success by an anti-Islamic Dutch party, moves to ban veils in France and minarets in Switzerland, and arrests in Ireland and the U.S. this week in an alleged plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist — are signs of the rising tensions.

Swedish artist Lars Vilks says he was defending freedom of speech when he produced a crude black-and-white drawing of Muhammad with a dog's body in 2007. Authorities say that set him in the crosshairs of an assassination plot by extremists including Colleen LaRose, a 46-year-old Muslim convert from Pennsylvania who dubbed herself "Jihad Jane."

Vilks said in a recent interview with The Associated Press that he wasn't interested in offending Muslims as an end in itself, but wanted to show that he could make provocative art about any topic he chose. "There is nothing so holy you can't offend it," he said.

The Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten also said it was defending free speech in 2005 when it printed 12 cartoons of Muhammad, one in a bomb-shaped turban, setting off protests and the torching of Western embassies in several Muslim countries. And bottle-blond Dutch populist politician Geert Wilders said he was promoting European values by producing Fitna, a 15-minute film that lays images of the Sept. 11 attacks alongside verses from the Quran. The film was shown in Britain's House of Lords this month.

The cases are extreme, but millions of moderate Europeans also are re-examining the meaning of the liberal values widely cherished across the continent. How, many are asking, should a liberal society respectfully deal with immigrants who often espouse illiberal values? Should the immigrants adopt the values of their adoptive land — or, to the contrary, should society change to accommodate the newcomers who now form part of it?* >>> Michael Weissenstein | Sunday, March 14, 2010

Associated Press Writers Karl Ritter in Stockholm and Art Max and Mike Corder in Amsterdam contributed to this report.

*This is an absurd question to ask! It is clearly incumbent upon the immigrant to adapt to the host country, not the other way around. Many of these immigrants, after all, are here in Europe ILLEGALLY. And even when they aren’t, they came here for a better life. They came here to get away from backwardness and poverty. We should stop engaging in such banal and useless belly-aching! Were I to have house-guests refusing to abide by the rules of the house, I would show them the door. So it should be with a country. Abide by the laws of the country, or get out! – © Mark

Crucifixion Year Bad for Bavarian Village Barbers
THE TELEGRAPH: Once every 10 years Oberammergau, in Bavaria, crucifies Jesus all over again and local hairdressers nearly go out of business.

Martin Norz,centre, as Jesus Christ and other lay actors during a rehearsal of the passion play in Oberammergau. Photograph: The Telegraph
That's because nearly half the 5,300-strong village lets hair and beards grow for over a year to better resemble the Jews they will interpret in the Passion play that has been running here for nearly 375 years.

The tradition goes back to 1633 when the plague struck the alpine village and locals vowed, if they were spared, to put on a play about the crucifixion and reincarnation of Jesus once every 10 years - for ever.

"A lot of people, including some 600 children stop having their hair cut from Ash Wednesday (February 25) 2009 to October 3 2010" when the play packs up for nine years, says Doris Renner, 51, who runs one of the village's three hairdressing shops.

"That means a tremendous loss of business and shorter working hours for some employees," she adds.

But "Jesus", for his part, is working over time.

Frederik Mayet, 30, a marketing student, is both "Jesus" and spokesman for the play.

To take part in the Passion, "you have to be born in the village, have lived here for 20 years, or be married to someone from the village for over 10 years", he says.

The Passion is the "social event of the decade", says play director Christian Stueckl.

"Some want to take part because it's a tradition. Others for religious reasons. Still others, who aren't at all religious, just don't want to miss out," according to Stueckl, a village native who usually runs the Munich Volkstheater.

Villagers give up a lot of time to take part. >>> Francis Curta, in Oberammergau for AFP | Monday, March 15, 2010

US Diplomatic Rift with Israel Widens After Settler Plan
THE TELEGRAPH: The United States thwarted an Israeli attempt to play down a diplomatic rift between the two countries on Sunday by renewing its condemnation of plans to build new settler homes in occupied East Jerusalem.

After days of uncharacteristically caustic criticism from Washington, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, suggested that claims of a crisis between the Jewish state and its superpower patron were overblown.

“I suggest not to get carried away and to calm down,” Mr Netanyahu told his cabinet.

“We look at this morning’s newspapers and read all kinds of comments and analysis,” he said. “First of all, I suggest that we don’t get carried away. We know how to deal with these situations.”

Yet the prime minister's display of confidence rapidly began to appear misplaced. Within hours, a senior aide to President Barack Obama indicated that displeasure over Israel's actions during last week's visit to the Holy Land by Joe Biden, the US vice president, had far from dissipated.

"This was an affront, it was an insult but most importantly it undermined this very fragile effort to bring peace to that region," David Axelrod, Mr Obama's most senior political adviser, told NBC news. "This was not the right way to behave." >>> Adrian Blomfield in Jerusalem | Sunday, March 14, 2010

BBC: Ties between Israel and US 'worst in 35 years': Israel's ambassador to the US has said that relations between the two countries face their worst crisis for 35 years, Israeli media have reported. >>> | Monday, March 15, 2010

Barack Obama Must Pull US Troops Out of Afghanistan, Says Indonesian Cousin
THE TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama must pull American troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq if he wants to fulfil his dream of reconciling the Muslim world and the West, according to his Indonesian cousin.

Haryo Soetendro, 55, grew up with Mr Obama. Photograph: The Telegraph
Haryo Soetendro, 55, grew up with Mr Obama – whom he knew as "Barry" – when the future American president lived in Indonesia for four years from the late 1960s.

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Telegraph, Mr Soetendro said that his illustrious cousin must start delivering on his promise to build bridges with the Islamic world as the President prepares to leave for a visit to his childhood home next weekend.

"The Iraq and Afghanistan problems should be solved peacefully and that is what Barry is trying to do. Indonesian Muslims are generally tolerant. But there is a common opinion that one country should not occupy another. No one would want their house occupied by someone else.

"You cannot force other countries to accept your idea of what is right just because you are stronger. I think the mothers in America would agree with this when they see their soldier sons being killed in Afghanistan."

Mr Obama is due to fly to Indonesia next week but postponed his trip to help hammer out a health care reform bill that he hoped will be passed before his departure.

After criticism that he was taking a "vacation" to the country that had been timed to coincide with his daughters' school holidays, the White House announced that Mr Obama's wife Michelle and their children would not be accompanying him. >>> Barney Henderson in Jakarta | Monday, March 15, 2010

Frankreich: Debakel für Nicolas Sarkozy bei Regionalwahlen
WELT ONLINE: Denkzettel für Frankreichs Präsident Nicolas Sarkozy: Sein bürgerlich-rechtes Regierungslager hat bei einem wichtigen Stimmungstest eine bittere Niederlage erlitten. In der ersten Runde der Regionalwahlen kam die konservative UMP nach ersten Prognosen nur auf 26,7 Prozent der Stimmen.

Bei den Regionalwahlen musste Frankreichs Präsident Nicolas Sarkozy eine bittere Niederlage verkraften. Bild: Welt Online
Das bürgerlich-rechte Regierungslager von Frankreichs Präsident Nicolas Sarkozy hat bei einem der wichtigsten Stimmungstests seiner Amtszeit eine bittere Niederlage erlitten. In der ersten Runde der Regionalwahlen am Sonntag kam die konservative UMP nach ersten Prognosen nur auf 26,7 Prozent der Stimmen. Sie geht damit nahezu chancenlos in die zweite Runde in einer Woche. >>> dpa/fp | Sonntag, 14. März 2010

THE TELEGRAPH: Nicolas Sarkozy votes with Carla Bruni in regional polls in show of unity: President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, put on a show of unity on Sunday following rumours of infidelities, arriving together to vote in regional elections in which the French president faces a drubbing. >>> Henry Samuel in Paris | Sunday, March 14, 2010

TIMESONLINE: President Sarkozy faces poll wipeout: France signalls its displeasure with its President in the first round of regional elections with Socialists taking 53.6 per cent of the vote >>> Charles Bremner, Paris | Monday, March 15, 2010

THE TELEGRAPH: Far-Right National Front performs well in French regional elections: France's far-Right National Front (FN) has re-emerged on the French political scene after enjoying a surprisingly strong showing in regional elections on Sunday. >>> Henry Samuel in Paris | Monday, March 15, 2010

Nicolas Sarkozy's Party Humbled by the Left in French Regional Elections
THE TELEGRAPH: French voters scarred by the economic crisis have dealt President Nicolas Sarkozy and his conservative leadership a stern blow by coming out in support of leftist candidates in regional elections.

Some voters took their worries about immigration and France's growing Muslim population to the ballot box - helping the far right National Front party upset predictions and perform strongly in first-round voting to choose regional governments.

With more than 96 per cent of votes counted, candidates from the Socialist and other leftist parties won 53.6 per cent of the overall vote, according to the Interior Ministry. Mr Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party and others on the right won 39.8 per cent.

The UMP's poor showing combined with an unusually low turnout of 47 per cent, highlights widespread discontent with the increasingly unpopular Mr Sarkozy. >>> | Monday, March 15, 2010

Jihad Jane II: Second US Woman Arrested Over Cartoonist Murder Plot
THE TELEGRAPH: An American woman who converted to Islam last year and was lured to Europe by online extremists was arrested in Ireland in connection with a suspected plot to murder a Swedish cartoonist, her mother said on Saturday.

Jamie Paulin-Ramirez is the second American woman arrested in a plot to kill the Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks. Photograph: The Telegraph
Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, the second American woman to be linked to the plot, had vowed to "strap a bomb" for the jihad cause, said Christine Mott.

Miss Paulin-Ramirez was a troubled single mother who taught her six-year-old son to hate Christians, said Mrs Mott. The 31-year-old had the "mentality of an abused woman" and had fallen in with extremists to escape her loneliness, according to her mother.

"She doesn't have the sense God gave a goose. She's book-smart and common-sense-dumb," said Mrs Mott.

Miss Paulin-Ramirez, a former trainee nurse from Leadville, Colorado, was one of seven people arrested in Ireland last week over an alleged conspiracy to murder Lars Vilks, a Swedish cartoonist who had depicted the prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog.

In a development that has caused alarm in the United States, she was the second American woman to be linked with the plot. >>> Tom Leonard in New York | Sunday, March 14, 2010

*Yet another American dumb blonde taken in by the false teachings of the prophet Muhammad (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)! Where and when will it all end, if indeed it ever will? By allowing Islam to put down roots in the West, we have given ourselves a right headache: a headache that no simple Tylenol or Beechams will eradicate. – © Mark

Related:

For the Love of Islam: A Second American Woman Is Arrested in Cartoonist Case >>> Vanessa O’Connell in New York, Stephanie Simon in Colorado and Evan Perez in Washington | Friday, March 12, 2010

Britons Sentenced to a Month in Prison for Kissing* in Dubai Restaurant
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Two Britons have been sentenced to a month's imprisonment for indecency after a local woman took objection to them kissing in a restaurant.

British pair caught kissing in public in Dubai, Charlotte Adams and Ayman Najafi. Photograph: The Telegraph
Ayman Najafi, 24, a marketing consultant who lives in Dubai, and Charlotte Adams, 25, an estate agent from North London, were said to have been touching each other and kissing passionately as they dined with friends in a beachfront restaurant.

They were arrested and sentenced to a month in prison after which they were told they would be deported.

But the pair told a hearing at the Dubai Appeal Court yesterday that they were the victims of a "huge misunderstanding" and had simply exchanged a friendly greeting.

"We kissed each other on the cheek as a greeting, nothing more,” Mr Najafi told Judge Aysar Fouad. Miss Adams pointed at her cheek to show where contact had taken place.

The two are not the first Britons to fall foul of the strict laws in the conservative Muslim state. Last year Michelle Palmer, 36, and Vince Acors, 34, were sentenced to three months imprisonment for having sex on a beach.

The latest incident took place when Miss Adams and Mr Najafi met along with four other friends for dinner at Bob's Easy Diner on the beachfront at the Jumeirah Beach Residence complex on November 27.

The police were called at around 2am by an Emirati woman sitting at a nearby table with her children and claimed her daughter had been upset by the display of affection. >>> Richard Spencer in Dubai, and Aislinn Laing | Sunday, March 14, 2010

*There was a time when a British government would have sent out the warships to put this upstart Emirate, Dubai, in its place. These days we just suck up, and say: ‘Yes Sir, No Sir, three bags full, Sir!’ It’s pathetic! When will this damn government grow a backbone? If Brown had anything in him, he’d get on that telephone and tell the leader of Dubai that these innocent people should be released forthwith, or else. But that won’t happen because all our politicians understand these days is arsehole-scraping. How ashamed one has to be to be British nowadays! – © Mark

THE TELEGRAPH: Dubai: strict morality laws behind Western appearance: With its skyrise buildings, slick bars and glitzy shopping malls, Dubai might seem like any other Western capital but when it comes to its laws, it could not be more different. >>> | March 14, 2010

Wilders soll einen Schwächeanfall erlitten haben
WELT ONLINE: Der holländische Rechtspopulist Geert Wilders hat einem Medienbericht zufolge bei einem Aufenthalt in Deutschland einen Schwächeanfall erlitten. Der 46-Jährige soll übermüdet gewesen sein. Mit einer SMS reagierte der islamfeindliche Politiker auf die plötzlichen Gerüchte um seine Person.

Niederländische Zeitungen berichten über einen Schwächeanfall des PVV-Vorsitzenden Geert Wilders. Bild: Bild: Welt Online
Gerüchte um Geert Wilders: Bei einem Aufenthalt in Deutschland soll der holländische Rechtspopulist einen Schwächeanfall erlitten haben. Für den 46-Jährigen sei Samstagabend in einem Hotel des Luftkurortes Monschau in der Eifel ein Notarzt gerufen worden, berichtete die Online-Ausgabe der Zeitung „de Volkskrant“. Das Blatt berief sich auf „diverse Quellen“, die aber nicht konkret benannt wurden. Sie hätten erklärt, Wilders sei „übermüdet“ gewesen. >>> dpa/fas | Sonntag, 14. März 2010

Yémen : Nojoud Ali, une fille d'exception
Photo : Le Figaro
LE FIGARO – BLOG – CHRONIQUES ORIENTALES: C'était il y a presque deux ans. Par un matin d'hiver, une enfant de 10 ans, à peine, allait briser l'un des plus grands tabous du Yémen : le mariage précoce des jeunes filles. Mariée de force à un homme trois fois plus âgé qu'elle, Nojoud Ali, eut l'audace de s'enfuir au tribunal et de demander le divorce. A l'époque, ses mésaventures firent la une des journaux, de Sanaa à New York, en passant par Paris... >>> Par Delphine Minoui | Mercredi 10 Mars 2010

Katholische Kirche: Bischöfe fordern Recht auf Heirat für Priester
WELT ONLINE: Mehrere Bischöfe haben dazu aufgerufen, parallel zur zölibatären Lebensform auch verheiratete Priester zu akzeptieren. Papst Benedikt XVI. erteilte dieser Anregung eine strikte Absage. Die Ehelosigkeit der Priester sei ein Geschenk Gottes, das nicht dem Zeitgeist geopfert werden solle.

Der Hamburger Weihbischof Hans-Jochen Jaschke (2.v.l.) hat sich für ein Nebeneinander von zölibatär lebenden und verheirateten Priestern ausgesprochen. Bild: Welt Online
Die Serie von Missbrauchsfällen in der Katholischen Kirche hat die Debatte um die verpflichtende Ehelosigkeit der Priester neu entfacht. Am Wochenende riefen mehrere Bischöfe dazu auf, über den Zölibat nachzudenken und zum Beispiel parallel zur zölibatären Lebensform auch verheiratete Priester zu akzeptieren.

Sie schlossen sich damit einer Forderung an, die reformorientierte Theologen und katholische Laienverbände schon seit Jahren vorbringen. Gleichzeitig betonten die Geistlichen, der Zölibat sei keine hinreichende Erklärung für die pädophilen Auswüchse in der Kirche. Papst Benedikt XVI. will dagegen an der Ehelosigkeit der Priester festhalten. >>> Von Lucas Wiegelmann | Sonntag, 14. März 2010

Four Explosions Hit Kandahar

Coffee Party to Challenge Tea Party

Suicide Bomber Hits Pakistan Military

Virginia: First to Block Health Coverage

Sex Abuse Allegations Vex Vatican

Paul Harris’ View: Liberal Americans Choke on Their Pretzels as Karl Rove Rewrites History
THE OBSERVER: It has been fun watching the man known as 'Bush's brain' squirm on the TV talkshows as he tries to sell his self-serving memoir

President George W Bush announces the resignation of Karl Rove in August 2007. Photograph: The Observer
For Karl Rove's legions of liberal detractors – who did not manage to lay a hand on him while he was in power – it has been a case of too little, too late.

But watching the man dubbed "Bush's brain" take to the media circuit to flog his self-serving memoir Courage and Consequence has at last provided a tiny bit of satisfying blood sport at Rove's expense. It has not been a pretty sight and is one that Rove, no doubt, will blame on the natural liberal tendencies of America's media classes. Yet it has been fun watching a man whose name became a byword for brutal, dirty politics go cap in hand around the talk shows and get a thorough roasting.

Leading the charge was normally genial daytime TV host Matt Lauer, who laid into Rove over everything from the lack of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to Hurricane Katrina to his role in the leak of the identity of CIA spy Valerie Plame. "Some are saying this is 500 pages of you rewriting history," Lauer said. He was wrong. It's 608 pages. >>> Paul Harris in New York | Sunday, March 14, 2010

Blair Courts Controversial US Pastor Rick Warren in Bid to Unite Faiths
THE OBSERVER: Former prime minister builds network of Christian allies as he prepares to launch a religious 'offensive' in North America

Tony Blair. Photo: The Observer
Tony Blair is preparing to launch a "faith offensive" across the United States over the next year, after building up relationships with a network of influential religious leaders and faith organisations.

With Afghanistan and Iraq casting a shadow over his popularity at home in Britain, Blair's focus has increasingly shifted across the Atlantic, to where the nexus of faith and power is immutable and he is feted like a rock star.

According to the annual accounts of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, a UK-based charity that promotes cohesion between the major faiths, the foundation is to develop a US arm that will pursue a host of faith-based projects. The accounts show that his foundation has an impressive – and, in at least one case, controversial – set of faith contacts. Sitting on some £4.5m in funds as of April last year, mostly gathered through donations, it is now well placed to make its voice heard.

The foundation's advisory council of religious leaders includes Rick Warren, powerful founder of the California-based Saddleback church. It attracts congregations of nearly 20,000 and is reportedly one of the largest in the US. Warren, who has addressed the UN and the World Economic Forum in Davos, has been named one of the "15 world leaders who matter most" and one of the "100 most influential people in the world".

His influence was confirmed in December 2008 when Barack Obama chose him to give the invocation at his presidential inauguration. But the decision angered many liberals, who see Warren as an opponent of gay rights and abortion on demand; a prominent alliance with Warren is likely to attract similar attacks on the former British prime minister. >>> Jamie Doward and Paul Harris | Sunday, March 14, 2010

Backlash at the Mosque
THE TELEGRAPH: The influence of Muslim fundamentalists in east London is being challenged, says Andrew Gilligan.

In the two weeks since the Islamic Forum of Europe were exposed by The Sunday Telegraph and Channel 4’s Dispatches as hardline fundamentalists secretly infiltrating the political system, they have been furiously protesting their “proven track record of community cohesion”. Last week, however, the organisation showed its true face.

“We’ve tracked you down,” said the IFE’s community affairs co-ordinator, Azad Ali, in a webcast targeting the Channel 4 reporter “Atif”, who went undercover at the IFE’s headquarters, the East London Mosque, filming the group’s true views – and its boasts that it controlled the local Tower Hamlets council. “Yes, Atif, we’ve got a picture of you and a lot more than you thought we had. We’ve tracked you down to different places. And if people are gonna turn what I’ve just said into a threat, that’s their fault, innit?”

Mr Ali’s words sit strangely with his role as an official advisor to the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, and to the police, but perhaps his annoyance is understandable. The undercover reporters filmed him saying: “Democracy, if it means not implementing the sharia, no one’s going to agree with that.”

The reporters found that, far from its protestations of being merely a “social welfare organisation”, the IFE is an organised political movement dedicated to creating an “Islamic social and political order” through “entryism” into mainstream democratic institutions. >>> Andrew Gilligan | Saturday, March 13, 2010

Elton John's Lover Committed Suicide After Struggling to Come to Terms with Sexuality
THE TELEGRAPH: Sir Elton John has disclosed that a former lover threw himself to his death under a passing lorry because he could not reconcile his homosexuality with his Christian beliefs.

The singer, 62, said he was deeply traumatised by the suicide of the man, with whom he had been involved in a relationship before he "married" David Furnish, a film-maker 15 years his junior, in 2005.

"Years back I had a relationship, and I had absolutely no idea in the world he was going to do this... he threw himself under a truck," Sir Elton said. "There was so much grief."

Mr Furnish told The Sunday Telegraph that the lover, whom he declined to name, had taken his life because he was traumatised by the clash between his Christianity and his sexual inclinations.

"He was so tortured by the conflicting views between his sexuality and his strong religious beliefs that he chose to take his own life," said Furnish, whom Sir Elton "married" in a ceremony at Windsor Guildhall on the first day that civil partnerships could be performed in England. "It is very sad indeed."

Mr Furnish, a former advertising executive, added that "out of respect" for the dead man's family he would not name him. >>> Richard Eden, Deputy Editor, Mandrake | Saturday, March 13, 2010

Nicolas Sarkozy 'Angry at David Cameron Over Dwarf Jibe'*
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: David Cameron has angered the French government by apparently mocking the diminutive height of Nicolas Sarkozy.

The Conservative leader is said to have made a remark about "hidden dwarfs" whilst discussing a photograph of himself and Mr Sarkozy, who is seven inches shorter than him.

The disclosure comes after it emerged that George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, also made a quip about the French president's stature at a conference hosted by The Spectator.

Mr Sarkozy, who is 5ft 5in, is understood to have made an official complaint to the British government after Mr Osborne made a show of removing a stool from behind the lectern at which he was about to speak and joked it was the "Sarkozy box". >>> | Sunday, March 14, 2010

*Tut, tut, Mr Cameron! Weren’t you taught better manners than this at Eton? Furthermore, you have just set back Anglo-French relations by a decade. – Mark

I Kissed Tourist But Only On the Cheek, Says Briton Jailed in Dubai
MAIL ONLINE: A British businessman facing jail in Dubai after he was accused of kissing a woman in public has vowed to fight the charges and clear his name.

Marketing executive Ayman Najafi, 24, and British tourist Charlotte Lewis, 25, were accused of kissing on the lips and drinking alcohol after a fellow diner reported them to the authorities.

The pair pleaded guilty to drinking alcohol - and were fined £180 - but said they only kissed on the cheek and are appealing against breaking the country's morality laws. >>> Stephanie Condron | Saturday, March 13, 2010

Österreichs Kandidatin von rechtsaussen
NZZ am SONNTAG: Barbara Rosenkranz möchte Österreichs Bundespräsidentin werden. Ihre rechtsradikalen Ansichten gehen selbst einigen ihrer FPÖ-Parteifreunde zu weit.

Die FPÖ-Kandidatin für die Wahl des österreichischen Bundespräsidenten am 25. April, Barbara Rosenkranz, bezeichnet sich unspektakulär als «Nationalkonservative». Aber selbst der Chef der sehr rechtsgerichteten FPÖ, Heinz-Christian Strache, der in seinen populistischen Hetzreden noch nie ein Blatt vor den Mund genommen hat, scheint die von ihm nominierte Kandidatin inzwischen für unkontrollierbar, ihre Ansichten für kontraproduktiv zu halten. In Umfragen prophezeien 29 Prozent der befragten Österreicher, dass Rosenkranz die Nation spalten, und gar 41 Prozent, dass sie dem Ruf des Landes schaden werde. >>> Charles E. Ritterband, Wien | Sonntag, 14. März 2010

Rave from the Grave! Al Martino - Spanish Eyes (1967)

Another Prophet Muhammad Clone!

Carla Bruni and Nicolas Sarkozy: L’affaire twitter
THE SUNDAY TIMES: Reports that the marriage of France’s first couple was in trouble sprang from just two postings on the social networking site

When Nicolas Sarkozy, the French leader, and his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, hosted a state banquet for Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, at the Elysée Palace recently it was not only Carla’s figure-hugging dress that caught people’s attention.

After dinner, in an unusual departure from custom, the Sarkozys failed to show up for coffee in the drawing room with their guests. Something must have been wrong, one of those present later told a foreign diplomat: they must be having a row.

Spare a thought for “Sarko” and his première dame, a singer and former top model. Ever since they met at a dinner party, and married just over two years ago, the country has been wondering how long it will last. A president known for a roving eye, a willowy beauty renowned as a “man-eater” — to many it seemed destined to end in tears.

No wonder, then, that their body language, and everything else about them, is scrutinised so intensely: the merest detail is enough to set off the gossips. If Carla appears at the president’s side in heels, as she did for the Russian banquet, she must be signalling her displeasure by towering over the pint-sized Sarkozy. Mustn’t she?

In the grand old days of Versailles, it would take weeks for gossip to filter through the ramparts to the hungry masses outside. Today the internet is being used like a battering ram against the high palace walls.

In the age of Twitter, rumours flash around the world in a second and can end up in newspapers, regardless of whether they are true. It has prompted debate among lawyers about whether victims can pursue Twitterers, and if simply relaying a defamatory tweet should also be punishable under the law.

Even before the Medvedev dinner 12 days ago, rumours were flying in cyberspace. Carla was having an affair, it was said, with Benjamin Biolay, a 37-year-old singer, and had been on holiday with him to Thailand. A jealous Sarkozy had sent a jet to bring her home.

That was not all. Twitterers went on to say that the president was consoling himself in the arms of Chantal Jouanno, his junior ecology minister, a karate champion. By the time the British press got hold of the story last Wednesday, the French first couple were reported to be on the verge of rupture.

At a press conference with Gordon Brown, the prime minister, in London last Friday, Sarkozy was asked about the rumours. He glowered at the offending journalist: “I certainly don’t have time to deal with these wild imaginings, not even half a fraction of a second. I don’t even know why you use your speaking time to put such an idiotic question.”

For her part, Jouanno, who is married with three children — to whom she described her job as being minister “for the birds and the bees” — is threatening to sue any publication that refers to any affair between her and Sarkozy. Biolay has likewise threatened to sue.

So how did a few bits of internet gossip make global headlines? And what, if anything other than pure fantasy, is behind all the tweets? >>> Matthew Campbell in Paris | Sunday, March 14, 2010

Taking the ‘Great’ Out of Britain! Plans for Abolition of House of Lords* to Be Unveiled
THE TELEGRAPH: Plans to abolish the House of Lords and replace it with a 300-strong, wholly elected second chamber are to be unveiled by ministers in a key political move ahead of the general election.

New House of Lords is likely to be a more partisan body but with no party in control. Photograph: The Telegraph
Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, is this weekend consulting cabinet colleagues on a blueprint which would represent the biggest change to the way Britain is governed for several decades.

The proposals, which have been leaked to The Sunday Telegraph and which are expected to be announced soon, would sweep away centuries of tradition and set ministers on a collision course with the current 704-member House of Lords, which is resolutely opposed to having elected members.

Ministers are ready to announce their plans, which follow years of fruitless cross-party discussions and several votes in the House of Commons, in a bid to wrong-foot the Tories with polling day less than two months away.

Labour's plan is to provoke elements inside the Conservative Party to object to the reforms – which would allow it to paint David Cameron as wedded to old ideas of privilege.

The proposed changes also follow various House of Lords-related controversies, including the recent furore over the admission by Lord Ashcroft, the Tory deputy chairman, that he was a "non-dom."

Members of the new-style chamber will have to be both UK residents and domiciled here for tax purposes. >>> Patrick Hennessy, Political Editor | Saturday, March 13, 2010

*If this rotten Labour government thinks it will rid Britain of privilege by abolishing the House of Lords, it had better think again. All that will be achieved is that a group of privileged patricians will be replaced by group of overpaid privileged plebeians. It will achieve nothing except denude Britain of its wonderful heritage and incomparable traditions. – © Mark

Clinton Rebukes Israel Over East Jerusalem Plans, Cites Damage to Bilateral Ties
THE WASHINGTON POST: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton rebuked Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Friday about the state of the U.S.-Israeli relationship, demanding that Israel take immediate steps to show it is interested in renewing efforts to achieve a Middle East peace agreement.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley described the nearly 45-minute phone conversation in unusually undiplomatic terms, signaling that the close allies are facing their deepest crisis in two decades after the embarrassment suffered by Vice President Biden this week when Israel announced during his visit that it plans to build 1,600 housing units in a disputed area of Jerusalem.

Clinton called Netanyahu "to make clear the United States considered the announcement a deeply negative signal about Israel's approach to the bilateral relationship and counter to the spirit of the vice president's trip," Crowley said. Clinton, he said, emphasized that "this action had undermined trust and confidence in the peace process and in America's interests."

From the start of his tenure, President Obama identified a Middle East peace deal as critical to U.S. national security, but his efforts have been hampered by the administration's missteps and the deep mistrust between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Last fall, he softened his demand for a full freeze on settlement construction, accepting a limited 10-month moratorium that did not include the East Jerusalem area where the construction announced this week is to take place. Clinton at the time hailed the Israeli plan as "unprecedented."

Special envoy George J. Mitchell has struggled to relaunch peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Last week, he got the two sides to agree to indirect talks, with Mitchell shuttling between them, but the Israeli announcement has imperiled that development. Rising Palestinian anger led Israeli forces on Friday to seal off the West Bank and post riot squads around Jerusalem's Old City and Arab neighborhoods.

U.S. officials were especially furious about the announcement because they thought they had reached a private understanding with Netanyahu that even though East Jerusalem was not officially included in the moratorium, he would prevent any provocative actions there. Its release during Biden's trip, intended as a fence-mending mission, was seen as another slap.

"The announcement of the settlements on the very day that the vice president was there was insulting," Clinton told CNN on Friday.

Obama had approved Clinton's call, sitting down with her during their weekly meeting Thursday to determine the language she would use. "The secretary and the president worked through together the specific points she would be making to Prime Minister Netanyahu," deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said. Biden also called Netanyahu on Friday to reinforce the message, officials said, and Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren was summoned to a meeting with Deputy Secretary of State James B. Steinberg.

Some analysts applauded the administration's tough stance, saying it may jar the right-leaning Israeli government into making gestures to the Palestinians. But others said Clinton's call risked emboldening Arab and Palestinian officials to make new demands before talks start, if only so as not to seem softer than the Americans. >>> Glenn Kessler, Washington Post Staff Writer | Saturday, March 13, 2010

Moscow Hits Back at US Human Rights Accusations

Douglas Murray vs Tariq Ramadan

Douglas Murray on BBC Question Time

Debate: Ayaan Hirsi Ali vs Ed Husain - 'The West and the Future of Islam'
LISTEN TO AUDIO HERE

The President Said He Was a Christian. His ‘Prayer Partner’ Suggests Otherwise!
America’s first Muslim president? Photo: Always On Watch
ALWAYS ON WATCH: New and startling information has been released concerning President Barack Obama’s spiritual life and his close relationship with ardent Islamists.

Mr. Obama, who rarely attends public church services, turns often to Muslims and Islamic sympathizers for prayer and spiritual and moral discussion.

The President, according to Daniel Burke, writing for the Washington D.C. based Religion News Service, prays on the phone with individuals from around the country “to frame his policies in moral terms.”

One of Mr. Obama’s prayer partners is Rashad Hussain, an Islamic lawyer and critic of America’s alleged “terror prosecutions” of his fellow Muslims.

Mr. Obama has appointed Mr. Hussain to serve as his deputy associate counsel and special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the second largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations.

The mission of the OIC is to safeguard and protect “the interests of the Muslim world,” should be of serious concern to Congress and the American public.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Mr. Hussein has a history of participating in events connected with the Muslim Brotherhood. The Chicago daily describes the Muslim Brotherhood as “the world’s most influential Islamic fundamentalist group” whose goal is to create Muslim states throughout the world.

In 1991, Mohamed Akram, a prominent leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, said the members of his radical organization “must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ’sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.” >>> Always On Watch | Friday, March 12, 2010

From this source, citing The Last Crusade (Dr. Paul L. Williams)

For the Love of Islam: A Second American Woman Is Arrested in Cartoonist Case
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Last Easter, Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, a 31-year-old mom with a $30,000-a-year job as a medical assistant, announced to her family that she had converted to Islam. A few months later, she began posting to Facebook forums whose headings included "STOP caLLing MUSLIMS TERRORISTS!"

On Sept. 11, she suddenly left Leadville, Colo., a small town in the Rocky Mountains, for Denver, then for New York, to meet and marry a Muslim man she connected with online, her family says. Ms. Paulin-Ramirez, who is 5-foot-11 and blonde, phoned her mother and stepfather in Leadville, providing them with an address in Waterford, Ireland, they say.

Now, she is in the custody of the Irish police, along with six other individuals, arrested as part of an investigation into a conspiracy to commit murder, according to officials familiar with the case. The nature of the authorities' suspicions about Ms. Paulin-Ramirez couldn't be determined on Friday.

Ms. Paulin-Ramirez's interest in Islam "came out of left field," said her mother, Christine Holcomb-Mott, in an interview at her home Friday, wearing a blue sweatsuit with a silver cross around her neck.

"I'm angry with her right now," Ms. Holcomb-Mott said. "I'd like to just choke her. But I'm worried about her, too. I love my daughter."

Nearby was a stack of photos of Ms. Paulin-Ramirez, with a sparkling smile, and her son, who has brown hair and eyes. Her mother looked at the images over and over, as college basketball played on the TV.

Ms. Paulin-Ramirez had been in contact by phone and email with her mother, stepfather and an aunt, her relatives said. But none of them has heard from Ms. Paulin-Ramirez in recent days, they said.

Ms. Paulin-Ramirez is the second American woman to be linked to an alleged plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist who made fun of the Prophet Mohammed. An indictment was unsealed this week against Colleen R. LaRose, 46, a suburban Philadelphia woman who authorities said used the Web alias "JihadJane." >>> Vanessa O’Connell in New York, Stephanie Simon in Colorado and Evan Perez in Washington | Friday, March 12, 2010

Muslim Child Brides on Rise
TORONTO SUN: Federal immigration officials say there’s little they can do to stop “child brides” from being sponsored into Canada by much older husbands who wed them in arranged marriages abroad.

Top immigration officials in Canada and Pakistan say all they can do is reject the sponsorships of husbands trying to bring their child-brides to Canada. The men have to reapply when the bride turns 16. The marriages are permitted under Sharia Law.

Muslim men, who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents return to their homeland to wed a “child bride” in an arranged marriage in which a dowry is given to the girl’s parents. Officials said some of the brides can be 14 years old or younger and are “forced” to marry. The practice occurs in a host of countries including: Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Lebanon. Not valid in Canada >>> Tom Godfrey, Toronto Sun | Thursday, March 11, 2010

A Pakistani Member of the English Defence League Speaks Out
JIHAD WATCH: The English Defence League (EDL), a group standing up against the spread of Sharia and Islamic supremacism in England, is often stigmatized as racist and fascist -- but here again this common tactic of the Left is without substance. Sajid Khan, a Pakistani member of the EDL, kindly sent me this message:

I am an ex-Muslim and a proud EDL member. I have been to many of their demos, including London. The information about the EDL in the mainstream media has been quite biased and just stupid. For instance, they say that the EDL is "right wing" and "racist". This is wrong, as I am a liberal who supports equal rights for different races, colours, sexualities and religions. This is primarily why I support the EDL.

As an ex-Muslim, who still has to hide this fact from many (if not all) my fellow Muslims including my family, I believe that your average White English Christian pub-going non-halal meat-eating and pork-eating Infidel living in the West is the only liberal voice out there opposing the hordes of violence-supporting backward "right-wing" religious foreigners who come into the West and think that homoseuxals should be tortured and killed, and who think that women must gain their husband's or father's permission to go out for the most basic of things like seeing a doctor for treatment.

These people believe that women who show their faces are "whores" and are "asking for it," and that this justifies rape. They think that "offensive" cartoons drawn of a supposed "prophet" of a certain religion (I'll let you guess that one) should be condemned by all, and that the freedom to draw such cartoons should not be available. These are the same people of the same religion who will not condemn with the same tenacity the heartless and cruel practice of the "honor killing" of women and girls.

>>> Robert Spencer, Jihad Watch | Friday, March 12, 2010

Douglas Murray - Muslim Immigration into Europe

Douglas Murray: Instead of Facing Reality, Many Young British Muslims Take Refuge in Delusion and Self-pity
THE TELEGRAPH – BLOG: I debated Tariq Ramadan last night in London for Intelligence Squared, the British Council and the BBC. I’ll link to the video here once the BBC put it out. The motion was “Europe is failing its Muslims”. I argued of course that it was not Europe that was failing its Muslims, but Islam that was failing Europe, indeed Islam that is failing Muslims.

Ramadan was seconded by the former Dutch diplomat Petra Stienen. I was seconded by Flemming Rose, the Danish Jyllands-Posten editor who commissioned the famous Danish cartoons.

The fact that Flemming was my number two wasn’t publicised in the run-up to the debate because of the security threat around him. Just last October two men were arrested in Chicago for another alleged plot to murder him. And on the first day of this year an axe-wielding Somali Muslim broke into one of the cartoonist’s houses and attempted to decapitate him. So there were more police than usual and Flemming and I had more burly security men than we usually would for a discussion.

In a way this proved a lot of the argument that Flemming and I were making. I’ve been told not to pre-empt the results until the BBC screens the debate. But one of the most striking aspects of the evening was that the Muslims who turned out en masse, rallied by certain organisations, let themselves down appallingly. Continually cat-calling, jeering and hissing. They made a very bad impression.

What was most striking of all however was the level of complete denial. I pointed out that the reason Europeans often associate Islam with violence (as Ramadan complained) is that Islam is often associated with violence. I pointed out that it wasn’t Sikhs or Buddhists who flew the planes into the twin towers. This was welcomed by an extraordinary level of anger. I don’t know, maybe some of them thought it was Jews who did it. Read on and comment >>> Douglas Murray | Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Douglas Murray >>>

WIKI: Douglas Murray >>>

IQ2 Debate: "Europe Is Failing Its Muslims" - Intro, Tariq Ramadan and Douglas Murray (Part 1)


IQ2 Debate: "Europe Is Failing Its Muslims" - First Audience Questions (Part 2)


IQ2 Debate: "Europe Is Failing Its Muslims" - Petra Stienen and Flemming Rose (Part 3)


IQ2 Debate: "Europe Is Failing Its Muslims" - Audience Q&A1 (Part 4)


IQ2 Debate: "Europe Is Failing Its Muslims" - Audience Q&A2 (Part 5)


IQ2 Debate: "Europe Is Failing Its Muslims" - Summing Up and Results (Part 6)

Britons Arrested Abroad Will Lose the Right to a Translator
THE TELEGRAPH: Britons arrested in Europe will not have the right to demand a full translation of the charges they are facing, under proposals supported by the government.

Britons arrested in Europe will not have the right to demand a full translation of the charges they face. Photograph: The Telegraph
Britain has backed plans to "dilute" the rights of its citizens when extradited or caught up in criminal proceedings in other European countries.

Justice campaigners say anyone facing criminal allegations abroad under a European Arrest Warrant will be hit by the plan.

The Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe has accused Britain of pushing for procedures that do not provide proper protection for suspects.

The CCBE, which represents one million European lawyers, is concerned because the right to translation has been limited to only "essential" documents – a "formula which is too vague and open to abuse".

Under EU legislation, British courts must allow a European Arrest Warrant extradition to take place even if there are concerns about the standards of justice in the country that they are being sent to.

Fair trial campaigners say people will be deported to countries such as Portugal, Hungary, Greece and Bulgaria where charges are made and trials held without an English translation allowing them to follow proceedings. >>> Bruno Waterfield in Brussels | Friday, March 12, 2010

Les églises catholiques de plus en plus vandalisées
La chapelle Saint-Guen de Saint-Tugdual a été recouverte d'inscriptions satanistes en 2006. Photo : Le Figaro
LE FIGARO: Vingt-quatre lieux de cultes ont été profanés depuis le 1er janvier et les responsables religieux se mobilisent.

Vandalisées, cambriolées et profanées… Les églises catholiques sont les cibles d'attaques répétées. Ainsi, dans la nuit du 5 au 6 mars dernier, la porte de la basilique Saint-Donatien de Nantes et les murs d'enceinte du lycée catholique éponyme ont été maculés de slogans anarchistes. On pouvait y lire «Brûle ton église», «Les curés au bûcher, les sorcières en liberté» ou «Ni Dieu ni maître». >>> Par Christophe Cornevin | Vendredi 12 Mars 2010

Gay Love: Two US Gay Military Men (Avec sous-titres français)

Douglas Murray: Why Are Islamic Nutters in Nightdresses So Obsessed with Gays?
THE TELEGRAPH – BLOG: If anyone missed Channel 4’s Dispatches the other night, can I very much recommend it? “Britain’s Islamic Republic” is available here and is vital viewing. Andrew Gilligan’s programme will be shocking even for those of you who, like me, thought they couldn’t be shocked by this sort of thing any more.

One interesting addition, if I may, which Brett at Harry’s Place also points out here. Though there has been a lot of press coverage of the documentary, there has been far too little outrage about the opening sequences showing the East London Mosque (yes, that one, favoured by Boris Johnson and Prince Charles) as the venue for events at which the most virulent anti-gay and anti-women perverts preach. I know that’s no surprise, but stay with me a moment.

One preacher, an evidently lunatic semi-literate called Abdul Karim Hattin, is shown playing what he calls “a game” called “spot the fag”. For this tittersome “game” he uses a slide to show a picture of Elton John beside one of the dead rapper “2-pac” (Tupac Shakur).

This confuses me a lot. I think the point this unfunny bigot is trying to make is that you can somehow recognise Elton John as gay because of the way he looks. But surely there is some mistake.

In the photo Elton John is wearing a respectable casual red top. Tupac on the other hand is topless, rather conspicuously ripped, and his naked torso glistening with sweat. Now I don’t want to spoil this “game”, but to my, not untrained, eyes I’d have identified “2-pac” as gay in this gay identity-parade.

But as it turns out, Mr Hattin also thinks (though for baffling reasons) that Tupac’s image was somehow gay. I’m not sure I go along with this. In any case, Mad-as-a-Hattin is saying all this whilst wearing what looks to me distinctly like an elderly lady’s nightdress. >>>

Dispatch: Britain’s Islamic Republic
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Sarkozy Braced for Poll Defeat as Angry French Voters Look to the Left
THE GUARDIAN: Socialists and Greens expect significant gains in regional elections as ruling party blamed for poor economic situation

The leader of the French Socialist party, Martine Aubry, speaks at a rally in Paris. Photograph: The Guardian
Nicolas Sarkozy faces an embarrassing setback at the polls over the next week as France votes in elections that look likely to hand a significant victory to the opposition Socialist party.

Although not officially on the ballot for the regional elections, whose first of two rounds will be held on Sunday, the embattled leader is expected to be punished indirectly as voters shun his rightwing UMP party in favour of leftwing and green alternatives.

With opinion polls showing the Socialists – who won control of 20 of the 22 mainland regions at the last vote in 2004 – will consolidate their "pink tide" or even increase it, commentators say the predicted defeat will reflect voters' dissatisfaction with Sarkozy.

Today, Sarkozy attempted today to distance himself from his party's impending drubbing, insisting local elections had little to do with national politics. He told Le Figaro Magazine: "The vote … is a regional vote: its consequences will therefore be regional."

However, because the significance of the poll – which elects regional presidents and assemblies – is limited, many are predicting it will be seen as an unofficial referendum on Sarkozy's leadership. The president is more than halfway through his five-year term, and this is the last major electoral exercise France will see before his mandate expires in 2012. >>> Lizzy Davies in Paris | Friday, March 12, 2010

Nicolas Sarkozy and Gordon Brown Hail 'entente formidable'
THE GUARDIAN: Two leaders stress need for close co-operation to stay 'bang in the middle' of Europe

Nicolas Sarkozy and Gordon Brown at 10 Downing Street today. Photograph: The Guardian
Gordon Brown today described Britain's alliance with France as an "entente formidable" as he and Nicolas Sarkozy stressed the need for close co-operation and to stay "bang in the middle" of Europe.

Speaking at a press conference after a working lunch at Downing Street today, the two leaders highlighted close political alignment on a number of policy fronts as the prime minister described relations between the two countries as "greater now than at any time since the second world war".

Brown said he and Sarkozy were in "harmony" over the need to introduce a tax on banking transactions as he revealed that a report on the levy is due "in the next few weeks".

As well as on the economy, the two countries were working "more closely than ever" on environmental, energy and security matters, he said.

This included putting nuclear power at the heart of tackling climate change.

In his first visit to Downing Street since 2008, Sarkozy echoed the view that it was essential Britain remain "bang in the middle" of Europe amid concerns that a Tory government may engage less enthusiastically with Europe under David Cameron.

Sarkozy insisted he was not in Britain to "play politics" ahead of the forthcoming general election but nevertheless made comments that appeared to be aimed squarely at the Tory leader, who he is meeting this afternoon.

"I remain convinced that the position of our British friends is bang in the middle of Europe. We need you," the French president said.

Sarkozy said he "regretted" Cameron's decision to pull the Tories out of the centre-right European People's party grouping in the European parliament. >>> Hélène Mulholland, political reporter | Friday, March 12, 2010

Greece Debt: EU Agrees Bailout Deal
THE GUARDIAN: Exclusive: Germany plays pivotal role in potential eurozone rescue package for Greek debts

The eurozone has agreed a multibillion-euro bailout for Greece as part of a package to shore up the single currency after weeks of crisis, the Guardian has learnt.

Senior sources in Brussels said that Berlin had bowed to the bailout agreement despite huge resistance in Germany and that the finance ministers of the "eurozone" – the 16 member states including Greece who use the euro – are to finalise the rescue package on Monday. The single currency's rulebook will also be rewritten to enforce greater fiscal discipline among members.

The member states have agreed on "co-ordinated bilateral contributions" in the form of loans or loan guarantees to Greece if Athens finds itself unable to refinance its soaring debt and requests help from the EU, a senior European commission official said.

Other sources said the aid could rise to €25bn (£22.6bn), although it is estimated in European capitals that Greece could need up to €55bn by the end of the year.

Germany, the EU's traditional paymaster, but the most reluctant to come to the rescue of a fiscal delinquent in the current crisis, has played the pivotal role in organising the rescue package, the sources added. >>> Ian Traynor in Brussels | Friday, March 12, 2010

Detroit Family Homes Sell for Just $10
THE TELEGRAPH: Family homes in Detroit are selling for as little as $10 (£6) in the wake of America's financial meltdown.


The once thriving industrial city has suffered a dramatic decline following the global economic crisis.

According to Tim Prophit, a real estate agent, the crisis has led to a unprecedented portfolio of homes, but they are failing to sell.

He said there were homes on the market for $100 (£61), but an offer of just $10 (£6) would be likely to be accepted.

Speaking on a BBC 2 documentary, Requiem for Detroit, to be screened on Saturday, Mr Prophit said: "The property is listed by the city of Detroit as being worth $35,000 (£22,000), but the bank know that is impossible to ask.

"This part of town has got a lot of bad press in the media because it featured in Eminem's film 'Eight Mile', but that particular road is fifteen minutes up the road and that is a long way in Detroit."

Homes offered in viewing brochures as early 1920s example of colonial architecture would once have made handsome homes but are no longer sought after. >>> | Friday, March 13, 2010

Nazi Victims' Mass Graves Found in Austria Under Football Pitch
THE TELEGRAPH: Two mass graves containing scores of people murdered by the Nazis during the Second World War have been found underneath an army football pitch in Austria, government officials said on Friday.

Some of the remains may be the bodies of US pilots shot down and imprisoned during the war.

Police Col. Rudolf Gollia, an interior ministry spokesman, said his ministry plans talks with the owners of the site to discuss exhumation.

The mass graves are located in bomb craters underneath the army sports field in the southern city of Graz. Officials said they contain about 70 bodies of victims killed by the SS to eliminate witnesses to Nazi atrocities shortly before Soviet troops arrived. >>> | Friday, March 12, 2010

Barack Obama's Approval Rating Drops to 46 Per Cent
THE TELEGRAPH: President Barack Obama yesterday delayed a trip to Asia amid falling approval ratings and grave doubts that his 11th hour attempt to push health care reform through Congress will succeed.

A new poll by Gallup showed Mr Obama's approval rating at a record low of 46 per cent since taking office. In the optimistic early days of his presidency 69 per cent approved of the job he was doing.

Doubts about his ability to pass his flagship domestic policy have affected his popularity among Democratic supporters, while independents and Republicans have grown wary of health care reform as an expensive government venture.

Mr Obama had set Democratic leaders in Congress a deadline of March 18 to coral the votes necessary to pass health care without any support from Republicans, by using a procedure known as budget reconciliation. >>> Alex Spillius in Washington | Friday, March 12, 2010

On Air: The Gathering Storm Radio Show
I’ll be on air today at 12 noon PST, 3pm EST, 8pm GMT, and 9pm CET. Always On Watch, WC, and I will be discussing growing anti-Semitism in Europe, JihadJane, and much else besides. I'll be on for the full hour. We do hope you can join us. ALL are welcome. The number to call is (646) 915-9870. Click HERE for the show.