Clashes in Enghelab Square Over Improper Hijab
PERSIAN2ENGLISH: According to reports by Human Rights and Democracy Activists in Iran, clashes occurred today at 2:20pm on Enghelab Square between young Iranian citizens and police forces who tried to arrest young women for “improper hijab”.

As one young woman resisted, fellow citizens came to her aid and drivers honked in protest. Police called in for backup. Police on motorcycles arrived on the scene and arrested at least four young citizens.

Witnesses described the behaviour of the police as brutal and stated they beat anyone standing around.

Reports also indicate that the police asked for money from young women accused of improper hijab. The hijab crackdown by police is believed to be a tactic to instill fear in citizens to prevent protests on June 12, 2010. [Source: Persian2English] | Thursday, June 10, 2010

Übersetzung: Unzureichende Verschleierung: Zusammenstöße am Enghelab-Platz >>> Von Julia | Donnerstag, 10. Juli 2010

Julias Blog >>>

One Year On, Iran’s Battered Opposition Endures in Terror
THE TIMES: A year ago today Bahareh Maghami, 28, a primary school teacher, was arrested at Ghoba mosque, Tehran, during the huge demonstrations that followed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed election victory. She was beaten and raped. She fled to Germany and recently posted an open letter on the internet because, she said, “there is nothing left of me and no reason to hide my name any more”.

She recalled: “There were three of them. All were dirty and wore beards. They had a terrible accent and foul mouths. Even though they saw that I was a virgin they accused me of being a whore and forced me to admit I was a prostitute.” She still wakes in terror at night, still smells their sweat.

Her father “shattered into pieces” when he learnt her fate, and her mother “aged a hundred years overnight”. Because of her shame “relatives, friends, neighbours and everyone cut off relations”. The family was driven from Tehran, and then from Iran. As for herself, it is “as if my whole humanity is taken away from me. My womanhood was destroyed. I will never be able to love a man. I’m like the walking dead.” >>> Martin Fletcher | Saturday, June 12, 2010

Persian2English: Breaking the language barrier on Human Rights >>>

Saudi Arabia gives Israel clear skies to attack Iranian nuclear sites
THE TIMES: Saudi Arabia has conducted tests to stand down its air defences to enable Israeli jets to make a bombing raid on Iran’s nuclear facilities, The Times can reveal.

In the week that the UN Security Council imposed a new round of sanctions on Tehran, defence sources in the Gulf say that Riyadh has agreed to allow Israel to use a narrow corridor of its airspace in the north of the country to shorten the distance for a bombing run on Iran. To ensure the Israeli bombers pass unmolested, Riyadh has carried out tests to make certain its own jets are not scrambled and missile defence systems not activated. Once the Israelis are through, the kingdom’s air defences will return to full alert.

“The Saudis have given their permission for the Israelis to pass over and they will look the other way,” said a US defence source in the area. “They have already done tests to make sure their own jets aren’t scrambled and no one gets shot down. This has all been done with the agreement of the [US] State Department.”

Sources in Saudi Arabia say it is common knowledge within defence circles in the kingdom that an arrangement is in place if Israel decides to launch the raid. Despite the tension between the two governments, they share a mutual loathing of the regime in Tehran and a common fear of Iran’s nuclear ambitions. “We all know this. We will let them [the Israelis] through and see nothing,” said one. Read on and comment >>> Hugh Tomlinson Dubai | Saturday, June 12, 2010

Iran Regime Weakened: Divisions Exposed One Year After Disputed Presidential Election

THE TELEGRAPH: Deep divisions have emerged within the Iranian leadership in the run-up to Saturday's first anniversary of the hotly disputed presidential election contest that returned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power.

Factional infighting fuelled by a series of splits since the vote was exposed as rigged last year have come to a head with a row over an attack on attack [sic] on the family of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of Iran's Islamic revolution.

The dispute has further eroded support for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the current Supreme Leader, who has been criticised for driving Iran into economic and diplomatic isolation by backing the extremist president.

The emergence of prominent hardliners as critics has intensified pressure on a government already facing a revolt by reformists.

Official results that granted an overwhelming victory to Mr Ahmadinejad last June are still hotly disputed by millions of Iranians.

Mass protests in the wake of the vote pitched the country in its worst turnmoil since the Islamic revolution in 1979.

A harsh clampdown has seen an estimated 5,000 Iranians jailed and hundreds killed as the regime moved [to] crush[ed] the popular challenge to its authority.

The protest movement has been virtually forced underground as its leaders were forced to cancel protests that had been planned across Iran today. Only sporadic defiance was reported on the eve of the anniversary yesterday.

Pictures of those killed in last year's clashes were hung from trees in central Tehran while an estimated 700 political prisoners at Gohardasht prison staged a hunger strike.

There were also unconfirmed reports of clashes between protesters loyal to the opposition, which calls itself the Green Movement and security officials on Tehran's metro system. >>> Con Coughlin and Ahmad Vahdat | Saturday, June 12, 2010

Sarkozy Apologises for Vandalism in British War Cemetery
THE TELEGRAPH: A dozen British First World War graves have been vandalised with swastikas and SS insignia in northern France, in an act described as an "insult to the memory" of the fallen soldiers.

Gravestones desecrated with swastikas, seen at the British World War I cemetery in Loos-en-Gohelle, northern France. Photograph: The Telegraph
Vandals covered 12 graves and a monument in pink swastikas, SS insignia and other graffiti in the cemetery of Loos-en-Gohelle, which holds the remains of British and Canadian soldiers fallen in an October 1915 battle there.

President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday said he condemned "with the greatest firmness this odious act", which took place before dawn, and offered "sympathy and solidarity" to soldier's families and the "entire British nation" on behalf of France.

In a letter to the Queen, Mr Sarkozy said that the act was all the more "revolting" as it took place days before he travels to London to celebrate Charles de Gaulle's famous June 18, 1940 appeal from the BBC, in which he called on the French to resist Nazism. >>> Henry Samuel in Paris | Friday, June 11, 2010

Anwar al-Awlaki: MI5 Warns of the Al-Qaeda Preacher Targeting Britain
THE TELEGRAPH: Young British Muslims are being groomed to carry out terrorist attacks in this country by Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical al-Qaeda preacher based in the Middle East, it can be disclosed.

The security services fear that a new generation of British extremists is being radicalised by Awlaki, who recruited the Detroit plane bomber. They are concerned that Awlaki’s followers could unleash a wave of easily planned guerrilla-style terrorist attacks, similar to the massacre in Mumbai.

Such small-scale attacks could be carried out cheaply by individuals with little terrorist training and without the need for the support of a large organisation.

The British security services have become so worried about Awlaki’s rising influence that they have alerted ministers to their fears.

He is now regarded as one of the world’s most wanted terrorists. >>> Duncan Gardham and Con Coughlin | Friday, June 11, 2010

Slapdash Britain - Why Can't We Do Anything Properly Any More?
THE TELEGRAPH: A new radio series called Slapdash Britain examines how we became swamped by bureaucracy and more incompetent than ever.

It’s an ordinary summer’s day. Over breakfast you glance hurriedly at the paper: the usual stuff about a missing civil service laptop and some social worker scandal in the north of England. Coming home after work, your train stuck for hours in the middle of nowhere, you kill time by reading a story about the latest spat between civil servants and special advisers. And that night, tossing fitfully in your sleep, you dream that you’re stuck in the corridor of some failing hospital, blood pouring from a gaping wound. The doctor is too busy to see you, but you can see him all right: through a glass window, literally buried under a mound of paperwork. In the background, a sepulchral voice intones again and again: 'Not fit for purpose. Not fit for purpose …’

Over the last few months, making a new Radio Four documentary series about the crisis in British government, I have had more than my fair share of nightmares about being trapped in the corridors of power. When I began work on the series, Gordon Brown’s government was in its dying agonies; when I finished, the new coalition ministers were just shaking hands with their new drivers. But after talking to civil servants, special advisers, local government executives and academic experts, I realised that the overexcited political reporters were missing the real story. For whoever calls the shots in the minister’s office, there is now a pervasive sense that government simply no longer works as it once did. To put it bluntly, it has become shockingly slapdash. 'It’s not good enough,’ the veteran political scientist Anthony King told me. 'There are too many mistakes.’ And perhaps surprisingly, the former civil servants I met almost universally agreed. >>> Dominic Sandbrook | Friday, June 11, 2010

New Dark Age Alert! Neo-Nazis 'Urged Eradication of All Ethnic Minorities' on Aryan Strike Force Website
THE TELEGRAPH: Two men made it their life's work to spread racist messages and encourage others to help them achieve their goal of ''the eradication of ethnic minorities from Britain'', a court heard.

Photograph: The Telegraph
Michael Heaton, 42, and Trevor Hannington, 58, both ''proud'' neo-Nazis, are accused at Liverpool Crown Court of urging people to kill Jews.

Andrew Edis QC, prosecuting said: ''Each of these men is proud to call himself a National Socialist, or a neo-Nazi in other language.

'Each is a member of an organisation called the Aryan Strike Force, whose goal it is to clear the country of all ethnic minorities, as they say, whatever it takes.''

Both men deny that postings they made on a right-wing website solicited others to murder.

Heaton is standing trial over four comments he made on the Aryan Strike Force website (ASF) between January and April 2008.

The prosecution argue that his comments about Jews - "...they will always be scum, destroy 'em with whatever it takes", and "I would encourage any religion or race that wants to destroy the Jews, I hate them with a passion..." - encourage their murder, or at least stir up racial hatred.

In one post he wrote that black people are "less intelligent than other species", and in another that Jews are leeches and "treacherous ------- scum". >>> | Friday, June 11, 2010

Ahmadinejad : "Israël ne survivra pas"
Le président iranien Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Photo: Le Point
LE POINT: La nouvelle résolution des Nations unies sanctionnant l'Iran pour son programme nucléaire "n'aura aucun effet", a assuré vendredi le président iranien Mahmoud Ahmadinejad en visite à l'Exposition universelle de Shanghai. "Le gouvernement des Etats-Unis veut avaler tout le Proche-Orient", a-t-il déclaré, ajoutant que "les Etats-Unis ont un régime sioniste avec des bombes nucléaires dans la région (...) ils essaient de sauver le régime sioniste". Avant de menacer : mais Israël "ne survivra pas, il est condamné". >>> AFP | Vendredi 11 Juin 2010

Barack Obama Has Quit Smoking for Good Claims Philippine President
THE TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama has finally quit smoking and offered advice on how to kick the habit to the incoming president of the Philippines.

Mr Obama has battled cigarette addiction for years, but told President-elect Benigno Aquino in a phone call that he has now fully quit.

"At some point I attempted some humour, saying 'Mr President, I understand we have the same issue with smoking,'" Mr Aquino said after parliament proclaimed him the official winner of the Philippine elections.

"He told me, 'I kicked the habit, so you are going to have to work on that one yourself. I can give you advice, though.'"

Mr Aquino, who smokes two packets a day according to former colleagues, said the US President promised to send the advice "at the time that you decide to quit".

Mr Obama, 48, is sensitive about his smoking habits and has become irritable when questioned about it in the past. >>> Barney Henderson in Kuala Lumpur | Friday, June 11, 2010

Gulf of Mexico BP Oil Spill: Nick Clegg Warns Barack Obama Over 'Megaphone Diplomacy'
THE TELEGRAPH: Nick Clegg today warned that the BP disaster threatened to descend into “megaphone diplomacy” following Barack Obama’s fierce criticism of the British company.

Nick Clegg made the comments when asked for his response to President Obama's call for the sacking of BP chief executive Tony Hayward. Photo: The Telegraph
In a thinly veiled attack on the US President – who earlier this week said he was looking for “some ass to kick over the disaster” – the Deputy Prime Minister argued that a “tit for tat” attitude was not helpful.

But Mr Clegg stopped short of voicing support for the British company, which has seen billions of pounds wiped off its share value since the leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

“I’m not going to start intervening in a debate which clearly risks descending into megaphone diplomacy,” Mr Clegg told an audience at the Nueva Economic Forum in Madrid on Friday morning.

“I think everyone is united on both sides of Atlantic obviously, quite rightly, and understandably within US administration and I’m sure within BP itself, to deal with this problem. It is an ecological catastrophe – It does need to be dealt with."

Nick Clegg made the comments when asked for his response to President Obama's call for the sacking of BP chief executive Tony Hayward. >>> Fiona Govan in Madrid | Friday, June 11, 2010

Troubling Development! Swastika Raised in Baltic Country – Tribute to History or Nazi Revival?

Opinion Journal: Obama Annoys Indonesia

Wilders Makes Shock Gains in Dutch Elections
THE INDEPENDENT: Dutch populist Geert Wilders yesterday stunned the Netherlands by coming third in general elections – a historic vote that could see him enter a coalition government.

Best known for his strident attacks on Islam, Mr Wilders' electoral triumph sent shock waves through the country's large immigrant communities and sounded the death knell for the image of the Netherlands as a bastion of tolerance.

The shock-factor was all the greater as the peroxide-haired politician had appeared sidelined during the election campaign, as the mainstream parties focused on how to deal with the nation's economic woes and immigration slipped down the political agenda.

Yet Mr Wilders made the strongest gains in Wednesday's election, doubling the number of seats for his Freedom Party to 24. The pro-business VDD party – which Mr Wilders left to set up on his own – won 31 of the 150 seats up for grabs, pipping the Labour Party of former Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen by a single seat in the narrowest ever electoral victory.

"The impossible has come true," a triumphant Mr Wilders said, noting that 1.5 million people had chosen his party's "optimistic" platform. "More security, less crime, less immigration, less Islam – that is what the Netherlands has chosen."

His party picked up the bulk of its seats from another party on the right, Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende's Christian Democrats. After eight years in power, his party suffered an historic defeat, losing nearly half its seats. Visibly emotional, Mr Balkenende called the results "very, very disappointing" and announced he was quitting politics. >>> Vanessa Mock in Brussels | Friday, June 11, 2010

Bild: Google Images
Kirchensünden: Papst bittet um Vergebung im Missbrauchsskandal
FINANCIAL TIMES DEUTSCHLAND: So deutlich hat sich Benedikt XVI. noch nie zu den Missbrauchsfällen geäußert. Er will alles in seiner Macht stehende tun, um Kinder vor sexueller Belästigung durch Priester zu schützen.

Papst Benedikt XVI. hat zum Ende des von Missbrauchskandalen überschatteten Priesterjahres um Vergebung gebeten. "Auch wir bitten Gott und die betroffenen Menschen inständig um Vergebung und versprechen zugleich, dass wir alles tun wollen, um solchen Missbrauch nicht wieder vorkommen zu lassen", sagte der Papst vor rund 15.000 Priestern auf dem Petersplatz. >>> © FTD | Freitag, 11. Juni 2010

La Suisse attend le retour au pays de son "otage" en Libye
RTL: Les Suisses ont salué vendredi la libération à Tripoli de leur compatriote Max Göldi, emprisonné en Libye depuis le 22 février et attendent désormais le retour au pays de leur "otage".

L'homme d'affaires pourrait quitter Tripoli samedi ou dimanche, selon son avocat libyen Salah Zahaf. La presse suisse se montre cependant prudente sur la date de son retour au pays, tout comme le ministère des Affaires étrangères (DFAE).

La libération jeudi après-midi de Max Göldi "est une étape", a insisté le porte-parole du DFAE Lars Knuchel. "Il s'agit maintenant qu'il puisse rentrer à la maison le plus rapidement possible et retrouver sa famille".

Depuis New York où elle est en déplacement, la ministre suisse des Affaires étrangères Micheline Calmy-Rey a mis en garde contre tout optimisme excessif en faisant valoir auprès de l'agence de presse helvétique ATS qu'il n'y avait pas de "garanties" sur la date de retour de l'homme d'affaires. >>> | Vendredi 11 Juin 2010

Nick Clegg’s Mastery of German Breaks Down Walls
Nick Clegg. Photo: The Times
THE TIMES: It was, everyone seemed to agree, an historic moment. A senior British politician had come to the heart of Europe and spoken German.

In fact, Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, turned out to speak better German than Guido Westerwelle, Germany’s Foreign Minister, spoke English.

And so, in the faintly sinister 1930s building that houses the German Foreign Ministry — where the lift is still a jump-on, jump-off paternoster — the buzz was that of a new Anglo-German partnership.

“I must tell all of you here,” said Mr Westerwelle, “that Nick speaks excellent German.” >>> Roger Boyes, Berlin | Thursday, June 10, 2010

Bosnian Serbs Convicted of Genocide Over Srebrenica Massacre
THE TELEGRAPH: Two Bosnian Serbs have been convicted of genocide over the Srebrenica massacre, the first such convictions in Europe since the Second World War.

Vujadin Popovic, left, and Ljubisa Beara wait for the court to hand down judgment at the War Crimes tribunal in The Hague. Photograph: The Telegraph
Vujadin Popovic, 53, and Ljubisa Beara, 70, were sentenced to life imprisonment for their part in the 1995 killing of up to 8,000 Bosnian Muslims, in the harshest verdicts yet handed down by Yugoslavia war crimes judges.

The men were high-ranking security officers with the army that overran Muslim forces and lightly armed United Nations troops in an area supposed to be a safe haven for Muslims fleeing ethnic cleansing. Both men were found guilty of genocide, extermination, murder and persecution. >>> Bruno Waterfield in Brussels | Thursday, June 10, 2010

Cameron Needs to Be Firmer with Obama
THE TELEGRAPH: Telegraph View: The long-term relationship between Britain and America should not be jeopardised by a presidential response that has been more petulant than statesmanlike.

At some point this weekend, David Cameron is due to talk to Barack Obama on the phone, ahead of his visit to Washington next month. Until a few weeks ago, such a conversation would have involved a businesslike exchange of pleasantries and reflected a strong desire on both sides to place their personal relationship on a sound footing. No doubt that remains their intention; but the controversy over the way the President has castigated BP for its handling of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has added a potentially serious edge to these exchanges.

Mr Obama's aggressively jingoistic rhetoric might have been designed to shore up his own domestic position against criticism that he has failed to act decisively enough, but it is now sabotaging the fortunes of what was until recently Britain's biggest company. Its share price fell to a 13-year low after the American government threatened legal action to prevent the payment of dividends before compensation payments had been met, even though BP is sitting on enough cash to do both. Since the firm accounts for £1 in every £6 paid in dividends in the United Kingdom, this will have a deleterious impact on pension funds, which have £20 billion wrapped up in the company. Read on and comment >>> | Thursday, June 10, 2010

Vicar 'Conducted Sham Marriages for Illegals'
THE TELEGRAPH: A vicar conducted hundreds of sham marriages to help illegal immigrants gain residency in Britain over a four-year period, a court heard.

The Rev Alex Brown, 61, and co-defendants Michael Adelasoye, 50, and Vladymyr Buchak, 33, are accused of preying on Eastern Europeans desperate for money and Africans who were willing to do anything to stay in the country in a ''massive and cynical scam''.

Between July 2005 and July 2009, Brown presided over a total of 383 marriages at the Church of St Peter and St Paul in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, a 30-fold increase compared to the 13 he had conducted over the previous four years.

The three men went on trial at Lewes Crown Court yesterday charged with conspiring to facilitate the commission of breaches of immigration laws.

Opening the case, prosecutor David Walbank told jurors the three paid money to nationals from EU member states such as Switzerland [sic], Iceland [sic] and Norway [sic].

In return for the money they were expected to wed African nationals, mainly Nigerian, in order for them to become permanent residents in Britain.

''This case involves a massive and systematic immigration fraud," said Mr Walbank.

The court heard how Buchak, a Ukrainian national who had himself been living illegally in the country since at least 2004, was responsible for ''cajoling and persuading'' the Eastern Europeans into the marriages of convenience. >>> | Friday, June 11, 2010

The Sickness of Islam! ‘Taleban’ Execute 7-Year-Old Boy in Afghanistan
THE TIMES: A seven-year-old boy was executed by the Taleban in a brutal act of retribution this week after his grandfather dared to resist the insurgents’ iron rule.

Afghan officials said that the boy was accused of spying for US and Nato forces and hanged from a tree in southern Afghanistan.

Daoud Ahmadi, the spokesman for Helmand’s provincial governor, said that the murder came days after the boy’s grandfather, Abdul Woodod Alokozai, spoke out against militants in their hometown.

“I know his father and I know his grandfather,” Mr Ahmadi said. “His grandfather is a tribal elder in the village and the village is under the control of the Taleban. His grandfather said some good things about the Government and he formed a small group of people to stand against the Taleban.

“That’s why the Taleban killed his grandson in revenge.” >>> Jerome Starkey, Kandahar | Thursday, June 10, 2010

Afghanistan: David Cameron's Flight Diverted After 'Assassination Plot'
THE TELEGRAPH: David Cameron was forced to abandon a visit to a British base in Afghanistan after military intelligence suggested a plot to assassinate the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister was flying to a British base in Helmand province on Thursday when telephone calls between Taliban insurgents were intercepted, suggesting a plan to fire on his helicopter.

Mr Cameron and the party of aides and journalists travelling with him were unharmed and no physical attack is believed to have taken place.

But the apparent threat to the Prime Minister threatens to overshadow his first visit to Afghanistan since taking office, which was intended to underline the improving security situation in the country. >>> James Kirkup, in Camp Bastion, Afghanistan | Thursday, June 10, 2010

Noch ein Schiff für Gaza? Teheran und Ankara, die neue Achse?
ZEIT ONLINE: Da braut sich etwas zusammen. Der Iranische Rote Halbmond hat angekündigt, zwei Schiffe zwecks “humanitärer Hilfe” nach Gaza zu schicken. Eines soll mit Hilfsgütern, das andere mit “Experten” bestückt sein. Freiwillige werden auf der Homepage des Roten Halbmonds noch gesucht.

Die Revolutionsgarden waren von der Idee so begeistert, dass sie gleich anboten, die Schiffe gegebenenfalls zu begleiten, falls der Revolutionsführer Khamenei dazu einen Befehl erteile. (Dass die Garden sich mit ihren vergleichsweise leichten Booten besser nicht mit der israelischen Marine anlegen sollten, steht auf einen anderen Blatt. Andererseits: Noch ein paar Opfer wären dem Teheraner Regime ganz recht. Offenbar gibt es gegenüber der Türkei schon so etwas wie einen Märtyrer-Neid.)

Natürlich ist es kein Zufall, dass Teheran die Gaza-Angelegenheit jetzt hochspielt. Soeben sind Sanktionen gegen Iran beschlossen worden. Der UN-Sicherheitsrat hat mit 12 von 15 Stimmen dafür gestimmt. Betroffen werden vor allem Firmen der Revolutionsgardisten sein, die am Nuklearprogramm beteiligt sind. Auch Banken werden zusätzlich zum Ziel dieser vierten Runde von Sanktionen. Und ein Waffenembargo trifft die Streitkräfte hart. Man möchte so davon ablenken, dass Teheran noch nie so weitgehend politisch isoliert dastand wie heute. Russen und Chinesen tragen die Sanktionen nämlich mit. Um diese beiden an Bord zu haben, waren zwar keine “lähmenden (crippling) Sanktionen” möglich. Aber die Amerikaner und die Europäer werden nun noch einmal bilateral drauflegen, um die Wirkung zu verstärken. Die Kosten für Irans Atomprogramm steigen enorm. Weiter lesen und kommentieren >>> Von Jörg Lau | Donnerstag, 10 Juni 2010

Geert Wilders to Enter Dutch Government After Support for Anti-Islamic Party Triples
THE TELEGRAPH: Geert Wilders is on course to become a kingmaker for a new coalition government in the Netherlands after his anti-Islamic Freedom Party nearly tripled its representation in the Dutch parliament in Wednesday's elections.

The far-Right Dutch politician's controversial PVV party came third, behind Labour and the victorious Liberals.

PVV increased its number of MPs from nine to 24 after campaigning against immigration, for a tax on Muslim headscarves, a ban on the Koran and against the building of new mosques.

"We would love to govern," Mr Wilders said. "1.5 million people voted for us and our plans for more safety, less immigration and less Islam. We are the big winner and they cannot ignore us. We want to be taken seriously."

Mark Rutte, the leader of the centre-right Liberal VVD and the man expected to be the next Dutch prime minister, hailed his party's unprecedented victory. "It appears as if for the first time in our history that the VVD has become the largest party in the Netherlands," he said.

Mr Rutte's VVD is now expected to form a Right-wing coalition government with Mr Wilders and the Christian Democrat CDA, after that party lost 20 seats to fall from first to fourth place in Dutch politics. >>> Bruno Waterfield | Thursday, June 10, 2010

Barack Obama 'Appeared in Hip-hop Video'
THE TELEGRAPH: Rumours have been circling the internet that President Barack Obama appeared in a music video as a young man.



A smiling man who bears a striking resemblance to the future president appears fleetingly in "Whoomp (There It Is)" – a successful 1993 release by hip-hop outfit Tag Team.

The mystery man appears at the 1 min 1 second mark in the video and is talking a on a large mobile phone while wearing a hat and sunglasses.

Suggestions that the future leader of the free world, who is a fan of hip-hop, had found time in his pre-presidential days to join a video shoot swept the internet. >>> Nick Allen in Los Angeles | Thursday, June 10, 2010

Class Greets German Twin Town Visitors with 'Shameful' Nazi Salute
MAIL ONLINE: A group of German teenagers were stunned when English students from their 'twin town' school greeted them with with the Nazi salute.

Students from the Community College in Whitstable, Kent, raised their hands in the 'Heil Hitler' salute, also known as the Hitler salute, as the German students entered their classroom.

The students, from the town of Borken, said they were extremely offended by the gesture.

Nazi symbols and Hitler salutes have been illegal in Germany since the end of World War II. >>> Daily Mail Reporter | Thursday, June 10, 2010

That’s Enough ‘Kicking Ass’, Mr President
THE TIMES: Barack Obama’s attacks on BP may play well at home, but they are damaging millions of British people

The great British love-in with Barack Obama may be coming to an end. While there has been deep understanding of the environmental catastrophe that has struck the United States and of BP’s responsibility, there is also growing concern that the President’s angry rhetoric is going over the top and risks dividing the United States and the United Kingdom.

The Prime Minister is due to speak to the President at the weekend. BP will be high on his agenda. But already, I suspect, Sir Nigel Sheinwald, our Ambassador in Washington, has been on the phone to the Chief of Staff at the White House making it clear that serious damage is being done to many common British and American interests.

That BP deserves criticism is not in doubt. There is also much sympathy for the President as he seeks to assure the American public that he is in control of a disaster that has still not been fully resolved since the oil spillage began in April. His predecessor, George W. Bush, was widely criticised for his inadequate response to Hurricane Katrina. Any politician understands President Obama’s political imperative.

But, in the same way, Mr Obama must understand that an American president does not just have a domestic audience. Whatever their political purpose for his own electorate, his words resonate throughout the world and, however unintended, can have serious and damaging consequences.

That is what is now happening. >>> Malcolm Rifkind | Thursday, June 10, 2010

Staten Island Stealth Jihad


Read the story here

New Ground Zero Deal Gives Plaintiffs $712.5 Million
THE NEW YORK TIMES: The city and about 10,000 rescue and cleanup workers at ground zero said Thursday that they had negotiated a new settlement under which the city’s insurer kicks in more money and the plaintiffs’ lawyers reduce their legal fees to give the workers more compensation for health damages.

A federal judge rejected an earlier settlement in March. After nearly three months of renegotiations, the city’s insurer, the WTC Captive Insurance Company, has agreed to increase its payout to plaintiffs to $712.5 million. The previous terms called for payouts of $575 million to $657.5 million.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers have also agreed to reduce their fees to a maximum of 25 percent of the settlement amount, down from the 33.33 percent called for in contingency agreements that their clients signed. As a result, the plaintiffs will get to keep an additional $50 million, the lawyers said.

“This settlement ensures guaranteed, immediate and just compensation to the heroic men and women who performed their duties without consideration of the health implications,” said Marc J. Bern, one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers.

“Our commitment to our clients has never wavered in the seven years since we took on this litigation and we have done everything within our power, including reducing the fees we agreed to with each of our clients, to achieve the best possible outcome,” he said. >>> A. G. Sulzberger and Mireya Navarro | Thursday, June 10, 2010

Nonie Darwish


On Jihad:

Con Coughlin: Turkey's Alliance with Iran Is a Threat to World Peace
TELEGRAPH BLOGS: Turkey’s decision to veto the latest U.N. Security Council resolution on Iran should be of concern for all those, like me, who desire a peaceful resolution of the international crisis over Iran’s nuclear programme.

The Turks are apparently upset that the West has not responded positively to the nuclear deal it recently negotiated with Iran, with Brazil’s assistance, whereby Tehran would ship some of its stockpile of enriched uranium to Ankara in return for fuel rods for its so-called research reactor in Tehran.

In fact this deal was nothing more than a watered-down version of the agreement Iran negotiated with the world’s leading powers in Geneva last year, and then reneged upon. Crucially, it made no provision for Iran to call a halt to the controversial uranium enrichment programme at Natanz that allows it to produce another 100 kilos of fissile material each month. (Iran now has about 2.5 tons of enriched uranium, more than enough to make an atom bomb.)

But the Iran-Turkey deal is indicative of a far more worrying trend in relations between the two countries. I now gather that Iranian officials were in close contact with the “aid” activists responsible for organising the flotilla that tried to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza. Read on and comment >>> Con Coughln | Thursday, June 10, 2010

Tight T-shirt Sparks Rumours that Sarah Palin Has Had a Boob Job
THE TELEGRAPH: A photograph of Sarah Palin in a tight-fitting white t-shirt has sparked internet rumours that the former Governor of Alaska has undergone breast enlargement surgery.

Sarah Palin in November 2008 (left) and June 2010. Photos: The Telegraph
The images, taken at the Belmont Stakes race in New York last week, have prompted furious debate online, with bloggers desperately trying to work out if Mrs Palin has gone under the knife.

Wonkette first noticed the alleged surgical augmentation, but several more sightings followed.

"We can report with confidence that at least two people with experience in having breasts say that Sarah Palin sure looks like she was trotting out some new work at the horse races on Sunday," the website reported. >>> | Thursday, June 10, 2010

Victoire sur le fil des libéraux aux Pays-Bas
Le leader du parti libéral Mark Rutte devrait être chargé de former un gouvernement. Photo : Le Figaro
LE FIGARO: Le parti qui a fait campagne sur la réduction des déficits remporte les élections législatives anticipées, avec un siège d'avance sur les travaillistes. Troisième, l'extrême droite fait plus que doubler ses sièges.

Après une nuit passée au coude à coude, les libéraux mènent finalement d'une courte tête devant les travaillistes. Le parti libéral VVD obtient 31 sièges de députés sur 150 à l'issue des élections législatives anticipées de mercredi aux Pays-Bas. En face, le parti travailliste PvdA emporte 30 sièges. Des résultats encore provisoires, publiés après le dépouillement de 94% des bulletins de vote.

En se présentant comme les champions de la réduction des déficits, les libéraux ont bénéficié d'une campagne centrée sur l'économie, pour cette première législative en Europe après la crise grecque. Si le VVD marque ainsi une importante progression, sa faible avance sur les travaillistes ne lui permettra pas de gouverner seul. «Je suis tête de liste et candidat au poste de premier ministre mais il faut d'abord parvenir à constituer une coalition solide», a donc déclaré le leader libéral, Mark Rutte, au milieu de la nuit. S'il y parvient, il deviendrait à 43 ans le premier premier ministre libéral des Pays-Bas depuis 1918. >>> Par Thomas Vampouille | Jeudi 10 Juin 2010

NZZ ONLINE: Viele Sieger und keine Klärung in den Niederlanden: Der Populist Wilders stellt ein Ultimatum – Bei den niederländischen Parlamentswahlen haben die Liberalen am meisten Sitze errungen. Geert Wilders Freiheitspartei erhielt den stärksten Zuwachs. Die politische Landschaft ist allerdings stärker zersplittert als zuvor. >>> Peter Winkler, Den Haag | Donnerstag, 10. Juni 2010

THE TELEGRAPH: Geert Wilders could be kingmaker in Dutch parliament after coming third: Geert Wilders, the controversial anti-Islamic Dutch politician, came third behind tied Liberal and Labour parties after elections in the Netherlands left no obvious winner or combination for a coalition government. >>> Bruno Waterfield in Brussels | Wednesday, June 09, 2010

«Ob andere uns glauben, spielt keine Rolle» : Islamkritiker Geert Wilders über Freiheit und westliche Werte
NZZ ONLINE: Die niederländischen Lokalwahlen werden als Gradmesser für die Popularität des Rechtspopulisten Geert Wilders und von dessen Partei für die Freiheit (PVV) betrachtet. Der Brüsseler NZZ-Korrespondent Peter Winkler hat mit Wilders gesprochen. Zum Interview >>> Interview: win. | Mittwoch, 03. März 2010

ZEIT ONLINE: Wilders triumphiert, Balkenende tritt zurück: Bei der Parlamentswahl in den Niederlanden liegen die Rechtsliberalen knapp vor den Sozialdemokraten. Die Partei des Rechtspopulisten Geert Wilders will mitregieren. >>> Zeit Online, Reuters, AFP, dpa | Donnerstag, 10. Juni 2010

Nonie Darwish Addressing the European Parliament (April 2009)
Part 1:



Part 2:



Part 3:

Nonie Darwish on Islam in America


Nonie Darwish: Arabs for Israel >>>

Book TV: Nonie Darwish "Cruel and Usual Punishment"
Watch YouTube video here

Stand Up for America! No Mosques at Ground Zero!
Pamela Geller:



Robert Spencer:



Nonie Darwish:



The Los Angeles Times apparently sees nothing wrong with a mosque and cultural center at Ground Zero! Moreover, it views religious pluralism as a “cultural strength”! >>>

The Netherlands Shifts to the Right
NRC HANDELSBLAD INTERNATIONAL: The right-wing liberal VVD and populist PVV were the big winners of Wednesday's parliamentary election in the Netherlands. Prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende was ousted after eight years in power.

After a neck-and-neck contest with the Labour party, the VVD emerged victorious, garnering 31 of 150 seats in parliament, with 98 percent of the votes counted. "It looks like, for the first time in history, the VVD will be the biggest party in the Netherlands," VVD leader Mark Rutte told supporters Thursday morning, when preliminary results showed Labour would be left with 30 seats. The right-wing liberals may have shaken the social democrats, led by former Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen, but never has the biggest party in parliament occupied so few seats, and never was the margin seperating it from the runner-up so slim.

Geert Wilders' PVV won the most in the election. Wilders, who is internationally known for his unequivocal criticism of Islam, went from 9 to 24 seats in parliament. While he ran a muted campaign and polls predicted he would barely double his seats, Wilders proved especially popular in the south-east of the country. His growing following there is part of the reason the Christian democratic party of incumbent prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende was halved at the polls. The CDA lost 20 of its 41 seats and will now be the fourth party in Dutch parliament. >>> News Staff, NRC Handelsblad | Thursday, June 10, 2010

Dutch Election: Liberals Take One-seat Lead as Far-right Party Grows in Influence
THE TELEGRAPH: The Liberals have won a narrow one-seat lead in the Dutch election, putting them in pole position to form a coalition.

Right-wing Dutch MP Geert Wilders. Photograph: The Telegraph
With 88 per cent of the votes counted, published partial results showed the Liberals with 31 and Labour on 30.

But the real victory went to Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom (PVV), which demands an end to immigration from Muslim countries and a ban on new mosques. The PVV took its number of seats from nine in the last parliament to 24, and could hope to enter a coalition government.

The far-right leader with his distinctive shock of fair hair called the result "magnificent".

"The impossible has happened," he told a televised party gathering. "We are the biggest winner today. The Netherlands chose more security, less crime, less immigration and less Islam."

The election ousted Christian Democrat Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende from eight years in office.

The Liberals' narrow lead gives leader Mark Rutte a mandate to form a coalition and become prime minister, but sticking to his austerity policies could prove tough because he needs at least three other parties to secure a parliamentary majority. >>> | Thursday, June 10, 2010

'Follow the Islamic Way to Save the World,' Prince Charles Urges Environmentalists
MAIL ONLINE: Prince Charles yesterday urged the world to follow Islamic 'spiritual principles' in order to protect the environment.

In an hour-long speech, the heir to the throne argued that man's destruction of the world was contrary to the scriptures of all religions - but particularly those of Islam.

He said the current 'division' between man and nature had been caused not just by industrialisation, but also by our attitude to the environment - which goes against the grain of 'sacred traditions'.

Charles, who is a practising Christian and will become the head of the Church of England when he succeeds to the throne, spoke in depth about his own study of the Koran which, he said, tells its followers that there is 'no separation between man and nature' and says we must always live within our environment's limits. Read on and comment >>> Rebecca English | Thursday, June 10, 2010

Prince Says Islam Has Lessons for All
OXFORD MAIL: SCIENCE and spiritualism must work together if the Earth is to avoid environmental disaster, the Prince of Wales warned in Oxford today.

He said focusing on your “soul” and nature is as important as relying on science to find the solutions to global warming.

The Prince made his comments while on a visit to the city to mark the 25th anniversary of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, where he has been patron since 1993.

His lecture, called Islam and the Environment, was delivered to an estimated 1,000 people at the Sheldonian Theatre, in Broad Street.

The Prince said: “When we hear talk of an environmental crisis or even of a financial crisis, I would suggest that this is actually describing the outward con-sequences of a deeper, inner crisis of the soul.

“It is a crisis in our relationship with, and perception of, nature, and is born of Western culture being dominated for at least 200 years by a mechanistic and reductionist approach to our scientific understanding of the world around us.

“I would like you to consider very carefully whether a big part of the solution to all of our worldwide crises does not lie simply in more and better technology, but in the recovery of the soul to the mainstream of our thinking.

“Our science and technology cannot do this. Only sacred traditions have the capacity to help this.”

Earlier the Prince was given a tour of the centre’s new premises in Marston Road, which are currently under development, by its founder director, Dr Farhan Nizami.

Although independent, the centre is linked to Oxford University.

The Prince told the audience the West could learn from the Islamic approach to nature.

He said: “The Islamic world is the custodian of one of the greatest treasuries of accumulated wisdom and spiritual knowledge available to humanity.

“It is both Islam’s noble heritage and a priceless gift to the world. >>> Dan Hearn | Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Hijab in the UK: What a Bloody Nonsense!
For British women to take to the veil, hijab, niqab, or burqah is a total bloody nonsense!

Women have to wear such ridiculous garb in countries where men are unable to keep their dicks in their pants, robes, thobes, dishdashas. This is NOT the case in Great Britain. British men have a long history of restraint. A good pedigree, in fact. And that’s more than can be said about men in many Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia, the home of Islam.

In Muslim countries, taking to the veil might well be necessary; here in the United Kingdom, it is a nonsense, and an absolute bloody nonsense at that! – © Mark Alexander

All rights reserved

So are the rights of homosexuals, infidels, atheists, Jews and Christians. But what did your beloved prophet Muhammad say about those? Silly people! – ©Mark Photo: Saphir News
Grande-Bretagne : « Inspiré par Muhammad », une campagne de pub au service des musulmans – Muhammad s'affiche sur les bus, métro et taxis londoniens
SAPHIR NEWS: « Inspiré par Muhammad ». C’est la nouvelle campagne de publicité lancée depuis lundi 7 juin à Londres, visant à améliorer l’image de l’islam et des musulmans aux yeux des Britanniques par le biais de photos de musulmans et des musulmanes, voilées ou non, placardés dans les rues et les métros de la capitale. Cette campagne coïncide avec la publication d’un sondage portant sur la perception de l'islam en Grande-Bretagne. Ce qui en ressort est inquiétant : plus d’un Britannique sur deux associe l’islam à l’intégrisme et au terrorisme.

Quoi de mieux qu’une campagne de pub de grande échelle pour balayer les préjugés qu’une partie de la population a envers l’islam… ou du moins améliorer leur perception négative de la religion musulmane ? Ce rêve est devenu réalité en Grande-Bretagne, où l'on peut apercevoir, depuis lundi 7 juin, des photos de musulmans et de musulmanes, voilées ou non, placardés dans les stations de métro, de bus et sur les taxis de la capitale britannique et de ses environs.

Ces affiches sont accompagnées de messages courts tels que « Je crois en les droits de la femme », « Je crois en la justice sociale » et « Je crois en la protection de l’environnement », toutes suivies de « Muhammad aussi ». On l’a tous compris, c’est bien du Prophète Muhammad dont il s’agit.

Ce Prophète continue d’inspirer la vie de millions de personnes à travers le monde. Quoi de plus évident pour Exploring Islam Foundation (EIF), initiatrice du projet, de centrer cette campagne publicitaire autour de celui qui est considéré comme le Sceau des Prophètes, le dernier des messagers pour 1,5 milliard de musulmans sur la planète. Muhammad, un modèle qui fascine >>> Hanan Ben Rhouma | Mercredi 09 Juin 2010

Check out the video! It’s unbelievable. Really unbelievable! Talk about a whitewash… this is it! What a load of BS! Inspired by Muhammad >>>

Obama’s New Spending Spree* in Gaza
THE TIMES: President Obama pledged $400 million (£274m) in aid to Gaza and the West Bank today, calling on Israel to reconsider its “unsustainable” blockade on the Hamas-run territory.

Mr Obama’s comments, coming after a high profile meeting with the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, were the clearest sign yet that Washington is reconsidering its prior support for the blockade following Israel’s deadly commando raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship.

MrObama called the flotilla raid a “tragedy” saying that a “better approach” was needed than the three-year-long blockade on Gaza and its rulers in Hamas.

“It’s important that we get all the facts,” Mr Obama said, of the raid in which nine Turkish civilians, one with US citizenship, were killed. “What we also know is that the situation in Gaza is unsustainable.”

He credited the new aid package, most of it earmarked for the rebuilding of Gaza’s wrecked infrastructure to the “advocacy and guidance” of Mr Abbas, a clear attempt to bolster the West Bank leader in the face of rising Hamas support in the wake of the attack and growing disillusionment over the progress of the United States backed peace process. Obama pledges $400m in aid for Gaza... Read on and comment >>> Catherine Philp, Washington | Wednesday, June 09, 2010

*Where is all this money coming from, Mr. President? Don't you understand the gravity of the deficit that America is already running? – Mark

Homosexualität: Sind die Schwulen mit der Emanzipation am Ende?
WELT ONLINE: Schwul ist cool und längst kein Schmuddelthema mehr. Doch hat sich die Homosexuellen-Emanzipation in Deutschland tatsächlich totgesiegt? Die junge Generation kann mit dem Kampf um Gleichberechtigung nichts mehr anfangen. Oder gibt es doch noch Probleme, obwohl ein Mann mit Mann Vizekanzler ist?

Outing auf offener Straße: Homosexuelle beim Christopher Street Day. Bild: Welt Online
Lesben und Schwule müssen sich nicht mehr verstecken. Nicht zuletzt zehn Jahre Homo-Ehe, offen schwule Popstars und Politiker, aber auch lesbische TV-Größen sorgen für Selbstbewusstsein. Die meisten Medien haben viel Verständnis. Außenminister Guido Westerwelle plauderte über sein Schwulsein sogar in der Jugendzeitschrift „Bravo“. Die Insolvenz des schwulen TV-Senders Timm könnte man außerdem so auslegen, dass keine Extrawurst mehr nötig ist. Und das Web sorgt sowieso für unendliche Freiheit. Doch herrscht wirklich Friede, Freude, Eierkuchen?

Die Begriffe „schwul“ und „lesbisch“ rufen in jedem etwas anderes hervor – das ist auch bei den Leuten so, die sich selbst vom eigenen Geschlecht erotisch angezogen fühlen. Viele Jüngere können mit den Kampfbegriffen aus den 70er-Jahren nichts mehr anfangen. Sie sehen damit überkommene Verhaltensweisen verbunden und eine offensive Rolle des Andersseins, die sie nicht einnehmen wollen.

Dazu kommt das Internet, das den Rückzug ins Private einfach macht und gleichzeitig viel Raum schafft, sich auszuleben. Außer in Großstädten, vor allem in Berlin mit seiner riesigen Homo-Szene, ziehen viele inzwischen die Aktivität im Web der öffentlichen Aktion vor – oft tun sie das aber auch nur, weil das bequemer ist und man keine Blicke oder Getuschel aushalten muss. >>> DPA | Sonntag, 16. Mai 2010

WELT ONLINE: Schwule von Skinheads und Katholiken attackiert : Unschönes Ende eines friedlichen Protests gegen Intoleranz und Homophobie in Frankreich: Zwischen Homosexuellen, die zu einer öffentlichen Küss-Aktion aufgerufen hatten, und Skindheads [sic] ist es in Lyon zu Zusammenstößen gekommen. Auch strenggläubige Katholiken gingen auf die gleichgeschlechtlichen Paare los. >>> AFP/KAMI | Mittwoch 19. Mai 2010

Turkey Goes From Pliable Ally to Thorn for U.S.
THE NEW YORK TIMES: ANKARA, Turkey — For decades, Turkey was one of the United States’ most pliable allies, a strategic border state on the edge of the Middle East that reliably followed American policy. But recently, it has asserted a new approach in the region, its words and methods as likely to provoke Washington as to advance its own interests.

The change in Turkey’s policy burst into public view last week, after the deadly Israeli commando raid on a Turkish flotilla, which nearly severed relations with Israel, Turkey’s longtime ally. Just a month ago, Turkey infuriated the United States when it announced that along with Brazil, it had struck a deal with Iran to ease a nuclear standoff, and on Tuesday it warmly welcomed Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the Russian prime minister, Vladimir V. Putin, at a regional security summit meeting in Istanbul.

Turkey’s shifting foreign policy is making its prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a hero to the Arab world, and is openly challenging the way the United States manages its two most pressing issues in the region, Iran’s nuclear program and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Turkey is seen increasingly in Washington as “running around the region doing things that are at cross-purposes to what the big powers in the region want,” said Steven A. Cook, a scholar with the Council on Foreign Relations. The question being asked, he said, is “How do we keep the Turks in their lane?”

From Turkey’s perspective, however, it is simply finding its footing in its own backyard, a troubled region that has been in turmoil for years, in part as a result of American policy making. Turkey has also been frustrated in its longstanding desire to join the European Union.

“The Americans, no matter what they say, cannot get used to a new world where regional powers want to have a say in regional and global politics,” said Soli Ozel, a professor of international relations at Bilgi University in Istanbul. “This is our neighborhood, and we don’t want trouble. The Americans create havoc, and we are left holding the bag.” >>> Sabrina Tavernise reported from Ankara, and Michael Slackman from Cairo | Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Islam and the Politically Correct White House
TOWNHALL.COM: Most Americans are sympathetic to public references to Islam and to Muslims that do not offend patriotic American Muslims or affix to the Islamic religion the rantings of al-Qaeda. But sensitivity to the need to be civil to Muslims doesn’t—or shouldn’t—obviate the need for intellectual honesty when discussing or analyzing America’s Islamist political foes.

At a recent briefing to scholars and reporters at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies, John Brennan, assistant to the president for homeland security and counter-terrorism, went into contortions to avoid admitting what seems commonsense to most Americans: there is a connection between some parts of Islamic thought and the repeated assertions of Osama bin Laden and his supporters and sympathizers that they are waging “jihad” against the United States. Brennan said the religious views of America’s Islamist terrorist adversaries shouldn’t even be discussed. Yet to accept that view would be like asking the State Department to examine the views of Adolf Hitler during Word War II and avoid mentioning his hatred of the Jews.

Brennan said the White House and State Department were avoiding reference to “jihadists” even though terrorist adversaries of the United States often call themselves exactly that. He said that jihad was “a holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam meaning to purify oneself and one’s community.” True, this is the “greater jihad,” as defined by Mohammed himself—but it is not the whole meaning of jihad at all. In fact, serious and respected scholars of Islam such as Professor Bernard Lewis assert that by far the largest proportion of Islamic historical references to jihad refer to what is called the “lesser jihad”—the duty of Muslims to wage war on non-Muslims in order to subdue all countries and communities for Allah.

The Quran, Islam’s holy book, is quite explicit about this. Surah 9, for example, the “surah of the sword,” explicitly calls on Muslims to “fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and his Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the book [i.e,. Jews and Christians] until they pay the tax in acknowledgement of superiority and they are in a state of subjection” (Surah 9:29). Just in case readers didn’t get that message, Surah 2:216 says “jihad is enjoined for you, though you dislike it, and it may be that you dislike a thing while it is good for you, and it may be that you love a thing while it is evil for you, and Allah knows, while you do not know” (Surah 2:216).

Brennan claimed that the extremists were victims of “political, economic, and social forces,” and that they should not be described in “religious terms.” But if America’s Islamist opponents describe themselves in religious terms, why shouldn’t we take seriously what they are saying? Read on and comment>>> David Aikman | Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Toto: Africa

Well, Well, Well! So Obama Is from Kenya After All!


Kenyan Ambassador Admits Obama Born There - Birthplace "Already Well Known"

Iran State Shipping Company Beating Sanctions by Deception
Photo: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: Iran’s state shipping company is carrying out a systematic campaign of deception to protect its international trade from looming sanctions at the United Nations Security Council.

The Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (Irisl), which has close links with the country’s Revolutionary Guards, is to be singled out in sanctions that are being voted on in the Security Council today.

Fresh concerns over how to implement the sanctions have emerged, however, after revelations about how the company evaded embargos by renaming scores of ships and setting up front companies to disguise their ownership.

According to a report in The New York Times published yesterday, as many as ten blacklisted ships are still insured in Britain and Bermuda and an unknown number whose ownership has been better disguised may have links to Britain. >>> Catherine Philp, Hugh Tomlinson, Martin Fletcher | Wednesday, June 09, 2010

U.N. Security Council Passes New Sanctions Against Iran
THE NEW YORK TIMES: UNITED NATIONS — The United States, moving firmly away from the Obama administration’s previous emphasis on wooing Iran, pushed through a new round of United Nations sanctions against the nation on Wednesday, taking aim at its military in yet another attempt to pressure Tehran over its nuclear program.

The new sanctions, a modest increase from previous rounds, took months to negotiate but still did not carry the symbolic weight of a unanimous Security Council decision. Twelve of the 15 nations voted for the measure, while Turkey and Brazil voted against and Lebanon abstained.

Beyond the restrictions imposed by the sanctions themselves, the vote sets stage for harsher measures that the United States and the European Union have promised to enact on their own once they had the imprimatur of the United Nations. European leaders are likely to discuss new measures at a summit in mid June. >>> Neil MacFarquhar | Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Helen Thomas, Veteran Reporter: Why She Had to Resign
THE GUARDIAN: Her fierce questions shocked White House staff; Castro refused to answer her. And now veteran reporter Helen Thomas has had to quit. By Chris McGreal

Fidel Castro was once asked to define the difference between democracy in Cuba and the United States. "I don't have to answer questions from Helen Thomas," the old revolutionary replied.

The grand dame of the White House press corps, who outlasted nine American presidential administrations – and Castro's rule – was finally forced to halt her determined, often opinion-laden questioning and into retirement this week over comments on the issue closest to her heart, the Middle East.

There were no fond farewells for the 89-year-old reporter remembered as a trailblazer for women in journalism but also as a grumpy old contrarian. Her front-row seat in the White House briefing room, in recent years uniquely tagged with her own name rather than that of an organisation, was left empty.

Reporters who variously described Thomas as cranky, stubborn and opinionated said they weren't surprised she'd finally overstepped the mark when she told a rabbi that Jews should "get the hell out of Palestine" and "go home" to Poland and Germany. But the torrent of anger and criticism was tempered by Thomas' lofty status.

By the time of her resignation she had clocked up many firsts: first female officer of the National Press Club and first female president of the White House Correspondents' Association. She worked as a White House reporter for far longer than any other – for half a century. She was probably also the first White House correspondent to have a birthday cake delivered by a president, when Barack Obama arrived bearing cup cakes (they share a birthday). >>> Chris McGreal | Wednesday, June 09, 2010

TOWNHALL.COM: Helen's Hate-Filled Exit : The last two presidents have been elected on the very dubious campaign promise of "changing the tone" of Washington. Either could have proven his sincerity by shredding the credentials of the White House press corps Dean of Mean, Helen Thomas. Her tone was nasty, and her "questions" usually meant more as insults than as requests for information. Still, presidents and journalists alike bowed and scraped before her, as if she were the Queen of All Media. >>> Brent Bozell | Wednesday, June 09, 2010

THE TIMES: Veteran White House reporter Helen Thomas quits at 89 after Israel outburst: It is always dangerous for a reporter to become the story. For Helen Thomas, two months before her 90th birthday, it has meant the end of her career.

The daughter of Lebanese immigrants who could neither read nor write, Thomas was covering the White House 11 years before its current spokesman was born.

Yesterday she resigned in disgrace after telling a Jewish online news service that Jews should “get the hell out of Palestine” and “go home”. >>> Giles Whittell, Washington | Monday, June 07, 2010

Related here

Love Fails to Conquer All as Malawi Gay Couple Separate
THE GUARDIAN: Steven Monjeza leaves Tiwonge Chimbalanga for a woman a week after the couple were freed from jail in Malawi

Steven Monjeza (left) said: ‘I want to live a normal life … not a life where I would be watched by everyone, booed and teased’ after leaving Tiwonge Chimbalanga. Photograph: The Guardian
They became an international cause celebre after being sentenced to 14 years in prison under Malawi's draconian laws against homosexuality.

But today the story of Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, the first same sex couple to seek marriage in Malawi, took a further twist when it emerged that they had separated and one of the men now has a female partner.

Outrage over their convictions for gross indecency and unnatural acts last month gave way to relief when the country's president, Bingu wa Mutharika, freed them on "humanitarian grounds".

Their separation was called as a "tragedy" by one campaigner who blamed it on homophobic threats and abuse. Monjeza, 26, has begun a relationship with Dorothy Gulo, a 24-year-old from Blantyre.

Monjeza, who faced family hostility towards his previous relationship with Chimbalanga, said he no longer wanted to be associated with homosexuality.

"I have had enough," he said. "I was forced into the whole drama and I regret the whole episode. I want to live a normal life ... not a life where I would be watched by everyone, booed and teased."

Chimbalanga, 20, said Monjeza had found a female lover "to hurt" him. "But I am not worried. You cannot force love, and nobody forced him when we did our symbolic wedding in December."

He insisted that he did not resent Monjeza's decision. "I will also marry because there are lots of good men around. I will remain a gay," he told the [sic] Guardian. >>> Godfrey Mapondera in Blantyre and David Smith in Johannesburg | Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Turkey: Ankara Builds New Links with Palestinian Leaders
ADN KRONOS INTERNATIONAL: Istanbul - Turkey signed an agreement to establish closer links with the Palestinian National Authority on Monday. Foreign ministers representing Turkey and the Palestinians signed the agreement as Turkish president Abdullah Gul and president of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas were to meet at a conference in Istanbul.

The agreement was signed by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and his Palestinian counterpart Riyad El-Maliki and aims to create a framework for Turkey's aid and support to the Palestinian state, Turkish media reports said.

A joint committee will convene at least twice every year in order to determine areas of cooperation and lay down action plans. >>> AKI | Monday, June 07, 2010

Muslim Community Leader 'Made Up Story He Was Kidnapped by BNP', Court Told
THE TELEGRAPH: A Muslim community leader, Noor Ramjanally, who claimed he was kidnapped by members of the British National Party was caught out lying by covert surveillance cameras designed to protect him, a court heard.

The 36 year-old falsely claimed he was abducted at knifepoint by racist thugs from the far-right wing political party after being subjected to hate mail and an arson attack, Chelmsford Crown Court was told.

He had told police he had feared for his life when he was kidnapped in broad daylight from his home in Loughton, Essex on August 24 last year and bundled into a car, it was claimed.

Ramjanally then claimed he was driven to nearby Epping Forest where he was threatened and warned to stop holding prayer sessions he had organised.

But he was caught out lying after detectives viewed CTTV footage from secret cameras installed to protect him after his previous claims that he was being targeted by racist opponents, prosecutors said. >>> Andrew Hough | Wednesday, June 09, 2010