Muslims Cut Bodies for Faith
THE SUNDAY EXPRESS: ISLAMIC fanatics are mutilating themselves at a British mosque in a bloody ceremony carried out only yards from a busy high street.

Shia Muslims use a five-bladed chain called a Zanjeer to whip their own backs and make cuts in their foreheads with razor blades in homage to their faith.

Bare-chested men were left bleeding heavily during the ritual known as Matam – self-flagellation – which a witness described as being “like a scene from a horror film”.

The Sunday Express found that up to 800 men performed the bloody ceremony in secret at the Imamia Mosque in Forest Gate, east London, last year.

The Matam takes place during the annual Shia Ashura ceremony and commemorates the death of Husayn, a grandson of the prophet Muhammad. It is practised largely in Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and India as well as Yemen and Afghanistan but this is the first time it is known to have taken place in Britain.

Huge wooden screens were put up around the mosque to keep the event secret and prevent passers-by on busy Romford Road seeing the bloodletting.

The Sunday Express visited the mosque last week and learned that the ceremony took place last December and is due to be repeated next month. One man who witnessed the ceremony last year was so alarmed by what he saw he nearly passed out. He said: “There was blood everywhere. There were pools of blood on the ground and my clothes were splattered with blood. It was very scary. >>> David Jarvis and Shekhar Bhatia: Exclusive | Sunday, November 07, 2010

HT: Pastorius >>>

Tuition Fee Protests: Lecturers Back 'Magnificent' Student Rioters
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Lecturers at one of the country’s leading universities were roundly condemned last night for praising students who rioted at Conservative Party headquarters.

Academics at Goldsmiths, University of London, justified the violence by saying it had brought the tuition fees row “media attention across the world”.

In a statement branded “irresponsible” by Downing Street, they said they wished to “congratulate staff and students on the magnificent anti-cuts demonstration”.

It was signed by John Wadsworth, the president of Goldsmiths lecturers’ union, and its secretary Des Freedman, a lecturer in communications and cultural studies.

It also emerged that a lecturer from the University of Sussex who was among the protestors is a prominent member of the left-wing socialist group Revolution, which began planning “direct action” weeks ago. >>> Gordon Rayner and Laura Roberts | Friday, November 12, 2010

Who are the student rioters? >>>

David Cameron*: Waterboarding Does Not Save Lives
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: David Cameron has flatly contradicted George W Bush and said he does not believe that waterboarding, the controversial interrogation technique, saves lives.

The British prime minister, speaking at the G20 summit in South Korea, repeated the official British line that torture was wrong, and he went further, attacking policies pursued by the Bush administration on the detention and treatment of prisoners which he said had helped to radicalise people and made the West "less safe".

Mr Bush memoirs, which were published this week, asserted strongly that the waterboarding of prisoners had averted huge terrorist attacks on key London targets. The former US president also said that he did not believe that waterboarding constituted torture. >>> Andrew Porter in Seoul | Thursday, November 11, 2010

* This man is turning out to be a naïve fool! – Mark

French Terror Suspect 'Was Prepared to Die'
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Five terror suspects arrested in Paris this week are suspected of conspiring to launch an attack in France and one of them was prepared to die, according to Brice Hortefeux, the interior minister.

France is on heightened alert for a terror attack after Osama bin Laden targeted the country for the first time in a recent speech and endorsed the capture of five French nationals by the group's North African wing.

Mr Hortefeux said the terror threat remained "real" and "elevated" following the arrest on Monday and Tuesday of five suspects, all of whom were French including one woman, at Charles de Gaulle airport and in the greater Paris region.

"What we can say is that, over the last few days with these arrests ... there was what we call a conspiracy (to) prepare a terror attack," he told reporters at a Paris train station.

"Some of them were ready to die in their fanatical act," he said, later clarifying only one appeared willing to die. >>> | Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Christian Revival in Iran – Millions Find Jesus

Remembrance Day Canada - In Flanders Fields

Ali Bardakoglu: Oberster türkischer Religionswächter tritt ab
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Nach sieben Jahren im Amt ist der Chef des staatlichen Religionsamtes in der Türkei, Ali Bardakoglu, zurückgetreten. Spekuliert wird, dem Rücktritt seien Differenzen zwischen Bardakoglu und der Regierung von Ministerpräsident Erdogan vorausgegangen.

Der oberste türkische Religionswächter Ali Bardakoglu muss überraschend sein Amt aufgeben. Bardakoglu sei nach Auseinandersetzungen mit der islamisch-konservativen Regierung entlassen worden, berichtete Zeitung „Milliyet“ am Donnerstag. Nachfolger an der Spitze der türkischen Religionsbehörde (Diyanet) soll der bisherige stellvertretende Religionswächter Mehmet Görmez werden.

Die Zeitung schrieb, Bardakoglu habe der Regierung im Kopftuch-Streit eine klare Position verweigert, indem er erklärte, das Kopftuch sei für muslimische Frauen keine religiöse Pflicht, sondern eine persönliche Entscheidung. Alkohol hatte er zwar als Sünde im religiösen Sinne bezeichnet, „egal ob am Steuer eines Autos oder in den Bergen“. Allerdings sei es eine politische Frage, in welchen Situationen der Genuss von Alkohol auch eine Straftat sei. Zudem ging er zuletzt auf Distanz zur Politik. „Ich habe bis heute an keinem Empfang teilgenommen“, sagte er. >>> AFP/dpa | Donnerstag, 11. November 2010

Merkel bleibt hart beim G-20-Gipfel: Vereinigte Staaten in Seoul isoliert
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Barack Obama hat in Seoul einen schweren Stand. China, Deutschland, aber auch Brasilien sind - gelinde gesagt - über die amerikanische Wirtschafts- und Finanzpolitik verstimmt. Das Anwerfen der Notenpresse in den Vereinigten Staaten weckt Ängste vor Inflation und Spekulation.

Beim Gipfel der führenden Wirtschaftsmächte (G20) stehen die Vereinigten Staaten im Abseits. Das Anwerfen der Notenpresse durch die amerikanische Notenbank und die Idee einer „Exportbremse“ für Deutschland und China stießen schon vor Beginn des Treffens in der südkoreanischen Hauptstadt Seoul auf massive Kritik. Die G-20-Staats- und Regierungschefs wollen bis Freitag versuchen, einen „Währungskrieg“ und neue Schranken im Welthandel zu verhindern.

Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel (CDU) erteilte dem Vorschlag von Barack Obama eine klare Absage, führende Exportnationen müssten ihren Handelsüberschuss deckeln und stattdessen mehr für die heimische Nachfrage tun: „Eine politische Festlegung von Obergrenzen für Leistungsbilanzüberschüsse oder -defizite ist weder ökonomisch gerechtfertigt noch politisch angemessen“, sagte sie bei einem G20- „Business Summit“ vor 100 Topmanagern aus aller Welt. „Dies wäre unvereinbar mit dem Ziel eines freien Welthandels.“ >>> dpa | Donnerstag, 11. November 2010

Armistice Day: The Nation Falls Silent for 'the Glorious Dead'
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Millions fell silent across Britain today to mark the anniversary of the day peace returned to Europe at the end of the First World War.


The agreement between Germany and the Allies took effect at the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" of 1918 after four years of fighting.

As the nation stopped to remember those who died in battle, the Archbishop of Canterbury, defence ministers, representatives of military associations, veterans and school children attended a service at the Cenotaph in central London to commemorate Armistice Day.

Brother Nigel Cave, the Western Front Association's padre, led the ceremony, and wreaths were laid at the monument in Whitehall.

A bugler from the Scots Guards heralded the start of the silence at exactly 11am by playing the Last Post and mark the completion of the two minutes with the Reveille. >>> | Thursday, November 11, 2010

Horror of Female Circumcision – February 2008

Cornered – Princess Hijab, Paris's Elusive Graffiti Artist
THE GUARDIAN: Princess Hijab daubs Muslim veils on half-naked fashion ads on the metro. Why does she do it? Is she a religious fundamentalist? And is she really a woman? Angelique Chrisafis meets the elusive street artist

Princess Hijab . . . 'I use veiled women as a challenge. The veil can be as profane as it is sacred'. Photograph: The Guardian
Just after dawn at Havre- Caumartin metro station, Paris's first commuters are stepping on and off half-empty trains. Then, at the end of the platform, a figure in black appears, head bowed and feet tapping with nerves.

Princess Hijab is Paris's most elusive street artist. Striking at night with dripping black paint she slaps black Muslim veils on the half-naked airbrushed women – and men – of the metro's fashion adverts. She calls it "hijabisation". Her guerrilla niqab art has been exhibited from New York to Vienna, sparking debates about feminism and fundamentalism – yet her identity remains a mystery.

In secular republican France, there can hardly be a more potent visual gag than scrawling graffitied veils on fashion ads. Six years after a law banned headscarves and all conspicuous religious symbols from state schools, Nicolas Sarkozy's government has banned the niqab from public spaces amid a fierce row over women's rights, islamophobia and civil liberties. The "burqa ban", approved last month, means that from next year it will be illegal for a woman to wear full-face Muslim veils in public, not just in government offices or on public transport, but in the streets, supermarkets and private businesses. The government says it is a way of protecting women's rights and stopping them being forced by men to cover their faces. >>> Angelique Chrisafis | Thursday, November 11, 2010

GUARDIAN PHOTO GALLERY: Princess Hijab: underground resistance – The Paris metro system is under attack - by graffiti artist extraordinaire Princess Hijab, who provocatively adds veils to billboard advertising. Here are some of her best works >>> | Thursday, November 11, 2010

Baghdad Attacks on Christians Prompt Archbishop's Call for Mass Exodus
THE GUARDIAN: Survivors of today's attacks have been contacting foreign embassies, saying that they will be killed if they remain in Iraq

Iraqi Christians are becoming more fearful for their lives after targeted attacks last week and today. Photograph: The Guardian
The martyr in their midst was known all around the area. But in case anyone had missed it, a mourning sign had been posted outside Saad Adwar's house in the Baghdad suburb of Kampsar, revealing exactly where he lived.

It said simply that Adwar had been killed "by the hand of a spiteful and hateful enemy while he prayed to his holy God in Our Lady of Salvation church" nine days ago.

This morning, the terrorists who had killed 44 of Baghdad's Christians at their place of worship, came hunting them once more – this time in their homes.

They struck 10 times just after 7am in six different places in Baghdad, almost all of them Christian houses.

Mortars damaged two homes in the south. Improvised bombs damaged four in the north of the city and four in the east. A total of four people were killed and 25 injured. Worse was the effect on the city's already traumatised Christian minority, which now seems more fearful than ever – and potentially poised for another mass exodus.

"We are shocked these days about our situation," said Raad Yacoub Khuanum as he repaired his kitchen, damaged by a bomb outside his house in the central suburb of al-Sana'a. "Now I am terrified."

The family car was a burned-out hulk, destroyed by a bomb that had been placed by men who briefly stepped from a passing car just after dawn. A distinctive Jerusalem cross had hung from the rear vision mirror. No other car in the neighbourhood was damaged.

"The church attack had a psychological effect on us," he said. "Now we know al-Qaida will kill us all." >>> Martin Chulov in Baghdad | Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Iain Duncan Smith: It's a Sin that People Fail to Take Up Work
THE GUARDIAN: Work and pensions secretary prepares to introduce the most severe welfare sanctions ever imposed by a British government

Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary. Photograph: The Guardian
Ian Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, said today it was a "sin" that people failed to take up available jobs as he prepared to announce a tougher-than-expected squeeze on the unemployed.

This will see the jobless face the threat of losing all benefits for as long as three years if they refuse community work or the offer of a job, or fail to apply for a post if advised to do so.

In the most severe welfare sanctions ever imposed by a British government, unemployed people will lose benefits for three months if they fail to take up one of the options for the first time, six months if they refuse an offer twice, and three years if they refuse an offer three times.

Downing Street sources said the new "claimant contract" will come into force as soon as legislation is passed, and may not wait for the introduction of a streamlined universal credit system in 2013-14.

Duncan Smith will tell MPs today that he is introducing the biggest shake-up of the welfare system since the Beveridge reforms ushered in the welfare state after the second world war. He will say that a new universal credit system will make 2.5 million of the poorest people better off and reduce the number of workless households by 300,000. Read on and comment >>> Patrick Wintour, Randeep Ramesh and Hélène Mulholland | Thursday, November 11, 2010

Iran : La justice réexamine d'abord l'accusation de meurtre visant Sakineh
Sakineh, âgée de 43 ans, a été condamnée à mort pour adultère et pour son implication dans le meurtre de son mari. Photo : Le Point
LE POINT: L'examen de l'accusation de meurtre visant Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani passe avant celui des adultères, pour lesquels l'Iranienne a été condamnée à la lapidation, et la justice va avoir besoin de plus de temps pour réexaminer l'affaire, selon le procureur général à Téhéran. "Deux accusations et condamnations visent Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, sans nul doute l'accusation de meurtre passe avant les autres accusations et la justice a mis à l'ordre du jour d'abord celle-ci (meurtre)", a déclaré Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejeie, cité mercredi soir par l'agence officielle Irna. "L'énoncé d'une peine définitive requiert plus de temps et d'investigations", a-t-il ajouté. >>> Source AFP | Jeudi 11 Novembre 2010

L'ultime appel d'Aung San Suu Kyi rejeté
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: BIRMANIE | La justice birmane a rejeté jeudi un ultime appel de la dissidente contre sa condamnation à la résidence surveillée. Cette décision intervient alors que la junte se prépare à la libération du prix Nobel de la paix dans les prochains jours.

L'ultime appel d'Aung San Suu Kyi rejeté par la justice.

La Cour suprême de la capitale Naypyidaw "a confirmé la condamnation" à 18 mois d'assignation à résidence prononcée en août 2009, a indiqué un responsable birman.

Le rejet de ce troisième appel que ses avocats avaient déposé par principe, dans l'espoir de prouver son innocence, ne devrait rien changer à la libération de l'opposante, qui aura purgé la totalité de sa peine samedi. Indépendamment de cette procédure, des sources officielles birmanes ont indiqué mercredi que les services de sécurité se préparaient activement pour sa libération. >>> ATS | Jeudi 11 Novembre 2010

Arizona: la très dure loi migratoire fait fuir 100 000 Latinos
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: IMMIGRATION | En Arizona, dans le sud-ouest des États-Unis, depuis l'entrée en vigueur d'une loi migratoire répressive, une étude estime à 100 000 le nombre de Latino-américains qui ont quitté l'état.

Une étude estime à 100 000 personnes le nombre d'hispaniques qui ont quitté l'Arizona. Photo: Tribune de Genè ve
La loi migratoire très contestée de l’Arizona aurait provoqué le départ volontaire de 100 000 Latino-américains, affirme une étude publiée mercredi. Selon les hypothèses des chercheurs, certains seraient partis vers d’autres parties des Etats-Unis, d’autres seraient rentrés au pays.

«Quelques mois après l’entrée en vigueur de la loi en Arizona, il est possible d’observer un nombre d’hispanos inférieur dans cette zone américaine. Nous chiffrons à 100 000 le nombre d’hispanos en moins par rapport à ceux du début 2010», estime le rapport de la fondation privée BBVA Bancomer. >>> ATS | Jeudi 11 Novembre 2010

EU-Beitritt: Erdoğan wirft EU Hinhaltetaktik vor
ZEIT ONLINE: Die Türkei ist das Warten leid: Der türkische Ministerpräsident Erdoğan hat der Europäischen Union vorgeworfen, sein Land bei den Beitrittsverhandlungen hinzuhalten.

"Man lässt uns seit 50 Jahren vor den Toren der EU warten", sagte Tayyip Erdoğan in einem Interview. Die Türken seien immer unzufriedener mit der Situation, sagte er weiter. Seit Beginn der offiziellen Beitrittsgespräche vor fünf Jahren habe die EU zudem neue Regeln eingeführt. Die Türkei fühle sich daher im Vergleich zu früheren Aufnahmekandidaten diskriminiert.

Die Beitrittsgespräche mit dem 75-Millionen-Einwohner-Land sind fast zum Erliegen gekommen. Zu den Gründen gehören der Streit über das seit 1974 von der Türkei besetzte Nordzypern und der Widerstand Frankreichs und Deutschlands gegen eine Aufnahme des Landes. Erdoğan bot erneut an, die türkischen Häfen und Flughäfen für das seit 2004 zur EU gehörende griechische Südzypern zu öffnen, wenn die Gemeinschaft ihr Embargo für die türkische Enklave aufhebe. "Wir sagen: Ja, lasst uns die Häfen öffnen, lasst uns sie gemeinsam öffnen", sagte Erdoğan. Weiter lesen und einen Kommentar ablegen >>> ZEIT ONLINE, Reuters | Mittwoch, 10. November 2010

NZZ ONLINE: Die Türkei verliert den Glauben an die EU: Ministerpräsident Erdogan kritisiert Brüssels Hinhaltepolitik – der Konflikt um Zypern als grösster Zankapfel >>> Thomas Fuster, Wien | Donnerstag, 11. November 2010

Zuwanderungsdebatte: Türkei-Botschafter in Wien greift Merkel an
WELT ONLINE: Der türkische Botschafter Kadri Ecvet Tezcan teilt weiter aus: Er kritisiert Politik und Menschen in Österreich und auch Angela Merkel.

Ausländerfeindliche Bevölkerung und gescheiterte Integrationspolitik: Mit heftiger Österreich-Kritik des türkischen Botschafters Kadri Ecvet Tezcan hat die Zuwandererdebatte im Alpenland einen neuen Höhepunkt erreicht. Die Aussagen lösten erhebliche diplomatische Verstimmungen zwischen beiden Ländern aus. Aber auch Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel wurde in dem Rundumschlag des Diplomaten nicht verschont.

Tezcan hatte in einem Interview unter anderem die konservative Innenministerin Maria Fekter angegriffen und den Österreichern Desinteresse an anderen Kulturen unterstellt. Die Regierung in Wien sah darin eine inakzeptable Einmischung in Angelegenheiten des Landes, bestellte den Diplomaten ins Außenministerium und nahm mit der türkischen Regierung Kontakt auf. >>> dpa/mac | Donnerstag, 11. November 2010

Verbunden >>>

US to Use Graphic Images of Death and Disease on Cigarette Packs
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A dead man in a coffin, a crying baby, a bald cancer patient and a close-up of a mouth with dirty teeth and a malignant lip lesion are among new graphic warnings the United States is proposing for cigarette packs.

The changes are part of a 2009 law that requires new and larger labels on cigarettes to depict the negative health consequences of smoking.

The warnings will take up about half the space on the front of each cigarette pack, located on the upper portion so they are visible in most store displays.

A series of 36 graphics are available on the Food and Drug Administration's website. After public consultation the government will choose nine images to place on cigarette packs. Read on and comment >>> | Thursday, November 11, 2010

Isn't it time they left smokers alone? Don't the authorities think that people know the risks of smoking tobacco? This relentless war on smokers is becoming very tiresome and it is certainly very unfair, especially when many people get up to far worse than enjoy a few puffs on a cigarette.

I write not as a smoker but as an ex-smoker. But I like to think that I live by the maxim, 'live and let live'.

It is very strange that at the very time that the US is clamping down so hard on smokers, the authorities are legalising the use of marijuana. Take California as a case in point: Schwarzenegger has just relaxed the law there to make smoking this drug much easier.

I have been in America as a smoker many times, before I gave up. I have also been in California. Trying to find somewhere to light up is a challenge indeed! But yet they can come to the conclusion that they can ease up on the drug laws. Go figure!

No sane person would advocate smoking cigarettes. Encouraging people to quit is a good thing. But that needs to be gotten into perspective. The smoking habit is indubitably unhealthy; but there are far worse things than smoking and nobody does anything about them. Smoking has become the bête noire of the day. Unfortunately to the exclusion of all other evils.

If I had children, which I don't, if the worst thing they got up to was smoking a cigarette, I'd count myself very lucky indeed. This world is full of far greater evils.

Since the decline of the importance of religion in our daily lives, people seem to have become obsessed with trying to prolong their lives. They think they can find the secret to eternal life. Years ago, people relied on the idea of the afterlife for that. Now people have become health freaks instead. Strange that! Fact is, though, as an American friend of mine always says: We can't get out of this life alive! – © Mark

This comment also appears here

Osama bin Laden Appoints New Commander to Spearhead War on West
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Osama bin Laden has appointed a new commander to spearhead al-Qaeda's offensive of operations against the West.

Known to western intelligence services by the alias Saif al-Adel, or "Sword of the Just", al-Qaeda's new chief of international operations is believed to have conceived of the wave of strikes that set off terror alerts across Europe recently, as well as last week's mid-air parcel-bomb plot.

US and Pakistani sources have told The Daily Telegraph that al-Adel is running several similar operations as part of a war of attrition intended to persuade Western public opinion that the war against terror is unwinnable. This would clear the road for al-Qaeda to capture power in fragile states such as Somalia and Yemen.

"His strategy", said Syed Saleem Shahzad, a Pakistani expert on al-Qaeda, "is to stage multiple small terror operations, using the resources of affiliates and allies wherever possible."

A US counter-terrorism official said the idea was for "small-but-often attacks" that would hurt the West more than a "one-off terror spectacular". >>> Praveen Swami, Diplomatic Editor | Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Congressman Says God Will Save Us from Climate Change
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A Republican congressman who believes that global warming is not a threat because God has promised not to destroy the Earth has put himself forward as chairman of a powerful committee that deals with energy policy and its effect on the environment.

John Shimkus, an evangelical Christian representing Illinois, quoted the Bible in a congressional hearing last year on a proposed "cap and trade" legislation designed to limit carbon emissions.

Reading from God's post-Flood promise to Noah in Genesis 8:21, he said: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though all inclinations of his heart are evil from childhood and never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done."

Mr Shimkus added: "I believe that's the infallible word of God, and that's the way it's going to be for his creation.

"The Earth will end only when God declares it's time to be over. Man will not destroy this Earth. This Earth will not be destroyed by a Flood. I do believe that God's word is infallible, unchanging, perfect." >>> Alex Spillius, Washington | Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Silvio Berlusconi Defeated Three Times in Parliament as Grip on Power Grows Weaker
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Silvio Berlusconi's hold on power looked more fragile than ever after his government was defeated in parliament and new claims emerged of starlets being supplied for parties at one of his mansions.

The Italian government was humiliated in parliament when MPs loyal to Gianfranco Fini, the prime minister's main rival, voted with the Opposition on three amendments to a controversial treaty drawn up between Italy and Libya on stemming illegal immigrants.



Mr Fini and his followers defected from the government in July, depriving Mr Berlusconi of a guaranteed parliamentary majority, and tensions between the former allies has plunged Italy into political paralysis.

The defeat came as a weekly magazine published alleged secretly filmed video footage of showgirls being driven to Mr Berlusconi's mansion, Villa San Martino, on the outskirts of Milan, without apparently undergoing any security checks by the police who protect the property. >>> Nick Squires in Rome | Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Herman Van Rompuy: 'Euroscepticism Leads to War'
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Euroscepticism leads to war and a rising tide of nationalism is the European Union's "biggest enemy", Herman Van Rompuy, the president of Europe has told a Berlin audience.

EU Council President Van Rompuy delivers his State of Europe speech at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. Photo: The Daily Telegraph
Mr Van Rompuy linked hostility to the EU, and the idea that countries could leave the Union, to a revival of aggressive nationalism.

"We have together to fight the danger of a new Euroscepticism. This is no longer the monopoly of a few countries," he said. "In every member state, there are people who believe their country can survive alone in the globalised world. It is more than an illusion: it is a lie."

The controversial comments made on Tuesday come less than a fortnight after David Cameron, the Prime Minister, declared that he was a Eurosceptic after his gruelling Brussels summit battle to block a sharp increase in the EU budget at a time of national austerity.

Bill Cash, the Conservative chairman of the House of Commons European scrutiny committee, "entirely repudiated" a link between Euroscepticism and the rise of nationalism.

"It is not anti-European to be pro-democracy. The problem is that the democratic base for the EU is wanting. The solution to the rise of the far-Right is proper democracy exercised through national parliaments," he said.

Clarifying the remarks, a spokesman for Mr Van Rompuy, stressed that he was not talking about Mr Cameron's brand of Euroscepticism but about those people who want to leave the EU. >>> Bruno Waterfield in Brussels | Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Barack Obama in Indonesia Appeals for Muslim-Christian Tolerance
THE GUARDIAN: White House dogged by 'secret Muslim' claims, amid sniping from the American right

Barack and Michelle Obama with the grand imam at the Istiqlal mosque in Jakarta. Photograph: The Guardian
Barack Obama was in wistful mood today on his return to Indonesia, where he spent part of his childhood. He reminisced about mango trees, flying kites, running alongside paddy fields, buying satay from street vendors and catching dragonflies.

He spoke too of the tolerance Indonesians had shown the foreign child brought up in their midst, and the tolerance needed today to eradicate the mistrust that had built up over the years between Muslims and Christians.

He was speaking at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta, in the second major speech of his presidency reaching out to the Muslim world. The first was in Cairo last year.

But there was little sign of tolerance on US conservative websites, where there were derogatory comments about the visit. Pictures of the Obamas visiting the Istiqlal mosque in Jakarta are likely to surface on websites propagating the myth that the president is a secret Muslim. >>> Ewen MacAskill in Washington and Toni O'Loughlin in Jakarta | Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Canadian PM: I Will Defend Israel 'Whatever the Cost'

HT: Pastorias at iBloga >>>

Obama und Merkel gehen auf Konfrontationskurs
WELT ONLINE: US-Präsident Barack Obama verlangt von Deutschland und China Hilfe beim Abbau des US-Handelsbilanzdefizits. Merkel stellt sich dagegen.

Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel und US-Präsident Barack Obama: Die Stimmung vor dem Gipfeltreffen in Seoul ist angespannt. Bild: Welt Online
Die USA steuern beim G-20-Gipfel auf eine direkte Konfrontation mit Deutschland und China zu, den beiden größten Exportnationen der Erde. Der innenpolitisch schwer angeschlagene US-Präsident Barack Obama pocht weiter auf verbindliche Hilfe aus Berlin und Peking beim Abbau des gewaltigen US-Handelsdefizits. Diese Position verdeutlichte Obama in einem Brief an seine Kollegen. Dem Plan erteilte Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel vor ihrer Abreise nach Südkorea am Mittwoch eine klare Absage. Die südkoreanische G20-Präsidentschaft berichtete über festgefahrene Verhandlungen der Unterhändler aus den wichtigsten Volkswirtschaften der Erde (G20).

Merkel machte klar, dass die Ungleichgewichte in den Handelsbeziehungen auch etwas mit der Wettbewerbsfähigkeit von Produkten auf dem Weltmarkt zu tun hätten. „Quantifizierte Ziele wird Deutschland jedenfalls nicht mittragen“, sagte sie und lehnte erneut Zielkorridore oder andere messbare Vorgaben für Handelsströme ab.

Die „New York Times“ berichtete aus einem Brief Obamas an die G-20-Gipfelrunde. Darin räumte er zwar ein, dass die USA ihren Konsum auf Pump einschränkten müssten. Aber mit Blick auf China und Deutschland schrieb er, andere Ländern müssten auch etwas tun. „Kein einzelnes Land kann unser gemeinsames Ziel einer starken, dauerhaften und ausgewogenen Erholung auf sich selbst gestellt erreichen.“ Obamas Finanzminister Timothy Geithner hatte sich schon beim G-20-Treffen mit seinen Kollegen eine Abfuhr vor allem von deutscher Seite für den Plan geholt. >>> dpa | Mittwoch, 10. November 2010

China May Be Bigger Economy Than US Within Two Years
Barack Obama greets China's Paramount Leader, Hu Jintao. Photo: The Daily Telegraph
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH – BLOGS – JEREMY WARNER: Here’s a finding that will have any red-blooded American spluttering into his cornflakes. According to the Conference Board, a highly respected economic research association, China will overtake the US as the world’s biggest economy by 2012, or within two years. Read on and comment >>> Jeremy Warner | Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Millbank Tower: Student Fees Protest Turns Violent

Nicolas Sarkozy and Dominique de Villepin Go to War on de Gaulle's Anniversary
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: President Nicolas Sarkozy is dangerous for France, warned Dominique de Villepin, the former French prime minister, as the bitter Right-wing rivals competed for Charles de Gaulle's mantle on the 40th anniversary of his death.

Nicholas Sarkozy, left, and Dominique de Villepin. Photo: The Daily Telegraph
With De Gaulle nostalgia in full swing in France, President Sarkozy yesterday seized the commemoration to liken himself to the revered wartime leader who refused to collaborate with the Nazis and was the architect of the country's post-War recovery.

In a thinly-veiled reference to his deeply unpopular pension reforms, which brought millions to the streets in the past few weeks, the President quoted De Gaulle's phrase: "If France has called me to serve as its guide, it is certainly not to preside over its sleep."

But Mr de Villepin, a staunch Gaullist who famously opposed the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, was the most vocal in denying the president's right to claim such a heritage. >>> Henry Samuel in Paris | Tuesday, November 09, 2010

Michelle Obama Brushes Off Indonesia Handshake Row
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Michelle Obama has brushed off a row with an Indonesian minister who was reluctant to shake her hand.


America's First Lady visited southeast Asia's biggest mosque with her husband on Wednesday, a day after Indonesia's communications minister had told Twitter followers that he had reluctantly shaken hands with her at a formal reception.

Tifatul Sembiring, a conservative Muslim who refuses to touch women he is not related to tweeted: "I tried to prevent it with my two hands but Mrs Michelle moved her hands too close to me, then we touched."

Video footage of the meeting suggested otherwise, however, showing Mr Sembiring reaching out to shake Michelle's hand like the other dignitaries.

The Obamas much-anticipated visit to the Istiqlal Mosque in central Jakarta was one of the last stops on Mr Obama's twice-postponed visit to Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority country.

Grand Imam Haji Mustafa Ali Yaqub showed the Obamas around the massive domed structure, which was still being built when a young Mr Obama lived in the nearby suburb of Menteng as a child in the late 1960s. >>> | Wednesday, November 19, 2010

Flashback: Indonesian Mosque Obama Visited Greeted Ahmadinejad as a “Rock Star” Where He Called For The Destruction of Israel, Predicted Sharia Would Rule World >>>

HT: Pastorius of iBloga >>> Pastorius | Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Student Protests Turn Violent as Tory Headquarters Evacuated
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A student protest against rising tuition fees has turned violent with demonstrators forcing their way into a building and smashing windows as they approached Parliament.

Demonstrators barge into the lobby of Millbank Tower, smashing windows and setting fire to placards outside the entrance. Photo: The Daily Telegraph
A group barged into the lobby of Millbank before being forced out by police and security officers. They then began setting fire to placards outside the entrance.

Windows in the office block were smashed and a number of smoke bombs thrown.

Up to 50,000 people, many waving placards, are marching though the streets of London in the biggest show of opposition to the Coalition Government.

Students from towns and cities across the UK have travelled to London in coaches, to join lecturers, pensioners and medical trainees in voicing their opposition to the rise. >>> | Wednesday, November 10, 2010

‘Matthew Taylor on the student protesters inside Conservative HQ at Millbank Tower’

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: David Cameron admits tuition fees increase will keep cost to foreign students down: The Coalition’s decision to increase tuition fees by thousands of pounds will help keep down the cost to foreign students of studying in Britain, David Cameron has admitted. >>> Andrew Porter, Political Editor | Wednesday, November 10, 2010

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Cost of a degree 'has tripled in 20 years': The cost of a university degree has more than tripled in 20 years as thousands of teenagers are priced out of higher education, according to research. >>> Graeme Paton, Education Editor | Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Ausländer und Integration - Strache, FPÖ

WHO: Russians Smoke the Most
THE MOSCOW TIMES: With 44 million adults, or almost 40 percent of the population, Russia has the biggest percentage of adult smokers among the 14 countries surveyed by the World Health Organization.

More adults smoke in Russia than in any other heavy-smoking country, and their average life expectancy is one of the shortest among former Soviet countries, according to two separate but thematically linked reports released Tuesday.

Politicians and analysts said the popularity of smoking, which contributes to worsening demographics by killing up to 500,000 Russians a year, could be stopped through tougher regulations, but tobacco producers have blocked all efforts for years, successfully lobbying their interests with the ruling United Russia party.

With 44 million adults, or almost 40 percent of the population, Russia has the biggest percentage of adult smokers among the 14 countries surveyed by the World Health Organization in a poll presented at a Moscow conference Tuesday.

More than 60 percent of Russian men and almost 22 percent of Russian women smoke, according to the WHO's Global Adult Tobacco Survey.

The poll also covered Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay and Vietnam — countries that “bear the highest burden of tobacco use,” the survey said.

The survey is "not a document but a call to take action," Luigi Migliorini, acting head of the WHO's Russia office, said at a conference where the report was presented Tuesday, RIA-Novosti reported.

Some 400,000 to 500,000 Russians a year die from smoking-related causes, a figure that accounts for 17 percent of the country's yearly mortality rate, a co-author of the report, Oleg Storozhenko, told the conference, Interfax reported.

Separately, a study the Audit Chamber released on Tuesday said Russia lagged behind most other former Soviet republics in life expectancy. >>> Natalya Krainova | Wednesday, November 10, 2010

David Cameron's Obsession with Image and Spin Is Failing the Country
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The public is paying dearly for the Prime Minister's cult of personality, argues Simon Heffer.

David Cameron is obsessed with spin. Photo: The Daily Telegraph
That the public mood lightened last week when the BBC went on strike, and we were spared for a day or two endless earnest reports and analyses of the activities of our pygmy politicians, should hardly be a surprise. What perhaps requires further thought, both by politicians and those of us who report or analyse their doings, is whether there is generally just too much of it out there for anybody's good.

We know that in a democracy information (preferably truthful) is essential. I, like many of my colleagues, came into journalism precisely to throw bricks through windows. The Fourth Estate has a role, without doubt, in fulfilling the import of that pompous phrase "holding politicians to account". But since so much of what the politicians tell journalists is either only half the truth or, at times, none of the truth at all, some of us do start to wonder why we bother. I rarely sit down on a Tuesday without the thought crossing my mind that it would be better all round if I were to write a column about the cultural importance of Ealing films, or a defence of Wagner, or a philippic against much contemporary architecture. I do not doubt many of you would agree. Yet again, however, this week there is a subject, related to what I have just said, that requires all our attention.

The Prime Minister has put no fewer than 26 people on the public payroll, on short-term contracts, without advertising their posts. Most of these people are trusties, and the most prominent of them are in the business of managing Mr Cameron's image: and, in one case, Mrs Cameron's. One of them is his photographer. Another is described as being his "web guru", a man whose contribution to the lexicon of conservative thought so far has been to seek to "pimp your party" and to throw a fund-raising event that was "so hip it hurts", whatever the hell that means. The Prime Minister also has his own film-maker. There is also someone being paid £50,000 a year working for something called the "behavioural insight team" in the Cabinet Office. She, and they, must have their work cut out. I believe there are even some young people who advise on policy, and we must judge the quality of their contribution to our governance by its results.

It is reported that a senior civil servant warned Mr Cameron of the injudiciousness of appointing at least some of these people at all, and especially in this way, at a time of stringency in the public sector. The act has also been interpreted as a means of Mr Cameron getting around his own much-trumpeted policy of reducing the number of special advisers in government. But the real issue here is one of image, and image management. We knew that Mr Cameron was obsessed with this when in opposition, usually to the exclusion of developing any policies or principles. Many of the people hired in this compromising way were in charge of massaging the Cameron image before he entered Downing Street. Nicky Woodhouse, the film-maker, did his saccharine and nauseating "WebCameron", by which the public who cared to watch were deceived into believing they were witnessing real slices of Cameron family life. Read on and comment >>> Simon Heffer | Tuesday, November 09, 2010

This article hits the nail right on the head. We, the electorate, are sick and tired of our vain politicians who think far too little of the 'little people' and far too much of themselves. David Cameron is an exemplar par excellence of such a politician. One can see his vanity in his face. In short: He loves himself. And he is using these spin creatures to try and make the rest of us love him equally as much. The strategy will fail. The electorate has had quite enough of spin during the Blair years. Look where that got us!

How nice it would be to be governed by real politicians. Winnie was the complete opposite of Cameron: Churchill thought little about his appearance, but a hell of a lot about the country.

Thank you so much for this insightful article. It was a pleasure to read it. – © Mark [This comment can also be read here]

L'adhésion de la Turquie, de la Croatie et du Monténégro à la loupe de l'UE
LE MONDE: La Commission européenne a dressé mardi un tableau peu encourageant de l'avancée des négociations d'adhésion de la Turquie à l'UE, s'inquiétant de l'impasse chypriote, alors qu'elle a ouvert la voie, dans son rapport annuel sur les projets d'élargissement de l'Union, à une candidature du Monténégro. Bruxelles a par ailleurs salué l'entrée de la Croatie dans la dernière phase des négociations d'adhésion, conditionnant la fixation d'une date à la démonstration de son engagement dans la lutte contre la corruption. >>> LEMONDE.FR | Mardi 09 Novembre 2010

Les attaques contre les chrétiens d'Irak continuent
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: BAGDAD | Bagdad a encore souffert de 3 morts et 26 blessés mercredi matin dans des attaques contre des domiciles de chrétiens. La branche irakienne d’Al-Qaïda avait annoncé qu'elle viserait les chrétiens.

Une série d’attentats a visé mercredi matin les domiciles de chrétiens à Bagdad faisant trois morts et 26 blessés, selon une source du ministère de l’Intérieur. Ces nouveaux attentats anti-chrétiens surviennent dix jours après l’attaque meurtrière contre une église catholique de la capitale irakienne. >>> ATS / AFP | Mercredi 10 Novembre 2010

Österreich – Tezcan: "Warum habt ihr 110.000 Türken eingebürgert?"
DIE PRESSE: Der türkische Botschafter in Wien rechnet mit der gescheiterten Integrationspolitik ab und schont auch seine Landsleute nicht. Den Österreichern wirft er vor, sich nur im Urlaub für andere Kulturen zu interessieren.

Kadri Ecved Tezcan. Bild: Die Presse
Kadri Ecved Tezcan: Wollen Sie, dass ich im Interview als Diplomat antworte, was langweilig wird? Oder soll ich als jemand antworten, der seit einem Jahr in Wien lebt und viele Kontakte zu den 250.000 Türken hier hat?

Ich ziehe die zweite Variante vor. Was läuft bei der Integration der Türken in Österreich falsch?

Ich möchte eines vorweg sagen: Anders als Griechen oder Italiener begannen die Türken erst vor 35, 40 Jahren zu emigrieren. Österreich war übrigens das letzte Land, in das türkische Bürger kamen. Die Löhne in Deutschland waren höher.

Hat das zur Folge, dass es für Türken nicht einfach ist, sich an Regeln im Ausland anzupassen?

Das nicht. Ich wollte damit nur sagen, dass auch Einwanderer in den USA ihre Probleme hatten. Aber diese Probleme sind nun vergessen. Integration ist ein Prozess. Ich war vor fast zwanzig Jahren Generalkonsul in Hamburg. Jedes Jahr lud ich die Mädchen und Buben, die aufs Gymnasium aufgenommen wurden, in meine Residenz ein und gratulierte ihnen mit Geschenken. Es gab damals so wenige türkische Gymnasiasten. Heute könnte ich das in Österreich nicht tun, denn es gibt hierzulande ungefähr 2000 türkischstämmige Studenten, die hier geboren wurden, plus 20.000 türkische Gymnasiasten. Das ist wunderbar. >>> Von Christian Ultsch (Die Presse) | Dienstag, 09. November 2010

THE GUARDIAN: Austria treats Turks 'like a virus', ambassador claims: Kadri Ecved Tezcan causes diplomatic storm with interview accusing public and political elite of xenophobia >>> Ian Traynor, Europe editor | Thursday, November 11, 2010

FPÖ: ''Diplomatische Beziehungen zur Türkei aussetzen''
DIE PRESSE: Die FPÖ kritisiert die jüngsten Aussagen des türkischen Botschafters in Wien als "schier ungeheuerlich".

FPÖ-Generalsekretär Harald Vilimsky fordert die sofortige Aussetzung der diplomatischen Beziehungen Österreichs zur Türkei. Grund sind die Aussagen des türkischen Botschafters in Wien, Kadri Ecved Tezcan, im Interview mit der "Presse".

Es sei schier ungeheuerlich, was der oberste türkische Diplomat den Österreichern ausrichte und in keiner wie immer gearteten Weise akzeptabel, erklärte Vilimsky am Mittwoch in einer Aussendung. Der türkische Botschafter habe sich nicht nur massiv im Ton vergriffen, sondern einen Beweis mehr geliefert, dass die Türkei bzw. die türkische Mentalität niemals Teil der Europäischen Union werden könne, so Vilimsky. >>> | Mittwoch, 10. November 2010

Amnesty International fordert Anklage von George W. Bush: Einsatz von Waterboarding gegen einen Terrorverdächtigen erlaubt
NZZ ONLINE: Amnesty International hat die Anklage des früheren US-Präsidenten George W. Bush wegen seiner Anordnung zum Einsatz von Waterboarding gegen einen Terrorverdächtigen verlangt.

Die Regierung von Präsident Obama sei verpflichtet, strafrechtliche Schritte gegen Bush zu unternehmen, nachdem dieser sich in seinem am Dienstag veröffentlichten Memoiren zu dem Einsatz der umstrittenen Verhörmethode bekannte, sagte der Vertreter von Amnesty International, Rob Freer, am Dienstag. >>> sda/afp | Mittwoch, 10. November 2010

Matthew Norman: How did this wastrel ever find his way to the White House? : It takes a certain minimal intelligence for the truly dim to have a notion of their own dimness, but this is denied George Bush. He has the self-awareness of a bison >>> | Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Barack Obama Reaches Out to Muslim World in Indonesia
THE GUARDIAN: US president urges all sides to look beyond 'suspicion and mistrust' to forge common ground against terrorism

President Barack Obama arrives on stage to deliver a speech at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta. Photograph: The Guardian
In the Muslim nation that was his boyhood home, President Barack Obama acknowledged today that US relations are still frayed with the Islamic world despite his best efforts at repair. He urged all sides to look beyond "suspicion and mistrust" to forge common ground against terrorism.

Forcefully returning to a theme he sounded last year in visits to Turkey and Egypt, Obama said: "I have made it clear that America is not and never will be at war with Islam ... Those who want to build must not cede ground to terrorists who seek to destroy."

Beaming with pride, Obama delivered perhaps the most intensely personal speech of his presidency, speaking phrases in Indonesian to a cheering crowd of more than 6,000 mostly young people who claimed him as their own. "Let me begin with a simple statement: Indonesia is part of me," he said in Indonesian at the University of Indonesia.

He praised the world's most populous Muslim nation for standing its ground against "violent extremism" and said: "All of us must defeat al-Qaida and its affiliates, who have no claim to be leaders of any religion. This is not a task for America alone." >>> Associated Press in Jakarta | Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Guardian Photo Gallery: Barack Obama visits Indonesia: US president returns to Jakarta, where he lived for four years as a child, to meet the president and visit the country's largest mosque >>> | Tuesday, November 09, 2010

[Obama] said both sides have a choice: either "be defined by our differences and give in to a future of suspicion and mistrust" or "do the hard work of forging common ground and commit ourselves to the steady pursuit of progress." [Source: The Guardian]

Barack Obama Asia Trip: US President Reaches Out to Muslims in Indonesia
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama has acknowledged that US relations are still frayed with the Islamic world despite his best efforts and urged all sides to look beyond "suspicion and mistrust" to forge common ground against terrorism.

Speaking in Indonesia, where he lived from the ages of six to ten, he declared that "Indonesia is a part of me".

And he forcefully returned to a theme that he sounded last year in visits to Turkey and Egypt.

He said: "I have made it clear that America is not and never will be at war with Islam. ... Those who want to build must not cede ground to terrorists who seek to destroy."

Beaming with pride, Mr Obama delivered perhaps the most intensely personal speech of his presidency, speaking phrases in Indonesian to a cheering crowd of more than 6,000 mostly young people who claimed him as their own. It felt oddly like one of the campaign speeches Mr Obama had been giving in the US, with music blaring over speakers inside the auditorium.

For Mr Obama's standing abroad, the speech was closely watched and consequential, an update on America's "new beginning" with Muslims that he promised last year in Cairo.

"Let me begin with a simple statement: Indonesia is part of me," he said in Indonesian at the University of Indonesia. Read on and comment >>> | Wednesday, November 10, 2010

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Muslim minister defends shaking Michelle Obama's hand: A conservative Muslim government minister admits he shook hands with Michelle Obama, the US First Lady, in welcoming her to Indonesia but says it was not his choice. >>> | Tuesday, November 09, 2010

THE GUARDIAN: Barack Obama returns to Jakarta and confesses 'I barely recognise it': Vist to capital of Indonesia – home to US president in 1960s – stripped to diplomatic essentials >>> Toni O'Loughlin in Jakarta | Tuesday, November 09, 2010

NZZ ONLINE: Obama im Land seiner Kindheit: Wirtschaftliche Beziehungen im Vordergrund des Staatsbesuchs >>> afp | Dienstag, 09. November 2010

LE TEMPS: Barack Obama, grand admirateur de l’Indonésie: Le président américain a érigé ce mercredi en modèle de tolérance et de démocratisation ce grand pays méconnu sur la scène internationale qu’il voit «jouer un rôle important au XXIe siècle» >>> AFP | Mercredi 10 Novembre 2010

German Feminist Calls Family Minister 'Hopeless' and 'Incompetent'
THE GUARDIAN: Alice S[c]hwarzer responds after her claim that heterosexual sex involves 'inevitable' subjugation of women was called 'absurd'

Germany's leading feminist campaigner and its minister for families, pensioners and women have locked horns over the role of feminism in relationships and the workplace, unsparingly attacking each other's views in a row that has escalated into a nationwide debate.

Alice Schwarzer, considered the country's foremost women's rights campaigner, labelled Kristina Schröder "hopeless" and "incompetent" after Schröder said she thought some of her views were wrong.

Schröder, 33, of the Christian Democratic union, was recruited by Angela Merkel and became the youngest woman ever in a German cabinet. She told Der Spiegel that she could not agree with certain views expressed by Schwarzer, including that "heterosexual sex was hardly possible without the subjugation of women".

Schröder said: "It's absurd to define something that is vital to the survival of humanity as subjugation." She said she was unconvinced by the feminist argument that rejecting heterosexual relationships in favour of homosexuality was a "solution to the disadvantage to women", and blamed boys' underperformance in school on the disproportionate number of female carers and teachers. She also rejected the idea of quotas to improve the standing of women in the workplace. >>> Kate Connolly in Berlin | Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Dhimmitude*! Judge Blocks Oklahoma Ban on Sharia Law
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A ban on sharia law that was voted into Oklahoma's state constitution last week has been blocked by a federal judge.

Sharia law is based on the teachings of the Koran and the teachings of the Prophet. Photo: The Daily Telegraph
Voters in the state backed a measure to bar the use of Islamic and international law by 70 per cent to 30 per cent, in a referendum held on the same day as the US midterm elections.

However Muneer Awad, the head of the regional branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, promptly filed a lawsuit against it.

Mr Awad argued that the measure violated the right to religious freedom as guaranteed by the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

"Islam was the target of this amendment," Mr Awad said. "This amendment does not have a secular purpose."

Judge Vicki Miles LaGrange granted a temporary restraining order against the measure, in advance of a hearing on November 22. >>> Jon Swaine in New York | Tuesday, November 09, 2010

* My God are these lawyers STUPID! How can Shariah law possibly be compatible with the US Constitution? Or the Bill of Rights? Only a moron such as this judge could possibly give this credence. Fie on her! – © Mark

Christian Woman Sentenced to Death in Pakistan 'for Blasphemy'
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A Christian woman has been sentenced to hang in Pakistan after being convicted of defaming the Prophet Mohammed.

Asia Bibi, a 45-year-old mother-of-five, denies blasphemy and told investigators that she was being persecuted for her faith in a country where Christians face routine harassment and discrimination.

Christian groups and human rights campaigners condemned the verdict and called for the blasphemy laws to be repealed.

Her supporters say she will now appeal against the sentence handed down in a local court in the town of Sheikhupura, near Lahore, Pakistan.

Ashiq Masih, her husband, said he had not had the heart to break the news to two of their children.

"I haven't told two of my younger daughters about the court's decision," he said. "They asked me many times about their mother but I can't get the courage to tell them that the judge has sentenced their mother to capital punishment for a crime she never committed." Mrs Bibi has been held in prison since June last year. >>> Rob Crilly in Islamabad and Aoun Sahi in Lahore | Tuesday, November 09, 2010

Joe Cocker: An Officer and a Gentleman

Confiscated Jewish Wealth 'Helped Fund the German War Effort'
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Jewish wealth confiscated by the Nazis paid for almost a third of the German war effort, a new study has found.

The Nazis made vast profits out of selling off the possessions of Jews who were later deported to die in the extermination camps in occupied Poland. Photo: The Daily Telegraph
Nearly 120 billion Reich marks – over £12 billion at the time – was plundered from German Jews by laws and looting.

The official study commissioned by the ministry examined the years from 1933 to 1945. Hans-Peter Ullmann, a Cologne history professor, said the tax authorities under the Nazis actively worked to "destroy Jews financially" and to loot wealth in the nations the Germans occupied.

Even Jews who managed to escape from Germany before the Holocaust had to leave part of their wealth behind in the form of an "exit tax". Tax laws discriminated against Jews from 1934 onwards.

The ministry raised money for the war effort through taxes, borrowing and "outright theft," Prof Ullmann said. "Conservatively, their money financed at least 30 per cent of the German war effort," he added.

Christine Kuller of the University of Munich, who also worked on the study, said tax offices built whole hierarchies of bureaucrats "who discovered dwellings and bank accounts and emptied them". The bureaucrats then disposed of all traces of those who disappeared in the extermination camps.

She added; "Post war there was a myth that the civil servants of the finance ministry were neutral; the reality was that anti-Semitism among them was an everyday occurrence." >>> Allan Hall in Berlin | Tuesday, November 09. 2010

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: German Foreign Ministry 'actively encouraged Holocaust': A German government report has concluded that German diplomats were complicit in the murder of millions of jews during the Second World War. >>> | Thursday, October 28, 2010

Obama Visits Indonesia Seeking to Build Bridges with Muslim World
THE GUARDIAN: US president returns to Jakarta, where he lived for four years as a child

Barack Obama and Michelle Obama at an arrival ceremony at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, Indonesia. Photograph: The Guardian
Barack Obama arrrived in Jakarta today for a brief trip to Indonesia, where he lived for four years as a child.

On the second stop of his 10-day Asian tour, Obama will meet President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, visit the country's largest mosque and deliver a speech supporting the country's democratic progress.

But the US president's visit to the world's most populous Muslim nation will last for less than 24 hours, and may have to be cut even shorter because of concerns that volcanic ash from Mount Merapi could disrupt his flights.

Speaking at a joint press conference with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Obama said he thought the US was on "the right path" to a better relationship with the Muslim world, but acknowledged that some "misunderstandings and mistrust" were likely to remain.

"What we're trying to do is make sure that we are building bridges and expanding our interactions with Muslim countries," he said.

Obama's visit to the Istiqlal mosque – the biggest in south-east Asia – is seen as his best chance to improve relations with the Muslim world since an address in Cairo last year. >>> Toni O’Loughlin in Jakarta | Tuesday, November 09, 2010

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Islamic TV Channel Rapped for Advocating Marital Rape
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A TV channel aimed at Muslims has been censured by the media watchdog Ofcom for allowing its presenters to encourage violence against women and advocate marital rape.

In one programme on the Islam Channel, which broadcasts on Sky and Freesat, the presenter of a discussion of sex within marriage said that "it shouldn't be such a big problem where the man feels he has to force himself upon the woman".

During another programme, a woman phoned in to ask if she had the right to hit a violent husband back. The presenter responded: "In Islam we have no right to hit the woman in a way that damages her eye or damages her tooth or damages her face or makes her ugly. Maximum what you can do, you can see the pen over here, in my hand, this kind of a stick can be used just to make her feel that you are not happy with her."

In March this year, the channel was the subject of a report by the Quilliam Foundation, a London-based organisation that describes itself as "the world’s first counter-extremism think tank". >>> Neil Midgley, Assistant Editor (Media) | Montag, November 08, 2010

Church of England Is 'Like a Coffee Chain Going Out of Business', Defecting Bishops Warn
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A bishop who is defecting to Rome has likened the Church of England to a coffee chain that is going out of business.

Five bishops have announced that they are converting to Roman Catholicism in protest at liberal Anglican reforms and urged others to follow their path.

One likened the Church to a chain of coffee shops that is losing customers while a second accused it of adopting an increasingly “lax” attitude towards issues of morality, such as homosexuality and abortion.

As first reported in The Daily Telegraph, three serving and two retired traditionalist bishops announced that they are resigning in order to convert to Roman Catholicism.

The defections come as hundreds of worshippers prepare to take up the Pope’s offer to join a new section of the Roman Catholic Church which is being established for Anglicans who cannot accept liberal reforms such as the ordination of women bishops.

The new body, known as the English Ordinariate, is expected to be finalised next week and to begin operation as a full part of the Roman Catholic Church next year.

The Catholic Church in England and Wales welcomed the decision made by the Bishops of Ebbsfleet, the Rt Rev Andrew Burnham; Fulham, the Rt Rev John Broadhurst; Richborough, the Rt Rev Keith Newton; and two retired bishops, the Rt Rev Edwin Barnes, honorary assistant bishop of Winchester, and the Rt Rev David Silk, honorary assistant bishop of Exeter.

In a joint statement the bishops expressed their “dismay” and “distress” at recent liberal reforms to the Church, in particular the ordination of women priests and plans for the consecration of women as bishops. >>> Tim Ross, Religious Affairs Editor | Monday, November 08, 2010