Chinese Acquisitions: China Buys Up the World
THE ECONOMIST: And the world should stay open for business

Image: The Economist
IN THEORY, the ownership of a business in a capitalist economy is irrelevant. In practice, it is often controversial. From Japanese firms’ wave of purchases in America in the 1980s and Vodafone’s takeover of Germany’s Mannesmann in 2000 to the more recent antics of private-equity firms, acquisitions have often prompted bouts of national angst.

Such concerns are likely to intensify over the next few years, for China’s state-owned firms are on a shopping spree. Chinese buyers—mostly opaque, often run by the Communist Party and sometimes driven by politics as well as profit—have accounted for a tenth of cross-border deals by value this year, bidding for everything from American gas and Brazilian electricity grids to a Swedish car company, Volvo.

There is, understandably, rising opposition to this trend. The notion that capitalists should allow communists to buy their companies is, some argue, taking economic liberalism to an absurd extreme. But that is just what they should do, for the spread of Chinese capital should bring benefits to its recipients, and the world as a whole.

Why China is different

Not so long ago, government-controlled companies were regarded as half-formed creatures destined for full privatisation. But a combination of factors—huge savings in the emerging world, oil wealth and a loss of confidence in the free-market model—has led to a resurgence of state capitalism. About a fifth of global stockmarket value now sits in such firms, more than twice the level ten years ago.

The rich world has tolerated the rise of mercantilist economies before: think of South Korea’s state-led development or Singapore’s state-controlled firms, which are active acquirers abroad. Yet China is different. It is already the world’s second-biggest economy, and in time is likely to overtake America. Its firms are giants that until now have been inward-looking but are starting to use their vast resources abroad. >>> | Thursday, November 11, 2010

Tosh from ‘The Economist’! – © Mark

A Wonderful, Refreshing Comment Written by a Muslim on The Daily Telegraph Today
The following comment is being reproduced with the express permission of the author, Dr. Tawfik Hamid.

I think you will agree with me when I say that it is truly a remarkable and wonderful comment. If only more Muslims thought this way, the world would be a far nicer and safer place.

See what you think. I am sure you will agree with me.

Kudos to Dr. Hamid! – Mark:

”From the heart of a Muslim - Tawfik Hamid

I was born a Muslim and lived all my life as a follower of Islam.

After the barbaric terrorist attacks done by the hands of my fellow Muslims everywhere on this globe, and after the too many violent acts by Islamists in many parts of the world, I feel responsible as a Muslim and as a human being, to speak out and tell the truth to protect the world and Muslims as well from a coming catastrophe and war of civilizations.

I have to admit that our current Islamic teaching creates violence and hatred toward Non-Muslims. We Muslims are the ones who need to change. Until now we have accepted polygamy, the beating of women by men, and killing those who convert from Islam to other religions.

We have never had a clear and strong stand against the concept of slavery or wars, to spread our religion and to subjugate others to Islam and force them to pay a humiliating tax called Jizia. We ask others to respect our religion while all the time we curse non-Muslims loudly (in Arabic) in our Friday prayers in the Mosques.

What message do we convey to our children when we call the Jews "Descendants of the pigs and monkeys". Is this a message of love and peace, or a message of hate?

I have been into churches and synagogues where they were praying for Muslims. While all the time we curse them, and teach our generations to call them infidels, and to hate them.

We immediately jump in a 'knee jerk reflex' to defend Prophet Mohammad when someone accuses him of being a pedophile while, at the same time, we are proud with the story in our Islamic books, that he married a young girl seven years old (Aisha) when he was above 50 years old.

I am sad to say that many, if not most of us, rejoiced in happiness after September 11th and after many other terror attacks.

Muslims denounce these attacks to look good in front of the media, but we condone the Islamic terrorists and sympathise with their cause. Till now our 'reputable' top religious authorities have never issued a Fatwa or religious statement to proclaim Bin Laden as an apostate, while an author, like Rushdie, was declared an apostate who should be killed according to Islamic Sharia law just for writing a book criticizing Islam.

Muslims demonstrated to get more religious rights as we did in France to stop the ban on the Hejab (Head Scarf), while we did not demonstrate with such passion and in such numbers against the terrorist murders.

It is our absolute silence against the terrorists that gives the energy to these terrorists to continue doing their evil acts. We Muslims need to stop blaming our problems on others or on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. As a matter of honesty, Israel is the only light of democracy, civilization, and human rights in the whole Middle East.

We kicked out the Jews with no compensation or mercy from most of the Arab countries to make them "Jews-Free countries" while Israel accepted more than a million Arabs to live there, have its nationality, and enjoy their rights as human beings. In Israel, women can not be beaten legally by men, and any person can change his/her belief system with no fear of being killed by the Islamic law of 'Apostasy,' while in our Islamic world people do not enjoy any of these rights. I agree that the 'Palestinians' suffer, but they suffer because of their corrupt leaders and not because of Israel.

It is not common to see Arabs who live in Israel leaving to live in the Arab world. On the other hand, we used to see thousands of Palestinians going to work with happiness in Israel, its 'enemy'. If Israel treats Arabs badly as some people claim, surely we would have seen the opposite happening.

We Muslims need to admit our problems and face them. Only then we can treat them and start a new era to live in harmony with human mankind. Our religious leaders have to show a clear and very strong stand against polygamy, pedophilia, slavery, killing those who convert from Islam to other religions, beating of women by men, and declaring wars on non-Muslims to spread Islam.

Then, and only then, do we have the right to ask others to respect our religion. The time has come to stop our hypocrisy and say it openly: 'We Muslims have to Change'.

Tawfik Hamid"

NYC: A Rainbow in a Storm – Human Rights Coalition Against Islamic Supremacism and Violence >>>

Good for them

This excellent comment also appeared here.

Dr. Tawfik Hamid’s official website is TawfikHamid.com. And Dr. Hamid’s blog.

How the West is Being Lost
HUMAN EVENTS: Wall Street financial scammer Bernie Madoff’s success stemmed from preying upon people’s trust, coupled with the naïve cooperation of federal regulators who failed to see what was coming. But Madoff’s scam pales in comparison to one being pulled off against unsuspecting Americans with the naïve cooperation of a President similarly disposed. The recent firing of NPR analyst Juan Williams is but one more telltale sign that the scam is working.



Formed in Egypt during the 1920s, the Muslim Brotherhood is an extremist Islamic group. Among its most revered thinkers is the martyr Sayyid Qutb who called for worldwide rejection of Western values before his 1966 execution. Ever since, his writings have radicalized Islamic thought, including that of al-Qaeda’s Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. 



A 2007 criminal investigation into organizers of a charitable Islamic organization’s terrorist funding links yielded evidence of the Brotherhood’s strategy for implementing Sharia law in the US through gradual erosion of the Constitution. Ironically, this evidence was found in the residence of an unindicted co-conspirator in Virginia—home to many of our Constitution’s framers.

The evidence included the “Ikhwan,” a 1991 document describing the Brotherhood’s work in America as “a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions." Called the “civilianization-jihadist process,” it requires a "mastery of the art of 'coalitions,' the art of 'absorption' and the principles of 'cooperation.'“ Audiotape evidence emphasized deception.

The Brotherhood’s mandate is to establish a global caliphate, governed under Sharia. The proposed infrastructure for doing this in the US is via a complex network of benign Muslim organizations, the missions of which are to spread militant propaganda and to raise money. One such group—also an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2007 case—is the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Read on and comment >>> James Zumwalt * | Saturday, November 13, 2010

* Lieutenant Colonel James Zumwalt is a retired Marine infantry officer who served in the Vietnam war, the 1989 intervention into Panama and Desert Storm. An author, speaker and business executive, he also currently heads a security consulting firm named after his father -- Admiral Zumwalt & Consultants, Inc. He has also been cited in numerous other books and publications for unique insights based on his research on the Vietnam war, North Korea (a country he has visited ten times and about which he is able to share some very telling observations) and Desert Storm.

Burma: Aung San Suu Kyi Released
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese opposition leader, has been released after seven years in detention.


Ms San Suu Kyi appeared outside her house, waving and smiling. Someone threw her a flower which she put in her hair.

Addressing the jubilant crowd, she told her supporters: "["]There is a time to be quiet and a time to talk. People must work in unison. Only then can we achieve our goal."

She was expected to meet her party leaders inside her home on Saturday. She also invited her supporters to come to her party's headquarters on Sunday to hear her speak.

At least 1,000 people had gathered near her lakeside villa to witness her release.

Many cheered loudly and chanted "Release Aung San Suu Kyi" and "Long live Aung San Suu Kyi", as officials pulled down barbed wire and removed the concrete barricades.

Witnesses said that police were no longer stationed outside the building. >>> | Saturday, November 13, 2010

BIRMANIE : Enfin libre, Aung San Suu Kyi appelle au rassemblement de ses partisans
L'opposante Aung San Suu Kyi a été libérée après plus de sept ans en résidence surveillée. Photo : Le Pont
LE POINT: Aung San Suu Kyi, symbole de la lutte pour la démocratie en Birmanie, a été libérée samedi après plus de sept ans en résidence surveillée, demandant à des milliers de partisans en liesse de travailler "à l'unisson" pour l'avenir du pays. La lauréate du prix Nobel de la paix, considérée par certains comme l'unique solution face à la junte au pouvoir, est apparue souriante aux grilles de sa maison, quelques minutes après avoir pris connaissance de l'ordre de libération la concernant.

Portant dans ses cheveux une fleur lancée depuis la foule, elle a prononcé quelques mots devant des partisans en délire, la plupart de ses paroles étant couvertes par les hurlements et les applaudissements. "Nous devons travailler ensemble, à l'unisson" à l'avenir du pays, a-t-elle déclaré. "Si vous voulez entendre, venez s'il vous plaît demain à midi au bureau" de la Ligue nationale pour la démocratie (LND), son parti dissous avec lequel elle a mené tout son combat depuis son apparition sur la scène politique birmane, en 1988. "Elle est libre maintenant", avait indiqué un responsable birman quelques minutes auparavant, tandis que la police enlevait les barrières menant à la vieille demeure familiale dans laquelle elle a été si longtemps confinée. >>> Source AFP | Samedi 13 Novembre 2010

Aung San Suu Kyi auf freiem Fuss: Burmesische Friedensnobelpreisträgerin zeigt sich ihren Anhängern
NZZ ONLINE: Die birmanische Oppositionsführerin Aung San Suu Kyi kommt auf freien Fuss. Ihr wurde am Samstag die Aufhebung ihres Hausarrest verlesen.

In Burma ist die Oppositionspolitikerin Aung San Suu Kyi aus ihrem Hausarrest entlassen worden. «Sie ist nun frei», sagte ein Regierungsvertreter, der namentlich nicht genannt werden wollte.

Die Friedensnobelpreisträgerin zeigte sich danach ihren Anhängern. Die 65-Jährige erschien in Rangun am Tor ihres Hauses, in dem die sie jahrelang abgeschnitten von der Aussenwelt leben[.] >>> afp | Samstag, 13. November 2010

Robert Spencer on How Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck Are Not Good for the Anti-Jihad Movement

Marco Rubio Tries To Still Debate Over His Religion
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Marco Rubio, the new Florida senator and one of the Republican Party’s brightest stars, has been trying to stifle a debate over his religious affiliation amid allegations that, contrary to his claims, he is not a Roman Catholic.

Marco Rubio and family. Photo: The Daily Telegraph
Mr Rubio, 39, a darling of the Tea Party and touted as a future presidential candidate, was born and raised a Catholic by his Cuban parents. However, for the past six years he and his wife have attended the Christ Fellowship, a Florida congregation which describes itself as “non-denominational” but is affiliated to the Southern Baptist Convention, whose theology is firmly anti-Catholic.

According to the St Petersburg Times, Mr Rubio has donated much of the $66,000 he has given to charity since 2000 to the Christ Fellowship.

Alex Burgos, a spokesman for Mr Rubio, told The Daily Telegraph on Friday: “[Marco] regularly attends Catholic Mass, and he was baptised, confirmed and married in the Roman Catholic Church. On the final Sunday of the campaign, for example, he attended Mass at Christ the King Catholic Church in Tampa ... He also attends services at a Christian church with his wife and children.” Asked why Mr Rubio attended a non-Catholic church regularly. the spokesman said: “He attends both regularly.” >>> Damian Thompson | Friday, November 12, 2010

Marco Rubio: Latino or not?
THE WASHINGTON TIMES: MONGTOMERY VILLAGE, Md. November 11, 2010 — Marco Rubio won his bid for senate for Florida this past November 2nd. He is the son of a Cuban bartender and a hotel domestic worker.

Marco really embraced the American Way. He left his parents’ traditional, Roman Catholic religion to convert and attend an Evangelical community, received a law degree, and married a Miami Dolphins cheer leader. He is also articulate, apparently intelligent and good looking.

Even before the media started hinting at a possible “first Latino president”, I was thinking of this possibility. This doesn’t mean that I am smart or a personal friend of his (very far from it). With the Republican Party in need of “dream team” candidates, he will rise to the top.
 


I do however have a problem with Marco being the first Latino president of the United States. While in school I met and befriended several of the early arrival Cuban Americans. I remember that to a man, when asked if they were Latinos or Hispanics, they would respond, - “No, I am not, I am Cuban.” >>> Mario Salazar | Friday, November 12, 2010

A Simon Wiesenthal Center Production: Walking With Destiny

Nazi Doctor's Egyptian Escape
THE NEW YORK TIMES: The most wanted at large Nazi doctor fled to Cairo, where he converted to Islam, changed his name and apparently died in 1992.

To the video >>>
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Uncovering Lost Path of the Most Wanted Nazi: CAIRO — Even in old age the imposingly tall, athletic German known to locals as Tarek Hussein Farid maintained the discipline to walk some 15 miles each day through the busy streets of Egypt’s capital. He walked to the world-renowned Al Azhar mosque here, where he converted to Islam, and to the ornate J. Groppi Cafe downtown, where he ordered the chocolate cakes he sent to friends and bought the bonbons he gave to their children, who called him Uncle Tarek. >>> Souad Mekhennet and Nicholas Kulish | Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Simon Wiesenthal Center >>>

Entführung von christlichen Mädchen in Ägypten
SCHWEIZER FERNSEHEN: Im arabischen Raum werden Christen als religiöse Minderheit immer wieder Opfer von Unterdrückung. Oft werden daher christliche Mädchen entführt, so zum Beispiel auch in Ägypten.

Yemen Tribal Leaders Will Not Hand Over Al-Qaeda Operatives
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Tribal leaders in Yemen are refusing to lend support to their government's efforts to root out terrorism, saying that handing over local al-Qaeda operatives and their spiritual leader, Anwar al-Awlaki, would be an offence to their customs.

The government claims that leaders of the Awalik tribe of Shabwa province have agreed to hand over militants there, including Anwar al-Awlaki. Photo: The Daily Telegraph
In a severe blow to international demands for Yemen to do more to curb terrorism, sheikhs from the al-Qaeda heartlands in the country's central provinces have told The Daily Telegraph that they would not turn in members of their tribes. The government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, they said, had not done enough to bring development to their impoverished regions, making them fertile breeding grounds for disaffected radicals.

"There's no discussion with the government, nothing," said Sheikh Ahmed Shuraif, leader of the Bani Dhabyan, one of Yemen's most important tribes. He holds sway in parts of Marib, to the east of the capital Sana'a, a hotbed of al-Qaeda-led unrest. "What al-Qaeda are doing is very bad and against Islam. If we had someone from al-Qaeda we would not accept him but we would not give him to the government either."

Mr Saleh has been promising to get tough since a new branch, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was founded last year by local militants and Saudi former inmates of the Guantánamo Bay detention facility.

The West is relying on Mr Saleh to take firm action in return for aid. Washington officials have confirmed spy planes are being used as part of a Yemeni-led to hunt down al-Qaeda leaders. Read on and comment >>> Richard Spencer in Sana'a | Friday, November 12, 2010

This shouldn't surprise us. It's all a question of loyalty. A Muslim's loyalty rests with the Muslim community, or Ummah. It certainly doesn't rest with the infidel, or kafir (كافر). We need to bear this in mind at all times. Westerners seem to have a big problem getting their heads around this concept of loyalty to their Muslim brothers and sisters. Then, on top of that, you have to factor in tribal loyalties too. – Mark

This comment also appears here

Obama’s Trade Strategy Runs Into Stiff Resistance
President Obama and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany talked, and disagreed, at the Group of 20 meeting on Thursday. Photograph: The New York Times
THE NEW YORK TIMES: SEOUL, South Korea — President Obama’s hopes of emerging from his Asia trip with the twin victories of a free trade agreement with South Korea and a unified approach to spurring economic growth around the world ran into resistance on all fronts on Thursday, putting Mr. Obama at odds with his key allies and largest trading partners.

The most concrete trophy expected to emerge from the trip eluded his grasp: a long-delayed free trade agreement with South Korea, first negotiated by the Bush administration and then reopened by Mr. Obama, to have greater protections for American workers.

And as officials frenetically tried to paper over differences among the Group of 20 members with a vaguely worded communiqué to be issued Friday, there was no way to avoid discussion of the fundamental differences of economic strategy. After five largely harmonious meetings in the past two years to deal with the most severe downturn since the Depression, major disputes broke out between Washington and China, Britain, Germany and Brazil.

Each rejected core elements of Mr. Obama’s strategy of stimulating growth before focusing on deficit reduction. Several major nations continued to accuse the Federal Reserve of deliberately devaluing the dollar last week in an effort to put the costs of America’s competitive troubles on trading partners, rather than taking politically tough measures to rein in spending at home.

The result was that Mr. Obama repeatedly found himself on the defensive. He and the South Korean president, Lee Myung-bak, had vowed to complete the trade pact by the time they met here; while Mr. Obama insisted that it would be resolved “in a matter of weeks,” without the pressure of a summit meeting it was unclear how the hurdles on nontariff barriers to American cars and beef would be resolved. >>> Sewell Chan, Sheryl Gay Stolberg and David E. Sanger | Thursday, November 11, 2010

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Obama Ends G-20 Summit With Criticism of China >>> Sewell Chan | Friday, November 12, 2010

A Lesson from China in Where Power Lies
THE TELEGRAPH: China believes its economic success reflects its superior culture.

The leaders of the G20 group of rich and developing nations met in Seoul this week for what might reasonably be described as their first post-crisis summit. But it also had the feeling of the first post-Western summit. China, the world’s second richest nation and its rising power, believes that the financial crisis was actually a “North Atlantic crisis”. Now that the worst of it is over, Beijing sees little reason to swallow the medicine for someone else’s sickness. The summit therefore broke up – none too amicably – without really addressing the trade imbalances that were one of the root causes of the crisis, or America’s worry that Beijing is gaining an unfair advantage by artificially keeping its currency weak. Instead, China flexed its muscles and got what it wanted: a watered-down statement that will not force it to change course. If President Obama hoped that the G20 would burnish his image as a world statesman after the disaster of the midterm elections, those hopes were disappointed.

It is inescapable that we are witnessing a historic shift of economic power from West to East. David Cameron has certainly taken this on board, judging by the caution with which he and his Cabinet members treated China during their visit earlier this week. The Prime Minister approached the subject of human rights far more obliquely than he did as leader of the Opposition. Whether this was wise judgment or a failure of nerve is difficult to say. Although China treats dissidents with gross inhumanity, the more it is lectured on the subject, the more intransigent it becomes. In a sense, that is convenient for Mr Cameron: if protesting about repression makes the situation worse, then Britain can concentrate on trade with a fairly clear conscience. Read on and comment >>> Telegraph View | Friday, November 12, 2010

Housewives of God
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Priscilla Shirer’s marriage appears to be just the sort of enlightened partnership that would make feminists cheer. On an average morning in their house in suburban Dallas, Shirer and her husband, Jerry, are up around 6:30, fixing breakfast for their three small boys. While Priscilla, 35, settles in to work at home and care for their 2-year-old, Jerry, 42, shuttles the older two children to school and heads to his office. He spends much of the day negotiating her speaking invitations and her book contracts. In the afternoon it’s often Jerry who collects the boys from school. Back home, Priscilla and Jerry divide chores and child care equally. “He will most often jump in and do the dinner dishes,” Priscilla says. “We don’t have, ‘these are wife tasks and these are husband tasks.’ . . . Kids are not a wife-mommy thing.”

Yet Shirer avoids using words like “feminist” or “career woman” to describe herself. She is an evangelical Bible teacher who makes her living by guiding thousands of women through the study of Scripture in her books, videos and weekend conferences — in which she stresses that in a biblical home and church, the man is the head and the woman must submit. She steers women away from the “feminist activists” who tell women to “do your own thing, make your own decisions and never let a man slow you down,” as she puts it. “Satan will do everything in his power to get us to take the lead in our homes,” she wrote in her book “A Jewel in His Crown: Rediscovering Your Value as a Woman of Excellence.” “He wants to make us resent our husband’s position of authority so that we will begin to usurp it. . . . Women need to pray for God to renew a spirit of submission in their hearts.”

Shirer and many conservative Christians believe that the Bible defines gender as a divinely ordained set of desires and duties inherent in each man and woman since the Garden of Eden. Gender is not an act or a choice, but a nonnegotiable gift. To these Christians, the story of Adam and Eve’s creation granted man authority over woman, and they understand the New Testament teachings of Paul and his comrades — in particular, that wives should submit to their husbands — not as cultural relics of the first century but as universal teachings that Christians apply today.

In an era when sexual liberation has saturated American culture, when women are climbing the corporate ladder and bearing fewer children, and mainline churches are ordaining women and homosexuals, conservative evangelicals are escalating their counteroffensive. Many call themselves complementarians, signaling their belief that God ordained complementary — not identical or flexible — roles for men and women. To critics, “complementarian” is code for sexist patriarchy, a license to keep women muzzled and homebound. Yet spending even five minutes with Priscilla Shirer and her husband suggests that reality is far more complicated — not only at home but also in the new “separate sphere” that this theology has spawned: a subculture of Bible studies, conferences, ministries, religious retreats and literature ranging from Christian fitness books to Christian romance novels, all produced by and for evangelical women. >>> Molly Worthen | Friday, November 12, 2010

Style: Karl Lagerfeld: In His Own Words

Wonderful Words from Thilo Sarrazin! Germans Argue Over 'Failure to Integrate'
BBC: Thilo Sarrazin is not charismatic, but he has become a man of influence. He has changed the debate over immigration in Germany.

In his view "suppressing emotion is even more dangerous" than broaching subjects that were recently largely off-limits.

Others, like analyst Prof Klaus Kocks, have issued a note of caution. "As a German," he told me, "you have to be more careful than others. You have to accept our history."

I met Thilo Sarrazin at his old school in Recklinghausen. He was there to promote his book, Germany Abolishes Itself. He is both reviled and admired for its controversial thesis.

Outside the school were a handful of protesters. One banner accused Mr Sarrazin of acting like the Nazis. There were many more, however, who had bought tickets to hear him. His book has sold close to a million copies.

His essential message is that Muslims are either "unwilling or unable to integrate" into Western society. "If the majority of migrants from non-Muslim countries don't have any obvious problem integrating," he told a packed hall, "then the failure to integrate on the part of migrants from Muslim countries can't be due to a fault on our side - because all are treated equally. It has to be because of a characteristic of Muslims themselves."

He is not a great speaker. He deals in statistics. He recognises that some Muslims have integrated, but he believes Germany has gone too far in trying to accommodate them. "People who obey laws are welcome to live here," he told me, but he wants to end Muslim immigration.

For those already in Germany, welfare payments would be dependent on learning German and acquiring language skills. Parents who do not send their children to school (for religious reasons) should be fined. Forced marriages should be forbidden. His message is that Muslim migrants must accept German laws, the constitution and the values of their new society.

His comments have set off a huge debate. "We have a very serious shift in discussion," Prof Kocks told me. What makes his book sales all the more extraordinary is that Thilo Sarrazin said, as part of the publicity for the book, that Jews had a certain gene. He was condemned by mainstream politicians and the remark led to his resignation from the board of the Bundesbank. Even so, the public made his book a best-seller. (+ video) >>> Gavin Hewitt | Sunday, November 07, 2010

Schuldenkrise: Regierungen beruhigen Irlands Gläubiger
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Seit Monaten machen sich Anleger Sorgen um die finanzielle Stabilität Irlands. Jetzt haben die fünf größten EU-Staaten versucht, die Gläubiger Irlands und anderer finanzschwacher Euro-Staaten zu beruhigen: Der gegenwärtige Rettungsschirm beteilige private Investoren nicht an den Kosten einer Rettungsaktion.

Bild: FAZ
Führende Politiker großer Staaten der Europäischen Union haben am Freitag die Gläubiger der finanzschwachen Euro-Staaten beruhigt. Die Finanzminister Deutschlands, Frankreichs, Großbritanniens, Spaniens und Italiens teilten gemeinsamen mit, dass der gegenwärtige europäische Rettungsschirm private Investoren nicht an den Kosten beteilige. Ein Mechanismus, der auch die Gläubiger heranziehen könnte, wenn ein Land in Zahlungsschwierigkeiten gerate, werde nicht vor Mitte 2013 in Kraft treten. Bis dahin gelte der im Sommer beschlossene europäische Rettungsschirm. >>> Von Carsten Germis, Manfred Schäfers und Stefan Ruhkamp | Freitag, 12. November 2010

Michelangelo's Last Judgment Figures 'Based on Male Prostitutes'
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The muscular figures in Michelangelo's Last Judgment fresco in the Sistine Chapel were based on male prostitutes he encountered in homosexual bathhouses and brothels, an Italian art historian has claimed.

Elena Lazzarini, a researcher from Pisa University, believes the enormous fresco is replete with homosexual imagery, including a man being dragged into Damnation by his testicles and kisses and embraces between male figures.

She has explored the theory in a new book, claiming that Michelangelo drew much of his knowledge of male anatomy from his frequent visits to gay brothels and 'Turkish baths' in 16th century Italy.

"The virile male bodies are inspired by the physiology of labourers engaged in physical exertion, with taut muscles, strenuous exertion and pain etched into the expression on their faces," said Miss Lazzarini.

She said it was well documented that Michelangelo, who is believed by many historians to have been homosexual, frequented bathhouses and steam rooms tucked away in Rome's maze of cobbled alleyways.

"The bathhouses had many rooms where people could take hot and cold baths and massages. "And then there were other, secluded rooms, places of promiscuity and both male and female prostitution." >>> Nick Squires in Rome | Friday, November 12, 2010

Manif d'étudiants à Londres: 55 arrestations après des actes de violences
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: GRANDE-BRETAGNE | La police a annoncé vendredi avoir procédé à 55 arrestations après les violences survenues mercredi en marge d'une manifestation d'étudiants contre le triplement du plafonnement des frais d'inscription à l'université.

Affrontement entre manifestants et policiers devant le siège du Parti conservateur, à Londres, le 10 novembre 2010. Photo : Tribune de Genève
La dernière interpellation en date est celle d'un étudiant de 23 ans soupçonné d'avoir jeté un extincteur sur des policiers du haut d'un immeuble abritant le siège du parti conservateur, que des étudiants avaient pris d'assaut.

Le jeune homme étudie à la célèbre Université de Cambridge. La police n'a pas précisé son identité.

Les images le montrant jetant l'extincteur avaient fait le tour des chaînes de télévision et avaient été un moment-clef dans le face-à-face entre forces de l'ordre et étudiants, qui avait duré une bonne partie de la journée. >>> AFP | Vendredi 12 Novembre 2010

Mali : L'otage française malade d'un cancer a reçu des médicaments
LE POINT: L'otage française malade d'Al-Qaeda au Maghreb islamique (Aqmi), qui souffre d'un cancer et est détenue depuis mi-septembre avec quatre autres Français, un Malgache et un Togolais dans le nord-est du Mali, "a reçu des médicaments", a-t-on appris vendredi de source malienne très bien informée. "Je peux vous dire que l'otage française a reçu, grâce à une intervention du Mali, des médicaments. Les médicaments sont bien arrivés à destination", a affirmé cette source malienne proche du dossier. "Ces médicaments vont lui faire du bien. Les ravisseurs ont pris l'engagement de lui remettre le colis envoyé, et je sais que ça a été fait", a-t-elle ajouté. >>> Source AFP | Vendredi 12 Novembre 2010

Gaddafi Hosts 20 Italian Models on All-expenses-paid Trip
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Around 20 Italian models drank warm camel's milk and stargazed in the Sahara Desert on a two-week all expenses paid trip to Libya which was hosted by Muammar Gaddafi, it emerged on Friday.

Women arrive for a meeting with Muammar Gaddafi at a Libyan cultural centre in Rome back in August. Photo: The Daily Telegraph
The women said they were treated "like queens" by the Libyan leader but encountered no evidence of so-called "bunga-bunga" sex parties.

The phrase has become part of Italy's national vocabulary after it was claimed that Silvio Berlusconi learned of the "harem-style rituals" from his friend, Col Gaddafi, and hosted similar soirées at his mansion near Milan.

The aspiring starlets stayed in five-star hotels and resorts, riding on camels and posing for pictures in front of giant posters of Col Gaddafi and the Italian prime minister. They were among several hundred showgirls who were recruited over the last 12 months by a Rome-based agency, Hostessweb, to meet Col Gaddafi during his visits to Italy.

He subjected them to rambling lectures on the superiority of Islam and the wisdom of the Koran before issuing an open invitation to visit Libya.

The women who took up the offer said they shared a breakfast of camel's milk and palm dates with the Libyan leader and that sex games were definitely not on the agenda. "The truth is that he treated us as queens," said Clio Evans, 24, an Anglo-Italian actress who has visited Libya on several occasions. "We sat in a tent and joked and laughed for ages." Miss Evans' father is from Yorkshire. >>> Nick Squires in Rome | Friday, November 12, 2010

Rahm Emanuel's Tenant Mulling Racing Against Him For Mayor
CHICAGO TRIBUNE: 'This was not my idea,' says Rob Halpin

There's a new twist in the effort to stop Rahm Emanuel from becoming mayor of Chicago: Rob Halpin, businessman, cigar smoker, man of destiny and potential mayoral candidate.

"This has nothing to do with Rahm Emanuel," Halpin told me Tuesday.

Really?

"This was not my idea," Halpin said. "I'm outside the mainstream. I'm not a professional politician. … I was approached by some businessmen who asked if I would be interested in running for mayor. And they explained to me why they thought I'd be a good candidate and a good mayor."

I figure that the guys thinking about Halpin as a candidate aren't interested in his taste in cigars.

They're interested because he's Rahm Emanuel's stubborn tenant.

Halpin's the guy who's been renting Rahm's North Side home. When Rahm was about to leave the White House, he asked Halpin to move out. Amazingly, Halpin refused the Rahmfather.

Now Emanuel's campaign is expected to be challenged in the courts, a legal maneuver backed by guys on the South Side who are part of the stop-Rahm movement. And Halpin's talk of candidacy highlights the argument that Rahm is not a resident.

In a city famous for political shenanigans, this one is downright shenaniganlicious (just try pronouncing it). >>> John Kass | Wednesday, November 10, 2010

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Rahm Emanuel's awkward tenant may run against him in Chicago: Rahm Emanuel's tenant has announced he is considering running for mayor of Chicago. >>> Alex Spillius in Washington | Friday, November 12, 2010

Margaret Thatcher: The Downing Street Years

Hate Preacher Omar Bakri in Hiding as He Is Sentenced to Life for Training and Funding Al Qaeda Members
MAIL ONLINE: Hate cleric Omar Bakri has been sentenced to life in prison by a military court in the Lebanon for allegedly helping to train members of Al Qaeda at a terror camp in Tripoli.

The Syrian-born preacher, who was not in court when the punishment was handed out, was also accused of fund raising for Osama Bin Laden's fanatics in the middle eastern country.

He described the charges as 'absurd' and said they were politically motivated after the Lebanese government came under pressure from Britain and the US.

Speaking from a hide out where relatives are putting him up in a bid to escape jail, Bakri said: 'It was a military court and the judge was General Mizar Khalil who is a Shia Muslim, whereas I am a Sunni scholar.

'They say I have been training people in weapons in Tripoli. I have never held a weapon in my life. There were 54 brothers' names read out in court, and I was one of them.

'They gave 25 of us, including me, a life sentence, which is the maximum because we were absent. It was simply because we are Sunni Muslims. The whole thing is absurd. I did not even receive a summons. The first I knew about it was from media reports.

'I rang the court this morning and they said I have fifteen days to challenge the decision. But I am not going to court. It is against my religion. I do not believe in any man made laws be they in the UK or the Lebanon.

'God is my protector and I do not want to go to prison. But if it is his will that I spend the rest of my life behind bars, then so be it. I have no passport, no documents, I cannot go anywhere so they will find me. Read on and comment >>> Daily Mail Reporter | Thursday, November 12, 2010

Holocaust Film Boycotted for Being 'Too Gruesome'
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A German-made film about the horrors of the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz is so horrific that many critics have already said they will boycott it when it is released next year.

Auschwitz – an Uwe Boll film
A clip of Uwe Boll's film entitled Auschwitz is already on the internet, showing disturbing images of naked victims dying in gas chambers.

Mr Boll, a filmmaker who has made it his life's work to shock, said he wanted to present to the world "a movie about the Holocaust that tells it like it really was".

Tom Goldman, from videogame magazine the Escapist, said the film was "disturbing and gruesome and likely to push moviegoers over the edge". >>> Allan Hall in Berlin | Friday, November 12, 2010

Kopftuch-Streit in der Türkei flammt wieder auf: Harsche Kritik der Opposition
NZZ ONLINE: Wenige Wochen nach der Freigabe des islamischen Kopftuches an den Universitäten der Türkei flammt der Streit um die Grenzen der Kopftuch-Freiheit im Land neu auf.

Oppositionschef Kemal Kilicdaroglu warf der religiös-konservativen Regierung nach Presseberichten vom Freitag vor, sie wolle das Kopftuchverbot für Grundschülerinnen als Wahlkampfthema ausbeuten. Anlass für die Kritik war die Weigerung von Ministerpräsident Recep Tayyip Erdogan, die Zulassung von Kopftüchern für minderjährige Schülerinnen klar auszuschliessen. >>> afp | Freitag, 12. November 2010

Das rote Wien wird rot-grün: Ende der jahrzehntealten Alleinregierung der Sozialisten
NZZ ONLINE: Wien wird weiter links regiert, jetzt aber rot-grün, nicht mehr bloss rot. Die erdrückende Allmacht der Sozialisten ist nach mehreren Jahrzehnten beendet. Die Opposition wird von der ausländerfeindlichen Rechten geprägt.

Wien wird künftig von den Grünen mitregiert. Damit wird die Alleinherrschaft der Sozialisten (SPÖ) beendet, die seit der Neugründung des Staates Österreich als zweite Republik die Stadt fest im Griff hielten. Die sozialdemokratische SPÖ einigte sich am Freitag mit den Grünen auf eine Koalition, rund einen Monat nach der Wahl, wie die österreichische Nachrichtenagentur APA berichtete. >>> sda/dpa | Freitag, 12. November 2010

Burma Generals 'Sign Aung San Suu Kyi Release Order'
BBC: Reports are coming out of Burma saying the military authorities have signed an order authorising the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Nobel laureate has been detained for 15 of the past 21 years, and her house arrest term expires on Saturday.

There has been increased police activity outside her house in Rangoon, but as yet no official confirmation.

However, Ms Suu Kyi is not expected to accept a conditional release if it excludes her from political activity.

She was originally due to be released last year, but a case involving an American who swam across Inya Lake to her home, claiming he was on a mission to save her, prompted the latest 18-month detention.

'Significant impact'

The BBC's Alastair Leithead in Bangkok says a number of sources inside Burma have told the BBC that documents authorising Ms Suu Kyi's release have been signed.

There has been increased police activity outside her home in University Avenue in Rangoon, Burma's biggest city.

Her supporters, who have been publicly counting down the days to the end of her current term of house arrest, have been gathering at the headquarters of her political party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), in anticipation of her release. >>> | Friday, November 12, 2010

LE TEMPS: Aung San Suu Kyi est libre >>> | Vendredi 12 Novembre 2010

LE TEMPS: Aung San Suu Kyi, icône de l’espoir démocratique : Sa frêle silhouette symbolise depuis plus de vingt ans la résistance à la junte. Mais si son aura a résisté au temps en Birmanie comme à l’étranger, l’opposante Aung San Suu Kyi n’en est pas moins devenue une figure marginalisée, une icône à l’avenir politique incertain >>> AFP | Vendredi 12 Novembre 2010

En Iran, Ali Khamenei tente de redorer son blason
En octobre, Ali Khamenei a passé une dizaine de jours dans la ville sainte de Qom, afin de mettre en garde les nombreux clercs qui ne lui ont pas pardonné son soutien à la réélection frauduleuse d'Ahmadinejad. Photo : Le Figaro
LE FIGARO: Menacé par la fronde de l'establishment religieux, le «guide» iranien est parti à la reconquête de Qom.

Le guide suprême iranien n'est pas un adepte des voyages. Encore moins des bains de foule. Pourtant, événement sans précédent, l'ayatollah Ali Khamenei est resté, le mois dernier, pendant dix jours d'affilée à Qom. Un choix stratégique: c'est au cœur de la ville sainte, berceau de la révolution islamique de 1979, qu'il fait aujourd'hui face à la fronde la plus redoutable - celle des membres d'une partie de la nomenklatura religieuse qui n'a jamais autant mis en cause son pouvoir.

Les discours qui ont ponctué le déplacement du numéro un du régime iranien se lisent comme autant de mises en garde à leur attention. «L'ennemi a décidé de transformer Qom en quartier général des contre-révolutionnaires», s'est-il insurgé dans une de ses nombreuses interventions retransmises à la télévision d'État, en référence au mouvement de contestation qui sévit en Iran depuis la réélection controversée d'Ahmadinejad, en juin2009.

Quand il succède à l'ayatollah Khomeyni, en 1989, Ali Khamenei n'a ni le charisme ni les compétences a priori requises pour remplacer le «père» de la révolution islamique. L'ex-président de la République islamique n'a pas rédigé le fameux resaleh, ce traité portant sur des questions de jurisprudence lui permettant d'accéder à la dignité d'ayatollah - même si, plus tard, il sera élevé à ce haut rang. Choisi par un collège de 80 religieux, il est régulièrement chahuté par ses adversaires, mais s'attelle à son rôle d'arbitre, au-dessus de la mêlée. >>> Par Delphine Minoui | Mercredi 10 Novembre 2010

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

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