The UK attracts the super rich
WATCH BBC VIDEO: Super rich drawn to Britain
Mark Alexander

Islamic finance has “bright future”
KUWAIT TIMES: LONDON: Islamic finance, so described because of its adherence to sharia law, has a bright future in a world awash with petrodollars and with growing interest from traditional banks, experts say. According to the American credit agency Standard and Poor's, assets in the sector have grown to $500 billion, driven by growth of more than 10 percent per year for a decade. It is also benefiting from gathering interest in the eyes of the public, as trade and investment between East and West improves.

"Mounting demand around the world for sharia-compliant financial products and services is fuelling the Islamic banking industry's buoyant expansion," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Anouar Hassoune in a report published this week. Sharia-compliant products appeared in their modern form in the mid-1970s with the foundation of the Dubai Islamic Bank, and the Islamic Development Bank, opposed to investments in certain industries and the paying of interest (riba in Arabic). 'Halal' finance attracts scores (Read on)

Mark Alexander

Press freedom on the wane throughout the world
KUWAIT TIMES: NEW YORK: Press freedom around the world deteriorated last year due to coups, attempts to stifle political opposition and regulate use of the Internet, a leading watchdog said in a report yesterday. US-based Freedom House outlined what it said were particularly troubling trends in Asia, the former Soviet Union and Latin America, in a report that warned that democracy as a whole would likely suffer. "Press freedom is like the canary in the coal mine," the group's executive director Jennifer Windsor said in a statement. Press freedom around the world in decline (Read on)

Mark Alexander

’Shot in the Arm’ for Religion on Campuses
NEW YORK TIMES: Peter J. Gomes has been at Harvard University for 37 years, and says he remembers when religious people on campus felt under siege. To be seen as religious often meant being dismissed as not very bright, he said.

No longer. At Harvard these days, said Professor Gomes, the university preacher, “There is probably more active religious life now than there has been in 100 years.”
Across the country, on secular campuses as varied as Colgate University, the University of Wisconsin and the University of California, Berkeley, chaplains, professors and administrators say students are drawn to religion and spirituality with more fervor than at any time they can remember. Matters of Faith Find a New Prominence on Campus (Read on)

Mark Alexander

The Outing of Lord Browne
Lord Browne, chief executive of petroleum giant BP, and one of Britain's most successful businessmen, has resigned after he was exposed as having lied about his private life.

He had been expected to stand down shortly, following shareholder dissatisfaction with his performance and a series of disasters - including an oil spill in Alaska and the tragic Texas refinery fire which resulted in 15 deaths - but what prompted Lord Browne's sudden resignation was the revelation that he lied in court about how he met his former male partner - a lie he has now acknowledged and for which he has apologised.

The way the two men met cannot be revealed, because of a ban imposed by the Court of Appeal in March. Suffice to say that they met in a perfectly legal manner, even though Lord Browne apparently found it embarrassing and did not want it to become public knowledge.

In marked contrast to the vicious homophobia directed against gay public figures in the 1980s, it was not Lord Browne's same-sex relationship that forced him to step down, nor BP's recent tarnished environmental and safety record. It was his dishonesty and his attempted cover-up that forced him out. Down and out in the City

Out in the macho world of oil

Mark Alexander

US Department of Justice might launch formal inquiry into allegations of bribery and corruption by BAE Systems
TIMESONLINE: The US Department of Justice (DoJ) is in talks to establish whether it can launch a formal inquiry into alleged bribery and corruption in BAE Systems, The Times has learnt.

Mike O’Brien, the Solicitor-General, acknowledged that the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has met the DoJ to discuss allegations of corrupt practices by BAE.

The DoJ is understood to be looking into whether it has the jurisdiction to pursue BAE over payments allegedly made to win defence contracts from foreign governments. The British Government terminated a similar investigation by the SFO in December amid fears that it would cause a breakdown in relations with Saudi Arabia.

The SFO has six continuing investigations into BAE, involving contracts won from South Africa, Chile, Romania, Tanzania, Qatar and the Czech Republic. Last week it emerged that an official at the US Embassy in London had complained formally to the British Government over the decision to stop the SFO’s Saudi investigation. US seeks to pursue BAE over claims company paid bribes (Read on) by David Robertson

Mark Alexander

In Deutschland hoffen manche Politiker auf die Verwirklichung eines “deutschen Islams”. Die Deutschen selber dürfen lange Zeit nur hoffen darauf!

Photo courtesy of Google Images

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Erst ganz allmählich hat sich in der deutschen Politik die Erkenntnis durchgesetzt, dass die meisten der sechs Millionen „Gastarbeiter“, die seit Mitte der fünfziger Jahren ins Land gekommen sind, hier bleiben werden. Die Rückkehr in die geliebte Heimat blieb für viele Einwanderer ein Traum, der zur Wirklichkeit immer weniger passte. Heute trifft man auf dem Kreuzberger Wochenmarkt türkische Mütterchen, die seit vierzig Jahren in Deutschland leben und noch nicht einmal das Wort „Tomate“ kennen. Viele ältere Männer sprechen Deutsch in gestotterten Substantiven. Für etwa 25.000 junge Türken werden in jedem Jahr angeblich unverdorbene Bräute aus dem Heimatland importiert.

Zwei Irrtümer prägten zwanzig Jahre lang die Debatte: Deutschland sei „kein Einwanderungsland“ lautete die konservative Überzeugung. Als Zeichen von Buntheit und Vielfalt (“Multikulti“) interpretierten Linke Integrationsversäumnisse und Wirklichkeitsverweigerung der Einwanderer. Beide Seiten fochten - letztlich ohne nennenswertes Ergebnis - ideologische Streitereien aus. Wirklichkeit überwindet Wunschdenken Von Peter Carstens

Mark Alexander

A Gay Story with No ‘Gay’ Ending

Photo courtesy of Times Online

YAHOO NEWS: BP chief executive Lord Browne has resigned following a court's decision to lift a legal injunction preventing the media reporting details of his relationship with a gay lover.

The firm, which said it accepted Lord Browne's resignation with the "deepest regret", said the chief executive would lose his entitlement to a leaving package worth £3.5m and a potential £12m in shares. BP Chief Resigns Over Gay Lover Story (Read on)

THE TELEGRAPH: Lord Browne resigns after revelations he lied in court about gay lover by Joshua Rozenberg

THE TELEGRAPH: Lord Browne of Madingley's resignation statement

Mark Alexander

The Annulment of Turkey’s Presidency Vote
BBC: The constitutional court in Turkey has annulled last Friday's parliamentary vote to elect a new president.

The only candidate, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, failed to win the required majority after a boycott by secularist opposition parties.

The parties, which accuse Mr Gul of a hidden Islamist agenda, asked the court to rule that there was no quorum.
The government says despite the ruling it will try to achieve a quorum with a new vote on Wednesday. Turkey's presidency vote annulled (Read on)

Mark Alexander

Turkish Police Launch Dramatic Clampdown on Left-Wing Demonstrators
BBC: Nearly 600 people have been arrested in Istanbul as police launched a dramatic clampdown on left-wing demonstrators trying to hold a May Day rally.

Officers fired tear gas and used batons to stop the crowd marching to Taksim Square, where they were due to mark the 30th anniversary of "Bloody May Day". Hundreds detained in Turkey rally (Read on)

WATCH BBC VIDEO: Clashes at Turkey rally

TIMESONLINE: Appeal for calm as markets get jitters over Turkey crisis

Mark Alexander

Nichts Positives im Bericht über Olmerts Rolle im Libanon-Feldzug
NZZ: Ruf nach Rücktritt des Regierungschefs
Israels Regierungschef Olmert reagiert mit bemerkenswerter Sturheit auf den Bericht über seine Rolle im Libanon-Feldzug. Darin gebe es aber kein einziges positives Wort, das sein Verbleiben an der Macht rechtfertige, schreibt die Zeitung Haaretz. Die Rufe nach seinem Rücktritt kommen inzwischen nicht nur aus den Medien sondern auch aus seinem eigenen Kabinett. Olmert in Israel zunehmend auf verlorenem Posten (mehr)

LE FIGARO: Israël : Ehud Olmert poussé vers la sortie

Mark Alexander

”Ni Royal, ni Sarkozy”, dit Le Pen
LE FIGARO: Le leader du Front national a appelé ses électeurs à "s’abstenir massivement" pour le second tour de l'élection présidentielle.

Dans un discours fleuve au cours duquel il a longuement rendu hommage à Jeanne d’Arc, Jean-Marie Le Pen n’a pas donné de consigne de votes pour le second tour de la présidentielle. "J'invite les électeurs qui m'ont fait confiance à n'accorder leur suffrage ni à Mme Royal, ni à M. Sarkozy et à s'abstenir massivement", a-t-il déclaré, place de l’Opéra, à la fin du défilé du 1er mai. Le Pen : "ni Royal, ni Sarkozy" au second tour (encore)

LE MONDE: Jean-Marie Le Pen appelle ses électeurs à "s'abstenir massivement" le 6 mai

Mark Alexander

Saudi Arabia Beheads by the Sword Rapist from Mauritania
KUWAIT TIMES: RIYADH: A Mauritanian convicted of rape and a Saudi convicted of murder were beheaded by the sword in Saudi Arabia yesterday, the interior ministry said. Mohammed Al-Mami Baba Ould Baba, who was found guilty of breaking into three houses and raping an unspecified number of women, was executed in the Muslim holy city of Medina, said a ministry statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency. Saudi Arabia beheads rapist and murderer

Mark Alexander

Body Language in the Gulf
KUWAIT TIMES: Body language occupies a dramatic place in the Arab culture since misinterpreting or using a sign that elsewhere means one thing, or even nothing at all, could in Kuwait lead to a faux pas. Body language across the Middle East is distinctly different and diverse, thus it is strongly recommendable to be learnt for the sake of avoiding unintentional insults. Hand Talk: Communicating physically (Read on) by Velina Nacheva

Mark Alexander

Scandal at the Top in Washington
TIMESONLINE: An alleged madam accused of running a prostitution ring for the power elite of Washington vowed yesterday to reveal dozens of high-profile names in what is shaping up to be the biggest sex scandal in the US capital for more than a decade.

Deborah Jeane Palfrey, who handed the telephone numbers of up to 15,000 clients to a US television network last week, said that she would identify as many well-known figures as possible to subpoena them as defence witnesses.

Ms Palfrey’s list of telephone numbers, that weighs in at 46lb (21kg) and has landed like a bombshell in political Washington, has already cost one deputy to Condoleezza Rice, the Secretary of State, his job and thrust another official — the Pentagon adviser who coined the term “shock and awe” — to the heart of the scandal. ’Madam’ threatens to name and shame (Read on)

Mark Alexander

Gun Laws Tightened in Virginia
BBC: Virginia governor Timothy M Kaine has tightened the state's gun laws in response to the killing of 32 people at Virginia Tech earlier this month.

Mr Kaine issued an executive order banning people found to be dangerous and ordered to have involuntary mental health treatment from purchasing guns. Virginia closes firearms loophole (Read on)

Mark Alexander

Whichever way you slice it, Mr Wolfowitz, you are not wanted at ‘The World Bank’

Photo of Mr Wolfowitz courtesy of Google Images

BBC: World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz has said he would not resign in the face of "bogus" charges against him.

In a statement to a panel of World Bank directors, the embattled chief said he was the victim of a "smear campaign".
Mr Wolfowitz was defending himself against accusations that he pushed through a huge pay package for his girlfriend without the Bank's consent.

The committee is due to report to the Bank's board of 24 representatives, who will decide on the president's fate.
Mr Wolfowitz has apologised for his actions, vowing to stay on to complete what he called "important work".

Earlier, US President George W Bush said he believed Mr Wolfowitz "ought to stay" in his job. I will not resign, says Wolfowitz

Mark Alexander

Germany Warms to the US

Photo courtesy of SpiegelOnline International

SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: German Chancellor Angela Merkel has reoriented Germany away from Russia and toward the United States. Expanded economic ties are just one area of renewed cooperation. But could Germany get burned like the British did? Germany Rediscovers the US as a Partner (Read on)

Mark Alexander

New Light Shed on Hitler’s World War I Years
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Hitler's years in the German army during World War I have long been a mystery due to the lack of eyewitness accounts. Now a memoir written by a forgotten German author of fantastic literature has been rediscovered -- and sheds new light on the Führer. Eye-Witness Account of Hitler’s WWI Years Found (Read on)

Mark Alexander

Turkey’s Growing Political Crisis
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: The threat of an army coup hangs over Turkey in a dispute about a presidential election that has once again exposed the country's deep divide between secularists and Islamists. Analysts hope the constitutional court will reduce tensions by annulling the vote and prompting fresh parliamentary elections. Alarm Grows over Political Crisis in Turkey (Read on)

Mark Alexander