Dubai: Marnie Pearce Hands Herself In
MAIL ON SUNDAY: A British mother who was on the run in Dubai after being found guilty of adultery has been jailed after handing herself into police.

Teaching assistant Marnie Pearce now faces the prospect of never seeing her two young children again.

Marnie, 40, originally from Bracknell in Berkshire, insists she never cheated on her ex-husband Ihab El-Labban and has been framed so he could win custody of their sons Laith, seven, and Ziad, four.

Once she has served her three-month sentence, Marnie is set to be deported to the UK without her children. Dubai 'Adultery Case' Wife Hands Herself in to Spare Children >>> Mail On Sunday Reporter | Sunday, February 22, 2009

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EU-Kommission will Bonus-Zahlungen begrenzen
TAGES ANZEIGER: Die Europäische Kommission bereitet laut Kommissionspräsident José Manuel Barroso eine Initiative zur Begrenzung von Bonuszahlungen an Manager vor.

«Exzessive Bonuszahlungen verleiten Finanzmanager dazu, unvertretbare Risiken einzugehen. Die Folgen sehen wir jetzt in der Finanzkrise», sagte Barroso in der Samstagsausgabe des «Hamburger Abendblatt». Daher solle ein System geschaffen werden, das die Gier nach schnellen Gewinnen zügele und das Scheitern nicht belohne. >>> mbr/ap | Samstag, 21 Februar 2009

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Iran blockiert Khatami-Webseiten
Foto von Mohammed Khatami dank dem Tages Anzeiger
TAGES ANZEIGER: Der Wahlkampf für das Präsidentschaftsamt geht bereits los. Die iranischen Behörden haben nach Angaben von Reformern zwei Webseiten zur Unterstützung von Mohammed Khatami blockiert. >>> oku/ap | Samstag, 21. Februar 2009

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Hillary Clinton China Visit Blamed for the Detention of Activists
THE TELEGRAPH: Hillary Clinton has come under fire for her attitude to China's human rights record after it emerged that a dozen dissidents were placed under house arrest during her trip.

Photo of Hillary Rodham Clinton, the new American Secretary of State, courtesy of The Telegraph
Before travelling to the People's Republic on Friday for a two day visit, the new American Secretary of State, said she would not let the issue "interfere" with efforts to resolve the global economic crisis and combating climate change.

Human rights groups claimed her comments lifted the pressure on Beijing to address the issue, making it easier for the Chinese to justify fresh restrictions on dissidents.

"I am under house arrest because Hilary Clinton came," said Zeng Jinyan, the wife of China's most prominent activist Hu Jia, via an email message.

Mrs Zeng said she had been told by the police who monitor her that she and her baby daughter would not be allowed outside. Her husband is serving a three-and-half-year prison sentence.

Mrs Clinton's failure to press Beijing on human rights appears to contradict the desire of President Obama to restore America's reputation, after the Bush administration was criticised for flouting international law by torturing terrorist suspects and detaining them indefinitely.

Last month, President Obama was hailed for his decision to close the controversial Guantanemo Bay detention facility in Cuba, where some prisoners have been held without trial for more than seven years.

The Chinese Human Rights Defenders, a group comprising some of China's most determined activists, said the authorities had told dissidents that they would not be allowed to move freely during Mrs Clinton's visit.

They were either placed under increased surveillance or locked in their homes and barred from receiving visitors.

Some activists were reported to have been detained by police at guesthouses outside Beijing. >>> By David Eimer in Beijing | Saturday, February 21, 2009

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Barack Obama under Fire for Picking a Crony Fundraiser as His Ambassador to Britain
THE TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama has been embroiled in a cronyism row after reports that he intends to make Louis Susman, one of his biggest fundraisers, the new US ambassador in London.

Photo of President Barack Hussein Obama courtesy of The Telegraph
The selection of Mr Susman, a lawyer and banker from the president's hometown of Chicago, rather than an experienced diplomat, raises new questions about Mr Obama's commitment to the special relationship with Britain.

American commentators denounced the selection of a rich friend to the plumb post, regarded as one of the most prestigious in the president's gift, as worthy of a "banana republic".

They said it was proof that Mr Obama has turned his back on his campaign pledge to end politics as usual.

A source with knowledge of the negotiations told The Washington Post that the appointment is "likely to happen" but is "not final".

A British diplomat told The Sunday Telegraph they [are] aware of the reports and are watching the situation but stressed they remain neutral about the appointment.

Others are not so sanguine. Critics said that it would have been more appropriate to dispatch a high profile diplomat at a time when there are fears in British government that Mr Obama is not as attached to the special relationship as his predecessors.

And they pointed out that there is little difference between handing a major diplomatic post to a fundraiser and the "pay to play" scandal in which disgraced former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich apparently auctioned off Mr Obama's senate seat to the highest bidder.

Mr Susman's reputation for hoovering large amounts of cash from deep pockets saw him nicknamed "the vacuum cleaner" when he raised more than $240million for John Kerry's White House bid in 2004. >>> By Tim Shipman in Washington | Saturday, February 21, 2009

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Binyamin Netanyahu Warns of Iranian Nuclear Threat
TIMES ONLINE: Israel was set for the return to power of Binyamin Netanyahu after the Likud leader was invited to form a coalition government yesterday.

Immediately after he was invited to become the next prime minister by President Peres, Mr Netanyahu lost no time in restating his warnings about a nuclear-armed Iran, calling it the greatest existential threat faced by Israel since its creation. His words came a day after the UN announced that Tehran had acquired sufficient uranium to build a nuclear bomb — a “red line” development Israel has said it will not tolerate.

Likud came second in last week’s elections to the Kadima party, led by Tzipi Livni, but Mr Netanyahu’s chances of forming a government are significantly greater. However, he may find himself at the head of a narrow, far-right coalition that is at war with itself and at loggerheads with the US.

His main partner will be the hardline nationalist party Yisraeil Beitenu, led by Moldovan Avigdor Lieberman. With the support of the remaining parties on the right — the ultra-Orthodox and settler factions — the new coalition will be able to count on 65 MPs in the 120-seat Knesset. >>> James Hider in Jerusalem | Saturday, February 20, 2009

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Al-Qaeda Founder Launches Fierce Attack on Osama bin Laden
Sayyid Imam al-Sharif, also known by the nom de guerre Dr Fadl, has launched a fierce attack on Osama bin Laden. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
THE TELEGRAPH: One of al-Qaeda's founding leaders, Dr Fadl, has begun an ideological revolt against Osama bin Laden, blaming him for "every drop" of blood spilt in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Sayyid Imam al-Sharif, who goes by the nom de guerre Dr Fadl, helped bin Laden create al-Qaeda and then led an Islamist insurgency in Egypt in the 1990s.

But in a book written from inside an Egyptian prison, he has launched a frontal attack on al-Qaeda's ideology and the personal failings of bin Laden and particularly his Egyptian deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Twenty years ago, Dr Fadl became al-Qaeda's intellectual figurehead with a crucial book setting out the rationale for global jihad against the West.

Today, however, he believes the murder of innocent people is both contrary to Islam and a strategic error. "Every drop of blood that was shed or is being shed in Afghanistan and Iraq is the responsibility of bin Laden and Zawahiri and their followers," writes Dr Fadl.

The terrorist attacks on September 11 were both immoral and counterproductive, he writes. "Ramming America has become the shortest road to fame and leadership among the Arabs and Muslims.

But what good is it if you destroy one of your enemy's buildings, and he destroys one of your countries? What good is it if you kill one of his people, and he kills a thousand of yours?" asks Dr Fadl. "That, in short, is my evaluation of 9/11." >>> By David Blair in Cairo | Friday, February 20, 2009

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Schröder kritisiert in Iran Holocaust-Leugnung: Privatmann ohne politischen Auftrag trifft Präsident Ahmadinejad
NZZ Online: In Teheran hat der frühere deutsche Bundeskanzler Gerhard Schröder Tendenzen zur Leugnung der Judenvernichtung zur Nazizeit kritisiert. Er nahm damit Bezug auf frühere Äusserungen des iranischen Präsidenten.

«Der Holocaust ist eine historische Tatsache. Es ist nicht sinnvoll, dieses einmalige Verbrechen, für das Hitler-Deutschland verantwortlich gewesen ist, zu leugnen», sagte der SPD-Politiker am Samstag in Teheran vor der iranischen Industrie- und Handelskammer, kurz vor einem geplanten Treffen mit dem iranischen Präsidenten Mahmud Ahmadinejad. Dieser hatte die Tatsache der Judenvernichtung in Europa wiederholt in Zweifel gezogen.

Weiter sagte Schröder, diese «unnötigen Diskussionen» lenkten auch von der zentralen Frage für den regionalen Frieden ab, nämlich wie die Sicherheit aller Staaten der Region gewährleistet werden könne. Der komplette Redetext lag der Nachrichtenagentur AP am Samstag vor; Schröder hielt sich bei seiner Ansprache nach Angaben seines Büros wortgetreu an das Manuskript. >>> ap | Samstag, 21. Februar 2009

WELT ONLINE: Schröder kritisiert Ahmadinedschad vor Treffen

Gerhard Schröder, der Altkanzler Deutschlands, hat vor iranischen Wirtschaftsvertretern dessen israelfeindliche Rhetorik und die Holocaust-Leugnung kritisiert. Foto dank der Welt
In wenigen Stunden soll Gerhard Schröder eigentlich den iranischen Präsidenten Mahmud Ahmadinedschad in Teheran treffen. Zuvor hat er nun allerdings vor iranischen Wirtschaftsvertretern dessen israelfeindliche Rhetorik kritisiert. Die iranische Seite reagierte prompt auf die Rede des Altkanzlers.

"Der Holocaust ist eine historische Tatsache und es macht keinen Sinn, dieses einmalige Verbrechen zu leugnen“, sagte Schröder vor der iranischen Industrie- und Handelskammer in Teheran. Der Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland hatte Schröder wegen des Treffens mit Ahmadinedschad scharf kritisiert. „Herr Schröder fügt dem Ansehen der Bundesregierung und der Bundesrepublik Deutschland schweren Schaden zu“, sagte der Generalsekretär des Zentralrats, Stephan Kramer, der in Hannover erscheinenden „Neuen Presse“.

Ahmadinedschad hatte vor zwei Jahren die Entfernung Israels aus dem Nahen Osten und dessen Verlegung nach Europa oder Amerika gefordert. Außerdem hatte der iranische Präsident die historischen Dimensionen des Holocaust geleugnet und sie als „Märchen“ bezeichnet.

Falls der Iran als Regionalmacht international ernst genommen werden wolle, so Schröder, sollte das Land auch Verantwortung übernehmen und internationale Regeln respektieren. Bemerkungen über den Holocaust würden nur von der zentralen Frage im Nahen Osten und der Suche nach einer gemeinsamen Lösung für den Konflikt zwischen Israel und Palästina ablenken, sagte Schröder weiter. >>> dap/AP/AFP/str | Samstag, 21. Februar 2009

HAARETZ: Ex-German Chancellor Tells Iranians 'Holocaust a Fact'

Visiting former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder criticized on Saturday Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for casting doubt over the Holocaust, saying the slaughter of 6 million Jews by Nazis was a fact.

Since coming to power in 2005, Ahmadinejad has provoked international condemnation for saying the Holocaust was a "myth" and calling Israel a "tumor" in the Middle East.

"The Holocaust is a historic fact and there is no sense in denying this unparalleled crime," Schroeder told the Iranian Chamber of Industry and Commerce.

"Iran needs to take responsibility and respect international rules, if it wants to be taken seriously as a regional power."

Schroeder, due to meet Ahmadinejad in Tehran later on Saturday, also criticized the hardline leader for his views on Israel which Iran has refused to recognize since its 1979 Islamic revolution.

Schroeder arrived in Tehran on Thursday for a four-day unofficial visit.

Ahmadinejad, who often rails against Israel and the West, said in January the subject of the Holocaust had been used to expand the international influence of the United States and Britain after World War Two. >>> Reuters | Saturday, February 21, 2009

HAARETZ: German Politicians, Jewish Leaders Slam Schroeder for Ahmadinejad Meet

German politicians and Jewish community representatives harshly criticized former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder for meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran on Saturday.

Schroeder, who is a senior manager at the Russian energy giant Gazprom, arrived in Tehran on Thursday for an unofficial four-day visit, facilitated by an Iranian doctor who heads a Hanover-based neurobiology research institute.

By meeting with Ahmadinejad, "Schroeder has harmed the image of the German government and of the whole of Germany," said Stephan Kramer, secretary general of the Central Council of Jews in Germany. >>> By Assaf Uni | Sunday, February 22, 2009

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En mémoire du Chah d'Iran, Farah Pahlavi sort du silence
Photo de Farah Pahlavi, la dérniere imperatrice d’Iran, grâce à la Bunte
LE FIGARO: Elle a voulu parler à l'occasion des 30 ans de la révolution islamique. Pour défendre son mari, le Chah d'Iran, pas pour parler d'elle. Farah Pahlavi, la chahbanou, ne sort que rarement de son silence. L'entretien qu'elle a accordé à Frédéric Mitterrand, diffusé samedi soir sur France 3, est le premier depuis 2003.

La dernière impératrice n'oublie pas l'Iran, où elle n'est jamais retournée depuis le 16 janvier 1979, quand elle a quitté l'aéroport de Téhéran au bras du chah en pleurs. Trente ans après, elle garde toujours le maintien et la dignité d'une reine, en pensant à son règne passé et à ses compatriotes. Elle s'interdit de boire de l'alcool en public. Si elle accepte les invitations à des soirées, à des premières ou des galas, elle fait en sorte de n'être pas photographiée en train de s'amuser. Elle a récemment fêté ses 70 ans dans la discrétion. La chahbanou vit principalement à Paris, où elle bénéficie d'une surveillance policière discrète. Elle se rend aussi régulièrement à New York, où réside son fils aîné, Reza, 48 ans, héritier du trône, qui n'a pas abandonné l'espoir de fédérer une opposition autour de sa personne. >>> Pierre Prier | Vendredi 20 Février 2009

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Revealed: The Full Extent of Labour's Curbs on Civil Liberties
THE INDEPENDENT: Audit report highlights 'permanent erosion' of freedoms since 1997

The full extent of state powers to detain people without charge, cover up Government errors, hold the DNA of the innocent and share personal data between public bodies has been revealed in a devastating analysis of the erosion of civil liberties in Britain over the past decade.

Almost 60 new powers contained in more than 25 Acts of Parliament have whittled away at freedoms and broken pledges set out in the Human Rights Act and Magna Carta, according to a new audit of laws introduced since Labour came to power in 1997. The dossier, compiled by the Convention on Modern Liberty, criticises police powers to detain terror suspects for 28 days without charge, new stop-and-search powers handed to police (allowing them to stop people without reason at airports and other designated areas), and restrictions on the right of peaceful protest.

It is the first time such a picture of the erosion of rights under Labour has been published. The rise in surveillance in Britain is also documented, including new laws allowing individuals to be electronically tagged, and the legal interception of letters, emails and phone calls. >>> By Michael Savage, Political Correspodent | Friday, February 20, 2009

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Surprise! Surprise!
MAIL Online: Some Islamic schools are promoting fundamentalist views and encouraging children to despise Western society, a report warns.

An investigation by the Civitas social policy think-tank found websites of some of the UK’s 166 Muslim schools are spreading extreme teachings, while a handful had links to sites promoting jihad, or holy war.

Examples include web forums forbidding Muslims from reading Harry Potter books, playing chess or cricket and listening to Western music.

The Civitas report, entitled Music, Chess and Other Sins, claims Ofsted inspectors are incapable of scrutinising Muslim faith schools properly, and demands an inquiry by MPs.

Many of the websites featured in the report were shut down or edited in the hours before it was published.

Islamic schools educate thousands of Muslim children. Most operate in the private sector although increasing numbers are seeking state funding. Some Muslim Schools 'Make Children Despise the West': Ban on Cricket and Harry Potter >>> By Matthew Hickley | Friday, February 20, 2009

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Le papa de Zohra n’est pas qatarien
Photo de Rachida Dati grâce au Mail Online
GALA.fr: «Je ne suis pas le père de l’enfant de Rachida Dati». Le son vient du Moyen-Orient et fait écho aux insinuations de deux journalistes. Fin des ragots et du bruit médiatique. Ali Bin Fetais al-Marri, procureur général du Qatar est le nouveau père putatif à se désister publiquement.

La liste des géniteurs potentiels se transforme en pavé. Les démentis ricochent dans la mare peopolitique. Et la paternité de la petite Zohra reste un secret bien gardé.

Si la bambine a les yeux bleu pétrole, ce ne sont pas ceux d’un émir arabe. >>> Justine Boivin | Mardi 17 Février 2009

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Williamson doit quitter l'Argentine
LE FIGARO: L'Argentine somme l'évêque britannique négationniste Richard Williamson de quitter le pays avant dix jours sous peine d'être expulsé, a déclaré aujourd'hui le ministère de l'Intérieur argentin.



"Le ministre de l'Intérieur Florencio Randazzo a annoncé aujourd'hui que la Direction nationale des Migrations sommait Richard Williamson de quitter impérativement le pays dans un délai de dix jours sous peine d'être expulsé", selon le communiqué du ministère. >>> AFP | Jeudi 19 Février 2009

WELT ONLINE: Argentinien weist Holocaust-Leugner aus

Der Streit um den Holocaust-Leugner Richard Williamson geht in die nächste Runde: Argentinien hat den Piusbruder jetzt zur Ausreise aufgefordert. Sollte der Bischof das Land nicht innerhalb der nächsten zehn Tage verlassen, werde er ausgewiesen, sagte das Innenministerium. >>> AP/AFP/dpa/ab | Donnerstag, 19. Februar 2009

TIMES ONLINE: Bishop Richard Williamson Ordered to Leave Argentina

An English bishop who denies the holocaust has been ordered to leave Argentina.

Bishop Richard Williamson has been give ten days to leave the country or face expulsion after global controversy over his views and the Vatican’s attitudes towards them.

The Argentine Interior Ministry said Bishop Williamson’s statements on the Holocaust “profoundly insult Argentine society, the Jewish community and all of humanity by denying an historic truth”. >>> Chris Smyth | Thursday, February 19, 2009

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Iran: Händeschütteln mit Frauen könnte Khatami Wahl kosten
DIE PRESSE: Der Iran diskutiert über ein Foto, auf dem der Herausforderer von Präsident Ahmadinejad einer Europäerin die Hand gibt. Islamische Politiker dürfen fremde Frauen in der Öffentlichkeit nicht berühren.

Kopfschütteln über das Händeschütteln: Im iranischen Präsidentschafts- Wahlkampf sorgt derzeit ein Foto für Aufregung, auf dem der Reformer Mohammad Khatami einer Europäerin die Hand gibt. Das berichtete die Agentur Fars am Donnerstag. Khatami ist Herausforderer von Präsident Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Reformer befürchten, dass das vermutlich vor zwei Jahren in Italien aufgenommene Foto jetzt im Wahlkampf gegen Khatami benutzt werden könnte.

Nach den strengen Regeln des Islam dürfen Männer im Iran, allen voran Beamte und Politiker, fremde Frauen in der Öffentlichkeit nicht berühren. Das Händeschütteln fällt auch unter dieses Tabu. "Nur wenn es um nationale Interessen geht, ist das Händeschütteln mit ausländischen Frauen kein Thema, auch nicht für die islamischen Sittenwächter", sagte Mostafa Koakabian, Chef einer kleineren Reformpartei. >>> DiePresse.com | Donnerstag, 19. Februar 2009

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Obama's Attorney General Plays the ‘Race Card’ – in Reverse!
THE TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama's attorney general Eric Holder has branded the United States a "nation of cowards" who are "voluntarily socially segregated" along race lines.

Mr Holder, the first African American to hold the post of top justice official, said that although the US was integrated in the workplace, its people spent their weekends and private lives in "race-protected cocoons".

"Saturdays and Sundays, America in the year 2009 does not in some ways differ significantly from the country that existed almost 50 years ago. This is truly sad," said Mr Holder

Speaking to members of his department to mark Black History Month, an annual national celebration of African American achievement, he added: "Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot in things racial, we have always been, and we, I believe, continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards," he added.

His comments took some of the sheen off the celebratory mood America has felt since electing its first black president in November.
But Mr Holder was echoing a plea President Barack Obama made to the nation during his campaign last year to break a "racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years".

The president, the son of Kenyan and a white Kansan, has described himself as "post-racial", but Mr Holder clearly thought the nation has a long way to go before it meets that goal.

Mr Holder, 57, who was born in New York to parents hailing from Barbados, cited the president's words and urged his colleagues to loosen their inhibitions about discussing race. Obama's Attorney General Claims US Is 'Voluntarily Segregated' >>> By Alex Spillius in Washington | Thursday, February 19, 2009

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French Children of Nazi Soldiers to Be Offered German Citizenship
Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
THE TELEGRAPH: Germany is to offer citizenship to tens of thousands of 'war children' fathered by Nazi soldiers in France during the Second World War.

The move is being offered in recognition of the suffering of those who became known as the "bastards of the Boche" and often suffered discrimination

The German interior ministry said the move was a "symbolic gesture to make up for past wrongs" suffered by the children who are now in their 60s.

A spokesman said: "The German government is aware of the difficult fate of the French 'war children' accommodate those who want to apply for German citizenship. We will act generously with applications. For example, we will not levy fees."

The German foreign ministry has worked "intensively" with its French counterpart on the subject, he added.

Nevertheless, each of the offspring would have to apply for German citizenship individually, he said. >>> | Thursday, February 19, 2009

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Between the Vatican and a Hard Place!
TELEGRAPH BLOGS: It is a facet of human nature that, when in a deep jam, even people who are non-believers sometimes turn to religion ("Please, God, get me out of this and I swear I'll be in the front pew next Sunday - and every Sunday!"). It appears that Gordon Brown, erstwhile son of the manse, is no exception to this trait. With his government and economy in deepest doo-doo, he is trying to use the Pope as a buffer between himself and an electorate that is fast metamorphosing into a lynch mob.

Today he visited Benedict XVI at the Vatican (one hopes the exorcists are currently doing a thorough job on the polluted premises) and invited the Pope to visit Britain. That is the politics of distraction. "He was very welcoming of the invitation," reported Gordon. That did not entirely chime with the Vatican version: "For the moment, no travel by Benedict XVI to the United Kingdom is scheduled or under consideration."

When it comes to a factual contradiction between the Pope's official spokesman and the snake-oil salesman with a track record of mega-porkies ("No return to boom and bust"), even the staunchest Ulster Orangeman would probably feel he must reluctantly give credence to Rome. But the Number 10 spin machine remains undaunted, insisting it knows the Pope's mind better than he himself does. "There isn't a date in the diary - we just made the invitation a few hours ago. But they are definitely looking at it." Oh, yeah? Gordon Brown Tries to Spin the Pope - Vatican Response: 'Spin on This!' >>> Gerald Warner | Thursday, February 19, 2009

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Keep the Hate-Mongers OUT! NOT WANTED in the United Kingdom!
Extreme American 'Christians' of the Westboro Baptist Church, the ‘God Hates Fags’ variety, have been banned from the United Kingdom. These vile, disgusting, intolerant, intolerable people are not wanted this side of the Pond. They can peddle their hate where they are – in their own little, narrow, self-serving world: on the dark side of darkness! Photo courtesy of The Times – Mark
TIMES ONLINE: The Home Secretary has banned two extremist anti-gay preachers from entering Britain, a move that follows a decision to refuse entry to Geert Wilders, the Dutch anti-Muslim MP.

Fred Phelps and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper, who belong to the US Westboro Baptist Church, were planning to come to the UK to protest outside a performance of a youth play called The Laramie Project, which recounts the death of gay university student Matthew Shepard who was killed in Laramie, Wyoming, in October 1998.

It was due to be performed at Queen Mary's College in Basingstoke, Hampshire, tomorrow.

The pair have been known to picket US soldiers’ funerals, holding up banners with phrases such as "God Hates Fags" because they believe that their deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan are punishment for America’s tolerance of gays. Anti-gay Preachers Fred Phelps and Shirley Phelps-Roper Banned from Britain >>> David Byers | Thursday, February 19, 2009

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Liberty in Britain Is Facing Death by a Thousand Cuts. We Can Fight Back
THE GUARDIAN: It is shocking how many curtailments of freedom have been imposed. Each one may be small but the cumulative loss is vast

For 30 years I have been travelling to unfree places, from East Germany to Burma, and writing about them in the belief that I was coming from one of the freest countries in the world. I wanted people in those places to enjoy more of what we had. In the last few years, I have woken up - late in the day, but better late than never - to the way in which individual liberty, privacy and human rights have been sliced away in Britain, like salami, under New Labour governments that profess to find in liberty the central theme of British history.

"Oh, these powers will almost never be used," they say every time. "Ordinary people have nothing to fear. It affects just 0.1%." But a hundred times 0.1% is 10%. The East Germans are now more free than we are, at least in terms of law and administrative practice in such areas as surveillance and data collection. Thirty years ago, they had the Stasi. Today, Britain has such broadly drawn and elastic surveillance laws that Poole borough council could exploit them to spend two weeks spying on a family wrongly accused of lying on a school application form. The official spies reportedly made copious notes on the movements of the mother and her three children, whom they referred to as "targets", and watched the family go home at night to establish where they were sleeping. And this is supposed to be modern Britain?

Let's be clear: though the Stasi headline is irresistible, such Stasi-nark methods do not yet make a Stasi state. The political context is very different. We don't live in a one-party dictatorship. But nor is this just "an isolated case", as ministers always protest. Almost every week brings some new revelation of the way in which our government has taken a further small slice of our liberty, always in the name of another real or alleged good: national security, safety from crime, community cohesion, efficiency (ha ha), or our "special relationship" with the United States.

Liberty comes last. As Dominic Raab writes in his excellent book The Assault on Liberty, this government "has hyperactively produced more Home Office legislation than all the other governments in our history combined, accumulating a vast arsenal of new legal powers and creating more than three thousand additional criminal offences". At a press conference today, the organisers of next week's Convention on Modern Liberty - whose moving spirits include the columnist Henry Porter and the democratic activist Anthony Barnett - will present a first attempt to catalogue the liberties we have lost, in a list compiled by the University College London Student Human Rights Programme.

Other free countries, including the US, have overreacted to the threat of terrorism, violating their own basic constitutional principles and legal standards. The peculiarity of Britain is that we have nibbled away individual liberty on so many different fronts. We have been complicit in American-led torture of our own people; at the same time we have eroded free speech in ways unthinkable in the US; and we have become what Privacy International calls "an endemic surveillance society". >>> Timothy Garton Ash | Thursday, February 19, 2009

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The Banality of Evil
ARUTZ SHEVA (ISRAEL NATIONAL NEWS): A resurgence of the oldest of ancient hatreds.

”According to British police, Jews are four times more likely to be attacked because of their religion than are Muslims.”
Anti-Semitism never really died after the Holocaust, it simply went underground for a while. In the wake of the Gaza War, a disturbing series of events are occurring in Britain - events that should give us all cause for concern. Zionism has not only become a dirty word; it has become a cover for a resurgence of the oldest of ancient hatreds.

According to the Observer, there is an average of seven anti-Semitic attacks every single day in the United Kingdom - attacks that have come in the form of graffiti, vandalism, arson, violent assaults on Jews in the streets, and hate e-mails. Jewish schools have been granted extra protection and the Community Security Trust, which monitors anti-Jewish racism in British society, issues frequent advice and warnings. According to British police, Jews are four times more likely to be attacked because of their religion than are Muslims. Every synagogue service and virtually every Jewish communal event now requires guards on the lookout for violence from both neo-Nazis and Muslim extremists. Orthodox Jews have become particular targets; some have begun wearing baseball caps instead of skullcaps and concealing their Star of David jewelry for fear of being physically assaulted.

The war in Gaza has revealed a darker side to British society, as demonstrated by the extent to which the British media, intelligentsia and political class have simply buckled in the face of the global Islamic jihad. Melanie Phillips, writing in the Wall Street Journal (Europe) put it this way: "Years of demonizing Israel and appeasing Islamist extremism within Britain have now coalesced, as a result of the media misrepresentation of the Gaza War as an atrocity against civilians, in an unprecedented wave of hatred against Israel, and a sharp rise in attacks on British Jews" - and the authorities have done little or nothing to stop such incitement to hatred. In one case, the police even told pro-Israel demonstrators to put away their Israel flags because they were "inflammatory," yet they allowed anti-Israel demonstrators to scream support for Hamas, and even to dress up as hook-nosed Jews "drinking" the blood of Palestinian babies. >>> By Mark Silverberg | ednesday, February 18, 2009

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